March 26, 2015

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...65 D AYS TO GO DA

•IBB lashes First Lady, Fayose for hate campaigns •U.S. prepares for likely post-polls crisis in Nigeria MORE •Plans to arrest our leaders still on, says APC •AND ON PAGES 2-4,6&57 •Army promises to quell election violence

•Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL. 10, NO. 3165 THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

•www.thenationonlineng.net

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•INSIDE: CHIBOK GIRLS IN GWOZA, SAYS RETURNEE P58 GOVT SHUTS LAND, SEA BORDERS P6

Buhari: I'm sure of victory

•ALL FOR ASIW AJU TINUB U: Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi (right) supervising the cutting of the cake... yesterday. Assisting Asiwaju Tinubu (sixth ASIWAJU TINUBU: from left) are (from left): former Ekiti State Governor Segun Oni, Akande, Chief Odigie-Oyegun, Osinbajo, Senator Oluremi, Gen. Buhari, Fashola, former Abia •Aregbesola...yesterday PHOTOS: OMOSEHIN MOSES State Governor Ogbonnaya Onu, wife of Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Olufunso and Amaechi.

Aregbesola, Fashola, Amaechi, Osinbajo, others hail Tinubu at 63

A

LL Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is confident of victory in Saturday’s election.

Reason: This, said Gen. Buhari, is his brightest chance ever for the job he bidded for in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

He spoke at the Seventh Bola Tinubu Colloquium to mark the former Lagos State governor’s 63rd birthday.

Gen. Buhari attributed his hope at the poll to the “selfless” efforts of Tinubu, who is the main motivator of the merger of major opposition parties into the mega party that the APC became.

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

‘

I see the need for change. If you have consideration for this nation that gave birth to you, you will equally see the need for change...We must move forward to mould a better Nigeria, out of the clay we have in our hands, the PVC, which means, please vote for change

By Raymond Mordi, Deputy Political Editor

Gen Buhari, accompanied by his running mate Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo, APC National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and other leaders of the party, came into the Eko Hotel venue as Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola was delivering his address.

His entry momentarily

stopped the event.

When Gen. Buhari, who was praised by all the speakers, took the podium, he expressed his appreciation to party leaders and members, saying: “I’m confident of victory.”

He said though the process was awash with money, he was going into Saturday’s election with hope, “because if I could win the primaries without spend-

ing money, I will certainly win on Saturday”.

Gen. Buhari admitted that this election is his first genuine attempt to aspire to becoming the president, alluding to the possibility that the journey would end at the State House.

He said: “In the previous attempts, I only ended up at the Supreme Court.”

Gen. Buhari said the APC had come to stay and that the

Why Jonathan can’t win Southwest PAGES 2&3

‘Ethnic card, others won’t work’

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party owes its success so far to Tinubu and former Interim Chairman Chief Bisi Akande.

The APC standard bearer poured encomiums on Tinubu at whose instance the APC family and others was gathered yesterday, saying it was his selflessness and commitment to the cause that led to the successful merger and the formation of the APC. Friends and associates of

Tinubu have used the occasion of his birthday in the last seven years to discuss Nigeria’s problems and proffer solutions.

Gen. Buhari said: “I have great respect for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; he does not consider himself; he is a selfless person who made a lot of sacrifice and commitment to ensure the merger was successful.”

In Tinubu’s view, Saturday’s election will determine Nigeria’s fate in the years to come. He enjoined Nigerians to decide between positive change and continuing with the way the country has been governed Continued on page 4

No Yoruba in top 50 jobs Embrace of illegal groups Setting settlers against hosts Deception on Confab report Relegation of Southwest

•SPORTS P23 •EDUCATION P25 •NATURAL HEALTH P46 •POLITICS P47•FOREIGN P60 •INSIDE:

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

2

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

•From left: President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Director-General, Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Mrs. Dupe Atoki; and Honorary Adviser to Dangote, Joseph Makoju, when Mrs. Atoki visited on CPC's collaboration with the private sector on consumer protection in Lagos...yesterday.

Playing the ethnic card •Why Jonathan can’t win Southwest

T

HERE is tension ahead of Saturday’s presidential election.

Politicians are beating the drums of war. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), according to observers, has regressed into crude tactics. In their view, President Goodluck Jonathan and top party leaders are playing the ethnic card. This has implications for national integration and mutual understanding in a heterogeneous society, which historians have described as an amalgam of incompatible social formations.

Divide and rule tactics

•From left: Strategic Accounts Manager, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Steve Nwabuani; Managing Director, MBA Microfinance Bank, Mr. Bode Ajayi; Senior Manager, Corporate Segment, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Olutayo Egunjobi; Head of IT, Chanelle MFB, Mr. Samuel Inyang and Group BDM, MFI & Channels, CWG Plc, Mr. David Olatilo at the MTN Xaas Forum in Lagos.

•From left - Managing Director/CEO, FleetCube, South Africa, Michael Crankshaw; Executive Secretary, Equipment Leasing Association of Nigeria (ELAN), Andrew Efurhievwe; Chairman, Board of Directors, ELAN, Chuka Onwuchekwa and Director, ELAN, Christian Chigbundu at the Fleet Management Conference organised by ELAN at Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja, PHOTO: SOLOMON ADEOLA Lagos...yesterday.

Nigeria has been a divided country since independence. In this electioneering, it has become more divided, no thanks to the divisive tendency of the Presidency. In its desperation for votes, divide and rule tactics have been the order of the game. When it appeared that it may not produce the desired result, the PDP resorted to fueling what can best be described ethnic tension and confusion. According to analysts, the President’s failure to live up to the billing of a symbol of national unity has further dented the image of the inept administration.

There is an onslaught against the marginalised Southwest. The politically conscious and sophisticated region is perceived as the beautiful pride and the deciding factor in this critical election. For six weeks, President Goodluck Jonathan has relocated from Aso Villa, Abuja, to Lagos for intense mobilisation. Yoruba in the city state of Lagos and the other five states are being courted. The fruits of the manipulation and division have manifested in the inexplicable endorsement of the Commander-in-Chief by the polarised pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, the factionalised and outlawed militia, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), the royal fathers and other interest groups. Moral values collapsed in Yorubaland when elders who have criticised the Federal Government for the neglect and marginalisation of the race started speaking from both sides of the mouth.

A President who once branded Yoruba elders as rascals suddendly became the messiah for the same elders.

Many questions were raised by critics. Is tokenism the answer for years of marginalisation? In response to the allegation of utter neglect, the Presi-

dent appointed Brig-Gen Jones Arogbofa as his Chief of Staff. In the first 10 leading positions in the country, no accommodation is extended to Yoruba. What is the relationship between the promise to implement the National Conference Report and the relegation of region to the background? Also, in the PDP, Yoruba are complaining about lack of sense of belonging. Should the PDP-led Federal Government relegate Yoruba in Lagos State as they have been relegated at the centre?

Romance with illegal groups The financial inducement further fragmented the socio-political organisation. Those who were left in the cold are now fighting the major beneficiaries of the inexplicable largesse.

When OPC was instigated by the PDP to protest in Lagos, hell was let loose. Commercial activities in the economic hub were paralysed for hours.

Campaign materials of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), including posters, banners, vehicles, were destroyed. There was panic. Many innocent people were harassed and intimidated. Basking in the euphoria of power barons, PDP leaders rise in defense of the protesters, saying that it is a matter of fundamental human right. But, taking an exception into the mayhem, the Convener of Yoruba General Assembly, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, said a wrong signal was being sent to the people of Yorubaland when militants from the East and Southsouth invaded the streets of Lagos to terrorise the state. “It could generate a nasty thought about the type of federalism being practiced,” he fumed.

A curious dimension is the plan to rig in the OPC as an observer group to monitor the polls. Members of the group lack the skill and experience.

But, APC Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said it is not a rumour.

Stressing that the move to recruit OPC members as monitors is outrageous and nonsensical, he said they will be used to perpetrate electoral malpractices.

“In what capacity will Dr. Fasehun deploy OPC members to monitor the elections? Is OPC accredited by the

APC: Fed Govt pl T

•President, Oxford and the Cambridge Club of Nigeria, Prof. Theo Ogunbiyi (middle) flanked by the Club’s ex-President, Mr. Akinfela Akoni (left) and former Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi at the Oxford and a debate organised by the Cambrige Club of Nigeria at Muson Centre, Onika, Lagos...yesterday.

By Emmanuel Oladesu Group Political Editor

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday alleged that the plan by the government to arrest opposition leaders on trumped-up charges has not been shelved.

Its spokesman Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is bent on decimating the opposition party.

Mohammed, who spoke at a news conference in Lagos, said the list of persons to be arrested had been expanded to cover more leaders of the party across the states.

He noted that though when on March 21, the APC issued a statement and raised the alarm over a plot to arrest some of its leaders, especially Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on trumped-up charges, the PDP denied it; the plan is still in the pipeline.

The APC spokesman said: “Though they rushed to deny it, we have it on good authority that they have not given up on that evil plot. In fact, they have now cast their net wide to ensnare more APC chieftains, including Senator Bukola Saraki, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Senator Femi Ojudu, Hon Dakuku Peterside, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, Senator Sola Adeyeye, Alkali Abdulkadir, Senator Serika Hadi, Senator Jide Omoworare, Hon Nathaniel Agunbiade and Hon Bimbo Daramola.”

According to him, “the plot is to plant ammunition, Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and Smart Card Readers (SCRs) jammers, which they have dubiously acquired, in the residence, office or vehicle of these APC chieftains. The APC chieftains will then be arrested with fanfare and subjected to

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

3

Countdown to March 28... two days to go

•President Jonathan

•Gen. Akinrinade

INEC to monitor the polls? When did ethnic militias become election monitors? This is what President Jonathan has caused by drafting outlaws into the electoral process, all in a desperation to win,” Mohammed added.

The President’s efforts is being complimented by the PDP governors.

When they came to Lagos two weeks ago, they held unusual meetings with indigenes of their states. The main trust of the parley was the sowing of the seeds of discord in a hitherto peaceful state, which has hosted many Nigerians from all sections of the country for ages. In the North, the President’s wife, Dame Patience, has complimented the campaign efforts with hate statements.

Apparently frustrated by her husband’s failure in making an in-road into the North, the First Lady castigated the Northerners, saying that they are oblivious of the import of birth control.

Promoting ethnicity Observers pointed out that as the President tried to woo the Southwest, it is believed that, at the same time, other ethnic groups, especially Nigerians from the North, East and Southsouth, are being instigated against legitimate authorities and the political establishment in the former federal capital. In the name of politics, brothers are set against brothers. NonYoruba speaking groups are being induced to turn their backs against their hosts for partisan reasons. PDP leaders have hammered on the deep-seated differences between Igbo and Yoruba.

They have urged Igbos, Hausas, Ijaws and other ethnic groups in the Centre of Excellence to ignore the substance of brotherhood that has bonded them together in commerce and social relations, as if elections will not come and go. For example, when the PDP campaign train rolled into Ladipo Spare Parts Market, Matori, Mushin, three weeks ago, PDP leaders instigated Igbos against Yoruba, who are leaders of the market.

A PDP chieftain queried: “This market is dominated by Igbo. Why is Yoruba made the market leader?” A day later, there was power tussle be-

•Fasehun

tween Yoruba and Igbo, who had coexisted peacefully in the market for decades. The face-off degenerated into violence. Scores of traders were injured. The victims have a sad tale to tell.

Community leaders were taken aback be the development.

A Mushin traditional chief retorted: “What is politics turning to? Why is the PDP inciting Igbo against our people. Yoruba is the most accommodating tribe in Nigeria. Why are politicians inciting people against people?”

One of the women leaders in the area lamented that the sour relationship may continue beyond the election period.

“There was a civil war in this country and Ibos left for home. We looked after their property and remitted their rents. My father told me that the late Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe, a leader of Igbo, was elected into the Western Regional House of Assembly, Ibadan, from Surulere Constituency. They told us that Yoruba people like Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, Chief Theophilus Benson and Chief I.S. Adewale (The boy is good), never deserted him. Why are they now sowing seeds of discord among us in Lagos?” she asked.

Yoruba missing in 50 top positions Many Yoruba intellectuals have criticised the deliberate attempt by the administration to reduce the race to the second class position. APC Action Group Caucus, Ekiti State, observed that only two slots are reserved for Yoruba in the 50 salient leadership positions. To the group, this scenario is embarrassing. The analysis is confounding. It shows that Yoruba has been edged out in the legislature. The President of the Senate is from the Northcentral, Deputy Senate President (Southeast), House of Representatives Speaker (Northwest), Deputy Speaker (Southeast), National Assembly Commission (Northeast) and Clerk of the National Assembly (Northwest).

In the judiciary, there is no space for Yoruba. The Chief Justice is from the Northeast, President of the Court of

•Adams

Appeal (Northeast); Chairman of National Judicial Commission (Northwest) and Registrar of the Supreme Court (Northwest).

Yoruba also have no place in the top security echelon. The Chief of Defence Staff is from the Northeast; Chief of Army Staff (Southsouth); National Security Adviser (Northwest), Inspector-General of Police (Northwest), Controller-General of Customs (Northwest), Controller-General of Immigration (Northcentral), Controller-General of Prison (Southeast), Director-General of the Department of State Services DSS (Southsouth) and the Chairman, Police Service Commission (Southsouth).

The marginalisation is more pronounced in the executive arm, an organ that has 31 positions. Only two are allotted to the Southwest. These are the positions of the Chief of Staff to the President and the Accountant-General of the Federation. The President is from the Southsouth, Vice President (Northwest), Secretary to the Federal Government (Southeast), Head of Service (Southsouth), Minister of Finance (Southeast), Minister of Petroleum (Southeast), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor (Southeast), Director-General,NIMASA (Southsouth), Chairman NIMASA (Northeast), Security Exchange Commission (Southsouth), Federal Inland Revenue (Northeast), INEC (Northwest), National Population Commission (Southeast), Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (Northeast), Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Corporation (Southsouth), National Identity Management Commission (Southeast), National Electricity Regulatory Commission (Southeast), Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (Southsouth), Millennium Development Goals (Southsouth), Chairman NDDC (Southsouth), Director-General, Nigeria Health Insurance Scheme (Northcentral), Nigerian Representative in the United Nations (Southeast), Chief Economic Adviser to President (Southsouth), Special Adviser, Political Affairs (Northeast), Special

•Chief Reuben Fasoranti

Adviser, Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation of MDAs (Southsouth), Director-General, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (Southeast), Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (Southeast), Chairman and Nigeria Port Authority (Southsouth).

Pitting settlers against hosts Yesterday, Arewa community in Lagos cried out that plans were underway by the PDP to scatter its members, following their refusal to embrace the President's second term project.

"We are impenetrable. That is why they are subjecting us to this tension and intimidation," said one of its leaders, Kabiru Abdullai, an architect.

"PDP leaders are instigating thugs against us in Agege area. They are shooting our people. Some of them are now in the hospital receiving treatment. Our sin is that we have refused to follow them. They wanted to incite us against our Yoruba brothers. We said no. We have lived peacefully together for many years. We also want to specifically say that the APC government has given the Arewa Community a sense of belonging in Lagos," he added.

In the last six weeks, the propaganda that the next APC government will move against Ndigbo has been fuelled by the PDP. Indeed, PDP chieftains have not been going empty handed to the Igbo camp during mobilisation. However, the purported endorsement of the President has not been backed by the visceral commitment. The Association for the Defense of Igbo Interests in Lagos (ADIIL) said Igbos in Lagos are irrevocably committed to change at the centre. He said the only identification the President has with Igbo is his two names - Ebele and Azikiwe, adding that it is only during elections that the sentiment is usually played up. Its Chairman, Prof. Chris Nwaokobia, said that the plot to set Ndigbo in Lagos against Yoruba will fail.

"Ndigbo must never forget that where we make our living and where we make our fortune is where we must

•Arogbofa

necessarily protect. We have invested hugely in Lagos. We have our businesses in Lagos. We are working in Lagos. Nobody can discriminate against us and the APC government in Lagos State has been a friend, brother, partner and father," he added.

The activist urged Ndigbo to reflect deeply on its uncharitable characterisation as those meant for hatchet jobs.

He said: “Today, hatred, animosity, fear and suspicion have been incited against INdigbo living in the North, the West and Middle Belt because some traders of fortune benefit from this."

Nwakobia flayed the President for hypocrisy, saying that he has failed to fulfill his 2011 campaign promises to the Southeast. He said the PDP Lagos chapter has also marginalised Ndigbo in the affairs of the party. Noting that the Southeast has suffered under the Jonathan administration, he said: " We have salt deposits in Ebonyi State, a broken down cement factory at Nkalagu, a closed down Enugu Coal Mines, a non-functioning Oji-River Thermal Station, the River Dock at Onitsha, which is now a mirage, a second Niger Bridge, which is a political fraud, and the Enugu/Onitsha and Enugu/ Port-Harcourt roads, which are a slaughter slab, the forgotten Aba Dry Dock and the neglected Aba Power Plant, which Prof. Bath Nnaji is try to re-engineer."

Nwakobia added: "But, this is the same PDP-led Federal Government that is frantically inciting Ndigbo to fight their hosts, the Yorubas and endanger all we have laboured to in Lagos and the Southwest for selfisg interests of Jonathan and the PDP. "This is the same PDP that does not have an Igbo as an executive in the party in Lagos, whereas the APC has an Igbo as its publicity secretary and an Igbo as a commissioner and an Igbo woman as a Senior Special Assistant to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Women Affairs. Ndigbo cannot be deceived. We know that APC is manifestly more sincere and protesting of Igbo interest in Lagos."

ovt plans to arrest our leaders still on trumped-up charges.

“As newsmen yourselves, you are undoubtedly aware that, since this campaign started, the PDP-led Jonathan administration has dwelt less on issues and more on mudslinging. In particular, it has thrown everything but the kitchen sink at our presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

“They say he does not have a secondary school certificate, even when the school he attended publicly released his results. They say he is suffering from a terminal disease, even when it was clear that the medical report they used to back that claim was forged. They say he won’t be the one to rule; they say he will approve samesex law; they say he will jail all Nigerians and they say he is a religious bigot. Plus they commissioned and ran

the most untruthful and irresponsible documentary ever made, just to demonise him.

“When all the muck-raking failed, woefully, because the stock of our candidate rose in direct proportion to the mud-slinging he was subjected to, they went and commissioned an American media man, Richard Grenell, whom they fraudulently called an ex-United States (US) envoy, to write an uninformed opinion piece that Gen. Buhari would Islamise Nigeria if he is elected.

“Out of their desperation, they resorted to lies and frittered away millions of naira. After commissioning Grenell to write his misleading and unintelligent article, they then went ahead to advertise the trash on the front page of many newspapers for several days, at a huge cost of more

than N400 million! There is no better illustration of the idiomatic expression: Grasping at straws! Left with nothing more to use against Gen. Buhari, they held on tight and celebrated what is nothing but trash!”

He also alleged that there is a massive wasteful spending on the part of government.

Mohammed said: “Apart from being fraudulent, this PDP-led Jonathan administration is also patently wasteful and corrupt! Or how else does one describe an administration that has been wooing voters with huge bribes?

“Never in the history of our country has a president superintended over such a morally-repugnant act as the massive bribery of Nigerians in recent times, especially in the six weeks for which the elections were cunningly postponed.

“We make bold to say that no president has ever encouraged bribery and corruption as President Goodluck Jonathan has done by ferreting public funds into the pockets of a few in the desperation to woo voters.

“What this President has done by wooing voters with money amounts to undermining democracy, an action that is unbecoming of a democratically-elected leader of any country. “According to the information in the public domain, an immense amount of money, some as high as $250,000 per head, was given to traditional rulers, youths, entertainers, market women, ethnic militias and artisans.

“If the money being recklessly given away is from the public treasury, the implication is that they want to loot the treasury to such a level that if they lose the elections, the next government

will have no money to spend. If they say the bribe money is not from the public treasury, then where is it from?

If the money being nonchalantly frittered away is the president’s personal money, where did he get that kind of money from?”

To make the matters worse, the bribe money has transformed, in the Jonathan administration’s skewed meaning of that word, from naira to the dollar, a clear indication that the administration has lost confidence in the national currency and has nothing but disdain for it.

The APC urged Nigerians to ignore Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Suleiman Abba’s directive that voters should leave the polling station after casting their ballot, saying they should stay behind to protect their votes.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

NEWS

•President Goodluck Jonathan with International Election Observers after their meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja…yesterday. With them is Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Adamu Mu’azu (third left) PHOTO: NAN

I'm sure of victory, says Buhari Continued from page 1

in the last 16 years.

He said: “There should be no sitting on the fence; do not try to avoid it. This is the time to believe in the need for change.

I am filled with the expectation of a more just and prosperous future.”

Quoting from a speech he made during the last National Convention of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), where the decision to go ahead with the merger was reached, Tinubu said: “I see the need for change. If you have consideration for this nation that gave birth to you, you will equally see the need for change.”

The APC National Leader said the storm ushered in by the formation of the APC had changed Nigeria’s political terrain. He said at the outset, the party’s opponents were skeptical about the possibility of their pulling off the merger successfully. When they saw that the legacy parties were forging ahead, in spite of all the odds, they tried to put up obstacles, such as forming other parties with a similar acronym. “But, they failed,” Tinubu added.

He said before last year’s

APC presidential primary, they had derided Buhari, “saying he would never subject himself to a primary. But, he did and won.”

Tinubu said President Goodluck Jonathan had already seen the handwriting on the wall; “that is why he and his party were rejecting the use of card readers”. He said this is evident in the several desperate efforts to hold on to power. In the process, he added, the President is destroying the country’s national institutions.

The APC leader said the time for “common sense revolution” had come. But, in calling for common sense revolution, he said, “I cannot advocate violence”. He said the kind of revolution he is calling for is a revolution to repair and restructure the nation “with our vote” .

He added: “We must move forward to mold a better Nigeria, out of the clay we have in our hands, the PVC, which means, please vote for change.”

The event was attended by leaders of the party from far and near and friends and associates of Tinubu.

Gen. Buhari’s running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, denied that there was any oath be-

tween him and Tinubu to step down for the former Lagos State governor six months after becoming the vice president.

He said after the PDP campaign council made the allegation, Tinubu jocularly asked him whether he swore to the oath at Okija Shrine.

Osinbajo described Tinubu as a team player and astute leader who allowed robust debate by his executive council members when he was governor, adding that he never knew the former governor before he chose him as his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in 1999.

He also denied the allegations in the hate documentary run against Tinubu by the PDP that “he owns the whole of Lagos – including Oriental Hotel in Lekki. “I know surely that he does not own the hotel because I know the owners and if he owns it, everybody will have a room there.”

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola said providing electricity is no rocket science.

He said the PDP-led Federal Government had failed to provide power because of its lack of vision and went on to enumerate his administration’s numerous achievements in the

sector.

Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi described Tinubu as “a strategist and a tactician”. According to the governor, it is rare to see a person who combines both attributes.

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola described Tinubu as “an icon through whom many great leaders had risen”.

He condemned “declining federal allocation” to states saying it had made it difficult for them to meet most of their obligations, including workers’ salary.

“I have found it hard to pay the wage bills owing to the declining federal allocation which has reduced by 40 per cent since 2013, making it difficult for government to meet up its responsibilities.”

Aregbesola said the situation became so bad at a time that he resorted to the state’s reserves and exhausted it on payment of salaries.

The governor added that the government went ahead to accumulate N12 billion debts in its bid to ensure that salaries were paid.

He said that he would not mind to borrow more “just to ensure that workers are paid, Continued on page 61

U.S. set for likely post-election crisis in Nigeria

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HE United States is preparing for a likely crisis in Nigeria after Saturday’s elections.

United States Secretary of State John Kerry has visited Nigeria, preaching peace, ahead of the elections. Vice President Joe Biden has spoken on the need for violence-free elections.

And President Barack Obama has urged Nigerians to keep this country united – whatever the outcome of the elections.

But the United States seems to have gone a step further by sending hundreds of marines to neighbouring Ghana.

An Aviation source in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, told The Nation that two Hercules C-130 transport planes landed at the Kotoka Airport last week, bearing “at leat three helicopters”.

“There are well over 200 marines,” the source, who pleaded not to be named because of what he described as the sensitivity of the matter, said.

“They are camped at the airport,” he added.

The helicopters are belived to be meant for the quick evacuation of Americans in Nigeria

From Bello Imam, Abuja

- in the event of violence.

It was not immediately clear yesterday where the marines and equipment may have been moved from. The United States has military bases in Europe.

The source also said two United States Navy ships had been sighted off the coast of Takoradi, Ghana.

A Ghana Defence source said one of the ships is equipped with medical facilities.

“More marines are expected,” he said, also pleading not to be named because, according to him, he is not allowed to talk to the media.

“It is not unusual for the United States or any other country to do this because they have to protect their people,” the source said.

Ghanaians have noticed the presence of the marines. The popular thinking is that they are in the country to train the military.

“Their mission is to move into Nigeria swiftly, should there be any need to do so,” the source said.

Continued on page 61

IBB lashes First Lady, Fayose, Fani-Kayode for hate campaigns

H

ATE campaigners got a bloody nose yesterday.

Former President Ibrahim Babangida protested against attacks by President Goodluck Jonathan’s supporters on his person and others.

He cited other generals under attack as former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the late ex-Head of State Gen, Sani Abacha, exHead of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and a former Minister of Defence, Gen. T.Y Danjuma.

Although Babangida did not mention names, First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan, Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi and Peoples Democratic Party Campaign Council spokesperson Femi Fani-Kayode have been criticised by many for championing hate campaign.

He said those promoting hate documentaries are “intellectually delinquent or they suffer memory loss”.

He said nothing forbade former military leaders from contesting presidential elections, adding that leadership training is better grounded in the military than any other profession.

Gen. Babangida, in a statement he personally signed and released by his media office, said the stigmatisation of past mili-

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

tary leaders accounted for “espirit de corps amongst ourselves in support of our military institution and colleagues when the stakes are high”.

The statement said: “In clear attempts to whip up support for President Goodluck Jonathan, certain persons, groups and individuals have embarked on several campaigns of calumny against former military Heads of State and presidents who have had the opportunity to govern this country.

“Of particular reference is a one-hour documentary aired on Silverbird Television on Tuesday night; 24th March, 2015 that deliberately impugned the integrity of Generals Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari, my humble self; Ibrahim Babangida, the late Sani Abacha, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and T.Y. Danjuma; all of whom have had the privilege of presiding over the affairs of this great country at various levels.

“It is either that those promoting the hate documentary are intellectually delinquent or they suffer memory loss; or a combination of both.

“I have my very strong reservations about the contents and thematic focus of the said documentary. Apart from promoting

hate campaign which clearly undermines the modest contributions of these former presidents, the commentaries in the documentary against the former presidents leave a sour taste in the mouth.

“Nobody is stopping anyone from campaigning for their preferred candidates contesting various positions in the elections, but to do that at the expense of the reputation, contributions, patriotism, loyalty and sacrifice of former presidents to the Nigerian state is, to say the least, immature.”

The ex-Military President said nothing forbids ex-military leaders from contesting presidential election.

The statement said: “The military is at present combating the dreaded Boko Haram sect to restore Nigeria’s territorial integrity. What law under a democracy forbids retired military personnel from participating in politics and presenting themselves for election? Over 90 per cent of American Presidents have military background.

“Leadership training is better grounded in the military than any other profession. And the military parades some of the best brains in any country, including Nigeria.

“In fact, some of my military

students that I tutored have Doctorate Degrees.

“It is, therefore, callous, wicked, out-of-sync, cynical and a show of crass ignorance for anyone to undermine the military institution by embarking on mudslinging campaigns against former presidents and leaders with military background.

“While those campaigners are pointing their accusing fingers at us, they forget to recall that the present Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation is actually a retired military officer.

“It is this form of demonisation and stigmatisation that often compels us to exhibit esprit de corps amongst ourselves in support of our military institution and colleagues when the stakes are high.

“As disciplined military officers, we are patriotic Nigerians and must be treated with utmost respect and decorum.”

He said irrespective of any insinuations against the military, he remains proud of the institution.

Gen. Babangida said: “The military is an institution that is so dear to my heart. It is an institution that nurtured my growing up and my achievements in life. I am not only sold to the military institution and by ex-

tension the Nigerian state, I am betrothed to it.

“As a profession, retirees are bound to participate in politics and democracy as an all-inclusive process, same way that doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, and civil servants get involved in it. It is the reason why I ventured into politics in 2003 before I quit in 2010. It is the same reason why General Obasanjo participated and got elected; and now General Buhari.

“It is therefore very curious that promoters of President Goodluck Jonathan’s aspiration would attempt to demonise and stigmatise former military leaders and cast aspersions on them in order to malign their reputation. This is very unfair.

“Fact is; the military fought a civil war to keep this country together. What I suffer today is a consequence of the injuries I sustained during the Nigeria Civil War. I am not sure there is any patriotism that is more than that.

Some of us were prepared to die for the country.”

Babangida reminded proJonathan campaigners that the idea behind the formation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) started in his home.

He said those parading themselves as democrats today had all participated in military govern-

•Gen. Babangida

ments The statement added: “For record purposes, and without sounding immodest, the idea of a PDP that has now become the ‘largest party in Africa’ started in my home, here in Minna.

“With the support of my fellow colleagues, we prepared the way for this democratic process that has now led us to where we are presently.

“We built the democratic infrastructure and architecture.

Those who are parading themselves as democrats today, all participated in military governments.”

Gen. Babangida explained why he decided to be silent.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

NEWS Fed Govt shuts land, sea borders

Polls: Army vows to quell violence

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

•Flays Obasanjo’s statement on coup rumours

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From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

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HE authorities of the Nigerian Army have vowed to deal decisively with any group or individual that may attempt to disrupt voting process during Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah, who spoke at a media briefing in Abuja yesterday, warned intending troublemakers not to test the will of the Nigerian Army.

“Whoever threatens violence will get violence, whoever wants to cause violence will meet organised violence,” Minimah said.

The Army described a statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo over suspicion on possible handover of government to the military as “uncharitable to the military”.

Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, who spoke with reporters shortly before the Chief of Army Staff joined him at the briefing, took exceptions to the statement.

Col. Usman said: “For anybody to say such thing, the person is being uncharitable. If there is any institution that protects democracy, it’s the military. The military has been in the vanguard of defending democracy”.

Obasanjo had raised fears of possible hand over of government to the military, apparently in the aftermath of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) losing the presidential election.

On court judgments restraining the Federal Government from deploying soldiers for the polls, Gen. Minimah said the military and other security agencies have already made adequate arrangements for security for the elections.

Jonathan ‘ll win polls, says Mu’azu From Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja

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HE National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, has said that President Goodluck Jonathan’s track record of achievements will give him an edge over his opponents in Saturday’s presidential election.

Mu’azu, at a media briefing addressed on his behalf by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, at the party’s national secretariat yesterday, stated that the president had stabilised the polity with his pan-Nigeria approach to governance.

He said: “Today, every geopolitical zone in the country enjoys a sense of belonging in terms of infrastructure development, economic and human capital empowerment.

“In the last four years under Jonathan, our economy has grown to become the largest in Africa and one of the fastest growing in the world, a fact the opposition cannot contest.

“This feat did not occur by accident, but through the meticulous application of well thought-out policies and programmes, which created and sustained an investmentfriendly environment in addition to directly empowering Nigerian businesses to thrive in all sectors under the Transformation Agenda.”

•From left: Sultan of Sokoto Sa’ad Abubakar; Vice Chairman, National Peace Committee Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe and Bishop Mattew Kukah during a meeting between the Committee and the election observer groups in Abuja...yesterday.

PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE

Court adjourns Buhari’s eligibility suits to April 22 J USTICE Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja has adjourned further proceedings in all suits relating to alleged failure of the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, to submit his certificate of academic qualifications, to April 22 and 23.

There are four of such cases before the judge.

The plaintiffs in all the suits have similar prayers and contentions.

They want the court to declare Buhari ineligible to contest in the election on the basis of his alleged failure to submit his certificate of academic qualifications along with his Form CF001 to the Independent National Electoral Com-

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•Refuses to join new parties

By Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

mission (INEC).

Adjourning yesterday, the judge said it was impossible for the court to conclude the case before the elections and that there was no need for the court to be in haste to determine the case, because it could always do so after the elections.

Justice Ademola said the decision to adjourn to April was because of the approaching Easter vacation of the court.

Justice Ademola said this shortly after delivering a ruling in the suit by Chukwuweike Okafor and another against Buhari and two others.

The judge, in the ruling, dismissed the applications by a Lagos-based lawyer, Ebunolu Adegboruwa, and Chukwuma Ochu to be made parties in the case.

The judge said they were not necessary parties in the case.

While rounding off the ruling, Justice Ademola suo motu

(without being prompted) adjourned further proceedings to April 22 and 23.

In refusing applications by Adegboruwa and Ochu, the judge held that they were not necessary parties, busy bodies and meddlesome interlopers, whose presence in the case was unnecessary.

Aside the suit by Okafor, the other three similar cases are

by Ayakeme Whiskey, Max Ozoaka and the last by Nnamdi Nwokocha Ahaaiwe.

It is part of their contention that Buhari’s failure to submit his certificate of academic qualifications contravened provisions of sections 131 and 318 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 31(3) of the Electoral Act, 2010.

HE Federal Government has closed all land and sea borders ahead of Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.

A statement yesterday in Abuja by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Abubakar Magaji, said all borders closed since last night and will not reopen till midnight on Saturday.

The statement added that the borders would be closed “to allow for the peaceful conduct of the national elections”.

It also said the Nigeria Immigration Service had been directed to ensure that nonNigerians did not participate in the election process.

The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), David Parradang, has met with some embassy officials and leaders of ECOWAS communities resident in Nigeria, particularly the Republics of Cameroun and Chad, in Abuja.

Parradang advised their nationals to steer clear from the elections, warning that “any non-Nigerian caught interfering in the electoral process would be made to face the law”.

Police chiefs, Adesiyan meet From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

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OMMISSIONERS of Police in Southwest states yesterday met with Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan, in his Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State Capital’s private home.

The meeting, which started in the early evening, went into the night and was still being held as at press time yesterday.

Details of the meeting were unknown, but sources said it was not unconnected with Saturday’s presidential election.

Fraudulent politicians afraid of Card Reader, says Jega been taken to all the local government offices. Form today, Why we’re against device, by PDP the sensitive materials will be

HE Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said yesterday that those opposed to the deployment of Card Reader were those who feel their fraudulent conduct will be detected.

But, he assured that his commission has made all the necessary preparations for transparent elections.

He said although INEC had evolved many electronic measures aimed at limiting fraud in the nation’s elections, it would delay the application till 2019.

“To my mind, and to many in INEC, this is one of the many reasons many people are opposing the use of the Card Reader. Because a clear way that they had used in the past to somehow get away with fraudulent conduct in elections, will now be made difficult.

Because if they do, it is very likely now to be established.

“The use of the Card Reader will help us address some of the concerns about the alteration of, particularly accreditation figures, to fraudulently give advantage to a candidate and disadvantage the other candidate.

“Information about accreditation, which will be saved on the Card Reader and which will be transmitted to our data base, will be useful in term of addressing irregularities, when it emerge in relation to alter-

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HE presidential campaign organisation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has again kicked against the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to use Smart Card Reader for Saturday’s election.

At a media briefing in Abuja yesterday, the Director of Media and Publicity of the campaign, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, alleged that INEC has colluded with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to compromise the Card Readers.

According to him, the contract for the production of Card Readers was awarded to companies owned by a friend and supporter of the presidential candidate of the APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Fani-Kayode said: “Our concerns stem from the fact that the moving spirit and a major shareholder and board member of the company that supplied the card reader system and machines to INEC is not only a friend of, but also an ardent and keen supporter of General Muhammadu From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

ation of accreditation figures,” Jega said.

The INEC Chairman spoke in Abuja yesterday while inaugurating the Civil Society Organisations’ (CSOs) Situation Room, where CSO representatives, will receive and analyse reports of the elections.

He assured that the commission had done “everything possible to ensure that the 2015 general elections are successful, and in particular, we have done everything possible to

From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

Buhari and the APC. “That man’s name is Sani Musa and he is indeed the main force behind the company.

The company’s name is Act Technologies Ltd and the chairman of the company is one Engineer S.K. Danladi.

“How and why INEC would give the contract to supply the Card Readers to a fanatical APC supporter and to a man whose other company was officially blacklisted by INEC a couple of years ago for sharp practices, needs to be explained.”

He said Sani Musa has expressed his undying support for the APC and General Buhari and his hatred as well as opposition to the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan on his Facebook wall.

He said the biggest and most brazen attempt to rig elections in the history of our country will take place on Saturday if the necessary measures are not taken to prevent it.

ensure that we have prepared operationally and logistically for the conduct of the elections.

We have worked very closely with security agencies and we have received assurances, through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, and most specifically from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), because the police have a lead role in terms of providing security for the elections.

“These reassurances make us comfortable that all that need to be done has been done to

ensure the successful conduct of the elections,” the INEC boss said.

Jega gave a picture of some of the improvements the commission has made since the last election in the movement of material and men to minimise hitches experienced in previous elections and its preparation for the rescheduled general elections.

“Beginning from today, we are commencing the rolling out, leading to Saturday, the Election Day. Before now, all the non-sensitive materials had

received from the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and taken to our state offices, accompanied by agents of political parties.

“Then, later this evening, till tomorrow morning, these will be distributed to various local governments, and will also be accompanied by parties’ agents. At the state level, we expect that as from tomorrow evening, up until Friday afternoon, all the materials taken to the local governments will also be distributed to the ward levels.

“At each ward level, we have established what we call Registration Area Centre (RAC).

We have equipped it reasonably to ensure that both our staff and security agencies spend the few hours of the night there, in readiness to deploy very early in the morning to the various polling units in each of those wards.

On collation and presentation of results, Jega said the commission will use the same method it applied in previous elections.

He stressed that although the commission had tested the process of electronic transmission of results, having used it in some elections in the past, it will not use it in the 2015 general elections because of the reaction of some people to the introduction of Card Reader in these elections.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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NEWS

APC: PDP planning trouble in Lagos, Rivers, Kano, Sokoto, others

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has alleged plans by the Federal Government to engineer trouble in Lagos, Imo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Kano and Sokoto states with a view to enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reschedule the elections in the affected states.

Its Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement yesterday, said the government was planning to foment trouble in the states to avert “the imminent defeat of the

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)” at the polls.

The statement reads: “Credible information available to the campaign from deep inside the Federal Government have starkly put it to us that the PDP administration has hatched a plan by which the states of Lagos, Imo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Kano and Sokoto will be racked by trouble of a serious magnitude to sabotage the presidential election and democracy in the country in a sinister, wicked and selfish objective. ”It is clearly intended to

generate a crisis of serious proportions that would lead to either the postponement or the outright cancellation of the election to exclude the states from the first round of voting.

“By this plan, the INEC will be forced to cancel the elections and have these states to conduct rescheduled elections a week later.

“The whole idea, according to these credible sources, is that the government wants to buy time yet again, gain energy and pump resources into a renewed crackdown on popular will in those states.

They deploy the entire muscle and resources of the Federal Government to steal the election in the six states.”

He added: “One hundred trained saboteurs had been deployed to each of the states to carry out these felonious acts.”

He advised the citizens in the interest of the well-being of “our hard-won democracy and the overall interest of the nation to wake up to the reality of the threats and to do all that is lawful to resist the attempts by the outgoing Jonathan administration to bring down our democracy at the point of their exit”.

Assassins are after me, says Amaechi •’I need President, IG, SSS to guarantee my safety’

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IVERS State Governor Rotimi Amaechi yesterday raised the alarm over plans by agents of the Federal Government to assassinate him before or during the presidential election in his home town, Ubima.

However, he said he will not go into hiding or leave the country as he is being advised by concerned associates, family members and friends to avoid being eliminated.

Reflecting on the preparations for the elections, Amaechi said violence cannot be ruled out, adding that suspected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs were killing All Progressives Congress (APC) members on daily basis.

He lamented that his security apparatus have been depleted by the Federal Government.

Stressing that the depletion was deliberate, he said: "The

By Emmanuel Oladesu Group Political Editor

Commissioner of Police in Rivers is Nyesom Wike and the Inspector General is the First Lady, Dame Jonathan."

The governor told reporters in Lagos that he first got wind of the assassination plot on March 14, but he ignored it. He alleged that men of the State Security Services (SSS) have been detailed to assassinate him, with soldiers providing them the shield to carry out the nefarious activity.

Amaechi added that the plot would not prevent him from casting his vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday.

He said: "The President has approved that I should be assassinated. The assasination is to be caried out by the men of

the SSS, backed by 30 soldiers.

The soldiers are to be led by a major from Odomal. He is from the 82 Division. The plot is to be hatched in my village during the election. Already, my people have reported strange movements of some people in the village. Some people were driving round the village. SSS is asking for military cover, in case they are attacked in the village.

"I know the shooting at Okirika was targetted at me.

The Chief of Army Staff and SSS Director, who are from the Southsouth, believe that the second term bid of the President should be a Southsouth agenda.

“People are advising me to travel out of the country. I am being targetted because of my push for change. The President is not too happy. They are conducting polls. But, the actual poll does not favour the Presi-

Sultan to Jonathan, Buhari: accept polls result in good fate •Monarch urges Muslims to fast for peace today From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

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HE Sultan of Sokoto and President General of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has told President Goodluck Jonathan, General Muhammadu Buhari and other political gladiators to accept whatever is the outcome of Saturday’s presidential election in good fate.

He has also urged Muslims in the country to embark on fasting and prayer today for a violence-free election.

Sultan made the call in a statement through the SecretaryGeneral of JNI, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, in Kaduna yesterday.

According to the statement, “in the event that the results are announced by the electoral empire, JNI implores the political gladiators to take the outcome in good fate and be sportsmanship.

This is so because, if Allah (SWT) spares our lives, we shall witness many more elections in Nigeria.

“The polity should not be overheated and the fragile peace in Nigeria should not be jeopardised.

“All forms of irregularities should be appropriately directed to the competent courts of law, which is in tandem with best known practices across the globe.

“It is our prayers that free, fair and credible general elections would be held in Nigeria. May the Almighty Allah continue to grant us peace, security, prosperity and development in Nigeria.”

‘End misrule by voting Buhari on Saturday’

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•Amaechi

dent.

The governor added: "I need the President, the IG, the SSS to guarantee my safety. My security has been depleted deliberately as part of the plot to assassinate me. I have asked for security details, but I have been denied.

“I have forwarded petitions to the President and the IG. PDP is desperate to win. That is why they are even asking Directors at the Federal Ministries to mobilise for them in their villages."

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday praised Nigerians for enduring the climate of fear and poverty under the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

It urged voters to set the nation free by voting the party’s presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday.

Director of Strategic Communications of APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr. Dele Alake, in a statement yesterday, asked Nigerians “to vote out 16 years of hunger amidst plenty, poverty in spite of oil wealth by voting Gen. Buhari as the next president”.

The statement reads: “The world has been paying glowing and deserved tribute to the founding father of modern Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, who died last Sunday. The passing of Mr. Lee bears a poignant and direct resonance to all Nigerians on the eve of our presidential election. For one of his recurring lamentations was with regard to what became of Nigeria’s lofty dreams and the great potentials that our country had at independence.

“Leadership does make a big difference in the life of a nation.

As we prepare to make what is perhaps the greatest choice in a generation on the leadership of our country, we are summoned to think large and to think deep; to challenge ourselves to be part of charting a path to development and in the process build a truly great nation.”

DSS cautions voters on security From Faith Yahaya, Abuja

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•United States Consul General Jeffrey Hawkins (left), addressing participants ot a training workshop on the control of the Avian Influenza outbreak in Ibadan, Oyo State…on Monday.

HE Department of State Services (DSS) has urged Nigerians to be security conscious on the day of election as well as beware of those who may be kitted in suspecting outfits.

The service, however, assured Nigerians of adequate provision of security during the elections.

This was contained in a statement yesterday by the DSS spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar.

The statement reads: “It is imperative to remind all eligible voters to be law-abiding and security conscious while exercising their franchise.

“We wish to advice all registered voters to go out and exercise their civic responsibility as security is guaranteed and they should remain vigilant in crowded environments before, during and after the elections and abide by all stipulated guidelines emplaced to ensure peaceful conduct.

It added: “Voters should be weary of persons in loose or bulky midriff clothings, which are inappropriate for the weather, look out for unattended bags, luggage, dustbins, strange containers and other suspicious items.

“Similarly, all vehicles, motorcycles, tricycles and bicycles must be parked far away from the polling stations.

“All forms of trading should be discouraged, suspicious persons, activities and movements should be promptly reported to security agents.”

President fighting insurgency for electoral purpose, says Alake

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OR allowing insurgency in the Northeast to fester for six years, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government has committed heinous crime against Nigerians.

Hence, voters should reject the ruling party’s candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, in Saturday’s presidential election, according to Director of Strategic Communications of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Dele Alake, who spoke yesterday on Sunrise Daily, a live programme of Channels TV. Alake said if the president could only come alive to his

•Faults IGP on directive to voters

By Wale Ajetunmobi

responsibility to protect lives and property in six weeks, his new-found fervour in combating the Boko Haram was for the purpose of the election, saying thousands of victims killed by the insurgents were sacrificed for the president’s failure.

He said the best way for the nation to surmount its challenges was to vote out “inertial government” of President Jonathan.

He said: “We heard PDP government saying it could not

combat Boko Haram, because Gen. (Muhammadu) Buhari did not equip the military 30 years ago. They forget that they have been in power for 16 years; this is an indictment on the PDP. I don’t know how further this country can sink if, in six years, we could not battle Boko Haram and in six weeks, we are recording successes. It is a terrible indictment on the government.

“It means, in the last six years, PDP has deliberately allowed insurgency to fester, and only for it to wake up in the last six weeks for electoral purposes…

We have wasted lives for electoral purposes. This is wickedness and maliciousness against the victims. It is a crime against Nigerians and humanity.”

Despite the increase in defence budget in the last five years, Alake wondered why the president could not provide necessary weapon for the military before the insurgency became intense, alluding that it was evidence of corruption and failure of governance.

Alake faulted the IGP’s directive to voters to leave after casting their ballots, noting that police boss opinion was against the Electoral Act. “How would voters monitor their votes some 300 metres away

from the polling booth?” he asked.

He said it was insincere for the PDP to want voters to return to their houses after voting, adding: “The process would be genuine if voters can wait behind peacefully to monitor their votes.”

Describing the PDP’s 16 year leadership as dismal failure, Alake said Nigerians are faced with historic opportunity to re-write the destiny of the nation, stressing that APC has clear-cut programmes to combat the nation’s challenges.

If elected, Alake said the priority of the APC government is to revive the economy and

address security challenge. He reiterated the party’s commitment to federalism and state policing, stressing that they were fundamental issues affecting the wellbeing of the nation.

Another four years of the PDP in government, he said, would be disastrous.

He said the ruling party had lost people’s sympathy and that people were ready to vote for the APC to stop the nation’s drift to a state of inertia.

Alake said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had done fairly well in the preparation for the general elections, noting that APC did not lose sleep over introduction of card readers for the polls.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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Ekiti APC alerts to Fayose’s fake jobs

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has called on the people to beware of the phantom jobs the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration wants to deceive them with.

The party, in a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said Governor Ayodele Fayose’s plan to inaugurate an Appointment Committee to prepare for massive employment is a hoax.

The APC said the plan was

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

conceived on Monday at a meeting in the Spotless Hotel, where he told his loyalists that he would constitute the committee to sway aggrieved members of PDP to work for the party.

Olatubosun said those Fayose would announce at its inauguration would be aggrieved PDP members, who are influential in their communities.

He said this was a grand lie, adding that the governor would not appoint anybody as he had repeatedly said.

“What is the job of the Civil Service Commission and the Local Government Service Commission? Or does a governor need any committee before he can approve appointments?

“What has he done with job applications he asked Ekiti youths to write during his campaign when he promised that jobs would be avail-

able after his victory, if Ekiti people voted for him?

“Check the Spotless Hotel where he packed all the application letters and you will discover that all the letters have been burnt,” Olatubosun said.

The APC spokesman warned the people not to be deceived, saying whatever the committee recommends would be discarded after the election.

The party said it had un-

covered a plot by the governor to coerce civil servants and teachers to work for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan or get sacked.

Olatubosun said two panels were set up to achieve the plan, adding that one was for civil servants and another for teachers.

He said the two panels had started functioning to ensure that workers are “whipped in line” to ensure their loyalty.

Confab has no Yoruba agenda, says lawyer From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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CONSTITUTIONAL lawyer, Dr Tunji Abayomi, yesterday said all those pushing for the implementation of the National Conference report, particularly in Yoruba land, are liars.

He said the National Conference had no Yoruba agenda, recalling that the Yoruba championed the National Conference in 1998.

Abayomi, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said: “I was the one who wrote to then Head of State Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar about the logic of National Conference when the idea of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was initiated.

“For a National Conference to have a legitimate constitution arising from the people and secure the approbation of the people, it should not be a conference of appointees of any President, where over N12 billion was expended without any justification.

“We did not subscribe to a National Conference where President Jonathan, who has only one vote in any election, will appoint 140 people without the consent of those he is representing.”

Abayomi said last year’s National Conference was “a legal and constitutional failure because it was held without the backing of law or constitution”.

“If Jonathan is going to execute the National Conference report, what he should tell us is how he is going to do it.

Yoruba are enlightened; it is not just sufficient for him to talk to us, but to speak to us logically.

“Some people such as Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko have no record of dependency; their words can not be depended upon.”

Promote agric, says Ajimobi From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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YO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has urged the people to prioritise farming to rescue the nation from economic meltdown.

The governor, represented by Deputy Governor Moses Alake Adeyemo, gave the advice at a one-day pre-farming season capacity enhancement clinic for State Fruits and Vegetable Producers Association at Iseyin City Hall.

He admonished the farmers to adopt modern techniques of farming to reduce extensive labour and make their jobs more profitable.

Ajimobi urged the association to plant quality seeds.

NURTW boss advises drivers

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HE Lagos State Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Tajudeen Agbede, yesterday advised commercial drivers to shun violence during Saturday’s elections.

He told members during an emergency meeting to be of good behaviour.

Agbede warned them to shun violence and not allow politicians to use them to cause trouble.

The NURTW boss said the state council would disown or expel any member found wanting during the elections.

He advised branch officers to liaise with police formation in their areas to maintain peace and order.

“You should always get in touch with area commanders, DPOs and men of the Department of State Security (DSS) in your areas.”

Elections materials arrive in Ibadan From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

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•The electoral materials at INEC office in Ibadan...yesterday.

Amosun to voters: don’t be deterred by soldiers

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GUN State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has advised Nigerians not to allow the deployment of soldiers to deter them from voting on Saturday.

In a statement, the governor said although it was abnormal to deploy soldiers for supervision of civil acts, such as voting, the soldiers, as other security agents, can only help to maintain peace.

He said: “Those desperate politicians, who think they can use the deployment of soldiers to intimidate and

scare our people away from fulfilling their constitutional obligations, will fail.

“They will fail because, one, our people are determined to use their votes to effect positive change and nothing will stop them.

Two, our military men are also citizens of Nigeria.

They are experiencing the hardship that has resulted from bad governance and they also desire change. In any case, the military is there to protect the people,” he said.

Amosun appealed to soldiers not to allow any politician to use them to wreak violence on the people, urging them to comply with military ethic and provision of the Electoral Law in the cause of performing their duties.

The governor urged Nigerians to conduct themselves in a peaceful manner and ensure that they do not give any opportunity to ill-motivated politicians, who have no respect for the rights of the people.

He urged the people to ignore the antics of dubious politicians, who continue to pester them to surrender their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

“Their plan is to either destroy the PVCs or make it invalid to reduce the number of votes that will certainly be cast against them.

“The day of judgment has come after years of their misrule. Nigerians are set to pay them back in their own coin by voting for change in the Presidency.”

Vote for my husband, First Lady begs Oyo women

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IRST Lady Patience Jonathan yesterday stormed Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, to seek women’s support for her husband’s re-election.

Mrs. Jonathan urged women and youths to vote for the President for transformation of Nigeria.

The First Lady spoke at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, venue of the grand finale of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) women rally.

She said: “Goodluck and Sambo should be voted for to ensure continuity of good governance because they are good materials that will never disappoint the masses.

“In the education sector, President Jonathan and the PDP have given your children the best.

“When my husband became the President, he ensured that all states had a federal university and nine more were recently added.

•Security officers flood streets From Tayo Johnson and Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

“President Jonathan has revived the railways and the trains are working and he has started the rehabilitation of the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway and the IbadanIlorin road.

“He has created jobs for the youth and empowered women.

“Mortality rate has reduced and hospitals have been renovated. There is food in the country now because corruption in the agriculture sector has been eliminated.

“Of the 46 members of the Federal Executive Council, 16 are women.”

Mrs Jonathan said no opposition party has any plan for the country, urging Nigerians to ignore their propaganda and vote for the PDP on Saturday.

According to her, what the opposition wants to do, if

they are voted into power, is to send Nigerians to prison to die.

The Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide, said: “Although the Southwest has been turned into a battle ground, I can assure you that the battle has been won for PDP and Jonathan.

“Propaganda will not work against the President and other PDP candidates.

“President Jonathan will give the women 35 per cent chance in his government; the youth will be given 30 per cent.

“Jonathan set up 14 new universities in the last four years. We have made up our minds in Oyo State to vote for President Jonathan and PDP.” Before the rally, residents were anxious and apprehensive as policemen and other security officers lined major roads and streets.

It was gathered that some

markets close to the roads were affected as traders were “politely” asked by stern-looking police officers to vacate the markets.

As early as 8am, hundreds of uniformed policemen and other security officers were stationed beside major roads and streets.

Although traffic was free on most roads, the roads leading to the stadium were closed, leading to congestion on other roads.

At Challenge, traders decried the heavy presence of policemen and other security officers.

A trader, Muyiwa, said: “I think it is only in a war situation that you see this kind of heavy presence of security officers on the streets.

“I don’t think the First Lady has committed any crime against the people for them to weave so much security around her.

“In a normal situation, she should be free with the people, not using security men to intimidate them.”

OTING materials for Saturday’s presidential election in Oyo State arrived in Ibadan, the state capital, yesterday.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Rufus Akeju, received the ballot papers and other election materials at the State Headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Agodi.

The materials were delivered by officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

They were loaded in three articulated vehicles and supervised by security agents, including the police and men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

They were received in the presence of representatives of parties and other stakeholders.

The materials were led into the premises by the Branch Head Controller, CBN Ibadan, Musibau Olatinwo.

He delivered the message from the INEC National Chairman, Prof. Atahiru Jega, that the materials should be distributed only according to permanent voters received in each local government to check electoral fraud.

Oyo APC: Jonathan, PDP ruined Nigeria

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has said the election period will show how President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ruined the country.

A statement by the Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, said the PDP damaged the nation’s socioeconomic and political reputation.

“It would take Gen. Muhammadu Buhari at least two years to stabilise things and restore the country to its path of greatness, if elected on Saturday.

“Money got missing from the public treasury and nobody seems to be concerned.

Over 16,000 lives were lost to insurgency, with countless numbers becoming ‘asylum seekers’ in their own country.

“We should also bring to the fore the Chibok girls and a government which failed to act .

“The Naira has become worthless and the Jonathan administration keeps telling us it has repositioned the economy.”

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NEWS Police begin ‘show of force’ in Ekiti From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

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HE police in Ekiti State yesterday began a “show of force” patrol round the state as a warning signal ahead of Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.

The show of force was launched in collaboration with other sister security agencies and paramilitary forces.

The agencies collaborating with the police are Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Federal Road Safety Corps ( FRSC), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS).

The patrol, which was taken to all nooks and crannies of the state, was led by Commissioner of Police Taiwo Lakanu, who mounted an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC).

Residents watched in awe as the security operatives moved in a very long convoy, blaring siren and singing solidarity songs.

Speaking with reporters shortly before the exercise began, Lakanu assured law-abiding citizens of security.

He explained that it was to show the level of preparedness of security agencies to contain any violence that may erupt in any part of the state.

‘PDP threatening Lagos’s peace’

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State yesterday accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of threatening the peace and security of Lagosians.

The PDP has introduced thuggery and vandalism to provoke peace-loving Lagosians.

“There is a grave plan by the President Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP to violate the envious security Lagosians have enjoyed for years,” the APC said in a statement by its spokesman Joe Igbokwe.

The party said the PDP’s romance with ethnic militias such as the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and the Movement for Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is a clear indication that it has concluded to promote lawlessness.

The statement reads: “The recent violent protests by the OPC on the streets of Lagos as well as the orchestrated vandalism of APC posters and campaign billboards all over Lagos are invitations to violence and war by those working for President Jonathan and the PDP.”

Doctors suspend strike

By Wale Adepoju

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HE Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and its affiliate, the Lagos State Medical Guild, yesterday suspended their indefinite strike.

According to the Secretary of the Lagos NMA, Dr Babajide Saheed, the decision was reached at a joint meeting between the NMA and the Medical Guild.

Saheed said work resumes today at 8am, urging doctors to go back to their duty posts.

“The strike is hereby suspended.

Full services resume by 8am today,” he said.

The NMA Secretary said a committee has been set up to ensure the implementation of the promises made by the government.

The issue, he said, will be reviewed two weeks after the April 11 governorship election.

Saheed said doctors’ focus is centred on the patients, adding that they are committed to offering them the best care.

The Medical Guild embarked on an indefinite strike on March 16 to demand for three days salary in April and May 2012 and August and September, last year.

The NMA joined the strike on Monday in solidarity.

•Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun greeting All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters at a campaign rally in Oba Odeleye Park, Ita Iyalode, Abeokuta North Local Government Area...yesterday.

Witness faults agency’s report on collapsed guest house

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GEO-technical engineer, Joseph Folayan, yesterday faulted the report of the Lagos State Material Testing Agency, which stated that the last September 12 collapsed guest house at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) was caused by defects in its foundation.

Folayan, who claimed to have had 45 years experience as a geotechnical engineer, told the coroner court making inquest into the incident that the report of the Lagos State Material Testing Agency was based on assumptions.

The witness spoke yesterday at the resumed hearing of the coroner court holding in Ikeja under Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe.

About 110 persons were believed

By Adebisi Onanuga

to have died in the building collapse at SCOAN, Ikotun.

In its report now before the coroner court, the agency had claimed in its Structural Integrity Test on the six-storey building that it collapsed due to a defective foundation.

Folayan, who was led in evidence by counsel to the church, Olalekan Ojo, maintained that the soil under the foundation of the collapsed building did not fail.

“As a practising geo-technical engineer with over 45 years experience, it is my view that the soil under the foundation did not fail.

“Neither did the pads used in the construction of the building con-

stitute a failure,” he further maintained.

The witness said there was need to sanitise the engineering profession because it has been infiltrated by quacks.

He added that the Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) is the only body that is legally bound to regulate the activities of any engineering practitioner in the country.

“Engineers should sit up to forestall any further occurrence of building collapse.”

The court admitted as exhibits, some documents tendered by the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olutoye Ayinde.

According to Ayinde, the docu-

Security agents ‘seal off’ APC candidate’s home

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives candidate for Ekiti Central 1, Dr. Eniola Ajayi, has accused the police and other security agencies of laying siege to her Ado-Ekiti house.

Dr. Ajayi, in a statement yesterday, said police operatives, the Department of State Services (DSS) and others stormed her house inside Adekunle Fajuyi Estate on Ilawe Road.

She claimed that security agents wanted to arrest her but they were resisted by her supporters.

The APC candidate claimed that the security operatives locked her house, having failed to arrest her.

She said: “It is most unfortunate that my house was raided early

•Police: it’s not true From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

yesterday by joint security forces.

“As I speak, my house has been locked by the police and DSS .

“This is a repetition of the crude militarisation and harassment of opposition candidates and perceived political enemies of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“This was exactly the brute force used during the last June 21 governorship election.

“It is most unfortunate that security forces have not learnt from the Ekitigate scandal.

“We had thought that the security forces would have stopped being puns in the hands of the

PDP. “Though the scheme to forcefully arrest me failed because the people of Ado and Irepodun/Ifelodun local governments resisted them but we shall ensure that the voices and votes of our people count by following the electoral laws.

Police spokesman Alberto Adeyemi described Dr. Ajayi’s allegation as untrue, saying his men said nothing of such happened.

Adeyemi said he was not sure if the issue was connected with the vehicle recovery bid of the government.

The police spokesperson promised that the command would investigate the matter as soon as the matter is officially reported.

‘I remain Ondo APC candidate for Ile-Oluji constituency’

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ONTROVERSY is trailing Tuesday’s Federal High Court, Abuja, ruling on the All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) authentic candidate for Odigbo/Ileoluji/Okeigbo Federal Constituency of Ondo State.

Mrs. Yejide Ogundipe said she remained the party’s candidate for Saturday’s National Assembly election.

Mrs. Ogundipe, the daughter of the renowned author, the late D.O Fagunwa, is the APC’s recognised candidate having won the primaries and declared as such by the Appeal Committee.

However, another contestant, Festus Adefiranye, has secured a court order proclaiming him as the party’s candidate.

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

Adefiranye maintained that he is the authentic APC candidate, following a judgment by Justice G.O Kolawole, which proclaimed him as the party’s candidate.

But Mrs. Ogundipe wrote to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying she remained the APC’s candidate having filed an appeal against the court’s decision.

A letter to INEC by her counsel, Oju Kekemeke, asked INEC “to maintain the status quo and not give effect to the judgment as appeal against the said judgment is already lodged and pending”.

In her grounds of appeal, Mrs. Ogundipe said the court erred in law when it overruled the notice of

preliminary objection filed by her and assumed jurisdiction to entertain the plaintiff’s suit.

She said there was no evidence to show that Section 87 of the Electoral Act and the guidelines of APC were violated to enable the court assume jurisdiction.

Mrs. Ogundipe also added that there were ample, credible and conclusive evidence to show that the issues before the court remained political questions within domestic jurisdiction of the party.

She said there was conclusive evidence to show that the Legislative Appeal Committee reached a binding decision without bias and breach of the plaintiff’s (Adefiranye’s) right to fair hearing.

ments included the approval plan for the main auditorium of the church and a general survey of the church complex.

Ojo, however, objected to their admission, arguing that they were not related to the collapsed building.

According to him, SCOAN’s position has always been that it was processing permit and some payment made to the government in regards to the building, when the incident occurred.

But Magistrate Komolafe held that the documents should be admitted as exhibits and they were marked 035 to 040.

He, thereafter, adjourned Folayan’s cross examination till April 8.

Police ban OPC from monitoring election

By Leke Salaudeen

L

AGOS State Commissioner of Police Kayode Aderanti has warned members of the outlawed Odua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) against its plan to monitor Saturday’s presidential election.

Aderanti said the constitution does not allow any group to assume the responsibility of the police on voting days and asked the OPC members to steer clear of polling booths.

He spoke at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos yesterday.

The police boss said OPC has no business in the maintenance of peace, law and order on voting day and warned it against committing electoral offence.

According to him, it is a criminal offence for anybody to be in possession of weapons or wear any dress to intimidate voters.

“We won’t allow anybody under any pseudonym to come out and perform the functions of security agents on voting days,” he said.

The Resident Electoral Commission (REC), Akin Orebiyi, said of the 5.6 million PVCs received from Abuja; only 3.85 million have been collected.

He told the gathering that voters can stay behind after casting their votes to watch the sorting and counting of ballots.

Orebiyi said a copy of the result will be pasted at the polling unit; thereafter, it will be taken to the collation centre.

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COMMENTARY LETTER

EDITORIALS

IGP Abba’s unconstitutional call

Lousy Labour • For a second time, NLC’s election is botched at a time the nation needs it sorely

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YUBA Wabba’s emergence as the new Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President is causing rippling reverberations among the nation’s Labour family. Until his new position, he was the President of Medical and Health Workers Union (MHWU). His election factionalised the congress with the formation of Restoration Group that is led by Joe Ajaero of Nigeria Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and Igwe Achese of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).

Wabba succeeded Abdulwaheed Omar after the expiration of his eight years rule and reportedly polled 1,695 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ajearo of NUEE who scored 1, 140 votes.

Other officials that also emerged from the polls at the Eagle Square, Abuja: Peters Adeyemi, Kiri Mohammed and Najeem Yasin, Deputy Presidents; Asuguni Amechi, Dutsinma Lawal:

‘We consider it a sad historical commentary that the NLC is splitting not on grounds of principle but over its inability to keep its house in order regarding its elections...the movement is now largely seen as a money-spinning venture and its officers’ elections, a do-or-die affair’

Oyelekan Lateef - Vice Presidents (unopposed) and Khaleel Ibrahim, National Treasurer (unopposed).

Ajearo rejected the result of the elections in which a total of 3,119 delegates drawn from 43 affiliate unions, cleared by the electoral committee headed by President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nasir Fagge, participated.

The NUEE and NUPENG delegates equally rejected the result on the ground that it was fraught with irregularities.

The first election was also botched again, on grounds of alleged irregularities amongst the candidates.

The ballot papers used in the rescheduled election were redesigned to reflect names of all the candidates for a particular position on the same ballot paper. In the first one that held at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja, names of all the candidates were printed on different ballot papers, leading to allegations that some candidates’ names appeared more than once in a booklet.

While not saying that it is not unlikely that the former President, Abdul-Wahid Omar, as he was being accused, actually manipulated the electoral system, such should not be sufficient to cause factionalisation of the NLC. We strongly believe that the election could not be deemed illegal since all the 43 industrial unions voluntarily participated in it.

It is high time the Labour movement got its act together. The union should

know, in case it has forgotten, that what is at stake is not only about Labour. The group is an important part of democracy because over time, the NLC, has been in the forefront of the campaign for enthronement of democratic rule; it is therefore a sad irony that its house is now divided because of frictions over selfish antidemocratic bickering.

We consider it a sad historical commentary that the NLC is splitting not on grounds of principle but over its inability to keep its house in order regarding its elections. What this has shown is that most Labour activists have lost compassion and commitment for the struggle since the movement is now largely seen as a money-spinning venture and its officers’ elections, a do-or-die affair.

This fact has made the factionalisation of the congress to be a whole contradiction of the essence of what the Labour movement stands for.

As Issa Aremu, General Secretary of National Union of Textiles, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria and a contestant for the post of Deputy President in the election puts it: “Disagreement, contestations are part of our heritage and tradition.

Nigeria Labour Congress is made up of industrial unions.’’ This better be as this disagreement has to be resolved amicably otherwise, the NLC’s top members and leadership will lose the moral aptitude to contribute to national democratic discourse.

Bloodbath in Benue

• Has the federal government abandoned farmer-cattle Fulani crisis

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N the unending wars between the Fulani herdsmen in the North and farmers, another bloodbath was witnessed in Benue State on March 15, when about 70 suspected Fulani herdsmen reportedly slaughtered 95 people, most of them women and children, in Egba Aguta Local Government Area of the state. A survivor, simply identified as Oche, said that the herdsmen stormed the village between 5am and 6am and started attacking people.

They came with arrows, locally made guns and knives to attack the people, most of whom were still sleeping. The herdsmen then escaped to Nasarawa State. Oche, who could not give the number of those wounded in the attack, said he “believed that those wounded are between 95 and 100 as I counted up to 80 bodies being taken away by people in uniform. Most of those slaughtered were women, children and the aged. Almost all the houses in the community were razed by the attackers”.

Although the state police commissioner, Hyacinth Dagala, who confirmed the attack had directed the area commander to ensure that adequate security is provided to the area, we see this directive as belated. Deadly attacks

by Fulani herdsmen in Benue State have become a recurring decimal. On February 11, about 30 people were feared killed, apart from those who sustained varying degrees of injuries, in the Logo LGA of the same state when some

Fulani herdsmen allegedly attacked and sacked over 24 communities and villages in the area, some of which are said to be only four kilometres away from Anyin, the country home of Governor Gabriel Suswam.

For the umpteenth time, we state that security matters should be taken seriously all over the country, especially in volatile areas in the Northeast and North central parts of the country. Lack of effective security in these areas has largely been responsible for the havoc wreaked by Boko Haram insurgents in the Northeast and parts of North central, and the abduction of over 270 school children in Chibok. It is therefore no surprise that the Fulani herdsmen have always succeeded in killing people in the area with considerable ease and with impunity.

Our security personnel must curb what has become a blood-thirstiness of the Fulani herdsmen by taking proactive actions to preempt attacks rather than reacting after the fact. We also understand that the Fulani are sometimes provoked by the people who rustle and steal their cattle.

We opine that this carnage has gone on for too long for the government to take some decisive action to find solution. We think it is only an irresponsible government that would look on helplessly while her citizens are slaughtered in such large numbers at every turn.

Apart from beefing up security and

intelligence gathering, the federal government working in conjunction with the affected state governments, must speedily bring fresh ideas to bear on cattle rearing in the country.

Normadic cattle rearing is not peculiar to Nigeria; we must borrow a leave from other countries on how they solved similar problems.

Sending relief materials to the survivors in affected areas of attack is medicine after death. The police and the military should wake up to their tasks of securing these areas, and prevent further attacks on innocent people in the future by gathering intelligence on the activities of the Fulani herdsmen to curb their penchant for frequent killings of innocent people. We say enough is enough!

‘This carnage has gone on for too long for the government to take some decisive action and find solution. We think it is only an irresponsible government that looks on helplessly while her citizens are slaughtered in such large numbers at every turn’

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IR: Millions of Nigerians have been having a good laugh since the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega last Friday punctured the illegal and unconstitutional warning of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Suleiman Abba a day before that voters should vote and go home; that the police will to protect our votes.

On the national television a day after, the INEC chairman came on air to educate and sensitize Nigerians that there is no provision either in the constitution or in the Electoral Act that gives the police the right to tell voters what to do on election day, that they can wait but should conduct themselves peacefully and in orderly manner in policing their votes so that it is counted and announced publicly in their presence. The duty of the police is constitutionally and solely to provide security on election day, just like other days, no more, no less.

IGP Abba must be a wag to think in his wildest imagination that Nigerians will be intimidated or gullibly surrender the protection of their sacred votes to the Nigeria police bearing in mind their antecedents, which is not endearing. This same IGP whose organisation cannot recover over 200 girls abducted by criminals for about 340 days now; what a shame! Is this not the same IGP that ordered his men to desecrate the federal legislature through unlawful closure last year and who in solidarity with President Jonathan, illegally withdrew the security aides of the speaker? It is this same IGP that sat in his office while behaving like the Lord of the Manor by assaulting our sensibilities and democracy.

Honestly, this IGP is a first class example of a lawless officer who has no respect for the constitution and constituted authority, hence one is not surprised that he has good company in AIG Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu of “I will kill 20 civilians for every one policeman killed,” amongst others.

However, to say that we weren’t expecting this illegal and irresponsible warning from Mr. Suleiman Abba prior to the 2015 general election is to be economical with the truth about the antecedents and character of this police officer and his office. It was in this same country and during elections in the past that Suleiman Abba’s predecessors like Hafiz Ringim, Ogbonnaya Onovo and M.D. Abubakar warned voters not to take their phones to polling units.

So in effect, Mr. Abba is not saying anything new but only following the tradition of his predecessors with regards to perpetuation of illegality and unconstitutionality. Therefore, like the Nigerian voters dealt with his predecessors in the past by ignoring and daring them, so also will Nigerians do with Mr. Abba’s latest reckless, inciting and offensive warning which should be ignored for what it represents - illegality.

Come March 28th and April 11th, 2015, Nigerians should go to the polls in a peaceful and orderly manner to vote wisely for a candidate of their choice and wait till the votes are counted and publicly announced in order to engender citizen’s participation and ownership of the process.

Your vote is your power; use it wisely, so says a popular aphorism.

• Nelson Ekujumi, Surulere, Lagos.

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

• Executive Director (Finance & Administration) Ade Odunewu

•Deputy Editor Lawal Ogienagbon

•Advert Manager Robinson Osirike

•Deputy Editor (News) Adeniyi Adesina

• Gen. Manager (Training and Development) Soji Omotunde •General Manager (Abuja Press) Kehinde Olowu •AGM (PH Press) Tunde Olasogba

•IT Manager Bolarinwa Meekness

•Deputy Editor (Nation’s Capital) •Press Manager Yomi Odunuga Udensi Chikaodi •Group Political Editor Emmanuel Oladesu •Legal Counsel John Unachukwu •Group Business Editor Simeon Ebulu • Manager (Admin) Folake Adeoye •Group Sports Editor Ade Ojeikere •Acting Manager (sales) •Editorial Page Editor Olaribigbe Bello Sanya Oni

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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CARTOON & LETTERS

IR: No one replaces gold with wood. No one replaces honey with bean cakes. We have found a vast deposit of gold and honey and we don’t intend to lose or replace it. Our vast deposit of gold is Senator Jide Omoworare’s heart of gold with which he has represented us in Abuja and touched our lives in the last four years. Our vast deposits of honey are his exemplary character and performance – we have tasted it, and we affirm that nothing tastes like it.

His tenure as our Senator has brought tremendous development and senatorial presence to the people of our senatorial district. His exemplary attitude to service was first displayed on his thanksgiving

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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

Let’s not replace gold with wood visit to Owa’s palace in Ilesha. The then newly elected senator had noticed that the premises of the monarch’s palace was unbefitting for royalty, and without hesitation, he commenced the renovation of the palace. The expenses were borne out of his pocket – that is, from personal funds while he was yet to receive any form of emolument from his new office.

In less than four years, Omoworare sponsored nine bills.

These are bills, when fully passed, will solidify the foundations and application of our nation’s constitution.

Whilst most of the Bills have passed the first readings and have their Senate Bill (SB) numbers, the others were yet to be listed by the Business Rules Committee of the

Aregbesola and Osun workers

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IR: The observations by Tunji Omofoye in the Sunday edition of The Guardian on the 22nd of March overlooks, perhaps because of the constraint of space, certain critical issues relating to the fiscal climate in the state of Osun.

Like every other head of a federating unit in Nigeria, Governor Rauf Aregbesola is operating with one arm tied behind his back. This is because of the debilitating effect of our anti-federalist fiscal operating system that cannot be over stated.

This is why the issue of restoring fiscal federalism is so crucial not just in this election but for the sake of restoring balance in our economy.

Everyone is of course aware of the collapse of the country‘s main source of revenue. This alone highlights the fiscal imbalance. However pre dating the downturn, Aregbesola had been pro- active and admirably so.

In spite of the constraints, he was the first to offer the national minimum wage of N18, 001. This is worth stressing for the very concept and applicability of a national minimum wage in a federal system is contentious.

Nevertheless, even though he inherited a bloated civil service with over 40000 personnel Aregbesola has resolutely refused to‘ rightsize. ‘ On the contrary, salaries were consistently paid before the end of the month. He valiantly and with-

out prodding paid 13th month salary consecutively since 2010, reflecting the instinct of a committed progressive.

It has to be stated here that a salary bill of N3.6 billion a month is not an easy proposition at the best of times, not to talk of now when allocation from the Federation Account dropped from N4.6 billion to a little over N1 billion, a shortfall of more than 75 per cent. Up and against it from day one, Aregbesola has pushed up Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) up from N300 million a month to N1billion. This has required ingenuity in a tight fiscal climate in which massive investment in the physical and social infrastructure has also had to be made in order to re-balance the economy as well as to enhance the future outlook of the state.

As a committed social democrat what Aregbesola resolutely refuses to contemplate let alone carry out is lay- off workers. For this reason, it is on record that all categories of workers have expressed solidarity with the governor. They do not have a doctorate in political economy but they are astute enough as to know the cause and effect.

As we speak, a committee made up of government officials and labour leaders in the state are working their socks off to come up with means of shoring up revenue in the state, in a way that will not hurt the

poor. The talk of discord between the government and labour unions is therefore laughable. There is no such discord. Every party understands the situation and is willing to work hard and come up with solution.

This is why, from day one, the emphasis has been on cost rationalisation by slimming down on the machinery of government through the elimination of duplication, waste, inefficiencies and corruption.

As is to be expected, truth is the first casualty. What is being owed is three months’ salaries and not five months. And sorting it out is what disturbs Aregbesola‘s sleep.

Across the board, a new edifying alternative perspective has been implemented in the state of Osun, which has repositioned the state and made life more tolerable for all.

This is why future historians will divide the analysis of the state into two segments; pre and post Aregbesola and the difference is clear. A temporary hiccup clearly beyond the control of a state government, which is the result of dysfunctional system, cannot be used as a battering ram against Aregbesola. The people are simply not ready to be fooled and bought over with fairy tales and propaganda.

• Kanmi Ademiluyi, Lagos

Senate. However, one of the Bills has been passed by the Senate and gone to the House of Representatives for concurrence and thereafter to the President for assent. He also has five motions to his credits.

Reckoning that education is key in the formation of a society’s future, Senator Omoworare singlehandedly constructed blocks of three classrooms with offices, VIP toilets and manual boreholes in over four locations in his senatorial district.

Our Senator provided developmental support for Ife/ Ijesha youths. He nominated about 40 young graduates for employment in federal government establishments and about 50 young men and women for employment by the state government. He championed the organization of a job clinic to assist the youth of his constituency in acquiring different skills and trade as well as prepare them for employment in private blue chip companies. He further established a skill acquisition centre – to continually provide vocational education to his constituents. The senator assisted 15 of his constituent to participate in Ipade Omo-Ile (IPALE) in United Kingdom and he sponsored 24 youths on exchange to Detroit in United States. Some 80 youths have completed the computer appreciation training, all on the senator’s bill.

Senator Omoworare is not oblivious of the importance of safety and security of the lives of his constituents. He ensured that the streets are well lit, providing over 90 solar powered street lights. He is equally aware of the need for potable water.

The Senator also collaborated with other public officials to attract state projects such as the Injection Power Station in OAUTH, Omi Okun Road and Ile-Ife and Ita Osin Road to name a few.

However, beyond his infrastructural, educational or legislative exploits, the distinguished Senator donated relief materials in conjunction with National Emergency Management Agency to Victims of fire incident at Oja-Tuntun, Odo-Ogbe Ile-Ife. Senator Babajide Omoworare stands as the most responsive and responsible senator to ever represent Osun East Senatorial District. It took an ‘ordinary’ Facebook comment made by Ogbeni Akinsuyi Titus Ikeji Arakeji on the sorry state of the lkeji Arakeji High School for Senator to come to the school’s rescue. Jide moved physically and financially to ensure the restoration of the school.

By far, Jide’s excellent stride as a senator is the dictionary definition of “one good turn” – it surely deserves another. His unrivalled commitment to work earned him an award from the Ijesha People in Diaspora, even though he is of Ife origin.

Let us reelect him again – we should not trade gold for wood or honey for bean cakes Senator Omoworare deserves our vote and support for a second term.

Let’s re-elect our gold and honey.

• Omowaiye Oluremi Ikoti o Lane, Ilesa

Still on Ebola

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IR: Though Nigeria had bid Ebola farewell, its seems to have resurrected in faraway Guinea. However, I urge Nigeria not sleep with her two eyes closed but be conscious of the health of her citizens.

The federal Government should tighten surveillance around the country’s borders so as to avoid

recurrence of the deadly disease in any part of our nation. This needs to be done with vigilance and diligence because, health according to an aphorism, is wealth. May the nation never witness Ebola again.

• Hamdalat Ibitoye, Kwara state University.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

19

COMMENTS

2015 elections, Nigeria is winning

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HERE is a lot of anxiety about the presidential elections coming up in two days time. Many have worked themselves up to the point of hypertension as if elections are not a normal process of democratic renewal. I can of course understand why people are anxious. In fact, I have heard people predict that there will be civil war after the elections. There will be no such thing. I have said it in this column before that when we get to the edge of the precipice, we will temporise and somehow avoid falling over. I was in England last year when the Scots were voting whether to remain in the United Kingdom or not. Everybody was worked up and afraid of the consequences of that referendum but at the end, good sense prevailed and the Scots decided in favour of the union. I have a feeling that when the presidential elections are over, no matter who wins, Nigeria will settle down, and possibly begin again, the process of renewal.

The fact that this election is being hotly contested is a good augury for the future of democracy in Nigeria. We can ignore the excesses of some politicians who have been making incendiary statements full of hate against one presidential candidate or the other. These people in most cases are fighting for their own survival and they do not represent decent opinions of our people. Some are foaming in the mouth about Buhari’s age and medical condition as if they have not seen people older than General Buhari hold executive positions in other countries. Perhaps they need to be reminded that just two months ago, the people of Tunisia elected an 88-year-old man, Béji Caïd Essebsi as their president. Also, I want to reecho what Cardinal Onaiyekan said about the nonsense of making an issue of the age of General Buhari and his need if necessary to seek medical attention as a non-issue. Anybody of his age and even those who are much younger who have the means should seek medical attention anywhere. It does

‘This is the way it should be and Nigeria is winning. It is clear that our people can no longer be taken for granted and whoever wants to lead them would have to convince them that he is ready to offer exemplary leadership and be a moral avatar. In this respect, we must thank Professor Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission for attempting to conduct a rigging-free elections in 2015 through the use of the permanent voting card’

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RIENDS, Nigerians and countrymen, spare me your time.

At last, the moment has come for us to determine whether or not things should continue as they are.

Which direction our nation should go lies in our hands as we go to the polls on Saturday. The electorate, as in any election, have a crucial role to play in Saturday’s presidential poll. In our hands is the fate of the contestants and our dear country. If we vote right, we will be paving the way for a better and brighter future.

But if we vote for the wrong candidate, our action will haunt us forever.

Besides, generations unborn will not forgive us for mortgaging their future. How we vote and who we vote for will go a long way in shaping and building the Nigeria of our dream. At this critical stage of the nation’s life, we need a leader that can take us to the promised land - a land flowing with oil that will be beneficial to all and not only a few because they are in power. We are a blessed nation; we are blessed in resources - there is hardly any part of the country where natural mineral cannot be found and in abundance too.

All we need do is to tap these resources and make life worth living for the people. With the right leader,

346 DAYS AFTER#

WHERE ARE THE ABDUCTED CHIBOK GIRLS?

not make sense to say that a 72 year old man has medical conditions, this is normal, it is of no intellectual consequence.

This writer is 72 plus and I will be ready to debate any issue on governance with anybody in Nigeria and outside Nigeria.

The point I am making is that people should face more fundamental issues about Nigeria than the age of a presidential candidate.

President Goodluck Jonathan has the constitutional right to want to serve a second term of four years and I am delighted that he is doing everything that is humanly possible to win the election. I am also excited about the fact that he himself and his supporters know that he is facing a formidable opponent and that the election can go either way. This is the first time in living memory in Nigeria that a head of government is being forced to fight for his survival. This is good for democracy. Suddenly, the president has realised his political mistake of totally marginalising the southwest in his appointments and budgetary allocations for infrastructural renewal in the southwest. His advisers, and intelligence chiefs have not been fair to the president. If they were, they would have told him about the physical neglect and the seething anger against him in the southwest. In the six years of being Head of State, bad roads have been the lot of our people, Ibadan-Ilorin, Ibadan-Lagos, Ibadan-Akure have remained death traps; electricity supply in the southwest has been fitful, inadequate and episodic. In Ibadan which remains the most important city in Yoruba land, the daily occurrence of blackout has been the experience of the people and this has retarded the growth of the city because all industrial and manufacturing plants have either been ruined by inadequate power or shut down completely.

The experience in other parts of the country has not been marginally better. Out of the ten largest cities in the whole country, six or more of them are in the South West and urbanisation here brings its own problems and this makes the neglect of the area politically sensitive and explosive because information travel rapidly and widely. On the eve of the election, the president is now forced to touch remote places and plead with traditional rulers in the southwest such as the Oni of Ife, Alake of Egbaland, the Alaafin of Oyo, and even minor traditional rulers like the Alara in Lagos State. This is good for democracy. As commander in chief of the armed forces, the president is now visiting troops fighting against Boko Haram. I commend him for this and this is the way it should have been but it is never too late.

General Muhammadu Buhari has also gone round wearing traditional accoutrement of various ethnic groups in order to ingratiate himself to them and their hearts. He himself knows that if he becomes president, he would while leading have to carry the people along. He would have to forget the WA1

Brigade of yesteryears and decrees with immediate effect. He has campaigned in all parts of Nigeria including the Delta, the home area of the present president.

Both he and the president have also campaigned in the troubled and disturbed North East Jide and in spite of the fear Osuntokun of untoward incidents, the campaigns there of the two of them have been largely free of incidents. This is the way it should be and Nigeria is winning. It is clear that our people can no longer be taken for granted and whoever wants to lead them would have to convince them that he is ready to offer exemplary leadership and be a moral avatar. In this respect, we must thank Professor Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission for attempting to conduct a rigging-free elections in 2015 through the use of the permanent voting card. This should presage electronic voting in years to come.

May I recall the 1959 pre-independence federal elections and especially Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s revolutionary campaign in the Northern Nigeria using aeroplanes and helicopters to cover all the nooks and crannies of Northern Nigeria? On seeing this, Sir Ahmadu Bello Sardauna of Sokoto and leader of NPC was forced out of his aristocratic cocoon to campaign in dusty villages in Northern Nigeria with his flowing babariga sometimes covered with dust. We were told he never forgave Awolowo for this indignity. Whether this is a true story or not, our president by running helter-skelter all over the country is repeating history. Local and foreign pundits are suggesting that this election is going to be close but it seems the western powers and the media have written off the present president but whatever the outcome of this election, it is Nigeria that would win because from now on, no head of government; president, governors and local government chairmen would sit at home and write the outcome of elections without allowing the people to express their minds in a free, fair and transparent way.

We are hopefully turning the corner in our electoral politics and we can only hope that INEC will not be sabotaged and that the elections will result in the renewal of stability and democratic governance in our country.

The hour is here this can be done. That right leader is the one we should go for on Saturday. There are many contestants in the race, but President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his arch-opponent, Gen Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stand shoulder above the others whose names voters cannot even readily recall. On Saturday, there will be no fewer than 14 names on the ballot, but the votes will be going to only Jonathan and Buhari.

What we are experiencing in the countdown to the election has never happened before in the history of elections in the country. It is as if we have never had an election in Nigeria until now. The tension is so high that you can cut it with a knife. What about the hate campaign? Oh! that is another kettle of fish. This is why the world is worried about the election. Global leaders are afraid that there may be trouble because of the way our politicians are going about their campaigns. The ruling PDP, its candidates and their supporters are the most guilty of this. Taking a cue from the party, its supporters have gone wild across the country, unleashing terror on the people.

Under the guise of rallies, they shut down towns and cities, hindering movement. In some instances, they vandalised vehicles, destroyed the campaign posters of opposing candidates, with the police looking the other way. In some states, the president was stoned, perhaps by those who feel that they have had a raw deal under him. No matter how bad such people may feel, that was a wrong approach. They do not need pebbles to make their grievances known. Their voter’s card is their stone and they should use it wisely on Saturday. They can throw all the stones they want with their vote that day. This symbolic stone throwing will have more meaning than pelt-

ing the president’s convoy with pebbles on the road.

Pelting the president’s convoy with stones will not yield anything, but with our votes we can throw him out of office and bring him the person that will make our country the pride of Africa. We are called giant of Africa, but deep down us we know that to be a misnomer.

How can we be giant of Africa when we cannot cater for the citizenry?

How can we be giant of Africa when millions of graduates are roaming the streets for job? How can we be Africa’s giant when we cannot generate enough electricity for industrial and domestic use? How can we be Africa’s giant when the value of our naira keeps depreciating? The naira, at the official market, currently exchanges for N199 to the dollar; at the black market, it is around N230 to the dollar. Giant of Africa indeed! How can we be giant of Africa when the real sector is virtually dead? Because of the epileptic power supply, many firms are either not operating under full capacity or have relocated to countries where the environment is more conducive.

Nigeria has never had it so bad.

Jonathan has a lot of baggage going into this election, but his supporters do not think so. To them, Jonathan has done well and so, he should be given a second term. I do not know their yardstick for measuring Jonathan’s performance, but if it is the same as that of other Nigerians, surely the president cannot be said to have done well at all. Those against his return believe that he has done nothing to better the people’s lot. The only thing he has done, some believe, is the rebasing of the gross domestic product (GDP) to accommodate sectors hitherto not captured. This is what his loyalists are touting as his achievement. What is an achievement in the rebasing of

the GDP? It is nothing to crow about because it does not translate to more jobs or better life for the people.

That the rebasing made Nigeria’s economy the largest in Africa does not in anyway deviate from the fact that it is all an economic jargon to bamboozle the people that Jonathan is working. If indeed Jonathan is working, it would have shown in the number of the unemployed taken off the streets. If indeed he is working, it would have shown in regular power supply. If indeed the president is working, it would have shown in the resuscitation of the real sector. The last six years of Jonathan have been nothing but suffering for Nigerians. So, this election is about who can deliver the goods between Jonathan and Buhari. This is why the election must be peaceful for us to make the right choice. f we get the right leader, it will be to our own good, but if we make the wrong choice, it will be to our eternal regret. Buhari has done it before – as a military leader he restored order and sanity in the land. He was a no-nonsense leader, who acted the way the times then demanded. In the mess we now find ourselves, we need such a person to nudge us on to the path of greatness.

Nigeria has a lot of potential. We are a nation of can-do people, but we lack the national leadership that will make us blossom. If honest Nigerians cannot make it under six years of Jonathan, while marketers are robbing us through fuel subsidy, what hope is there that if he gets a second term things would be better? Things can only get worse un-

I

Lawal Ogienagbon lawal.ogienagbon@thenationonlineng.net SMS ONLY: 08099400204, 08112661612

der him. What we need is a leader to propel us to greatness, not one that will promote divisiveness as Jonathan has been doing.

As former President Olusegun Obasanjo said at a lecture to mark his 78th birthday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, last March 5, ‘’there is nothing they have told us that is impossible but all they have said boils down to one thing and one thing only – leadership. And until we get it right, anytime we do not get it right, we cannot get any other thing right; don’t let us deceive ourselves, whether it is security, science and technology or innovation or the development of the economy or education they all boil down to leadership and at all levels. May God give us the leadership that occasions like this deserve in Nigeria…’’

Come Saturday, we will have an opportunity to pick such a leader.

So, let us vote right; let us vote wise because no amount of stoning will later correct a wrong choice.

‘On Saturday, we will have an opportunity to pick a leader which occasions like this deserve. So, let us vote right; let us vote wise because no amount of stoning will later correct a wrong choice’

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

20

COMMENTS

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N two days time, Nigerians will have a choice to decide whether to continue enduring the pains inflicted by Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) buccaneers that have continued to wield power and influence over our lives. March 28 offers us an opportunity to give a verdict on President Goodluck Jonathan who four years ago made a solemn promise “to uphold ‘democracy and rule of law’, ‘banish corruption and its attendant vices, ‘respect human life and human rights’.

It is a payback date for Jonathan who beyond self, appears incapable of loving anyone, whether Nigeria in spite of self serving mouthing of ‘for the love of Nigeria’ or the Yoruba nation that made him that he is aiming to turn its land into a battle ground because of his desperate ambition to rule for ten years.

In 2011, to secure the PDP ticket, President Jonathan after subverting his party’s constitution allegedly doled out $1 billion to PDP governors on the eve of his party’s primary ostensibly for mobilization. For this Saturday election, 2015 election, President Jonathan whose first international engagement after victory was a visit to Uganda’s Powered Museveni, a ruthless dictator in the last 30 years has no opponent in his party’s primaries. All unanimously adopted him.

In the run up to 2011, Jonathan overlooked the PDP/Halliburton $180m LNG Bonny plant contract scam in deference to his corrupt PDP benefactors. By 2015, stealing in billions has replaced corruption. Thus those PDP stalwarts, their children and their fronts involved in the monumental N1.6 trillion fuel subsidy scam are today busy raising funds and campaigning for Jonathan’s re-election instead of being behind bars. In fact, about 17 of the 22 PDP elected governors in 1999 that had been indicted by the courts or still in court defending their integrity have been re-integrated back as governors, lawmakers or party officials. In the period, N5b pension fund fraud was uncovered right inside the Head of Government office. One Director of Pensions in the Police Affairs ministry was indicted for stealing N32.5 billion. Of the over 200 banking officials that Sanusi Lamido alleged to have contributed to the collapse of the banking sector, only one, according to him was successfully prosecuted as at the time he was removed from office, over alleged ‘missing’ $20b.

For four years, Jonathan exploited our ethnic and religious differences. Unidentified suspected Fulani herdsmen mindlessly mur-

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Jonathan’s love: Neither for Nigeria nor Yoruba nation dered women and children in their sleep. The president has been tolerant of the assaults of his Ijaw and ethnic irredentist, on critics of his inept leadership. Today as it was in 2011, President Jonathan is urging leaders of different ethnic groups resident in Lagos to join forces to defeat their chief host and owners of Lagos. Yet, Jonathan belongs to the Ijaw nation that regarded Igbo properties in Port Harcourt as abandoned properties 45 years after the civil war.

For four years when not in Jerusalem or Rome, sometimes accompanied by some dubious members of his cabinet, the president was seen at home moving from churches to synagogues, and dismissing as subversive elements, critics of government and conjuring metaphors of the triumph of Biblical David over Goliath, and the Egyptian enslaved Israelis over powerful Pharaoh. But to the president, his opponents who worship their own God without becoming public nuisance are Islamists bent on Islamising Nigeria.

For four years, insurgents operated with little resistance killing over 19,000 innocent Nigerians, turning over 1.5 Nigerians into refugees in their country. About 300 young girls abducted from their dormitories have remained in captivity for close to a year. With crisis in the international oil market, the naira now exchanges for about N220 to one dollar.

What a shame!

But in spite of the baleful legacies of unfulfilled promises, President Jonathan is breaking all rules in a desperate bid for re-election

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan was given an honest report for the first time in his life in public office shortly before the February 14 2015 date for the general elections. He was told point blank by the members of his kitchen cabinet and sundry aides, that if the elections were conducted on February 14 as planned by INEC, his loss would be so comprehensive that it would set an unbeatable record of defeat that will stand throughout this generation!

The strategists of the President came up with a battle plan.

They advised that the first thing to do was to postpone the election so as to buy as much time as possible to turn the table against the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

They asked for and obtained the permission of the President to come up with a script to change the obvious tide of the general elections. The document they came up with was rather simplistic. Having been cooked up by simple-minded fellows.

They listed the issues on which the President has performed dismally and requested the President to take some actions, however farcical to correct the anomaly. Next they advised that the slant of PDP propaganda should shift from the decency of issues to the murky arena of innuendoes and slander against not only the candidates of APC but also notable officials of the party. They advised that since the President has very little by the way of achievements, personal attacks on the APC and its members would do just fine. Finally, they advised that since the funds available to the PDP are limitless, truck loads of cash, denominated in dollars, should be deployed to “buy” traditional rulers and opinion leaders, particularly in the South West zone.

Suddenly, the parade of suspect “achievements” of the President dried up. Assaults on the integrity of the APC Presidential candidate took over. Concurrently, the President embarked on a number of activities. He succumbed to the over-due reduction of the prices of refined petroleum products. No one was fooled. In any case, the shylock marketers decided to make nonsense of the change in the price regime. The action of the President achieved nothing. They felt insulted by the belated decision by a President afraid to lose an election and desperately looking for purchased votes.

To make up for the neglect, nay betrayal of members of the Armed Forces deployed in combat against Boko Haram terrorists, the President donned an ill-fitting military fatigue and went to the safest areas of operations to mouth some inanities.

The bemused troops smiled and wondered about the quality of the Commander-in-Chief under whose command they were serving. The action of the President achieved nothing. The gallant troops ran Boko Haram terrorists out of town after town. They wondered why it took a pending election for the President to do what he had to have done years before. And if the President believes that the recaptured areas will be ready for elections, he needs to do a rethink. There are an estimated 1.5 million internally displaced persons. Their rehabilitation cannot be achieved in time for the elections. If it was, the

in two days’ time. He has turned Yoruba land into battleground. It is not as if President Jonathan, the master of political subterfuge has ever had anything but contempt for the Yoruba on whose back he rode to power. This finds expression in the fact that besides his chief of staff and the Accountant General of Nigeria, no Yoruba of note featured among the holders of the first fifty important positions in his administration. Dismissing Obasanjo who betrayed Nigeria to make him president as ‘not a statesman but someone not better that a motor park tout”; he identified those who in his judgment should lead the Yoruba nation. They include the likes of Kashamu Buruji, Gbenga Daniel, Fani Kayode, Musliu Obanikoro, Ayo Fayose, Olusegun Mimiko Doyin Okupe and Gani Adams.

The Jonathan recognized Yoruba leaders say they are ready to deliver the Yoruba votes to Jonathan. Pa Ayo Adebanjo who, some two years back, publicly praised Bola Tinubu for liberating Yoruba land from Obasanjo and PDP has joined forces with Jonathan’s errand boys to say the aspirations of the Yoruba can only be achieved by voting for PDP and President Jonathan who has promised to implement the confab report tucked away along dozen other committee reports until the eve of a national election. But Pa Adebanjo has never struck many people as a successful politician, a successful lawyer or even a successful Awo follower.

If we see politics as ‘an art of the possible’,

any politician who is condemned to the past and not the future and what it holds, is a failed politician. In a nation that has according to General Alabi Isama been ruled since independence by a coalition of Igbo and Hausa Fulani elite, even while pretending to be at war, Pa Adebanjo cannot see what Yoruba stands to gain in a combination of Hausa Fulani and the main stream Yoruba political tendency to which he has identified for an upwards of fifty years. He even discountenanced the presence of his Ijebu kinsman, Prof Osinbajo on the Buhari ticket. Pa Adebanjo is prepared to throw away the baby with the bath water because of selfish bitterness against Tinubu.

Pa Adebanjo is not ready to forgive Buhari even after he had said ‘dictatorship goes with military rule’ and after the children of those directly affected publicly pardoned him because of their deeper understanding of the limitation of ill-equipped military junta suffering from messianic complex, Pa Adebanjo has shown he cannot comprehend the essence of Awoism, Awo as philosopher and Awo as a brilliant politician. For instance Awo jailed

by Hausa Fulani and Igbo ruling elites came out of prison without bitterness. He moved on to write books because he was deep enough to know the crisis was ideological. It was the ruling elite in the north and east that reached a consensus to send Awo to prison, hoping erroneously that, he would be too old by the time he returns to question how they govern Nigeria.

On the Lagos metro line project of over 30 years ago, it is a good that that Alhaji Lateef Jakande during his 80th birthday celebration recently put the blame squarely on President Shehu Shagari’s administration. The same Shagari, whose administration guaranteed billions of dollars as external loans for NPP and NPN coalition partner governors, prevented the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from releasing the seventy million mobilization fees for the project, long after the specified amount had been deposited by Lagos State government with it. Pa Jakande also accused Shagari of abandoning the Third mainland bridge due to ‘pettiness.’

Adebanjo is selfishly asking Yoruba people to vote for Jonathan that has nothing but contempt for our people. Our youths, in two days time, must demonstrate that our selfless forbearers’ investment in us have not been in vain by rejecting Jonathan and his errand boys and errant old men.

Postponement of the evil day

By Ola Majoyeogbe people would most certainly vote against him.

To score some cheap votes from the families and loved ones of the 291 girls abducted about a year earlier, the President came up with an inexcusably laughable “ray of hope”, to the effect that since terrorists had not displayed the corpses of the girls, it meant they were still alive! What kind of logic is this?

How puerile can a President in desperation get!

Suddenly, the electricity tariff was slashed in half, less than two weeks before elections! Given the way things are done in Nigeria, the ridiculous 50% reduction cannot be effected before Nigerians vote President Jonathan out of office. In any case, where is the power supply for which the tariff has been slashed? Even the Presidential Villa has huge standby generators and large stock of diesel for use when public power supply is cut off without warning. Nigeria still remains the world’s largest importer of power generators on earth.

For all practical purposes, the President relocated to the Southwest, the zone which helped him win the 2011 elections. Thinking that the traditional rulers and opinion leaders are up for sale, he embarked on what an insider described a “a dollar rain”! The first set of opinion leaders humoured the President with assurances of “endorsement” even when they are quite sure that no one was going to vote for any candidate because they were bribed to make ridiculous and empty public statements. All of this chicanery was going on well until the dollar train reached Ijebu Ode. It was at this stop that the indomitable Awujale of Ijebu Ode and the paramount ruler of Ijebuland, told the confused President what others previously visited ought to have told him; namely that traditional rulers do not canvass votes for politicians. God bless the Awujale for saving the face of the proud Yoruba people. It is surprising that Mrs Jonathan failed to raise an alarm when her husband proceeded on this charade that “this dollars you are sharing, there is God o!”

The laughable theatre of the absurd continued with the commissioning of an overhead bridge in Kano! This President certainly has a warped sense of the duty of his high office. The commissioning of an over-head bridge ought not to fall on the laps of a serious President who is aware of his status and the responsibilities of his office. He went ahead to name the overhead bridge after the highly respected late Emir of Kano, thinking perhaps that the people of Kano would vote for him and his indecent, clumsy and illegal ouster of the present Emir of Kano, the cerebral and fearless Lamido Sanusi.

Whilst the President was disgracing himself and his high office, the fellows who had put their mouths in the over drive mode continued. They spoke like medical experts. One even

put on the toga of a prophet, predicting all sorts of nonsense.

The President’s wife, who is irrepressible and unbeatable when it comes to indecent conduct, overreached herself when she ordered the electorate to stone those with a different political persuasion. In civilized climes, that woman would have been arrested for inciting violence. But in Nigeria, that would be the day.

Key officials and members of APC, who are not candidates in the forth-coming elections received more than their fair share of slanderous attacks. No more can be said or written about this issue because it is sub judice. Illiterate or at best semi-literate political jobbers started parading themselves as spoke persons for the Yoruba race! One sunny March day, these rascals took over the ever-busy Ikorodu road and enacted truly horrific brigandage. They wanted Prof Jega out of office, so that their sponsors can appoint a malleable and spineless man to do their bidding by manipulating to process to produce a dubious victory for President Jonathan.

Unfortunately, the contrived postponement also gave Nigerians the opportunity to expose some of the illegal and indecent acts of President Jonathan. Perhaps the public would not have gotten to know about the scandalous land grab, for which President Jonathan obtained approval from one of his own appointees. An area set aside for the future expansion of the international airport and appropriately one Ebele Integrated Farms mistook name “Aviation village” for an “agricultural village”!

The era of President Jonathan and the PDP is over. The postponement of the general elections has not achieved the desired objective. The President should immediately commence the evacuation of his personal belongings from the Villa. Bye President Jonathan!

•Colonel Ola Majoyeogbe is a retired military intelligence officer, security consultant and public affairs analyst.

‘Illiterate or at best semi-literate political jobbers started parading themselves as spoke persons for the Yoruba race! One sunny March day, these rascals took over the ever-busy Ikorodu road and enacted truly horrific brigandage. They wanted Prof Jega out of office, so that their sponsors can appoint a malleable and spineless man to do their bidding by manipulating to process to produce a dubious victory for President Jonathan’

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

21

COMMENTS

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UBERT Ogunde sang his great song, ‘Yoruba Ronu’, at a time of great trial and stress for the Yoruba nation in Nigeria. For us Yoruba, it has been our lot in Nigeria to suffer trials, stress and distress from time to time to time. That is because, having been made part of Nigeria by the British in 1914, we have been forced to live for a whole century in a Nigeria whose standards are weird and unacceptable to us as Yoruba people. To us today, as the Nigerian presidential election of 2015 approaches, the Nigerian situation is not merely weird and unacceptable to us; it absolutely threatens our peace and security.

Sure, we understand when our political leaders and political activists urge us to focus our attention only on the election that is coming. That is as it should be. As long as we Yoruba as a nation are part of Nigeria, we must be involved in her political processes, and our politically active men and women must do what politicians do in elective politics.

They must seek to win our votes and, in the process, they will talk to us as if voting in the coming election is the most important thing in the world.

But, as one of our proverbs says, even as one’s eyes sheds tears in the act of weeping, one still see through one’s eyes. Today’s situation demands that our politicians must give a big part of their attention to the needs of peace and security in our homeland. They must not ignore the very manifest fact that many prominent citizens in other parts of Nigeria have been talking volubly about violence and war, and that some of such prominent citizens have been importing and amassing weapons of war. Our politicians also must not ignore the stories circulating in recent months that some hostile elements, well armed for destructive purposes, have already entered into our homeland.

This vigilance and readiness to defend our towns and cities and villages is a duty for all of us, members of the Yoruba nation in Nigeria. It is a duty for all our politicians from all political parties. It is a duty for our traditional rulers and chiefs. It is a duty for all our state governors and state governments.

And it is a duty for all of us common citizens.

As an example of what we should all be doing, a powerful Yoruba intellectual organization, Oodua Foundation (O.F,), headquartered in the United States but with members in various countries of the world,

O

UR dear President Goodluck Jonathan, like most political leaders under constant public gaze and oftentimes, glare has had his fair share of ‘moments to regret’. Different leaders have different ways of dealing with the aftershocks of these blunders. Some indeed can be laughed off. Others can be logically reconstructed with clever ‘wordneering’. The thing though is that there are certain attributes that help a bumbler to talk himself out of a sticky ‘moment to regret’. It may be a gift of the garb, locally known as ‘sweet mouth’ or the confidence to admit that it was a ‘stupid thing to say’. Or indeed to keep quiet and at least some will afford the benefit that the bumbler had seen the light and was internalizing his painful regret. Our dear President Jonathan, will rather and in the most unconvincing fashion defend the indefensible and make things worse, or ‘pour sand in his own garri’ The thing about corruption is that whether we like it or not, it is simply not a laughing matter. Corruption is at the root of all our national problems and why the country is statehood in failed mode. So when a president burdened with a systemic corruption perception goes on a literary journey for which he is poorly equipped and declares that his government is not as corrupt as acclaimed

‘Those rooting for a change of guard insist that the lion has transformed into a guard dog on account of the fact that we have come out of the jungle and are now in a domesticated environment under democracy. Which is why there is even a meeting in the first place to decide whom to appoint. What the owners are hearing in support of allowing the head guard to continue is that he is working on using technology to secure our yams’

Yoruba Ronu: These times demand wisdom has been very busy mobilising the Yoruba nation towards a peaceful outcome for the Nigerian presidential election. Oodua Foundation (O.F.) has, since its inception in 2006, adopted a strictly nonpartisan posture.

Its objective is to work for the progress and prosperity of the Yoruba nation – as they usually put it in their writings, “within Nigeria if possible, without Nigeria if necessary”. Their approach to the service of their Yoruba nation is based on a strong foundation of knowledge and facts; and it is tough and hardheaded. They see every prominent Yoruba person as a God-given instrument for the advancement of the Yoruba nation, and they have no interest whatsoever in any kind of partisan divisions among Yoruba people.

In the past few weeks, they have been intensely busy trying to ensure that, if the presidential election leads to violence, their own Yoruba people must not get involved in the violence. They are calling and holding long-distance conferences with prominent Yoruba leaders and urging everyone to commit himself to the promotion and preservation of peace in Yoruba land. They are in contact with many foreign governments and international agencies.

They have issued a jingle for airing on radios. And they are now beginning to circulate a Clarion Call, urging their Yoruba nation to exercise full Yoruba wisdom and commonsense in the developing Nigerian situation. Part of the Clarion Call reads: From all indications, this coming election seems likely to produce conflicts, violence and bloodshed on a larger scale than ever before in Nigeria’s elections. Many important Nigerian leaders (happily excluding Yoruba leaders) have been threatening violence and war; and many have been importing and amassing dangerous weapons. And, from experience, the Nigerian government is unlikely to have the readiness or ability to contain and stem such violence should it occur: Oodua Foundation calls on all Yoruba in

Nigeria to remember that we Yoruba are a freedom-loving people, with ancient and sophisticated political traditions, and that we honour the right of every citizen to support any political party or candidate: Oodua Foundation calls on all Yoruba registered voters to go out dutifully and peacefully to vote on Election Day, and to strictly avoid any kind of violence.

After we Yoruba have voted for candidates of our choice, we must strictly avoid any kind of violence, and strictly avoid being drawn into any violent act, in any part of the Yoruba homeland in the Southwest, Kwara, Kogi and the Itsekiri part of Delta State: Oodua Foundation calls on the Yoruba nation to resolve now in advance, and to pass it from mouth to mouth in our land, that any Yoruba person who starts or supports violence in any part of Yoruba land shall be regarded as an enemy of the Yoruba nation and be treated as such: Yoruba people are aware that, among the many non-Yoruba Nigerians who reside in Yoruba land, there may be some who may have their own reasons for choosing to instigate, start or support violence. If such should happen anywhere in Yoruba land, we Yoruba owners of our cities, towns and villages must promptly unite together and use our traditional community strength to stop and suppress the violence and to uphold peace.

We Yoruba should remember the pains we have suffered in the political history of Nigeria, especially in our resistance to Nigeria’s culture of election fraud. We are owners of an ancient, orderly and highly respectable system of selecting our rulers, and consequently, we seriously respect the modern system of elections, and we find it difficult to tolerate election fraud of any kind.

But we must remember the losses we have suffered in our resistance to election fraud in various Nigerian elections in the past – the lives and properties that we lost, and the hostile divisions that all were thereby generated in the life of our nation. We must

Why goats steal yams

By Edo Ukpong - because all the talk about corruption is based on lumping stealing with corruption. This has since been summarized in the new Nigerian phraseology dictionary: ‘Stealing is not corruption’. A president overly defensive and seriously allergic to the mention of corruption, portrays a serious disconnect with the anger of his hungry people. The impression of the average Nigerian on the president’s attitude to corruption can be summed up in the well-known Nigerian phrase – ‘Wetin concern agbero with overload?’

In a recent media chat, the president likened the Nigerian situation of endemic corruption to ‘goat and yam’ For those not conversant with folk tales and wisdom, what he means is that if you leave your yams in a barn and allow access to goats, the goats will in a compulsive manner feast on the yams to the detriment of the owners. That the goats cannot be blamed is true. But I think that it is uncharitable for Mr. President to liken our public servants and even the corrupt ones to goats. I do not share the view that they are compulsively corrupt or just cannot help themselves.

So let me help Mr. President with my own folksy perspective. Nigerian people are blessed with a huge barn of yams sufficient to feed everyone. What has happened though is that those we have mandated to watch over the yams against insects and other elements have transformed to goats and are eating the yams ravenously, destroying yams they cannot ingest and not keeping watch over other destructive elements. The resultant shortage of yams and therefore hunger amongst the people has made them not only angry with the goats but reluctant to farm as their harvest will only be enjoyed by the goats. An atmosphere of distrust amongst the people has set in and the general tendency is that we are all now fighting each other to grab the

remaining yams. What we should be doing Mr President is that we should all be out cultivating yams in the full assurance that those mandated to watch over our yams are playing that role faithfully.

Mr President needs to know that as the head guard, when the people complain that the barn is being ravaged, we do not expect him to tell us that not all the yams are actually being eaten and that some or perhaps most are being destroyed by the feet of rampaging goats or in Jonathanspeak tell us that - ‘ All these things people say all over the place that goats are eating the yams and causing shortages is not correct. I was discussing with a former stock keeper who told me that on inspection he found that in most cases the destroyed yams were not eaten but merely destroyed.

I don’t know why people should confuse eating with destroying. You know in my village if you cry that goats have destroyed your yams, people will ask you first whether the goats used their mouth or their legs, before knowing what to do with the offending goat.

If you say the goat ate with mouth, they will ask for the complexion of the goat – this will let them know whether the goat did it out of hunger or wickedness.’ Is this the reaction of someone who appreciates our emotional connection to and dependence on our ‘yams’?

The president should understand, that using the barn example he is the head guard appointed by the people to take care of their barn of yams and also supervise the allocation of yams for different purposes. Nigeria needs a head guard who understands that his work is to protect the yams for common benefit. His work is not to allow the guards to uncommonly transform to goats. Using the president’s analogy, Nigeria needs a head guard who is not so fond of yams that he and other guards become goats once they see yams!

Rather we need to transform our guards to dogs so that our yams will be safe and we can

Gbogun gboro now have the wisdom, as a nation, to recognize that we have always contended against envy, enmity and marginalization in the affairs of Nigeria, and that we have nothing to gain from inflicting pain on ourselves.

If the violence in other parts of Nigeria continues uncontrollably or if it threatens to spill onto any part of our homeland, thereby threatening the well-being of the nearly 50 million Yoruba people, the leading citizens of our Yoruba nation must immediately set aside any Nigerian political and partisan roles, unite in the interest of our nation, and set in motion serious considerations and measures for safeguarding the peace and wellbeing of our homeland and people as well as the destiny of our nation. We call, in particular on all Yoruba leaders and functionaries of all political parties and groups, to speak out courageously in support of this clarion call.

‘We are owners of an ancient, orderly and highly respectable system of selecting our rulers, and consequently, we seriously respect the modern system of elections, and we find it difficult to tolerate election fraud of any kind’ all be fed and happy. Currently, we are in a situation whereby the yam owners are meeting to decide whether to appoint a new head guard or keep the present one. How does the president think the conversation will end?

Yes, some owners will point to the poor rainfall, others will talk of errant goats, others will wonder why we cant distribute the yams immediately upon harvest, others will wonder why those who did not participate in the tilling and weeding but waited to harvest should be considered as owners. Many questions but in my view the main question will be whether the head guard has done his job to the satisfaction of the owners. The owners can see for themselves and will decide by themselves. Forget the rainfall, mode of distribution etc – has the head guard effectively done his job? Mr. President, that is the question that would have been answered on the 14th February and should be answered on the 28th March but must be answered by 29th May this year.

An important consideration is the identity of the others interested in the head guard job.

The chief applicant was once the head guard.

Those alive at that time attest to the fact that he is allergic to yam even in the pounded form. Rather than behave like a goat he behaved like a lion and that is what worries some owners. Much as they detest the goats, they do not want a head guard with fondness for goat meat. Those rooting for a change of guard insist that the lion has transformed into a guard dog on account of the fact that we have come out of the jungle and are now in a domesticated environment under democracy.

Which is why there is even a meeting in the first place to decide whom to appoint. What the owners are hearing in support of allowing the head guard to continue is that he is working on using technology to secure our yams. I think the owners are afraid that the kind of goats under the head guard and the reckless abandon with which they eat will end up eating the yams and embedded microchips, yam chips. The president’s problem is perception. So Mr. President, using your analogy; will the owners act to save their yams or the goats?

• Edo ukpong is a Legal Practitioner

22

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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THE NATION

EDUCATION

THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

When will there be peace at the Lagos State University (LASU)? Management and workers are again at each other’s throat. The crisis stalled the institution’s 20th convocation last week. On Monday, the management closed the school for the forthcoming elections but the action did not go down well with the workers, reports ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA

Whither LASU?

•RRS officials in front of LASU gate...Tuesday.

PHOTO: ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA

•Govt to workers: don’t turn yourselves to employers

T

HE Lagos State University (LASU) has been hit by fresh crisis.

Activities at the institution have been paralysed since last week following workers’ agitation. The crisis led to the postponement of the 20th convocation. To calm frayed nerves, management on Monday declared a recess for the forthcoming elections and directed staff and students to vacate the campus.

To the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), the directive is a strategy to break their ranks and stop their daily protest which started Monday, last week. They said only the Senate or the Governing Council, and not the management has the right to give such directive.

“They (management) are joking!"

Chairman SSANU Saheed Oseni told The Nation on phone on Tuesday. "We are not going on any recess because LASU is not

parliament. Management of other universities only suspended activities for the election; they did not ask their workers and students to leave the campuses. Besides, it is only the Senate or the Governing Council that has the right to close down the university and not management.

The genesis Last March 16, management and graduating students were looking forward to the 20th convocation, which was preceded by Jumat and Christian interdenominational prayers the preceding weekend. Coconut breaking,

‘

describing his tenure as...

-Page 27

The crises Workers appeared from nowhere, calling Obafunwa names and petting him with sachet

Workers appeared from nowhere, calling him names and petting him with sachet water. By then, the workers had overpowered Campus Marshals, the internal security arm of LASU and blocked the two main gates with the union’s vehicles

CAMPUS LIFE

INSIDE THE Non-Academic Staff Workers Union of Educational and Institutions score NECO Associated (NASU) members have given knocks to the Registrar outgoing Registrar of the low on National Examinations (NECO) Prof. performance Council Promise Okpala

which is a ritual for preceding convocations in LASU, was about to hold. The Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof John Obafunwa and other principal officers were already heading for the LASU main gate where the event usually holds when trouble started.

The government is unhappy with the development, warning the workers’ to be law abiding and stop seeing themselves as employers.

UNILAG Students seek better security -Page 37

Crack in NANS over Jonathan, Buhari -Page 29

’

water. By then, the workers had overpowered Campus Marshals, the internal security arm of LASU and blocked the two main gates with the union’s vehicles.

Amid shouts, they marched Obafunwa out of the university into a waiting vehicle amid tight security. The workers sang war songs and prevented policemen from the Iba Division, from entering the school.

Allegations against Obafunwa The leadership of the unions accused Obafunwa of high handedness, double standard, stalling members' promotion, and not following due process. Other allegations include discrediting workers' certificates in the media and accusing same of corrpution, among others.

20th convocation postponed indefinitely Following the crisis, the management postponed indefinately the convocation, saying a new date will be announced later.

A meeting between the workers and •Continued on page 26

•A 10-page section on campus news, people etc

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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EDUCATION

I’m being criticised for plugging loopholes, says LASU VC Lagos State University (LASU), Vice Chancellor Prof John Obafunwa is battling workers over unpaid allowances and delayed promotions, among others. However, the Forensic Pathologist told reporters that his problems stemmed from the ‘sweeping changes’ he is making to make the university work well. KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE was there.

OW far has the investigative panel set up to probe the PhD certificate withdrawal issue gone?

That investigation has been completed. The report is yet to be presented to the Senate. It was meant to be presented in the last Senate meeting but unfortunately the chairman of the panel was not around to make the presentation and, definitely, by the next Senate meeting that report will be presented.

The chairman of the panel did a great job by asking questions of all concerned and they made their submissions. But I wouldn't want to preempt their findings; at the end of the day, it will be very obvious to everyone that the university has done the right thing by withdrawing the certificates and reawarding. We have just about two people at this point in time; as I said earlier, if there is no approved programme, we won't be awarding a degree in that area. Those two people, one of them almost immediately returned his certificate, one is still keeping his own, but the matter will be discussed at the Senate in due course.

SSANU has given an ultimatum concerning the arrears being owed them. What is the university doing about it?

Let me make a distinction: does LASU owe salaries? The answer is no because salaries are being paid as at when due. What they are referring to is not salaries being owed. Before I became the VC there was a time that the government increased the salary and backdated it. It is the arrears that they backdated at that time - 18 months arrears - that the university promised to pay. Now the (LASU) administration at that time said that it would pay the money. That was

H

Whither LASU? •Continued from page 25 government representatives was a deadlock on Tuesday, last week. At the meeting, which dragged into the night, the workers tabled some of their demands before the governments.

Workers’ demands •That Prof Obafunwa should proceed on terminal leave while one of his deputies steps into his shoes and presides over affairs of the university, including the forthcoming 20th Convocation.

•That the government begins a process for selecting a new vicechancellor before his term expires on October 31.

•That the government set up a panel to reviews all past promotions and appointments under the administration and make necessary redress where errors are found to have been committed.

•That the management should pay workers outstanding salary arrears.

•That the government should compel the management to set up Budget Monitoring Committee for onward assessment of Federal Government intervention fund.

Meanwhile, the rank and file of the Students' Union is divided over the choice of Obafunwa staying back or not.

On Friday, last week, the Students Union held a congress at

the time they still had school of part-time and others. Then they paid one month leaving 17 months.

I was at the medical school at that time; they did not pay anything again. Then I became VC and that was how I inherited the 17 months.

The 17-month arrears amount to about N2.2 billion. Looking at the finances of the university, where will I find the money? Meanwhile, we have all these infrastructural development that we are trying to get done with the assistance of the state government. After a number of presentations to the government, they decided to pay 50 per cent, which is N1.1 billion and asked us to go and look for the remaining N1.1billion. Of course, I knew I still had problems, but I must give credit to the government for changing its position because initially, the government said, 'we do not owe LASU', which is a fact. They spread it over a period; on the inside, we also started paying in instalments.

We paid the first 20 per cent of our own 50 per cent; after some time we paid another 20 per cent making 40 per cent of our 1.1billion. By the time we stopped paying, we had paid 55 per cent. The remaining 45 per cent actually amounts to about N500 million. Why were we able to pay that money? We were able to pay it because of the school fees.

Now we are back to (charging) N25,000 and we convened meetings severally with unions and said the source of that money is no longer

there; what are the suggestions you have? While some said, we will think about it; I remember one or two persons saying, 'you are employed to look for solutions; go and think of what to do, we are not to think for you'.

Don't forget, it is out of our subvention (we are paying). The subvention we get from the government is not enough to even pay the salaries; so we are using IGR, which was largely based on the school fees at that time; we spent about almost N40 million every month to pay salaries but our subvention is N395 million. What we pay out every month is about N440 million and I recalled even asking them, do you want these arrears or do you want us to owe your salaries? They said no. I know some universities where salaries are not regularly paid at this point in time. And I know some universities where only a percentage of the salary is being paid, including the person that was trying to make allegations.

We know that Olabisi Onabanjo University staff were not collecting full salary at some point. I know the university at Akungba where salaries are being owed for about four months. They didn't bring down the university because of it I am talking about salaries not arrears - they didn't destroy the place.

How many of those people who are trying to destroy LASU have children in LASU? The truth of the matter is that the

so-called salary arrears is not the main issue; it is just an excuse for a different agenda. Do we still want this person who has blocked the entire avenue through which we used to embezzle money? Do we still want this person who has tried to counter things like admission racketeering?

You have been in the saddle for four years, what would you say are your achievements?

Timely release of results: We have been able to change the process of registration, such that we expect all HODs to know the number of students in his department and by extension to know the number of students to be examined; make arrangement in time with regards to marking of the scripts. Tied to that is the fact that we are saying no more 'I am in 400-Level and still looking for my result of 100-Level, which LASU was known for in the past. Now once you finish your exams within four weeks, the result must be taken by the Senate and that was what happened. In fact, last year despite the January 23 fracas, the results of the final year students came out in three weeks.

All the final year students that sat for exams in December and will be graduating this March, we already had their results taken by Senate.

We say to Senate, even non-graduating students want to have all their results, all the results must be available. The idea of final year students looking for any of their results no

‘The truth of the matter is that the so-called salary arrears is not the main issue; it is just an excuse for a different agenda. Do we still want this person who has blocked the entire avenue through which we used to embezzle money? Do we still want this person who has tried to counter things like admission racketeering?’

We reopened LASU gate, says govt

T

HE Lagos State government has said it reopened LASU gates following the workers’ refusal to do so.

It said it was left with no choice than to remove the vehicles with which the workers blocked the two main gates leading to the university.

Special Adviser to the governor on Education Otunba Fatai Olukoga told The Nation on phone that the government promised to look into the workers’ grievances and asked them to open the gate to allow peace to reign, but they refused.

Olukoga described the workers' action as disrespectful.

He said the government invited the workers to a meeting on Tuesday last week.

Olukoga said: "We also told them that they should allow their vicechancellor into the campus but they declined. But we asked them, 'Do you realise that if this man is disallowed from entering the campus, there is no way your salary can be paid because he is going to sign it?' yet the workers said no.

"We told them it's not possible because it is the government that appointed him. We said they should let (Obafunwa) finish his term. If he re-contests, the gate will the MBA Hall of the university where four major issues - school fees’refund, course registration, state of LASU and stable academic

By Adegunle Olugbamila

be thrown open for all contenders and the process of selection will be fair. We have sent each union a letter which content also appeals to them to open the gate but they refused.

"The students are also saying they don't want to be a part of the crisis but that their vice chancellor should return to complete his term. To me, the workers are getting unruly and they do not want to do anything. I am still rattled as to how employees (referring to LASU workers) should be dictating to employers (referring to the government) that they don't want another employee appointed by the government. So, when we realised that gates were still locked by Sunday, we sent our men there to force the gates open.

And you can see vehicles are now

moving from and out of the university.

Olukoga said the government had been trying to allow the institution run without interference.

"Remember, LASU was established by an Edict. It has a vice-chancellor pro-chancellor and a Governing Council.

The government has been trying hard not to dabble into LASU affairs.Let them resolve their grievances internally," he added.

Chairman, SSANU-LASU, Oseni Saheed, admitted SSANU receiving the letter by the government, noting that it arrived after the deed had been done.

Oseni said the union received the letter from the government on Monday. He said the letter only appealed to them to open the gate but failed to address the outstanding issues.

‘To me, the workers are getting unruly and they do not want to do anything. I am still rattled as to how employees should be dictating to employers that they don't want another employee appointed by the government’ calendar, It was dragged students

topped the agenda. a heated debate that for hours with some pitching their tent with

workers while o t h e r s w i t h management.

Congress decided that the government should respond to

• Prof Obafunwa

longer exists in LASU. The issue of missing script does not exist either.

Issuance of certificates: Another thing we have been able to do is the issue of issuance of certificate backlogs. I had to sign certificates of 1994; and even another before that. Over 30,000 certificates have been signed. These are problems not created by this administration but we are trying to deal with it.

In the external system, we have dealt with a number of results, if you do an exam within 48 hours, your result is already uploaded.

Now you don't have to be on the university campus to access your result; it has been uploaded and you can access your profile and know your result from anywhere.

Blocked loopholes for stealing varsity funds: Now you pay your school fees online. Before now they had several accounts and students were coming up with fake receipts.

Now, you pay into one account. In that account we broke it into four parts: internal undergraduate and postgraduate; external undergraduate and postgraduate. So, we know how much money is coming to LASU. Implementation of that, of course, attracted a lot of repulsion, but people are used to it now. It is part of trying to minimise the opportunity being created for people to dig their hands into LASU money.

"We received a letter from the government yesterday (Monday) afternoon, but by that time, our vehicles had been vandalised beyond repairs. We were also surprised that the letter only asked us to open the gates and allow the vice-chancellor in, but did not address any of the grievances we tabled before government.

"Besides we have not arrived at a communiqué yet. When we met last week, the government made appeals to us to open the gate but we all told them that we would have to go back and hold a congress with our members first before getting back to them. They (government) said they would also reach the governor and get back to us. So, we were expecting that by the time they call us back, we would have been able to present our position.

"We were still waiting to hear from them until we woke up this morning (Monday morning) to see our vehicles seriously thrashed while being forcefully towed out from the gate.

Also, ASUU-LASU Chairman Dr Adekunle Idris, said the union was also copied same letter by 4.25pm on Monday.

"For now, ASUU will not make any response. We are going into a congress right away and after we shall make our resolutions know. We actually want to look into the laws that set up LASU to know if management really has the constitutional right to close the schools. workers grievances. They, however, resolved that Obafunwa should return to school and complete his term.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

27

EDUCATION

Workers score NECO Registrar low on performance

T

HE Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) members have given knocks to the outgoing Registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO) Prof. Promise Okpala describing his tenure as the worst since the inception of the Council.

The Chairman of NECO chapter of NASU, Comrade Abdulrasheed Rabana, who stated this at a briefing

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

in Minna, said: “The hallmark of Okpala’s administration was the promotion of nepotism and bulkanisation of workers along ethnicity.”

The union berated Okpala for giving an exaggerated assessment of himself last Friday at a Valedictory he organised at the council headquarters.

“The Registrar contrary to what he

told his listeners at the self-organised valedictory has bedevilled NECO with an untidy staff strength from about 1,400 in 2007 to 4000 through appointments that flagrantly violated due process and succeeded in killing staff morale and discipline,” Rabana alleged.

He said Okpala’s tenure was only famous for postings characterised by nepotism and directed at staff considered as opposing his administration.

The Registrar was also accused of reducing staff ‘Duty Tour Allowance’ (DTA) to as low as 40 per cent of the approved entitlement.

Rabana alleged that the misfortune of the council in the last eight years also reflected in the fall in enrolment figures of candidates for NECO exams.

According to the union leader, “the figures for the school-based Senior Secondary School Examination (SSCE) had dropped from 1.6 million

candidates in 2007, when he took over to 900,000, while that of external examination fell to 60,000 from 600,000 at the time of his exit.”

The union then suggested that Federal Government should stop the outsourcing of registrar for NECO, saying its leadership should be someone who is a staff member as it obtains in other exam bodies, such as West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

Pupils seek peaceful election

D

• Miss Orebela Enny-Ola of Dominos Pizza, Surulere, Lagos taking pupils of Smileville School, Surulere through steps towards preparing pizza when the school paid the outfit a courtesy visit at its surulere outlet.

B

OUYED by the success recorded in the just-concluded Computer Based Test (CBT) Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the Federal Government has approved the construction of eight CBT centres in

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

eight states ahead of next year’s examination.

According to Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of JAMB, Prof Dibu Ojerinde, the centres will be con-

structed as follows: four in the north and four in the south.

Ojerinde made this known to reporters in Abuja during the monitoring of the examination on its last day alongside the Minister of Edu-

Ugochukwu added.

A pupil of Divine Salvation Comprehensive College Ejigbo AkanbI Mercy, said: ''All we plead for as pupils is free and fare election from our leaders in order to save the country from violence and avoid causalities.’’

She appealed to eligible voters, to please vote their conscience and stay out of trouble during and after elections.

"And to our political leaders, this fortcoming election should not be seen as do or die. Defeated candidates should take it in good faith. It is how God wants,’’ she said.

The campaign was held with City Changers, a group of individuals committed to remoulding behavioral pattern of Nigerian and coaching people to uphold our true national values.

cation, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau.

They said the rationale behind the additional centres is that government was desirous of reducing the number of days the examination held this year and address other challenges.

The centres, which would house about 270 computer systems would be sited in Kano, Oyo, Niger, Bayelsa and four other states, Ojerinde added.

Over one million candidates across 400 centres in Nigeria and eight other countries sat for this year’s UTME which commenced on March 10 and ended on March 21.

"Nigerians should expect more centres next year. It is not going to last this long and like the Minister

of Education has said, the Federal Government has ordered that more centres should be built for us.

Shekarau said: "We have directed all the state commissioners to go out on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education, on behalf of JAMB, because education is everybody's business.

“They are free to inspect the centres, they are free to receive complaints if any and then we get to the table. What the committee is doing is to collate all the happenings on this new system and let's see what is the level of problems we have.

“In the average we have not received any serious complain with more than 80 per cent success.’’

30 firms storm AUN career fair

A

Foreign varsity launches International Foundation Year Programme

T

By Toyin Olasinde

Federal Govt okays eight CBT centres for JAMB

•From right: Mr Theodorou, Director, Debrecen Depatment of Humanities, Prof Laszlo Kozma and Registrar, Mrs Amaka Enweluani at the launch.

HE University of Debrecen, Hungary, has launched its International Foundation Year Programme (IFYP) at their Global Education Counselling (GEC) MET Campus in Lekki, Lagos State.

A statement by the Chief Executive Officer of the GEC, Mr Theo Theodorou, said the IFYP programme is similar to the one taught at the University of Debrecen and would give Nigerian students the opportunity to prepare for higher institution.

He likened IFYP to an avenue to prepare Nigerian students who were successful in their final exams for one year, for its admission.

Theodorou said: "Students who

AVSOL Model School pupils and their colleagues in six schools in Ejigbo, Lagos State, have campaigned for peaceful elections.

Last Thursday, they took to the streets with placards reading: ''All we need is free and fare election, say no to violence''.

The Principal of the school: Ugochukwu Stephen, said: ''The aim of the rally is to seek peace.

We want our leaders to desist from every unpatriotic attitude and also withdraw from every plot that may lead to war and allow the fear of God to be their priority.''

He said the placards were one way of lending their voices on the need for a peaceful election.

"The campaign was done to show solidarity and support for a peaceful election and to tell the community that we all have part to play in building up this nation,"

By Oluwatoyin Adeleye

have successfully completed the IFYP with the appropriate academic results would be guaranteed a place in the University of Debrecen Bachelor Degree programmes without requiring to sit for their external examination and interview or travel to the university."

He claimed that GEC has built a reputation for assisting Nigerian students to find the most appropriate universities abroad.

His words: "We have developed to become one of the most active innovation and well-respected organisations in the field of uni-

versity placement. The whole idea is to help academically qualified Nigerian students to study abroad and come back to build Nigeria, which is very crucial to the country".

Theodorou acknowledged the excellent performance of Nigerian students academically and morally in foreign schools, noting that more than 600 Nigerian students are currently studying medicine, engineering, economics among other courses at the University of Debrecen.

He said apart from many experiences that foreign students acquire in their places of learning, tuition fee is cheaper in Hungary compared to the United Kingdom while students' safety is guaranteed.

BOUT 30 industry leaders and potential employers participated in the American University of Nigeria (AUN) career fair organised for the institution's alumni in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The fair, wasaimed at familiarising its graduates with various companies, across the country.

This year's fair, the eighth, featured about 30 multinational companies cutting across telecoms, oil & gas, power, transport, health, and other sectors Many of the blue chip campanies also took turns to administer aptitude and problem-solving tests to AUN students, alumni, and other prospects The representative of the companies guided the participants about their career and requirements in the labour market.

The Coordinator of Career Services, Ms. Grace Nwokoma, told reportrs that the fair was organised to provide students and alumni of the institution exposure to career and internship opportunities.

Her words: "We are trying to get our graduates and students close to cooperate organisations. It is also for those of them that are preparing for graduate school; we want to expose them graduate schools as well.

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

“We made plans for about 30 organisations, but from the look of things, we have more than that on ground, because we sent invite to some companies, but they did not respond to say whether they would participate or not, so we made provisions for just 40.

“Believe me, it has been a very tremendous experience for our students and for the companies, because for the onset we train our students in preparation for the life after t AUN. “Before they get to the point of being employed by any organisation, they are prepared and as such, any company that employs our student don't have to spend much money in training them," she said.

Assistant Dean, Student Affairs, AUN, Reginald Braggs, said: "This is of benefit to Nigeria because now you have young people who are now having jobs and being of benefit to the country. It is a kind of American concept of bringing students together and alumni can have the opportunity to learn. When we first started it, students did not really know what to expect but as timepassed by, we have been able to find that impact we like to have on our students.’’

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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EDUCATION

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NBFT seeks lower dollar rate for book industry

ITH one dollar now about N220, the Nigeria Book Fair Trust (NBFT) Chairman, Alhaji Rilwanu Abdulsalami, is seeking concession for a lower rate from the Federal Government for book importers ahead of this year’s Nigerian International Book Fair (NIBF) coming up in May. Abdulsalami said at a press conference in Lagos that the high dollar rate would make it difficult to hold the fair, which attracts participants from many foreign countries as well as local authors, publishers, printers, booksellers and others.

The chairman, who is also the University Librarian of the Federal University Wukari, in Taraba State, and the National President of the Nigeria Library Association (NLA), said government intervention is poignant, especially as over 90 per cent of all the books used in Nigeria are imported.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

He said: “The government has abolished the official rate so we have only one rate, which is the black market. It will really affect the book industry because this thing takes time. There are orders placed from last year till now. As long as these orders arrive, the new ones coming will be affected by the foreign exchange. But we were hoping that government will look at this area. In the past we had this issue that some of these social services are given concession by the government. Our next advocacy is to advocate to government that all those importing books should be given some concessions of lower exchange rate to import books.

“But we are hoping that the naira will stabilise and strengthen then it (the dollar) will come down so that books will be affordable to our children in Nigeria.”

While it is desirable for the dependency on book imports to be addressed, which informed the government’s announcement of a 50 per cent duty on books last year, Abdulsalami said the process must be gradual.

He explained that Nigeria is dependent on imports because local printers do not have the capacity to meet the demand for books – a consequence of high production costs.

He urged the government to dialogue with stakeholders in the book industry to work out how to enhance local capacity.

“The cost of producing textbooks is much higher locally than internationally. So, if the government is bent on encouraging our local printers to print, then we should sit down and discuss; and we will advise that these are the programmes we want.

“The printers should be given op-

IBBU FILE Students welcome VC

• Abdusalami

portunity to import raw materials at lower costs; there is also the problem of power and the labour involved, which makes production costly. So the government should discuss with the stakeholders. We are the stakeholders – the librarians, the authors, publishers, printers and bookseller,” he said.

Sifax donates bus to OAU

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IFAX Group, a multinational corporation with diverse interests in maritime, aviation, haulage and logistics, oil and gas and hospitality, has donated an 18-seater Toyota Hiace bus to the medical students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife under the aegis of Ife University Medical Students Association (IFUMSA).

Presenting the bus on the university campus, the Head, Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Sifax Group, Mr. Oliver Omajuwa, said corporate social responsibility is at the core of the company's business philosophy.

He said: "Sifax Group has a philosophy of positively impacting the society. The company is not only about profit making but contributing its quota to the development of critical areas. One of such key areas for us is education. From primary school to the university level, Sifax Group has been supporting institutions through various avenues, especially the provision of infrastructure and equipment.

"This bus donation is in furtherance of our belief that the private sector has an important role to play in the improvement of the quality of education in the country. We are particularly excited that this bus would be of great help to the medical students, in particular and the university as a whole."

The Provost, College of Health Sciences, Prof Adesegun Fatusi, noted that universities need to build solid partnerships with various stakeholders in order to fulfil their objectives. These stakeholders, according to Fatusi, include corporate organisations, alumni, parents, students, and staff, among others. He said these partnerships are necessary in view of the inadequate allocations the universities receive from the governments.

• From left: Alhaji Bello; Rector, Mr Oki; and Mr Odufuwa, at the convocation.

THE Students' Representative Council (SRC) of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria has paid a visit to the Vice-Chancellor, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU), Lapai, Prof Muhammad Nasir Maiturare, on his appointment.

Receiving members of the council, the Vice-Chancellor charged them to uphold the good virtues of academic excellence and uprightness that have been the trade mark of every alumnus of ABU. He said he was overwhelmed by the visit, assuring that he was ready to give moral and needed support to the activities of the students that would promote the image of ABU in general.

Maiturare pledged that his doors would remain open for useful suggestions that would help his administration achieve huge success at IBB University.

Emir pledges support THE Emir of Agaie, Alhaji Yusuf Nuhu, has assured the Management of the university of his Emirate's support and cooperation at all times.

He spoke when the Management of the university led by the ViceChancellor Prof Muhammad Nasir Maiturare visited him in his palace.

Alhaji Nuhu congratulated the Vice-Chancellor on his appointment and prayed that God would grant him the wisdom and good health needed to pilot the affairs of the university to an enviable height.

The Emir enjoined the Management to consider the possibility of running the Arts programme of Interim Joint Matriculation Examination Board (IJMB) and any other ancillary programme of the university that would take the standard of the institution's School of Preliminary Studies at Agaie higher.

Poly’s Governing Council chair seeks loans for graduates

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HE government has been urged to grant loans to graduates of higher institutions to attain the desired goals of entrepreneurial education.

Chairman, Governing Council, Lagos City Polytechnic (LCP), Mr Babatunde Odufuwa, made the call at the Ninth convocation of the institution in Ikeja, Lagos.

He said: "Nigerian government in pursuit of the Vision 2020 mandated that all students in higher education, regardless of their discipline, study an entrepreneurship course before they qualify for their degrees/diplomas. The aim was to create a critical mass of graduates better prepared for employment as well as creators of knowledge-based enterprises.

"In furtherance of the policy trust,

By Oluwatoyin Adeleye

the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has since 2007 designated the curricula for all the tiers of polytechnics in Nigeria. Three years into the implementation of that curricula, several challenges have emerged. The major challenge is the take-off capital or seed money required for some of these graduates in moving forward.

"These challenges must be addressed if entrepreneurship education in higher education in Nigeria is expected to atain the desired goals. The major challenge, which is the desired take-off capital requires the attention of government at all levels. This is possible by a way of guaranteeing loans to these graduates by Bank of

Industry to reduce graduates' unemployment and restlessness among youths."

He said every polytechnic institution required the critical culture of entrepreneur in order to survive and produce graduates that will "instill in themselves the characteristics of risktaking and perseverance", both of which he said, are the current entrepreneurship skills.

At the ceremony, 801 graduates received their certificates. They are 315 National Diplomas and 486 Higher National Diplomas.

Delivering the Convocation Lecture, titled: "Enhancing Youth Employment through Entrepreneurial Vocation", the event's keynote speaker, Alhaji Ismaila Bello, suggested a collabora-

•Executive Director, Citibank Nigeria, Mrs Nneka Enwereji, with pupils of Aunty Ayo Comprehensive Secondary School, Ikoyi, Lagos after a mentoring session to celebrate Global Money Week.

tion between employers and higher institutions, to help the latter focus on programmes that would enhance employment.

He explained strategies to enhance relevance of graduates in the labour market to include: collaboration between employers and higher education, curriculum adaptation to meet labour market skills, focusing on programmes that enhance selfdevelopment, professional education qualifications, literacy in Information and Communication Technology, among others.

The best graduating student of the institution, Oriowo Richard, advised his colleagues to be true to themselves and be good representatives of the institution that built them.

Other graduands of the first private polytechnic in Nigeria cheered the institution for the mark it has made in the country’s education sector, encouraging the establishment of more private educational institutions in Nigeria.

A National Diploma graduand of the Department of Business Administration and Management, Longe Michael, said the institution upholds integrity and professionalism and advised upcoming private institutions to imbibe the same attitude and shun compromise because they want to attract students.

A Higher National Diploma graduate of Computer Science, Ahulo Jonathan, said: "I am so happy about graduating today. The fact that the institution is private made our education process very fast and smooth and our lecturers teach very well. I hope other private education institutions coming up would not compromise the good standard this school has built."

The change we need

Issues we must address as we vote Page 35

Page 35

*CAMPUSES *NEWS *PEOPLE *KUDOS& KNOCKS *GRANTS

THE NATION

CAMPUS LIFE 0805-450-3104 email: campusbeat@yahoo.com THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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

email:- campuslife@thenationonlineng.net

Students may not line up behind a common candidate during Saturday’s presidential election. Why? The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) appears divided over who to support between President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), reports TEMITOPE YAKUBU (ND II Quantity Surveying, Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti).

Crack in NANS over Jonathan, Buhari T

HERE seems to be a crack in the National Association of Nigerian Students’ (NANS) as candidates in the forthcoming elections canvass for students’ support through their umbrella body.

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that NANS Vice President for External Affairs Comrade Tosin Ogunkuade’s critcism of President Goodluck Jonathan has pitched him against some members of NANS parliament.

At its 70th sitting at the Benue State University (BSU) last Saturday, some members of the legislative arm led by Odoh Ochai claimed to have impeached Ogunkuade, a student of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), for what they called insubordination and political jobbery.

Comrade Musbau Esihinrogun, a student of Kwara State Polytechnic (KWARA POLY), was said to have been sworn in to replace Ogunkuade.

Ochai, who is allegedly being used by the a Special Assistant in the presidency to destabilise the students’ body, also accused Ogunkuade of dragging NANS into a “murky political environment”, which, he said, is against the association’s rules. The Senate President condemned Ogunkuade’s supposed leaning toward the All Progressives Congress (APC) – the leading opposition party.

Ochai accused Ogunkuade of being absent from NANS executive activities, leaving his official task to participate in politics.

He said: “We have noticed that some members of the NANS executive led by Tosin Ogunkuade have been trying to factionalise the body for their political benefit. They have tried to create some factional executives to perpetrate their anti-student evil. This is high level indiscipline and insubordination, a misrepresentation, neglecting constitutional duties for political

•Ogunkuade (right) speaking to reporters during a recent protest against confirmation of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro as minister

jobbery.”

Reacting to his purported impeachment, Ogunkuade said he remained the Vice President for External Affairs, stressing that he could not be impeached at a “Kangaroo sitting”. All NANS senators, he said, were with him in Lagos for an event at the time he was purportedly impeached.

He said: “NANS members from Zone A have issued a statement that they were not aware of any Senate meeting held on Saturday. Some people cannot just wake up one day and say they have impeached a

national officer without recourse to due process and parliamentary procedures.”

Ogunkuade said those against him were acting the script of their paymasters, who he did not mention. He accused an aide of President Jonathan of using subtle means to divide the association, because, according to him, the president could not get a definite endorsement from the NANS leadership.

Ogunkuade said NANS’ agitations and activities were in tune with students’ interest, adding that the body would support

candidates whose programmes would raise the hope of students and engender the overhauling of the falling education standard.

Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE on telephone, NANS president Usman Tijani, a student of Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK), said he was not aware of Ogunkuade’s impeachment, adding that there is no crisis in the body.

He said: “There is no rancour in NANS; we remain one united entity as we said when we came on board last November.

•Continued on page 30

•Protest at TV College over babies’ disturbance •Lecturers, students race for charity -P36

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26 , 2015

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CAMPUS LIFE Undergrads and the 2015 elections

A

FTER the postponement of the February 14 elections, I made out time

to again engage undergraduates - through the phone and physically – to further gauge their understanding and positions on our unique politics and how they intend to vote on Saturday, March 28. What came out of my four weeks of interaction was how sharply divided the students were – like our society is today. However, I am glad that the level of interests now expressed in politics by previously uninterested students is healthy for the polity and has beamed the searchlight on leadership at all levels.

While working on a project two years ago, I observed that one can clearly distinguish those who schooled within the country and those who schooled outside our shores.

How was I able to do this? It is quite simple.

Many of those who schooled at home have the propensity of reasoning like your ordinary man on the street, sometimes without facts. They dwell more on rumours, no matter how preposterous the rumour may sound. There is however a small minority now developing who are trying to tackle entrenched retrogressive stereotypes.

On the other hand, the foreign schooled undergraduates and graduates often anchors their positions on questioning theories, character, manifesto, track record and other measurement metrics. They would question assumptions, ask critical questions and demand straight forward answers. They are particular about issues like the economy, job creation and long term development. It doesn’t take long to see that their environment plays a key role in conditioning them to demand answers and results because they’re expected to be part of providing solutions.

I’m glad perception has really changed with our home schooled undergraduates and graduates now developing a political culture that is in tune with the present. The level of awareness of the 2015 elections supersedes any of the elections held in Nigeria. The rescheduled polls will be the first real election we have had since 1999, according to most of them. By that, they mean that the ensuing election has generated enough consciousness and awareness as to

lead the citizenry to make a right choice on who leads them from May 29, 2015.

Implicit in that reading also is that with the features and processes the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had put in place 08116759750 especially the card readers and per(SMS only) manent voters’ card - have imbued much confidence in the undergradu•aagboa@gmail.com ates that for the first time since our fruitless expedition in a mismanaged votesThis mayaccounts Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change comedemocracy, to count in Nigerian this election. for their active participation on social media (CPC) could not muster the resources to camplatforms and lately the town hall meetings paign in all states of the federation and mount a reasonable challenge to the incumbent, the of the two leading parties.

This ray of hope – if I may call it that - has APC presidential candidate has now not only increased interests and passion in the elec- organised campaigns and rallies in every tion where Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and state of the federation but has gone a second incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan are round after the postponement of the polls to set to clash. Equally, the concerns and back- organise town hall meetings, dinners and lash traceable to the election are felt even second time rallies.

Although President Jonathan seems to have beyond the borders of Nigeria. They reached a feverish pitch as it is apparent that there more resources at his disposal to mount huge might not be any postponement and the elec- electronic and print media campaigns, billtion will hold as scheduled. John Kerry, the boards and other reach-out, there is a clear US Secretary of State has visited Nigeria so case of a real contest where the candidates was Kofi Anan and former president of South are campaigning for votes until the final Africa Thabo Mbeki. Vice President Joe Biden minute. Our students are in the thick of it as spoke to Buhari and Jonathan on the need for factions of the National Association of Nigefree and fair elections starting on Saturday. rian Students (NANS) have gone ahead to In a very rare instance, President Barack endorse Jonathan, however, other factions Obama sent a special message to Nigerians condemned the act as an act of some desperto ensure they vote peacefully. Such is the ate individuals that are not real students.

Nonetheless, the candidates have preattention this election has generated.

The bottom-line is that the storyline of elec- sented their ideas of governance and made tion may be changing for good – I believe. all manner of promises to Nigerians on what For the first time, no one can say with cer- they intend to do should they be entrusted tainty that an incumbent will be returned. The with presidential power in the next four opposition parties have coalesced and pulled years. It has not been easy in terms of time their resources to form the All Progressives and resource commitments.

I must say I was impressed by the level of Congress (APC) which has presence in virtually all states of the federation. The result is a depth by our students, especially the forformidable opposition taking on an equally eign ones. One asked whether Nigerians in the past six weeks after the postponement formidable ruling party.

The incumbent President Goodluck have come to change their perception of the Jonathan started the race early with his six years of Jonathan as a colossal waste that friends in the Transformation Ambassadors informed the Buhari popularity surge.

Another wants to know if Nigerians have of Nigeria (TAN) and continued thereafter with a multi-media blitz and rallies across in six weeks suddenly forgotten the corrupthe federation. Quite unlike the 2011 presi- tion scandals that defined and still continue dential election when Gen. Muhammadu to define Jonathan’s stewardship. Have they

Crack in NANS over Jonathan, Buhari

Agbo Agbo

ESSAY CONTEST FOR UNDERGRADUATE The Nation, Nigeria, in collaboration with African Liberty Organisation for Development (ALOD) and Network for a Free Society (NFS), is calling for entries into the 2015 essay competition.

Details are as follows: Topic: Government regulations and controls are the biggest threat to jobs in Africa today.

Participants must discuss the topic using contemporary examples.

•Continued from page 29

If there is any crisis, we will discuss it at the Senate where all Students’ Union Government presidents in all schools will be present. But, I am not aware of any impeachment and Ogunkuade remains the Vice President for External Affairs.”

A member of Senate from the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), Igwe Ude Umanta, said the meeting that purportedly impeached Ogunkuade was hurriedly arranged for political vendetta. He said: “I still want to believe that the rumour that Ogunkuade has been impeached for supporting a candidate of his choice in the coming presidential election is untrue. Apart from the fact that it amounts to a waste of effort if there was any meeting, it also smacks of unnecessary desperation and official rascality. This is plain political vendetta against an official, who has rights to support any candidate of his choice in a general election.”

Umanta advised Ochai to desist from being used by politicians to factionalise the NANS leadership for their benefit.

A member, Muhammed Liman

Pushing Out

forgotten and forgiven the state of insecurity in the past four years? Have they now accepted the fact that our worsening state of infrastructure is the best we can have?

Have they now accepted the international contempt, ridicule and scorn the present government brought on the country as a result of its awkward mishandling of issues and policies? Are they comfortable with the epileptic electricity situation in the country?

On the other hand we had students who believed that Jonathan “is the best thing that has ever happened to Nigeria.” They cited the new varsities built and upgraded infrastructure as some of the reasons why they believe the President deserves another term.

In my opinion, I believe the APC, especially its presidential flag bearer General Muhammadu Buhari, is one the best thing that has happened in our nascent democracy because a strong opposition is directly proportional to the seriousness a ruling party attaches to its role as the party in government. Not a few Nigerians would have noticed how the president personally took his destiny in his hands by campaigning these past six weeks. In the process, there were stories of his doling out dollars to traditional rulers, all manner of ‘elders’ and ‘stakeholders’ and attending unscheduled meetings with political actors.

All this would not have happened if a vibrant opposition is not in place.

It is instructive to note that by his actions, Buhari has stood conventional political wisdom in Nigeria on its head. The poor flock to him in a way we have not seen since perhaps when late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the champion of the talakwa, Malam Aminu Kano, championed their cause. They know he has no money and did not come into the race with a war chest bulging with crisp dollars, pounds and naira.

So, instead of asking him for money, there are reports they contribute to his campaigns.

By this he became a politician funded by the people. I am made to understand that hundreds of the young men and women – including students - who work in the Buhari campaign at national and state levels, are volunteers. Perhaps, they’re working for free because they believe that the lack of money should not debar him or anyone from his or her noble national pursuit.

•Ochai

of the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University (UMYU) in Katsina, accused Tijani of working against the association’s interest, noting that the NANS president was secretly in support of the travail of his deputy.

Liman said Tijani should have openly disassociated himself from the purported impeachment.

He advised the NANS president to avoid crisis during his tenure.

But a member, who did not want his name mentioned, accused Ogunkuade of working against NANS’ constitution.

He said: “It is nowhere in NANS’ constitution stated that the Vice President for External Affairs should act as spokesman for the association. He should be sanctioned for his political utterances these days.”

Qualification: Participant must be a student in any tertiary institutions (university, polytechnic, college of education and technical schools) in all African countries. The format of the text should be in Microsoft Word and not more than 1,500 words.

Interested student can visit: www.networkforafreesociety.org for useful background materials on the theme of this contest. Be informed that no participant is allowed to lift materials directly from works of any author and claim to be his/her own. Plagiarism automatically disqualifies any entry, which contains work of another author.

If any text or sentence is copied from another author’s work, it must be shown in quotation marks and writer must credit the original author at the bottom of the paper.

On the first page of the completed essay, participant must write his/her full names, department, and year of study and name of institution. Also include your email address and functional mobile phone number.

All entries should be sent to: adedayo.thomas@gmail.com Entries will be received between March 26 and June 26, 2015. Late entries will not be accepted.

Winners will be announced on July 29, 2015.

PRIZES 1st-George Ayittey (Platinum Prize): $1,000 and scholarship to the 2015 Liberty Camp in Kenya from August 5-9, 2015 OR Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA) in Ghana from August 19-23, 2015 2nd-Anthony Fisher (Gold Prize): $700 and scholarship to the 2015 Liberty Camp in Kenya from August 5-9, 2015 OR Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA) in Ghana from August 19-23, 2015 3rd-Franklin Cudjoe (Silver Prize): $500 and scholarship to the 2015 Liberty Camp in Kenya from August 5-9, 2015 OR Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA) in Ghana from August 19-23, 2015 4th- The Nation CAMPUSLIFE (Media Bronze Prize): $300 and scholarship to the 2015 Liberty Camp in Kenya from August 5-9, 2015 OR Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA) in Ghana from August 19-23, 2015 We also have eight consolation prize of $50 each.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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2015 polls: Nigerian students meet in London 32

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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2015 polls: Nigerian students meet in London 34

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CAMPUS LIFE

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REVOLUTIONS can open new chapters in the history of a people. But sometimes these chapters could be far more horrid than the events which instigated them. It could inspire a fresh hope in a nation’s quest for freedom. But it could equally plunge a society into the nadir of despair.

Consider this. In 2011, the world woke up to the uprising that swept across the Maghreb. Optimism trumped faith and the moment bore the halo of the 1989 anti-communist revolution that sprang up in Eastern Europe. But the emergence of Arab Winter barely four years after these demonstrations reveals the narrow ducts of evolutions; just how a people’s quest for freedom turns out as their own undoing.

Now, check Muhammed Morsi’s botch in Egypt. Consider the democratic recession in Tunisia and the tribal war that roils in Libya. Contemplate Syrian civil turmoil and the gripping crunch in Yemen. It leaves one with a single conclusion: society just doesn’t change except the preluding values give way for new, bold ideals. And real change itself is never a stand-alone; it requires a granite slab to sustain its grip on society. It is one that requires unusual sacrifice to turn an ugly page; to shine the light in a world badgered by the claws of darkness.

T

HESE are changing times. Different challenges are throwing societies about and people are exploring ways they could bring about change in all facets of human endeavour. While some countries have domineering worldview, such as United States (U.S.), there are others that are focus on how they could take advantage of technological development to improve economy and social life of their people. Some Asian tigers, such as Japan and South Korea are in this category.

There are nations whose aim is seeking ways to improve people’s standard because growth indices suggest that their people are grossly impoverished. A developing country like Nigeria falls in this category.

The Nigerian example is particularly worrisome; we wake up daily to one sad development about our national life. If it is not the case of suicide bombing killing scores of people, then it is most probably the case of pipeline vandalism and armed robbery. Recently, we have had to battle with falling oil prices, just as our currency is on a free fall.

Energy independence remains a challenge facing us daily. And frequently, scarcity of fuel.

S

The change we need As political campaigns soak the atmosphere, the All Progressives Congress (APC) pledges change.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chants the transformation mantra. Both parties feed us with promises of a brighter future; one flowing with milk and honey. The APC woos us with their socialist agenda. The PDP predictably feeds us with facts and figures of how they have transformed Nigeria in the past six years. But as G.K. Chesterton noted in his classic Appetite of tyranny, facts are not the whole truth. And it would be hard to imagine if what has transpired in Nigeria these years can be assuredly referred to as transformation.

So we would require a new sort of change; one that banishes our quotidian darkness, one we can believe in.

We need a change that has the nerve to dismantle what Lebanese scholar, Gilbert Achcar, described as the “deep state” personified by chronic corruption and misrule; two unfortunate legacies successive governments usually hand over to the next generation. This task calls for the audacity to bring the hammer down on anyone who soils his palms with the grease of graft; be it friend

or foe, powerful or weak. Nations like Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Finland have shown us just how to quash the embers of sleaze and readjust the clock for society to blossom. We too can.

We need a change that would not tolerate the barefaced abuse of people’s freedoms; their right to life, their right to dream, their freedom to tap the wealth in caves and oceans’ depths. We do not imagine a change that indulges in vain revelry while hundreds of our girls are left to gnash their teeth for a crime they know nothing about. We do not need a change that barks without the brawn to bite. Or the sort of transformation that tones down the gravity of human plunder and carnage perpetrated by a senseless sect. We require change with empathy for those fellows teetering at the mercy of these foul extremists. “To see and listen to the wicked,” warned Confucius, “is already the beginning of wickedness.”

We need a change that would proffer bold solutions to the ordeal of power in the country. South Africa, Angola and Ethiopia’s bold strides have doused the cynicism of anyone who sees power generation as rocket science. We can tap our space, our

coals, our oceans and the wind to light up a gloomy nation. If we do that, the real sector bubbles. And economic evolution takes full swing. We could take a cue from the miracle of Chile and Lee Kuan Yew’s sheer magic in Singapore. We too can rewrite our own history, not in the flowery tang of campaign promises but in duteous execution of our social contract with the Nigerian people.

We need a change that would deepen our understanding of faith; one that teaches tolerance, empathy and the separation of church from the state. For centuries, Europe’s political machinery was married to the church and government policies were only sputum spewed out of the mouths of prelates. That is why Martin Luther articulated the doctrine of two kingdoms and 18th century Enlightenment philosophers like Voltaire and Montesquieu lampooned the curious union of the church and state. In Nigeria, we have seen spells of undue incursion by clerics whose intent and actions clearly put a damper on the veracity of their gospel. We need change that would build a Nigeria for all; for those who worship the oceans as well as those who trail the direction of the sun.

We must vote wisely

By Philip Ogaga Gradually, we are adding another woe to the list of problem we face.

It is politics. All of a sudden, politicians have just realized thousands of able youths willing to work cannot find paid employment. Politicians are promising they would perform magic when they are elected. They said they would create employment for the teeming children of the poor they have neglected so far. They are now willing to offer palliative measures like buying the things they need for them pending when they finally assume office to “do more”.

Yes politicians have suddenly woken up to their responsibilities and realised that things could indeed be better than the way they are now.

Question is, beyond the quest for power, what else could have been the new-found interest the elite have for the poor? This question is necessitated by the fact that, quite a large number of those seeking

political offices had tasted power at various levels and one wonders if these challenges were absent during those periods.

There is no gainsaying the fact that one of the problems we face has been leadership. People seek elective positions without having blueprint on how they would tackle challenges the country is engulfed in. At the end of the day, the general growth and development of the society they serve become worse than it was before they were sworn into office.

Thus, the general elections, which begin on Saturday, offer people another opportunity to ask the would-be leaders their workable blueprint to take us out of the current quagmire. Quite fair a number of electorate is ready to support candidates with good programmes.

Sadly, the present thinking in Nigeria has placed sentiment above credibility, because some tend to go with candidates from their own geopolitical flank, thus making mess of national interest.

Quite a large number of Nigeri-

ans are interested in one candidate or the other not because of his/her plans when he/she assumes office but because they are either culturally, religiously or geographically related to the person and most people see that as a yardstick for choosing candidates.

The effect of this is that, people without clear-cut plans assume positions of authority. And the consequences of this are severe. The time is ripe for us to put sentiments aside and vet policies and programmes of candidates vying for public positions.

A large number of Nigerians are educated enough to know what they want and look for such qualities in candidates Beyond political propaganda, Nigerians, especially the youth, who constitute a large percentage of the voting population, must dig deep into the profiles of candidates and see who have the best plans to change our nation’s fortunes for good.

As a result of the poor policies of successive administrations and a

By Gilbert Alasa As Nigerians decide in the most divided election in the nation’s history on Saturday, we will have to choose between freedom and servitude; between waste and fiscal discipline, between change and a stoic acceptance of the ugly pages of our lives. “Stepping into a brand new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation,” crooned poetry goddess, Maya Angelou. The ballot can create or ruin a nation’s future. Let it create ours.

Gilbert, a blogger and youth entrepreneur, writes from Lagos high rate of corruption and a lack of maintenance culture, the future of the nation has been compromised. Hence, it is high time the youth made and supported a good cause in ensuring good people govern the nation.

Things have changed and so have youths. Youths have become wiser to know what is good for them just as politicians have become better at politicking. Youths must not be swayed by politicians’ tricks but must differentiate between those with genuine interest and passion for the Nigeria from those who just have lust for power.

The hope of the next generation lies in our hands and our lives should be a barometer through which our children can gauge the possibility of better life in the future. We must show good judgment in selecting today’s leaders so that a rewarding future can be guaranteed for the generation coming after us.

Let us vote according to our conscience and work towards a better country. A better Nigeria is our right to have and that we must ensure that by voting wisely.

Philip recently graduated from DELSU

Issues we must address as we vote

INCE the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999, Nigeria has witnessed series of conflicts stimulated by politics and ethno-religious factors. Each time the nation goes to the poll; there is always instability on the political front.

In fact, politics has never been as tough as it is in the present dispensation. Political activities, as well as electioneering for the 2015 general elections have taken different pattern from previous ones.

Two major political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), are the most vibrant of all parties.

As we approach the election day, the most debated issue is insecurity, which was heightened by the activities of Boko Haram insurgents. Boko Haram attacks have led to the death of thousands, with many people displaced and means of livelihood destroyed in the Northeast. The terror group’s activities got to world radar with

the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in April last year from Chibok in Borno State.

The southwestern and southeastern parts of the country also have their own fair share of violence, with outlawed groups, such as Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) and Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) causing mayhem. For these reprehensible activities of these lawless groups to thrive in a democratic nation, it shows the leadership has failed in its responsibility.

Nigeria is seen as a “weak state,” edging towards failure. At the moment, it is a crippled giant whose resources have become its greatest undoing. The nation has failed to meet the basic human needs of its citizens. There is lack of transparent and accountability in our public institutions. What is being experienced today is what most scholars call leadership deficiency.

In his book titled, The Trouble

With Nigeria, the late Prof Chinua Achebe noted: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which is the hallmarks of true leadership.”

The survival of a nation depends on the good leadership and the respect it has for democracy. If the ideals of democracy are to be used to determine what we practise at the moment, it would be justifiable to say that Nigeria has introduced to the world a derisive brand of democracy.

Today, the two major political parties are seen as groups representing the two dominant religions in the country. Some people conceive of the PDP as a party representing the interests of

Christians and the southerners, while the APC is seen as representing the Muslims and northerners. Regional and faithbased politics have been the factors posing serious threat to the political stability of Nigeria.

This was witnessed in the 2007 and 2011 elections. Politicians divide the electorate along ethnic and religious lines. All these are facts that gave some economists and political scientists reasons to state that Nigeria is dancing on the brinks of disintegration.

The campaigns of major political parties in Nigeria have been characterised by verbal attacks, since the beginning of electioneering. A lot is needed to be done to control the situation because inciting statements made by politician and hate campaigns disseminated through the channels of communication are capable of endangering the relative peace and security we enjoy presently.

There is a popular believe among some foreigners that poli-

By Ahmad Muhammad Auwal tics in Africa, particularly in Nigeria is a dirty game. Politicians and their supporters need to know that they must engage in responsible politics, because Ni•Continued on page 36

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

36

CAMPUS LIFE Don urges use of nanomedicine to cure HIV, Ebola

Lecturers, students race for charity

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A

PROFESSOR of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) Anthony Attama, has urged the government to support application of nanomedicine in the treatment of diseases, such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and Ebola. He said that nonomedicine had been found to be efficacious in locating and killing diseases than other drug.

Prof Attama made the call, on Thursday, while delivering the 91st inaugural lecture of the university held at the Princess Alexandra Auditorium.

Attama, who spoke on the topic: The road to nanomedicine, said nanomedicine involved combination of science and technology to diagnose and preserve human health, using molecular tools and knowledge of human body.

According to him, nanomedicine was necessary for disease treatment, because human body is composed of nano cells and the diseases affecting the body are in nano particles.

He said: “Nanomedicine provides new ways of fighting prevailing medical problems like HIV/AIDS, Ebola Disease Virus (evd) and cancer, which conventional medicine has failed to tackle.”

The don said there was need to shift attention to nanomedicine, because it offered improvement on circulatory lifetime of drugs and eliminate toxic substances in drugs.

Through research, he said he discovered that nonomedicine tar-

•Prof Attama

From Inya Agha-Egwu UNN geted diseases directly anywhere they are in the body without passing through processes that make conventional drugs lose their efficacy and bring out side effects on patients He added that new medical solution performed better than normal drugs when used in ocular application, because nanomedicine could remain in the body until the disease is killed.

Attama said his research group had successfully used nanomedicine to control Newcastle Disease in chicks, adding: “It saves cost and it is efficacious.”

He said his research group would apply nano-technology on old drugs to improve their efficacy. “The conventional drug formations and delivery systems in nanomedicines are still very relevant today. We should be interested in conversion of the already existing drugs to nanaomedicine to derive maximum benefit while not losing the benefits we have been enjoying with macromedicine,” he said.

Attama called for the establishment of nanomedicine research centres in universities and harped on the encouragement of interdisciplinary training on the field.

AW Students’ Society (LSS) of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), at the weekend, organised a marathon for charity.

Over 200 people, including lecturers and students of the Faculty of Law participated in the race held within the campus.

The LSS president, Cornel Gabriel, said the race was aimed at raising funds for the less-privileged and to make participants to keep.

He said: “We plan to help the less-privileged living among us by raising funds to take care of their basic needs. We, at the same time, want to make students and lecturers to keep fit, because many have not exercised their bodies for months.

We cannot overlook the advantage of regular exercise. Even the Holy Book says that exercise profiteth little so that little is important to add to the much that you have. So, that is exactly what we are doing and this is the first of its

From Miftaudeen Raji UNILAG kind at the Law faculty.”

Male participants went on three rounds marathon, while their female counterpart went for two rounds across the dedicated perimeter on the campus.

The winners, Pearl Nwaezeigwe, a 400-Level student and Idowu Lawrence, a 100-Level student, got N10, 000 each. The first ten finalists also went home with prizes.

Gabriel advised that students and lectures must engage in constant exercise, saying: “A fit person is a sound person.”

Pearl said she was no expecting to win the female category of the marathon, but said she usually holds a walk at 5am daily.

For Idowu, it was not an easy task, because the marathon routes were not demarcated. He said he had to swerve between vehicles and other road users during the mara-

•Pearl...during the marathon

thon.

The event was sponsored by Red Bull, which supplied athletic kits and energy drinks to the participants.

Protest at TV College over babies’ disturbance

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HOULD nursing mothers bring their babies for lectures? This is a poser the management of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Television College (TV COLLEGE) in Jos could not answer, which led to disruption of activities at the college on Thursday.

At 9am, the campus stood still when 300-Level students stopped all lectures and blocked the only entrance to the college. Their colleagues from other levels of stud-

On and Off Campus By Solomon Izekor 08061522600

From Hassan Dutse TV COLLEGE ies joined them in the peaceful protest to draw attention to what they called “babies’ disturbance” at lectures.

The protesters did not allow the Rector, Ms Halima Bewell, an entry into the campus. The Rector came down from her car and pleaded with students, assuring them their complaint would be addressed.

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that protesters had initially registered their displeasure to the school authority

over the habit of some of their colleagues breast-feeding babies during lectures. The babies, they complained, cry and disturb classes.

After the protesters were pacified to return to their classes, Ms Bewell went round the campus and summoned all nursing mothers to her office. She advised them to either defer schooling to nurture their babies or leave their babies at home while they go for lectures.

Students praised the management’s decision, hoping their concerned colleagues would heed the advice.

Students cry out over ‘grounded’ van •Continued from page 34

we are trying to put things in place.

Currently, we are making plans to get a new vehicle for the union.

After this is done, we will then look into the condition of the Toyota Sienna bus to know if it can be repaired.”

Students expressed their grievances on the state of the bus, accusing the union leadership of incompetence.

Salim Maikudi, a 200-Level Water Resources and Aquaculture Technology student, said: “I don’t know the reason why that van has

been parked there since January but no matter the reason, it is not justifiable. I will simply say that it doesn’t portray the union in good light.”

Andrew Chinaza, a 300-Level Cyber Security Services student, bemoaned the development, saying: “I wonder how our SUG leaders feel when they walk pass that vehicle every day. It is bad to know that the vehicle has been in this poor state for over two months and students have not asked them to repair it. I hope our SUG officials would see reason in this and act on it immediately.”

Issues we must address as we vote •Continued on page 35

gerians share common history.

For the future of Nigeria to be guaranteed, government at all levels must imbibe a good political culture, which promotes agelong values, fundamental human rights, freedom and ideals of democracy.

Media regulatory agencies and professional organisations must rise against the use of media for promoting hate speech and intolerance, especially during election periods. The Nigerian Press Council (NPC), National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) need to adequate measure to ensure that the mass media (print and electronic) do not broadcast

or publish inciting comments or statements made by politicians to save the nation from disintegration as predicted by some observers.

Prof Wole Soyinka said: “Let’s say there are prospects for a new Nigeria, but I don’t think we have a new Nigeria yet.” To have a new nation, we must learn to live peaceful with one another. God who created us has reasons for bringing us together in one country. Preaching hatred and intolerance will not help us in any way.

As Abraham Lincoln stated: “Our nation will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

Ahmad, 400-Level Mass Comm., NSUK

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

EDUCATION PTDF trains 400 welders

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HE Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has kicked off the Module 'C' training for 400 welders under the Welders Training and Certification Programme (WTCP).

Executive Secretary, PTDF, Mr Femi Ajayi, said the training was initiated based on research, which revealed a skills gap of up to 8,000 in welding and fabrication in the oil and gas sector.

Though the initiative was open to senior school certificate holders, many of the participants had higher qualifications - National Diploma (ND), Higher National Diploma (HND), and first degrees.

They have undergone the first and second stages of the training - Modules A (Fillet Welding) and B (Plate Welding). The Module C (Pipe Welding), which will take three months, will hold in various training centres of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) across the nation.

As he flagged off the training at the ITF Lagos Office in Ojota, Ajayi said under the initiative, PTDF has trained over 1,000 welders up to international standard.

"It is heartwarming for me to inform you that PTDF has so far trained over 1,000 Nigerians in various stages of the Welders Training and Certification Programme to international certifications. A good number of the trained welders are currently engaged in the industry while many of them are being used by the various training centers as qualified instructors of the International Institute of Welding," he said.

Urging the students to justify the agency's investment in them, he said the best 150 among them would be sponsored to further an advanced

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

welding training.

"Welding is a very costly exercise.

The materials you require are very expensive and you have to burn them all up. But we need to burn it up so you can get the needed skills and expertise. We are hoping that we will get 150 or 200 - the very best among you who will be involved in advanced welding. We are looking for the best in terms of skills and attitude and also ethics," he said.

President, Nigerian Institute of Welding, Dr Solomon Edabiri, told the participants to count themselves fortunate to be part of the Module C training, adding that without it their relevance would be seriously limited in the industry.

"The ability to get competency in pipewell will qualify you to get involved in the construction of pipes.

Without the trainee getting to this level, he becomes completely irrelevant in pipe construction," he said.

The participants thanked the agency for empowering them to contribute to societal development.

However, they appealed to the executive secretary to help to improve their accommodation, supply them with overalls, and ensure that their allowances are paid promptly.

Abubakre Gana from Niger State said: "We say thank you for this programme. We are pleading that you supply us with overalls; we also need our accommodation to improve; we are facing a lot of challenges. Also, our stipends should be paid at the stipulated time. It usually comes late," he said.

The PTDF promised to look into the participants' concerns.

UNILAG killing: Students seek better security •The amphitheatre, scene of the killing.

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OME students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) have urged the institution’s mangement to improve security on the campus.

The call is coming against the backdrop of the killing of a student on campus by some gunmen.

A 400-Level Economics student, who pleaded for anonymity, said he was worried that intruders could enter the campus, kill and get away without being apprehended.

He advised the institution to devote more attention to intelligencegathering and get students involved in security affairs.

He said: "For some groups of people to just come to campus, shoot someone and leave; that shows that the security is not good enough. I heard they searched at the

• From left: Justice Karibi Whyte, Governor Amaechi, Commissioner for Education, Alice Lawrence-Nemi, and Prof Fakae at the event.

By Oluwatoyin Adeleye

gate that night but those people could have parked somewhere and walked into the school. But for those guys to have entered the school with that motive, despite the fact that they saw the security guards, it means they must have been sure that nothing would happen to them. It also shows that the school security is slack because I heard that it was around 10 am the following day that the dead body was finally removed.

"I think the first thing is that the school should strengthen the security. They should spend more on intelligence. The students know what is going on, but sometimes, they are afraid.They need to inculcate the students into the security system of the school. That way, the

‘I think the first thing is that the school should strengthen the security. They should spend more on intelligence. The students know what is going on, but sometimes, they are afraid.They need to inculcate the students into the security system of the school’

At convocation, Amaechi, VC bid RSUST goodbye

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HE 27th Convocation of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt was unique in many ways.

It was a valedictory for the institution’s visitor, Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi; the Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof Barineme Fakae; the Governing Council headed by Justice Adolphus KaribiWhyte (rtd), as well as the graduating students of the university.

The governor will leave office on May 29 while the VC and members of the Governing council will complete their tenures in June.

As is typical of valedictory sessions, most speakers on the convocation recalled how they ran the race that culminated to the parting of ways, paying tributes where necessary.

Amaechi recalled the rot he met in RSUST in 2007, when he became

From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

governor, which prompted him to confront a man he respected, the former Pro-Chancellor, Prof Godwin Tasie, on the road within the university and told him, "You are hereby sacked."

The governor said that Fakae, who was the Rector of the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, then reluctantly accepted the appointment to be the VC of the university.

But today, he is happy and proud that he took that radical decision to appoint Fakae as VC because he had lived up to the expectation of the marching order he gave him to "rescue the university".

Amaechi revealed that though he was an indigent student, what radicalised him was that the University of Port Harcourt which he attended provided him with enough books and qualitative professors.

He recalled that then the students would protest against injustice in the society and lack of amenities in the university.

"At the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), we were out demonstrating against government.

Nobody will steal $10.8 billion and go free. Nobody will steal $20 billion and go free. Nigerian students will be found outside," he said.

He added: "Today, Nigerian students have convoys like governors, driving and telling you, 'this is my PA (Personal Assistant); this is my SA (Special Assistant)".

The governor told the graduating students that if they appreciated the way the school had been turned around in these eight years, then on March 28, they should go out and vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.

Fakae praised Amaechi for his

support to the university.

He listed several records of "firsts" that the RSUST had achieved - the first state-owned university on the webometric ranking table for four years.

The VC said that the university's transformation encompassed the environment, academic content, academic programme and professional accreditations, aggressive use of ICT in learning and digitalisation of records as well as students and staff welfare.

He added that it had also won national and international recognition.

These, the VC pointed out, means that "the project of RSUST which came by your mandate is a mission accomplished, particularly now that the university has a direction."

He urged the workers not to allow the university "to fall back into ruins of academic corruption, strikes, cultism and environmental degradation."

school would know more about what is going on at a particular time, because it is students that are involved in these things and would relate better with their fellow students in terms of giving information."

A 400-Level student of Engineering Tobi Oyewole also called for a more secured campus.

"It is because the school's security is not tight, that is why some hoodlums can just enter and kill someone. My lecturer even told me that people hawking fish come into his office to advertise their fish for him and he will be wondering who allowed them inside. It is obvious that UNILAG security is not as tight as the security of an institution should be. Do they search cars? Or even open booths to check the contents? " he asked.

However, some other students are satisfied with the Security Unit's performance, insisting that they are doing their jobs right and students must learn to be responsible for themselves.

A 400 level English student, called Tobi, said students should not move around late at night.

"The security men are doing their jobs well enough. What else can they do? It is up to the students to protect themselves and watch their own backs. I was not in school when the incident happened, but I was told it was late at night. It is not very responsible to be seen walking outside at that time, so we all just have to be careful," she said.

Another student of Zoology, who simply gave his name as Emmanuel, said the institution is well-secured, as there are security cameras at strategic locations of the institution.

"The security level is ok, especially when you compare it with that of other schools. At least here, one can walk around the school at anytime and you will still see security guards around," he said.

But to Emmanuel, the UNILAG management should provide more lighting.

"But they can do better by increasing the lighting of some areas of the campus like the area around the Faculty of Education, because it is usually dark at night. Reducing dark corners would reduce security risks.

They should also be able to train their security to conduct random searches on people that look suspicious as well as operate a track and monitoring system where the students are monitored from time to time in order to create a pattern that can either point at something suspicious about the students or otherwise," he said.

Deputy Registrar, Information Unit, UNILAG, Mr Olagoke Oke, said the student that was killed is not registered with the institution.

However, he said security has been tightened on campus.

"We are tightening up security within the campus", he said.

He advised the students to report any suspicious acts going on around them immediately and to always be careful and watch their backs.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

38

CAMPUS LIFE ACE FILE

‘Leadership should be people-oriented’ THE Provost, Adeyemi College of Education (ACE) Ondo, Prof.

Olukoya Ogen, has said leadership should not serve as means of achieving personal benefits, but improving people’s welfare.

He said this at a special prayer meeting organised to herald the beginning of the 2014 / 2015 academic session in the institution.

According to him, a good leader is one who inspires, lives by example, and exhibits fairness in his dealings with everybody.

Underscoring the importance of prayers, the Provost, harped on the need for people to always put God first and seek Him constantly for divine guidance.

His words: “When you see a man that does the will of God, things will become easy for him.

Your provost is a man that appreciates God and the efficacy of prayers. He is a kind of leader that inspires, encourages, lead by example and always ready to make sacrifice.

“Leadership should not be about you, but the people. A good leader is one who is fair and just to everybody.’’

The event, which featured songs, ministration and prayers for peace, progress and unity in the college, was presided by three clerics.

Provost decries poor reading culture THE Provost ACE Prof Ogen, has criticised the poor reading culture among youths.

He spoke during the presentation of the History Departmental Library donated by an alumnus, Dr Olatunde Oladokun.

The donor used the opportunity of the inistitution’s Golden Jubilee to donate the project. He graduated from the college 23 years ago.

He described the donor as a “man of vision determined to make impact on his generation.”

Ogen described Oladokun’s initiative as laudable, noting that the move would help in the advancement of knowledge and re-awakening of reading culture.

Earlier, Oladokun said he decided to embark on the project as part of his contributions to the growth of the college.

SCHOLARSHIPS APPROACHING DEADLINE West Africa Merit Scholarship at University of Aberdeen in UK, 2015 UNIVERSITY of Aberdeen has announced scholarship for Nigerian/Ghanaian nationals to pursue full-time taught postgraduate programme in either the College of Arts and Social Sciences or the College of Life Sciences and Medicine. To be eligible for this award, candidates must hold the equivalent of a First class British Honours degree from a British university or from a recognised Nigerian university/ Ghanaian university. Up to 5 scholarships valued at approx £2000 each will be awarded. The closing date for applications is 30 June 2015.

Study Subject(s): Scholarships are awarded to study any programme in either the College of Arts and Social Sciences or the College of Life Sciences and Medicine.

Course Level: Scholarships are

available for pursuing full-time taught postgraduate programme at the University of Aberdeen.

Scholarship Provider: University of Aberdeen, UK Scholarship can be taken at: UK Eligibility: •To be eligible for this award, candidates must hold the equivalent of a First class British Honours degree from a British university or from a recognised Nigerian university/Ghanaian university.

•Candidates must also be selffunded, and not in receipt of any financial assistance from the Nigerian government.

•To be considered for the scholarship you will need to have applied to the University of Aberdeen and been offered a place starting in January or September 2015. You must also be a privately funded student, and not in receipt of any financial assistance from the Nigerian/Ghanaian Government.

•The scholarship can only be held by a student of the University

A

Nigerian university. Candidates must also be self-funded, and not in receipt of any financial assistance from the Nigerian government.

Number of award(s): There are 5 West Africa Merit scholarships available.

Duration of award(s): Not Known What does it cover? This scholarship has a value of £2000 and is awarded in the form of a tuition fee discount.

Selection Criteria: Scholarship is awarded on merit basis.

Notification: Successful applicants will be informed by email.

How to Apply: A completed application form, transcript and one academic reference should be emailed or posted.

Scholarship Application Deadline: The closing date for applications is 30 June 2015.

Read more: West Africa Merit Scholarship at University of Aberdeen, UK Scholarship Positions 2015 2016 http://scholarship-positions.com

MOCPED Provost celebrates birthday with scholarships

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T was not only an atmosphere for merry making; rather, it was a moment for redeeming a vow made many years back.

Though it was his 53rd birthday, the Provost, Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), Noforija-Epe, Prof Olu Akeusola, was more interested in handing out cheques to the less privileged than taking part in the sumptuous food he had prepared for guests that came to felicitate with him.

Akeusola’s address to his friends and colleagues was brief but emotional, going down memory lane

•Prof Akeusola (middle) and Dr Folashade with some of the awardees.

By Adegunle Olugbamila

on his rags-to-riches story and how the Olu Akeusola Foundation was born.

"Today is my birthday but it is not a platform for me to flaunt my

‘But all the while, I kept praying to God to save me from this situation and promised that I would use my resources to save humanity if He did. I told God to prosper me so I can also help the less-privileged’

UNILAG Law '83 holds reunion in US LL is set for the 1980-1983 set of graduands of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos (UNILAG), to celebrate its Eighth Reunion in the United States.

Tagged 'USA 2015 Reunion', the event would begin on Friday, April 3 and end on Monday 6. Venue is Metro Points Hotel-Washington North, 8500 Annapolis Rd, New Carrollton, Maryland.

The event begins on Friday, April 3 with a gala night and will be followed by the Annual General Meeting (AGM) the following day.

Same day will also feature grand finale dance dinner, while excursions to landmarks and monuments have been fixed for Sunday, April 5.

In a statement, the Chairman Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the event, Abiodun Oloye and National Publicity Secretary, Edwards Ayo Odungbesan, said the event would

commencing study in January or September 2015- it cannot be transferred to other institutions.

•Priority will be given to students who do not already have additional scholarship funding (student loans excluded) and to those who have firmly accepted either a conditional or unconditional offer for a place at the University at the time the selection committee meets.

Scholarship Open for International Students: Nigerian/Ghanaian nationals, who are normally resident in Nigeria/Ghana are eligible to apply for the merit scholarship.

Scholarship Description: This funding opportunity is open to Nigerian students undertaking a full-time taught postgraduate programme in either the College of Arts and Social Sciences or the College of Life Sciences and Medicine. To be eligible for this award, candidates must hold the equivalent of a First class British Honours degree from a British university or from a recognised

By Oluwatoyin Adeleye

attract their former lecturers, such as Prof. Isaac Agbede, Prof.

Adedokun Adeyemi and Dean, Prof Akin Ibidapo-Obe. Other dignitaries expected are Nigeria's Ambassador to US, Prof Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye, who will also be the special guest of honour, as well as President, UNILAG Alumni Society, Dr Olorogun Sunny Kuku.

President of the reunion, Justice Adedotun Onibokun, said this reunion being hosted by their members based in the US would provide an opportunity for his colleagues to rub minds, and discuss latest legal and other social developments around the world.

Members will also use the opportunity to network and seek ways to improve their alma mater as well as legal education in Nigeria.

"We have made great strides over

• Justice (Mrs) Onibokun

the past eight years by contributing immensely to the development of our Law Faculty," she added.

Founded seven years ago, the 1980-1983 set is committed to bonding with fellow classmates and their families, network and render assistance and support, not only to one another, but more importantly, to their alma mater.

ego. I just wanted my friends to know why I decided to make this world better than I met it," Akeusola began.

"I would not say I'm from a poor home. I'm from a modest but prominent family in Epe here. I was as comfortable as I could be while growing up.

"In 1983, I secured admission into College of Education, but in December of the same year, my father died and so everything died with him. That was the beginning of my travails.’’

He continued: "I could hardly afford three basic meals daily. I did all sorts of menial jobs to survive.

At a point, I had to cut my mother's wrapper and sew cloths to wear.

"But all the while, I kept praying to God to save me from this situation and promised that I would use my resources to save humanity if He did. I told God to prosper me so I can also help the less-privileged.

"I don't know if God has answered my prayers, but I believe I am a lot better than what I was 30 year ago. So, I have decided to dedicate my birthday not only for fun but giving the poor a cause to smile."

Decked in a pair of black jeans, multi-colour shirt, and a pair of canvas to match, Akeusola stood, as his intimidating profile was reeled out to excited guests that punctuated the reading with applause.

"The purpose is to encourage academic excellence and assist the lessprivileged," said Chairman Olu Akeusola Foundation, Dr Yetunde Folashade. According to her, about N1 million was deployed in this year’s awards with beneficiaries taking N600,000, while the outstanding went on logistics.

The foundation, she explained,

awarded 15 beneficiaries cutting across tertiary, secondary and basic levels.

A total of seven beneficiaries in tertiary institutions received N40,000 each, three others in secondary got N30,000 while another three in basic collected N20,000 each respectively," Folashade added.

She said the foundation was previously conducting an essay competition to arrive at winners, but had to change gear, basing its criteria on selecting the best brains from schools.

On criteria for selection, she said: "The criteria are simple. We just get in touch with HoDs or head teachers of the would-be beneficiary and request for his or her result at the end of each session. The report is sent to us duly stamped by either the HoD or Dean, or the principal of the beneficiary school.

"This is our fourth edition but we want to increase the pool of beneficiaries and also increase the amount that we give them.

“Imagine what can N40,000 do for an undergraduate. I don't think N40,000 can pay school fees in some public institutions today.

So, we are using this opportunity to reach out to partners and individuals. Our doors are opened to whoever wants to support us," she said.

One of the beneficiaries Adejumo Funmilola Rebecca was happy she was receiving the award for the second time.

Rebecca 25, and a 300-Level Computer Science Education undergraduate of MOCPED described the award as a result of hardwork.

"I'm happy for winning it the second time; this is just to show that hard work pays," she said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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EDUCATION

Stakeholders demand quality teachers at science contest

S

ECONDARY school pupils from all over Nigeria have exhibited their dexterity in invention at the 11th National Festival of School Science in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

The event, known as Science Fair, is being driven by Genius Illumina and backed by a software company, Intel Corporation. It was attended by pupils from 27 states.

The participants displayed their scientific innovation, some of which included a water bicycle, motorised rechargeable lamp, working tools, household materials, among others.

The fair equally offered a platform for stakeholders in the education sector as they frowned at the poor quality of teachers saying the development has had adverse effect on education standard of Nigeria.

At the competition, Doregos Private Academy, Lagos came first and second in two exhibitions to emerge winner, while the third position went to Government College, Katsina.

Rewards for the first, second and third place winners were laptops, 50 different science/technology

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

books, medals, plaques and all-expense paid trip to attend Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (INTEL-ISEF) in the United States. Others also received laptops.

The Corporate Affairs Manager, Intel Corporation, Mr Babatunde Akinola, said the global decline in education can be tackled through public-private partnership initiative and not government efforts alone.

He said pupils’ interest in education is waning, saying any nation that dreams technological breakthrough must prioritise Science and Technology right from secondary school.

"This Catch-Them-Young Programme remains the best way to redirect the country to the path of STEM. If a nation wants to be competitive in the global economy, then it has to focus essentially on Science and Technology.

"With this programme, we tend to give relevance to these kids and creating a veritable platform for

• From left: Dr Olubunmi; HOD Science/JETS Coordinator, Doregos Private Academy School, Mr Lawal Olaide; Corporate Affairs Manager, Intel Corporation, Mr Akinola, and the Doregos Private Academy team at the event.

them to realise their potential.

“The quality of Science teachers is poor in Nigeria. We have very enthusiastic teachers, but the skills are not there.”

The Coordinator of Genius Illumina, Dr Jerry Irhue, called on corporate organisations to partner with governments for adequate funding of education.

"What we are doing is to initiate a situation whereby we can create avenue for the future leaders to be

noticed now and give a morale booster for them to be able to be whatever they want even where there is paucity of fund.

"But I want to plead with government to relax bureaucracy in dealing with intervention from private organisations or individuals while trying to lend a helping hand in building a virile society we can all be proud of.

"We are delighted that education is on the concurrent list, so I plead

‘Make education your priority’ HE Director of Studies, Alwasi' Schools, Mushin, Lagos, Hajia Zaenab AmadTaiwo, has called on the in-coming government to put more interest in education.

She spoke at the school's Ninth Biennial Inter-house athletics festival at Mushin Sport Complex, Illasamaja.

She lamented that the sector was being denied the kind of prominence entertainment industry enjoys.

She said: "As Nigeria promotes sport, they should also promote education. My appeal to the in-coming government is that education should be given a major priority. We need to make our children see that the government appreciates education".

The Green House, which is the school house because the colour represents the school logo, won the competition for the first time in nine years.

Accumulating a total of 11gold, 12 silver and three bronze medals, the Green House beat Pink House that finished second with 10 gold, five silver and seven bronze medals. The

T

•A cross section of the pupils.

ISL’ s best gets nine distinctions PUPIL of International School, University of Lagos (ISL), Boss Omeire, has won a trophy as well as other awards for having distinctions in all his subjects at the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).

Omoire, who was absent at the 28th Annual Speech and Prize-giving Day for the 2013/2014 session, held at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), also won the Late Madam Christiana Somorin's Prize for the best student in Chemistry and Omoseun Fred Omojole's prize for the best student in SSCE. On his heels was Peter Utuama, an SS 2 pupil, who bagged seven awards. Apart from emerging the overall best student in the department of Arts, Social Science and Business, Utuama also topped his contemporaries in six subjects - English Language, Literature in English, Commerce, Data Processing, Government and History.

Utuama attributed his achieve-

A

with our government to provide conducive environment for teachers to deliver.”

Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Dr Kolapo Olusola, said Ekiti as the Fountain of Knowledge, would open its door to relevant agencies seeking partnership to revive education in the state.

Olusola said the ministry had just concluded a seminar for all science teachers, targeted at promoting the teaching of science subjects.

By Oluwatoyin Adeleye

ments to God, and efforts of his teachers and parents, describing them as his sources of encouragement.

Peter, who plans to study Public Law at the university, advised his peers to pay attention in class so that they can also do well.

He said: "I feel elated and I thank God, but also my parents and teachers, because they always encourage me. I always listened in class and that helped me a lot, so I believe everyone should learn to do the same."

Principal of ISL, Mrs Adora Ojo, charged parents to be more involved in the education of their children.

She said: "Do not leave everything to teachers alone, because parents have a bigger role in helping kids to study. Do not give them the chance to relax, especially when the school vacates. Keep phones away from them during the session. They are distracters. When you buy them

‘Do not leave everything to teachers alone, because parents have a bigger role in helping kids to study. Do not give them the chance to relax, especially when the school vacates.

Keep phones away from them during the session. They are distracters’

computers, do not allow them turn the back of the computer to you while they work. Make sure the computer screen is facing you, so that they will not start doing other things while leaving their assignments undone."

Guest speaker at the event, Dr Anthony Okeregbe, also counselled parents and schools against pressuring students only for academic success, leaving out other important factors, such as character and leadership, without which he said nobody can have a good life.

Okeregbe, a Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, UNILAG, delivered a speech titled: "Excellence of intelligence and moral burden."

He said: "In this regard, children are forced to 'read' and 'study hard' as if that is the only thing they ought to do from age two to 17. Parents make frantic efforts to ensure that their children and wards get into the best schools, where 100 per cent success in external examinations is assured. Schools on their part abandon every other thing and channel their resources towards perfecting the act of 'passing exams'."

Master Oni Ayokunle, who bagged the award for best student in the Basic Education Certificate Examination with 10 distinctions (A) and four credit passes (C), said he was able to achieve the feat because of his teachers' devotion to their duties and his parents' constant support.

By Jane Chijioke

Blue House was third with seven gold, nine silver and 10 bronze medals, while Yellow House came fourth with four gold, seven silver and 11 medals.

Ahmad-Taiwo expressed her delight at Green House performance.

"I am so happy today that the school's house won. In the past it has always been other houses, Green House has broken a record and it is so remarkable".

She noted that the school finds sport very essential to keep pupils fit and upright at all times; hence its engagement in biennial sporting activities.

The chairman of the event, Alhaji Rasheed Yusu, said: "Life is tough and competitive. In life, as well as sport, you need determination when times are tough, life race needs to be completed whether you are feeling out of break or not."

He congratulated the winners and also commended parents for encouraging their children to participate in sport fiesta.

Monarch seeks more infrastructure for public schools HE Olota of Ota HRH Moshood Fehintola, has called called on the Ogun State governor to up its infrastrurural drive in the state.

He spoke at the presentation of over 200 lockers and chairs by the Nigerian Red Cross, Ogun State, to Ansar-Ud- Deen Practicing School, Ota, and Local Government School 1V, Sango-Ota. The presentation was funded by the American People through the Ambassadorial Special Self-Help Project (SSHP) 2014/2015 grant window.

The event pooled together pupils, teachers, parents, principals of the two schools, and other stakeholders. According to the monarch, education in public schools, has fallen below standard and government is not doing enough to remedy the situation.

Fehintola, who was represented by the Secretary of Olota-in -Council, Chief Osunabu Bamgboye said: "We have a lot of public schools that have between 80 and 100 pupils in one class with only one teacher to attend to them while other schools need urgent rehabili-

T

By Adeola Ogunlade

tation in the state," he said.

"Our children deserve the best and it does not matter whether they are attending public or private school, but what matters is that our children must be well grounded and prepared for the ever changing world," he said.

Earlier, the Executive Chairman, Universal Basic Education Board, Mufutau Ajibola, said the government was working hard to provide quality education in all the local councils in the state.

He said: "To revamp our public, the state Universal Basic Education Board had provided many sets of plastic chairs and tables for Early Childhood Care Development Education Centre (ECCDE): 17, 043 sets of 2 seater desks and benches for public primary schools and 10, 900 sets of two seater desks and benches for public Junior Secondary Schools and 7, 148 sets of one table and two chairs for teachers.”

He thanked the Red Cross for the exhibiting one of the principles of their objectives- voluntary service, adding that the gesture is complementing government’s efforts.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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EDUCATION

UNIBEN VC unveils five-year plan

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BOUT 100 days after assuming duties as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Prof Osasere Orumwense, has unveiled a five-year strategic plan for the institution.

Orumwense, who succeeded Prof.

Osayuki Oshodin, said his administration would focus on the development of Information Communication Technology as well as pursue increased funding to complete existing structures and build new ones.

The VC promised to ensure steady growth of the university and maintain its high ranking among world universities.

Speaking at a forum with workers, Orumwense also assured them of timely promotion and promised to pay salaries on the 19th of every month.

He also promised to consolidate on the achievements of his predecessors.

EDUTALK

Ofili and Nigeria's problems

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

He said: "I embarked on an on-thespot assessment of various faculties, I saw for myself the good work done by my predecessor and I want to assure you that all the problems I identified in lecture theatres, hostels, offices will be taken care of as they have been categorised into short, medium and long term projects.

"During the period under review as Vice Chancellor, there have been six inaugural lecture series, which have enhanced our academic profile.

For us to work together and work well, we must work according to the laid down rules so that there will be no hitches. We will ensure that this university is taken to the next level. I want to appreciate you all and, particularly, our unions for their maximum cooperation for this administration. I know that with God

•Prof Orumwense

on our side the harvest will be bountiful."

Chairman, Strategic Planning Committee, Prof L. Ojogwu and the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Prof Lawrence Ezemonye, expressed the determination of the new administration to improve the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the university and ensure that its lecture halls and hostels are improved to the same standard with other universities in Europe and America.

•From left: Prof Ebun Adejuyigbe, Dean, Clinical Sciences Obafemi Awolowo University College of Health Sciences; Mr. Oliver Omajuwa, Head, Marketing & Corporate Affairs, Sifax Group; Dada Ayodele, President, Ife University Medical Students Association (IFUMSA); Prof. Adesegun Fatusi, Provost, College of Health Sciences; Iyeku Akinwale, former President, IFUMSA; and Prof. Nora Akinola, Dean, Basic Medical Sciences, during the presentation of an 18seater bus by Sifax Group to the medical students of the university.

LBS Alumni donate to IDPs

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HE Advanced Management Programme (AMP) 26 Class of The Lagos Business School (LBS) has extended its philanthropy to Internally-Displaced Persons (IDP) in Abuja and its environs.

Mrs. Monilola Udoh led the threeman delegation from the class that presented the items to some IDP camps. The others were: Mr. Igoji Owoicho and Mr. Ayo Adeonipekun.

In a statement, the General Secretary of the group, Mr David Ogunniyi, noted that the relief materials handed over to officials of the

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) included: 50 units of mattresses; 50 cartons of Honeywell noodles; 12 bags of 50kg rice; toiletries and disinfectant; and condiments (two cartons of seasoning cubes, vegetable oil, and 500 sachets of salt).

The donation is coming after the class received an award from the Lagos State government for keying into the state's 'Support our School' initiative.

The AMP 26, which donated 150 classrooms and 10 teachers' furniture worth about N3 million to Lekki Community High School, Lekki, in Lagos, was recognised during a breakfast meeting with Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola at the City Hall, Lagos Island.

The President of AMP 26, Mr. Abidemi Sonoiki, said the group was encouraged to continue to support initiatives that restore and lift the standard of education, as well as support the less privileged in the society.

Spirit of Lagos challenges pupils

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OME secondary school pupils in Lagos participating in the Spirit of Lagos Challenge are seeking ways to implement their creative solutions to social problems in the city.

The pupils, drawn from schools in the six education districts of the state, are being challenged through the competition to come up with innovative solutions that can help improve Lagos.

Each of the participating schools, represented by a team of pupils, presented their project ideas to a panel of judges at the Co-curricular office of the Lagos State Ministry of Education located in Akoka.

The pupils stated their sources of materials, proposed mode of execution and how it would improve their communities.

They have three months to breathe life to their ideas.

Ifesowapo Aboru Senior Secondary School, Alimosho proposed a device for heating up waste products such as

plastics and cellophane to produce crude oil; Government College Ketu, Epe focused on how to make maintenance culture a habit in order to protect school and public infrastructure.

They also came up with SOT (Save Our Treasure) and DIY (Do It Yourself) as slogans to drive maintenance culture among students and Lagos residents; while Gberigbe Community Grammar School, Ikorodu identified ways of managing waste in their school.

Ajara Senior and Junior Secondary in Badagry are working on security consciousness and facilities within the school community. Agidingbi Senior Secondary School, Ikeja, isolated reading culture encouragement among students to improve success rates. The team from Ideal Junior and Senior Girls' Secondary School, and Obele community Junior and Senior Secondary Schools' project is on transforming the dilapidated sports field into a standard one.

Olaniyi Omotoso, Project Director

with

of the Spirit of Lagos said the challenge was designed to enable the pupils come up with ideas that they could work on as part of their contribution towards ensuring the restoration of the past glories of Lagos State.

He said the Spirit of Lagos is a behavioural transformation initiative that challenges Lagos residents to restore, share and protect those values that made Lagos great, adding that the Challenge would enable students from the participating schools to come up with ideas that they could work on and that would at the same time improve the Lagos community.

The Director, Co-curricular Services, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mrs. Marion Babs-Akinyeye, praised the Spirit of Lagos for initiating the challenge.

She said such an initiative was in tandem with the state government's efforts in ensuring overall development of various communities within the state.

M

Y reward for winning a game at a girls' night out was a book, How Intelligence Kills by Okechukwu Ofili.

I set about reading it immediately.

For one, the cover design was attractive, and, coming from a Nigerian Kofoworola author, I was impressed and curious to learn what the book was about. It turned out to be about the problems Kofosagie@yahoo.com of religion, culture and ethnicity that have underdeveloped Nigeria.

08054503077 (SMS only) I am not done reading yet but I am already provoked about some of the things the author talked about that we can surely do something about, one of which is the way we restrict how children learn in school.

I share Ofili's view about liberating our education system such that learners are not limited by the teacher's knowledge. They should be allowed to explore what they are taught beyond the confines of the classroom. Teachers should be flexible enough to accept answers or concepts they did not previously know so that the students learn even more. Rather than berate students for seemingly wrong answers, teachers should give them the chance to defend their answers. They may be surprised what they would learn.

Ofili gave examples about the uses of a bucket and a helicopter. We all know a bucket's main use is to fetch water. However, it could be put to many other uses. As such, all varied uses of a bucket should be considered right - even its use as a drum. About the helicopter, Ofili shared the story of how an Israeli Pilot used the tail rotor of his helicopter to cut down trees and thick bushes so he could land and rescue an injured soldier. If the pilot hadn't been able to think quickly of a solution, the mission could have been abolished. So, it pays to groom our learners to learn how to solve problems by being open-minded and probing - not to cram and regurgitate only to pass exams.

Another critical issue the book discussed was about doing 'shitty business with dignity'- in other words, the need to make clean toilets and tissue paper available in public places. He raised the issue of some NYSC orientation camps being in such poor state that corps members are forced to bath and defecate in the open - without dignity. He argued that it defeats the purpose of the three-week orientation programme that marks the start of the service year for corps members, which is to prepare them for community development in their places of primary assignments. His depiction of the camp reminded me of my own camp experience about 10 years ago.

Our camp in Ebonyi State back them was temporary - a secondary school located in Izzi Local Government Area. We had no toilets. If there were any, I did not know where because I never entered one. We (or at least, I) had to do 'shot put' throughout.

The bathrooms were equally disgusting. They became waterlogged after a few people had used them. I only used it once. I couldn't stand bathing standing in inches of water. I (and many others) resorted to bathing outside early before the beagle sounded - or if we were not so early, within the quadrangle of our hostel, which was not secure.

We fetched water from a hand-held pump that required so much energy to pump water out. We were lucky that many times the males were willing to help us. There was a tap in the school but the water did not run regularly.

We used the school's dining hall, a shed, for lectures, special programmes and meals; while other activities held on the parade ground. The mammy market also served as our getaway place (some corps members used to hide there so they would not be forced to the parade ground).

Ofili argued in his book that if the NYSC camps are transformed into state-of-the-art facilities, and the corps members are treated with dignity and respect, and told afterwards to go transform their communities, they would be better equipped and more willing to do so.

Indeed, the NYSC will benefit from having well-equipped camps in every state because they can serve as income earners. If the camps have comfortable lodgings, spacious air-conditioned halls, meeting rooms with relevant public address and multi-media facilities, a good parade ground, and a space to serve the mammy market - complete with stalls that have kitchen spaces and conveniences, the facilities will be booked all-year round for retreats, conferences, rallies, weddings, name it. More importantly, it will make the camp experience less hideous for corps members and more enjoyable.

However, it is not only NYSC camps that suffer from a lack of facilities.

Many schools - from primary to tertiary levels - lack adequate toilets and water thereby encouraging open defecation. That is why the back of classroom buildings closest to the fence or bush are usually a sight for sore eyes - littered with faeces that there is hardly anywhere to walk. I do not need to talk about the putrid smell of faeces and urine mixed together. I am sure many readers can imagine it.

Sadly, the health effect of open defecation are many and undesirable stunted growth, low intelligence, etc. Anytime an assignment takes me to a public institution, I always pray not to need to use the bathroom. It can be a nightmarish experience. I do not know why institutions will build toilets and not provide water to flush. In my secondary school days, each classroom block had about six toilets. But I can tell you that the toilets stopped being used because they got messed up when there was no water, and were not cleaned regularly. Such things should not be happening again.

I cannot take all Ofili's thoughts that I share in one edition. I think I will continue the discourse next week.

Belo-Osagie

‘Ofili argued in his book that if the NYSC camps are transformed into state-of-the-art facilities, and the corps members are treated with dignity and respect, and told afterwards to go transform their communities, they would be better equipped and more willing to do so’

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NATURAL HEALTH

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The Polls are here… Watch your health!

LECTION bells are ringing hardest and loudest in Nigeria’s polls history. By Saturday, we would be done with the presidential poll and begin to prepare for the election of governors to elect state and federal lawmakers. Thereafter we would come down the leader over the next three or four Saturdays. This has been a testy time for all, politicians and their followers alike. I am neither a politician nor a follower of politicians. Always, I seek the good of society from them, and sympathise with manifestos of trusted politicians which promise public good. Many people say we have a choice between two evils or the choice is between the devil and deep sea. My prayer is that we all make the right decision. Whether we do or don’t, we will not escape from the recurring decimal in which ever decision we take. That recurring decimal is that “a people will get the government it deserves” that means either a good government or bad one. The event of the next few days will rattle our health in no small measures. I remember 1979 and 1983. I was too young in 1964 to appreciate the impact of that year’s election on health. In 1979, I suffered mild depression when my preferred candidate, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was rigged out of the polls by the forces of the State. By 1983, I had become aware that democracy was not the ideal way of choosing the leaders of one men. In ideal situations, leaders of men are anointed and prepared for their mission well beyond the earth, sent to this earth at the right time, guided through events and experiences that will fire their interest in the right direction so that, when the time of fulfillment of their task arrives, they would be recognized by people they are to lead, and followed like the herd without much ado.

Last Saturday when I witnessed the march of troops through Agege area of Lagos, led by armored tank, the point was driven home to me that these are not normal times. The days before had been stuffed with political rallies in which the followers of politicians crambled for either #2,000 in envelopes, DVDs or electric fans or refrigerators. One semi Literate woman who roasts plantain by the roadside, said of the unprecedented traffic jam which accompanied the soldiers march through Agege. “Na soldiers dey do dem own rally”. For the more politically conscious and educated, the message is clear.

And, so, as we prepare for Saturday’s presidential election and the aftermath, I would like to suggest that we do not forget our health. Election upsets may raise or aggravate blood pressure, cause heart palpitation, worsen argina pains, induce digestive disorders, insomnia, restlessness and other health challenges.

So, this week, I am reminded not only of new health promoting products in the market, and also of many health enquires from some readers of this column. It is like our CLINIC DAY of old.

I hope you find it useful.

Question 1 I was placed on a drug at 25mg twice daily for high blood pressure. But at a point, the BP started going down so much. So, I was placed on 25mg ER. That is extended release. But after taking it in the morning, the blood pressure would rise to 160/ 101 before evening.

Answer From the point of view of alternative medicine, it is better not to suppress symptoms but to understand their root cause(s) and remove them. Elevated blood pressure has many possible causes. These may include, •Cellular dehydration •Potassium deficiency and sodium elevation in the blood/ potassium/sodium ratio.

•Elevated cholesterol level.

•Blood vessel damage by cholesterol, homocystane or other substances.

•Blockage and hardening of some organs, such as the liver, kidneys, pancreas which is often overlooked in the treatment of hypertension. These organs may have been blocked by toxins which the body may have crystallized and hidden in the intercellular spaces. Thus, when the heart pumps blood, and these congested organs resist blood flow, the heart tries to pump blood with more force. This new pressure may be alright for these blocked organs but may be excessive for others. This may be why these other organs become damaged by hypertension.

Thus, to normalize blood pressure, the root cause(s) of it has to be determined. Most Alternative Medicine practitioners, therefore, begin the therapy with a detoxification programme which cleans these organs up inside out, unblock the blood vessels, heal any damage in them, reduce or reverse enlargement of the heart, improve mechanical pump action of the heart without stressing it, energize the heart and feed it with the nutrients it requires to do its work well.

Traditionally, Co Enzyme Q10 is given to heart and hypertension patients to improve energy level in the heart cells.

CoQ10 (Co enzyme Q10) helps to increase the number of mythochondria in cells. Mythochondria are energy producing centres in cells. So, the more the CoQ10 available in the heart, the more its energy yields. There are two types of CoQ10… ubiquinone and ubiquinol. The latter is the preferred CoQ10 because it is more bio available. Ubiquinone has to be converted to ubiquinol before the body can use it well. In that process, some materials are lost.

Hawthorn berries is another heart herb. It strengthens the muscles of the heart, dialates blood vessels of the heart and decreases blood pressure.

In many studies, Calcium and Magnesium have been found to lower blood pressure. Magnesium relaxes the nerves and the muscles and promotes sleeps.

Thick blood may be thinned and blockages in blood vessels dissolved with a number of natural products which do this job and promotes blood circulation without side effects. Some of these include Cayenne, Kyolic aged garlic, Serrapeptase, Bromelain, Nattokinese and Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) among others in an inexhaustible list.

We cannot forget omega 3 fish oil which studies have also shown reduces blood pressure when taken for some time at

Answer Premature ejaculation has been attributed to incordination of the pubocoxugeal muscles and nerves. When they are well co-ordinated, we make urine when we defeacate, to slow a relationship between two regions of our body at work simultaneously. Some doctors believe fear or psychological pressures cause it. Dr. Kegel developed the DR. KEGELIS EXERCISE, information about which is available free on the internet.

Some other doctors and researchers link this condition to Magnesium deficiency. This deficiency may cause nerve spasms which are also experienced in palpitation of the heart or in urinary incontinence, when urine drops before we arrive in the rest room to discharge it. I was approached some time last year by a degree research student who wished to know what natural agent she could use to stop premature ejaculation in rats induced with chemicals. Having experienced spasms of my blood vessels just before then which made it somewhat difficult for laboratory officers to take my blood samples, and having overcome this condition with magnesium supplementation in my diet, I did not hesitate to suggest magnesium to her. And it worked. Above all, the nerves need strengthening and Guardian Angel are available for this.

Question 5 I have uterine fibroids, and appear to be about five months pregnant.

Please help me. say, 3,000mg daily.

Potassium – rich foods, such as oranges, vegetable juices, banana, Avocado pear, water melon and the likes of them have proven helpful in the treatment of primary hypertension.

Ditto Vitamin C at about 1,000 to 3,000mg daily.

Detoxification is crucial as explained earlier. Diatom is now one of my favourite detox products. It moderates blood sugar, lowers high blood cholesterol, improves digestion, especially protein digestion, removes heavy metals, toxins and microorganisms from the system. So does Zeolyte, formed from the reaction of volcanic lava with the sodium of sea water centuries ago. Wheatgrass alkalizes. chickweed detoxifies the liver.

Bitters are good also. A change of the diet which eliminates bread, milk, sugar, fried foods and makes salads, fruits and vegetable juices, the heart of nutrition should help this condition.

Question 2 I am 50, and have taken many sugar-reducing drugs. The sugar level is now alright after I stopped alcohol intake. Now, my problem is from December 2014. I started having weakness and outright pain from my waist to my toes. I have refused to buy the evil attack options. The pains are basically muscular.

Answer OMETIMES, pains from the waist may be due to colon congestion or inflammation of the sciatic nerve. There may be poor blood circulation and toxin build up in the affected areas. I suggest you detoxify your intestine, especially the colon, and, after that, repopulate the friendly bacteria flora in them. You may need to also improve your posture, as a wrong posture may affect muscles and nerves in this region.

Additionally, it shouldn’t be out of place if you have your doctor check your backbone for possible arthritis, herniated or disc slip. Herniated disc is one which has broken and spilled its contents on surrounding tissue. The disc is pressure packed, to serve as a shock absorber. It does not make us feel the impact of running, jumping, falling etc, just as the shock absorber in a car do not make the passengers feel the impact of the car when it drives over bumps. Herniation of a disc may bring pressure on a nerve root and this may set up pains in the region described.

If the problem is in your colon, as is often the case with many people, you may try calamus root, diatom, cayenne, a colon cleansing formula and probiotic. Some people do not easily tolerate Calamus root. They may vomit if they take it on empty stomach. Some people say they tolerate it if taken with yoghurt or pap. Some people do not experience adverse reactions. Calamus root is one of the best herbs for cleaning congested colon and healing damage to this part of the intestinal tract, including ulcerative colitis which may present a breeding ground for colon cancer.

If osteoarthritis is the cause, help may be found in a product called Oesteocalm, especially if taken with Diatom which has been found to support calcium absorbtion, a problem for some ageing people and cause of their arthritis or eosteoporosis.

Question 3 My mother-in-law has stroke of the right side about eight weeks ago, what can I do?

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Answer I have heard of case stories in which Jobelyn, in high dosages, reversed fresh cases of strokes. Generally speaking, strokes can be treated early by normalizing blood pressure, cleaning blood clots, healing injury in the brain and helping nerve revival.

The suggestions made for hypertension apply. To these may be added an oxygen capsule, such as CLEAR AIRE, for Oxygenation, Lion’s Mane, to help the brain produce more Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) and, of course, GUARDIAN ANGEL, a hand held acupressure device which the patient holds in his or her hands to improve nerve function. The devise may also be used by a therapist or a relation of the patient to massage acupressure points on the body related to the parts affected by the stroke.

Question 4 I am 51 and always experience premature ejaculation. Anytime I see my wife, I release within seconds. Please what do I do to enjoy sex with my wife?

e-mail: femi.kusa@yahoo.com or olufemikusa@yahoo.com

Answer There are about 20 possible causes of this condition, going by many research findings this column has featured many of these possibilities, singly or jointly. Some of them are •Back up menstruation i.e. incomplete menstruation which is retained in the uterus.

•Poor blood circulation in the uterus which cause blood retention over a long period of time, This causes deoxygenation and these blackened clots or clumps of blood found in the menstrual flow.

•Hormonal imbalance in which estrogen exceeds its ratio in the estrogen/progesterone ratio.

•Free radical damage which goes with antioxidant deficiency.

•Microbial activity, as viruses, bacteria, and candida in particular have been found in uterine fibroid tissue.

•Deficiency of potassium, a factor which leads to growths •Vitamin E deficiency.

•Longing for an unfulfilled “fruit of the womb” which is compensated for by a fibroid pregnancy.

•Energy loss in the chakra.

This is an eastern medicine belief. The third chakra is in the region where the uterus is. It is believed that people who seek to control and manipulate other people but cannot do this and feel so bad about it that they nurse pathological hatred for these people they cannot subjugate suffer energy loss and diseases in this region.

As stated, there are many possible causes of uterine fibroids.

It requires an understanding of them and a willful reversal of the inputs to achieve a fibroid-free uterus. For even when surgeries had been carried out to extract them, but the root causes were unattended to, these fibroids regrew.

Question 6 I need your help. How do I use wonder herbs to take care of hepatitis and rheumatism?

Answer DO not know what precisely you mean by wonder herbs.

There are many herbs so named, depending on the fascination of the people who have done extensive research on them or who use them therapheutically. Lately, this column has so referred to herbs such as ELIPTA ALBA and BELLACO CAPSI. They are good for hepatitis. This condition is caused by a viral infection. To address it, liver protective herbs such as milk thistle are used along with Liver clearance herbs such as Carqueja and Liver balance and anti viral herbs such as Zeolyte AV, Amazon AV, Chanka Piedra and a host of them.

Question 7 My wife is 56, has ringing in her ears.

Answer Ringing in the ear may be caused by poor blood circulation or an infection. The Russians instill garlic oil into such an ear with cotton wool or a diopper. To improve blood circulation, not only to the ear but all parts of the body, ginkgo biloba or cayenne may be used. If an infection is confirmed, Echinacea and Golden seal root, as tincture or capsule is advised. When garlic oil is dropped into the ear, it must be certain that the eardrum is not perforated or that fluid is not draining out of the ear. Maria Treben suggests the Swedish bitters herb drops be used. The formula she prescribes is that given her by a 103year-old man just before he died after falling off a horse. It is the Maria Treben Bitters sold world-wide, including Nigeria. I look forward to the end of the elections, so we all can have some peace and free ourselves of nauseating comments on public matters by illiterate and commentators and tribal jingoists who are leading us to back to pre-civil war years.

Some part of Nigeria are preserved remnants of that great atlantean civilisation which was destroyed in the age of asralasia when the moon was lowered closest to earth to destroy. Falsehood in this preserved part today is an anchorage for those forces of life which ultimately will annihilate falsehood. Falsehood is anything that is wrong. Even when we pretend about it all of us can feel to our fingertips anything that is wrong. Who does not know that corruption is the cancer in Nigeria blood stream.

Behind the shield of ethinicity and religion, the thieves have hidden from the votes and swords of the adrout and upright. If there are more thieves in Nigeria than are clean hearts. Do not blink an eye if they sweep the states. It would simply mean the time for the crash of falsehood and the onset of upbuilding has not come. Who can hurry time.

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Tel: 08116759749, 08034004247, 07025077303

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It is a Lagos that will work for everybody. We will ‘build on the achievements of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and

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Governor Babatunde Fashola administrations. We are coming to consolidate on those achievements and Makoko will not be left out in this new dawn

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Lagosians expect the dawn of a new era next month. Ahead of the governorship elections, indigenes and non-indigenes are mobilising support for the candidature of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC). A member of the Akin Ambode Campaign Group, Odunayo Akinsiju, examines the impact of the volunteer group in its engagement with ethnic nationalities in the Centre of Excellence.

Hausa/Fulani, Ndigbo, others endorse Ambode

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T is not so much of a walk in the park as it is a long, hard haul to the top with a man who looks set, perhaps destined, to becoming the next governor of Lagos State. I am talking about Akinwunmi Ambode, the 51-year-old chartered accountant who is contesting as the Lagos State governorship on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC) come April 11, 2015.

This is an account of a volunteer who had a ring-side view of this amiable candidate’s busy schedule last Saturday. And what a difference that day made in accentuating the point that this is a candidate who would leave no stone unturned in reaching out to every stakeholder in Lagos State with his message of continuity and sustainability. His body language and his remarks at each occasion revealed why he is the ideal candidate that is arguably the most qualified and better prepared at this period to continue with the legacy of successes that Lagos State has been witnessing in the past 15 years.

The day started with the biggest revelation. The Igbos, contrary to insinuations, are indeed behind the candidacy of the APC candidates and are not averse to the type of progressive ideology that the ruling party in Lagos State preaches. And so the day began with a grand rally at Onikan Stadium, where a full house of professionals, elders, women, traders, youths and students – all of Igbo extraction and based in Lagos State trooped out to unequivocally make their stand known: they were out to endorse the Buhari-Osinbajo team for the Presidential election as well as the Ambode-Adebule team for Lagos State governorship.

It was their show, the Igbos in Lagos. Funded and organized by them to express their position. And although the rally had in attendance key APC leaders and candidates like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the party with his wife, Oluremi; Ambode and his running mate, Dr. Oluranti Adebule and several other candidates of the party, it was still a platform decidedly mounted to demonstrate where the Igbos stand in the forth-

coming election.

It was a necessary and commendable stand to make at this time when endorsement of certain candidates has become desperate and dollarized.

Anybody who claims to be on your side ought to be able to stand up and be counted for you. This is what the Igbos have done, just like the Arewa people did last month at the same venue, declaring in one voice that no amount of last-minute transactional overtures would make them vote against their conscience.

This principled stand did not escape Ambode in his remarks. By that rally, the Igbos have reciprocated the good gesture of the successive administration in Lagos, a state where they have kept a commissioner’s slot for several years and where one of their own has been the official spokesperson of the party for many years. The next four years will witness more cordial relationship between the Lagos State government and the Igbo whose contribution to the commerce and fortunes of the state is well acknowledged, Ambode said clearly. His promise was that in his administration, if elected next month, no one will be discriminated against on the basis of tribe, religion or creed, while also promising an improvement in the business environment of the state.

The Arewas were next and this Epeborn technocrat is showing no sense of fatigue or irritation even though he had been out the previous night till the wee hours of the morning attending a dinner meeting with all the aspirants who contested the party’s slot with his last December. The meeting with the Hausa leaders in Lagos was as strategic as the Igbo rally. The non-indigenes’ votes in the state, said to be between 35 and 40 per cent of the total registered voters is a voting bloc that cannot be ignored. Both the Igbo and the Arewa are said to account for the largest chunk of that total.

Warm welcome and a promise of total support for his continuity agenda awaited Ambode from the Sarkin Hausa and the entire Arewa community, when Ambode’s campaign train arrived in Yaba. How can a candidate be so blessed in one day,

•Asiwaju Tinubu (fourth right), Ambode (third right), Senator Remi Tinubu (fourth right), Hon. Akeem Bamgbola, Hon. Gbolahan Yishau, Hon. James Faleke, Mr Kasumu, and Dr. Oluranti Adebule at a rally in Lagos.

getting the endorsement of both the Igbo and the Arewa in Lagos the same day, two weeks to the Presidential elections and four weeks to the governorship poll? To these ‘non-indegene Lagosians,’ apart from his own sterling qualities as a well-read, and well-experienced Public Finance expert, Ambode is reaping the fruits of the labour that his party, the APC, has sown in the past 15 years in Lagos.

While the federal government struggles to deliver on its promises and is adjudged to have failed in the key areas of national security, accountability, power, oil and gas and in provision of social infrastructure, thereby making the desire for change at the centre a necessity, Lagos State on the other hand has been exemplary in how to grow Internally Generated Revenue and deliver on promises, thereby making the state attractive not just to indigenes of other states but to foreigners as well.

Such a working state, the Igbo and Arewa communities are unanimous in their verdict, deserves the services of a technocrat who has the requisite experience, who understands the workings of government and who was part of the painstaking effort to grow the finances of the state in continuing with the good works of the incumbent governor. In their wisdom, that man is Akinwunmi Ambode, the University of Lagostrained Chartered Accountant who

spent 27 years of meritorious service in the Lagos State Civil Service, rising to become the Auditor General for Local Governments and later as Accountant General/Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.

But Ambode was not done on that interesting day. And he chose a community in dire need of government attention as his next point of call.

Makoko, next on the schedule, provided a platform for the governorship candidate to hear first-hand the yearnings of that community and to address a town hall meeting that sought to reassure on the type of change they should expect in the next four years. While slums and shanties may be an unfortunate feature of most mega-cities in the world, due to inadequacy of resources, Makoko, from Ambode’s assurance, will witness a true transformation in the new dispensation. “The Lagos of our dream is here. It is a Lagos that will work for everybody. We will build on the achievements of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Governor Babatunde Fashola administrations. We are coming to consolidate on those achievements and Makoko will not be left out in this new dawn,” said.

If it is about roads, for instance, Ambode was confident that his Project 20-20-57 would come to the rescue of localities like Makoko. What this project means is that if elected, Ambode’s government, would have minimum of 20 roads and 20

streetlights constructed in each of the 57 local councils each year. “With this template, more than four thousand roads would have been completed across all the local governments and council areas in Lagos in four years.”

For a man whose selfless disposition is widely acknowledged, Ambode exudes real passion about his desire to serve as the governor of this prosperous state. His vision is clear and he has an infectious way of communicating it to the people. “We seek a clean, safe and prosperous Lagos, where justice and equity shall reign,” he reiterated at each function.

And because he is real and demonstrably amiable, Lagosians, just like the band of hundreds of volunteers that have enlisted to his cause, believe him.

He did not end that memorable Saturday without looking in at the Ikosi residence of Hon. Tunde Salau, who passed on last week. Touching words of condolence poured out from his pen, describing the departed as a strong pillar of support… a seasoned politician and leader. May your story never end.” He had more kind words to the family of the departed also.

Campaigning with Ambode was like a long cruise, in which you hardly feel the strain. So it can be said of last Saturday, like the great American jazz singer once sang: what a difference a day makes, and the difference is Ambode.

I’m not a drug addict, says Kebbi APC governorship running mate

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•From left: Deputy governorship candidate, Mr Moses Ekpo, wife of the governorship candidate, Mrs Martha Emmanuel, Governorship candidate of the PDP, Mr Udom Emmanuel and representative of Governor Godswill Akpabio, Mr Nkereuwem Ekanem during the meet Udom Emmanuel interactive session with Akwa Ibom professionals in Lagos on Monday.

EBBI State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship running mate Col. Samaila Yombe, has refuted the allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he is a drug addict.

He described himself as a committed Muslim and law abiding citizen, adding that he is qualified for the office.

Yombo also described the attack and insult on his personality by the PDP as unfortunate. He said it is a ploy to defame his person.

He dismissed the drug addiction allegation as baseless challenging the PDP, it its to make public any evidence of their claims. He said that as a professional pilot, he can not be a drug addict.

Yombe added: “I have served the Nigerian Aviation as a professional pilot for years , how can i attain such

From Khadijat Saidu, Birnin Kebbi a status if i am a drug addict.”

“I undergo several medical test routinely and I came out cleared. I don’t even take paracetamol without prescription “ On the issue of religion , Yombe wondered why the PDP is bent on using religion to judge his devotion, which according to him, was a secret pact between man and God. He said the PDP lacked the moral right to assess his devotion to God. The soldier said that his career record was open for all to see, adding that PDP has no mandate to determine his competence. Yombe stressed: “If PDP don’t have anything to tell the public, they should shut up.

People want change for the betterment of our state and out country.

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Jonathan knew what some Yoruba like his polemic. He wanted to keep them busy and engaged the likes of Femi Okunrounmu.

He has also induced the Afenifere leaders to collaborate with the South-south in order to win the presidential election

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Former Ondo State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Prince ‘Diran Iyantan is the Leader of Yoruba Ronu. He spoke with Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN on the marginalisation of the Yoruba, the purported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan by the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, the future of Ondo politics and other issues.

‘Jonathan can‘t win in Southwest’ D O you agree that the Jonathan Administration has marginalised the Yoruba people?

Yes, it is obvious. The Yoruba contributed to the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. The Yoruba people singled him out of the crowd to become president, it follows that he should be fair to the race in political patronage, but he failed to do that.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo almost singlehandedly picked Jonathan and ensured he became President of Nigeria. He is an ingrate. He has short changed the Yoruba race.

The Yorubas are the most liberal people in Nigeria. When Obasanjo was in power, he incorporated every ethnic group into his government. There was no Yoruba man in his kitchen cabinet made up of people like Nuhu Ribadu, Nasir El-Rufai and Ngozi OkonjoIweala. It is opposite under Jonathan. This development made some Yoruba to indict Obasanjo that he sold off his tribe when he was in power.

What is your reaction to the purported endorsement of Dr. Jonathan by Afenifere?

The Afenifere leaders didn’t take the generality of the Yoruba interest into consideration before they took that decision. My father ( now 93 ) is the oldest Afenifere member. He was disappointed by the decision of his colleagues. There was no forum for discussion they just allowed the external forces to influence their parochial interest. It is unfortunate that most of these Afenifere leaders lack electoral value. They can’t win election in their wards. For instance, Olu Falae who was the leader of Peoples Democratic Alliance (PDA) lost in his ward in 2011. The Yorubas are not with them. We know our leaders. Jonathan will lose in Southwest, no amount of bribe he offers his promoters.

In my discussion with some of them, one problem they have is the meteoric rise of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to political leadership in the Southwest and in Nigeria as a whole.

Tinubu achieved this through political evolution. His contribution to the Yoruba race made him the undisputable leader. If not for his steadfastness, Nigeria would have been in disarray. When the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dislodged Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the Southwest in 2003, it was only Lagos State under Tinubu that survived the PDP onslaught. With only one state, he

was able to build Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) into a formidable party in the Southwest and Edo State. In 2007, ACN reclaimed some of the states and swept out PDP from the Southwest in 2011.

Will you say the Afenifere group are keeping to Awolowo’s political philosophy?

They have gone in the direct opposite of Awo’s political thought, an embodiment of egalitarianism and welfarism. Awo detest corruption in his life time. But the Afenifere leaders have been induced to promote corrupt government and leaders. In Yoruba tradition, when you attain certain age or when you become an elder, you retire from active participation in certain things like business and politics. Most of these Afenifere leaders are in their 80’s or above, they should quit the stage for the younger elements.

Are you surprised that former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba has returned to Afenifere fold?

I don’t think he was the closest to Awo while on earth as he claimed. Awo never jumped ship throughout his political career. Time was not auspicious for him to opt out of the progressive family. I feel sad for him for doing that at the twilight of his political career. At a time when the progressives are struggling to liberate themselves from the shackles of conservative elements, it is disappointing that a leader like Osoba decided to join the oppressors.

The Afenifere leaders hinged their endorsement of Jonathan on his commitment to implement the National Conference report. What is your comment?

I considered the national conference as a deliberate ploy to buy time for Jonathan. The progressives first mooted the idea of national conference which was rebuffed by Jonathn.

When he became very unpopular, he believed he can use the convocation of national conference as bait. He is now giving an absurd condition that re-elect me first before I can start implementing the report. The time the report was submitted before now was suffi-

cient for the President to implement the report if he was truly committed to its implementation. Jonathan knew what some Yoruba like his polemic. He wanted to keep them busy and engaged the likes of Femi Okunrounmu. He has also induced the Afenifere leaders to collaborate with the South-south in order to win the presidential election. They want to use creation of new states to justify the national confab report.

Jonathan has been promising people that he will create new states if he was re-elected.

What is the rationale of creating new states when most of the existing ones are not viable?

Are you surprised that the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) capitulated from his earlier decision not to endorse Jonathan?

We are pained that the Yoruba Council of Elders is now hob-nobbing with the oppressors of their race. The YCE is supposed to be apolitical. For them now to join the fray of politics of inducement and commercialisation, we are not bothered. Yoruba are united; Yoruba have identified with the general change; we want Nigeria to be rescued from the pangs of desperados. I know their offshoots are not supporting what they (YCE) leaders are doing. Look at Chief Niyi Adebayo, he is one of those advocating change in the country.

The Afenifere leaders have described the merger of ACN with other parties from the North as a sell-out. Do you agree?

It is a belated and jaundiced argument. The little time we have stability in this country was when there was co-operation between the Southwest and the north. We believe the interest of the Southwest will be better protected by working with the north. The Yoruba in the Federal Civil Service are being marginalised and victimised. We cannot endure this sad experience for another four years. God willing, with Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Vice President, the interest of Yoruba will be properly taken care of. We don’t want Yoruba children to be given dirty jobs like

Time was not auspicious for him to opt out of the ‘progressive family. I feel sad for him for doing that at the twilight of his political career ‘

• Iyantan

those assigned Femi Fani-Kayode, Doyin Okupe and Reuben Abati anymore. It is not in our tradition and culture to talk carelessly about our elders. Can you imagine FaniKayode casting aspersion on Tinubu who resuscitated the integrity of already bruised Yoruba race. Fani-Kayode should temper his problems with common sense and stop making unguarded statements because he wanted to satisfy his pay masters.

What is the political situation in Ondo State now?

The emergence of Governor Olusegun Mimiko in 2007 was a result of revolution in Ondo State. What happened in the state is a miniature of what will happen in Nigeria this year. Mimiko was a political orphan. He only had affiliation with the people who provided the arsenal to prosecute that revolution.

Mimiko started well but suddenly he deviated from the norms of good governance. He betrayed his benefactors including Asiwaju Tinubu and even engaged in unhealthy rivalry with Tinubu. The economy of Ondo State was not strong enough to cope with his inordinate ambition. The state has suffered because of it. There is poverty everywhere.

Mimiko is now a political pariah. He is now the most unpopular government in the country. The wind of change is blowing across the state seriously. Mimiko is in a big problem.

He has been rejected. His party-PDP will lose in the forthcoming elections.

Ex-Governor Isiaka Adeleke unites Osun West district

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HE first civilian governor of Osun State, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, is a phenomenon.

A rallying point for various classes of politicians in Osun State. He offers his wide shoulders for all and sundry to lean on. He has remained with his people through the thick and thin and identified with their yearnings and aspirations, offering solutions to their problems.

Senator Isiaka Adeleke, is a Godgiven philanthropist to humanity.

His kind gestures cut across tribe, creed, religion and sex. He is for all, no wonder all are for him in Osun West District.

As we march gradually to the March 28, 2015 general election, in which Asiwaju Isiaka Adeleke is contesting for the Osun West Senatorial District ticket under the banner of All Progressive Congress, it is pertinent to state, that the amiable politician, has not left any stone unturned in his bid to coast home to a sweet victory. Since December 2014, when he won the ticket to contest, Senator Isiaka Adeleke has thrown himself seriously into the contest, traversing the length and breadth of Osun West District.

As early as 7am, Asiwaju Isiaka

By Olumide Lawal

Adeleke was always on his feet for the daily campaigns, that has seen him on door-to-door, neighbor to neighbor campaigns to Ajagunlase, Ikire-ile; Iwo-Oke, Iwo township, Telemu, Ogbagba, Kuta, Ile-Ogbo, Ife-Odan, Ejigbo, Ikoyi, Orile- Owu, Apomu, Ikire township, Awo, Iragberi, Ara, Okinni, Aro, IdoOsun, Offatedo, Dada Estate and various wards in Ede North and Ede South Local Government Areas. The reception has been overwhelming, even when Adeleke arrived some of these communities at late in the night. The enthusiastic supporters and well-wishers were always patiently waiting to hear him out. The charismatic and lovable Isiaka Adeleke takes his own destiny in his own hands.

What is going on for “Serubawon.” What are his magic wands? This could be premised on his various seen and unseen positive contributions to individuals and communities, since he was elected the first executive governor of Osun State in 1992 at the young age of 35.

Such were the nostaligic recollections of a large number of people in

Osun West District of Otunba Isiaka Adeleke to their well being. They are true testimonies, coming from these electorate, twenty-two years after Adeleke left office as a governor.

One good turn deserves another stance is now at play. Isiaka Adeleke is now reaping bountifully from his past philanthropic gestures, most of

which, he has even forgotten. It is a payback day for Senator Adeleke by Osun West Senatorial District people, who have resolved to give him the highest number of votes at the senatorial election, as a demonstration of their appreciation of him.

This is one of Senator Isiaka Adeleke moments of glory in his po-

litical career. The campaign tours of the colorful politician, that Adeleke is, reminds one of his great exploits between 1990 and 1992, when at the relatively young age of 35yrs, he ‘locked’ horns with the evergreen politicians in the old Oyo State and proved his mettle.

• Comrade Alani Babatunde (third left), receiving souvenirs on behalf of the House of Represenatives member and All Progressives Congress (APC) Senotarial candidate in Lagos West, Hon. Solomon Adeola, donated by Lagos APC League of Ward Secretaries in support of his campaign for the election.

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NEWS SEVENTH BOLA TINUBU COLLOQUIUM IN LAGOS

•All Progresives Congress (APC) Vice Presidential candidate Prof Yemi Osinbajo and his mother Bisi at the Seventh Bola Tinubu Colloquium in Lagos ...yesterday

•One-time Lagos State Commissioner for Finance Mr Olawale Edun (left) and Mr Kola Awodein

•Former Commissioner for Information and Strategy Mr Dele Alake (left) and APC chieftain Demola Seriki

•Senator Ganiyu Solomon and House of Representatives member Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa

•Former Lagos Commissioner for Women Affairs Mrs Kemi Nelson (right) and Iyaloja-General of Lagos State Mrs Folashade Ojo

•Former Lagos State Deputy Governor Mrs Sarah Sosan and Enviroment Commissioner Tunji Bello

•Ogun State Commissioner for Health Dr Olaokun Soyinka(left); Mrs Bimpe Ogunsanya and Mrs Jibike Babatunde

•Eminent Scholar Prof Bayo Williams (left); Mr Charles Iyore; Managing Director, Independent Communications Network Limited(ICNL), Mr Bayo Onanuga and Special Adviser to Asiwaju Tinubu, Benson Akintola

•Lagos White Cap chiefs... yesterday.

PHOTOS: OMOSEHIN MOSES

•Alhaji Hadi Seriki

•Alhaji Nasiru Danu

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NEWS

LENT

Lagos APC raises alarm over meeting of INEC officials with Agbaje, others

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HE Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has issued an alert that some senior INEC officials deployed in Lagos for the conduct of tomorrow’s election will meet the trio of Jimi Agbaje, Chief Olabode George and Senator Adeseye Ogunleweall Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains tomorrow.

The APC alleged the meeting has been scheduled to perfect the plan by the PDP to rig the presidential election in Lagos.

Specifically, the APC urged the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof.

Attahiru Jega to keep a tab on the activities of his men to guard against compromising the integrity of the Presidential election.

In a statement by Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, the APC said that the meeting, scheduled to hold at a location in Lagos is meant to compromise the INEC offi-

cials with monetary and other inducements to skew the election in favour of the PDP. The party also caleds on all Lagosians to be at alert so as to frustrate the evil plots.

It reads: “As it becomes obvious to the PDP that its arrays of desperate measures to force Lagosians to vote for it have failed, the party has resorted to the last ditch tactics of buying and compromising electoral officers to rig for them.

“We challenge PDP to deny this insidious plot to meet with senior INEC officials tomorrow so as to induce them with the free money the PDP has been desperately using to buy and procure all manners of pseudo support to its crumbling dreams for re election.

“As its efforts to bribe traditional rulers, traders associations, Igbo groups, Afenifere, OPC to support

it have failed to move the determined resolve of the good people of Lagos to end the woe-laden regime that has pauperized and despoiled them, the PDP has resorted to indecent and clandestine meetings with electoral officers with a view to compromise them to tilt the outcome of the coming elections to their favour.

“We want to let them know that we have details of their clandestine movements and that Lagosisbs will frustrate them as they have done all the strings of desperate moves by the PDP to con their support.

“We task Prof. Jega to closely monitor the activities of the men he sent to Lagos, in view of this release as we will furnish him details of the officials involved in this plot against the will of the people of Lagos. It is just too natural to see why PDP desperately wants to manipulate Lagos as the grand failure of the gargan-

tuan bribery, vote buying, PVC mop up, inciting gun trotting hoodlums to protest, embarking on a mad, primitive Zander foolish war with APC posters all over Lagos, with tacit support of the police and other security agencies have rather worsened the bad case of the PDP in Lagos.

“Lagos APC charges Lagosians to be watchful and alert and report to the party the clandestine moves by the PDP to rig the coming election. We urge a Lagosians to stand firm and frustrate any effort by the PDP and its agents to steal and divert their votes during Saturday’s election. We want to remind Lagosians that these last minutes to the dawn of the badly needed change Nigerians have yearned for requires a heightened degree of vigilance as the PDP, worked up by the prospects of defeat, tries every crooked means to manipulate the election.”

Fayose clamps down on APC leaders •Thugs trail opposition members for arrest HE expected raids on the All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders and members began yesterday in Ekiti State.

Security aides believed to be acting on the instructions of Governor Ayodele Fayose seized several APC members, the Publicity Secretary of the party, Taiwo Olatubosun, said in a statement.

He added that several others had security men trailing them in what looked like a massive dragnet to cage the party leaders ahead of Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.

Notable among APC leaders arrested yesterday, according to Olatubosun, are former Commissioner for Labour, Oluwole Ariyo and former Board Chairman, Bayo Aina. Security men were said to have laid a siege to the house of former Commissioner for Environment and House of Representatives candidate, Dr Eniola Ajayi.

The security agents visited the homes of several APC leaders for forceful arrests, but their targets had relocated.

Even as APC leaders were ducking, non-politicians perceived as having sympathy for the party, had a dose of the governor’s anger, as the Iyaloja of Ado-Ekiti, Chief

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Waye Osho, was harassed by the governor.

Her offence was that she attended an interactive session with the wife of former Governor Kayode Fayemi, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, at Fajuyi Hall in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

According to Olatubosun, the woman is now in hiding after threat to deal with her.

The governor in anger asked the Market Women Leader to surrender the 16 government’s vehicles given to her union in all the 16 local councils immediately, failing which, she will be made to “carry the buses on her head” to the Government House.

Fayose took the woman’s case to the palace of Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufusý Adejugbe, where the governor warned the market women leader not to dare him.

Some thugs, believed to be supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday attacked the candidate for the House of Assembly for Ado Ekiti Constituency II, Sola Fatoba, who escaped death by a whisker while his campaign vehicles were badly damaged and bullet pellets littered the scene af-

Cleric reveals secrets of long life

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HE President of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Worldwide, Pastor Abraham Akinosun, has said the secrets of long life and prosperity remain a firm belief in God and obedience to His will.

He spoke in a congratulatory message issued on his behalf by the church’s Director of Publicity, Pastor Ademisoye Alawode, to the ex-General Superintendent of the church, Pastor Paul Olorunfemi Bandele and his wife, Mrs. Motilola Bandele,

for turning 80 and 76.

Pastor Akinosun said the secrets of the celebrants’ old age were in the scriptures (Isaiah 40:31).

Said he:” Old age is a special blessing of God. There is no doubt about it that the good Lord, whom you have been serving in Christ Apostolic Church, and since your retirement, has been your sustainer and protector. The same God will bless you with more years of useful service to God and mankind.”

ter the attack. ”In Aramoko-Ekiti, APC members were attacked, but curiously, it was those who were attacked that were later arrested by the police, while our senatorial candidate in Ekiti Central, Gbenga Olofin, was attacked on Monday after he survived attack on January 23 in Igede-Ekiti during which Fayose’s masked thugs in his convoy disrupted APC ward meetings in Iyin and Igede-Ekiti.

“The thugs moved from house to house to inflict machete cuts on APC members in Igede, while on Monday, the convoy of our candidate for House of Assembly, Olubunmi Oriniowo, was attacked. His vehicle was damaged while the assailants were frantically looking for the woman,” he said.

Olatubosun added that Tuesday was a harvest of attacks on APC members in Ijero-Ekiti axis of the state where the home of the father of former Commissioner for Finance, Dapo Kolawole, was attacked and badly damaged by Fayose’s thugs.

According to Olatubosun, several motorcycles belonging to APC members in the town were also damaged.

Also in the attack, former Ijero Local Government

•Fayose

Chairman, Bode Agbeleye, was attacked and his car shot several times with bullet holes in its body.

The APC spokesman regretted that in all these orgies of violence, the police looked helpless after several reports of attacks were lodged with the state Police Command. ”We cannot place the police in the current siege on our party. We want to remind the police that their duties are for all citizens, but unfortunately, we can surmise that Ekiti police are Fayose’s police to run the opposition aground in the state.

“We only hope that the Army and the Police will not make themselves available for a similar crime committed against Ekiti people in the June 21, 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State,” Olatubosun said.

Igbo group solicits support for APC

By Musa Odoshimokhe

N Igbo social group, Association for the Defence of Igbo Interest in Lagos (ADIIL), has urged Ndigbo to vote the All Progressives Congress (APC), to protect their inter-

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ests.

Speaking at a news conference in Lagos, the group’s Chairman, Prof. Chris Nwaokobia, said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)led Federal Government was inciting the Igbo to fight their hosts, the Yoruba, for selfish interests.

He said there had been no federal investments in Igboland since the President Goodluck Jonathan administration came to power six years ago, adding that the state of infrastructure was terrible.

Nwaokobia said: “The Federal Government has not fulfilled its promises. Igbo land has been neglected. Our roads remain the worst in the country. We find it difficult to move, especially during rainy season.”

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OR lovers of fish barbecue, fish pepper-soup and/or fresh fish at bukateria, “point and kill” or “point to kill” is a known delicacy. “Point and kill” commences a process whereby lovers of fish visit bukaterias Text: “.... every tongue that shall rise and point into a against thee in judgment thou shalt conpool of hapless demn....” ( Isaiah 54:17) living cat-fishes to identify a particular unlucky cat-fish they desire to eat. The fish is then brought out from the pool by the seller, killed and made as a delicacy for the customer. Here, judgment is placed on the living cat-fish by the customer and its execution is carried out at a cost negotiated and payable by the seller.

“Point and kill” is however not limited to the eateries as such unfortunate come-tragedy is a common occurrence in the spiritual world, albeit unknown to the spiritually ignorant but the manifestation of its colossal destruction is visible even to the blind. In the spiritual world, spiritually superior powers stretch their hands toward a person with a lower spiritual pedigree with the aim of killing, stealing or destroying the life, business, marriage or education of that person (John 10:10a). Jesus Christ attests to this that “...when men are asleep, the enemy comes in the night and sows tares in the field....” (Matthew 13:25). The aim of the Spirit of “Point and kill” or “Point to kill” is to offload the people that God has uploaded with greatness like Job; a man uploaded by God but was offloaded of every great virtue and blessings in one day (Job 1;2:1-7) King Herod once manifested such a “point to kill” spirit when he stretched his hands towards James the brother of John and killed him with the sword. When he noticed that the death of James pleased the Jews, he repeated the same “point and kill” to Peter but the church of God prayed and instead of Peter dying, the diggers of the pit and their conspirators replaced him (Acts 12:1-6,18-23 cf Isaiah 43:4).

What is the purpose of “point and kill”? It is a devil’s weapon to focus on a person before attack. In 1 Kings 13:4, King Jeroboam pointed at a man of God from Judah that cried against the altar in Bethel, not knowing that the person he pointed at had a higher anointing, the hand the king pointed to kill dried up and he was unable to pull it in again. Any hand directed towards you shall receive divine judgment in the name of Jesus.

“Point and kill” is also targeted to single a person out from a crowd for a spiritual attack, like a cat-fish that is singled out from a pool of fishes. In Numbers 22:1-6, Balak son Zippor became grossly envious of the progress of Israel, and ‘pointed his hands’ towards them to exterminate them from the surface of the earth. Balak then sought services of Balaam the son Beor to curse the curseless Israelites. He tried everything but failed because the word of God has concluded it, that “.....the curse causeless shall not come” (Proverbs 26:2). When Balaam erected seven altars and even proceeded to climb Mount Pisgah to curse the Israelites, instead of cursing the people pointed at to kill them, the Almighty God took control of his tongue and prayers were flowing from his mouth (Numbers 23:110). God’s promises to Abraham and his children are, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee....” (Genesis 12:3). Therefore, any person or group of people that are gathered to monitor your progress and are pointing their hands towards you to hinder your growth or destroy God’s blessings in your life, whenever they open their mouths to curse you, blessings shall flow from their mouths in the name of Jesus.

It is the spirit of “point and kill” that is behind the obstruction of the journey to the side of testimonies. When Jesus Christ informed His disciples that they were going to the other side, ostensibly to liberate a great man that had been in captivity at Gadarenes, that spirit of “point and kill” showed up through storms but His presence in that boat saved them from returning to base or sudden death (Mark 4:35-41). As the Lord lives, the spirit of “point and kill” shall not hinder you from getting to the other side of great testimonies, in Jesus’ name.

In lots of instances, “Point and kill” is used to destroy children with great destinies. When the devil wants to attack, he goes all out for people with a great future just as customers of “point and kill” bukaterias will always look out for fleshy catfishes as against bony ones. It happened to Jesus Christ too when he was born, astrologers saw his star and came to do obeisance. When Herod heard that a star had come to the world, he and the people of Jerusalem became very angry and they pointed their hands to kill him. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize that they were battling with the Ancient of days.

God arose and Herod with all the people that “pointed to kill” died in the process (Matthew 2:1-3, 16, 19-21).

Do you manifest greatness early in life and suddenly veer into error? Do you engage in unexplainable character traits? Do you habitually indulge in sins you know are wrong but difficult to control yourself? Do you experience strange sicknesses at the climax of an examination or a day of joy? Do you have all it takes as a lady to be married but no suitor or you are into a bad marriage with terrible challenges? Is your business experiencing loss of favour or gradually reducing income? Are you hated for no just reason by your benefactors or people in position to lift you up? Do you have brains and ideas but nothing to show for it? Have you struggled to commence a project but to complete it is a mirage? Are you blessed with hordes of talents with nothing to show for it and people not up to you are succeeding? The good news is that “....All power is given unto me (Jesus Christ) in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). The power of “point and kill” shall let you go, in the name of Jesus.

To get out of the pool of “point and kill”, you need to surrender your life to Jesus Christ, flee appearances of sin and be adopted as His child. Then, you must come to Him in prayer, He is the only deliverer from the bondage and captivity of the wicked (Colossians 1:13) because “when a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils” (Luke 11:21-22).

When you surrender your challenge to prayers, and not man, God will surely intervene. When Haman used the “point and kill” spirit against the Jews that were in Babylon to exterminate them, and the Jews with Esther fasted and prayed, the tide turned against the oppressors (Esther 3:5-6). As the Lord lives, powers that are pointing their hands toward your direction with the purpose of killing your peace, joy and prosperity shall be disappointed. The pit dug for you shall consume the diggers, and instead of going down, the power of God shall lift you up, even in strange places, in the name of Jesus.

Prayer: Oh Lord, deliver me from powers of “point and kill” that are monitoring my success and progress, in Jesus’ name.

Theme: Victory over “Point to kill” Spirit

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

NEWS Arewa community cries out over attacks

By Musa Odoshimokhe

THE Chairman of the Arewa community in Lagos State, Alhaji Kabiru Ahmed, has alleged that suspected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs are attacking the Hausa.

He said the attack followed the support given to the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the Arewa community.

His words: “Since we held the mega rally at the Agege Township Stadium, there have been attacks on the Hausa. PDP thugs have vented their anger on us.”

But the Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Gani Taofeek, said the party did not attack the Arewa community. He described the allegation as a blackmail sponsored by the APC.

Ex-Kogi Speaker defects to APC From James Azania, Lokoja

THE former Acting Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Mr. Bala Zakari, yesterday in Lokoja dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Zakari, who defected with hundreds of his supporters from Ankpa Local Government, said he left the PDP because it had derailed.

Polls:APC declares two-day fast From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

THE All Progressives Congress (APC), Niger State chapter, has declared two-day fasting and prayer for its members and supporters, to ensure peaceful elections.

A statement yesterday in Minna by the Chairman of the party, Mr. Mohammed Jibrin Imam, said the religious exercise would hold today and tomorrow.

Court installs APC Niger South candidate From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

A FEDERAL High Court sitting in Minna yesterday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to include Maj.Gen. Mohammed Garba (rtd) as the Niger South senatorial candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Saturday’s election.

The court in its ruling confirmed Garba as the winner of the APC primary election in accordance with the party’s constitution and guidelines governing the primaries.

Garba had sought the court order to nullify the emergence of Mustapha Sani Mohammed as the party’s senatorial candidate.

He said the defendant was not qualified to have participated in the primary election of December 10 last year.

‘Chibok girls held under security in Gwoza’

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VER 200 girls abducted in Chibok in April last year are being held in Borno State town, Gwoza, a woman recently released by the Boko Haram insurgents has told icirnigeria.org.

The woman, Mbutu Papka, 56, said she was held in the same locati1on.

Ms. Papka, who was kidnapped last July and held by the militias for eight months in two locations, said the girls were held under tight security in a house in Gwoza, online medium, Premium Times, reported.

She said nobody was allowed near the fenced building where the girls were held.

It was learnt that even the heavily-armed guards, who kept watch over the girls, were only allowed to go into the house to deliver food, water and other items to them.

The woman was abducted with others when Boko Haram insurgents attacked Gwoza last July 4 and taken to Mdita, a

JNI urges fair elections

remote village near Sambisa Forest, bordering Askira Uba, Damboa and Gwoza.

The abductees, including many children, according to Ms. Papka, were kept in Mdita for five months before being transferred to Gwoza, where they were held for three months before they were released on March 15.

She said it was while in Gwoza that she learnt that the Chibok girls, whose abduction has attracted global attention, were being housed in a compound adjacent to where she and other abducted people were kept.

Asked how she knew the girls were there, Ms. Papka said she never saw the Chibok girls, explaining that people in the area pointed at the heavily- guarded flat and said the girls were inside.

She said because access to the house was restricted, the girls cooked food and performed other household chores.

“In the camp at Gwoza, there are demarcations between where people are kept. The Chibok girls, other captives and Boko Haram members and their family members

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all living in terrible conditions.

“There was a room we used to urinate in and because of lack of water, the place stank and maggots were everywhere. We took our baths once daily, if we were lucky,” she said.

The woman said because of the terrible conditions and absence of health care facilities, many people fell sick and some died.

“There was a Redeemed Christian Church of God pastor who was killed during the attack on our village and his wife was abducted with us. She died at Mdita due to the condition of the place and the death of her husband,” Ms. Papka said.

The pastor’s wife, she said, had diabetes and, before her abduction, had been on a special diet, which could not be provided by the insurgents.

Ms. Papka said she and the other women were not defiled or assaulted, although she could not speak for the Chibok girls because nobody was allowed to see or interact with them.

She said the Boko Haram militias lived with their wives

Friends, associates eulogise Orji at 50

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

AMA’ATU Nasril Islam (JNI) under the leadership of Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto and JNI PresidentGeneral, has urged Muslim Ummah to pray for peaceful elections.

It warned politicians not to heat up the polity and accept the results in good faith or go to court.

In a statement by its Secretary-General, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, JNI enjoined Muslims to utilise the Thursday voluntary fasting to fast and seek Allah’s intervention in the elections.

“In the same vein, Jumu’ah Mosques Imams are implored to centre their Khutbah (sermons) tomorrow on violencefree general elections and offer special prayers to that effect,” he said.

have their separate areas secured, although the security in the area where the girls are kept is different and much tighter,” Ms. Papka said.

She noted that the conditions under which the captives in Gwoza were kept were fairly tolerable and far better than the first location, as there was water supply.

The woman said after they were taken to Gwoza, their living conditions improved because the town had modern facilities, as opposed to the rustic Mdita.

“When we got to Gwoza, things changed because there are facilities there and the place is 10 times better than Mdita.

We had a normal life in Gwoza, except the trauma of living in captivity. Whatever we wanted to eat, they were provided. They would bring water, firewood, etc., and leave them outside,” she said.

“They even provided perfume for anyone who requested for it,” Ms. Papka added.

According to her, at Mdita, she met other abducted people, including women and children, among whom were many under the age of seven,

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RIENDS and associates of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, last Friday eulogised him for his contributions to human and national development.

Speaking at the ceremony organised by a committee of his friends to mark his 50th birthday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, they described his emergence as a governorship candidate as “an exceptional case.’’

The former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Chief Timi Alaibe, said: “Some states in Nigeria have never been presented with professionals of Otti’s class,’’ adding that the former banker is “a first-class bred and a sound technocrat.”

Alaibe, who was full of praises for the former Diamond Bank’s chief executive, said: “Abia will never be the same if you have Alex as governor. He has been trained and he has excelled in the management of human and material resources.

“If elected, he will first of all do a diagnostic review of the state, set objectives and you will see result.’’

Mr. Godfrey Ohuabunwa said: “Alex comes

with character and integrity and not academics alone.’’

Ohuabunwa, who hails from Abia State, said: “I always feel ashamed that people, who do not have the capacity, have found themselves ruling the state.

Otti is tested, having grown as a junior officer to the peak of his career.”

Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano, represented by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Joseph Asike, expressed confidence in the ability of Otti to transform Abia.

Otti described the situation in the state as an emergency, saying the state needs an intervention before it will fail completely.

“Abia project is going to be a very difficult one for me to undertake,’’ he said, adding that the decision of leaving his comfort zone for an uncertain territory was a difficult one to make.

The APGA governorship candidate noted: “Change is in the horizon,’’ adding that he had the capacity and skill to overcome the task of transforming Abia.

Highlights of the ceremony included the cutting of the birthday cake and the public presentation of his books titled: “Saving the Future: Agenda for Economic Development and Prosperity’’, and ‘’Issues in Sustainable National Transformation’’, edited by Prof. Onuobia Onyebuchi of the Abia State University, Uturu.

We ‘ll defy Yero’s curfew order, says El-Rufai

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has threatened that should the government impose curfew on the state during the elec-

From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

tions, he and his supporters would defy it.

Addressing a news conference in Kaduna, El-Rufai alleged that there were plans by the government to create

crisis so that the elections would hold under curfew.

He said “Free movement is a right of the citizen giving by the constitution. As such, nobody, no soldier will take that from us.”

El-Rufai alleged that the

government had bought 1,000 machetes for thugs to attack people.

“We are urging the police and the State Security Service to ensure this doesn’t happen.”

and children in Gwoza camp, adding that they kept away from others and cooked their own food.

On March 15, after three months in Gwoza, Ms. Papka and 10 other older women were taken from the camp, herded into a vehicle and driven to Izge, a village, from where she was taken to her own village on a motorcycle because the road is bad.

The ride, however, was not free.

“I was asked to pay N8,000 for the motorcycle ride, which I collected from my family,” she said.

It was learnt that a two-year old boy was given to Ms. Papka when she was released. The boy, who is reported to be ill and has rashes, has since been reunited with his family, who are seeking financial assistance to take him to hospital.

Gwoza Local Government, which is over 100 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital, is said to be one of the councils under the control of Boko Haram terrorists.

Kawu reconciles with Kwankwaso, Ganduje From Kolade Adeyemi Kano

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HE Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Abdulrahman Kawu, yesterday agreed to join forces with the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, for the party’s success.

The reconciliation followed the intervention of party leaders, who enjoined the politicians to sheathe their sword.

Receiving the APC standard- bearer and his running mate, Dr. Ganduje and Prof.

Hafiz Abubakar, in his hometown, Sumaila, Kawu told his supporters that the differences between him and Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had been resolved.

Presenting Ganduje before his supporters, Kawu said the reconciliation became imperative in view of the need for APC to record a landslide in the elections.

Ganduje thanked the lawmaker for supporting his candidature.

Lamido, police to pay APC candidate N30m From: Ahmed Rufa’i, Dutse

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• Executive Secretary, Amuwo Odofin Local Government, Lagos State, Deaconess Modupe Ajibola-Ojodu; All Progressives Congress (APC ) House of Representatives candidate, Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency, Mr. Ganiyu Olukolu and an APC chieftain, Olalekan Ifemade, during an interactive session with youths on the general elections, at the Council Secretariat, FESTAC Town, Lagos.

HE Federal High Court sitting in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, has ordered Governor Sule Lamido and three others to pay N30million damages to the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate, Alhaji Sabo Muhammed Nakudu.

The plaintiff sued the Governor, the Chairman of Birnin Kudu Local Government, Inspector- General of Police and the Police Commissioner for trespassing on his house and violating his right.

Delivering judgment yesterday, Justice Sabiu Yahuza said the court found the defendants guilty on the charges levelled against them.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

NEWS

Five remanded in prison for ex-Akwa Ibom deputy speaker’s murder

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N Ukanafun Magistrate’s Court has remanded five persons in prison custody for their alleged role in the assassination of the former Deputy Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Okon Uwah.

All the five suspects were brought before Chief Magistrate Charles Akan amid tight security by the police yesterday.

Among the suspect is the Vice Chairman of Ukanafun Local Government Area, Effiom Abai.

Chief Magistrate Akan, in his ruling, said the court lacked jurisdiction to consid-

From Kazeem Ibrahym , Uyo

er murder.

He ordered that all the accused persons be remanded in Ikot Ekpene prison, pending advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Akan also ordered the police to transfer the case file to the office of the DPP for advice.

At the court, there were protests by youths loyal to Abai, the Ukafafun Council Vice Chairman.

The youths were barred from the court environment by the police.

Some of the youths stayed

at the gate of the court with placards singing pro-Abai’s songs.

They said: “Release our brothers. They are all innocent.”

The late Uwah was murdered last Wednesday by suspected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs at Nkek in Ukanafun Local Government Area while on a political campaign.

The late Uwah was the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Assembly candidate for Ukanafun State Constituency.

But the APC has said the arrest by the police would not be complete if the Mem-

ber representing Ukanafun/ Oruk Anam Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Emmanuel Ukoette, is not arrested.

Speaking during a briefing yesterday, the Legal Consultant to APC, Effiong Oquong, said the foundation for Uwah’s assassination was laid last month at a PDP rally in Oruk Anam when Ukoette on live television called on PDP supporters to kill whoever opposes the party.

The APC lawyer said Ukoette, who is seeking re-election, made this inciting statement in the presence of Governor Godswill Akpabio, who clearly endorsed it.

500 displaced as windstorm ravages Cross River community

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VER 500 persons have been displaced in Mbarakom Village in Akamkpa Local Government Area of Cross River State as a result of a windstorm that ravaged the area.

A statement by the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said about 100 houses were affected.

The statement by the Director of Information of the agency, Mr David Akate, said facilities at the Wilmar Company Headquarters were also destroyed.

He said some buildings in the various camps and communication mast were destroyed. Six-room block at the Government Primary School was completely pulled down.

The statement reads: “Though no life was lost, several persons who sustained injuries are receiving treatment in different clinics and

From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

herbal homes.”

The Director General of SEMA, Mr. Vincent Aquah, attributed the natural disaster to the global weather change and advised that measures be taken to avert the severity of future occurrences.

Aquah, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Relief, Mr. Andy Adeshi, outlined some of the measures to include an aggressive planting of trees which would act as windbreakers and the maintenance of buildings as well as the construction of buildings according to government specifications.

He sympathised with the victims and promised that government would do everything possible within the shortest possible time to alleviate their sufferings.

Don’t order my sack, Mbu begs court

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•The suspects...yesterday.

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PHOTO: KAZEEM IBRAHYM

Civil Defence, NGO urge peaceful elections in Bayelsa

HE Bayelsa State arm of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and civil society organisations have urged politicians to ensure that the general elections are peaceful.

NSCDC Commandant Desmond Agu and the Project Director, Search for Common Ground, Mr. Chika Emeh, assembled representatives of security agencies, politicians, civil society groups, students, members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), students, state government officials and youth groups at the Banquet Hall in Yenagoa to discuss the need for a violentfree elections.

The seminar tagged, “The

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa,

benefits of violence-fee elections, a panacea for national development”, drew discussants from all walks of life.

Governor Seriake Dickson, who declared the discussion open, was represented by his deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd).

Dickson said Nigeria has always been at the mercy of pre and post election violence. He said there was need for a change of attitude adding that destruction has never produced good results in any society. He deplored door-die politics and said in any election only one person will

emerge the winner.

Agu said it was the duty of all to seek security for environment, lives and property in any electoral period.

“The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps being a major stakeholder has taken the bold step to call together all the interest groups in electoral process in Nigeria and Bayelsa State in particular to enlighten and sensitise them on peace and violence-free elections,” he said.

The representative of INEC, Mr. Victor Akpoete, said a free, fair and peaceful election would lead to a responsive government.

He noted that for peace to be possible, many organisations must play critical roles.

He said INEC had established a process of eliminating factors capable of triggering violence after studying the causes of the 2011 postelection violence. He said the first step taken by INEC to ensure a credible election was the cleaning of the national voters’ register to eliminate multiple registration. “We now have a register hat will make votes count”, he said.

One of the discussants and Chairman of the state’s chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Chief Nengi James, said manipulation of elections by agents of government was the main cause of violence in the past.

UN envoy to Nigerians: hold peaceful polls

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HE Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA), Mohammed Ibn Chambers, has urged Nigerians to disappoint prophets of doom by ensuring peaceful, credible free and fair general elections.

Chambers, who spoke when he led a delegation of United Nations and ECOWAS diplomats to a meeting with the Rivers State Peoples Democratic

Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike and other top PDP chieftains in Port Harcourt yesterday, said if Nigeria concludes the elections peacefully and in a credible manner, it will be a source of pride to all black people and Africans.

He said: “I would like Nigerians to disappoint those who expect violence during the elections. Though there was resistance about the earlier postponement of the

elections, it has been admitted that the postponement is relevant.”

The UN envoy noted that the international community was interested in the general elections because of Nigeria’s position.

He urged the electoral umpire, the security agencies, political leaders and the public to remain committed to the peaceful and transparent conduct of the elections.

Wike said the PDP in Riv-

ers State remains committed to peaceful and transparent polls.

He said: “As a party, we believe in peaceful electioneering process, hence we have worked round the clock campaigning in all wards and communities where we entered contract with the people. We are sure of victory; that is why our supporters are peaceful. This is a PDP state and it will remain so after these general elections.”

SSISTANT InspectorGeneral of Police in charge of Zone 2, Mbu Joseph Mbu, yesterday urged the Federal High Court in Lagos not to order his sack.

He denied ordering his men to kill 20 civilians for every policeman killed during the general elections.

Mbu, in a counter-affidavit to a suit by a Lagos lawyer, Tope Alabi, denied ever making such a statement.

He said he only ordered that any policeman shot at by any person should defend himself.

In the counter-affidavit deposed to on his behalf by a policeman, Olugbemiga Adeoye, Mbu said the media reports were “complete falsehood, exaggerated, twisted and totally quoted out of context.”

Adeoye, who said he was at the briefing where Mbu allegedly made the statement, said: “The true position is that the first defendant (Mbu), during his official tours and briefing of police officers at Lagos and Ogun State Commands, directed every police officer to be law abiding, hardworking and wake up to their constitutional/statutory duties and respect to every citizens’ legal rights in the course of performance of their duties and that any policeman shot by any person, that such policeman could shoot back in self defence.”

Yesterday, Alabi’s lawyer Mr Femi Falana (SAN), moved the originating summons and urged the court to grant the prayers sought.

The zone’s Officer-inCharge, Legal, Chukwu Agwu, urged the court to dismiss the suit with substantial cost.

He urged the court not to

By Joseph Jibueze

rely on newspaper publications tendered as exhibit because they contained unverifiable facts, and were not certified.

The plaintiff is praying the court to strip Mbu of his rank and declare his office vacant for allegedly abusing his powers.

He is praying the court to direct Inspector-General of Police Suleiman Abba, the Police Service Commission and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) (who are the second to fourth defendants) to declare Mbu’s office vacant and replace him without further delay.

Alabi said Mbu, as a senior police officer, swore to uphold the rule of law and abide by the Constitution, but has allegedly been behaving as if he is above the law.

The latest of Mbu’s action, the lawyer said, is his directive to policemen under his Zone 2 Command covering Lagos and Ogun States, ”If one of my men is killed, I shall kill 20 of them but don’t shoot first,” Mbu was quoted as saying.

Alabi is praying the court to determine whether Mbu is fit and proper to remain in office, considering his controversial utterances and “his public misconduct,” and whether the lives of Nigerians are not in danger as long as Mbu remains in office.

The plaintiff urges the court to hold that Mbu’s threat as widely reported in the news media is ultra vires (beyond his powers) and therefore, in breach of Section 308 (1) (b) of the 1999 Constitution.

Church holds convocation

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HE second edition of Bendel Ecclesiastical Youth Convocation will take off in Asaba, Delta State between 6th and 9th April, at St. Philip Anglican Church.

It will be declared open by the Chief Host Archbishop of Bendel Ecclesiastical Province, the most Rev. Dr. Friday John Imekhai at 4pm. A statement by the public Relations Officer of the province, Sir Rufus Isaac, said the conference is themed “The great God” and will focus attention on salvation, healing, deliverance word and impartation.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

FOREIGN NEWS

Air strikes kill 30 Pakistani militants

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AKISTANI jet fighters killed 30 militants allied to the Pakistani Taliban in a missile attack in the mountainous northwestern Khyber region on Wednesday, including the group’s spokesman, intelligence officials said.

The air force has been pounding positions in the Tirah Valley for days and the military says it has killed scores. At least seven soldiers have also been killed.

The 30 killed in Wednesday’s attack in the Sipah district were from the Lashkare-Islam, which announced an

alliance with the Taliban earlier this month, the intelligence officials said.

The casualties included group spokesman Salahuddin Ayubi, the officials said.

Members of the group said they could neither confirm nor deny the intelligence officials’ version of events and said they were checking.

A U.S. drone strike killed 11 Pakistani Taliban militants in Kunar in northeastern Afghanistan, intelligence officials said on Wednesday, hours after a strike killed at least nine militants in the same area.

They said six or seven senior Taliban commanders had been killed, a claim the Taliban denied.

“I am sitting here in Kunar along with several other people but our fighters and commanders haven’t been killed in a drone strike,” Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesman for the Taliban faction, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaatul Ahrar, told Reuters.

The Pakistani and Afghan Taliban share a similar jihadist ideology but operate as separate entities.

No one tracks drone strikes in Afghanistan - many of

them take place in remote regions and are not reported but Taliban commanders say that fighters there have been increasingly targeted since late last year.

The strikes come amid warming relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, traditionally hostile neighbours who each accuse the other of harbouring insurgents to act as proxy forces.

Relations improved after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was elected last year.

Pakistan says it is supporting potential peace talks between the Afghan government and Afghan Taliban.

Greece fails in bid for early cash release

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REECE failed in a bid on Wednesday to secure a quick cash payment from the euro zone rescue fund to help stave off potential bankruptcy next month, raising pressure on Athens to deliver a convincing reform program within days.

Athens had appealed for the European Financial Stability Facility to return 1.2 billion euros ($1.32 billion) it said it had overpaid when it transferred bonds intended for bank recapitalization back to the Luxembourg-based fund this month.

But senior Euro zone officials agreed in a telephone conference on Wednesday that Greece was not legally entitled to the money, although they said they would consider how to deal with the issue in the future.

The decision by the Eurogroup Working Group was a setback for leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who is struggling to secure fresh funds to keep his government afloat while he presents a

comprehensive reform plan and argues for debt relief.

A source familiar with Greece’s financial position told Reuters on Tuesday Athens would run out of money on April 20 without new cash.

EU paymaster Germany, to which Tsipras made a fencemending visit this week after weeks of acrimony between Athens and Berlin, was among the countries that opposed handing back the 1.2 billion euros.

“We see no reason to release it,” German Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told a routine news

conference, adding that EFSF funding was made available to Greece last year as a safeguard during bank stress tests but had not been needed.

Jaeger said euro zone finance ministers decided last month, when they extended Greece’s bailout agreement, to transfer that money back to the EFSF in Luxembourg where it would be available for bank recapitalization should Greece need it in future.

The German stance made clear that despite the improved atmosphere in relations between Tsipras and Chancellor Angela Merkel,

Berlin has not softened its position in substance.

Tsipras has promised to deliver a full list of planned reforms by next Monday, but it is not clear whether it will include measures agreed by the previous conservative-led government such as privatizations and pension reform.

Euro zone officials have said it will be hard for Athens to make the budget numbers add up without a forecast 4 billion euros due from the sale of state assets this year and savings through later retirement and a merging of pension funds.

Boston bombing jury sees fuse, debris from suspect’s apartment

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HE Boston Marathon bombing jury on Wednesday saw evidence, including a fuse and a piece from a pressure-cooker lid, seized at the apartment where accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his other brother lived.

An FBI special agent described sorting through a debris-filled room that was “like a construction site” during a search of the Tsarnaevs’ cramped three-bedroom apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside Boston, four days after the deadly 2013 bombing.

“It almost looked like a construction site. There were tools in there, lots of debris,” said Christopher Derks, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation who led the search of the apartment during a massive manhunt for Tsarnaev.

The jury also saw a jar filled with nails, a pellet gun and shooting targets and a black flag with Arabic writing that hung on the apartment’s wall, all seized by agents.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, is accused of killing three people and injuring 264 with a pair of homemade pressurecooker bombs packed with

nails and BB pellets at the race’s crowded finish line on April 15, 2013. He is also charged with fatally shooting a police officer three days later as he and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan tried to flee.

Tamerlan died hours after the shooting, following a gunfight with police in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Tsarnaev’s lawyers opened the trial early this month by bluntly admitting the defendant committed all the crimes of which he is accused, but contending Tamerlan was the driving force behind the attack, with Dzhokhar going along out of a sense of subservience.

Witnesses this week have detailed jihadist writings found on Tsarnaev’s computers and evidence related to a trip to a New Hampshire shooting range a month before the attack as signs that he was a motivated and willing participant.

Kimberly Franks, a supervisory agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, testified that investigators who searched Tsarnaev’s dorm room at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth found a large fireworks device and more BB pellets.

Ukraine arrests two top officials at cabinet meeting

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WO senior Ukrainian officials have been arrested during a cabinet meeting as part of an anticorruption crackdown, hours after a powerful regional governor was sacked.

The head of Ukraine’s state emergencies service, Serhiy Bochkovsky, and his deputy Vasyl Stoyetsky were hand-

cuffed by police at the televised meeting.

They are suspected of involvement in high-level corruption.

Earlier, Ukraine’s president sacked a billionaire governor, Ihor Kolomoisky.

Mr Kolomoisky had been running the key industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk and

had financed armed volunteers to fight pro-Russian separatists in the east. He had been vying with President Petro Poroshenko for control of the Ukrnafta energy company.

The two arrests shown on TV on Wednesday were connected to illegal kickbacks involving procurement contracts, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov

told the cabinet meeting.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, quoted by Reuters news agency, said that “when the country is at war and when we are counting every penny - they steal from people and the state.

“This will happen to everyone who breaks the law and sneers at the Ukrainian state.”

The arrest order was read out to the two officials, who were then handcuffed and led away Mr Avakov said he was also dismissing all regional heads of the state emergencies service, as they were suspected of involvement in a corrupt scheme that had diverted money offshore.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

61

NEWS I'm sure of victory, says Buhari Continued from page 4

but the banks would not grant more loans.”

Aregbesola said: “Osun is next to Lagos in the sheer size of its civil service.

“In fact, the state inherited 50 per cent of all the workers in the old Western State and more than 75 per cent in the old Oyo State.

“I was meeting my wage bill of over N3.6 billion with N4.6 billion federal allocation until July, 2013 when the Federal Government announced a decline of about 40 per cent allocation to states.

“This reduced the state’s allocation from N4.6 billion with which I was meeting my bills to N2.6 billion.

“Since then, Osun has had to augment salaries by sometimes N1 billion, sometimes N1.6 billion.

“Before the last time I paid salaries in November, 2014, I have had to either spend the state’s reserves on salaries or borrow money.

“Today, I have a loan of N12 billion that we spent on salaries and I could not go to the banks anymore.”

The governor said that his administration remained proworkers, in spite of the tight corner it had found itself, pledging to pay the salary arrears as soon as possible.

Aregbesola reiterated the commitment of his administration to the people’s welfare, adding that he had demonstrated this with the implementation of many programmes.

On the elections: Tinubu said: “We have reached point where we must make a point.

History beckons. We must answer it well or not all. To respond wisely is to open ourselves to a better future.

“There can be no more fencesitting because that fence has been torn down by the vast disparity between our current reality and our desired future.

“We have a decision to make. We must decide whether wisdom is better than cunning, if bravery is sounder than bribe, if compassion speaks more than corruption, if patriotism is a more worthy vocation than pillage and if love of the nation and its people can overcome the love of power and stolen privilege.

“I am filled with the expectation of a more just and rightful future. My conviction has always been this day would come.”

“To save his post, Jonathan and his team would eagerly corrupt every national institution within reach. Everything is for sale and nothing is left sacred.

“Although the nation suffers an economic downswing that will require astute policy to overcome, Jonathan has raided the national coffers as if money were as plentiful as

sand. There is no dollar in this nation that his hand has not tried to grab. No naira that his underlings have not tried to pinch.

“They have thrown money at Christian and Muslim clerics, attempting to buy two great faiths as if they were two cheap commodities. As such, they have attempted to turn our houses of worship into open dens of corruption.

“They have dangled money in the face of our traditional fathers believing their conscience is for sale. Many have been brave enough to cohere to the nobility of their office more than worry about the expansion of their bank accounts.

“They have corrupted some civil society groups and organizations to engage in violent protest against the electoral process and the use of the card readers.

They oppose the card reading machine because the instruments foil their customary avenues of vote rigging.

“Jonathan‘s team has already read the writing on the wall.

They would be handed a defeat so resounding that they would begin to fight among themselves believing that each betrayed the other.”

U.S. set for likely crisis Continued from page 4

President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his main challenger, All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, have signed a peace accord in Abuja, pledging to maintain peace before, during and after the elections.

The United States is said to have had an intelligence report that the election could turn bloody, if the result does not favour the ruling party.

Leaders of the PDP and the APC are belived to be willing to accept the result, but “there are fears that should the polls be rigged, the citizenry may reject the results,” a source said.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

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www.thenationonlineng.net

THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

YOUTHS ATTACK JONATHAN’S CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR IN JIGAWA FOR NOT PAYING THEM AFTER RALLY–News

Yes...APPEARANCE FEES!

VOL. 10, NO. 3165

C OMMENT & D EB ATE EBA

O

N Saturday, March 28, two days from now, the electorate will again have the opportunity finally to go to the polls to elect a new president. This is after a contrived delay of six weeks by the Jonathan PDP federal government in holding the elections. The choice is between President Jonathan of the PDP, and retired General Buhari of the APC, the main opposition party. While President Jonathan has called for continuity, his opponent, General Buhari and his party, the APC, have called for change in the country. For nearly three months now, both candidates have conducted a long, difficult, and tiring campaign, criss-crossing the country to lobby the electorate for support. The election will go down in history as one of the most contentious in our nation. It could mark a turning point in Nigeria’s political future.

Now, it is time for the electorate to decide which of the two candidates should lead the nation as president for the next four years.

Which way will the voting go? Which of the two candidates will win the presidential election? Some extant local and foreign polls have predicted an easy electoral victory for General Buhari, the APC candidate. There is no doubt he deserves to win. His campaign has been impressive, convincing, credible, and based on the relevant issues. It is far better than that of his PDP opponent, President Jonathan, whose campaign has been openly divisive and hateful. His chief propagandists have hurt him politically more than his opponents. In contrast, in his own campaign, Buhari has sought to define and focus more on the critical issues of the election, namely, the general state of insecurity in our nation, the pervasive public corruption in the country, and the colossal mismanagement of the national economy under President Jonathan’s watch. In normal circumstances, Buhari should win the election easily. Most of the polls show him as the favourite. But given the peculiarities of Nigeria’s politics, in which most of the voters are not swayed by merit but by primordial sentiments and bribes, no one can be absolutely certain that General Buhari will win the election, as he should, if it is free and fair. There are no reliable public opinion polls in Nigeria. Even where they exist in the mature western democracies the polls are sometimes wrong in their predictions.

Such was the case in the recent Israeli elections in which the Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu, won totally against the forecast of the public opinion polls in Israel. In Nigeria, where there are no reliable public opinion polls, one can only speculate about the probable outcome of the presidential election on Saturday.

From what one can see of trends in the campaign, the presidential election will be decided by the voting in the South West, which has become a major electoral battle ground between Jonathan and Buhari. This is where most of the marginal votes are.

RIPPLES

TODAY IN THE NATION

‘This is the way it should be and Nigeria is winning.

It is clear that our people can no longer be taken for granted and whoever wants to lead them would have to convince them that he is ready to offer exemplary leadership and be a moral avatar...’JIDE OSUNTOKUN

DAPO FAFOWORA

FROM THE SUMMIT dapo.fafowora@thenationonlineng.net

The nation decides

•President Goodluck •General Jonathan Muhammadu Buhari

Whoever secures the South West is likely to win the election. In the 2011 election, President Jonathan beat Buhari handsomely because he was able to carry the South West along. The South West was also in support of Jonathan in 2009 when a northern cabal tried unfairly to stop him from succeeding the late President Yar’Adua when he died tragically in office prematurely. Traditionally, the South West has generally supported the political aspirations of the so-called minorities. This was why the region voted massively for Jonathan in 2011. But since then Jonathan has, by his poor performance in office, lost the goodwill of the South West.

It is not simply a case of marginalization.

The South West wants the best possible central government for our country. Both candidates realize this fact and, in the final weeks of the campaign, have focused more on the South West than on any other region of the country, in which ‘captured votes’ predominate. In this election, the votes in the South West will be more fractured. But the probability is that General Buhari will carry the day in the South West. He is quite strong in the North. If the margin of his victory in the South West is sufficiently large, then he is likely to win the presidential election.

President Jonathan will win in the South East and most of the South South. But victory in those two regions and possibly some parts of the North Central will not be enough for him to win the presidential election outright.

In his campaign, fuelled and driven by hate, President Jonathan has not made any new promises to the electorate. He is offering continuity instead of change; more of the same inept and floundering government. He is like the captain of a sinking ship assuring his passengers that they are safe, until the ship hits the rocks and sinks. He has nothing new to offer our country. He is exhausted and totally overwhelmed by the existing grave challenges of economic development.

And what does this continuity he is offering consist of? It is abysmal failure in all respects.

Unemployment, particularly of fresh university graduates, has reached record heights, never seen before in our country. It is estimated that the rate of unemployment now is over 60 per cent nationally. Youth unemployment is a good breeding ground for crime which has increased significantly all over the country, particularly in the urban areas. Boko Haram is not the only threat to national security and public safety. The large horde of the unemployed and idle youths is also responsible for such social crimes as kidnappings, murder, and arson. It is outrageous that despite the recent impressive growth rate of the economy, averaging 7 per cent in the last decade, the unemployment situation has continued to worsen, as has the level of mass poverty in Nigeria. Social and economic inequalities in our country have widened. The economic strategy of the Jonathan PDP federal government has failed to create the jobs needed for social and political stability in our country. The recent devaluation of the Naira by over 30 per cent will lead to price increases and the loss of foreign and local investment and more jobs.

Our economic fundamentals have been gravely weakened. How about the woeful and crumbling infrastructure? What progress has his inept government made in this respect? Very little. In fact the infrastructure deficit has worsened considerably under his watch. None of the cross country roads he promised have been built. Electricity generation and supply have been at their lowest since he came to power. Nigeria needs to grow at 10 per cent annually. It has the natural and human resources to reach this

“A

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•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

HARDBALL PROMISE made is a debt unpaid” is a saying President Goodluck Jonathan and his promoters may not quite understand. This must explain the loud and noisy promotion of promises said to have been kept by Jonathan.

A four-page newspaper advertisement with the heading “PROMISES KEPT” said: “I, President Goodluck Jonathan, made 10 major pledges to the people of Nigeria at my inaugural address on May 29, 2011.”

Jonathan continued: “I have kept my promises as you will see from these statistics.”

This boast was followed by a list of 10 pledges. According to another boast, “These are facts and statistics that are true and verifiable. A lot of them have local and international third party validation.”

“PLEDGE NO. 1”: “I pledged to grow the economy and to create jobs.” Anyone doubting Jonathan’s achievement concerning this should consider Nigeria’s scandalous third position among the top five countries with the largest number of the poor. The ranking was supplied by World Bank President Jim Yong Kim at an official forum. ”PLEDGE NO. 5": “I pledged to place the

target. But its poor infrastructure is a major constraint on this growth target of 10 per cent being attained.

Again, President Jonathan is not really committed to seriously tackling the widespread public corruption in the country which has widened considerably under his watch. In fact, corruption has become an instrument of state policy to keep Jonathan in power through the spread of political patronage. He has tried clumsily to make a distinction between corruption and stealing, both sides of the same coin. A clear example of this is the recent award of contracts to some ethnic militias in the country ostensibly to protect the oil pipelines. This is the most cynical abuse of power by any government in our recent political history. It is like paying a burglar to protect the property he has burgled. It is astonishing that President Jonathan does not really understand that these contracts he has awarded to the ethnic militias will eventually lead to the proliferation of weapons and the emergence of warlords in our country. Why doesn’t he give the funds to our security agencies, particularly the police and the military to undertake this task? The simple reason is that he intends to use the ethnic militias to prosecute his political agenda.

Already in Lagos, the so-called Odua Peoples’ Congress (OPC), fully armed, is being used to terrorize those perceived to be opposed to the PDP and President Jonathan. This method of intimidation is counter productive and is bound to fail as it will turn the electorate in Lagos and the South West totally against his government.

To borrow the words of Edward Gladstone, a former Whig British Prime Minister in the 19th century, in his attack on the Tory government over Ireland, this Jonathan government is looking increasingly like ‘a negation of God erected into a system of government’.

It is definitely time for change. Nothing can be worse than the economic and political quagmire into which the Jonathan government has driven the country. If Jonathan is re-elected, it will be more of the same.

After nearly sixteen years of PDP government at the centre, Nigeria will have become a one-party state and Jonathan more authoritarian. Our lives will be ‘shorter, nastier, and more brutish’. After nearly 16 years of ineptitude and massive failure under the PDP federal government, it is definitely time for change. We cannot afford the drift in our country any longer. A vote for Buhari and the APC offers us the change the country needs so badly. Like many others, I was once wronged by General Buhari when he was in power as military ruler. But national interests, not personal interests, are now paramount and needed to move our country forward.

Jonathan’s unpaid debts power sector reform at the heart of Nigeria’s industrialisation strategy and to continue to fight for electricity to be available to all our citizens.” Jonathan claims he has kept this particular promise, which means he must be blind to the pervasive darkness in the land. However, to be fair, Jonathan only said he would “continue to fight for electricity to be available”, meaning it could be argued that he is still fighting to get that done. ”PLEDGE NO. 10": “I pledged that the fight against corruption would be a war in which we all must enlist so that the limited resources of this nation are used for the growth of our common wealth.” Clearly, this is a pledge with zero content; and a content analysis should show why the Jonathan administration’s anti-corruption war remains in the realm of fantasy. Jonathan added: “Today, my administration’s preferred approach to corruption has been to plug the loopholes and tackle it from its root.”

Evidence of Jonathan’s success in this regard must be Nigeria’s ranking on Transparency International (TI) 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) . The assessment was based on the presumed extent of public sector corruption in the countries. Nigeria scored 27 out of a maximum 100 marks and was listed as the 39th most corrupt nation in the world.

Particularly applicable to the country is the TI observation: “A poor score is likely a sign of widespread bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ needs.” TI Chairman, José Ugaz, said: “The 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that economic growth is undermined and efforts to stop corruption fade when leaders and high level officials abuse power to appropriate public funds for personal gain.”

Judging by the conflicting picture of promises not kept, perhaps a more appropriate heading for Jonathan’s claims is “UNPAID DEBTS”

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