May 16, 2015

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

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As IGP Arase steps in...

EWLY confirmed Inspector General of Police, Solomon Ehigiator Arase, has come on board at a critical phase in the nation's democratic journey. He has been blown ashore by a providential wind of change, oozing fresh breath from a putrid stench of an expiring dispensation. Like a bolt out of the blue, he was proclaimed the nation's number one cop that bright morning of April 21. His immediate predecessor, Suleiman Abba, had incurred the wrath of President Goodluck Jonathan and his ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through some unexplained actions or inactions. Jonathan hired Abba when it pleased him and fired him at pleasure. Reasons for Abba's sudden sack will remain a matter of conjecture for a long time to come. The President is not obliged to offer explanations. No prying questions, please.

Arase may enjoy a smooth tenure under the incoming Muhammadu Buhari administration, that is if he is wise enough to be his own man.

Any attempt on his part to pander or hanker after the fancies of vested influence peddlers that may come in the guise of "Buhari's men" will certainly spell his doom. For what is known of him, Buhari is not one to expect servitude from any public office holder. With a background in intelligence in the Force, Arase is presumed to know his onions. Sticking to them will be his thump card.

Shortly after he was pronounced the new IGP, no fewer than three of his contemporaries had murmured their disapproval. The unnamed officers were reported to have protested that they were enlisted in the Police Force the same day as Arase and queried the choice of the new police helmsman among their rank. Untenable as their alleged protestation may sound, it may as well be a tip of the internal struggle that may arise along the line. But the IGP need not lose a moment's sleep over such lame argument.

For Arase, quelling such internal bellyache is a matter of discretion, and a good measure of horse sense too. Garnishing personal ambition with insipid bushwhack against a sitting IGP, as it is being done in several other public institutions, will certainly not strike any chords with the Buhari Presidency. Similarly, there will be no victory for those who may play the ethnic or religious cards against Arase's appointment if he is the right man for the job.

At this point in time, it is not the turn of any ethnic or religious segment to produce the Inspector General of Police.

Rather, it is the turn of merit and capability, attributes which the present occupier of the office has so far yet to be proven to lack.

The new IGP, observers have advised, should do his job as professionally as possible, leaving politics to politicians, especially under the administration of no-nonsense Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who has left nobody in doubt that the change mantra that has ushered him into power is not a fluke. He is, indeed, ready to walk his talk and effect the change for which Nigerians elected him. Hence, Arase is advised to watch the pitfalls of his predecessor.

Abba it was who sheepishly assumed the role of the Chief Justice, interpreting the federal constitution in Rep Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal’s defection saga late 2014. In a display of Dutch Courage, Abba had withdrawn Tambuwal's police security cover, citing section bla, bla, bla of the constitution to justify his witless action. Just like every mortal, Arase can't be Mr. Perfect. No one expects him to be. He will encounter testy situations as he journeys through. Therefore, he might be in need of sound advice in critical moments. Good enough, such pieces of advice cannot be in short supply from one or two of his predecessors, if he chooses them right.

One can recommend to him the wise counsel of ex-IGP Musiliu Adekumbi Smith who served under the tempestuous ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo during his first fouryear tenure. Like Arase, the reticent, soft-spoken Smith was also an intelligence officer. Despite the presumptuousness and boisterousness of Chief Obasanjo in the handling of critical matters of security, Smith was able to maintain a dignified balance. He never for once jumped the gun to satisfy the former President's obsessive cravings to dominate the political space. Throughout his tenure as the number one cop, Smith was cautious enough not to act in ways and manners

Gbade OGUNWALE, Assistant Editor, Abuja as to suggest that the police under his watch, was an appendage of the ruling party. Suave and refined, Mr. Smith carried out his duties with open mindedness and saw to it that the Force did not flourish in impunity. The brutal assassination in December 2001 of the then Attorney General and Justice Minister, Chief Bola Ige, will ever remain a dark patch in the former IGP's otherwise eventful career. And just like several other political assassinations that took place under the Obasanjo administration, the powers that be chose to play ducks and drakes with the inquest.

Beyond that, Smith will remain a reference point in humility and forthrightness for the younger generation of police officers in a long time to come.

He was a disciplined officer, a gentleman.

Likewise Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar ((M.D Abubakar for short) who President Jonathan appointed in February 2012, to replace the drooling and phlegmatic Hafiz Ringim as Inspector General of Police.

Spruce and urbane, Abubakar brought decency to policing down the hierarchy.

He was humane in his relationship with officers and the rank and file, with their welfare on the priority list.

Although he could not stamp out indiscipline during his tenure, a good number of officers and men were made to account for infractions and abuse of police code of conduct.

Abubakar never formed the habit of jumping into political frays, instigated mostly by chieftains of the ruling party in different parts of the country.

A case in hand was the 2013 show of shame in Rivers State, where seven House of Assembly members attempted to forcefully impeach the Speaker. The renegade lawmakers were believed to have been instigated by the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan. The move was a prelude to a planned impeachment of the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, to serve some sinister ends. Resistance by the pro- Amaechi lawmakers, who were in comfortable majority, had led to a free for all, leaving in its trail blood and broken limbs. Evans Bippi, arrowhead of that failed impeachment move, was able to scurry out of the assembly chambers in good time. But one of his co conspirators, Michael Chinda, was not that lucky. He got the clubbing of his life from one of the proAmaechi lawmakers and Majority Leader, Mr. Chidi Loyd.

The blood-soaked Chinda was ferried out of the assembly chambers unconscious. A timely medical attention abroad saved his life. As a sitting IGP, Abubakar applied discretion by allowing the politicians to play politics their own way. He proved wiser than the rampaging lawmakers and their sponsors by wading in only when it was safe enough to do so. Without apportioning blame, the then IGP cleverly untangled himself from the maddening crowd of politicians.

He resisted the temptation of playing the attack dog for the matriarch of the ruling party, who was pulling the strings from her Abuja comfort zone. Neither of the warring parties could pin any partisan blame on the diplomatic Abubakar.

Avoiding the fall guy scenario is all about discretion, one of the strong points of the ex-IGP. Arase can safely avail himself the Abubakar manual whenever the going gets rough. He may get it free of charge.

Politicking aside, the task ahead of Solomon Arase is a daunting one. Over the years, indiscipline has eaten deep into the police apple and the scourge has continued to take frightening dimensions. Cases of extortion, torture, brutality have taken up wings, hovering over the various commands and formations nationwide. Poor service conditions and inadequate welfare have conspired to wreck the morale of officers and men. Citizens are clamped into already congested cells on a daily basis, usually on flimsy grounds. That is if they are lucky enough to escape the ubiquitous accidental discharge. The "bail is free" mantra does not fly any longer, as officers and men must augment shrinking family budgets. In some instances, suspects are made to pay their way to court under police escort, as operational vehicles are either broken down or there is no fuel to run them.

Fully grown fleeing suspects, who the law says should be accountable for their actions, get their relations arrested and detained in their stead. Ordinary citizens have learnt to withhold vital information from police in crime situations for fear of being implicated in the process. The criminal escapes, anyone found within the vicinity is arrested and hurled into filthy cells. Their relations must come forward to bail them, free of charge? Wetin you carry, a euphemism for road block extortion from motorists, sometimes takes a violent turn if the motorist dare prove to be "recalcitrant". Thankfully, IGP Arase has outlawed the ubiquitous road block. He has even gone ahead to criminalise it, admitting that the road block has become a fertile ground for corruption.

Poor and inadequate residential accommodation has become a blight to the police. Most of the existing barracks are in a state of dilapidation, with poor sanitation to boot. Where the roofs are not hanging precariously, the walls are gaping with jumbo size crevices, exposing the occupants to avoidable hazards.

Officers and men on transfer are left to make do with available spaces in abandoned vehicles, disused stalls and other inconveniences while in transit. On arrival at their new duty posts, many are forced to take accommodation in available corners around the formations, where they lay their heads after the day's work. Their personal effects litter disused and abandoned shelves and cupboards at the premises. They rise very early in the morning to clean up, ready for the day's routine.

From Abuja to Abakaliki, it is the same vicious circle of homelessness that has continued to plague police personnel, particularly the rank and file. Delayed promotion is added to the plight, leading to frustration, declined productivity and diminished morale. It's a dark scenario of despondency. Arase certainly may not have the magic wand to fix these hydra-headed challenges within the space of his tenure. But he can start by laying the template and defining the course of action for short, medium and long term projections. That will set the pace for others coming after him. There is need to build a continuum of possibilities. It's time to set the goals and Arase should be ready to seize the bull by the horns.

Born on June 21, 1956, Solomon Arase enlisted into the Nigerian Police on December 1, 1981. He is a 1980 graduate of Political Science from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

The IGP also holds both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Law from the University of Benin and the University of Lagos. Called to the Bar in 2000, Arase also obtained a Master's degree in Strategic Studies from the University of Ibadan. He had served in various commands and formations as one time Commissioner of Police in Akwa Ibom State. A Fellow of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Arase once served at the United Nations Mission in Namibia. A native of Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, he was the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Bureau, Abuja, before his present appointment.

Arase is due for retirement on June 21, 2016.

‘We will cut you to pieces, if your mother does not pay us’ • Dangerous manifestations of child abduction in Nigeria PAGE 17

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Curbing the kidney disease scourge

THE NATION

NEWS 3

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

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Incredibly revealing Council of State meeting

F the eight or so leading newspapers in Nigeria, only about four got the undertone of the historic valedictory photo session of last Tuesday's Council of State meeting right. Unlike the rest, they recognised that only the special photograph of the former presidents/ heads of state, not the entire Council of State, deserved front page treatment. There were eight living presidents/heads of state in the photograph, spanning 1976 to 2015. If indeed the late Sani Abacha, himself a former military head of state, had not died in widely reported lecherous and hideous circumstances, in the buxomly laps of Indian whores, and perhaps with the aid of deathly mixtures from malevolent alchemists, he might well, to our humiliation, number among Nigeria's living presidents/heads of state. The photograph tells far more evocative stories than it appears at first view, a part of those stories undoubtedly distressing and somewhat shameful.

With eight living presidents, Nigeria must be among the luckiest countries in the world to have such an array of past presidents -- at least far luckier than even the United States and Britain. This fact demonstrates a few core lessons. None of the eight presidents, bar the current occupant of the exalted and coveted throne, is less than 70 years old. The US has just five living presidents, including Barack Obama, or four living past presidents to Nigeria's seven living past presidents. Britain has only four, including David Cameron, with only one, John Major, above 70 years old. As a matter of fact, while the US can boast of two nonagenarians, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, Nigeria is privileged to boast of at least one, Shehu Shagari. At the astoundingly solid rate Nigeria is going, this country of appalling human development index could yet break the record for the highest number of presidential nonagenarians.

Howbeit, the devil is in the detail if we must consider and compare the cumulative years in office spent by the three countries' past rulers.

But with such a high number of living past Nigerian presidents, all of whom are over 70 and who had ruled for a cumulative 41 years in office, it would have been expected that their lives and ages reflect the country's life expectancy. Instead, everything about them repudiates everything about Nigeria. The life expectancy in Nigeria is a little over 52 years, implying both that the quality of life in Nigeria is poor and short, and the gap between rulers and subjects a worrisome chasm. Except it can be proved that by the strangest mathematical probability the Nigerian system has a unique mechanism of selecting only the fittest as rulers, it can be reasonably argued that the past presidents actually profited immensely from the system to both enrich themselves and acquire high quality of life.

And with such an array of living presidents, all seven from whom

President Goodluck Jonathan should gain sound advice and be inspired by ennobling precedence, it was also expected that Nigeria would be fast approaching something akin to a paradise. The contrary is, alas, the case. Except it can also be proved that President Jonathan is considerably tardy in learning from precedence, there is in fact nothing to show that either the president himself or any Nigerian at all can be inspired by what Nigeria's past rulers did. Despite a rich array of past rulers, Nigeria has remained considerably poor in everything, from political culture to economic growth. Indeed, President Jonathan, exactly like his predecessors, has ruled like someone starting afresh, with no template to use other than a misbegotten and frequently exploited constitution.

It is not known, at least not from the faces in the group photograph, whether Nigeria's living presidents are proud of themselves, or whether they rate highly their contributions to the society it was their privilege to govern for many years. It is also not quite clear whether the leaders in the photograph feel the gentle or sometimes vigorous reproof of conscience over the many noble and salient things they refused to do to energise and stabilise their country. All the photograph shows is the unspeakable pride they take in being among the few who had had the honour to rule Nigeria, whether they did right by the country or not. They may want to blame the constitutions, just like their supporters, or blame the ordinary Nigerian, just like their fellow oligarchs.

But in their private moments, perhaps they will be greatly mortified that whatever they did or didn't do failed woefully to lift Nigeria up.

In publishing the revelatory photograph, one newspaper grandly talked of the past presidents mending fences, an act it deduced from the 'mutual backslapping, banter and handshakes' the leaders engaged in when they met last Tuesday. It is not clear how in one meeting fences could be so facilely mended. What is clear, however, is that judg-

ing from their individual characteristics and their time in office, these rulers constituted themselves into implacable foes. If their banter and backslapping went farther than skin deep, there was absolutely no proof of it, for these gentlemen had mastered the art of hating one another while smiling, nursing malice while mouthing reconciliation, and exuding so much malignant grudges and parsimoniousness under the facade of liberal spirit and munificence. Indeed, there is little to suggest that age has deprived any of them, save perhaps one, their habit of malevolent competitiveness.

The historic photo -- for that is what it will grow to be, as more observers and analysts ponder the circumstances and import of having so many living presidents in one photo frame -- for instance shows the implacable Olusegun Obasanjo next to (and indeed on the right-hand side of) the remorseless President Jonathan. Now, who on earth arranged the presidents for this photo session in the Council chamber?

Was it the president himself? Could it be purely accidental? Or was nature, the force to which scientists presumptuously attribute the complexity and beauty of human existence, responsible? Or, God be praised, was it the domineering, meddlesome and triumphalist Chief Obasanjo himself who arranged to be near his foe in one exaggerated, final and dramatic demonstration of his victory in unseating President Jonathan?

Who can so soon forget the many expletives exchanged between Chief Obasanjo and President Jonathan? Who spoke of the other as being mediocre?

And who spoke of the other as being a motor park tout? Ah, who can also, with relish, fail to remember the brickbat between Chief Obasanjo and Gen Ibrahim Babangida in 2011 when the latter was about to mark his 70th birthday, with the former describing the latter as a fool at 70, and the latter describing his former boss as a comedian?

They will of course keep tolerating one another to their dying days. They will heave and sigh, and they will groan in pain and smirk in triumph; but as they mummify in such photographs as they graciously gave us the benefit of seeing early in the week, Nigerians will ponder why despite all the country gave them, the ex-presidents gave so little in return. And even that little was hamstrung by their inordinate scheming, depressing untruths, ghastly manipulations, lack of altruism, poor judgement, and needless experimentations.

Let all eight Nigerian presidents take a look again at their group photograph.

Perhaps in one uplifting, epiphanic and divine moment, they could be induced by shame and inspired by patriotic gut feeling to finally resolve to embrace and display the true character of great leaders and statesmen, a class of people for whom fearlessness, truthfulness, charisma, judgement, and courage are incontestable and indispensable.

•‘We literally had to move mountains to get married’ •’Our greatest wish is to set eyes on each other’ • Couple frustrated, ejected by landlord

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When he proposed to me, I rebuffed him because it was unimaginable to me that two blind people could marry....

When I even told my mother about it, she didn't welcome it because she said she had never heard where two blind people got married before....

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S there anybody who could disabuse the minds of Stephen and Bridget Ogunlaye that life is not always about sorrow and pains? This appears to be a daunting task as the duo, a blind couple, have at various times in life fallen victims of the cruelty of nature and man.

Consequently, they have been banished to the world of hopelessness, disillusionment, frustration by the ugly experiences they have had all along.

Like every human being, they had high hopes and dreams early in life and were ambitious to realise them. Stephen, for instance, wanted to be a lecturer, while Bridget had desired

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Innocent DURU

to become a computer scientist. They set their priorities right against all odds and took steps that would enable them realise their ambitions but before they knew it, nature threw a spanner in their wheel and jeopardised their plans. They lost their sight along the line and so, had their dreams stalled.

It didn't end there; the wife in particular, narrated how men, who were swearing to die if they did not succeed in having her hand in marriage, abandoned her immediately they heard that she had lost her sight.

•CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

PRESIDENT'S PERSECUTION ALARM If you take certain decisions, it might be good for many but it?might affect others differently. So, for ministers and aides who served with me, I sympathise with them because they will be persecuted. They must be ready for persecution.

—President Goodluck Jonathan

The hands of the incoming government will not be tied by those who have chosen to play the victim and exhibit a persecution mentality.

Whoever has any reason to be afraid must lay bare such reason before Nigerians —APC spokesman Lai Mohammed

THE NATION, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

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•Children and grandchildren of Governor Adams Oshiomhole at the wedding

•From right: National leader, All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Gov-

ernor Oshiomhole; his wife, Iara and wife of President-elect, Aisha Buhari at the occasion

Buhari, Gowon, Tinubu, Dangote, governors honour Oshiomhole as he remarries five years after •Edo governor: my new wife is mother of the house n Osagie OTABOR, Benin n HE President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, governors and several top dignitaries , yesterday trooped out to honour Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, as he said ‘I do’ to former Miss Iara Fortes, five years after losing wife, Clara, to breast cancer.

The wedding, which was previously scheduled to hold at the Auchi Marriage Registry, was shifted to the country home residence of Governor Oshiomhole.

Few friends and family members witnessed the joining together of the couple.

Oshiomhole, who was dressed in a black suit, decked with bow tie, announced that his new wife "is the mother of the house".

Iara, a lawyer and top model, hails from the Cape Verde Islands.

The couple stepped out at about 12:20pm to the Peoples’ Hall venue of the reception for the wedding.

Commercial motor-cyclists, popularly called okada, made brisk business as they upped their fares from N200 to between N300 and N500 to take guests from Auchi to Iyamho village, Oshiomhole's hometown.

The wedding caused heavy vehicular traffic along the Benin-Auchi express road owing to the dignitaries that graced the wedding.

Top dignitaries that graced the occasion included the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari and his wife, Aisha Buhari; Vice President-elect, Yemi Osibanjo; Governor-elect of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai; National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State; Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State; Deputy Governor of Edo State, Dr. Pius Odubu and his wife, Endurance; former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi; former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon; Speaker Aminu Tambuwal; former Minister of External Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi; Hon Pally Iriase and Hon Samson Osagie.

Others are the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; Governors and Governors-elect from across the country, Senators Bukola Saraki, Domingo Obende, Chris Ngige and many other dignitaries.

Captains of Industries, who were led by to the ceremony by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, included Mr Jim Ovia, Femi Otedola, Captain Noggie Meggisson and Captain Hosa Okunbor among others.

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, former Governors Kayode Fayemi, Oserheimen Osunbor, Senator Tunde Ogbeha; Osaigbovo Ogbemudia and Otunba Niyi Adebayo were also in attendance.

Top military brass, including Brigadier-General MJ Abel, Commandant, Nigerian Army School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Auchi, the Director-General of the State Security, represented by Engr Joseph Oworuya, Mr Bello Bakori and the Director, SSS, Edo State, were also at the ceremony.

Royal fathers were not left out, as they attended the ceremony in their numbers.

The Oba of Benin was represented by high ranking palace chiefs, which included Chief David Edebiri, the Esogban of Benin Kingdom.

Oshiomhole described his new wife as very humble.

He said: "This is something that one is happy about.

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•From left: President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari; Governor Oshiomhole; his wife, Iara; Mrs Osinbajo and Vice-President-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo....yesterday

•Mother of the groom, Hajia Aishetu Oshiomhole and Mr

•Parents of the bride, Mr and Mrs Fortes.

Godwin Obaseki, Chairman, Edo State Economic Team

One is also happy that I have people across all political divides. The occasion reminds me that across all divides, we have friends and well wishers."

"She is very humble, she appreciates the nature of my work and life. She understands that one comes back home late, sometimes at 3 am. She understands my weaknesses, and she is moreorless the mother of the house, the one that has accepted to be the mother of my children. I am happy that all my children are at home with her and accept her as their mother. Even though she is not old enough to be their mother, she has accepted to fill that gap.

"I have seen a lot of publications, some saying she is Filipino, Dutch and others. But she is from Cape Verde, which is part of West Africa and I hope that put to rest where she is from."

Aisha Buhari in her speech, prayed for God's guidance as "she becomes a Nigerian" Chairman of the occasion, Gowon described the day as •From left: Cecil Hammond, Governor Oshiomhole and Aliko Dangote a special one and urged the couple to live as one.

THE NATION

NEWS 5

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

Plot to sack Muazu, NWC: PDP leaders in dilemma

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EY stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are are caught in a dilemma over the next line of action on the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, and his team in the National Working Committee (NWC).

Two separate meetings of the party’s national leaders and elders, called by President Goodluck Jonathan during the week, failed to take a definite position on the fate of the elected party officials.

While some of the stakeholders are calling for the sack of Mu’azu and his subordinates, others have argued that they be allowed to complete their tenure, which expires in March, 2016.

The disagreement is coming just as a prominent chieftain of the party has fingered the President-Elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the ruling party’s “nemesis”.

Our correspondent’s investigation revealed at the weekend that all the party’s outgoing governors have insisted on outright dissolution of the NWC, to pave way for a new set of executives.

The governors, investigation further revealed, are being backed by a leader of the party in the Southwest zone, Chief Olabode George and a few others. A source privy to the meetings said President Jonathan has chosen to remain neutral.

Our source also said the President had directed the stakeholders and contending parties to embark on further consultations, with a view to finding amicable solution to the raging crisis.

The anti Mu’azu forces, particularly Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, had argued that retaining the present crop of the party’s executive members would be counter-productive.

According to them, rather than mobilising support for the President in the last election, the Chairman and his team members were preoccupied with pecuniary pursuits to the detriment of the party.

Allusions were made to instances where the party officials shared money among themselves when they were supposed to disburse same for campaign purposes.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, had at a recent media briefing, stated that members of the NWC collected N30 million each.

Metuh however, explained that the money was for the

•Jonathan's peace parley deadlocked twice •President seeks further consultations Gbade OGUNWALE, Assistant Editor, Abuja backlog of allowances and medical expenses of the NWC members.

Apparently, the money was part of the proceeds of sales of nomination forms for the various elective positions in the last general elections.

He had insisted that funds were not made available to the party officials for the presidential campaign, saying

the funds were directly placed under the control of the Presidential Campaign Council.

Buttressing Metuh’s position, a high ranking member of the party’s top decision making organ said the NWC should not be blamed for the crushing defeat the PDP suffered at the poll.

The official, who craved anonymity, said the PDP faced the most formidable opposition in Buhari and Tinubu who he described as

the party’s nemesis.

Said he: “I think it’s high time we stopped this fruitless blame game. Buhari and Tinubu were our nemesis and not the NWC members.

“If you are a member of a club, you must be bold enough to say the truth when things go wrong. Tell me, how many of us can match Buhari’s popularity in the entire north? How many of our members can stand against Tinubu in the Southwest, even

in the states that are not under the control of the APC? “Let me tell you something, during the campaign, some of us from the north were compelled to chant ‘Sai Buhari’ by the same people we tried to sell our presidential candidate to.

“So, whatt can anybody do in a situation where your audience insisted that you must hail your opponent. So many of our people in the North see Buhari as a kind of god. We

•From right: President-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; APC Delta State governorship candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor and President of National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, General Isreal Akpodoro, during a congratulatory visit to the President-elect in Abuja.

PHOTO AKIN OLADOKUN.

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were helpless.”

Meanwhile, the Post Election Assessment Committee set up by the party to review PDP’s poor performance at the poll has called for memoranda from members across board.

At a media briefing in Abuja on Friday, the Committee Secretary, Senator Walid Jibril said there was need to seek input from diverse opinions within the party.

According to him, restricting contributions to leaders and chieftains of the party would not yield the desired result, stressing that contributions from followers, who constitute the bulk of the voting segment are very crucial.

He vowed that any party chieftain found to have acted in ways and manners suggesting anti party activities would not be spared.

Jibril, who is also the secretary of the party’s Board of Trustees, added that the PDP would succeed in putting its house in order sooner that most people expect.

“I can assure you that we are working very hard to get our rhythm back. We have put the last election behind us and we are focusing on the future of the party ahead of 2019”, he stated.

Court stops Jonathan from relocating $500m oil project from Lagos to Bayelsa A

A Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos has granted injunctions restraining President Goodluck Jonathan and other relevant government agencies from carrying out the order to relocate the $500 million oil project from LADOL Free Trade Zone(FTZ) in Lagos to Agga in Bayelsa State.

Also restrained in the judgment given by the Presiding Justice of the Court, J.T Tsoho on Tuesday May 12, 2015 are the National Assembly, the Federal Ministers of Transport and Justice/Attorney General of the Federation.

The court said they were being restrained from implementing the directive of President

Akinola AJIBADE Jonathan that oil and gas-related cargoes must be discharged at Intels facilities in Onne, Warri and Calabar Ports.

According to Prof. Fidelis Oditah QC (Queens Counsel) and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who filed the motion on behalf of LADOL, the injunctions ensure that all related agencies, including the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), must allow vessels and cargoes to proceed directly to any Port of choice, including oil and gas cargoes.

The Injunctions further prevent the passing of the amendments to the Oil and Gas Export Free Zones Act which sought, among other changes, to impose a foreign owned monopoly on the movement of oil and gas cargoes in Nigeria; Transfer control of 12 Free Zone's in Nigeria currently under the NEPZA Act to the control of the Oil and Gas Free Zone, which is controlled by the same foreign owned monopoly company.

The injunctions granted are as follows: 1. Injunction restraining the

House of Representatives of the National Assembly from considering or passing the amendment of sections 1, 2 and 12(5) of the 1996 Act inserted by sections 2, 3 and 10 of the Oil and Gas Export Free Zone Act (Amendment) Bill 2013 passed by the Senate on 7 May 2015 pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed by the Plaintiffs/Applicants in these proceedings.

2. Injunction restraining the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from assenting to the amendment of sections 1, 2, 12(5) of the 1996 Act inserted by

Insecurity worsens in Ekiti as gunmen kidnap three more women HE security situation in Ekiti State took a turn for the worse yesterday with the abduction of three women by unknown gunmen.

The abductions took place just as the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, wrote a letter to the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, asking for his intervention.

The three women were waylaid and kidnapped in broad daylight with one of their husbands and children along Igbole-Osi Road in Ido/ Osi Local Government Area of the state but the husbands were later released.

•Adamu Mu’azu

•Fayose writes IG, seeks special intervention Odunayo OGUNMOLA, Ado Ekiti The road leads to Ido Ekiti which has become notorious for kidnapping in the last two weeks.

The victims were said to be travelling in a Toyota RAV 4 Sport Utility Vehicle to Ibadan, the Oyo State capital for a wedding.

Sources revealed that the husband and children were later released while the women were taken away after their mobile phones and other valuables were seized by their captors.

The cries of the man and children who were wailing uncontrollably at the scene of the incident were said to have attracted other passersby who only learnt of the incident after the gunmen had fled the scene with their victims.

The whereabouts of the kidnapped women remained unknown while contact was yet to be established with their families at press time.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, confirmed the incident when contacted on the phone.

Adeyemi said: "The Divi-

sional Police Officer in Ido called in today to give the report about the kidnapped women. We have already launched investigation into the case but I can't speak about it."

About seven persons, including a former Chief Medical Director of Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Dr Patrick Adegun, his wife, Kikelomo, a senior nurse at the Federal Teaching Hospital Ido Ekiti, Mrs Margaret Aladenika and a lecturer of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, had been kidnapped in the last two weeks

in the state.

In Fayose’s letter dated May 15, 2015 and personally signed by the governor, he said the IG’s special intervention would help in allaying the fears of the people of the state following cases of abductions of innocent people.

Copies of the letter, which was sent to be delivered by road to the IG in Abuja, were also sent to other security chiefs.

The letter reads in part: “It is with great concern that I am appealing to you to help in our quest for a lasting solution to the spate of kidnappings and abductions •Continued on Page 8

sections 2, 3 and 10 of the Oil and Gas Export Free Zone Act (Amendment) Bill 2013 passed by the Senate on 7 May 2015 pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed by the Plaintiffs/Applicants in these proceedings.

3. Injunction restraining the Defendants and each of them and/or agents and/or privies from taking any step to enforce the purported directive of the President of the Federal of Nigeria contained in the letter from NPA to the Plaintiff dated 27 April 2015 to the effect that all oil and gas related cargoes must be handled at the designated Intels terminals in Onne, Warri and Calabar ports pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed by the Plaintiffs/Applicants in these proceedings.

4. Injunction restraining the Defendants and each of them and/or agents and/or privies from taking any step to enforce the purported directive of the President of the Federal of Nigeria contained in the letter from NPA to the Plaintiff dated 27 April 2015 requiring the Plaintiff to build its fabrication and FPSO integration facility at designated Intels terminals in Onne, Warri or Calabar ports pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed by the Plaintiffs/Applicants in these proceedings.

Continued on Page 67

8

THE NATION

NEWS

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

Boko Haram launches fresh attack on Maiduguri outskirts

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USPECTED Boko Haram insurgents yesterday launched a quick strike on the outskirts of Maiduguri less than 48 hours after an aborted attack on the Giwa Army Barracks in the Borno State capital.

The terrorists attacked Mule, about 10 km from Maiduguri.

However, the shooting had subsided by 3 pm, military sources said.

No record of death toll was immediately available.

No fewer than 12 people had died in Wednesday’s aborted attack on the barracks.

Two other raids earlier in the week on Bale and Kayamla by Boko Haram insurgents had claimed 55 lives, vigilance group sources said yesterday.

“Boko Haram fighters raided Bale and Kayamla villages where they killed at least 55 people and burnt several homes after looting them before proceeding to

the outskirts of Maiduguriý where they were crushed by troops,” vigilance group official, Abacha Zinnari said.

“They killed 30 people in Kayamla and another 25 in Bale,” he added.

Bale resident, Husseini Ari, said the village on Thursday buried 25 people killed in the previous day’s raid while several others who were injured were taken to hospital.

“The village is mourning the death of 25 people killed in the Boko Haram attack,” Ari said yesterday.

Heavily armed Boko Haram fighters late Wednesday launched an offensive on Maiduguri, which was repelled by troops from Giwa Barracks.

The insurgents had raided the villages before the foiled assault on the city but the story was slow to emerge following a round-the-clock curfew imposed on the city by the military on Thursday which restricted movement.

Kaduna lawmakers threaten to impeach Yero over 2.7bn SURE-P funds

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus of the Kaduna State House of Assembly yesterday threatened to impeach the State Governor, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, over what it described as last-minute looting and squandering of resources by the state government The caucus, which convened an emergency meeting at the state house of assembly yesterday, accused the Yero administration of squandering Sure-P funds amounting to N2.744 billion and threatened to initiate a process towards impeaching the governor.

The caucus, which is made up of 14 APC members and led by the Deputy Minority Leader, Aminu Abdullahi Shagali, accused the outgoing government of being in a rush to appropriate and disburse the SURE-P funds of the 23 local government areas which had not been spent.

A copy of a statement issued by the caucus and made available to newsmen reads thus: “A request submitted this week by the executive arm to the honourable house to appropriate the 2014 Sure-P funds of the 23 local governments to the tune of 2.744bn is not only improper but (amounts to) gross financial recklessness.

“There is no how a local government council can

in our dear state. The development has created fear in the minds of our people and no meaningful development can take place under such atmosphere.

“As a responsible government, we are taking all necessary steps to curtail and put an end to these dastardly acts, and we believe a special attention from your office on the matter to our state would no doubt, lead to finding a

“The gunmen burnt around 50 houses and looted food stores and livestock,” said Ari, adding that the insurgents targeted homes they identified as belonging to vigilantes in the village Musa Kumbo, a resident of Kayamla, said at least 30 people were killed in the Boko Haram raid on that village and surrounding settle-

ments.

“The attackers were heard shýouting that they would come back and finish their operation once they were done with Maiduguri,” Kumbo said.

At least three soldiers, six vigilance members and dozens of Boko Haram insurgents were killed during clashes in Maiduguri on

Wednesday evening, sources have said.

The assault was the first on Maiduguri for three months and came after sweeping offensives against Boko Haram strongholds by a regional military coalition of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

While the soldiers were killed in combat, the vigi-

lance operatives were killed when three female bombers pretending to be trapped in the fight detonated their ýexplosives as the vigilantes were trying to lead them away from the battle scene, Zinnari said.

A member of the civilian vigilantes, who assist the •Continued on Page 68

May 29 handover: Jonathan relocates to Glass House as renovation of President's residence reaches advanced stage

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has relocated from his main official residence at the Presidential Villa to another section of the vast complex,preparatory to his exit from office in less than two weeks.

He and his family have moved to the Glass House to allow for the renovation of the main official residence of the president for its next occupan, General Muhammadu Buhari, investigation has shown.

President Jonathan is scheduled to conduct Buhari and Vice President-electYemi Osinbajo round the complex

Augustine EHIKIOYA, Abuja on Thursday, May 27.

Reliable sources said the President and his wife have moved their personal belongings out of the official residence to their Otuoke,Bayelsa State residence.

The movement of their belongings commenced soon after the release of the result of the March 28 presidential election.

One of the sources said: “ I can confirm to you that most of the first family’s property have left the State House.

“The President is now staying in the Glass House with very few belongings.

“Intensive renovation of the President’s residence is going on now. Minor repairs are going on in some parts of the house. Cleaning and repainting of the entire residence with white paint is in progress.”

The furnishing aspect of the renovation will wait until the incoming president takes over.

He will be the one to determine the kind of furniture he wants .

The source applies to the flowers around the residence.

Renovation of the President’s

office, according to another source, will also wait until Buhari assumes office.

The colour of the painting and furniture for the office will be done to his taste.

Another source said: ”The State House staff are in high spirit, waiting and hoping that the promised change of the incoming government will benefit them and the nation at large.”

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati was not in the office yesterday afternoon and could not be reached on telephone to get his views on the latest development.

Abdulgafar ALABELEWE, Kaduna judiciously execute any meaningful project within two weeks, considering the fact that diligent due process and financial regulations have to be followed.

“Similarly the ceding of 50 per cent of the said fund to the state government to be used for road project is in total violation of the laid down regulations regarding the SURE-P funds, and the fact that such fund had been indicated in the handing over note of the outgoing government suggests an attempt at last minute looting.

“Even though an attempt was made to discuss the issue and pass it by the assembly, a resolution was made during an executive session that the funds should not be appropriated and disbursed. We hereby state categorically that we are not a party to such financial recklessness and dissociate ourselves with the move.”

•From Left: Representative of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Ferdinand Agu; Special Adviser to the President on NEPAD, Mrs Fidelia Njeze and Sen. Ken Nnamani at the national stakeholders validation workshop in Abuja ...yesterday PHOTO: NAN

Tougher times ahead as states share N388.3bn, lowest allocation in 10 months T

OUGHER times loom for states and local governments in the country as the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) yesterday announced N388.339 billion as the sum due to the three tiers of government for April 2015.

Gunmen kidnap three more women in Ekiti

•Continued from Page 5

•Sect recaptures Marte, kills 55 in two days

quick solution to the problem.”

There have been instances of police authorities paying special attention to any part of the country whenever the need arises.

Only recently, Arase sent a special team of policemen to Edo State to help in curbing the outbreak of cult war among various groups in the state. The intervention has paid off, with no new case of gang war being reported in the last few days.

Nduka CHIEJINA, Assistant Editor

The said sum is a far cry from the the N435.061 billion shared among the three tiers of government the previous month, raising fears that the decrepit financial situations in states and local governments may worsen.

Already, some states are unable to pay workers’ salaries.

Before now, the three tiers of government had lamented sharing around N560 billion mid last year when the slump in the price of oil in the international market began.

Assuming that the N388.339 billion is pro-rated among the state governments and the Federal Capital Territory to the exclusion of federal and local governments (which is impossible), each of them will receive on

the average a paltry N10.495 billion to meet all their financial obligations for May 2015.

The states and local governments have also denied knowledge of any remittance of the sum of $1.48 billion the auditing firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, instructed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to pay into the federation account.

Addressing journalists at the April Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting on Friday, the Chairman of Commissioners of Finance forum, Barrister Timothy Odaah, said the states were not aware of any such remittance from the NNPC. “Mr. President has directed that the money be paid into the federation account, same also as the Min-

ister of Petroleum, but it is important to note that we have not seen anything,” he said.

Speaking on the inability of some states to pay civil servants’ backlog of salaries, Odaah blamed state governors for the development, saying: “If workers’ salaries could not be paid as and when due, what is their priority then? Why have those states refused to pay workers?

“Paying workers’ salaries is not an achievement by any government. It is naturally expected that people should and must be paid for services rendered.”

At the end of the FAAC meeting in Abuja on Friday, the committee approved for sharing N75.160 from Value Added Tax (VAT) as against N71.197 billion the previous

month, and a gross revenue of N282.062 billion as against N315.044 billion the previous month.

As expected, the Federal Government got the highest allocation of N132.118 billion; states got N67.012 billion while local governments went away with N51.663 billion. Oil producing states also got the sum of N23.109 billion as 13 per cent derivation.

The Minister of State for Finance and chairman of FAAC, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, attributed the low revenue shared in the past months to “frequent shut down and shut-in-trucks and pipelines at terminals which continued to impact negatively on crude oil revenue.”

Yesterday’s FAAC meeting was the last that would be presided over by Yuguda in his capacity as FAAC chair before a new government takes over on May 29..

THE NATION, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

9

T

The politics of hand over, change and continuity

HE legitimate complaint of the President Elect and the APC that the outgoing and incumbent president is not doing enough to hand over the reins of government before the hand over date of May 29 gave rise to the topic of today. This is because inherent in the concept of hand over is the need for continuity in spite of the change that had occurred because the incumbent had lost power given the results of the 2015 presidential elections. It is proper for the outgoing and incumbent president to hand over to his successor properly to avert a lacuna or vacuum in governance and it is apposite for his successor to cry foul if the proper thing has not been done.

My assignment today then is to examine why the expected had not been done and to look at the circumstances of foot dragging on the matter. We shall look at comparative hand overs in recent times, in the past and ongoing types of handing overs which in some cases might even amount to take overs of power either legitimately or otherwise. This is because even small scale enterprises organize hand overs from one boss or leader to another quite successfully and this is the norm in the private sector and our civil service and one cannot but wonder why it is protracted and delayed till a day or two before a president of the largest state in Africa is giving handing over notes to his successor to ensure a smooth transition as widely expected both at home in Nigeria and abroad.

We shall today look at the change of power in Britain where the Tories won a majority in parliament to change the mode of government from a coalition government to a single party majority parliamentary government. We shall look at the situation in Burundi where there has been an abortive coup and the president has resumed office on his return from a foreign trip and the lessons to be learnt from the near truncation of democracy in that nation. We shall also take a look at the information garnered during the week at the launch of the book – Dynamics of Change written by Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and edited by my friend Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi and Chidi Amuta.

The victory of the Conservatives in Britain is a romantic story of political transition of power involving both change and continuity. The Tories have become the ruling party because they have a parliamentary majority and they don’t need the coalition with the Liberals which they had before the 2015 elections in Britain this May. Which means that Mr and Mrs David Cameron vacated the official residence of the British Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street for the period of the election and have returned to it as their continuous residence as David Cameron’s party has won the parliamentary elections with a majority of votes in parliament allowing it to form government as a single victorious party now in power. That to me is vintage transition and handing over of power that any nation should envy. Certainly one cannot compare that with the government in Israel formed recently by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which took months to form a coalition of parties that are strange bedfellows and worse still with a precarious majority of one that makes change and continuity an endan-

O

gered specie in day to day governance and political stability in that nation.

The events in Burundi are even more worrisome and could have been tagged a Comedy of Errors if not for the thousands of people displaced and killed in the protest over the desire and plan of the Burundian President Pierre Nkurunza to have a third term against the constitutional provision which allows him to have only two terms. President Nkurunza had gone on to muscle that nation’s Supreme Court to rule that his third term was legitimate and he too added insult to injury and infuriated the protesters by pleading that he should be allowed a third term as he vowed not to seek a fourth term. Obviously he was playing politics with his people and leading them by the nose to have power by all means and by clinging tenaciously to power. In effect he had and has no intention of handing over power to anyone but himself. So the army or a section of it thought the time for a take over of power was ripe.

But the army again misjudged the mood of the nation and that of the African Union which called the coup a violation of democratic principles before a counter coup restored power to the errant president. Really the Burundi president

’

The ball is in the Court of the African Union which rightly called the bluff of the coup plotters to now ensure that President Nkurunza does not have a third term and goes into voluntary retirement by handing over swiftly to the Vice President so that a fresh election can resolve the power tussle and manipulation in Burundi

’

should not be allowed to get away with the impunity of flouting the constitution of his nation so brazenly as this is not good for democracy in Burundi or any African nation for that matter. The ball is in the Court of the African Union which rightly called the bluff of the coup plotters to now ensure that President Nkurunza does not have a third term and goes into voluntary retirement by handing over swiftly to the Vice President so that a fresh election can resolve the power tussle and manipulation in Burundi.

On the complaint that the president elect raised on poor handing over by the incumbent president one can hazard a guess or two on the reasons for the luke warm hand over.

However the news from the launching of the book Dynamics of Change provide a great clue on the apparent reluctance to hand over readily. At the book launch APC National leader and now the acclaimed leader of the Yorubas Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu proudly proclaimed Governor Amaechi as the General of the unexpected APC victory who created the momentum of change by refusing to accept the recognition given to a minority faction of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum by the incumbent president when Governor Amaechi got 19 votes and his defeated opponent Governor Jang recognized by the incumbent president had 16 votes at the NGF election meeting. The lopsided Arithmetic according Asiwaju led to a common sense revolution which crystallised into the dynamics of change that created change of power favoring the APC at the 2015 elections and effectively sealed any hope of continuity in office for the incumbent president. It would seem that the reality of the change dynamics and loss of power is now dawning on the incumbent president hence the chilling of the dynamics of handing over into an iceberg of reluctance to quickly hand over. Which then is an unwarranted obstacle to the march towards the final handing over of May 29, a date that all Nigerians look forward to with great hope and great expectations.

At the book launch Asiwaju mentioned the tripod of Change that the APC will carry out in government. These are Reform, Relief and Recovery and these three concepts of governance shall form the theme of our discussion next week which shall be the last in our series on the transition of power culminating in the hand over of government to the president elect on May 29, Nigeria’s present Democracy Day. Again, long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Issues Buhari must attend to

UR Dear President-Elect, accept our hearty congratulations on your resounding victory at the Presidential election. One reason for our hope in your success as President is the uncommon resilience you have shown in contesting the Presidential election on four (4) occasions. This is a trait of character you have shared with some great leaders in history. It also shows the strength of character that would be required to cope with the enormity of problems facing an ever tottering Nigeria that has virtually been written off as a doomed country. The second reasons for our hope in your success are your well-known frugal life-style, your abhorrence of extravagant living, unbridled acquisition of wealth and corruption.

Maybe you are unaware that for some years now, some Nigerians, including this writer, have expressed publicly, there yearnings for the advent of 4 or 6 desperate and God-sent men; 2 or 3 from the North and 2 or 3 from the South, who like the great history maker, John Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, will bring an hurricane of change known as revolution to our helpless country, put an end to Nigeria’s free fall into an abyss and clear the monumental mess, confusion, lawlessness, excessive greed, which unfortunately have all turned Nigeria, black man’s most thickly populated country into an object of ridicule and pity world-wide. Also note that some people have been praying fervently for this drastic possibility. But there is a ray of hope that you may succeed in drastically changing our helpless and almost hopeless situation. It is indeed a very arduous task. The only hope is that the outstanding men within your party and the massively mobilized Nigerian citizens will stoutly rally round you to ensure that you will not fail, as you embark on measures that must shake our country to its foundation. One of those whose total support you will seriously need include Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has sacrificed so much in different ways and even withstood the threats of assassination to ensure the achievement of your victory and that of his party. Remembering his great sacrifices, he should stand by you in demanding the far-reaching changes that our country needs to survive. Others whose support you will need to make Nigerians willy-nilly accept you as their much needed benevolent dictator in this hour are Chief John Oyegun, Chief Bisi Akande, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, Gov. Rochas Okorocha, Gov. Babatunde Fashola, Gov. Rotimi Amaechi, Gov. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Gov. Kashim Shettima, Governor-Elect Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Alhaji Lai

• Chief Oyebola Areoye OYEBOLA Muhammed, as well as others. Crucially important is the support of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who has been my very close friend since my active journalism days. In your desperate need for Nigerians of acute intelligence who are highly gifted and are experts and very knowledgeable in their own right, Chief Obasanjo, who has served Nigeria in the highest capacity for many years, will be helpful in recommending this outstanding men and women from different parts of the country to you.

You will also need the total mobilization of patriotic Nigerian elites and the masses for the unprecedented crusade you should embark upon. They include Nigerian Bar Association, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, Nigeria Labour Congress, Nigerian Medical Association, Students of all Tertiary Institutions, Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Industries, all women associations, Human right groups and the generality of the citizens. Please note that this task of total mobilization must be given to experts.

General Buhari, one of the grave issues and unbelievable absurdities of which Nigeria has been well known is the outrageous and sickening salaries and allowances which all categories of political office holders in Nigeria earn. These emoluments which have made us a laughing stock in the world have led to Nigeria spending about 75% to 80% on recurrent expenditure, while 25% is left for capital expenditure which is even grudgingly and half-heartedly executed, resulting in abandoned projects. Unfortunately, during the time of our founding fathers, Sir Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, capital expenditure was 70% while recurrent expenditure was 30% or less throughout the country. One will weep for Nigeria, which contains 40% of the world’s black population, when it is realized that a senator in the Federal Republic of Nigeria earns about 5 times the $400,000 which Barack Obama, the President of the richest country on earth earns per annum. It is a tragedy too deep for tears that a Nigerian Senator earns #29,479,749 per month, which makes a total of #353,756,988 per year. The earnings of each House of Representative Member is just a little less than that of each Senator. This is a serious crime against humanity, moreso, when it was revealed recently by an International organisation that over 100 million Nigerians are living like destitute. That our rulers are sick and they need to be quickly rescued from themselves before they put us in total peril and danger is revealed by the facts made available to the public a few months ago by a former Senator, Chief Olabiyi Durojaye, who was a Senator from 1999 to 2003, that he earned #6 million a year, that is #500,000 a month, out of which he paid his staff during his tenure as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Considering Senator Durojaye’s disclosure, what is the basis of the present self appropriated fortunes which Senators and House of Representative members pay themselves? In Ghana, members of their Unicameral Legislature earn a small percentage of what our National Assembly members earn. An attempt a few years ago by Ghanian Legislators to increase their pay was resisted by Ghanians who trooped to the streets and the increment decision was dropped. Please note that there will be riots all over the country if Nigerians know the salaries and allowances of our Senate President and other National Assembly principal officers.

For you to succeed in your Herculian task, salaries and • Continued on page 10

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

COMMENTARY

Happy Mother’s Day to the best mom in the universe!

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HILE, every day I get to celebrate and honor being a mother, and honor my mother, various days are set aside annually to celebrate the influence of mothers in society. This past weekend, Mother’s Day was celebrated in the United States. To mark this special day, I joined grateful children and mothers around the world to send goodwill messages of gratitude to celebrate the special gift of motherhood.

I celebrate the blessing of motherhood every second of the day because it is the ultimate gift. I celebrate being a mother and having the most special mother every moment and want to give a loving shout out to my mother this Mother’s Day. Anyone who knows my mother, Hajia Ladi Binta Musawa (nee Yusuf Gurshe Rafindadi), will be aware of what a difficult task it is for me to attempt to find the words to describe her. A role model to all who know and love her, my mother lives her life with great humility. Her selflessness and kindness to others knows no bounds.

She is a fantastic person who has been blessed with a great sense of humor, a kind nature, and an unassuming ability to make all those around her feel special and loved.

To have the blessing of being able to call Hajia Ladi, ‘Mom’ is, perhaps, the greatest fortune of my life. Continuously, I learn and grow from the pure example set by my Mom. The energy she pumps into the love and caring she displays to all those around her and beyond is boundless. She continues to be a source of inspiration to so many that she meets by her unselfishness, dedication and Faith in Allah.

She unceasingly encourages her children, family, friends, neighbors and associates to work hard at life but always to put Allah first. Her faith cradles her and her loved ones even during the times when life throws curveballs. The courage she always shows in the face of adversity and her inner strength are truly what great people are made of. She is a true blessing.

My greatest wish for my Mom, as I watch her dedicate her life to encouraging, supporting, educating, protecting, helping, loving, and caring for all those she comes in contact with on a daily basis, is for her to be able to see herself the way the World sees her; which is as a blessing, an incredibly special and amazing person. A woman who is indeed a pure soul with a pure heart, a remarkable role model and a woman with great faith.

To me, Hajia Ladi Binta Musawa is a shining gem; a gift, an angel.

She has incredibly strong values. In my eyes, if ever there was a portrait of a Godly mother, it is she. I am convinced that anything that is pure and good in me, Allah has planted it in me directly from my Mom. My Mom is big on teaching. On a daily basis, she teaches me to live my life, make my decisions and conduct myself as if I am teaching my children and the next generation. One of her favorite quotes to me is one of Ghandi’s. “Hannatu, always be the change you want to see in the world…” she would say. This quote consistently rever-

berates in my head and sticks with me wherever I go. It is exactly how Mom lives her life.

Some of the greatest values I try to uphold; defending my honor religiously, keeping integrity, trying to do right, caring for the downtrodden, were instilled in me by Mom. Her lessons and example influence every good part of my life and positive thought process.

They are the same lessons and example that I try and impart on my children every day.

Mom teaches me the difference between right and wrong and urges me to constantly try to make good choices. She teaches me to be faithful to myself, to my family, to my culture, to my nation, to my calling, to people around me, to my identity, to my bloodline, to my Father’s name and especially to Allah. She encourages me to be more focused and strive and finish things that I start. She always urges me to try as best as I can to keep my word and learn to accept and take correction. And she always worries and counsels me about tempering the fiery temper I inherited from Dad.

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She made me touch and feed lepers in the days when people shunned them. She made me touch AIDS victims when people ran from them. It was through those acts she showed me the power of knowledge.

“Hannatu, people run away from lepers and AIDS patients because they have not empowered themselves with the knowledge that these afflictions are not contagious, if handled correctly

’

Mom teaches me that the things I should treasure should never be made with human hands. She teaches me that it is through giving that I will be filled and fulfilled. She teaches me that that originality feeds the soul and energizes the mind. She teaches me to exercise greater patience and always try to endure. She teaches me the difference between right and wrong. She teaches me not to use my power to hurt others. She teaches me to always strive to give more than I receive. This is an example that she lives with daily. Throughout her life she has always been known to help people, even at her own expense. It is the way she lives, even now. She simply loves being there for others and making their lives easier. It is the times that she helps people that you can see the greatest joy in her eyes.

As a little girl, she often took me to orphanages, shelters and hospitals so I could see people who were suffering; so I could develop a desire to help people who are suffering. She made me touch and feed lepers in the days when people shunned them. She made me touch AIDS victims when people ran from them. It was through those acts she showed me the power of knowledge. “Hannatu, people run away from lepers and AIDS patients because they have not empowered themselves with the knowledge that these afflictions are not contagious, if handled correctly… People with AIDS and Leprosy are normal people who want to be treated normally…” That is the kind of woman my Mom is.

This Mother’s Day, I dedicate every morsel of who I am and everything that I have ever done good and right to my Mom. I thank her deeply for loving me so much and being the brightest light in my life.

I thank her for showing me about what I should be and teaching me how to be free and how to dream. I thank Mom for being the ultimate example of forgiveness, compassion, friendship, kindness, strength, generosity, honesty, elegance, resilience, selflessness, care, hope and love. I thank Mom for telling me she loved me every single day of my life. Even when we were not together, she finds a way of getting the message across to me.

Mom is my rock, my anchor, my strong, beautiful, vibrant angel; my heart and my precious gift from Allah. I am beyond proud of her and everything she is. From the time I was a little girl, Mom and Dad have always been all I have ever needed in my life. They still come first beyond everything else. I truly have the very best parents in the world and, most certainly, the best mother in the universe! I thank The Almighty with everything that I have for the grace and gift he has given me in the form of parents.

“Hajia Ladi Binta Musawa, I know that I sent you flowers and we do the normal Mother’s Day routine, but I wanted to tell the world about the essence of you, my salute to you so they can celebrate with me on my great blessing of you, as I say Happy Mother’s Day to the Best Mother in the Universe… May we witness and celebrate Mothers Day together for many more years to come... I love you mom!”

Issues Buhari must attend to • Continued from page 9 allowances of the President, National Assembly members, Governors, Ministers and other Political office holders should be reduced by about 60% to 70%. This is why politics has become the most lucrative business in our helpless country, Nigeria, far more profitable than drug peddling, and this is the reason for the desperation of Nigerian Politicians. Severance gratuities and post tenure pensions, whether approved or contemplated, should be reduced or cancelled out rightly, after thorough check of what the situation is in advanced and far richer countries of the world, for the President, National Assembly members, Governors and other political office holders.

General Buhari, please note that to be able to tackle this problem, you must be able to personally create a strong moral authority that will be obvious to all Nigerians. The only way you can do this is to issue a Presidential directive to the Salaries and Wages Review Commission on assumption of office that all the basic salaries and allowances paid to you as President of Nigeria must be lower than that of President Barack Obama, which is $400,000 a year. It will shock you to know that President Barack Obama buys his own food from his salary and he only eats government food during State functions.

Also, his wife and immediate family take care of his laundry.

You will also be shocked to know of a startling public revelation some months ago, when public outcry against National Assembly’s jumbo pay was raging, by the Chairman of the Salaries and Wages Commission that all the salaries and allowances which the members of the National assembly pay themselves were self appropriated and unknown to his Commission.

The second most difficult problem that you must tackle head-on is monumental corruption. With your uncompromising integrity and exemplary courage, we hope you will destroy the hydra-headed monster known as corruption in Nigeria.

As you are fully aware, we are one of the most corrupt countries in the world and all pervading corruption in all areas of our National lives, most especially among different arms of government have ruined our economy and made us one of the most under developed countries in the world. It is well known to everyone that for many years, public men and officials had stolen billions of naira, dollars, pounds and other foreign currencies, part of which they have callously kept in developed nations where their citizens enjoy very high standard of living.

While part of the stolen wealth is used to entrench themselves and their stooges in governance.

Our President-Elect, please note that if you succeed in eliminating corruption in Nigeria and if you have the courage to drastically reduce the present outrageous salaries and allowances and wastefulness in governance, you will be rated as one of Africa’s magnificent heroes. You will be in the company of Nelson Mandella, Kwame Nkruma, Nwalimu Julius

Nyerere and SekouToure.

Another grave issue you must tackle is the pressing need for spectacular economic transformation of Nigeria. This requires a leader who is visionary, focused and ready to use the most talented and knowledgeable human beings. Economically, Nigeria must remove the stigma of being a semi-colonial appendage of the western world. This means you must ignore International Monetary Fund’s neo-colonial recommendations by adopting a coherent, original, deep-rooted and forward looking economic philosophy that can turn Nigeria, with its awesome endowment by Providence, into one of the most prosperous nations in the world in record time. Within your two terms in office, relying on Nigerians with research, knowledge, depth of thought and serious exposure, you can be half of the way in making Nigeria a medium world power economically.

All told, Nigerian farmers would become so prosperous through export-oriented farm production and massive production for now moribund but vigorously revitalized local industries. Our farmers and all those involved in the processed farm products for exports, whose lives will be greatly enriched, will beg you throughout the country to stay for another term in office as President. Be assured that ordinary Nigerians appreciate outstanding leaders and they do not really care where they come from.

With your set goals, you can make this country earn enormous fortune from solid minerals, and the huge funds you will make from agriculture and solid minerals will be enough to effect your carefully planned set goals on infrastructure like

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The constitutional report inaugurated by the outgoing President should therefore not be implemented; rather, a Sovereign National Conference should be convoked, with full participation of all the nationalities and with its decisions and recommendations subject to a referendum. That will result in the people’s constitution which recognises that Sovereignty, the ultimate power in Nigeria, belongs to the people

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roads, railways, water and electricity and hospitals. You will be able to more than meet UNESCO’s stipulated budgetary allocation on Education. The role of bureaucracy will be minimal, but you will rely more on Nigerians with proven and outstanding ability and uncompromising integrity from the public/private sectors with or without party affiliations, through task forces that you will personally monitor from the Presidency. As a visionary leader, you will find out from experts what is making it impossible for Nigeria to generate more than 40,000 megawatts of electricity being generated by South Africa which has a quarter of our population, and directly tackle the problem by giving your task force a target to make power failure a thing of the past within 15months.

Give yourself a target that fuel shortage, fuel importation, moribund refineries, and unbridled theft of our crude oil will be a thing of the past in Nigeria. Also give yourself the task of day to day monitoring of development in these areas.

Another serious anomaly that should receive your prompt attention and positive action is our skewed and lob-sided Federation which the Military, through their long period of rule have turned into a unitary government. In fact, one of the absurdities of Nigeria is that the present constitution was arranged and fashioned by the most brutal, corrupt, and tyrannical Military ruler in Nigerian history, the late General Sani Abacha, who even aspired to become a life President. This means that any constitutional amendment based on Abacha’s constitution especially resulting from the recent National Conference, can never meet the genuine yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians. The constitutional report inaugurated by the outgoing President should therefore not be implemented; rather, a Sovereign National Conference should be convoked, with full participation of all the nationalities and with its decisions and recommendations subject to a referendum. That will result in the people’s constitution which recognises that Sovereignty, the ultimate power in Nigeria, belongs to the people.

The other option is for Nigeria to return to the Parliamentary system of government, in which highly qualified professionals and successful self – employed people contested and served as parliamentarians on part-time basis, with modest sitting and other allowances. The military rulers who introduced the very expensive and wasteful Presidential system of government to Nigeria will today will be full of regret that they have made a very serious mistake in plunging our country into an extravagant and wasteful system that it could not afford. The less expensive Parliamentary system which rose up outstanding leaders like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, Sir TafawaBalewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Sir Francis Ibiam, was and is still good for us.

•Chief Oyebola is a renowned editor, publisher and author of 26 books, including the timeless publication – Black Man’s Dilemma; initiator, in 1993, and Chairman, Movement for Nigeria’s Total Transformation (MNTT).

THE NATION, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

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COMMENTARY

The trials of Brother Jona…

T was a sombre moment in Mt. Aso Rock last Sunday when Brother Jona mounted the altar to read from the book of lamentations. The day was special in many ways. Of course, the congregation wore the usually inexpensive plastic laughter on their faces as they occasionally exchanged banter. However, that facade did not obliterate the pervasive gloom that filled the space. This time, the venue was the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Life Camp, Gwarimpa where a thanksgiving and farewell service was held in honour of President Goodluck Jonathan and his family. If he had wanted, he could have picked any of those inspiring verses from the Songs of David, especially when his loving wife was making her first public appearance since the day the First Couple was routed out of office in the March 28 election. As a Christian, Brother Jona understands the spiritual interpretation of giving thanks to God in all things. Yet, being human, we cannot blame him if he chooses to lament the scary realities that await him once he steps out of office on May 29. Really, it is not a laughing matter and Brother Jona was not laughing in his long canticles that day. As for Knucklehead, his long-winding sermon could just be an abridged version of the autobiography of his 50-something years on Mother Earth.

Jonathan needed to voice out the many contradictions that bedevil his stewardship. Being a self-confessed prisoner of power in the last 16 years, it suddenly dawned on Brother Jona that those who were swarming around him some months back; those who continually nudged him on as the best gift to humanity in Nigeria; all those who worshipped at his feet are gradually thinning out. They no longer choke him with love. Where could his friends have gone? He wondered. He even whined about the glaring prospect of losing more friends as soon as he hands over power to General Muhammadu Buhari on May 29. De-robed of the immense power he once wielded whilst these same ‘friends’ pandered to his whims, Brother Jona now knows that all that would be history. Soon, he would have to chew his loss alone. The same persons that genuflected before him would mock and snigger at him. He knows his trials and travails are about to unveil as the handover date draws nearer. As he braces up for the challenge, the altar offers him the chance to externalise his thoughts and he made effective use of that opportunity. It was, to me, Jonathan’s moment of purgation; his time to lament his uncommon fate.

Well, it turned out that Brother Jona’s patient wife was not the only one that is scared stiff of the Nigerian prisons even though VIPs and moneybags get preferential treatment. Brother Jona, whose love for this country is that strong that he expressed his convictions to pay the supreme sacrifice if need be, spoke of the ‘costly decisions’ he made and which may eventually lead to his waterloo. Perchance the incoming administration calls on him to make clarifications on certain issues, Brother Jona says such would not be for any altruistic reason other than the trial of a good man. Aptly put, it would be the persecution (not prosecution) of a patriot and his gang. Washing his hands squeaky clean of any misconduct in his 16-year sojourn, the outgoing President wonders why he should be hounded for engendering an “electoral process and other things that brought stability to this country.”

Waxing needlessly sanctimonious, Brother Jona expressed concerns about the fate that awaits his men outside power. And so, it is not just about the ‘rough’ road that he is bound to tread as he retires to his hilltop mansion like many other past leaders before him. It is also about the drill that those who work closely with him would be made to go through by an administration that has vowed to make public officers account for their conduct or otherwise in office. In other climes, they call it investigation after which those found wanting would be duly prosecuted and appropriate punishment meted out. To our President, it is would amount to nothing short of persecution, which presumes the innocence of these public officers.

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Knucklehead With

Yomi Odunuga E-mail:yomi.odunuga @thenationonlineng.net SMS only: 07028006913 Hear him: “For ministers and aides who served with me, I sympathise with them; they will be persecuted. And they must be ready for that persecution. To my ministers, I wish you what I wish myself. They will have hard times; we will all have hard times. Our ways will be rough.

“Some people come to me and say this or that person, is he not your friend that benefited? Is it not your government that this person benefited from? But this is what the person is saying. But I always say worse statements will come. If you take certain decisions, you should know that those close to you will even abandon you at some point.

And I tell them that more of my so-called friends will disappear.”

By the way, it is understandable if the President feels disturbed at the rate his friends now desert him – fleeting temporal nature of earthly power. But that is not enough excuse for the needless religious slant he unwittingly introduced to a simple matter of service and accountability. If he did not know, there is a whole world of difference between persecution and prosecution. Besides, it is surprising that Jonathan should be crying wolf over the gradual reduction of his band of friends. How did he think Obasanjo coped when those same friends shifted base to Aso Rock immediately Jonathan became his own man? Here I speak of the Ojo Maduekwes, the Ahmadu Alis, the Tony Anenihs, the Adamu Muazus and the Femi Fani-Kayodes. Or has Brother Jona forgotten so soon that he used to be one of the few trusted ‘friends’ of Obasanjo until he broke up with his ‘motor park tout” political godfather?

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With all the achievements "eye-marked" for Brother Jona by one of his trusted ministers on a day he was busy reading from the book of lamentation, it beggars belief that a fulfilled man would be making a meal out of a planned prosecution. Oh, I now get it. Could they have suddenly become jittery because of the likely consequences of a probe into Emir Sanusi’s allegations over the routinely missing oil billions as well as the hollowness of the PwC audit report?

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It is, to say the least; presumptuous that all that Jonathan thinks of the incoming government is the warped belief of a witch-hunt and putting key members of his cabinet in the sun to dry. There should be more to governance than such pettiness. It is, however, within the bounds of decency and good governance for the new government to seek answers to any foggy contractual deals wrapped up by the outgoing or any other government for that matter. Even an unlettered village boy knows that one day, impunity would yield its ‘rewards’. If this is what Jonathan equates to persecution, then he is way off the mark. If his government did things in accordance with the laid down rules and regulations, there should be nothing to fear even if the incoming government is on a witch-hunt. I don't want to belief that the Yar'Adua/Jonathan presidency was on a persecution drive when it insisted on probing how the Obasanjo administration spent billions of dollars on generating megawatts of darkness for a populace that has become a micro local government in all matters particular.

The good thing in all this is that Brother Jona has told us that he would be vacating office a fulfilled man. Why shouldn't he? In fact, he needs to be grateful for an unusually long run of exceptional luck that lasted solid 16 years until the electorate expressly announced through the ballot that they would not patiently tolerate the another four years of bumbling leadership. Why shouldn't Jonathan be fulfilled when his Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has told Nigerians that the administration will handover solid economic legacies to Buhari few days from now?

While thousands of Nigerians spend hours queuing for fuel, the minister said Jonathan has made "measurable difference in many important areas." She listed, among several other things, the revolution in the agricultural sector; the National Automotive Policy which must have made the prices of locally manufactured cars so cheap that our roads would no longer be clustered with Keke NAPEP; the fact that Nigeria is now the net exporter of cement as prices rise astronomically at the local markets; the yearly creation of 1.4 million jobs while millions of unemployed persons slap the streets daily in search of a living; and the massive infrastructural revolution that makes it possible for every Nigerian to enjoy uninterrupted electricity supply in their homes and work places.

With all the achievements "eye-marked" for Brother Jona by one of his trusted ministers on a day he was busy reading from the book of lamentation, it beggars belief that a fulfilled man would be making a meal out of a planned prosecution. Oh, I now get it. Could they have suddenly become jittery because of the likely consequences of a probe into Emir Sanusi’s allegations over the routinely missing oil billions as well as the hollowness of the PwC audit report? Well, I concur that these allegations are weighty enough to give anyone who is remotely involved some really scary and sleepless nights under Buhari’s watch!

Like the APC has rightly noted, it is preposterous that Brother Jona and his friends have started playing the victims by exhibiting persecution mentality when all that would be required of them is to simply give an account of their actions and inaction while in office. That should not be a difficult task to do by a government that claims to be an all-rounder in all spheres of human endeavours, including the fight against insurgency. Anyway, since Jonathan has chosen to go the way of his faith, it is apt to remind him of a verse in the Good Book which says: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all (Psalm 34:19)." Let those that go to equity go with cleans hands so that no arrow of persecution or prosecution fashioned against them shall prosper! Or is there something that they know in the corridors of power that the ordinary folks rummaging the land for a living don't know? Could that be the reason for this lamentation before the real trial begins?

Not yet time to relax on peace engagements

ONTRARY to widely held views that the just concluded elections were peaceful, free and fair, the reality on ground points to the play-out of violence, rigging and thuggery in many parts of the nation. These facts though were overshadowed by the unexpected but welcome peaceful aftermath which the nation enjoyed, especially after the Presidential elections of March 28, 2015.

Like most commentators have written on the subject, what would have happened if the organizers of the Abuja Peace Accord and other peace campaigners like Fresh Democratic Party (FRESH) chieftain, Rev. Chris Okotie, whose peace crusade articles went viral on the traditional and social platforms, receiving numerous accolades from readers, had not intervened vigorously on the side of peace, as the nation was literarily set on the precipice by the politicians during what was clearly the most contentious political campaigns ever in the annals of Nigeria’s history?

It is widely believed in military circles that the time of war is when you plan for peace. This appears to be true, because, despite the acrimonies between the two leading parties, PDP and APC, which surrounded the post-election season, the tranquil aftermath was a welcome relief. This celebration of a peaceful outcome must be credited to men like Rev. Okotie, US Secretary of State Senator John Kerry, former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Rtd, former United Nations General Secretary, Koffi Annan, former Commonwealth General Secretary, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Rev. Mathew Kukah amongst others, who sensed the looming danger and acted fast to nip it in the bud.

But the gains of the efforts of all these men may be lost on us if we rest on our oars, in the belief that all is well. With hindsight, we know that with politicians, all is never well. The tone of claims and counter claims that litter the election tribunals point to this, and as such, it is of paramount importance for other well meaning Nigerians in different fields of endeavor to lend their voices to sustaining this demand.

In his articles titled, “A Message for Jonathan and Buhari”, “Breaking the jinx of transition violence” and "The Light in This Present Darkness", which appeared in some national dailies and also on his Facebook page, Rev. Okotie made a good case for the connection for peace and national development, despite the fact that he ordinarily should have been a participant in the

Ochei AKHIGBE process, had he not been schemed out by INEC, the electoral commission. Yet, he still chose to see beyond personal ambitions and put the nation’s safety first.

Now that the elections are over, a good review of the activities like ballot box snatching and so on, which occurred at flash points before, during and after the elections, must be carried out to help all relevant authorities understand the remote causes and templates for forestalling any future reoccurrence.

This means that Gen. Buhari and his incoming administration need to take into very serious account, the ill-effects of an unstable polity and economy, one of the inevitable fallouts of contentious and inconclusive elections. This must be so because, as the custodian of the entire apparatus of government, it behoves him to ensure that his tenure is not characterised by the socio-economic static, which has become the dirge song of the polity, does not rear its ugly head over the next four years.

Nigeria needs to move beyond the repeated bickering that herald our inter-party relationships and political seasons, and

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To ensure that bad eggs in the political sphere don’t take advantage of discontent in the polity to rouse incendiary actions, government and elected officials must reflect deeply, a grasp of the present local and global realities is imperative.

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engage in politicking that attracts intellectual paradigms which galvanise purposeful projections. These wranglings always spill over into our economy performance and shortchanges the nation as a whole. The global community which continues to rally round Nigeria, a geographical space which is touted to be the next big market, with the hope that we would properly overhaul our leadership deficit to attract the needed Foreign Direct Investment which would translate into buoyancy in the economy. This is as much a lucrative investment for them as it is a good and welcome investment consideration for us as a nation.

To ensure that bad eggs in the political sphere don’t take advantage of discontent in the polity to rouse incendiary actions, government and elected officials must reflect deeply, a grasp of the present local and global realities is imperative. Our political leadership modus, which has largely remained unchanged since the 50s/60s, cannot suffice for the present day challenges of the 21st century Nigeria. A people who have a strong distrust of politicians and their failed promises cannot be too keen to believe another roll-out of promises which does not translate into their quality of life.

The political cul de sac and barriers which limit progress must be broken down so the nation can move forward. This is of paramount importance. It is the absence of these gains that makes the polity restive, and create politics of ethnicity and religious sentiments; tools which devious politicians invoke to create the tensions which put lives at risk during election and campaign seasons. The conflict of political affiliation cannot continue to deprive the people of their inalienable rights to good governance.

The time has come for the different tiers of government: the federal, state and local government, to partner on projects which will see a widespread and even distribution of the dividends of democracy. When these and many others are properly handled, then, and then only can the seed of disunity be destroyed and all portends for peace be engendered in a nation that has lingered too long at the bottom of all global indices of economics.

•Ochei Akhigbe, a former governorship aspirant in Edo State, wrote in from Benin via ochei_akhigbe@yahoo.com.

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THE NATION SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

AUNTY RITA’S GARDEN

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Continued on Page 22

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•Abducted minors are trained by Boko Haram into hardened and blood thirsty child soldiers

•The missing Chibok girls

Dangerous manifestations of child abduction in Nigeria Continued from Page 19

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THE NATION SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

Segun AJIBOYE (Assistant Editor)

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THE NATION SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

Meet Nigerian woman who has no formal education but lectures at Harvard, other top varsities

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-TV gal Adaora Onyechere

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Bukky Oshunkeye goes calm

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•Deputy Governor of Edo State, Dr. Pius Odubu and wife, Endurance

•Edo State Head of Service, Jerry Obazele

•Lady Monica Afekhena

•From left: Former Governor of Edo State, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor; former Deputy Governor of the state, Rev Peter Obadan and Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Nation Newspapers, Mr Victor Ifijeh

•Mr. and. Mrs. Oratokhai at the burial of Oratokhai’s mother, Janet Oratokhai in SabongidaOra in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State...last weekend

•Former Minister of Defence, Gen. Godwin Abbe and wife, Patience

•Chief Arumeme Rotimi (left) and Dr Johnson Arumeme

•A cross section of family members

•Children of the late Mrs Janet Oratokhais at the church service

Edo community comes alive as ex- gov, former Defence Minister, others honour the Oratokhais at mother’s burial •Engr. and Mrs Akin Oarhe

•Pa Edward Obadan and his wife

HE sleepy community of Sabongidda-Ora in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State came alive last weekend as top politicians in the state joined the Oratokhais to bury their mother, Janet Ohiagueni Oratokhai, popularly called Ukpodime.

The late Janet Oratokhai, who died at the age of 87, was the daughter of the family of Pa Aye Oarhe of Ukpafiano quarters in Evbiobe, Sabongidda-Ora. She was a successful trader who travelled to different parts of the country dealing in several consumable commodities.

The funeral rites for the late Ukpodime climaxed with a funeral service held at the Cathedral of St. John, Anglican Communion, Sabongidda-Ora. The church hall was already packed full before 10am when the remains of Ukpodime in yellow casket was brought in a white ambulance van. It was rolled into the church hall by undertakers from the Nena Brigade Band.

Children of Ukpodime were dressed in white and purple attire and tears trickled down their faces at the sound of the processional hymn which ushered in the casket.

Venerable Lee Obaigbo, in his sermon, urged the mourners to always be prepared for the second coming of Christ. He said a body of filthy of sins would not make heaven and added that anybody not prepared ‘to die’ for Christ would go to hell fire.

The remains of Ukpodime were later interred at the

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n Osagie OTABOR, Benin n Silent City of the dead, the cemetery ground where faithful Anglicans from the community are buried.

Guests were later treated to a sumptuous reception at the Holy Trinity Grammar School Playground, Sabongida-Ora. Music was provided by Prophet Emmanuel Debo dance band supported by the Obisa Dance band.

The reception venue was beautifully decorated, while the Master of Ceremony was Jacob Afekhena.

Guests that graced the occasion included the Deputy Governor of Edo State, Dr. Pius Odubu; former Governor of Edo State, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor; former Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Joe Ekpenkhio; wife of a Military Governor of the defunct Bendel State, Esther Ogbeha; wife of Senator-elect for Edo North Senatorial district, Lady Monica Alimekhena and lawmaker representing Owan Federal Constituency, Pally Iriase.

Others included Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief, The Nation Newspapers, Mr Victor Ifijeh; Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Chief Lucky James; former council boss of Estako West, Gani Audu; a member of the APC Board of Trustees, Prince Malik Afegbua; Arumeme Rotimi; Johnson Ikhide Arumeme; former Minister of Defence, General Godwin Abbé; Sir Raphael Arunah and APC woman leaders led by the state APC Woman Leader, Dr. Aisosa Amadasun.

•Chief Charles Adogah (left) and Humphrey Uansere

•Prince Malik Afegbua (left) and Sir Raphael Arunah

•Mohammed Danlami Ibrahim and his wife

THE NATION, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

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Everything else will fall in place if Buhari tackles corruption, power -Ex-UNIBEN don Omatseye H

OW would you rate the just concluded general election?

I think it is the best we have had so far. For once, a lot of people had an opportunity to actually vote and have their votes counted, and part of the decision we made was used in picking a new president. I think INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission), in spite of all the difficulties it had, did a good job. Prof. Jega in particular must take credit for a very good job. He cannot be perfect, but he is the best we have had so far. He has done us proud in the academia, and all the other colleagues who have taken part in the exercise.

What do you think should be the focus of the Buhari administration?

Without equivocation, first and foremost, the administration must tackle corruption, because it is the bane of the Nigerian society. That is what has put us in the very difficult situation where we have been. Other things I will like to see done is the power sector and the economy, vis-à-vis employment of our youths in the country.

To go back to the issue of corruption, we have a country where a lot of people who are not even working are taking home so much money through corrupt means; and it has permeated every segment of the society. If, for instance, people in the power sector were not corrupt and they are doing their work efficiently and effectively, we should have light. People who are responsible for this are just not doing their work well. Where you collect money from a tenant and you are not given light, and then you are given bribe for you to give inflated bill or a bill that does not reflect what you consume, that kills the power industry.

The second is the economy. The economy, in spite of what we have been told, when we have a large number of graduates who are unemployed and many of them have become so hopeless in their search for job, somebody should take responsibility. The government has the responsibility of creating an enabling environment, not necessarily providing jobs for everybody.

When they provide an enabling environment, jobs can

•Prof. Omatseye

Prof. Jim Nesin Omatseye is a retired Professor of Philosophy. He spent a good part of his life teaching in American universities before he taught at the University of Benin for 30 years, retiring about three years ago, having attained the 65-year statutory age of retirement. The academic, who is also a member of the influential Itsekiri Leaders of Thought (ILOT), spoke with BOLAJI OGUNDELE on the recent general elections, what Nigerians expect from the incoming administration, Nigerian academics and minority politics. Excerpts: come through companies and even government itself. proposed for former heads of states and opted to take less Where again government job is available, unless you know than that, money may be said not to be his priority. Even if the man who is a minister or is chairman of the board, you he is surrounded by people out there for money and power cannot get the job. So, once again, corruption must be tackand he leads by example as he tends to do, I think he will led. succeed. What should be done is to select the kind of people Do you think this incoming administration has what it who share his philosophy and rein in corrupt people and takes to tackle corruption? ensure that they are kept at bay.

Let me tell you this: people voted for Buhari in spite of You know, in the United States, people all the accusations of being a former military man, a go over party lines to pick good people. I dictator, whatever. Nigerians are tired of corruption am sure that there are some good people and we need a strong ruler, some call it a benevoin PDP who can work with him. The one lent dictator, to really put his foot down that comes to mind immeand tackle the issue of corruption headdiately is former goverLet’s go back to the long. If in the next four years Buhari is nor of Cross River State, Obasanjo era: we could able to put his foot down and stop legisDonald Duke. That is one lators from squandering and embezzling young man I believe that not manage the energy money that does not belong to them, and if you go across party sector. Yar’Adua also he is able to tackle the issue of energy, all lines to bring in people of these will enhance the economy of the like that, those who have could not manage the seccountry. He would not ask for a second term succeeded, like Fashola before people would begin to beg him. tor successfully. Things and others, not necessariLet’s go back to the Obasanjo era: we could not ly because they belong to manage the energy sector. Yar’Adua also could even got worse during the APC, but because they not manage the sector successfully.

Jonathan era. If taking are the best brains who Things even got worse during the have performed as a Jonathan era. If taking care of the care of the power sector is result of what they have power sector is one thing the And then shun one thing the incoming done. incoming government sucthose who have corruptly government succeeds in acquired a lot of money ceeds in doing and the other one is corruption, every so on. doing and the other one is and other thing will fall in By the way too, he corruption, every other doesn’t need a bloated place.

But can Buhari fight cabinet. If he takes a cabithing will fall in place net corruption? of 18, we don’t need It takes a good to have people from 36 leader with true determistates. If he picks 18 good people from the difnation to change things. ferent zones to work with him, I am sure we Look at the states, in can turn things around in this country. this country, there are What do you expect the chances of the some good leaders minority, the Niger Delta region, to be, now that Jonathan who even though is leaving office? are surrounded by Well, there is always need for a constitutional amendment some corrupt peoor provision to protect minority interests. This has not been ple, still performed. pursued vigorously and that is why we have the various Take, for example, minority groups struggling, even to hold on to their own Lagos State, which territory or homeland. One would hope the incoming has generally been administration will bear in mind that such minority as the lucky in terms of Itsekiri people, the Ikwere and other minorities in Akwagood governors.

Ibom and so on, who sometimes, have no representation in Take Fashola, the legislature, or have just one. For instance, the Itsekiri Oshiomole in Edo people have only one representation in the House of and Amaechi in Representatives. What can that one do in a House where Rivers, it is not that you have hundreds of legislators? So, it is important for these people did not government not to abandon the minority people because have corrupt people there is a majority government. around them, but they were Even among the minority people, they discriminate strong leaders who put their against themselves. The struggle that we have had in the feet down and warded off, Niger Delta between the Itsekiri and the Ijaw and the minimised corruption and Urhobo, they are all minorities. Even then, there is still a succeeded. That is what we tendency amongst the minority to discriminate against expect of Buhari. minority and so the struggle goes on. Now, at the national And we think he can level, we expect that in the course of amending our constido it because, from tution, there should be a provision, and we have agitated all that we know for this for a long time, where the interest of the minorities about him, if he is sort of catered for. We have this done in many other councould turn tries, India and the rest of the world, where you have down the fat, minorities also. Those in the majority should also bear in jumbo pay mind that it is absolutely necessary to protect minorities’ that was interests.

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CARTOON Dealing with forgiveness in relationship with Email: bineharriet@gmail.com

From My Mail Box:

Discuss your hurt or pain freely. Let the person know how much pain their actions or words have caused you. Some people might not realize their offences until they are told

Escapades of fun-loving city ladies Co-ordinated by Patience Saduwa 08023201831 (sms only) psaduwa@yahoo.com

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Chichi ladiescorner30@yahoo.com, 08135116368

THE NATION SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

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With Ozolua Uhakheme

&

Email: ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com 08023058761

Continued on Page 52

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Continued from Page 51

Niyi Osundare international poetry festival opens May 26

THE NATION SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

THE NATION SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

REVIEW

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Things have gone so bad that we Rt. Hon. Clarence Olafemi is a former Speaker and Acting Governor in Kogi State. The member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in this encounter with SANNI ONOGU in Abuja, spoke about how the APC emasculated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State during the 2015 elections and how new entrants into the party are making attempts to scuttle the party's chances in the forthcoming governorship election in the state. Excerpts:

T

HE 2015 elections have come and gone but one thing that has stood Kogi State out is that the APC cleanly swept the state. How did the APC achieve this feat?

You know, the APC was a coalition of what we call the legacy parties. But in Kogi, we have in addition to the legacy parties the New PDP - we call them the New PDP because we call them the aggrieved PDP - and this aggrieved PDP was led by me. I established what we call the Integrity Group, which was an umbrella for the aggrieved PDP people who had been unjustly victimised and who believed there was no equity, fairness and justice in the way the government of Captain Idris Wada was arrived at. The government of Wada at inception did not help matters. They started victimising their fellow PDP people. So, immediately I conceived the idea of the Integrity Group along side with a few leaders, we created an umbrella for people to come in. When they came in, the legacy parties were meeting to form the APC, so we decided to move enmasse into APC. Initially, there were thoughts that we should go to a relatively unknown party like Labour Party, APGA and Accord but in our various meetings, we now felt that if we must make an impact, it is better to join forces with an existing party. At that time, APC was not yet formed. We now decided to join APC. There was no doubt that there were dissenting voices - people who did not want it to happen. There are some who still believe and say 'let's give PDP a chance.' But the vast majority believe we have come to the end of the road with PDP because there are no signs that they will make amends. They had held congresses and edged out our people. They had victimised our supporters as far as local government administration is concerned. They had victimised our supporters as far as government's appointments were concerned and this is a government that we all brought to power, because on the eve of the election that brought Wada in, we were called into the presidency and asked to go and work for PDP and that whatever might be our grievances, we should work for the victory of the party first. Otherwise we would have scuttled that election. We cooperated and spent our resources to make sure that PDP won that election despite the existing grievances, despite the court cases against the choice of Wada.

Wada could have stretched his hands of fellowship to us but he turned it to victimisation. Our members were removed from government's boards prematurely. Their terminal benefits were not paid like the Local Government Service Commission where four out of the six members belonged to us. Somebody like me, my entitlement as a former Speaker and former Acting Governor were withheld in a house that we built together. Therefore, we said we had reached the end of the road. On September 23, 2014, we decamped enmasse and the three presidential aspirants in APC then - General Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and Governor Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso - and all the national executives of the APC attended. The crowd witnessed on that day was unprecedented. From that day, energy was infused into the APC in Kogi State. As of that time, Prince Abubakar Audu, had been appointed by rank as the leader of APC. By rank, he is the most senior politician in APC in the state as a former governor and so nobody could have taken away that position from him.

By the time we joined, we now had to work with him. We became very cohesive and we started working assiduously to expand the horizon. People like Senator Mohammed Ohiare had joined. I joined. Rt. Hon. Mohammed Bello had joined.

Ambassador Onu had joined. Chief Odawun - a nine year Chairman of PDP - that gave victory to PDP in the state in 2007 had joined. Past commissioners, former local government chairmen, ex-special advisers had joined and all these people made things to happen in their various local governments. What remained in PDP was absolutely a carcass. But rather than accept the reality of it, approach us and work us back to PDP, they were calling us all sorts of names. Like me, they said I was a rat. Some said I was a feather-weight. I replied them saying, '2015 will tell them whether I am a feather weight, whether I am a rat, or whether I am a cockroach.'

The APC in Kogi State can be said to have performed creditably well during the 2015 elections going by the number of legislative seats they have won so far. What is responsible for the infighting and acrimony breeding within the party up to the extent of some members sponsoring denigrating advertorials in the media against the leadership of the party in the state, particularly Prince Abubakar Audu?

Like I told you, as far as I am concerned, APC came to be about the middle of 2014. Prince Abubakar Audu was appointed by the national leadership of the party to lead the state and they have not given us another leader. If you say Audu is not good and Audu was the leader of the party that produced the results you have, what are you going to use in judging him? You said this man is not intelligent, he did an exam that was fair and free and he made A1 and you say the man is not good. So, what do you want him to make? Audu as a human being may have his weaknesses but our major problem today before the influx of people to APC on the eve of election, when they had seen the strength of APC, when they had seen the glory of APC coming is our problem. Because before they came despite whatever lapses existed in the party, we were able to manage ourselves. We did not go to the pages of newspapers to blackmail ourselves. If we had done that, we would not have been able to achieve the result we achieved.

I am not advocating for Audu but as a man of principle, I must tell the truth and let the truth set me free. Whatever they think those who are writing now about Audu, in the face of the victory we've had Senator.

•Rt. Hon. Olafemi under his leaderDino Melaye ship, there will have a worked against all great problem convincing me. I have my personal disagreement the rich people in Okunland with the exception of me who stood by him. Again all is now history. We won the three Senate seats in with him on principle but that does not make me to be disloyal to his constituted authority. People will want me to be fighting him, the state. We won six House of Representatives seats out of nine I have said no. That will not help the success of the party. We still and by the last count today, we've won 11 House of Assembly have a governorship election ahead of us. We have six states in seats. Again, the reason why our performance in the State the North Central, APC has won five governorship leaving only Assembly is not like the Senate and House of Representatives Kogi. Are we going to be an orphan? What these people are was simply because of anti-party activities. Aggrieved people doing by this negative publicity is to destroy the chances of APC who are not yet party men - because from the day your party winning the next election and to encourage PDP to still continue announces a candidate, you should look forward to another in power. When we get to the river, we will decide how to cross opportunity. There are so many opportunities in a victorious it. Why are they crying now when we still have so many party. If you are not a House of Assembly member, you can be a months' journey to get to the river? commissioner, special adviser, board member at the state or fedAll these cries, all these personalised attacks are because some eral level, or an aide to the President. of them want to contest for governorship. Yes, nobody says don't If you look at it, if our political maturity was adequate enough come and contest. You can contest. It is a free world but you must we will not engage in anti-party activities. For instance, I never recognise that some people built the party into an enviable status engage in anti-party activities. I can't remain in a party and vote before you were now encouraged to come in. Why did you not for another party. The only thing I can do will be to go to that come while we were doing registration of members to help us to party and become a candidate but I will not stay in my party and build the party? Why did you not come in while we were doing work against my party. That is what I regard as ‘anti-party activicongresses and choosing the party officers to manage the party? ties.’ It was the APC people who remained within APC and Why did you not come while we were even doing the primaries? voted for Accord and PDP that wounded the final results.

You came in only one month to the time of election, some came Otherwise, our target was 17 out of 25 seats in the House of Assembly. But even as we stand today, we are very confident that in a week, but because the party constitution allows people to join the party anytime without definition of when you can join we will recover some of our seats at the tribunal.

In a positive political development, all that they should have done was to enter into our ranks and file because we were PDP members. We formed PDP. We worked for PDP in the last eight years and all the glory and result of PDP were made possible by us. You can imagine, as a former Minority Leader, as a former Speaker, as a former Acting Governor that conducted an election that brought in the highest vote ever recorded in Kogi, as a person whose stay in office for 60 days is historic up till today, you are telling him that he is a rat and a feather weight. So they buried themselves. PDP buried itself in Kogi. So, despite our internal scheming, which is normal in any political dispensation, we collectively fought for the 2015 elections.

Yes, we had a popular candidate called Buhari, but outside that we had the individual credible candidates to contest the election. Take Okene for example, Hon. Bello was contesting the federal constituency. He had won election twice and this is the third one. How are you going to convince me that he will be easily defeated? So he won. Senator Ohiare in the Central Senatorial District won virtually all the polling units in the Central against the sitting

‘Why oil and gas sector in Nigeria falls Chief Martins Onovo, an international player in the oil and gas sector, in this interview encounter with INNOCENT DURU, speaks about what the country needs to do to meet up with standard obtainable abroad in the sector. Excerpts:

C

OULD you tell us a little about yourself?

I am a registered engineer, a Christian and a politician and presidential candidate of the NCP in the just concluded elections. My father was a civil servant. My late father was a chief engineer in the Coal Corporation. My mother retired from the ministry of health. I studied Petroleum Engineering at the University of Ibadan before I went to University of Houston in

Texas for a Masters degree in the field with bias in Economics. Ever since then, I have worked across the world in the oil and gas industry. I left formal employment in 2006 and since then have been participating in politics. I aspired to be a senator in Lagos West in 2007 and also aspired to be president in 2011 still under the NCP but didn’t get the ticket but I succeeded in getting the ticket last year against the March 28 election.

•Chief Onovo As an international player in the oil and gas sector, what do you make of the situation in the country, especially the N10 reduction in the pump price by the Federal Government?

The price reduction was purely political. You must not play

politics with serious issues. Don’t forget that it was done in the heat of the election period and it was done out of simple political expediency which has clearly backfired.

When you do the wrong things, you will get the wrong result. Nigeria is the only OPEC member importing petroleum products. It doesn’t make sense that Nigeria, a major oil exporter is importing petroleum product. It does not make sense at all. Niger just completed a refinery about a year ago and Nigerian officials shamelessly went for the commissioning when we have four here.

We have four here and we are importing. What is the purpose of the four. If you ask them, they will say it is maintenance challenges. Are these challenges insurmountable? All the analyses by the government officials are deceitful. Commonsense can expose the weakness and deceitfulness of these positions. The refineries are said to be running at about 18 or 20 percent depending on the NNPC report you are looking at. Why would a refinery run at the level

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shouldn’t expect Buhari to fix them in a day — Ex-Kogi Acting Governor Clarence Olafemi and when you cannot join, we accepted all of them. Some of us have been spending our time and our resources in the last one year holding meetings and campaigning, facing the sitting government until we got the party on track and today, you come and you you want to create acrimony within the party, you want to weaken the structure of the party and you are attacking it from the root.

I became aggrieved as a person. I hate what they are doing with passion and I am prepared to defend all our labour in the last one year. I will not fold my arms and see somebody destroy what we have built in the last one year. But my greatest appeal is to the national leadership of the party. Let them not tolerate these people. Let them realise that even PDP can sponsor people to destroy this party ahead the governorship election which is their mission. If these people did not actualise what they want to do, they will leave the party and leave us with the pains for the next four years. We pleaded individually, I Clarence Olafemi pleaded with some of them to come to this party when it was being formed. They did not even believe that APC will have a root not to talk of having branches.

As of today, they are not registered members of our party.

Their names are not on the register. They have no membership card but they go to the pages of newspapers and write all sorts of rubbish. Some have come with the sole aim of coming to ask for •Rt. Hon. Olafemi governorship slot. As of today I don't know what will be the last count, over 50 people want to contest governorship under the with human lives? Must we play politics with human property?

APC. Where were these people when we were struggling? Why Investors are scared to come to Nigeria to invest. Unemployment do people take interest in reaping where they did not sow? And has never been so terrible. As I am speaking with you, I have as far as I am concerned, I will remain an APC man and will stand in APC to defend our labour in APC. We will not allow our three Master's Degree holders who are my children and trained outside this country. I don't want them to stay outside the counlabour to be destroyed by these people whose antecedents are try. They are in Nigeria without jobs. If it can happen to somethe same in PDP. Some have contested governorship in PDP, body like me, what can you say about the ordinary when they lost the primaries, what were their activities?And at people who laboured in villages to train their chilthat time there was a free and fair primary adjudged by a court dren? In the olden days, the moment you are expectof law, they still scuttled it. They used all sorts of names, wrote a ing your child to graduate from fictitious petition and pursued it and made sure university, you have had your that mandate was scuttled because they were What Nigerians should expect is a pension. Today, I can tell not picked. roadmap to solving all our problems. He life you only God knows the milThe record is there. The same people were cannot perform any miracle to correct it in a lions of Nigerians without sidelined by the government of Wada because day. You can imagine, what is happening - jobs. Why? The automobile Wada was afraid of them. The same people on the eve of giving up office, you start industry collapsed. have migrated to APC with the same sacking people and employing people. Are Volkswagen folded up. Steyr antecedents and want to continue. It is painful.

They have not been able to separate these peo- you saying you don't want this man to bring Motors folded up. Leyland ple from those of us who genuinely came over a in his own team that could give solution to Motors in Ibadan folded up. year ago to join the formation of APC and to the problems of Nigeria? Do you want to Fiat in Kano folded up. build APC, believing in APC and trusting the impose people on him? I know that such a Peugeot was epileptic and out people.

APC will win. If APC is not strong and Buhari thing will not be allowed by APC govern- threw Today, Americans can tell had lost, you will not see these people in APC. ment. APC government has its own pro- you the number of jobs they The APC at the national level promised change and the expectation from the incoming grammes. They have people - consultants of create in a month. Britain can Gen. Muhammadu Buhari's administration is various disciplines - who are already work- tell you the number of jobs very high. What do you think the APC should ing on a definite solution to Nigeria's prob- they create in a month. Our lems and no amount of blackmail or intimi- people, because of their cordo so as not to disappoint the people?

One thing I want to let you know is that as dation will defocus the man because Buhari ruption and deceit, will give wrong figures of jobs they crefrom 1999 till date, there have been various levthat I know is a very strong man ated in Nigeria. You and I els of decay - decay in our economy, decay in know that there are millions of our infrastructural provision, decay in our health people outside without jobs. Of course, that will aggrasector, decay in our educational sector and so on - but it was vate insecurity. Some idle hands will be the workshop of aggravated in the last six years at a rate that is unprecedented in the devil. Kidnapping came in. Street robbery came in. the history of governance in this country. As I am talking, the dollar is N220. The pound sterling is N315. What is responsible? Our 'Yahoo-yahoo' came in. If you are very active and you are involved and you have a job, you have no business being a 'yaforeign reserve has been depleted. Our domestic and external hoo-yahoo'. You have no business being a kidnapper. You have debts have gone up again. We have high level of corruption no business being a street robber. So, the consequences of unemeverywhere and so, all these things have aggregated into people ployment gave rise to social ills of high calibre. And all these now saying they need a change and massively voting for that things are put at the door step of General Buhari now. Can he change. But it is easy to destroy than to build. What the governturn it around over night? No. One, he must start by blocking ment of Jonathan has destroyed cannot be built over night. But corruption. If he can reduce corruption in his first year in office the most important thing is to have a focus as to how to get the by 10 per cent, the savings will go to generate employment, country out of the her economic mess, decayed education sysimprove road infrastructure, equip our hospitals, enhance health tem, infrastructure and out of the unbelievable level of insecurity. facilities and if in the second year, he can increase it and reduce For six years, several thousands of Nigerians have been killed and in less than six weeks, they are making the type of gains they corruption by another 10 per cent, at the end of his first tenure, he would have reduced corruption by 40 per cent and Nigeria are making. would have been a heaven.

There are several questions to be asked: must we play politics

‘

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So, what Nigerians should expect is a roadmap to solving all our problems. He cannot perform any miracle to correct it in a day. You can imagine, what is happening - on the eve of giving up office, you start sacking people and employing people. Are you saying you don't want this man to bring in his own team that could give solution to the problems of Nigeria? Do you want to impose people on him? I know that such a thing will not be allowed by APC government. APC government has its own programmes. They have people - consultants of various disciplines who are already working on a definite solution to Nigeria's problems and no amount of blackmail or intimidation will defocus the man because Buhari that I know is a very strong man. You can only underrate him and you will be surprised. He is a military man. He is an infantry man. He had been head of this nation. He knows the in and out of Nigerian government. He is one of the living and experienced hands we have now and he will bring it to bare in selecting his aides, who will assist him. He is going to be very careful too. I can assure because that is the only way we can get things right without fear or favour.

As one of the leaders of APC in Kogi State, you have talked about your efforts to ensure that the party gained victory, what should Kogites expect from you in the foreseeable future?

Part of my sacrifice to ensure that APC is strong in Kogi today was to refuse to contest the last election because it would have caused so much acrimony particularly in the West Senatorial District where I come from and I said let my younger ones contest that Senate seat. I made the sacrifice. The Senate is a very lucrative seat but if I had done that, there would have been more problems in APC than it is today. They would have seen me as coming to hijack APC, so I conceded it to those that I met there. I conceded it on principle and I worked for the candidate the party presented as a party man. The support I gave to Dino Melaye, I would have given it to any other person if the party had presented that person as a candidate. I have been a party man since my 38 years in politics. I don't do anti-party activities. I can only move out of the party if I am not pleased with the party. I will not stay in the party and work against the party.

So, having laboured to build the party - I am one of the financiers of the party - forget about level of finances being put - but the moment you take the leader away, I think I am second in terms of financial support for the party and in terms of commitment. I ascribe to myself the deputy leader and in the Senatorial District that I come from, I was the only successful man that remained in APC. The rest are still in PDP. I was never scared to confront them. In my local government where I won the State House of Assembly seat for our candidate, I contested against the sitting deputy governor, a former deputy governor, a former secretary to the state government, three special advisers and a former immediate local government chairman. About nine powerful people against me but I won that election for the APC. Having done these, it is now left for the leadership of APC to say for the hard work this man has been doing, this is what we want to use to compensate him.

I have no immediate intention to contest any position unless the coast is clear. But I believe I deserve compensation for the hard work I have done and I believe that APC that I have been thus far, has proved to me that they recognise hard work because within the time I joined, I have been recognised as one of the Board of Trustees members, which is one of the highest positions you can rise to in the party. While I was in London, I was made one of the presidential campaign council members from Kogi and I got a letter - the third letter within less than one month recognising me as part of the leaders of APC in Nigeria. So, it shows that the leadership of APC, has a telescope it uses in looking at each state to see who is who and who is actually doing what and at the appropriate time, they will compensate them.

Whatever Curriculum Vitae anybody wants today, I have it. I went to the university and I have First Class in Mathematics and Computer Science. I have worked for 38 years. I have spent the last 12 years in active politics. I have been a Minority leader, I have been a Speaker, I have been an acting governor before coming to APC. So the track record is there. If I have the resources, I can be governor. But I am contented with where I am now. My own is to make sure that come year 2016, APC controls Kogi State, so that the present level of suffering can be alleviated.

short of what is obtainable abroad’ even though that is cumulative. The issue can only be either operational or maintenance. I have been in the oil and gas sector for over 23 years, working in America, Europe, Africa etc. So, what is insurmountable that we could not fix for the past 16 years? The problem is simply the unwillingness of the government to fix it. Don’t forget the $700 million that was spent under Obasanjo for turnaround maintenance. If the money was spent as claimed, did we get any value for it? If we got any values, why are the refineries not working? How much does it cost to build a new refinery that we spent such a huge amount and got no value?

But you will not look at the downstream sector in isolation.

But if I may reverse your question, I will ask, which sector is working in the country? The importation we are doing now is so terrible because the current cost of domestic exploration, production, transportation, refining and profit margin inclusive is less than N48 per litre. Then, why do we have to spend nearly a trillion on subsidy importing petrol? That is subsidy alone, we

are not talking about the extra cost we are paying well and above the N48 per litre, you will find out that Nigeria is losing N2 trillion a year. We are losing N2trillion a year on nothing when our budget is N4.5 trillion in a year. How can we develop?

The only way to get it right is to do the right thing and that is what we have not done. Can’t we look at what others are doing and copy them? It is a shame that among all OPEC members, it is only Nigeria that has accepted importation as a norm.

What makes the difference between the oil sector here and abroad?

It is the ethical ambience. Ethical ambience affects everything else. It affects professional conduct, it affects corruption within the system, it affects the level of patriotism. So the ethical ambience is the fundamental difference. To have development, there are key indices you must have. The first thing is that the system itself must have integrity. You also need a culture of harwork and a reward system that promotes integrity and hardwork.

Some people described presidential candidates of smaller

parties in the last elections as clowns that were out to just get fame. What is your take on this?

A lot of those people are very ignorant and very dysfunctional.

You have to know my background. I came from activism. I was student union vice president, I was the president of Engineering department in UI, I was PENGASAN branch delegate in the oil industry. Coming from that background, I was always in the forefront of telling government, don’t do this and don’t do that.

When we were doing all that, these same dysfunctional people challenged us to go there and try to do it instead of always criticizing the government. Now that we made efforts to get there, these same dysfunctional people are still condemning us. I am just answering because you have the right to ask otherwise, I won’t answer. If they had asked me, I won’t answer because they are very dysfunctional. Do they know what it costs to run a presidential election? Do they know the physical exertion, the social, mental and spiritual exertion? Everything to these people is a joke. Please, I won’t answer further.

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Nigeria’s crumbling monument site

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H EALTH MATTERS

AILY, more and more Nigerians, including the young, succumb to chronic kidney disease (CKD), a situation that has got medical and health experts worried about the implication on the health care system in the country. Hitherto a disease of the older age group (65 and above), kidney disease is now more common among younger people in their 20s and 30s.

"Kidney failure seems to be on a steady rise now," noted Dr Wunmi Abiola of the June One Hospital, Opebi, Lagos. While blaming the high rate on 'medications that are harmful to the body', she added: "There are different kinds of kidney problems; there is the chronic and the acute kidney problem."

Figures indicate that over 35 million Nigerians are suffering from various stages of kidney disease with an estimated 15,000 new patients diagnosed yearly. Such a heavy kidney disease burden, has led to stakeholders calling for more awareness about the disease as a way of curbing it, especially considering the vital role, the kidneys play in the body.

The kidneys' function are to filter the blood, remove wastes, control the body's fluid balance, and regulate the balance of electrolytes among other functions. In other words, it's the body's waste disposal system. The kidneys are so important to the body's wellbeing that if both kidneys fail, as happens in end stage kidney failure, the body dies without life saving dialysis.

Many factors can cause the kidneys not to function properly, according to experts. "Most of the things that cause renal failure are abuse of analgesics, sedentary lifestyle that leads to obesity which leads to hypertension and diabetes; these being major risk factors for renal failure," stated Dr Dan Gadzama. To avoid having kidney disease, he advised lifestyle adjustment. "Lifestyle modification is very important in preventing the disease," Gadzama added.

His advise is worth taking considering the seriousness of kidney disease and its treatment. Diagnosis of kidney disease especially end stage kidney failure can be devastating, placing severe financial, physically and emotional burden on the sufferer.

On this, Gadzama stated: "Treatment of renal failure will depend on what is causing it and the worst case scenario is for the patient to have a renal transplant.

Of course it is expensive. I do not even think that there is a renal transplant centre in Nigeria, and that should go a long way to tell you how expensive it is. To get it done, the patient is likely to travel outside the country."

It's not just the transplant that cost a large sum of money. Dialysis, which helps the kidney to work, where it is not functioning, does not come cheap. A session can cost as much as N30-35,000 and this needs to be done about thrice a week. It is no wonder that out of 50,000 patients who should ideally be on dialysis, experts put the number of

D

THE NATION, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

Curbing the

kidney disease scourge

those on dialysis at less than 1,000.

"Dialysis is not affordable for the ordinary person. It is expensive," affirmed Dr Gadzama.

"The good news about dialysis is that it can be done in Nigeria; a good number of places can do that.

Dialysis is done just to try to buy time. You do dialysis to sustain the patient pending the time that you can get a donor and when the patient can afford a transplant.

When somebody is •Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, Delta State Governor (first on dialysis, right) and other physicians performing the first kidney there are transplant at the Delta State University Teaching Hossome drugs pital (DELSUTH) at Oghara, Delta State in 2014 that the person will have to be n Patience SADUWA and Paul UKPABIO n on and in most cases these days, there are treatment that can be adkidney disease. In fact, for the past ministered and the patient will still A cry for help couple of years, several movie and be able to move around. But in most The high cost of treatment have music stars in the nation's entertaincases also, as a lifestyle, a patient been adduced for the scenario ment industry have cried out for aswill have to avoid high protein diet where many Nigerians, both aversistance in treating their health because it adds a lot of load to the age citizens and even high profile problems especially kidney failure, kidney-that is animal protein like individuals solicit for help on the the most notable among these being meat egg and so on," noted the med- pages of newspapers and other star actress Ngozi Nwosu who had ical practitioner. media when they are struck with to undergo treatment for kidney

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H EALTH MATTERS

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, •Dr Gadzama

If you are sick, go to the hospital and get tested. That's the only way to know what ails you. But for some people, once they have a fever or headache, they conclude it's malaria and they go to the local chemist down the street and buy drugs which they take. This is dangerous. Taking drugs without prescription, especially for a prolonged period can lead to kidney damage

,

failure in a foreign hospital with the support of a state government and other well meaning Nigerians.

Gadzama believes cases like these could be averted with more preventive measures put in place. "The government can build institutions to promote the prevention of renal failure. Most times, we concentrate on treat-

ment whereas prevention should be our primary focus," he said.

Besides the high cost of treatment, inadequate facilities especially dialysis centres and drugs for post transplant treatment among others add more to the burden of sufferers. Cases abound where patients with renal failure travel from differ-

ent parts of the country to Lagos for dialysis and other treatments which are unavailable in their domain.

It's in light of this that pundits have called for more dialysis centres in the country as well as the Federal Government to include the cost of dialysis as part of the treatment that Nigerians can access under the National Health Insurance Scheme.

On a personal level, health experts advise a healthier lifestyle as a way of reducing the risk of chronic kidney disease. "Certain lifestyle changes are essential to reduce the risk of CKD," stated Dr M. Ogwah.

These he said, include avoiding 'self-medication' especially analgesics and other pain killers and over-the-counter (OVT) drugs.

"If you are sick, go to the hospital and get tested. That's the only way to know what ails you. But for some people, once they have a fever or headache, they conclude it's malaria and they go to the local chemist down the street and buy drugs which they take. This is dangerous. Taking drugs without prescription especially for a prolonged period can lead to kidney damage," he said.

He also advised drinking alcohol in moderation, avoiding smoking, maintaining a healthy weight to avoid diabetes and high blood pressure and eating healthily with regular exercise.

•Dr Nwobi

Foundation takes childhood cancer enlightenment to schools n Innocent DURU n HILDREN Living With Cancer Foundation (CLWCF), a non governmental organisation based in Lagos State has concluded plans to make sure that every child in public and private schools the state benefits from its childhood cancer awareness programme.

To this effect, the organisation will on May 23rd, 2015, be hosting a singing competition for schools across the state to raise funds and show compassion for the afflicted kids. The event titled “ Sing out childhood cancer” is scheduled to take place at Pinefield School, off Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1.

The organisation which is registered with Childhood Cancer International is set up to cater for the welfare and medication for children battling with cancer whilst providing support for their families.

Explaining the criteria for participating in the competition, the Executive Director, Dr Nneka Nwobi said: “ Contstants must be part of a school and the school must enter the contestants as their students. All contestants must be amateur entertainers. Professional artistes are not permitted to enter. The number of contestants from various schools involved in this event will be minimum of eight and maximum of 25. Contestants will be required to perform two songs, each for five minutes. All the schools will sing a general song; Hero

by Mariah Carey and another that is their choice.”

Aside from music, she added that: “ The event will also feature a lecture aimed at increasing the awareness level of childhood cancer in the society.

Our mission is to create awareness that children also suffer from cancer and the fact that childhood cancers are curable. We seek to save as many lives as possible through early detection and prompt medical attention and stimulating aareness of the public in this direction. “ We equally undertake and develop relevant training programme, researches and medical studies into the disease of cancer generally in children and all its ramification with a view o alleviate the suffering of victims.”

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THE NATION SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

THE NATION SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

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Common congenital conditions of the male and female reproductive system

I

e system

Male reproductiv

n Uterus Duplex Bicolis, the cervix and uterus are endometrial tissues. The former can affect females of all duplicated, but there is one vagina, where as in ages but more in the older age, and the latter, more of older Unicornuate Uterus, one fallopian tube may be females malformed. The presence of two uteri in a woman may be Problems associated with congenital conditions of the responsible for frequent miscarriages from one or both reproductive system may also be as a result of abnormal wombs ,the internal arrangement of which might not be synthesis of androgens, at various levels, deficiencncy of favorable to implantation or growth of baby . Rarely hormone receptors, post receptor elements or pathways though, some women with two uteri have successfully involved in the synthesis as well as uptake. Time and space harbored pregnancies in each of them to full term, and will permit only a few examples: had deliveries successfully managed in Hospitals.

Attempts to clean up the uterus could also Male pseudo hemaphrodites:end in disaster for the same reason, and the In this condition, the individual has woman may die from post abortal infection female appearance at birth, but has testes when products of conception are retained, like males which instead of being inside hence Doctors now insist on trans vaginal or the scrotum are located in the inguinal abdominal scan as a routing procedure for canal . As the child grows, to puberty, even those cases that may seem to the patient what happens depends on the extent of as minor problems in obstetrics and conversion (peripheral) of the naturally gynecology . occurring intermediates; Androstenedione Hernia uterine inguinale, otherwise to either Testosterone or Estrogen. The called uterine hernia syndrome, is an child may as a result develop female size inherited x-linked, or autosomal recessive breasts or large penis type clitoris and disorder, where individuals look like because gender identity is established normal males, but in the inguinal usually around the age of three years, region(junction between the thigh and early detection is very important. lower abdomen,) the womb(uterus) ,alone The other variety is where there is or with a fallopian tube appear in an gonadotropin resistant testes; the inguinal sac .

Female reproductive system individual unlike the one described above There is usually no problem with fertility is female, but has testes which also are but with time, the uterus in the inguinal located in the inguinal canal canal will organize and set itself for In these two cases, the real danger is the possibility of various changes that will threaten life such as cancer. tissues of the testes undergoing changes to become What you need to know then is that it is not every cancerous tissues swelling you see in that region that is a hernia, and so in Incomplete male pseudo heamaphrodites----- The major doubtful cases, medical help should be sought. problem here is deficiency of an enzyme, 5 alpha reductase.

It is now believed that most of these problems revolve Patient has underdeveloped vagina, with severe Perineal round the mullerian inhibitory factor(MIF) , a hypospadias, hence this entity was first called, homodimeric glycoprotein which belongs to the pseudovaginal perineoscrotal hypospadias (PPV) transforming growth factor super family, expressed not Incomplete androgen insensitivity . This represents a only in fetal but also in prepubertal tissues, being spectrum of disorders, due to inherited x-linked recessive abnormal in in its function or defective ability of the variants of incomplete testicular feminization. mullerian ducts to respond to it .

Two groups have been recognized; those with Lub The embryonic role of this MIF has been the subject of syndrome appear much more like females whereas research into the possibility that it may posses the ability patients with Reinfensteins syndrome have predominant to suppress the growth of cancer involving the ovaries or

male characteristics, Complete androgen insensitivity.

In this condition, there is Congenital insensitivity to male type hormones, It is transmitted through maternal x-recessive genes. Mullerian inhibitory factor (MIF) is present and so mullerian activity is suppressed whereas Wolfian duct system fails to develop . Complete androgen insensitivity is believed to account for about 10% of all cases of women failing to experience their first normal menstrual flow(menarche) when the conditions of 47kg age of 13 and above plus other developmental milestones have been met. The affected Woman has a vagina, but it it is short and completely closed inside ((derived from Urogenital sinus only)the uterus and fallopian tubes are absent Recommendations Avoid un prescribed drugs during pregnancy especially excessive intake of nutritional supplement.

Avoid exposure to environmental chemicals as smoke from various pollutants Mind what you eat and drink especially once you become pregnant especially from the 3rd to 9th week when organs are forming Do family planning; each pregnancy should be taken as unique, and well planned Register for antenatal care as early as possible and seek medical advice always Arrange your pregnancy and delivery to be managed by someone trained to do so and if you cannot afford Hospital antenatal care, see at least a traditional birth attendant Parents should check for anything unusual from when a child is born, with further regular checks and observations thereafter .When a child is born, ensure there is proper examination and bring the child regularly as instructed by your centre for further examination, according to the protocol in the Road to Health Chart, Ensure that for a male child, the penis is where it is supposed to be, and not where the vagina is normally . See that urine is coming from the proper place. As the child grows, watch if he sits down or hides to urinate, and also watch for any unusual or excessive shyness from your daughter

THE NATION, SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

62 News

Umunna quits UK Labour leadership race

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•Soldiers distributing emergency relief materials supplied by NEMA to victims of Boko Haram in Gwoza town, the headquarters of the Gwoza LGA of Borno State...yesterday PHOTO: NAN

Tankers, trucks comply with Lagos directive, move out of Apapa

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ESPITE came for residents of Apapa who, for the past five weeks, had been groaning under the traffic nightmare caused by the indiscriminate parking of petroleum tankers and container trailers as the motors have been moved away.

The Lagos State Government had on Wednesday served the drivers a 48-hour ultimatum to move all trucks and tankers off from the Apapa Road. The deadline expired yesterday.

Checks yesterday evening showed that 80 per cent of the vehicles have been moved out.

There was easy flow of traffic approaching Apapa from Mile 2, as the traffic jam which was usually encountered from Alaba through Coconut, Tin Can and Liverpool has almost disappeared.

Same goes for approaching Apapa from Iponri/Costain through the Ijora Causeway.

The National Vice Chairman (Lagos zone) of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), Mr. Solomon Kilanko, said his members had been complying since Thursday.

He said: "As drivers, we have informed the transport owners of the directive by the Lagos State government. Yesterday (Thursday), our leadership met with the national leadership of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and we both agreed all our tankers must be moved out of Lagos.

“We have started that and by this evening (yesterday), 80 per

•No going back on enforcement, says govt cent of our trucks are off the road. I believe by Sunday, the whole place would have been cleaned up and the remaining would be left with depot owners. We have also discussed with the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DEPPMAN) to inform us once the product is available for us to come and lift."

He said they had equally sent a circular to other chapters of the union for their members to stay away from Lagos for now

since there's no fuel to lift.

On his part, the NARTO's state Chairman, Mr Stephen Okafor, said all trucks belonging to his members would be moved out of the road by Sunday.

He said any one caught by Sunday on the road “is on his own as everyone has been told to move out of the state”.

Though the head of the Lagos State Task Force, Bayo Sulaiman, was not available for comments, the Lagos State Sec-

King of the Blues B.B. King dies at 89

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.B. King, whose scorching guitar licks and heartfelt vocals made him the idol of generations of musicians and fans while earning him the nickname King of the Blues, died late Thursday at home in Las Vegas. He was 89.

His attorney, Brent Bryson, told The Associated Press that King died peacefully in his sleep at 9:40 p.m. He said funeral arrangements were underway.

King’s eldest surviving daughter Shirley King of the Chicago area said she was upset that she didn’t have a chance to see her father before he died.

Although he had continued to perform well into his 80s, the 15-time Grammy winner suffered from diabetes and had been in declining health during the past year. He collapsed dur-

ing a concert in Chicago last October, later blaming dehydration and exhaustion. He had been in hospice care at his Las Vegas home.

For most of a career spanning nearly 70 years, Riley B. King was not only the undisputed king of the blues but a mentor to scores of guitarists, who included Eric Clapton, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, John Mayall and Keith Richards. He recorded more than 50 albums and toured the world well into his 80s, often performing 250 or more concerts a year.

King played a Gibson guitar he affectionately called Lucille with a style that included beautifully crafted single-string runs punctuated by loud chords, subtle vibratos and bent notes.

The result could bring chills

NSCDC arrests two for alleged job racketeering

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WO Sharia Court workers have been arrested for al legedly forging Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps official letterhead papers and engaging in a job scam.

The suspects, Ibrahim Usman and Shuaibu Yinusa, who worked with the Sharia Court in Gwagwalada, Abuja, had realized N6 million from desperate job seekers whom they scammed.

The suspects, who were paraded in Abuja yesterday, were arrested at Gwagwalada with forged appointment letters and other fake NSCDC documents.

Usman told journalists that he had made about N6 million from the scam, adding that he extorted various amounts of money from applicants.

tor Commander of the FRSC, Hyginus Omeje, confirmed that the trailers had been moved out and sanity had returned to most places at Apapa.

He said reports reaching him showed “most truck drivers have complied with the directive.”

He said the security agencies would go round the area today to monitor compliance and further instruct any recalcitrant driver to move before Sunday.

Gbenga OMOKHUNU, Abuja

He said: “I collected various amounts from different people; some paid N20, 000, some N50, 000. I told interested people in my village that there was a job opportunity and many of them brought money to me.”

But his accomplice, Yinusa, denied involvement in the scam, saying he was arrested because he was at Usman’s house when NSCDC operatives came to arrest him.

“I don’t know anything about this incident. I was arrested because I was at Usman’s house when they came to arrest him,” he stated.

Meanwhile, a government committee set up to auction

items seized from pipeline vandals has sold off a 33,000-litre oil tanker belonging to MRS Nigeria Ltd at an open auction in Abuja yesterday.

The Iveco tanker with registration number, Kano XX 754 KNK, was sold for N3.9 million.

The NSCDC CommandantGeneral, Dr. Ade Abolurin, who is also the Chairman of the Auction Committee, stated that similar auctions had been carried out in Lagos, Oyo and Rivers states after all legal processes had been exhausted.

He said: “In the course of the auction committee assignment, we maintained our integrity. If we had collected money from vandals, we would not have been carrying out auctions openly.”

to an audience, no more so than when King used it to full effect on his signature song, “The Thrill is Gone.” He would make his guitar shout and cry in anguish as he told the tale of forsaken love, then end with a guttural shouting of the final lines: “Now that it’s all over, all I can do is wish you well.”

His style was unusual. King didn’t like to sing and play at the same time, so he developed a call-and-response between him and Lucille.

King got his start in radio with a gospel quartet in Mississippi, but soon moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where a job as a disc jockey at WDIA gave him access to a wide range of recordings. He studied the great blues and jazz guitarists, including Django Reinhardt and T-Bone Walker, and played live music a few minutes each day as the “Beale Street Blues Boy,” later shortened to B.B.

ISING British political star Chuka Umunna yester day abruptly withdrew from the race to become the new leader of Britain’s defeated centre-left Labour opposition party, three days after announcing his intention to run.

In a statement, the Nigerianborn Umunna blamed the “added level of pressure that comes with being a leadership candidate”.

“I have not found it a comfortable experience,” the 36year-old said.

In a Facebook video on Tuesday, Umunna had said he wanted to stand for the Labour leadership, following the party’s electoral drubbing last week and the resignation of Ed Miliband as leader.

Umunna was the bookmakers’ favourite. His withdrawal leaves Andy Burnham as the new favourite, with Yvette Cooper, Mary Creagh and Liz Kendall the other declared runners so far.

Labour hoped to form the government after the May 7 election, but was heavily defeated by Prime Minister David Cameron’s centre-right Conservatives.

Urbane and unashamed of enjoying the high life, Umunna has only served five years as a member of parliament.

However, he has impressed Labour grandees such as former prime minister Tony Blair and former European trade com-

missioner Peter Mandelson with his broad appeal to business leaders and traditional egalitarians alike.

If elected, he would have been the first ethnic minority leader of a major British political party and he has spoken of how his late father’s example of fighting corruption in Nigeria inspired him.

But there was concern about his lack of experience, with his stint in the shadow cabinet and membership of an influential parliamentary committee on finance his most notable achievements to date.

Umunna, a self-identified “European social democrat”, has said that Labour “can’t be afraid to say we want to help people make their first million,” in a sharp contrast to tone of the party’s election campaign.

Umunna grew up in the multi-cultural neighbourhood of Streatham in south London, which he now represents in parliament.

His father Bennett, a Nigerian immigrant, arrived at Liverpool docks in the 1960s to set up an import-export business.

His mother, Patricia Milmo, was a solicitor and daughter of High Court judge Helenus Milmo, a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Nazi trials.

Bennett, who had returned to Nigeria to run as an anti-corruption candidate, died in a road accident when Umunna was aged 13.

Processed food manufacturers to face NAFDAC test

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ARD times await pro cessed food manufac turers who fail to meet up with the micronurient set standard.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, would soon commence the closure of factories whose products failed the micronutrient fortification compliance test.

The agency, according to its Benue State Coordinator, Mr. Anikoh Ibrahim, said the agency would be doing a random test for micronutrient fortification compliance in sugar, floor, salt and vegetable oil products being sold in the market.

Ibrahim, who decried the level of micronutrient deficiency among Nigerian children between the ages of one and five, lamented that the agency embarked on the nationwide exercise “because it has been discovered that one in four children under the age of five in Nigeria suffers from Vitamin A deficiency while about 31 per cent of mothers in Nigeria are iodine deficient.”

Vincent IKUOMOLA, Abuja He stated that malnutrition among children, the death of young mothers during childbirth due to anaemia and the poor learning ability of children were all consequences of micronutrient deficiencies.

“This is the more reason why it is the right of every Nigerian to consume fortified foods to guard against diseases and untimely deaths; hence it is, therefore, important that consumers begin to demand for fortified staples.

“I must, therefore, hasten to say that in the event of noncompliance with the mandatory food fortification by manufacturers of vegetable oil, wheat/maize flour and sugar, necessary sanctions will be applied which include immediate closure of the concerned factories.”

The NAFDAC atate Coordinator added that the punitive measures would also include the payment of administrative fines, withdrawal of products from markets and destruction of same by the agency.

Community stakeholders urged to embrace UBE Act

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HE Education Secretary, Mainland Local Govern ment Education Authority, Mr. Adetona Bisi Lawrence, has urged community stakeholders to embrace the Universal Basic Education Act 2004, adding that the failure to do so might attract stiff penalty as enshrined in the House of Parliament 2004 Mr. Bisi Lawrence, who was addressing the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored seminar held at the Mainland Local Government Education multi- purpose hall, Yaba, charged the participants to embrace the Universal Basic Education Act 2004 and support

their children by creating time and taking good care of them, adding that, “they should desist from marrying many wives and embrace family planning”.

The first resource person from the Human Development Initiatives (HDI), Mr. Ajayi Samuel, told the audience that comprised community stakeholders from Iwaya, Sabo, Oyingbo and Ebute-metta, among others, that the UBE Act, 2004 covered early childhood education and development.

Mr. Samuel urged the state government to give the Local Government Education Authority saddled with overseeing

and coordinating the primary and junior secondary education necessary equipment to enhance the responsibility for the provision of conducive classrooms and field of sports as an integral part of education.

Another resource person, Engr Sunday Alade, urged the community stakeholders to mobilize people in support of government policies, programmes and activities, adding that, “as an agent of change they should act as mouthpiece of the people and monitor activities of political office holders and to call them to order when they work against community interest and values”.

THE NATION, SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

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URUNDIAN forces yes terday arrested the leader of a failed coup and President Pierre Nkurunziza returned to the capital, his spokesman said, but protesters pledged to go back to the streets, setting the stage for more clashes.

Major General Godefroid Niyombare was captured two days after announcing Nkurunziza had been toppled in the African nation, which is still recovering from an ethnically fueled civil war that ended just a decade ago.

“He has been arrested. He didn’t surrender,” presidential spokesman Gervais Abayeho told Reuters, after earlier announcing that three other generals had also been detained.

Asked what would happen to the plotters who announced the coup when Nkurunziza was abroad, Abayeho said it was up to the justice system: “They will be held answerable.”

Burundi was plunged into deep crisis after Nkurunziza announced he was running for another five-year term.

Opponents say this violates the constitution and a deal to end the civil war that pitted rebel groups of the majority Hutu population, including one led by Nkurunziza, against the army which was then commanded by minority Tutsis.

The army is now mixed and has absorbed rival factions, but the coup attempt exposed alarming divisions. Diplomats say the longer unrest continues the more chance that a conflict, till now been largely a struggle for power, reopens ethnic wounds.

The unrest worries a region with a history of ethnic killing, but there was little sign that tensions were easing.

Troops loyal to Nkurunziza

Burundi arrests leader of failed coup had largely calmed the streets after frequent gunfire on Thursday.

But activists called for more rallies against the president, while some Bujumbura residents said police told them they would be fired upon at if they did demonstrate.

“Protests to reject the third term bid for Nkurunziza will continue,” said Gordien Niyungeko, deputy head of Focode, one of the 300 civil society groups that backed protests. “Our movement had nothing to do with the attempted coup.”

Until the coup attempt, protests had been almost daily. Protesters hurled rocks while police fired tear gas, water cannon and were even seen firing guns at the protesters.

More than 105,000 people have already fled to neighboring states, including next door Rwanda, with the same ethnic mix as Burundi and which was torn apart by a genocide in 1994 that killed 800,000 mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Hundreds of people lined the streets carrying flags for the president’s return to the capital from his rural home. His spokesman said he was back in the presidential palace on Friday after returning to Burundi on Thursday from Tanzania where he had been when the coup was declared.

A man with a gaping head wound lay dead in a street in Butarere, a Bujumbura district that has been a hotbed for protests. Residents said police had shot him and wounded two others. There was no immediate police comment.

A group of men in

I’ve vowed not to steal government money, says Benue Gov-elect Ortom

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ENUE State Governorelect Samuel Ortom said yesterday that he had vowed to shun dipping his hand into public funds.

Dr.Ortom told representatives of religious groups who visited him at his Makurdi residence that he made the resolution before his election in appreciation of God’s turn-around of his life from a humble beginning.

He told his guests, among whom were pastors, church elders and women leaders that he was contented with all he had by way of material acquisition.

He said he had never had a foreign account and promised to lead by example by shunning illegal acquisition of wealth.

The former Minister of State, Industry, Trade, and Investment said he had already warned his family against accepting questionable gifts on his

behalf, while any government official found to be involved in corruption would be dealt with.

He promised to partner the church to give a new orientation on moral rectitude to the people and to deliver quality health care and education.

The delagates were from the NKST Central, Wadata, Priest and Parishioners of St. Francis Quasi Parish, Akpen, Bishop Murray Medical Centre, all in Makurdi, as well as leaders of the Redeemed Evangelical Church Mission, REM, from Gboko.

Dr Paul Tyoga, Rev Fr Francis Nzekwu, Sister Monica Umeh and Evangelist Peter Dzawua who led the delegations had separately encouraged Dr Ortom to uphold his Christian testimony, abide by God’s word in the Bible and be courageous in his actions.

Police Committee tasks IGP

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HE Police Assistance Committee (PAC) has expressed satisfaction with the appointment of the Inspector General Police, Solomon Arase, by the out-going President Goodluck Jonathan.

In a statement in Lagos, Director-General of the PAC, Dr. Martins John-Oni, while hailing the appointment as well deserved, recalled that the new IGP has acquired wealth of experience, having served as Personal Staff Officer (PSO) under three past IGPs, before his elevation to the head of intelligence unit in the force, where he had equally performed creditably.

Dr. Oni expressed confidence in the ability and professional standing of the new IGP to per-

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Eid-El-Maulud

form effectively and optimally in his new assignment, while also imploring him to bring in new innovations to improve the standard of the police force, and also be a team player.

The PAC pledged to continue to support the Nigeria Police Force through information dissemination and intelligence gathering as they have been doing in the last two decades to keep assisting the police in their bid to prevent and combat crime in the country.

The organization called on the IGP to embrace community policing in addressing the problem of crime prevention, as community policing has been the modern way of confronting the issue of crime globally.

Bujumbura’s Cibitoke suburb said they had been told by police that they would be treated as rebels and shot at if they demonstrated. “Now we are no longer looking for protesters, we are looking for rebels,” police told them.

Even before the coup attempt, officials had called protests an “insurrection”.

Fighting on Thursday had at times been fierce, particularly around the state radio station, a

strategic asset for loyalist and supporters of the coup. An army chief said 12 rebels were killed in those clashes.

The constitution and a peace deal that ended the civil war both specify a two-term presidential limit. But Nkurunziza is seeking a third term anyway, relying on a court ruling that his first term does not count because he was appointed by parliament, not elected. His opponents and some donors have

questioned the court’s impartiality.

The heavy-handed response of the police to demonstrations in recent weeks has drawn stern rebukes from Western donors, who have urged the president not to run again. The United States, which provides training and equipment to the army, demanded a halt to “violent force” by police.

Several African leaders had criticized Nkurunziza’s bid for

re-election in the June 26 presidential vote. The African Union also condemned any attempt to seize “power through violence”.

The European Union, Belgium and the Netherlands have all suspended some aid due to the unrest, particularly donations linked to the elections, which alongside the presidential polls also include a parliamentary race scheduled for May 26.

•From left: Managing Director/CEO, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Chief Dharnesh Gordhon; Technical Advisor, Processing, Products and Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Omo Ohiokpehai; CCPA Manager, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Dr. Samuel Adenekan and Head of Department of Mass Communications, University of Lagos, Dr. Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndiska, during the 4th Creating Shared Value Media Workshop at the company’s Conference Room in Lagos yesterday.

Photo: Biodun ADEYEWA

Abia governorship: APGA candidate Otti heads for tribunal

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HE governorship candi date of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State, Dr Alex Otti, has filed a petition at the state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to challenge the outcome of the 2015 governorship poll in the state.

The election, which was declared in favour of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, is being challenged by Otti, over alleged irregularities during the election held on Saturday, April 11, and the subsequent supplementary election, held on April 25.

In the petition filed by his legal

•Asks to be declared governor-elect Ugochukwu UGOJI-EKE, Umuahia team, led by Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, Otti claimed that he was the winner of the governorship election, claiming that his mandate was stolen by the PDP. Speaking with journalists after the petition was filed at the Federal High Court, Umuahia, venue of the election petition tribunal, the legal adviser to Otti’s campaign organization; Barr Kenneth Ahia, said that the petition was a continuation of the electoral process.

Ahia said that Otti filed the petition at the tribunal in order

to recover the stolen mandate, adding that the election has not been concluded until the tribunal determines the eventual winner.

He said that the APGA governorship candidate approached the tribunal to seek justice on the grounds that the governorship poll was characterized by electoral malpractices, as well as noncompliance with the electoral guidelines.

Speaking further on the petition, Ahia said that Dr Otti is seeking the nullification of Dr Ikpeazu’s victory, as well as asking the tribunal to declare him (Otti) as the winner of the 2015

governorship election in the state, stressing that the Abia electorate voted for him.

Otti is also asking the tribunal to cancel the governorship election results as recorded in three local governments, namely Obingwa, Osisioma and Isiala Ngwa South, which were earlier cancelled by the returning officer during the collation of election results.

It will be recalled that the results from the three local government areas became contentious during the collation of results when the Returning Officer, Professor Benjamin Ozumba, cancelled them and later reversed his decision.

Allow APC leaders to pick ministerial nominee for Delta—Group

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ELTA Good Governance Group, DGGG, has called on Delta State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to ensure that the choice of a ministerial nominee to represent the state is decided collectively by party leaders across the three senatorial districts in the state to avoid rancour among the people and party members.

The group also cautioned against choosing someone whose integrity does not measure up to the credibility of the President-elect Muhammadu Buhari.

Briefing newsmen yesterday in Asaba, the group's coordinator, Mr. Ignatius Nkemchor, urged the party leaders to ensure that someone with credible integrity is recommended to represent Delta in the incoming administration.

His words: ''One does not need to wonder how a minister will emerge from the APC fold in Delta State because the APC in Delta State is properly organized at the top leadership level.

The unity at the top is very strong. So the incoming APC

administration would only need to consult the leadership which has Senator Spanner Okpozo at the helm. He is assisted by Chief Frank Kokori, Engr. Hyacinth Enuha and Ugbaja. ''These leaders have worked

tirelessly for the progress of the APC in Delta State. Their wisdom to come together stemmed the rancour among candidates for the gubernatorial election and saw the emergence of O’tega Emerho as the flag bearer of the APC in the guber-

natorial election.”

While accepting that the ministerial slot for Delta State is the prerogative of the President – elect, the group said the Delta APC leadership could assist in recommending a good choice for the new administration.

'Buhari's victory to restore good governance’

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HE Progressives Solidarity Forum (PSF UK) has said the victory of All Progressives Congress (APC) in last presidential election in Nigeria should be seen from the perspective of good governance and restoration of integrity to the nation.

According to a statement jointly signed by the Media and Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kazeem Olasupo, and the Patron, Chief, Dr. Ibrahim Emokpaire, of the forum, the group congratulated the people of Nigeria, Presidentelect General Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice Presidentelect Professor Yemi Osinbajo on their victory at the poll on March 28.

The group said the election was never about Nigeria and not

about North, South, Christians or Muslims.

“The great people of Nigeria have spoken. And the message of change is loud, clear and resonates across the land.

“The conduct and outcome of this election have served as a triumph of democracy in Nigeria. They have also sent a very strong message that power rests with the people and the will of the people of Nigeria is mighty enough to overwhelm the culture of rigging in electioneering processes.

“This has become a known fact politicians must come to terms with.

“Nigerians have been able to prove to the entire world that democratic values and tenets have now found their solid space

within our body polity,” the forum said.

According to the group, with the victory of General Buhari and Professor Osinbajo a new era has begun in Nigeria.

While imploring the President-elect to live up to his preelection promises to the Nigerian people, it commended the outgoing President for congratulating his major opponent, General Buhari, and accepting the result of the election.

“The incoming government has a lot to do. The first of these is the job of rebuilding the country. Restoration of our economy, killing the cancer of corruption, ending the menace of Boko Haram insurgency, among others, should also be attached much importance to,” the forum said.

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THE NATION,

News

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

RLG Adulawo project has vindicated us, says Aregbe

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SUN State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has called on investors to join hands with his administration in its quest to make the state the economic and information technology capital of Nigeria.

The governor, who made the call during the introduction of a new range of products by RLG, a technological devices manufacturing company, from its factory at the RLG Adulawo Technology City, along Ilesha-Akure

•As company rolls out new products Segun AJIBOYE Road, Osun State, said he was happy with the success story of the company.

Aregbesola said the project, a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the state and RLG Global, was part of his administration’s efforts to boost the economy of the state.

He said the success of the company had vindicated his

vision and style of administration, adding that very few people believed the dream would work when the company was commissioned about one year ago.

“When we came here for the commissioning of the company about one year ago, the naysayers said it was another ploy by us to deceive the people. But today, I am very happy that the company is rolling out new range of

products.”

The governor said he was particularly happy that most of the workers at the RLG plant are graduates of the administration’s O’YES empowerment project, an initiative to empower the youths of the state by training them in various skills.

“As I speak with you, the company has employed 150 people who are all graduates of the O’YES programme.

•Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State (left) presenting a staff of office to the new Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Sheikh Abdul-Ganiyu Abubakar Agbotomokekere (centre) after his turbanning at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan yesterday. With them is the President-General, League of Imams and Alfas in South-West, Edo and Delta States (right)

Court slams bank with N2.5b damages for breach of contract

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Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State, on Tuesday awarded the sum of N2.5 billion as damages against Skye Bank Plc for breach of contract against Tuns Farms Ltd, Osogbo.

In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Denton West, the court upheld the earlier judgment of an Osun state High Court sitting in Osogbo which had in March last year ordered Skye Bank Nigeria Plc to pay N2.5 billion as damages to the farm.

The three-member panel of judges dismissed the appeal filed by the Skye Bank Nigeria Plc and averred that the lower court had the right to award both special and general damages to the appellant for breach of contract.

Justice Oyejide Falola of an Osogbo High Court had last year ruled that the Skye Bank Nigeria Plc erred in law by its non-fulfillment of contractual

agreement entered into on a loan facility of N2 billion with the farm.

Justice Falola also ruled that the bank exhibited poor corporate governance and poor diligence in handling the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) loan which was paid into the account of Skye Bank Plc for disbursement to the bank customer.

Tuns Farm Nigeria Limited had dragged an Osogbo branch of the Skye Bank Plc before the court for disbursing the sum of N300 million out of the N2 billion loan it secured from CBN under a special loan facility called Commercial Agric Credit Scheme.

According to the plaintiff, efforts made to get the bank to release the balance of N1.7 billion did not yield any positive result as the bank held that it had used the balance to offset a loan previously obtained by

the farm. But the Skye Bank disagreed with the arrangement, saying that the previous loan had been taken over by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) and appealed against the judgment of the court by filing an appeal at the Akure division of the Court of Appeal.

However, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal for lack of merit and ordered the bank to pay the damages. Justice West held that “banks should maintain the economic buoyancy of Nigeria and beneficiaries of credit facilities should use the facility for the benefit of the nation to reduce the level of unemployment in the country.”

The court also overruled the preliminary objection of the appellant and awarded N2.4 billion as special damages and N150 million as general damages against the bank.

Justice West maintained that

“the respondent needs special damages for breach of contract, having fulfilled all conditions for the release of the credit facility.”

The lead counsels to the appellant and respondent, Messrs Dipo Olasope and Alex Owoeye respectively hailed the judgment.

The ruling is a follow-up to the sum of N902 million special and general damages awarded against the bank last week Friday in the same court but in a different case between the bank and Tuns International Holdings for the injury that the company, owned by Asiwaju Musulumi of Yorubaland, Khamis Olatunde Badmus, suffered in the hands of the bank in a business transaction .

The damages which was upheld last Friday was first awarded by Justice A Aderibigbe of Osun State High Court of Justice sitting in Osogbo.

Aregbesola’s son gives Osun PDP chair ultimatum to retract false publication

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ABIRU, eldest son of the Osun State governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, has given the state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Ganiyu Ola-Oluwa, a seven-day ultimatum to retract the publication linking him (Kabiru) to money laundering.

The governor's son said Ola-Oluwa should also tender an unreserved apology on his claim that he was arrested for money laundering at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

Kabiru's solicitor, Barrister Ajibola Basiru, in a letter directed to the PDP chairman, copy of which was made available to newsmen in Osogbo, said failure to

Adesoji ADENIYI, Osogbo comply with the ultimatum would make him face the wrath of law.

The letter reads in part: "The retraction and apology must be done in at least two national dailies with wide circulation, and failure to publish the retraction with an apology within the said period may leave the client with no option but to seek legal redress with its attendant consequences.

"Your orchestrated lie had reduced the image of our client in the estimation of every right thinking member of the public and has also injured our client's reputation and

that of members of his families as you have portrayed him falsely as a money launderer.

"My client was never arrested at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport for the offence of money laundering and was nowhere near the Murtala Muhammed International Airport. He was not arrested at the airport or anywhere in the country at any time whatsoever.

"It may also interest you to know that our client has never been arrested anywhere in the country or outside the country for any offence since he was born. Our client is a young professional with a brilliant career."

The letter pointed out fur-

ther that, "our client informed us that he received numerous calls from families and friends directing him to check a news publication in two national dailies with captions: "Osun Govt, PDP bicker over alleged arrest of Aregbesola's son for attempted money laundering", and "Osun denies Kabiru Aregbesola's alleged arrest."

"In the said publications, you (Ganiyu Ola-Oluwa) issued a statement on behalf of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) emphatically stating that our client was arrested at the departure wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport with a lump sum of money that was not cleared but stocked in his luggage.

Our plan is to make Osun State the IT hub of Nigeria.

Given the potential of the electronic market, when fully operational, the company would be able to assemble all kinds of electronic gadgets, from phones, LCD television, desktop computers, laptops and tablets among others.”

The event was also used to announce the partnership between RLG and GSM giant, Airtel Nigeria.

In his speech, the Managing Director of Airtel, Mr. Segun Ogunanya, said his company was happy to identify with RLG. “This is a testimony to what we believe in. We believe in supporting local content. We believe that the project will create knowledge, and with it, you can work your way out of poverty.

“About two or three years ago, most of the phones in Nigeria were imported and labour was transferred out of the country. But with the establishment of Adulawo Technology city, locally assembled and manufactured phones can be consumed locally.”

Speaking on behalf of the Chairman, RLG Global, Roland Agambire, the Regional Director, West and Central Africa, Tosin Ilesanmi, described the introduction of the new products as a milestone in the history of the company.

Afenifere, OPC, no longer relevant in southwest —Agbekoya

TWO socio-political and cultural groups in southwest region of Nigeria, Afenifere and Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) have lost their relevance in the region, renowned farmers’ pressure group, Agbekoya Society has said.

The group said its assessment was based on the inglorious role which Afenifere and OPC played in the build up to the recently concluded elections, when they drummed support for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan.

In a statement jointly signed by two chieftains of the group, Messrs Ade Ogunlana and Ajibola Salau, the group said: “Due to the misguided and unpopular support which Afenifere and OPC gave to the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan in his failed bid to return as president, the two groups have lost their relevance, popularity and influence in the southwest region of Nigeria.

“Since the death of Afenifere leader, Pa Abraham Adesanya, Afenifere has been disorganised and divided into many factions. Likewise OPC, which always claim that they were fighting for the Yoruba but now fight for their pocket by openly campaigning for Jonathan and indulging in partisan politics.

Our group remains the only organisation that Yorubas reckon and we have been championing the cause of the people of southwest since our establishment in 1938.”

We have confidence in Buhari, say APC members in US Damisi OJO, Akure MEMBERS of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Houston, United States chapter, have expressed hope in the ability of the President-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari to bring genuine transformation to Nigeria with effect from May 29.

At a meeting in Houston, the party supporters felicitated with Buhari and sent him a congratulatory message for a well deserved victory in the March 28 general election.

In a statement signed by its Chairman, Pastor Ade Odusola and Secretary, Elder Chime Opara, the supporters resolved to support the incoming Buhari’s administration in its renewed effort to re-position Nigeria under the current hard earned democratic dispensation.

It also admonished the transition committee to be mindful of the input of the grass roots in the nomination for appointments so as not to promote a disconnect between the local and federal level.

The group opined that army of volunteers should be created in the organs of special advisers in an effort to cut costs in lieu of economic hardship facing the country at the moment.

While applauding the 10- point agenda of the in-coming president, priority should be given to power supply in order to boost industrialization and promote human empowerment through creation of jobs for the unemployed masses.

Ajimobi will defeat Ladoja 10 times more, says Oke-Ogun group Bisi OLADELE, Ibadan APC in Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, Saki West APC Stakeholders Collective, yesterday asserted that Governor Abiola Ajimobi would defeat his closest rival, Sen. Rashidi Ladoja 10 times more should governorship election be repeated.

While Ajimobi was the APC candidate in the April 11 governorship election, Ladoja was the candidate of the Accord Party. The former defeated Ladoja for the second time in a keenly contested poll. Ladoja has since filed a petition challenging Ajimobi’s election before an election tribunal.

The group, which includes all APC leaders in Saki West Local Government, said Oyo State people willingly voted for Ajimobi based on his performance and the strong leadership he offered in the last four years, particularly in OkeOgun area of the state.

In a statement issued by its Secretary, Barr. Waheed Lawal yesterday, the group insisted that irrespective of the legal fireworks at the tribunal, Ajimobi’s victory was the victory of the majority of the good people of Oyo State who preferred him to Ladoja at the ballot.

The statement said the Ajimobi administration would even offer better leadership in its second term in office, given his unprecedented victory.

The group also pledged to render selfless service to the people of Oke-Ogun, particularly in Saki West Local Government where leadership has changed hands.

THE NATION,

News

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

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NTICIPATED defection of high-ranking members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State to the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the May 29 handover date has widened the cracks in the party.

The exodus of PDP members to the APC, which started shortly after President Goodluck Jonathan lost his reelection bid, is part of the political realignment ahead of the 2016 governorship election in the state.

Persons leaving the PDP are said to be friends and associates of the former governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, whose adventure in the APC has paid off following the party’s victory at the centre.

Meanwhile, Jonathan’s kinsmen yesterday reacted angrily against Senator Clever Ikisikpo and Mr. Nadu Karibo, representing Bayelsa East senatorial District and Ogbia federal constituency respectively, for joining the list of defectors.

Ikisikpo and Karibo, alongside other lawmakers and their supporters abandoned Jonathan and the PDP to join Sylva in the APC. It was gathered that the youth leaders in Ogbia, Jonathan’s Local Government Area, where Ikisikpo and Karibo hail from, met in Abuja yesterday over the development.

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Defections of President’s kinsmen worsens Bayelsa PDP crisis ahead of May 29 •Jonathan’s kinsmen slam senator, Rep member, others for joining APC •More members will go - Dickson Mike

Mike ODIEGWU, Yenagoa The youth leaders declared the defectors as persona non grata, describing their defections as untimely, ill-conceived and wicked.

Speaking, the National Chairman, Ogbia Youth Leaders Forum (OYLF), Mr. Henry Eteli, who confirmed the meeting, said the youths of the area had passed a vote of no confidence in the defectors.

He said the lawmakers lacked electoral value, adding that they performed woefully while in office.

He said the youths vowed to resist the political deceits of the lawmakers, describing them as burden to Ogbia Kingdom.

“It is a betrayal to Mr. President. Mr. President is the PDP national leader, and if his kinsmen could leave before May 29, it is a calculated attempt to run the PDP down and publicly disgrace Mr. President,” he said.

He said the defectors left because they were denied the par-

ty’s tickets at the last elections based on the zoning agreement in the state.

Also speaking, the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Osom Makbere, described the lawmakers as bread and butter

politicians.

“These are politicians without ideological orientation and discipline. These are the man-mustsurvive kind of politicians. They go wherever meal tickets are guaranteed and are careless

about conscience and decorum,” he said.

However, Governor Seriake Dickson has said he was not surprised about the actions of the lawmakers, and predicted that more members of the PDP

in the state would leave the party for the APC, insisting that he will remain in the party even if he is the last man standing.

Dickson, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, was particular about Ikisikpo, whom he said had benefited so much from the PDP and Jonathan.

Cracks in Ohanaeze worries Igbo leaders

THE division in the apex Igbosocio cultural organisation, the Ohaneze Ndigbo, has elicited reactions from the people and different groups in the region.

Following a comment credited to the chairman of the Anambra State chapter of Ohanaeze, Elder Chris Eluemunoh, who said Igbo would not beg the presidentelect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, for anything, the people of the region have said that Eluemunoh was not speaking the minds of the people.

Speaking yesterday in Awka, Anambra State capital, the national coordinator of Igbo Patriots, Comrade Osita Obi, said those parading themselves as Ohanaeze leaders are not representing the interest of the people.

Speaking with The Nation, Obi described Ohaneze Ndigbo as a confused entity of selfish individuals.

He added that the body seized to be what it was after the tenures of Justice Eze Ozobu and Dr. Dozie Ikedife, adding that the present groups, starting from the state to the national levels, were a bunch of money mongers.

According to Obi, “when any election comes up like this, you see them carrying small purses under their arm, forming one group or the other inside the so-called Ohanaeze.

“Which of the so called Ohanaeze person in Anambra is a credible and reliable person? They should not speak for Ndigbo, because they are nothing. They are not speaking for anybody but their stomachs.

“I am telling you that those

Nwanosike ONU, awka

people are on their own and they do not have what it takes to speak for Ndigbo. Let them shut up their mouths in the incoming Buhari administration.”

Also speaking, the Anambra State coordinator of Transform Nigeria Movement (TNM), Comrade Obi Ochije, said people should stop attacking those who went to pay solidarity visit to the president-elect.

Ochije said that Ohanaeze members who were against the visit of some Ndigbo to Buhari were those who reaped from President Goodluck Jonathan and championed his re-election bid.

According to him, “the faction of Ohanaeze that visited Buhari is right because this is the time for Ndigbo to integrate themselves in Buhari’s administration. But they are dividing themselves because of selfishness.

“Our people should speak with one voice to give us room to discuss the problems facing Ndigbo. We are not happy with what is happening in Ohaneze.

“Some members of Ohanaeze are wrong for criticising those who visited the incoming president, and they are the real enemies of Ndigbo. We are not comfortable with the division,” Ochije said.

The Nation gathered that some of the members of the body who campaigned for President Goodluck Jonathan on the platform of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), led by Ifeanyi Ubah, are not comfortable with the outcome of the election.

•Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto (l), being presented with a slip after completing his registration for the National Identity Card in Sokoto on Friday. With him are the General Maneger, Regulatory Compliance, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Hajiya Ali Dagabana And NIMC, Sokoto Coordinator, Abubakar Balarabe.

Photo: NAN

Ogoni youths give NDDC ultimatum over alleged marginalization THE leadership of the National Union of Ogoni Students (NUOS) and the National Youths Council of the Ogoni People, yesterday issued a 72hour ultimatum to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over what they described as neglect and marginalization of their people.

The youths accused the NDDC of being sentimental in the award of projects, arguing that while more than 30

Precious DIKEWOHA, Port Harcourt projects were executed in Bayelsa State, the home state of President Jonathan, only a few were executed in Ogoni and Rivers State, adding that more than 10 projects claimed to have been executed by the NDDC in Ogoni are either abandoned or non-existent Speaking while addressing newsmen in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, NUOS President, Comrade

Adeola OGUNLADE the special monthly prayer and thanksgiving service organised recently by the RCCG headquarters, Throne of Grace Parish, EbutteMetta, Lagos.

The programme, tagged ‘The Beginning of Greatness’ brought together thousands

Ogoniland and its people by the NDDC cannot be tolerated again. After the expiration of the 72-hour ultimatum, we shall carry out a massive protest against the commission.

“We are ready for dialogue before the expiration of the ultimatum. Don’t forget we have written series of letters to the commission, but all our efforts to make peace fell on deaf ears. So we have no choice but to close down the commission office during the protest.”

Osun gets kudos on training of teachers THE Osun State government has received kudos from the Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Dikko Suleiman, for training teachers in its employ.

Speaking at a five-day training and capacity building programme for Quality Assurance Officers of the state Universal Basic Education Board, Local Government Education Authorities and Zonal Inspectors of Education, Suleiman noted that the state had taken bold steps in organising the training workshop.

Suleiman, who was represented by a top official of

Adesoji ADENIYI, Prince Felix Awofisayo, said Osogbo the workshop would help the commission, Mr. Yaya improve the standard of Amuda, said the training was designed to achieve qualitative education as stipulated in the Education for All (EFA) goals 2 and 6 as well Continued from Page 8 as the education-related Millennium Development Goals military with security and (MDGs) through the con- intelligence, said the attack certed practice of quality as- could have been a reprisal for surance in schools. losses incurred in a Tuesday He assured that the state offensive on their camp some Universal Education Boards 40 kilometres outside will include training on qual- Maiduguri. ity assurance in their Meanwhile, the town of Teacher Professional Devel- Marte, Borno state,was opment (TPD) with effect yesterday retaken by Boko from this year.

Haram militants after being Earlier, the Executive liberated in February, the Chairman of the State Uni- state deputy governor said. versal Basic Education Board, “It is sad as we have been made to understand that Marte is today (yesterday) completely fallen under the control of the insurgents, willing to work and burn the which to us is a very huge set midnight candles instead of back,” deputy governor cutting corners.

Zannah Umar Mustapha said.

He lamented that we have “It is unfortunate that we are a predominant number of experiencing yet another youths who want to eat withattack in Maiduguri at this out any dint of hard work time that we are thinking that which has led to the increase the insurgency should have in the number of jobless and subsided following the taking unemployable youths across over of Sambisa forest by the the country. military.

Adeboye charges parents on ill-gotten wealth THE General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has appealed to parents to avoid amassing illgotten wealth for their children but teach them the values of hard work, honesty and integrity.

Adeboye gave the charge at

Emmanuel Bie, said the youths would embark on a protest march to the office of the NDDC on Monday.

He said that series of letters had been sent to the NDDC office, informing the commission of the plans by the youths to protest the injustice and marginalization against Ogoni.

According to Bie, “Today, we are here to tell the world that the neglect and marginalization meted out to

of youths from across the country and featured song rendition, drama, bible teachings and prophetic ministration.

According to him, parents must not encourage mediocrity among their children or wards as there are boundless opportunities and possibility for young people who are

education, particularly in ensuring quality in the education sector.

Boko Haram recaptures Marte, kills 55 in two days “Our thinking was that every other place should have been blocked so that the insurgency would be curtailed to a restricted area. But that has not been the case, because the insurgents have been fleeing to other communities.

“Initially we were opposed to the suggestion made by the military; but when we received a security report that about 600 women have been kitted as suicide bombers and are to be sneaked into Maiduguri during the attack.”

Marte is about 112 kilometres from Maiduguri and it is there that most of the insurgents dislodged from their Sambisa forest stronghold have regrouped.

The terrorists seized a vast area of state over the last two years and it took the combined efforts of Nigerian, Chadian and Nigerien troops to push them out of most of the areas.

The Sambisa forest reserve remains their last major stronghold.

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THE NATION SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

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NEWS

CRIME

THE NATION, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

&

OTHER STORIES

Pains of an with bullet for 45 yrs

Tragedy as tenant stabs landlord’s son to death

...over minor quarrel T RAGEDY struck on Sunday, May 3, 2015 at No 25, Ewuga Street, Makun, Sagamu Local Government, Ogun State, when a tenant, Segun Oso allegedly killed his landlord’s son, Temitope Sogede during a scuffle.

Segun, a tipper driver was said to have thrown a harmful substance on the floor in the house, which Temitope’s child, Semilore, swallowed.

Semilore subsequently developed complications which landed him in a hospital.

Segun, who had gone to church when the child swallowed the object soon returned and was challenged by Temitope, for bringing home the harmful substance.

A fight then broke out between them but were separated by other occupants of the building.

All was thought to be over when Segun unexpectedly grabbed a knife and stabbed Tope as he was returning to his apartment.

Tope’s elder brother, Mr Olawale Sogede, said of the incident: “It was Tope’s wife who told her husband about the incident on the phone and he quickly rushed home. A fight broke out when he (Tope) rebuked Segun for bringing the dangerous substance home. I was the one that separated them and we thought

n Kunle AKINRINADE n

the feud was over.

“Tope was going to his apartment not knowing that Segun was still upset with him. Tope suddenly screamed that he had been stabbed in the back by Segun.

We rushed to the scene and found Segun holding a blood stained knife with which he used to kill my brother.

“It was Segun’s wife who collected the knife from her husband and tried to hid it from policemen. We could not stop Tope’s bleeding by applying first aid, hence, we took him to a private hospital in the community, where he died while receiving treatment.”

It was learnt that Segun had lacerated his body with a sharp object and told policemen at the Makun Police Station that he was stabbed during a fight with one of his neighbours.

He was said to have been referred to a hospital for treatment.

Unknown to Segun, the hospital he was referred was the same hospital where Tope was rushed for treatment.

It was at the hospital that police detectives arrested him after his complicity in the matter was revealed during investigation.

He is currently held at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Eleweran, Abeokuta.

The spokesman for the State Police Command, Mr Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the incident.

“It was a case involving two occupants of a building.

One of them was the son of the owner of the building and he was allegedly killed in the course of the fight.

The suspect (Segun) is in our custody while the case has been transferred to SCID for further investigation.”

•The late Temitope

•Segun

n Shola O’NEIL, Port Harcourt n

•Amadi ooking at Captain Leo Amadi it is not hard to tell that he was a dashing handsome young man in his younger days. He is tall,light complexioned and tends to carry himself as if he has a spring in his step, in spite of a limb that he tries to concede.

His gait and countenance defies the pain and agony he bears. There is little doubt that he has seen better days even if he does not allow the hard times and his misfortune take away his swagger.

On his shoulder is a chip, literary, that has been his lot for over four decades.

To friends and acquaintances ,he is Captain Leo.But ,whichever way you look at him ,his is what some will cite as a classic case of ‘don’t judge the book by its cover’.

Take his stylish sunglasses as another example.Ordinarily , they are to shade his

L

eyes from the sun,but hiding behind that pair of bold sunglasses is a big scare of the Nigeria Civil War. Over 45 years ago, he was one of the young men who took up arms to fight the Biafra course. He fought doggedly and proved his mettle so much so that he was promoted to the rank of a Captain of the Biafran Army .

To go with that rank was the responsibility of leading his ragtag troops in a battle in which all the odds were stacked heavily against the Odumegwu Ojukwu soldiers.

Then came a day he,along with his troops, met face to face with the Federal troops at the battle front.

The day was July 29,1969 and the battle ground was Umuogbonta Ngo Okpala.

It turned out to be a mismatch for the captain and his men.

“It was a very bad day; the day was July 29, 1969,” he recalled.

If he felt any bitterness, he managed to keep it off his voice.

“We lost several young able bodied men who were mismatched for the contest. Several others were wounded and I was among the lucky who left the battlefield alive,” he said.

He has never been a whole being since.

Gone with that battle ground was his left

‘Good Samaritan’ •Police charge him with murder as female 35-year old man, Otubor Richard, is now being questioned by the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Lagos State Police Command in connection with the death, in his house ,of a female stranger.

Otubor,it was gathered, had tried to play the Good Samaritan by offering to give the lady transport fare to take her to her destination.

They had met at a bus stop at the Iyana Ipaja section of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway on Friday,May 8,2015, after the women told him that she had run out of money and could not proceed with her journey.

The woman ,according to the suspect agreed to follow him to his Abesan Estate house to collect the N200 she required to continue her journey home.

Otubor , a native of Ekpon village in Igueben Local Government Area, Edo State, said he was on his way back home from work when he ran into the woman at Iyana Ipaja who was going in the same direction as himself.

He said : “When we got to School Bus Stop at Abesan Estate area, I alighted and she too alighted. She approached me and begged me to help her to continue her journey home. She said she had no money to continue her journey home and was not ready for any embarrassment from usually abusive bus conductors.

“The lady even told me that there was a time she was stranded and a bus conductor collected her shoes and hand bag in lieu of transport fare and even inflicted

A

n Ebele BONIFACE n

serious wounds on her. She said since that time, she had avoided any confrontation with any bus conductor.

“So we both alighted at School Bus Stop at about 10.30 pm. I told the lady that I had no money on me, but because of her pitiable situation on that fateful day and time, I would be willing to go home with her and give her the only N200 I had. I asked her whether she was willing to follow me home to collect the N200 and she said she did not mind no matter how far my place was, saying that it would be an opportunity for her to know more about the estate.

“I told her that I was living at No. 1, Oluwole Street, Abesan Estate but I had just moved into my new house and didn’t know the address. I had decided to give her the only N200 I had at home because I intended to meet my brother who lives in the same Estate the following morning to collect some money from him for my transportation to work. I was determined to help the young lady because I saw her as my sister.

“When we reached my house, she stood outside. She also told me to hurry up because she had a headache. I entered the house and brought out soap and water to wash her head, after which I went back into the house to fetch the N200.

“As I came out with the N200, I saw her shivering seriously and she was foaming in the mouth. I felt the best thing to do was to take her to the hospital. People

NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

olukunle87@yahoo.com

ex-Biafran soldier lodged in his spine eye.A 2.5mm bullet also hit him on his left shoulder and has remained there up till now.

It could have been worse for him if the bullet had gone to his vertebrae.

Continuing,he said: “I sustained a severe bullet injury. A bullet hit me on my left eye and traversed to my chest region, where the bullet is now. I have travelled everywhere, visited many hospitals in Nigeria all to no avail.

“Since then, life has been very tough for me and my family. I have gone everywhere in search of asolution. I have done everything possible but no good has come out of it. I have been living with this pain and the suffering is much.”

Six months after Amadi’s misfortune,the war came to an end.

He was soon discarded and made to fend for himself.Help is not forthcoming from anywhere.

“I can’t stand for too long and I cannot do any hard work; I have been relying on my wife and family members.

Farming is not easy because there is no fund to pursue it on a large scale.”

A letter from the Imo State Hospital Management confirmed that “he has been receiving treatment from so many hospitals, including the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital and University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH).”

The letter noted that he has a history of severe chest pain, secondary to bul-

let wound he received on 29th July, 1969…

A comprehensive radiologist’s report from Pix Centre Port Harcourt, identified the foreign object as a “2.5mm bullet-shaped metallic density”, which is seen projected over the medieval end of the left clavicle and parallel to the transverse processes of the first and secondary thoracic vertebrae.

“Lateral x-ray of the region shows the foreign body lodged in soft tissue below the spinous process of the 7th cervical vertebrae.”

Other medical reports revealed that he needs a delicate medical surgery to remove the bullet. Several hospitals in India were recommended for the surgery but the cost of nearly N7million is clearly beyond him or even his wife who has stood by him all through the ordeal.

In 2013, he wrote a letter of appeal for assistance to Governor Rochas Okoracha, urging him to “in the spirit of your rescue mission assist me in any way possible to be treated in India.”

He is yet to receive a response but remains hopeful that the governor and the generality of Nigerians will “come to my aid.” “ I will appreciate any form of help so long as it ultimately help me remove the bullet and take away my pain and help live a normal life again,” he said.

in trouble

stranger dies in his house

•Kayode Aderanti, Lagos State Police Commissioner

gathered and were watching what was going on. Then she slumped and looked as if she was dead. I went to report to the police at Ikotun with my brother and others.”

He said it was not the first time he would help people in a similar situation.

He said: “I have been helping stranded people. There was a day I saw somebody, a man corporately

dressed, who was carrying laptop. He approached me to help him with transport fare of N100. In my wallet I had N150. From it I gave him N100 and rode home with the remaining N50.

“I have also met corporate beggars who tell one lie or the other to collect money from me. I only give according to my pocket, whether the person is lying or not, because I imagine myself in their shoes,travelling a long distance.

“I only help people because of God. I am a Christian. I attend Mustard Seed Faith Ministry at Baruwa Bus Stop, Ipaja. Pastors have been preaching to us and even my grandmother always told me that helping people or giving other people’s problems a priority above yours prolongs one’s life.

“But with what I am experiencing now, I can’t help any stranded person in Lagos again. I am now suffering for helping a stranded person. If I knew that trouble would come out of this help, I would not have allowed her to follow me to my house.”

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( 08167164657 or 08023910970 )

•The controversial farmland

Police chief, neighbour bicker over land n Kunle AKINRINADE n n entrepreneur, Mr Kayode Apara, has accused an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of Area E Command, Festac Town, Mr Dan Okoro, of invasion of his landed property in the Idowu Egba community, Isheri, a suburb of Lagos.

Our correspondent obtained a copy of the petition forwarded to the Lagos Police Commissioner, Mr Kayode Aderanti and Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, wherein counsel to Apara, Mr Omobolaji Adejumo, alleged that ACP Okoro unlawfully annexed the property.

The petition reads in parts: “ Our brief revealed that our client is the beneficial owner of a property lying and situate at Idowu Egba community in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State. Our brief further revealed that our client has been in exclusive possession of the said land since the year 2000 with no let or hindrance from anyone; and he has remained in physical possession of the said land exercising all rights of ownership. In fact, the said land is used as a farm by our client.”

“Our client informed us that on April 25 around 4pm, he was informed by his son that some fierce looking men numbering about 30 armed with cudgels and other dangerous weapons broke through the fence of the farmland and started destroying everything that was on the farm and that they came through a compound belonging to the said ACP

A

land to him. Does he think that I am a •The gate allegedly novice? If he has any blocked by Okoro title relating to the land, let him prove it.

He should go to the family that sold the land to him.

“I don’t even know him. I have not met the man anywhere; I cannot even meet him on the road and recognize him. So, how can I annex his landed property. I don’t get myself involved in messy transactions.

Tell him to stop touting my name about issues that are false.”

In a swift reaction, Apara said that Okoro was being economical with the truth. “ We are neighbours and we have interacted several times over the years. He has a building in the neighbourhood and he Dan Okoro.” is just building a multimilExpatiating further, he lion naira hotel close to my said: “All fishes in the ponds farm which he has annexed. which is a source of liveliHow can he say that he does hood to our client was denot know me; he knows that stroyed alongside the pond I am the Secretary of Idowu they were kept. The sealing Egba Community Developof the farmland and the dement Association and we struction of the boundaries is have spoken on a number of a cause for concern as the occasion. I have asked the family is denied of their chairman of the CDA to talk source of livelihood and at to him (Okoro) but he has rethe moment the immediate fused to back down on animpact of this intrusion is asnexing my land. sessed at five million naira “ I bought the land from only. This is naked oppresthe Idowu Egba Family and sion that should not rear its it was duly receipted for, head in any civilized society therefore, Okoro lacks the or democracy...” moral right to refer me to the Okoro however dismissed family all in his bid to use his the allegations as untrue. position to take my land He said: “If he (Apara) has from me because he wants an any issue with the land, he should go and meet the origi- extension for a hotel that he is building next to the land.” nal landowners who sold the

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THE NATION SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

THE NATION SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015

71

SPORT EXTRA FIFA UNDER-20 WORLD CUP IN NEW ZEALAND

Iheanacho, Moses Simon make Nigeria squad M

• Iheanacho

ANCHESTER City teenage midfielder Kelechi Iheanacho and KAA Gent attacking winger Moses Simon have been named in Nigeria's team to the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

Though the two players alongside Granada CF striker Success Isaac, were not part of the final phase of the team's preparation that is ongoing in Germany, the Nigerian Under-20 team head coach, Manu Garba, included them in the squad.

Isaac also made the 21-man roster but will now have to battle for a first-team place, especially the number nine position, with the impressive Taiwo Awoniyi.

Enyimba midfielder Kingsley Sokari, who had been excluded from the Super Eagles squad for

the Chad game by Stephen Keshi, also made the final cut.

Christian Pyagbara, one of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) top performers last term, could not displace any of the other Flying Eagles players and has been left out of the trip to New Zealand later in May. As expected captain Musa Muhammed, Wilfred Ndidi, Chidiebere Nwakali, Ifeanyi Ifeanyi, Ifeanyi Mathew, Bernard Bulbwa, Chidera Ezeh, Musa Yahaya, Godwin Saviour and Akinjide Idowu were all named in the team.

The Nigerian under-20s begin their group campaign against Brazil on June 1 and face North Korea three days later before rounding off the first stage with Hungary on June 7.

Awoniyi hits brace as Flying Eagles thrash Nuremburg U-23s • Simon

Emenike rejects Qatar move IGERIA striker Emmanuel Emenike will not join Qatari club Umm Salal as is being reported in Turkey, AfricanFootball.com can report.

A close associate of the Fenerbahce front man told AfricanFootball.com Emenike will quit the Turkish champions, but he is not ready to leave Europe just yet.

"Emenike is not going to join any team in Asia, one thing that is certain is that he will leave Fenerbahce this summer, but he will remain in a top league in Europe," the source told AfricanFootball.com The AFCON 2013 top scorer has scored four goals in an indifferent season that has seen him lose the respect of the Fenerbache fans.

He is now being linked to several clubs including former club Spartak Moscow.

N

T

HE Flying Eagles of Nigeria continued their build up to the World Youth Championship with a 50 thrashing of FC Nurnberg's Under-23 side.

Striker Taiwo Awoniyi gave them a 2-0 lead via his brace, before further goals from Kingsley Sokari and Ibrahim Alhassan gave them a 4-0 lead.

Taking a commanding lead into the half time break, the second half witnessed a pedestrian approach from the Nigerians, before Ibrahim Alhassan, who is on standby, scored to give them a commanding 5-0 lead.

No other goal was recorded in the second half, handing them their second win in two games but coach Manu Garba will, however, be pleased with his side's defensive display.

The coach wasn't totally impressed with the manner in which they conceded goals against Hoffeinheim in their 5-2

• Awoniyi

• Mountains now source of joy — council chief

F

GOALKEEPERS: Joshua Enaholo (MFM FC); Dele Alampasu (Football College Academy); Olorunleke Ojo (Giwa FC) DEFENDERS: Musa Muhammed (FC Heart Academy); Mustapha Abdullahi (Spotlight FC); Zaharaddeen Bello (Dabo Babes Academy); Wilfred Ndidi (KRC Genk, Belgium); Izu Omego (Apapa Golden Stars); Chidiebere Nwakali (Manchester City, England) MIDFIELDERS: Akinjide Idowu (Nigeria Young Academy); Ifeanyi Ifeanyi (Water FC); Kingsley Sokari (Enyimba FC); Ifeanyi Mathew (El-Kanemi Warriors); Musa Yahaya (Tottenham FC, England); Bernard Bulbwa (Esperance ST, Tunisia); Godwin Saviour (FC Sports) FORWARDS: Taiwo Awoniyi (Imperial Academy); Chidera Ezeh (FC Porto, Portugal); Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City, England); Moses Simon (KAA Gent, Belgium); Success Isaac (Granada FC, Spain).

Big Boss excited with Kaduna venue

S

UPER Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has expressed satisfaction with the choice of Kaduna for Nigeria’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Le Sao of Chad.

The game, which is billed for the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in the Northern city of Kaduna, comes up on June 13, and is Nigeria’s opening fixture in the race for the Gabon 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

And speaking in a radio interview, the 53-year said he is satisfied with the choice of Kaduna as venue for the game.

“Kaduna is good, we’ve been there before,” he said.

“Kaduna is okay and the people of Kaduna are very friendly and of course it is a part of Nigeria.

“They are always behind the team one hundred percent and they support us to the last whistle and it will be fun to play in Kaduna,” he said.

The former Super Eagles captain however said he would have preferred to play in Lagos instead, if it were possible.

“The National Stadium in Lagos is for me, is the most exciting place to play football because of the crowd and everything and it’s awesome,” he concluded.

The game in Kaduna will not be Keshi’s first in the Crock City, as his second game in charge of the Super Eagles – a friendly against Zambia – was played in Kaduna.

Martins doubtful for Seattle

Okpekpe road race: Auchi, Fugar hotels fully booked OLLOWING the preparation for the today’s 10 kilometer Road Race in Okpekpe, hotel accommodations in Auchi and Fugar have been fully booked, said the chairman, Etsako Central Local Government Area, Hon. Emma Momoh yesterday.

Speaking with The Nation at the event of the Supersports of the race tournament in Fugar, he expressed joy over the human and financial capital that has flowed into the communities.

His words: "In terms of economy, it has really helped.

Like when you get to Auchi now, all the hotels are fully booked because of the Okpekpe race. And the hotels in Fugar are fully booked."

According to him, half of the

victory, hence the clean sheet is a welcome development.

Despite that , SL10.ng scooped he was still not entirely satisfied with his team after the game as he complained about scoring just once in the second half after the four they had in the first half.

THE FULL LIST

From John Ofikhenua, Fugar 2,000 pupils that participated in the Supersports are from Etsako Central which hosted the game.

He noted that Okpekpe mountains that were considered barriers, have now become a source of joy to the state.

The council boss added that the event will expose the entire Etsako, a feat, which he said, is an indication that there is something awesome in Afemai.

He said that : "the mountain which we thought were barriers have become a source of joy for the international communities to come and see for themselves that the race is done in this part of the world. They are no longer barriers but they are bringing civilization to us."

N

IGERIA forward Obafemi Martins is a major doubt for this weekend’s MLS game against Vancouver after he missed Seattle Sounders training on Thursday.

‘Oba’ missed the training to have an x-ray on an unspecified injury.

Seattle Sounders manager Sigi Schmid said a decision will be taken on him Friday when they get the outcome of the x-ray.

"Oba wasn’t here," Seattle coach Sigi Schmid confirmed. "Well, he was upstairs. We had to send him for an x-ray. He’s had a little bit of a complaint but we want to see with the x-ray and we’ll make a determination."

The manager, who didn't reveal the nature of the injury, is prepared to replace Martins with veteran forward Chad Barrettif the Nigerian did not make

the trip for Seattle’s game at Vancouver on Saturday.

Martins played in 31 of the team’s 34 league games last season, netting 17 goals and 13 assists.

The 30-year-old forward has scored six goals and dished out two assists so far this year.

• Martins

Okagbare’s blame game <<<<<<Continued from back page been sustained by the Dr. Uduaghan-led administration.

In no time, budding stars, such as Okagbare, started beating the established ones. One of such budding stars was Okagbare.

Ogba took personal interest in her. Ogba sold the idea of offering her a state government scholarship to the United States of America (USA) – one of the melting pots of athletics in the world, especially in the sprints. At some point in Okagbare’s career, many pundits accused Ogba of being her manager. They also quarreled with Ogba’s brazen acts of supporting Okagbare to the detriment of others. She had special attention from everyone and justified this seeming favouritism by churning out brilliant performances at athletics meets.

So where did the bubble burst?

Those who know informed this writer that Ogba turned his attention away from Okagbare to other younger ones, such as Efe Brume. She didn’t like it. She grumbled and whispered to media men about the rot in the system that supported her thus far.

But would you blame Okagbare? There must be structures that make it difficult for one athlete to be bigger than the other. This animal farm setting breeds indiscipline, which is what Okagbare’s conduct portends.

What our athletes cannot do in their European and American settings, they showcase to us, largely because we are proponents of quick fixes. We don’t establish workable templates that produce upcoming stars regularly such that we don’t rely solely on particular athletes – in this case Okagbare et al.

We are fond of making monsters out of our sportsmen and women. It makes them swollen headed. They can do no wrongthey must be listened to. Any change that affects them means that the system they benefited so much from is corrupt. Yet, when they gained from it, it didn’t matter. Rather than chastise them when they misbehave, Nigerians support them and blame the administrators.

AFN chiefs learned how to manage Okagbare by persuading her to drop the long jump event at the Commonwealth Games.

That career decision helped Okagbare as she won the gold medals in the 100 metres and 200 metres. Interestingly, another Nigerian, Ese Brume, won the gold medal in the long jump. The pointer here is Okagbare’s absence wasn’t felt because Nigeria got the gold medal – one fear our officials considered in accepting Okagbare’s wish to do the 100 metres and the long jump. Our officials feared that we would lose the gold medal if Okagbare didn’t jump.

This writer has celebrated Okagbare here. But this column frowns at her seeming descent into the politics of the sport in Nigeria – a trait most of our big sportsmen and women condescend into when they have reached the twilight of their career.

There have been several instances in which Okagbare pilloried the AFN in the media. She had the penchant for denying the attacks on the federation’s chiefs.

And so when she was reported to have attacked them again, many sighed, hoping that she would recant.

Okagbare needs our advice to shun the politics of the sport. She needs to concentrate on winning the gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Having found support from Uduaghan, Okagbare has a good channel to discuss her observations.

She must understand that there are two or more sides to any discourse. She must put her facts correctly if she opts for the public court by granting interviews to the media like she did last

week. Not many sports administrators ignore such ranting from sportsmen and women, especially the credible ones among them and, like the saying goes, facts are sacred.

In a nutshell, Okagbare frowned at the idea of fielding foreigners as Nigerians to the detriment of the growth of the budding stars at the grassroots.

She alleged that the federation didn’t have plans to develop the sport. She went further to say that the federation doesn’t organise enough competitions.

What Okagbare didn’t say was for the federation’s board members to quit. Her clarion call made plenty of sense until the federation’s boss, Solomon Ogba, replied her. Ogba said: “This season alone, we have had three camps for athletes that participated in the African youth and junior championships and those who went for invitational relays in Kenya. We have also organised two competitions, the All Comers in Abuja and Lagos, apart from the Olukoya championships.

“We don’t get any support either from the government or corporate Nigeria, yet we have organised a Golden League, thanks to the great sacrifice from my board members and staff of the AFN. We give cash incentives to home-based athletes with prospect of doing well in major championships. For our homebased athletes to get the needed international exposure, we arranged for them to participate in about five international competitions alone this year.”

The pertinent question would be who these home-grown athletes are? But like the proverbial Oliver Twist, the home athletes have an axe to grind with the federation. Did I hear say how?

There is another contending gender issue confronting the AFN chiefs with World Junior Championships silver medalist Divine Oduduru accusing the federation of favouring the female athletes over the men. He alleged that this favoritism towards the female athletes is chiefly responsible for the poor outing of the men in competitions.

Said Oduduru: “The truth of the matter is that Nigerian male athletes have not been doing well recently. Looking at a country like Nigeria, there are a lot of people who are talented. If the administrators can focus on the male athletes the way they are focusing on the female athletes, the male athletes in Nigeria will do well.”

Oduduru confirms Ogba’s submission of the federation’s programmes which have produced new athletes. Perhaps, Ogba and his men should create equal opportunities for both sexes for us to have more stars.

We don’t seem prepared to stop Okagbare’s indiscipline, Uduaghan is said to have intervened. What would happen is that all the noise would stop. A no victor, no vanquished situation would be established. That way, Okagbare is happy that she is back in the good books. Sadly, this sets a trend that would be sustained by the next big star. What a pity!

We hardly learn from the past.

Reading through Okagbare’s missiles to the federation objectively, it seems to me that somebody is whispering to her.

Okagbare should always remember her humble beginning. She has been given all the incentives and support to blossom. She shouldn’t burn her candles on both ends on the altar of Nigeria not parading foreigners in our athletics squad.

I will support her cause if these foreigners are proven drug cheats or ageing stars.

Okagbare must apologise to the federation -not inside the governor’s office, but through the same medium she used to denounce it.

TOMORROW IN THE NATION PUNCHLINE Although President Jonathan had prayed for himself and his team, saying their roads be rough, I do not want to say ‘Amen’ to that.

But our president who feels fulfilled after leaving us worse than he met us should understand that Nigerians may neither pray for him nor curse him and his team, but their mouths would not be idle either

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL.9, NO. 3209

—Tunji Adegboyega

E

VEN our most insightful columnists, pub lic affairs analysts and perceptive intel lectuals are utterly perplexed at the political scenario playing out in the rocky state of Ekiti especially since the re-emergence of Mr Ayodele Fayose as governor in the June 21, 2014, governorship election. It is difficult to understand or properly digest how the irascible, tempestuous and temperamental, impulsive and often self-destructively spontaneous Fayose has risen on the wave of popular acclaim back to the apex of political authority in Ekiti. It seems that neither Fayose's sordid past on his first tour of duty as governor nor the dishonourable theatrics that have characterised his current tenure thus far are able to dissolve the holy matrimony between the proud architect of the profound philosophy of 'stomach infrastructure' and the people of Ekiti.

Indeed, many analysts have, directly or indirectly, questioned the fidelity of the Ekiti people to those principles and values for which they were once so highly regarded.

These include industry, discipline, an ascetic disposition, honour, dignity, courage, courteousness and an unrivalled commitment to knowledge and scholarship. It is baffling to comprehend how the people of Ekiti could have abandoned a man like Dr Kayode Fayemi, who seems to embody all the qualities of the quintessential Ekiti man and, above all is a man of high scholastic attainment and opt for a rambunctious, cynical and absolutely unreliable Fayose. It seems just like the irate Jewish mob demanding the release of the notorious thief and murderer, Barrabas, and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in his place.

But does the Ekiti people's embrace of Fayose mean that they have abandoned the age old cherished values and beliefs inherited from their worthy forbears? Is it that a state fabled as having produced at least one doctorate degree holder per household now disdains education so much that an intellectually shallow Fayose would be preferred to a stochastically accomplished Fayemi? I must confess that I have thought and written along these lines in the past. This point of view is completely misplaced and misleading as well as overly simplistic.

It should be appreciated that Fayose did not just jump down magically from the sky to hypnotise and commandeer the support of Ekiti people. In 1999, Ekiti state had voted massively for the then Alliance for Democracy (AD) just like other states in the South-West.

However, by 2003, Ekiti was one of the states swept away by the General Obasanjo instigated Tsunami, which led to the loss of five South-West states to the PDP with Lagos as the only AD redoubt standing. The OBJ obliteration of the AD in the South-West has been attributed to large scale fraud on the part of the PDP-controlled Federal Government. There is a large dose of truth in this allegation. But the less palatable truth is that the complacency, sheer mediocrity and arrogance as well as underperformance of many of the AD governors facilitated the success of the wily OBJ's scheme to overrun the South-West politically.

Ekiti state under the urbane and unassuming leadership of Otunba Niyi Adebayo was

Ekiti fiasco: Who is to blame?

‘

Thus, my surmise is that Fayose is not really to blame in the on-going Ekiti fiasco. He is only reaping from the unpardonable lapses of the APC in the state

•Fayose

•Fayemi

one example of how stupendous non-performance significantly enabled the electoral triumph of Ayo Fayose in 2003. The Niyi Adebayo government was so inept that it was Fayose as a private citizen that rented private water tankers to distribute water to residents of Ado Ekiti and other towns and villages in the state. This aside from his all too natural earthiness was one of the factors that endeared Fayose to his people and ensured his meteoric political ascendancy.

It was only after he got into office that the Ekiti people saw the other side of Fayose - his utter lack of seriousness and discipline to confront the onerous challenge of governance and the moral vacuity that characterised his politics. Even though his performance as governor in his first coming pales into insignificance compared to Fayemi's record, Fayose completely outclassed the immediate past administration of Niyi Adebayo in terms of service delivery to the populace. But for the largely self-inflicted violence, garrulousness and infantile tantrums that distracted his administration, Fayose would have recorded a decent performance in office before his impeachment, an exercise now described as a legal nullity by the apex court of the land.

By 2007, the Ekiti people had become completely fed up with both Fayose and his politics. They had tasted of the much touted 'mainstream' broth and it left a bitter after effect in the mouth. They voted massively for Fayemi on the platform of the defunct ACN. The election was scandalously rigged by the PDP and Fayemi reclaimed his stolen mandate only af-

’

ter legal adjudication as well as a keenly and bitterly fought complementary election in a number of Local Governments. It is instructive that during this period Fayemi and the ACN received unequivocal support from Fayose. I can still picture in my mind Fayose sitting atop an Okada motor bike sporting a 'Vote for Fayemi' tee shirt. Of course Fayemi won the re-run election and was subsequently voted into office as governor. After that, was Fayose able to reach Fayemi anymore? Were the promises made to Fayose in the event of a Fayemi victory kept? The answers can only be in the negative. It would thus appear that lack of fidelity to principles and sheer opportunism are not the monopoly of any party or individual!

When Fayose contested the Ekiti Central Senatorial District seat on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), he lost comprehensively to the APC candidate. The electorates were still very much in love with Fayemi and the progressives. Fayose is thus not a super magician who cast a spell on Ekiti with his supernatural wand. His resurgence to power after his disastrous first outing was due, as I have consistently maintained in this space, to the atrocious political incompetence and vindictiveness of Dr Fayemi.

Yes, no one can fault Fayemi's sterling record of performance. But for some inexplicable reason, his government was aloof and disconnected not just from the grassroots base of his party but from the general populace of Ekiti State. This was partly why damaging but unsubstantiated claims of primitive accumulation was levelled against the governor by his opponents and no doubt believed by a section

of the electorate despite Fayemi's vehement disavowals. That was why a performing incumbent governor with control of the state House of Assembly and Local Government structures in the state could have lost in all 16 Local Government councils of the state and to a despicable character like Fayose for that matter.

The March 28 and April 12 presidential and governorship elections offered a unique opportunity for the leaders of the APC in Ekiti, particularly ex- Governor Fayemi, to prove that Fayose's victory in the June 21 governorship election was a fluke. They should have demonstrated the APC's electoral strength on the ground to lend credence to their allegation that Fayose's earlier electoral triumph was rigged through a strange and seemingly fictive creature called 'monochromic' ballot or the meddlesomeness of Fayose, Musliu Obanikoro, the Minister of State for Defence and the Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyun, who were heard on an audio tape that has gone viral ordering a General of the Nigerian Army to facilitate the rigging of the election in favour of Fayose. I am strongly of the view that none of these factors, including the heavy militarisation of the state before and during the election, could have swayed victory in PDP's favour - at least not on the difficult to imagine scale witnessed in Ekiti if the party's grassroots cadres had been effectively mobilised to support the candidate at the polls.

The unfortunate thing is that rather than concentrate on rebuilding the party in Ekiti, its leaders particularly Dr Fayemi are engaged in a rat race to achieve dominance at the national level to the detriment of the APC in Ekiti.

In the final analysis, however, all politics is local. To seek relevance in national politics on behalf of Ekiti even when Ekiti's APC leaders lack any electoral base at home is akin to building something on nothing. It is absurd and laughable.

The APC national leadership should ask all feuding Ekiti leaders of the party to go back home, mend fences and begin the hard and back-breaking task of re-building the party in the state. These include Kayode Fayemi, Opeyemi Bamidele and Femi Ojudu to name a few. To offer any of them Ekiti's ministerial slot will only lead to deepening of the unhealthy rivalries among them to the detriment of the APC in Ekiti. The state's slot in the Federal Executive Council should go to a brilliant technocrat who is also a an astute and seasoned politician; a person who is detached from the current intra-APC politics of intrigues in Ekiti and can thus offer the requisite leadership to unite, rediscover and rejuvenate the party in Ekiti.

Thus, my surmise is that Fayose is not really to blame in the on-going Ekiti fiasco. He is only reaping from the unpardonable lapses of the APC in the state. Yes, he has committed impeachable offences, which make him legally liable. But then, the stunning performance of the PDP in the presidential and State Houses of Assembly affirm Fayose's firm electoral support base and places a huge moral burden on the group of 19 APC legislators strenuously attempting to impeach him. What we have in Ekiti is a battle between morality and legality.

Ade Ojeikere on Saturday talk2adeojeikere@yahoo.com

Okagbare’s blame game

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LESSING Okagbare has been a blessing to athletics- first at the grassroots in Sapele where she was discovered, a national heroine wearing Nigeria’s colours in several international athletics meets and the toast of female sprinters. Okagbare isn’t just a sprinter. She has joined the league of 100 metres sprinters who also excelled in the long jump, such as Carl Lewis, the American 100 and 200 metres sprinter who added glamour to both events when he competed.

Until recently, Okagbare was concerned about building her career. She weathered through the lack of facilities and coaches at

home and headed for the United States, when the Delta State Governor Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan bankrolled her climb to the top.

Uduaghan doesn’t stop at providing cash and facilities for the sportsmen and women; He accompanies them to competitions. It is to Uduaghan’s credit that Okagbare didn’t fall victim of the use-and-dump syndrome in Nigeria.

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) couldn’t manage Okagbare’s talent at the London Olympics. They allowed her to compete in her two events – 100 metres and the long jump. Okagbare finished eighth in the 100 metres despite the hype surrounding the event at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

She had beaten the big girls in a major meet, weeks before the Olympic Games, making her the favourite for the gold medal in London.

AFN chiefs, however, couldn’t also play the politics of separating the two events to allow the athlete recover from the stress of one before facing the other.

Okagbare was left to her fate by the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) after an abysmal performance at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Her resurgence today was because Uduaghan intervened on the prompting of Ogba, one of the governor’s lieutenants. London Olympics was an eye opener for Okagbare. She came down from

her high horse to face the reality. A crestfallen Okagbare was willing to be helped. It showed that she wasn’t a super woman. It showed also that many people helped in her development.

It must be said that Okagbare’s meteoric rise to stardom had Ogba’s Midas touch. The sports revolution in Delta today started when Ogba was the Sole Administrator for sports.

He convinced his boss then, James Ibori to build stadia in the nooks and crannies of the state. This gave budding stars at the grassroots the platform to sharpen their skills.

Ogba, determined to ensure that Delta ruled sports, attracted big stars from other State to Delta. This star-trek to Delta afforded rookies in the hinterlands to embrace sports.

Indeed, this culture of producing athletes has

•Continued on Page 71

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