October 04, 2015

Newspaper of the Year

M.K.O. Abiola's younger brother, Mubashiru, Page 7 dies at 73

Page 4

Hajj: Nigerians won’t stonedevilagain-Sanusi

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

OCTOBER 4, 2015

N200.00

ACF BLASTS AFENIFERE OVER FALAE, ATTACKS ON NORTH

Page 60

Vol.09, No. 3358

Diezani: 3 ex-ministers face arrest for money laundering Disquiet in Jonathan's camp Diezani under investigation How ex-minister’s collaborator over possible revelations since 2013 - UK NCA Page 4 surrendered to UK agency

•Victim being assisted by emergency workers

•Victims at the Kuje General Hospital

•Nigerian Police Anti-bomb squad at Kuje Police Station - another scene of the attack

PHOTOS: Abayomi Fayese

Abuja blasts: Female suicide bomber's body recovered

Pgs 5,6&60

Death toll now 20, 41 injured Kuje bomber came riding new bike - Eye witness ‘Nyanya explosive hidden in black polythene bag’ Military starts stop and search operations in FCT Buhari, Saraki, Dogara, US condemn attacks APC, PDP denounce bombings

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

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CAPTURED

South African king sentenced to 12 years in prison

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ohannesburg (AFP) - The king of Nelson Mandela's Thembu ethnic group has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for torching homes, beating people and kidnapping a family in an supposed attempt to discipline them.

South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on an appeal on Thursday by king Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo against his 2009 conviction and sentencing to a 15-year jail term.

The court in Bloemfontein upheld charges of arson, kidnapping, assault and "defeating the ends of justice", but it dismissed one charge of culpable homicide.

Dalindyebo's legal team argued, in vain, that the burning of three families' homes did not amount to arson because the properties could technically be regarded as belonging to the king, the eNCA news channel reported.

The king was also accused of kidnapping the family of a man who had failed to attend the royal court, eNCA added.

The appeal court ruled Dalindyebo's "behaviour was all the more deplorable because the victims of his reign of terror were the vulnerable rural poor, who were dependent upon him," according to the News24 website.

The ruling also accused him of "dilatory and obstructive" action for changing his lawyers 11 times, causing 34 postponements to the case.

Dalindyebo is king of the Thembu, a Xhosa ethnic group that boasted Mandela as its most prominent clan member.

The king, who has spoken about his regular use of cannabis, has often clashed publicly with President Jacob Zuma, an ethnic Zulu.

In 2013, he left the ruling ANC party to join the opposition Democratic Alliance.

Monarchs have no official power in modern South Africa, but still command loyalty among millions of people.

They are recognised in the constitution as traditional leaders and receive government funding.

Dalindyebo, who had been allowed to go free pending the outcome of his appeal, was ordered to report to prison within 48 hours.

I

t was necessary to shed l i g h t o n t h e c i r c u m s t a n c e s surrounding the abduction and 'rescue' of Olu Falae, former Minister of Finance and one-time Secretary to the Government of the Federation. He had been kidnapped by suspected Fulani herdsmen from his farm on the outskirt of Akure, Ondo State, and kept in captivity for four days in harrowing conditions. He was later released somewhere between Owo and Akure, still in Ondo State, from where he hitched a ride and reported to the nearest Police Station. There the controversy began.

According to the InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, police efforts yielded fruit, leading to the rescue of the elder statesman. Commenting further on the crime of kidnapping and how Chief Falae was 'rescued', Mr Arase said: "It is a global thing. We are going to devise strategies to ensure that

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Moving the mover • Moving house should ordinarily be a straight forward thing once you have a moving van. But when the vehicle needs half the street to move it, you have a crisis.

PHOTO: SEGUN RAPHAEL

BAROMETER sunday@thenationonlineng.net

Falae family's exemplary candour hoodlums cannot overwhelm (the) state. It is not possible. We will continue to disgrace them; we will continue to catch them. Right from Monday when he was kidnapped, policemen had been working underground. No ransom was paid. I will let you know if anybody was apprehended later.”

Mr Arase left no one in doubt about police expertise and how Chief Falae regained his freedom.

President Muhammadu Buhari had given the order for his rescue, enthused the IGP at Chief Falae's home in Akure two Thursdays ago, and the order had been carried out dutifully. Last Sunday, however, a spokesperson of the Falae family had corrected the

IGP's version of the kidnapping and rescue. Not only was ransom paid, said the miffed spokesperson, the police also hijacked the rescue after Chief Falae had been set free by his captors.

Chief Falae himself, after gathering his wits, asserted that before he was set free, the kidnappers confirmed the payment of ransom. He was not of course privy to the negotiations, and could therefore not confirm how much was paid, but all he knew was that his abductors let him go after their terms were met.

An embarrassed and stunned Mr Arase on Wednesday told the press that the information at his disposal suggested no ransom was paid, but that if the family insisted money

was paid, then it would lead the police to widen their investigations. The insinuations are unmistakable, not to say the threats. According to the IGP: "As professionals, it is our conviction that the unprecedented and massive deployment of police resources and men to support search and rescue operations put pressure on the criminals to release the elder statesman...As a law enforcement agency guided by rule of law and professional ethics, we do not under any circumstance encourage the payment of ransom to kidnappers or other criminals. Whatever the family did as regards payment of ransom was outside the knowledge and consent of the police and at

this point, we wish to advise that in future, families who fall victims of such acts should rather work closely with the police component of the rescue initiative so that we can achieve the primary purpose of rescuing the victim alive.”

However, more ominously and combatively, Mr Arase added: "In this instance, having confirmed that ransom was paid to the abductors, the Police will be interested in widening their investigative scope with a view to exploring the lead further with regards to how payment was made and to whom such payment was made. If the payment was perfected through bank transaction the Police have the capacity to track such transactions and will be

Religious wounds of 2015 polls yet to heal

uring last Sunday's 55th Independence Anniversary Interdenominational Church Service held at the National Christian Centre in Abuja, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and radical Catholic Bishop of Kafanchan Diocese, Joseph Bagobiri, crossed swords in a manner of speaking.

Speaking on the topic “Making Nigeria function as a family: Panacea to healthy national integration,” Bishop Bagobiri warned the federal government against using state institutions as instruments of vendetta. He also lampooned leaders, whether serving or retired, who failed to condemn Boko Haram in the sect's early years. Professor Osinbajo, in his reply, warned against using wrong and divisive

narratives to explain contentious national issues.

Bishop Bagobiri was direct and unsparing. “I like what President Buhari said that nobody kills in the name of Islam," he began innocuously. "Why did Buhari wait till he became President before making the statement? Why did he not make the statement when President Goodluck Jonathan was in power? That statement would have made more sense then than now. Ibrahim Babangida followed and condemned Boko Haram.

Why did they all have to wait till Buhari won the election before condemning the activities of Boko Haram?"

While it is hard to question the import of his observations, especially because he is not the first person to express such condemnatory views, it

is also clear that the wounds of the last polls, at least in the religious sense, have not healed. However, it is important to note that while President Buhari and Gen Babangida did not condemn

Boko Haram early in the sect's militant years, they actually condemned it while Dr Jonathan was still in office.

The general view is that a significant number of Christian leaders favoured the former president, Dr Jonathan, and probably voted or led votes for him.

They perhaps felt that the intensity of the opposition to Dr Jonathan was in many ways religiously motivated.

Passions got so inflamed at a point that ex-president Jonathan and the Christian Association of Nigeria ( C A N ) b e c a m e indistinguishable. This may explain why Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, still smarting, was among the few notable CAN leaders who absented themselves from the interdenominational service.

Professor Osinbajo may have done his diplomatic best to counter Bishop Bagobiri's trenchant opinion, but the candid and revelatory views of the bishop indicate that a gulf still exists between Christian leaders and the Buhari presidency, a gulf not helped by the popular but controversial perception that the government's anti-graft war is impurely motivated.

Rather than take umbrage, let Professor Osinbajo and the Buhari government see Christian leaders' persistent distrust o f t h e B u h a r i administration as a challenge to overcome with fair, transparent and uncontroversial policies and programmes.

liaising with the bank to enable us trace the cash and apprehend the perpetrators.

This could be an added lead that could strengthen ongoing post-kidnapping efforts of the Police."

The Falae family, especially Chief Falae himself, has been deeply traumatised. They should be handled with care and sensitivity. It is not their fault that the IGP did not crosscheck his facts well before going public with the misinformation on ransom.

The police may wish to carry out all the investigations they want because the law empowers them, but their subtle threat to the family should be handled with diplomacy and due restraint.

Indeed, it would be more appropriate for the police to focus on apprehending the abductors, for from their mouths, the police should be able to establish how much was paid, by whom, and to whom. It is so simple. The candid rebuttal by the Falae family may have embarrassed the IGP, but it is not the fault of the Falaes that the widening and deepening insecurity in Nigeria is setting everybody's teeth on edge and, because of the ethnic connotations to some of the abductions, growing to become a threat to national security.

By ADEKUNLE ADE-ADELEYE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

Conversation with Herbert Macaulay

I

T is October 1st, Nigeria’s independence anniversary.

Winter is fast approaching in Washington. It is unseasonably cold, and as dawn retreated for daylight, you could smell the sharp and biting Arctic air as if one is trapped in a giant refrigerated tent. Like a practiced flaneur, the celebrated hangabout, snooper has slipped out of his hotel room and is already on Thomas Circle.

Very soon afterwards, you arrive at Massachusetts Avenue. The name itself evokes power and glory; it exudes historic distinction and the very essence of American greatness. You remember the Boston Tea party and the beginning of the end for Imperial Britain. Empires always begin to unravel at the very moment of their maximum power. You remember the great learning institutions of Massachusetts. That is the intellectual engine room of American supremacy. Armies of ideas clash relentlessly, transforming America and changing the world in the process. You remember the dashing and dazzling Kennedys and their Hyannis Port. And you remember and wish Barack Obama well.

There is nothing more exciting and exhilarating than taking an early morning walk in a historic and powerful metropolis. The power and magic of the great city draw and tantalize you.

You are lost in the anonymity of the surging crowd. But somehow you manage to retain your distinct and discrete identity. As you watch, you are also aware of being watched. As you gape and gawp at the modern pyramids, you marvel at the infinite fecundity of the human imagination. You may not appreciate the arrogance and boorishness of many Americans, but this is the summit of human advancement for now, and there is nothing anybody can do about that.

Snooper is a notorious walkabout. Twice in this incarnation, he had been accosted on suspicion of wandering with intent. But ambling about in post 9/11 America in the early hours of the morning has its particular perils. And not when you are very close to the White House, the greatest power complex on earth for now. As the polite and courteous Indian-born driver taking you to your hotel from the airport darkly hinted, there are at least twenty five different undercover agencies operating in the Washington area. Walking is not a crime, but you must mind your body language. The possibilities are quite dreadful and spine-chilling. What if one is suddenly pulled over as a suspected disciple of Ibn Khaldun, the great fourteenth century Egyptian historian, philosopher and cultural theorist? Fear chills the spine. Even as one knocks this out on the computer, you have a feeling that something might trigger off the alarm bell.

But back to Massachusetts Avenue, the fear of being pulled over forces snooper to affect an elegant royal carriage; a Black Edwardian dandy in the manner of the political Liberator and uber-nationalist , Herbert Samuel Heelas Macaulay. True to its name, Massachusetts Avenue is indeed suffused with power and glory. The Avenue houses so many foundations, the power-houses of American restless regeneration. It is only in America that you can have so many foundations, a glorious tribute to the redemptive and restorative power of ruthless capitalism.

Money-making can be stretched beyond the limits of logic and human possibilities just to prove a point. But that is where it ends. Sam Walton, the owner of the Walmart chain, was still driving his old banger while making his astronomical sums. And what about Bill and Melinda Gates who are models of rectitude and restraint despite their outlandish wealth?

You walk rapidly pass the John Hopkins University school of Advanced International Studies and the Brookings Institute. Massachusetts Avenue is truly living up to its billing. You are truly in the precincts of some of the major

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COLUMN

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nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•Herbert Macaulay totems of America’s cultural imperialism. The wintry cold begins to bite harder. Against one’s better judgment, one had departed Nigeria without adequate preparations for this mugging weather. Now, one is being gradually mauled into a state of disorientation by the freezing atmosphere. You remember once again that back in Nigeria, it is Independence Day. In anger, you curse the memory of the leaders who have made it impossible for you to spend the day at home in Nigeria and in rest and reflection.

Now, you are passing the Australian embassy and all the pent up demons suddenly erupted. How was it possible for a bunch of no-hopers and scoundrels to create a first-class First World country in a record time while sub-Saharan Africa continues to sink deeper in a historic hellhole? As the cold bites harder and a state of semi-stupor sets in, a dandified and regal-looking To round off the independence anniversary of Nigeria, we bring you this morning excerpts from the novel, The Remains of the Last Emperor.

Published in 1995, during General Abacha’s despotic blitz, the novel is as gripping in its horrifying details today as it was then.

FROM THE MEMOIRS OF A MAD DOCTOR (1)

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NE thing that aggravates my nerves in these terrible times is the huge neon sign in front of Benitex Supermarket which pompously announces that thieves will be prosecuted. Now everybody knows that its owner, Ben Tojo, was an accountant who had stolen public money. And yet people submit themselves to all sorts of indignities in the hands of his security agents.

Recently, a man was publicly flogged for stealing a loaf of bread. Each time I passed by this colossal empire of fraud, I develop skin rashes. Until I decided I could no longer bear the pain. The urge to do something desperate overcome me…..

For about a week now, I’ve been going inside the supermarket and walking off with anything I could lay my hands on. I’m convinced that the guards and the attendants have seen me.

And yet nobody had challenged me.

Yesterday, I took a giant bottle of Aramis perfume. After spraying the contents in the air, I walked off with the empty bottle. I thought I would be challenged outside but nobody came.

So I decided to change my approach. I walked in this morning with some of the things I had taken and dumped them right in front of one of the female cashiers.

‘Looks as if your guards are not as efficient as it is claimed. I’ve helped myself to all this over the past few days.

There are a few more at home,’ I said with a shrug.

The cashier examined me intently and then examined the goods intently.

man with majestic walrus whiskers suddenly appears to be walking with snooper. He was straight out of Victorian Lagos, and was quite a splendid sight to behold. His diction was English public school with crummy and creamy velvet.

“It is Independence Day, and how are you people coping?” he asked with stentorian authority.

“We are not coping at all”, snooper moaned in distress.

“You must take heart and be bold because nation-building is not a colonial tea party or a one-day wonder”, the old man noted with avuncular pity.

“Take heart, take heart, that is what they all say, but no heart is made of stone”, snooper noted with a churlish whine. “ I understand that….”, the old man began but was rudely and brutishly silenced.

“Don’t understand. I’m cold and feverish. In any case, one of our leaders

once referred to Nigeria as the mistake of 1914. I agree with him”, I mumbled rather disjointedly.

“Who said that and when?” the old man asked in quiet alarm.

“Ahmadu Bello in 1953”.

“Ah, you know I left the scene in 1946. In any case, who is Ahmadu Bello?

I handed over to Zik”, the old man noted in regret.

“Zik lost command and headed for Enugu. Even Awolowo said Nigeria is a mere geographical expression”, I noted.

“Ah that Ijebu boy again? I knew he was up to no good. I thought he disappeared for good before the good lord recalled me”, the old political wizard croaked with good-natured mischief.

“He went to London to read law”, I replied.

“Ah that meant that he found a way round his bankruptcy? All of you must know that it is too late to start complaining about the size of Nigeria.

The sacrifices have been too great. Do you know that I died from the pneumonia contacted in Kano?” the great man queried.

“You left it too late”, I moaned in acute distress.

What?” the old man asked in disbelief.

“The handshake across the Niger”.

“But the white people wouldn’t allow us to interact. You know I fought them to a standstill”, the old man noted with an expansive flourish.

“May be, they have a point there”, I noted.

“What point could they have had ?”, the old man wondered aloud.

“It was not the first time contact with strangers will prove fatal to you and your family”. I observed with an intellectual frown.

For a long time, the old man eyed the younger man with a mixture of suspicion and wary respect. Then affection and warmth returned to his majestic hooded eyes. “I know what you are talking about, but it doesn’t matter.

Out of evil comes great good. In 1809, the slave raiders from the north sacked the village of Osogun and captured the father of my mother, the great Samuel Ajayi Crowther. They sold them to Portuguese slave traders. But we thank god for small mercies. Without that incident, there would have been no Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, no Abigail Macaulay, my mother, no CMS Grammar school, and no Herbert Samuel Heelas Macaulay, my humble self. Tell your compatriots not to despair and that adversity has its sweet rewards”.

With that the old man vanished into thin air, like the old wizard of Kirsten Hall that he was. I was also beginning to feel warm and comfortable. It was not a question of magic or dramatic recovery. The mundane truth is that we have arrived at our destination on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington and the place is warm and cosy. A different kind of fireworks was already in the works that morning.

(First published October, 3rd 2009)

Still jogging in the jungle ‘All these are stolen goods,’ she said.

‘All these are stolen goods,’ I replied, gesticulating wildly at everything in the supermarket, including workers and shoppers.

‘Thieves are normally prosecuted,’ she said.

‘I thought so too!’ I said with bitter scorn.

‘We can drop the charge if you are willing to pay for them,’ she whispered to me in a very conciliatory manner.

‘So can we!’ I screamed.

By this time, the shoppers who had queued behind me were openly expressing their impatience and irritation. The cashier became agitated.

Frantically, she picked up the intercom.

‘There is a man here who had returned some stolen goods. I can’t make head or tail of what he is saying.

Sounds mentally disturbed,’ she said and asked me to move aside for other shoppers.

‘Next customer, please.’

Almost immediately, two heftylooking uniformed men appeared. Each wore an ominous pair of glasses.

‘Is this the man?’ one of them asked.

‘Yes,’ the lady replied.

‘Oga, follow us,’ he said.

There were shouts of, ‘thief, thief!’ at my heels as I followed them.

Very soon, the door of what was nothing but a modern torture chamber suddenly swung open and I was elbowed in. I will never forget the horror and revulsion I felt on entering that place. Whips and lashes of all sizes and shapes, from the tender-looking to the most threatening grotesque were neatly stockpiled. A giant machine for administering electric shocks stood in the middle of the room. Ties, rags, dirty wigs, abandoned trousers, torn blouses littered everywhere. There were tiny specks of dried blood on the bare floor.

Behind a desk sat a huge, potbellied man whose enormous lips and massive nose

gave one the impression of a rhinoceros in a crouch. If I felt dizzy with fear and premonition, I decided not to show it.

‘Hmmm, looks as if Ben had invested his loot wisely after all. You need millions to protect stolen millions,’ I muttered.

‘What is he saying?’ the rhinoceros growled.

‘I think he is mad,’ one of his mates observed.

‘Well, if he is pretending to be mad, he wouldn’t have to pretend for long. He will really go mad when I lay my hands on his testicles,’ the rhino said and got up with a fearsome scowl.

By now, I realized that our earlier description of his size was a vast understatement. He was as gigantic as Giant Alakuku, and his belly, shaped like an elephant worm, threatened to burst the seam of his trousers. He began to scratch his manhood in sadistic anticipation.

‘Sit down!’ one of them barked at me, pointing at the bare floor.

‘Only my dead body will sit on that floor,’ I said.

‘You may be right. Who knows whether by the time you get there, you may actually be dead!’ one of them said as they fastened on me and bore me down.

‘Now you will need to do as you are told. How many stubborn goats like you have become men of yesterday?

All we need to do is to throw out your body when it is dark. The rest of the job is for the city council,’ one of them said as I writhed on the floor.

‘Now, what is his case again?’ the rhino asked impatiently.

‘He returned some goods he had stolen,’ one of them said.

‘I still have others at home,’ I protested.

The rhinoceros completely ignored me. He began to chew his big finger as he figured out his verdict.

‘Hmmmm, at least he is partially honest. If half of the bastards are like this, we wouldn’t be sustaining these terrible losses,’ he growled.

‘You are right,’ one of them said.

‘So therefore, let him have thirty strokes as a warning. Give me a grade C koboko there,’ the rhino said, pointing at the stockpile of whips.

‘Not on your life! I want to be taken to court. Thieves are supposed to be prosecuted,’ I shouted.

‘Do you want to go to court? Can a church rat like you who cannot afford a decent meal afford a lawyer?’ one of the men shouted.

‘Incidentally, what do you do for a living?’ the rhino thundered impatiently.

‘I cure mad men. But it does appear that there are more mad men outside the asylum than inside,’ I said casually.

‘I think his head has knocked!’ one of them observed with cynical glee.

‘What do you do for a living?’ the rhino rumbled again with irritation.

‘I’ve told you,’ I said and tossed my ID card at them.

One of the men picked it up.

‘How do we know you didn’t steal this either?’ he asked without much confidence.

‘Let me have it’, the rhino growled.

The card was handed over to him and soon he began to look at the card and back at me all over in doubt and despair. I could now read confusion on their faces. I decided to make my move.

‘And now gentlemen – if I may ask you a foolish question – what do you do for a living?’ I asked springing up.

There was a tense silence.

‘Isn’t that clear to you?’ one of them said.

‘Are you blind?’ the others chorused.

‘We work for Sonny Security – if you want to know,’ the rhino said.

Continued on page 60

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

NEWS

Hajj: Nigerians won’t stone devil again -Sanusi

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•Representatives of President Muhammadu Buhari comprising Chief of Staff Abba Kyari, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal and others visited scenes of the bomb blast and hospitals where the injured are being treated yesterday

Diezani: Three more ex-ministers risk arrest for graft, money laundering

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HREE more ministers of the Goodluck Jonathan era are facing possible arrest in the aftermath of Friday's detention of ex- Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke, in London for alleged corruption.

Although AlisonMadueke and the four other suspects arrested along with her were granted bail same day, tension has already gripped the Jonathan camp following what sources described as threat by the once powerful ex-minister to open up on certain deals which she was directed to execute.

She is said to be good at keeping records, including handwritten notes.

A source in one of the antigraft agencies said last night that Mrs. Alison-Madueke is "just one of the few cases of ex-ministers under investigation."

"We have at least about three issues at hand but I will not disclose their names," the source said, adding, "do not forget that these three cases are outside the matter of exMinister Stella Oduah which is stuck in court. We have made our position known on this.

"The depletion of the $1billion in Sovereign Wealth Fund by about $700million is one of the priority cases with antigraft agencies. There are also the issues of reckless granting of tax waivers to oil firms."

The ex-ministers are believed to have been implicated

by Permanent Secretaries.

•Disquiet in Jonathan's camp •How Diezani's collaborator surrendered to UK agency •Her business partners go underground FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

They are likely to be quizzed in connection with alleged reckless granting of waivers, depletion of the Sovereign Wealth Fund by $700m without the knowledge of the National Economic Council, and "questionable contracts."

The camp of the former president was in disarray yesterday following the arrest of the ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, investigation showed.

Sources said London was thought to be a safe haven for after leaving office in May. Apart from being a Chevening Scholar, courtesy of the British High Commission, it was learnt that security agencies in the UK did not give her any inkling as she was shuttling between Nigeria and the UK. A source, who spoke in confidence, said: "Those in Jonathan's camp felt the expresident's visit to President Muhammadu Buhari had created a window for mutual talks and negotiation on alleged graft findings by the new administration.

"They did not know that Buhari really meant business to retrieve looted funds.

"Actually, some ex-ministers, including Diezani, have already placed their counsel

in Nigeria on standby in case of any invitation by anti-graft agencies. Their plan was that the matter would be settled in Nigerian court.

"But the arrest of the exMinister in London has added a new dimension to the anti-corruption agenda of the Buhari administration.

"Those in Jonathan's camp were shocked by Diezani's arrest. They have been desperately trying to get in touch with the ex-Minister since yesterday without success.

"As at today (yesterday), they are worried that Diezani has cut off contact with everyone, creating fears that she might spill the beans.

"The fear in Jonathan's camp is that Diezani might be given the James Ibori treatment. They are suspecting that she might be tried and convicted in the UK." A former presidential aide said: "None of us has been able to reach out to Diezani because all her lines are off.

She has also not called to share her travails with anybody."

How she was nabbed It was gathered yesterday that the voluntary surrender to the National Crimes Agency (NCA) by a Nigerian oil baron laid the foundation for a comprehensive investigation, and arrest of Diezani.

The said oil baron, according to sources, was allegedly fronting for the ex-Minister and may be holding some looted funds in trust for her.

It was learnt that following surveillance and monitoring by security agencies, the oil baron confided in a former Head of State who encouraged him to open up to the NCA on all such slush accounts.

"The oil magnate voluntarily surrendered to NCA because he knew the game was up. He was not having peace where he was staying in the UK. But the former Head of State assisted in cracking this financial crime."

Mrs. Alison-Madueke and her alleged accomplices are expected to be arraigned in a London court tomorrow.

The suspects were questioned for several hours by security agents in London.

This came four months after Prime Minister David Cameron pledged Britain's support for president Muhammadu Buhari's war against corruption.

Hours after the ex-minister's arrest, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) sealed off her high brow Asokoro,Abuja residence for a search.

Sources said the anti corruption agency had a court warrant to conduct the search.

Lasun seeks Chinese assistance in agriculture, engineering

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EPUTY Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yussuf Lasun, wants China's active involvement in the development of Nigeria's agricultural sector.

Lasun who spoke in Abuja during the celebration of the 66th anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China and the 10th anniversary of China-Nigeria Strategic partnership noted that the Chinese technology can propel Nigeria's potentials in

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

agriculture.

According to him, since the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government is keen on moving away from an oildependent economy, partnership with the Chinese government becomes critical towards achieving the objective.

He said: "With agriculture alone, the federal gov-

ernment could develop the nation's economy but China has to come in and assist where necessary.

"The two countries share common views on several key issues on global economic and political agenda, particularly the maintenance of international peace and security.

"In this connection, Nigeria and China have continued to participate in peace keeping missions in troubled areas of the world un-

der the auspices of the United Nations (UN)".

The Deputy Speaker also used the event to express his concern over the high rate of unemployed engineering graduates in the country.

While seeking China's assistance, he noted that the expansion of Chinese investment in construction and real estate sectors would go a long way in surmounting the challenge.

China is the biggest importer of Nigeria's crude oil.

IGERIA's Amirul Hajj to the just concluded pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, remains unhappy about the loss of many lives during the stoning of the devil rites during the hajj.

He is already contemplating recommending to the federal government that Nigerians should in future skip that particular rite except they are accommodated close to Jamrat where the stoning takes place.

No fewer than 70 Nigerians are believed to have lost their lives in the stampede during the rite while latest figures say over 1000 pilgrims died.

Alhaji Sanusi who is also the Emir of Kano told Sokoto pilgrims in the Holy Land that stoning of the devil is not worth the blood of any Muslim.

The Emir who quoted several verses of the Qur'an and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said refusal to even perform the stoning of devil rituals does not in any way invalidate one's Hajj.

His words: "During the era of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), he permitted pilgrims who came on camels to stay in Makkah after Arafat, instead of staying in Mina and sleeping at Muzdalifa.

"So, if the Prophet could give such grace to some people, just to protect their animals, why didn't our scholars educate our people properly to avoid this untoward hardship and death.

"Therefore, it will be

From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Makkah part of my recommendations to the federal government that, if we cannot get accommodation close to Jamrat where the Arabs reside in Mina, then this year may be the last time we will sleep in Mina and Muzdalifa because we want to stone the devil.

"Besides that, if one deliberately refuses to even perform the stoning of the devil rituals, all he needs to do is to slaughter a ram.

So, if this is the situation, why do we go and suffer and die instead of sacrificing a ram?

"As is it presently, sleeping in Mina and Muzdalifa is not backed by any Hadith or verse of the Qur'an. So, why do we continue to do it?"

The Emir said, he would, as the leader of the Nigerian delegation, recommend that Nigerians no longer participate in the devil stoning rite, except they are accommodated close to 'Jamrat'.

He insisted that blacks, particularly Nigerians, were not responsible for the Mina stampede. Nigeria, according to him, has no issue with the Saudi authorities, but stressed that the Riyahd authorities must understand that no human being is superior to another before Allah, except he who fears Allah most.

The Emir, however, challenged Islamic scholars to educate Muslims on how to perform a hitch-free hajj, without losing anybody's blood.

Activist to IGP: Never yield to pressure on kidnapping

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IVIL rights activist, Mr. Demola Williams, has advised Police Inspector General Solomon Arase to resist pressure of any kind in squaring up to criminal gangs in the country.

Williams, Director of Media and Public Affairs of Free Society of Nigeria, said in a statement that the IGP should never "yield under any public pressure to saying or doing anything that will be counter-productive to his oath of office. No criminal gang must be encouraged by our words or deeds."

Citing the recent kidnapping of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Chief Olu Falae, Williams said he got "some soothing relief on the day the Inspector General of Police, IGP Solomon Arase announced to the nation that Chief Falae had been freed by his abductors without the payment of any ransom. I was relieved because I felt the relocation of the IGP to Akure, the Ondo State capital where Chief Falae was kidnapped would have put enormous pressure on the hoodlums.

"I also believe his claim that no ransom was paid because there was no way the police or the IGP could have been involved in such an act knowing full well that it's a breach of their code of conduct and the law.

"I was, however, taken

aback when Chief Falae publicly admitted that his family paid some ransom to the criminal gang.

"This portrays a picture that the abductors were under pressure to let go having been aware that the top echelon of the police was already involved in the manhunt for them but at the same time, they had to employ the instrument of threat to obtain something no matter how small from their victim. And this explains why they had to take just N5m instead of their initial demand for N100m."

He said the IGP has no blame in the Falae abduction because "from our enquiries with the police authorities, Mr Arase never supported nor paid any ransom and was not aware that any ransom was paid to the kidnappers of Chief Falae. We found out that the IGP relocated to Ondo state with his team to track down Chief Falae's abductors as his responsibility demands and in obedience to the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari.

"For us, the IGP's decision to distance himself from the notion of paying any ransom is totally logical and in order.

This is because, any public acknowledgement of the payment of ransom to criminal gangs will not curb such criminal venture but will rather encourage others to go into it."

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

NEWS

5

ABUJA BOMB EXPLOSIONS

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HE body of a female suicide bomber behind the Kuje attacks in the Federal Capital Territory has been located and taken to the National Hospital in Abuja for forensic analysis.

Also, as at 7pm, official confirmation indicated that 18 person were killed in the bomb explosions in Nyanya and Kuje.

The government also said 41 others were injured.

According to investigation by our correspondent, security agencies have discovered that a female bomber was used by Boko Haram to wreak havoc in Kuje.

A top security source said: "The said female bomber was wired by the insurgents. We were able to retrieve her corpse for forensic examination.

"The outcome of the forensic analysis may

CoS, SGF, others Kuje: Body of female visit blast scene suicide bomber located A

FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

provide some intelligence for the military and security agencies.

"The corpse of the female bomber is already in the morgue at the National Hospital in Abuja.

"We have placed all the six districts in the FCT under 24-hour surveillance to ward off such invasion by the insurgents."

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday confirmed that 18 persons were killed in the explosions in Kuje and Nyanya.

It also said 41 people

were injured bringing the number of victims to 59.

The Abuja Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ishayah Chonoko, said: "After the evacuation of victims of bomb blast in satellite towns of Kuje and Nyanya to various hospitals in Abuja city, NEMA has confirmed that 59 people were affected.

"Eighteen (18) persons lost their lives and forty one (41) got injured.

While three deaths and 21 injured victims were recorded in Nyanya incident, 15 persons lost their lives in Kuje with 20

persons being treated for injury.

"Meanwhile the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA), Mohammed Sani-Sidi, who led some of the evacuations and visited victims in the hospitals, has assured that the government would foot the medical bill of the victims.

"He also reiterated the need for security consciousness among the citizens by reporting any suspicious objects and strange movement in their localities to security agencies.

BOUT 18 people died with several others injured in the twin bomb blasts that occurred in Kuje Local Government of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

According to eye witnesses, the explosion claimed hands, legs and other parts of the body of some victims.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), Babachi-David Lawal, FCT Permanent Secretary, John Chukwu and the FCT Commissioner for Police, Wilson Inalegwu, visited the blasts scenes and later the

Police intensify 'stop and search'

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• The scene of the Nyanya bomb blast in Abuja yesterday.

Photo: AKIN OLADOKUN

Buhari vows to end violent extremism

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RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari yesterday reiterated the determination of his administration to rid the country of extremism towards eradicating violence in the Nigeria.

He made the remark while speaking in Abuja after receiving briefing from a factfinding team he sent to the parts of the Federal Capital territory which came under terrorist bombings on Friday evening.

According to him, for terrorism to be uprooted from

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From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

the country, the society must be rid of violent extremism.

"The defeat of Boko Haram insurgency is in sight but to remove violence and make the country safe, we must tackle the prevalence of violent extremism. In doing this, we will learn from the experience of the international community," President Buhari assured.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, quoted

the president as directing the security services to raise their surveillance activities to meet the challenges of a retreating, desperate terrorist army and for the general public to remain acutely aware of security in and around them.

He sympathised with the families of the victims as well as the families of the more than a hundred others who were killed in similar incidents a few days ago in Borno State.

The fact-finding team visited the Kuje and Nyanya bombing sites and visited

victims of the incidents at the National Hospital and the Maitama General Hospital.

They inspected the wards and mortuaries and consoled grieving family members on behalf of the president.

The fact-finding team was made up of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, the Chief of Staff, Malam Abba Kyari, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health and that of the Federal Capital Territory as well as the police commissioner in charge of the FCT.

From: Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja police division.

They refused to comment on the incident.

However, Inalegwu disclosed to journalists that the visit was a fact-finding mission.

He said the police have commenced investigation on the blasts, adding that the federal government would release an official statement at the appropriate time.

Military officials, paramilitary agencies including Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were present at the scene.

HE police yesterday ordered massive stopand-search activities in and around the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

This is coming as the National Emergency Management Agency {NEMA) confirmed that 15 persons were killed while 41 others sustained injuries as a result of the twin suicide bombings in both Kuje and Nyanya on Friday night, In statements issued by both agencies, they urged citizens not to panic and gave assurances that the situation is under control.

"Following a coordinated rescue operation at scene of multiple explosions in both Nyanya and Kuje, which are satellite towns of Federal Capital Territory Abuja, so far fifteen (15) persons lost their lives and forty one (41) injured were evacuated to Nyanya Hospital, Asokoro General Hospital and National Hospital Abuja.

"In Nyanya two (2) dead were recorded while 21 injured. In Kuje thirteen (13) persons lost their lives and 20 injured," NEMA stated on its website.

Accounts from NEMA, officials and eyewitnesses indicate that the two suicide bombs in Kuje, about 40 min (39.1 km) from Abuja via Airport Road (also called Umaru Musa Yar'Adua Road), happened in the same location within minutes of one another.

The two bomb blasts in Nyanya which occurred earlier before the incident in

From Jide Babalola, Assistant Editor, Abuja.

Kuje were also said to have gone off within minutes of one another.

In conflicting accounts given by some residents of Kuje, they asserted that close to 18 persons may have died with forty others sustaining severe injuries.

Lamenting the bombing incident that happened near his church, St. Kizito's Church, Mr. Titus Aremu stated that he has been hearing people talking about the suspicions that a young lady who was wearing hijab was one of the suicide bombers but there is no proof.

Bodies dripping with blood, shattered limbs, and other body parts were among the gory evacuations moved to Nyanya Hospital, Asokoro General Hospital and National Hospital Abuja yesterday night.

In a statement signed by the acting Police Public Relations Officer, ACP Olabisi Kolawole, she stated that two suicide bombers - a male and a female - carried out the suicide bombing in at least one of the two locations.

"The Inspector-General of Police Solomon E. Arase, following the bomb blasts that occurred in Kuje and Nyanya areas in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has assured residents and the entire country not to panic as the Nigeria Police Force is prepared to do all within its reach to ensure adequate security of lives and property.�

Kuje suspect came in a new motorbike, says eye witness

HE mastermind of the Kuje bomb blast arrived the scene of the crime riding a new motorbike, it was learnt yesterday.

Also, the figure of casualty from the Kuje blast, it was learnt, far outweighs that of the Nyanya which happened about the same time.

While the country is still waiting for the official figures of victims, an eye witness said over 20 people may have died in the Kuje incident.

According to one Ya'u Umar, who claimed to have

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja witnessed the blast, the suspected assailant came on a new motorbike.

Umar who was at the National Hospital to check on his friends who were affected by the blast said ? "The man brought the bomb on a new motorcycle at around nine o'clock in the evening.

"When he alighted from the motorbike, he told us that he was going to buy something and will soon come back.

"Just few minutes after, the bomb exploded."

Umar also revealed that the impact of the blast was severe as many people died in the process; noting that about 20 dead bodies were counted as at yesterday morning.

He said most of the corpses were found far away from the blast scene.

He explained most of them tried to escape from the scene of the incident but unfortunately they couldn't as they might have been hit by ?objects.

The eye witness who painted a horrific picture of the incident said some of the corpses were picked from the gutters and while some could have died as a result of shock.

He said, "From the time the incident happened to this morning, we counted over 20 dead bodies. Many people because of the shock of the bomb did not die there immediately, some while trying to run went and died inside gutters, others died while trying to run to their houses. Many dead bodies were found far from the scene

of the incident."

Also, at the National Hospital a middle age man was spotted attending to his seven- month old baby who was among those affected by the bomb blast and she is currently receiving treatment at the hospital.

The man who was not disposed to speaking to our reporter, it was learnt also lost his wife, and grandmother in the bomb blast.?

Meanwhile, nine bodies and 13 people who sustained various degrees of injuries from the blasts both at Nyanya

and Kuje have been deposited at the National Hospital.

The spokesman of the hospital, Dr Tayo Haastrup, confirmed this. He said, "As at now, nine dead bodies from both the Nyanya and the Kuje bomb blasts have been deposited in our hospital.

"Also, 13 people who were brought alive with various critical degrees of injury are also in our hospital. The good thing is that those who were injured are under stable health condition and are currently being treated."

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

NEWS ABUJA BOMB EXPLOSIONS

Attacks senseless, wicked—PDP

Saraki condemns blasts, advocates increased intelligence gathering

From Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja

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From: Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor

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ENATE President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, yesterday condemned the bomb explosions in the satellite towns of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kuje and Nyanya.

He urged security agencies to step up their intelligence gathering activities.

Saraki, in a statement by his Media Office in Abuja, urged Nigerians not to panic, as the renewed attacks are signs that the days of Boko Haram are numbered.

He lauded the security agencies for their quick response to the incidents in Nyanya and Kuje, especially the prompt evacuation of both the dead and injured to medical facilities where they are receiving needed for medical attention.

The Senate President however, urged the security agencies to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the peace that has returned to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its environs is not only sustained but improved upon.

He said, “To maintain peace, we need to step up the intelligence gathering machinery and get ordinary people to give useful information on suspicious movements by individuals, groups or even unexplainable location of objects and structures. This war against insurgency is one that all of us must co-operate with and support the military.”

The Senate President commiserated with the families of victims of the explosions and wished those hospitalised speedy recovery.

US condemns Abuja twin blasts From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

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NITED States has strongly condemned the twin bomb blasts that rocked Abuja Friday night.

The US in a swift statement made available to reporters in Abuja yesterday stated that it stands by Nigeria; and further reassured the country of US support in the fight to eliminate the sect The statement reads in part: “United States stands with the government and the people of Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram and other perpetrators of terrorism. Through our security and counterterrorism assistance, our unparalleled commitment aims to help Nigeria achieve this goal.

“The United States strongly condemns the dual explosions in the Nyanya and Kuje areas of Abuja on October 2, and the suicide bombings and militant attacks in Maiduguri and Adamawa on October 1. We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and injured.”

????

•Scene of of the bomb blast at Kuje Area in Abuja… on Saturday. Photo: Abayomi Fayese OMMANDANT of the Gallant Community Protection and Safety Foundation (GCPSF), Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ukombu John, said the twin bomb blasts in Nyanya which occurred within the space of five minutes to each other on Friday night was probably caused by Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) concealed in black polythene bags and left at the scene and not by a suicide bomber.

According to him, the vigilante group stationed opposite the Jikwoyi Park, was among the first respondents at the scene of the blast and were horrified to count about 10 to 15 bodies, dismembered and burnt beyond recognition when the dust settled.John nar-

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Explosive hidden in polythene bag, says vigilante From: Grace Obike, Abuja

rated that they tried to tend to the injured by carrying them in wheel barrows before emergency workers and other security operatives who responded very quickly arrived.

The commandant lamented that people have just begun to feel safe again in Nyanya, after the two bomb blasts that occurred last year but now suspicion and fear have returned and even petty traders are afraid of returning to the road side where they always sell.

He said, “We were here when the bomb blast occurred within a space of five minutesý, at about, 9.20pm and the second one happened at 9.25pm. We do not believe it was a suicide bomber, we think that something was in a black leather bag in the scene which exploded.

“It was getting late at night and the park was not really full which is the reason for the less casualties.”

A resident of Nyanya and businessman, Joseph Anidi who sells furniture opposite the scene of the blast lamented how the return of the blasts will now

affect his business.

He said that relative normalcy had returned to the area after last year’s blast and business was finally back to normal for him but now, the return of the blast will bring back fear into the heart Another resident of Mararaba, Idris Suleiman, who also spoke with our correspondent, said, “Nigerians have to remember that security is every body’s job, you cannot leave it just for the Army or Policeý, we need to now learn to be security conscious if we see anything or anyone suspicious.”

Cowardly attacks in Abuja, elsewhere will not save ans to be vigilant since Boko HE All Progressives Boko Haram - APC Haram members who have Congress (APC) debeen smoked out of their

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clared yesterday that no amount of cowardly attacks will save Boko Haram from imminent defeat.

Reacting to Friday night’s bomb attacks in Kuje and Nyanya areas of Abuja that killed and injured many people, the ruling party said that the invasion as well as other

recent acts are “part of the cowardly tactics of the terrorists to focus on soft targets, after the military has succeeded in putting them on the run.”

The National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who signed the statement spoke of the determination of

the Buhari administration to crush Boko Haram, which has seen the military recording a string of successes against the terrorists and vowed that government “will not be weakened by these dastardly acts that are nothing but the last kicks of a dying monster.”

APC appealed to Nigeri-

strongholds may be seeking refuge elsewhere across the country.

The party condoled with the families of those who were killed in the latest Abuja attacks, and wished those who were injured a speedy recovery.

Survivors recount ordeal

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OME of the survivors of the Friday night Abuja bomb blasts yesterday recounted their ordeals, as suicide bombers resurfaced in the Federal Capital City after about a year of lull.

The numbers of victims were yet to be ascertained as various government agencies involved in the emergency activities are still putting heads together.

However, some of the survivors who were tracked to some of the hospitals spoke on what happened on the fateful night.

A provision seller, Ibrana Bello, one of the victims on admission at the Asokoro General Hospital, who spoke to our reporter on his bed narrated how he and his brother got trapped in the blast. Bello who was very emotional while telling his experience said he was in his shop when a female cus-

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

tomer came in and while he was telling her the price of the goods she picked, a car drove down and parked in front of the shop, while another drove directly behind the first car. He was, however, unable to describe the car or remember the make of the car.

Bello said all his pleas that the driver should move the car away from the frontage of his shop fell on deaf ears as the driver insisted that they wanted to get something in a nearby shop.

While the plea was on, Bello said the male driver was the first to alight from his car and went straight into the crowded shops and not too long the female driver also alighted from her car and went into the crowd.

Bello said while he was still there, he heard a loud

noise from the blast and all he knew from then on was that he was on the ground. While still on the ground, the second explosion went off and before he could put his thoughts together Bello said the second blast also went off. It was later he discovered that his brother who was with him in the shop was severely injured as his legs were shattered by the explosion.

Another survivor, Mr. Lawal Ibrahim, who trades in shoes and sandals at the Nyanya Market said he was thrown off by the sound of the blast and for a while did not know what happened around him as he lost consciousness.

He said he was busy doing his usual business, calling on passers-by to patronise his wares when the bomb went off.

Though the blast went off some distance from where his wares were, Ibrahim said he saw the lady dropping a leather

bag unknown to him that it was bomb until the thing went off.

In Ibrahim’s estimation, about twenty to thirty people were affected by the blast.

He also confirmed a man and a woman as the suspects, as he said that they both had the bomb in a shopping bag.

Acting Chief Medical Director and Head of the Clinical Department at the Asokoro District Hospital, Dr Henry Onyegbelem, said three bodies and seven victims of the Friday night were brought to the hospital.

He also added, “We don’t know if the numbers will increase, but if there are referrals from other centres, we are ready to attend to them.”

He said the one that was brought in under critical situation has undergone a major surgical operation and his condition is stable.

HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as wicked and senseless, Friday’s bomb attacks on Kuje and Nyanya, two satellite towns in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

No fewer than 22 persons and many others were killed in the attacks, which bore the imprints of the Boko Haram terrorists.

In a statement yesterday by the National Publicity Secretary the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party said it is particularly pained that the attacks came just 24 hours after the nation celebrated its 55th independence anniversary; “when the citizens and their leaders renewed their faith in the oneness and progress of the nation.”

The party said the attacks were barbaric and cowardly, regretting that the terrorists have continued to kill and maim innocent citizens.

The statement said, “The PDP deeply grieves for the continued acts of terrorism, especially in the northern parts of the country, where insurgents are still slaughtering innocent Nigerians almost by the day.

“Indeed, this is not the way to go. We can no longer afford to continue to have our people cut down and slaughtered. We all, as Nigerians, must therefore close ranks and present a common front in support of our government and security forces in the fight against terrorism in our country.

“It is on this note that we restate our support for each and every policy undertaken by the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari aimed at ending insurgency and checking criminal activities in our nation”.

The party, however, urged government officials to do less of talking and pay more attention to issues of intelligence gathering, as well as social and direct military actions against terrorism.

Sani says it’s wicked, despicable Blessing Olaifa, Assistant Editor, Kaduna

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ENATOR Shehu Sani has condemned in strong terms the multiple bomb explosions in Nyanya and Kuje, describing it as despicable and wicked.

Sani who is representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly urged Nigerians not to allow their spirits to be weakened by the series of bomb explosions and terrorists’ activities in the country, expressing optimism that the resolve of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would soon bring the acts of terror to an end in the country.

In a statement in Kaduna, Sani said “the ultimate defeat of terror is the ability and capacity of the government to protect lives, livelihood and properties of the citizenry.”

According to him, “The bombings must not weaken our resolve to resist and end terror, it should rather strengthen our faith in the ultimate triumph of good. Terrorism is a global menace and a challenge to our generation.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

NEWS

Mubashiru, MKO Abiola’s younger brother, dies at 73

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LHAJI Mubashiru Abiola, the surviving younger brother of late businessman and politician, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, has been laid to rest.

He died around 9:30pm on Friday following failed battle with an illness that kept him indoors for over two months.

His remains were interred beside his two late wives within the family house at Gaa Sabo in Lafenwa area of Abeokuta.

He was 73.

The deceased, fondly called Uncle Bashy, was the rallying point for the Abiola’s family since the death of his elder brother and presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election annulled by the General Ibrahim Babangida junta.

The Chief Imam of Gbagura, Prof. Kamaldeen Balogun, who conducted the Islamic funeral rite, said death was an inevitable fate that would befall every mortal.

Balogun urged people to take cognisance of inevitability of death and live as if they would die the following day.

He said: “Death is inevitable for all souls, whether you are rich or poor you must

Forum laments marginalisation in Enugu

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HE Isi-Uzo Elders Forum in Enugu State has decried the marginalisation of indigenes of Isi-Uzo local government area.

The forum, which chose a renowned retired educationist, Chief Steve Okwor, as its leader lamented that the area was deliberately denied the Speakership of Assembly and Vice Chancellorship of Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT).

It alleged one of Isi-Uzo sons was the most senior ranking and ably qualified for the ESUT’s job but was surprisingly dropped.

The forum also stated the post of Speakership zoned to Enugu East had again its son as the front runner but was amazingly dropped at the last minute.

The body, which is non political and made up of retired senior citizens, said it would not fold its arms and watch helplessly without drawing attention of the authorities to the unfortunate lopsidedness.

The five towns that make up Isi-Uzo local government area, produced officers to run activities of the forum.

The new officers are: Chairman, Chief Steve Okwor(Ikem); Vice Chairman, Chief Patrick Ogenyi (EhaAmufu); Secretary Chief Charles Eze (Mbu); Treasurer Chief Ezekiel Ejimchukwu (Neke); Public Relations Officer, Chief Obinwa Nnaji (Umualo); Assistant Secretary, Chief Mathias Odo (Ikem).

Others are Finanacial Secretary, Elder Abraham Egba (Eha-Amufu); Director of Socials, Chief Chris Onah (Mbu) and Provost 1 Chief Jonas Ngwu (Umualo).

Also elected were: Provost 2 Chief P.C. Isingene (Neke) and Chiefs J.C. Asueke and Ralph Okwor as patrons.

From: Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

die one day and leave all those earthly things for others who will also die later.”

Grieving family members at the graveside that bade the deceased farewell were Engr. Rahmon Abiola, Lekan Abiola, Jamiu Abiola and

MKO Abiola’s widow, Doyin.

Abiola’s eldest daughter, Hon. Lola Abiola-Edewor, her siblings Kola and Deji were still being expected as 6pm yesterday.

Others dignitaries at the funeral were former Minister for Mines and Steel Development, Alhaji Sarafa Isola; the

General Manager, OGTV, Alhaji Ayinde Soaga; his elder brother, Yaya Soaga; Chief Taiwo Sobande, and a member of the House of Representatives, Mikahil Kazzim.

Before his death, Mubashiru used the occasion of the yearly June 12 memorial to lament neglect of the

Abiola’s family by successive governments since the death of their breadwinner, MKO Abiola.

He was pained by abandoned and uncompleted proposed Presidential House of MKO Abiola at the Ibara GRA, Abeokuta.

•Prof. Hafiz Abubakar , Deputy Governor and Honourable Commissioner for Education, Kano State (2nd L) cutting the tape to inugurate a solar power installation by Etisalat at Girls' Government College, Dala, Kano State on Tuesday. He is supported by Honourable Baffa Babba Dan-agundi (L), Chairman, Committee on Education, Kano State House of Assembly, Mohammed Suley-Yusuf, Head, Government and Community Relations and Mukadas Babangida, Head, Regional Sales, North, both of Etisalat Nigeria.

Cloudy, rainy weather today

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HE Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy weather condition for central states today.

The predictions are contained in the Weather Outlook

by NiMet’s Central Forecast Office (CFO) yesterday in Abuja.

It added that there would be localised thunderstorms over the Bida, Abuja, Lafia, Ibi, Yola, Gombe, Bauchi and Jos axis and over the entire region in the afternoon and evening hours.

NiMet also predicted that the coastal areas would experience rains in the morning with localised thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening hours.

It also predicted that inland areas would experience cloudy conditions in the morning with chances of localised thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening hours.

Family extends caretaker’s tenure

By Sunday Oguntola

T Reps to FG: Fix Agege -Abeokuta road T HE House of Representatives has urged the federal government to urgently repair the deplorable Agege-Abekuta road due to its economic significance.

The decision of the lawmakers followed adoption of a motion by Abiodun Adaranijo (APC, Lagos), who regretted that the deplorable condition of the road was impacting negatively on the industrial and economic growth of the nation.

Adaranijo pointed out that

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

Agege-Abeokuta road, which links Lagos and Ogun States, is almost totally collapsed despite several contracts awarded for its reconstruction.

He also recalled that contracts for the construction of the road was awarded in 2003 and re-awarded by former President Goodluck Jonathan, yet it has remained impassable.

He said: “This should be of concern because of the adverse effect of the deplorable

nature of the road on commercial and economic activities, especially as it is the major route through which most goods imported from Lagos ports gets to other parts of the country.

“The alarming loss of manpower hours on the road due to traffic congestion most of the time is also worrisome because workers, businessmen and investors that ply the road are always held up for hours.

“The negative effect of

this on the national economy and local industry should not be treated with levity.”

The motion was unanimously adopted when it was put to voice vote by Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

The House Committee on Works, when constituted, was mandated to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Works and Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to take urgent steps to repair the road as well as other federal roads in similar states.

Army treats displaced Bakassi returnees

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HE 13 Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Calabar, Cross River State, yesterday conducted free medical outreach for the displaced persons of Bakassi at their camp in Ikang.

The displaced persons were tested for malaria, blood pressure, hepatitis, typhoid, fever and others.

Drugs were also distributed to them freely.

Commander of the Brigade, Brigadier General Sani Mohammed, said that the humanitarian medical outreach was part of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai’s vision on civil-military rela-

From: Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

tions.

Mohammed said that the Army decided to reach out to the displaced persons because they needed medical attention.

“When you look around and see where they are camping, you will believe that they really need adequate medical care.

“We are here with our full medical team that will carry out different test on the IDPs and also administer them with drugs.”

The Commander advised the IDPs to have a positive

outlook towards life, adding that the Army will always remember them in their activities.

Coordinator of the camp, Aston Inyang, thanked the Army for the gesture.

He said the camp has about 2, 800 displaced persons.

Inyang said that there were brought to the camp on October 4, 2009 after the ceding of the oil rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon on August 14, 2008.

He appealed to the state and federal governments to come to their aid.

“Our greatest challenge

here is that we lack adequate medical care and the young ladies who are pregnant always feel it more.

“We have not been given fair attention as it concerns health. Our camp is so large that we are supposed to have our own separate health care centre built by the government.

“From 2009 to now, we have lost over 40 persons, which include women, men and children and a lot are still under medical challenges because they have no money to access medical treatment,’’ he said.

NAFDAC donates drugs to IDPs camps

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HE National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has donated assorted drugs to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Adamawa.

Making presentation of the drugs at Malkohi camp, NAFDAC’s Director General, Paul Orhii, said the agency was concerned about the plights of IDPs and was committed to as-

From: Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

sisting them.

Orhii, who was represented by Director Special Duties of the agency, Dr Abubakar Jimoh, said the drugs were sourced in partnership with Association of Pharmaceuticals.

He said the agency was in partnership with the National Emergency Management

Agency (NEMA) to ensure that drugs and food brought for IDPs consumption meet the required standard.

“We are also in partnership with the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, who is also committed to ameliorating the plight of the IDPs” Orhii, who lectured the IDPs on roles of NAFDAC and the successes recorded by the agency in checking counterfeit

drugs nationwide, demonstrated how to use handsets to confirm the authenticity of drugs through SMS. Receiving the donation, the NEMA official in the camp, Mrs Linda Adokwo, and a representative of the IDPs, Mr Nicholas Samuel, lauded NAFDAC for the gesture, which they said will go a long way in curbing some of the health challenges in the camps.

7

HE Jumbo Major House of Grand Bonny in Rivers State has extended the tenure of its caretaker committee led by Prof. Jasper Jumbo for two years.

Members of the House last week overwhelmingly reelected the caretaker committee “in view of its meritorious service in the past one year.”

The House authorised an immediate review of its 1971 Constitution and empowered the CTC Chairman to appoint a review committee and set in motion processes for its ratification and adoption.

Members further mandated the caretaker to apply legal, constitutional and peaceful means to recover all rent accruals as well as requisites and homage due to the House from tenants, including Shell Petroleum Development Company Ltd. They also asked the caretaker to seek direct scholarships, employment and community development assistance from all oil and gas related companies operating on Jumbo land in Bonny LGA. In his acceptance speech, Prof. Jasper Jumbo regretted that the House had been fighting an internal war, a situation he said stalled development in the community in the past 16 years.

He recalled that within its one year of activities, his committee had made the marginalisation of the House a national issue.

Jumbo also pointed out his committee embarked on a development sourcing trip to Dubai with some youths and elders of the community as well as registered and incorporated the Major House Youth Association with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

He reported the committee put a stop to several attempts to convert or sell the family lands and set up an electrification committee to extend uninterrupted electricity supplies to all the Jumbo villages.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

NEWS

NGO to host 300 couples in Ibadan

Don lauds Dogara, tasks Speakership contenders

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A

UNIVERSITY don, Wale Oni, has commended the Speaker of House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, for his leadership qualities, administrative prowess and political sagacity.

Oni, who is a Researcher Fellow in the United Kingdom, also applauded the Speaker for his statesmanship, which led to the resolution of the leadership tussle in the House of Representatives.

While urging Dogara to enlist the support of trusted colleagues in the execution of his legislative agenda, the scholar said: “The speaker should be a good student of political history by engaging tested lawmakers to support his legislative agenda. The speaker should specifically engage all his co-contenders for the Speakership seat by appointing them to head key committees of the House.”

The UK-based don further admonished the Speaker to collaborate with President Muhammadu Buhari in the onerous task of finding solutions to the challenges of insurgency, economy, provision of employment opportunities, reducing the cost of governance, revitalising the educational and agricultural sectors, empowering of the judicial system and fast tracking the passage of all executive bills.

Nigeria at 55: Pray for the country, Rep urges

By Medinat Kanabe

S Nigeria celebrated her 55th year of attaining independence last week, the lawmaker representing Ojo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Obasa, has urged Nigerians to remain steadfast and pray for the nation.

Obasa, who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also admonished Nigerians not to relent in supporting government at all levels.

In a statement, the lawmaker urged Nigerians irrespective of political and religious affiliation to support President Muhammadu Buhari in his task of rebuilding the nation.

He said: “Election is over and governance must commence. Nigerians cannot afford four years of politicking.

As a member of the opposition, I’m not in the House to oppose unnecessarily. Good policies focused on the interest of the people will be supported by me, while policies that will not favour the people will be completely rejected not on the ground of my party affiliation but in the total interest of Nigerians.”

Obasa further advised the president to form a government of national unity that will comprise of representatives from different political parties.

A

• L-R: Children of late Mrs Beatrice Akomolede, Mrs Tolu Okojie, officiating priests, Rev. Fr. Debres Trinkson, her husband, Chief Kola Akomolede, Miss Titi Akomolede, and Mrs Busola Balogun, during the first anniversary of their mother at Charles Borromeo Catholic Church on Victoria Island, Lagos.

PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN.

Ex-military leaders responsible for Nigeria’s woes, says Opadokun

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ORMER Secretary General of pan Yoruba social organisation, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Opadokun, has attributed the pervasiveness of corruption in Nigeria to the misadventure by the military.

The fiery activist also blamed the late General Muritala Ramat Mohammed/ General Olusegun Obasanjo regime for the elevation of corruption in Nigeria.

Opadokun, who is the Convener of Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms (CODER), spoke in Offa, Offa local government area of Kwara State after delivering a lecture as part of activities to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Offa De-

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

scendants Union (ODU).

Opadokun spoke on the topic titled, ‘Offa: Yesterday, today and tomorrow.’

He said: “Generals Mohammed Ramat Mohammed and Olusegun Obasanjo made corruption to become a phenomenon, while General Ibrahim Babangida came to institutionalised corruption.

“The starting point was the wrong measures, the un-well rehearsed measures Murtala/ Obasanjo regime took by sacking public officials on radio with immediate effect. That is what led people to always prepare for their tomorrow as they per-

ceived that their jobs were no longer permanent.

“Since then, you can hardly organise a project or contract that the senior civil servants will not have their world built up around it. Babangida only came to institutionalise corruption, no doubt about it.”

Speaking on President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti corruption agenda, the former member of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) said while “the body language” of the president has begun to send fears down the spines of some people, the federal government must also come up with a clear policy direction that would address the myriad of

challenges confronting the country, adding, “There must be policy measures put in place to guide the next phase of our lives. So I am of the opinion that the President ought to fasten his belt.”

On the perceived frosty relationship between Buhari and current Senate, Opadokun is of the opinion that the president is vested with enormous powers to function, saying, “The president has all the powers the constitution has empowered him to enable him preside over our country. There are so many things he could do to ensure that he makes his appointments without having any problem with the Senate.

Don’t play politics with monarchs’ selection, Fayose urges kingmakers E

KITI State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has warned kingmakers in the state against playing politics with the selection of traditional rulers in their communities.

According to the governor, the traditional institution is too sacred to toy with as the consequences of doing such could be unpleasant.

Speaking in Ikere Ekiti on Saturday during the coronation of the Ogoga of Ikere, Oba Adejimi Adu Alagbado, the governor condemned attempts by regents to manipulate the selection of an Oba to favour

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado Ekiti

some unnamed individuals.

Noting that the position of a regent is a stop-gap before the selection of a substantive monarch, the governor further warned, “Under my watch, I won’t allow any kingmaker to play politics with the selection of any monarch. When I assumed office, there were about 12 vacant stools and to the glory of God, we have peacefully resolved and installed six

monarchs.

“The role of regent is temporary; kingmakers should not be playing politics with the selection of Obas. Within the last six months, we have installed six Obas. Any civil servant that meddles in the affairs of selecting an Oba will be dealt with. A kingmaker must have the courage to openly line up behind his choice.”

While affirming that the choice of the new Ogoga enjoyed overwhelming support,

Fayose pledged that his administration would give the town the attention it deserves.

He promised that within the next two weeks, the dualisation of Ado-Ikere Road would be extended to Ikere township.

A prominent indigene of Ikere and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), commended the governor for his unwavering commitment for truth and transparency in the selection of the new Ogoga.

We will not witch-hunt cabinet nominees, Lagos Assembly assures C

HAIRMAN, Lagos State House of Assembly Ad-hoc committee on screening of nominees for commissioners and special advisers, Hon. Wasiu Eshilokun, has assured that the screening exercise would be thorough and devoid of any witch-hunt.

Eshilokun, who is also the Deputy Speaker, gave this assurance at a press conference organised by the committee members to shed more light on why the House opted for a

By Oziegbe Okoeki screening committee first before the open screening on the floor of the House.

While denying that the House was in the know of the press release from the governor’s office to the effect that the commissioners and special advisers will be sworn-in on October 5, Eshinlokun said there was no rift between the legis-

lature and the executive on the screening of the nominees.

According to him, though the screening is a new development, it is within the constitutional powers of the House as stipulated in Section 103(1) of the Nigerian constitution.

He said: “It is in furtherance of this that the Lagos State House of Assembly appointed

this committee to screen the nominees for the post of commissioners and special advisers, which was sent to it by the governor.”

Ehinlokun noted that setting up the screening committee is in the spirit of change mantra of the All Progressives Congress- (APC) government.

He however added that any nominee found to have presented fake certificate would be automatically disqualified.

HE Family Concept, an Ibadan-based non-governmental organisation, has announced plans to host 300 couples in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on November 28.

According to the co-host of Couples’ Fiesta 2015, Mrs. Tina Fawole, the event which will come up at the Civic Centre at Agodi Gate, will feature couples’ roundtable, hot seat, health talk, drama, business talk/empowerment, testimonies, as well as free medical test, love feast and dance, among others.

Fawole said the event with the theme, ‘The Gem in my Hands, will attract 300 couples (600 participants) based in the ancient city.

This year’s edition of the event, which is the fifth edition of the annual celebration of love by the organisation, will cover the core focus of the NGO which, according to Fawole, are the promotion of family values, financial empowerment and family health.

The Family Concept is a non-governmental organisation which aims at promoting family values, raising ethical and moral standards in relationships and financially empowering families towards building the greater Nigerian society.

Dignitaries bid Ajimobi’s former aide farewell at 43 From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

P

OLITICIANS and prominent sons and daughters of Ibadan yesterday bade farewell to Mr. Nurudeen Akinyo, a former Special Adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State.

Akinyo, who hailed from Ibadan, was a Special Adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Local Government Affairs from August 2011 to September 2013.

He died at a private hospital in Abuja on Friday after a brief illness. He was 43.

He defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to Labour Party (LP) last year and emerged the candidate of the party for the Oyo South Senatorial Constituency. But he lost to Soji Akanbi of the APC At the burial were a Deputy-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Bayo Adelabu; Mr Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), a former Secretary to the Oyo State Government, Chief Sharafadeen Alli, and the immediate past Attorney-General of the State, Adebayo Ojo.

Ambode pledges better working conditions for judicial workers

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AGOS State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has assured that his administration will continue to improve on the achievements in the judiciary.

He also promised that the provision of a conducive environment for judges, magistrates and the courts in the state

would be sustained.

The governor, who spoke at the 2015/2016 Legal Year dinner held at the Nigeria Law School, Lagos at the weekend, reiterated the important role the judiciary plays as the last hope of the common man, stressing that the reforms carried out by the previous admin-

istrations will be improved upon.

Noting that the Lagos State judiciary has been the pioneer of judicial sector reforms in the country from 1999, the governor said: “It was these reforms that gave birth to the Office of Public Defender, Citizens Mediation Centre, Public Advi-

sory Centre, the multi Door court House System, which offers an alternative and effective dispute resolution mechanism, the construction of more Courts as well as the appointment of more Magistrates and Judges.

“These initiatives have expanded the frontier of justice delivery, which has deepened

its relevance as the last hope of the common man. I am committed to ensuring that this administration continue with these reforms. We will work with the judiciary to move our justice sector to a higher level.

The reforms process is not a finished business; it is a work in progress.”

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

•Emefiele

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HERE is no doubt that the current parlous state of the economy is one issue nearly every Nigerian has already come to terms with. Whether civil servants, manufacturers, teachers, housewives, single parents, artisans, students or even self-employed persons, there is nobody who haven't tasted the bitter pill of the economy since the beginning of the year.

But while many Nigerians are still at a quandary as to how to wriggle themselves out of the economic doldrums, those vested with the responsibility of managing the nation's economy rather than providing answers and giving assurances to the hapless Nigerians, are themselves in a horns of a dilemma of sorts.

The foregoing anecdote becomes apposite in describing the fears expressed by the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, who at the last monthly Monetary Policy Committee meeting raised the alarm that Nigerians should brace up for tough times ahead.

Clear and present dangers While addressing journalists shortly after the two-day meeting of the MPC meeting held at the CBN headquarters in Abuja, the CBN boss noted that the economy had remained fragile owing to various factors.

For instance, he said the country's Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate recorded a slow growth in the second quarter of this year, making it the second consecutive lessthan-expected performance for the current fiscal year.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, real GDP grew by 2.35 per cent in the second quarter of 2015, a significant decrease when compared with the 3.96 per cent and 6.54 per cent in the preceding quarter and corresponding period of 2014, respectively.

Real GDP growth is projected by the NBS to stabilise at 2.63 per cent in 2015, compared with the 6.22 per cent recorded in 2014.

Will Nigerians be poorer in

2016?

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele had at the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting warned that the country's economy could slip into recession by next year if proactive steps were not taken by the Federal Government to revive key sectors of the economy. In this report, IBRAHIM APEKHADE YUSUF examines the issues The committee, according to the governor, however, noted that the impact of non-payment of salaries at the state and local government levels had led to reduction on consumer demand.

He said while year-on-year headline inflation continued to trend upwards, demand pressure in the foreign exchange market remained significant as oil prices continued to decline.

As a result of these developments, Emefiele said there were indications that some of the

banking sector performance indicators could be stressed if these conditions worsen further.

Specifically, he expressed worry that liquidity withdrawals following the implementation of the Treasury Single Account, elongation of the tenure of state governments' loans as well as loans to the oil and gas sectors could aggravate liquidity conditions in banks and impair their financial intermediation role.

These, he noted, could affect economic growth, unless some actions were immediately taken to ease liquidity conditions in the markets.

He said, "The committee noted that the overall macroeconomic environment remained fragile.

"The committee noted that liquidity withdrawals following the implementation of the TSA, elongation of the tenure of state government loans as well as loans to the oil and gas sectors could aggravate liquidity conditions in banks and impair their financial intermediation role, thus affecting economic growth, unless some actions were immediately taken to ease liquidity conditions in the markets.

"Having seen two consecutive quarters of slow growth, the committee recognised that the economy could slip into recession in 2016 if proactive steps were not taken to revive growth in key sectors of the economy."

But what really is a recession in economic terms?

According to Wikipedia, in economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction. It is a general slowdown in economic activity.

Macroeconomic indicators such as GDP (gross domestic product).

Kimberly Amadeo, a US-based economist says an economic recession is when growth slows down usually due to a fall-off in consumer demand. As sales drop off, businesses stop expanding. Soon afterwards, they stop hiring new workers.

By this time, the recession is usually underway. However, it doesn't affect most people until layoffs begin. As unemployment rises and consumer purchases fall off even more, housing prices usually decline.

How real is this fear of recession?

To many observers, the fear that the country may slid into a recession may be farfetched because the country had survived even harder times.

One of those who believe the fear of recession is unfounded is Olawale Aremu, a public affairs analyst.

Raising a poser, he said: "So Nigeria's economy could be worse than it already is? •Contd. on page 9

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

NEWS REVIEW

•Contd. from page 9 I thought we had hit rock bottom already.

The last time I checked Nigeria had been in recession for years. So what else is new?

Nigeria is in recession already without realising it. People have not had it so bad. As we speak, there are no jobs, salaries not paid for months, there is infrastructure decay, social service and investment is terrible, etc."

Aremu's comment finds sympathy with the jokes expressed by the late Pa Ola Vincent, former CBN governor, who led the bank from 1977 to 1982 when he retired.

When asked to give a status report on the economy some years back, the foremost economist said Nigeria has been in a recession since the 70s.

To parody the late Vincent, there is really no question of whether Nigeria is going to be in a recession. Nigeria has been in a recession since 1970s. Unlike other climes where many economic postulations work, Nigeria's economic problems have defied many solutions which work elsewhere.

Picking holes in MPC's forecast Naturally, not many agree that the MPC's pronouncement is the gospel truth.

Raising the first salvo, Aniebo Nwamu, a public affairs commentator, while commenting on the outcome of the CBN committee meeting, described the MPC as doomsday prophets, and would rather the country ignore the doomsday prophecies rather than fear them.

According to Nwamu, "The MPC's statement should be the biggest lie told this year in Nigeria. Is it possible for Nigeria to sink deeper than where it has been all these years? The Nigerian economy has been in recession since the era of "austerity measures" in 1981. There is nothing worse to expect in 2016."

Waxing philosophical, he said, "He that is down need fear no fall. Perhaps the economists were referring to a total collapse of the economy-a time when everyone would be jobless and penniless. Such a day will never come."

Expatiating, he said: "Farmers, who comprise the majority of Nigerian workers, won't be jobless; they may be poor but they can always get by. Small businesses will always be there. It's the informal sector of the economy that has sustained Nigeria all this while. Besides, crude oil and the corruption that feeds on it have created a few billionaires who have more than enough for their children and grandchildren."

Echoing similar sentiments, Capt. Daniel Omale, said it's becoming difficult to define how the CBN is steering the economy.

While the government's efforts to close all the drainpipes of corruption seem to be generating positive results, the CBN is lagging behind in its fiscal and monetary policies, Omale said.

The best way to address the drift is to ensure the diversification from oil to other sectors.

"Nigeria is not the only country suffering from the effects of low oil prices. Countries like Venezuela, Algeria, Kuwait and even Saudi Arabia are feeling similar pains. It is estimated that Saudi Arabia burns approximately $2billion a week from its $740billion foreign reserves. With a much smaller population, Saudi stands a better chance of weathering this storm than Nigeria," he said.

Citing an article in The Economist, Omale remarked as matter-of-factly that: "It is impossible to predict that far ahead, and the effects of even a far shorter slump are likely to differ from country to country. Qatar, for example, has so few citizens and so much money that it could, at a pinch, survive for years on income from overseas investments, such as the estimated $10 billion worth of London property. By contrast Algeria, with 40m people, faces a far more immediate squeeze. It ran a trade deficit of $8 billion in the seven months to August (roughly 7% of GDP when annualised) compared with a $4 billion surplus in the same period last year; its currency has lost a quarter of its value against the dollar."

Lending credence to MPC's forecast To Mr. Jamiu Ekungba, former Acting Managing Director of defunct Trade Bank Plc, who currently sits atop as Chairman/ Chief Executive, Royal Gold & Apple Direct

Will Nigerians be poorer in 2016?

•The late Vincent

•Utomi

•Ekungba

Limited, an agent to TALL Security Print, UK, which specialises in security printing among others, the MPC's forecast should be treated with the attention it deserves rather than being scorned.

Apparently making a case for MPC, Ekungba said the step already by the CBN is in the best interest of the economy.

Specifically, he said, a number of measures such as interest rate stability, among others have been in the nation's best interest.

According to him, some of the measures are normally to curb the ugly trends in the economy.

"CBN has to come in to regulate the sector by adjusting Monetary Policy Rate. As a politician, accountant and former banker, it is not proper for me to say whether is fair or not.

But as an industrialist, I know that there is no business that can thrive with double-digit interest."

Blessed assurance Interestingly, in the view of most of the economists, who spoke with our correspondent, recession may be possible if the government fails to take adequate measures to mitigate the declining growth trend.

As suggested by Emefiele, the experts agree that the only viable option is for the fiscal and monetary authorities to stimulate growth in critical sectors of the economy.

In the view of Prof. Pat Utomi, a political economist and management expert, the best way to address the parlous state of the economy is to diversify the economy.

Utomi, who stated this while speaking on 'Institutions, culture, and inclusive private sector rapid growth' at The Platform in Lagos, said institutions set boundaries and help to reduce uncertainties. The forum was organised

by Lagos-based Covenant Christian Centre.

While noting the imperative of quality policy choices, he said weak institutions could be an impediment to the implementation, a situation that had seen the country move "two steps forward and four steps backwards."

A founding senior faculty member of the Lagos Business School-Pan Atlantic University, Utomi said, "We keep repeating our past experiences because our institutions are weak. Institution building is part of the critical challenge of nation-building.

"Human capital is critical for economic development. Unless people are welleducated and have the right skills, we will not be able to make progress. Developing human capital is very critical.

"Entrepreneurship is essential to wealth creation, and if we are going to grow out of the challenges that we face today, we will have to create value machines in the ways that our people think. Values shape human progress. Without the right values, you cannot make progress."

Utomi, who noted that every part of the country had endowments that could be harnessed to make the country a high-growth economy, said, "Just look at the endowments of our country; why have we for 30 years talked repeatedly about diversifying the base of our economy and have done nothing about it."

Mr. Ayodeji Ebo, an economist and Head, Investment Research, Afrinvest West Africa, is also on the same page with Utomi.

"The Ministry of Finance will have to come up with ideas and policies that will drive growth in the manufacturing sector."

Pressed further, he said: "There are plans by the government to reflate the economy, and this will be partly done by identifying nonoil sectors that can drive growth. Before next year, we should have had in place policies that will drive investment and improve the economy.

"I don't think that the economy will go into recession; if nothing is done, it may; but I don't think the government will fold its arms."

An economist and Head, Asset Portfolio Management at Meristem, Mr. Taiwo Yusuf, believes the economy may enter into recession faster than expected if the fiscal and monetary authorities fail to stimulate growth in certain critical sectors.

He mentioned power as one of the sectors that the government might need to focus on due to its multiplier effect on the economy.

"I cannot but agree with the Monetary Policy Committee that the economy may slip into recession if the fiscal and monetary authorities fail to stimulate growth in some critical sectors of the economy. It may come faster than we expect if nothing is done," Yusuf said.

He noted that although the economy might not experience any significant change over the next six to nine months, the long-term prospect was bright.

"Government is already trying to establish development finance institutions, which will provide long-term funding for businesses and this will fuel investment and growth. We expect power supply to improve as well. I don't think this growth focus will come with inflation because we have yet to reach our optimum productive capacity as a nation," Yusuf added.

A professor of Economics at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Sheriffdeen Tella, said a considerable improvement in power and fuel supply would improve the nation's growth figures in the coming months.

As a result, he said it was very unlikely that the economy would slip into recession, but noted that the CBN was only taking precautionary measure to prevent such a trend.

"If we are able to sustain the considerable improvement we are having in power and fuel supply till the first quarter of next year, the economy should recover by itself," Tella said.

The Head, Investment Research, Sterling Capital, Mr. Sewa Wusu, noted that the MPC had taken an appropriate decision by lowering the Cash Reserve Ratio on public and private sector deposits from 31 to 25 per cent, adding that the action would stimulate bank lending to the economy.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

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Femi Orebe Page 16

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

A dad like no other Tribute to a worthy father

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

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ND it came to pass. My father, Special Apostle Gabriel Adeshina Adegboyega eventually passed on August 11, a week to his 80th birthday. Born in Lagos on August 18, 1935, Special Apostle Adegboyega was the only surviving child of his mother, the Late Madam Christiana Olaide Adegboyega (nee Gooding), who had twins thrice and lost them all. His father, Pa Jonathan Ola Adegboyega died in 1984. It was therefore not surprising that the mother was resolute that nothing would take her son this time around without having her to contend with. She put her all into it, and, luckily, the son not only survived her, he died about 20 years after the mother passed on.

My father's experiences in life; particularly in his 35-year sojourn in Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc have taught me that life is full of risks and every profession has its fair share of them. Being a banker is sweet, with all its allures. I can say that and confidently too because I know the 'privileges' I enjoyed even as a 'common bank manager's son' back in those days. 'Omo manager ni'yen' (that's the (bank) manager's son), was the usual way I was introduced whenever I went to any important function with my father.

On another level, however, I was a proud beneficiary of the bank's scholarship designed for the children of the bank's members of staff at a time when my father was almost nothing there in the '70s. I was then about 12 years old. We were interviewed by a panel, including some white men (or a white man) and my father's grooming on the common pitfalls before the day of interview greatly helped in my scaling the hurdles.

Then, it was easy for the son of a nobody like me to get the scholarship because merit was the watchword. I do not know whether the scheme is still there and if so, whether it is still intact with its soul and innocence.

Back to my dad. For a child that was thought would not even clock 15 years to have lived for about 80 years was a record.

What happened was that, at age 13 (1948), just out of curiosity, the young Adegboyega went to a Christ Apostolic Church at then number 98, Lagos Street, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, where a vision revealed that he was not likely to witness his 15th birthday. This was corroborated in several other places. The solution, the pastor told him, was prayer and fasting. Despite being a boy then, Adegboyega did not take the matter lightly. He eventually got addicted, as it were, to both, until death did them part. I remember I once asked him in the '80s why he would always be fasting when he had money to buy food and indeed ensured that the rest of his household had enough to eat and drink. He replied that I would soon find out. I have. This earth, my brother! Apologies to Kofi Awoonor!!

The world, indeed, is war. After battling with many childhood challenges, the old man also contended with many challenges, especially in his years at UBN. I recall an occasion when (I think in 1983) I was doing my vacation job at the Osogbo branch of the bank. He indulged me the use of his personal car, a Datsun 180K saloon, to work (bank managers then were not found with the exotic cars we now see many bank workers in) but somehow, on this fateful day, I refused to

•The late Adegboyega

take the car to the office because my father had chastised me the day before, for an offence I cannot remember. I never knew it was Providence at work. Right in the commercial bus that I took to Osogbo were some five or six old men who had an axe to grind with my dad.

Their complaint was that Mr Adegboyega was not the first bank manager to come to that town (Ikirun, Osun State); they therefore did not know how he could be so 'stingy' with money that did not belong to him. In essence, they wanted loans but apparently were turned down by my father who was then the manager of Ikirun branch of Union Bank because they did not have collateral. They were then planning how they would use charms to eliminate him via road accident, knowing full well that he would always travel down to Lagos every month end to collect rent.

I was in the spirit where I sat and continued praying that the men should never find out who I was because there were only few passengers in the vehicle. The about 20 minutes journey from Ikirun to Osogbo was like eternity. When I eventually alighted alive, I went quickly to the accountant, one Mr Adisa, and told him I was travelling to Lagos. He asked if I had told my daddy and I said no, but that it was important I travelled. Those days, there were no GSM phones and there was no internet. In no time, I was in Lagos. What shocked me again was that, as I was narrating my experience to my paternal grandmother in Lagos, my father also came in from Ikirun. I am not sure he planned to travel that day. As soon as I saw him, I stopped the discussion with his mother and there was perfect silence until he reminded us that we could not shut him out of whatever our discussion was because one of us was his mother and the other, his son.

His mother then asked me to repeat what I just said and I did. What surprised me was the characteristic calmness with which he took the matter; saying that he already had a message in his church to that effect, and that it was nothing to worry about because God had taken

“Of course this piece would not be complete without mentioning the fact that my father was a strict disciplinarian. This runs through in almost all the tributes on him. He was also a devout Christian. I was therefore not surprised that he died in the course of a sickness which began on August 5 on his way to a midweek service, and from which he never recovered. May his soul rest in perfect peace as he returns to Mother Earth on October 10. “

charge of the situation.

About two years or so before, when he was manager at the Iseyin (Oyo State) branch of the bank, he had another unforgettable experience. One Saturday morning, he simply told me to get ready for an outing. I did. I am not sure if any other person in the house knew where we were going but soon began to get worried when we moved further from the town to the thick bush on the way to some other towns after Iseyin where we then lived. Then in the middle of nowhere, we stopped. I quickly remembered the story of Abraham and Isaac. Then, as I kept wondering what our business was in the thick bush, he asked me to bring out a cellophane bag from the booth of the car. It was then I knew that the bag contained charms and amulets.

It was at this point that he told me what our mission was: to burn those charms and amulets. But not until he had explained to me how he came about them, because that, naturally, was the next question I would have asked him. I knew that he had given up all fetish practices since becoming a Christian, and especially since he became an elder in the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church. One after the other he brought those things out from the bag and began to tell me who gave him what. All of them were given to him by people we knew to be his friends and who were very influential in the town, ostensibly to protect him against enemies that might want to harm him because of his strict adherence to the banking rules and procedures, especially as they pertained to loans and advances.

Everybody needs loans but not everybody can afford to repay.

He then told me the other reason why he could not have had anything to do with those charms apart from his being a Christian, which, really, is the native intelligence aspect of the incident: he said even if he was still using charms and amulets, it did not make sense for him to use those ones because he was an 'odd man out'. In other words, all the people that gave the things to him were indigenes of the town; how then could he be sure that they all meant well with the charms and amulets?

I can go on and on. In spite of its allures, however, I pity bankers because many of them had gone to prison for crimes they never actually committed. I pity them too because many must have died prematurely over loans and advances that they either refused to give or that they gave but which later turned out to be bad loans. Be that as it may, I must thank whoever or whatever averted UBN's dissolution under Charles Soludo's 'consolidation' of the banking sector in 2005 for contributing immensely to my father's longevity. The bank was his life and he was ever proud to introduce himself as a retired Union Bank manager, with a big emphasis on the bank's name.

But what has happened to the banking sector in the country? Where is the honesty of old, the hard work and discipline that still made it possible for someone like my father with only limited academic qualifications to rise to the position of manager in an established bank like UBN? We need some soul-searching.

Of course this piece would not be complete without mentioning the fact that my father was a strict disciplinarian. This runs through in almost all the tributes on him.

He was also a devout Christian. I was therefore not surprised that he died in the course of a sickness which began on August 5 on his way to a midweek service, and from which he never recovered.

May his soul rest in perfect peace as he returns to Mother Earth on October 10.

This column will be on leave for the next few weeks. Please bear with me.

CHIBOK GIRLS: STILL ON MY MIND

otufodunrin@thenationonlineng.net

08050498530(SMS only)

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Thinking aloud with Buhari

NCE in a while, October 1 Independence Day speeches usually contain some major new decisions of the federal government.

This year's 55th anniversary speech did not contain any. There were speculations that President Muhammadu Buhari may include the list of the much-awaited ministerial nominees in the speech.

It would have been odd if he did. The list is supposed to be sent to the Senate President who will inform the Senators about the nominations after which the nominees will be screened. The names were eventually sent after the close of Senate proceedings last Thursday and Nigerians have to wait till Tuesday for the full authentic list.

Buhari in his independence speech, however, justified the delay in naming his nominees explaining that there was need to first decide on how many ministries were needed to optimally carry the burden of governance.

"Impatience is not a virtue. Order is more vital than speed. Careful and deliberate decisions after consultations get far better results," he stated.

I share President's Buhari's admonition that impatience is not a virtue and the need to determine the number of ministries required, but I think he took longer time than necessary to complete whatever reorganisation he was doing.

From all indications, Buhari seems not ready to name the nominees yet four months after being sworn in. What he sent last Thursday, the last day of September which he had earlier promised, was a first list. It is not certain how soon the second or any other batch will be sent for screening.

Based on the speculations of the nominees in the list with the Senate, who are majorly former political office holders, many have been wondering why it took so long to name the familiar faces.

The antecedents of many of them are well known to Nigerians and what is supposed to be the unveiling of some 'angels' to carry out the anti-corruption crusade of the new government may well turn out to be an anti-climax.

It is up to the Senate to determine the suitability of the nominees as Ministers. Hopefully, the Senators will ask the right questions and ensure that we have the right team needed for the major tasks ahead of the Buhari government.

The president was right when he stated that every new government inherits problems and his is not different.

But as he rightly further noted, what Nigerians want are solutions, quick solutions, not a recitation of problems inherited. Anxious Nigerians have reasons to expect miracles based on the campaign promises of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which was the basis of the change they voted for.

The new government has started well on many fronts, but more action is still required to address some other issues like the economy policies which experts say are yet to be clearly defined.

Like a Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) Senator said last Thursday, Nigerians are tired of hearing of the havoc the Jonathan administration did, they want to know what the new government will do to redress the various challenges they are facing.

Nigerians who want change, however, have to appreciate the point President Buhari made that change does not just happen. We all have a role to play and except we do, our collective dream of a better country may not materialise soon.

14

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

COMMENT

Power separation: rule of law or tricks of politics?

A principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. It requires, as well, measures to ensure adherence to the principles of supremacy of law, equality before the law, accountability to the law, fairness in the application of the law, separation of powers, participation in decisionmaking, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness and procedural and legal transparency. --UN Secretary-General on the Rule of Law

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IGERIA'S democracy may amount to nothing if the principle of rule of law is endangered in any form. It will not matter if threat to the rule of law emanates from any arm of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. More important, commitment to the rule of law cannot afford to be just rhetorical; it has to be religious. There was evidence last week that many members of the 8th Senate acted in a way to suggest that they need to be reminded about the need for lawmakers in particular to adhere religiously to the rule of law at all times, if, ironically, they are not to contribute to the collapse of democracy in the country.

Shortly after the appearance of Mr. Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, 83 senators were reported to have expressed on the floor of Senate a vote of confidence in Saraki's presidency of the upper house. This announcement was sequel to a report that about 50 senators accompanied Mr. Saraki to the Tribunal when he made his first appearance there. During the debate preceding the expression of vote of confidence in Saraki by 83 of his colleagues, individual senators were reported to have stated that the principle of separation of powers had been endangered by the invitation of Saraki to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal to defend himself over allegation of misconduct.

There was evidence last week that many members of the 8th Senate acted in a way to suggest that they need to be reminded about the need for lawmakers in particular to adhere religiously to the rule of law at all times, if, ironically, they are not to contribute to the collapse of democracy in the country.

Senators' conflation of two distinct issues: Saraki's presidency of the senate and Saraki's need to respond to charges of false declaration of his assets confuses issues and misses the point.

Saraki is being charged for alleged misconduct committed long before he became senate president. Whatever anyone thinks about the politics of the charges, Saraki is being tried in an open court and therefore has a transparent platform to defend himself according to the law. A superior position that should have been taken by Saraki's admirers is to give him more free time to defend himself at the Tribunal without having to worry about day-to-day management of the senate. Taking such decision does not derogate from Saraki's innocence. If anything, it is capable of enriching the principle of rule of law. Mr. Saraki should have been viewed by those who rushed a vote of confidence in him as innocent until he is proven guilty by his accusers. With that mindset, it should have been clear to Saraki's colleagues that he does not need any special show of solidarity by his fellow senators to boost his confidence. Having pleaded not guilty to all the charges, Saraki should not need any pampering by his colleagues. All he needs are good lawyers and honest support of all categories of citizens who believe in Saraki's innocence.

Without doubt, the Senate President's confidence-boosting comrades acted with very little consideration for ethical standards expected of lawmakers and other citizens in public life. Knowingly or otherwise, Saraki's 83 senators acted as if they had no faith in the rule of law and independence of the judiciary.

As the nation's lawmakers, they ought to act more ethically by allowing the different branches of government of which they are a part to do their job without any harassment or intimidation. It is, therefore, not surprising that citizens have called the vote of confidence in Saraki an attempt to intimidate the judicial system of the country. It should have occurred

to the 83 senators that their rush of vote of confidence in Saraki, while he is facing charges of misconduct for actions taken long before he became senate president, is also liable to be viewed as an attempt to rig the judicial process, thus smashing the principle of separation of powers that the senators believed they could strengthen with expression of vote of confidence.

On his own part, Senator Saraki should not have had any difficulty in showing superior moral leadership to his colleagues' by withdrawing himself from the position of senate president while facing trial. Contrary to common belief, doing so would not have shown any weakness on his part or of fear of losing his senate presidency. If anything, it would have raised his moral stature among lawmakers and citizens who subscribe to high ethical standards in public life. It is true that the constitution does not call for temporary withdrawal from senate on his part, but he could have benefited tremendously from applying the wisdom; "discretion is the better part of valour" to the situation of divided attention caused by having to go to court on charges of misconduct while functioning as senate president. This is what most of his counterparts in other democratic countries would have done.

The rush of vote of confidence by 83 senators from the ruling and the opposition parties has more implications than may appear to the average observer of public affairs. Some social media pundits are already saying that the vote of confidence denotes fear about the impact of the case on Saraki's current political power and influence. There is also the possibility that such fear may not only be about Saraki. It is likely that the 83 senators may also be afraid of what can happen to them, should the executive branch, preoccupied as it is with a manifesto to fight corruption more aggressively than before, choose to open many more files of lawmakers, ministers,

and civil servants.

Furthermore, the pressure from the NASS in the last three weeks on the executive to release 64 billion naira constituency allowance to lawmakers and the legislators' resistance of citizens' strident calls for review of salaries and allowances of lawmakers suggest readiness on the part of the legislative branch to deploy its political arsenal to neutralise the call for higher ethical standards in government. While citizens are worrying about the sense in providing constituency allowance for lawmakers, senators are giving the executive an oppressive deadline to pay lawmakers' constituency allowances that could not be paid last year by the Jonathan presidency on account of dwindling revenue. The pressure for payment of 2014 constituency allowances for new and returning lawmakers smacks of efforts to divert the attention of the executive from focusing on realignment of the country's finances in view of continuous fall in national revenue.

If citizens want change, they have to pay close attention to direct and indirect attempts by the senate to politicise what is essentially a moral issue. Rushing a vote of confidence to divert citizens' attention from what is a moral or ethical case is absurd and diversionary.

Similarly, putting pressure on the executive to pay constituency allowance to the National Assembly at a time that calls for wholesale rationalisation should be high on the priority list of the country is capable of creating avoidable crisis between the executive and the legislature. From the consistency in his public declarations - national and international- there is no doubt that President Buhari is serious about his resolve to reduce corruption, mismanagement, and waste.

Nevertheless, citizens have to show unmistakable interest in sustaining the ethic of change, in view of growing enthusiasm of some lawmakers to return to the business-asusual model of governance.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

COMMENT

15

Vote of impunity Current reports that 84 senators passed a vote of confidence in Saraki show that we may have lawmakers who have vouchesafed their names and honour to a lie

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HE Senate undermined its own rule, and the rule of law, in its vote of confidence in Saraki.

The vote of confidence that sparked an uproar in the Senate on September 29 brings again into sharp focus some of the travesties in our democracy.

The President of the Senate, Dr. Olusola Saraki, had only a few days earlier appeared in a moment of shame before the Code of Conduct Tribunal over false asset declaration. In a move to throw a new momentum into the story, a vote of confidence was arranged to affirm the leadership.

But the reporting of the event failed to clarify an apparent ambiguity. The first report said 84 senators voted. Later, Senator Babajide Omoworare, representing Osun East Senatorial District, protested. He said he was not consulted and his name made the list out of an arbitrary decision.

Also, former senate president and Saraki's immediate predecessor, David Mark, walked out of the hall. The reports also did not say whether all the 84 senators who allegedly voted in favour, and the 35 who voted against, were present in the hall at the time the votes were reportedly cast to affirm the leadership of Dr. Saraki.

The other issue concerned Senator Kabir Marafa, representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District. He had raised an objection that a Senate Standing Rule forbade the chamber from discussing any issue before the court of law. The Standing Rule was Order 53(5). Yet the Senate defied its own working rule to ask for a vote of confidence.

He was shouted down, when he insisted on being heard. Saraki would rather insist on Standing Rule 53 (6) that forbade any senator to raise an objection to a matter that the senate president had ruled upon. It was a case of impunity against the highest law making organ in the land, by its highest ranking member!

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KUN people and APC's running mate for Audu Without doubt, Okun people and Kogites from the other ethnic groups in Kogi State both at home and abroad who are familiar with the level of untold poverty that has continued to stare the people in the face would vehemently disagree and distance themselves from the shadowchasing attitude exhibited by one Pastor Femi Obalemo while speaking for himself instead of Okun people in respect of the choice of Hon. James Abiodun Faleke as running mate to Prince Abubakar Audu, the APC flag bearer in the forthcoming November 21, 2015governorship election in Kogi State A painstaking digestion of the report in question clearly shows that Pastor Obalemo has chosen to be economical with the truth and the realities on ground in the political terrain of Kogi State. One thing is certain, the man could be seen not only to have goofed on all the issues raised by him but it is equally glaring that he was all out to play politics with the precious lives of his people by working against CHANGE that would inevitably make life more meaningful not only for his people but all the other ethnic groups in the state.

Today, five Local Government Areas are inhabited by Okun people and these are KabbaBunu, Ijumu, Yagba-East, Yagba West and Mopa-Amuro, but the million dollar question for

Impunity never gets more naked.

On the issue of Senator Omoworare and the walkout by the former senate president, questions must be asked: how did the Senate gather those names? When and where did they amass the names? How come one of the names in the list did not issue from a consent from the bearer of that name? Was that the same reason that Mark walked out, knowing that esprit de corps and political "decency" forbade him from openly disagreeing with his successor?

If Omoworare protested, does it mean the others who kept silent operated on a code of coercion? That is, they did not agree, and they did not want to be seen to object openly to the moves of the senate leadership?

If that is not the case, how come then that Omoworare's name entered the list, and no one has been able to challenge his claim? What this implies is that we have law makers of the highest chamber of the land, who may have vouchsafed their names and honour to a lie.

What sort of law makers would do that? Law makers who have little regard to the dignity of their mandates and the integrity of their conscience?

Senator Marafa's point is also illuminating.

Standing Rule 53(5) takes precedence over Standing Rule 53(6). It is commonplace logic that if a matter is in the court and the Senate should TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh

•Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile

•Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye

•Associate Editor Sam Egburonu

•General Editor Adekunle Ade-Adeleye

not discuss it, then the president of the Senate should not rule on it. So, what Saraki did was to bring the logic of an individual over the institution.

Put simply, the confidence vote was an act of impunity.

Saraki had no right to bring the matter of vote of confidence before the chamber because it was already in the court. Whatever bellicose indiscretions Senator Marafa displayed, the basic impunity charge lay with the senate president who could not hold sacrosanct the rules of the Senate he was charged to preserve.

Why would the Senate then keep voting on confidence so frequently on their president? Is it that the Senate is out of sync with the rule of law?

The matter is in the court of law, yet the law makers have already made their verdicts. They clearly have no respect for the law and have put themselves at odds with the momentum of the war against corruption.

The House of Representatives acted with greater sensitivity associating itself with the anticorruption sentiment. Impunity has become such an integral part of some of the conduct of our politicians that even sacred matters easily fall into their sewer.

It is not enough for Senator Saraki to allege external influences in his legal ordeal. It is for him to follow due process in the adjudication of his case.

He has failed to abide by the simple process in the vote of confidence in his chamber, and that probably accounts for his initial decision to avoid showing up in the court of law when he was summoned to face charges of corruption against him.

The Senate was created by law and those charged to run it must understand that the law is above them. If the senators do not manifest this rudimentary principle, it means our democracy has not really evolved.

LETTERS

Okun people and APC's running mate for Audu Pastor Obalemo is: Traversing the entire length and breadth of Okunland, can he deny the fact that abject poverty is the other name for his people?

Hon. James Abiodun Faleke is a politician of repute who God has imbued with good qualities.

His choice, therefore, by Governor Audu as his running make can aptly be described as the act of putting a round peg in a round hole. Pastor Obalemo as an expert in debt management should explain to Okun people why the burden of loan repayment is being heaped on the present and unborn generations of his people and Kogites as a whole owing to bad governance that has continued to make the rich to be richer and

the poor to be poorer in the state.

Back to the choice of Faleke as a running mate, the likes of Pastor Obalemo should know that the choice of a running mate rests squarely on the governorship flag bearer of any party and for Prince Abubakar Audu to have decided on the choice of Faleke, he must have weighed the pros and cons and considered many factors as an experienced politician and a political father in Kogi politics before settling down for the choice of Faleke.

The insinuation by Pastor Obalemo that Faleke was imposed on the people of Kogi State does not only hold water but is one that is designed to score political cheap points by scheming to cause disaffection

among the All Progressives Congress aspirants who contested in the party's primary for the forthcoming governorship election on one hand and the Abubakar Audu/ Faleke ticket on the other hand.

Okun people are not fools and their determination to effect change with their votes come November 21, 2015 is growing stronger each passing day.

On Pastor Obalemo's view that the issue of power shift in the Kogi State in 2019 "must be within the context of those who have spent their energy and services for the struggle and not a 'foreign mercenary' that will end up serving his god father in Lagos. Again, there is need for the likes of Pastor Obalemo to

be told in a plain language that the struggle for power shift for years had remained a project which all Okuns both in Nigeria and outside the country have all been dissipating their energy on and for him to give a wrong impression that the glory of power shift should only go to a segment of Okun people with a view to scoring another political cheap point is tantamount to heaping of insults on the sensibilities of all Okun people.

It is high time Pastor Obalemo knew that the people are wise enough and therefore cannot be swayed by frivolities or sweet political talks as epitomised in the same newspaper publication that is under reference. Faleke is a prince who was born and bred

Rest well, Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf

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HEN I read of the death of late Hajiya Balkisu Yusuf in the social media around 2.am, I could not sleep any longer until I went for my subihi prayers, where I prayed for her soul.

I have been an ardent follower of late Hajiya Balkisu Yusuf when she was the editor of Triumph

newspaper in Kano.

I never knew she also took interest in my contribution in media, until when she replied to one of my write-ups and said this is BALA NAYASHI MANDELA we listen to every Saturday in the popular Radio Nigeria audience-participation programme radio link.

Since then, we have been in touch through phone and I never missed her column every Thursday in the Daily Trust where she ran a weekly contribution.

Late Hajiya Balkisu Yusuf will be remembered as human right activist, women emancipator and above all a religiously upright woman that had left her mark in the promotion

of Islam in Nigeria and outside the shores of this country.

Her death in the holy land should be a pride to us her supporters, her family and other admirers worldwide.

We take sole in Allah's injunctions that "to him we come and to him we shall return".

The late Hajiya Balkisu

in Ekirin-Ade. He not only had his primary education in his native town, he also attended Abdul Aziz Atta Memorial School, Okene, for his secondary education and that is why the Central Senatorial zone where many of his friends both political and non-political come from has continued to be his second home. The bitter truth is that Kogites are tired of being classified as being the most backward among the existing 36 states in Nigeria today. Any amount of campaign of calumny will therefore not help the likes of Pastor Obalemo to help them to succeed in scoring any political cheap point in the face of the determination of the people for CHANGE through Abubakar/Audu ticket come November 21, 2015governorship election in Kogi State.

• Odunayo Joseph Mopa, Kogi State.

Yusuf worked and her contribution to human endeavour will continue to be the legacies she left behind, which will be remembered for a long time.

We extend our heartfelt condolence to her family, the media trust and teeming admirers on this great loss to humanity and the media world, not forgetting the human rights community.

•Bala Nayashi No 1 Yashi Areas, Lokoja

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

16

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

COMMENT

enough.

know that they Nigerians must be ready to storm this lie ifWetheymusteverlet them think that through continuing belligerence, they bastille (the National Assembly) their can cause anti-democratic elements to intervene because the civilised

'Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay, are those who gain riches by unjust means.

When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools. - Jeremiah 17: 11

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T is a shame of monumental proportions that 84 members of the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could, in pursuit of juicy senate committees, permit themselves to be rail roaded into passing a vote of confidence in a man, albeit the senate president, standing trial on thoroughly scandalous charges before the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Granted that Senator Bukola Saraki is presumed innocent, a more honourable group should have prevailed on him to step aside until his honour has been fully restored. It says so much for the moral of these senators, many of them brandishing, not only higher degrees, but membership of distinguished professions. Writing on today's topic reminds me of Dr Segun Osoba, my teacher of unmatchable perspicacity, who taught both my Diplomatic History and Philosophy of History at degree level. Deploying deep insight and introspection, he had uncannily predicted today's Nigeria way back some five decades ago. That wasn't by magic, but the result of clearheadedness and a principled stand on the side of the PEOPLE in their interminable war against the supposed great men of power; the despoilers of common causes, and oppressors of the flotsam and jetsam of society. Like most rational thinkers, my teacher voted for Holism over and above, Individualism.

However, before we go into all that, let me most sincerely thank those who made my 70th birthday such an unforgettable and impactful event. This entire page will not contain their

names but the good Lord knows you all. They made me an open book, saying what they know and believe about me as Olu Aluko did when he wrote on ekitipanupo: "indomitable is an appropriate word to describe Oga Orebe who, at 70, is still rugged, dogged, persistent and as 'constant as the northern star - a man to admire and engage with, intellectually.

Amiable and well cultured, he is a good example of what people should perceive of the Ekiti man!" I have since replied to thank him while not forgetting to ask all the forumites, and everybody reading this, 'to kindly stretch a hand towards me in prayers to the end that the Almighty God will continue to instruct and guide me a right, to the last days of my life'.

What the group of 84 senators is doing, holding up Senator Bukola Saraki as being superior to other Nigerians and should therefore walk away with a slap on the wrist instead of defending himself before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, completely stands logic on the head as it makes nonsense of the Hegelian postulate that the whole is greater than the part, and that the state is superior to an anarchic agglomeration of individuals, no matter what name they call themselves. In Hegel's metaphysical doctrine - I don't know how much of this our aspiring emperors of the Nigerian senate know - value, integrity and common sense reside in the whole, not in the part just as the eye is worthless when separated from the body. In the instant case, Saraki and his colleague senators,

like the senate itself, are nothing more than a mere part of a country whose critical component are the PEOPLE. It is therefore numbing and defies all logic that Saraki, in being taken before a tribunal for his alleged personal transgressions, and having all the wherewithal to hire all of Nigeria's SANs, can suddenly be equated to the whole senate as is now being mischievously claimed by the complicit 84 members, uproariously insisting that the senate leadership is being targeted and embarrassed.

Senator Bukola Saraki, in case they truly do not know, is only an individual and no amount of grandstanding by any number of bigoted individuals, seeking after their own greed, must be allowed to shame the Nigerian judiciary as his mocking lawyers appear to be inclined. To succeed in that will mean that Saraki is a super man who can will whatsoever he wants on Nigerians. This is totally unacceptable and for every misguided pro-Saraki group demonstrating, there must be twenty or more, representing the interests of the Nigerian masses who remain victims of our politicians' anti social devises. This tit for tat must continue until those misguided senators know that it's inadvisable for them to hop up to Abuja, any longer, because they have proved to be enemies of the Nigerian people.

For a whole sixteen years, these people, together with some who are now outside the power loop, but all the same luxuriating in their stupendous loot, ran this country aground, pauperising its peoples in the process. Now comes President

Buhari, ready to right millennial wrongs since he appreciates that stealing is corruption but they think they can hamstring his administration.

Nigerians say no. Indeed, they have a surprise waiting for them from the Nigerian masses and workers whose mere N18,ooo.oo monthly salary remains unpaid for months before President Buhari came to their aid. It will be a shame of unimaginable proportions should pauperised Nigerians look askance and allow this ongoing Abuja shenanigan by a people who, by their own admission, earn unimaginable remuneration.

In his defence when the EFCC arrested a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, it became common knowledge that these legislators, consequent upon a decision at an executive session on 30, March 2010, earn the following unappropriated remunerations: Speaker - N100m, Deputy Speaker, N80m, House Leader N60m, Deputy House Leader N57.5m, Chief Whip N55m, Deputy Chief Whip, N54.5m, Minority Leader, N54.5m, Minority Whip, N50m, Deputy. Minority Leader, N50m, Deputy Minority Whip, N50m'.

Is it a surprise then they have been fighting to the death wanting to grab these sinecure positions?

These remunerations may have since been increased and Nigerians can only imagine what senators must be taking home quarterly from the national purse if the above is paid to House members. This, I imagine, is why they have now decided to distract President Buhari. And Nigerians just must say enough is

world hugely respects President Muhammadu Buhari for that eventuality to happen. Indeed, no soldier worth his commission will attempt that, having seen what transpired in Burkina Faso this past week. These senators, who are obviously not busy except mounting a guard of honour for Senator and Mrs Saraki wherever EFCC takes them, should find something worthwhile to do with their time.

They should let Saraki be man enough to answer for his own actions.

Saraki comes well prepared: a medical doctor, two-time state governor and Senate President. His fair weather friends, as he would soon know, should allow him defend himself so that, rather than being remembered for those charges, history would record him as a man who stood up for his actions. Enough, too, of this chimera. Senator Bukola Saraki cannot equate the senate. He represents only a third of Kwara State in that hallowed chamber and the charge he faces is not against the senate as an institution. Those who are saying so should know that they are being laughed at all over the civilised world.

For Nigerian politicians in general, there can be no better way of ending this piece than to quote Joe Igbokwe in his article in The Nation of 1st October, 2015 where he wrote:"Nigeria at 55 with Muhammadu Buhari as president provides a new window for all of us to sit up and be smart in re-ordering the way we do things. The massive flow of refugees from Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Africa into Europe should be food for thought for our leaders. Boko Haram insurgents, MASSOB and Niger Delta militants remain a big challenge to all. We must rise above ethnic sentiments in order to confront these threats and build the Nigeria of our dream."

Happy birthday, dear ol' girl!

In all fairness, some of us have wept for you; some have cried out in your defence; some have even shed their blood on your behalf. But it just appears that those who have given up next to nothing for you are the ones bent on taking everything you have to give.

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APPY birthday, Nigeria.

I am sending this birthday card to you a little late, but you know what they say, better late than never. Besides, I say that the best ones come last, e.g. wine at a party. I would have sent it earlier anyways, but I have been a little stumped on what exactly to write to cheer you up.

What with all your dismal and chequered stories of wasted opportunities, generations and even until recently, lives, it's all we can do to hang on to our seats in this cinema of horror passing horror! The years do add up, though don't they, ol' girl?

Just look at you, all grown up at fiftyfive! What, still growing? Well, it is a matter of perspective, isn't it, to determine who is grown and who is growing. But, if you say you are still growing, then so be it. I mean, when a dog barks, who is to argue with him on what he means by it exactly?

Look at me now, at your age, I considered myself all grown. How I knew? Well, by the time you begin to notice that when you look in the mirror, you see some smooth areas of your skin surrounded by many variegated lines of wrinkles; or when you walk with your eyes on the ground so that you don't fall cause if you do, they are going to need a crane to pick you up; or when you bend down, you have to hold your waist as you rise cause it's all gone, baby gone; or when you keep telling people not

to block your view by standing in front of the TV until someone tells you that there's no one there, it's your eyes that have gone rheumy; I say when these things begin to happen, you know you are going somewhere.

Trust me, I know; at that age, there is no more 'up' to grow to, it's only 'down' baby, down.

You see, girl, fifty-five is the age when people tell you a lot of lies, and because you are so vulnerable, you believe them. People actually tell you that you are still looking good. Don't be fooled, looks don't mean a thing.

Ask Marilyn Monroe, ask Jackie Kennedy, ask me. Did you say I don't belong in that group? Come now, is this the time for splitting hairs?

Anyway, people will also tell you, how strong you are! Again, don't be fooled; you know what support cast you have to walk with. It is just you and your doctor who both know how many pills you have to pop in a day: a blue one for your rheumatic joints, a white one for diabetes, a red one for hypertension and a green one to help you remember your spouse's name each morning.

Fifty-five is clearly also the age when you need a little help from your first child to remember the names of his/her siblings. Those ones don't usually want anything to do with your fossilised self anyway. It is also the age when your friends have to gather and eat your cake for you not

because you like to see them around you (truth is you would rather not) but because you cannot eat any of that cake yourself if your doctor has his way. Girl, at fifty-five, you have a lot to be thankful for; you get by with the help of your friends.

Oh dear, you say you have not been very lucky with your own set of friends, associates, citizens, or well wishers, and there doesn't appear to be much you can do about them?

Yeah, I know, your friends appear to be killing you right now. I forget now which nineteenth century writer said he'd rather be killed by his friends (they love him) than his enemies (that would be adding insult to injury). So, consider yourself lucky. In all fairness, some of us have wept for you; some have cried out in your defence; some have even shed their blood on your behalf. But it just appears that those who have given up next to nothing for you are the ones bent on taking everything you have to give, not caring whether they destroy you in the process. They just don't seem to like you.

I know, I know, you have been given so much in trust for us. Look at the extremely vast areas of very, very arable land you have in your keeping; look at the very vast amounts of solid and liquid minerals you are holding for our collective benefits; look at the vast amounts of human resources you have placed at our disposal. Yet, we have all but ruined you for our

selfish and parochial interests.

You have certainly seen it all, haven't you? You have been ruled by vagabonds and killers; you have accommodated innocent massassisted suicide hysterics-cumcitizens who have turned killers; you have also tolerated the inactive ones who are neither killers in government nor are in citizens' bombing squads but have done nothing to help you.

You have regarded everything and everyone with your bemused, sad and lonely gaze with admirable equanimity. Yet, I know you're bleeding for yourself and for us even if we cannot see your bleeding heart.

Because we are so blind and blinkered, no one has lifted a hand in your favour. So now, you have no one to call your own. There are people in Nigeria, but no Nigerians!

Many of the things we do appear to pitch us on your side. See how much religiosity there is in the land.

The churches are all but filled with converts gyrating endlessly in ecstasy while the mosques are pelting out calls for prayers at all hours, both waking day and sleeping night. Yet, not one of us shows that we even know the Almighty in any remote sense. Our psyches have been collectively and unidirectionally tuned towards taking, taking, taking out of the national cake, even killing for it while giving nothing to you in return. We are all, to a man, on no one's side but our own; and you are

all alone.

Actually, you are to blame, partially.

You have given us this much really, without adding the necessary and commensurate intelligence that would enable us use all these effectively for the greater good. Look at so many other lands with no resources whatsoever; whether liquid or solid - just see how they are able to manage the only resource nature has given them, their brains.

Why did you not cut us a large size of the stuff too, brains I mean? I am seeing that in the Nigerian, it would appear that the black man is really short on the stuff. This is why avowed killers are in government and people help themselves to government funds in amounts that rival the national budgets of some countries. Still wonder that a people can be so blessed and still be so stupid?! It is all your fault.

In spite of all these though, ol' girl, I don't despair; you still have a fan club rooting for you. I believe your bones will still rise from the ashes to gloriousness. The path might be long, rough and stony but the light at the tunnel will continue to be a strong pull for you. On this your birthday, dear girl, here's my glass raised in a toast to you: may your story be long, your tail be short and your ending wear a hat. Happy birthday ol' girl! •This article was first published in 2012 and it is still as relevant today as it was then.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

COMMENT

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T is Thursday, October 1, 2015. I am writing these words, this column about six hours after the event I am about to reveal took place. I had just finished teaching my last class for the week at Emerson Hall. The class had gone very well and for this reason, I was in a pleasant mood. All teachers like their classes to go well no matter how long they have been teaching and how many teachers they have produced in the course of a long career.

And there was also the fact that I was looking forward to a long "weekend" that would go beyond Sunday and Monday to Tuesday, the day on which my first class next week would take place. It was within the soft emotional glow of these pleasant thoughts that one of the students in the class that I had just taught approached me and with a warm, beaming smile said to me: "Happy anniversary, Prof". A little taken aback, I replied, "what anniversary"? realizing at the very instant that I asked the question that she is Nigerian and was referring to the anniversary of the country's independence. And so before she could respond to my puzzling question, I said, "Oh, but of course, happy anniversary!" To this, I then added a rather mumbled explanation that my initial response of "what anniversary?" is a product of the fact that I normally do not remember birthday anniversaries, my own and our country's included.

In the short conversation that followed this initial exchange with this young compatriot, the thing that stood out the most in my memory is the fact that she was very enthusiastic, very hopeful about many things "Nigerian", so much so that she effectively sent a powerful if subliminal message to me that her state of mind, her euphoria distinctly reflected a generational outlook on the present historical period. She told me that she was in her senior year as a Biology major intending to go on to medical school with hopes of eventually qualifying and being certified as a medical doctor.

She said that the majority of Nigerianborn students at Harvard were majoring in subjects that would lead to professions in medicine, engineering, law and business. She said mine was one of the very few courses in the Humanities she had taken in her three and half years at Harvard. She said that she is a member of the Nigerian Students Association and that they were planning a big gala in celebration of the country's 55th anniversary on October 11 and I should please be sure to be there as guests were going to be regaled with many festive items like delectable Nigerian cuisine, music, a fashion show and a grand ball.

Oh, to be young and full of hope and a joyful openness to all of life's possibilities again! This was undoubtedly the sentiment that I went away with earlier this afternoon after that conversation with this young student of mine. But closely following in the wake of this good-natured "envy" of the young by a man about to enter the eighth decade of his life was the recollection that throughout the first decade of our independence in the 1960s, I had also, like this young woman, been very hopeful, very sanguine about what the country, together with my sense of its place in Africa and the world, had in store for me and members of my generation who did well at school and university.

Let me be very specific here.

When, at the end of the first decade of independence I graduated from U.I.

Those of us who are 'older' than the country: October 1st reflections

•Unilag gate

I was not unaware of the fact that I was one of a tiny fraction of the members of my generation that had received a first-rate education that could take me to any educational or professional heights that I aspired to, not only in Nigeria but anywhere in the world.

Over the decades, I have written extensively about the elitist privileges, together with the scholarships, that made possible the education that I received at U.I. as an undergraduate and in America as a graduate student.

Additionally, I have written on countless occasions that my awareness of this elitism was, I hoped, neutralized by the fact that I and other members of the radicalized segments of our generation dedicated ourselves to extending the privileges from which had enormously benefitted to the less privileged groups and individuals in our society. However, as one decade succeeded another in the postindependence era, the realization gradually dawned on us that it was our fate to be the very last "fortunate" generation among the other generations of living Nigerians who, in the words of the title of this piece, are "older" than the country.

It is perhaps necessary at this stage in these reflections to clarify exactly what I have in mind in the phrase "older than the country" together with the observation that I belong to the very last "fortunate" generation among this composite cohort of Nigerians that are "older' than the country. The phrase "older than the country" can be quite succinctly explained as a literal and perhaps even reductive understanding

of the age of the country as appertaining only to the postindependence period. But we all know that with regard to the peoples and societies of which it is made, "Nigeria" is much, much older than 55! On this account, I and members of the small demographic group of Nigerians that are older than 55 - far less than 10% of the population - are not older than the country in any substantive sense. In other words, the "birth" of the nation is unlike the birth of an individual, any individual: one is subject to the biological determinism of one single life and its eventual demise; the other transcends biology and includes aeons of time and experience that come in stages or cycles of growth and decline, retrogression and renewal.

The phrase "the very last fortunate generation" among living Nigerians over the age 55 has its resonance within this idea of cycles of decline and renewal in the stages of the historical being and becoming of the country.

Let me be very concrete about what I have in mind here. Only five years separated my graduation from U.I. and my return to the university as a young lecturer but within that very short space of time, all the privileges, all the conveniences and all the rituals of an Oxbridge-type education that we had enjoyed as undergraduates had vanished completely and forever in the experience of all subsequent generational cohorts of university students since that time. Some of the vanished privileges were trivial while some were decisive and life-changing.

Let me give only one example of the

more trivial and ridiculous dimensions of our "fortunate" generational experience: Sunday afternoon "tea" comprising tea or coffee as beverages, with cakes and ice cream as complements all consumed in unison with the Hall Master and the Wardens seated at the High Table. By the end of the 1968/69 session Kuti Hall, of which I was a resident member, was the only hall of residence that was still clinging to a strict observance of this ritual. But during the second term of that academic year, the hall authorities decided to follow the lead of the other halls of residence and do away with Sunday afternoon "tea". We successfully revolted against the cessation of the ritual and to my eternal embarrassment I was one of the leaders of the revolt!

The real "fortune" of our experience as the very last generation to be truly privileged with regard to the conditions under which we were tutored can be gauged by the inestimable fact that we were the last set of Nigerian university students to receive a qualitative education that was the equal of university education anywhere else in the world. I should qualify this portentous claim by two observations. First, it is my belief, my fundamental article of faith that quality education should be the birth right, the civil right of all the young citizens of our country, of indeed all the countries of the world. Second, quality education did not vanish entirely from the Nigerian university system with my generation; it was just the case that as from around the late 1970s, you

could find it only in bits and fragments that were unequally distributed among the faculties and lecturers of our universities. For instance, when I taught at both Ibadan and Ife between 1975 and 1987, most students knew which faculties were reputed to have good numbers of conscientious and dedicated lecturers and which faculties were deemed relatively indifferent to high standards of teaching and research.

By contrast, in our day, virtually all faculties were deemed reputable; moreover, we had the environment, the facilities for quality education that was equal to any other national tertiary educational systems in the world.

In bringing these reflections to a close, I must now disclose the reason why my encounter with that student in my class earlier this afternoon of Thursday, October 1, 2015 sparked these thoughts in me. As we talked and she seemed to be proud of, and was rejoicing in how well Nigerian students at Harvard were doing, I wanted to gently remind her that Harvard students are some of the world's most privileged students; I had an inclination to remind her that hundreds of thousands of university students in Nigeria and millions around our continent and other developing regions of the world do not have even the most elementary infrastructures and the environment conductive to the kind of education that could prepare them for the demands of the world of the 21st century. Of course, I did not utter any of these thoughts to the student; I did not have the heart to spoil her spontaneous celebration that seemed to me both personal and collective in the sense that she was speaking for herself as well as for other Nigerian-born students at Harvard.

This leads me to the most important point that I wish to make in these reflections on the 55th anniversary of our country's independence. I am afraid it is a gloomy thought; it is a thought that puts a damper on any hopeful prospects Nigerians might or should be feeling in the wake of the change that came with the last presidential elections: revitalizing education is by far the toughest task that Buhari and his administration will face and I have very serious doubts that they will be up to the challenge. This challenge is far more daunting than the war against corruption and I don't think the new administration is aware of this. Yes, there are other seemingly intractable challenges like widespread poverty, joblessness and insecurity of life and possessions in many parts of the country. Heaven knows that these other challenges are monumental in their own right. But the challenge of reforming and revitalizing education in our country from its current utterly broken state is the mother and the father of all the other challenges that Buhari, his administration and the new ruling party will face, but I don't think they are in the least bit aware of this fact. This will be a topic that we shall be exploring in future essays in this column. •Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

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EDUCATION is an issue I am tremendously passionate about. The correlation between the theme of this conference, Learning Technologies, and my educational and work experiences is rather fortuitous.

I can speak authoritatively about the virtues of open learning technologies having used the platform to successfully complete my Ph.D. degree despite work commitments. Also, I served as the Project Lead for the initiative that revived the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in 2001. This assignment entailed working with the World Bank and undertaking study visits to at least 6 Open Universities around the globe. It also involved working with the UNESCO Working Group on Distance Learning and attending international conferences that focused on open learning.

Apart from the role it played in my personal and professional evolution, I have come to associate the underdevelopment of the Nigerian state with its inability to essentially facilitate the harnessing of the critical human mass that will backstop its development plans and objectives.

In my little monograph, The Joy of Learning (2010), I had the opportunity to outline the critical connection between learning and national development. Someone once said that “'Knowledge is power' is the finest idea ever put into words.” True. But then it is also the most tragic for any nation not to realize. We have toyed with that idea, but we have not yet unlocked its awesome possibilities. We have enormous human resources, but we have not fully tapped into them. Bill Gates once remarked that “A digital nervous system enables a company to do information work with far more efficiency, depth, and creativity.” We can say no less for the development of any nation too.

My current role as the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology has also enriched my experience by giving me unique insights into information and

I

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

COMMENT

T is common knowledge that President Muhammadu Buhari and his loud band of minders campaigned their way into the hearts of fellow compatriots and the biggest office in the country with the memorable chant of CHANGE. While those who can still call their souls theirs will not contend against the glaring truth that Nigeria is in dire need of an oceanic change in all facets and sectors of its national life, what is rather puzzling is that those who champion the cause of the needed change hardly bother to beam the floodlight of change in the way certain things are done in the hallowed office. Here I am speaking of the speeches of the President. I stand with Farooq Kperogi in his brilliant observation (published by Sahara online portal on September 6, 2015, with the title ‘From Febuhari to ‘’Wailing Wailers’’: linguistic creativity decline of the Buhari brand’)that ‘President Buhari’s political brand is going from being the most linguistically innovative in the run-up to the last general election to being lackluster and plagued by grammatical and creativity deficits’.

As a compulsively conscious minder of everything Nigerian, I have, at great pains, listened to President Buhari’s extemporaneous speeches and read some of the written ones, delivered in and out of Nigeria. I have nothing to gain from recklessness and frivolity, and as such they do not motivate my observations of his oral and written speeches. I am one of the few Nigerians who have not been impressed with the President’s planned and unplanned

Rethinking the nexus between technology and education in Nigeria

By Tunji Olaopa

communication technology (ICT) issues at both global and national levels particularly with respect to using ICTs to drive development in areas such as education. My presentation today is therefore partly informed by a combination of these experiences and antecedents.

In the last 15 to 20 years, I have witnessed in amazement the remarkable transformations that have been brought about by ICT. We all daily live these changes which have greatly impacted different sectors of the world economies including financial systems, health care delivery, commerce and trade, weather and traffic management, airline reservations and travel, consumer electronic devices, etc. According to Nicholas Negroponte, a US writer, “Like a force of nature, the digital age cannot be denied or stopped. It has four very powerful qualities that will result in its ultimate triumph: decentralizing, globalizing, harmonizing, and empowering.” Today, over 3.2 billion in the world are internet users with over 6 billion cell phone users. In Nigeria alone, there are over 150 million active phone lines for a population of approximately 170 million people. In today's world, the youths are not only the largest consumers of ICT contents but are also the leading creators of online contents some of which are educational in nature.

In fact, the advent of the mobile devices such as smart phones, phablets, tablets, apps, drones and the rapid rise of the number of mobile phone users and the number of people with Internet access has thrown up more opportunities as well as challenges that affect us all. The advent of the Internet of Everything (IoE) has given rise to aggressive roll out plans by most major Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to ensure that within the next 10 years, every device being

used by the human race will be connected to the Internet. With IoE, each device such as cars, microwave ovens, refrigerators, air conditioners, watches, etc. will be designed and built with Internet ready embedded smart chips and sensors. The IoE will clearly make for a much more connected world wherein distances will truly “no longer matter”.

In the midst of all these developments, how is our education system stacking up or leveraging all of these digital technologies? To what extent are students using their expensive smart phones for learning? How many of the lecturers are using social media technologies to connect with these “digital generation” students as part of the teaching process? How will the role of lecturers change with respect to being teachers or facilitators? To what extent do the research projects in our tertiary institutions reflect the technology innovation taking place in Silicon Valley and education innovation taking place in the Boston Axis of the U.S.A? How much of the terabytes of data being generated by these students (using their smart phones) are being captured, analyzed and used for decision making by their respective education institutions? How much of the aforementioned advances are we using as a nation to address the myriad of challenges we are facing in our education system today particularly with respect to insufficient capacity within traditional brick-andmortar education institutions, shortage of teachers, examination malpractice, cultism and other social ills, historic insufficient funding and projected dwindling resources from falling oil revenues, exorbitant costs of printing and distributing hard copy textbooks, etc. Knowledge is the only meaningful resource today, so says Peter Drucker. And that knowledge is driven by

technologies and channeled by nations into myriad of policies and development dynamics in a manner that make for national progress.

There is abundant evidence that education is already taking advantage of some of the emerging digital technologies to support teaching and learning. We can see that from some of the exhibitions at this event. However, we would argue that to truly derive great benefits from the advancement of digital technologies, our education system cannot simply be “enabled” using existing digital technologies as an afterthought.

ICT cannot simply be seen as a “support” function for operations such as student testing, managing accounts and finance, admission management, library management, etc. It is our firm belief that there is an urgent need to come up with new and sustainable education models designed for a digital era and the “digital generation” of students. Why? Simple reason: ICT contributes to the general IQ, or better still development quotient (DQ), of any nation through the adequate and appropriate technologizing of its educational frameworks. These new education models must be designed within the context of an increasingly connected world of digital technologies and social media addicted students. We cannot afford to simply adapt these digital technologies to the existing, and somewhat flawed, education models. In other words, the digital technologies mindset, world view and culture must be an integral part of the design of the new education models being proposed. These technologies, we can say, help facilitate a development-oriented educational system at the speed of thought, to borrow from Bill Gates.

To underscore the importance of coming up with new education models within the context of a new digital world order, let us examine

President Buhari’s speeches and their gaps

By Ademola Adesola

addresses. Too many gaps and gaffes define them. Most times, the speeches neither educate nor do they entertain at the level of elegance. If you are weaned on elegant prose and have increasing appetite for excellently realised literary expressions and engaging mnemonic phrases, you will deprive yourself of happiness to look to President’s Buhari’s speeches for one.

I read (with all sincerity I have difficulty making meaning of his words, hence I try to refrain from listening to him read) his first Independence Anniversary Address since assuming office and I encountered the same blandness in thoughts and flatness in expressions, plus the usual assorted grammatical bloomers. For that, I am inclined to agree with Paulo Coelho that ‘a mistake repeated more than once is a decision’. Buhari and his scriptwriters seem to have elevated inelegance in thoughts and writing to the upper chambers of excellence in the same way they have raised the anti-corruption war to the same level as structured, modern governance.

It is against the foregoing backdrop that I weigh in with the following thoughts.

Writing is easy, but writing well requires a greater dose of efforts. Thus, those who think and write for the president of a country cannot be those who just write. They have to be people who think progressively more profoundly and write well. Andre

Breton educates us clearly on this requisite requirement when he says, ‘Of all those arts in which the wise excel, Nature’s chief masterpiece is writing well’.

Certain presidential speeches across the world refuse to negotiate obscurity because those who wrote them had depths and the facilities of mind to write well. Those enduring speeches are products of efforts – structured applicationsof excellence through considerable and concerted efforts. When you encounter Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, you become a witness to the efforts demonstrated in their speeches. When you read Martin Luther King Jr., John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and Charles de Gaulle, you cannot miss the sheer breath of efforts evident in their clear thinking, cut-through logics, and entertaining literary richness. Have you pored over Nelson Mandela’s, Obafemi Awolowo’s, Kwame Nkrumah’s, Julius Nyerere’s, Nnamdi Azikiwe’s speeches, among a few other notable ones? You will never miss the pearls of good thoughts and the gems of elegant expressions even if all you do is a cursory reading. Or is there anyone who thinks Benjamin Netanyahu, Barack Obama, David Cameron, and, incredibly, Robert Mugabe, make speeches that are mediocrely produced?

President Buhari’s speechwriters must attune their Nigerian minds to this settled fact: When you are a president’s speechwriters, you either write well or

you do not venture there at all. When you are a president’s script authors, you must reflect and radiate the best of your craft always. You must improve your craft again and again. You must deploy your punctuations masterfully as you plot the graph of your thoughts masterly. The writer, Arlo Bates, articulately teaches that, ‘no man can write really well who does not punctuate well, who cannot vitally mean every punctuation mark as clearly as vigorously as he means any word’.It is the unvarnished fact those who write for the president have to face.

Nothing short of or shorn of excellence must define the speeches of a president. If the institution called the presidency is grand, its outputs in all particular areas must be unavoidably grand and deliberately indicative of the organised pursuit of excellence.

Everything about a president must ennoble the country, encourage the people to strive for positive values, and endear the young citizens to the values of excellence and virtues.

A lot is revealed in the speeches of a leader. Through a leader’s oral and written addresses we come to know the quality of their thinking; we know the depths of their minds; we know in the way the speeches are written whether the leader is given to the pursuit of excellence or ‘the enemy called average’.

Buhari and his speechwriters cannot continue to churn out hollow, flat, and inelegant texts and expect us to think they are visionary people committed

some of the challenges we currently face as a nation. First, there is the issue of insufficient capacity. For example, in 2014, of the over 1.7m students who sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), all the Nigerian universities have only a combined capacity to admit only 520,000 students of these students.

Clearly for a country as large as Nigeria, the reality is that the traditional brick-and-mortar academic institutions cannot keep pace with the rate of growth of student populations seeking tertiary education. We need to be looking at alternative forms of offering education to our teeming youth population all yearning to gain admission into tertiary institutions particularly the over 1 m who fail to gain admission despite being qualified for it. A digital technology-based Open Distance Learning is such an alternative worth considering.

Second, the high cost of traditional paper-based textbooks and limited access to learning materials is putting Nigerian students at a major disadvantage compared to their counterparts in other countries. The libraries are not only under-stocked but the few books they carry have to be shared between hundreds of students.

This situation is even worse for the larger universities with populations of over 30,000 students per university. Third, there is the issue of inadequate and sometimes totally missing infrastructure such as classrooms, libraries, broadband Internet access, student accommodation, etc. In light of the fact that many of the schools still expect the students to physically attend classes, this state of affairs greatly impedes the quality of education the students get. Fourth, there are other issues such as mismatch between what the students are taught and the knowledge and skills demanded by employers in the market place, cultism and other social ills, cyber crimes, inadequate research output, exam malpractice, and lack of quality and timely data to aid planning and day-to-day decision-making.

•Continued on Page 59

to the pursuit of excellence. They must reach deeper into themselves or seek help to say what notable thing they need to say notably. They must remark remarkably and represent the grand office grandly. They must not be contented with punching below the weight of the Office of the President.

Speeches that will outlive the entire time of President Buhari in office and his life on earth must necessarily steer clear of the little pond of ordinariness, which adorn his speeches since taking office. I wish to demand of the President and his writers to begin the real change they so deafeningly campaigned about from the presidency. That institution has birthed too much garnished claptrap and is yet to produce ideas and values we all as citizens can be greatly proud to associate with. The transition that has taken place in that institution must not be without a corresponding lasting transformation. When the president’s speeches accommodate excellence in substance and form, the fear that those who lead Nigeria do not think will fade away. But if the present inhabitants of the Nigerian Presidency remain inured to the old mediocre, belittling ways of doing things, Nigerians will not be diffidentto say like Mahatma Ghandi, we ‘can retain neither respect nor affection for [a] government which has been moving from wrong to wrong in order to defend its immorality’ and mediocrity.

•Adesola, writes from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

LIFE

SUNDAY

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

TAIWO ALIMI, who recently visited Britain, captures the untold stories of Nigerians living legally and illegally in London.

• Continued on Page 20

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

20 SUNDAY LIFE • Continued from Page 19

•Uche

• Ereduwa

•Nigerian store in Peckam

•Babatunde

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

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SUNDAY LIFE 21

TRAVELOGUE

•An Historic place

Taiwo Abiodun who recently visited Lome recounts his journey

•Petroleum in bottles for sale in Cotonou

•Taiwo Abiodun in Benin Republic

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

SUNDAY LIFE

In the days of yore, a higher percentage of students were serious with their education and willing to study to graduate with a first class because of the juicy package it comes with. This is no longer so. Many first class graduates are roaming the streets looking for means of survival. Medinat Kanabe met a couple of them and reports.

• Akinyemi

• Waheed

• Bello

• Oyewole

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In FUNAAB's defence

...UNILAG also

OUT & ABOUT 27

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

Animasahun joins octogenarian club

Mrs. Edith Olusola Animasahun last Wednesday 30th September played host to family and friends at a classic birthday bash at Murtala Animasahun Estate, Ota, Ogun State. Prof Emeka Anyaoku was the chairman the occasion. Among those that shared in her joy were Otunba Adekunle Ojora and wife, Erelu Ojuolape, Oba Ojutalayo and wife, Chief Omiyemi Adeniji and wife, former police boss, Alhaji Musiliu Smith, and host of others.

Olusegun Rapheal was there

L-R: Celebrator's son, Lade Animasahun, Adeduro Emmanuel and Ponle Seyi

L-R: Celebrator, Chief Mrs. Yetunde Animasahun, chairman of the occasion, Chief Emeka Anyoku and Oba Ojutalayo cutting the birthday cake.

Otunba Adekunle Ojora and wife, Erelu Ojuolape

Adebayo installed Mogaji Age family of Ibadan

The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Samuel Odulana Odugade I, some weeks ago installed the chairman of Orlan Hotel and Orlan Oil and Gas, Chief Idris Salaudeen Adebayo, as the new Magaji Age Family, Idikan Ibadan. He was among the ten Mogajis crowned by Oba Samuel Odulana. The elaborate ceremony was held at the palace of the Olubadan at L R: Olori Sara Adebayo, the new Mogaji Age of Ibadan, Chief Monatan area of Idris Salahudeen Adebayo, and Otunba Dele Awe. Ibadan.

L-R: Vice-Chancellor, University of Uyo, Prof. Comfort Ekpo and The servant-leader Rose of Sharon Glorious Ministry Int'l, Surulere, Lagos, Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija during the quarterly 'Couples Retreat' of the church.

L-R: Mr. Kayode Olaiya (Aderupoko), Madam Rose Onyeka and Bose Ope

L-R: Mrs. Shola Oladeinbo, Alhaji Adio Salami, couple M.r and Mrs. Abodunrin, Hon. Tajudeen Obasa and bride's Alhaji Idris Olarewaju

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

ETCETERA

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi

POLITICKLE

deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

Maple Leaf journal

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

June 13, 2015 OUTSIDE the airport, it’s my turn on the fluid queue for a taxi. I get a grouchy, dark-skinned Haitian. I hand him the address of my hotel accommodation: Les Studios Hotel at the University of Montreal. We taxi off the premises. But my cabbie wouldn’t talk. So, I make him. For 35 years, Valerie’s been in Canada. Je parle francais un peu, I say in laboured French to get the conversation going. Tu connais Nigeriennes ici? You know any Nigerians here? Oui, il y a beaucoup de Nigeriennes, Ivoirriens. He doesn’t know the hotel’s location, though.

We check the printed booking. Oh, Universite de Montreal. We contrive to blow the recommended airport delivery or pickup charge of $40 as we deconstruct the Cote-des-Neiges area in search of my hotel. The metre which starts around $3.50 for tax, reads $36.50 at the end. Ill-disposed to a tip after a shocking mental currency conversion, I collect but do not count my first change, a bunch of coins. Feels strange to one coming from a ‘coinless’ economy.

After checking out a couple of superior single rooms, I settle for one on the fifth floor. It’s a block of university rooms, comfortable by (lower?) middle class Nigerian standards but Spartan by commensurate rating in Canada, I imagine. I make my first friend in Canada when I bump into Charles Francis by the elevator. Where are you from? Jamaica. Me? Oh, Nigeria. So, what’s up? I’m going out to eat, he says. Hang on a sec, I’ll be with you after I settle with reception.

Charles is tall, chocolate-skinned and soft-talking. We walk on to the campus cafeteria. I go for a buffet meal of macaroni with energy drink and water, all under 10 Canadian dollars, or 10 CAD. The coins come out again, bringing on another round of culture shock. Barely a day abroad and my pocket jingles with 50, 25, 10 and 5 cent coins as well as the big ones, $1 and $2 – the ‘loonie’ and ‘toonie’ to the initiated.

After the meal, we sit outside to talk. Roger’s adult education conference colleagues who happened by are surprised at his transformation. Conjuring the picture of a usual power dresser, they say my friend is nearly unrecognisable because he is ‘dressed down’. We laugh off the imagery and walk back to the hotel. It drizzles. Charles answers a call from his sister in the United States of America. It’s about his disoriented 18 year-old nephew.

U.S.A. is not the place for young men right now, he says. Are you following the racial developments in the U.S.? In (Barack) Obama’s face and all that.

They don’t even respect the man.

I fish for a reason. Is it because they are trying to decimate the black population; take out their young? Charles frowns. I don’t know. All I know is that it’s a big issue, and what you hear about, what gets reported, is just one of thousands, even though it’s about a daily occurrence.

Back at the hotel’s reception area, I’m sober. The football match on T.V. hardly interests me. The food for thought truly chills, more than the dish of pasta that nearly froze between the counter and my table at the cafeteria.

Drowsy, I manage to log on to the hotel wi-fi and send messages home. The phone slips from my grasp. It’s daylight yet at 8: 00 p.m. as I stagger to my room. I fall asleep before I hit the sack, I think.

Sometime in the night, I wake up coughing, probably from dust emanating from a room being cleaned in the building. Perhaps another guest checking in. I return to sleep with the aid of throat lozenges before finally rousing myself at 4:00 a.m. to freshen up and get organised for the day. Daylight streams through the window and I’m reminded of similar conditions on the previous year’s trip to Brazil.

On the receptionist’s directions, I walk to the nearest supermarket, Pharmacie Jean Coutu, to get necessary personal effects. It’s quite some distance and I soak in the sight, sound and smell of the environment. Despite the frenzy of renovation all around, Montreal, on first impression, appears old. It must be, with a long history. Nails, paint, planks and moving machinery barely mask an old-wood smell.

The pharmacy’s attendants switch from French to English and I try to do the reverse to unconvincing effect. Naturally, we end the transaction with a Merci beaucoup. Thank you too. In search of a different meal option afterwards, I embark on a kilometer-plus trek that terminates at the Basha Shopping Mall. My tummy rumbles as I take my turn to order. I’m disappointed by my plate, though. The roast chicken with white rice is sour, no, bitter. The flavour comes from vinegar, a friend tells me later. Urghh.

Jokes Humour The Push A MAN is in bed with his wife when there is a knock on the door.

He rolls over and looks at his clock. It’s 3 a.m.

“I’m not getting out of bed at this time,” he thinks, and rolls over.

A louder knock follows.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” says his wife.

He drags himself out of bed, and goes downstairs.

He opens the door and finds a man standing at the door.

It didn’t take the homeowner long to realise the man was drunk.

“Hi there,” says the stranger with a slur, “can you give me a push?”

“No, get lost, it’s 3 a.m. I was in bed,” says the man and slams the door.

He goes back up to bed and tells his wife what happened and she says, “David, that wasn’t very nice of you. Remember that night we broke down in the pouring rain on the way to pick the kids up from the baby-sitter and you had to knock on that

man’s house to get us started again? What would have happened if he’d told us to get lost?”

“But the guy was drunk,” says the husband.

“It doesn’t matter,” says the wife.

“He needs our help and it would be the Christian thing to help him.”

So the husband gets out of bed again, gets dressed, and goes downstairs.

He opens the door, and not being able to see the stranger anywhere, he shouts, “Hey, do you still want a push?”

A voice cries out. “Yeah, please.”

Still being unable to see the stranger, he shouts, “Where are you?”

The stranger says, “I’m over here, on your swing.”

A Drunk’s Prayer A DRUNK man was staggering home with a bottle of beer in his back pocket when he slipped and fell heavily.

Struggling to his feet, he felt something wet running down his leg.

“Please God,” he thought. “Let it be blood!”

•Adapted from the Internet

Writer ’s Fountain OP writing a d v i c e : But writing is hard work, good writing Fighting writer’s block — How do you even harder. If it were easy, more people get your ideas down on paper? The first thing would do it well. When you are stuck with a is to write the book. It is always the first thing. scene, write down something.

Like all great writers, you have to write a Sometimes it is just that first sentence – really great book. and it may be sheer torture. There are a dozen How writers do that remains a mystery, decisions you make by writing that first though. You could try writing a story that sentence. By making the decisions, you will fascinates you. If you get bored as you are quickly figure out which ones are right, and writing it, then, as the writer, simply make it which ones are wrong. interesting.

If you can’t even begin to start the scene, How do you stop writer’s block? Writer’s then write down some notes: John and Mary block probably hits when you lack confidence fight about her signing up for the army in yourself or in the story. Inspiration is a without telling him … and what? beautiful thing, and it is awesome when you Something needs to happen. And she sit down to write and everything comes decides to break it off with him? Write that easily. thought down. Or John could give Mary an ultimatum to go back down to the recruiting Jumping Jupiter: office and retract, or he will never speak to •Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede, is the largest her again? And what if she bumps into his moon in the Solar System, and is larger than friend Mike, who tries to cool things down the planets Mercury and Pluto. between them? She has never noticed Mike •Jupiter also has the shortest day of all the is so cool. planets. Although it has a circumference of See? Now, even though you aren’t getting 280,000 miles compared with Earth’s 25,000, the scene on paper, you are making the it manages to make one turn around the sun decisions that will help you get the scene on in 9 hours and 55 minutes. paper. You are doing the work.

T

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OCTOBER 4, 2015

Bayelsa: Can APC take its chance?

Pages 30

•Saraki

Saraki: Beyond PDP Senate caucus’ united front The trial of Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), may have ignited a crisis of confidence within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the Senate, reports Remi Adelowo

• Fayose

O

N the surface, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the Senate appears a united force backing the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who is currently standing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

A few days ago following the arraignment of the number three citizen at CCT, the PDP issued a statement pledging its total support and declaring that the party would not abandon Saraki in his trying moment.

But that may just be façade after all, if feelers emanating from the party are anything to go by. Sources in the party said the PDP lawmakers are divided

on the best approach to the "Saraki travail," with some vowing to remain loyal to him, while others are allegedly of the opinion that the Senate President deserves no sympathy.

For the pro-Saraki camp, the prevailing argument is that supporting him at this point is strategic with the long term objective of decimating the rank of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead the 2019 general elections.

But those on the other side of the divide think otherwise. Supporting Saraki, they contend, should not be compensated for his role in the crisis •Contd. on page 32

Cabinet: Ambode urged to put round pegs in Pages 33 round holes

Kogi guber: Wada, Audu in fresh battle royal Pages 34

30

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

POLITICS

F

OLLOWING the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll, the dynamics of the politics of his native Bayelsa State, were altered drastically. The age-long dominance of the politics of the state by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), according to political pundits, evaporated with the former President's loss.

And as the people of the state look forward to the December 5 date for the next governorship election, Governor Seriake Dickson and the ruling party are, in the opinion of many bookmakers, will be fighting to ward of the rampaging political onslaught of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

Consequently, the Governor, who has seen many chieftains and members of his party depart for the APC in recent times, is reportedly a very troubled man. But determined to get a return ticket to Creek Haven at the end of the poll, Dickson has vowed to stop the highly favored opposition party from forming the next administration.

Indications that the ruling party may have been badly hit by the loss of the presidency by Jonathan emerged early. At the state assembly elections, the PDP which had ruled the state since the return to democracy in 1999, and had won all the national assembly seats in the 2015 elections, lost four seats to the opposition in an unprecedented development.

The election also saw the opposition putting up impressive performances in areas of the state hitherto believed to be strongholds of Gocernor Dickson's ruling party. For example, in Brass, Kolokuma and Opokuma constituencies, the ruling party struggled against a determined opposition that fought it for every single vote.

"There is no hiding the reality that with the commendable performance of the opposition parties including the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the last National and State Assemblies elections, the politics of Bayelsa state is not the same again. Definitely, the 2016 Governorship race will be a tough one for the PDP. You will recall that the APC is currently at the Tribunal claiming that it defeated the PDP in about seven constituencies decided at the poll contrary to the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Many observers of the politics of the state are also saying INEC's results are fraudulent and should be challenged," State Co-ordinator of the Vigil for Democracy (VFD), George Ebikeme, said.

The pro-democracy activist however said although the PDP is in an unusual situation ahead of the December guber poll, it is too early to say the party is on its way out of government house.

"Yes, the PDP is deeply troubled in Bayelsa State, but the opposition should see that as a roller-coaster to victory. The opposition will have to take its chance to win in the state. The PDP hasn't been this challenged in the state before. But unless the opposition is ready to take all advantages and avoid unnecessary distractions, Dickson and his party may still wriggle through," he added.

First hurdle Before now, pundits have said the management of the process of selecting governorship candidates for the 2016 election by the PDP and the opposition APC may determine where the votes may swing in December. Many people had expected rancorous selection processes from the two leading parties given the arrays of aspirants that threw their hats into the ring.

But in spite of initial anxiety and uproar that preceded the primaries of the two party, both the ruling party and the opposition APC managed to select their candidates with little collateral damages.

•Sylva

Bayelsa: Can APC take its chance?

•Dickson

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are warming up for the governorship election of Bayelsa State in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan reports on the current political permutations ahead of the December 5 date of the guber contest.

Dickson, was on September 24, elected as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate for the December 5 polls.

He was chosen at the primaries of the party held at the Samson Siasia Stadium.

Declaring the result of the primaries in which Dickson was the sole candidate, Chairman of the PDP Electoral Panel and Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose said the incumbent polled 447 votes.

A total of 476 delegates led by former President Goodluck Jonathan were listed for the exercise. According to Fayose, 452 delegates were accredited and five votes were voided while 24 delegates were absent.

But that was just as many governorship aspirants including the then party Chairman, Late Sam Inokoba, a former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Timi Alaibe, and youthful Moses Siasia, left the party for the APC alongside thousands of their supporters.

Inokoba, who listed 10 reasons for leaving the PDP, said they were crossing over to the APC because the PDP government has derailed from its original objectives. He said they were disenchanted with the leadership style of Governor Seriake Dickson and lack of internal democracy in the PDP. He said Mr. Dickson had abandoned the tenets of good governance and set the state on a path of retrogression and dictatorship even in a democratic dispensation. He added that the PDP was bedeviled by endless intraparty squabbles and manipulation by the PDP governor.

Alaibe, noted that he was not changing for the sake of change but to steer the state from poverty to prosperity.

He said a state as endowed as Bayelsa had no business with poverty. He regretted that the state had not benefitted from its

natural endowments and pledged to work to install an APC government in the state.

There exit left the PDP bruised and battered and many predicted that with the APC set to have a less rancorous selection process, given the way it handled its affairs in Kogi State few days earlier, the PDP may have boxed itself into a conner. Although the Governor and his handlers made light of the defections, many party chieftains expressed worry over the development.

While APC finally settled for former Governor Timipreye Sylva as its candidate, the process, contrary to predictions, turned out not less rancorous than the PDP's. It took a re-scheduled primary election after a hotly disputed one, for the party to save itself from crisis following allegations of recklessness and intimidation.

Sylva scored 981 votes to win the ticket, beating Godknows Powel, who polled 39 votes to emerge runner up while Wallman Agoriba scored 28 votes to place third. This was after Alaibe had step out of the race. The duo of Sylva and Alaibe had engaged themselves in verbal warfare over the deputed primary election held a week earlier.

Announcing the result at the APC secretariat in Yenagoa by Mansur Alli , Chairman, Electoral Committee, Bayelsa APC primary election, said a total of 1147 delegates were accredited.

According to Mr. Alli, a retired brigadier general, “Out of 1147 accredited delegates for the primary election, Mr Timipre Sylva scored 981 to win other 18 aspirants who participated.

APC's chance?

With the PDP bedevilled by internal crises following the expulsion of prominent chieftains and the defection of Alaibe and company, many people are expecting the APC, having managed to ward off an imminent

implosion at its primary election, to utilize the chance presented to it and win the December election.

Aside from the problem occasioned by Dickson's emergence as the sole candidate at its primary election, the ruling party is also currently battling with subtle power tussle among stakeholders in the state, including the Governor, members of the National Assembly and the aides of the former President.

"PDP is really troubled and it is obvious that the party is going into the next election divided. The Governor and members of the national assembly caucus in the state are at loggerhead. Some aides of the former President will not see eye to eye with the Governor. Some prominent party leaders are angry with the former President. This is the unhealthy situation that the party is in as it confront the APC in December.

Don't also forget that hitherto influential PDP personalities as the former Senators Heineken Lokpobiri, Emmanuel Paulker, Wariponmowei Dudafagh are currently opposed to the Governor's re-eelction bid following alleged roles played by Dickson and his aides in chasing them out of the party. With a situation like this, the PDP is not at its best for this election," Ebikeme said.

A chieftain of the ruling party in Opokuma, said the PDP is its own greatest opponent ahead of the December election.

According to the former lawmaker, antiparty activities, unless quickly addressed before the election, will work against the success of the party at the governorship contest.

“Our leaders are fighting each others.

Members of PDP in the state are working closely with our opponents in alarming cases of anti-party activities. And unless quickly addressed before the election, it will work against the success of the party at the governorship contest.

Before now, we heard that some socalled Jonathan’s men are set to dump the PDP, but many of them are still with us, allegedly working against us. If we go into an election this way, how are we hoping to fare? These are some of the reasons why •Contd. on page 33

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015 You were in PDP. Why did you move to another platform?

Moving away is not the issue.

The issue is the platform on which it is convenient for you to run an election. I look at the election not on the basis of party, but on the candidacy of individual. That is what matters and not the platform. Actually I used to be a card carrying member of PDP in Kogi state specifically from Okene and because of the call for a change in the governance system of my state, it was highly impossible for me to get a ticket under the PDP and that informed my movement to PPA. You will be contest with two heavyweights, Abubakar Audu of APC and Idris Wada of PDP who is the incumbent governor. Both of them are from Kogi east which has the numerical strength. In the light of the incumbency and ethnicity factor, what are your chances?

As I said from the beginning, there is a yearning for change even in the eastern part of Kogi state. There is a desire for change in the governance and the way things are been done. The fact that both flag bearers are from that particular area doesn’t give the platform for a success. Like I said, it is the desire for the whole state not just because I am from central. My ticket is not a singular desire but a collective desire.

By its location, Kogi State serves as a gateway to the many parts of the country.

The present status of the state in terms of infrastructure isn't encouraging. How do you hope to improve the condition of the town especially Lokoja, the state capital?

Like you rightly said, Kogi is a central point like a convergence point either to the south, east, to the north even to the western part. I am not here to condemn anybody but the issue is that it is obvious that there are governance issues in the state. There are lots of issues that happened. With my experience, there are things that I can bring to bear that will elevate the state. Firstly; the poverty level of the state. Secondly the decay in the infrastructure of Kogi. Thirdly, you look at the potentials of Kogi which hasn't been tapped, not in terms of human resource I am talking in terms of natural resources, terms of tourism, in terms of education, all other sectors that we can galvanize to turn around the economy of the state. When you look at all these indices, you will ask have they been present in the state? Yes. They might be present but it is possible that they are not the priority of whoever is governing the state. So, that is why I said I don’t criticise because I don’t know how they run their programmes but my own programme will be basically citizendriven. At the same time, we want to open up the economy of the state to the wider world. Generally, I think Kogi needs urgent attention as we speak.

Have you considered the place of money in the project, knowing full well that politics apart from being a game of numbers, also involves money?

As you rightly said, this is a game that we are all going into and it is a collective issue. You see, we are going away from the politics of money gradually. I am not saying that you are not going to spend but it is not like before. It is now politics of ideology, your plan, what exactly are you bringing to the table, the credibility, the integrity at stake. These are what actually matter now and in my acceptance speech in Lokoja after winning the primaries, I told them that I will be held accountable for every penny of the state. The reason being that it is going to be a bottom-up approach we are going to use and if you are going to have that as part of your campaign plan; that the decision to govern the state must lie in the citizens, that means you are citizen friendly with your programme then the citizens that have been yearning for change from poverty, lack of opportunity, unemployment, lack of basic infrastructure and amenities that make life meaningful, I think that people will have a rethink whether to risk their votes again. So, that is our strong point. If you notice, the west part of the state and centre have been yearning for a change and there have been alliances, independent assessment of who and who should come up and who should run first and even within the eastern part that has been ruling the state, they want a change because they have

A

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POLITICS

Kogi needs urgent attention PPA governorship candidate Emmanuel Enesi Ozigi is a financial consultant and real estate developer based in Abuja and the governorship candidate of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) in the November 5 governorship election in Kogi state.

In this interview Ozigi who emerged as a consensus candidate after his two opponents withdrew from the contest spoke about his ambition and mission for Kogi state. Tony Akowe, reports.

• Ozigi been asking themselves ‘we have been having our people rule for the last 16 years and we can’t see any meaningful change, let’s try other areas and see whether we will benefit from this’. The state is a bit sensitive in the sense that we are not looking at religion or where you come from but who will deliver exactly what will suit the citizen of the state and that is the strong point we have. We might not have the finances to confront all these issues at once but the issue is that people will not vote wrongly this time around again and we are out of the era where people smuggle ballot boxes. Card readers are there for you to be able to evaluate. I am not saying it is full proof but to a large extent. You can see in the air if you travel to Lokoja from the feeling and yearning of the people; they need a change.

So, how do you intend to fund the campaign since you are downplaying the relevance of money and why the choose of PPA? I am not downplaying the fact that you don’t need to spend money but it is not going to be as heavy as it used to be. The fact that it used to make people scared even good people who don’t have enough doesn't mean one can't try. It is not everybody that is a thief.

Money is not going to decide who wins the election. It is your integrity and competence.

One of the key things is that you might be very intelligent and very strong capacity to do something but because you already know that from the beginning if I don’t have so, so amount of money, they will not even listen to me which has been the mentality. But our key driving now is vote for what will develop you, what your children’s children will enjoy because if I have to give you money now, it is like paying for the future. I will have to get the money back which is an investment. So,

we are not going into business with the mindset that we are going to recoup; no! We are going to serve. We are going to organise a fund raising for sure.

We will raise funds externally; friends, family relations, even the party people will be ready to fund because it is not something I alone can bear. I must tell you the truth, I don’t have the financial strength to come out and say that I am going to fund it 100 percent but what I am saying are the basic things you must do.

People are keying into the project and I am sure it is a viable project that they are willing to participate. Secondly you talked about the platform; the platform like I rightly said the platform might look virgin but it is not the platform that is the issue now it is who is on the driver’s seat. Is it someone we can count on, someone we can rely on, someone that has the credibility, someone that will not fail us? That is one and I can assure you that that is the wave in the country now. Every one of us in the old party the PDP has now shifted from PDP when they lost to APC. But all of us can’t be in the same party that is why it is democracy and that PPA is not PDP or APC doesn’t mean it is not a registered party in country. Are you saying that people that have the same intentions like me shouldn’t run because they have lost out? They should still come out. That should be the more reason why they should come out and get these other parties.

Why is Kogi underdeveloped?

Kogi state is underdeveloped today because we have had a very poor governance system in the state and it is not because funds are not available. Funds are given to Kogi state like other states that receive funds from the federal government. The problem is how do you apply these resources into use? And one of the key things is when you see breakdown in terms of development is as a

31

result of corruption, misappropriation, mismanagement of funds. Not only public funds, even the IGR that is been generated in the state can be used to do something good. You have 4 years in the first, you have 4 years to run your government. It is not compulsory that you must drag everything at the same time because, firstly, you don’t have the resources to do that.

Secondly, you don’t have the time so you prioritize. If you are concentrating on health, education and something like road, water, electricity, you prioritize it. People would say yes when this person was there, A, B, C was done and this is now the road map and the next person will take it from where you stopped and move on but the norm has been because it is APC or PDP or it is because it is this person, I am not going to go that way; no! When something is developmental, it is a stage by stage process and that is how developed countries came to where they are now. They passed through processes. Mr. A will come and do the bit they can do then the next person will come and take it from where Mr. A left off and it is a continuous process.

But ours has been the opposite. The moment you are on a different platform you terminate it and the fund that has been spent is now lost and that is greed or corruption i must let you know because it is procurement and in that angle again you start issuing contract, people will start getting money from there again and you too will abandon it then you move on again. That is where you see this underdevelopment. I can bet you that if the funds had been channelled properly right from the beginning of the state when funds had been coming in and development is prioritized, you will see that probably if they have taken on health, you would have seen something tangible.

Now you would have said ‘oh even the state is like this but their health system is perfect’, 'the state is like this but all their road networks are fantastic. These are things that we should be talking about.

Most states in the country today cannot generate their own revenue, but wait for hand outs from the federations account. When you become the governor.

How do you intend to address this and what are you giving to the people differently from other candidates.

Funding is a big challenge globally now and not peculiar to Kogi state alone. If you noticed the revenue in the country has been dwindling and this has affected our expenses. One critical thing we need to look at instead of depending on releases from federal allocation is the potentials we have internally. What are the potentials we have that we can tap into internally? To achieve that,we must do an assessment of the revenue windows that we have in the state.

Even though I have started doing that, I cannot reveal them to you now because that is part of the strategies. We need to look at the revenue windows that is available that the state can take advantage of. There are leakages in the system and these leakages can be blocked to a reasonable level that the IGR can take care of a lot of things through out the period you will be in office. But because there are leakages in the system which is often times deliberate, people capitalize on it. When you block it, you have sufficient revenue to run the state. Another thing that is causing that in the revenue agencies is that it is not well intensified. Somebody is collecting revenue in your behalf and you are paying him peanuts. He is not even sure of his or her tomorrow; he is paying heavy school fees and does not even have an idea of what the future of the children are, he cannot afford proper medical care and is thinking of how to build a house and yet he is collecting money for you. When we were growing up, our parents could see the future. But when the future looks bleak, there is tendencies for corruption, there is tendencies for people to do what they are doing. Even governors that won elections, often times, people go there because they want to grab money because they don't have an idea of what the future has in stock for them. But if you do things properly and the system is right, you don't need to do things that endangers the future. So, there are leakages in the system and it is those leakages that is making the system not to work well.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

POLITICS

Saraki: Beyond PDP Senate caucus’ united front •Contd. from page 29

that culminated in the defection of five of its former governors and other chieftains to the APC in early 2019.

In the last few weeks, the PDP national leadership had held several meetings with its senators to deliberate on the issue, but the non-committal attitude of some of the lawmakers has been a source for concern to the leaders.

The Nation learnt that one high ranking senator not too keen in backing Saraki all the way is David Mark, who according to sources, only threw his weight behind the Senate Presidency ambition of the former following tremendous pressure from within and outside the party.

Senator representing Anambra South, Andy Uba, allegedly spearheaded the lobbying to convince Mark to support Saraki who had defied his party, APC, to contest his current seat. Mark's grouse is not unconnected to Saraki's alleged arrogance and fears that "he is not trustworthy to abide by agreements."

For some other PDP anti-Saraki senators, particularly those from the South East and South geo-political zones where elections into various political offices were allegedly flawed, supporting the embattled Senate President in his war of attrition with APC could jeopardise their political career.

Some of these senators, it was gathered, are looking at the possibility of striking a deal with the APC to retain their seats and ditch Saraki when the chips are down.

Sources revealed that the Senate President's camp is aware of this scenario playing out and has allegedly reached out to these senators to convince them that they have nothing to fear about retaining their seats.

PDP governors of the two zones are also alleged have been co-opted to keep tabs on the senators in their respective states whose loyalty to the Saraki cause cannot be vouched for.

In Rivers State for instance, a serving senator is alleged to be fraternising with the opposition APC in the state. This development has reportedly pitched him against the state governor, Nyesom Wike, who has not hidden his displeasure to the Senator's "disloyalty."

An alleged plan by the Rivers PDP to suspend the senator was reportedly put on hold in order not to create what a source in the party described as a "needless crisis at this stage when all hands must be on deck" to ward off the opposition APC, which is challenging the victory of the PDP in the last governorship election in the state.

The events playing out in Cross River State is also a bit scary for the PDP leadership, it was gathered. Quite a number of the party lawmakers both at the state and national levels are apprehensive over their fate in the Election Petition Tribunal, owing to the fact that Labour Party (LP) candidates are alleged to have very "good cases to upturn the victories of many PDP candidates in the state."

Many sources say the election of the state governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, would also have been challenged by the LP governorship candidate, Fidelis Ugbo, the former Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), but for the alleged intervention of

•Saraki

•Ekweremadu former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma Egba (SAN), who brokered a truce between the governor and Ugbo in his office at the Apo Legislative Quarters in Abuja a few months ago.

The case of Akwa Ibom is even dicier.

For some time now, palpable fear has been the lot of PDP lawmakers in the state, many of whom are not apprehensive of the likely outcome of the petitions against their elections at the Election Tribunal by the APC. PDP senators and vote of confidence On the resumption of plenary last week, 83 senators reportedly passed a vote of confidence on the Saraki-led leadership of

• Mark the Senate, but feelers indicate that not all the lawmakers were consulted before their names were included in the list of signatories to the motion sponsored by Senator David Umaru representing Niger East., while Senator Ahmed Yerima (Zamfara West) seconded.

Beside Senators Jide Omoworare (APC Osun East) and Sabo Mohammed, who dissociated themselves from the vote of confidence, The Nation learnt that many PDP lawmakers were also shocked to see their names included in the list.

In private sessions, some of these senators allegedly argued that passing a vote of confidence on Saraki on the floor of

the Senate would have no effect whatsoever on the outcome of the trial of the Senate President at the CCT and that the best that could be done under this circumstance is to allow the trial to run its full course before a final decision can be taken.

But in spite of the confusing posturing of some PDP senators, the Senate President is said to be banking on the influence of his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and his other allies in the PDP caucus to keep his support base intact while his trial lasts.

Whether he succeeds or not however remains in the realm of conjecture.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

POLITICS

Bayelsa: Can APC take its chance?

S

INCE the list of would-becabinet members in Lagos State was made public on Monday, following Governor Akinwunmi Ambode's presentation of his list to the Lagos State House of Assembly for screening, Lagosians' enthusiasm has continued to grow by the day.

It heightened further at the weekend following the long adjournment of the Assembly after constituting a committee to scrutinise the list before presenting it to the House for screening.

Before the adjournment, it was speculated that the new cabinet may be inaugurated tomorrow, Monday, October 5, 2015.

While some Lagosians feel slightly disappointed that the Monday inauguration date can no longer materialise, others see it as a good development that will give the lawmakers enough time to do a good job.

It would be recalled that the House, during the week, adjoined till October 13, implying that the 15 member committee to be chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Eshilokun-Sanni Wasiu, cannot submit its report earlier than Tuesday, October 13.

Responding to the development, a member of the committee, Segun Olulade, had told newsmen earlier that the development “will give the House the opportunity to do its job thoroughly."

So, as the lawmakers screen the nominees, concerned stakeholders, who spoke to The Nation on the matter during the week, said this is the time for Ambode to take a deeper look at the area of core competence of each of the soon to be declared cabinet members and ensure they are given the right portfolios, for this is the only way to achieve his lofty dreams.

Most of the stakeholders said special attention should be paid to the fresh entrants, especially the young professionals in the team, who may not have the "wide political connection of the politicians amongst them" but "who have great innovative ideas that will take the state higher." They therefore advised the governor to put round pegs in round holes.

As Olugbenga Akande, a political activist, puts it in a chat with The Nation this Friday, "We are making too much fuss over the screening of the cabinet members. If you take a good look at the list, you will agree that the nominees are of class A and should therefore be accepted by the Assembly. What should concern us now is that Governor Ambode would not be swayed by political pressure to give wrong portfolios.

He must put round pegs in round holes. With a well known professor of law, Prof. Ademola Abass and about five other lawyers, three doctors, two journalists, including former Managing Director, National Mirror, Steve Ayorinde and financial experts like Akinyemi Ashade, a partner in the famous accounting firm, KPMG, Ambode should not have any difficulties in deciding who is professionally competent to supervise which ministry."

In an earlier report during the week, Dr. Muyiwa Olakunle, a systems auditor in Lagos, had told The Nation, "I consider Governor Ambode's list as bold and refreshing.

I am particularly interested in the profile and achievement of the youthful professionals in the list. It takes courage, vision and focus to

33

• Ambode

Cabinet: Why Ambode must get portfolios right

As the Lagos State House of Assembly scrutinises the list of would- be cabinet members, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, reports on the growing fears and enthusiasm over their screening and portfolios accommodate such young accomplished professionals in a politically complex state like Lagos. Yes, out of the 23 commissioners-to-be and the 13 special advisers-to-be, there are known politicians but to me, by injecting into the system, youthful fresh blood, including core professionals like Akinyemi Ashade, a partner in KPMG with special expertise on Financial Services Industry and others like Mrs. Yetunde Onabolu, Fela Bank-Olemoh, former Managing Director, National Mirror, Steve Ayorinde, Alhaja Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, a pharmacist, Kehinde Joseph and Prof. Ademola Abass, a professor of Law, Ambode is set to face the current challenges of today's governance."

For Alhaji Kehinde Yusuf, an economist, any government that wants to succeed must ensure that it has level headed financial experts in its cabinet.

"Such experts should not also be there for the sake of it but should be made to supervise relevant departments like finance, planning, budget office, works, etc. Given the realities of Nigerian and global economy, every government must allow experts to guild it in its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) drive and in its expenditure habits.

I have always advocated use of dynamic professionals with credible private sector industry background instead of mere political nominees in critical areas like commissioners of finance, planning, budgeting, strategy, works and such like. This is why I am happy at the profile of the people that made Ambode's list, especially the fresh blood, the young professionals he injected into the system. I think they are likely to evolve more innovative and effective ways of running government.

"While the inclusion of some cabinet members that worked with former Governor Babatunde Fashola confirms continuity in Lagos, the inclusion of these fresh blood, not just in a bid to satisfy political interests but on the basis of merit and competence, is reason enough to commend Ambode."

Olajide Idris, a management consultant in Ikeja Business District, was more blunt in his response. "I think Ambode has scaled the first hurdle by injecting new blood into the system as he promised in his inaugural speech.

What is remaining is to ignore political pressure and give these professionals core positions in line with their expertise. For example, financial experts, especially the ones with less political baggage, should be assigned to run finance, planning, budgeting ministries and whatever office that will oversee IGR. This should be the same for the other sectors. This is what I call putting round pegs in round holes.

This is the only way to go."

Other personalities that have publicly defended the pedigree of the nominees and called on the Assembly and the governor to do the needful include the senator representing Lagos West, Solomon Adeola, and the spokesperson of the Lagos State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Joe Igbokwe.

While Adeola said, “I must say I am impressed with the governor’s painstaking efforts in choosing a team that comprise a mixture of technocrats, politicians and strategists," Igbokwe, in a statement, described the nominees as "cerebral and very competent personalities who can hold their heads high anywhere in the world and answer their fathers names if the need arises."

•Contd. from page 30 some analysts are saying APC will win in Bayelsa. It is not the APC per se that will defeat us. We are the ones planning to defeat ourselves," our source said.

And if the show of sportsmanship displayed by Alaibe in ceding the ticket to Sylva is anything to go by, then the APC may have made up its mind to give whatever it will take to dislodge Dickson.

Alaibe, on Wednesday withdrew from the re-scheduled primary of the party to pick candidate for the December 5 guber polls in the state.

The aspirant, who had called for the cancellation of the September 22 botched primary, held at the Samson Siasia stadium, announced his withdrawal in a statement addressed to Bayelsa people in the early hours of Wednesday, before the primary election process commenced.

According to him, he took the decision to preserve party cohesion which was critical to dislodging the ruling PDP in the polls.

“This decision is taken in the interest of our party especially as we face the task of the common challenge? of unseating the PDP in the state come December 5. Whereas I am confident that I have the required support of my admirers and supporters? as well as the needed backing of Bayelsans to govern them, the hurdles set on the way of this noble project are seemingly tempestuous and capable of overheating the APC in Bayelsa.

“As a result, having carefully examined the circumstances that have trailed the Governorship primaries of our great party in Bayelsa state, I have come to the conclusion that pushing my Governorship ambition beyond this point carries alongside it some collateral consequences.

This is more so that both as individual leaders and as a party, the need to avoid the a situation of crisis that the PDP might inadvertently reap from cannot be over emphasized,” Alaibe said.

But Governor Dickson said in spite of all odds, he would win in the fort coming December 5 gubernatorial election.

“Yes, some leaders of our party are defecting. But, you have to understand the background. Almost all of them who are defecting want to be governors and these persons know that within PDP they have no way of becoming governorship flagbearers of the party.

For them, it means going to another platform to fight for governorship ticket to contest the election. But, APC in Bayelsa is not a party on ground and, do not be deceived, even at national level they are crumbling. You will see PDP will rise again very soon.

With the two camps firmly believing in their ability to win the next governorship election, observers of the politics of the riverine state are waiting to see where the pendulum will swing.

• Jonathan

34

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

POLITICS

Kogi guber: Wada, Audu in fresh battle royal The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), are warming up for the governorship election of Kogi State in Nigeria’s north-central. Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, examines the looming contest between two political arc rivals and their parties.

O

N November 21, governorship election will hold in Kogi State, according to the timetable recently released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Attention is on the confluence state as the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) battle for the political control.

The upcoming election in Kogi is a peculiar one. The state has been governed by the PDP since 2003 following its defeat of the defunct All Peoples Party (APP) and the then Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Audu.

Several efforts by opposition party, usually led by the resolute Audu, to send the PDP packing had failed since then.

However, the governorship election coming up in the state in November this year is daily gathering momentum following the emergence of former Governor Abubakar Audu as the candidate of the opposition All Peoples Congress (APC). Indications from the former Governor's camp are that the APC is battle ready to oust the incumbent, Governor Idris Wada, who himself is willing to rule the state for another four years.

The emergence of Governor Idris Wada as the candidate of the PDP in the forthcoming governorship election in the state, few days after APC settled for Audu, has further heightened anxiety over the planned poll. According to party sources, the PDP is looking forward to defeating Audu again, the same way it did in the last three guber elections.

Already, the APC which has also named Hon. James Faleke as its deputy governorship candidate, has constituted a governorship campaign council for the election. This is according to the state party chairman, Haadi Ametuo. The party boss said the council is headed by Isah Daniel.

Ametuo, who is also a member of the council, listed other members to include Halima Alfa, Lincho Ocheje, Salihu Akawu and the APC woman leader, Rabi Haruna.

Others are Ibrahim Atodo, the youth leader, while Ibrahim Ahovi will serve as the Secretary. All serving and former members of national and state assemblies as well as governorship aspirants of the party would also serve as members.

The ruling PDP on its part, just emerging from a rancorous primary election process that saw Gov Wada warding off very stiff challenge from many aspirants led by his agelong political rival, Isa Echoco, is said to be conscious of the threat posed by the APC which shocked the ruling party during the last presidential and national assembly elections.

"We know this is not going to be an easy ride for PDP. And we are not going to approach the election with levity. But we are sure of victory since the people of Kogi state cannot be deceived. They know what they want from their leaders and Governor Wada's achievements in office is enough to sell to the people during campaign," a PDP chieftain told The Nation.

Observers of the politics of the state said it is too early to say where the pendulum will swing as the two leading political parties have gone all out to seek the people's vote.

According to reports, both APC and the PDP are out there canvassing for the support of the people of the state in various manners.

"Unlike before when the ruling party is wont to take some parts of the state for granted, given that such areas are the party's stronghold, the party is everywhere seeking votes. And the opposition too is not leaving any part of the state out of tis reach in its bid to win over the people. There is no doubt that both parties believe the game is still very much open," Sola Amedu, State Co-

•Wada ordinator of the Voters' Rights Agenda (VRA), said.

The candidates Prince Abubakar Audu, first Executive Governor of the state and now APC governorship candidate, is from OgbonichaAlloma in Ofu Local Government Area. He ruled the state between 1991-1993, and again between 1999-2003. A banker before venturing into politics, Audu spent a total of 25 years with the First Bank, formerly Standard Bank, where he served in different capacities at management levels until 1991.

He was appointed Commissioner for Finance and Economic planning in the former Benue State in 1986 serving in this capacity for two years. In 1991, he contested for the Governorship position in Kogi State under the ticket of the National Republican Convention (NRC). He was sworn in on 2 January 1992 as the First Executive Governor of Kogi State. It was in this capacity that he transformed the infrastructural landscape of Kogi State.

According to his supporters, his achievement in office as Governor is responsible for the massive support he enjoys from the people of the state. In spite for failing in his bids to return to Government House on previous occasions, Audu is believed to have widespread support across the length and breadth of the state.

"Within the 22 months lifespan of his first stint as Governor, which was abruptly terminated by military intervention, Prince Audu made monumental landmarks in virtually all sectors, particularly in the area of housing, electricity, roads, education, and health care services. His social-economic contribution in the State is to date a point of reference to the generality of the people and many aspiring leaders.

Some of his major achievement during his brief 1st term of office includes the establishment of three different housing schemes for public officers, the Lokoja township roads with asphalt, street lights, aesthetic roundabouts, and over 75 electrification schemes and 50 water projects.

Other achievements include, the founding of Kogi State Polytechnic, the establishment of a television station, radio station, both AM and FM, a state newspaper and the transformation of the colonial residence of Lord Lugard into an Ultra Modern Government House Complex, the construction of office blocks for ministries among others,' On 9 January 1999, Prince Audu got reelected into the saddle of leadership of Kogi State under the ticket of the All People’s Party (APP). He established of Obajana Cement Factory. The establishment of a state university, Kogi State University Anyigba, is another plus for Audu.

•Audu Other projects credited to him include: the five star confluence Beach Hotel, 250 units Housing Estate, a Sport Complex, a Specialist Eye Hospital and 25 other medical Institutions.

Others are: a Special Government Girls Secondary School on Student exchange programme, 350 borehole schemes, 300 kilometers of township roads, the procurement of 100 transit buses and completion of 40 rural electrification projects.

Audu joined other progressives to form the APC and today, he is the governorhsip aspirant of the party in Kogi state. This is his third attempt at staging a return to Lord Lugard House after his defeat by the PDP in 2003. Many pundits are saying he may emerge victorious largely on the strength of this new party, than on his own merit or popularity.

Governor Wada hails from Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State. A businessman and pilot with over 35 years in the aviation industry before going into politics, he became a first-class flying instructor at the young age of twenty-three (23) and at the age of 29, Capt.

Idris Wada joined the then national carrier, Nigerian Airways as a line pilot where he rose to the rank of “Pilot in Command’’.

In 1983, he joined the United Air Services (UAS) where he rose to the position of Chief Pilot and General Manager, within a very short period. He founded the Executive Aviation Service (EAS) with some other pilots making him one of the pioneer indigenous airline operators in Nigeria.

He worked for Nicon Airways Ltd as the Executive Vice Chairman from 2006 to 2007.

Wada is Executive Chairman of Afroconsult Ltd since 1995 to date. He is the Chairman Governing Council of the Federal College of Education (Tech) Potiskum, Yobe State since 2008 to date.

He joined active politics in 2011 and ran for the highest position in Kogi State, the position of Kogi State Governor. He defeated his major opponent Abubakar Audu, succeeding the former governor, Ibrahim Idris his cousin, making him the third civilian governor of Kogi State since the creation of the state in 1992.

After months of speculations, Kogi State Governor Idris Wada finally declared his ambition to contest for second term.

Wada made his intention known on Tuesday, August 18, and said his achievements in office qualifies him to seek the people's mandate again.

He revealed thatnumerous projects, spread across agriculture, education, health, tourism, water supply, security human capital development and road construction, have been completed by his administration in his first term.

The Governor who said he still has a lot to offer, decried allegations of incompetence against him.

He commented on the synergy between the state government and various security

agencies stating that there is a “clear reduction in the number of armed robbery and bank robbery incidences throughout the state.” He said this was made possible by his commitment to securing the lives and properties of the people of the state "in spite of the numerous challenges encountered."

He said, “We have tried in the face of these challenges and limited financial resources to record some modest achievements within this one year … the judgment of our administration belongs to you.”

APC VS PDP But the opposition APC says Wada has not done enough to seek another term. The party said the state has not move forward since the pilot-turned- politician replaced forearm Governor Ibrahim Idris as governor on January 27, 2012. The State chairman of APC, Haddy Ametuo, while saying Wada cannot win the forthcoming election, declared that the state under Wada has not recorded any tangible development in the past three years.

He lamented the deplorable condition of some roads in the state especially Lokoja, the state capital. He vowed that the APC government if elected into power next year will restore the state to the position of development it was when the first executive governor of the state, Prince Abubakar Audu left office in 2003. It is for this reason he wants the people to return Audu to Lord Lugard House.

"Kogi is one of the states blessed with abundant natural resources but the administration has not made concerted effort to develop them. It is observed that the tourism potential of the state and its closeness to the Federal Capital, Abuja is enough for the state to generate enough internal revenue and turn the state to another Kenya of Nigeria," he said.

However, the incumbent government insists it has done a lot for the state since it came to power. "One of the achievements of the government is the elimination of the activities of political thugs in the state. It would be recalled that during the administration of former governor of the state, Ibrahim Idris, political thugs operate freely without fear.

Thuggery and youth restiveness which the state was known for, few years ago has now become a thing of the past. It is only when the people are free to go about their business without fear that they can feel the presence of any government. We have ended the reign of terror in Kogi,” an aide to the Governor said.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

POLITICS

35

When Saraki became ‘Lord of the Ring’ T

HE unfolding scenario in the trial of the embattled Senate President Bukola Saraki is taking an interesting episode in the Nigeria's political soap opera. I can't but air my opinions once again considering the level of sentiments flying about in this celebrated trial.

After various efforts made by the heir of Kwara political dynasty to stop the prosecution by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), finally he became 'lord of the ring', like others in the past. In as much as it is agreed that an accused person is not guilty until he is found guilty by a competent court of law, the body language towards trial often speculate the psychological state of an accused person.

On Tuesday 22nd September when Senator Saraki was docked at the accused box of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, he was seen obviously nervous and uncomfortable. Yes, never was it comfortable for anyone guilty or not guilty. However, there is need to beam searchlight on this matter that has suddenly taken flight from the reality in the public perception, and from different schools of thoughts.

Saraki, like every other person has the right to defend himself in the court. However, what his seemingly usual practice of running to a court of higher jurisdiction to stop his trials by the lower court (where obviously the trial of an accused person supposed to commence) is quite logical and cynical. As Nigeria's Senate President who is not covered by immunity to be tried, stretching his trial by means of out-of-court defensive mechanism has labelled him as trying to be too smart towards evading trials, the consequences of which might ignite forceful implementation of trial, often with little or no mercy at that climax.

The trial of Charles (I) was one of the most momentous events and Stuart ever to have taken place in the history of England. Following the end of the Civil War Charles I was brought to trial in Westminster Hall on 20 January 1649. The King's trial was proclaimed to the sound of trumpets and drums, at the south end of the Hall.

Bringing the King through a large crowd at the north was too great a risk; on the other hand, it was important that the trial be held in public. The court was divided from the public by a wood partition from wall to wall, backed by railings, and guards were stationed on the leads. The King appeared before his judges four times, charged with tyranny and treason.

The exchanges always took a similar form with the King challenging the court's authority and its right to try him.

The peculiar nature of the trial reflects not simply the fact that a King was on trial but that both the King and his judges took their stand on what are still crucial principles - the King on his right to trial by a properly constituted court acting on the basis of established law, and his accusers on the need to call to account a King they had described as a tyrant who shed the blood of his people. The King's persistence disconcerted the judges, but there was little doubt about the outcome, and the death sentence was proclaimed on 27 January.

The prosecution process is simple: appear and state your side of the story. If clean, the public will know when the law is being manipulated to supress an accused person. Persistent attempt at avoiding being tried is a case study.

In Nigeria's history, high profile personalities have appeared before the CCT. As it is, CCT prosecution is streamlined, so no serious argument once the accused is free of financial mess. No too much logic is required.

To those making mountain out of the trial, it must be noted that Saraki's trial started with Jonathan's administration, not even the Buhari government. I am looking for which-hunt in the process but it is obscure.

When Jonathan opened corruption case against Saraki then, it was not which-hunt to the PDP commentators now particularly the party's spokesperson Olisa Metuh of the same party as Saraki and Jonathan then. Such is the politics here!

It should also be taken into account that Saraki was being tried in Jonathan's era as former Governor of Kwara State just as Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was tried as former Governor of Lagos State. Even as member of opposition to the sitting government trying him, Bola Tinubu never stopped the CCT prosecution. He wentin and came out vindicated of the charges levelled against him.

If Saraki is to fall, he is not going to be the first legislative giant to suffer decline of fate; Salisu Buhari, Adulphus Wabara and Patricia Eteh were heads of parliament who came down the ladder of power on account of corrupt practices. Besides the parliamentarians, there have been other lords of the ring in the CCT box.

Saraki should be seen in the light of a free man and not guilty of all accusations levelled against him. In fact, he is a free man undergoing trial. Many cases opened in the era of Goodluck Jonathan without meaningful conclusion were being re-visited by the 'new Sheriff in town'. "We will get there" is the popular

After ministers’ nomination, what next?

T • Saraki

By Segun Olulade slogan in the mouth of Nigerians who are waiting to see justice for the poor.

For the fear of becoming lord of the ring someday in the CCT box, the mischief makers have started condemning Buhari's administration for opening up abandoned cases and trials; but we will get there!

The Peoples' Democratic Party was fast to condemn Saraki's trial. The fear is obvious. If a man can land six strokes of cane on his child's buttock, another man's child better be careful. There were too many cases of oppression against the people but which were buried under the carpet in the last administration. It became a regular practice of the GEJ government that the President himself proclaimed openly that "stealing was not corruption" after all. What a shame!

Now that stealing has been properly defined as corruption, we must decide what kind of nation we want. Indiscipline is the bedrock of corrupt practices and other fowl plays by public office holders. The parliament which is the law making institution cannot be seen littered with personalities that are contrary to our legislative integrity. Come to think of it, the Senate President is under trial for stealing; the Deputy Senate President has a case of forgery in court; Senate Majority Leader has a case of sponsoring terrorism in court and Senate Minority Leader under the guise of stagemanaged accident ran out of country two days before he was billed to testify at the electoral tribunal for electoral fraud. What kind of the upper parliament is in place for Nigerians? Law-makers or Law-breakers?

Whoever sees Akpabio should tell him to come home because all is well. No matter how fast the night can run, the daylight will surely overtake it. Fayose should continue to insult the President in the guise of opposition, the good news is that he cannot be in the ruling again. Wait, we missed the Kogi Senator who was following Saraki's wife to the tribunal in dark glasses the other time, saying Tinubu started pursuing him sometimes ago. I can feel a silence in town. The noise from the powerful political actors in time past has suddenly gone down; I think everyone now cares for individual fate more. We will get there is the peoples' song!

If anyone is still living in the euphoria of a Tinubu versus Saraki in the current subject, tell the fellow that Tinubu is not from Kwara and he never petitioned the CCT from 2007 when Saraki left office as Governor of Kwara State. Did Tinubu also ordered the stoning of Saraki in Ilorin? The bitter truth is that the people cannot be manipulated for too long. As it is now, if some people are unable to impregnate their wives successfully, it must be Tinubu that is behind it. But for now, it is the State versus Bukola Saraki; it is high time we all settle down for business sincerely and detach all sentiments around Bola Tinubu who is living his dream; let everyone find theirs and strive for a greater cause.

Stella Oduah is not talking in the Senate, but I wonder if Tinubu didn't cause that. Let the former Aviation Minister keeps talking until Sheriff Calls her case file. Everyone should know that power alone does not guarantee respect and peace of mind as giving good governance to the people who are the ultimate owners of the mandates we use as powerful congressmen. Above all, I know quite well 'we will get there'!

– Olulade is a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Epe Constituency II

HE President has spoken.

Twice last week, he spoke on issues of the moment. First, on the last day of September, after the Senate had sat and adjourned, President Muhammadu Buhari’s emissaries arrived to hand a sealed envelop containing ministerial nominees to the Senate President. In doing that, he addressed the anxiety of the people and checkmated plans of his adversaries. The truth told, I also saw no reason why it should take so long to decide those who would administer the country with him. With that move, composing the Federal Executive Council has moved to the second stage- screening of the nominees by the Senators.

Then, on October 1, the President had his day in addressing the nation on his thoughts and perspectives on issues of the moment. It was a short speech that dealt with a number of contemporary issues.

The President, in terms of charisma was no better than his predecessor. He was hardly audible, but sounded sincere and believable. He came across as a man honest and at peace with himself. He sounded like one who would have said the same things had the time and circumstances been different. But, of all he said, I found the reasons advanced for the long delay in choosing his ministers disarming.

He explained that he had to make a choice between speed and order.

It was his considered opinion that the federal bureaucracy could not be left at the pre-May 29 level and expected to perform rfficiently and optimally.

Therefore, as recommended by his transition committee, he had to settle for restructuring at the same time as putting together his team. It was a cogent reason. The question, however, is why did it take him so long to come up with it? Had he volunteered the information early enough, the bad press and public agitation would have been halted. Is this the Buhari style, or sheer arrogance?

I recall that he did the same over the controversy that trailed his educational status during electioneering. This might not be the best, going forward. He is no longer General Muhammadu Buhari, a retired military officer and former Head of State who could choose to be tight-lipped, pleading privacy. He owes the public explanations and his media team must be empowered to deliver.

The President did not just speak through submitting his ministerial nominees to the Senate to grill, he also spoke to the expectations on the quality and caliber of the men and women who made his list. It is obvious that opinions would remain divided on this. The skeptics would argue

that it is the same old guards; predictable. He went for the Director General of his campaign organisation, the man who superintended the convention that made him the All Progressives Congress’s presidential candidate, national chairman of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples’ Party, legal adviser of his Congress for Progressive Change and Mr. Babatunde Fashola , seen mostly as the face of performance in state administration. And then, the question, if so predictable, why did it take four months? The argument that there was intense lobbying in the party is easily dismissed as it could not have been otherwise.

Even in the Peoples Democratic Party, it was so,let alone a party that has as many as four strong tendencies. It was left for the President to put his feet down, pick those he knew could deliver and on whom he could take the rist of running the race with.

In the days and months and years ahead, one would expect the President to speak more with Nigerians. He cannot afford to dismiss the people as if they are inconsequential. It is even more insulting when he chooses to get his message across to Nigerians through foreign media organisations. He is the Nigerian President and must run the administration in the country. It is unacceptable for him to keep sealed lips at home and open up to a foreign audience. His media team should tutor him on the danger on getting the channel of communication clogged.

He could also do with some speech delivery practice sessions.

He would need it in capturing his audience both at home and on his frequent visits abroad. It is not too late to deliver some flair even as he reads a prepared speech. For effect, it would not hurt if the President were made to listen to speeched delivered by the late Sir Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa, the late General Murtala Muhammed and rx-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

In the next four years, at least in the first instance, President Muhammadu Buhari would be carrying the burden of this complex country. He is required to come across not only as the Chief executive with the authority that goes with it, but equally as Father of the Nation and the sense of responsibility it connotes, the Commander-in-Chief and the decisiveness that must accompany the appellation and Inspirer who mobilizes the people to change the national fortunes.

One of the channels through which these qualities could be gauged is the national broadcast.

It is my humble suggestion to our President that he submits to experts to work on the flaws. It could only reinforce his greatness.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

POLITICS

36

Udo Udoma second time lucky?

Alaibe looking ahead to 2020

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T's no longer news that the battle for the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been decided with Chief Timipre Sylva, clinching the diadem.

Few hours to the commencement of the primaries, one of the contestants, Timi Alaibe withdrew from the race, a move that caught many of his supporters by surprise. His decision, according to sources, was a tactical move to position himself for the 2020 governorship race, having realised that Sylva will only run for a term if he defeats incumbent governor, Seriake Dickson, in the governorship election holding in November.

Alaibe's withdrawal from the primaries, it was gathered, has also endeared him to the leadership of the party, which is said to have noted his "sacrifice for the unity of the party."

• Udoma

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HEN the list of ministerial nominees is formally announced on Tuesday by Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, one name that may likely feature on it is Senator Udo Udoma, a former lawmaker from Akwa Ibom State and a successful corporate lawyer. A Principal Partner in Udoma, Osagie and Co, an A-List commercial law firm, Udoma served as a Senator from 1999 to 2003, but was curiously denied a second term ticket following an alleged rift with the then governor of his home state, Obong Victor Attah. And unknown to many Nigerians; Udoma was nominated as Minister of State for Environment by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, an offer he politely declined for personal reasons.

Cross River: What manner of strike?

• Echocho

PDP jittery over Echocho HE leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is presently at a loss over how to appease Isa Jubrin Echocho, who was beaten to the party's governorship ticket in Kogi State by incumbent governor, Idris Wada, sources in the party have disclosed. Few weeks after the PDP primary was decided, Echocho has kept mum, with unconfirmed feelers suggesting that he may not work for Wada in the governorship election. Speculations are also rife that some unnamed political parties are dangling their governorship tickets before Echocho, who is however still consulting with his supporters on his next line of action.

T

• Sylva

• Alaibe

Benue elders wade into Ortom, Suswam rift

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• Ortom

• Suswam

HE rift between Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom and his predecessor, Gabriel Suswam, is giving some elders of the state serious concern. Against this backdrop, efforts are being made to reconcile the duo who was once close political associates, it was learnt. The former governor, it was, who reportedly nominated Ortom as a minister in 2011 and they remained close until a few months to the governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State early this year after Suswam allegedly declined support for Ortom's ambition to succeed him. Sources say while Suswam is favourably disposed to reconciliation, the incumbent governor has not softened on his hard stance to get even with his predecessor.

• Ayade t is no longer news that Cross River State workers are on an indefinite strike, following alleged government’s inability to meet certain demands. What is news is that most of the striking workers appear to be in the dark as to what these demands are given the fact that they are not being owed any salary.

Though a bulletin circulated by Organised Labour Action Committee stipulated that their demands included the salaries of local government workers, teachers, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) workers, allowances and other salaryrelated payments, Ripples gathered that unions like Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) and National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) have both pulled out of the strike action in protest.

Ripples also learnt that the state government is owing the workers' union arrears of check off deductions and this is the real reason for the ongoing strike action. "The Union leaders called the strike in order to force the government to clear the arrears of union dues deducted on their behalf from monthly salaries of workers," a source said.

Considering the fact that Governor Ben Ayade, to the admiration of workers in the state, had kept to his promise of paying salaries before the 26th of every month, many stakeholders in the state were wondering what could have informed the Labour leaders' strike option. But now, they know better.

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SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

38

‘I KNEW I’LL BE

TABLE TENNIS “I dreamt of becoming a champion one day and I believed I could do it. I was also encouraged by a lot of people, who are achievers on their own right”

Toriola

39

Toriola in action

40

SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

Ryan with his dad and brother

OCTOBER 4, 2015

41

THE NATION ON SUNDAY Hon. Ibim Semenitari, a CNN awardwinning journalist, is a former Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications. In this interview with BISI OLANIYI in Port Harcourt, a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Publisher/Founding Editor of Business Eye magazine, whose husband, Henry, is the immediate past Managing Director of Unity Bank, says for the love of journalism, she declined serving in oil companies and other world-class establishments.

The lady, who is also the daughter of Sir Gabriel Toby, shares her experiences, while working closely with ex-Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, as Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, among others. Excerpts:

‘I almost declined being Rivers commissioner’

IN VOGUE

By Kehinde Oluleye

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

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

YETUNDE OLADEINDE molaralife@yahoo.com

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

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Facial marks in a dental museum

HE idea of having a private museum is not common in Nigeria. It is even more amazing to think of it when the museum owned and run by the Federal and State Governments in Nigeria are being neglected. In Ife, the cradle of Yoruba heritage, more of such ventures are daily being undertaken by different individuals. The idea of this sort of situation is to help register the essence of museums in the minds of the public and to ensure that some important aspects of the legacies of the people are not put in jeopardy or left to rot away.

In Ile-Ife, Osun State, Eyitope Ogunbodede, a Professor of Dentistry at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), has decided to establish a Dental Museum. Declared open last weekend in Ife, the whole concept was to use historical approach to preserve the relics of dental materials that have been of immense use to the people.

In other words, the Dema Foundation Dental Museum which took Ogunbodede many years to put together has in its storage, the history of Dentistry in Nigeria. It has all the requirements used in treating dental and other related oral health problems.

The assemblage of these archival •National Troupe dramatising Dokita Eji PHOTOS: EDOZIE UDEZE •Antiquities of facial marks in the museum materials, in the reckoning of Ogunbodede, was "to mobilize society and then is meant to complement the educational essence it became clearer that dance-drama can always society. "And for this, it is proper to encourage strengthen its capacity to play an active and and mission of this museum. The proceeds will be a huge and potent means to bring issues of life more people to follow the example of Professor Ogunbodede in order that we have more of such significant role in expanding the frontiers of also be used to help fund the museum," closer to the people.

Once you have a tooth-ache or decay, all you establishments to document our history." dental and general health. It is to inform and Ogunbodede said.

In his own opening remarks, Emeritus "Let me assure you," the professor asserted have to do is to look for a dental doctor to cater to help the society."

A non-governmental and non-profit making before the large gathering of people from all your problems. The play was used to disabuse Professor of Law, David Ijalaye commended the venture, the museum boosts of various profound walks of life, "that adequate thoughts have been people's minds towards some certain dental idea and quickly added that "this is part of the historical materials which have been collected made on how to preserve and run this centre so issues and challenges which they often link with mission of promoting oral, dental and general witchcraft. There are different types of facial health with particular focus on the history, and preserved from around 1926 when Nigeria that it does not fizzle out."

In addition, and indeed in order to really marks identified in the museum and how they education, research and information aspects of had its first dental doctor in the person of Dr. this huge project." This remark indeed set the Sydney Obafemi Philips. As the first dental combine tradition and modernity to give the have defaced people's faces over time.

The principal types among the Yoruba are ball rolling, for in his own contribution, Professor museum in Africa, the rich contents of the place a complete historic outlook, the museum collections include the history of modern houses life-sized heads bearing the different tribal Pele, Abaja, Gombo, Baramu, Keke, Ture, Mande and Jonathan Lawoyin of The Oral Pathology of the dentistry in Nigeria from 1903 to the present. marks in Nigeria. With over 30 of such important Jamgbadi. Although it is not only the Yoruba tribe University of Ibadan described the book as a work Inside some of the rooms, there are relics of the relics, the importance of the marks was to show that gives facial marks, the import of the show of long years of painstaking research in which first dental chairs used in Nigeria but were some of the complications inherent in it and how was to let people know that it is not all facial the author criss crossed the globe to secure detailed manufactured in the United States of America in this distorts the human face. In the process of marks that heal well or quickly. Therefore, some and valuable information. This is what this 1907. The very first chair was used by one certain giving these marks, parts of the dentition of a of the complications come in forms of infections, erudite scholar has given to the society in addition Dr. Ewart Gladstone Maclean who was a Baptist person may be disorganized. Often, this leads to tetanus, keloids and hypertrophic scars that often to this beautiful edifice and the rich contents of Missionary. He was noted to be the first to practice bumps, dental diseases and oral and other lead to death. But the essence of the museum is to the museum."

The occasion was witnessed by many document issues and to enlighten the public on the treatment of tooth problems in the country. hygienic disorders.

In order to make this aspect of the show the dangers in it and how it distorts dentition and scholars from different parts of the nation who The objects and relics are so well identified, indeed saw the need to have more museums in dated and arranged that once you step into the explicit, the National Troupe of Nigeria, led by more.

Located on Ilesa road, Ile-Ife, Dema the medical realm. For Adejuwon, the foyers of the museum, you are struck by the aura its director, Akinsola Adejuwon, was on hand to of the rooms and the heavy instruments of old demonstrate the exigencies of oral problems and Foundation Dental Museum is an imposing one- combination of dance drama and dental issues used to extract people's dentition and treat other the connection with tribal marks. The play, storey building which has all the trappings of a was to bring the whole concept closer to the problems that pertained to the mouth. "We did written by Arnold Udoka and presented to the modern museum. It was for this reason that the people. And since Ife is a university town, its this to ensure that nothing is left out," Ogunbodede gathering, was titled Dokita Eji and it centred Director-General of the National Commission location has many academic and social values to explained. This was why in addition to the halls entirely on some of the myths people usually for Museums and Monuments, Mallam Yusuf the people. In fact, the idea is to encourage more housing these implements, he wrote a book attach to most oral and dental problems and Usman described it as a centre put in place to tell Nigerians who have the means to go into such entitled History of Dentistry in Nigeria. "This book diseases. And in simplifying the show on stage, the story of events and activities of things in a wonderful venture.

In Ile-Ife, Osun State, a new museum on dental health and history has been established purposely to document and preserve the relics of various age and time used for oral dentistry. Edozie Udeze who witnessed the commissioning ceremony in Ife writes on the essence of this and why more of such projects and ideas should be encouraged.

Visual artist performs on stage

By Udemma Chukwuma

R

•Abass on stage

ECENTLY, a conceptual Nigerian artist was compelled to create a piece of an artwork live on stage. The audience watched him for more than three hours as he occupied his white canvas with layers of acrylic paints and other objects.

When the artist mounted the stage of the main auditorium of University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos; he asked the audience to provide for him any item with them which they consider useless.

Biscuit papers, nylon, newspaper and other wastes were dropped on the stage for him.

Not minding the short period given to him, the image you are looking at was the result of Kelani Abass' effort on the stage titled Hear Us, which is also the theme for the maiden edition of Art Through 2015.

It takes an artist a minimum of one week and maximum of three months if not even more to create a piece of artwork in the comfort of his studio. "It was difficult for me to accept to paint in front of the audience on the stage for about three hours," he said, "Ordinarily I spend close to four weeks on a piece of art, but I took up the challenge because I wanted to step out of my studio."

Abass described his experience as wonderful.

The work would be sold later and the money will be donated to charity so said Ini Dan Nkang, the CEO of Brother Art Production and the man who conceived the whole idea. "This event is as a result of a burning desire I have long conceived within me and to the glory of God we are all here to witness this burning desire of mine," he said.

The visual arts and the Nigerian artists have been demoted, according to Nkang, to the background in comparison to other creative arts

such as the music arts, comic arts, theatre art and other performing art. He said the aim on the concert was bring the visual artist, music artists, theatre artistes and other performing artists to perform together on the stage, and this he was able to achieve.

Though attendance was not encouraging but the organisers were optimistic that the hall will not be enough to contain people in subsequent editions. Tony Biyi Boyede was project manager while Durodola Yusuf was the Creative Director of the concert.

Present at the concert were Samuel Bassey who represented the Akwa Ibom State Ministry for Culture and Tourism, The President of Society of Nigerian Artists, Oliver Enwonwu, Akeju Temidayo Oluseun who represented The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Management Service) University of Lagos, Professor Duro Oni, amongst others.

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T is quintessential Soyinka, a play heavily accentuated with the inanities of an era; an era Nigerians, mostly those who are old enough to recount can never forget in a hurry. The play, King Baabu, is an allegory, a political allegory, full of the those troubling issues that would have plunged the nation into an unprecedented confusion and darkness if the hand of fate did not wade in to save the nation at that point in time.

The play, written by Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka mounted the stage last weekend in Lagos for obvious reasons. It is to remind the people about the inordinate ambition of the Late General Bach Abach, one man who wanted to destroy the society due to his own stubbornness in order to remain in office. The play is indeed an exposition of those things he did that counted against the interest of the people and consequently slowed down the progress of the society. It was a damnable form of audaciousness in which personal interest and selfaggrandizement overtook and overrode national interest and patriotism and nationalism.

On stage, the Bach everybody knew for his various forms of antics and inconsistent character showed himself clearer. The play began with the sounding of the military trumpet to show that an era was to begin. A supreme council meeting was in place with obviously general Baba in charge. Down in the background was Bach Abach as the second incommand and the minister of Agriculture, who swore to create bulging stomachs.

It was obvious he had reasonable powers and influence to wield in this regime. But he was not satisfied because his wife Moriam kept prodding him on to strike. "How can you be in-charge of goats and cows and be satisfied with it while the other man sits on

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY,

ARTS

OCTOBER 4, 2015

King Baabu berths in Lagos King Baabu, Professor Wole Soyinka's political allegory on the deeds of the Late General Bach Abach is a play to watch. It dissects all the characteristic tendencies that made that era ever memorable in the annals of Nigeria. The play was staged at Terra Kulture, Lagos, last weekend.

Edozie Udeze reports. petroleum? Dambanza!", she coursed Bach who did not immediately see why he should overthrow his man.

However, as the issue began to seep into his consciousness, the idea began also to make sense to him. But he waited; he knew how to wait, building loyalties and military blocs here and there to solidify his position and hold.

That opportunity soon came but before then lives had been lost as the strength of the army had even begun to wane. But the people were not comfortable with the Bach Abach leadership. In earnest, the agitation for democracy began. It was clear most Nigerian leaders who spoke with two mouths visited the general at night to curry for favour and in the daytime called for democracy. Abach was beside himself with fury for he could not understand the inconsistency in the minds of bloody civilians. "Yes," he said to their labour leaders and some rights activists, "I am a man of the grassroots. I grew up in the grassroots and therefore rooted in the grass.

Is that not what you want; a man who has roots?" he asked, as the pressure intensified.

He went on: "My policy is to give you operation feed the stomach. I will feed you; I will provide food plenty so that I will eradicate hunger from your belle, you bloody hungry civilians," he howled at the leaders who swarmed like bees round him, some afraid, while others were made to bend to his whims and caprices. Sycophancy was their greatest undoing that they began to urge

•Moriam and Abach on stage

Abach to transform into a civilian head of state. This he did right on stage by pulling a huge civilian dress atop his military khaki uniform.

Then came the marabouts who pelted him with more confounding entreaties.

They looked into his crystal ball to tell him what to do to remain in power. As he quarreled more often with Moriam who wielded so much influence on him, so did his son infiltrate into power to imitate his father by torturing and subjecting more 'enemies' of the state to undue trauma and torture.

At this time, fear reigned supreme.

Soyinka deployed all the necessary theatrical armour

PHOTOS: EDOZIE UDEZE

to produce a total satire. It is a political satire imbued with deep recourse into the past.

No one else could have done it better. As a world-class playwright, Soyinka followed every bit of an era, an innocuous era for that matter to produce a play that would make you laugh from the beginning to the end. It is incisive, it is exciting and audacious in all sense of theatrical presentation and performance. No wonder soon after it was written, Soyinka immediately became a marked man, hunted by Abach.

Sola Adenugba who produced the play said it was chosen to show the people how democracy was fought and won in Nigeria. "It is to

show the role of the military and how some brave Nigerians stuck to their guns even in the face of terrible threats to their lives. This is why we produce what we call live theatre on Sundays to help people unwind and relax."

In 2009, the live theatre project was born by Adenugba and others to shift emphasis to stage and see how people who love plays could use the opportunity to come out at weekends. This is why in and out of season, they choose plays that have deep meanings and topical lessons to convey to the people. King Baabu has been running for a while now, not only because it is to celebrate Soyinka but because it has

Things Fall Apart goes on stage

T is in season now; Okonkwo's Inquest is a play inspired by Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and it is being staged in Lagos at the moment to commemorate the 55th Independence Anniversary of the nation. The play itself is centred on the life and times of Okonkwo Unoka, the lead character in the book and one whose life did not end on a sound note. It has been noted that Okonkwo was not properly interred to the mother earth. And part of the nittygritty of Okonkwo's Inquest is to continue from where that tragic end of a hero of his people was recorded in the book.

Toju Ejoh is the director of the play and he says the project is a product of Oxygen Koncepts whose basic assignment is to produce plays for public consumption. "Yes, it is a new work and that is why we want to use it to celebrate Nigeria at 55. It is usually very difficult for us to pick a script for the season. It is not that we do not always have good scripts to pick from. But for us this play is symbolic. It is a classical novel known all over the world. It is a book that has been translated into different languages world-

By Edozie Udeze over and it is read in most schools across the globe. It is one of the best written novels in the world."

Now, many people have done works on it; works that have been used to celebrate the book. "Now, it is for us to adapt a part of it into stage to let the world see what the book can demonstrate on stage. It is a pity that no one has gone further to talk about Okonkwo, the man whose role made the book an outstanding work of art. Now, we need to demonstrate his character as a man, his flaws, his brevity, his role in making his people stand out and more. The play has to zero into his place in the book and those issues that led to his death."

Ejoh, known for his precise character interpretation both as a director and an actor situates the play in a more succinct way:" This is going to be like an inquest, a real inquest demonstrated on stage.

Okonkwo was not buried. We do not want to rebury him but we want to know what happened thereafter. You know because he committed suicide, tradition forbids that he be

•Ejoh buried properly. Now he was thrown into an evil forest and there is still a story to be told therefrom." Ejoh said.

Accepting that Okonkwo's corpse was left like a dog while Obierika and others tried to see what to do to remove his corpse, Ejoh inferred, "now this is Okonkwo in all his glory, who was a common man who rose to the highest pinnacle of his life and career. This was a man who was very resilient and hardworking in his life and now he would be buried like a dog. Therefore, the play is to celebrate those values and then bring these issues to the

contemporary times."

The essence of the play is to highlight hard work and bring to the fore the values of patriotism and love for justice and what is good. "Those leadership values that the country still lacks today have to be pinpointed.

Yes, Okonkwo was a good leader, very courageous and brave and proud to be who he was among his people. He was devoted, diligent and fearless. These are qualities of a firebrand leader and this is why we have to embark on this project, using this play as a pivot point."

In reality, Okonkwo had ample opportunity to back out of the series of scenarios that led to his demise. But he chose to remain to prove that a general does not run away from the battlefront. "But he continued to uphold the culture of his people. Those elements of cultures, to him then, were the height of the civilization of the people. Without those values, to him, the people had no values, had no principles. He was a custodian of those elements of tradition that even his position did not allow him to be lily-livered."

Some of the pressures that

Okonkwo faced are also some of the issues that often lead to our destruction or to our glory.

"Yes, these are some of the things we pieced together to get the Okonkwo's Inquest," Ejoh surmised. "And so in all, it is a noble concept, away from the central theme of the book itself.

The concept of Okonkwo as a big and imposing image in Thins Fall Apart in the play looms larger than life.

In terms of props and costumes and the stage setting, all elements of the Igbo traditions have been brought to bear on stage. The mud houses are to show the period in time and to bring memories of yesteryears back. It is indeed to bring back reality into the play and demonstrate in truth the place of the traditions of the Umuofia community of the days of yore.

The music is also ancient and in consonance with the period. There is a cave and various pathways on the stage, depicting a typical rural place of many years ago. A lot of the signs showed shrines and huts which were rampant in the book. In all, it is a play to watch to bring back memories of a hero who stood for his people.

more engaging issues in the lives of the people.

Before the advent of Abach, many thought it would be impossible to have that sort of scenario in Nigeria. But he became His imperial majesty, Emperor and Field Marshal, holding everybody hostage. His own life was not safe, for he did not feel secured anywhere.

Yet this happened and Soyinka has made it lots clearer via theatre.

POEM My tiny little secret

By Ali Smart (HAPPY birthday Hajia Sahadat Chidinma) I've a secret, A tiny, little secret‌ I met this girl A cute ebony-looking girl Oh dear! She looks drop dead gorgeous!

And yes, I think curvaceous For her, my heart went pitterpatter And yes, I think my blood rose on higher-higher Her smiles, so refreshingly inviting Irresistibly arresting And yes, I think so enticing!

Oh dear! Oh dear!! Oh dear!!!

Where's Cupid?

That errand boy of love Please, don't play stupid Nor hide and seek 'Cos methinks, I'm sick I think, very terribly sick In love!

In love with this cute-looking damsel Pray, I think we both gel!

Cupid, please don't play stupid!

Run you to her Say me well to her!

Tell her, Cupid please tell her She occupies a special space Here in my heart Please assure her Very well assure her This is not some damn comic act Give her glad tidings of my cravings Blessed assurances of feelings so benign Please assure her Very well assure her These are emotions I truly can't of her deny!

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

Hunt for new taxpayers

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Page 52 From left: President, Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) Mr. Foluso Fasoto presenting a plaque to the Executive Chairman of Colenson Investments Limited, Chief Michael Olawale-Cole at the 31st Annual General Assembly and Awards of APBN in Lagos

Nigerians’ consumption level to rise by 50% by 2019

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HE consumption level of most Nigerians, especially for beverages and allied products, is expected to rise substantially by the year 2019.

Making this projection at a public forum in Lagos was Dominique Martin, Regional Commercial Director of Africa at Sidel.

The event tagged: ‘The Value Creation Day’ provided an opportunity for Sidel to meet and network with approximately 100 of its biggest customers in Nigeria and Ghana about the new technologies and services that the company is offering.

Sidel, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), is a leading global provider of complete PET packaging lines and solutions for liquids is a part of Tetra Laval Group and headquartered in Switzerland, with over 50 office locations, 13 production sites and 7 training centres worldwide.

According to Martin, “Both Nigeria and Ghana in recent years have proven to

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf be fast-growing markets in the beverage industry. Nigeria’s market today is at 27.2 billion liters with water leading future volume increase, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.1 per cent, and an expected annual growth rate of the beverage industry of 10.8 per cent by 2019. On the other hand, Ghana’s market stands at 675 million liters with CSD and bottled water leading future volume increase.

“With the packaging industry gaining momentum in Nigeria and other neighboring countries, Sub-Saharan market has grown to become a very competitive market place with a strong consumer demand on value-added beverage products. With Nigeria being one of Africa’s most important economies with a huge population that is growing at a tremendous rate, innovation and technology are key to gaining that competitive edge.”

Justifying the need for the forum, Martin said: “Through

our ‘Value Creation Day’, we are able to showcase our understanding of the local environment and the global challenges that can arise in many aspects. Hence, our customers are always in need of a global partner but with deep local expertise.”

In his remarks, Oliver Fraise, Managing Director, SBA Nigeria Limited, said SBA and Sidel partnership dates back to over 20 years. “SBA is an arm of Sidel, in most subSaharan Africa.”

Speaking further, he said: “Sidel has over 160 years of industrial experience. At Sidel, we benchmark our operations against two competitors in Germany. At Sidel, we are known for creating value for packaging industry milk, nectar, beer, wine, spirit, beverages, drinkable and non drinkable beverage. Our customers in Nigeria and Ghana have the benefit of knowing about a lot ranging from industry trends to latest innovations in packaging solutions in water, carbonated soft drinks (CSD), and Hot Filling, as well as the af-

ter-sales services.”

At separate presentation, Ramzi Ben Kheder, Business Analyst, Sidel and Samuel Gobbe gave an overview of the company’s bouquet of services.

According to the duo, there is a huge market for beverage drinks, especially in PET packaging solutions.

“Our six service areas are equipped with 80 decades of beverage industry expertise of filling, 50 years of blowing, 40 years of aseptic packaging and 30 years of PET packaging.

With 3, 200 employees, and over 60 nationalities across five continents, represent a wide range of expertise and specialities,” Kheder said.

Expatiating, Gobbe said: “Currently, we have 30, 000 machines installed in 191 countries where we have been helping producers fill beverage bottles for over 80 years, blow them for more than 50 and label them for more than 35. We have 300, 000 moulds across 26 locations worldwide with production facilities in 13 countries, with headquarters in Switzerland.”

Access Bank launches product for importers

A

CCESS Bank has launched a new product to relieve importers of logistics and financial difficulties associated with importation business.

Addressing importers at the weekend in Abuja, on the scheme known as FLOWS, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Herbert Wigwe represented by Adeyemi Olusanya, Group Head, Business Banking, Lagos, said this scheme was developed with the interest of importers in mind.

Olusanya told the import-

From Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor), Abuja

ers that “once you open your Form M and submit everything we take over from there and your goods will be delivered at the designated warehouse also it makes it accessible for you to access the kind of lending you hitherto could not with this.”

Access Bank he said has “control of the entire process, it means that we can give you money without collateral and when the goods come, as you pay, you start collecting your goods so maybe you are do-

Report forecasts promising future for Nigeria, S/Africa others

Unilever restates commitment sustainable development •Yaw-Nsarkoh

•FIRS Headquarters, Abuja

ing N5 million before it means you can do N10 million and more importantly because it is a product that we developed for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) even with the unavailability of FX and people taking different steps to secure FX, in Access bank as long as you come under this product, those issues will not arise.”

Justifying the need for the scheme, Olusanya said it was not by accident that Access Bank is focusing on SMEs, stressing that “it’s a deliberate focus for us at Access Bank because we believe that serving

this segment of the economy will provide us the opportunity in achieving economic growth across the African continent and it will also put us in good stead to contribute to the development of Nigeria.”

Access Bank he said is making deliberate attempts and putting structures in place to support this sector. “We recognise the fact that the sector has issues, there are a lot of risks that bedevil this sector but we believe that if we have put proper structures that will start derisking the sector without the anticipated aspect of default.”

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FRICA is now positioning itself as a major business opportunity for overseas investors, according to The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales’ latest Economic Insight Africa Q3 2015 report.

Commissioned by ICAEW and produced by the Centre for Economics and Business Research Ltd, the report provides a snapshot of the region’s economic performance focusing specifically on Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Angola.

According to the report, and drawing on estimates prepared by the World Bank, the total level of external financial inflows into Africa has increased from $40.4bn in 2000 to $192bn in 2013. This is largely attributed to the inward FDI from China with investment mainly going into primary resource sectors and infrastructure.

Michael Armstrong, Regional Director, ICAEW Middle East, Africa and South Asia, said: “China has approached African economies in a very different way to Europe, focusing less on official aid and engaging more aggressively through foreign direct investment and trade. This has been a game changer for the development industry, forcing European countries to rethink their strategy of connecting with the continent.”

At turn of the century, private finance constituted 62% of African economies’ total inflows. Today, that number has risen to over 70%, signalling a shift in investors’ perceptions of the market. Thanks to resource wealth, West Africa and Southern Africa are leading the way, attracting the majority of FDI; though East Africa is catching up. This is partly thanks to efforts for closer integration in the East African Community (EAC), which has involved harmonising investment regulations across the region and reducing red tape.

According to Danae Kyriakopoulou, ICAEW economic adviser, “While economic development naturally varies across the continent, Africa’s regional outlook as a whole remains bright with a number of projects expected to bolster growth.”

The report also shows Nigeria is expected to experience growth in the medium term helped by higher oil prices and the implementation of reforms while annual GDP expansion of 8.5% is expected for Ghana by 2017.

Ivory Coast is expected to remain on a high growth path into 2016 while growth in Angola is expected at 4% with the pace of GDP expansion in South Africa is forecast to see a gradual pick-up over the next

Expert seeks inclusive governance

By Adeola Ogunlade HE Executive Chairman of Colenson Investments Limited, Chief Michael Olawale-Cole has charged the federal government to ensure inclusive governance.

Cole made this call at the 31st Annual General Assembly and Awards of Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria held in Lagos.

According to him, the need for robust and inclusive governance in Nigeria is imperative for the economy to thrive and flourish.

The code of corporate good governance, he said, should be internalised properly institutionalised as they can show guidance.

“In many advanced economic the codes are guides with which organisations are expected to comply or explain.”

He noted that there may be the need to review the code of corporate governance practice of 2003 with a view to giving it greater legal backing in order to engender enforcement.

The event brought together professionals from the 28 professional bodies, including the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Nigeria Institute of Public Relation, Association of Medical Laboratory Scientist of Nigeria, among others.

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Jovago, MTN partner on free internet services

N its quest to reduce data costs and boost e-commerce in Nigeria, Jovago - leading online hotel booking portal in Africa launched its free internet service with MTN, to enable prospective subscribers access Jovago’s services at no extra cost. Upbeat, Paul Midy, CEO of Jovago said: “This is a great milestone for us in order to offer great accessibility for the customer-centric mobile experience. We have noticed the immense growth of mobile internet penetration in Africa and remain focused on reaching clients across the world in order to offer them our services.”

All MTN users, he hinted, can have access to more than 8 000 hotels in Nigeria and 25 000 hotels in Africa without cost and book in one click.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

BUSINESS

In the federal government’s quest to achieve 99.9 per cent tax remittance compliance level, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has set machinery in motion to capture more eligible taxpayers into the tax net, reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

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OR tax evaders who in the past successfully hoodwinked unsuspecting taxmen either by underreporting or not complying with the tax laws at all, it may no longer be business as usual because there is a new sheriff in town who is not ready to brook any nonsense.

That much is what the new helmsman at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler has displayed in his body language so far.

Perhaps as an indication of his commitment to the new task at hand, Fowler, who brings into his new job a lot of expertise and experience, has pledged to evolve a tax system that would make more people and organisations pay taxes so as to generate enough revenue to fund government commitments.

Fowler, who spoke when he took over from the Acting Executive Chairman of FIRS, Sunday Ogungbesan, in Abuja, said he would take the organisation to a new height.

An upbeat Fowler said: “My vision and mission is neither to alter the existing management organogram structure in FIRS nor lay-off management staff from their duty posts, but to take FIRS, as well as the nation’s tax system to an enviable height.

“This we cannot achieve all alone without a robust partnership and collaboration of all stakeholders within and outside the system. We must build a synergy for a healthy exchange of information between FIRS and SBIR. “This synergy will produce the best form of revenue generation in the FIRS and the states in general, as well as ensuring that over-dependency on oil revenue becomes a thing of the past,” Fowler assured.

Part of Fowler’s agenda at FIRS is to capture more taxpayers in the tax net and increase the 1,189,722 corporate and individual taxpayers to a higher number in the coming weeks.

Besides, the current management of FIRS under Fowler is expected to focus on improving structures, strengthening processes and automating core functions that support tax revenue collection.

New tax drive In federal government’s determination to boost tax revenue, one area it hopes to revisit is to increase number of taxpayers across the country.

According to the government, the requisite measures needed to actualise this feat have been made possible in partnership with various states’ boards of internal revenue service, adding that enforcement of

Hunt for new taxpayers

•FIRS boss, Fowler

•FIRS Headquarters, Abuja the collection of taxes would henceforth be undertaken by the federal and state governments.

Fowler, who reiterated his commitment to raise the revenue portfolio of FIRS at the 132nd meeting of the Joint Tax Board in Abuja, stated that the federal government’s target was to ensure that it achieved at least 99.9 per cent tax remittance compliance level.

“This means that every individual at the state level and every corporate organisation at the federal is taxed and pays the appropriate amount,” he said.

On how the agency would go about this, Fowler said, “We are going to exchange information with state boards of internal revenue so that we have all the information in a database. We’ve given them out already in case there is any company within their states that they don’t currently have on their database.

That is step number one.

“So, immediately, we should have a growth in taxpayers both at the federal and state levels within one week.”

On the volume of tax remittance to expect, the FIR boss said: “Let me not put a naira figure on it. But I can tell you in terms of percentages. Based on information given by the FIRS, they did say that they had about 450,000 corporate organisations, out of which one-third was paying.”

What the tax laws says The Nigerian Personal Income Tax Act states that employers are required to file annual returns of all remuneration paid to their employees and taxes deducted and remitted to the tax authorities on or before 31 January every year. Failure to do so carries a maxi-

mum penalty of N500, 000 for the employer and N50, 000 for individuals.

In addition, employers must remit Pay-AsYou-Earn (PAYE) tax each month for each employee to the relevant state internal revenue services, on or before the 10th day following the month in which salary was paid.

Besides, employers and employees are each required to contribute 10% and 8% respectively of their employee’s monthly remuneration to the Nigeria’s contributory Pension Scheme.

There are also other statutory payments, such as the Employee Compensation Scheme (formerly known as the Workmen Compensation Act), Development Levy, National Housing Fund, Industrial Training Fund, just to name a few.

Agonies of overtaxed citizens Much as the FIRS is determined to boost its revenue through tax collection the belief is that the agency along with other allied organisations both the federal and state levels are overstretching their limit in terms of tax collection.

One of such individual who is not comfortable with the renewed tax aggression is Mr. Remi Ogunmefun, Director General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), who speaks the minds of his pressure group at MAN. Speaking at a public forum in Lagos, the MAN boss described as scandalous the unprecedented level of taxes levied against manufacturing companies operating in the country, a development, he said, is a disincentive to business.

“Manufacturers are already overburdened by a lot of challenges including limited infrastructure, which is why it is unthinkable that

they are continuously being overstretched,” he said.

Specifically, he said: “I can tell you without mincing words that many manufacturing companies in the country today pay one form of levy or the other to at least 25 agencies including federal, state and local government respectively. This is killing. How can manufacturers survive in this kind of hostile environment, it is impossible.”

Expatiating, he said: “Manufacturers are groaning under severe multiple taxation that adds to the cost of business and disrupts the manufacturing chain. This is not fair at all.”

The way forward, he said, is for government at all levels to streamline these taxes in order to encourage the growth of companies.

“Many manufacturing plants we have today are no longer in business because of a number of factors, part of which includes poor operating environment and the issue of multiple taxations. There is an urgent need on the part of government to address this ugly situation,” he stressed.

Innovation in tax administration Worried that taxpayers in the country were mainly salary earners and few people in the business community, the various revenue agencies have over time tried various initiatives to bring more Nigerians under the tax net.

One of such initiatives was the recently introduced Taxpayers Identification Number (TIN) which the Joint Tax Board (JTB) believes is a veritable tool in this regard and as such has renewed its campaign to create awareness for the electronic device.

‘A lot of Nigerians are not tax -a Chief Mark Dike is the immediate past president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN). In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf he speaks on the challenges and prospects of tax administration in Nigeria his wealth. Such man will try with all the

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•Dike

OULD you say tax awareness has increased among Nigerians?

Saying that tax awareness has increased in Nigeria is neither here nor there.

The awareness depends on how you look at it. If you’re looking at it from the perspective of government or from the perspective of the citizenry, especially those who are supposed to pay tax, if you’re looking at it from the perspective of government, then I can say there is this realisation by government that tax is the only way for government to raise sustainable revenue that it can utilise to prosecute government business. And prosecuting government business is not just to pay salaries but more importantly, to provide public goods and services for all citizens, whether

you’re in employment of government or not, whether you’re a paid employee or self-employed person.

If you now look at it from the point of the citizens, the awareness is not adequate.

Yes, they know they have a duty to pay tax but people have this attitude that why do I need to pay tax. There is this maxim in taxation, if you talk about tax policy. Qui bono, for what purpose, why am I paying tax because as long as the quid pro quo, you give and you expect something in return, is not there, then there is a problem with such a system.

No man is under any legal obligation, legal or otherwise for the tax man to use his shovel to come into his shop and scoop after

means possible to guide his wealth jealously from invasion or the tax man.

Again, I must reiterate that the government has not really helped matters. In a situation when the competition for revenue between oil and tax was such that the government found it easier to get revenue from oil, it neglected its responsibility towards taxes.

And since it was getting revenue from oil, it was like sentencing government into some complacency. I recall that our former Head of State in the throes of the oil boom said the country’s problem was how to spend its money.

Is tax sustainable?

Of course, tax revenue is a sustainable way of generating income for any govern-

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015 First muted in 2008, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Inland Revenue Boards of the 36 states in the federation hinted of their plan to introduce a new taxpayers’ identification number, tagged Unique Tax Identification Number (U-TIN) in 2009. The board then said U-TIN was an electronic system of tax registration which will be unique to individual taxpayers nationwide.

Justifying the new initiative, the board cited Section 8 (q) of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, which provides the legal back-up for taxpayer identification numbers.

The law provides that “the service shall issue taxpayer identification number to every taxable person in Nigeria in collaboration with States Board of Internal Revenue and Local Government Councils.

Purpose of TIN Most government agencies and financial institutions across the country insist on the presentation of TIN and Tax Clearance Certificates (TCC) as part of the eligibility requirements for any individual or corporations doing business with them. They are required for government loans, foreign exchange transaction, issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), trade licenses, government contracts, import and export licenses, vehicles registration and international passports. They are also required for allocation of market stalls, approval of land and building plans, appointment or election into public offices and registration companies and business names among other things.

Using the new electronic taxpayer registration system, JTB would ensure automation of tax activities in the country and eradicate multiple taxations in the country. It will also boost information sharing between tax administrators and various institutions in the country saying the use of TIN is the easiest way to create a tax-friendly environment in the country.

How companies can be tax-compliant One way to get companies to be tax-compliant is to ensure that they have robust, automated payroll systems and processes in place so that they can more easily comply with the demands of an increasingly tough tax regime in the country.

That’s according to Magnus Nmonwu, Regional Director for Sage West Africa, who says that a hardline attitude to non-compliance from the federal and state tax authorities means that companies must get all their processes and paperwork in order to avoid tax troubles in the months to come.

“Nigeria’s tax authorities are taking a zero-tolerance approach to non-payment of tax or incorrect remittances of taxes to the government, whether the reason is a deliberate evasion or an accidental oversight. With companies in Nigeria

coming under more scrutiny for their tax affairs, it is essential to put in place systems and processes that help you to easily comply with tax regulations.”

He further notes that one common reason some companies in Nigeria struggle to meet these tax obligations and deadlines is that they don’t have formal business systems in place to enable accurate recordkeeping, precise calculations and deductions, and automated preparation and submissions of these statutory returns to the relevant tax authorities or government agencies when due.

Against the backdrop of growing regulatory complexity, Nmonwu argues matter-of-factly that organisations need to realise that spreadsheets and other manual methods are no longer sufficient to meet their needs.

To comply, companies need to put in place solutions that streamline capturing of transactions, automate payroll calculations and bring visibility of the business.

Such solutions also make it simpler to keep track of annual changes to tax regulations that impact on payroll tax calculations and various changes in legislation, says Nmonwu.

Call for tax amnesty Globally, the popular fad now is to encourage voluntary tax collection.

More and more tax administrators are coming up with diverse products to raise government revenues to meet daunting challenges.

In the view of analyst, in Nigeria and much of the frontier markets voluntary tax compliance is still a mirage and special efforts needs to be employed to curb it.

Whereas in developed nations taxpayers remit voluntarily, allowing the tax administrators time and space to develop new tax types such as carbon tax, green gas tax amongst others, but one innovation that stands out from this pack, even in developed countries, remains tax amnesty.

Tax amnesty is defined as a waiver or reduction and sometimes removal of penalties in back taxes to encourage defaulting taxpayers to pay what they owe within a specified window.

According to Atanda Mikail, a tax consultant, majority of eligible taxpayers in Nigeria rarely remit their taxes and it is crucial we find a common ground to achieve the objective of the government to raise funds from taxes through some ingenious means that works with our cultural and economic landscape.

But can the FIRS really achieve its ambitious target of recording over 99.9 per cent tax remittance compliance level?

Time will tell.

ax -aware’

demand for good service delivery.

There is a biblical saying out of the abundant of the heart, the mouth speaks. A hungry man does not hear any grammar. A hungry man who does not have enough to take care of himself, you cannot ask him to contribute money for food.

Many companies rather than pay tax seek tax holiday. What is your take on that?

I really do not support the whole idea of tax holiday because it has been bastardised by the federal government. Giving tax holiday is not free lunch; there are benefits and agreements attached to it. In fact, there must be quantifiable and verifiable evidence for tax holiday to happen. We feel statutorily obliged to initiate programmes and discussions that would not only help in critically addressing these issues, but would also find solutions to the numerous problems bedeviling our economy.

ment. But the irony, however, is that the level of tax awareness is still poor across the country. Unfortunately, efforts by various governments to evolve viable tax system in the country as a panacea for economic growth and development has failed to truly translate to better living conditions for majority of the citizenry.

The best use of taxation is to pool our resources together. If people get that particular understanding that this is about you and I, what we can contribute to the pool, then things can work. Once you know that if you pay your tax as and when due, you won’t go to sleep and allow your tax to be frittered away by just anybody.

For instance, a man cannot fail to give his wife money and come back to start asking for food. It is the same way people pay tax and

BUSINESS

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Unilever restates commitment sustainable development

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N line with the UN Global Goals initiative, Unilever Nigeria, has reiterated its commitment to continue advancing the lives of Nigerians through its sustainable living plan.

Speaking on the 17 global goals recently ratified at the UN Summit held in New York, Mr. Yaw Nsarkoh, Managing Director, Unilever Nigeria Plc said the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) was launched five years ago to tackle some of the issues raised at the summit.

“In 2010 we set out the USLP as a blueprint for achieving our vision to decouple growth from environmen-

tal impact and increase social impact,” said Nsarkoh.

On September 25, 2015, leaders of 193 UN member states in New York ratified the 17 global goals that will provide the blueprint for the world’s development till 2030.The ambitious agenda – which aims to tackle poverty, climate change and inequality for all people in all countries – was signed off at the start of a three-day UN summit on sustainable development.

“Through our brands social mission, we have encapsulated some of the issues raised in the UN Global

Firms hold summit on waste management

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ODUB Service Limited in collaboration with UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the Nigeria High Commission, London and Total Facilities Management Limited (TFML) have conclude plans to stage its Asset and Waste Management Summit at the Rockview Hotel Royale in Abuja from 3rd to 4th November, 2015.

Briefing newsmen at a pre-event forum, the Executive Director, CODUB Service Limited, Mr. Chidi Umeano said the summit will bring together 400 professionals, senior stakeholders (local and international) within the Asset Management and Waste Management space.

Justifying the need for the sum-

By Adeola Ogunlade mit, he said: “Waste management is one of the key problems of modern society due to the ever expanding volume and complexity of discarded wastes. Thus, the emerging waste management industry and associated wealth creation will be discussed following the massive increase in waste management and resource industry activity and output.”

“In Europe, there has been growing demands on the overall employment related to waste management including and in the United Kingdom, the total turnover is above 11 billion a year with direct employment up to 95, 000 people,” he stressed.

PZ Chemistry Challenge announces entries

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HE third edition of the Chemistry Challenge for secondary schools has commenced with entries being received from students in SS3 classes in public and private schools in Lagos State. The call-toentry will run till November 4, 2015, and participants will not be charged any fee.

The formal launch will hold on Tuesday, October 6, 2015 Previously known as PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge, the initiative of PZ Cussons Foundation is being sponsored this year by Carex, a product of PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc. Carex Brand Manager, Oluwaseun Ayeni announced that the 2015 edition will be more exciting than the previous two editions as additional opportunities for the public to challenge their intellect and win fabulous prizes have been introduced.

Apart from the scholarships and cash rewards worth over N3 million for the four finalists, the rest of the top 10, teachers and schools of finalists, a four-month online Carex Hygiene Challenge will run from October with winners emerging every month.

The Lagos State Government,

through the Ministry of Education, has again given approval and support to the competition, as it did in the first two editions.

PZCCC also enjoys the endorsement of the Chemical Society of Nigeria, the Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria and the National Parents Teachers’ Association of Nigeria.

Ayeni also said that only two students per school will be allowed to participate in the competition, and therefore encouraged each school to send in its best Chemistry students.

Students are to be endorsed by their schools, and candidates are advised to provide their reachable phone numbers and email addresses through which examination centres would be communicated to them.

Eligible participants are to visit the project website www.pzcarexchemistrychallenge.com and check the ‘registration’ portal to register.

This year, a designated blog has been created and embedded on the PZCCC website. It will be exploited to allow followers to follow and review the content. Also added is a PZCCC youtube channel to share videos online.

Nobel International Business School unveils degree programmes

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OBEL International Business School (NIBS) in Accra, Ghana, has launched an innovative executive education program designed and customised to prepare busy business leaders and executives for an internationally accredited Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree programme, in affiliation with the Swiss Business School (SBS), Zurich, Switzerland. The programme commenced with its first module at the NIBS Campus, 7 Oleander Street, East Legon, Accra.

Addressing the media in Lagos, Professor KwakuAtuahene-Gima, the president and Executive Dean of NIBS said: “The NIBS doctoral program is timely because of the extraordinary political and economic opportunities in Africa. More than ever, Africa needs business leaders and executives with advanced cognitive leadership skills to discover the limitations of current management practices, develop deeper insights into what works and what does not work,

and discover, lead and share new knowledge and next practices. Students are expected to come into the program with live business problems and opportunities they wish to resolve through the research in the three year DBA. The programme helps executives to develop the ‘practitionerscholar’ ability to navigate new business challenges by making evidencebased decisions.

Professor Per V. Jenster, the Vice President of NIBS said: “As business problems grow in complexity in Africa, new knowledge and practices must be generated by the new generation of business leaders. Many believe that German companies are well-managed and resilient because over 75% of German business executives hold professional doctorates. Our doctoral programme blends Swiss excellence with local knowledge allowing executives to develop deeper insights into real business problems in pursuit of new and relevant evidence-based solutions.”

Goals into three focus areas of - reducing our environmental impact, improving the health and well-being of more than a billion people, and enhancing the livelihoods of millions working in our value chain,” Nsarkoh informed.

For instance, Pepsodent, in partnership with the Nigerian Dental Association, continues to contribute to improving professional dental standards and deliver oral health care projects across multiple channels to change people’s habits. Earlier this year, Pepsodent led the global movement for better dental care on World Oral Health day by hosting 1000 children in the same location to take a pledge to brush day & night, and encourage their parents to do same. And by 2020, Unilever aims to reach 10 million children in Nigeria with its ‘Brush Everyday Day and Night Oral Health’ campaign to ensure healthy life style.

“Through our Women Empowerment Programme tagged ‘Gbemiga’, Unilever has helped women in rural communities in South-West Nigeria set up their own businesses, and increase their earnings and quality of life. Many women have benefited from this project so far,” Nsarkoh said.

Unilever believes that the challenges that the Global Goals aim to tackle have a huge impact on its business and it is key for the sustainable development of Nigeria. For a safe environment, Unilever Nigeria is constantly making efforts to reduce environmental impact by ensuring that effluents from factories do not degrade the environment. This has come through in areas like hazardous waste reduction through focused action; reuse and recycling; and partnership with recycling organisations.

•Banjo

UK based decor firm opens in Lagos

By Medinat Kanabe

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ECOR Group, a UK based creative agency - Decor Fusion and Decor Cribs has formally launched its business operations in Nigeria with its head office in Ikeja, Lagos.

The international interior design firm which is headed by Mr Michael Banjo will be offering services such as interior design for all types of buildings, branding for business looking to improve e their image and professional training in interior design for individuals looking to develop a career in interior design.

Speaking at the launch, Banjo said the company has started training interested Nigerians on interior decoration, adding that they will be affiliates to the company after their training.

“The total amount payable per student is N420, 000 for a one year course.

The payment can be done in four ways- full payment, two instalments, quarterly or monthly,” he said.

Speaking further, he said, the students will get the best international training as teachers are coming in from the UK for a 48 week class including theory and practical.

54

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

BUSINESS

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HEN did Crunches become operational?

The plan was in 2002.

But officially, we opened doors to customers in 2003. We had our anniversary in 2013 when we became 10 years old in the industry and I can say thus far, we’ve been able to establish our brand, establish our sales and I believe that our customers in all these areas have come to terms with us by accepting our services, accepting what we do because without them, there is no way we could have expanded even beyond Aba where we started. But the confidence they have built around us is the reason we have been able to expand in such a fast way. It is not easy to open a fast food, let me not even use figures. When we started, because we were a startup, no bank was ready to talk to us, we sold out everything we had, borrowed personal funds and we were able to establish the first one. But of course, this wouldn’t have been possible without the chairman of the company, Mr. Mike Anazodo who was very dogged in his attitude to ensure that the business took off.

You have been involved in expansion of your brand in recent times across different regions.

Can you tell us what informed the expansion programme so far?

For the past two years, Crunches decided to do something different, expand our scope in different states as it is usual with us and I can comfortably say as at now, Crunches has opened more than four new outlets in Asaba, Onitsha, Calabar and Uyo. For Calabar, Onitsha and Uyo, they are the second branches we are opening in those areas. This is to show our confidence in the economy of those towns and also to show how grateful we are to our customers who in the past years have supported our business in those areas, to say that we say thank you and bringing these outlets even closer to their doorsteps. Again, it is to provide better services and better quality products to our numerous customers.

As part of our expansion programme also, in the next couple of years, we are going to add value to the entertainment industry in Aba. From event centres to cinema halls to restaurants and this is going to change the face of the entertainment industry in Aba. As a matter of fact, a sister company is going to be opening a lounge very soon.

Certainly it is still about the confidence we have in the economy of Aba, that we can make Aba a better place for its citizens. Very soon as well, we are going to open in Umuahia, one of the best restaurants that is going to show up in the South East, It’s going to be a mega business.

What do you want to achieve with this expansion?

Before now, we had 14 outlets cutting across the South East, South/South zones. With the expansion, we want to show our confidence in the economy of these areas and to remove from the unemployment line the young ones who have just graduated from school and also to mentor other businesses so that they can invest in these areas.

We had options of importing from China, but we decided not to do so, but to venture into this area of producing Chinese food locally to add value to the area where we currently oper-

‘Fast food business lucrative but…

Mazi Jude Nnamdi Nwosu is the Managing Director of Crunches Fried Chicken Limited, one of the quick service outlets servicing major cities in Southeast and South-south of Nigeria. In this interview with Sunny Nwankwo, he shares the success story of how together with his associates was able to build one of the vibrant fast food brands in that part of the country. Excerpts:

•Nwosu

ate.

As a brand what are your unique selling points?

You know, if you look at the slogan of Crunches, it says, “Taste the difference” and what we have added in our business right now, we say “Crunches plus” and again we created a slogan that said: “Step it up.” What we’ve done is to provide excellent service and better quality products and a wider range of products to our numerous customers. Before now, we were doing the normal fast food of rice, chicken and all that. But right now, we’ve added the Chinese variation because we have found out in most areas where we operate that customers would always ask you for simple things as spring roll, Chinese rice, things like that. So, we decided to bring them under one umbrella and make it such that our customers get these services less than five minutes. Before now, you go a Chinese restaurant and you order for any of the Chinese food, you wait for over twenty minutes before it could get to you. But now we compress that into fast food environment where you come in, within a couple of minutes, you are served,

remember with the best quality of products.

Another thing is our ability to connect with our customers. When we got into the business, we realised that children are the driving force in any family. Once you bring children to any place, be it a church and they like it, 90 percent chances are that they are going to drag you into it whether you like it or not. Most of the time, parents want to satisfy their children’s yearning. Yes it was a strong point when we opened Crunches and we had a wonderful children’s section. And to start with, whence a parent brings his child into Crunches at that time, it was difficult for that child to leave and by implication, the parent had to wait and by waiting, he would taste our food and by tasting our food, he will get to like one thing and gradually it will become a family thing.

During the kidnapping era, a lot of businessmen left the city but you remained behind, why did you take that decision?

Let me simply put it this way, till this hour, the economy of Aba has not improved so much because of lack of infrastructure in Abia

State. But having said that, I’m one person that believes in the economy of Aba and Abia State in general. If all of us had left Abia state at that time you were talking about, who would have taken care of our teeming youngsters? I will not take God’s glory. I think it was the grace of God that kept us here during the kidnapping era. Let me not say because I was not kidnapped meant that I was holier. No. The truth of the matter is that I believed and I had faith that I was not going to leave Aba for any other place. I stayed here throughout that period.

We all experienced the downturn in business that time. At a point, we were not even paying salary to our workers because there were no customers coming to buy because everybody ran away. But we had hope that God would do His own thing at His own time and He certainly did it.

Crunches has been in business for the past 12 years, what is your market share like?

Let me say that we are the market leader in most of the places where we play and again I give God the glory because it is not by our power or might. But while He is

doing His own, as mortals, we also ensure that we do our own beat. Like as I said, we’ve been able to invest much on training and re-training of our staff to be able to provide good and quality services to our customers because it is not easy to have one person who could have cooked in his house, come to you on daily basis to buy food from you.

So what do you do, you are keeping an environment that is convivial for this customer to come and relax and enjoy that few minutes that he is with you, so you want to make sure that every time the customer shows up in your outlet that he is comfortable, that he is well taken care of, that he enjoys every minute of his stay so that when he comes back the next time he would have a reason to come back to you.

What advice do you have for people who want to go into fast food business?

The advice is very simple, you have to do a business plan, you need to be advised by business managers to be able to know if you are in the right place for the business you are venturing into, if you have the right attitude to do that business because you might have N1b and you want to go into a business, if you do not have the right attitude, if you don’t have the passion for that particular business, it will certainly fail.

Let me tell you something, from time to time, people come to me to seek advice on how to start a fast food business. Apples came to me and I advised them, they are thriving. As we speak, they have built three branches. If my advice was wrong, they would not have gone far into the business. I tell you that Spicy Shop came to me when they wanted to start this business and I advised them.

From the small to the big, in fact, to everything that is used to start the business, I gave them the advice, therefore I don’t see them as competitors, I see them as partners because at the end of the day, the fast food business is a neighbourhood business. If I’m in a location, somebody from another location may not be able to come and buy from me, so there is the need for somebody to open up at that end of the location to carter for those who will show up from that area. Again, the more you open up fast food, the more you have more customers coming into the business.

When we’re trying to open up the first Crunches in Aba, I remember the advice someone gave me that Mr. Biggs was already there, ‘Are you sure you want to go and compete with UAC? But I remember I said to the individual who was telling me this that UAC was run by human beings, not people from outer space, that if they could do it, we certainly will do it and we sure did. And by the end of the day, Mr. Biggs is still there, we are still there and others have joined us since then and what you now do is to be able to get your own market share and stay there.

55

WITH JILL OKEKE jillokeke@yahoo.com, 07069429757, 08158610847 THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

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HAT brand of rice is in the bag of rice you have just bought? Is it Royal Umbrella, Stallion, Marvel, Caprice, El Faradj, Mama Gold,etcetera?

It is only the wholesaler and retailer that can honestly answer that question.

Adulteration has permeated the rice industry just like in every other sector. Mrs. Felicia Okonkwo, a caterer with the Nigerian Prison Authorities, had just ordered some bags of Royal Umbrella rice at the normal price of N11,000. Royal Umbrella, because it is about the best rice in the market.

In terms of quality, flavour, texture, you cannot fault it. The long grain Thai rice also stands out singularly (like most Thai rice) after cooking, so despite the fact that the price is higher than most other brands in the market, consumers still prefer to buy it.

According to Mrs. Okonkwo, on opening the 50kg bag, and seeing the rice, she realised it was not the rice she has been buying.

Unlike the Royal Umbrella, this particular rice grain was not slim and long and also did not have the shinny finish of Royal Umbrella. On opening the second bag of rice she bought, she noticed also that it was not the brand she had asked for. The content of this second bag was even different from the contents of the first bag she opened and both bags were supposed to be the same brand. The rice grain in the second bag was slim, long but very whitish instead of golden. She checked the rice bags again and confirmed the two bags bore the name of Royal Umbrella with all the attached printed materials.

Her mistake? She had not gone to her regular customer at Iddo, Lagos. However, she remembered she had the seller’s phone number and she put a call through to him, registering her dissatisfaction and disappointment.

Alhaji, as she called him, insisted that he bought the bags

Rice adulteration on the increase

•Bag of Rice

of rice like that and at no time repackaged them.

Refusing to confirm if the content of the bag was the actual brand of rice printed on the rice bag, he said he did not open the bags before making the purchase and as such could not testify to that.

Surprised, but not really overwhelmed as I know that most traders are quite unscrupulous and can descend very low to make abnormal profits, I took a trip to the popular rice market in Daleko, Mushin, Lagos.

Pretending to be a buyer, I requested for two popular brands, Caprice and Royal Umbrella, from Alhaji Yero of Shop No. 18. Mercifully, he told me that one of the popular brands I requested for, being imported from Thailand by Mama Gold, had not been in the Nigerian market since this year.

Thankfully, I left his shop. But as I walked through the market, I observed different printed rice bags displayed for sale to those traders wishing to falsely repackage unpopular rice under popular brand names. I went into another shop and requested for Royal

Umbrella rice and, this time, the shop owner said it was available. This is the same rice (from investigations) I had been told was not available in the market.

He was excited and requested to know how many bags I wanted, I told him I needed 100 bags. The trader whom I would not want to mention his name now said I should make part payment and that I should give him an hour to bring the rice from his second store in the market or alternatively make payment and give him three hours to deliver the rice to any location of my choice within Lagos.

Promising to come back, I walked to line 2, Shop 34. The shop owner, Madame Funmi Olobanjo, popularly called Oyo Oyo Rice, was more forthcoming, believing I was a rice retailer.

She said the popular brands I wanted was scarce but that she could bag rice that looked similar to the ones I wanted under the brand name I wanted.

I requested to know the rice she could bag as Royal Umbrella rice for instance, she disclosed that traders usually

bag El Faradj, another Thai rice, and Mama Gold usually sold for N8,000 per 50kg in place of Royal Umbrella rice, and sell it for N11000 as Royal Umbrella making extra N3,000 per bag.

Explaining further, she said that when the two types of rice are mixed together one can hardly find out. Demanding whether that was the only brand they could adulterate, she stated that there was no brand of rice that cannot be adulterated.

However, the ones that are usually adulterated are the brands in high demand, especially when they are no longer in the market and buyers keep demanding for them.

Special rice is also another brand that is also being presently adulterated. “Anyone that tells you she/he has Special rice is telling a lie. Traders mix long grain ‘Arosor’ and short grain Agric and bag as Special rice and sell it for N10,000, the same price of the Special rice brand.

At Agege Market, Shop No 18, Shiaba Street, Alhaji Musa Abubakar, though confirming the adulteration of rice, said that not all the traders were involved in the nefarious ac-

tivities.

The way to avoid falling into the hands of these dupes, he advised, is to maintain a customer. “Find an honest customer and stick to him,” he said.

At Iddo, another popular rice market where the adulteration seemed to be rife, Mr. Anene Ikeanyionwu, a rice dealer, while condemning the actions of some of his fellow traders, also blamed consumers for sometimes insisting on a particular brand.

“The difference in some of these brands, especially the rice from Thailand is not much. They are all good rice just that they have been branded in different names.

There is no much difference between El Faradj, Super rice, Royal Umbrella and the other brands. The only thing is that those brands have been marketed better,” lamented Ikeanyionwu.

Explaining further, he said where the difference is noticeable is between rice imported from India and the one imported from Thailand. Indian rice is of smaller seed and sells for about N8,300 while Thai rice is of bigger and longer grain which consumers prefer and which goes for between N8,600 – N11,000.

“But a consumer has the right to know what he or she is buying,” I insisted. Agreeing with me, Ikeanyionwu regretted the development, while advising consumers to stick to a well-known, trusted seller and stop insisting on a particular brand of rice.

But is the deception and adulteration going to continue? What are the parent umbrellas in the market doing to checkmate this ugly situation?

Investigations by Consumer Watch has revealed that at all the popular rice markets in Lagos like Iddo, Daleko, Ketu, Mile 12, Alaba, Sango Otta, the story is the same.

Printed rice bags of different

Sprite thrills with basketball, music and dance ECENTLY, the University of Calabar, Multipurpose Hall played host to a show of basketball skills, cool rap lyrics and talented dance moves at the much anticipated 2015 edition of the Sprite Triple Slam(STS) activations.

The event reaffirmed the commitment of Sprite, the leading lemon-lime flavoured sparkling soft drink, to promote basketball and hip-hop in Nigeria.

The audience that filled the Multipurpose Hall of the University of Calabar for the Sprite Triple Slam enjoyed a display of sublime basketball skills, rap, and freestyle dance performances from students.

Speaking at the event, Senior Brand Manager, Flavours, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Toyin Nnodi, reaffirmed that Sprite is committed to ensuring that consumers express

R

themselves and bring to life their true key passions. According to Nnodi, Sprite Triple Slam offers Nigerian teens and youths the platform to express themselves in any of their key three passion points of basketball, music and dance.

She said, “Sprite respects youths and recognises that Nigerians have great talent and adopt the hip-hop culture early in life. Hip-hop has been a key component of the brand’s essence for many decades.

Through the Sprite Triple Slam activation, Sprite remains committed to supporting basketball, music and dance. We are focused on sparking up the creativity in young people, which is a key attribute of the Sprite brand.” Oritsefemi David, a 200-level undergraduate in Theatre and Media Studies, who displayed amazing dance skills by spinning on his head for 45secs, revealed that,

for him, determination was what kept him going. He showered praises on the Sprite brand for bringing the activation to UNICAL. He said, “Sprite should come to our campus more often. I like the fact that Sprite always gives one the opportunity of expressing yourself.”

One of the irrepressible talents who emerged as a regional winner in the Sprite Triple Slam 2011 edition, Jane Krest Amadi, recounted how she made it tops in rap saying, “I worked hard for it, although it wasn’t an easy contest.”

Speaking about her music passion, she said she is currently signed to Solid Star Record Label, and will be dropping her first music video this month.

Amadi commended Sprite for bringing back the platform which she stated would help discover further talents, and inspire youths to become bet-

ter in the game of basketball.

The major act of the event, Patoranking, gave a dazzling performance to the delight of the crowd. During his performance, he moved his pair of Versace boots and gave them to a member of the crowd. According to him, “I believe it is good to be a giver, most especially to a student.” He added that, “I never got the kind of education I wanted, so whenever I’m invited to participate in a university activity or perform at an event with students in attendance, I always give it my very best.”

Sprite has essentially continued to promote and support the Nigerian hip-hop culture, taking it to higher levels. Promoting the three key elements of youth culture – basketball, music and dance, Sprite is playing a major role in unveiling hip-hop talents across the country through Sprite Triple Slam

activation. STS offers an exciting and dynamic opportunity for youths to showcase their talents, have fun and enjoy a unique hip-hop experience.

The event usually ends with the performance of a notable Nigerian artist bringing the excitement to a grand climax.

brands are openly on display for traders to buy and repackage and rebrand. Sometimes the commodity will already be repackaged in bags of other brands and brought to the market, thereby deceiving the unsuspecting public.

Grain sack-sewing machines are equally on display.

Almost all the wholesalers are involved in this act and they engage in it right inside their stores, though discreetly.

Investigations revealed that the union can’t stop the adulteration because the members are the wholesalers who are deeply involved in the adulteration.

Heritage Bank rebrands

F

OLLOWING the successful merger of Heritage Banking Company Limited and Enterprise Bank Limited, the emerging Heritage Bank Limited has concluded the integration of its systems to align the operations of the bank in all its locations across the country seamlessly.

The chairman of the board of the new Heritage Bank Limited, Mr. Akinsola Akinfemiwa OON, stated this while addressing a cream of news and business editors from major newspapers and magazines at a media parley by the bank in Lagos recently.

He disclosed that the bank, which is still riding on the euphoria of the successful completion of the merger, is set for a seamless operation that will satisfactorily meet the huge expectations of its teeming customers and stakeholders.

Akinfemiwa, who explained that the bank has, to this end, integrated its “processes, technology, people, and branch networks” to pave way for an efficient and smooth banking service for its customers all over the country and beyond, added that “we have also rebranded all our branches and trained all the staff on all aspects of our core operational services. We have equally harmonised our products, customers and data at all our Experience Centres,” he said.

From left: Chairman, Heritage Bank Limited, Mr. Akinsola Akinfemiwa, Managing Director/CEO, Heritage Bank Limited, Ifie Sekibo and Executive Director, Heritage Bank Limited, Mrs. AdaezeUdensi at the bank media parley in Lagos.

56

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

INTERVIEW

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INE-YEAR-OLD Primate David Olonade is a survivor from the dark alleys of hell.

The founder of Ark of Covenant Church Lagos had heart-wrenching struggles with God before he finally started his church in August, 1960.

For years, he was totally paralysed and given up for death.

Recalling his battles with God, he said: "I never wished to be prophet of God. I was a rascal boy and very popular in 29 Binuyo Street, Isale gangan, Lagos.

"I grew up in the third house before Fashola's father's house. In fact the Fashola family brought us up. We used to carry ladies about and if any preacher comes to our area I don't allow them preach despite the fact that my father and mother were prophet and prophetess. My mother died at 97 while my father was 122 and I am the last child of my parents."

He went on: "I didn't even want to hear Halleluyah. I hated the word prophet because I was very famous in Lagos and thought I had it all. If somebody told me I would be here today, I would have said it was a white lie."

The prophet, who is an electrician and worked at the then Ijora Power Station, said his typical day was going to work in the morning, closing by 4pm and returning to 'rock' town in the evening.

"I had a bicycle and bicycles weren't easy to come by then. It was like a beautiful car. We could take our bicycles from Isale Gangan to any part of Lagos to meet our girlfriends. I never knew that I would become a servant of God." He was living like that until an encounter with one Prophet Zaccheaus.

"We beat him up and scattered the place. The money that was contributed for the man was taken away from him.

"After catching his breath, he said God said the person who organised that riot would be a servant of God but if he refused, he would be paralysed. I ran after him up to Casino Cinema at Ita Faaji to beat

Stubborn prophet who turned God down for years

By Medinat Kanabe

him but I couldn't get him so I went away."

The next day, Olonade's troubles started. "I became very sick. I was working with two men from Liverpool, Mr Cavel and Mr Butt.

"They were the contractors of Ijora Power Station. I was told by Mr Butt to pass a wire from the compound to a carpenter's workshop. I had already buried the pole in the middle of the compound with concrete some days ago but had not joined any cable with it.

"The day I wanted to join the cable I was on shorts and short sleeve. At that time, we used to do cracker board- rolling up your short sleeve shirt.

"It made us feel handsome. I climbed a ladder which was held by the son of Mr Butt who was working with his father in Nigeria.

"Within 10 to 15 minutes, he was calling me Dogo man (my nickname) you are shaking on ladder, I told him to leave me alone and continued my work.

"When I got down, I realised I was sweating profusely and my eyes were very red then I began shaking like a motorcycle. I was taken to our dispenser who said he couldn't do anything for me.

"After two weeks, I was in general hospital where Dr Mabayoje, a friend and father was attending to me.

When he first saw me, he said 'Dogo man, I am not a prophet or a spiritual man but this spirit using me is saying God is calling you, go and answer him,'" That began his search for healing. "I was taken to an herbalist in Iya Ofin, Balogun near canal. That native doctor cut all my body but no blood.

"He rubbed some concoctions and asked if I felt the pains but I said no.

That was when I knew that I was under some sort of punishment.

"My stomach was as big as a nine- month pregnant

•Olonade

woman's. I was tested by many doctors but they didn't see anything wrong with me.

"By this time my mother was no more, she died on 1st April, 1947 so I was sent to my step mother in Mushin who then sent me to Abeokuta where I was given so many medicines.

"Any medicine I was given, I passed out at the toilet just as I was given the medicine. I had sold my two cars, Vanguard and Chevrolet.

"When the situation became worse, my father sent for me from the village in Egba now Ogun State."

But his situation worsened at his father's village. "When I got to the market, which is the last stop and about two and half miles to my father's village,

I was dropped on the floor and the vehicle left the place.

"During this time, I was already paralysed and couldn't move on my own. It was about 10am but there was no one to send to my family that I was nearby.

"A member of father's family who was a tailor came to the market from the village to buy sewing thread.

He walked passed me as he couldn't recognise me.

"I called out his name then he turned around to look at me. He greeted me looking at me to know if he knew but he still didn't recognise me so he said "I don't know you." I introduced myself to him. He screamed and ran to my father's village to call him."

"Yet, Olonade would not give up. He was still obstinate. "I was defecating

and urinating on myself without knowing it. I started to smell. I was alone in a room for 3 years and seven months and out of these 3 years and 7 months, I didn't stool, urinate, eat, sleep or hear anybody talking for 3 months and 12 days."

"If they put me on the mat, not bed, they will turn me like this, (showing this reporter his side). If they remember after two weeks that somebody is in the room, they will come and turn me again.

"When they turned, my skin would have peeled. All my father's family members began to grumble and shout complaining that I was dead already and should be buried."

At a point, even his father agreed he should be buried.

"A coffin was made and date fixed for my burial. I was taken to the burial ground but as I was about to be buried, a visioner in the village who was also a farmer ran towards us and demanded that I was removed from the coffin.

"He said 'Mr Olonade, God said you are about to bury a living man. Go and make covenant for him that you will force him to become a servant of God." His father had to open the coffin while Olonade was taken to the mountain where he swore to serve God. "My foot and hands were curved like someone who has leprosy. You can see it, it is still like that. Even my stomach is still a little swollen.

"I requested for food white local food called Eko. They got it for me and started to feed me. When they put it in my mouth the third time, I threw up. My tongue was as black as charcoal and everything I vomited came out black.

"As I was throwing up, I was stooling and urinating and hearing some music which no other person could hear. All my body was stiff; I couldn't walk or move more than sitting up.

"After a while I forced

myself to move and began to crawl. But anytime I forced myself to move I would hear a voice saying he is God and calling me to serve him, he would say, "I am Christ Jesus, if you agree to be m servant, I will release you from this bondage."

A ruffled Olonade started begging God for forgiveness. It had taken over three years for God to break him down.

"I became fervent in prayers calling on God to forgive me, release me from the bandage and promise to worship him. Medicines began to work on me and I started to move about."

He moved back to Lagos and enrolled for pastoral training. "But in 1955, I ran away. I started to trade in woods which I carried in vehicles to people.

"The man who was training me would laugh whenever he sees me and say what will happen to me next will be worse than what happened to me before."

He hadn't learnt his lessons and was going to go through the trial of affliction again. Suddenly, he became sick again and was admitted in a general hospital.

"I began to beg on the streets. I managed after some days to go back to the church and finished my training in 1960 and started my own church."

Saying he is still very strong at 91 plus, the prophet said his wife is pregnant. He also has a fiveyear- old child.

Asked how many women he is married to, he said: "I have only two here with me but I have married many in the past. Any woman who gives me problem I settle and tell her to leave."

Blessed with 12 children, he said he has secured their future in a most innovative way.

"I give them my churches that are located around the world. The baby that is yet to be born too is a boy and I will hand this church over to him,"? he hinted.

sin is allowed to thrive in the church, it will eventually sink the preacher and the people.

• Career-driven pastors Today, we have pastors who are only after their promotion, rank, title, money, gain and profit at the expense of the church. They see the ministry as a career and their living standards must be commensurate with that of their colleagues who work in

multi-national companies.

Career-driven pastors water down the truths of the scriptures to achieve financial goals. They are in the ministry for what they will get, not what they will give.

CHURCH CLINIC

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SECULARISED church is a religious centre devoid of spiritual life with negative influence in the society.

I'm afraid to admit that this is the position and condition of many prominent churches, denominations and church expressions today with particular reference to the Pentecostal and Charismatic folds.

Secularism in the church (1)

By Dr Francis Bola Akin-John

These are the factors that create such an ugly situation: • Unsaved Preachers We hate to admit it but the truth is that many churches have pastors, preachers, bishops and archbishops who are not genuinely born again or saved from sin.

Too many pastors of today are public successes but private failures because they have issues with sin, divorce, immoralities and financial scandals.

Unsaved or backslidden preachers usually translate to unsaved and secularised church people.

• Keeping mum about sin(s) When we keep mum about sins and would rather motivate and inspire people, the presence and power of sin in the life of the people will ruin the assembly.

Sin will kill the life of God in the church and everything will become secular. When

•Akin-John (08023000714; akingrow@gmail.com) is President of International Church Growth Ministries

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

57

THE NATION ON SUNDAY,

58

OCTOBER 4, 2015

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE CHANGE OF OF NAME NAME

ADESHULU Formerly addressed as Miss Adeshulu, Rukayat Busola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adesola, Rukayat Busola. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

UMEIZUDIKE Formerly addressed as Miss Chinenye Mercy Omerebere Umeizudike, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Chinenye Mercy Omerebere Sam-Anozie. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

KUKUTE Formerly addressed as Miss Kukute, Iromidayo, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ademulegun Iromidayo. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AKINRINADE Formerly addressed as Miss Akinrinade, Oluwafunmilayo Ruth, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adeosun, Oluwafunmilayo Ruth. Former documents remain valid.General public take note.

AUDU Formerly addressed as Miss Audu, Madinat, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adepoju, Modinat. Former documents remain valid.General public take note.

POPOOLA Formerly addressed as Miss Yemisi Arinola Monsurat Popoola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Yemisi Arinola PopoolaOdubanjo. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

NNEKA Formerly addressed as Nneka Jessie Ikem, now wish to be addressed as Nneka Jessie Chiedu.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

MAKINDE Formerly addressed as Miss Makinde, Aderonke Janet, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Tanimola, Aderonke Janet. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OKON Formerly addressed as Miss Emem Edet Okon, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Emem Aniedi Nkak. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OGHOLO Formerly addressed as Miss Clementina Ajah Ogholo, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Clementina Asuquo Akpan. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ILORI Formerly addressed as Miss Titilayo Olufunke Ilori, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Titilayo Olufunke Akogun. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AARON Formerly addressed as Mr. Aaron Uwazuruike Uwabunkeonye, now wish to be addressed as Mr. Aaron Ndukwu Uwabunkeonye. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

SHITTU Formerly addressed as Bukola Balkis Shittu, now wish to be addressed as Bukola Balikis Adegbite. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

UMEH Formerly addressed as Miss Cecillia Nwakaego Umeh, now wish to be addressed as M r s .

Cecillia Nwakaego Okoro. Former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note.

AKASE Formerly addressed as Miss Akase, Elizabeth Nguveren, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Aondoakaa, Elizabeth Nguveren.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

IYANDA Formerly addressed as Iyanda, Idowu Rasheed, now wish to be addressed as Jimoh, Idowu Rasheed. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME That Nwankwo Obiukwu Raymond, Nwankwo Denis Raymond, Nwankwo Raymond and Obiukwu Denis Nwankwo belong to the same and on person. Former documents bearing the above names remain valid. General public take note.

AKINFOLARIN Formerly addressed as Miss Akinfolarin, Margaret Adewale, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Bamidele, Adewale Margaret.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ONOGWU Formerly addressed as Sunday Raphael Onogwu, now wish to be addressed as Onogwu Raphael Sunday. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

EBUTE Formerly addressed as Miss Ebute, Aladi Blessing, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Onogwu, Aladi Blessing. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ILORI Formerly addressed as Miss Ilori, Tolulope Elizabeth, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adeniyi, Tolulope Elizabeth. Former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note.

AYOLO Formerly addressed as Ayolo David Kehinde Henry Kenneth, now wish to be addressed as David Henry Kenneth. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OSEMWEGIE Formerly addressed as Mrs. Augustina Osemwegie, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. BAugustina Monday Alao. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ADEBAYO Formerly addressed as Adebayo, Tawakalitu Moronfayo , now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ogunade Tawakalitu Moronfayo. Former documents remain valid.General public take note.

BANKOLE Formerly addressed as Miss Bankole Folashade Rafiat, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Arowolo, Folashade Esther. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AGBEBI Formerly addressed as Miss Agbebi, Olufolake Esther, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Salam, Olufolake Esther. Former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note.

IBIGBAMI Formerly addressed as Miss Adenike Modupe Ibigbami, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adenike Modupe Adesope. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHIMIEZIE Formerly addressed as SUNDAY BISHOP CHIMEZIE . Now wish to be known and addressed as CHIMEZIE SAMUEL UKAOHA. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

AYANDOKUN Formerly addressed as ADIJATU K. AYANDOKUN now wish to be and addressed as ADELEKE KEHINDE Former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

OKANLOMO Formerly addressed as Miss OKANLOMO IDAYAH OMOYEMI, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. ODUTOLU IDAYAH OMOYEMI. Former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

OYEBODE Formerly addressed as Miss Oyebode, Suzanah Mopelola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adebayo Suzanah Mopelola. Former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

EZEKWEM Formerly addressed as MRS. EZEKWEM AMARACHI BERNADETTE, now wish to be addressed as MISS EZEGBUNAM AMARACHI BERNADETTE. Former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

INAMANG Formerly known and addressed as MISS ANOK EGWU INAMANG, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ANOK BONNYOKPOTU. Former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

USUNGURA Formerly known and addressed as Miss Rebecca Nse Usungura, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. REBECCA GODWIN EKPO. Former documents remain valid. Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, FRCN, ICAN and general public should please take note.

JIGIDE Formerly addressed as Miss Jigide, Nkechinye Taiye, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. IkhideOhikhueme Nkechinye Taiye. Former documents remain valid. World N. Travel and general public take note.

IMOUKHUEDE Formerly addressed as Miss Selinah Ohomoime Imoukhuede, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Edozie-Onwuli Selinah Ohomoime. Former documents remain valid.General public take note.

ADESEGUN Formerly addressed as Miss Temitayo Olufunmilayo Adesegun, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ayo Temitayo Olufunmilayo Adesegun. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

KOLAWOLE Formerly addressed as Miss Kolawole, Oluwakemi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ola Abiola Oluwakemi. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

RAJI Formerly addressed as Miss Raji, Odunayo Fatimoh Idowu, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adeniji, Odunayo Fatimoh Idowu. Former documents remain valid.TaiSolarin University of Education,NYSC and general public take note.

KEN DEDE Formerly addressed as KEN DEDE OGAGAN, now wish to be addressed as KENNEDY OGAGAN. Former documents remain valid.

KEYSTONE BANK PLC and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

OBAWOLE Formerly addressed as OLUFUNMIKE OLUTAYO OBAWOLE, now wish to be addressed as OLUFUNMIKE OLUTAYO ANIMASAUN. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OGUNSANYA Formerly addressed as OGUNANYA, Oriyomi Olasunkanmi, now wish to be addressed as OGUNSANYA, Oriyomi Olasunkanmi. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

MBAFANNUM Formerly known as Dr. Miss Sabina Mbafannum now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Sabina Mbafannum-Adom.

Former documents remain valid.

University of Agriculture, Makurdi and the general public should please take note.

ALATISHE Formerly known as Alatishe Abiola Olabisi, now wish to be addressedas Umudi Abiola Olabisi. Former documents remain valid. Union Trustees Limited and general public should please take note.

UMOREN Formerly known as UMOREN IDARA OBONG INNOCENT, now wish to be addressed as UDOH IDARA OBONG INNOCENT MICHEAL. Former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OMISANMI Formerly known as Miss Omisanmi Adedoyin Temilade, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Akindele, AdedoyinTemilade.

Former documents remain valid.

NYSC and general public should please take note.

ADAMSON Formerly known as Miss Adamson, Temitope Tolulope, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ashade, Temitope Tolulope. Former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public should please take note.

OGUNYEMI Formerly known as MRS. OGUNYEMI, JULIANAH OLUFUNMILAYO, now wish to be addressed as MRS. OLUYEMI, JULIANAH OLUFUNMILAYO. Former documents remain valid.

Osogbo LGEA and general public should please take note.

OGBULU Formerly addressed as Miss Ibiene Juliet Ogbulu, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ibiene Juliet Fubara-Brown. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

UGWUOWO Formerly known and addressed as MISS UGWUOWO, GLORIA CHIOMA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. JOSEPH, GLORIA CHIOMA. Former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

IHESINULO Formerly addressed as MISS IHESINULO EZINWANNE JANE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. IFEDI EZINWANNE JANE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

DANIEL Formerly addressed as MISS CHINONYE PEACE DANIEL, now wish to be addressed as MRS. CHINONYE PEACE AJAH. Former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OKPAMEN Formerly addressed as Miss James Omonor Okpamen, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Jane Appolos James. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

IKEDIA Formerly addressed as Miss Chioma Ikedia, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Chioma Ikedia Bright. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

FOLARANMI Formerly addressed as Miss FOLARANMI, KEHINDE ADEOLA, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. OJEDIRAN, KEHINDE ADEOLA. Former documents remain valid.

LAUTECH TEACHING HOSPITAL OGBOMOSHO and general public take note.

ADEITE Formerly known as Miss ADEITE, ABOSEDE ADENIKE, now wish to be addressed as MRS. ADEITEOLASELE, ABOSEDE ADENIKE. Former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OKORO Formerly addressed as Okoro Wilson Enahoro, now wish to be addressed as Wilson Enahoro.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

NWALI Formerly addressed as Nwali Louisa Ngozi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Onwe Louisa Ngozi. Former documents remain valid. UBA Plc. and general public take note.

AWOBIYI Formerly addressed as MISS AWOBIYI CHRISTIANAH OLUTUNMBI, now wish to be addressed as MRS. OJO, CHRISTIANAH OLUTUNMBI. Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

LAWAL Formerly addressed as MISS LAWAL FATIMAH, now wish to be addressed as MRS. YESSOUFOU FATIMAH. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ONWUEGBULE Formerly addressed as Miss Onwuegbule, Chiamaka Jane, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Okeke, Chiamaka Jane. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

FATADE Formerly addressed as Miss Khadijat Olasunbo Fatade, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Khadijat Olasunbo Badejo. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OGUN Formerly addressed as Miss Ogun, Morenike Mariam, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oluwaseda, Morenike Mariam.

Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

PETERS Formerly addressed as Miss Peters, Onome Augustina Ejiro, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oni, Onome Augustina. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ADEWUSI Formerly addressed as Miss Adewusi, Ajoke Lateefat, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adeogun, Ajoke Lateefat. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ANJORIN Formerly addressed as Miss Remi Mojola Anjorin . V., now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Owoeye, Remilekun Omojola. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AFOBAJE Formerly addressed as Miss Afobaje, Biola Agnes, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adeniyi, Biola Agnes. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

SMART Formerly addressed as Miss Smart, Florence Onosomowo, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adejuwon, Florence Onosomowo. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AJEH Formerly addressed as MISS AJEH, ADAOBI ANTHONIA, now wish to be addressed as MRS. ORJI ADAOBI ANTHONIA. Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OLUCHUKWU Formerly addressed as Miss Obineme Roseline Oluchukwu, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ugochukwu Roseline Oluchukwu.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME Miss Uzochukwu Fresh Nkechi and Uzochukwu Nkechi Ogechukwu are the same. now wish to be known as Nkechi Ogechukwu Uzochukwu.

Former documents bearing the above names remain valid. NECO the general public should please take note.

OLUKOGA Formerly addressed as Miss Olukoga Olusola Temitope, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oderinde, Olusola Temitope.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

MALEGHEMI Formerly addressed as Maleghemi Sarah Ada, now wish to be addressed as Oyewole Maleghemi Sarah Ada. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

DAVID Formerly addressed as Miss Funmilayo David, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Funmilayo David Famurewa.

Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OYAKILOMEN Formerly addressed as Mr. Gabriel Oyakilomen, now wish to be addressed as Mr. Akpolo Oyakhilome John.

Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Mr. Sulaiman Atanda and Mr. Aruna Raheem Adebayo refers to one and the same person. Former documents remain valid. Former documents bearing the above names remain valid. GTB and CICS, NIMC and general public take note.

OTUYELU Formerly addressed as Miss Otuyelu, Adedoyin Bolanle, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Akoja, Adedoyin Bolanle. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

UCHE Formerly addressed as Uche Vincent Innocent, now wish to be addressed as Uche Ekperechukwu Innocent. Former documents remain valid. Madonna University, WAEC, JAMB, NYSC and general public take note.

ONYEMIZE Formerly addressed as Miss Onyemize Chinonso, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Garba Chinonso. Former documents remain valid. NYSC, IMSU and general public take note.

EKELEONU Formerly addressed as Mr. Ekeleonu Kingsley Lucky, now wish to be addressed as Mr. Ekeleonu Emenike Kingsley. Former documents remain valid. Government of Abia State of Nigeria Hospital Management Board (H.M.B) and general public take note.

UZOCHUKWU Formerly addressed as Mrs. Uzochukwu Chinyere Genevieve., now wish to be addressed as Miss Ezulike Chinyere Genevieve.

Former documents remain valid.

Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike and general public take note.

UZOCHUKWU Formerly addressed as Miss Nkechi Ogechukwu Uzochukwu, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Nkechi Ogechukwu Chibuike.

Former documents remain valid.

NECO Office and general public take note.

ADESINA Formerly addressed as Miss ADESINA, ESTHER ADEBOLA, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. OLABIYI, ESTHER ADEBOLA. Former documents remain valid. Osun State Universal Basic Education Board Osogbo, SUBEB and general public take note.

ALEOGHENA Formerly addressed as Favour Omosi Aleoghena, now wish to be addressed as Favour Omosi Daniel-Apeakhume. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OROBIYI Formerly addressed as Miss Orobiyi, Olutosin Victoria, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Durodola, Olutosin Victoria.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ADEYEMO Formerly addressed as Miss Adeyemo, Victoria Gbemisola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ogundairo, Victoria Gbemisola.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

GANIYU Formerly addressed as Ganiyu Segun Adebayo, now wish to be addressed as Bolarinwa Adebayo Oluwasegun. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF DATE OF BIRTH

That I Miss Peters Onome Augustina Ejiro was born on the 28th August 1982 not 28th August 1975 Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OLAWALE Formerly addressed as Miss Olawale, Justina Bola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ayoade, Justina Bola. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

YUSUF Formerly addressed as Miss Olabisi Kafilat Yusuf, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Olabisi Kafilat Oseni. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Abugu Virginus and Alih Okwudili refers to one and the same person. Former documents bearing the above names remain valid.

General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME BRIGHT AFAMEFUNA CHRISTOPHER EBEZE and BRIGHT AFAMEFUNA CHRISTOPHER NWOYE. refers to one and the same person now wish to be known as BRIGHT AFAMEFUNA CHRISTOPHER NWOYE all former documents remain valid general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME KINATE SAMUEL ENDURANCE and BENEBO ENDURANCE RICHMAN refers to one and the same person, now wish to be known as BENEBO ENDURANCE RICHMAN. all former documents remain valid general public take note.

OKOLOH Formerly addressed as MISS OKOLOH LUCINA ONYEZULUOKE, now wish to be addressed as MRS. ANUKWUOJI LUCINA ONYEZULUOKE. Former documents remain valid. Ministry of Health, Enugu, Local Government Service Commission, Enugu, Awgu Local Government, Mbanabo South Local Government Development Centre, Owelli and general public take note.

ADEYEMI Formerly addressed as Miss Adeyemi, Latifat Bukola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Akinloye, Latifat Bukola. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AJAYI Formerly addressed as Miss Ajayi, Oluwaseun Racheal, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Olutayo, Oluwaseun Racheal. Former documents remain valid. Obokun local Government and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME CHIGBU Formerly addressed as Miss ENYICHI ROSE CHIGBU, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. ENYICHI ROSE OKIM. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ELO-JOSEPH Formerly addressed as MERCY ELOJOSEPH, now wish to be addressed as MERCY ADACHUKWU ABASIRI. Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OKPALA Formerly addressed as GLORIA NJIDEKA OKPALA, now wish to be addressed as GLORIA NJIDEKA ABASIRI. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

BENIBO Formerly addressed as Mrs. BENIBO KARIBA .J., now wish to be addressed as Miss HARRY KARIBA .F. Former documents remain valid. NSITF, First Bank PLC and general public take note.

ADELEKE Formerly addressed as Miss SEIYEFA ANNE ISOWO, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. SEIYEFA OLUGBENGA ADELEKE. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

FAYEMI Formerly addressed as Miss FAYEMI BOLAJI, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. CHINAKA BOLAJI. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

UHONMOIBHI Formerly addressed as Miss AUGUSTA AIGUEHENLENFOH UHONMOIBHI, now wish to be addressed as Mrs.AUGUSTA AIGUEHENLENFOH ADEBIMPE. Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

UTIN Formerly addressed as Miss UNWANA ENOBONG UTIN, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. UNWANA VICTOR IRENE. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

USMAN Formerly addressed as Miss ZULEIHAT USMAN, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. ZULEIHAT AMINU. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME DAVID ELO-JOSEPH and DAVID NKECHUKWU ABASIRI refers to one and the same person, now wish to be known as DAVID NKECHUKWU ABASIRI. all former documents remain valid general public take note.

OGUNIYI Formerly addressed as Miss Oguniyi, Rebecca Omowunmi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Nwachukwu Rebecca Omowunmi(Ifeoma).

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ENUESIKE Formerly addressed as Miss Enuesike Ndidi Comfort, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Bassey, Comfort Antai. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

IKEMEFUNE Formerly addressed as Miss Ikemefune Ifeayi Victoria, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Isichei-James Victoria Ikemefuna. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ATALIE Formerly addressed as Atalie Rhoda Sodje, now wish to be addressed as Patricia Okah. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

EDOEJE

Formerly addressed as Patience Edoeje Oguche, now wish to be addressed as Patience Edoeje Ocharifu. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ALEOGHENA

Formerly addressed as Miss Favour Omosi Aleoghena, now wish to be addressed as Mrs Favour Omosi Daniel. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

NWALI

Formerly addressed as Miss Nwali Louisa Ngozi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs Onwe Louisa Ngozi.

Former documents remain valid.UBA and general public take note.

GANIYU

Formerly addressed as Ganiyu Segun Adebayo, now wish to be addressed as Bolarinwa Adebayo Oluwasegun.

Former documents remain valid.General public take note.

ADEYEMON

Formerly addressed as Adeyemon Adebusola Aina, now wish to be addressed as Adeyemo Hafusat Adebusola. Former documents remain valid.General public take note.

AJEWOLE

Formerly addressed as Miss Ajewole Temilola Olubunmi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs Oke Temilola Olubunmi. Former documents remain valid.General public take note.

OLUSANYA

Formerly addressed as Miss Adejoke Olubunmi Olusanya, now wish to be addressed as Mrs Adejoke Olubunmi Banji Adesida. Former documents remain valid.General public take note.

AYUBA

Formerly addressed as Miss Muinat Omolara Ayuba, now wish to be addressed as Mrs Muinat Omolara Kazeem. Former documents remain valid.General public take note.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

EBERE WABARA

NEWS

59

WORDSWORTH 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Priests of usage

T

HIS week's conspectus of errors is just to whet your appetite ahead of syntactic surgeries (a la Prof. Adidi Uyo of Unilag) next week, provided advertisements do not displace this column! Most of the mistakes in the print and electronic media are the manifestations of carelessness, loose thinking and ignorance. We must be consistent in the use of either British or American English-mixing up both variants in any lexical environment shows slipshoddiness.

Also, note that most media audiences are sticklers for purism. For those in this finicky and fastidious class, any egregrious slip counts.

Unfortunately, most people who commit these facile and fallacious blunders are persons who should know but because incorrigibility has affected them, they have become ignoramuses!

Why, for instance, should some journalists describe themselves as 'media practitioners' instead of 'media professionals' or 'mass communication practitioners'? Doctors and lawyers practise medicine and law, respectively, clearly unlike the fourth estate.

I am not a linguistic diagnostician, but I can perform lexical and structural surgeries and make efficacious pharmacological/ t h e r a p e u t i c recommendations based on knowledgeable familiarity with errors (and some of their typologies) that border on grammar, logic and rhetoric, which I had referred to elsewhere in this column as the pillars of the English language-get them right and you are on course.

Do you still recollect these basics below? More reminders next week.

Finally, I am more concerned here with the Pool resources together Majority of us Media practitioner Counsels Opportuned Offsprings Invest on something At a/the crossroad In the continent Junks Conspicuously absent Secret ballot Test run (noun) (as verb) Don’t pull my legs The faithfuls Strike action Congratulations for Potentials Log of wood Cutleries

practical aspect of the English language than its critical theoretical underpinnings, which are available in all standard textbooks and easily accessible. This work is a stopgap exercise for quick resolutions of daily grammatical challenges.

From my own personal experiences and encounters with people, most exonormative language users prefer easy-to-readand-follow summaries to usually massive, boring and complex theoretical methodicalness! This is hoping that I am not inadvertently encouraging intellectual slothfulness by this remedial quick-fix intervention! For now, let us savour the following exchanges from two distinguished very senior colleagues of mine.

The Sunday Vanguard on Sept. 17 reported Boko Haram's invasion of the DSS office in Lokoja during which the gunmen used "dangerous weapons".

Editors and reporters need to realise that any "weapon" used by an attacker is indeed dangerous. The word "weapon" means "something used to fight or attack someone, such as a knife, bomb, or gun". So, which weapon is not dangerous or harmless?

The word "dangerous" should not precede "weapon" because it is obvious. (KOLA DANISA/ 0 7 0 6 8 0 7 4 2 5 7 / kdktayo@gmail.com) ONE can always justify prescriptive rules, in the last resort, by appeal to authority. We are inclined to obey the Highway Code, for instance, because it is backed by the authority of FEEDBACK law. But the strange thing THE versatile Eddy about prescriptive rules Grant's mastery, dexterity, (including the principles craftsmanship, and conventions) of wizardry and artistry English grammar is that are never in doubt. He is the they are NOT upheld by any composer, arranger, official authority. In this producer, director and respect, English differs from multi-instrumentalist, all French; the Academie alone. So, what do you get Francaise is regarded as the from his music? Sheer official arbiter of usage in monotony and nauseating French. The tradition of the channel noise!

English-speaking world is Mr Bayo Oguntunase to rely on the judgment of has continued to abuse and unofficial lawgivers, whose curse his critics, using Mr authority is derived simply Ebere Wabara's laudable from their reputations as platform. Words such as scholars and writers. mad, eccentric and Among this Priesthood, we depraved drop from his lips should place many with ease. I am sure the wise grammarians and famous and sane counsel by lexicographers of the past Wordsworth contributors whose authorities on such as Mr. Charles Iyoha matters of word usage and will, like some of the biblical grammar are final. These Grower's Seeds, fall on the High Priests of Usage had rock, no doubt. Years ago, prescribed the rules we he failed to publish two must all follow. lengthy rejoinders which I Wrong: The reason is sent to him at The Daily Sun, because I do not want the opposing his papal stance Egyptians to retain it. on some words. I pray God (THISDAY, September 12, not to give me a caustic 2015). tongue, or allow me to Right: The reason is that succumb to unrestrained I do not want the Egyptians belligerence, or swim in to retain it. Special note on misguided arrogance. usage: "reason", like "because" (a conjunction, which means "for the Pool resources reason that"), is always A/the majority of us followed by "is that".

Media professional Examples: The reason Counsel Opportune/Opportunity editors make grammatical mistakes is that they do not Offspring read current books. The Invest in something importance of Science is that At a/the crossroads it broadens the mind.

On the continent Another note: "Because" Junk usually has no place in Absent sentence involving the Ballot word "reason". The reason Test is that it is redundant. "That" Don’t pull my leg is the word.

The faithful I submit, as a Strike Congratulations on/upon progressive intellectual, you are fantastic. (BAYO Potential/Potentialities OGUNTUNASE/ Log 0 8 0 5 6 1 8 0 0 4 6 , Cutlery Soloade12@gmail.com).

•Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (4th left); Speaker State of Osun House of Assembly, Honourable Najeem Salaam (4th right); Deputy Speaker, Honourable Akintunde Adegboye (3rd left); Osun indigenes that Passed Out from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) short service course 43, Adeyemi Hussein (3rd right); Adeyanju Adedapo (2nd left); Adekunle Adepoju (2nd right); Olubodun Odeniran (left) and Adedamilola Oyolola (right), during their courtesy visit to the Governor in Osogbo, State of Osun on Friday.

Rethinking the nexus between technology and education in Nigeria •Continued from Page 18

Despite all the above challenges, the good news is that advances in digital technologies provide tremendous opportunities for a country such as Nigeria to transform its educational system beyond what was possible just a decade ago.

There are a number of factors that are playing to our favour in this regard. First, the culture of using technology for learning and teaching is gradually becoming a standard culture in most tertiary institutions around the world. In fact, there is a large population of Nigerians currently enrolled into long distance postgraduate programs in the United States and United Kingdom. Second, the gradual effort to roll out ICT infrastructure in many of the government owned Universities is helping to prepare the ground for a digital based education model. The increasing level of Internet penetration and the dropping prices of mobile devices especially tablets and phablets will tremendously help remove current infrastructure barriers.

Third, the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology has focused the last 4 to 5 years driving the adoption of technology across different sectors of the economy, growing the local ICT industry and increasing the capacity of the industry to exploit domestic business opportunities. As part of this effort, the Ministry designed a number of programs all aimed at driving the growth of the local ICT industry.

Some of these programs include the National ICT Policy, National Broadband Plan, Nigerian Local Content Development in ICT and the national e-Government Initiative.

Also, the enactment of the Cyber security Law has gone a long way to create an enabling environment for cyber activities and engender

confidence for Nigerians to increase the level of use of the Internet for productive purposes.

We see these programs as preparing the stage for the innovative exploitation of ICT to drive education particularly Open Distance Learning in Nigeria with respect to learning, teaching, administration and management, research and development, evidencebased policy formulation, augmenting teacher shortage, and fighting exam malpractice and cyber crimes within student communities.

Digital technologies such as Social Networks, Mobile Technologies, Big Data Analytics and Cloud Infrastructure and Services (commonly known as SMAC) lend themselves quite well to the new education model proposed earlier.

It is our belief that the above proposed model provides a number of significant advantages. First, it provides for an opportunity for us to incorporate best practices into our educational system, and create a seamless linkage between the knowledge and skills of graduates and expectations of employers in the market place. Second, it addresses the aforementioned challenges particularly with respect to providing alternatives for all those applicants that cannot gain admission into traditional brick-and-mortar institutions. It is our hope that the increased penetration of low cost devices and falling prices of Internet access and widening footprint of broadband Internet access will make it easier to bring high quality education and edutainment contents to many more Nigerian students. We also believe that this widening infrastructure footprint will provide opportunities to those who are already employed but are looking for educational opportunities that fit into their work schedule. Third, the availability of digital records about student population, learning activities, infrastructure

statistics, and census type data will provide governments at different levels with education related statistics that has been largely missing in the past due to poor data gathering infrastructure and expensive data gathering culture. Fourth, the model will allow for integration to open market education platforms such as Khan Academy, Udemy, YouTube, etc.

We believe the rich stack of learning contents already offered by the latter will make for a much richer experience for Nigerian learners. And finally, the restructuring of our educational system for a digital era and a digital generation will create tremendous business opportunities for forward looking Nigerian ICT companies. We expect the attendant benefits to also help the current administration achieve its broader goals of diversifying the economy, creating jobs, fighting insecurity and fighting corruption.

If you are sitting in this room today, and you aren't worried about how we make the marriage between Technology and Education work with a new digital era mindset, then there is a real cause to worry. But whether we are worried or not, we are already on a head-on collision course with a digital future we cannot escape. And the gap between today and that point in the near future may even appear shorter than my time here at UI seems to me.

But it is only if we can creatively seize control of the forces that define our lives and define our society can we then truly be prepared to recreate that inevitable digital and developmental future on our own terms.

•(Keynote address By Dr. Tunji Olaopa, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communication Technology at The International Conference and Exhibition on Learning Technologies (Icelet), 2015 On Wednesday 30th Of September, 2015 at The Trenchard Hall of The University of Ibadan.)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

NEWS ABUJA BOMB EXPLOSIONS

Falae’s kidnap: ACF tackles Afenifere, condemns multiple bomb blasts Blessing Olaifa, Assistant Editor, Kaduna

T

HE Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday tore into the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, dismissing its statement the on the recent kidnap of former Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF), Chief Olu Falae, by Fulani herdsmen as not only reckless but unbecoming of a group like Afenifere.

The ACF said that the Afenifere statement demanding the abolishment of nomadic cattle rearing, and criminalizing the Fulani on account of the action of a few, was out of place.

“Nigeria has over 250 tribes and Yoruba is just one of them.

For it to threaten other tribes just because of an alleged crime of some suspected herdsmen is unnecessary, emotional and contrary to the spirit and letters of the Nigerian constitution which guarantees free movement and association of citizens in any part of the country,” ACF said in the statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mohammad Ibrahim.

It said it “is embarrassed and disappointed with the communique issued by the respected pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, after its meeting of 29th September, 2015 held in Akure at the residence of its leader, Pa Rueben Fasoranti “In November 2000 when some OPC hoodlums attacked Northerners in the Southwest region, ACF did not blame it on the Yoruba, rather it urged the government to arrest the perpetrators that committed the crime.

“ACF considers criminality in any form as a serious offence and strongly condemned the kidnapping of Chief Olu Falae a former presidential candidate of the joint ticket of APP/AD in the 1999 general election which the North overwhelmingly supported him.

“ACF has in the last six years consistently decried the insecurity situation in the country especially insurgency, kidnapping, ritual killings, armed robbery etc, but it has never blamed a tribe, people or region as responsible for such crimes, talk less of threatening their free movement or pursuit of their legitimate business and livelihood. The unity and peaceful coexistence of our people have always been the guiding principles of ACF in the Nigerian project above personal and emotional interests.

“ACF therefore appeals to Afenifere and all other sociocultural organizations and individuals to always exercise some restraint and show maturity in reacting to situations in view of the complexity of our country.

“ACF equally calls upon the security agencies to not only intensify their effort in tracking down the kidnappers of Chief Olu Falae but also put in place preventive measures to forestall such frequent ugly incidents in the country.”

The ACF also expressed sadness over the multiple bomb explosions which rocked Maiduguri, Borno state, Nyanya and Kuje surburds of the FCT, Abuja last week, killing scores of innocent Nigerians.

Rivers election petition: APC counsel tackles ex-DSS officer at tribunal

Abuja bomb blast: 20 dead, 41 injured A T THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 4, 2015

HE Federal Ministry of Health ýhas said that 20 people died in the Friday Abuja bomb blast.

According to Director Family Planning, Federal Ministry of Health, Wapada Balamiý, the 41 people injured are in the hospital receiving treatment from various degree of injuries.

He said, “The total number of persons who died are 20 and distributed as follows: In Kuje, 15 persons died and in Nyanya five persons died.

“The total number of persons that were injured and were taken to hospitals by the first responders are as follows: From Kuje, we have 20 persons and

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja from Nyanya, we have 21.ý” ýThe breakdown of casualty according to him, “In Kuje, there were two locations that were affected. One is outside Kuje Police Station and the other is outside Kuje market.

“In Nyanya, the two locations were very proximal to each other, by road side in Jikwoyi exit along the side of the second Nyanya bridge and another within the surrounding market, just below the bridge.” ýHe added, “The number of persons currently in hospitals: In Nyanya all the patients that came in were treated and discharged, in Kuje, we also

treated and discharged all the patients. In Nyanya and Kuje hospitals, there are no patients currently there.

“In Asokoro General hospital we have seven patients currently on admission while in the National Hospital, we have 13 patients currently on admission. In Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital, we have four patients.”

“The inter agency collaboration has been very good between the first responders and this should be kept up.”

He also said that the identification of victims and the dead has also commenced through morbid and forensic

means.

He said, their “relations will have access to the corpse of their loved ones immediately security clearance is concluded.”

He advised the public to desist from unfounded rumours.

He also assured that “the combine team of security agencies will continue to work in partnership to provide update to the public.”

Among the security agencies present include the representatives from the Commissioner of Police (FCT), Civil Defence, Road Safety, NEMA, FEMA and directors from the federal ministry of health.

• Displaced Bakassi regtunrees being given medical attention by soldiers of the 13 Bridgade of the Nigerian Army, Calabar, yesterday.

Don’t submit to terrorists’ blackmail- Atiku

F

ORMERVicePresidentAtiku Abubakar has urged Nigerians not to despair and give in to terrorists’ blackmail, saying the Boko Haram insurgents want to paralyze the country with fear and force Nigerians into submission.

In a statement from his media office in Abuja, the former Vice President said the recent bomb blasts in Kuje and Nyanya areas was Boko Haram’s psychological tool for intimidating and forcing citizens into surrender and inaction.

The former Vice President said it was evident that by targeting suburban Abuja, the Boko Haram terrorists wanted to persuade Nigerians to believe they are invincible, and thereby paralyse the country with fear and force it into submission.

From Tony Akowe, Abuja While asking Nigerians not to be deceived by such desperate tactics by the Boko Haram militants that primarily target non-combatants or innocent and defenceless civilians, Atiku said the Boko Haram terrorists have been militarily degraded by the new offensive strategy adopted by the Muhammadu Buhari administration, which have sent the militants packing from towns and villages they previously captured and occupied.

He said further that the terrorists are bitter and frustrated that the Buhari administration is now taking the war to the enemy camp, which has forced them into disarray, explaining that the massive territorial losses suffered by the terrorists and the blockade

of their weapons supply lines, have significantly reduced their operational capabilities in terms of direct confrontation with the counter-terrorism forces.

He argued that the obvious intention of the Boko Haram militants was to unleash their frustrations on innocent civilians to whom they have easier access, insisting that by targeting civilians, the terrorists’ main propaganda objective was to strike paralysing fear into the hearts of Nigerians in order to turn public opinion against the government’s genuine and robust efforts to neutralise and defang them.

The former Vice President stressed that the Boko Haram bandits were offering a last ditch resistance in desperate move to deceive Nigerians that they were invincible, adding that he was

fully satisfied with the new rigorous and no-nonsense strategies introduced by the APC led Buhari administration.

He appeals to Nigerians not to despair in the face of the latest terrorist intimidation and harassment through the deliberate and indiscriminate destruction of lives and said he was convinced, given the sincerity of the Buhari administration, the country would see the back of terrorism.

He condole families of the victims, and his sympathies to the maimed and injured and call on Nigerians to be extra vigilant because terrorists exploit the slightest ignorance of the citizens about the behaviour, characteristics and stealthy moves of suicide bombers into unsuspecting crowds of people.

Still jogging in the jungle

Continued from page 3 ‘I see. It is even worse than I thought. You make millions for your boss protecting stolen millions,’ I said with sympathy.

They all stared at me in incomprehension. Only the rhino began to squint.

‘Isn’t it funny that a man of your education and standing in the society should become a petty thief?’ the rhino growled at last, eyeing me with suspicion and unease.

‘Exactly, That is the question I want to put to Ben,’ I said with a smile.

The men looked at

themselves.

‘Who is this Ben he is talking about?’ one of them asked his mates.

“So you don’t even know the name of the owner of the supermarket?’ I sneered.

‘I think he is getting on to something dangerous,’ the rhino said.

At this time, a private door opened and a spare, mediumsized man in an elegant French suit walked in. I instantly recognized Ben Tojo: dapper accountant, dapper playboy, dapper swindler.

‘Who is this man?’ he screamed, sensing from their expression that something was amiss.

‘He returned some of the goods he has stolen, and…’ one of them began.

‘And since then he has been harassing us,’ the rhino concluded miserably.

Ben Tojo looked at the ID card on the desk and looked back at me in nervous alarm. I walked to the desk and picked the card.

Calmly, I put it back in my pocket.

‘Ben, there is really no

harassment,’ I began, addressing him with disarming familiarity.

‘They asked me whether it isn’t funny that a man of my education and standing in the society should be a petty thief and I said I have the same question for you.’

The men looked at one another in disbelief.

‘Let him go, he is a mad man!’ Ben screamed and they all pushed me out like a pest.

On my way out, I seized another giant bottle of Aramis perfume and emptied its content in the air.

FORMER officer of the Department of State Security Service (DSS), Emmanuel Philips was yesterday rattled at the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal while responding to questions from Chief Akin Olujinmi, the lead counsel to the APC governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside.

Phillips, second respondent witness, told the tribunal that he provided security in 10 local government areas during the April 11poll.

He listed the local governments as Port Harcourt, Obio/Akpo, Emohua, AkukuToru, Asari-Toru, Abua/Odua, Ahoada East, Ahoada West, Ogu-Bolo and Eleme Local Government Areas.

He said he supervised officers and men who patrolled nearly a dozen local governments in Rivers State in less than 24 hours.

When asked how he achieved the feat in the riverine state, he said he “covered all these far-flung villages and towns with just a Hilux vehicle, and not even a helicopter in only one day.”

But APC faulted Phillips claim that he supervised the said election for DSS. The party also told the tribunal that it was impossible to cover the 10 local governments with a Hilux Van in 24 hours.

The submission of APC rattled Phillips who could not explain how he supervised the conduct of election in 10 local governments.

The party also crossexamined Phillips with documents of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which clearly revealed the damage violence and multiple voting did in the areas he allegedly covered.

APC through its counsel said: “Mr. Phillips didn’t tell the court was that he was not in charge of the elections on April 11.

“Abok Nyam was the Director of State Security Service on election day. He is senior in rank to Mr. Philips and was the person who deployed men on Election Day. “Mr. Philips reported to Mr. Nyam on Election Day and did not step out alone. The only occasion that Mr. Philips went out, it was in company of Mr. Nyam and they both toured around Port Harcourt city.”

Overwhelmed by APC evidence, Phillips recanted his submissions to the tribunal.

It was a day of drama when another witness, Samson Joseph from Abua/Odual Local Government Area of the state, claimed to have voted at Unit 2, Ward 7 but he refused to identify his passport.

He said he cannot identify the document because he was not the author.

But INEC’s report showed no ballot paper was issued throughout his ward.

INEC also said 508 people allegedly voted when the voters register had only 501.

On his part, a witness, Jackmay Emmanuel told of how voting took place and results announced.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

NEWS REVIEW

61

BOKO HARAM

Nigerian refugees in dire conditions A in Cameroun S heavy rain fell on August 28, many refugees stood under a temporary shelter barely covering their heads and upper bodies at the Minawao camp in Cameroun's far north region.

Their legs were wet and stained as drops of water hit the ground and lifted mud onto them. They wrapped their arms around their chests to shield themselves from the pestering cold.

The new sets of refugees had arrived from North East Nigeria where a Boko Haram insurgency had wreaked havoc since 2009, and their belongings were still scattered on the muddy ground as they waited desperately to be admitted into the unfenced camp located in the bush, seven kilometres from the nearest tarred road.

It was a familiar scene to gendarmes protecting the camp and humanitarian aid workers catering for the ever growing number of Nigerians rendered helpless by the insurgency.

That insurgency has killed more than 23,000 people since it began six years ago and displaced 2.3 million others in Nigeria, Cameroun, Chad and Niger since May 2013. In the past five months alone, 500,000 children have been uprooted, bringing the total number of minors on the run in Nigeria and neighbouring countries to over 1.4 million. Many of these children are out of school.

Collapsed business and lives Worse, trade is almost nonexistent, farmers are unable to tend their fields, and business activity in the region has virtually collapsed.

As the violence persists, fathers, mothers, children of all ages and families of all economic backgrounds flee from towns and villages under attacks and attempt to cross the Nigeria-Cameroun border.

Those who are successful arrive there tired, sick, hungry, thirsty and desperately looking for help.

The displaced persons first spend weeks or months in Camerounian villages or towns along the border and then trek for several more weeks or even months to reach the Minawao camp where 96 percent of the population comes from Borno State, two percent from Adamawa State and another two per cent from elsewhere.

There at the Minawao camp, stranded in the bush of Cameroun's far north region, and surrounded by a hostile environment with a weather that easily switches from too hot to too cold, about 45,000 refugees live in makeshift shelters, 70 kilometres from the border with Nigeria in the district of Mokolo, the department of Mayo-Tsanaga.

The refugees, most of them women and children (53 percent of the population in the camp consists of women, while 61 percent are children under the age of 18 years of age) arrive with no money, food, water or even clothes other than the ones on their backs.

On arrival, it takes them many days to be screened before they are admitted into the camp and several more days to receive their first ration of food, water or medication as many arrive there sick.

They wait for many more days to receive utensils, blankets and any other basic thing from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which has run the camp since 2013. Until that happens, they fend for themselves or hope that those who have been in the camp for a longer period will share from their little leftovers, if there is any.

Living at the edges The location of the unfenced camp makes many refugees fear possible attacks from wild animals or even from potential invaders as the camp has only one police post with about ten gendarmes protecting tens of thousands of people.

Simon Ateba who visited Cameroun reports on the lot of Nigerian refugees in the country.

•Ateba with some refugee’s children

•The refugees during the visit

•The UNHCR camp Because instability has persisted in North east Nigeria for six years and many areas had fallen into the hands of Boko Haram for a long time, the health system has nearly collapsed and many of the refugees had been living without proper medical care for years. They arrive sick and in need of medical checkups. As newcomers flock in, the pressure on the health services at the Minawao is increasing.

In August, about 2,671 women had serious medical complications while 1,007 persons who were living with various disabilities had no wheelchairs and walking aids, hearing and vision aids, artificial limbs and surgical appliances as well as communication aids.

There were also no elastic stockings, appliances for colostomies, some types of trusses or wound dressings, urinary catheters, pressure relieving cushions and mattresses or continence pads for people with disabilities.

PHOTOS: Simeon Ateba The main hospital in Mokolo district where the camp is located did not have equipment to cope with patients with special needs nor were there qualified medical personnel to efficiently monitor the 269 refugees who have been suffering from mental illnesses.

There were also in the camp more than a thousand elders with various health challenges. With the rainy season, overpopulation and scarce water, there were fears of a cholera outbreak.

As at August, the camp had two health centres with not many beds and one maternity unit. It had only 2,555 toilets for all the refugees. This had some health implications, especially because each refugee has right to only 17 litres of water every day to drink, cook, wash and bath.

The Minawao camp was established in 2013 to house up to 20, 000 people escaping Boko Haram violence in North east Nigeria, but with no end to the conflict in sight, there

were, as at August 18 this year, 44, 889 Nigerian refugees crowded in the camp and sharing 11,954 shelters.

A minimum of four persons were sharing each shelter, but about 5,000 refugees still lived in classrooms and community shelters, and many displaced persons remained stuck in border towns and villages with no international help.

Between January and August, more than 22,000 new refugees had already been registered, and by the end of the year, it is projected that the number of refugees in the camp may shoot beyond 50,000 people.

And as more people troop into the Minawao camp and the surrounding bushes and classrooms, the needs of these new arrivals are growing fast but the availability of basic services such as the provision of water, sanitation, education and food is shrinking and the living conditions of refugees are worsening.

Médecins Sans Frontières, for instance, is struggling to bring in new staff to give more consultations, vaccinations and treatments.

Education is also provided in dire circumstances. The camp has two primary schools with 24 classrooms for over 6,000 (out of 11,000) children between the ages of six and 13. There are also about 2,000 students in secondary school between the ages of 14 and 17.

Camerounian curriculum, not Nigerian, is taught as there is scarcity of good teachers who could provide education in English. Teaching equipment and learning materials such as exercise books were also missing and the number of classrooms is not enough.

The 79 unaccompanied children who lived in the camp as at August 28, away from missing or dead parents were also a concern to humanitarian workers.

For now, the capacity of the Minawao camp has reached its limits and new needs have been created.

The fresh needs include the construction of shelters at a new camp to decongest Minawao and accommodate newcomers, the deployment of more security operatives from the current single security post, the supply of more water as well as the implementation of new measures to prevent cholera outbreak among others.

These challengers are worsened by the dilapidated road between Zamai, the nearest town, and the camp. Many trucks had broken down along the way with provisions in them and many humanitarian aid workers had been stranded and forced to turn back as they were trying to reach the camp. The road is often over flooded during rainy seasons and our correspondent had to be carried by two men to cross some parts of that road.

The increased needs, however, require enormous resources. But money is what is lacking the most, UNHCR says.

In its "2015 Refugee Response Plan" interagency report, made available on August 9, and which covered the period between July 20 and 26, 2015, the UNHCR and partnering agencies disclosed that out of 62.7 million dollars needed to tackle the refugee crisis in Cameroun, only 29 percent of the cash has been made available.

"What is really worrisome is that despite the growing number of refugees and their needs, donors do not seem to understand the urgency," an official said.

This reporter's investigation was cut short when he was arrested on August 28 and kept in a cell for three nights and day on suspicions that he was a spy for Boko Haram.

*Investigation carried out with funding from The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR Nigeria)

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SPORTS THE NATION ON SUNDAY

Gov Emmanuel, Pinnick grace Enyeama's mother’s burial

EXTRA

OCTOBER 4, 2015

Eaglets face Argentina Tuesday

Aguero lets fly with a left-footed strike that finds the net courtesy of a slight deflection off Yoan Gouffran to make it 2-1 to City

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RESIDENT of Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick on Saturday praised God for the life of late Mrs Lucy Philip Enyeama, mother of Super Eagles' goalkeeper and skipper Vincent Enyeama, who was buried same day in Urua Inyang, Akwa Ibom State.

NFF boss Pinnick was at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Urua Inyang, venue of the burial mass, and charged all those present not to mourn, but to celebrate the life and times of a woman who left behind several children she brought up in the way of the Lord, and who have achieved fame in their chosen careers.

Wenger confident Gunners' will stop Man Utd

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RSENAL manager Arsene Wenger is excited about the prospect of locking horns with Manchester United in one of the Barclays Premier League's "special" fixtures this weekend.

Arsenal versus United was always seen as a titledefining fixture around the turn of the century, as Wenger's side dueled for supremacy with Alex Ferguson's United but this has been diluted with the rise of Chelsea and Manchester City.

However, Sunday's contest at the Emirates Stadium once again has a top-of-the-table edge to it with Arsenal sitting only three points behind league leaders United, and Wenger believes that means this weekend's meeting takes on extra importance.

"It is a special fixture because usually Man United are always fighting at the top," he said. "It has an even bigger meaning now because there are three points between the teams and we play at home in a big game. We have just come from a big win at Leicester and we want to continue our run. We are the only team who has beaten [Leicester], so I don't see why we should not believe we can beat Manchester United."

Arsenal's impressive 5-2 victory at the King Power Stadium last Saturday was followed up by a 3-2 home defeat to Olympiacos in the UEFA Champions League.

David Ospina was selected in goal during the week but Petr Cech is set to return today.

RESULTS C/ Palace 2 - 0 West Brom Bournemouth 1 - 1 Watford Aston Villa 0 - 1 Stoke City Man City 6 - 1 Newcastle Norwich City 1 - 2 Leicester Sunderland 2 - 2 West Ham Chelsea 1- 3 Southampton

Mourinho rants after Chelsea loss

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OSE Mourinho has launched into a stunning referee rant after Chelsea's defeat to Southampton.

The Blues boss, speaking live on Sky Sports minutes after the 3-1 loss, accused refs of refusing to give his side any decisions - then vowed not to walk away from Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have suffered

…Says I am not running away their worst start in 37 years and sit four points off the drop-zone.

The Sky Sports reporter asked one question and was given a seven-minute Mourinho monologue in reply.

He said: "We are in such a bad moment. We should not

be afraid to be honest. The referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea.

"If the FA want to punish me then punish me but it's not a problem for me.

"Referees are afraid to give decisions to Chelsea.

"Clear penalties are not given to me because there's one and one and one.

"Even in the Champions League, which is a game with not three officials but five, we are not given a penalty in the last minute.

"I am not running away. If the club wants to sack me, they have to sack me. I am more than convinced we will finish in top four.

"If they sack me they sack the best manager this club has had.”

Aguero bags fastest five-goal in EPL history

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ERGIO Aguero has made Premier League history after scoring five goals in 20 minutes during Manchester City's 61 win over Newcastle United on Saturday.

The Argentine netted the English top-flight's fastestever quintuple, besting Jermain Defoe - who netted five in Tottenham's 9-1 win over Wigan Athletic in 2009 by 16 minutes.

Aguero's first goal levelled the score at 1-1 in the 42nd minute, with his fifth coming in the 62nd minute to round off the rout.

The only other players to hit five goals in a single match are Alan Shearer for Newcastle, and Andy Cole and Dimitar Berbatov for Manchester United, with the former netting his tally in 54 minutes, and the latter pair both scoring their goals in 68

minutes.

Kevin De Bruyne also scored as City countered Newcastle's 1-0 lead with a 6-1 final score line.

City moves above Manchester United for the time being, claiming the No. 1 slot with 18 points.

Aleksandar Mitrovic scored Newcastle's goal, and the Magpies dropped into 20th on the table thanks to goal differential and

Sunderland's 2-2 draw vs.

West Ham. The Magpies had the first few chances of the match, but danger soon came their way. Newcastle's chances came on the counter, as Steve McClaren's choice of an attacker at holding mid in Wijnaldum at times looked inspired, particularly on the goal but also when a 39th minute chance was snuffed out by Hart.

Ighalo scores dramatic goal in away draw

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fine stop by Heurelho Gomes on the former Crystal Palace striker ensured both teams earned a point each at Vitality Stadium A dreadful error from Artur Boruc and a missed penalty from Glenn Murray

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cost Bournemouth as they were held to a 1-1 draw by fellow Premier League new boys Watford on Saturday.

Murray's first-half header on his full debut had the hosts set to go into the break in front after having the

better of the first 45 minutes.

Boruc, though, gifted an equaliser to Odion Ighalo with a poor pass just before half-time.

After struggling earlier on, Watford were much better after the break and could have gone on to win,

with Ben Watson smashing an effort off the crossbar.

But it is Bournemouth who will be more regretful at not having secured three points after Murray saw his spot-kick saved by Heurelho Gomes with just seven minutes remaining.

Visa hitch halts Super Eagles' trip

HE Super Eagles will no longer be able to travel to Belgium on Sunday as scheduled, for their two friendly internationals against the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon, because international passports of players and officials are still at the Embassy of Belgium in Abuja.

Super Eagles' Team Administrator, Enebi Achor

confirmed to thenff.com on Friday that officials at the Embassy of Belgium had requested for additional documents on Wednesday, and as Thursday was public holiday, the documents were taken to the Embassy on Friday.

“We had booked tickets on Lufthansa Airline for the delegation to travel from Abuja to Frankfurt on

Sunday, but that can no longer happen as the passports are still at the Embassy of Belgium. As things stand now, we can only leave for Frankfurt on Monday evening, to arrive in Belgium on Tuesday, if the visas are issued on Monday.”

This means home based professionals Femi Thomas, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Austin Oboroakpo, Paul Onobi, Prince Aggrey and Chima

Akas will have a day less to train with the group before Thursday's clash with the Leopards of Democratic Republic of Congo in Vise, Liege.

NFF officials are unhappy that the Embassy of Belgium did not request for the additional documents earlier than Wednesday, September 30, as the international passports had been submitted nine days earlier.

IGERIA'S Golden Eaglets will tackle Argentina's U17 team in a warm-up match on Tuesday in Buenos Aires as part of their preparations for the FIFA U17 World Cup in Chile.

They are also scheduled to battle the U20 team of either Racing FC or Boca Juniors on October 11 before they depart for Santiago.

The Nigeria U17s on Friday arrived their preWorld Cup training camp in Buenos Aires, Argentina aboard an Emirates Airline's B777-300 flight from Dubai.

The Eaglets have already begun training at the Buenos Aires Futbol ground. BAF, as its simply known is a facility privately owned by former Argentine international, Matias Almeyda, and it is tucked away at San Roque in Tigre on the outskirts of the capital city of Argentina.

Salami, Chikatara record hat trick

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BOLAHAN Salami and Chisom Chikatara have piled the pressure on leading goal scorers Esosa Igbinoba and Tunde Adeniji after they recorded their 13th goal each on Saturday.

Both Salami and Chikatara scored a hat-trick for Warri Wolves and Abia Warriors respectively on Saturday in Week 32 game to take their goal haul to 13 each, just a goal adrift of Igbinoba and Adeniji.

Heartland's Bright Ejike is on 12 goals.

Tony Okpotu (Lobi Stars) and Mubarak Umar (Wikki Tourists) have scored 10 goals each.

Prince Aggreh of Sunshine Stars and Marshal Onoriode Odah of Rangers have scored nine goals each.

Sevilla shock Barca

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EVILLA shocked Barcelona as the Nou Camp club fell to their second defeat in three La Liga games.

Barca could now go into the international break four points off the pace after goals from Michael KrohnDehli and Vicente Iborra handed their hosts a deserved 2-0 lead.

Neymar pulled one back for the defending champions from the spot, but Sevilla - with some help from the woodwork - held on in the face of a late onslaught to earn all three points.

In a game that featured both winners of European football's biggest trophies last season, Barcelona looked nothing like a side defending the Champions League as they laboured against their Andalucian hosts.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

63

QUOTABLE ”Every past government in Nigeria promised to fight corruption, but left us worse than where they met us. Every government must have an opposition of itself, not of politics and political pasts. We need to set minimum standards of human behaviour that are acceptable to us as individuals for our leaders.”

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 9, NO. 3358

—The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Father Matthew Kukah, on the fight against sleaze by public officials

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Y a larger plurality, and for the second time in months, the Senate has passed a vote of confidence in Senate President Bukola Saraki over his apparent face-off with his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and perhaps the president himself, Muhammadu Buhari. After a six-week recess, the Senate resumed plenary last week, and immediately, some 83 senators rose in unison to endorse the leadership of Dr Saraki. The first vote of confidence by 81 senators in late July boasted two fewer senators in Dr Saraki’s wagon. Who knows, by the time a third vote of confidence is held, for it will certainly be held as long as the ruling party is in suspended animation, perhaps nearly all of the country’s 109 taunting senators would endorse their embattled leader. Last week’s larger plurality, according to reports, was predicated on the senators’ continuing dismay at what they describe as meddlesomeness of external forces in Senate affairs. The insinuation is not lost on anyone, for even Dr Saraki himself pointedly disclosed where his troubles were coming from.

The vote of confidence was prompted by Dr Saraki’s arraignment for offences connected with false declaration of assets, which the animated prosecuting counsel said he needed just two days to establish beyond doubt. Neither the mere fact of charging Dr Saraki in court, nor the fear of proving the Senate President as untrustworthy, nor yet the possibility of presenting him with the moral conundrum of leading Nigeria’s highest lawmaking body on shaky ethical ground, was enough to temper the enthusiasm of the 83 senators from biting the bullet. For both the consenting senators and the Senate President himself, what assumed paramountcy were the motives behind arraigning Dr Saraki before Justice Danladi Umar of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and the independence of the legislature, not the substance and merit of the court case.

In the view of Dr Saraki, the court case indicated nothing but persecution. He argues that by breaking ranks with his party over the zoning of legislative leadership positions, he was consequently being unfairly and needlessly harassed. But the legislature, he sermonised, must be independent of the executive arm if democracy was to flourish. It is not clear whether he believes himself. But from all indications, senators, at least the 83 who endorsed him, identify with Dr Saraki’s point of view, and regard the ethical dilemma facing the lofty and incomparable position of the Senate President as secondary to the battle for legislative independence with which they have canonised his defiance. Both in the tribunal and the resumed Senate plenary, Dr Saraki managed by sheer sophistry to frame the argument according to his liking and in his own ethically distorted worldview. Said he: “I wish to reiterate my remarks before the Tribunal, that I have no iota of doubt that I am

Leadership by vote of confidence

•Saraki

•Oyegun

on trial today because I am President of the Nigerian Senate, against the wishes of some powerful individuals outside this chambers. And to yield ground on this note, is to be complicit in the subversion of democracy and its core principles of separation of powers as enshrined in our constitution. This, in your wisdom, is what you have done by electing me to be the first among all of you who are my equals.”

The monstrosity of Dr Saraki’s arguments find parallel only in the perverted logic of a man who excuses his life of crime on the grounds of parental neglect or societal and economic inequality. It is indeed possible that Dr Saraki has found himself before a tribunal today because he disagreed with his party and possibly even the president, though he has tried strenuously to dissociate the president from the court case. But for a senior lawmaker of Dr Saraki’s calibre to conflate party politics with the juridic circumstances of his alleged offence is to stretch logic and morality to their elastic limit.

Unfortunately for everyone, particularly the senators, the two cases are not only distinct, the court case even takes precedence over the merit of his Senate leadership election and the so-called independence of the legislature. The court case, when it is over, will establish whether he is morally qualified to occupy the lofty position he claimed grandly and extravagantly that his colleagues bestowed upon him in June as primus inter pares.

If senators refuse to be persuaded by the argument of those who insist on the court case proving or disproving Dr Saraki’s bona fides, it is either they lack the quality their election supposedly conferred on them, or that at bottom they are themselves facing gargantuan ethical conflicts, or even worse, that they lack the depth,

strength of character and wisdom required to discriminate between complex and interwoven phenomena. Left to the chafing senators who undiscriminatingly endorsed Dr Saraki last week, had they been asked to examine the quandary former US president Richard Nixon found himself over Watergate in 1972-74, they would have blamed partisan politics for his woes rather than judge the matter on merit, and dismiss the erring president as ethically misled and unfit to hold the high office he was voted into. On Thursday, observers saw a thaw in the relationship between President Buhari and Dr Saraki during the celebration of the Independence Day anniversary at Aso Villa. Even if the smiles between the two indicated a thaw, it is unlikely to affect Dr Saraki’s court case, let alone lead the federal government to a withdrawal or amelioration of the case.

Not only will the trial go on, irrespective of anyone’s sympathies for Dr Saraki regarding his dispute with party leaders, the case will be diligently prosecuted and justice, sans politics, served. It is incredible that Dr Saraki wishes the case against him to be settled politically, as many intermediaries suggest. Should it be settled politically, it will not only destroy the ethical foundation of President Buhari’s anti-graft war, it will pervert the cause of justice in Nigeria and establish an impregnable dichotomy between the haves and the have nots, and between the influential and the ordinary citizen. Worse, it will presuppose two forms of justice in the land. The cocooned Dr Saraki does not give the impression of a wise lawmaker or leader; this may be why he continues to conflate the issues before him. But it is even more shocking that none of the 83 senators who passed a vote of confidence in him was able

US, Russia and the Syrian dilemma

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YRIA’S troubles were inspired by the fallout of the Arab Spring that began in Tunisia in December 2010. From the time Syria got embroiled in the Arab Spring in January 2011 till today, more than 200,000 people are reported to have died.

Yet, the end of the crisis is not in sight.

Instead, thanks to foreign involvement by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, United States and its allies, Russia and Iran, the Syrian crisis is festering badly and threatening to spiral out of control. One of the chief reasons for the stalemate is of course the fact that the ruling family, the alAssads, belongs to the minority Alawite tribe, which is about 10-12 percent of the 23 million Syrian people.

The active entrance of Russia into the crisis, particularly its bombing raids, are predicated on two main grounds: the fear that al-Assad’s fall was imminent; and the hesitations of the US and its allies. Indeed, under President Barack Obama, the US has appeared to be in retreat in the Middle East.

America’s Sunni allies are increasingly frustrated by Mr Obama’s indecisiveness, while its Shiite enemies are increasingly emboldened. Sensing that Mr Obama was unduly too calculating and reluctant to deploy American power in the restive region, and even beyond, Russia’s

Vladimir Putin, inspiring a Russian revival, has become more assertive.

It is not certain that Russia will necessarily succeed in Syria where the US and its allies have appeared to fail, but Mr Putin, though a little imprudent, is determined to ensure the survival of Russian ally, President Bashar al-Assad. Right from the presidency of George W. Bush, US policies in the Middle East have yielded ground to the less bashful and more pugnacious Mr Putin. That push has seen the Russians expand and consolidate their borders in some of the former Soviet Republics, including Georgia and Ukraine, and are now expanding more confidently into the Middle East. With the American society at war with itself over racism, loss of religious values, and shooting madness, the US is gradually losing ground and influence globally, and in particular in the Middle East, as the world’s policeman and moral custodian. That decline will continue for some time to come, propelled

more by its internal contradictions than by external pressures.

Meanwhile, sadly, Syria is being battered relentlessly by foreign forces with different motives and competing objectives. Mr al-Assad should have read the handwriting on the wall in 2011 and emplaced a transition to a new, more vigorous and open society. That chance is now lost, perhaps forever.

The precipitous and unguarded collapse of Muammar Gaddafi of Libya consequent upon the Arab Spring and the deliberate orchestration of the fall of Saddam Hussein of Iraq by the US predisposed both countries to anomie. The dilemma for Syria is that, as Mr Putin argues, should Mr al-Assad fall, there are no guarantees the transition can be managed well. Yet, as long as he remains in power, peace cannot be assured. As many analysts have also argued, the rising influence of Iran in the region and the anomie in the Middle East are a product of the diplomatic folly and miscalculations of the US.

to deconstruct Dr Saraki’s troubles and judge appropriately.

Members of the House of Representatives are also reported to have unanimously mandated a willing Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker, to wade into the Dr Saraki/ presidency/APC matter in order to find a political solution. They obviously see the trial as political. Perhaps too, some APC leaders believe the Saraki case should and could be settled amicably and politically. For Dr Saraki, however, the only way to settle the matter is to leave him to do what he pleases at the Senate, to enter into alliances that suit his purpose but hurt his party, and to frame the argument and its resolution along his peculiar politics and schizoid worldview. Speaker Dogara faced a similar problem in the House of Representatives, but he managed to settle the misunderstanding with extensive concessions.

However, neither the president nor APC can assume the liberty to settle the case politically before the CCT adjudicates the matter. The shortterm and long-term consequences will be too grave. Indeed, irrespective of the outcome of the CCT case, and given the way Dr Saraki has framed the stalemate in the party as a dispute between him and one or two powerful APC leaders, neither the Senate for which he craves independence, nor the ruling party that sometimes seems to vacillate so mysteriously, will know peace with a political settlement.

If the APC wishes to retain influence over its elected officials, if the values the president wishes to project are to endure and prosper, and if the legislature wishes to sustain a more realistic and lasting independence, they must not embrace the atrocious solution being foisted on them by Dr Saraki, his unreflective Senate supporters, and goody two-shoes House of Representatives sympathisers. Dr Saraki can continue to fight or arm-twist his party and party leaders, a right his position and privilege confer on him, and even plot to master the ruling party or outwit its leaders, as much as his ambition gives him wing, but the state, which transcends both him and his party, must resist being blackmailed into abandoning the CCT case. The public must also sensibly refuse to confuse the two issues. They are different, and no amount of intra-party squabble and interminable votes of confidence can expiate the infraction of the law federal prosecutors allege against the Senate President. Dr Saraki’s case is a bad one, notwithstanding the political intrigues he tries to insinuate into it, and it will in fact remain very bad irrespective of the sentimental blather lawmakers deploy to undermine public understanding of the issues.

The 7th Senate was nothing to write home about in terms of the integrity, sanctity and dignity of lawmaking. The 8th Senate seems adamantly focused on going down that same or more monstrously vicious chute. The country should not indulge them even if the president were to relent.

PDP gets a head start on 2019 race

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FTER inquiring into why it lost the last election disastrously, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) post-election review committee is reported to have zoned the presidential ticket to the North. It makes sense.

Though that step is coming many months late, that is probably the only way to counter the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which has so far been unable to rein in its lawmakers and other obstreperous members. With their man, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, still having a foothold in the upper echelons of the Senate, the PDP is not really out of power. They will consolidate the small advantage they have and move to higher ground well entrenched and reinforced.

On the other hand, with President Muhammadu Buhari still embracing a feeble approach to power and politics, and with Senate President Bukola Saraki seemingly taunting his party, the APC may have unwittingly surrendered the head start to the PDP. PDP lawmakers and rebel APC lawmakers with PDP background have somewhere to go if the APC unravels — they can always identify with the PDP. But core APC politicians, elected or appointed, whether ACN or CPC or ANPP, have nowhere to go. Will they recognise the danger of extermination staring them in the face and proactively take effective measures before they are doomed?

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Website: www.thenationonlineng.net ISSN: 115-5302 E-mail: sunday@thenationonlineng.net Editor: FESTUS ERIYE