October 11, 2014

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TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SATURDAY

OCTOBER 11, 2014

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THE NATION,

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IRST Consultants Medical Centre, the hospital that diagnosed the index case of the Ebola virus disease in Nigeria, says it has assumed responsibility for the children and relations of their employees who died after contracting the disease.

The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Benjamin Ohiaeri, disclosed this while receiving a delegation from the World Health Organisatio (WHO), who visited the facility yesterday.

Ohiaeri said it was the least the hospital could do for its employees who died after contracting the disease from the Liberian_American, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, who imported the disease into the country.

He said the children of one of the nurses, Mrs Evelyn Ukwo, had been provided a new accommodation after they were ejected by the landlord who owns the apartment their mother rented before her death.

He said the hospital has assigned a senior staff to ensure that the children are well taken care of.

According to him, their mother worked with the hospital for 31 years.

“So when we got them the apartment, I said your mother was diligent and honest. This is what she represented. One of them burst into tears. I told them never to let their family, especially their mother down,” Ohiaeri said.

He also told the WHO delegation that the hospital risked legal action to keep the late Sawyer in the hospital once he was suspected to be carrying the disease.

Ohiaeri recalled that the hospital was pressured by Sawyer and the Liberian Ambassador to Nigeria to discharge him, “but we refused on the grounds that public good must be considered above all else.”

Ohiaeri said this was despite persistent threat made against the hospital by the Liberian Ambassador that international law would be invoked against the country should the late Sawyer come out negative.

“As if that was not bad enough, the Liberian Ambassador said the late Sawyer had fundamental human rights which he should be allowed to exercise. But we insisted that he would not be allowed to go until we confirmed what we thought we were talking about.

“The Ambassador said if we continued to keep Mr Sawyer, it would be tantamount to kidnap and abuse of human right.

He said if we did not release him, we would be subjecting our hospital to international diplomatic row and we should not rule out the possibility of a law suit.

“But the hospital’s executive committee, made up of three senior doctors, deliberated on it and concluded that although Sawyer had the right to sign against medical advice, we could not let him go for public good.

“In other words, we have a provision within the law that allows the person to sign and leave the hospital. Meanwhile, there is a superior provision within that law, which is that you can decline the patient for public good.

“In order to protect ourselves as an institution, we called in our lawyer who drafted for us a resolution, stating that we were not going to let Sawyer out because it would not be in the public good to let him out.

“Forty-eight hours later, the confirmation came that he was an Ebola patient. The key is that we were ready for a situation

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

Ebola: First Consultants now responsible for deceased employees’ children

•Medical Director says hospital risked legal action to stop Sawyer Wale ADEPOJU that even if the test came out negative, we trusted our physicians and we were prepared to back them on clinical grounds.

“If the test had come out negative, we were to go to court to defend ourselves. We were prepared to face the public to say what we did.

“The Ambassador said, ‘I will come and take him. I will take him to Calabar and bring him back the following day. l will guarantee his return.’ But we at First Consultants refused and did not let him out.”

The CMD said the hospital is bereaved, adding that this reflects in the mood of its staff and management.

He said: “Although Nigeria might have heaved a sigh of relief from the Ebola saga, the hospital is still counting its losses. Despite being shut for two months, the hospital was still paying its bills.

“This is a hospital that was established 1982 and had not been closed for one day.

“We were shut for over two months before we were reopened two months ago. You can begin to imagine what we went through.”

He said the hospital would have failed the country if it had allowed Sawyer to go.

Dr Ada Igonoh and Dr Akinniye Fadipe, who survived the virus contacted from the late Liberian-American, said their survival was borne out of strong will to overcome the virus.

Dr Igonoh said she never entertained any fear of succumbing to the disease.

She said her sheer determination gave her the strength to overcome the deadly disease.

Dr Fadipe said he was determined to defeat the disease, adding that he was weary at some point.

Fadipe said: “I was devastated when the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol officer died, because we were in the same room and he was close to me. I thought that was

how Ebola would kill us one after the other.”

He said the Federal Ministry of Health made a promise to him that all the hospital had lost to the Ebola virus would be replaced, but nothing had so far been done about it.

“I don’t know why the gov-

ernment reneged on its promise,” he said.

A WHO official, Dr Samantha Bolton, said the hospital protocol and quality of staff were important to the Ebola response.

She commended Nigeria on the level of Ebola awareness,

describing it as “very high”.

She said Texas in the United State needed to borrow a leaf from how Nigeria responded to the EVD outbreak.

Dr Bolton, who was part of the team, led by the Federal Government Emergency Team, said the Nigeria exam-

ple is “a little advice for Dallas”.

A clinician and a member of the team, Dr Simon Mardel commended Nigeria for containing the disease.

He said he doubted if his hospital in Manchester, England would be able to diagnose the disease the way the hospital did.

•From left: Communication Officer, WHO, from USA, Dr. Samantha; CMD, Consultants Medical Centre, Dr. Benjamin Ohiaeri; Clinician, University Hospital, South Manchester, UK, Dr. Simon Mardel and Ebola survivor of the First Consultants Medical Centre, Dr. Ada Igonoh during the visit to the First Consultants Medical Centre, Lagos... yesterday PHOTO: John EBOTA of N200 million to the Rivers State Government to assist in the fight against EVD. That has been done and we Nigeria.

THE Rivers State GovernRosemary NWISI, Port The state Commissioner of have received it.” ment yesterday said it had reHarcourt He reiterated the absence Health, Sampson Parker, ceived a N200 million grant from the Federal Government rus in Rivers State, making who disclosed that the state of the disease in the state, but (FG) to assist it in the fight a total of seven deaths in the had received the money, expressed concern over posthanked President Jonathan sible resurgence, especially against Ebola Virus Disease country.

The Minister of Health, for fulfilling his promise as the disease is still lurking (EVD).

The disease broke out in the Onyebuchi Chukwu, an- and appealed to members of around neighbouring Libestate in August after a medi- nounced in Abuja the ap- the public to maintain the ria, Guinea and Sierraby President observance of their personal Leone. cal doctor, Ikye Enemuo, proval He urged the public to redied treating an ECOWAS GoodLuck Jonathan of the hygiene in order to sustain diplomat in a hotel room in sum of N200 million to Riv- the fight against the disease. main conscious as they go ers State to help check the Parker said: “Let me use about their normal business.

Port Harcourt.

“Ebola virus disease He became the first victim spread of the deadly virus in this opportunity to thank of the virus in the state and the state. The Federal Gov- the President of the Federal (EVD), battle is won in Rivthe third doctor to die of the ernment had earlier done Republic of Nigeria, Dr. ers State, but the war is still disease in Nigeria. One other same in Lagos State where Goodluck Jonathan. He on, especially as the disease woman also died of the vi- the disease first manifested promised to release the sum is still ravaging parts of the world and Africa in particular, going by the news everywhere.

“The disease presently has THE number of people killed have been 8,376 cases and 4,024 MPs refused to grant the presi- ple who died in Nigeria, in the Ebola outbreak has risen deaths in the worst-affected dent additional powers to deal where health authorities say no boundaries. The ocean above 4,000, the World Health West African nations of Guinea, with the Ebola crisis. they have now contained the cannot stop it from travelling, and therefore, we must Organisation has said.

Liberia and Sierra Leone.

President Ellen Johnson virus.

The latest figures show there The news comes as Liberian Sirleaf has already declared a The UN says more than 233 re-double our efforts now in state of emergency that allows health workers working in the areas of vigilance, surher to impose quarantines.

West Africa have now died in veillance and monitoring.

“Our treatment centres are One parliamentarian, the outbreak, the world’s still open with skeletal opBhofal Chambers, warned deadliest to date. that creeping extra powers A nurse in Spain is being eration going on. Surveilcould turn Liberia into a “potreated for the virus after be- lance is still going on. Point FEARS are growing in the United States about Ebola with lice state”. coming infected from an of entry screening is still onabout 200 airline cabin cleaners walking off the job in New The total death toll of 4,033 Ebola patient who had been going.

York and some lawmakers demanding the government ban includes the death of a Libe- repatriated from Liberia - the “But the forthcoming travelers from the West African countries hit hardest by the rian man in the United States country most badly hit by the Christmas and New Year virus. this week and the eight peo- disease with 2,316 deaths. celebrations call for concern “The nation is frightened, and people are frightened of this in that Nigerians in the most disease,” the U.S. cabinet secretary for health, Sylvia Burwell, said on Thursday, a day after the death in Texas of the first Liberia bans journalists from Ebola centres affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra-Léone person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. would want to visit home eiU.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Burwell told a MONROVIA - Liberia said on Friday it was banning journalther healthy or sick. So, there news conference that people were frightened because Ebola ists from Ebola clinics, defying media rights campaigners who is need to maintain our per“has a very high mortality rate. They’re frightened because have warned panicked African governments against “muzthey need to learn and understand what the facts are about zling” reporters. sonal hygiene and environthat disease.” mental sanitation culture Government spokesman Isaac Jackson made the announceAs the government prepares to start screening passengers ment as he was questioned on a radio phone-in show about and sensitisation.” from West Africa for fever at five major airports over the reporters being barred from covering a strike at a Monrovia On the provision of materinext week, cleaners at New York’s LaGuardia Airport staged Ebola treatment unit (ETU). als to check the spread of the a one-day work stoppage over what they say is insufficient disease among school chil“Journalists are no longer allowed to enter ETUs. These jourprotection for workers whose jobs include cleaning up vomit nalists enter the ETUs and cross red lines,” Jackson, the deputy dren, he said sufficient maand bathrooms. The cleaners will return to work Thursday information minister, told listeners to commercial station Sky terials had been handed night.

FM. over to the Ministry of EduU.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said the “They violate people’s privacy, take pictures that they will cation for distribution to goal was to expand airport screenings for Ebola internation- sell to international institutions. We are putting an end to schools across the state. ally to “as many different checkpoints as possible.” that.”

Ebola: FG gives N200m to Rivers

West Africa Ebola outbreak deaths exceed 4,000 – WHO

Fears grow in US over Ebola’s spread outside West Africa

THE NATION,

NEWS 3

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

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Endorsement: PDP governors may confront Jonathan

HE governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) yesterday kicked against the stoppage of consensus endorsement of their candidature and others in their states for the 2015 poll by the National Working

•Accuse President, NWC of double standards •.Crisis imminent

Yusuf ALLI, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

Committee(NWC) of the party.

The aggrieved governors alleged that the NWC had

acted in concert with the presidency to halt the endorsement gale.

They also accused the presidency and the NWC of “double standards”

when the leader of the party, President Goodluck Jonathan had benefited from the same consensus endorsement.

Some of the governors

•President Goodluck Jonathan (second right);with him from left: Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke; Perm Sec. Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali; Chairman Senate Committee on Power, Senator Philip Aduda; Minister of Power, Prof.

Chinedu Nabo and Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole during the Azura-Edo Power Plant Ground Breaking Ceremony at Ihovbor / Orior Osemwende Community in Edo State... yesterday.

PHOTO: Akin OLADOKUN

also said they might ask the National Convention of the party to revisit the endorsement of Jonathan by the National Executive Committ ee(NEC).

The National Secretary of the party, Prof. Wale Oladipo, had on Thursday voided the endorsement of governorship, senatorial and other candidates by the governors and state chapters.

The party directed the governors and state chairmen of PDP to cancel such endorsements.

With the annulment of the endorsements, some of those affected are: the President of the Senate; Chief David Mark, who is seeking the fifth term in the Senate; the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba(SAN); outgoing governors already anointed for the Senate, including Godswill Akpabio( Akwa Ibom); Gabriel Suswam(Benue); E m m a n u e l Uduaghan(Delta); Saidu Dakingari(Kebbi); Theodore Orji ( Abia); Sullivan Chime( Enugu); Ibrahim Shema(Katsina); Babangida Aliyu(Niger);

PDP thugs attack Edo officials ...as Jonathan flags-off $1billion Azura-Edo Green Field Power Plant

THUGS loyal to the Peoples Democratic Party nearly disrupted the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to Edo State yesterday for the foundation laying of a $1 billion (about N165 billion) Azura Gas-powered Independent Power Project in Benin City.

The thugs, led by a man identified as Shaba, physically assaulted some senior officials of the Edo State Government, including the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Julius Ihonvbere; the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Hon Patrick Obahiagbon; Edo State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon Anselm Ojezua and some commissioners.

The President’s visit, which was meant to show solidarity with the Edo State Government led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole for attracting such a huge investment to the state and the country, was temporarily

Osemwengie Ben OGBEMUDIA, Benin and Augustine EHIKIOYA, Abuja

hijacked by PDP thugs who stormed the airport in large numbers chanting antiOshiomhole songs.

Displaying the posters of some PDP aspirants and placards that bore various inscriptions, the thugs disrupted activities at the airport for several minutes as a combined team of soldiers and policemen had a hectic time controlling them.

However, some PDP men who were also at the airport to receive the President, including the state chairman of the party, Mr Dan Orbih; suspended Deputy Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mr Fstus Ebea and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu were left untouched but did nothing to rein in the thugs.

Soldiers had to be mobilised from the nearby Air Force base and they quickly

took charge, dislodging the thugs from the airport before the President’s plane touched down at 10:42 am.

The President was received at the Airport by Governor Oshiomhole and they both flew in the President’s helicopter to the venue of the foundation-laying ceremony.

It was the second time the President would visit Edo State in two weeks, having attended a PDP South-South rally held in Benin City on September 27.

Meanwhile, President Jonathan yesterday flaggedoff the first phase of the $1billion Azura-Edo Power Plant in Ihovbor/Orior Odemwende communities of Edo State.

At the occasion, he called on the various communities in the country who are hosts to several federal, state and private sector projects to play their roles, stressing that there is development in partnership.

The President said the Federal Government would continue to ensure that the growth of the electricity industry becomes self-sustaining and sustainable.

He said: ”I want to use this opportunity to call on all the local communities around the country who are hosts to several federal, state and even private sector projects that have been hindered by communal disruptions, to recognise that in partnership there is development and so, everyone must play their roles.

“My administration is fully committed to continuously improving the framework and enabling environment based on sound policy formulation, access to longterm low interest finance and transparent and consistent regulatory guidelines.”

The President said he was greatly encouraged at the progress made so far towards reforming the power

Attack on lawmaker: Edo Majority Leader, others arraigned THE Majority Leader of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mr. Philip Shaibu, Sunday Aghedo and three others were yesterday arraigned before the Oredo Magistrate Court on two count charge of assault on the member representing Etsako West Constituency 1, Mr. Abdul Rasaq Momoh.

Shaibu, who represents Etsako West 2, and Sunday Aghedo (Ovia South West) were however released by the court presided over by Magistrate P. E. Asemota on self-recognition on the payment of N200,000 each alongside three others.

The arraignment occurred just as the Speaker, Hon Uyi Igbe, denied through his Sen-

•Speaker debunks detention story Osemwengie BEN OGBEMUDIA , Benin ior Special Assistant on media Charles Ayeni, media report that he was detained with other lawmakers over the attack on Hon. Rasaq Momoh.

The three others arraigned include Eboise Emmanuel (38), Promise Ogiso (23) and Ernest Arasomwan (26).

The 1st and 2nd defendants (Shaibu and Aghedo) and three others were arraigned by the police for their alleged role in the fracas that occurred at the legislative quarters on Ihama Road, GRA, Benin City

on October 7, 2014 in which Momoh was seriously beaten and had to be hospitalised.

Apart from Shaibu and Aghedo who were released on self-recognition, the court asked the three others to produce three persons with proofs of means of gainful employment or with houses within the jurisdiction.

Counsel to the defendants, Joe Odibeli, in his application for the bail of the five accused persons, asked the court to grant the Shaibu and Aghedo bail on self recognition as members of the House of Assembly, stressing that they were merely invited by the

police at the command headquarters when they were detained.

He vowed that they would not jump bail if granted.

The prosecution counsel, K. A. Dika, told the court that he was not opposed to the bail application and that it was solely at the discretion of the court.

He however said the court should take into account the seriousness of the case before granting the accused bail.

The Magistrate, P. E. Asemota, after listening to the arguments from both counsels granted the accused bail and adjourned the case to October 29, 2014 for hearing.

sector since the launch of the Road Map on Power Sector Reform back in August 26, 2010.

According to him, the flagoff of the project is the first signal from the global financial industry that the years the federal government has dedicated to the reform of the power sector is finally yielding results.

The Azura project, he said, demonstrates that “we have laid a strong foundation on which we are building a sound and sustainable electricity industry, with great expectations for robust growth in the sector.”

Stressing that success in any endeavour does not happen by accident, he said that it is f a c i l i t a t e d by sound decisions, conscious effort and immense persistence.

According to him, government is committed to irreversibly repositioning the Nigerian power sector as a pivot for the attainment of the nation’s developmental targets.

“We are also maintaining our policy push for increased diversification of our energy, expanding investments in large hydro power projects through public-private partnerships, and the provision of necessary support to accelerate the exploitation of our coal resources,” he said.

He charged the project’s sponsors and their contractors to ensure that the estimated completion date of early 2017 is met, adding that he was eagerly looking forward to when the Azura IPP begins to supply power to the national grid.

In his remarks, the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, said the financial support received by the •Continued onPage 63

and Isa Yuguda(Bauchi) Others are: second-termseeking governors like Ramalan Yero( Kaduna); the Acting Governor of Taraba State, Garba Umar; I b r a h i m Dankwambo(Gombe); Henry SeriakeDickson(Bayelsa), among others.

Those whose governorship endorsements have been voided are E m m a n u e l Ugwuanyi(Enugu); the Minister of Health, Prof.

O n y e b u c h i Chukwu(Ebonyi); ex-Minister of State for Health, Dr. Ali Pate( Bauchi).

Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the governors were shocked that the PDP NWC could give such a directive after it had lured them to endorse Jonathan’s automatic second-term ticket.

One of the governors, who was devastated by the directive, said: “We have discussed among ourselves, such a cancellation of endorsements by the NWC is unacceptable to us.

“Whatever is good for the goose is good for the gander. If the NWC means business, the ban on endorsements should be across the board.

“We cannot be used and dumped by anybody or group. Why are they changing the game now?”

Another governor said: “Such a ban will spell doom for the party. The National Headquarters should not dabble in what is happening at the state.

Are they just realising that endorsement is not good for our democracy?

“Look, endorsement or consensus-building is part of the game too.”

A third governor said: “The party should let us subject all nomination process to state congresses and National Convention.

The party should leave the presidential nomination open and the President should seek second term mandate at the National Convention.

“Since the beginning of the week, we had suspected foul play when they directed all aspirants to come to Abuja to collect nomination form for any elective office.

“In any case, I am not bothered because the National Secretary , who issued the directive, was not elected by the National Convention of the party.

The directive was a product of illegality, it cannot stand.”

It was gathered that some governors were being appeased by party leaders as at the time of going to the press.

“Nobody us targeted but we do not want endorsement abused in such a way that it will erode democratic process. We will iron our issues on this,” a top party leader added.

THE NATION

4 NEWS

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yet to be ascertained number of prisoners were believed to have died as soldiers and prison officials engaged fleeing prisoners during a jailbreak in Lagos yesterday.

Scores of other prisoners were also said to have sustained varying degrees of injuries from the incident that occurred at the Kirikiri Medium Prison located in the

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

Jailbreak in Lagos Yusuf ALLI, Managing Editor, Northern Operationand Jude ISIGUZO

Apapa area of the nation's former capital around 3.30 pm.

Already, the Nigerian Pris-

•Prisoners feared killed ons Service (NPS) has ordered investigation into the incident, promising to release the details today.

But a senior official of the NPS said the incident oc-

curred after the inmates protested some privileges denied by a senior official who had just been posted to the prison, one of which was the use of cell phones by the inmates.

•From right: All Progressives Congress chieftain, Chief Audu Ogbe; Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha; his daughter, Uju; her husband, Uzo; his father and Secretary to the State Government of Imo, Prof Anthony Anwuka; Deputy Governor of Niger State, Hon Ahmed Musa Ibeto; Mrs Odigie-Oyegun and mother of the bride, Mrs Nkechi Okorocha, during the traditional marriage of Uju and Uzo in Owerri... yesterday.

Over 2,000MW undelivered daily, says NERC

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HE Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday revealed that 10, 000 Mega Watts (MW) is stranded in Nigeria, noting that on daily basis the country records 2,000MW that is not delivered to the national grid.

Its Commissioner, Consumer Affairs, Mr. Ibrahim Abba, made the disclosure during the closing ceremony of (2012/2013) NERC Fellowship Programme at Abuja.

According to him, the country has found itself in a state of insufficient power supply because of its adoption of only the conventional energy system-gas and hydro.

He said: "In Nigeria, we are suffering today because we have taken the plan to put all our eggs in one basket. We have 10,000MW sitting literally doing nothing in Nigeria.

Everyday we have 2,000MW plus not being delivered to the grid. So it is really a management issue. There is no country that has a very good energy system without diversifying its energy mix."

Abba was reacting to the advice of Prof. Joseph Ojo, one of the winners of the Fellowship Programme.

Ojo had maintained that there is a misconception that renewable energy will solve the Nigeria's energy problem, but the country needs to still depend on conventional electricity.

According to him, Nigeria lacks the expertise for the adoption of renewable energy. He added that from his observation, the technology of renewable energy (solar

John OFIKHENUA, Abuja

energy) in Nigeria is obsolete.

Ojo, who is a professor in the Engineering Department of the Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, the United States, said: "I read Nigeria newspapers everyday. It is like there is a misconception in this country that the renewable energy system is going to solve our problem. It will not solve it. You should understand that in order to sell things in Nigeria, they say solar is this and that. And a lot of governors say they want to do this and do that. It is not going to solve our problem."

Asked what is the capacity of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) that is charge of wheeling power to the electricity distribution companies, the NERC chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi, told journalists that the undelivered power could be due to lack of gas or transmission constraints.

He revealed that the result of the performance of the Manitoba Hydro International (MHI) that has handled the management contract of the TCN in the last three years has not been satisfactory.

His words: "So, the result so far, we are not satisfied really with the improvement in transmission. It has not moved as fast as expected."

Amadi, who said that the Minister of Power, Prof.

Chinedu Nebo, has always admitted that the sector has a transmission challenge, stressed that the stranded power places a question mark on the performance of the MHI.

He added that "Right now, the ministry and the BPE that signed that contract are reviewing their performance.

"That review indicates

whether there will be extension in the contract because after three years, you review for an extension for two years."

The protest later degenerated to attempts by some of the inmates to escape from the prison, prompting the deployment of the armed security personnel stationed outside the prison to prevent them from escaping.

Apart from the prison officials who also made use of sniffer dogs, personnel of the Nigerian Navy (NN), Navy Town and Kirikiri Police Station were also said to have been called in to assist the men of the Nigerian Prisons Service to secure the massive gates of the prison.

The spokesman for the NPS, Mr. Ope Fatinikun, had broken the news of the jailbreak at the end of a threeday security session organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in Abuja.

He said: "In line with the spirit of this retreat, I want to inform the media that we have just recorded a jailbreak at the Kirikiri Medium Security Prison in Lagos. We will provide details on Saturday (today)."

When later called by our correspondent, Fatinikun said: "The incident occurred at about 3.30pm, but prison warders were able to manage the situation. Like I said, I cannot give you the details till

271 Muslim pilgrims arrive MMIA

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HE Managing Director of Medview Airlines, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, said some 271 Muslim pilgrims that took part in the 2014 Hajj in Saudi Arabia returned home aboard the airline yesterday.

Bankole told newsmen in Ikeja that the pilgrims, from the South West zone of Nige-

NASS in blackout over unpaid bills

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or two days running (Thursday and Friday), most of the National Assembly Complex was without electricity.

The Nation learnt that the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) ceased supply to the National Assembly complex as a result of the non-payment of electricity bills, totalling N8 million.

This has made NASS to resort to generators in order to supply electricity to offices and business within the legislative complex, thereby exerting tremendous pressure on the generating sets which eventually gave way yesterday.

Even before the lawmakers went on a two-week recess for the Sallah, the power supply to the complex had been epileptic, but matters became worse on Thursday evening after the electricity generating plants stopped working.

An operator, who pleaded anonymity, revealed that diesel needed to power the generators had been exhausted and there was no funds for further purchases.

This prompted questions by workers within the complex on why the management was unable to fuel the generators in spite of the N150 billion annual budgetary allocation.

Many workers were seen

Victor OLUWASEGUN, Abuja

leaving the complex long before closing due to the blackout.

The worst hit by the electricity problem were the banks, restaurants and bureaux de change within the complex.

Security scanners and other safety gadgets installed at the main entrances could not function due to the outage, thereby raising the security risk indices in the com-

tomorrow.

Another source, however, said the warders, who were caught unawares, tried to manage the situation.

"As expected, there was a stampede during the jailbreak and some people were wounded. We are still trying to take stock to know the cause, the injured and those who escaped."

The source said it was learnt that the revolt might not be unconnected with the overcrowded nature of the prison yard.

The 1,700-capacity prison had 2,517 inmates as at the time the immediate past Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Phillips (rtd), visited the yard on June 16 for the Jail Delivery Exercise.

Out of the 2,517 inmates, 2,382 were rated as awaiting trial with only 135 convicts.

The former Chief Judge, who expressed concern about the congestion at the prison, could only set free 71 inmates It was also gathered that some of the inmates had been complaining about overstretched facilities at the prison.

But another source said the jailbreak might have to do with the alleged attempt by some criminals to set free their colleagues who were detained at the facility.

"The NPS management has ordered an investigation into the incident. We will release the details in the next 24 to 48 hours," the source added.

plex.

There had been issues raised on infrastructural decay within the complex in the past. Recall that some months ago, some staffers of NASS were nearly suffocated when they were trapped in a lift the House of Representatives wing (old section) of the legislative complex for 45 minutes.

They were rescued by engineers who had to lower the faulty elevator and use force to open the elevator doors to free the trapped workers.

ria, arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos aboard a Boeing 767 aircraft of the airline.

According to him, the Muslim faithful are from Ogun and Oyo states.

He said the pilgrims were the first batch to return to the country among others designated for transportation by the airline.

Bankole said the remaining 5,303 pilgrims allocated to the airline would be transported within two weeks. ``We are fully mobilised in terms of equipment and personnel to handle the return leg of the annual exercise. ``We will ensure that the airline concludes the return leg in record time, even as measures have been put in place to ensure the exercise is hitch-free,’’ he said.

He, however, called on the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria to assist in getting aircraft for any stranded Nigerian pilgrim at the holy land if need be. (NAN)

‘Nigeria needs selfless leaders’

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IGERIA has been de scribed as a country that is richly blessed in human and material resources,but lacks credible leadership that is genuinely committed to nation building This submission was made in Lagos by a human rights activist and an aspirant to the Lagos State House of Assembly in Oshodi Isolo Local Government Area, Comrade Gbenga Soloki, while addressing his supporters as part of activities marking the 54 years anniversary of the country’s independence.

He stated that though the country is one of the best in the world in terms of natural endowments,but successive government have missed

managed the resources of the nation which has led to infrastructural decay,youth unemplyment and social strife, insisting that until and unless corruption is tackled properly,there can not be development.

The aspirant said: ’’Nigeria is a country richly blessed

by Almighty God, but unfortunately it has been hugely mismanaged by its leaders and that is the reason there is no meaningful development.”

Continuing, he said: “This nation cannot move forward with the attitude of the leadership at the centre. A leadership that is bereft of ideas can not propel this country to greatness.’’

Soloki enjoined the youth to take their destiny firmly by participating in political process, while also appealing to those aspiring to political offices to see public office as service to the people who elected them.

On his programme if elected,he promised to set up a micro finance outfit for the benefit of the youth and widows in his constituency, youth development programmes and partnering organisations to develop his constituency as government alone cannot do it alone.

Soloki promised to see that a bill to protect the vulnerable in the society will also be initiated by him.

THE NATION

NEWS 5

SATURDAY,OCTOBER 11, 2014

•Urhobo and other ethnic dignitaries at the valedictory session held for the late General Patric Aziza at Uvwhiamuge, Delta State... yesterday.

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AGOS lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has advised the Federal Government to sue the Isreali and two Nigerians arrested in South Africa in connection with the $15million arms deal with a view to recovering the money.

He said in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday that there is substantial evidence to prove that the suspects, alleged to be contractors, breached the terms of the deal for the supply of the arms.

"To that extent the Federal Government is perfectly entitled to sue them with a view to recovering the entire contract sum of $15 million.

"As independent contractors, they were awarded contracts for the supply of arms by the Federal Government and paid accordingly.

“It is indubitably clear that the suspects were negligent for failing to conduct due diligence. " Hence, they were dealing with companies that are not authorized to trade in arms in South Africa. By the way, when was the responsibility of purchasing weapons for the armed forces of Nigeria transferred from the Ministry of Defence to the office of the NSA," he queried further.

Falana stressed that since the Federal Government cannot be held vicariously liable for the alleged criminal activities of the suspects, the office of the NSA ought not to have embarrassed the nation by giving the erroneous impression that Nigeria had breached the law of another country.

$15 million arms deal: Sue contractors, recover funds, Falana tells FG Adebisi ONANUGA "As a sovereign entity the Federal Government can place orders for the purchase of arms, either from another government or from independent arms dealers.

"But when the office of the NSA decided to award contracts to private corporate bodies for the supply of arms, it could not have clothed them with immunity or licence to breach local or foreign laws", he stated.

"Notwithstanding their inexplicable negligence, the suspects should be advised to contest the order of the High Court which authorised the seizure of the funds, he stated.

The lawyer, however, asked the Federal Government to call the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.), to order for dragging the name of Nigeria through the mud over the controversial $15million arms deal in South Africa.

Falana said there was need for the NSA to be cautious as Nigeria as a country has not been implicated in any way in the deal.

He advised, "instead of exposing Nigeria to further ridicule, the Federal Government should stop accepting responsibility for the alleged criminal actions of the suspects indicted in the alleged laundering of the sum of $15

NUJ-Mbu saga: PAC calls for peace

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HE Police Assistance Committee (PAC) has called for peace to reign between the police and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the interest of our nascent democracy.

The PAC appeal came against the backdrop of a raging public issue between the police and the NUJ, following the feud resulting from a conflict between a journalist, Mr. Amechi Anakwe of the AIT, and AIG Joseph Mbu in charge of Zone 7, Abuja.

In a statement in Lagos,

•Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan delivering his message during the special funeral mass at Adagbrassa-Ugolo.

after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, the Director-General of the PAC, Dr. Martins Oni, said it would not be in the interest of our democracy for such important institutions to be at loggerheads with each other.

The PAC boss passionately called better understanding to exist between the police and the media for cordial coexistence to help our democracy, adding that both parties should sheathe their swords at this period that our country is contending with security challenges.

million.

He lamented that the office of NSA has called to question the moral integrity of the Federal Government by threatening to deal with the South African government over the breach of the law by the private businessmen and corporate bodies involved in the suspicious transactions.

"By asking South Africa to reciprocate the gesture of allowing MTN and DSTV to

operate in Nigeria, is the Federal Government saying that both South African companies are allowed to breach the law of the land?", he asked.

He expressed regret that the National Assembly treated this matter of urgent national importance so cavalierly and in the process left many questions unanswered. "Otherwise, how could both chambers have failed to examine the statement of the NPA that the official explanations for

the suspicious transactions are riddled with contradictions", he said.

Falana recalled that within the past three weeks, the Asset Forfeiture Unit in the office of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in South Africa seized two tranches of funds totalling $15million being payment for the alleged purchase of arms by the Federal Government.

He noted that initially, the

sum of $9.3 million smuggled into South Africa by an Israeli and two Nigerians was seized last month.

He said the suspicion surrounding the transaction was fueled by the disclosure that the South African company involved in the deal is not a licensed arms dealer and that the jet used to ferry the money belongs to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, who is very close to the Presidency.

FG has reduced cost of food import by $2bn, says Sambo

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HE Federal Government has turned agriculture to a big business by reducing the cost of food import by $2 billion in the country.

Vice-President, Alhaji Namadi Sambo, who stated this yesterday during the official opening of the Lifetime Africa Achievement Prize Economic Forum in Uyo, Akwa Ibom capital, said the Federal Government started by encouraging the production of between 1.5 million and 2 million tones of rice locally.

Sambo further said in the last three years, the Federal Government has established 12 new, functional universities in the country to address specific areas of development.

On the control of the Ebola Viral Disease, he said President Goodluck Jonathan took the outbreak of the disease seriously and assured of the country’s readiness to support other countries in the world to eradicate the disease.

The Vice President hinted that the Federal Government has released a take-off grant of N220 billion to support small medium enterprises in the country.

Commenting on electricity supply, Namadi remarked that the President has prioritized power supply and hoped that by 2018-2020, Nigeria would produce about 20,000 megawatts for transmission.

He lauded Governor Godswill Akpabio for hosting the foundation which coin-

Kazeem IBRAHYM, Uyo cided with the celebration of 100 years millennium goal and its 54th independence anniversary and for transforming the state through such major infrastructure as roads, airport, seaport, security, health and education, among others.

Governor Akpabio thanked

President Jonathan and Vice President Sambo for the proper handling of Ebola and the Federal Government for sending about 500 health workers to Sierra Leone to control the disease.

Earlier, the President of Millennium Excellence Foundation, James Victor Gbeho, had said the forum

was meant to generate ideas for the development of Africa, saying the choice of hosting the forum in Uyo was to showcase the achievements of Akwa Ibom State and to let the world have a glimpse of infrastructural development for other states and countries to emulate.

Cynthia: Court berates defence counsel for stalling trial

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USTICE Olabisi Akinlade of a Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere yesterday chastised the defence counsel in the trial of the four men charged with the murder of Cynthia Osokogu for stalling proceedings.

The proceedings of the trial of the alleged killers of Cynthia were stalled for the second time yesterday by the absence of one of the defence counsel.

The prosecution had on September 19 closed its case at the court.

The defence was to open its case yesterday.

But at the resumed hearing of the matter, the counsel for the second defendant, Mr. Micheal Ajayi from the Chambers of Mike Igbokwe (SAN), sent a letter to the court for a stand down of the case till 12.30 pm.

A little after 12.30pm, Ajayi failed to show up.

Also at the last hearing, counsel for the first defendant,

Mr. Victor Opara, failed to appear in court.

Opara sent a text message to the Attorney-General, informing him he had to undergo an urgent eye operation.

Counsel for the fourth defendant, Mr. C. Achomanu, simply failed to appear without any form of excuse.

Justice Akinlade berated the defence counsel for employing various tactics to delay trial.

The trial judge noted in particular the attitude of the second defence counsel in delaying the matter since the commencement of the trial.

She said their attitude was unbecoming of learned counsel.

The trial judge reminded a lawyer that the defendants are presumed innocent until proved guilty.

Two of suspects, Okwumo

Nwabufor and Olisaeloka Ezike, are standing trial for felony, conspiracy to commit murder and the murder of Cynthia Osokogu.

The third suspect, Osita Orji, the pharmacist who sold the Rophynol drug used on Cynthia to the alleged murderers, is standing trial along with the other two for his reckless and negligent act, while the fourth suspect, Nonso Ezike, who pawned her Blackberry phone, is charged with the possession of stolen property.

The men are facing a sixcount charge bordering on conspiracy, murder, stealing, negligence and possession of stolen goods.

The offences contravene Sections 221,231,409 and 285[1] of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

Justice Akinlade adjourned the matter to October 31 and November 7 for the defendants to open their defence.

NEWS Osun APC, PDP trade words over purported appeal court judgment on former REC T

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

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HE ruling All Progressives Congress in Osun State and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are trading words over the purported �ruling of the Court of Appeal in Akure, which allegedly upheld the judgment of an Osogbo High Court that the former Resident Electoral Commissioner in Osun State, Ambassador Rufus Akeju, was not qualified to conduct the 2011 elections in the state.

While the PDP has hailed the decision of the Court of Appeal, the APC said it was funny that "the judgment of that magnitude and importance to our democratic culture

n Adesoji ADENIYI, Osogbo n

was to be delivered in Akure and was unknown to anybody, except Omisore's PDP. "According to a statement by the PDP's Director of Media and Strategy, Prince Diran Odeyemi, "this landmark ruling has vindicated the PDP's stance that Akeju, because of his relationship with the APC national leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has no moral justification to conduct the election.

I remain committed to peace in Ekiti –Fayemi KITI State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has restated his commitment to the peace and development of the state, both in and out of office.

The governor reiterated his commitment in Ado Ekiti at a Jumaat service marking the fourth anniversary of his administration, stating that the state has enjoyed relative peace under the present administration.

Fayemi said,though there might be some setbacks, God has enabled the leadership of the state to remain strong and steady.

He thanked Ekiti indigenes for the support given to his government since he as-

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Sulaiman SALAWUDEEN, Ado-Ekiti sumed office in October 2010.

"Setbacks are bound to happen in life, but whatever happens, God has enabled us to remain strong and steady.

The state is still peaceful even though the people may not have got all they desire. But I am here to show gratitude for standing by my administration and for your prayers for us.

“I want you to know that whether I am in government or not, the peace of Ekiti State and its progress and all that will make cooperation reign among the people are important to me. And I will never at

any time relent in pursuing peace for the state," he said.

Earlier in his message, the Chief Missioner of the Ansaru-deen Central mosque, Ado Ekiti, Alhaji Hadi Adebayo who was represented by Ustas Mohammed Abdulmutolib stressed the importance of gratitude; saying that everyone who fails to show gratitude for any good done to them should be ready for God's wrath.

Adebayo who commended Governor Fayemi for embarking on a Thank You tour of the State urged people to emulate the Governor's gesture because gratitude breeds generosity.

Major Gen. Olutoye appointed Oba of Ido-Ani HE Ondo State Executive Council has approved the appointment of Major General Olufemi Olutoye (rtd) as the new Alani of Ido Ani in Ose local government Area of the state.

The new Oba will be presented with the staff of office today, Saturday 11, October, 2014.

Olutoye’s appointment is coming four years after the demise of Oba Aderemi

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Atewogboye 11, who passed-on on March 3, 2010.

The appointment of the retired military officer followed the request by the town’s Kingmakers to the executive council that Olutoye be confirmed king after a selection process where six candidates were screened.

At the demise of Oba Atewogboye, only seven of the 22 Kingmakers in the town were alive, following which

fifteen Warrant Chiefs were appointed to complement the living numbers of the Kingmakers for the purpose of appointing a new Alani of Ido –Ani. The conclusion of the process saw the appointment of Olutoye ahead of Prince Adeniyi Adebiyi, Prince Ademola Atewogboye, Prince Agunloye Falade, Prince Samuel Aladesunkanmi and Prince Ademola Adebiyi.

Senator Fasanmi's wife, Felicia, dies at 82 he national leader of the All Progressives Congress and the first republic senator, Chief Ayo Fasanmi, has lost his wife, Chief (Mrs) Felicia Adejoke Fasanmi.

Mrs. Fasanmi, who was born on the 27th June 1932, died at about 10.00pm on Thursday, after a long illness.

For many years, she was the proprietress of the popular Bamidupe Maternity Home at Alekuwodo, Osogbo.

The 82-year old deceased remained her husband's staunchest supporter� till death.

She is survived by her husband, five children and grandchildren.

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n Adesoji ADENIYI, Osogbo n Meanwhile, the Osun State Government has described her death as a great loss to the state and the south west.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola, in a statement signed by his Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, said the death of the Fasanmi matriarch has left a large vacuum in the state.

Aregbesola said Mrs. Fasanmi’s motherly role politically would be missed by the government and the people of the state.

Noting that Madam Fasanmi was a great pillar behind the Afenifere statesman, Pa (Senator) Ayo Fasanmi, he said he stood

by the octogenarian all through his political career.

He said: “I received the news of the death of the wife of Papa Fasanmi yesterday with a heavy heart.

But I have strong conviction that mama, as a fervent Christian and ardent believer, no doubt led a meaningful life during her earthly sojourn.

"Mama stood by her husband and demonstrated an unflinching loyalty to the senator throughout his political career spanning more than half a century.

“On behalf of my family, government and the people of the State Osun, I offer our heartfelt condolences to both the immediate and extended family of Fasanmi.”

...her death painful –Fayemi KITI State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has expressed sadness on the death of Mrs. Felicia Adejoke Fasanmi, wife of Afenifere leader, Senator Ayo Fasanmi.

Fayemi, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, described Mrs. Fasanmi's death as painful and unfortunate.

He also described the deceased as a virtuous woman who lived a life of integrity, sacrifice, commitment and selfless service to humanity.

The governor said Mrs. Fasanmi, who died some

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days after her husband celebrated his 89th birthday, was a trusted and committed soul mate to the Second Republic Senator.

He noted that the death of Mrs. Fasanmi was painful because she died at a time her husband needed her company most having weathered the storms of life together in the time past.

Fayemi said the deceased was a strong pillar of support for the Afenifere chieftain and was there for him throughout the thick and thin of an unblemished career in the public service.

He urged the family of the deceased to be consoled by the good legacies she left behind.

The governor prayed God to grant Senator Fasanmi the courage and equanimity to bear the loss of a woman who radiated beauty physically and in character.

“The government and the people of Ekiti State, share with the family of our leader, Papa Fasanmi the grief of the passing on of the matriarch and pray that God will grant them the fortitude to bare the irreparable loss,” the statement added.

"We urge the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to demonstrate that it is truly independent by obeying this ruling and sack Akeju without further delay because it has been proven by court of competent jurisdiction that the controversial REC is a card-carrying member of the APC and not fit to preside over election anywhere in the country.�" Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the APC, Kunle Oyatomi, in a statement, yes-

terday, said that "media correspondents in Akure only got the news of the so-called judgment from Omisore's office in Osogbo.

Something terribly sinister is going on here.

"It is even funny still that when the correspondents in Akure got the news from Omisore's office in Osun, they rushed to the Appeal Court to get the judgment, but the court was said to have closed for the day, after supposedly having delivered a judgment that was unknown to the public."

The APC said it was waiting to see the content of "that judgment �before we can make any comment."

Remi Oyo’s burial rites commence October 16 n Joke KUJENYA n

•Oyo HE husband of late Remi Oyo, Mr Vincent Oyo, has disclosed that the burial rites of his wife will start on Thursday, October 16, with a Christian wake and Requiem Mass in Abuja.

He also said that other activities will include a Requiem Mass on 22nd October at Saints Joachim and Anne church, which was her home parish and then, a Christian wake on

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23rd October at the NAN Media Centre, where she last served as the immediatepast Managing Director.

Oyo noted that the final memorial service will be held on Friday, October 24, with a funeral Mass at the Saint Dominic Catholic Church, Yaba, Lagos, after which the interment will follow at Atan Cementry, Yaba, Lagos.

He said that by the seventh day of her departure, over 250 sympathisers have signed the condolence register in her London residence.

He also said that due to the friendly nature of his late wife, guests and sympathisers have ceaselessly thronged their Ijegun home.

On the late Remi Oyo, who passed away on Wednesday, October 1st, Nigeria’s 54th Independence Day, due to cancer-related illness in a London hospital,

the Director General, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Mr Sola Omole, on his visit to the Ijegun home, urged upcoming journalists to emulate the excellence in the profession, as was demonstrated by late Remi Oyo. Omole, while condoling the husband, affirmed that the late icon never compromised her profession.

He said, “She has accomplished the dignity of the profession. She should be celebrated for her exclusive excellence. She was a woman that never compromised her grounds on policies.

“Remi demonstrated superb expertise in journalism.

She was an exceptional bright woman, which elevated her to becoming the first female journalist to be a spokesman at the presidency and first female to be the Managing Director at NAN.”

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

COMMENTARY 7

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I was therefore surprised no end to read that the Senate President, former Governor Gbenga Daniel and another person visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo a Board of Trustees Member of the ruling PDP who had developed cold feet over that role to ask him to forgive the party and resume that role

Nigerian Senate, Turkey - the war On Boko Haram and Islamic State listened to a TV debate on the Boko Haram insurgency this week and I was impressed by the quality of the debate as well as the sincerity of the contributors on the floor of our senate. Indeed I was very pleasantly surprised by what I saw and heard. It reminded me of history and the famed debates of the Senators of Ancient Rome when Rome was a Republic under the Caesars who later subverted the senate and turned it into a Republican Monarchy with the help of the Praetorian Guards, the elite military corps then responsible for the personal security of the Emperor of the Roman Empire, which was the official title of the Ancient Caesars.

The Nigerian Senate later adopted a resolution that announced and accepted that Nigeria is at war with Boko Haram because it has seized swathes of Nigerian territory and all hands must be on deck to prosecute that war. The motion debated and adopted at the Senate was - Threat to National Sovereignty and Territorial integrity of Nigeria by insurgents. The Senate leadership is to meet the President urgently with the resolution adopted from the motion. At a stage during the debate the Senate President David Mark even said the issue of elections was not on the table as what was important was for Nigeria to prosecute the war successfully with all hands on deck. Which on the surface could mean that the Senate was resolute and willing on prosecuting the war, a situation which the debate and events outside it would seem to contradict in a rather surprising way.

This is because a war needs to be prosecuted by the army under the command of its Commander in Chief and the war performance of the Nigerian Army took such a battering from the comments of Senators at the debate such that it is apparent that there is no love lost between the two institutions to the chagrin of the Senate President who tried to paper the wall of senatorial disenchantment, with a dexterous use of his high office of coordinator and moderator of debate. I will shed more light on this later.

Let me bring in another global personality facing the dilemma of our Senate President in the prosecution of a war similar to that of Nigeria and Boko Haram.

That leader is Turkey’s strongman Reccep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s new executive president and leader of the Islamist AK Party which has been the most successful Islamist party of modern times to have won elections back to back three times in Turkey since 2002.

Indeed when the party he founded in 2001 won its first elections in secular and army protected Turkey in 2002, he could not become PM immediately because he was found guilty of having publicly recited an

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Islamist poetry and that was against Turkey’s law at that time. It was because AK had a majority in Parliament that the law was changed and he became PM while Abdullah Gul who was PM then became president, albeit ceremonial.

Now Erdogan’s party has silenced the army over its traditional secular watch on Turkey’s politics and jailed some former military presidents for staging military coups.

Yet his AK Party kept winning elections such that he was able to get a referendum to change the constitution to a presidential one and now he is the executive president of Turkey.

He has however never hidden his love of Islam and the fact that Turkey can be Islamist, European and modern. He condemned the regime of President Assad of Syria when it started killing its people and has passed resolution through Turkey’s Parliament declaring war on Islamic State. When asked to lead the way as a regional leader however, the bold and resolute Erdogan suddenly developed feet of clay this week. Instead he is finding excuses. He has asked the US to declare a no fly zone over Turkey to protect it from the Syrian Airforce. This was a Turkey ready before to take on Syria, solo, at the beginning of the Syrian crisis. He is reluctant to arm Turkish Kurds to fight Islamic State because he feared they may use the weapons against Turkey later. Which could be a legitimate fear but an expedient risk that he must take now given the location and theatre of war in the region. The truth is that Erdogan is yet to reach that breaking point that the Saudis, the Egyptians and the UAE have reached in not only drawing line in the sand for Islamic State but deciding it has breached it and fighting it to save the corporate and global image of Islam as a peaceful religion. Which really is a real pity for a man who has done so much to give Islam such a successful democratic image and competitive spirit in a region which is very replete with authoritarianism and violence.

This brings us back to the drift of the debate on the motion on war in the senate this week. There were three strands of contributions. One was from senators whose territories were under the siege and capture of Boko Haram.

They begged the rest of Nigeria, the federal might to come to their aid and they said this with dignity and pride.

They did not cry. They could have. But as a fellow Nigerian I wept for them. A Senator said Maiduguri is now the biggest refugee centre in the world from people fleeing into it from the Boko Haram ceaseless onslaught with all public buildings occupied. The second type of speech warned that it was the turn of the North East now but it could spread to the rest of the nation especially Benue the state of the Senate President. The third strand of contribution berated the army for not adding value in protecting the nation and prosecuting the war while it called on retired army generals to rally round to save the nation in prosecut-

‘

ing a successful war against Boko Haram. I am sure that you will agree with me that the quality of the debate was high and could rival that of ancient Rome. But then let us look backwards a bit in our history to see the way forward in fighting this Boko Haram war.

Ever since the civil war ended we have had coups led by army generals and the story is that the army has always been in control with the Airforce and Navy as supporting casts largely. There is no need to mention any particular junta by name. It is however sufficient to mention that the air force budget was generally muzzled to prevent the rise of air power for domestic coups. Now that airsrikes are the modern currency of air power as ably demonstrated by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and UAE not to mention the Almighty US which calls the shots from the air while dodging land battles, the Boko Haram operates with the knowledge that we have no air power to destroy it and operates on our territory with impunity. A Senator at the debate said he can not say out what Nigerian soldiers guarding his area said of his area command. That really sums up our impotence in terms of air power and morale of our troops. How to resolve that should be a national political and military emergency.

There was no doubt that references to the military did not go down well with the Senate President at that debate.

But I was impressed with his comment that election was not on the table which meant that this war took priority over the 2015 elections. I was therefore surprised no end to read that the Senate President, former Governor Gbenga Daniel and another person visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo a Board of Trustees Member of the ruling PDP who had developed cold feet over that role to ask him to forgive the party and resume that role. Of course in resuming the BOT role he will be expected to support the re election of the president which caused his hostility before. Or to tell the president to forget that and prosecute the war first? Now again General Obasanjo was a former head of state who although he never planned a coup but was a major beneficiary at the assassination of the late General Murtala Muhammed whom he succeeded as Head of State.

Undoubtedly between the Senate president and the reluctant BOT member of PDP there is enough military, business, political and strategic acumen to make Boko Haram a thing of the past sooner than later. Why the Commander in Chief who listens to both and is beholden to them and their experience for being in power in the first instance, still has to be consulted that we are at war, is still one of the wonders of the modern world to me . Some day I pray fervently that we solve urgently the Boko Haram riddle out of the enigma it has so much become before our very eyes, before it consumes all our thinking faculties. Amen.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

COMMENTARY

Still on the $15m cash-for-arms controversy GAIN, Nigeria is in the news for the wrong reason.

Although, it does not, in any way, befit a description as the most shocking news of the week considering the plethora of depressing events that often deaden the spirit as the nation reels in its own self-inflicted anguish. It is, nonetheless, discomfiting that while the Nigerian government was still struggling to excuse its way through the frustratingly embarrassing seizure of $9.3 million raw cash allegedly for arms purchase in South Africa; there came another rude shock that the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the country’s National Prosecuting Authority has equally seized $5.7m for yet another arms deal. It is at that point that one’s adrenalin of patriotism begins to boil. How did this thunder, which is clearly a shame of a nation, strike twice in less than three weeks? Could it be that we are, as a nation, cursed to doing the same thing the same way while expecting different results from our misadventures?

Of course, it is easy for the government and its horde of apologists to, in their warped imagination, collectively point an accusing finger at the South African government for deliberately picking out Nigeria for ridicule over a ‘legitimate’ cash-for-arms deal even if laden with all the trappings of illegalities. The sad reality is that the remaining fingers point menacingly back at us. We are the architect of our own problems and the veiled attempt at hanging President Jacob Zuma and his compatriots in the sun to dry simply cannot wash off our shame. Instead of blowing hot air and threatening to deal with a sovereign nation over a frozen $15m suspected to be proceeds of illegal transactions, we should be exploring available diplomatic channels to retrieve the money.

That is all that matters now. Not the canticles of illogic some persons are spewing to stamp an imprimatur of legitimacy on the dirty scandal. As many analysts have pointed out, if South Africa has chosen to tar us with a bad brush, it then behoves us to take deeper look at ourselves in the mirror and critically examine the image that confronts us. On this particular matter, no amount of diplomatic filibustering can excuse the fact that, somehow and somewhere, our inability to tread the straight and narrow path in 'doing business' has once again boomeranged right on our faces. It is no fault of theirs when other countries reject our unofficial motto of “Anything Goes”.

In spite of Nigeria's bold-faced attempt to wriggle out of the latest scandal, using thinly-veiled threat from the office of the National Security Adviser to remind the South-African government of its citizens’ multi-billion dollar investments in the country, we still need to ask the hard questions. We cannot run away from unravelling how and why a ‘legitimate’ cash-for-arms deal went terribly awry. Ordinarily, the Nigerian legislature has constitutional mandate to unearth the hidden facts behind these questionable deals. In other climes, it is not just about a constitutional directive but also an act of patriotism. Sadly, it appears that such high expectations would amount to putting too much on the table of a legislature. Or is it not the same legislative house whose key members have been at the forefront of defending the move by the government to smuggle arms into the country, ostensibly to fight insurgency? It is unfortunate that, at a time when the electorate looks towards a law making body that lives up to its official appellations, the Deputy Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, Leo Ogor, was quoted to have argued that: "If smuggling arms into the country is the only alternative to defeat the insurgents, we owe no apology to anyone." Sometimes, you truly wonder how we ended up having certain categories of nitwits in high places. However,

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Knucklehead With

Yomi Odunuga E-mail:yomi.odunuga @thenationonlineng.net SMS only: 07028006913 that is a topic for another day.

For sure, there is nothing wrong with buying arms from a sister African Union country if, as the Nigerian government claims, some foreign countries appear to be reluctant in supplying us arms in fighting the insurgents in the North-Eastern part of the country. What we question are the procedures and processes leading to the confiscation of $15m dollars in South Africa. No doubt, the steps taken by the South-African government have a potential of causing serious diplomatic rift between the two biggest economies in the continent. Yet, a quick search on the internet shows that a traveller to South Africa could be penalised or prosecuted if he fails to declare raw cash in excess of $10.000 to the relevant authorities. It was explicitly stated in the country's Travellers Guide that: "Certain goods are restricted, and may only be brought into South Africa if you have the necessary authority or permit, and these must be declared on arrival. They include any firearms, as well as currency: South African bank notes in excess of R25 000; foreign currency above $10 000; gold coins; coin and stamp collections; and unprocessed gold.'

Although, the Nigerian authorities claim that the seized $5.7m was transferred via a bank and that it was confiscated when the arms broker firm in South Africa was trying to return the money to Nigeria because it could not meet its obligations to supply the required arms and ammunition. Questions still linger on how we ended up transacting business with a firm with expired registration documents. Does it mean that no one carried out the necessary due diligence checks on such a firm before paying the money? Are we to believe that the $5.7m was to cover a shopping list that includes helicopters, unmanned aircraft, rockets and ammunition? How was the money paid into the South Africabased bank? Was it a direct lodgement by an individual? Was it paid through the Central Bank of Nigeria or any other bank for that matter? Were the relevant duties paid on the transactions?

Which account in Nigeria was the South African firm directed to lodge the money into before the court granted an order of confiscation?

Before we throw umbrage at the South African authorities for daring to suggest that the confiscated $15m was a product of sleaze or, better still, money laundering. We need to apply the brakes and ask the hard questions which we often ignore. Could it, for example, be that we are simply being smeared with the brush with which we have painted ourselves to the international community. The general perception out there is that Nigeria is corrosively corrupt and that the present administration has remarkably upped the ante in paying lip service to fighting the menace.

Hard as it is for some persons to accept, the greatest threat to this democracy and nationhood is corruption. The Jonathan administration may have made a song and dance of its tremendous achievements in the last five years, all that pales into insignificance as the nation's ratings continue to dip. For example, Nigeria, in the latest Mo Ibrahim Foundation ranking, scored a dismal 37th among 52 African countries surveyed on public governance practices. It also scored low on the selected critical categories that propel human development. The figures released by Transparency International on corruption index were, no less, unflattering of a country pretending to be on the right path of real growth. We were ranked 144th out 177 countries surveyed in 2012. It was a dip from an earlier ranking of 137th in less than two years. This paints a graphic picture of how well the government is doing in its ‘fierce battle’ against corruption! If we could not conveniently wrap up an important transaction like the purchase of needed arms to confront the threat posed by deadly insurgents without attracting needless scandal, why should anyone blame the World Bank for rating Nigeria 147th out of 189 countries in its 2014 Ease of Doing Business Report? Why, in spite of all the glaring inefficiencies, should the world not jeer us when our President scores himself as having halved poverty in less than five years?

Let us confront the devil squarely: something just does not add up in the way we comport ourselves. Oftentimes, we do take actions that neither make any sense nor appeal to the international community. We deliciously live in self-denial when we should face the reality of a tempestuous existence. We blame the wrong candidates when it is obvious that we are the architect of our own doom. We court controversies with benumbing stupidity and expect the world to ignore our idiocy. If we had followed the extant laws and exploited the available diplomatic channels in sealing the arms deal with the South African authorities, I doubt if we would be at this trajectory where muck is being smeared at whatever remains of our pride as a nation. We miss the point in reminding the South African government of its multi-billion dollars investments in Nigeria. The question is: have any of these companies violated any of our rules since they paid billions of dollars to operate in our territory? If they have not, why should we move against them simply because we could not swallow the indignity of being punished for an outright abuse of another country's rules of transacting business?

We need to stress the point that this country is already burdened by many crises. Therefore, the latest scandal in South Africa is a needless distraction. We equally do not need anyone to remind us about the wealth of our President or any politician for that matter.

It is an unwritten code here that only a fool serves the public and goes home poorer. In fact, your success in the public space is measured by the quantum of personal aggrandisement you attract to yourself. And so, while The Presidency prepares to sue the website that ignominiously ranks Jonathan as the sixth richest leader in the continent, may we remind the country’s leadership of that small matter of a $15m confiscated in South Africa. Of course, it may not be a quarter of the meagre $100m bounty linked to our President, it can still be put into positive use in a country that ranks high among the world's most fragile nations with millions of the poor to boot. The best they can do for us at this stage is to eat the humble pie, deflate the narcissistic balloon of riotous rage and get the money back! That is if the loot, when eventually returned, is not re-looted anyway. For them, let them bring back our loot!

Osun election tribunal: No backdoor victory VEN now there were many good men who aspired to nothing beyond a seat in Congress, a gubernatorial or a presidential chair, such belong to the family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle. Such honours were not enough for men of ambition and talents. These routine offices would not satisfy an Alexander, a Ceasar, or a Napoleon, from whom the greatest danger to popular government must be expected.."

These statements were made by Abraham Lincoln, one of the Presidents and a man that ended slavery in America, while discussing his ambition with the people.

In the next few days, legal fire works at the Osun Election Tribunal would begin and it is expected that both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would give account of the governorship election held on August 9, 2014. So far, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made available all necessary electoral materials to the parties in dispute over the result of the election.

However, the PDP, in a bid to win by crook or hook, has been feeding the public with tissues of lies about the ballot papers and other related materials, with the sole intention to bias the minds of the general public against the victory of APC governor-elect, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola.

The first kite from the opposition was the false press statement ditched out on the suspension of two electoral officers by the INEC; while it was true that the two officers were suspended, the PDP blackmail against the APC was the alleged conspiracy between the officers and the victorious party. The desperate PDP was indeed the guilty party over the voting materials that were impounded at Ibokun, headquarters of Obokun Local Government Council Area of the state, on the eve of the election, when members of the public raised alarm over the diversion of electoral materials by INEC staff. The people themselves raised an alarm before security men arrested and impounded both the vehicle and the suspects. Almost all the newspapers reported the ugly incident. Only for the PDP to turn around after the election, accusing the APC for the offence which it committed.

Just few days ago, the desperate PDP was at its faslehood game again, calling wolves, where there is none, over the inspection and photocopying of electoral materials used for the said election. The parties at the Tribunal were earlier granted an order to inspect the materials as a pre-trial procedure; a legitimate exercise. Apart from the initial exchange of blows by some of the agents of the parties at the INEC office over the said materials; as the PDP alledgedly declined the video recording of the proceedings, peace eventually prevailed after the eletoral umpire had stepped in.

Napoleon, the Emperor of France was notoriously noted for

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• Aregbesola Yomi OBADITAN being ambitiously power hungry, but the kind of power that he sought was not for the benefit of the people, but simply for selfaggrandizement. Napoleon eventually ruined himself over power without genuine responsibility. The PDP and its flagbearer are desperately seeking for power, but the fact remains that the people have spoken and they have spoken well. They have given their mandate to the incumbent governor, because of his superlative performance in his first four years of administration.

For almost eight years that PDP was in the saddle of governance in the State of Osun, there was little or nothing to refer to as achievement. But on the other hand, the same cannot be said of the current regime, as the state has been turned around in almost every facet, and works are still in progress despite the limited resources available for the government. The Federal government under President Goodluck Jonathan has not been encouraging enough. Instead of giving a helping hand by allocating more funds for the state, the state allocation has now been reduced from N4.6 billion monthly to N2.5 billion as at August when we went for the election. The opposition in the state takes delight in the

reduction in the monthly allocation by boasting to the public that they were the ones behind the reduction, a statement of lies, as the reduction in the monthly allocation is more of a general malady due to the flimsy excuse that the crude oil theft activities were negatively affecting the revenue acruing to the Federal Government.

This lame excuse is untenable as the Federal Government has been paying ex-militia leaders millions of dollars for oil pipeline safety, despite the presence of Nigerian security outfits at the same oil fields.

The claim by Iyiola Omisore and his party that they discovered fake ballot papers and unmarked materials among the APC used ballot papers was another white lie. While their first accusation that electoral officers were suspended for conspiring with the APC was debunked by the electoral umpire, the PDP failed to apologise to the nation that it had misinformed the public till date. This second lies has also blown up in the face of the losers, who want to secure victory through the back door, yet they are claiming that their mandate was stolen.

Stolen mandate! By who? The people of Osun have rejected the impostors, who had earlier relied on the Federal Government and its coercive forces to rob the state of good governance. The people stood against over 100,000 security personnel, masked men and snifing dogs all over. The people voted with gun pointing at their backs, further resisting, when a Major General in the Nigerian Army was in the state to ensure victory for the PDP and its candidate at all cost. The people stood their ground against money for votes. Some colllected and voted for the incumbent, others collected and ran away from the state and those who kept their own shares within the PDP are currently at logger heads, as the centre could no longer hold for the desperate party.

In an ideal state, the Police should have by now been busy prosecuting those that were involved in buying voters' cards and other related electoral offences, in accordance with the Electoral Act. But the men and women, who are being paid from our taxes, pretended as if nothing happened. That explained why we remain infantile as a nation after 54 years of independence. That is why a man who knew that not until ten years after his impeachment, he could not re-contest, would ignore the provision of the law, only to turn thugs to dese crate the temple of justice. The PDP must conduct itself in a modest way as the Tribunal resumes hearing of its petition in the name of peace and progress. The parties before the Tribunal must allow the law to take its course. We must not transfer the hooliganism that Fayose and his electoral thugs displayed in Ado Ekiti to Osun. Just as we said before the election in Osun that Osun is different from Ekiti, we must keep it in our minds as the Tribunal continue its duties.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

COMMENTARY 9

Trigeminal neuralgia; Alfred’s story S he got ready to walk towards the building to, once again, confront his arch enemy, Alfred was full of fear and anxiety. He had been here 2 times before in this life battle that he had fought for the last six years. But this time it was different.

This time, he felt drained, defeated and un-optimistic. Unlike the first two battles when he thought he would defeat his enemy, this time Alfred knew the enemy was strong and unrelenting.

As he got closer to the door, his mind started to wonder down memory lane to the very beginning. To the beginning when this ‘battle of his life’ started… “…It began six years ago in the early hours of a chilly Wednesday morning. Alfred King, an up and coming lawyer, woke up to get ready for work. Having qualified as a lawyer 5 years earlier, Alfred hit, what he thought would be, the case of his life. It was a multi million Naira Class Action which Alfred and the legal team he worked with had spent the better part of eleven months putting together. As he got ready for his day in court, Alfred was anxious and excited about presenting the case he had worked so hard on.

To make sure everything went as planned, in a break from his usual routine of getting ready for work before eating breakfast, Alfred decided to eat breakfast before getting dressed. “I’m not going to let an accidental stain slip from his mouth onto my shirt,’ he thought out loud. Proud that he managed to get ready without an unfortunate breakfast mishap on his crisp white shirt, Alfred arrived in court and rushed straight to the room where the case would be heard.

As Alfred might have guessed, he was the first person to arrive in court; he had arrived 2 hours early. The timing worked perfectly for Alfred because it gave him enough time to arrange his documents, get his mind into ‘legal eagle mode’ and relax; ready for his great court room performance. This was certainly Alfred’s day and nothing was going to stop him squashing this case because, if nothing else, Alfred was prepared to address the court. He was prepared to express his legal arguments like he had never done before. He was prepared to impress his clients, his colleagues and the Judge.

But as prepared as Alfred was, little did he know that in precisely 2 hours and forty eight minutes time, the choice to address, express, and impress would be completely taken out of his hands.

In precisely 2 hours and forty-eight minutes, a vicious and unforgiving ‘enemy’ will prevent him from addressing the court, expressing his case and impressing his clients.

It was an enemy that Alfred unknowingly lived with. It was an enemy that silently grew stronger by the day. It was an enemy that had followed him to court on that fateful day. It was an enemy that had not made its existence known because like Alfred, it too, had chosen the moment it was to make its grand performance. The moment was on that same chilly Wednesday morning, precisely 2 hours and forty-eight minutes from the time Alfred finished laying out his documents in preparation for his case.

After preparing his documents, Alfred sat alone in the court for a while before people started arriving. The court filled up relatively quickly and ten minutes after the proposed start time all the parties, save the Judge, had arrived and were seated in the courtroom.

The Judge arrived thirty-three minutes late and two minutes after her arrival, the court was in session. After the usual court proceedings, the time came for Alfred to present his case. It was precisely 2 hours and forty-five minutes from the time he arrived

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and settled in court.

As he began to express himself in the most impressive manner, Alfred didn’t feel the enemy that was creepily approaching him.

Getting ready to attack, it reached out to grab the right side of his face at the same time that Alfred was addressing the court. And before Alfred knew what hit him, the enemy took aim and struck…!

The first Alfred realised he was under attack was when he felt a sharp electric currant strike his right cheek. He lifted his hand to feel what it was but before he could do so, his right cheek felt like it had been stabbed with a sharp blade, which had been gorged in scorching fire. He managed to yell in agony but the motion of opening his mouth only made the pain more intense. Attack after attack continued with Alfred crumbling in excrutiating pain. The final agonising assault, which was a mixture of a violent, electric shock-like pain, severe burning and repeated stabbing paralysed him. Slumping to the ground under the weight of such excruciating torment, the likes of which Alfred could never have previously imagined, the room began to blur and he began to fall. As his body and head reached the floor, his eyes closed and everything… faded to black!

When Alfred finally woke up, he found himself lying on a hospital bed with his doctor, standing over him. Barely able to remember the events that led him there, his doctor, Dr. Stober, sat down to have a chat with him. After a brief explanation, which Alfred, still confused, was not following, Dr. Stober recommended that Alfred go for an MRI among other laboratory tests to determine what had actually caused such a brutal attack.

By the time the tests and X-rays came out, Alfred was diagnosed with a rare and chronic disorder known as Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN). Never having heard of about the condition, Dr. Stober explained to Alfred that the disorder is a vicious, unyielding and volatile illness referred to as the ‘suicide disease,’ which had no lasting cure. The disorder is characterised with bouts of intense and painful attacks, which can last for a few seconds to a few minutes and repeat in episodes lasting weeks and months.

Depression is often seen in patients with Trigeminal Neuralgia.

Most sufferers incur Trigeminal Neuralgia when they are older than 60 years and there is no known cure for it.

TN was often referred to as the ‘suicide disease’ because the intense pain it brought about was so unbearable and agonizing, sufferers had been known to commit suicide rather than face the pain. Medical experts cite it as the most ‘painful’ condition known to mankind; more painful than any other medical condition including, child birth.

Having been given the initial information about the condition

that caused him such pain, Dr. Stober referred him to a Neurologist, who could explain TN in more depth and the options available to Alfred in treating it.

Alfred learnt that TN is a disorder of the trigeminal nerve in the face, resulting in its overreaction to everyday stimuli, such as eating, talking, brushing, touching or even just standing outside in the breeze. Often wrongly diagnosed, sufferers endure for years and go through painful, unnecessary dental procedures before knowing they have TN. Ordinary painkillers have no effect is easing the pain caused by TN. Instead, epileptic medication and an anti-convulsant drug called Carbamazepine is usually used to treat it. However, the tendency of such drugs having negative side-effects and aftereffects is high and at some point, they may cease to be effective.

Even in a situation where the pain has been controlled and the sufferer feels comfortable enough to stop taking medication, the condition and pain may return after some time and medication would have to be restarted. In some cases, sufferers require additional drugs to control advance episodes and may, as a last resort, need surgical intervention.

While there is no cure for TN, a Microvascular Decompression (MVD) ‘brain surgery’ is the closest option to a cure. However, even with the MVD brain surgery, there is a possibility of TN reoccuring because the effect of the procedure may only last for a couple of months or years and has a likelihood of activating a different kind of pain in the nerve, mouth, eye, ear or head. Due to this, many sufferers do not subscribe to the procedure and put themselves through delicate brain surgery when that brain surgery gives no guarantee whether it will ease the pain at all.

In Alfred’s case, initially, he was put on Carbamazepine, which eased his pain for a very short while. When the pain came back, Alfred had nerve blocks from his neurologist put directly into the nerves in his head. In addition to this, at some point in his journey, Alfred was prescribed with injections, which he self-administered. But despite all of that, the brutal electrical stabbing pain he was experiencing became more regular and more intense, bearing across the right side of his face; through his mouth, eyes, ears, gums, forehead, to an extent where he was unable to even smile.

As time went on, crumbling under the agony, Alfred was so desperate to stop the pain, he eventually opted to have brain surgery. Since the beginning of his ordeal, up until now, he has had two brain surgeries; the first of which eased his pain for only a couple of months and the second, which lasted a little under a year… ...Six years since that fateful day in court when he was attacked by an enemy living inside him, Alfred arrived at the hospital where he would be undergoing surgery for the third time. With every surgery Alfred has, the risk of the incapacitating, opposing effect of Anesthesia Dolorosa increases; so surgery, in itself, is a risk for him. But what else could he do? He was so desperate to stop the pain. Unable to be productive due to the constant pain and because the medication he was on was no longer effective, Alfred felt he had no other choice but to go for another surgery.

For six years, Alfred has lived, suffered and been battered and abused by this terrible enemy within him. An enemy that is a cruel condition which has devastated his life. Almost 24/7 he lives with and feels an excrutiating pain that very few people can imagine. Trigeminal Neuralgia has completely changed his life.

UNESCO rates ABUAD high HEN Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) came forward with his dream and vision to reform functional education in this clime by providing and leading others in quality education, service, industry and character as well as discipline, some skeptics probably have looked at the now flourishing dream with some subdued optimism: some ‘let’s wait and see attitude’.

But today, a first time visitor to the Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), which regally sits in the serene atmosphere and lush ambience of Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital, would look up in awe and marvel at the majestic architectural masterpieces that adorn the landscape of the less than four-year old world class citadel of learning. That is on the one hand.

On the other however is the trailer-load of encomiums, Awards, acknowledgements and recognitions being accorded the four and half years old world class institution which has been described by UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for African Affairs, Dr. Lalla Aicha Ben Barka as a shining beacon of academic excellence in tertiary education.

The University which on account of its salutary and exemplary performance was appointed the Mentor Institution to the new University of Industrial Development in Ghana I November last year, last week enjoyed the uncommon privilege of playing host to this year’s annual Retreat of UNESCO Regional Office, Abuja, a privilege not granted many.

At the historic three-day Retreat which saw the Executive Vice Chairman of Julius Berger, Nigeria, Mr. Heinz Stockhausen and the Deputy Director-General of IITA, Prof. Kenton Danshiell, presenting papers became another occasion of acknowledging and celebrating the monumental achievements of both Babalola and the university since it commenced academic works on January 4, 2010.

In her loaded speech at the commencement of the retreat, the Director, UNESCO’s Regional Office, Abuja, Prof. Hassana Alidou, did not mince word at commending the university when she said: “We are, therefore, in ABUAD not only to visit or hold our retreat and go back to Abuja. We see this as a Launchpad for increased partnerships in research and innovation into what works and good practices that we can scale up in the region. We are here to see how the UNESCO Chairs in Peace and Citizenship Education; and the other one on Entrepreneurship Education and Agriculture for Sustainable Development have progressed. We are here to explore options in sciences, culture, communication and education which we can use in our initiatives for the region”.

She added: “We are here because of the extraordinary and significant achievements of a humanitarian and philanthropist Aare Afe Babalola. A Nigerian, African and global citizen who put his wis-

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• Afe Babalola Tunde OLOFINTILA dom, knowledge, competence and wealth to the benefit of humankind by building a World class institution of higher education whose reputation has gone beyond Nigeria’s borders and has welcome excellent faculty, researchers from Nigeria, Europe and America. And students from all over the world are attending ABUAD because of its high quality programme recognized by national and international Accreditation bodies”.

She therefore congratulated ABUAD for ensuring that its students do not miss any quality learning time as they graduate on time in a country where students in public universities spend between seven and eight years for four years academic programmes due to the prevalence of strike actions by the various workers unions.

According to Alidou, ABUAD’s commitment in this regard was confirmed by her being part of the university’s maiden convocation when it graduated its first set of 103 students from the College of Sciences and the College of Social and Management Sciences at a colourful ceremony witnessed by President Goodluck Jonathan, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and UNESCO’s Assistant

Director-General for African Affairs, Dr. Lalla Aicha Ben Barka among other crème-de-la-crème of the society on October 21, last year, a year marked by more than 10 months of strike by institutions of higher education in Nigeria.

These achievements, the UNESCO chieftain emphasized, are due to the vision and mission statement articulated in ABUAD founding document but more over the dedication of its leader, Aare Afe Babalola, and the highly qualified faculty and administrators as well as highly motivated parents and students as well as all the women and men who attend daily to students need and welfare by ensuring they all eat well and the landscape and the whole ABUAD environment is kept clean, beautiful and safe.

She noted that these are aspects of quality assurance that characterized a first tier university not only in Nigeria, but in America, Europe and Asia and we saw it developing in ABUAD. ABUAD is a model higher education institution which we are proud of and happy to be connected with for a long time.

She equally made it known that UNESCO is both a knowledge and learning organization and not a funding or donor agency, rather a convener, custodian of agreed global standards, intellectual hub and laboratory of innovations on what works for development. This, in her view, made a university like ABUAD a natural home for UNESCO with the hope that the two institutions will continue to collaborate and learn from each other.

According to her, the current priorities of UNESCO Office in Abuja are those which resonate with the needs of Member States and therefore, it wants ve to promote all round and life-long education; to see more girls doing the science subjects very well; to see that Africa’s cultural heritage is not only preserved but also used for economic benefit; to see young people innovating with mobile applications and other ICT uses; see a revolution of creativity which will lead to more employment opportunities and solutions to development problems.

“By hosting us for free here, ABUAD is now among those strong partners who are proving the needed support for our work. We are grateful for this”, she stressed.

She concluded by thanking Babalola for this world class investment, pointing out that “this Campus is in the league of some of the big universities I have seen in the developed world in terms of facilities. I congratulate you for this investment in your country. You have set a good record which should be emulated by succeeding generations. Investment in quality education is an investment into our future. Thanks again for the wonderful hospitality. We wish you great success as you build destinies of current and future generations”.

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THE NATION SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

•How Pastor lost wife, four kids in one fell swoop Story on pages 14&15

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

14 September 25, 2014 was a very dark day in the life of Pastor John Kayoda, a Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) preacher in Warri, Delta State. It was the day he lost his entire family: wife and four children, to a midnight fire. In this piece, BOLAJI OGUNDELE captures the last moments of the deceased persons, as narrated by some of those who tried to rescue them, and the show of faith by the chief mourner (the Pastor).

HEN I got there, I saw the last daughter of the pastor, standing very close to the louvres, banging on them. There was no way I could help; I saw one rubber bucket out there with which I started scooping water to quell the fire. Later on, I saw the woman (pastor’s wife), struggling with the door, like a middle wooden door; she was shouting for help while she was trying to open it. ‘’The three other children could not be seen struggling at all, it was like they had been choked with the smoke in the house because where they slept was where we found them”. This was the gruesome description of the last moments of the wife and four children of Pastor John Kayoda, the minister in charge of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Otumara area of Warri, Delta State, as relayed by an eyewitness, who could do nothing to prevent their painful end.

It was in the early hours of Thursday, September 25, 2014 and the entire family, with the exception of their father, Pastor Kayoda, who had the previous day travelled to Ikeji-Arakeji in Osun State, attending a pastors’ conference, were supposed to be sleeping, resting from the previous day’s stress, but alas, the night was corrupted by death; a gory, harrowing sort.

A fire, which was suspected to have been sparked by an electrical fault or power surge, as power supply was said to have been problematic on the night, consumedthe entire family – mother and four children – left behind by Pastor Kayoda. The fire started at about midnight, according to the first set of eyewitnesses who could give an idea of what went wrong. One of them said they got to the scene at about midnight to 12:30am.

Describing the last moments of the deceased family members, one of the earliest rescuers at the scene of the midnight fire incident, Bright December, said the situation was quite helpless. The five members of the family: the 45-yearmother, Mrs Grace Emuoboghwo Kayoda; the four children: 13-year-old first son, Igbunuoghene Enoch Kayoda; 11year-old Oghenemaro Jesu-Ovieme Kayoda, a girl; 10-year-old Oghenewona Nehemaih Kayoda and seven-year-old baby girl of the house, Oghenekpe Kenbe Kayoda, were all trapped in the house. They were barred with iron bars, wooden doors and louvred windows, which prevented help from reaching them from the frantic rescuers outside.

According to December, a visitor to one of the houses sharing fences with the church, he was one of the first few people to arrive the disaster scene. He said that the fire had already taken over the Mission House and was about leaping unto the church’s main building. He got there at about midnight and at that time, he still met two of the five persons

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•Pastor Kayoda with the four deceased children

How Pastor lost entire family in one fell swoop

alive: the mother and the last girl, fighting to escape from the scary fire monster.

He saw Mrs Kayoda and Kenbe, who were on the door and the window sides respectively, calling out for help, shouting and grappling at every other thing within reach to escape the horrifying fire. While the mother and the last-born were fighting for their lives, at least the part of it opened to the other three children were not in sight; according to him, they were believed to have by now lost their own fight because “their bodies were found where they slept for the night”.

“It took about one hour before fire fighters could be alerted because it was midnight and we were all shouting and trying to see how to rescue them. It took another one hour before the fire fighters came. By this time, the woman and the little girl had lost the battle. The little

girl was found dead close to the window; she was just there banging, but there was no way we could help. The windows and the doors were all guarded with protectors. It was difficult to go through, if not, we would have broken through to rescue them”, December narrated.

By the time the fire was put out, only charred bodies and burnt house effects were left. The fire service men had tried their best to put the fire out, but their best was, not enough to save even one of the lives in the house. The disaster was documented with the police and the corpses were deposited at the morgue of the Warri Central Hospital.

Wailing neighbours, church members and friends of the family, who had gathered in the church premises before day break, were waiting for the return of the bereaved father of the house, the pastor of the church, who had been informed

of the Job-like horror that had visited him.

The Secretary of the church, Elder Emmanuel Ogoigbe, who spoke to journalists of the arrangements so far made in the absence of Pastor Kayoda, said members and other leaders of the church had reached out to Ikeji-Arakeji to inform the pastor of the development.

Almost dumbfounded, Elder Ogoigbe, could only describe the incident as a tragedy, he could not even muster the strength to recall the names of the children and woman he had known for a while; he was just crying.

“We have not been able to ascertain the cause of the fire; the only people who could have accurately told us are no more; that’s, the wife and the four children, two boys and two girls. The pastor had gone for the pastors’ conference of CAC in Ikeji-Arakeji in Osun State; so they quickly alerted our zonal

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

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•The ruin of the burnt house

•Another wreckage of the burnt Mission House

•Sympathisers at the scene of the fire

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The race we are running today is for salvation and my joy is that if God takes them in this manner, He is obviously preparing them for His kingdom. It is possible they might have ended up in hell fire if they were alive and seriously wounded. The Lord made it clear that this is the time they should go and meet Him. Having absolved the initial shock, I decided to console myself because I always believe that before one can enter the Kingdom of God, something must happen

chairman, Pastor Orode. Then early this morning (the day of the incident), at about 5am, they started coming. ‘’This is a tragedy, the kind we have never seen before. Our pain is that if the wife and the children had remained alive, we wouldn’t have bothered even if the building is burnt; at least the whole church would still have been able to raise money to rebuild. They were severely burnt and had been deposited at the Warri Central Hospital’s mortuary.

The ages of the children were between eight and 18 years; the youngest, a girl was around eight years, while the eldest, a boy, was about 18”, Elder Ogoigbe said.

The bereaved clergy returned as announced on the morning of the incident

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and as would be expected, not many people had access to him, at least not journalists, but on the following Sunday, he used the pulpit, as usual, to admonish and exhort. Like Job in the Bible, Pastor John Kayoda, having lost an entire family and probably a large part of the physical assets he had acquired as a man, to a fire incident in just one night, was still able to muster the courage and faith to ‘give it all up to God’.

He assured of two things; he would not kill himself because of the disaster, but rather live the rest of his life to praise God. Two, the disaster that took his family away had preserved them for God’s Kingdom because, according to him, living longer than they did might

•Pastor Kayoda with his late wife during a church service have seen them straying off God’s track to miss heaven.

“The race we are running today is for salvation and my joy is that if God takes them in this manner, He is obviously preparing them for His kingdom.

It is possible they might have ended up in hell fire if they were alive and seriously wounded. The Lord made it clear that this is the time they should go and meet Him. Having absolved the initial shock, I decided to console myself because I always believe that before one can enter the Kingdom of God, something must happen. ‘’Well, to God be the glory. Everything is to Him and nobody can take God’s glory from Him. Hence, I decided to come here today to worship with my fellow members. The Bible says that everything that happens to a man, we should not blame God”, Kayoda said, betraying an uncommon faith.

One would have expected to see a

beaten and broken man, but Pastor Kayoda was rather maturely comported; he was still able to form a rather hearty smile as he spoke during the service and while seeing journalists. According to Elder Ogoigbe, who organised his meeting with journalists, the pastor is an unusual man, even as a man of God. “He has preached to the world with his life; this is a sort of calamity that not many men, even men of God, will be able to bear with so much grace as he has demonstrated. This is not because he has overcome the pain or that he’s immune to the feeling of pain but he has decided to live what he knows about God as life, the pain notwithstanding; just like the Bible says, we just must give thanks to God in all things, no matter how difficult it may be. Pastor Kayoda is an exemplary man of God and all Christians must learn to trust God, just as he has done in the darkest hours of his life”.

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•One of the newly built modern roundabouts in Damaturu

DAMATURU Shining in the face of insurgency

•A view of a well-laid dual carriage road built in the city

D

n Duku JOEL, Damaturu n bined with solar-powered streetlights to change the once dusty settlement into a modest city the average indigene of the state is proud of.

Every development effort comes with its own challenges, and the story of new Damaturu is not an exception. One of the huge challenges faced by the Gaidam administration in its efforts to create a modern city from Damaturu has been the menace of the Boko Haram sect.

But in spite of the deadly activities of the sect, the governor has remained resolute with the construction of roads and housing estates in the city. One of the key indicators of the determination’s strides is the Yobe State University. Located on Gujba Road about seven kilometers from the bustling city centre, the institution boasts of imposing and beautiful edifices.

Indeed, the Boko Haram crisis has cut short

the massive flow-in of people into the emerging city for almost four years running, but this seeming setback has not detracted from the vision of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam concerning the city. Now, amid the mega crisis, the city shines brightly like the proverbial china in the sun. (The city), once a no-go area for business interests, boasts of no fewer than 10 branches of different commercial banks as against the three that were in operation before the advent of Gaidam’s administration.

The banks are eager to take advantage of the new ultra-modern market being constructed in the city. With its strategic location along the Kano/Maiduguri highway, the city now serves as the economic hub between the two major northern commercial cities of Kano and Maiduguri.

Looking back in history, a former National Youth Service Corps member, Jonathan Gopep, who has spent the last 15 years in the state, said: “When we came to Damaturu newly, it was a glorified village, but in spite of the threats of insurgency, the town has actually

ca s Y t i C

Pe

grown in bounds in the last four years. The socio-economic life of the people has improved. More schools, especially private ones, can be seen in the metropolis, unlike in the past when there was none.

“We now have about five roundabouts as against one and lots of private and government buildings have sprung up.”

Another resident said: “The level of development is appreciable. This administration started well but insecurity is threatening to cripple everything. It is quite unfortunate.”

Some housing estates constructed before the advent of the administration have also been given facelifts and fortified with good roads, drainage channels and solar-powered lights. The imposing ultra-modern hospital located on the busy Maiduguri/Kano highway is another sight to behold in the city.

The development of Damaturu may not be as breathless as that of Dubai with skyscrapers, indoor ski slopes and stunningly exotic architecture, yet its progress, for many visitors, is quite appreciable in the face of the Boko Haram crisis.

,

•Another roundabout in the city

AMATURU the capital city of Yobe State, which before now was nothing more than a glorified village, has witnessed tremendous transformation during the current administration of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam. It is a feat that took nearly two decades to materialise since the creation of Yobe State in 1991, with Damaturu as the capital.

Like the biblical declaration of God’s works of creation as good, Governor Gaidam has assessed his efforts at re-writing the history of a village once subsumed by old cities of the historical Kanem-Borno Empire, like Maiduguri, Nguru, Potiskum, Baga, Dikwa, Gashua and the famous Ngazergamu, declaring that "Damaturu has become one of the fastest growing cities in the North Eastern part of the country."

It is no gainsaying that residents of Damaturu are living witnesses of the determination of the Gaidam administration to transform a state capital fondly described in the past as a glorified village. Beautifully constructed streets and roundabouts have com-

When we came to Damaturu newly, it was a glorified village, but in spite of the threats of insurgency, the town has actually grown in bounds in the last four years. The socio-economic life of the people has improved. More schools, especially private ones, can be seen in the metropolis, unlike in the past when there was none

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File picture of a suspected vandal

Continued from page 17

Chief Emmanuel

A view of Igboora

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

Sallah tragedy:

27-yr-old man stabbed to death

•One of the areas affected

n Kunle AKINRINADE n

HE Eid-el-Kabir celebration in the Odoshiwola area of Epe, Lagos State, last Saturday ended abruptly on a tragic note when a 27-year-old man, Segun Alatishe Boccos, was allegedly stabbed to death by one Nafiu, now at large.

Panicky residents were said to have hurriedly halted the festivities and deserted the streets in the wake of the pandemonium that trailed the incident.

The Nation gathered that the deceased was in the town to celebrate Sallah with one of his friends called Tunji, when he met his gruesome death.

It was revealed that hoodlums led by Nafiu had threatened to deal with Tunji and his friends, following a tussle over a lady called Barakat.

The residents claimed that the hoodlums had accosted Segun when he was accompanying an unidentified man to purchase some drinks from a shop in the town.

An eyewitness, who identified herself as Olayinka, said Nafiu and his gang had laid an ambush for Segun and stabbed him on several parts of his body with knives.

“The late Segun slumped in a pool of his blood after he was

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Burglars on the rampage in Ogun community T

Continued on page 50

Curfew: Ekiti residents grumble over security agents’ alleged harassment

n Sulaiman SALAWUDEEN n

“They broke into my supermarket and carted away drugs worth thousands of naira.

You can see that the drug shelves are empty because they packed all the drugs on display.

These were drugs I had just bought a few days before they burgled my shop.

“They also carted away provisions and took the sum of N3,000 I left in the drawer.

They cut the keys I used to lock the door and the burglary proof to gain entry. Although the police have visited, no arrest has been made so far.

“They also burgled four other shops, including the one that sells phones and phone accessories. They carted the shop owner’s phones away.

“There is also a foam shop. They broke into it and carted away whatever they could lay their hands on. The other one is a nylon

HE imposition of the dusk-to-dawn curfew in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, by the state government two weeks ago was primarily meant to curtail the excesses of hoodlums who had gone on the rampage, brutalising perceived opponents of a prominent political figure in the state.

That was shortly after thugs had beaten up judges and other judicial officers within the court premises.

Before the announcement of the curfew, the matter had nearly gone out of hand when Chief Omalafe Aderiye, a former chairman of the National Union of Road Tranport Workers (NURTW), was killed by alleged assassins. Hoodlums seized the occasion to unleash arson on the belongings of perceived opponents. Scores of houses and vehicles were torched in the uprising, which halted the peace, espe-

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•Loot five shops, supermarkets in one night

INCE a recent clampdown on robbery gangs by the Ogun State Police Command, the dare devil robbers, who had been terrorising innocent citizens in the state, are believed to have resorted to burgling shops and supermarkets in the state to cart away expensive goods.

With instruments like iron cutters and heavy industrial hammers, burglars are said to be having a field day in Iyana-Iyesi community and its neighbouhoods. Last month, burglars were reckoned to have broken into more than seven shops and supermarkets in the area.

The development has led to calls on the police to checkmate the activities of the hoodlums, particularly because it is capable of halting the rapid development of the area.

Others cannot help but wonder why their joy that the menace of armed robbery had been curbed in the area would be cut short by the

S

n Ebele BONIFACE n activities of burglars. Some argued that the opening of viewing centres on major roads in the area could have encouraged the ugly development.

Upon our reporter’s visit to the Central Mosque area of Iyana-Iyesi where about five shops were burgled and goods worth millions of naira were carted away in one fell swoop, Mr. Obas Innocent, whose medicine and supermarket store was burgled, narrated how the burglars cut the keys to his supermarket in the night and carted away goods and drugs worth hundreds of thousands of naira.

He said: “It was on September 30 that they burgled my supermarket in the night. The burglars, who some people suspected was a four-man gang, broke into five shops on that fateful day.

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THE NATION SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

‘I need someone to talk to’ Are you single and ready to mingle? Take this opportunity of my My Love Garden. Text messages only, please.

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AKINLOYE

AT LARGE

08050246155 atlarge84@yahoo.com

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People peddle rumours about my success; it’s so sad but ...

Delta State-born top designer, Mudiaga Clement Enajemo, popularly known as Mudi, has in the last two decades, blazed the trail in the fashion industry in Nigeria and across Africa. From a humble beginning, Mudi has established in big cities in Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Ghana. When ex-Ghanaian President, John Kufuor, and exKenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, were in office, Mudi was their favourite clothier. A fashion style creator, Mudi's clientele in Nigeria, is a list of who-is-who. Just as he has made fabulous wealth from his creative talent, Mudi lives on a fast lane: designer sports cars, classy parties and luxury at the fingertips. Now, Mudi has found love with music, he tells PAUL UKPABIO this and more.

OUR high-society friends say you play the grand piano every morning. What is this about?

I wanted to do something different from the regular. I ordered my grand piano from Italy. It is lemon green in colour. I decided to order for this particular colour to spice up the environment because all I have here is black, grey and white. The lemon green is just to spice up the feel of my environment. I find it interesting anytime I run my hands on the buttons and reel out tunes. It is fun being at this corner of my home once in a while to feel the rhythm of the piano’s buttons.

Does that suggest that you are going to be a musician soon?

No, I am an artiste. It is just an impression of what I have inside. I am not a musician. I just bought this grand piano just to

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• Mudi

spice up the look of the environment.

How much did it cost you to get this?

It is not about the price; you can’t lay a price to things of sensation. Things that revive your emotion are priceless. I wouldn’t want to mention price. What is of importance is the fact that it is adding value to the environment it finds itself.

What does music mean to you?

Music to me is a way of life; it wakes up the soul. Life without music is zero. It would have been boring if life had come into existence without music.

So, what does music have to do with fashion; is there any connection?

There is a lot; as an artiste, you must dress well. So it interconnects. On the other side of the divide you must also listen to music. As an artiste and designer, you must listen to music. I get inspired when I listen to music. So it is

—Fashion guru Mudi an inter-related aspect of art. In music, you get inspiration, in dressing, well you are equally inspired. So, we can say music is connected to fashion in so many ways because they complement each other.

What brand of music thrills you?

I listen to only pure African music. Rooted music; traditional music.

Your office is adorned with pictures of music greats like Bob Marley, Salif Kaita, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Yossou Ndou and Chief Osita Osadebey. What do these five music legends mean to you?

Yeah, Bob Marley was a great guy and I think he died a bit too early. Very short time he lived on earth, but his impact on humanity was great. Salif Kaita is a great man and above all, a great friend of mine. He came to Nigeria to specially visit me two years ago and it was a private visit. So, we share a bond. Fela Anikulapo, like we all know is the legend of all times, Yossou Ndour is a great guy and the late Osadebey was a great man. Those are the people I listen to their works and I get inspired. They have influenced my life so much.

Who is your number one?

Oh, Salif Kaita from Mali. I’m usually thrilled by Salif Kaita’s music. It’s in his voice, his instrumentation and his philosophy. Above all, his music is harmonious; his music is very spiritual. His music inspires. That is the bottom line, inspiration.

Can you recollect your humble beginning? What were the values that characterized your growing-up days?

We were taught that character is key. For instance, in those days when we were growing up, we woke up 6 am. And unlike now when there are boreholes everywhere, we had to trek a mile to get water for the family to use. All parts of character were embedded in the sense that waking up very early to do the family chores makes you to become disciplined. That will naturally build your hard work quotient. It makes you to have a hard work attitude and equally makes you to know that life is not easy. In those days, if you failed an examination, you were made to repeat. You kept pushing it until you succeeded. But today, it has changed. Parents will even go to the length of paying to ensure their children sit at once and pass the examination which negates the philosophy of hard work.

Trust too was essential then. In those days, I could walk into your house and you wouldn’t be there and I would pick a shirt from your wardrobe and wear. If your mum was home, I could have my meal and feel like a member of the family. But these days there is no trust. It is so sad there is no trust. And trust was just the way of life and that was one thing we keyed into for a good living. Today, everyone seems to see his or her neighbour as a suspect.

Can you remember your father and what he meant to you?

My dad is late; before his demise he was a true Christian. He tried his best in terms of discipline. He was able to ensure strict discipline across board. Ours was a polygamous home, but we were united in trust, character and discipline. You were trained to be very happy with whatever you got and that helped us grow into successful adults. We were about 27. I am in the middle.

Was your dad into fashion?

My dad, Johnson Enajemo, was a contractor to local governments in Ugheli (Delta State) in those days. He was a man of high character and discipline. And my mum was just a hard worker. She used to run a cafeteria.

In those days, Shell workers used to patronize her cafeteria and she was very good in her work as well. She was a very down to earth person, but very strict and sincere. She used to sing into my head that hard work pays. Like I said initially, she was a hard worker. My mum would wake up at 4 am to start cooking her meals for her numerous customers. It was something that was strange to us in those days, but today we understand. She was an epitome of hard work and beauty.

When you started, we used to see bill-

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• Mudi

boards of famous people endorsing your designs at strategic areas of Lagos. That was new to many other fashion designers at the time. How were you able to maintain such a culture?

It was beyond the money. It was much about the sacrifice and value it was adding to my brand. It was not about the money spent to get such endorsement. It could have been two naira or more, but to me, it was more about the value it gave my brand. The value it was adding to me was key; it was not about the money. You might spend one billion and you won’t get the desired value; you might spend one naira and your purpose is justified. It is not about the money; it is how you use the money.

So, how were you able to manage success when it came? What is your stay power?

Passion first, drive is second and discipline is the third.

You must have the passion for what you do; the passion will keep you going even in the face of adversity. Drive is what will make you take your brand to another level, keep pushing it until you push it to an enviable level.

Changing and upping the game is due to drive. Passion will keep your leg on the ball, drive will give you the energy to dribble the ball and the last one is discipline.

Discipline will enable you to keep working, to remain focused. I get to the office 7 am everyday. That is discipline. And when I close depends on the level of the volume of work at our disposal.

How about leisure? Do you have time that you rest?

I didn’t go home yesterday. I slept in the office because we didn’t finish work until about 1:30a.m this morning.

Each time my boys are working, I stay with them; apart from motivating them, it is a two-way thing, you monitor them while they are working and your presence alone motivates them. It boosts their morale and drives their adrenaline to be more creative.

What is the secret of Mudi? Is it in the cutting, the styling or the personification of the concept of what the customer wants?

It is all-encompassing; it is a summary of all. I think it is a combination of all. You must have taste, you must be creative, you must have good finishing and above all, you must have a good carriage and good reputation. All these work for Mudi.

How did you achieve trust from high-profile clients?

It is your job; you must keep working, and you must keep coming out with new ideas. It all falls under the concept of focus. Once there is good concept and new ideas keep coming out everyday, they will stick to you.

They will stick to your brand. So long you are not stagnant, you keep thinking, you keep moving because this work requires a lot of thinking.

As one of Africa’s busiest fashion designers, tell us what an average day looks like for you.

I wake as early as 5:30a.m, I do my prayer with my family, do a little bit of aerobics; it is either I jog or I use the gym inside the house, shower and off to work. I leave home as early as ten minutes to 7 a.m. and by 7 a.m. I must be at work.

Let’s talk about your family; somehow you don’t have your family in public glare.

I enjoy it, apart from not putting my wife in public glare, most people don’t even know the face behind Mudi and I enjoy it. I put Mudi as a brand. I push the brand and not the face behind the brand. It is the brand I am selling not my family, not even my face. By the time I walk into eateries or other public environments, people don’t even know who is standing and I enjoy it. It makes me to have a sense of privacy and to equally enjoy my own life.

Is your wife also into fashion?

No, she is not. She does her own thing; she is not into fashion at all. Her name is Daisy Oyindamola Enajemo.

She is half Yoruba, half Ghanaian. She hails from Ikenne in Ogun State. Her father is from Ogun State and her mother from Ghana.

What attracted you to her?

Her humility; it pays to be humble. Everything is not about beauty, but you must be humble and what attracted me to her is her humility and that has helped our relationship in so many ways. We met in Nigeria here. I met her through this my work; I went to see a friend of mine who is like an elderly brother and I met her there. And that was how it started. We married 2004 and we met in 1999. We dated for five years before we got married. The marriage is blessed with a boy and a girl.

Who among them is showing the Mudi thing?

My son, by the grace of God. How do you feel with such a huge collection of awards? One describes you as “Most Influential Fashion Icon of the Century” It goes beyond the conferment. One must ask, ‘what value am I adding to humanity?’ Let’s just say ‘okay, you got an award today; you must ask what warranted the award, what value are you adding to the society. It is key; take for instance there are people who wear my clothes outside Nigeria and whenever they want to have a ceremony or an event to attend, they want to wear Mudi. That alone is more than the billions of money notes stocked in the Central Bank of any nation. At least, it shows that I am touching lives across border. To me, that is the greatest achievement. It is beyond money and that is the reason for the couple of awards I hang in my office. It goes beyond money; it is a result of passion and choice. My passion is to be a designer and my choice is to use my brand to touch as many people as possible across humanity.

The Bible talks about enlargement of one’s coast and in the Nigerian fashion sector, it is only Mudiaga Enajemo that has taken the bull by the horn to expand and enlarge his coast into Nairobi, Jo’Bourg, Dakar and Accra. That is my joy. African Magic did a study and unique fashion designers were mentioned. It was made public to the knowledge of everyone. I think after Oswald Boateng of Ghana, the next man was a Nigerian called Mudi. It was a study done in South Africa, not by me. So, I can say God has given me the grace to achieve that extra-ordinary mile. I am the first Nigerian designer to design for a foreign president, not one but two. So, I have achieved in

‘

They say I am into money laundering, that I launder money for politicians. It is so sad. Some say I am into 419. Some say I am into drugs, just to comfort themselves. It is painful, very, very painful, but you must remain focused

‘

all ramifications to the glory of God and benefit of humanity. I designed for ex-President John Kuffour of Ghana and still design for the exPrime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga.

I took a risk to open a shop abroad. I withdrew all the money I had in my account; I changed it into dollars and moved into the country. When I came back I was broke. The same thing in Kenya. When I opened the Kenya outlet, I was broke. Each time I open any outlet outside Nigeria, I go broke because I have to take all I have in my account to open the shop.

So, no godfather, no capital, no structure except God, the father.

What is the worst thing you have ever heard people say about you?

You see, people say things. They look at my office and say all sorts of things. But I have paid my dues. 22 years of doing one thing and people say I do it well and I enjoy doing it. If I am not successful after 22 years, that means something is wrong. If after 22 years I don’t have my own structure like this, then it is wrong. To start with, people should be creative. Some are not even innovative. They just dub designs from magazines, they copy and yet they expect the same results with Mudi. They are not even inventive and they see you who put so much time and efforts and they start saying different things. And most times because they are not doing well, to comfort themselves, they say ‘oh, that guy is doing something else, that guy is using something’ just to comfort themselves. It is as simple as that. They say all sorts of things.

My ears are full because I have heard a lot of things about myself. I have heard quite a lot of things about myself, but I will always remember what John Fashanu told me. He said: ‘Mudi, your eyes should be on the ball.’ My eyes are on the ball. So, all these things are normal things in a society where there is so much backbiting, envy and double standard.

What is the worst thing they have ever said about Mudi that you won’t forget?

They say I am into money laundering, that I launder money for politicians. It is so sad. Some say I am into 419.

Some say I am into drugs, just to comfort themselves. It is painful, very, very painful, but you must remain focused. Because certainly, there is so much envy. Your eyes must be constantly on the ball. It is what you put in, that you will get. I have spent twenty-two years and you have just spent only five years, you can’t be on the same level with me. It is not possible. And most of them attach so much to glamour, to hype, no structure, no scruple.

They believe that hype will sell them; I don’t believe in hype. Hype is good, but first of all, good job first. Good job sells you; it is what you put in you get. The former Ghanaian president John Kufuor told me something. He said: ‘What you have done is great; you have done well.

You came into this country as a Nigerian, and you opened an outlet here. It takes high level of risk.’ We all have 24 hours, but it is how you manage your 24 hours that matters. Hard work is key; discipline is next and above all the favour of God. God must come in and manifest his favour in your life. When I wanted to buy this property, I was not prepared to buy a house. Not that I asked an agent to go and get a land for me. I wasn’t prepared to buy a land talk less of building a house, it was just God. It was God because I didn’t even know I was going to buy a house. It was God’s blessing.

As a famous designer , how do you handle the attention you get from ladies?

Normal people admire you, even men admire men, and women admire women. It is a normal thing once you are doing what will attract people to you. That is why I say discipline is key. Discipline is an all-inclusive thing: Your way of life, how you treat people and even your food regime. I don’t eat after 6 o’clock. It is all part of discipline to keep shape. So, discipline is a broad thing, and it is the only thing that can keep you off the tag of controversy. I am married. I am not a saint. I won’t tell you I am a perfect human being. People get attracted to you. It is normal to have friends, but you must be disciplined. You must know when the handshake is going beyond the elbow. If the handshake goes beyond the elbow and didn’t stop at the wrist, then discipline is missing. I am happily married and I handle my female admirers with great respect.

What is your message to the youth?

My first message is to preach value system; our value system has collapsed and we need to remould it. At the end of the day, you discover that a youth without good value system is a lost youth. If you don’t have it, it will be difficult to become famous and successful in whatever you do. A good value system is the currency of life. The parental system is the first layer of the disciplinary circle.

What you become in the the society starts from the lowest rung of the ladder, which is the parental ladder. You can’t take away the parental layer out of the bigger society. You are a total reflection of what you saw your parents do. A wayward foundation will lead to a wayward line of action. In a family where it is common for the woman to always abandon one man for another, you will discover that the children are likely to follow the same pattern. But in a family where it is a culture to read book, there is probability that majority of the offspring will become intellectuals. You can’t produce what you don’t have. You are a summary of your humble beginning.

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with KAYODE ALFRED E-mail:kayflex2@yahoo.com Tel:08116759807 08035733605

THE NATION SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

with KAYODE ALFRED

E-mail:kayflex2@yahoo.com TEL:08116759807

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A team of vigilante group in the area

Mukaila

Prince Akintoye

Raji

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CRIME

&

OTHER STORIES

35-yr-old arrested for sexually assaulting boy, 13 35-year-old man, one Ilesanmi, has been taken into custody after he was alleged to have sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy, last Monday at 12 Kajola Street, Iju/Taogbolu area of Akure North Local Government of Ondo State.

Eyewitnesses said Ilesanmi about 4 pm allegedly lured the boy, who was hawking fish, into his room and forced him to fondle and suck his male organ.

The boy was said to have raised the alarm which attracted bystanders leading to the arrest of the suspect.

A resident, who spoke in confidence, said:” The boy was hawking fish in the neighbourhood when Ilesanmi motioned to him that he wanted to buy fish. That was the bait he used to lure the boy into his apartment before forcibly subjecting him to sexual assault.

“He was forcing the boy to play with his sexual organ when the boy raised the alarm that attracted those around. We suc-

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•A shelf emptied during the raid

n Kunle AKINRINADE n ceeded in apprehending him and handed him to men of Iju/Taogbolu Police Division, where he is currently being held.”

In a text message forwarded to our correspondent, the spokesman of Ondo Police Command, Mr. Wole Ogodo, said: “About 1045 hours on Monday October 6, one Babatunde Adebayo, 13, of No 24, College Road, Iju, Akure, reported to the Iju/Taogbolu Police Division that he was sexually assaulted by one Ilesanmi, when the later lured him into his room under the pretext that he wanted to buy frozen fish from him.

“The suspect has confessed to the commission of the offence and the case was to be charged to court on October 8, but did not hold. However, unfailingly, he will be in court next tomorrow (yesterday). This is the level of moral decadence in our society but the law is going to take its course," he added.

Burglars on the rampage

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shop. They also broke into it.

“I was attacked by armed robbers in this shop some years ago. They came into the supermarket when I had not closed. It was between 8.30 pm and 9 pm. They shot at me.

More than 40 pellets were extracted from my body. They ransacked the whole place and carted away goods and medicine worth thousands of naira and all the sales I made for that that day. I don’t want to mention the amount, but it was huge. Up till now, nobody has been arrested.

“The police have visited the affected shops and supermarkets and they say they are still investigating. By the special grace of God, the culprits will be arrested.”

Asked why the other victims had not reported the incident to the police, he said:

•Segun’s lifeless body in the foreground

27-yr-old man stabbed to death Continued from page 19 seized and stabbed with knives by Nafiu and members of his group. I believe that Segun would have survived if he got help immediately but residents ran into their homes for safety and did not come out to rescue or take him to hospital.’’

Olayinka said a sympathiser was prevented from rescuing the deceased by some members of the local vigilance group in the town.

“A man called Lukman Olopade tried to rescue Segun but was prevented by two members of Muwon Vigilance Group in Eredo Local Council Development Area.

Segun died while two men were beating Olopade for daring to save Segun’s life.

A source, who spoke in confidence with our reporter, explained that Nafiu had accused Tunji of habouring his estranged wife, Baraka, who allegedly left his home following a disagreement.

“Nafiu had accused Tunji of habouring his wife who allegedly eloped from their home with their two-month-old baby following a domestic disagreement. He was said to have become suspicious that Tunji was having an affair with his wife. Tunji’s mother had even reported the matter to the police at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba,

Lagos, when some people started threatening to deal with his son over the matter,” Olayinka said.

Meanwhile, the body of the 27-year-old deceased, who hailed from Ikosi-Ejinrin Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, has since been deposited in the morgue of Ijebu Ode General Hospital.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Kenneth Nwosu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the incident, saying: “The incident is true.

One Nafiu, 30, who is now at large, actually slit the throat of Segun Alatishe Boccos, 27, with a kitchen knife on Sallah day in Odoshiwola, Epe, in retaliation for habouring one Tunji, whom he accused of eloping with his estranged wife. The scene of the incident had been visited by police and photographs have been taken by our men from Epe Divisional Police headquarters.

“We have so far arrested two members of a local vigilance group, who allegedly prevented people from rescuing Segun during the attack, while two other suspects are currently being trailed by our men. Although, the main suspect is currently at large but serious efforts are being made by our men to apprehend him. The body of Segun has been deposited in Ijebu Ode General Hospital and the case is still under investigation,” he added.

“Some of them see it as a waste of time because of their belief that the police will only be telling them to come today or come tomorrow.

“They also feel that reporting to the police could endanger their lives because they could be attacked by burglars for reporting them.

Most importantly, they do not want to be seen by the burglars as fighting them.

“Again, the burglars are not yet known. So, you don’t even know who is watching you.”

Our reporter visited the area called Powerline. A resident, who spoke with our reporter but pleaded that his name or picture should not be used for security reasons, said: “The road that leads into this community leads into a canal. In that canal, you find people smoky Indian hemp. Some of them do so in order to have the boldness to commit crime.

“The place is secluded and convenient for

Curfew: Ekiti residents alleged harassment Continued from page 19

cially in Ado-Ekiti for almost three days. The imposition of the curfew was, therefore, generally seen as a welcome development.

The curfew itself had been very effective.

Since the imposition, no major outbreak of unrest and destruction of property had been recorded, while motor parks and the major

•File photo of riot policemen deployed in Ado-Ekiti to keep the peace following the mayhem.

streets become deserted daily from 7:00pm when the curfew takes effect. All would have been home around 7:00 pm, while those who are still outside by then would find their way home by stealth.

As admitted by a large section of the people and from investigations by this reporter, compliance with the curfew has been effective. It has, however, been lamentation galore

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

51 olukunle87@yahoo.com

How I was brutalised by NDDC’s security men –Contractor •NDDC’s image maker: he has ulterior motive contractor with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Henry Wilcox Yobana, has alleged that he was brutalised following his alleged refusal to part with a ‘tip’ for some security men attached to the commission’s office in Port Harcourt.

The incident, which happened about three months ago, has left Wilcox with a broken hand and paralysis after he was allegedly abandoned in hospital.

He recalled: “It was on Tuesday July 18, 2014, a normal visiting day. I was to visit the 5th floor to process my documents.

But the some security men attached to the commission were dissatisfied with my inability to give a ‘tip’. I have been a contractor with NDDC since •Mr Yobana 2010 but that day, I was beaten like a common criminal because I said I had no money to give to some of the security chaps at the NDDC gate. The security men hit me and beat me till I fell down and passed out.

“Even after I became unconscious, the men were still seriously hitting me with the butts of their rifles until they broke my left hand, following which I was rushed to Re-

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•One of the victims in front of his shop

in Ogun community

criminals to meet and relax, because those who go there to smoke act like one family.

“The truth is that one hardly sees police in the night in the areas where they operate. They are taking advantage of that. If the burglars dare do it here, the vigilante will catch them and hand them over to the police after a thorough beating.

At Rainbow Roundabout area, a man who identified himself simply as Segun, said: “Two months ago, the burglars operated at a pharmaceutical shop there and drugs worth N400,000 were carted away in addition to an unspecified sum of money.

“Let me use this medium to appeal to the Chairman of Ado-Odo/Otta Local

Government Area to come and build the roads and streets in this area to make them motorable. The streets are so bad that police patrol vans may find it difficult to branch to some of them in the night. Some of them are very swampy.

If the streets are made motorable, it will help to fight crime."

In a text message forwarded to our correspondent, the spokesman of the Ogun State Police Command, Mr Muyiwa Adejobi, said: “ The affected shop owners had refused to show up let alone pursue the matter. They said they were not interested in any case, and their attitude poses a challenge. But I want to urge people to always show interest in cases like this.’’

grumble over security agents’

•The men have been professional –Police among the residents across the state capital, many of whom claim to have become victims of the mindless brutality of the soldiers and policemen who they claim are always out to harrass people at least one hour before the curfew time.

Residents also claim that whoever is caught in breach of the curfew for whatever reason is often treated like a criminal.

According to one Demola, a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, who said he witnessed one of such excesses at the Ijigbo junction a few minutes after 6:00 pm, said that "The security agents are just using the opportunity to fleece motorists.’’

His words: "We sat there loooking at one of the policemen when we were coming from Ijan-Federal Poly road. I tried to see his name but was unnable given my sitting position in the car. They were asking the driver questions about his ‘particulars’ and delaying the man from advancing. The driver, a young man, brought out N200 and gave the policeman. He was released after about 15 minutes’ needless delay.

Ojuko, a driver, related a worse experience. "I was already going home and it was not time for the curfew at all. Some security agents stopped me for a reason I did not even know. When they waved me down, I stopped because I did not do anything wrong. My vehicle papers were complete.

They started searching my vehicle. For what, I don't know. Later, they said I should follow one of them to the station. Station for what? I queried. I started begging them.

Eventually, they took N500 and left me off

the hook about five minutes to curfew time.’’

Findings have revealed security agents have also been terrorising the residents even within the streets and communities.

Last Thursday evening, they allegedly swooped on a brothel around Irona area of the capital and brutalised a lady named Blessing, who they said was standing at the frontage of the building where she lived and plied her ‘trade’.

According to Blessing whose right leg was broken consequent upon the attack by two soldiers and had been unable to stand upright; the two soldiers came into her room asking for the manager of the hotel.

Her words: "When they came into my room, they asked me where our manager was, I came out and took them to where he normally stayed. But he was not there.

They started blaming me for opening for ‘busniess’ around 7:30. I told them I live here. They continued to abuse me and one of them just hit me with the gun. I ran out of the building and they came after me.

They hit me again and again with the butt of the gun until I fell down. Nobody told me what I did wrong.’’

While efforts to talk to the manager failed, other residents in the area, who confirmed the incident, claimed that soldiers have been coming to the area to harass people.

A resident said: "I think their business is on the mainroads. What they are doing in street corners and relaxation centres we don't know.’’

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ekiti State Command, Mr. Victor Babayemi, however, denied the allegations against the policemen enforcing the curfew, saying: "The policemen have been professional, civil and courteous in the discharge of their duties, especially in the enforcement of the curfew".

He explained that over a hundred individuals have been caught breaking the curfew order since it started two weeks ago, noting that they had all been released on bail.

He also explained that, contrary to allegations that those caught breaking the curfew had been paying N10,000 before being released, the bail had been free. He added: "The Commissioner of Police himself has been supervising the process of their bail because the courts have not been sitting and the offence is a bailable one. When the courts resume, they will be properly charged to court. No one takes any money from the curfew breakers".

According to Obayemi, "We have received commendations from well-meaning individuals and groups, including the state council of traditional rulers. Law breakers will always find one thousand and one reasons to blame the police instead of accepting responsibility for their lawlessness. We are always above board in the discharge of our responsiblty, curfew or no curfew".

All efforts to contact the 32 Artillery Brigade, Owena, Ondo State, about the alleged conduct of the soldiers did not succeed as calls made to the commander’s mobile number were not responded to.

n Precious DIKEWOHA, Port Harcourt n

hoboth hospital by some sympathisers. ‘’The Chief Security Officer of NDDC, Mr. Obuzor Messiah, visited me at the hospital and promised to call the attention of the management of the commission to my plight, but nothing has been done to my case since. NDDC did not show any concern to my plight or contribute to my treatment at the hospital. I was abandoned at the hospital and I have been calling their lines but no one is picking my calls.”

Expatiating further, he said: “All I want now is an apology and compensation from them. They have turned my world upside down. I was pursuing some contracts in NDDC and other companies but I lost them because of my health condition. I have written to the board of NDDC and other top officials of the commission, yet, I have not heard from them till now.

“As I am taking you now, my landlord is threatening to send me packing after the expiration of a quit notice he issued to me last month. I don’t know what to do. I am helpless and the pains inflicted on me have become unbearable. The degree of injury sustained from the beating they gave me and the psychological trauma should be considered. I have lost a lot of engagements that could have fetched me money.”

When contacted, the Head of Corporate Affairs of NDDC, Mr. Ibitoye Abosede, said: “I am aware of the matter but regrettably, the victim has an ulterior motive because the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the commission had provided the necessary things that could assist him.

“It is not true that he was abandoned in the hospital. The hospital we have referred him to has the best surgeons and he is still taking his treatment there. The CSO has been giving him money on a personal basis yet he is complaining of being abandoned. ‘’We are doing our best to assist him but he has proven to be very stubborn. He once told the CSO that he will make fortune through his broken hand but all we are telling him is to calm down and not to use force. He should change the negative mindset he has but we know we will assist him,” he added.

Email: counselling@faithoyedepo.org

Coping with Diseases h

it

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Professor Dayo Oyekole,

Ph.D. (Ibadan), NMD, FNCP.

Tel: 0803-330-3897 Website: www.holisticlifecare.com E-mail: kolemetric@yahoo.com

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THE NATION SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

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2015: ‘Why North won’t vote Jonathan’ Abdulgafar ALABELEWE, Kaduna S the 2015 general election gathers momentum, President Goodluck Jonathan and his strategists are working round the clock to woo the North to support the President’s reelection bid, particularly the North-West geo-political zone.

But while northern governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), chieftains of the party and some other stakeholders from the zone have endorsed President Jonathan as the party’s candidate for the 2015 presidential election, credible northern sources have described the endorsement as an exercise that cannot translate to victory for the President.

The sources observed that while the North and the

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•L-R: Director-General of NAFDAC , Dr. Paul Orhii; Chairman NAFDAC Governing Council, Prof. John Ibu and the Executive Governor of Benue State, Rt. Hon, Dr. Gabriel Suswam during a one-day sensitisation workshop on the promotion of export processed and semi-processed food commodities in the North Central geo-political zone held in Makurdi

26 killed, 80 houses razed in Plateau fresh attacks HE National Caretaker Chairman of the Berom Youth Movement (BYM) Rwas Rwang Dalyop Dantong has cried on to the federal government to come and rescue Berom people from the hand of insurgents who have been terrorizing Plateau North senatorial zone of Plateau state.

According to Dantong, "The series of attacks commenced on the 2nd of October and has continued on daily basis.

He said, "The major attacks were preceded with silent killings of innocent farmers on their farms. We cried to the security agencies but nothing was done. Now the attackers have made it a daily attack.

Since the last ten days, we have recovered at least 26 bodies from the various communities attacked by the insurgents."

The insurgents numbering about 400, allegedly divided themselves into 3 groups and are attacking the villages from all directions.

In a statement released by the BYM yesterday in Jos and signed by the acting national chairman of the BYM, Mr Rwang Dantong reads, "We wish to, on behalf of the entire Berom Youths, condemn in strong term the persistent and systematic attacks on Bachi district of Riyom local government council by Fulani herdsmen.

"This is an open declaration of war on Berom people for no justifiable reason.

"These consistent attacks have been going on daily, since the 2nd of October.

Within the period, the gunmen have attacked at least ten villages killing 26 people. The villages are Lwa, Shonong, Fang, Dum, Chengye, Rakweng, Diyan, Rachi and Sharbutu.

"The casualties so far are; 7 killed in Lwa, 3 killed in Fang, 2 killed in Dum, 3 killed in Sharbutu, 2 STF staff killed, 1 killed in Chengye, 6 killed in Shonong, 1 killed in Rachi.

"Among those killed was a pregnant woman in Lwa village who was expected to be wedded in a week time. Over 60 houses were burnt in the attack including that of late Senator Gyang Dantong. 20 houses were burnt down in Lwa village including a Church Pastorium.

"It is quite worrisome that

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•Communities cry out to FG Yusufu AMINU Idegu, Jos the insurgents have been identified as the Fulani herdsmen that are living within our communities. They launched the attacks and get back to their homes unharmed. The next day they would go to attack yet another village. It is an organized ethnic cleansing of the Berom tribe.

"We can only cry out to the federal government to come to the rescue of our people and stop these attacks on innocent citizens. We are also calling on the special task force to rise up to the occasion and restore peace immediately.

"There is the need to chase out these terrorists from our communities if peace must return to the areas, the gunmen have killed 26 people in 10 days of consistent attack.

"We commend the executive chairman of Riyom local government, Hon. Mrs. Josephine Piyo for constantly mobilizing security agencies to the scene of attacks. We therefore called on all stakeholders to join hands with the council boss to chase these terrorists out of our communities.

Few months ago, the Berom youths raised alarm that they had discovered training camps of some insurgents in Riyom Local governments.

The youths called on security agencies for help over alleged plans by armed Fulani militants to launch fresh attacks on some lists of villages.

The concerned villagers said they have discovered a training camp of unknown gunmen behind a rocky hill in Rim near Riyom.

According to the villagers, "The alarm became necessary so as to attract security agencies to come to our aid in protection, the whole of Bachit district is under serious risk of gunmen attack if nothing is done to improve security surveillance in the areas" A member of a vigilante group in Riyom Dangyang Bulus said, "We discovered their plans because one of the Fulani living with us was invited to join them in their training camp, that one deceived them by telling them he would go home and pre-

pare to join them later but refused to go back to the camp.

"So it is our Fulani neighbour that revealed the secret to us, we have communicated to the police and security agencies in charge of these areas, but from all indication, they are afraid of going there, some of them even said we are raising false alarm.

"These gunmen can strike anytime and we don't know where and when they will strike. That is why we are raising this alarm. If this planned attack is not prevented, we will hold the security agencies responsible for any loss of lives and properties because, past attacks by these gunmen, recorded as much as hundred casualties," said Bulus.

A copy of a petition sent to Plateau state police commissioner by members of Shonong community, indicated that several of their men have been killed while working on their farms last month.

The petitioned signed by Shonong Youth leader, Yohanna Ciroma described the situation in the area as silent terrorism, saying our communities has been under siege by armed Fulani men."

A member representing Riyom constituency at the Plateau state house of assembly, Hon Daniel Dem also confirmed the danger his people are facing.

“However, the security agencies failed to rise up to the danger. The gunmen are now all over the villagers, attacking and killing them both day and night unhindered. Two sol-

diers serving with the special task force has been killed so far in the renewed attacks by the insurgents.”

Hon Dem while commenting on the insecurity in his constituency said, "This is an act of terrorism against my people, they can no longer go to farms because they are consistently been attacked by suspected Fulani herds men" Hon Dem said, "The fulanis come into our farmland and will deliberately lead their cattle to graze on crops, if you complain you are killed instantly.

“Close to seven of my constituency have been killed in Rim village of Riyom in the past two weeks by our attackers on their farms. This has forced them to abandon their farm lands."

Dem who is also the Majority leader of the state house of assembly further alleged that some security operatives must be aiding some of their attackers. He wondered why men of the Special Task Force deployed in the area could not stop the attackers.

“In most of the villages attacked, there was presence of men of the STF. Why are they not going after the attackers? Hon Dem asked.

The lawmaker called on security operatives to wake up to their responsibilities of protecting citizens of the locality. In Lwa village, an expectant mother was killed along with her four children.

Names of the children are; Meriamu Jonathan age 25, Sandra Jonathan, 13, Agnes

Jonathan, 10 and Goodluck Jonathan, aged 6.

Other known victims killed in Fang village are Pam Kube, 23, Sgt. Musa Sanda (STF soldier), Dalyop Joro, 41, Emmanuel Danyam, 14, Stepehen Danjuma, 11.

Those killed in Bachi are; Laraba Sunday Bwede, 60, Geoffrey Solomon Choji, 13, Mrs Jummai Daida Long, 66, Rhoda Luka Bwede, 17, Danjuma Bitrus, 39, Mathew Tiga, 34 and Mary Dauda, 56.In Bangai village, Emmanuel Dachung, 34.

As at the time of sending this report, other affected villages are busy compiling names of their people killed in all the attacks.

Spokesman of the special task force, Captain Ikedichi Iweka however could not confirm casualty figures but said, "a member of the troop was killed by the insurgents. He also said men of the STF have already taken control of the battle ground and peace has been restored in the villages”.

According to Capt Iweha, "The attack is a reprisal kind of attack, it followed cow rustling, when people kill cows: the cow owners will stage revenge. But we have taken control, and we have restored normalcy. But stakeholders should be advised against giving exaggerated casualty figures, as doing so, will amount to sabotaging our peace efforts.”

"The casualty figures given in that statement of Berom is exergerated, there are 13 deaths and we have stopped further attacks and killings. If not for our intervention,t the situation should have been worse.

Kano protection council impounds N114m fake drugs ANO state Consumer Protection Council has confiscated another batch consignment of fake and illicit drugs, valued at N114 million from a warehouse in Gezawa Local Government Area of the state.

The confiscation came barely two weeks after the state government destroyed fake drugs, estimated at over N300 million, as part of efforts of its attempt to curb the consumption and circulation of fake

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Kolade ADEYEMI, Kano drugs in the state.

Speaking to reporters on the seizure in Kano yesterday, the state Commissioner for Commerce, Dr. Farouk Umar Jibrin, who itemized the contents of the fake drugs, said the warehouse was discovered following a tip-off.

In his reaction on the series of successful confiscation of fake goods and drugs in the state without any arrest and

prosecution of the perpetrators, the Commissioner, disclosed that investigation has begun, so as to arrest the masterminds.

He noted that the state government will not relent in its efforts to ensure that Kano is free from fake and illicit drugs. Meanwhile, a police orderly attached to the executive chairman of Kabo Local Government Council in Kano state and four others have been arrested for allegedly gang raping a minor.

South-South had worked as political allies for decades, the age long romance ended with the nonsense Jonathan’s election in 2011 and his current re-election bid have made of the zoning principle after the death of former President Umar Musa Yar’adua.

A prominent northern leader who pleaded anonymity said in respect of the broken alliance: “Ordinarily, it would be in order if the North supports a South-South person to become the president of Nigeria. Where things went wrong was the death of Umaru Musa Yar’adua and what came up later.

“Jonathan emerged not because the constitution gave him the mandate to emerge.

Even if the constitution gave him the mandate, there was a new kind of atmosphere of political propaganda, mischief and mudslinging against the North and Northerners, whereby things were made to look as if the North had been edged out of power and now the SouthSouth is in charge and anybody can go to hell.

“That created a situation whereby the decades of good relationship between the South-South and the North was brought to an end.”

The source added: “There are lots of things Jonathan has done for the North. He has appointed Northerners into positions more than any other president in this country. But most of the appointees who were expected to use their positions to help Jonathan and his government, have not been able to do so.

“Most of the people he has appointed are simply serving themselves. They do not come here in the North to campaign for Jonathan.

“Remember that many governors and other politicians from the North went to Abuja to endorse Jonathan and they were there clapping for him. But even in Kaduna, one of the states where the governor and other political office holders have endorsed Jonathan, you would not find Jonathan’s poster on any house.

“So, if in Kaduna State where the Vice President comes from and the PDP has been ruling since 1999, nobody can take the risk of pasting Jonathan’s poster on his house, then you can see the hypocrisy in the kind of people we want to adopt.

“If the governors adopted you, what of the people in the state? Have they also adopted you? Yet you can hardly find a state in the north where Jonathan has not appointed somebody to a prominent position. The Immigration, Customs and Prisons services are all being led by Northerners. Although the heads of the Supreme Court and the Federal Court of Appeal are there on merit, they are actually from the north.

“Both the Senate and the House of Representatives are led by northerners and you can also see northerners occupying prominent position in Jonathan’s cabinet. So, his thinking that the people he appointed will be able to mobilise people to support him has not actually worked.”

• Continued on page 58

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

Abuja show of shame: Princewill apologises to Jonathan governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, Prince Tonye Princewill, yesterday apologised to President Goodluck Jonathan for the show of shame in Abuja by members of the party from Rivers State.

Princewill, who was the governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress in Rivers State in 2007, noted that the attack in Abuja by thugs was not in the character of Rivers people, while asking politicians, especially the governorship aspirants, to call their supporters to order.

The Rivers Chairman of the PDP, Chief Felix Obuah, however, claimed that the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, did not sponsor the thugs that attacked some leaders of the party from Rivers state.

Obuah also declared that there would be no entry into the PDP through the back door, while urging the mem-

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n Bisi OLANIYI, n Port Harcourt bers of the party to be lawabiding.

There was pandemonium on Thursday at the national campaign office of the PDP in Maitama, Abuja, with thugs, who used dangerous weapons, beating and injuring some leaders of the party from Rivers State.

Obuah said: “The Rivers State chapter of the PDP wishes to describe the allegation of inciting physical humiliation of certain non and expelled members of the party from Rivers State against the Minister of State for Education and leader of the party in the state, Chief (Barr.) Nyesom Wike, during an integration meeting in Abuja, as false, baseless and malicious.

“The allegation is the handiwork of agents of Governor Chibuike Amaechi to cause disaffection among the members of the party (PDP).

“The truth is that the non and expelled members, see-

ing that their claims before the Prof. Iya Abubaker-led PDP integration panel were hollow, resorted to cheap blackmail against their target, Chief (Barr.) Wike, which is not necessary.

“What is the rationale for attending a party integration meeting in far-away Abuja by the petitioners, with a crowd of thugs, if they did not have an ulterior motive? The skirmishes took place outside the venue of the integration meeting, which went peacefully.”

Obuah described members of the PDP as peaceful and honourable persons, with the best interest of the people at heart.

He said: “We refuse to be hoodwinked by anybody or a group of mischief makers using primordial sentiments to grab what they do not deserve.

“Anyone who wants to be our party member should be free of sentiments and must be ready to work for the collective interest of all Rivers People.”

Beware of smear campaign against me, Wike warns N the aftermath of the crisis that greeted Rivers State PDP peace parley in Abuja, Thursday, the Minister of State for Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike, has warned of plans by disgruntled politicians in Rivers State to sponsor smear campaigns against him.

In a statement by the Special Assistant on Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, the minister alleged that some disgruntled politicians have started sponsoring a section of the media to publish concocted and mischievous reports against his person.

“Intelligence information available to us indicate that those being sponsored will in the coming days and weeks churn out false reports aimed at misleading members of the public on issues pertaining to Rivers PDP and my person,” he said.

He urged members of the

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n Innocent DURU n public to disregard the reports whenever they see them, adding that they are part of a grand conspiracy of unpopular politicians clutching at straws.

He said: “These are politicians who are not on ground and are afraid of popular contest. They have resorted to negative propaganda in the false hope that they would make a headway. Unfortunately for them, the true Rivers PDP members are not deceived.

“The syndicated false report on the Thursday October 9, 2014 reconciliation meeting of the South-South Integration Committee of the PDP at the Legacy House which appeared in some national dailies of Friday October 10, 2014 is the beginning of this unfortunate scheme.

“A look at the report which falsely claimed that

Amaechi to Nigerians: vote Port n out PDP in 2015 n Bisi OLANIYI, Harcourt HE governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has urged Nigerians to vote out the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015, while assuring that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will ensure good governance.

He admonished the people of Rivers State to continue to give peace a chance and not to be deceived by the antics of the leaders and members of the PDP. Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), also lauded the Obio/Akpor Local Government Caretaker Committee in Rivers State, led by Dr. Lawrence Chuku, for donating twenty-two 500 KVA transformers to communities in the 17 wards of the LGA. He also commended the members of the caretaker committee for providing four 18-Seater buses for Elelenwo, Rumuokoro and Ekinigbo council-of-chiefs, as well as the Obio/Akpor Youths’ Association.

The Rivers State governor, who was represented by the Chief-of-Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Okocha, stated these yesterday while inaugurating and handing over the 22 transformers and four buses to the communities at the council’s secretariat in Rumuodomanya, Port Harcourt.

Amaechi described as excellent, the performance of the members of the caretaker committee, with emphasis on improving the welfare of the people of the area and to draw the people at the grassroots closer to government.

He said: “I congratulate the Dr. Lawrence Chuku-led caretaker committee on the level of performance in the past four months. I am particularly happy to be associated with the caretaker committee for championing the cause to improve the wellbeing of Obio/Akpor LGA people.

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my supporters harassed other members of the party and journalists who attended the event reveal the fact the report came from one source and was merely re-written with slight amendments in the different papers that published same.”

He maintained that the reconciliation meeting was devoid of crisis, adding: “An aspirant, whose narration was developed into a report, simply misled the reporters.

The reconciliation meeting was held in an atmosphere of peace and respect, with security agencies ensuring that only relevant stakeholders had access to the venue of the meeting.

“For the avoidance of doubt, my supporters did not harass any person or journalist at the venue of the meeting. I also did not engage in any altercation with any other politician.

•Vice President, Namadi Sambo and Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State on arrival at the Ibom International Airport to attend the Millennium Excellence Foundation Summit in Uyo.

2015: ‘Why North won’t vote Jonathan’ • Continued from page 57 The source added that Jonathan has made a number of enemies in the North who are opposed to him for various reasons.

He said: “Some are opposed to him because he violated the principle of rotational presidency by his insistence on contesting the presidential election.

There are also those who are opposed to him because they have not gained anything from his government.

“There are those who are opposed to him because they see his government as clearly incompetent and corrupt, condoning corrupt people and

incompetent in terms of handling issues of security, economy and even the whole idea of governance. And there are others who are opposed to him because he came from the southern part of Nigeria and those who are opposed to him without any reason.”

Human rights activist Mallam Shehu Sanni, noted that the President has spent all his time appeasing the northern oligarchy and the northern political establishment who simply want power for themselves. The President, he added, had failed to identify himself with the progressives in the North.

Sanni said: “Instead of talking to people like Balarabe Musa, Col. Dangiwa Umar and other progressive elements in the north, he prefers to reach out to Emirs. The Northern bourgeoisie and political establishment have already made up their minds and there is nothing he can do about it.

“Again, Jonathan shot himself in the foot when he allowed the South West to align itself with the North. The South West supported him to become the President in 2011, but his people engineered him to turn against them.

“His government was run • Continued on page 59

Delta stands still as Aziza is buried

•He lived a life worthy of emulation –Jonathan HE crème-de-la-crème of the Nigerian military and the political class yesterday paid their last respect to the first Military Administrator of Kebbi State and late President-General of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), Major General Patrick Newton Aziza, as he was buried amid encomiums.

President Goodluck Jonathan described the late Aziza as an uncommon Nigerian who served the country in various capacities with merit.

President Jonathan, who was represented by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr Steve Oru, made the remark yesterday at a special funeral mass held for General Aziza in AdagbrasaUgolo country home in Okpe council area of Delta State.

The president described Aziza as a true Nigerian,

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n Bolaji OGUNDELE, Warri n who came, saw and conquered, adding that he would be missed by not just Urhobo, but the entire Nigerian nation.

Jonathan said he was shocked to hear of the death of the Urhobo national leader, noting that the departed lived his life to bequeath a better Nigeria to all.

“Aziza’s death was big loss to Nigeria. He spent his life time fighting hard to see that Urhobo and Nigeria move forward. He excellently distinguished himself while serving in the nation’s military. The late Aziza’s achievements are rare privileges of life.

“He was a successful man who lived a life worth emulating. He will be greatly missed by his family, Urhobo nation and Nigeria in general for immensely contributing to the develop-

ment of humanity,” the president said.

Speaking at the valedictory session put together by the UPU at the Urhobo Cultural Centre, Uvwiamuge, Agbarho, Delta State governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, who also was the chief host, highlighted the eventful life of Aziza, making particular references at his sacrifices towards the development of Nigeria, Delta and Urhobo community.

He noted the special contributions of the late Aziza to the process of ending the armed conflicts in the state and the eventual peace.

“During the peak of the Niger Delta crisis, I conveyed a meeting with retired Generals in the state, and Aziza’a contributions to that meeting were of immense value to the current peace we are experiencing in the area.

“His meritorious service to the Urhobos is immeasurable, as he lobbied and worked tirelessly for the emergence of the current Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Steve Oru,” Uduaghan said.

The governor, however, urged all Urhobo to use the passage of their leader to close ranks and live as one nation.

Also speaking earlier at the valedictory session, the UPU acting President-General, Chief Joe Omene, while vowing to uphold the legacies and leadership qualities of the late leader, urged all Urhobo to see the interest of the Urhobo nation as their paramount concern, adding that the UPU would defend the interest of the Urhobo people.

The valedictory session was followed by another service in his AdagbrassaUgolo country home, where he was finally interred in his private compound.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

NEWS 59

Ebonyi youths endorse Chukwu for Governor n Ogochukwu ANIOKE, Abakaliki n

Akwa Ibom signs contract with Julius Berger

VEN as some politicians are kicking against the principle of adopting a sole candidate for any position in Ebonyi State in the coming general elections, the Ebonyi Youth Assembly (EYA), an umbrella body comprising youths in the state, yesterday unanimously supported the decision of some stakeholders to adopt the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, as the consensus candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 governorship election.

Addressing journalists in Abakaliki, the National President of the group, Comrade Chinedu Ogah, applauded the wisdom of the leaders and founding fathers, who he said entrenched the spirit and principle of an unwritten charter of equity in their hearts.

“The decision to adopt Professor Onyebuchi Christian Chukwu will undoubtedly go a long way in eliminating bitter rivalry, rancour and bad blood amongst the constituents.

Above all, it will serve to drastically reduce the heavy costs and bickering associated with electioneering campaigns.

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APGA sacks Anambra woman leader •Lists insubordination, disrespect to party leadership HE crisis in the Anambra State chapter of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) took a new twist weekend, with the removal of its state woman leader, Mrs. Edith Nwokedi.

The party has picked Lady Chinyere Ibenta as the new party’s state woman leader with immediate effect.

The removal of Nwokedi was conveyed in a letter signed by the party’s state chairman, Chief Mike Kwentoh.

APGA, in its letter to Nwokedi, listed some of her

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offences to include insubordination and disrespect to the party leadership and inability to organize and hold effective women meeting for over time.

Nwokedi was also accused of holding dual offices during the Peter Obi administration.

It will be recalled that she was the Special Assistant to the Governor on Women Mobilization and also the party’s women leader, which allegedly contravened article 25 (8) of the party’s constitution.

A party chieftain who spoke with The Nation yesterday in Awka on condition of anonymity, said: “Mrs. Ibenta is the person the cap fits.

“This appointment has been over due. Our former leader was not doing what was expected of her and the women were complaining. We kept her on the saddle because of some influences.

"But today, we thank God that APGA has realized its mistakes by putting in the right person on the seat, a woman who can mobilize her fellow women, share things equitably and carry everybody along.”

KWA Ibom Government has signed a 10-year contract with Julius Berger Nigeria Plc for the maintenance of Akwa Ibom International Stadium billed for commissioning by President Goodluck Jonathan on November 6.

Governor Godswill Akpabio stated this Thursday when the President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick and his team inspected the new stadium constructed and completed by Akpabio administration in the state.

Commending the existing construction company for the speedy realization of the project, he remarked, "I must commend JB and congratulate the leadership of the new NFF President. This project is our modest contribution towards athletics and the game of sports. The stadium is built with sophisticated facilities and it’s a project that has challenged governance in Nigeria.

"So, I call on NFF to use the stadium in the best way to give Nigeria a good image and I must let you know that training pitches are available in the state for athletics," he enjoined.

Speaking earlier, the President of NFF, Mr. Pinnick, had described the stadium as majestic, amazing with architectural edifice and the first of its kind in West Africa, stressing that the project is trendier, a pride to the Country and West Africa.

•Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi and his wife, Margaret, at the requiem mass for the late Emeritus Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Simon Okafor, at St. Patrick's Cathedral Awka, recently.

2015: ‘Why North won’t vote Jonathan’ • Continued from page 58 without any prominent position held by the Yoruba, and he ended up fighting even with popular governors and popular political leaders who have roots in the South West political history and establishment. He ended up allowing his own forces to unite against him.”

He reasoned that the 2015 election would be a battle between Jonathan’s South South region and the other parts of Nigeria, particularly the North and the South West, adding eight out of every 10 people in the North are against Jonathan.

He added: “The worst of all it is that formerly, he had the strong support of northern minority Christians, but since 2011, they have not seen any significant change in their lives.

Jonathan may not be directly responsible for this but the peo-

ple who were brought in from that zone to represent his government.

“So, what Jonathan has done is eliminating his friends and making it possible for them to join his enemy to form a force against him. And this is what he is going to confront in 2015.”

In his own comments, former Chairman of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties and ex-governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, wondered what Jonathan had done to convince Nigerians to vote for him.

He said that while it is true that he inherited the problem of insurgency, it is also true that he elected to address the problem and record more achievements than his predecessors. “But he has not been able to correct anything, yet there is a criminal campaign for people to vote for him,” he said.

Citing the example of the illegal movement of the sums of $9.3 million and another $5.7 million seized from the country by the South African government, Balarabe wondered which other country a thing like that could happen and the President would not have been subjected to a commission of inquiry.

He said: “In fact, the action alone would have forced him to resign. In most civilised countries, the act of illegal transfer of money for the illegal purchase of arms would have resulted in the resignation of the President or his impeachment. But in Nigeria, nobody is even thinking about it.

“Jonathan is the President, so he is god on earth. His actions cannot be questioned or punished. Is this a desirable President for any country? Let us be honest with ourselves.”

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

INTERVIEW

Why Open University students can’t be lawyers — Law School D-G Adesola Onadeko What have been the major challenges?

There are challenges that we face on a daily basis. We only strive to overcome them by relying on the cooperation of our staff. If you start from admission, we were compelled to run two sessions-in-one this year. That was shortly after I came into office.

The ASUU strike of last year, which lasted for several months, created a backlog for us and we had to bear in mind the interest of the students. So, we quickly put together a structure for that purpose. And in April this year, we admitted • Olanrewaju Onadeko another set of students and those students are now on internship programme. That was a big challenge, because it is more work on the staff who miss their vacation. I don't think there Olanrewaju Adesola Onadeko, a former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of the Republic of would is any staff who can take a full leave until Gambia, was Secretary, Council of Legal Education and later, Deputy Director-General of the August 2016. talked about the deployment of ICT Nigerian Law School (NLS), Lagos campus. He later rose to the office of the Director General of inYou transmitting exam questions. Was that because of incidents of examination leakthe NLS on December 11, 2013. In this interview with TONY AKOWE and ERIC IKHILAE, ages that we have heard of in recent times?

Onadeko spokes on sundry issues, including the progress made so far by the institution and No, not exactly. Before the last final Bar examination, our questions used to be printed efforts being made to sustain the required standard in the teaching of law in the country. at the headquarters and air freighted and Excerpts: road freighted to the campuses the same day to the campuses for the exam to commence at HE Nigeria Law School was established to provide legal 3.00pm. That in itself had its own advantages and disadvantages. judges of the Court of Appeal, the Chief Judges of the 36 states and practical training for both foreign and NigerianFirst, it was very cumbersome and it involved carrying the queshigh courts and all the personnel of Nigerian courts are all trained law graduates; 51 years down the line, will you tions physically. We never had any incident of attack on them; but products of the Nigeria Law School. What more can we say? If say that the school has effectively achieved that purpose? it was a lot of responsibility on the people who were saddled with you go to the executive arm of government, the Attorney I will say yes, and for good reasons too. From the modest begin- General of the Federation, who is the official leader of the Bar that job. This year, because we realised that we needed to move ning in January 1963, when the first set of eight students comforward and because it was increasingly becoming difficult to is a product of the Nigeria Law School, as well as all the attormenced training; if you do a little bit of arithmetic, you will realise access our campuses daily, we have to resort to the use of ICT. So, neys generals of the 36 states, among other individuals too that if those men were in their 20s, they will be approaching 80 the questions were transmitted in that mode. There was no printnumerous to mention. years now. Some of them are still alive. One of them, Justice ing of questions here go be carried to the campuses. That was If the Law School is traceable to all these functionaries some Ajuyah, was the President of the Customary Court of the defunct done without any problem.

51 years on, and the school is still growing strong, keeping Bendel State. His son is the present Commissioner for Justice and What we are doing now will further guard against the likelipace with the rest of the world in our curriculum and in the Attorney-General of Delta State. Others include Senator Oyiabo hood of examination malpractice. At the Law School, we don't subject that we expose our students to, then we must be doing Obi and Justice Shonaike, who was Chief Judge of Ogun State. preset questions and if questions have not been set, it cannot leak. well. We are mindful that we are training lawyers for the 21st These are three members of that first set of the Law School that I We jokingly tell our students that if you see any questions around, century and things have changed since 1963. So, we are keepknow and with whom we are still in contact. When talking about ing pace with that. That is why our lawyers can go abroad and you better don't listen to those spreading them. The DG is the the Law School fulfilling its mandate or fulfilling the dreams of its Chief Examiner and questions are determined on the day of an take the examination of the Bars of those countries and be founding fathers, I will say that the school has produced personexamination. So, you can see that it is almost impossible to say that enrolled to practise there. So, I am proud to say that we have nel for an entire arm of government. Since judges have to be questions that are not yet determined could leak, and that is why I come of age and needless to say that the dream of the forefalawyers, it goes to say that it is the products of the Nigeria Law say that it is one of our strength here. I know that a number of thers and their vision has been fulfilled by this institution.

School that are manning the Judiciary arm of government. institutions are copying that now. Once you predetermine quesYou became the Director-General of this institution in I am proud to say that today, our Judiciary is one that is essentions, you cannot be 100 percent sure that the sanctity of those December 2013. What has been the experience so far? tially home-bred. From the Chief Justice of Nigeria, who is the It has been an eventful experience. Apart from the headquar- questions will not be compromised. product of the Nigeria Law School, to all the Justices of the Going through your website, it was discovered that out of the ters of the school in Abuja, there are five campuses across the Supreme Court, the President of the Court of Appeal, all the about 47 universities listed as having a law faculty, only the country. Coordinating what goes on in those campuses has University of Lagos has a full accreditation, while others have been a very interesting experience, not only in terms of what either provisional or other forms of accreditation. Why is this so? they do daily, but also in the areas of admission of students We don't live in isolation. So, whatever we do in Nigeria has to and their deployment to campuses, preparation of these stuAfter a general review of the legal be weighed or accessed, bearing in mind the international best dents for internship programme, law office and law courts education terrain, it was decided practices. When we go on accreditation, we review our law faculattachment, debriefing them by way of portfolio assessment ties with indices that put them at par with universities anywhere and the Bar final examination, which we concluded last that it was not in the interest of the in the world. That is how we came about the status of the month. For the first time in the history of the school, we conUniversity of Lagos. Many reasons, including its location in the profession to have law studied part ducted the final Bar examination by deploying ICT to the commercial heartland of Nigeria give the University of Lagos the fullest. Questions were not taken by hand to any campus. We time or by correspondence, because added advantage of having access to materials among others. used ICT to transmit those questions and there was adequate Don't forget that a teacher of law in the University of Lagos has security without incidents. the study of law transcends the access to far more things to engage in and to develop him than his That was quite a rewarding experience for us. It makes the classroom and library somewhere. counterpart in a more rural setting. That is one of the things that job easier and it involved the campuses more because the draw academics to the University of Lagos. In terms of staff, they questions were printed there. We intend to improve on that in It is a total package... There is a lot have the best. In terms of number and spread, they have the best. subsequent years. Administratively, there are lots to do. But to the training of a lawyer in using They have the highest number of professors and other teaching don't forget that I have been in the system for a number of staff, as well as the number. If you look at the facilities too, they years. Without being immodest, I would say that I will be the communication skills. They were rank best in that area. I did not attend the University of Lagos, and last academic to hold all the positions and also the highest so, don't think that I am praising them. But one has to say it the administrative position in the Law School. Along the line, I found to be deficient in those who way it is. was Director of Administration and Secretary to the Council, studied law by correspondence and Be that as it may, we don't want to rank our law faculties only to which is now purely an administrative position. No academic find out that they are not up to standard when viewed side by will ever hold that position again. other distant learning modules... side with law faculties elsewhere. That is why the University of

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014 Lagos is the only one that has really met that standard. The others that are not on the same level with UNILAG are not necessarily bad or not good enough. We are looking at the totality in terms of staffing and facilities, among others. Like you rightly observed, others have one form of ranking or the other. This is supposed to spur them, because there are things that we indicate in our accreditation reports sent back to the Vice-Chancellors and the Deans after its approval by our own council.

Another thing that may rear its head later is the way that faculties of law are being established. It is way above the way we are training academics to man these faculties. By your own account, there are 47 faculties, I can tell you the number we have accredited, but I know that there are others that the council has not given any form of accreditation because they are new. When I was a student, there were only four law faculties in Nigeria. But you have counted 47, needless to say that we have not kept with pace in terms of staff development and training of staff to man these faculties. So, what we have is that once a faculty is established, it poaches from existing faculties, which themselves are yet to fully mature. And that is what has made it difficult for many of these faculties to attain the ranking of full accreditation which the University of Lagos has. We hope that things will continue to improve.

I also observed that accreditation into law faculties in some universities, like the Madonna and University of Abuja, has been suspended. The implication is that they may not be allowed to admit students. Are you working in collaboration with JAMB to ensure that entrance examination is not conducted into the law programme of those schools?

It is not only JAMB, because we are also in a good working relationship with the NUC. And if you look at the laws setting up these agencies, even though it is not stated there explicitly, the status envisages that they work in conjunction with institutions and agencies aligned with their main functions. That is what we are doing now and it is yielding some dividends. In fact, the NUC has informed the Registrar of JAMB and listed accredited law faculties in Nigeria, indicating the number of students they are expected to admit. This is the first time that is being done.

Now, at the point of entry, there is control because JAMB has that and it will not grant you in excess of what the NUC has approved and the number indicated by the NUC is the number approved by the Council of Legal Education.

You can see that for the first time, we are having the control, right from the entry point, a thing that was not there before. The case of Madonna you mentioned was so bad. Their quota is about 40 or 50 and they were admitting in excess of 700 and that is almost the carrying capacity of one campus of the Nigeria Law School. Even the University of Lagos that has full accreditation has a quota of 280. With all the resources in Lagos, they admit 280. How can Madonna admit 700? So, they precipitated the crisis for themselves and I know that the council and the NUC have brought in sanctions.

The implication is that those students who are already in at the time of the sanction will be cleared out, but no further admission will be entertained for the period of that sanction. That is the way it has to be. You see, regulatory bodies must do their work and must do it properly, because not even the top-most universities in the world admit 700 students into a class. We should not water down the quality that the regulators of the institutions have built over the years.

Graduates of the National Open University are not being admitted into the Law School. Why is this so?

The issue is about rules and regulations. The Council for Legal Education is the regulatory body for legal education in Nigeria, and it is established by a statute, the Legal Education Act of 1962, as amended, and now the Legal Education Act of 2004 Laws of the Federation. The Open University and other institutions offering distance learning and correspondence programmes were specifically precluded by the Council of Legal Education and the Board of Benchers. The Body of Benchers is the body set up by law under the Legal Practitioners Act for the main purpose of admitting new lawyers to the Bar. They are the only body empowered by law to call lawyers to the Bar, while we are supposed to train them, conduct qualifying examination and issue them with qualifying certificates.

The Body of Benchers will then consider them, based on their character, among other things, and if they are found worthy, then they will be called to the Bar. After a general review of the legal education terrain, it was decided that it was not in the interest of the profession to have law studied part time or by correspondence, because the study of law transcends the classroom and library somewhere. It is a total package. You must have heard about the law dinner at the Law School. These are part of the component parts of ethics and the general molding of a total lawyer that is beyond the classroom. There is a lot to the training of a lawyer in using communication skills. They were found to be deficient in those who studied law by correspondence and other distant learning modules. That was why these two bodies decided that if you want to study law, go into a properly-accredited law faculty and study law. You don't study medicine by correspondence or in the Open University. It is the same with engineering and pharmacy, among others.

Every profession has its own criteria of admitting those aspiring to enter the profession and that is what these two bodies empowered to regulate the profession have done. This has been communicated to the general public over and over again. There are advertorials on it and it is on our website and everybody is aware of this. If any institution decides on its own volition to proceed to run a course at variance with what the bodies set up by law to regulate the profession have stipulated, so be it. So, the issue does not even arise. You mentioned 47 law faculties, and in addition to that, we have students who studied abroad who come to the Law School.

Nigerians now know that those coming in studied law fulltime abroad and we know the difference. The point is that everybody is aware that, just as you cannot say you are studying medicine by correspondence or distant learning, the Body of Benchers and the Council of Legal Education have determined that the study of law should be on full-time basis in institutions approved for such. So, I think that anyone who wants to study law should listen to these two bodies who have the power to determine those who enter the profession.

There was a time when the idea of having a first degree in another discipline before going to study law was toyed with

INTERVIEW

• Olanrewaju Onadeko

by the Council. Has that been suspended or is it still being considered?

That is correct. I know of about two universities that started their law faculties by admitting graduates from other disciplines.

If you look at what obtains elsewhere in the world, especially in England and Wales, there are other ways to get to study law.

Those who have degrees in other areas are given faster route of achieving their aim of becoming lawyers. But don't forget that every region has its own way of doing things. I know some universities toyed with the idea, but they found the idea difficult to sustain. People have asked me whether I will support law being made a graduate programme as it is in the USA, Australia and a few other places, and my answer is no. I did not study law as a graduate student. I studied law after my HSC and I don't think that I have any deficiency before going abroad for my graduate studies.

What I am trying to say is that I don't think that we have gotten to that stage where we can afford to put that step between the study of law and those who want to study law. Students spend five years in law faculties to study law now. I don't imagine that I want to see a student spending four years, then go for youth service and then come back to do another five years to study law and later go to the Law School. If you put that together, you will be getting about 11 years of study. That cannot be justified in our own situation for now. Don't forget that things evolve. In the future, when we get there and the need arises for law to be made a graduate programme, I do think that those who are there will consider that.

The Council of Legal Education has set up a committee to review the law curriculum as a result of concerns raised about the quality of our law graduates. What is the outcome of that exercise?

The issue of the falling standard of our law graduates has been a source of concern to stakeholders in the profession. When you have a large number, with so many faculties of law, you find that when numbers are on the rise, standard will invariably be compromised in some cases. I think it is just the consequence of large numbers. The only ray of hope there is that in the midst of all this, we still produce top graduates in Nigeria who have continued to prove their worth anywhere in the world. When you look at our assessment of these students after completing their programme at the Law School, some of them come out tops and they continue in that fashion even after leaving us. I am about to do a reference for our last year’s best graduate to Harvard and Oxford and I have no doubt that she will be granted admission.

Up there, we have them, but down below, one cannot deny the fact that there is cause for concern. But we are determined at the Nigeria Law School to ensure that we continue to enhance the standard. We are thinking of infusing communication skills into the training module at the Law School. One of the problems we know that we have is the use of English by Nigerian graduates,

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I don't imagine that I want to see a student spending four years, then go for youth service and then come back to do another five years to study law and later go to the Law School. If you put that together, you will be getting about 11 years of study. That cannot be justified in our own situation for now. Don't forget that things evolve. In the future, when we get there and the need arises for law to be made a graduate programme, I do think that those who are there will consider that

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and English is our official language. It is not the fault of the Nigeria Law School and I will not totally put it at the door step of the universities. It has to do with the foundation. Don't forget that if the foundation is weak, whatever you put on it is going to be affected. So, from next session, we are going to introduce the use of English via communication skills, so that we can brush up those who need to be brushed up and bring them up to the level necessary for entry into the profession.

It is usual for Nigerians to want the government to do everything. In developed countries, Alumni play very important roles in the development of education. What has been the contribution of the Alumni to the development of this institution?

At the celebration of our 50th anniversary last year, we engaged the Alumni of the Nigeria Law School and they responded very well. Don't forget that there are very few lawyers in Nigeria today who are not products of the Nigeria Law School. What that means is that any lawyer you see anywhere in Nigeria would have attended this institution. In view of that, we have a hostel project going on right now in the institution, courtesy of the Katsina State government, and the governor is a lawyer. He certainly has come to the aid of the Nigeria Law School in our time of need and that hostel is going to give us an additional 250 bed spaces. We have similar projects coming up in other campuses. The 1986 and 1988 sets have done something for the school too. Other sets are doing one thing or the other.

At the moment, we have about five or six governors and they have always contributed to our staff development. In the structured sense, the Alumni office is now established and even at the lowest end, there were services we were providing for our students. They are now required to make a modest contribution to the Alumni purse at the Law School. Any service you require thereafter will be offered. We hope that those funds, when deployed to facilities will be named after the Alumni.

The Danjuma Foundation made a pledge during the 50th anniversary to renovate the Sir Ademola Adetokumbo Hall in Lagos and that is going on right now; the Kano State government in the Kano campus; the Adamawa State government in the Yola campus; the Bayelsa State government in Yenagoa, while the Enugu State government is doing something in the Enugu campus. The Law School is endowed to produce students who are going to be well-placed in the future and we will continue to develop them. Like you said, elsewhere in the world, Alumni are doing a lot in funding education and I think we are getting there.

Won't that affect the school fees?

What will affect the school fees is when government divests totally. For example, the hostel being built, we don't need to put pressure on government again to come and replicate the same thing. Whatever the Alumni group of the Nigeria Law School is giving, we don't need to ask the government to replicate it. The actual fees paid here are just a fraction. But there are other services to be rendered. For example, every student must get two copies of Law and Practice journal before leaving here and that has to be paid for by the students. We have the law dinner and before any student leaves the school, he must have at least three law dinners, which have to be paid for. You can see what is happening nationwide now; even state governments have realised the need to look into what students pay and are bringing in some increases that you see students reacting.

Are we likely to see an increase in fees soon?

No. But don't forget that we are frugally expected to expend that money. And when students pay for the journals, we don't have to go out and produce at a rate that would make it difficult for them to subscribe to. The law dinners are training sessions for the lawyers.

You have two campuses in the northern states exposed to insecurity. What security measures have you put in place in those campuses and are you considering a temporary shut down until the situation improves?

Security has become a very important issue in our national life in Nigeria. The things we use to take for granted are no longer taken for granted. It is true that our campuses in Yola and Kano are situated in places that are most affected by insecurity and the activities of the insurgents. But don't forget that life in some cities is still normal. If one bears in mind that there are insurgents and their activities are on, we still must note that there are Nigerians living peacefully and carrying out their endeavours in these cities.

That is why we have done everything we can and within our powers to ensure that we fortify our security. We have contacted the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Defence Staff and they have responded positively. We have been reaping the result of their intervention. We are almost through with the fencing of these two institutions. The Kano campus had no fence whatever because we inherited the Bagauda Lake Hotel premises for use.

At a great cost to us, we have almost completed the fencing. The same thing applies to Yola. These two projects are priority projects to us and we are almost through with the fencing.

Another important thing is the awareness of the staff and students. No matter how much technology you have deployed, at the end of the day, it is the human being that will complement and make this technology work. There is a very high level awareness drive and everybody is at alert. I know that parents and guardians will be concerned. But let me assure them that everything has been done and will continue to be done. We are keeping in pace and getting reports from the security agents.

You spoke about the dress code for lawyers and I know that in some parts of the world, lawyers don't wear these wig and gown. Why have we stuck to this old tradition we inherited from the British?

Don't forget that the law profession, as we have it in Nigeria, was brought to us by the British. And so, we got it from the source. The traditions of the profession have stayed with us since then. The costumes we wear are symbolic of the profession and the practice of law. It is true that there are countries that have modified their own. South Africa has done away with the wig, but they still use the gown and the beams.

In the US, they have made away with the gown and just dress down. In Australia, they still use the wig and gown and in many other countries. I think it is symbolic. The need for change will be informed by those who are in the profession. For now, I don't think that we have seen the need for any change. If the need arises in the future, it will be addressed.

THE NATION SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

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SPORT EXTRA

Eagles fired up for ‘Total Amaju, watch your back (2) War’ in Khartoum

• Akinwunmi says three points non — negotiable

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FRICAN champions, Nigeria are determined to wrestle three points off the Falcons of Jediane when both teams clash at the 35,000 capacity Khartoum Stadium today.

With only one point from their previous two games in the campaign, the Super Eagles know only an outright win will keep them firmly in the series and with an opportunity to defend the title they won in South Africa 20 months ago.

The leader of Delegation to the big match, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) 1st Vice President, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi has stated categorically that outright victory is non –negotiable.

“We are here for serious business. I am happy at the attitude of the coaches and the players and the spirit in camp. Victory will be ours on Saturday (today).”

The spirit is high in camp as the new faces called up by Coach Stephen Keshi for the quick –fire sessions against Sudan have been proving their mettle, making for good competition in the camp.

The Nigeria delegation of 66 persons, including 24 players and officials, 20 members of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club and few NFF Secretariat Staff and couple of journalists, flew out of Abuja aboard a chartered Air Sudan aircraft at midnight on Thursday, and landed in Khartoum four hours later.

The contingent was received at the airport by Habu Gwani Ibrahim, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Nigeria in Sudan, who stood in for the Ambassador who was outside the country.

There were also Friday Akpan, Head of Chancery and the Public Relations Manager of the Sudanese Football Associa-

RESULTS AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS QUALIFIERS Lesotho 0 - 0 Angola Botswana 0 - 2 Egypt EURO - QUALIFIERS Latvia 0 - 3 Iceland N’erlands 3 - 1 K’akhstan Turkey 1 - 2 Czech Rep. Belgium 6 - 0 Andorra Cyprus 1 - 2 Israel Wales 0 - 0 Bosnia Bulgaria 0 - 1 Croatia Italy 2 - 1 Azerbaijan Malta 0 - 3 Norway INTERNATIONAL -FRIENDLY Japan 1 - 0 Jamaica S. Korea 2 - 0 Paraguay China 3 - 0 Thailand H.Kong 2 - 1 Singapore Oman 3 - 4 Costa Rica U.A.E. 0 - 0 Australia U’kistan 0 - 0 Bahrain

tion, Issam Gumaa, as well as over 200 Nigerian students in Sudan who chanted names of the players and welcomed them to the country.

Led by goalkeeper and skipper, Vincent Enyeama, the team also includes goalkeepers, Austin Ejide and Chigozie Agbim, defenders Elderson Echiejile, Juwon Oshaniwa, Efe Ambrose, Godfrey Oboabona, Azubuike Egwuekwe and Kenneth Omeruo, midfielders Mikel Obi, Ogenyi Onazi, Nosa Igiebor, Omatsone Aluko, Hope Akpan, Raheem Lawal and Ugonna Anyora, and strikers Ahmed Musa, Emmanuel Emenike, Gbolahan Salami, Osaguona Ighodaro, Emem Eduok, Aaron Samuel, Sunday Emmanuel and Michael Babatunde, was scheduled to train at the Khartoum Stadium by 8pm on Friday.

The team’s Grand Holiday Villa Hotel, situated on the bank of the Blue Nile, is only five minutes’ drive from the stadium.

At the match coordination meeting on Friday afternoon, it was decided that the Super Eagles will dorn all –white jersey with green stripes, while the Falcons will wear all –red with

white stripes.

Officials at the Embassy of Nigeria have informed the Nigeria Football Federation that they expect over 4,000 Nigerian students who are based in Khartoum to turn up for the big game on Saturday night.

Although temperature has soared above 40 degrees, Sudan FA Public Relations Manager, Issam Gumaa has assured that it will be much cooler at night when the match will take place.

The match commissioner is Mike Letti from Uganda, while the Referee is Janny Sikazwe from Zambia. First Assistant Referee is Jerson Emiliano Dos Santos from Angola, while Zambian Bruno Tembo is second Assistant and another Zambian, Stanley Hachiwa is Reserve Referee.

Sudan’s senior national team have not beaten their Nigerian counterpart since 1967, when they edged a 1968 Olympic Games qualifier 2-1 at the same venue. But in July 2001, the Super Eagles lashed their hosts 4-0 in Khartoum’s twin city, Omdurman, to virtually seal a place at the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals in Korea/Japan.

•Salami

•Ejide

No excuse against Sudan — Oboabona

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UPER Eagles defender, Godfrey Oboabona has thrown to the dustbin the excuse of weather and altitude as impediment to Nigeria beating Sudan today in 2015 Africa Nations Cup qualifier.

“There is no hiding place for us now because anything beside a total victory and winning the three points at stake

From Segun Ogunjimi, Abuja won’t do us any good. So the issue of weather or altitude is out of the question this time.

“We need to beat Sudan in Khartoum or wherever the match will be played. I can assure all Eagles’ fans that we will win the match and come Back home to finish the job in the return leg so that we can

bounce back in our quest to win the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations’ ticket”, Oboabona assured.

The Çaykur Rizespor of Turkey defender also reflected the mood in camp for today’s match. “Everybody in camp is singing beat Sudan at all cost.

So there is no excuse for failure and by the special grace of God we will deliver”, he prayed.

The six times African champions were received on arrival

by Nigeria's envoy to Namibia on Thursday, Ambassasdor Biodun Olorunfemi who urged them to be worthy ambassadors of Nigeria on and off the pitch and also to return home with the trophy.

Skipper Evelyn Nwabuoku in her response told the high commission that they stand by the promise they made to President Goodluck Jonathan and Nigerians that they would bring back the trophy to Nigeria come October 25.

She said the team have also promised to show their intention in this tournament by beating Ivory Coast as a gift to striker Asisat Oshoala who celebrated her 20th birthday on Thursday.

Oshoala the MVP and top goal scorer at Under-20 world cup in Canada on her part said she would work hard for the team to do well and achieve

their target of reclaiming the title they lost in Equatorial Guinea two years ago.

"I thank God for making me add another year to my life and I wish to celebrate it by performing well and meet the expectations of Nigerians at this AWC. "I don't make promises, but I can only assure that I will give my best to ensure that we do well and win the cup for Nigerians. Adding another year to my life in a foreign land portend lots of positives for me and the team and I pray that God will give us the strenght and luck to win the cup," she said The Falcons touched down at Windhoek airport by 3.30pm (local time) after transiting at the OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg for six hours.

There is no injury problem in the team and all the players are eagerly looking forward to this opening game.

AWC: Falcons promise to beat CIV for Oshoala

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IGERIA'S Super Falcons have expressed readiness to beat giant killers, Cote D' Ivoire today as warning signs of their resolve to reclaim the title they lost two years ago.

• Oshoala

Tunis 2014: Nigeria missing as CAHB club championship begins

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IGERIAN clubs will not be participating at the 36th African Club Handball Championship which starts from today to October 19 in Tunis, Tunisia.

According to the Confederation of African Handball (CAHB), 24 teams -12 men and 12 women- will take part in the elite competition, which will determine the continental champion at the end of the event.

The teams in Men’s Group A are Al Ahly of Egypt, Club

By Adeyinka Adedipe African of Tunisia, Widad Smara of Morocco, Cameroun’s University Buoa, Etoile of Congo and Blessing Handball Club of Congo Democratic Republic, while Group B has host, Esperance of Tunis, F.A.P of Cameroun, Stade Madji of, Gabon, J.S.K OF Congo Democratic Republic of Congo and a yet-to-be identified team from Angola.

In the women’s event, Petro of Angola, F.A.P of Cameroun,

African Sports of Cote d’Ivoire, HC Nuru of Democratic Republic of Congo, Mikishi of Democratic Republic of Congo and Progresso of Angola make up Group A. In Group B are Primero of Angola, T.K.C.Y DE of Cameroun, Phoenix of Gabon, US Nouasser, Nairobi Waters and another team from Congo.

Ruing Nigeria’s absence at the competition, President of the Handball Federation (HFN), Dauda Yusuf stated that efforts were on to ensure

that Nigerian team returns to CAHB elite competition next year.

He stated that this would be made possible as soon as the national league kicks off with a title sponsor.

Yusuf noted that it was pertinent to ensure that teams that would represent the country at international events are well prepared and given the necessary backing. He also used the opportunity to appeal to sponsors to supports the federation’s programmes.

• Continued from back page this game for Nigerians by playing to the best of their abilities. Many a Nigerian fan has died watching the Eagles since they returned to the “wobbling and fumbling” era.

The Eagles must know that the Sudanese are wounded lions, having lost their first two matches. A second home loss will be unacceptable to their nationals; hence they would adopt any method to secure a draw, if they cannot beat the Eagles. Eagles must play like Trojans. They must forget about the disadvantages of playing on artificial turfs. Many of them earned their European club contracts playing for our national teams. This is one game they must ‘win’ for the fans, who want a reassuring victory in our quest to clinch one of the group’s two qualification tickets. It is an achievable feat.

However, my joy looking at the future of the Eagles is that the new NFF President Melvin Amaju Pinnick, has stated that the coaches won’t be allowed to pick players at their whims and caprices. Well said, Amaju.

I just hope you don’t recant on this. Amaju told media men in one of his interviews that: “We are going to create a technical study group that would build data bank of Nigerian players playing abroad and how they play regularly.

“We would have A-league players, B-league players and Cleague players, as the case may be. If, for example you have someone playing in the Aleague and scoring goals, you cannot bring someone from China to come and bench that person. We cannot allow that.

We will give him a pool, where he picks players from. That is the way it is done all over the world.”

We are at the crossroad. We are on a familiar terrain where pundits leave the task of Nigeria’s qualification for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco to permutations, where we pray and fast that the teams ahead of us lose their remaining matches. We always leave such critical aspects of our preparations till the last minute. One cynic told me that such crazy periods give some people the opportunity to make money.

I dismissed him, insisting that we must never give Nigerian coaches the freehand to run the Super Eagles. He agreed but insisted that the NFF wouldn’t have the courage to make the Eagles coaches subservient to the federation. I laughed heartily, knowing who Pinnick is, when it comes to taking decisions. I told the cynic that Amaju can sack the coaches, no matter whose ox is gored, if it would ensure that sanity reigns in the team. The fellow took a bet, promising me an allexpenses paid trip to Dubai. I turned down the offer because it was too cheap. I didn’t want to waste his money.

So when I entered my office on Monday to discuss the stories for the next day, I was told that Amaju was on Supersports television, where he informed Nigerians that the chief coach, Stephen Keshi need technical help. Was I shocked? Never. Readers of this column know my views on the coaches’ tactics - playing two holding midfielders and asking

the wing players to fall back into the midfield to help, was obsolete and would crumble, if we play against teams with more men in that department.

Their tactical changes during matches are puzzling. They create more problems for the team. The coaches have refused to subject their lists for scrutiny.

Amaju struck the nail on its head when he stated categorically that Eagles’ problems rest not with the players but the head coach. The coach doesn’t like to be told his team’s faults. His manmanagement is poor. Keshi’s bloated ego has affected his relationship with the players.

This idea of the coach saying that he is the god on the training grounds is wrong. Keshi, Madabuchi, like the easterners will say. He needs to be told that he won’t remain there if the players want to sabotage his efforts. He must learn to accept mistakes made by the team when it loses. This idea of always taking the credit when the team wins must stop. I know that Keshi is an avowed Catholic. Why he refuses to forgive his transgressors baffles me. He ought to have known the Christian doctrine of penitence.

Last word on Ike Uche Thursday newspapers screamed with the story of Eagles Chief Coach Stephen Keshi urging Nigerians not to divide the team with suggestions that he needs Ikechukwu Uche. He went on to say that Uche will never play for the Eagles under his watch.

He has a right to say what pleases him. But this country is bigger than Keshi. If Uche is our best in Europe, NFF men must insist on his invitation, especially now that the team is fumbling.

One insider in the Eagles told me that it was after the team’s Secretary, Dayo Enebi, pleaded with Keshi that he included him in the last squad. The secretary’s interaction with NFF chief compelled Enebi to call Uche.

Of course, Uche expressed surprise at his sudden consideration for the Eagles after the 2014 World Cup. He told Enebi that the coach ought to have called him to discuss his plans for the two games as it is done in other climes, instead of him reading of his invitation in newspaper.

Enebi took Uche’s message to Keshi. He directed that the Villarreal FC of Spain’s striker should be dropped. Was it wrong for Uche to have asked the coach to talk with him? Is it not from such discussions that coaches know the physical conditions of their players? Does it not show that Keshi didn’t talk with Uche?

After all, Uche told the media in Spain that he didn’t talk with Keshi. Amaju, please get Uche to sit face-to-face with Keshi to iron out their differences. Nigeria needs her best players.

Amaju must get the coaches to work with the body’s technical committee.

We have the players to make the Africa Cup of Nations our birthright. We would have beaten Congo and South Africa groggy with goals if the coaches had put aside their pettiness to pick our best.

This is the truth.

THE NATION,

News 63

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014

For my standard bearer Tribute to late Asiwaju Michael Olagunju

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•Queue for petrol at NNPC Filling Station on Azikiwe Road in Port Harcourt, caused by NUPENG strike over bad state of ElemeOnne Road... yesterday PHOTO: NAN

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Tanker drivers call off strike

HE Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) has called off its strike.

The strike action was meant to compel the government to repair some of the roads in the South-South and South East zones of the country.

The tanker drivers had withdrawn their services from the roads, refusing to lift petroleum products with the resultant long fuel queues in the affected areas.

But the body has asked its members to resume work immediately.

Addressing a press conference at its national secretariat in Abuja yesterday, PTD National Chairman, Comrade Salimon Oladiti, said the decision to suspend the industrial action was taken after the intervention

•Resume fuel lifting in South South, South East

Tony AKOWE, Abuja

of some stakeholders in the industry who pleaded that the union should give the government more time.

Oladiti said: “You will recall that we gave an ultimatum last month, warning of an impending strike action in parts of the South-South and South East.

“We had specifically called for urgent repairs of the Port Harcourt-Eleme Junction Road, OkigweUmuahia and Jebba-Ilorin roads.

“Expectedly, our members had on the expiration of the ultimatum boycotted these roads and refused to lift products on those axis and for the second week running now, the situation

is becoming unbearable.

“Moreover, we had wanted to extend same action to other parts of the country.

“It is in this regards that we called this press conference to inform Nigerians that after due consideration and wider consultations, we have directed our members to resume work in the areas where we had earlier withdraw our services.

“The union agreed to respond to the clarion call made by the DSS and other stakeholders that we give the government more time to attend to these roads.

“We, like every other Nigerians, are mindful of the difficult times. We also fill the pain, if not more, and advise the federal government to send emissaries to verify the state of these roads and take palliative

measures.

“The road from Jebba to Ilorin, which is a distance of about 100 kilometres, usually takes a whole day for our members to cover.

“Port Harcourt to Eleme Junction, which is a distance of five kilometers, takes over five hours, and the same thing goes for OkigweUmuahia Road.

“We have heed the call by the authorities concerned and granted more time as requested with the hope that government would fulfill its part of the promise by making these roads motorable while on our part, we shall continue to serve the nation better and more efficiently in the haulage sub-sector.

We have warned that failure to fulfill this promise, we may not give any further notice of action.”

PDP thugs attack Edo officials

•Continued from Page 3 investors from the international finance community confirms that Nigeria still remains an investment haven.

He said Jonathan had been able to foster the required confidence for investors to participate in the sector, though the privatisation of the power sector has been on since 1999.

Oshiomhole noted that the success recorded by the Jonathan administration in its power reform has further shown that government works better with

synergy and collaboration between federal, states, ministries and other government agencies.

The Minister of Power, Chinedu Nebo, had earlier disclosed that the flag-off was a testimony to the interministerial collaboration between the ministries of power, petroleum, finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other agencies of government.

The Co-Managing Director of Azura West Africa, David Ladipo, said that the project would create 1000 direct and 20,000 indirect jobs during its

construction, assuring that Azura would continue to be a key driver in the power industry to ensure an increase the nation’s total grid-based power generation capacity for a long time to come.

The first phase of the Azura-Edo IPP is a 450 MW green field, open cycle gas turbine power station, with a total capital cost of $735 million. It represents the first phase of a 1,500 MW power plant facility.

It is the first fully financed private sector power plant project. It is also the

first power generation project to receive the World Bank Partial Risk Guarantee and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) support.

The IPP project, a 450 megawatts of new generation capacity, which is expected to be completed by early 2017, has attracted almost a billion dollars, mainly in foreign direct investment, into the power sector; comprised of $700 million in construction of the power plant, and $300 million in associated gas supply infrastructure.

Malala shares Nobel Peace prize with Indian

PAKISTANI child education activist, Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights campaigner, have jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Malala, 17 is the youngest ever recipient of the prize.

The teenager was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in October 2012 for campaigning for girls’ education. She now lives in Bir-

mingham in the United Kingdom.

The Nobel committee praised the pair’s “struggle against the suppression of children and young people.”

Mr. Satyarthi has maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and headed various forms of peaceful protests, “focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain,” the committee said at the Nobel Institute in Oslo.

The 60-year-old founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or the Save the Childhood Movement, which campaigns for child rights and an end to human trafficking.

Reacting to the news, Mr. Satyarthi told the BBC: “It’s a great honour for all the Indians, it’s an honour for all those children who have been still living in slavery despite of all the advancement in technology, market

and economy.

“And I dedicate this award to all those children in the world.”

Malala was taken out of her classroom in her new home city of Birmingham to hear the news on Friday.

Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, told the Associated Press that the prize would “boost the courage of Malala and enhance her capability to work for the cause of girls’ education.”

remember vividly, the day I a s k e d daddy to teach me how to write as effortlessly as he did and what he told me, he said ‘the only way to learn how to write is to continue to write’. Today I have to write this tribute and I wish I had half of your writing skills; I w o u l d have been able to pour out all my emotions in this one piece, but Daddy I’m still writing, learning to write.

Daddy, you were always my hero, not that same way a father is hero to his son. It’s in a different way. You were a standard I always tried to reach. You were my philosopher, historian and encyclopedia all rolled in to one such that till today I wondered how you managed to acquire such vast knowledge.

The memories struggle for priority here Daddy. I remember your encouragement to read. You taught me the secret of books from such a tender age such that before leaving primary school, I had read every available title in the pacesetter series. You bought all of them. I remember how you said I should read the African Writers Series Instead.

Daddy, I found some of those letters, the ones you encouraged me to write as a primary school student. Daddy I still remember those songs you taught us and sang regularly. I am suggesting some of them to the choir for the requiem. I remember the way you taught us to pray, your lessons on catholic doctrine.

I recall our numerous ‘ideological’ discussions. I recall your simplicity and above all your avowed devotion to ‘fairness’ as an ideology. Daddy, so many of your friends have attested to your fairness and honesty, your kindness and your love. I remember those calls, ‘Mo kanniki n gbohun yin ni’. I’m praying silently in my heart that I will be able to love my wife the way you loved my mother and love and care for my kids the way you loved and cared for us.

Whenever I remember your support and understanding I shiver. I remember now the discussion that preceded my decision to vie for an Office in the OAU Students’ Union. I remember the discussion that preceded my decision to study law after zoology, I remember your words to me when I was on the hospital bed recovering from an accident in 1998, and I remember that letter you wrote me in July 1999. In all you showed me extreme understanding and expressed the greatest confidence in my abilities.

Daddy I remember your devotion to God, your belief that God is the author and director of all things. No one can see any difference in your countenance no matter the circumstance. It is that belief that I hold on to assuage my pain here.

Daddy, our last discussion few days before your passing still plays back in my head. I remember every word. I remember your graceful steps into that theatre, I remember the kiss, I recall that phone call not knowing that it would be the last time I would hear you call me darling. I remember you telling me that your life had been ‘eventful and very productive’ I couldn’t agree more. I witnessed some part of it. You were indeed great. Everybody that I have met attest to this fact. I am not unaware of the custom of our people to praise the dead ‘Ijo a ku la dere’ but my assertion is not because you have now passed or because you are my father but because you were an extremely intelligent, honest and fair minded gentleman.

The memories keep coming back. The pain won’t go away, but I’m comforted because God gave you the opportunity to settle your affairs with God and man. I recollect your message to the priest to come and give you the viaticum. I really wished you had stayed longer at least for your 70th Birthday.

A day we had all planned to celebrate but we submit to the will of the almighty. I am convinced that God took the best.

I feel the void Daddy; I miss those your simple ways of resolving all issues. Right now I do not even know whether I’m taking the right decisions, whether you would have approved, but I’m trying my best to do all that you requested in that last meeting we held, I will continue to try.

In all Daddy, I on behalf of myself and my sisters and all our children say thank you. We are proud children of a great father. You lived a life which bestowed on us your children, the right to beat our chest and boast of a great lineage.

O dabo o, Akano Obo OmoEpo. Ajeje mode resa, senin oseninib’iresan’nu bole o bupo mi niya mode lara.

Asiwaju will be buried on 11th of October 2014 at his home town, Aagba, Boripe Local Government, State of Osun.

Grieving is not a short-term process; it’s not even a longterm process; it’s a lifelong process. ‘Having a future’ now means that although your life will flow again, it will flow differently as a result of the loss. Your grief will become incorporated into your life history, become a part of your identity. And you will continue now, and forever, to redefine your relationship with your deceased loved one. Death doesn’t end the relationship; it simply forges a new type of relationship - one based not on physical presence but on memory, spirit, and love.

- Transcending Loss by Ashley Davis Bush •Your Son, Oloruntomiloba Olagunju.

TOMORROWPUNCHLINE IN THE NATION

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL.9, NO. 2996

In my days as an undergraduate, we would have written and performed satirical plays about a VC who was terrified to move into the VC's Lodge because he thought it was occupied by "spirits" left there by the last occupant. —Biodun Jeyifo

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HE People's Democratic Party (PDP) was only being strategic and rational when it decided on Dr Goodluck Jonathan as its consensus candidate for the 2015 presidential election. For one, in our perverse political environment, an incumbent spurned by his own party could work for the opposition's victory.

Again, Jonathan has been tagged as clueless and underperforming by the opposition. If he is denied the PDP's ticket through competitive primaries, that would only be a vindication of the critics' low estimation of Jonathan's performance. What moral justification will the PDP then have to seek support for another candidate on its platform?

Furthermore, Jonathan may well be the best candidate that the PDP can offer. His administration has some achievements to its credit.

There has in recent times been some improvement in electricity supply at least here in Lagos.

The hitherto moribund Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) has been resuscitated to some degree. Despite the exaggerations of the Minister of Agriculture, Dr AkinwumiAdesina, there are important strides in the sector. But then, this exactly is the problem. If President Jonathan's record in office is the best the PDP can offer Nigeria, the party deserves to be massively voted out of power at the centre next year.

The country was generating approximately 4000 MW of electricity in 1999. Today, the power being generated is only slightly over 4000 MW. Yet, over $20 billion has been expended on the sector in the last 15 years. The rail system that the Jonathan administration crows so loudly of is still essentially primitive, archaic and a disgrace to a country of Nigeria's stature and resources. Unemployment has attained stratospheric heights. Most strategic federal highways across the country are in catastrophic condition. The vast majority of Nigerians are worse off today than they were in 1999.

That is why next year's general elections will be the most critical electoral contest yet in the country's political history. Despite the persistence of a large degree of political decay and rot in the country, there are impressive signs of democratic progress and consolidation. The party system has become more stable and balanced even if political actors continue to engage in acts of irresponsible vagrancy and ideological promiscuity. There has been a phenomenal growth in the political consciousness and sophistication of the people. The electoral system is systematically gaining greater autonomy from executive control and partisan influences.

Recent decisive and landmark judicial decisions in Adamawa and Nassarawa states, for example, show that the judiciary as an arm of government is in reality steadily growing in stature and authority in spite of the passing, transient and ultimately futile aberration in Ekiti state.

Against this background, everything is set for an epic battle next year for the country's presidency with the real possibility of change

Awaiting APC's presidential ticket •Buhari

•Atiku

being effected through the ballot box. All eyes are thus on the APC and the configuration of the presidential ticket it will present to confront President Goodluck Jonathan at the polls. One of the party's leading aspirants, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has an expansive political network and a stupendously deep pocket. Yet, the goodwill he enjoys in certain influential elite circles does not translate into massive grassroots support in any part of the country. Furthermore, despite his formidable media machinery, Atiku has not been able to dispel negative perceptions of the source of

•Kwankwaso

his wealth.

Another notable aspirant is the Kano state governor, Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso. By several credible accounts, he has performed well and raised Kano to a higher pedestal of excellence.

He is articulate and I am impressed by the fact that he has consistently published the minutes of the weekly executive council meetings including all contracts awarded since his inception in office. But then, a key determinant of the 2015 presidential election will be the ability of the parties to maximally mobilise the electorate to turn out to vote in their respective strongholds. In that

……Fayose and the Ekiti conundrum

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T is remarkable that while the Dr KayodeFayemi administration in Ekiti is winding down with grace and dignity showcasing an assortment of completed projects, Mr Ayo Fayose, the governor-elect, is preparing to assume office in the wake of a vicious, barbaric and unprecedented assault on the judiciary by his supporters. But what is playing out in Ekiti is in my view a conflict between elite and mass political cultures. The Ekiti elite, represented by the E-11 are clearly ill at ease with the earthy populism and unorthodox antics of Fayose. But these are what seem to have endeared him to the grassroots - okada riders, road transport union workers, market men and women and surprisingly even traditional rulers! This is exactly what happens when the elite abandon the duty of voting to the impressionable mob. For now, Fayose is the custodian of a popular mandate until the courts rule otherwise. Fayose is obviously set in his ways and does not seem to have learnt any lessons from the past. If so, the people of Ekiti should be left to face the consequences of their choice and make up their mind on what to do in four year's time.

case, Dr Kwankwaso may not be the greatest electoral asset that the APC has to mobilise the highest number of votes from the north.

In the same vein, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, another presidential aspirant, has made his mark as a dogged trade unionist, a brilliant labour economist, an articulate debater and a transformational governor of Edo state.

But what would be the incentive for the average South-South voter to prefer him to Dr Jonathan who is from the zone and is already in power? In my view, Comrade Oshiomhole and the Rivers state governor, RotimiAmaechi, can at best help the APC to make a significant impact in a South-South zone that is undeniably Jonathan's electoral stronghold.

If capacity to galvanise massive voter turnout in his political base is a major consideration, then General MuhammaduBuhari is clearly the aspirant that can lead APC to victory. Even though he is no money bag, Buhari enjoys cult-like support among the masses of the north as demonstrated in the 2011 presidential election. What he lacked in 2011 was substantial support outside the north. The APC as a national platform helps to remedy that deficiency and makes him a formidable presidential contender.

But more important than where Buhari comes from is who he is. His anti-corruption credentials are impeccable and incomparable. He is disciplined and ascetic and stands in sharp contrast to the monumental corruption and impunity that defines the Jonathan administration.

A distinguished and tested general, he has the experience and will power to tackle the insecurity that currently paralyses the country. Another advantage of a Buhari presidency is that since he is now 74, he can be persuaded to be a one -term president like Mandela. Indeed, that should be a pre-condition for key stakeholders of the party to give him their support. Once Buhari has given his word, he can be trusted to keep it.

If Buhari emerges as APC presidential candidate, who will be his best choice as running mate? Here the party has a rich pool of competent and electable persons to choose from. They include well known political figures like former governor of Lagos state and a key architect of the formation of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, incumbent governors whose tenures would have ended by next year such as Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), Dr Kayode Fayemi, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, or even competent technocrats like former Lagos State Attorney General, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Mr Ben Akabueze, current commissioner of Economic Planning and Budget in Lagos state or Mr Dele Alake, former Lagos state commissioner for Information and Strategy. All the divisive religious and ethno-regional schemes of the Jonathan presidency will be of microscopic electoral consequence if APC offers Nigerians a ticket that stands for incorruptibility, competence and discipline. Given his appalling performance in office, Dr Jonathan is an eminently beatable incumbent but the ball is in APC's court.

Ade Ojeikere on Saturday talk2adeojeikere@yahoo.com

Amaju, watch your back (2)

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ODAY will be a watershed in the annals of our football, if Sudan beats Nigeria in one of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Khartoum. Ordinarily, a game between Nigeria and Sudan should be a stroll in the park, given our players’ pedigree in international football. But it is not. Reason: the coaches’ seeming penchant for changing the squad for inexplicable reasons.

As African champions, the Super Eagles have been tipped by most pundits to top the group without qualms. The story is different now with the Eagles. They are a divided house with plenty of misgivings between the coaches and players, even though the coaches don’t want to accept this fact. Some of the Europe-based stars are grumbling about the quality of players in the squad.

They are scared to confront the coaches, having seen what befell Ikechukwu Uche for daring to criticise the coaches’ tactics during

the turbulent stages of the South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, which Nigeria won.

Yet, it is instructive to note that the two countries (Congo and South Africa) have each won an away game. This away win marker is what the Eagles and coaches must aim at, not the repulsive statement by one of the coaches that he met the Eagles tottering at inception and groomed the players to stardom. What this corky coach failed to say was that most of the players he took to South Africa were players who plied their trade in Europe. The coach must be told that it takes more than luck for any black man to keep a playing shirt in any European club. Besides, this writer would also want to ask the coach whose fault it would be if Nigeria fails to qualify for the 2015 edition in Morocco?

Suddenly, it has dawned on the coaches that there will be climatic conditions in Sudan.

There are also pockets of complaints over the reason why the game should be played on artificial turf. Those who picked the lopsided

set of players are ruing the late injuries to some of the invited players. Sadly, one of them, Michael Babatunde, was injured one week before the team list was released. Yet he was selected. Akpan sustained an injury while playing for Reading FC in England about the same time Babatunde limped out of a club match, yet he too was selected. That Babatunde and Akpan are injured would not shock their European club managers. Rather they would be wondering the kind of scouting system we have here and the calibre of coaches in the team. Indeed, what do the coaches expect the players to say if they are asked about the state of their injuries? Will a player tell his coach that he is unfit, if picked for a game against Sudan, where a victory fetches each player $10,000? The talk of the Eagles flying in chartered aircraft is cheap publicity. The Eagles have been travelling by such means. It is interesting that coaches who once complained about using such means of transportation into high altitude areas are

demanding for it now. This is not the first time we are travelling by chartered aircraft and getting the desired results.

We are in this situation because we have coaches who don’t listen. Since we won the Africa Cup of Nations, they have handled matters concerning the team like their personal estates. They have brazenly invited recuperating players and those who ply their trade in novelty leagues such as China, to the Eagles. The immediate backlash of such unscrupulous invitation of players will be Nigeria’s exit (God forbid), if Sudan beats The Eagles tonight in Khartoum. Not even a draw is good for Nigeria.

But can the Eagles win tonight? Yes, given the Nigerian can-do spirit. Will this spartan spirit be all that we require to beat Sudan?

Yes; not the coaches’ outdated style of play, poor match reading abilities and appalling changes. The players should resolve to win

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