The Nation October 22, 2011

Libya’s new leaders bicker over Gaddafi’s burial Stories & pictures on pages 2-4

Gaddafi’s son, Muttassim, before he was killed

VOL.05 N0. 1921

The late Libyan dictator

Body kept in meat store Widow calls for probe of death

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

EFCC, London Police trace 5 assets of six ex-governors Former chief helmsmen in UK may be extradited for trial

N150.00

Page

IN THE NEWS

N38bn loan scam: 6

Page

Court orders Bankole, deputy to face trial NASS, Reps clerk, RMAFC to testify

Court grants NDLEA power to detain Baba Suwe for 15 more days ‘CT scan reveals drug in his body’

59

Page

ACN, PDP slug it out as Lagos holds council polls today

LASIEC restricts movement from 7am to 4pm

Police deploy 31,000 men

Page

6

2NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

MUAMMAR GADDAFI (1942-2011)

Confusion over

•Body kept in meat store

T

HE burial of slain Muammar Gaddafi has been delayed until the circumstances of his death can be further examined and a decision is made about where to bury the body, Libyan officials said yesterday, just as the U.N. human rights office called for an investigation into his death.

The transitional leadership had said it would bury the dictator yesterday in accordance with Islamic tradition. Bloody images of Gaddafi's last moments in the hands of angry captors have raised questions over his treatment minutes before his death. One son, Muatassim, was also killed but the fate of Gaddafi's one-time heir apparent Saif al-Islam was unclear.

“They are not agreeing on the place of burial. Under Islam he should have been buried quickly but they have to reach an agreement whether he is to be buried in Misrata, or somewhere else" a senior NTC official explained Justice Minister Mohammed al-Alagi said Seif al-Islam was wounded and being held in a hospital in the city of Zlitan. But Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam on Friday that the son's whereabouts were uncertain.

Shammam said Gaddafi's body was still in Misrata, where it was taken after he was found in his hometown of Sirte, and revolutionary forces were discussing where it should be interred.

Thursday's death of Gaddafi, two months after he was driven from power and into hiding, decisively buries the nearly 42-year regime that had turned the oil-rich country into an international pariah and his own personal fiefdom.

It also thrusts Libya into a new age in which its transitional leaders must overcome deep divisions and rebuild nearly all its institutions from scratch to achieve dreams of democracy.

Many Libyans awoke after a night of jubi-

‘

They are not agreeing on the place of burial.

Under Islam he should have been buried quickly but they have to reach an agreement whether he is to be buried in Misrata, or somewhere else

’

lant celebration and celebratory gunfire with hope for the future but also concern that their new rulers might repeat the mistakes of the past.

Khaled Almslaty, a 42-year-old clothing vendor in Tripoli, said he wished Gaddafi had been captured alive.

"But I believe he got what he deserved because if we prosecuted him for the smallest of his crimes, he would be punished by death," he said. "Now we hope the NTC will accelerate the formation of a new government and ... won't waste time on irrelevant conflicts and competing for authority and positions."

Bloody images of Gaddafi's last moments

US spends $1billion to oust him

I

T probably has cost the United States of America about $1 billion to get rid of the former strong man of Libya. According to the Pentagon, that was the cost to U.S. taxpayers for Muammar Gaddafi’s head, the latest figure just out of the Defence Department.

The final totals will take some time to add up, and still do not include the State Department, CIA, and other agencies involved or other NATO and participating countries.

Vice President Joe Biden said the U.S. “spent $2 billion total and didn’t lose a single life.”

NATO does not track the operational costs

to each member country, but the funds directly taken from a common NATO account for Libya operations have totaled about $7.4 million per month for electronic warfare capabilities and $1.1 million per month for headquarters and command staff, a NATO spokesman said.

From the beginning of Operation Unified Protector in March, critics have questioned whether the U.S. could afford to open a third front. The Congressional Research Services estimate the Afghanistan war has cost nearly $500 billion so far. With Iraq, the figure easily tops $1 trillion.

In the first week of Libya operations, bombs were dropped from B-2 stealth planes

NEWS 3

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

MUAMMAR GADDAFI (1942-2011)

Gaddafi’s burial also cast a shadow over the celebrations, raising questions over how exactly he died. Video on Arab television stations showed a crowd of fighters shoving and pulling the goateed, balding Gaddafi, with blood splattered on his face and soaking his shirt.

Gaddafi struggled against them, stumbling and shouting as the fighters pushed him onto the hood of a pickup truck. One fighter held him down, pressing on his thigh with a pair of shoes in a show of contempt.

Fighters propped him on the hood as they drove for several moments, apparently to parade him around in victory.

"We want him alive. We want him alive," one man shouted before Gaddafi was dragged off the hood, some fighters pulling his hair, toward an ambulance.

Later footage showed fighters rolling Gaddafi's

lifeless body over on the pavement, stripped to the waist and a pool of blood under his head. His body was then paraded on a car through Misrata, a nearby city that suffered a brutal siege by regime forces during the eight-month civil war that eventually ousted Gaddafi. Crowds in the streets cheered, "The blood of martyrs will not go in vain."

Gaddafi’s body is dumped in an old meat store on Friday as arguments over a burial, and his killing after being captured, dogged efforts by Libya’s new leaders to make a formal start on a new era of democracy.

With a bullet wound visible through the familiar curly hair, the corpse shown to newsmen in Misrata bore other marks of the violent end to a violent life that was being broadcast to the world in snatches of grainy, gory cellphone video.

Widow urges probe A television station based in Syria that supported the late Muammar Gaddafi yesterday said the slain Libyan leader’s wife has asked for a United Nations investigation into his death.

The wife of Gaddafi “asks the United Nations to investigate the death of the fighter Muammar and

Mo’tassim,” Arrai television said in a news headline, referring to one of Gaddafi’s sons as well.

She said she was proud of her husband’s courage and her children who stood up to 40 countries and their agents throughout six months and considered them to be martyrs.

The interim prime minister offered a tale of “crossfire” to explain the fallen strongman’s death after he was dragged, very much alive, from a highway drainage culvert. But with footage showing him being beaten, while demanding legal rights, to the sound of gunfire, many assume he was simply summarily shot.

Gaddafi’s wife, Aisha, who found refuge in neighboring Algeria while her husband and several sons kept their word to fight to the death, demanded an inquiry from the United Nations. Its human rights arm said one was merited.

Controversy over the final moments of a man who once held the world in thrall with a mixture of eccentricity and thuggery raised questions about the ability of Libya’s National Transitional Council to control the men with guns, as well as discomfort for Western allies about respect for human rights among those who claimed to be fighting for just those ideals.

The body appeared to be the latest object of wrangling among the factions of fighters who overthrew him — along with control of weapons, of ministries and of Libya’s oil wealth.

Libyans, and the Western allies who backed their revolt that ended Gaddafi’s 42year rule two months ago, have indicated their impatience to begin what the United States declared was a democratic “new era.”

Russia sets condition to back NTC

R

USSIA’S top diplomat said Friday that Libya’s new leadership must respect agreements made by the regime of Muammer Gaddafi, even though he ‘long ago lost his legitimacy.’

Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov’s remarks, to three major radio stations, were the Kremlin’s first official comment on the Libyan leader’s death.

‘We are depending on the new leadership of Libya to observe all agreements and contracts with Russia,’ Lavrov said.

Moscow is keen to develop energy in Libya, and has warned it would not accept a revocation by a new Libyan new government of oil and gas projects previously agreed between Gaddafi and Russia.

Lavrov also called for a full

investigation into Gaddafi’s death on Thursday, echoing earlier calls by a Russian parliamentarian.

‘At first glance, it looks like a mob lynching,’ Konstantin Kosachev, head of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, wrote in an internet blog.

‘We need objective information about the circumstances of the death of Gaddafi. I have mixed feelings.”

Clockwise from top left:One of Gaddafi’s sons, Muttassim after he was captured taken from a video released by NTC; Libyans performing the Friday noon prayer outdoors in Tripoli’s Martyrs Square yesterday; the body of Gaddafi on a mattress in the cold storage room of a vegetable market in the outskirts of Misrata yesterday;NTC vehicles transporting pro-Gadadfi fighters out of Sirte; a Kashmir man reading a newspaper on Gaddafi’s death; an Iraqi man holding a drawing of the new Libyan flag during the weekly protest in Baghdad’s Al-Tahrir square; a man reads a newspaper in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, carrying news of the death of Gaddafi; Libyans celebrating after the Friday prayers at the Martyrs Square; Libyans queuing to view the body of their dead leader inside the cold storage room yesterday; a group of Libyan Moslems listening to Friday sermon…yesterday. PHOTOS: AFP

4 NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

MUAMMAR GADDAFI (1942-2011) u

Key figures in post-Gaddafi Libya Col Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya for 42 years and allowed no opposition to his rule. After the collapse of his regime, several organisations and individuals have come to the fore, jostling for positions to fill the power vacuum. The National Transitional Council (NTC), a disparate movement with its roots in eastern Libya, has risen to pre-eminence in post-Gaddafi politics. Residents of towns and cities in eastern Libya formed the NTC as an interim rebel administration in the early days of the uprising against Col Gaddafi. It is now recognised as the nation’s sole legitimate authority by most of the world’s major powers, and has moved its headquarters to the capital, Tripoli. But NTC leaders have made it clear that the organisation is an interim body that will oversee transition to democratic elections, expected in 2013. Some of the key figures are:

•Abdul Jalil

•Jibril

•Tarhouni

•Ghoga

•Belhaj

•Issawi

Mustafa Mohammed Abdul Jalil - NTC chairman He served as Justice Minister in the Gaddafi regime, and was sent to Benghazi in the early days of the revolt to deal with the protesters.

But he resigned on February 21, in protest at “the excessive use of violence against unarmed protesters” and within days became chairman of the NTC. Abdul Jalil worked for more than two decades as a judge, during which time he gained a reputation for consistently ruling against the government.

He won praise from human rights groups and Western powers for his efforts to reform Libya’s criminal code during his tenure at the ministry. On August 22, as the rebels battled Col Gaddafi’s supporters for control of Tripoli, Abdul Jalil declared that the “Gaddafi era is over”.

He is expected to play a prominent role in any future government.

Mahmoud Jibril - head of NTC Executive Board Sometimes called the NTC’s prime minister, USeducated Mahmoud Jibril is head of its Executive Board and in the early days of the rebellion was the most prominent voice of the NTC on the international stage.

He is reputedly a capable technocrat and is said to make many of the day-to-day decisions involved in running the NTC. A leaked US diplomatic cable from November 2009, written by the US ambassador to Libya, Gene Cretz, described Mr Jibril as “a serious interlocutor who ‘gets’ the US perspective”.

But his leadership credentials have been under strain, as he has appeared to alienate some NTC supporters with his plans for the transitional authority.

Ali Tarhouni - NTC Finance Minister Tarhouni fled Libya in the 1970s for the US, where he has worked as an economics lecturer at the University of Washington in Seattle.

He returned from exile in the early days of the revolt against Col Gaddafi and endeared himself to the citizens of Benghazi by appearing in internet video clips urging Gaddafi troops not to fire on civilians.

According to an article in the New York Times, one of his first acts as a rebel leader was to order fighters to rob Benghazi’s Central Bank. They reportedly recovered $320m.

Since then, he has been on a constant mission to raise funds for the interim authorities, and has been the key figure in negotiations involving the country’s oil reserves.

Abdul Hafez Ghoga - NTC vice-chairman Abdul Hafez Ghoga is a Benghazi-based human rights lawyer and community organiser.

The former president of the Libyan Bar Association was arrested on February 19, shortly after the anti-government protests began, but was released a few days later.

He later rose to prominence after declaring himself the spokesman of an interim council, rivalling the one created

by Mustafa Abdul Jalil.

Ghoga was subsequently named vicechairman and spokesman of the NTC at the beginning of March.

Abdel Hakim Belhaj Tripoli military commander Belhaj led the military brigade that stormed Col Gaddafi’s Tripoli compound, declaring afterwards: “The tyrant has fled and we will be after him.”

The military assault propelled the former Islamist fighter to international prominence.

And he has been kept in the headlines by an extraordinary series of allegations that he was kidnapped and tortured by the CIA. He made the claims in a media interview, and several days later documents were unearthed at an office used by Col Gaddafi’s spy chief that appeared to back up his story.

But he has said he feels no bitterness, and the past will not get in the way of the new Libyan administration’s attempts to build relations with the rest of the world.

Ali Issawi - NTC foreign affairs He resigned as Libyan ambassador to India on February 21, in protest at the government’s “use of violence against its citizens” and deployment of “foreign mercenaries against Libyans”. He later became a foreign affairs representative of the NTC and deputy head of the Executive Board. Issawi served under Gaddafi as minister of economy, trade and investment. He was the youngest person to have occupied the post.

But following a cabinet reshuffle in March 2009, Issawi was left without a post. A leaked US diplomatic cable said the French embassy in Tripoli believed the move was “related to accusations of corruption”.

However, the cable also said that he had tried to resign several times over disagreements with the senior leadership.

Seven weirdest things about Gaddafi

C

OL. Muammar Gaddafi, the dictator who ruled Libya for 42 years, was killed by rebels in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday. A dictator who oppressed his own people and sponsored terrorism abroad, Gaddafi’s legacy will be stained by violence. But beyond his brutality, Gaddafi will be remembered for something else entirely… being a first-class weirdo.

1. The “Bulletproof” Tent: When Gaddafi was at home in Tripoli, he lived in a well fortified compound with a complex system of escape tunnels. But when he travelled abroad, this “Bedouin” brought a bit of the desert with him, camping out in the world’s capitals. The tent was so heavy it needed to be flown on a separate plane, wherever

the dictator travelled. To complete the Arabian Nights theme, Gaddafi often would tether a camel or two outside.

2. All-female virgin bodyguard retinue: They apparently weren’t around when Gaddafi needed them most on Thursday, but the eccentric dictator was historically protected by 40 well trained bodyguards – all of them women. The bodyguards, called “Amazons,” were all reportedly virgins who took a vow of chastity upon joining the dictator’s retinue. The women, trained at an all-female military academy, were handpicked by Gaddafi. They wore elaborate uniforms, as well as makeup and highheeled combat boots.

3. His “voluptuous” Ukrainian nurse: For a decade, Galyna Kolotnytska, a Ukrainian nurse often described in

the press as “voluptuous,” was regularly seen at the dictator’s side. Kolotnytska was described in a leaked diplomatic cable as one of Gaddafi’s closest aides and was rumored to have a romantic relationship with him.

Several other Ukrainian women served as nurses and they all referred to him as “Papa” or “Daddy.”

4. Crush on Condoleezza Rice: In 2007, Gaddafi called former Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice his “darling black African woman” and on a 2008 visit she made to Tripoli, the dictator gave her $200,000 worth of gifts, including a ring and a lute.

But it wasn’t until rebels stormed his Tripoli compound that the depths of the dictator’s infatuation were exposed. There among Gaddafi’s belongings was a

•Gaddafi carefully composed photo album made up of dozens of images of no one but Rice.

5. Fear of flying and elevators: Part of the reason

Gaddafi loved travelling with that tent of his was because he was worried about lodging in a hotel where he’d have to ride an elevator. According to leaked diplomatic cables, the Libyan didn’t like heights much either, and would only climb to a height of 35 steps. He therefore wasn’t much of a fan of flying, refusing to travel by air for more than eight hours at a time. When he would travel to New York of the U.N.’s annual general assembly, he would spend a night in Portugal on the way to the U.S. 6. Bunga Bunga: In 2010, one of Gaddafi’s most eccentric pastimes was exposed by Italian prosecutors investigating Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. A 17-yearold prostitute named Karima el-Mahroug, better known as Ruby Heartstealer, revealed

that she had been invited to an orgy, called a “bunga bunga.” “Silvio told me that he’d copied that formula from Muammar Gaddafi,” she told prosecutors according to La Repubblica. “It’s a ritual of [Gaddafi’s] African harem.”

7. An Eclectic wardrobe: In those photos of world leaders standing shoulder to shoulder on the sidelines of this or that international forum, Gaddafi was always the easiest to pick out. His wardrobe was an eclectic mix of ornate military uniforms, Miami Vice style leisure suits, and Bedouin robes. Gaddafi, who pushed for a pan-African federation of nations, often decorated his outfits with images of the African continent. He’d sport safari shirts printed with an Africa pattern, or wear garish pins or necklaces of the continent.

NEWS 5

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

EFCC, London Police trace assets of six ex-governors in UK •Former chief helmsmen may be extradited for trial •Met Police officers meet EFCC chairman

S

IX ex-governors, including some of those on trial, are in trouble over alleged acquisition of assets worth £15million in the United Kingdom, while in office.

The Economic and Financial Crimes CommissionEFCC, and the Met Police on Monday began talks on the tracing of the affected assets in the UK. Investigation by our correspondent revealed that some of the assets were acquired between 2005 and 2011.

It was gathered that the suspected ex-governors cut across the South-West, SouthEast, North-East, South-South and North-Central.

One of the governors was said to have paid £1.6million at a go in 2005 for a posh mansion in London.

Source said the session between the EFCC and Met Police provided an opportunity for the two sides to echange information on the ex-governors, trace the affected assets and secure court injunctions for the purpose of seizing the assets temporarily pending their trial.

The source said: “We have some intelligence reports on the assets acquired by these

Yusuf ALLI, Managing Editor, Northern Operation ex-governors and we have turned in these to Met Police for verification.

“While the EFCC team was led by its chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, a crack intelligence officer, Peter Clark led the Met Police group.

“It is too early to give details of the ongoing investigation of the UK assets of these governors but we have gathered some dossiers on them for the Met Police to assist us.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “The outcome of the Met Police investigation will be useful for trial here at home or abroad. If necessary, some of these exgovernors may be extradited to the UK for trial.

“I can tell you that there is no place to hide for them.”

The assets in question may be seized under the Interim Forfeiture Order in Sections 26 and 29 of the EFCC Act. The section reads: “Any property subject to forfeiture under this Act may be seized by the commission in the following circumstances- (a) the seizure is incidental to an arrest or search; or (b) in the case

•Farida Waziri, Executive Chairman, Economic and Fianacial Crimes Commission, flanked by officers of the Metropolitan Police, UK, Detective Constables Cocks (L) and Peter Clark (R) during an official visit to the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja, recently.

of property liable to forfeiture upon process issued by the Court following an application made by the Commission in accordance with the prescribed rules “Whenever property is seized under any of the provisions of this Act, the Commission may-(a) place the property under seal; or (b) remove the property to a place designated by the Commission.

“Properties taken or detained under this section shall be deemed to be in custody of the Commission, subject only to an order of a Court.”

The EFCC and the Metropolitan Police have been collaborating in the past few years.

The British government had, in 2008, expressed its willingness to return about £40 million stolen funds recovered from some Nigerian

Fitch revises Nigeria’s rating outlook to stable

F

ITCH yesterday revised the outlook of Nigeria’s credit rating to stable from negative, saying the likelihood of reforms increased as the government appointed a strong economic team after the April elections, according to Reuters.

Fitch currently rates Nigeria at BB-minus. It had revised the outlook on that rating to negative about a year ago, as foreign reserves declined rapidly during three consecutive quarters.

That deterioration in reserves was halted, Fitch said, as the government adopted a tighter monetary policy and a some fiscal discipline.

The Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN) had initiated a number of monetary tightening policies recently by doubling banks’ Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) from four to eight

P

Collins NWEZE per cent; net open positions banks can hold as reserves was reduced to 1 per cent of shareholders funds, from 5 per cent; reserve averaging method of computation was suspended in favour of daily maintenance until further notice – all in a bid to reduce the quantity of naira in the system and free up dollar supply.

These measures have strengthened the naira at both the interbank and official markets. The naira closed at N157.20 to the dollar at the interbank last Wednesday, firmer than the N159.85 of the previous day, supported by dollar inflows from two energy firms. At the official window, the naira has firmed from N154 per dollar two weeks ago, to N149.95.

Also, bond yields and inter-

bank rates rose sharply as markets aligned after the CBN’s bigger-than-expected benchmark interest rate hike.

The Federal Government has similarly stepped up efforts to reduce spending starting with the recurrent expenditure by making moves to thrash ghost workers and pensioners. It has also floated a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) with an initial capital of $1billion (N160billion).

Fitch had lowered Nigeria’s outlook last year primarily because of the withdrawals from the Crude Accounts..

That and a continued gradual fall of international reserves at a time of high oil prices and record oil production were major concerns, Fitch had said. They also raised vulnerability to any renewed fall in oil prices and threatened macroeconomic stability.

Fitch director Veronica Kalema had said that while there were plans to remedy the situation through the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund and removal of the fuel subsidy currently taken out of the country’s excess crude account, implementing those actions “will be challenging before elections expected in April next year.” The poll has increased short-term political uncertainty, Fitch said.

Other major constraints on the rating — low per capita income, weak transparency and governance and the infrastructure deficit, especially the power shortage — remain in place. Nigeria’s national infrastructure is poor and power generation is grossly inadequate, resulting in low industrial production while offices and homes go for days without electricity.

US withdraws troops from Iraq

RESIDENT Barack Obama yesterday announced that virtually all U.S. troops will come home from Iraq by the end of the year—at which point he can declare an end to America’s long and costly war in that Middle Eastern nation.

“After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over, Obama said. “The coming months will be a season of homecomings. Our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays.”

Of the 39,000 troops in Iraq, about 150, a negligible force, will remain to assist in arms sales, a U.S. official told CNN. The rest will be out of Iraq by December 31.

The president said he was making good on his 2008 campaign pledge to end a war that has divided the nation since it began in 2003 and claimed more than 4,400 American lives. It also came after talks that might have allowed a continued major military presence broke down amid disputes as to whether U.S. troops would be immune to prosecution by Iraqi authorities.

Beyond the human cost, the price tag for U.S. military activity in Iraq has been steep as well. The Defense Department estimated that its operations there over the past decade have cost more than $700 billion.

Obama spoke with Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki in a video conference Friday, after which he said both nations were comfortable with the decision on how to move forward.

The new partnership with Iraq will be “strong and enduring,” Obama said.

U.S. soldiers with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment patrol July 17 in Iskandariya, Iraq.”The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their head held high, proud of their success, and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops,” Obama said.

Paul Rieckhoff — an ex-Army soldier who heads the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the first and largest such organization for these veterans, according to its website — cheered Friday’s announcement as “really good news for the troops serving overseas.”

“It’s a really poignant time, especially for the veterans community,” Rieckhoff told CNN. “Many of us gave large parts of our lives, some gave all in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.”

A current Status of Force Agreement had called for U.S. forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2011. But lengthy negotiations had given rise to an expectation that American troops — roughly 40,000 of which are in Iraq — would remain on Iraqi soil into next year.

These talks, however, broke down over the prickly issue of legal immunity for U.S. troops in Iraq, a senior U.S. military official with direct knowledge of the discussions told CNN this month.

government officials.

A former Acting British High Commissioner to Nigeria, James Tansley, on September 27, 2007, for handed, over two cheques for more than $250,000 (£126,000, 29.3m naira) to Nigeria.

The UK Metropolitan Police had said the amount was only a fraction of the fortunes

that the former Governor of Plateau State, Chief Joshua Dariye and other Nigerian officials had diverted to London.

A cheque for $2 million belonging to a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, was also returned to Nigeria by the British government

Igbo must produce president in 2015, Ohanaeze insists

T

HE Igbo apex social cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo yesterday reiterated its demand that the Southeast should produce the next president of Nigeria, saying the demand is to balance what it termed continued marginalisation of the ethnic group.

The president General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Ralph Uwechue who was the guest lecturer at the second Annual lecture of Dr. Alex Ekwueme to mark the 18th convocation of the Federal Polytechnic Oko, Orumba North council area of Anambra State, noted that the only thing that would further foster and lubricate the slogan of one Nigeria is an Igbo president in 2015.

He lamented that over the years, Ndi Igbo have been relegated to the back, adding that of all the key players in the independence of struggle, only the Igbo have not been given opportunity to be the president of Nigeria since 1960.

According to him, “Today, there is the general feeling within the Igbo nation, especially among the young and up-coming generation, that as a people, Ndi Igbo are being deliberately sidelined, particularly in the spheres of political leadership of the country. No Igbo person has been so far deemed suitable to be put at the helm of affairs, at the apex management position of Nigeria since independence in 1960”.

He also expressed dissatisfaction over what he called continued and deliberate exclusion of Igbo from ascending the presidential seat of the country by the Yoruba and Hausa.

Adimike GEORGE, “There is today therefore the cruel and bewildering irony that a people who have done so much to keep Nigeria alive as one nation are being systematically denied their rightful federal character turn at producing a president for this country.

The negotiation for Nigeria’s Independence from Great Britain, though with strong support of the smaller ethnic units was masterminded by the leadership of the three largest ethnic groups, the Hausa/Fulani, the Yoruba and Igbos.

“Apart from the minorities who have been presidents of this country, two of these three bigger groups, Hausa/ Fulani and Yoruba have already had their turns of the presidential slots several times over. Then to rectify this stark and totally unfair anomaly, virtually perpetuating the exclusion of our country’s largest ethnic group from its rightful share of political power at the centre must be now clearly perceived and resolutely accepted as priority task of the leadership of Igbo nation in charting a new course for Ndi Igbo in the Nigerian polity” He said.

He also said Ohanaeze Ndi has perfected plans to make sure that the next President is of Igbo extraction.

“Hence, Ohaneze Ndi Igbo is putting great emphasis on uniting our people in guiding them towards a common political and economic agenda. The attainment of South East presidency demands all hands on deck as it will not be handed over to Ndi Igbo on a platter of gold”, he said.

6 NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

Conduct Bureau sued over Jonathan's asset declaration

Court orders Bankole, deputy to face trial

T

HE FEDERAL Capital Territory High Court yesterday ruled that a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, and his erstwhile deputy, Bayero Usman Nafada, have cases to answer in the alleged N38 billion loan obtained under their leadership.

The two are facing a 17count charge of criminal breach of trust, dishonest use of House of Representatives’ bank account to obtain loan slammed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

They allegedly shared the loan to members without the consent and approval of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the extant Revised Financial Regulations of the Federal Government of Nigeria, 2009.

•NASS, Rep clerk, RMAFC to tesify Kamarudeen OGUNDELE, Abuja The alleged offences are contrary to Sections 97(1), 286 and 311 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Abuja) 1990, and punishable under Sections 287 and 315 of the same Penal Code Act. The Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa and that of the House of Representatives, Mr. Sanni Omolori, are to testify against Bankole and Nafada, The Nation learnt yesterday.

Also to testify against the two are their former colleagues in the House of Representatives; RMAFC Chairman, Mr. Elias Mbam and officials of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) where the loan was sourced from.

Justice Suleiman Belgore dismissed the preliminary objec-

tion to the charge filed by Bankole and Nafada for lacking in merit.

He also dismissed the application to disqualify the EFCC lawyer, Festus Keyamo from prosecuting the duo.

The judge said the allegation of bias raised by Bankole was ill conceived, as the court would not rely on opinion to arrive at judgment but evidence adduced.

Bankole’s counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) and that of Nafada, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) had at the last sitting urged the court to quash the charge.

They maintained that the proof of evidence disclosed no reasonable cause against their clients, describing the charge as “figment of imagination to punish” the accused.

Awomolo informed the

court that Keyamo already had a biased opinion about his client, adding that he cannot be an impartial prosecutor judging by the animosity he bears against Bankole.

Oyetibo argued that there was no Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice in office at the time this case started asking, “who could have issued him (Keyamo) a fiat”.

But Justice Belgore in the ruling said that there was sufficient link between the accused and the charge against them.

While saying that the accused were right in filing objection to the charge after taking their plea, the Judge pointed out that “Court can only determine at this stage if there is link of the accused persons with the charge and not whether the evidence is sufficient.”

According to him, the justiContinued on Page 58

•Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi (right), presenting a souvenir to the Minister for Youth Development, Mr. Bolaji Abudullahi, during a courtesy visit to the governor in Port Harcourt

T

HE African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) has dragged the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to court over the asset declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan. In a suit (No FHC/ABJ/CS/877/2011) filed yesterday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on behalf of AFRICMIL by Ashimole Felix of Che Oyintumba & Associates, AFRICMIL is seeking an order of mandamus compelling the CCB to comply with its request of making available to the public the asset declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

On July 28, 2011, AFRICMIL sent a Freedom of Information request to the CCB, asking "to be allowed to inspect and obtain copies of the 2007 asset declaration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan; the asset declaration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan after the end of his tenure on May 28, 2011 and the current asset declaration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan when he assumed office on May 29, 2011."

According to Mr. Lewis Asubiojo, Director of Programmes AFRICMIL, the organisation was concerned that even with the memo from the Presidency that government agencies should subject themselves to the Freedom of Information Act, the CCB refused to act on its request. Mr. Asubiojo noted that for a government that has proclaimed a transformation agenda and wants to fight corruption, it is important that President Jonathan leads by example, and one way he can do that is to make public his asset declaration.

Paragraph 3, Part I of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, provides that the Code of Conduct Bureau shall have power to: (a) receive declarations by public officers made under paragraph 12 of Part I of the Fifth Schedule to this Constitution; (b) examine the declarations in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct or any law; (c) retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe.

Paragraph 11 of Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution provides that: (1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every public officer shall within three months after the coming into force of this Code of Conduct or immediately after taking office and thereafter -- (a) at the end of every four years; and (b) at the end of his term of office, submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau a written declaration of all his properties, assets, and liabilities and those of his unmarried children under the age of 18 years.

Pursuant to the aforementioned constitutional provisions and section 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, which states that "Notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, Law or Regulation, the right of any person to access or request information, whether or not contained in any written form, which is in the custody or possession of any public official, agency or institution howsoever described, is hereby established," AFRICMIL made the request to the CCB to be allowed to inspect and obtain copies of President Goodluck Jonathan's asset declaration.

ACN, PDP slug it out as Lagos holds council polls today

L

OCAL government elections will hold today across the pre-existing 20 local governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).

No fewer than 28 political parties are participating in the exercise. However, two parties, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are fielding chairmanship and councillorship candidates in all the wards.

It is the third council election to be held in the state since the restoration of civil rule in 1999. However, unlike previous local government elections, the main opposition party, which boycotted the 2004 and 2008 local government elections, is participating in today's exercise.

Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) Chairman, Justice Fatai Adeyinka told reporters that the polls would hold in 377 wards across the five divisions of Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu, Lagos Island, and Epe. The total number of polling units is 8,645, he added.

The retired jurist said LASIEC would conduct free and fair elections in the interest of democracy, adding that its neutrality would not be compromised before, during and after the elections.

He said: "Elections would

• Commission restricts movement from 7am to 4pm Police to deploy 31, 000 for election O fewer than 31,000 policemen and officers and men from other security agencies will be on ground today for the Lagos State Local Government election.

Security personnel will also be drawn from the military, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA).

The personnel are to ensure that there is adequate security and that electoral materials are well protected during the exercise.

Spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Mr Samuel Jinadu, a Deputy Superintendent, who spoke to The Nation said that adequate security would be provided at all polling stations and the office of the state electoral commission.

He warned all those who do

N

Emmanuel OLADESU Deputy Political Editor take place in 8,645 polling booths between 8 am and 3 pm. Already, our electoral officers are arriving their respective local governments. The

Jude ISIGUZO not have anything to do with the election not to go anywhere near the polling station during the exercise as they risk being arrested.

Jinadu noted that the Commissioner of Police, Mr Yakubu Alkali, had directed that anti-riot policemen be deploye in the state electoral office to ensure that materials get to their destinations on time and that they are not hijacked.

The PPRO urged Lagosians to obey the movement restriction order and ensure that they cast their votes within their local government areas.

He said that the only people who would be allowed to move about within the period of restriction are journalists, medical personnel, all those who are on essential duties and electoral officers deployed for the exercise. aim is to guide against late arrival of polling materials across the local governments."

Adeyinka explained that there would be changes in the ballot boxes for the elections, adding that only ballot pa-

pers reflecting the candidates fielded by political parties would be made available by LASIEC to guard against rigging.

He said the results of the elections would be announced within 24 hours after the end of voting.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lateef Ibirogba, told reporters that the Fashola administration intended to set a standard of electoral sanity by refraining from interfering with the electoral process.

He reminded the people about the electoral guidelines, especially the restriction of movement from 7am to 4pm, stressing that LASIEC had given the assurance that it would conduct a transparent election.

Ibirogba said the grassroots electoral process has imposed the challenge of testing the worth of the ballot box at the local level at a time Nigerians are discenchanted with the long history of fraud that has marred previous general elections.

He added: "The Saturday election is important because the local government is the closest to the people. We call on Lagosians to troop out en masse to endorse the candidates of their choice without

fear of intimidation and molestation. We encourage our youths to shun thuggery and violence and other acts capable of breaching the peace of the state at this crucial time."

On Thursday, political parties fielding candidates for the

elections rounded off their campaigns across the councils in accordance with LASIEC guidelines. However, the Lagos State PDP reiterated its lack of confidence in the electoral exercise, accusing the ACN of over-bearing influence on the commission.

Continued on Page 58

LASIEC vows to frustrate election riggers AGOS State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) has vowed to thwart the efforts of intending election riggers during today’s local governments’ election.

LASIEC Chairman, Justice AbdulFatai Adeyinka disclosed this yesterday at the press briefing in the commission’s boardroom, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos.

Justice Adeyinka told journalists that the commission had devised means of checkmating electoral offenders.

“LASIEC ballox papers have been customised, which is a measure to avoid rigging of the election. It is the names and logos of the political parties that fielded candidates in a local government council or local council development area that will appear on the ballot paper for the council,”

L

Tajudeen ADEBANJO he said.

He denied allegation that the commission had perfected plans to rig the elections in favour of one party or another.

“I have come out boldly to inform Lagosians that LASIEC is not planning to rig tomorrow’s election for or against any party. We at LASIEC are people of integrity and we have our names and reputation to protect. We have not and we will not engage in any act that will tarnish our personal or corporal image. We have provided a level playing field for all participants and we expect the participants to play according to the rules,” he said.

Continued on Page 58

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

7

8 COMMENTARY

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

Shouldn’t we have traded our democracy for Gaddafi? with

Vincent Akanmode 08077536312 vincentakanmode@yahoo.com

A

N era finally ended in Libya Thursday with the killing of Colonel Mummar Gaddafi in his Sirte hometown two months after he fell from power. After seizing power from King Idris in 1969, Gadaffi had led the country for about 42 years before he was ousted by NATO-assisted rebels in the wake of the waves of pro-democracy protests that swept across the Arab world.

The military leader had stoically resisted calls for a change of leadership in the country, vowing to fight with the last drop of his blood to cling to power. And that was exactly what he did, as his forces resisted the combined forces of the country’s rebels and those of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) for months before he was shot dead.

His death and change of guards in the country’s leadership would, however, be regarded by many Nigerians as a classic instance of the irony that often governs the affairs of men. We live in a world where people who are wealthy enough to afford exotic shoes cannot wear shoes because they are crippled, while others whose legs are in very good shape are so poor that they cannot even afford a pair of bathroom slippers. The Yoruba have a way of putting it: Those who have heads have no caps while those who have caps have no heads.

Or how else could one describe the uprising that led to the fall of a regime that had ensured that every Libyan lived the good life by adequately providing them not only with the basic necessities of life but also with life’s little

H

luxuries. The country had consistently prospered for the 42 years Gaddafi remained in the saddle, ranking among the countries with the highest per capital income in the world. The country, which had wallowed in poverty and groaned under the burden of debt when Gaddafi seized power in 1969, became the country with the highest standard of living in Africa under Gaddafi.

Whereas Nigeria ranked 158th out of the 182 countries listed by the United Nations in its human development index released two years ago, Libya ranked 53. Under the Gaddafi administration, education at primary and secondary levels was completely free. Libyan hospitals competed favourably with those of the advanced countries of Europe and America.

Whereas it is not unusual to find people living under bridges and flyovers in Lagos and other Nigerian cities, every adult Libyan was given a home under Gaddafi. Anyone who desired was given free land and seeds for farming.

While the Nigerian government has been busy threatening its citizens with the withdrawal of subsidy on fuel, Gaddafi’s government had an oil revenue sharing programme in which every Libyan had $500 deposited in his or her bank account every month. Every newly married couple in Libya automatically got the sum of $60,000 from the government.

In an article published in the African Executive Magazine in 2007, one Norah Owaraga noted that Libya, “unlike other oil producing countries such as Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, utilised the revenue from its oil to develop its country. The standard of living of the people of Libya is one of the highest in Africa, falling in the category of countries with a GNP per capita of between USD 2,200 and 6,000. This is all the more remarkable when we consider that in 1951 Libya was officially the poorest country in the world. According to the World Bank, the per capita income was less than $50 a year – even lower than India. Today, all Libyans own their own homes and cars.” Compare the foregoing

AVING embraced journalism as a career—a profession that has taken the better part of my adult life; I was not under any illusion about the likelihood of occasional brushes with those that wield power with reckless impunity in this country. The crying truth is that most men of power have become slaves to their egos.

Nothing gets them raving mad than when any of the subjects they ride roughshod over tries to compel them to tread the path of sanity and live within the ambits of the laws that ought to govern us as a collective. The jury is yet to fathom any logical reason why Nigeria’s ruling elite is wreathed in vainglorious vacuity. Why is it difficult for them to appreciate the simple fact that they hold power in trust; that they are merely first among equals and are expected to set aglow the light of equity in their daily engagements with the rest of the society? Perhaps, they are too far gone in their farcical show of self-adulation to remember that they are just a part of the collective; that without us they can only exist in shadows. They easily forget that egos become the first casualty when the people decide to turn against their tormentors. That is why those in developed democracies tread with utmost caution and wisely, too.

Evidently, our leaders are yet to learn lessons about the imperatives of change from the Arab Spring. Will the tin gods here ever come off their high horses and do the right things?

Sadly, recent events in the country show that the selfacclaimed democrats in the corridors of power are yet to wash their hands off the vestiges of military mentality where might - in its crudest form -was enforced as right.

That was the practice some thirteen odd years ago before one General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd.) dropped his prison uniform; jumped into the apparel of a democrat and was elected into office as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Although a military officer, Obasanjo was a lucky survivor of the sickening madness of military dictatorship.

Denied of his rights to fair hearing over allegation bearing on treasonable felony, he was detained by the General Sani Abacha regime and could have been killed but for the death of the dark-goggled dictator. While the drama was on, the Nigerian press took up his fight, insisting that he must be released in spite of his famed ‘hatred’ for journalists and, wait for it, snakes. For the press then, justice was at the heart of the agitation and it remains so today in spite of this bumpy democratic train.

And so, one had often believed that, in a democratic setting like ours, the forces that are bent on emasculating press freedom and hounding journalists out of the system for whatever reason would be circumspect as there exist clearly defined constitutional means of seeking redress.

Gone were those days when all it took for a journalist to have his hair shaven with broken bottles was the directive of a military governor! The banality of the heart-wrenching tales of dehumanization suffered by journalists under the jackboots of the military was something no one prepared for post-May 29, 1999. Or so we thought During his eightyear reign as civilian President, Obasanjo had cause to disagree with the press on several occasions. There were occasional brushes, too. It was to his credit that he never crossed the bounds of decency by hounding them into prisons or denying them

‘

If the people of Libya had sought our opinion before they killed Gaddafi, Nigerians would most probably gladly vote in favour of a proposal that Jonathan and his cabinet should go to Libya in exchange for Gaddafi. Or what is democracy without electricity, housing, good roads or potable water which are taken for granted in Libya?

’

with the goings on in Nigeria and you would wonder how a country that could no longer endure the prosperous leadership of Gaddafi after 42 years would have tolerated a Babangida, Obasanjo or Jonathan’s government for 42 weeks. Electricity, potable water, good roads and other basic necessities, which are taken for granted in Libya, are patently missing in this part of the world. And this is in spite of the huge tax we pay as citizens.

In the eight years he spent as the Nigerian president between 1999 and 2007, the Obasanjo administration increased the pump price of fuel 11 times, but there was nothing to show for it in terms of infrastructure. During the period, his administration committed a whopping $16 billion to electricity, but even the Presidential Villa where the cheques were signed is still living on generator.

Before him, the Ibrahim Babangida administration had squandered billions of naira from tax payers’ money on a transition programme that was designed to fail. With his toothed smiles, he fooled a population of 150 million with a fake desire to return the country to demo-

cratic governance. In the end, he annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential election widely acclaimed as the freest and fairest Nigeria ever had. In between, he introduced two satanic economic policies—the Structural Adjustment Programme and the Second-tier Foreign Exchange Market— which ended up destroying the naira and further impoverished the already pauperised mass of the people.

Gaddafi’s sin, according to his traducers, were that he turned Libya into a family estate and obstructed the process of democratic governance by dealing harshly with opposition movements in the country. But I wager that given their present condition, more Nigerians would prefer a benevolent despot like Gaddafi to a democratic government that has no answer to the people’s myriad of problems and yet saddle them with high income tax and fuel price.

While I admit that Libya is nowhere near Nigeria in terms of population, I am also convinced that a Gaddafi administration in Nigeria would fare better than those of Obasanjo, Babangida and Jonathan combined. If the people of Libya had sought our opinion before they killed Gaddafi, Nigerians would most probably gladly vote in favour of a proposal that Jonathan and his cabinet should go to Libya in exchange for Gaddafi. Or what is democracy without electricity, housing, good roads or potable water which are taken for granted in Libya?

I have no doubt that Gaddafi would have used our oil money to make our lives better if he was our president. On the other hand, Libya, in the present circumstance, may end up like Nigeria with leaders who would be nothing more than puppets on the springboards of America and Europe. Worse still, like Nigeria, Libya is believed to have more than 150 different tribes. Now that they are all armed, it is difficult to see which tribe will drop its weapon for the other in the power struggle that will follow Gaddafi’s exit.

Day of the Jackals Knucklehead of their freedom. He would rather, with some bit of melodrama and inflated angst, voice his reservations and engage them on a pseudo-intellectual platform. His choice of words might be piercingly uncouth, bitingly irritating with its trademark brutal frankness, especially at a the time the press led the battle that effectively put an end to his third term ambition, but Obasanjo, in spite of some well-known unpopular missteps, left a not-so-terrible record as a selfconfessed ‘enemy’ of the Nigerian press.

Now, fast forward to October 2011 when a ‘bloody civilian’ is in charge of the levers of governance. After more than a decade of adapting to the ethos of democracy, it should be given that issues bearing on the violation of an individual’s rights would be treated in accordance with the rule of law.

Moreover, it should not matter if that individual happens to be a powerful member of the ruling party or the thieving class, right? Well, wrong, very wrong. If that were to be the case, Knucklehead would not be whining on this page today.

It never occurred to one that a simple letter from the Nigeria Police, asking the Editor of this paper to visit its Area 10 office and help in “shedding light on its ‘facts finding’ efforts” would lead to any form of unjustifiable imprisonment. Indeed, it led to a rash of unpalatable events that has shaken one’s faith in the ability of the top echelon of the Nigeria Police to live above jackboot tactics and refrain from pandering to the whim of the raiders of power.

Let us get one thing clear. Like every other citizen, Obasanjo reserves the right to seek redress if he feels his ‘integrity’ has been maligned by the publication of a ‘secret’ letter he allegedly wrote to President Goodluck Jonathan. No one can deny him the right to file a suit against The NATION for publishing the ‘vexatious’ story.

One can even excuse his jabbering and indecorous reference to the top hierarchy of the publication outfit as ‘insane.’ For a man that once labeled a gathering of despairing mourners as ‘fools’ and hollered at a clergyman to ‘shut up’, it cannot be out of place if he irreverently tagged journalists as nuts. The feeling is mutual anyway. As Wole Soyinka once said, respect is like a bridge; it also faces backward. So does some aspects of perception, according to psychologists and top-level psychiatrists whom you can rely on for a proper analysis of the junkyard people running amok in Nigeria’s corridors of power.

They, not us, need the services of certified shrinks!

Having said this, one thing that will forever remain condemnable is Obasanjo’s resort to the employment of state powers to enforce a shambolic justice. More annoying is the fact that the state whimsically made its agencies available for the undignified assignment. Because Obasanjo complained about a slight discomfort with the publication, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation did not waste time in directing the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, to investigate and prosecute this paper. The same Ringim that is still at a loss about dealing with Boko Haram! In less than four days after the directive, four senior editors and three other members of staff of this company were hauled into detention after frantic efforts failed to yield the

With

Yomi Odunuga E-mail:yomi.odunuga @thenationonlineng.net SMS only: 07028006913 ‘information’ they wanted, even under duress. The questions were not just irritating but ludicrous.” How did you get the letter?” “Why do you hate Obasanjo?”

“Who owns The NATION?” “Who directed you to write the story?” “Were you being fair to Obasanjo?” “As one of the editors, why was the story not discussed with you?” On and on they went with truckloads of questions.

For six harrowing hours, the questions came in torrents. It was clear the aim was just to weaken one’s resolve and inflict a deep psychological torture. Twelve hours later, three of us were detained under the orders and at the pleasure of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for “forgery, defamation of character and sedition.”

We had been persecuted even before being tried. No plea was taken. Obasanjo’s ego had been bruised by a story published by a presumed enemy paper and some persons must be seen to be suffering for it. After all, was that not what the chief law officer of the country meant when he wrote Ringim to investigate and prosecute? Just that, in this case, the investigation, prosecution and conviction took place in just 24 hours! While the three of us were busy haggling prices, negotiating for comfortable bed space in the over-crowded cell, those who have turned democracy into a huge joke must be grinning from ear to ear. What a tragedy!

Significantly, the perfidy of an arrest was playing out some few days to the 25th anniversary of the murder of one of Nigeria’s celebrated journalists, Dele Giwa. 25 years after, we are still in the dark, waiting for Nigeria’s security and law enforcement agencies to show some results in view of the billions of Naira allocated to security, intelligence gathering and such terms over the years. I really do not want to dwell on a case that is still being investigated neither would I want to relive the dark interludes that played out at the detention camp. I will rather ask these troubling questions: Would the heavens have fallen if this much touted ‘criminal investigations’ had been handled differently? Was it necessary to ‘escort’ the ‘suspects’ to their offices for a search, with armedto-the-teeth mobile policemen?

What was that drama all about? Was it an attempt to massage a man’s ego or a search for the truth? Was it not a mere reminder that the days of the jackals are not yet over, even some 13 years after the military abdicated the throne of torture?

Oh, what a country!

9

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

G

OVERNMENTS , corporate and so cial institutions pursue set goals and objectives that should ensure their survival, relevance and sustainability in whatever socio- economic and ecological environment they operate. To achieve this they set up policies and legal instruments to achieve their goals legitimately and effectively.

They also build relations and develop key interactions and networks with supporting and willing collaborators to achieve their goals and objectives. Such is the nature and functions expected of any government or its agencies as well as the companies or institutions working under the jurisdiction of any political system. That too should be the goals or mode of operation of nations in the global community or comity of nations.

Under normal circumstances, therefore, no sane government or institution will pursue policies that are detrimental to its existence or get involved in relations that create obstacles to the achievement of its set goals and objectives. Whilst unexpected challenges may arise in the pursuit of set goals and objectives there should always be a willingness on the part of the state or institution to face the challenges squarely and ensure the continuity of both government and governance.

Which means that challenges whether expected or not are not allowed to degenerate into security risks that threaten both the survival and existence of the state or institution .Such challenges therefore must not be allowed to become threats and costly one at that to the state in the achievement of its set goals and objectives.

It is to issues like these that we address ourselves today but with a great deal of concern and apprehension on the trend in government and corporate circles both locally and internationally. A convenient take off point abroad is the anti–Wall Street demonstrations in western Europe and Asia Pacific where demonstrators are saying bankers greed, more than anything else is responsible for the present global economic melt down that started in 2008.

The bankers too have not folded their hands but have responded that too much spending by governments has been the culprit for the present dismal state of the world economy.

Locally in Nigeria the determination of the present government to withdraw subsidy on petroleum products which provide fuel and energy for the Nigerian nation and people gives great cause for concern. This is especially so as it appears the government is resolute and would not be swayed from this path as it was reported to be already removing the subsidies from some state monthly fis-

Costly policies, equations and relations

cal revenue allocations even as it is calling for a debate on the subsidy removal.

If you add to this the pessimism on economic survival of Europe in informed circles in the EU, given the violence over the riots in Greece on the austerity measures required to be put in place to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debts and ruining the Eurozone, then you see that the global picture for economic prosperity is really dismal.

Indeed, for Europe, once the most economically prosperous state on earth the experts have said that the welfare state, which raised the standard of living in Europe to the highest in the world, is no more relevant if Europe is to survive economically given its present very limited and overstretched resources.

To me however economic costs alone cannot determine the costs of policies, relations and the political equations setting them up. Budgets and Deficit Management can show lapses in fiscal control, discipline and direction.

But no figures can show the

intangible, unspoken and unwritten benefits as well as the damage that some policies and relations do to the host communities of such policies.

Since as we said before no nation, institution or corporate body sets out to hurt its own interests or objectives, we cannot understand why governments should create policies that will impoverish their people such as the economic austerity in Greece now or the impending fuel subsidy removal about to happen in Nigeria.

Even in Europe where it is being agreed that the welfare state is being threatened, that same state provided succor in terms of the basic amenities of life for Europeans for decades.

Such amenities included affordable housing, shelter, education, roads, healthcare, airports and above all security. In Nigeria today such basic facilities or infrastructure are lacking and are indeed being promised from subsidy removal by this administration 51 years after independence and billions of wasted barrels of oil wealth.

I listened to a BBC interview that concluded that 10% of Nigerians abroad are coming home annually because they have discovered that it is easier to make money in Nigeria.

If that is indeed true it does not however remove the fact that millions more Nigerians at home have not had access to the petro dollar which is driving the Nigerian economy and are living a miserable economic subsistent existence. Millions more cut corners or break the rules in official capacities to make ends meet.

The subsidy removal will kill small businesses, sky rocket local prices and galvanise corruption in the civil service. It will provide ammunition for labor forces to charge the government with callousness and no regard for the welfare of those who elected it. Since no government can subsist on a charge of ignoring the welfare of its people it remains to be seen how the government will provide security for itself and its people under such circumstances.

Events in two nations where money and economic statistics and fig-

ures have predominated at the expense of huge social costs are relevant here. The two nations however also have the worst security problems in the world today after Iraq. The two nations are Afghanistan and Pakistan. The story is quite simple if very costly in terms of government policy, relations and subsequent strategic equations and it revolves around the US, the Pakistani army and its politicians which both provide the leadership in that nation.

The US gave money to the Pakistani leaders to help it find Taliban terrorists in a huge area of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan where the US have installed the corrupt Karzai government in a rigged election since driving the Taliban away from government after accusing it of sheltering the master brain of 9/11 Osams Bin Laden. The Pakistani leaders took the money but started quarrelling amongst themselves.

The army was in power when the money came and its leader wanted to change his uniform and continue in power. But Pakistani politicians said ‘no’ in unison that the situation could be better managed in a real democracy and the US could not but acquiesce .So the army took a second position but did not help the US find Bin Laden or snuff out the Taliban.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who visited Kabul unexpectedly this week made fun of Pakistani leaders that she could not believe that they did not know where Bin

Laden was hiding in Pakistan in spite of the huge amount they were collecting from the US for finding the A Qada leader. To drive home the point the US killed Bin Laden near a military academy in Pakistan and buried his body at sea. Of course there had been a break down of confidence and trust ever since between Pakistan and the US. But that has not stopped the Pakistani leaders receiving the dollars from the Americans. Even the man propped up by the Americans as President of Afghanistan in Kabul has said he is more comfortable with Pakistani leaders. This is because US drone planes kill Afghanistans daily on the excuse of looking for terrorists and the people direct their anger and indignation at the government provided by the US puppet in power in Kabul.

In conclusion therefore no sane government should manage it policies and relations like these two governments which because of economic and military aid have created a state of insecurity not only for themselves but their entire people.

They have also literally lost their sovereignty and self respect because of some crumbs from the table of their collaborators who now see them as ungrateful and untrustworthy for taking money for services not rendered. Such is the disgraceful fate of governments who shoot themselves in the leg when they abandon the social costs and effects of their policies, relations and political equations.

10

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

We get money for development because we have stopped the godfathers from ‘eating’ — Edo Governor Oshiomhole In this interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, discusses his administration’s huge intervention in the area of infrastructure and his mission to transform the rural economy of the nation’s heartbeat. He also spoke on fiscal governance and his deft management of funds in a state confronted by paucity of revenue.

Spiced in his usual wits and banter, the comrade-governor takes us through his strides of political, economic and social reengineering of Edo and his herculean task of salvaging the state from doldrums. It is vintage Oshiomhole. Excerpts:

R

OAD construction and rehabilitation is a cardinal objective of your administration and the scope of what we have seen is quite large. Now, what safeguards do you have in place to ensure the durability of the projects, taking into consideration the huge cost and the difficult terrain of this state?

For us, we identify road construction as part of our priorities because it is fundamental to the economy of the state. In the urban areas, we realise that to facilitate intra-city movement and enhance the sociocommercial life of the city, people should be able to move very freely. If the roads are bad, then intra-city movement can be a nightmare, you are most likely going to find avoidable holdups because of potholes, cost of maintaining vehicles will be on the high side and people are not able to move from one place to the other, it affects the commercial life; it also affects investment and investors’ confidence.

So, it’s not just that you want to beautify the place; it’s that you need it as part of our long-term economic strategy to reposition the state for sustainable social and economic problem.

We also believe that the most pressing problem facing Nigeria today is the problem of unemployment and the growing poverty among the rank of the poor. People are getting poorer and even some of the middle class are beginning to join the category of the poor.

So, to deal with those, we felt that we have to open up the rural areas; so we are not just working in urban areas in terms of urban renewal, we are also working in the rural areas. We try to open up the rural communities so that, first, they can have access to carry their farm produce to the market and therefore get value for their effort in the rural communities. But we also found out that some of the key basic needs including water, education and health are to be provided.

Talk about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), you can’t even deliver those without a comprehensive road network. For example, you cannot locate a health centre in a rural community that is not accessible.

Even if you find a way to build it, you won’t find doctors and nurses that will want to ride bicycle to go and live in a village where there is no road; and so you also find that even to provide a borehole, the vehicle that carry’s the rigs cannot access the community if there is no road. So, some of the basic needs can’t be delivered without road network. So I think for us therefore, it wasn’t difficult for us to identify road as one of the drivers of growth, one of the key infrastructure we need to sustain economic development.

But your main question is: “How do we ensure that the roads last and are maintained?” The answer is fairly straightforward. It’s like going to the market to buy clothes, you find a cheap one, you find an expensive one. Some will be expensive because of the designs on it; others are expensive because of the quality. If you settle for the cheap one you buy it knowing full well that after washing it once or twice, the colours will fade and it will be useless.

But in the short run, it will have appeal but you know it’s not going to last. But what recommends it is low price, so you have to make a conscious choice between buying two or three pieces of say, African print (as we call it in the textile industry) or you buy one wax print. Wax print will cost you more but the colour will be there for as long as

•Oshiomhole

you have that material with you, it will last up to ten years. The African print, four, five, six times you wash it over two, three months you find the colour fading off.

In designing your road, you make a statement as to what you want. Around the world, you find that there are roads that last for as much as 50 years. They could have concrete base but it will cost more money.

You also have the kind of road that the

Federal Government has been doing on Lagos-Benin; that they keep repairing from military to civilian, from government to government. And that is because they settle for cheap and poor specifications. Even at the time of construction, both those who designed it and the contractors doing it know it’s not going to last. But you and I who don’t know would say, “Ah! government is working”; but it is programmed to fail in a short run. So in

Edo, we have a policy that says: “Look if we must build a road, it must meet with certain minimum specifications.”

Number two, it must take into account the terrain. In some locations, you find that you might be safe to rely on well compacted laterite base. In some other terrain, you will find that you need hardcore as well as stone base before you do asphalt. You may find that even in asphalt, you might need to do bidders’ course, a weary course before you lay another weary course. Now, once the design takes into account all of those factors, you are likely to come up with roads that will last. In any event, you have to be ready to maintain the roads. Everything is about maintenance.

Your Excellency, it is evident that you are in a hurry to develop Edo State, but are you sure your civil service is ready to cope with your pace?

I think at this point it is no longer theoretical because I have been in office now for two years and about 10 months. I believe that every political leader should be in a hurry because we are all contract staff. We are contract staff in the sense that we have tenure, and so every day that you’ve lost is lost for good. Now, the civil servant may have a life guaranteed employment, not the governor, not the commissioner. And so, once you are clear of what you want to do, the good thing is that you can get the service to adjust to the vision of the governor. But I think in the first few months, we had some challenges getting the service to appreciate that this is a new administration and its approach to public office is different.

Some complained that they were overwhelmed by the number of projects that they have; because roads alone for example, we are working on more than 33 roads at the same time. And this is a service that in the past may be for a whole year, they probably didn’t have to work on more than one or two roads, and also roads that were very poorly designed. We also found that they were not quite used to supervision. They had always assumed that every governor just wanted to put something black on surface and take money into the pocket. So they didn’t bother in terms of quality control and supervision.

What we’ve had to do was bring in external consultants, interact with the Nigerian Society of Engineers and assess seasoned engineers who are not civil servants, appoint them on consultancy basis and allocate them to various roads for them to design and to supervise the construction. So that way I have secondary opinion – the opinion of the civil servant, who is the Ministry of Works, and the opinion of the independent consultant who is not a civil servant and who reports directly to the governor. That way we are able to have a sort of little check and balancing. But even at that, I would confess that we still had a couple of situations in which some of the external consultants were compromised and we’ve had cause to fire one or two of them. But, overall, it has worked reasonably well. It has also helped us in terms of costing projects.

Sometimes, Nigerians believe projects are inflated, and it is true. Part of the problem may be deliberate that someone wanted the project inflated so that he can pocket something. But also, there is some arising from lack of clear cut criteria for costing. For example, if a project is not properly designed, without proper designs you cannot have what we call “bill of engineering measurement”. There is nothing to measure

•Continued on Page 18

—Nollywood actor

Elvis Chucks

Two months after

Life & Style/ 41

19

Ibadan flood:

‘Sanusi, Ghadaffi and Maitama Sule are my ideal men of style’

r/ Thrille

Screen/ 34

It is wicked to say I am gay

Weekend

PEOPLE THE NATION, Saturday, OCTOBER 22, 2011

Relat io

nship

11

Some of the elders at an enumeration exercise

It’s welcome ‘manna’ Monthly stipend excites Ekiti senior citizens

Mrs. Richie-Adewusi, Commissioner for Women Affairs

12

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

W

HEN The Nation called at his house around 10:30 am in the morning of last Tuesday, Pa Abiodun Aladejana, an 82-year-old man, was sitting outside his house at Ijigbo area of Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

Even on his seat, it could be guessed that Pa Aladejana still looked smart, suggesting that he was active in his youthful years. He admitted. “I used to be a driver. But now I cannot drive again”, he said.

Mrs. Grace Ibikunle, over 70 years old and a resident of Oke Ori Omi area of the capital, was exultant when the reporter met her. Although relatively still active, signs of age on her were unmistakable.

Both Pa Aladejana and Mrs. Grace Ibikunle were among the 10, 682 elders whose ages and an opportunity of earlier registration would qualify them, starting from this month, to receive a sum of N5,000 allowance. This is one of the welfare plans of the current administration of Governor Kayode Fayemi.

According to State Commissioner for Labour, Productivity and Human Capital Development, Mrs. Olubunmi Adelugba, beneficiaries of the State Government largesse would start getting paid beginning from October 25.

She said: “Government is aware that it would not be proper to locate points of collection too far away from where our fathers and mothers are residing.

This is why it was decided that beneficiaries would collect the entitlements from the banks in the towns where they reside or the closest banks to where they stay”.

Like many of Governor Fayemi’s poverty alleviation programmes, particularly in the area of health, the social security scheme for senior citizens started with a one-day training for enumerators and a one-week enumeration of the concerned segment.

The two programmes held concurrently across 16 local government areas of the state.

The survey, which was the first of its kind not only in Ekiti State but in Nigeria, received wide acclaim across sections of the state, including the direct beneficiaries made up of indigenes and non-indigenes of the state.

The payment of stipends to senior citizens in the state is actually being anchored by the state Ministry of Women Affairs, Social Development and Gender Empowerment and it complements the ongoing free health programme for the segment.

The Head of Service, Mr. Olubunmi Famosaya, who represented the chairman of the Committee on Social Security Scheme for Senior Citizens in the state and Secretary to The State Government, Mr. Ganiyi Owolabi, at the initial training for enumerators, said: “The programme is to ensure that senior citizens have access to some income to take care of their basic needs”.

Also, the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Social Development and Gender Empowerment, Mrs. Fola RichieAdewusi, who spoke at the training, stated that “the welfare of the senior citizens in the state is central, being part of Governor Fayemi’s Eight-Point Agenda”.

She added that “since our culture does not encourage the setting up of old people’s homes, the state government had to fashion out a way of continuously identifying with the elderly in our society”.

The social security scheme is already exciting the potential beneficiaries.

•Madam Dorcas Oke-Richards

•Madam Felicia Owootomo

•Governor Fayemi

Monthly stipend excites Ekiti senior citizens Most of those we spoke to welcomed the programme with enthusiasm.

Pa. Aladejana, who disclosed that he was once a commercial vehicle driver, admitted that he now depends on whatever his children send to him.

“Since I retired from driving, I have been depending on my children. Although they are trying, I know life will be easier if the government can

be giving me the N5,000 that you said”.

Pa Afolabi Daramola, 76-year-old Ado indigene living in Aso Ajegunle in the capital, was once a farmer. Full of praises and thanks for the government, he noted that such a development had never happened in the state.

“I consider it a totally strange thing that somebody would be giving me an amount of money every month. I be-

lieve him because of what he has been doing. Some of my children who had been at home after going to the university are now working under him. I believe and God will assist him.

Mrs. Grace Ibikunle, who said she was still a trader, observed that the promise would be great lift for her if implemented, noting that she lives by the little crumbs from the sale of garri

13

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

•Alhaji Idris Omole left with wife, Rabiatu at the centre

•Pa Biodun Olofinlaye

she deals in.

“I cannot tell my children to give me money all the time. That is why I still engage myself in selling garri. It is profitable if one finds a market. If Fayemi can be giving me the money, I can even expand my business”, Ibikunle said.

Alhaji Idris Omole, 89 years old, who came with his wife, Alhaja Rabiatu Idris, 82, said that the entire citizenry would forever be grateful for “the great things the state governor has been doing. Some have been saying he is lying. But I tell them he is not lying, as I have convictions he means well for our state. I have come because I believe”.

Some of the hopeful beneficiaries, however, expressed worries about being paid through a third party.

They want the government to pay them directly and not through any intermediary.

But the commissioner allayed their fears. She said: “Nobody would get paid by proxy. Every beneficiary will be paid directly. But, before government makes the payments, we will go to the local government beginning from this week to ascertain that not all those who registered get paid and also that those who are genuinely in need are put on the pay roll.

“Let me cite an example, if my mother was among those registered, we will remove her name as she should not be among those being considered. For an elderly to be considered, such must be genuinely in need and without immediate support of a well to do son/daughter or breadwinner. It is also not for those

‘

‘

I consider it a totally strange thing that somebody would be giving me an amount of money every month. I believe him because of what he has been doing. Some of my children who had been at home after going to the university are now working under him. I believe and God will assist him.

•Pa Sunday Abiodun

•Pa Biodun Aladejana

who are retired either from state or federal establishments and are earning pensions.

“There are challenges, however. A

I cannot tell my children to give me money all the time. That is why I still engage myself in selling garri. It is profitable if one finds a market. If Fayemi can be giving me the money, I can even expand my business

’

critical number still remains unregistered. They claim that they made efforts at the time but did not succeed.

Some even claimed that the enumerators who came to them once and promised to return, never did”.

Madam Oke Richards, a centenarian resident of Oke Ori-Omi and Pa Sunday Abiodun, a septuagenarian resident of same community, are among those who missed registration. They have therefore pleaded passionately with the state government to give them another opportunity to register.

Some of the elders who missed registration are really desperate to be part of the scheme. In some instances, they mistook the reporter as an enumerator. They started supplying basic infor-

’

mation about themselves. They felt very disappointment when they discovered the reporter’s true identity.

“Please, how can you help us to register as well? Do you know them?”, they questioned eagerly In response to this, the commissioner, Mrs. Adelugba said the state is really concerned about the development. She said: “This is however not avoidable in an exercise of this nature. It was in recognition of this and to avoid future hitches that the governor has put in place a Data Capture Centre as a databank for the elderly in the state”.

“Let me quickly add that those who were one way or another excluded from the first enumeration exercise for the elderly would be accommodated in subsequent sixmonthly review and update of the exercise. The first will come up in the next six months”, she added.

She disclosed that the databank can equally be tailored to accommodate other people-based programmes of the state government.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

14

We gave our victims little food so they would not have strength to escape —Suspected kidnappers

•The suspects: Kenneth Okonkwo (left) and Azubuike Okafor

•Suspects’ jeep used as armoury

•The victims: (From left) Rodney Ogagba; Godwin N. Okonkwo and Dr. Godwin Emeke Eneh

M

EMBERS of a nine-man robbery gang smashed by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Lagos State Police Command, have confessed that they carried out seven robbery operations before they were arrested.

Four members of the gang were arrested in a bungalow at Afolabi Street, Igando, Lagos last Saturday following an information received by the Commander, Mobile Police Force 2, Patrick Ejedawe, a Super-

Ebele BONIFACE intendent of Police (SP) from a good Samaritan, who hinted that one Mr. Rodney Ogagba had been kidnapped at Alausa area of Lagos.

In the bid to rescue Ogagba, Ejedawe liaised with the officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, who mobilised his squad to track down the suspected kidnappers.

The gang was said to have sent one of its members, Kenneth Okonkwo (29), a native of Arochukwu, Abia State, to collect a N2.5 million ransom from the family of Ogagba after the gang’s leader, one Obinna, who was still at large at press time, had collected the sum of N4 million without releasing the victim.

Following his arrest, Okonkwo took SARS operatives to the gang’s hideout at Igando. On getting to the gate of the house which also

had a high perimeter fence, the suspect told the policemen that accompanied him to knock at the gate so that somebody would come out to open it. Unknown to the policemen, knocking at the gate was a way of alerting the gang about the presence of policemen.

Hence, the moment the policemen knocked at the gate, the suspects scaled the fence and escaped.

Unfortunately for one of them named Azubuike Okafor (31), a native of Awka, Anambra State, who was the gang’s officer in charge of food, was shot in the leg as he came out of the kitchen and scaled the fence. He could not run further because of the bullet wound he and was apprehended.

A search carried out on the bungalow by SARS operatives revealed two other victims of kidnapping, Dr. Godwin Emeke Eneh and Mr. Godwin N. Okonkwo, in shackles and blindfolded with cloth and shackles and kept at a corner in the bungalow.

The policemen, upon further search, found a Nissan Extera Jeep with a Lagos number plate RN 138 AAA, dynamite, a rocket launcher, three rockets, eight AK 47 rifles, 108 AK 47 magazines fully loaded with 30 ammunition each, 665 live AK 47 ammunition and some expended cartridges the kidnap suspects fired before they escaped.

Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the kidnap suspects, Ogagba •Continued on Page 16

15

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

‘I didn’t know my boyfriend was a robber; I stuck to him because he was good in bed’

T

WO female armed robbery suspects, Risi Amodu, a 38year-old widow from Ikare Akoko, Ondo State and Esther Kornyon, a 38-year-old Liberian divorcee, have cried out to the officer in charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command, Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, to release them from detention. The two, who were being held from armed robbery, said they were mere girlfriends to the leader of an eight-man robbery gang named Boma, who was at large.

Explaining her involvement in a robbery operation at Road 8 Block 2, Lekki Phase II, Ajah, Lagos on August 25, 2011, Mrs. Risi Amodu said: “I am a hair dresser based at Oworonsoki near Bariga in Lagos State. I am legally married to the late Fatai Hassan from Epe. He was a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Bariga branch. But he died in an accident during the 2007 general election in the state. I have two boys for him and God is taking care of them.

“As for Boma, the gang leader still at large, he has been my boyfriend since I lost my dear husband. We were living together at Oworonsoki before we relocated to Ikota in Ajah area. I did not know that he was an armed robber. He only comes to my house, sleep and makes me happy by cuddling me and giving me money to buy food and choice wine to make me happy. He is good in bed, and I thought he was still with NURTW. It was only on September 27, 2011 that I discovered that he was an armed robber, and I shouted at him and told him to relocate or leave my house, and he left.

“On that day, he burst into my house at Oworonsoki with bullet wounds. I asked him what happened and he said he had boil. I shouted at him leave my house or tell me the truth. When he saw that I was serious and aggressive, he told me that it was a bullet wound he received when he went to ‘chobby’ somewhere in town.

“I asked what he meant by’ chobby’ and he said armed robbery.

I refused to treat him and asked him to go or I would shout. He quickly left my house and has not returned.

“Although he has not been arrested, I am believing God that he will soon be arrested. I don’t support armed robbery, no matter my relationship with you.

On her part, Esther Kornyon said: “I am not an armed robber. I don’t rob with him. I came to Nigeria in 1998 with my husband, one Augustine, a Nigerian from Cross River State. But we are now divorced.

“I sell pepper soup, beer, hot drinks, cigarette, kola nuts and moin moin. He had been coming to patronise me and I remained grateful to him. He is one of my special customers because he used to spend a lot of money whenever he came.

He does not look at money in the face when he wants to give you money to enjoy yourself.

“One day, after drinking, he ‘toasted’ me and started caressing me, begging me to be his girlfriend, and I accepted and followed him to his house to sleep with him.

“He told me not to visit him any

•Akeem Alao

•Risi Amodu

Ebele BONIFACE time he locked himself inside to enable himself to recover from the day’s hustle. Hence, whenever I visited him and found his door closed, I would not knock, to avoid provoking him or disturbing his rest.

“But some of my friends had been telling me that Boma was sleeping with other women and was merely deceiving me. It was when I was arrested and brought to SARS office that I discovered that he has another woman friend called Risi.

“I am not a member of his gang. I am a mere woman friend to him.

“I once caught him with a woman in his house but he denied, calling her his dear sister. That was on September 20, 2011. That day, I kept N9,000 in his house because three girls were staying with me and I did not want them to know that I was keeping money.

“In the evening time of the same day, Boma was inside his house with one girl and I knocked. But he could not open the door. He asked me what I was looking for. I told him that it was the money I kept there that I wanted to collect to enable me to buy drinks. He also told me that

the woman I saw in the house was his sister.

“At about 11pm when he escorted the girl out, I sprayed my wrapper on the floor and slept. But at about 1am, I had a bang at the door and I woke up. Three policemen told me that I was under arrest. They asked me about the whereabouts of Boma and I told them that I did not know.

“The policemen then took me to Ajah Police Station, where they told me that Boma was an armed robber. But I told them that I didn’t know. I told them that I only knew him as an okada rider.”

One of the robbery suspects, Akeem Alao (36), a father of four who hails from Ilorin, Kwara State, said he learnt iron-bending but had no workshop. He said he resided at Ikota on Ajah Road, Lagos.

He said: “I was not getting jobs. I consulted Boma Ogolo, who claimed that he had connection with contractors and captains of industry in Lagos and beyond. He assured me that I would get much work from him.

“After visiting him at a beer parlour and collecting money from him to help myself, he told me that one day that he would test me to

•Esther Kornyon

know whether I would be able to do the work he was planning for me.

That was how he took me to my first armed robbery outing and I made N200,000 on that day.

Another suspect, Michael Ayomide Omotoye (31), a native of Ilaje in Ondo State, said: “I was working as a sales representative of a company based at Lewis Street, Obalende Lagos. I resigned because of the distance from my house to office, which consumed my meager monthly salary.

“I joined Boma’s gang this year. I have participated only in three operations before I was arrested by

•Ayomide Omotoye

SARS. I was arrested at Kura Close to Obalende, Lagos.

Commenting on the arrest of the robbery suspects and the recovery of dangerous weapons from them, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Yakubu Alkali, the ability of the command to foil many robbery attempts to the gallantry of the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, the State Criminal Intelligence Bureau and the X-Squad network.

He also commended Governor Raji Fashola for “doing a lot to assist police and still assisting the police.”

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

16

Why 30-yr-old woman went berserk, vandalised 20 cars

•The woman (sitting down) surrounded by people

•Gulf 4 Reg Num HA 383 EFY

T

HE question on the lips of many who witnessed the scene in Efon- Alaaye, Ekiti State, of vandalisation by a woman in her early 30s of about 20 vehicles and some shops has been why. The whys are contained not only in their speeches but even in their looks.

Most among them looked at the strange woman with awe and pity.

The inhabitants of the sleepy town on undulating hills located in Efon Local Government could not understand why this woman would wake

Sulaiman SALAWUDEEN, Ado-Ekiti up as early as 4:30am, get hold of a cutlass and go after windscreens, side glasses and any other glass object that comes as necessity in vehicles.

But even some who knew her never suspected she had been nursing some grudges, as confirmed not only by the chairman of the Local Government, Mr. Joel Omoniyi, but

also Mr. Samuel Adetunsin, a middle-aged man, who claimed to be her uncle.

When she was done with some shops, she reportedly also went after another shop located on the same street where she lives and vandalised its contents, including unused recharge cards.

Going back and forth, she was draped in a cover cloth possibly donated to her to cover herself as she was said to have initially been walking about with just a pant and

bra and wielding a cutlass with which she unleashed destruction.

Surrounded by scores of bewildered inhabitants this strange Wednesday morning, one could guess as she sauntered about, sitting occasionally talking cheerfully to people, saying all manner of things that Olubu Olaure, as the woman identified herself, that she might be out of her senses.

The Nation tried to have a conversation with her: What is your name?

I am Olubu Olaure.

Why did you break the glasses of the vehicles early this morning?

Because I like to do that.

Further questions posed to her to get at the real reasons she did what she did only exposed her suspectedly unstable mental state, as she babbled incoherently amid intermittent laughs.

Fair-complexioned, she reportedly lives at 11, Ojodi Street in the town where she occupied a room in a one-storeyed building with one of her victims, a woman in her early 50s, who was head teacher in a primary school in Efon township.

According to reports, she was still carrying the cutlass and moving round the areas where she had done the ‘early morning assignment’ when at about 6:00am people came out to witness destructions to their property and saw the alleged perpetrator still milling round.

Although she did not attack people, she was said to have resisted attempts to wrest the cutlass from her. She was, however, later overpowered.

Mr. Awopetu Oluwayemi Femi, owner of a red coloured Gulf 4, registration Number HA 383 EFY, one of the vandalised cars said he did not know what to do or say.

“It was people who came to inform me that something had happened to my car around 6:00am.

When I rushed down, I met this. I don’t know what I can do. This is a woman I have seen time and time again. I never suspected she has such a problem. This is a car I bought less than a month ago”, he said.

Other vehicles, including Mitsubishi Lancer, Number HW

17

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

,

750 KJA, belonging to Ayeni Oladele Emanuel and Charmant model, Number AA 906 JER, suffered various grades of destruction.

Given the scale of vandalisation and the spatial spread of the vehicles, it was apparent that the woman must have engaged herself for about one hour, moving from spot to spot solely for the purpose of seeking which vehicle to attack.

Another victim, Miss Stella Modupe Ajayi, who said she was head teacher of Alawaye Community Primary School, whose Mazda 626 Number AE 578 EFY, was equally badly damaged, disclosed she stayed with the suspectedly deranged woman in the same house.

She added that woman never showed signs of mental malady “until last week when she made her see hell”.

“I have stayed here in this house with her for years. Nothing like this had ever happened. But just last week, she started behaving funny.

She took a tyre and attempted throwing it at me.

“When she threatened to beat me, I ran out but she ran after me. She took a substance smelling like human faeces and splashed it on me.

Some people intervened and she allowed me to rest”, Modupe Ajayi said.

On the further steps she took after the period, Miss Ajayi said she did not do anything after that day until this Wednesday when the woman visited her rage on people’s vehicles.

Mr. Samuel Adetunsin, who said he is an uncle to the woman, however, disclosed she had not been normal for about 15 years.

“I remember that when she finished primary school, she followed a man to Lagos where she was reported to have rough-handled a woman and since then, she has been in and out of the strange condition.

“Consequent upon her unpredictable mental state, which has refused to heal, her mother has been very sick for the past five years and eventually had to be taken to a herbalist’s house”, Samuel said.

The chairman of the Local Government, Mr. Joel Omoniyi, who was at the scene while the woman was being interrogated by the community, said the council would direct the social welfare section to take measures regarding the issue.

“We all can see that she is a threat to peace in the town. We cannot leave her like this. The social wel-

•The headteacher in the primary school who stays with the woman, standing by her vandalised car

,

•Another vehihle vandalised by the woman

fare section will be mandated to come for her immediately”, the chairman sad.

Mr. Omotade recalled that he was somewhere on a day when the woman, Olubu, came and offered to pray for people with whom he was having a discussion. Being a usual practice, she was said to have been allowed to pray.

Omotade said: “But as she was praying, one could guess that she was not normal. At that point, I

stopped saying ‘amen’ to her prayer.”

This was supported by another woman, who identified herself as Madam Feyi, who disclosed that the woman normally went about pretending to be praying for people.

“That is how she has been going about. She would first tell you she has a message from the Lord and that you should allow her to pray for you; after, she would demand handsets. She would even tell you

not to give her money. And that is why some people say she has been pretending”, Feyi said.

Around 10:30am of the day, about four police officers from the Divisional Police Station in Efon came in a van and took her away, declining to offer any comment on the development.

The Divisional Police Officer of the area, Mr. Abanaofor Ify, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, who confirmed that the woman had

‘We gave our victims little food’ •Continued from Page 14

said: “My face was tied with a piece of cloth, while my two legs were chained. They kidnapped me on September 3 this year. So, I spent more than five weeks in their den. They took me from Alausa area of Lagos.

“They used to give me a slice of bread and water with sugar for breakfast. When I was rescued and the police unchained me and removed the cloth the hoodlums used to tie my face, I could not see for more than 10 minutes. I am now trying to move my legs up and down, having been chained to a place for more than one month.

“I was only hearing voices but could not recognise them. We were not allowed to take our bath throughout our stay in their den.

I thank the MOPOL 2 Commander Patrick and O/C SARS Kyari for their courage, because the kidnappers were so armed that only policemen with courage would confront them. I had already given them N4 million. It was the N2.5 million they wanted to collect again that trapped them.”

I remember that when she finished primary school, she followed a man to Lagos where she was reported to have roughhandled a woman and since then, she has been in and out of the strange condition... We all can see that she is a threat to peace in the town

•Weapons recovered from suspected armed robbers

The second and third victims said they were still negotiating ransom and telling their family to look for money as their abductors

were threatening to waste their lives if the time given to them to pay the ransom expired. That was when SARS operatives stormed

their hideout and rescued them.

Both victims had not fully recovered from the pains inflicted on them through torture.

In his confession, the first suspect, Okafor, said: “I went to buy foodstuff from the market. When I came back, I entered the kitchen to prepare food for everybody, including the victims. I was in the kitchen when SARS operatives stormed the bungalow. I was the last to run. Unfortunately, the policemen shot me in the leg when I scaled the fence. I was not able to run again, hence the security men there alerted SARS men that I was in the next compound with bullet wound.

“It was one Obinna who called me to come to Lagos so that he would assist me to travel to Germany after the kidnap job. I am the chief cook. I used to prepare delicious food for the victims, only that I served the victims small food so that they would not be strong enough to fight for their escape.”

The second suspect, Okonkwo, said it was one Obinna who collected the N4 million ransom paid

by Ogagba’s family. He said: “It

been taken into custody, noted that efforts would be made with relevant authorities to rehabilitate her.

But the people whose vehicles were affected are still confused about how to institute repairs, while the inhabitants of the town are also wondering where the woman would live after she has been rehabilitated.

Latest reports indicate that in spite of having been hospitalised under the care of Efon Local Government, the woman’s condition has worsened. She is said to have become even more violent and has been exbihiting stranger tendencies.

According to the chairman of the Local Government, “Olubu has not responded to treatment at all. In fact, she has gone from bad to worse. I think the condition must have lived with her for too long as said by her uncle. We are actually considering moving her to the custody of the state as the local government can no longer afford the cost of continuing care for her.

“Now, the local government has spent well over a N100,000 and her situation is not even improving in any way”, the council boss lamented.

was when they sent me to collect another N2.5 million that I was arrested. Obinna, who is our leader, escaped. Gbenga, who is our hitman and Ope who stays guard at the gate also escaped.

“It was Ope who fired a shot to alert others before escaping. I can’t remember the names of the others. Two persons took care of the victims. One person was in charge of torturing them. Obinna communicated with the victims’ families on the phone, while one person stood outside to monitor the movement of people and the police. We were up to nine.”

Parading the suspects, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Yakubu Alkali, flanked by the Deputy Commissioner Operatives, Tunde Sobulo, and the Commander, Rapid Response Squad, Chief Superintendent of Police Odumosu Olusegun, commended the governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, who he said does not play politics with crime fighting.

“I also thank the public for their cooperation in terms of information to police, and promise to hold their information in most confidentiality. Give information to senior police officers like the Divisional Police Officers or area commanders. You can also call me directly,” he said.

18

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

‘Why I’m in a hurry to develop Edo’ •Continued from Page 10 and if there is no measurement there is no basis to price. It’s just like a house, if you don’t have an architectural design, there is nothing for the surveyor to quantify and unless the quantity surveyor looks at the design and comes up with bill of quantities, there is nothing to tender for contractors to bid.

So, if you then award a contract without those you are just doing guesswork. So, I believe that sometimes we get the price wrong not because people want to, but because the foundation which is the bill of engineering measurement is faulty. So over time we’ve made our mistakes, but we’ve also quickly tried to learn from those mistakes and improve on it.

Also, in the area of enhancing food security and job creation, these are some of the things that you promised the people before you came ....

I think it’s what governments would do around the world. It’s not even about promise; it is the basis for legitimacy. From Obama in America to Merkel in Germany, to Cameron in Britain, even the most right wing government. It is not a favour to create jobs for the poor; it is in the interest of the rich to keep the poor busy. And the more the number of people who are unemployed, the higher the risk of instability of those who have the wealth and who have invested. And it is the only objective way to measure whether an economy is delivering or nor delivering.

I mean when I spoke to the Guild of Editors, I did lament the fact that this democracy does not seem to be delivering to the people. And the way to measure that is just to look at the number of people who are unemployed; virtually in every household you have a graduate that is unemployed, some have up to two or three.

Some parents come to me and say, “I have three children who have graduated, two have masters and none of them is working”. It means the system is not delivering, and so, it’s not just that I promise, I think it is what is sensible for us to do.

There are a couple of ways that we can approach job creation. First is that I do not accept the argument that the state has no business creating jobs. The state must lead by example. There are a lot of jobs which can engage a lot of our young people. Most parts of Nigeria can be described as dirty and filthy; just getting people to clean them up will open jobs for hundreds of thousands.

In Edo State, we came up with what we call the Youth Employment Scheme, although I was a little more ambitious because I thought we could employ between the state government and the local government working together, that we could both employ about 10,000 persons.

In the event, the local governments were under the control of a different political party at the beginning and they were not prepared to collaborate. So, we went ahead with the scheme but we were not able to employ 10,000, but were able to employ up to 6,500.

In addition, we got on board over 1,100 teachers and of course if you add those ones to the people employed by the various contractors who are working in various construction sites (Between them, they must be employing a couple of thousands).

I feel we must have created 150,000 since I came in and just last month, we resolved to take another 3,000 off the streets because we feel that the challenge of fighting crime and keeping society safe require that we not only equip the place with weapons and gadgets, communications etc, but we can also use economic tools, socio instruments to create jobs and keep people out of crime.

So while we are pursuing the Youth Employment Scheme, we are also encouraging the police. So it’s also a security issue, the issue of employment.

But, no matter how hard you try, the public sector alone can’t create all the jobs the country needs. Even if you choose to simply surrender all you earn to wages, it will not be enough to employ all those who desire to work. So, in the long run, we need to encourage the private sector.

But the private sector is as we all know, public-driven and the most capital intensive private company, for example, may employ just few hands, so we do need to emphasise and encourage labour-

•Oshiomhole

intensive industries.

Unfortunately, the government can’t choose for the private person which kind of industry to set up. It is a lamentable fact that in Nigeria (and here we have to hold the Federal Government responsible; not necessarily the president, but successive governments at the centre) through the combination of measures of fiscal policies and monetary policies as well as tariff policies and corruption in the Ports and in the Customs, the textiles industry has disappeared. So, we have lost an industry that was capable of providing over three, four million jobs.

In Bangladesh, their textile sector accounts for 60 per cent of their national income, employing over eight million persons.

Nigeria, with our population of about 150 million and taking into account our dressing habits where one man can wear 10 metres at the same time – one pant, one buba, one babariga on top with a cap; put all of that together, one person consumes 10 metres.

Now, that is a habit that ought to be favourable to the textiles sector.

Unfortunately, because we put the wrong policies in place and we applied liberalisation in a manner that was destructive to local

production, we have not even taken advantage of this to expand the industry so that today, more than 95 per cent of our clothing is sourced externally. And the implication of that is, you have not only thrown out workers in the textile sector, you have impoverished the farmers who used to grow cotton, you dealt a blow on those who used to supply various inputs to the textile sector and even the local traders, even those who buy scraps.

There used to be an army of traders who bought pieces of fabrics that were not up to a metre to sell to the rural community. It’s a whole backward-forward integrated industry and all of that is gone. Why? Because Nigerians subscribe to, in my view, prematurely to trade regularisation and were even not critical in picking and choosing; and even taking advantage of exemptions that are built into the world trade agreement. We just signed the dotted line without looking at our national interest; something that India won’t do; something that other countries won’t do.

We have killed the plastic sector. People of my age will remember that we had a flourishing shoe industry in Nigeria, we had Lennards; we had Bata. They had showrooms

‘

Comrade, they used to say Edo is so poor, that you can’t even construct roads, so where are you getting the money from? Politically, I used to tell them that it is what the godfathers used to eat, we have stopped them from eating and we are giving it to the people

’

they were producing here. All of that are gone. For our auto industry, we had Michelin, we had Dunlop, made-in-Nigeria, taking advantage of Nigerian rubber estate, the Michelin rubber plantation here in Benin which was an attempt at backward integration and all of that is gone.

Again, crazy policies because over the years, in my view, government after government pursue policies which result in making imports and importation more lucrative than production and this has also affected the orientation of our banks that they lend short term credits for people who are into imports rather than provide long-term credits for those who want to set up businesses that require long-term gestation period in order to be able to produce. So these failed policies have resulted in the growing army of the unemployed.

In Edo State, my argument is that the responsibility of the leader is not to lament what we have done wrong but to learn the right message and see how we can correct.

So right now, we are moving more into agric.

We have gotten some Vietnamese who currently are taking advantage of our weather and the fact that we have abundant land that is suitable for farming to produce rice and they have told me they can turn round three times a year and they have started already. That is a project we think can offer easily over 10,000 jobs. We also have a deal with Dangote Group and he has resolved to set up a fertiliser plant in Edo State somewhere at Agenebode, which will employ easily almost 10,000 persons. He has told me it will be the largest on the continent and that has a number of advantages, not just the jobs it will create, but the fact that it will provide the fertiliser that our farmers need to be able to improve their yield and the country will be saved the trouble of importing fertiliser sometimes of the wrong quality and delivered at the wrong season.

In the long run, we cannot return to peasant farming because it is not sustainable. Our young people are not ready to go through what our forefathers went through and I believe they are right because peasant farming can’t bail you out of poverty substantially so we do need to return to mechanised farming that seeks to take advantage of our relatively young and energetic population. So agriculture is likely to be the area where we can create much more jobs and we are focusing on that.

Still talking about economy, some of your critics don’t seem to be happy about the substantial increase in internally-generated revenue, thinking it is at the expense of the comfort of your people. What do you have to say to that?

No. That is not true. I think people are happy. I am happy, if they are not, I am happy.

There must be critics and I must encourage them to criticise. They can help us when they think we are making mistakes. We look at it another way and adjust, but those who have to criticise for its own sake, you have to allow them to have their day. That is the beauty of democracy. When I assumed office here, our monthly receipt was about N300 million a month on the average, sometimes, it drops off to N250 million a month and our wage bill and overheads averaged about N2 billion.

So what that meant is that if we don’t receive money from the federation account, we cannot even pay salaries and governments around the world, whether of the right or of the left, public funds is actually another word for tax payers money. That is why in other climes, they talk about America is going to spend one billion of tax payers’ money to do this, to fund war etc. It is tax payers’ money, you have to pay tax.

Government doesn’t earn money other than through taxation. It doesn’t have any other sources. I am not sure whether we should say we are fortunate, but we are in an unusual situation in Nigeria where we extract dollar from the soil, and then we share it on monthly basis and like any lazy man who wins pools all the time, we no longer think, we no longer plan. We just wait for 30 days to go to Abuja. How many dollars did we extract this month? This is the amount. How much is the Federal Government ready to put on the table? Because it is not everything they put on the table.

Like a bad dog. It kills two grass cutters in the bush, it chooses to bring only one to the house; it is only the one it brings to the house

•Continued on Page 22

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

19

Saturday

THRILLER

Ibadan flood:

Two months after

Residents grapple with excodus of tenants ebbing social life Residents of flooded areas of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, are braving the depreciated quality of life as they endure more collapsing buildings, exodus of tenants and dwindling social life. Hoping that the state government would not carry out its demolition plan, residents are appealing to Governor Abiola Ajimobi to channelise waterways instead, even as they blamed Eleyele Waterworks for the August 26 flood, report BISI OLADELE and OSHEYE

20

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

Ibadan flood:

•A dillapidated road at the flooded Oke-Ayo

D

ERELICT buildings, abandoned paths, growing weeds and expanding water channels mark the new image of some of the flooded areas in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Oke Ayo, Odo-Ona Elewe, Apete and Odo-Ona Apata among others, were flooded by a downpour on August 26, killing several people and destroying many buildings.

The six-hour rain also affected many residents in other pats of Ibadan as well as destroyed several public utilities such as roads and bridges, public buildings and markets.

When The Nation visited some of the sites earlier in the week, places like Oke-Ayo and Odo-Ona Elewe were looking like a ghost of themselves as most of the residents along the river banks had abandoned their buildings and totally deserted their once beautiful houses and churches. While some buildings have collapsed, some roads have become gully and totally unmotorable.

Besides, night life has vanished while economic activities are at a low ebb for traders and service providers in the affected areas.

Governor Abiola Ajimobi had declared that houses built on water channels would be demolished but added that the exercise would wear a human face. Many houses have since been marked for demolition in affected areas but landlord associations are still dialoguing with the government on how to achieve its plan without necessarily inflicting pains on them (landlords) and other residents.

At Oke Ayo area, more buildings are still collapsing as water occupies more compounds. Yet, some landlords are renovating their affected houses, even as more rains pound the city.

A landlady in the area, Mrs Sariyu Olairo, who has been living in the area for 40 years, advised that instead of the planned demolition, government only needs to expand the water channel or channelise it like it did to Ogunpa river.

That way, she said landlords and other

•A buiding marked for demolition at Oke Ayo

residents would still have their houses while flood would be prevented next time.

Mrs Olairo explained that those relocating are tenants who do not have any stake in the houses they hitherto occupied.

“Our house is the first on this line. I moved in as a wife 40 years ago and the house has never been flooded like it did in August. The flood was caused by the burst at Eleyele Waterworks. There have been more rains but no flood. We were even panicky at a particular night when it rained but nothing happened. All we need now is for the government to expand the river channel so water can flow more freely.

“Those moving are tenants. No one who laboured hard to build a house would abandon it so easily. Some landlords still

come around to see how they can carry out repairs on their houses.” Her house has been marked for demolition; the mark shows that it is located only 48 metres away from the water channel.

Another resident who trades in the area, lamented that sales have gone to the lowest ebb since residents started moving away in droves after the flood. She said: “No more sales. There is no customer because many people have run away. I just open shop to keep myself busy. By 7:00 pm, everywhere is dark and deserted,” she said.

Another landlady, who has been living in the area for 28 years, Mrs Felicia Ojo, said: “Once rain falls, we keep vigil here to monitor ourselves in the community so we can lend a helping hand to each other in case there is another flood.”

The situation is not different at Odo-

•Oluwafemi

Ona, Apata area of Ibadan where the flood also wrecked havoc . The victims have all returned to their normal economic activities after leaving the various camps set up by Oyo State government to ease the problem of accommodation caused by the flood disaster which swept away many buildings and destroyed properties worth several millions of naira.

Some of the victims when accosted appeared to have forgotten the sad event that made life so miserable for hundreds of inhabitants of the city .

They were either at their shops selling , or carrying on house chores in their various places . The roads have been cleared of debris and dirt from gutters that hitherto covered everywhere. Women and children were mostly at home ,while men were said to have gone to work to fetch the

21

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

: Two months after

•One of the buildings being renovated

•A scene of the August 26 flood

•Left and right: Normal life returning to Oke-Ayo, after the devastating flood

‘

No more sales. There is no customer because many people have run away. I just open shop to keep myself busy. By 7:00 pm, everywhere is dark and deserted...Once rain falls, we keep vigil here to monitor ourselves in the community so we can lend a helping hand to each other in case there is another flood

family’s daily bread.

It was difficult to see traces of the wreckages as virtually all the damaged properties have been cleared off the way, except the pieces of bricks and mould of the collapsed buildings that are left in ruins .

Life , according to Mrs Feyisayo Ajayi, must just have to continue no matter what happens in life . Ajayi’s two-room apartment was covered by flood. She now lives in a room at Apata area of the city .

“We thank Governor Abiola Ajimobi

’

whose concern for our plight made him to distribute mattresses and a few items .

Those are my only properties that I can call my own since the flood incident. I have to approach some good Samaritans who out of love and concern gave me clothes that I put on “, she said .

When this reporter visited Gada area of Odo-Ona , one of the worst hit by the flood, some officials of Oyo State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Ibadan South West Zonal Office, were seen interviewing residents

whose buildings were close to river bank .

Led by Mr. Segun Ojedeji , the officials were received warmly by the victims who were later told that they came to verify the proximity between their buildings and the river .

Though curious about their mission , the ministry officials made efforts to allaytheir fears of demolition. As the officials move from one building to another , some of the residents were observed discussing the development in hush tones.

Prophetess Esther Oluwafemi , a 67-yearold widow still shares fresh memories of the flood disaster, and it seemed the burden of the loss is too heavy for her to move ahead with life two months after. At Number 10, Gada area of Odo-Ona , Apata lies the ruins of her building destroyed by the ravaging flood. She was said to have narrowly escaped death along with her children the night of Saturday August 27 when her building was covered in the flood.

According to her, the sound of the collapse of the building was heard a few minutes after she left the building with her children inside the flood. She broke down in tears when asked how she has been coping after the tragic flood.

“Life has been so difficult since we survived the flood because all that I had

went with the flood. I don’t have any place to lay my head. Apart from the generosity of some kind-hearted individuals, feeding has become difficult. Occasionally, I had to resort to washing plates at a nearby food canteen to get some money to feed. Please help me to appeal to the governor to have mercy on me by getting me back the only thing left for me by the late husband, which is that building that you saw ruins,” Prophetess Oluwafemi said as tears drop down her cheeks .

The Chairman, Landlord Association , Gada , Odo-Ona community , Pa. Samuel Abosede Gisanrin , a 90-year-old retired federal civil servant, was full of thanks and praises to Governor Ajimobi, spirited individuals and corporate organisations for extending the milk of human kindness during and after the flood disaster to the victims. ”Please, help me thank the governor very well for what he did, and many other people and organisations who came to our need immediately .Our people received mattresses , clothes, rice, garri, vegetable oil, and many other relief items and these have gone a long way to cushion our sufferings . Please , I want you to echo this very loud to the governor . We shall not forget this kindness“, Pa Gisanrin said.

22

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

It’s not a favour to create jobs for the poor, it’s in the interest of the rich to keep the poor busy’

•Continued from Page 18 that the natives will eat. The one that it eats in the bush, you may suspect that it has eaten part of it, but what can you do? It’s the dog. It can even refuse to go back to the bush, so whatever they bring to the table, we share, and then we wait for the next month. I don’t think that is development. When I was in the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), I had argued that if all governance entails is to pick a cheque from the centre, share it, go home and pay salaries, then what we need is just pay clerks, we don’t need governors, and we don’t need all these experts to pay salaries. You just need one competent cashier and one competent book keeper.

They collect the cheque, share it into salaries and wages, buy batteries, buy fuel and wait for the next month. I think that governance and leadership is about challenging the people to work and government to create the environment to enable people to earn and then you tax that earning to provide infrastructure, which will enable the people to have the right environment with which to work and earn their keep.

So all we’ve done is to revisit, or if you like re-invent the concept of tax payers. When I was growing up, and I am very proud of the fact that nobody can lecture me about poverty, because I argue my parents were poor… nobody in my village could say I was poorer than your father, because we are all lived on the farm, except to the extent that he puts in so much and you choose to put in so little, but the environment was the same.

But as poor as my father was, he thought it was a shameful thing if he is not able to pay his tax and so he pays his taxes from his meagre income and he wasn’t alone. Every villager pays his tax and when the whole village is meeting, those who have not paid their taxes were considered as not fit and proper to attend community meetings because they have not paid their tax, so that is the way it was, but with the advent of oil, so many things have changed and we all think we can make our omelette and yet keep our eggs intact. Nobody wants his eggs broken, but all of us want to enjoy omelette, it just doesn’t work that way.

So I had to tell our people that I didn’t rig myself into office. I was elected and that makes the difference. Those who were not elected don’t have the courage to ask those whose votes they stole to come and pay taxes. And I think some governors have that challenge. That is the crisis of legitimacy. You don’t have what it takes to look the people in the eye and say pay your tax. They’ll ask, who send you? You can rig yourself to office, but you cannot rig my pocket. I am able to tell them: You know when you elected me, I come from labour background. I never told anybody that my father is rich.

I was not elected on account of the wealth of my family. All I promise is that I will apply state resources judiciously. That I have an idea of what the priorities are; what the challenges are and now you must provide me with the resources. And how do you do it? Through paying your taxes. And so, we have to enforce the pay-as-you-earn.

The law has always been there. It is just that it wasn’t enforced. If others did not have the courage to enforce it, I think I have the mandate. To govern means mandate to collect the tax, according to law made not by me, law made by parliament. And for those not covered by pay-as-you-earn, the Land Use Act is clear. When we give you titled documents, you are

•Oshiomhole supposed to pay some fees for land use. Whether it is tenement rate or whatever it’s called. You want a titled document, C-of-O; you are supposed to pay for it. You are a trader, a businessman, you make so much money, alright it’s good, and we encourage people to make money because we have to create wealth before we distribute it. But one way to distribute the wealth is that you pay your tax and it is in the interest of those who are rich to pay tax so that the poor can be provided for; so we can create a basic social safety net; so that way we have grown our internallygenerated revenue.

Right now, we are at N1.5 billion.

We got to N1.5 billion last month, small money compared to what some of our states are collecting.

But if you take into account the fact that we are coming from N300 million to N1.5 billion, that is quite something, but we think we can get up to N2 billion with a little more effort and we are hoping that before the end of the year, God helping us, we’ll get there.

You drew an analogy and told us

‘

the story about a bad dog killing two grass cutters and bringing only one to the table. I am of the opinion that corruption is not limited to the centre. In Edo State and in all our states, there are corrupt people, have you been able to plug some of the areas from where corruption thrives?

Corruption is widespread, federal, state, local governments, private sector, public agencies, everywhere. We are even beginning to hear even some religious organisations accusing each other of corrupt practices. The truth is that there are a lot of abuses in the management of the federation account.

You heard last week that the Commissioners for Finance had to adjourn their meeting because NNPC overnight doubled the amount they claim they are using for fuel subsidy, from how many billions to two hundred and something billion in a month. And we are saying even if every Nigerian is drinking petrol like pure water, what is our consumption per capita of PMS?

When we are not talking of diesel, we are not talking of black oil. And it is the diesel that the business people use. We are talking of PMS which only those who drive small vehicles, big buses don’t even use it. So, we believe that there are lots of abuses there. And the constitution is also clear about it that the NNPC does not have the power to spend money at source that has not been appropriated.

NNPC is not a government. It is an agency of government. What it spends must be based on appropriation and it spends money that has not been appropriated. So that is what I mean by a bad dog that kills so many grass cutters and brings only a part to the table.

I need to expatiate on that. That is not to say that there are no issues in the states. There are a lot too.

One of the first things to do here was to realise that we earn so little internally and of course our share of the federation account also collapsed by the time I assumed office on November 12, 2008. That was the peak of the world economic crises. Our total receipts dropped to N1.6 billion, while our wage bill was about N2 billion and our local revenue was about N300 million.

Everything added together was below what we need to pay salaries.

And if you are coming from my kind of background, it can never be my lot to tell workers that sorry for whatever reason on the planet, I cannot pay salaries as and when due. So I just said, look, two things I have to do. One is to look at the pattern of expenditure and also look at the possible sources of income. Again, I grew up with my aged grandmother and father, if you listen to them, simple basic native intelligence and they tell us that if a pot is leaking and you keep pouring water into it, it will never be full or get filled up and what a sensible man will do first will be to check the pot and find where it is leaking, patch it and when you have blocked the leakage, then you try to fill it again; then you find out that over time, you’ll fill the pot, so first you need to identify the leakages.

I have spoken to some of them at today’s conference as well as possibly collect what should accrue to government by way of taxes from those who are and the first year we saved almost N5 billion in the cost of running government.

That N5 billion is now ploughed to capital projects and of course we also collected and aggressively pursued tax revenue drive. So this is not to say that all is now perfect.

We realised that the long-term challenge of eliminating abuses, corruption and others in the system require that you begin to find a way of doing things differently because if you apply the same old tool you cannot expect a different result.

So, we made some investment in the area of ICT and tried to eliminate as much as possible manual recording and paper work in our administration, including land administration, tax

The more the number of people who are unemployed, the higher the risk of instability of those who have the wealth and who have invested. And it is the only objective way to measure whether an economy is delivering or nor delivering

’

administration, salary administration, and the muchtalked-about ghost workers. We introduced biometrics, pensioners now have to thumbprint and we found that those who are dead are dead forever because they can’t be around to do thumbprint. So we do biometrics and that way, we are able to eliminate abuses in public sector salary administration.

We eliminated a lot of wastage.

We are able to track records more accurately. We saved on time and with these and several other interventions, we have eliminated a lot of leakages in government, but there are still leakages. What I say to our people is if you lose N10 out of every N100, it is probably better than when we were losing N60 out of every N100 and if we sustain the process that we have started building institutions, then one day I believe we will get there. Just yesterday at the council meeting, we passed a draft bill, set up a special agency for ICT unit so that we can retain knowledgeable, highskilled communications people who can manage our computer systems and other things so as to eliminate as much as possible paper work.

In the past, preparing vouchers were handled by different ministries. Now just five guys in our ICT units generate the pay slips and it is difficult for the dead to come on pay day to receive salaries and return to the grave as they use to do and some couple of other things we are doing. That way, we are blocking wastage while we are generating more revenue and that translates to development which people now asked me the question.

Comrade, they used to say Edo is so poor, that you can’t even construct roads, so where are you getting the money from?

Politically, I used to tell them that it is what the godfathers used to eat, we have stopped them from eating and we are giving it to people but I can tell you that in addition to stopping the godfathers from eating, we are also blocking the loopholes and looking at possible sources of generating legitimate income for government. For example, we find that there are people who occupy 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 square metres residential plots and they are supposed to have their certificate of occupancy “X” thousands per year as ground rent and they are not paying, now so come and pay us in arrears.

People who were making so much money they spend so much on socials, but their tax receipts are in hundreds, now they pay in millions. Our philosophy is put the tax burden on the shoulders of those who can bear it and the first response people tell is that when you do that, you are not going to be popular. I say governance and government is not really a popularity contest. It is about issues; about challenges and about leadership and then people remind me when you were in the helm of the union, you used to fight lots of us here. Only God, I myself I can’t count how many strikes I have organised; some successful, some failed, but I have never organised a strike against payment of taxes. In all my union training, I was not told that tax can be avoided. I was only told that you can design your tax in a way to favour the poor or design it to favour the rich depending on the orientation of the government, but everybody must pay, which is what we are now doing in Edo state.

And of course that we are financing our projects around is the result of the combination of these measures, blocking leakages and expanding our sources of revenue.

LOCATION

BACKSTAGE

SNAPSHOT

REEL NEWS

MUSIC

SCREEN

Edited by: VICTOR AKANDE

Tel: 08077408676

E-mail: victor_akande@yahoo.com

ntertainment

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

窶年ollywood actor

It is wicked to say I am gay

Elvis Chucks

23

24

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

STANDh BY! Wit

VICTOR AKANDE

Afro Hollywood Best Entertainment Writer 2009

E-mail: victor_akande@yahoo.com Tel: 08077408676 (SMS only)

THINK

nt part of An importa s of any the succes is its civilisation late the mu ability to e t led to the a factors th f other success o s.—Eric civilisation rt Reine

GUEST WRITER

I

and run them all out of business!

Baba Suwe has been to the toilet three times now and all he excreted were, well, just shit. NDLEA spokesperson, Mitchell Ofoyeju, still insisted he will remain under observation for other “procedural measures.”

Last Monday, the Director General of the anti-drug agency went on air to say that Baba Suwe would be released if the report of the CT scan and his third excretion proved to be negative. Now they are waiting for CT scan result?

Pray, how long does it take to get one?

In June 2008, the United States brought four OD Security SOTER RS Security Body Scanners for the

In June 2008, the United States brought four OD Security SOTER RS Security Body Scanners for the NDLEA for security operations for Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Abuja International airports to stop Nigerians supplying their teenagers with coke.

The machine is believed to be one of the most sophisticated in the industry available for drug detection.

Bianca Ojukwu dazzles despite age, hubby’s ailment

P

Much ado about Baba Suwe’s shit

T is now more than seven days since popular Yoruba movie actor, Babatunde Omidina, otherwise known as Baba Suwe was “kidnapped” by stern-faced officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over suspicion that he swallowed more than pounded yam on his way to the airport last week. They have been watching his shit for traces of cocaine the way housewives watch Nollywood movies to see what Genevieve is wearing.

In case you missed it, they have Baba Suwe hold up in a cell, perhaps force-fed him ewa agoyin and Agege bread, fetched him a tank of water, waited for him to hit the toilet, then bagged his shit in a white cellophane and ran to the lab hoping his shit would somehow turn to cocaine. And I used to think I have the worst job in the world.

The last time I heard they turned something into something else was in the holy book, one wedding in Cana where booze ran out so they had Jesus turn water into wine. Perhaps the NDLEA knows a thing or two about miracles.

Rumour has it that they are trying to turn shit into cocaine.

I wish them good luck but I'll choose turning water into booze any day. Imagine if Jesus were here to see what the breweries are charging us for 75 cl of beer? He'll just turn the Atlantic Ocean into booze

SNAPSHOTS

NDLEA for security operations for Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Abuja International airports to stop Nigerians supplying their teenagers with coke.

The machine is believed to be one of the most sophisticated in the industry available for drug detection. It can look through clothes and see anything/everything inside and outside the human body in 10 seconds. (Who do I need to bribe to get the job of watching the machines?)

In any case, the sophisticated machine started flashing red when Baba Suwe was ushered through and the NDLEA guys pounced on him. It is more than seven days now and they have held him as Baba Suwe continues to shit. How come they are not exploring the possibility that the machine has been Nigerianized (corrupted)?

In a country where nothing works, is it any wonder that some fancy machine contrived to detect cocaine has started detecting digested pounded yam as cocaine? If a government agency can't understand logic that simple, shouldn't we hire drug addicts to do the job?

At least, they'll know their suppliers. People are already envying Baba Suwe.

Just why didn't I study law?

WRITE TO US! Do you watch Nollywood movies? What do you think of the Nigerian motion picture industry? Send your review of any movie or short essay on any topic of your choice about the film industry in not more than 200 words. Send entries by e-mail to: victor_akande@yahoo.com or SMS your short comments to 08077408676

APARAZZI began to pull their trigger as soon as they spotted the former Beauty Queen at the venue of the Nigerian Carnival London.

Full of smiles, Bianca Ojukwu's beauty and mien does not seems to be deterred by her almost 45 years of age or the bogging ailment that has confined her husband, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to a London hospital.

Looking radiant in a tight fitted jeans trousers and leather winter top, the Senior Special Assistant to the Federal Government on Diaspora Affairs, who said she cannot wait for her husband to get back on his feet and return to Nigeria however noted that he is responding well to treatment.

She spoke on the importance of the Nigerian carnival in the UK, stressing that “government considers the Diaspora as an important constituency in Nigeria”.

The wife to the Biafran strongman said the Nigerian government is working seriously to ensure that its citizens in Diaspora have voting right in future elections.

“This administration, more

than any, is committed to involving the Diaspora actively in the affairs of the nation”.

Bianca added that it was a good thing that the Nigerian Carnival UK is happening at the period of the country's 51st Independence Anniversary which she said Nigerians back home had celebrated with sober reflection.

Omotola shines in UK

F

OR beautiful actress Omotola, 2011 has been an extremely rewarding year. From co starring with Hollywood's Kimberley Elise on set of Ties that Bind, to acting alongside Will Johnson in the UK, the actress's highly rated profile has been on the increase.

Just last weekend, Omotola was announced as favorite West African actress of the year at the Screen Nation Film and Television Award, held at indigo O2 Arena in the UK. The award was hosted by Angelica Bell and Michael Underwood.

In winning this year's award, Omotola was said to beat other African nominees such as Jackie Appiah, Merc y Johnson, Genevieve Nnaji , and Ama

K Abebrese.

The United Nations WFP and International Campaigner for Amnesty International, who has been adjudged as the West African actress is currently working on a number of things which she says she's keeping under wrap.

Return of Jenifa grosses N10m in one week

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

25

RE ELNEW S NFC, SMEDAN partner on funding for filmmakers

N

Patrick Doyle faults Onyeka Onwenu

IGERIAN Film Corporation (NFC) in partnership with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has organized a training programme for film professionals.

The objective of the training workshop which began on Monday October 17, 2011, is to enable participants and others under the various Film Associations and Guilds access SMEDAN enhanced funds for film production activities.

The workshop with the theme “Enterprenual and Business Skills Development” is taking place at the Murtala Mohammed Library, Kano.

Meanwhile, Lagos Production Center takes its turn of the training workshop for filmmakers next week, Tuesday October 25th at the Main Auditorium, Lagos office of the Nigerian Film Corporation, Obalende Ikoyi Road, Lagos.

Participants in the Kano workshop are drawn from the various Guilds and Associations of Film Practitioners under the rubrics of “Kannywood” and AHFIP, acronym for the Association of

IREP/GOETHE collaboration celebrates music

Joke Silva, Alex Usifo, Mama G pally

M

USIC was the mainstay at the screening of Music is the Weapon, directed by Stephanie Tchal- Gadjieff and Jean Jacques Flori which took place last on Saturday, October 15 at the Nigerian Film Corporation Lagos Liaison Office (Old Film Unit, Obalende Ikoyi; next door to Radio Nigeria).

Held as the October edition of the monthly film screening jointly organised by iREP Documentary Film Forum and Goethe Institute Lagos, the theme of the edition was MUSIC and FREEDOM, and is conceived as a contribution to the ongoing FELABRATION season; designed to celebrate the life and times of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

The screening featured a panel of discussion on why there is almost no locallyproduced documentaries on the cultural phenomenon that Fela Anikulapo-Kuti represents for Africa, with the aim of examining what opportunities are available in this direction.

The screening is also scheduled as part of the finale of 'IN-SHORT', the International short film Festival initiated by International Film and Broadcast Academy, Lagos and Goethe Institute Nigeria, which will also screen some short films on same Saturday.

Hausa Film Professional.

Participants from Niger, Kwara, Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau, Bauchi States are also attending the 5-day training workshop.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the training workshop, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive of Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) Mr. Afolabi Adesanya and Alhaji Nadada Umar Muhammed, Director General of SMEDAN reiterated the need for film professionals to bequeath to upcoming generations, an industry that is well founded and structured.

Both Chief Executives maintained that one of the key factors in ensuring that the motion picture industry continued to grow sustainably was the injection of funds into the sector, to ensure a full marriage between the arts/entertainment aspects of the film production activities with the business aspect.

Adesanya, declaring open the workshop, traced the history of inadequate funds for film production activities in Nigeria, and explained some far reaching efforts by the Nigerian Film Corporation to provide windows of funding opportunities for Film Professionals, hence the establishment of the National Film Development Fund (NFDF), collaborations with SMEDAN, NEXIM Bank of Nigeria among others.

Also speaking, Alhaji Nadada said that, SMEDAN was well positioned and ready to access Film Professionals to funds to boast their businesses. Nadada

1

stressed that most Nigerian small and medium scale businesses collapse even before take off because of lack of adequate funding and elaborate and implementable business plans. He assured that SMEDAN'S partnership with the Nigerian Film Corporation for funding of the Nigerian film sector will be sustained until practitioners appreciate the intervention of the two Agencies.

•Adesanya

GUS 8: Darey upstages Bob Manuel as Geraldine returns

E

ARLIER introduced as the co-anchor of the programme thus giving the Gulder Ultimate Search a new flavour, co-host Darey 'Art' Alade has taken over from Bob Manuel Udokwu as anchor for 'Batch B' GUS 8 contestants.

Over the next few weeks, Darey will be charged with assigning tasks to the GUS 8 contestants, announcing the evicted contestants and also

Bob Manuel

speaking at the Place of the Talking Drum.

In a related twist to the reality show, Geraldine Obi, the last to get evicted from the GUS 8 Batch 'A' contestants, became the first contestant to be voted back for a second chance in the reality TV show. According to new GUS 8 format, viewers get to vote back in an evicted contestant from each of the three batches for this year's competition.

Geraldine scored 40 per cent of viewers vote for her second chance. She was trailed by Alvin Ilenre, who polled 17 per cent of the votes. Kehinde Fadojutimi, the first of the seven evicted contestants garnered 15 per cent of audience votes, followed by Franklin Inegbedion, who 10 per cent of the viewing audience voted for.

Oladunni Affram, Elizabeth Adu and Samuel Lazarus got nine per cent, six per cent and two per cent of audience votes respectively.

AGN scores point in USA

0 members of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) were in Los Angeles, USA recently to meet with the Screen Actors Guild of America (SAG).

The star studded delegation was led by the National President of AGN, Mr. Segun Arinze, other members of the entourage include the National Secretary, Ejezie Emeka Rollas, Kanayo O. Kanayo, Bob Manuel-Udokwu, Kingsley Ogbonna(Dauda), Ejiro Okurame, Uchenna Nnanna, Obi Osotule and Kingsley

Ogoro.

The delegation was received in Los Angeles by the President of Screen Actors Guild, SAG, Prof. Ken Howard, Members of the Executive Council and members of the Board. In his welcome address, Prof. Howard tagged the visit as “Nollywood Meets Hollywood” and revealed that it was the first time ever that SAG would be meeting any Guild/Association involved in film production from Africa.

Salient issues bothering on

•L-R: KOK, Prof. Howard , Segun Arinze and Emeka Rollas

the development of the Nigerian film industry, aka, Nollywood were discussed especially training and re training of actors in particular and practitioners in general.

The AGN delegation also visited the famous Universal Studios where they met with the top management of the production company. During the meeting, AGN President invited them to come to Nigeria as the country is virile for film productions especially with our beautiful locations, rich cultural heritage and God given talents.

The management of Universal Studio said they were glad to receive the AGN delegation and declared that Nigeria is the new frontier in film production and as famous filmmakers; Nigeria is certainly their next destination.

The AGN team were treated to a star studded Hollywood traditional Luncheon by their counterpart before departing to Nigeria.

The trip was sponsored by Ifeanyi Ubah Foundation and also supported by SIFAX GROUP.

26

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

‘Charly Boy is not a musician!’

Kevin Lucciano recuperates … Flown abroad for further check-up

Ahmed BOULOR

•Charly Boy

2face gears up for London concert

…But most qualified of all Nigerian Idol Judges Although Charly Boy sings and has over seven albums to his credit, yet they are only advocacy medium; he uses music to propagate his thinking and to preach the gospel of change

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

27

D’banj, Kelly Hansome in face-off over alleged copyright infringement

Tiwa Savage, Bez, Omawunmi for Lagos Jazz Series

Headies 2011:

Bez, Goldie, Tiwa Savage speak on their chances

•Hansome

•D’banj

AY gets DEAFA nomination

•AY

Rapper Overdose premieres new video

P

OPULAR rapper Overdose fondly called OD who is currently in the studio working on his third album under X3M records recently released a brand new single titled, I Like Your Way featuring the latest pop starlet in Nigeria's urban music scene Dammy Krane.

The song was produced by hitmaker Samklef, the producer responsible for most of Wizkid's biggest hits, most notably Don't Dull and Tease Me. The new single premiered online a month ago and has been favorably received in the blogsphere as well as on radio Besides dropping a new single,

OD has been busy promoting his new video, I Can't Shout which was directed by the prolific and award winning music video director, Clarence Peters. Both the new single and video were premiered at Wax Lyrical in Koko Lounge.

“It's a process. I'm just taking it up a notch, it's all about relevance right now, and I'm just doing my bit to stay in the game. I've got the best team, so I'm very confident,” OD says OD is also said to be the one to compose the soundtrack of the upcoming Hip-Hop based AMBO movie which is set to be out in cinemas in a few months time.

I can cope with women —Olamide

•L-R: Artistes Producer /Manager, Ogunade Olumide (ID CABASA); Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd Technical/Service Manager, Dan Onyenakorom and Olamide Adedeji (aka Olamide),

28

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

COVER COVER

COVER COVER

Nollywood actor-cum-producer Elvis Chucks is a regular face on TV, having starred in popular TV soaps like Super Story, Doctors Quarters and Edge of Paradise, both Mnet series. Single but not searching, the actor, who is to join the league of Nollywood married thespians, is one actor who has seen it all. Having worked with international talents like Luke Perry, Peter Fonda, Barbara Simpson, Haheem kae-Kazeem, Xolile Tshabalala, among others, Elvis, who studied Film and Television overseas, says the kind of training he got has paid off. In this interview with MERCY MICHAEL, the actor talks about his soon to be premiered movie, Victims of the Society, his style and marriage.

37

RE ELNEW S Aki to battle polio in Kano

‘What I look forward to in marriage’

Mr. Ibu with Elvis

You see in this life, some people are dream killers who don't want the truth, who don't want success. Such people are more or less the kind who will rather give a dog a bad name to hang it • Elvis with Sunny Mac Don

Okey, keira slug it out with Stella Damasus, Kalu Ikeagwu

ITALIAN SERIE A

Taye Taiwo battles Obodo

Pg. 34

Osaze targets victory at Villa Park

Nation Saturday, October 22, 2011

Pg. 34

30

35

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

NATION SPORT

NATION SPORT

W

•Babalola in action

AKINLOYE AT LARGE

IGBINOVIA LAMENTS:

Administrators are killing Tennis in Nigeria I was told that I cannot have a wide card to participate in a competition I have won before and after everything I have done for this country. And when I asked why, no concrete reason had been given.

Now, there is a guy who is the current Nigeria’s number one, Henry Atseye, was also denied the wild card. So what is the benefit, they couldn’t even give Nigeria number one player in the country a wild card.

I am not fighting for myself, I am fighting for the future of Nigeria Tennis. Ten years Nigerian tennis is going down. Can you believe that in this tournament, there is no Nigerian in the first and second round. I am the only Nigerian that has got to that level the same as won the Ogbe Hard court. They are just bringing the spirit of the players down. What is the point of sponsoring a tournament, it is not to help Nigerian players? Because you have got to understand, the way you practice helps a lot. We have a problem with building, practicing, The way you practice will determine how you are going to compete. Then ironically the NTF claims that why don’t they give Nigerian players is because they are indiscipline. It is

Photo: JOHN EBHOTA

The decline in the standard of tennis in recent times has been a source of worry for stakeholders of the racket game in the country. But in this interview with INNOCENT AMOMOH AND STELLA BAMAWO former international, Jonathan Igbinovia bared his mind on the role of the administrators in the pitfall and many more. Excerpts. crazy. Before I use to blame guys but I ask why was Jonathan Igbinovia not given the wild card? Did I do anything wrong, did I disrespect anyone?

So what is the way forward for Nigerian tennis?

The solution is that those running tennis have got to change their ways.

It can also start from me. If Nigeria can give two or three kids every year to my academy, I will take of them but Nigeria will have to sponsor them to my academy. Any must start playing at a young age. The truth is that you cannot groom tennis players here in this country. For Nigeria not to have found another Igbinovia since I left means tennis is dead in the country. The Press has got to do something. Why is it that those who give to the country are the ones suffering? The sponsors are giving the money to the wrong people. Do you think tennis is going to grow in the country. People that don’t know anything about tennis in the country are the ones in charge.

I have taken part in four Governor’s Cup tournaments. Unfortunately Americans respect me more than those in my country. That is why I have my businesses over there. Why do you think Americans accept me as their partners. It is because they know I have a lot to offer.

In practical terms, what should the NTF be doing to develop tennis?

We have to go to the schools. Forget about people that are already sixteen years old, they cannot play to the expected level in tennis again. You have got to start these kids from age ten, every year two have to go abroad. They have to explain to the sponsors, how to build, unfortunately we don’t know how to build and that is what is happening to soccer as well. We don’t know how to build even though we have talents but we don’t know how to improve our talents. If you don’t learn in the proper way, you are not going anywhere. But right now, I have my own establishment in Atlanta. A school, I run a tennis academy and I am ready to partner with the administrators of the game in Nigeria.

How did you start playing tennis?

Tennis brought out the real me. I was a ball boy at tournaments in this place. I felt, I could do it, it is not where you are coming from, it is where you are going. I started from here. Through tennis I got education.

I had a plan to go to school. I went to college when I was 19, and by 24 I was done. I studied political science.

What are your track records?

I was the youngest to ever join the Davis Cup at the age of 17, in 1998 and that was the year I qualified to play in the United States Open Junior category. Guess what happened, I was invited to represent Nigeria but I had to get the money for ticket from the last tournament I won. The administrators could not give me a ticket. I was given two hundred and fifty thousand naira then which was big money. Then to get a ticket to US costs one hundred and fifty thousand naira. I had a sponsor one Engineer Akpan. I gave him one hundred and twenty thousand to help me invest in a fixed deposit, took care of my mum, and kept fifty thousand naira for my training, transportation and other logistics.

When the time to play the US open

came, I struggled to get my visa, even though the NTF, was suppose to do it. I sponsored myself for that tournament. I was in the US without help from Nigeria. I have to seat for the SAT examination to get into the college.

So did you eventually get admission into school in the US? Because I still wanted to be relevant, I sat for the exams with the help of my brother’s wife who took me in. They all wanted me to go to school. I studied hard and made sure I got the required marks to get into a college in the US. Education was free and better over there. I was away for three years, nobody bothered about me, they thought it was over. But I came back and won another tournament. From there I was ranked 207 in the world. After winning the Ogbe Hard Court that year the Governor, Lucky Igbinedion gave me some money, $20, 000,

because I was a Benin boy from Edo State. I used that $20,000. It was time to play the Davis Cup in 2007. We were the only blacks in that group that year. The last time Nigeria participated was 20 years ago. I am saying the truth but nothing but the truth. That is why I am not stammering. I am educated now and I am careful about what I say.

In your time, how would you describe the NTF? It is the same. Let me tell you guys this. The President of NTF, a man I use to love like a father, I am not going to mention his name. He invited me for a completion; and he told me there was no money then but that I should come to make the country proud. But guess what? I used my money to come down to play the competition, and went back and got tired of tennis then.

I have won this tournament before.

And this same President of NTF was a one time Minister of sports. He

08050246155 atlarge84@yahoo.com

Is probe the way-out?

•Jonathan Igbinovia

deceived me, someone you can call your son. He claims to be in tennis because of the passion. If he has true passion for tennis, do you think Nigerian tennis would have still been the same? If I was the president of NTF, do you think Nigeria tennis will be the same, take a wild guess. I am Jonathan Igbinovia that has passion for Nigeria Tennis. If I become the President today, Nigeria tennis will not be the same. When he became the Minister, I got his number from someone, called him to congratulate him. This man said he was busy, that I should go and call the secretary. I said is this for real? Now he is back here and everybody is welcoming him. And the secretary doesn’t even know their job. The secretary should work for the player and not the player work for the secretary. This is a Nigerian competition; the secretary should call the ITF to ask if they can give me a wild card. The ITF knows who I am, they gave me a scholarship when I was 14. Do you think the whiteman can give us respect?

American make some people, I am one of the people America made. I know who I am and I know where I have been. I don’t think inside the box again, I think outside the box.

Your most memorable moment?

That will be when I won the Ogbe Hard Court Tourney in 2006. Each time I remember that day it brings good memories.

Are you from a tennis family?

Yes my brothers played tennis. I am the youngest boy in the family.

What would you say is your worst moment?

My worst moment was when I sat on the couch, and my ranking dropped. I dint have anything to do about it. When I see my fellow Nigerians going down. When people don’t appreciate us. Do you

know right now I am a US citizen?

Instead of me to be like our former tennis players, I decide to improve myself. Mediocrity is killing tennis generally. I am also studying music, now another chapter is about to open. Another dream, music now and people will be forced to listen.

Are you married?

I will get married at the right time. I have a special person in my life. It doesn’t matter if she is not a Nigerian.

Over here in Nigeria the ladies don’t give me an opportunity. When I was still a teenager here, the only thing I did was tennis in school. But I didn’t get to know about the ladies. I was shy to talk to the females. So now if I talk to a Nigerian girl and she doesn’t give me a positive answer, I walk away. I don’t persist. We have been trained in America that when a girl says no, you let her go. I grew there and I am used to their ways.

What motivates you?

Life itself motivates me. Good or bad things can motivate me. I can get pissed off, but it does not last. I give room to people to mess up, sometimes, I get mad, so when it happens, I am not surprise.

You said you are also into music.

What type of music do you sing?

I do Afrotone. A music brand I created myself. I don’t rap. I can’t rap because that is America culture.

We all make music but we use different instrument.

What is your advice to government of the day to revive tennis in the country?

The government and the people have to step in to improve tennis. They have the problems facing the game seriously. Things must be done right.

The people playing right now are not getting the needed support. When white people respect you more than your people then something is wrong.

“

•Sachia Vickery (USA) returning a forehand during her quarter final match against Anna Floris (Italy) seeded No. 2 at the on going 1st leg Lagos State Governonr’s cup, ongoing in Lagos Photo: JOHN EBHOTA

I will get married at the right time. I have a special person in my life. It doesn’t matter if she is not a Nigerian. Over here in Nigeria the ladies don’t give me an opportunity. When I was still a teenager here, the only thing I did was tennis in school. But I didn’t get to know about the ladies. I was shy to talk to the females. So now if I talk to a Nigerian girl and she doesn’t give me a positive answer, I walk away. I don’t persist. We have been trained in America that when a girl says no, you let her go. I grew there and I am used to their ways.

“

HY did you opt out of this year’s edition of the Governor’s Cup? There is a reason which is not my making. The Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) is the body in charge of tennis in Nigeria. I don’t think they are doing what they need to do to support Nigeria Tennis so that is why I am not playing. A lot of people don’t know what is going on with Nigerian tennis. When it comes to this situation, people outside don’t know what is going on inside, they only see the trouble, they are not seeing the struggle.

Can you tell us what the problem is?

Nigerian Tennis has been going down since the last five years. Ever since I left for the United States, I was the number one tennis player in the country. I was the only Nigerian that ever won this tournament (Governor’s Cup) in this country.

Now I am based in Atlanta (USA).

The last time I played this tournament was three years ago.

I came back because a lot of people said they wanted to see me play again. However, the secretary said they couldn’t give me a wild card.

Then I asked her if she knew who I was. Although she is a new person, she said yes but she answered with an attitude. In fact, I was not supposed to ask for the wild card, it is supposed to be given to me. It is a shame that other players still complain about this same issue.

Although, I am okay, there is nothing again for me to prove. I have won the tournament before, and I have done a lot for this country, since I was thirteen years old. The last time in, at the mainbowl, if everyone could still remember, the only time Nigeria got to the world group was in 2007. That was 20 years ago; I led Nigeria to that victory. Everyone came to the airport with a band to welcome us. They flew us to Abuja to meet with the President, and all we got was a handshake.

So since you actually wanted to play, who stopped you from playing?

THE failure of the Super Eagles to pick the 2012 African Cup of Nations (ANC) ticket will continue to generate reactions.

The latest as I write this piece came from former Governor of Kwara State, Dr Bukola Saraki who asked the government to probe the failure. Now a Senator, Dr Saraki was disappointed that the Super Eagles will be missing from the competition for the first time in 25 years. Like the Senator, most soccer-loving Nigerians are disappointed that the country would not be taking part in the Nations Cup. Though they backed the team whole-heartedly, the result did not justify the output. They are angry that the players did not put in their all while the managers of the country’s football house left much to be desired. I felt like backing the Senator only to be reminded that previous probes in our sports achieved nothing. The report of the probe if carried out will be swept under the carpet just like in the past while the rot will remain. The problem with our football and Super Eagles is known to all and the solution is not unknown to us. The over-aged menace has caught up with our football. Instead of growing, our football is declining. Our senior national team players are pretending to be youths while they are nearing the age of retirement. We know the truth but the will to apply the solution is lacking. We have to go back to the grassroots and schools where the youths are. That is the way out of our declining fortune in sports and football is not an exception.

The President has already been dragged into the Eagles’s failure. We have been told that he does not want his kinsman to be removed from the national team job while the contract which he signed states otherwise. Some of those who called for the sack of the coach, Samson Siasia have eaten their words.

They are singing a new song and the beat has changed. It showed the level of corruption in the society and I pity the EFCC about what they are up against.

Those who are calling for the coach to remain in charge have suddenly forgotten that there is a contract and it specifically states that failure to deliver on the Nations Cup ticket will meet with sack. They are saying that the contract should be bent to favour Siasia while we go on as if nothing happen to our football a fortnight ago. We must learn to respect the law no matter whose ox is gored. We must learn to respect contractual agreement if we do not want to turn our land into a jungle. There should not be a set of rules for a group of people while others are above it.

The President, Dr Good luck Ebele Jonathan should wash his hands off the matter and let the contract has its way and its say. He must tell us he has nothing to do with the mark of untouchable that they put on Siasia or any other person for that matter. The contract the coach signed with the Nigerian people must take precedence.

I agree with Bonfrere Jo, the former coach of the Super Eagles who claimed in an interview that the Super Eagles is bigger than any indigenous coach. Bonfrere is the Dutch who took Nigeria to the Olympic gold medal in Atlanta-Georgia in 1996. The country also finished as runner up in the 2000 Nations Cup with the foreign coach in charge. He is currently in China handling a club. There fore, when he talks, we should listen. The Dutch did not state the reason why he thought so and he was not asked the question. The three major titles Nigeria have won at the senior level came from foreign coaches. The indigenous coaches •Igali have won nothing. The indigenous coaches do no have the pedigree to handle the senior national team at least for now. They do not have the tactical discipline to make success of the Super Eagles.

Siasia, rooted for to handle the national senior team by Nigerians for coming second in two international competitions, has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is one of the equations. That is why he hired Simon Kalika to provide the necessary back-up. He knew his limitation in the tactical field and there is no harm in anyone hiring a man Friday to provide the missing link. The idea of giving the senior team to an indigenous coach came from the brain wave of Alhaji Sani Lulu. That is how Amodu Shaibu came to the saddle. The indigenous coaches only attracted confidence to take the Super Eagles to the Nations Cup. That is how Lars Lagerback came in few months to the World Cup. The administrators do not have confidence in giving the Super Eagles to the indigenous coach for the World Cup. Now, there will be no Nations Cup for the Super Eagles so there should be no dilly-dallying in hiring a good, functional foreign coach for the national team. We need to start afresh for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers and it will be a marathon.

It is true that no foreign coach has won the World Cup. Countries that had won it did with indigenous coaches. If there is set back for our football with the indigenous coach, then we need to look elsewhere. We did not qualify for the All Africa Games soccer event, both male and female. We were sent packing by Ghana who had indigenous coaches. We did not qualify for the U-17 World Cup. We are left with the Olympic Games qualifiers which look unsure for us as the days go by. The female team takes a slender win to Cameroon . The male squad is just being put together as the professional players may not be available for the final round of the 2012 London Games qualifier.

Our leading lights in the continent have all been dimmed. Enyimba crashed out of the Champions League in the semi final to a Moroccan side. Sunshine Stars lost at home to a Tunisian side. The Moroccans are hosting the U-23 African Championship and they have already raised a team. While they have a home based side which has been playing friendly matches in the continent, we are just trying to raise one. They have been scheduled to play friendly matches with domestic teams. Three teams will qualify for the Olympic soccer event. IT is my prayer that the Austin Eguavoen-led squad picks one of the tickets with their fire-brigade approach to preparation, but it does not look likely.

President Jonathan wanted to pull Nigeria out of international football for some years last year; a ban from the controlling body of the game, FIFA brought a change of heart. While the weapon sounds drastic, Nigerian sports which has football as one, needs a shot in the arm. A probe of our football will not be an over statement, but nothing will come out of it. The report will be presented to those who are responsible for the rot in our football house. The report will only gather dust on the shelf.

THE NATION SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

31

NATION SPORT

Eguavoen joins the groove I

N the era of limited world wide web (email, video call and other electronic mail platforms) we tolerated Coaches (foreign or Nigerian) who insisted that travelling to Europe was the only way of either monitoring our players or getting them released from their clubs for national assignments. We shouldn’t be sold that monkey anymore and that is what exactly coach of the National U-23 Olympic football team, Augustine Eguavoen has sold to us. I sympathise with the Alhaji Aminu Maigari and some of his board members for their self-inflicted sitting dock situation that has made them say yes to all manner of balderdash dished out by the various coaches under their watch all in the name of giving them the free hand to perform. We once had a team camping in Dubai for a tournament that will hold in South Africa and you begin to wonder what the camp was meant to achieve.

It is this self imposed helplessness that led us to the sorry pass with Super Eagles’ Coach, Samson Siasia just because they were afraid somebody will accuse them of interfering with the coach’s routine. During the heady days of former Sports Minister, Chief Jim Nwobodo and Colonel Abdulmuminu Aminu, the then head of Nigeria Football Association (NFA), there was the heated negative portrayal of Nwobodo as interfering in the affairs of NFA in the period leading to the 1996 Olympics. The Minister at one of the numerous press conferences did say “I may be forgiven if my actions turn out to be wrong but history will not spare me if I am found to have not taken any action at all. If that is what you call interference, so be it…” Even though the control of the football budget was the main is-

By Harry Iwuala

sue in contention, Nwobodo felt the Aminu-led board had bungled so many assignments that it would not be wise to allow them the autonomy they sought.

We may be experiencing a slightly different scenario at the moment but it has become obvious that the Maigari-led board is sacrificing legitimate control at the altar of being seen as liberal. It is understandable that the board has gone down in history as having given coaches under their watch the best support any set of coaches ever received since the modern era of organised football in the country. Check out the various youth teams and how they toured the country and the world preparatory to tournaments and you will applaud Maigari and co. But it is stretching the point to fund a trip for Eguavoen to scour Europe seeking the release of players for the U-23 Four-Nation tournament in Morocco.

It has been muted that the former Super Eagles’ captain is in mortal fear of going the way of the Super Eagles, the All African Games team which he handled and maybe, the U-17 team that all failed to reach their set mark. The truth is that we are returning to the error of Siasia and other past national team handlers who vehemently refused to cast a glance at our domestic league players. We have become familiar with their antics of using the domestic players to run bills in the name of opening camp at some cities in Nigeria, while waiting for some players from all manner of clubs in Europe to arrive and take the centre stage. Why would any player elect to remain in the domestic league even if the pay is right when he can be treated as dung by coaches, some of whom cannot point to any player they nurtured from obscurity to

•Eguavoen

stardom? It becomes more disturbing when domestic league coaches like John Obuh also had to rely on players from Europe to campaign at junior tournaments but then, Obuh can still point to a good number of the home boys in his squad.

It is the height of irresponsible commentary for Eguavoen to publicly state he cannot train players and make them good for a tournament after close to one year on the job. It smacks of lack of capacity for a person whose appellation is ‘trainer or manager’ to state that he cannot transform learners to experts but would go on a junket to seek finished products. The NFF should make Eguavoen and others after him to sign an undertaking to refund all expenses incurred on such trips if they fail to deliver expected result after being granted their wishes.

As it is, he should list the players on his radar so we can check how many of them are released to him since they are such kindergartens that must be handed over to some guardian. Thanks to the authorities at the English club, Sheffield Wednesday that has released Daniel Chima Uchechi on the strength of a letter mailed to the club requesting the player's release.

It goes to show that the clubs do not need any entourage to decide what to do.

Imperatives for a National Sports Academy Recently, I happened on a sports magazine report on Doha-based satellite television, Al Jazeera which focused on an academy in an Eastern European country. It showed kids from seven years and above training in an institution where they are camped and educated both in their chosen sport and academics.

It showed children learning the very basics of wrestling, Volleyball, Basketball, Judo etc. For the wrestling, the kids were undergoing drills that were intended to make their bodies very flexible.

It interested me to no end because the academy was set up by that country’s government, that is to say the equivalent of their Ministry of Sports or National Sports Commission. There was no trace of branding which would have suggested sponsorship or the newest fancy buzzword, Public Private Partnership.

Our government is shirking responsibility on almost all spheres of our national life and this is more pronounced in sports which gets one wondering why they draw budgets and the contents of these budgets. It has been reported that the NSC is setting up training centers in the six geopolitical zones and it will be interesting to know the purpose of these centers. Are they for training of budding athletes or for camping of those preparing for championships? It amuses one when

people talk about the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) not developing the sport from grassroots. My last check with the English FA did not show that they had an academy that threw up Wayne Rooney, Jack Wilshire and Theo Walcott. These were products of the club academies and what the NFF as a regulatory organ should be doing is setting the parameters for registration of clubs and insisting on all applicants meeting the requirements.

Now, one of the requirements should be that every Professional League club (Premier League and National Division One League) must have an academy with specific standards set out by the federation. There are some other guidelines the federation should set for eligibility to operate a club in the country.

Back to the NSC, it is not too late to set up a national sports academy with qualified personnel in the field of education and sports development.

This to my mind will be the answer to the oft repeated lamentations of absence of academicals. It will suffice for the recently launched National Academicals competition because our challenge in sports as a nation is not in competitions but in training and grooming. We need sports teachers who will identify kids in their schools for further training at the National Sports Academy and not fleeting competitions that induce the tendency to cheat.

Part of the reason for the declining standard of sports and quality of sportsmen in the country can be traced to the absence of a cohesive approach to sports administration which often results in the NSC not being able to guide the respective sports federations. The time has come for the NSC to produce a development framework for the federations which will form the basis of national drive for the grooming of future sportsmen and women.

Whereas the federations now exist only for competitions, the NSC must point the way forward for development.

We must also resist the misguided argument of trying to foist the task of administering a Sports Academy on the National Institute for Sports which the proponents always support with the case of Australia. If the NIS must be saddled with this responsibility, then it must expand both in physical and human resource capacity. The present location of the institute cannot support the magnitude of the sports academy in focus as it will not only be a sports training ground, it will also coach the students with the national education curriculum. It requires modern facilities that match Olympic standards and by investing in this, government will be partially solving the employment problem and at the same time, taking our sports to globally acceptable standard.

The resources in terms of money are there if only we set our priorities right and avoid the wastages of forming one committee or the other to tinker our sports.

Harry Iwuala is a renowned Journalist based in Lagos, Nigeria

VOICE OF SPORTS

With Clement Nwankpa Jnr. sportswar@yahoo.com

Another Green Bottle!

“MAMA Eka! Mama Eka!!, another green bottle”. Here she comes with that bottle, invitingly green with content as tranquil as the sweet early morning breeze. Ehee…behold the dews resting on the bottle, mere vapour of the liquid inside. I clutch the bottle. Oooh, so soothing, just like a balm. The beauty of the green bottle is getting the liquor off that cage. Pum! I let go of the cork. Now, I pour the liquid contents into the cup. Check out these little balls climb from the bottom of the cup to the top and then explode. Waow! What an invitation. I’ve got to let this ooze down inside me. Ooh, my green bottle, a beauty to behold; more beautiful inside.

I thought all things green are beautiful; my green jersey, my national flag, the lawns of gardens littered across Abuja, my green land. Now, echoes of TY Bello’s song reverberate. What am I hearing, the national anthem? “Arise Oh, compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey…” Tears roll down my cheeks. I clench my fist; I thump my chest; I bite my lips in belligerent xenophobia. Now turbo charged, I can die for this nation. I can go down wearing the green and white colours. Oh, my fatherland; the nation that has given me all I ever had. Oh, that green passport, as fresh and green as the pumpkin leaf. The flame of patriotism fired by the green bottle, everything around me appears green, including mama Eka’s dress. My sleeves are rolled up. Say anything bad about Nigerian now and you will incur my wrath.

Why didn’t these boys feel this way against Guinea? Was Osaze Odemwingie ignorant of the demands of that occasion? I know he has been away for a while, but didn’t somebody tell him that for Eagles to stand a chance of qualification, the team must score?

If he was aware, why didn’t he convert one of those begging chances in the first half? Why did he choose to become so profligate on such a big day? Was he aware that any goal he scored on that day would have been as important as the penalty he converted in a Nations Cup qualifier against Angola on June 21, 2003, to secure the Tunisia 2004 Nations Cup ticket? That was when Osaze was very hungry. If October 8, 2011 were that date in 2003, Osaze would have grabbed a hat-trick against Guinea.

I saw him come off the bench for West Brom last Saturday desirous to prove a point to Roy Hodgson, why didn’t he have similar appetite against Guinea? Why didn’t he aim at showing Samson Siasia what he (Siasia) had missed all the while he was suspended from the team? Why didn’t he crave to endear the fans further to him by single-handedly delivering the Nations Cup ticket? So he was still that lethal in front of goal, as displayed in West Brom’s colours last Saturday, yet he frittered away opportunities that would have counted against Guinea?

If he was off-form against Guinea, how did he suddenly hit a rich vein of form against Wolves a week later? Why didn’t the green and white colours evoke a similar desire to excel as did West Brom’s white and black strip?

Was Mikel Obi aware that if the team conceded a goal the task would become more difficult? Perhaps, his reporting late to camp didn’t avail him the opportunity to be properly briefed. I find it hard to believe Mikel knew the importance of the team keeping a clean sheet on that day. How can one explain his laissez-faire attitude on the day? Well aware of the fact that Eagles filed out with just two midfielders and he was meant to be the more defensive of the duo, it is befuddling to note how casual he was in the game.

He ventured forward without recourse to his defensive responsibilities and when he lost the ball, he strolled back, sometimes with his hands on his waist. Tufiakwa! Guinea’s goals were due to Mikel’s laid back attitude. Would Mikel do that in Chelsea’s colours? I saw the zest he displayed in the blue strip against Everton last weekend, why wasn’t he similarly inspired in the green and white colours penultimate Saturday?

I may be wrong, but I can’t fathom why Dele Aiyenugba couldn’t stop one of those goals. If he was also aware of the need to stop the Guineans from scoring, couldn’t he have put in a little more effort to thwart the Guineans? They had just three attempts at goal and scored twice.

If the players had resolved to die in the green and white colours rather than lose the Nations Cup ticket, the result would have been different. I remember when Eagles played against Burkina Faso in a World Cup qualifier in Ouagadougou on April 27, 1997. Philippe Troussier had altered the team’s traditional 44-2 to a novel 3-5-2 during his reign and in the must-win Battle of Ouagadougou, he opted for a 3-5-1-1 with Daniel Amokachi dropping deeper into the midfield while Emmanuel Amuneke, who was the lone striker, was expected to zoom in from the left flank. The players had resolved that they wouldn’t leave Ouagadougou without the three points, so they jettisoned Troussier’s novel formation and fell back on the 4-4-2 disregarding the French man’s screams from the touchline. At this point, the likes of Amokachi had taken the role of coaches on the pitch.

The team battled to a 2-1 victory.

Why can’t the green and white colours fire up this generation of Eagles? “Mama Eka! Mama Eka!! My green bottle is empty”.

Even now that they have broken my heart, the green bottle will suffice. (Hic…Hic…)I hope Super Falcons make up their mind to ‘die’ in the green and white colours today rather than lose the Olympics ticket to Cameroun.

THE NATION SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

34

NATION SPORT

Inside The Glass House WITH AMINU MAIGARI

Fresh Perspectives (2) T

HE reported confession by the Head Coach of Super Eagles, Mr. Samson Siasia sometime during the week that he NEVER believed that the Syli Nationale of Guinea stood a chance against the Super Eagles in the final 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifier at the National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, October 8 must have shocked more than a few people in the nation’s football community.

Was it true? Was it not?

Whatever it is, it offered a fresh perspective on how our National Teams must approach EVERY international match or championship henceforth.

In truth, football teams do approach games or tournaments based on perceived pedigree, ability and their capacity vis-a-vis the opposition. But over time, teams have learnt not to underrate the opposition, while being careful not to be overconfident before the start of a game.

Even after the referee’s first blast of the whistle, it is usually dangerous to lower your guard or to assume too much during play, until the referee’s final whistle.

On several occasions, Nigeria has been both beneficiary and victim to the unpredictability of the football game until the referee’s final blast of the whistle. As beneficiary, the quarter-final match of the FIFA World Youth Championship (now FIFA U20 World Cup) between the Flying Eagles and their Soviet Union counterparts in Dammam, Saudi Arabia in 1989 comes to mind. The Flying Eagles were 0-4 down, and apparently out, with only 15 minutes left in that game that turned out to be historic.

A free-kick by Oladimeji Lawal started it, and then Christopher Ohenhen scored from another free-kick, and Sam Elijah scored the third goal, before Nduka Ugbade scored the memorable equalizer, and the match went into extra time. No goals, and Nigerian went on to win on penalties.

In 1996, Brazil’s U-23 team had gone 3-1 ahead of our dear Dream Team I (captained by Nwankwo Kanu) and assumed they were already in the final.

Check pedigree and you would not find anywhere that Nigeria had beaten Brazil in a FIFA match previously, so that Brazilians could afford their pomposity. At the same tournament, the Brazilians had beaten the Dream Team 1-0, in a group phase match. With scoreline at 3-1, the Brazilian Coach even pulled out some of his best players to “rest their legs ahead of the final match”.

There was to be no final match for them, for Victor Ikpeba and Kanu contrived

goals that pulled Nigeria level and Kanu scored a ‘golden goal’ that eliminated the powerful South Americans. In the final match, Argentina went in front after few minutes but Celestine Babayaro equalized. Argentina again pulled in front at the beginning of the second half and thought it was going to be their day until Daniel Amokachi and Emmanuel Amuneke thought otherwise, and we won the Olympic gold – first for Africa.

Two years ago, in Nairobi, the Harambee Stars got a the first goal of a match that Nigeria needed to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup final. Nigeria would equalize through Obafemi Martins but from nowhere, the Kenyans rattled the Super Eagles with a second goal, and many thought it was going to be another disappointment. But Nigeria was able to contrive two goals before the end and we qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals.

As victim, and before Saturday, October 8 (30 seconds to eternity, someone told me), Nigerian ball fans can recall how, on October 8, 2005, the Super Eagles lashed Zimbabwe 5-1 at the National Stadium, Abuja thinking they had qualified for the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006.

They had done their bit, and Rwanda was supposed to hold Angola in Kigali.

The Rwandans were doing their bit very well until only minutes to the end, when Angola’s Fabrice Akwa popped up at the right place to nod the ball into the net and send Angola’s Palancas Negras to Germany, leaving the Super Eagles devastated at the final whistle in Abuja.

In 1984, Mudashiru Babatunde Lawal scored a fine goal to open the account of the African Cup of Nations final match between Nigeria and Cameroon in Abidjan.

Nigerians were nursing hope of a second Nations Cup triumph but the more experienced Indomitable Lions roared back powerfully in the second half to win the match.

Heartbreak sessions continued with the defeat of the Super Eagles by Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles in the semi final of the 2004 African Cup of Nations. The Super Eagles led that match 1-0 from a penalty kick converted by Austin Okocha, but the hosts equalized through another penalty kick late in the game and went on to win on penalties.

One question that comes to mind is: Why did the Super Eagles, as admitted by Coach Siasia, under-rate the Syli Nationale at the National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, October 8?

There was really no reason for the over-confidence. Yes, we are a leading light of the

game in Africa. Yes, we believe we have a stronger team on pedigree and on paper. Yes, we have a population driven by passion for the beautiful game. Yes, we are rated above Guinea in the FIFA Coca-Cola ranking.

Yet, none of these should have been reason for conceit.

At the top of the group B table was Guinea, comfortable on 13 points and sure to qualify even if they had lost to the Super Eagles. Matches between Nigeria and Guinea have always been closefought, and Guinea won the corresponding fixture 1-0 in Conakry a year earlier.

The admission by Coach Siasia has also better informed the Nigeria Football Federation on the general preparation of our teams for international matches and tournaments. It is said repeatedly that there are no more small teams/minnows in international football, but the so-called big teams continue to make the same mistake of thinking they can always ride rough-shod over the so-called small teams when the chips are down.

The chips have now worked a wicked one for the ‘mighty teams’ of the African continent and Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Egypt and Algeria, sadly, will not be at the 2012 African Cup of Nations.

Someone asked me during the week whether the Nigeria Football Federation would accept an invitation from the South African Football Association for a four-nation (or is it eight-nation) tournament that would clash with the African Cup of

Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Well, we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Falcons and the Challenge...

I want to say here that I firmly believe in the ability of the Super Falcons to come out unscathed from today’s London 2012 Olympics qualifying match against their Cameroonian counterparts in Yaounde.

The players have been in camp for several weeks and they are not new to one another. Only few have recently broken into the team.

The majority have been together at a number of FIFA World Cup competitions and African Women Championships.

The players have expressed their readiness to do everything to guarantee victory – for it is victory we need and NOT a draw, which would be enough to send the Falcons to London. The approach would be to forget there had even been a first leg and go all out for a win at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium.

Last week, I appealed passionately to Enyimba FC and Sunshine Stars to approach their continental matches with the mentality of the yam-pounder, but both teams failed to heed the advice and fell. Sunshine Stars have a second chance to redeem matters when they go to Tunis next weekend, but it is a mountain to climb at the Stade El Menzah with temperature at freezing degree at kick-off.

Enyimba FC would be the first to admit that they did not approach the match with the right attitude, and that pains.

They were eliminated when they had a bright opportunity to proceed to the final and perhaps lift the trophy, to become one of clubs to have won the trophy on three occasions, become the first Nigerian club to take part in the FIFA Club World Cup and also seal continental football next season.

All these, the players threw away as a result of not appreciating the importance of the 90 minutes.

Today, the Super Falcons MUST appreciate the importance of the 90 minutes inside the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium and deliver for the good of Nigeria. Ameen.

• Taiwo

ITALIAN SERIE A

Taiwo battles Obodo

W

ITH last Wednseday's performance in AC Milan 2-0 defeat of FC Bate Borisov in the UEFA Champions League, Nigerian defender Taye Taiwo will be in the Rossoneri starting line-up as they face Christain Obodo's Lecce at the Stadio Comunale Via del Mare in the Italian Serie A clash.

Taiwo has struggled since his summer move to Milan, but feels better after Wednesday night's display with lot more confidence than he displayed in his debut against Cesena in a Serie A game.

As such, Milan will be aiming for another victory after their 3-0 win over Palermo at home in Serie A last Saturday.

AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri was pleased with his team’s performance against the Belarusian outfit in front of their own supporters and is optimistic of similar positive results as the season goes on.

And for Obodo and his teammates, they are in need of the points and having just broken three-game a losing streak with a strong performance away to Genoa last week, Milan may be in for tough match.

According to Obodo, Milan parades quality players but that wil not scare Lecce.

"Given the quality of the Rossoneri's players we should run more for each other, although we cannot only think of defending. We must try to impose our game," Obodo said.

Osaze targets victory at Villa Park N

• Samson Siasia

IGERIAN striker Osaze Odemwingie says his target today is to lead West Brom to another victory in their second Midlands derby in less than a week.

The rivalry between the Baggies and Villa has always been intense. But with the Birmingham side holding on to eighth place in English Premier League - three points ahead of West Brom - both sets of players will feel the pressure at Villa Park.

Roy Hodgson's men know the odds are stacked against them, however. They have not won at Villa since May 1979, a fact that Albion's Nigerian striker Peter Odemwingie is determined to put right.

Odemwingie is still on a high following his excellent display against rivals Wolves on Sunday, when he came off the bench to score West Brom's second goal.

"It would be great to make it a double. Every situation is a chance to do something that will be remembered," Odemwingie said.

"We have a very tough game but we need points and we're at the moment where we have two big derbies in a row, then Arsenal and Liverpool. It’s a very hard period but it’s a period where three points feels like six, so I think that will help motivate us."

Villa boss Alex McLeish will be looking for a better performance than the one they delivered in the 4-1 hammering by Manchester City last Saturday.

McLeish received some good news with defender James Collins scheduled to return to training on Thursday after missing the City defeat with a groin injury.

Olubanwo Fagbemi

On Sport Sport On SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

36

LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES QUALIFIER

Super Falcons go for broke

•Falcons in training

•Desire Oparanozie (l) in action against Cameroun

By Akeem Lawal Eucharia expressed optimism that the team will wipe off the sad memory of the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations by beating the All Africa Games gold medalists to the Olympic ticket.

She stated that the arrival of all invited foreign based players which include reigning African footballer of the year, Perpetua Nkwocha, Rita Chikwelu, Helen Ukonu, Faith Ikedi, Uchechi Sunday and Onome Ebi boosted the morale of the other players in Camp ahead of the encounter.

A former Super Eagles’ Coach, Christian Chukwu, who was recently drafted to assist the team’s build up to the qualifier, says he is optimistic the squad will deliver.

"I believe these girls have what it takes to beat the

Eagles: moving on

T

A

FTER series of disappointments in recent football outings by Nigeria, all hope will be on the country’s female national team, the Super Falcons as they confront the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon in a make or mar, London 2012 Olympic Games qualifier inside the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium, Yaounde.

Nigeria travels to Cameroon with a slim 2-1 lead from the first leg in August, with the winner of the two-legged tie joining South Africa at next year’s Olympic Games. Both teams would have squared off in the return leg last month but Cameroon appealed to Nigeria through world football-governing body, FIFA as their women’s team was involved in the 10th AllAfrica Games in Mozambique.

It would be recalled that within a space of 10 days, the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the final of the 2012 Africa Nations Cup, Sunshine Stars were beaten at home 0-1 by Club Africain of Tunisia in the CAF Confederation Cup first leg semifinals, while Wydad Athletic Club of Morocco bundled Enyimba out from the CAF Champions League in Aba. But coach Uche Eucharia has promised that the Super Falcons of Nigeria will put back smiles on the faces of millions of Nigerian football fans who have been saddened by the downward slope Nigerian football has been witnessing in recent weeks.

e-mail: deewalebf@yahoo.com

Lionesses on Saturday. Based on their form in training and their determination to go all the way for victory, I am assured that they will return to Nigeria with the ticket."

The team, which is made up of both foreign and local based players were engaged in a two-phased training camp held in Abuja and Abeokuta, Ogun State. A delegation of 20 players and 11 technical officials led by the NFF’s Director of Technical, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme departed the shores of the country last Thursday.

It is also hoped that the double bonus of $4,000 each to the team by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), will be a major boost for the Falcons to beat the Lionesses.

According to Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme, NFF had given all that was required for the Falcons to succeed in the match in terms of preparations.

"All they have to do is to put up their best performance, as the FA has provided all that the team required. They have had the best preparations in a conducive environment. This is to ensure they don't have any excuse about the condition under which they were preparing or training, that it was not good.

"Now, it has become a responsibility on their part to win and I want to believe that the team's chief coach has her tactical plans. We have to carry the fight to them there, as that is the only way out. We need to ensure that they (the Cameroonians) don't score," he said.

For former super falcons’ goalkeeper, Anne Chiejine, Nigeria has all it takes to in beating the Camerounians to the ticket.

“If they (Cameroun) can come here and score a goal,

we should go and beat them.

This is not the first time we are repeating this, in the history of African football, Cameroun has never defeated Super Falcons and it can not be now.

And believe with think the caliber of players and the technical crew we have, we should be able to go there and beat them.

“We might not have qualified for the All Africa Games, that does not mean Cameroun are better than us, we are the one ripe for this Olympics, Cameroun time has not come”, she noted.

FALCONS IN YAOUNDE: Precious Dede, Tochukwu Oluehi, Helen Ukaonu, Rita Chikwelu, Perpetua Nkwocha, Faith Ikidi, Onome Ebi, Osinachi Ohale, Francesca Ordega, Uchechi Sunday, Desire Oparanozie, Ebere Orji, Rose Umeh, Amenze Aighewi, Gloria Ofoegbu, Asisat Oshoala, Augusta Egwim, Glory Iroka, Cecilia Nku, Martina Ohadugha.

•Eucharia

AKEN together, the post-match recant of Samson Siasia and conduct of certain prima donnas after Nigeria’s lacklustre surrender of the 2012 Gabon/Equatorial Guinea qualification ticket to ultimate rivals Guinea reinforced my long-held view that failure was always likely.

Witness Siasia’s admission of error in starting Osaze Odemwingie and Mikel Obi in the final qualifier in Abuja as well as both players’ amazingly spirited displays for English Premier League clubs Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion last weekend for effect. Nothing underscored the sickening approach to national assignment by coach and player more than the events.

While Siasia hopelessly deployed hindsight to excuse serial blunder before the Nigeria Football Federation technical committee, it hurt deeply to hear his errant wards talk flippantly about Nigeria’s ouster while pledging allegiance to their clubs’ ongoing campaigns. While it is acknowledged that the players owe the clubs that pay their wages unmitigated commitment, they are indeed bound by the ethics of football professionalism to give commensurate attention to the national cause once selected.

It follows, therefore, that if a player is not psychologically prepared to represent their country they should communicate such to the football authorities in time, and better still, give their all for a coach they may have a grouse or two with once spats are settled. Or else a player could retire from the national team altogether and allow more ambitious fellows take up the opportunity.

Those were options spurned by egotistical national team stars on the Nations Cup trail. Backed by sentimental officials and followers, they challenged the coach’s authority at significant turns and picked matches to play in.

For instance, I wondered why few questioned Siasia’s selective justice when a group of players flouted camp rules, or why many were quick to blame the choice of goalkeeper against Guinea when the favoured ‘keeper had not been tested in previous matches. Vincent Enyeama might have been unfairly held as scapegoat by Siasia, but the Lille of France benchwarmer would never have been my first choice for the day.

All the same, Siasia complicated issues with a handicapped defence, weak midfield and pointless attack. The result was a show capable of embarrassing any honourable coach to the point of resignation.

While I wholeheartedly supported Siasia’s emergence following heated debate over former Eagles coach Lars Lagerback’s replacement after the South Africa 2010 World Cup flop, I was quick to appraise the Nigerian coach’s subsequent deviation from the Nations Cup target. Yet, some thought Siasia blameless until the country’s Nations Cup fate hung precariously.

Now we experience collective stupor, unsure of again scaling the heights of continental football, let alone the summit of world soccer. Nor can any sufficiently resolve pertinent posers.

With Siasia out of the picture, can we attract a top international coach, manager or technical adviser in the first instance?

Can we provide appropriate tools and conditions for success?

And most of all, can we be patient for results once the new man demonstrates the will to cultivate a collection reminiscent of the distinguished Eagles of old?

The prognosis is grim. I fear that the politically skewered system that permeates every aspect of national endeavour has finally caught up with sports and is devouring football. The spirit of competition – or organisation for that matter – is gone, leaving the task of rediscovery arduous indeed.

It starts with a more technical and purposeful football federation spurred by the lessons of recent failure. It continues with establishment of a viable domestic football league run by technocrats with corporate sponsors in attendance. It matures with faultless national team selection and operating methods.

A warning here: whoever fills the top Eagles position will find indiscipline, rather than tactics, the first challenge.

Surmount that and progress may well kick in. After all, Nigeria frequently parades some of the most gifted players in Africa, so much so that the achievements of the past decade and a half have been secured mostly by individual brilliance.

Team success is, nonetheless, more desirable. It fetches greater international rating and favourable seeding at international tournaments. It also facilitates player movement to top European clubs. Such was the multiplier effect generated by Nigeria’s high rating at its 90s zenith that Super Eagles players dominated African Footballer of the Year awards and commandeered African Eleven selections.

If it’s any consolation for disillusioned fans, however, the perennial bronze ‘reserved’ for Nigeria at the Nations Cup finals would have been near-impossible for Siasia’s bunch at the 2012 edition despite the absence of traditional rivals Cameroon and Egypt. Still, the Super Eagles will be missed at the event, on account of pedigree and occasional brilliance that higlight every cup outing by the men in green.

The country last missed the continental party in 1986, but sojourn in international football wilderness is thankfully brief as qualification campaigns for the Brazil 2014 World Cup and 2013 Africa Nations Cup begin next January. They offer early opportunities for redemption and should be thus valued.

38

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

BACK STAGE Sensational Waves premieres on Hi-Nolly

T

HE first-ever pidgin TV show, Totori Kolobi, subtitled as Sensational Waves, has hit the TV screen on hi-nolly.

The TV series serves as a medium of spectacle to meet the yearnings of those at the grassroots.

Also, the show serves as a huge drive towards a positive moral change in the society.

The one hour entertainment show, which was designed for the grassroots, however, has a slight switch for the elites.

The show is segmented into four intriguing plots, the first, Ogbonge Celeb, which serves as an interview session with renowned celebrities in the entertainment world, who will share their jaunts and ordeals on attaining stardom. The second part of the show, Shine your 32 Lungu, looks at societal issues painted in satire form, but seeks to address serious underlying issues.

Entertainment gists, gossips and events allabout-town will be featured in the third segment of the programme, Aproko Kona. Matta Wey Dey Happen simply pops up on issues.

The first segment of the show, aired on February 3, featured musical stars like Ras kimono, Onyeka Onwenu, Sunny Neji, Edris Abdulkareem and Sound Sultan.

The apex honcho and theatre arts graduate, Fantula J Fantula, said the show is a new dimension in the entertainment circuit to address the young and common man, as well as educating the youth to shun the various acts of social vices by the medium of the pidgin language.

The show will be premiered on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Superstory celebrates ten years with Sister Sister

•Wale Adenuga

I

Making of overnight stars

T was apparent that Nicodemus Andrew Dodo was yet to come to terms with the good fortune that befell him. He had just won a car in the on-going Star Mega Promotion a brand new Toyota Corolla 2011 model. He may also have been overwhelmed by the fact that he flew on a plane for the first time, courtesy of Nigerian Breweries Plc, to take delivery of his brand new car. Above all, as a security man who also plies other northern state routes for additional income to his meagre salary, his dazed expression conveys what he may have gone through in life.

His mien was a direct contrast to Koko Akaninyene's reaction to his prized acquisition. Obviously exuding youthful exuberance, this 22 year old restaurant waiter could barely contain his excitement. He beamed with smiles throughout the prize presentation ceremony held at the NBL premises.

Joseph Teye, the third lucky car winner also beamed with smiles as he too could hardly believe his new status as a brand new car owner.

The peculiarity of the Nigerian situation has made car ownership a feat worth rolling out the red carpet for. The take-home packages of Nicodemus, a security man as well as Koko and Joseph, both waiters, cannot possibly buy them a second hand car. Yet they have become proud owners of the latest Toyota Corolla model cars, through the Star Mega Promotion.

How far would you go to own a car? Koko Akaninyene, an indigene of Cross-River State said he drank more than 15 bottles of Star in less than two weeks before he emerged as one of the brand new car winners.

Speaking with journalists after he was handed the vehicle, Koko said; “I consumed many bottles of Star because I wanted to win this car because Star is my favourite beer. I was able to assemble the four winning crown corks to spell 'STAR' because I consumed Star beer'' he

said.

Nicodemus Andrew Dodo, went as far as buying a crate of Star immediately he learnt of the promo.

He said: “Immediately I saw the promo on TV, I dashed to the nearest bar to buy a crate of Star. Something told me that I would be among the winners and I held fast to my conviction. My wife thought that I was mad but I knew what I was doing.”

His 'madness' paid off as he finally won the much coveted Toyota Corolla. Nicodemus easily got the last three letters, T, A, R, after consuming all the bottles of Star in the crate but getting the crown cork with S proved to be a stumbling block to his quest of owning a car.

“You won't believe that I couldn't get the four complete letters from the 12 bottles of Star in the crate I bought. I kept getting, T, A, and R but the S just kept evading me until I exhausted all the bottles of Star. At that point I was really discouraged because it cost me a lot of money to buy that crate of Star” he said.

The Kaduna born father of four almost gave up but for a dream he had on the very night the drinks in the crate got exhausted. “I was really disappointed that I didn't get the complete crown corks even after I bought a crate of Star. I was going to give up that night but I saw myself driving a car in a dream the night the crate of Star got finished so the next morning I decided to give it another shot. Since I didn't have enough money to buy another crate, I bought only two bottles of Star. The crown cork from the first bottle gave me a T but the second one gave me the 'S' that I had searching for. Truly, this car is a gift from God,” he stated.

As bizarre as their stories may be, the reality is that Koko and Dodo are now car owners. So also is Joseph Teye. The waiter, who works in Protea Hotels, Abuja, did not have any dream to convince him that he would be amongst the car winners;

neither did he have to wait two weeks, drinking Star.

He got the four winning crown corks in one day and at a sitting! The Kogi born father of one simply calls himself a lucky man. ''I will just say I am a lucky man. I heard about the promo the first week it kicked off but I didn't really believe it. I really wasn't thinking about the cars on the day I got the complete crown corks. I was just relaxing with my friends at our favourite joint in Abuja and drinking my Star when one of my friends mentioned the promo. I decided to check what letter I had under the crown cork of my beer and I saw that it was S. When I showed my friends they screamed that they had been trying to get that particular letter. They told me that S was hard to come by. So we decided to buy more bottles of Star and that was how I got the other crown corks; in one day and at a sitting. I still can't believe it,'' he said.

Koko, Nicodemus and Teye are the first batch of car winners at the ongoing Star Mega Promo. Twenty-one other cars are still up for grabs, which will end on November 30.

Speaking on the Promo, Mr. Sampson Oloche, Senior Brand Manager - Star, Nigerian Breweries Plc, stated that the main objective of the promo was to thank the loyal consumers. In his words, “this promotion will touch the lives of millions of Nigerians all over the country. It is Star's way of saying thank you for our loyal consumers who have stood by us through the 62 years of our existence. They have stood by us and because of them, we are the market leader.''

Oloshe said further that the promotion would bring together Nigerians from around the country to share in the brand's good fortunes. ''Only a true national icon like Star can bring all of Nigerian together to share in the good fortunes of the brand. That is the unique thing about Star,'' he said.

39

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

S

ECRETS. Everybody has secrets. You know that one or two things that happened in your past that you’d rather not talk about. It could even be business plans, investments that you don’t want another to know about. It could also be that shameful act that you were once involved in, and I tell you this, a lot happens to an individual when no one is looking.

So, now that we all get the gist of where I am going with this, what happens when you are married? Is it ideal to be keeping secrets secret? Are you meant to keep everything close to your chest, hoping your spouse will never know?

I want to know if people tell their spouses everything.

Do you have limits on what you will or won’t share?

Should you tell your man if a man makes a pass at you?

Should you tell your wife if another lady catches your fancy or flirts with you? If, as a lady, you are opportuned to buy one or two plots of land and you can afford to put up a structure or two; should you confide and carry your man along or keep him in the dark? If, as a man, you are spending more money outside the home to support a friend or family member, should your wife be in the know? Or do you feel that as a woman, it is really none of her businesses?

Speaking generally, in most circumstances, it is good to be open and honest with your spouse. Honesty breeds trust and trust makes for a happy, healthy home-life.

Unfortunately, however, according to research, there are things you just cannot afford to tell your husband •Re: Mrs Kike Alao mail Who knows it feels it, to feel is better than imagination. Mrs Alao has secured her family future by this singular action she has taken. If more families would learn from this experience, there will be improvement upon decadence in the society. Attitudes and values will be given a right place, this we can have crime free society.

Should spouses tell each other everything? or wife. Some things are really better left unsaid. Reason is because, there are pieces of information that can destroy, rather than mend your homes. Things that are to be left unsaid are issues like, saying ugly things about your in-laws. Saying ugly things about your spouse’s friends is one thing, doing so regarding in-laws is considered a cardinal sin, one for which, you will pay for, for as many years as you and your spouse remain married.

Another no-go area is, when you begin to recount good memories of your ex.

One thing that really makes a spouse boil, is hearing the mention of an ex in a good light. Even if everyone doesn’t admit it, every married person hopes deep down that all the exs your spouse might have had, should not be compared to them. This is especially true about things that go on in the bedroom. Just don’t go there. Details about your past relationships to your spouse will only end up destroying the home you have both laboured to build.

Fashion fades!

Femi Ajibola, Osogbo •Re: About Mrs Kike Alao’s mail, Vera, one man/ woman’s meat is another’s poison. If Kike Alao has found place in her new working lifestyle, goodluck. Others should weigh options at present and future to take working type and lifestyle

Do not tell your spouse certain things about your sex life.

A few things are trickier or more of a touchy topic between couples in a marriage, that is the topic of sex. This is because everyone likes to think that he or she is great in bed, better than anyone else and that he or she is a huge turn-on for his or her spouse. If any of this is not true, pointing it out to your spouse is likely to cause not just a rift but a rend in your marital relations. A better approach will be to teach him or her how to please you in bed.

A neighbour of mine once told me how she taught her spouse how to make love to her. She said at first, her man would just pounce on her and before you knew it, he was done. For months, she was dissatisfied but being newly wedded, she was not ready to puncture her husband’s ego. So, rather than verbalize her dissatisfaction, she decided to use actions, she taught him how and where to touch to make her happy and of course, you know that

naturally, if you make a woman happy, it follows that everybody in the house will be happy.

Do not discuss your fantasies with your spouse.

Hmmm, fantasies. It is said that having fantasies is healthy. I will say that it is healthy if you keep them to yourself. Regardless of whether they are sexual fantasies or wishful thinking, keep it to yourself because your spouse will see them as dissatisfaction of the status quo or worse as a threat to them.

I once read about a messy divorce scandal between a petite gospel artiste and her producer/hobby. The cause of their divorce, according to her, was his sexual fantasies.

Often times, he compelled her to have anal sex with her. Today, their marriage is history.

Some have fantasies that cannot even begin to appear on the pages of newspapers.

So, you see, some crazy fantasies should be kept within you, period.

Having said that, there are things, that I feel must be told

to one’s spouse without hesitation. Things like when one buys a parcel of land or is involved in one form of an investment or the other, your spouse must be in the know.

I assure you no man will settle for less; for all you know, his input might be a very positive one and even the builders or the workers on your site will reckon with you and respect you more when you visit your site with your husband.

Secondly, I have heard of women who will buy parcels of land and keep their husbands in the dark until after completion of the project. In my opinion, such act is criminal. A particular case study is the secretary of a client of mine. She told me she had this land she bought over four years and that her husband knew nothing about it. I tried in my little way to dissuade her but it did not work.

Also, do not disparage your spouse’s friends, it could come back to haunt you.

In conclusion, there are

Text messages Re: About Mrs. Kike Alao’s mail...

decision they deem better.

Lanre Oseni •SAHM & WM: We’ve elevated ignorance to high position. Mrs Alao got it write saying both mothers are employed if younger ladies

could get married 1st and raise kid(s) before getting paid employment outside the home, the present problem of child adoption encouraging child baby factories would reduce.

Honourable Ihuoma, Abuja •Mrs. Alao’s story was truly inspiring. I feel she should start a blog, just to encourage more women.

She’s indeed very bold, a true definition of ‘woman’ wife and mother! I also pray for grace to be able to manage it all when the time comes especially to be brave enough to look at the big picture.

Busola •To be candid, the way and manner ladies (married and single) ‘rape’ men with their sagging breasts these days makes one want to suggest that raping such ladies in return shouldn’t be punishable under our laws.

Most ladies are becoming really indecent.

Such indecency is demonstrated in even the church.

Dan Abj

The couple, Mr. and Mrs Adekunle Taiwo Falola at their wedding recently, surrounded by their bridal train

•Vera, without taking anything away from those who believe in the puddah system, I believe every woman should work in order to complement the effort of the man. However, the woman should not be so obsessed with her job at the

expense of the home. It is a fact that some jobs are quite demanding but the woman can always make up for her absence during the week on weekends.

She also has her casual and annual vacations to strengthen family bend.

Women should just ry to combine these two tasks as ardous as they seem to be.

Daddy's food must be made at the right time while the home maker is also not expected to shirk her responsibilities at work. In this situation this fomular might just work a little to the left and a little to the right. In this way the centre might just hold thus preventing things

kept secrets meant to keep harmony in the marriage, not as a first step towards lying.

However, honesty and openness is still a better approach.

‘

Do not discuss your fantasies with your spouse.

Hmmm, fantasies. It is said that having fantasies is healthy.

I will say that it is healthy if you keep them to yourself.

Regardless of whether they are sexual fantasies or wishful thinking, keep it to yourself because your spouse will see them as dissatisfaction of the status quo or worse as a threat to them.

’

from falling apart. This philosophy is what a journalist friend of mine who works in Lagos imbibed and has never been found wanting either at home or work. Some women are however cut out to work round the clock thereby neglecting the home front. I am of the opinion that the care of the home and the job a woman does should run pari-passu.

Remi Adesina •By searching her lucrative job for the sake of her family she has proved that money can not solve every problem however, such decision needs mutual agreement between partners first.

Ugwu Gregory, Obudu

Re: His mother or his stomach….

•Vera, it depend on individuals, there are so many ways, but mothers remains the quickest to a man’s heart.

Dapo, Lagos •My sister, both matters a lot but mama first and stomach follows Hamid.

•Vera, you article very interesting, I suggest you keep doing this for us. Vera, a good wife should be able to take care of my stomach and at the same time my mother, the two goes hand in hand, no compromise, shikena, ba wahala.

Aliyi

Nice piece but it sounds kind of desperate on the part of the women which is not always that way and also it sounds like the women are just goods at the market place.

Jane Abuja •I read your article it’s very interesting. As for me I choose my mother than my stomach, because she is very vital in my life and she is the one that brought me to life, I don’t take my mother for granted for the girl that I love, no matter how beautiful she is or how she can cook. I love my mother.

Ozaovehe Okene Kogi

40

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

Money, money, money, must be funny in a rich man’s world Dear people, how was your week? It’s really crazy that everywhere we turn now, the song on most people’s mouth is - ‘No money’. Even those you wouldn’t ever imagine could get broke are so broke that you wonder.

If the rich are crying, then what do they want the poor to do? Money what are you trying to prove? You must have been laughing when the musical group, Abba sang, ‘Money, money, money, must be funny in a rich man’s world. Money, money, money, always sunny in a man’s world.’ It’s not sunny in many rich men’s homes these days and that’s not funny.

I know that very soon, it will rain. Showers of blessings will rain on us all and we shall sing good songs because it will be sunny and funny in our worlds. Enjoy your weekend as you await this to happen.

My brother prefers music to his studies Dear Aunty, keep up the good work. I’m Gbenga, a soldier but it’s really been a struggle to get to this level. My younger brother who just left secondary school wants to go into music but I really want him to go to school without any hurdles like I’m still passing through. I learnt he went to one studio in Lokoja with his friend to record some songs. Please ma advice me on what to do. I went to check his result and it is not good. I want him to re-sit. Thanks ma.

Dear Soldier Gbenga, your brother is not alone in this quest to put music first. Most of our youths see all these big names in the music industry and think it was easy for them to get to the point they are now. I’m certain that out of every one hundred people trying to make it big musically, only a few end up getting to the

big stage.

Let your brother know that pursuing his musical career is like walking in the dark with his eyes closed. He may never know what’s ahead. It will take a lot of luck and other factors for him to make it. On the other hand, pursuing his education squarely is a sure-banker because the whole process is definite.

You may encourage him to pursue the two without one suffering for the other. Music is an uncertainty while education is a certainty. If one fails, at least, he can follow the other one.

Without wasting time, arrange for him to retake his papers. Let him know that it would be a shame for him even if he makes it musically and it is on record that he was a nonentity intellectually and academically. Be firm with him. God will help you as you save him.

I was raped as a child, now my man has Hi Adeola, well done! I’m 22 had sex with me forcibly years old now. I was raped when I was 8 years old and since then I never had any coital relationship up till now. I met a guy recently who is ready to wed me next year but he was insisting on having intercourse with me, which I avoided. He said he couldn’t without it and I didn’t want premarital sex. He forced me and I allowed him. It was very painful and I noticed I was bleeding afterwards. Is sex as painful as that, or am I still a virgin despite the rape when I was a child? Does he really love me?

Please it’s urgent. Thanks.

Dear girl, you shouldn’t have put yourself in a situation where a man would force you. I always tell people that no matter how strong your resolve is about not having

sex, the moment you’re alone with a member of the opposite sex, and blood runs in the veins of both of you, then you have a third person with you – Mr. Satan. Before you know it, something may happen which you may regret later. So to make it really clear that you do not want sex yet, avoid being alone in an enclosed place.

Well, in your case, the deed has been done and you can’t undo it, but that doesn’t make it right.

Your guy must have been very rough because sex is not supposed to give you such excruciating pain.

The fact that he knew that you were doing it for the first time should have made him exercise caution when attempting to try it with you.

I suspect that the guy is a bully.

I wouldn’t know the extent of the penetration the person who raped you had when you were a child, so I cannot know if your hymen was broken. It is the hymen at the mouth of the virginal that causes bleeding when it is broken. So it’s possible it was still intact after the ‘rape’ when you were a child.

It is also possible that since you were a child then and until this year - 14 years after- your body would have gone through a lot of processes and the place would have closed up. Even women who have had children and later abstain from sex for a while experience some discomfort and pain when trying again. The bleeding could have been as a result of tears. The guy is wild!

I wouldn’t know if he loves you or not. That he forced you could mean he was impatient to taste the food before it is served properly. It doesn’t say anything about whether he loves you or not. That was not tender with you says a lot about his crude manners and how immature he is.

Matured men want to make love not have some wild sex.

Let’s hope he’s serious about his marriage talks. If he is, you may have to redefine how he’ll be tearing you apart during love making. I have friends who fear going to bed with their husbands because these men keep giving them tears due to their roughness in the bedroom.

Hearts With Adeola Agoro E-mail: libranadeola@yahoo.co.uk Tel: 08023162609

Whose duty is it to finance a wedding?

Hi Aunty, you’re such a wonderful mother. May the Lord be your strength. Please, whose duty is it to finance a wedding? Try to explain it- Oluwaseun.

Thanks Oluwaseun. There are no hard and fast rules about whose duty it is to finance a wedding.

The first thing to know about organizing a wedding is that the wedding day itself is the beginning of a journey of two people who want to live together and do things together for the rest of their lives together.

Now, how you organize your wedding is one of the first functions you would be doing together and one of the decisions you would be doing together. The way you go about it with families from the two sides will go a long way in showing the way you would be doing things.

What finances are you looking at?

What have you saved up for the wedding? You should never do

I need advice Hi Aunty, I’m a 26-year-old lady with a baby who is year and some months old. I had the baby for a married man. When we met each other, he pretended that he was in love with me and that he would marry me as his second wife. He said his wife was not living in the same town as ours because he was posted here to work.

When I got pregnant, he asked me to abort it. He based this suggestion on the fact that I have two years left to finish my part-time degree and he worried about what my parents would say. I disagreed with him and we both finally agreed to have the baby.

After that, my parents have asked when his parents would come and meet them and he said that would be after I must have delivered the baby.

He has not brought his family since I delivered and I don’t know anybody with him.

To make things worse, he has now relocated to join his wife and children. He comes to where he rented for us only when he wishes and he won’t even stay for more than 30 minutes, not to talk of sleeping there.

We only talk about his business – no sex. We’ve not had sex for a long time, even before I delivered. He said I should be patient that things will not continue like this and I shouldn’t think that he doesn’t have plans for me. Help me out! We’re starving. I need advice.

Dear sister, the whole arrangement wasn’t straight from the beginning.

Your man obviously needed a regular woman in a new station not a regular wife and the attendant attachments. He wanted a woman around him to cook his food, keep his house clean and keep him company on cold nights when his wife’s touch is so far away.

The news of the pregnancy must have jolted him and he wanted a way out of the problem without wanting

My period became irregular after breastfeeding

Opeyemi and Olamide Joseph during their wedding at the Redeemed Christian Church of God Samanda, Ibadan, Oyo State

beyond your limit. You shouldn’t say you want to have a society wedding if you do not have the wherewithal to do so. If your parents for instance think they want to host 100 people and her parents want to host 100 people and you have the capacity to host only 50 people, let them work out how they will host the extras they’re bringing in.

Never allow anybody to cause problems for you later on. The one who wants a big budget wedding is the one to finance it. Period! Enough of sentiments in tacking wedding matters. Enough of running away from creditors immediately after impressing quests on wedding days.

Enough of fights occasioned by what huge amounts couples have to pay back after having big weddings. Cut your coat according to your size.

To answer your question more directly, any of the couple who has more than the other can finance it or both of you can join funds together.

But do not go beyond your limits.

Hi Adeola, I put to bed in May last year and my period returned exactly a year later as soon as I stopped breastfeeding. Since then, it’s been irregular. Please how do I get the supplements you talked about in The Nation newspaper and how much is it?

Hello! Hormonal changes and other factors may be responsible for what you are experiencing. It is best for you to see your doctor who will evaluate your situation. Don’t waste time in seeing one as soon as possible.

N.B: Matchmaking continues on: 08023162609.

to hurt you; that must have been why he was looking for excuses. If he wanted the baby, he would have jumped at the news when you broke it. He would have done everything in his power to encourage you. But the decision to keep it was yours, he couldn’t force you to abort it, so he allowed you.

You have the baby now and the man seems reasonable and kind enough to have rented a place for you, seen your people and even promised to bring his people. He’s a nice man, I tell you. Consider many other women in your shoes who have to sell iced tea around busy markets to survive.

Give the man time to plan his life.

This new addition is an experiment he has to get used to. You may not know the headaches he has keeping his home and keeping you. I can imagine him feeling he has put himself in a web.

Children come as a decision between a man and a woman to go to bed without protection. So, the duty of taking care of the baby should be shared if possible. You’re a mother now no matter how young you are, you can take care of yourself. If the man dies today (God forbid), won’t you take care of your baby? He has housed you, thereby taking away the burden of housing from you. So, for feeding yourself and the baby, device other means apart from expecting him to bear all- at least for now.

You’re a part-time student, so you can be a part-time trader. Get out and look for what you can do when you’re not studying. Your mum can look after your baby while you’re at work.

This is not the time to think another man will come to your rescue. Don’t even go there. You may end up getting messed up. Give this man a break.

Let him put his finances together and plan his life. He has promised you and so far, he has not deserted you. The little time he comes to see you and the baby is a sacrifice on his part. Appreciate him for that.

If at the end of the day, he doesn’t talk about marriage, let him be. It means he’s only coming around to see his baby, which is also fair enough.

At least, he’s identifying with the baby and not making him look like a bastard in our kind of society where the presence of a father in a child’s life matters.

Get your acts together and get out there to make your own destiny sweet.

Wish you all the luck life has to offer.

&

LIFE

Society Profile

THE NATION, Saturday, OCTOBER 22, 2011

STYLE Gossip Interviews

41

SEE PAGES 44 & 45

Sanusi, Ghadaffi and Maitama Sule are my ideal men of style

-Remi Agbowu at 60

44

H

OW does it feel to be 60?

I give glory to God. He is the only one I can thank for keeping me alive and for giving me the opportunity to celebrate 60 years. I also thank the people around me, who have supported me through thick and thin.

You have a glowing skin at 60 and you look much younger than your age.

What is the secret?

It is all about contentment and God’s glory. That is all I can say.

So, you don’t have any special beauty routine?

I do. I take care of myself. I do my facial like every three weeks and I use good products. I have a daughter who tells me what to do. She buys the products for me and makes sure I change the products every three months, because after three months, beauty products will no longer be effective.

Also, I do facial wash every morning.

I use facial scrub two times in a week.

Just the basic things. I do massage regularly. Apart from the fact that it makes the skin glow, it also aids blood flow.

Are you tempted to do plastic surgery?

Honestly, I would have loved to, but I am just afraid of anesthesia Really?

Yeah! Sometimes just tell myself, ‘Remi, why are you so lazy about this? Why are you chickening out?

Are you not scared about the side effects?

I am just scared of anesthesia. Otherwise, why don’t I want to look like the Hollywood stars? Why won’t I? Because no matter how much exercise you do on your stomach, it is still hanging. I would have to put some touches here and there, but I am scared.

Are you usually concerned about your health?

Very important. And I think the bottomline is the weight. One attracts too many ailments with unnecessary weight. Any doctoctor would tell you to shed some weight; that once you cut down on your weight, you will have fewer problems. One can be very slim and still not be healthy. In the last few years, I have engaged personal trainers to come to my house five days a week, and they are so stubborn that if they come to my house and I don’t come down stairs to see them, they will sit down.

Can you give us a little background about yourself and the type of environment you grew up in?

I was born in Epe, Lagos State. I ought to have been born in Lagos because my mother registered at the police hospital in Lagos. But on one of those days, she was going back to Epe and went into labour two weeks earlier than expected.

I was almost born in the boat by the waterside in Epe. That is why my name is Epesanmi, because my dad felt he had a child while he was in Epe, and the first marriage didn’t have an issue very early.

So, I would have been born in Lagos, but by default, I was born in Epe. My father was a civil servant and my mother was a business person. I was born into a comfortable home. They gave me the best they could in terms of education and all the other things you can think of.

How was the social terrain then compared to now?

I am so sorry for our children. When I see them, I just say, ‘Oh, my God! You people are not enjoying life to the fullest the way we did. So many factors are taken into consideration. There are all sorts of ailments around. People are now scared. They are not as daring as we were.

And then the security issue. Our own environment was friendlier. These days, you see young graduates riding okada, and I say oh my God! Our time wasn’t like this. But at the end of the day, we all have different ways of making ourselves happy.

In other words you think Nigerians

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

But for fear that I could lose bodily sensation, I would have gone for plastic surgery Frontline businesswoman, former All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Senatorial Candidate for Edo North in 2003, Executive Director-Iponri Water Housing and one of it shareholders, Mrs Remi Agbowu will clock 60 on Monday. Aging gracefully, the stylish woman is doing everything to give herself a lavish birthday party. In this interview with KEHIDE FALODE, she spoke about her family and her journey into the club of 60- year-olds.

enjoyed life better then?

•Agbowu

Yes, when you think of security. When a graduate came out of the university, he or she automatically had a job, a car and an accommodation. It is not comparable.

What were some of the factors that shaped your life and made you who you are now?

The first one is determination. I grew up among hardworking women who never depended on men; who through their own hard work were able to achieve a lot. My cousin, Mrs. Badure, was a big importer. She was into so many things. Many of the retired generals’ wives bought their wedding gowns from her in Kaduna. Mrs Isa Yawudu was a big trader. She did not depend on her husband’s money. So, I grew up in the midst of women I admired. I made up my mind that I had to make it, because I know that 80 per cent of women who depend on men financially are frustrated.

I grew up with the mindset that I must be comfortable and educated.

What are the things that turn you on

or off?

I don’t like people who pretend. In Edo State where I come from, we are not pretentious people. We are straight.

Some tribes are fond of pretending.

How do you unwind?

I like any type of music. I was introduced to Jazz by my late husband, because I was a Sunny and Obey fan. But I got married to a man who loved jazz.

We used to quarrel a lot because when he put the jazz music on, immediately he turned his back, I would change it to any of my favourites, and he would say.

‘What kind of bush girl am I married to?’ But with time, I embeded the culture.

Even the kids. There was a time I travelled to Spain with one of my daughters. She was actually about four years old. At the lounge of the hotel, the pianist was playing Frank Sinatra’s ‘All blue eyes’ and she was singing along. A Spanish ambassador who was there asked, ‘Are you black Americans?’ I said we were Africans, and he replied, ‘Wow! Even for an American, a four-year-old singing Frank Sinatra?’ And I said, ‘Well, that is the kind of music we play in the house.’

So, I like music; all kinds. And I appreciate Salawa Abeni, King Sunny Ade (KSA), who has been engaged for my birthday party. When I am doing exercise, I like to do it with a music by a Nigerian artiste. I am very happy that it is during my time that they are appreciated.

How often do you travel?

I used to travel very often. But all of a sudden, I got paranoid. I no longer enjoy travelling long distances like I used to. Travelling out is just too stressful.

Since you said you don’t like travelling anymore, what do you enjoy doing?

I love good music and being in the company of people I like. I like chatting with intelligent people. I love constructive discussion and not petite gossips.

What do you miss about your late husband?

He was 13 years older than me. He was more like an elder brother or an uncle. He was very understanding and very supportive. He made sure that not even the sky was the limit for me. And then he was a good cook. He loved going to the market to buy things.

I remember I used to tease him.

He had a Master’s degree in Food Technology and he was a good entertainer.

Any time I had guests, he even entertained them more than I did. So, people

45

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011 loved coming into our house whenever he was around. He was a good father. He loved his children.

What are your memories of the 60’s and 70’s?

My memories of the 60’s are dim.

But as for the 70’s, I was already an undergraduate. It was full of fun for a young girl from Edo State going to Kano for her basic studies, moved to Zaria from there and got married and had kids. It was the height of everything for me. I had three children in the 70’s.

What do you think are the challenges facing the modern Nigerian woman?

I participated actively in politics. I contested a senatorial seat during the Abacha regime. Even before then, I had been in the UNCP. And I won.

Unfortunately, before we could be sworn in, Abacha died.

I didn’t participate in the next election, but the one after that, I did. Initially, I didn’t want to. It was the late (Augustus) Aikhomu who came to beg me to contest under the ANPP. And, of course, in the tsunami that happened in Edo State, the PDP was so desperate at that time. They wanted to sweep everywhere.

On the day of the election, we saw mobile policemen and soldiers in camouflage. It was like the war front. There were soldiers, immigration officials and customs men. It was as if there was war. It was so surprising.

I am not afraid of people rigging, but you can only rig in a friendly environment when you are on ground. But in a case where you have to bring the armed forces to fight or rig election…

They left my local government, but in all the rest, they stuffed ballot boxes with thumbprinted ballot papers. They knew within them that they never won. After that, I have not shown any interest in politics again.

But once you are in politics, you are always in politics. I am not contesting.

People call me and I also call them to know what is happening. After my experience, I attended Oshiomole’s 50th birthday, because I was still in the village. I remember he saw me off to the car and said, ‘Remi, I know you won. Maybe the time is not ripe yet.

We all know what happened.’

He narrated his own experience and I was sure he knew what I went through. Because sometimes, when you talk, it is not the same thing as experiencing it first hand. And at 60, I just feel that what I need now is to enjoy myself, my children and my grandchildren. Politics is not an easy thing. People are so desperate now and they could go to any length to achieve their aim. So, why should I start bothering myself when by God’s grace I am comfortable and my needs are limited.

How would you say Nigerian women have fared in politics?

It has not been easy. Even at the time I was contesting, money was an issue for Nigerian women in politics. The type of money than men have, most women don’t have. And then the late outings (meetings). If you have a husband or a boyfriend who is not understanding, you are in trouble. It is not easy. Then, at times, when you are contesting at your husband’s place, they say go to your father’s place. And when you are contesting at your father’s place, they say ‘but you are married.

Go to your husband’s place.’

So, it is a big challenge for women.

When I see women who make it in politics, I know what they had passed through because I had gone through it twice. What the men like is for us to be clapping, singing, arranging the chairs and cooking. The moment you want an elective position, you become their enemy. They will start all manner of blackmail.

How do you spend your weekends?

•Agbowu

‘

I don’t follow trend; I just like simple things that I can fit into in another 10 years. I like men who have style. I like people like Ghaddafi. The type of clothes he wore, how many men can wear them and still look good in spite of his age? The way he coordinated his colours and put himself together. I don’t know how he ruled. That is not the issue. I am talking about his style

I like to rest at home, but most of the time, I go to parties because once you are the type who throws parties, you must attend other people’s parties. Nigerians’ weekends are always occupied with parties.

How do you see life playing out for you in the next 20 or 30 years?

After 60, I want to starts taking each day at a time.

What propels you?

The fact that I want to leave a mark in whatever I do.

What makes you feel good about yourself?

’

When I was much younger and slimmer, I got a lot of compliments. When I dressed up, I didn’t have to be told that I was looking good. There is a French designer called Geal Pato. They used to make French trousers and shirts, and I used to buy a lot of them. Whenever I wore them and tucked in, I knew I looked good. And when I started putting on weight, I became frustrated (laughs).

Now I am trying to lose the weight, because for you to be healthy, you have to be slim. And anything you can’t wear from now till the next ten years, just forget it. I want to live my life to the fullest.

To do that, you should be able to wear good things, especially when you can afford it.

And that is the difference between the Nigerian woman and her European or American counterparts. It is between the ages of 50 and 70 that they have money to wear good clothes. When you see an old woman who is rich in Europe, you will know it, because that is when they cash in on their insurance.

They have finished training their children. They have all the time, so they wear the best. They go to the best restaurant, sometimes with their grandchildren. But in Africa, the older we are, the more money we have or the bigger we are, the less clothes we can wear, because when you go to the shop, you cannot even find your size.

So, by the grace of God, in the next 10 years, I want to be able to wear what I want to wear, to look the way I want to look.

What would you regret not fully doing, being or having in your life?

The word regret does not exist in my dictionary. I don’t dwell on challenges; I celebrate victory or success. Everything I have done or have not done, I just say thank you Lord for everything.

What are the remarkable challenges or difficulties you have faced in the journey of life?

The earliest challenge I had was trying to raise my kids and still go to school. Because at my early stage of life, my parents were comfortable enough to look after me and I was not lacking anything. But when I got to the university, I got married immediately, raising kids. Going to school wasn’t an easy thing for me. Luckily for me, I had nice parents who helped me out.

What would you say is the thing that matters to you most?

A tree cannot make a forest. When you have genuine friends and family members around you, you cannot lack anything. So, it my family, relatives and friends. When I lost my husband, I had relations who stayed with me for three months.

Who are the people whose styles appeal to you?

I love men and women of style. I like to wear clothes, but I am a conservative dresser. I don’t follow trend; I just like simple things that I can fit into in another 10 years. I like men who have style. I like people like Ghaddafi. The type of clothes he wore, how many men can wear them and still look good in spite of his age? The way he coordinated his colours and put himself together. I don’t know how he ruled.

That is not the issue. I am talking about his style.

I also like Kazir (Iranian or Iraquis). I like his style. I like (Lamido) Sanusi when he is in suit and when he is in Safari suit. He is somebody you cannot pass by and say you did not notice him.

Although he is not huge in stature, he is stylish.

Also, I like Maitama Sule. He has style.

I am used to women dressing well. Men that are stylish are not common. I like people being adventurous with fashion.

Some will box themselves into a corner by having a particular way of dressing because they want to carve a niche for themselves. I don’t like that.

I admire Daisy Danjuma for her collection of jewellery. I like Chief (Mrs.) Folake Solanke (SAN) for her beauty and brain. She always combines her outfits rightly.

What kind of shoes and bags do you like?

I used to wear very high heels in my younger days, but I don’t do that anymore. Once I see shoes that I’m comfortable with, I go for them. For handbags, I like Channel a lot. I like Louis Vuitton and evening bags made with Swarovski stones. Aside those onnes, I am not a label person. Whatever I see and like, I buy.

46

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

•Marc Jacobs Silk, sequin and ruffle skirt

•Folake Akinyelure

All-time favourite: Full skirt

F

ashion this season has seen the return of full skirts which used to be hot in items in the 70s and 80s. It is all about warmth and comfort. And new sobriety in fashion demands that for hot season, the neck region and arms should be a bit exposed and you are expected to show a bit more legs. Full skirt is the must-have clothing item to bridge the gap between the formal and informal wear, offering a variety of styles and designs to choose from.

•Amaka Ogbuchi (Miss Commonwealth 2010)

This skirt will look fabulous and really shows off fantastic legs. Team with gladiator sandals and a clutch.

MANDY

47

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

For men only N

OTHING says comfort like the shirt. But pulling one on shouldn’t cramp your style . It should be an extension of it. Whether it’s to be worn underneath a dress shirt or on its own, the shirt should be more than just a fashion afterthought for men. It should be a blend of comfort, fashion and personal style.

Monday to Wednesday A long sleeve shirt tucked-in on straight black or coloured pant, plus a jacket/blazer will not be bad for corporate look, especially when you want to appear smart.

Thursday A smart shirt on straight jeans is a good idea when the rush of the week is dying and when you want to free yourself from the grip of suits.

Friday That is the favourite day of the week to show off the latest traditional or casual apparel.

Saturday Always a day to look forward to.You just want to show off in your own style. If you have to go to the office on Saturday, make your outfit different from what it has always been.

Fly your shirt on your jeans. You wouldn’t be fired for it. It’s weekend and you are free to be free.

Sunday impression Whatever you wear, make sure it’s cool. And you could make that simple and cool fashion statement with your own style.

First date Do not try to impress her with your looks. Just be simple, be yourself and leave the rest to imagination.

Dayo

Julius Agwu

Louboutin in court again over red sole trademark In August, Judge Victor Marrera ruled against Christian Louboutin’s request for a preliminary injunction to prevent Yves Saint Laurent from selling red-soled shoes . The court decision left the door open for Louboutin’s red sole trademark to be overturned. In the judge’s words, colour “serves ornamental and aesthetic functions vital to robust competition,” and thus doesn’t merit trademark protection.

Louboutin’s lawyer, Harley Lewin, vowed to file an appeal, and he presented his first brief this week.

DJ Zeel

Dimeji Alara

Courtney Love owes over $100K of missing jewellery The tricky thing about being fabulous enough to borrow thousands of dollars’ worth of jewellery for parties is that you have to remember to return it afterward.

A Manhattan judge ruled this week that Courtney Love owes over $100,000 of jewellery that she loaned from Jacob & Co to wear to the New Yorkers for Children gala in September.

According to court papers, she borrowed two whitegold diamond chains ($34,200 each), one white-gold floral mesh cuff bracelet ($70,000) and one pair of gold diamond pave hoop earrings ($45,300). But she only returned the bracelet.

Love claims that she gave the rest of the jewellery to the staff at the Mercer Hotel where she was staying to return for her and alleges that they must have lost it. Her lawyer, James Janowitz, told the court, “I don’t know what happened, but Courtney doesn’t have the jewels.”

The judge found her responsible for their loss, but said that she should only have to pay “reasonable value/ market value” in damages, not their full retail prices.

AJ PRESTIGE

Dayo

48

Society

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

Youth pastor Joe Ogbe celebrates at 50

P

ASTOR Joe Ogbe of Young Discipleship International (YDI) recently celebrated his 50th birthday with a series of events.

Family members and friends came out in droves to identify with the man of God described by many as caring, humble and bold.

And as part of the activities marking the birthday, Daddy Joe, as he is popularly called, used the opportunity to launch a book.

Pastor Ogbe’s wife, Henrietta, praised her husband for his patience and caring attitude.

She said: “You are a great husband.

Over 21 years ago, I said ‘I do’ to you in a holy matrimony.

Since then, you have been treating me and

my children with patience and love. You are a caring husband. I love you and pray that God’s grace and anointing upon you be multiplied”.

‘At 50, the visioner of the Young Discipleship International has come a long way in the manner he is impacting positively on Nigerians. The way he mentors his family shows he is not only a preacher of the vision, but also a doer and actualiser of the vision,’ said Senator Bode Olajumoke.

Mr. Tunde Ifere also said: “My friendship with Pastor Joe started at the University of Jos where we were students. We formed a three-man prayer squad with Mr. Jim as our secretary. My brother, Pastor Joe, is a completely detribalized Nigerian.

The ceremony took place at the YDI Centre, Igando, Lagos.

•Pastor Joe Ogbe and his wife, Henrietta, cutting the 50th birthday cake •Dr. Sam Oyemade, CEO, Grace Business, and Pastor Umanah Augustine

•Mr. Samuel Fatuyi, CEO, Sewtax Oil & Gas Service Ltd, and Pastor George Okwu

Prof. Jide Osuntokun’s daughter finds love

It was an unforgettable day for Yewande, the daughter of renowned scholar and historian, Prof. Jide Osuntokun, as she tied the nuptial nut with her heartthrob, Kofi Wayo. The event took place recently at Horsham, near Brighton, in England.

Pictures (left): Mr. and Mrs. Kofi Wayo after their wedding (right): Prof. Osuntokun and the bride.

PHOTO: KUTELU GABRIEL

What and Where?

•Pastor and Pastor (Mrs) Femi and Morin Obaweya, RCCG, Lagos Province 34

St. Victoria Catholic Church, Ilesa holds harvest tomorrow •Third Eye Publisher, Akanni Aluko, is chief host THIS year's edition of the yearly harvest of St. Victoria Catholic Church, Ireti Ayo, Ilesa, Osun State comes up tomorrow at the church.

The publisher of the Third Eye newspapers, Chief Akanni Aluko, who is the chief host, and other dignitaries will grace the harvest.

49

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

•Visitors at Protea Hotel stand during the fair

•L-R: Mr. Ikechi Uko, Mrs. Fatima Garbati, Otunba Segun Runsewe, Hon. K.G.B. Oguakwa, Dr. Charity Iriobe, a participant, and Mr. Charles Odunukwe

•Akwaaba travel market

Nigeria meets Africa at Akwaaba T

HE seventh edition of the Akwaaba Travel Fair kicked off last Wednesday. In attendance were exhibitors and participants that cut across the different sections of the travel and tourism industry.

There was a strong presence from the aviation industry, including airlines, federal aviation parastatals, international airlines, countries, national park service and many others.

The event, which has become a major tourism event in the calendar of tourism practitioners, was declared opened by the Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Otunba Segun Runsewe.

Declaring the exhibition open, the NTDC helmsman thanked everyone for participating at this year’s event, noting that Akwaaba would always be a statement in Africa. He tasked all in attendance to continually celebrate Akwaaba because the event is expanding each year, describing this year’s one as “a huge success” For many observers, it was heartwarming because the calibre of exhibitors from both the tourism industry and airlines underscores the importance of the fair in the country.

On the list of top airlines in attendance were British Airways, Emirate Airline, Ethiopia Airline, Kenya Airways, South Africa Airways and many others. The Ghanaian Ministry of Tourism and

Culture and the Gambian Tourism Board had stands.

While thousands of visitors trooped to the venue to go round the stands for possible bargains, the evening of the first day was for awards to deserving tourism practioners and organisations. The top 20 hotels in West Africa received awards. Among the individual award recipients were the first female pilot in Nigeria, Mrs. Chinyere Kalu; a lecturer with the Nigerian Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), Alhaji Mohammed Sheriff, and many others.

Speaking on his award, Alhaji Sheriff expressed his happiness for being given the award, promising to work harder in the service of the country.

On Akwaaba Travel Market, he said: “Akwaaba is making a very big headway. The last time I went through the UNWTO calendar of events, I found Akwaaba. Certainly the sky will be the limit of Akwaaba as time goes on. I am really impressed with more countries particapting.”

The second day of the fair picked up from where it ended the previous day. The high point was the Gambia and Ghana day.

The Gambia delighted visitors and participants with their national cuisine. The High Commisioner of Gambia, Mrs. Angela Colley, called for greater co-operation between her country and Nigeria. She also used the opportunity to woo Nigerian tourists to the country.

She said: “Looking at the intimate relationship between Nigeria and Gambia, we need to thank God for that. Otunba Segun Runsewe

adopted the catch phrase ‘tourism is life’ and I accept that.

Gambia is a land of hospitality. It is called heaven on earth.

We want to celebrate with you and look at the way to achieve our tourism objectives. Africa is a good platform to promote tourism. It will create an avenue for interaction.

“Promotion of regional tourism is very important to The Gambia. Tourism builds national understanding and peace.”

Ghana’s Deputy Minister for Tourism, Mr. James Agyenim Boateng, also led the Ghanaian delegation to Nigeria. Ghana marked her day with special delicacies from the country.

Speaking on the fair, the NTDC Director General, who spoke on behalf of the Federal Government in the absence of the host Minister of Tourism, reassured potential investors that the country is safe and poised to recieve their investments in the sub-sector with definite positive returns.

The NTDC boss noted that Nigeria remains a favourite tourism destination with the present collaboration between all stakeholders, especially with the government now realizing the prospects that tourism holds as the largest employer of labour all over the world.

He said: “Akwaaba has been able to unite the travel trade industry within the sub region and we in Nigeria have started marketing our destinations and tourism products. I want to say there is a conscious reawakening and the par-

•Ghanaian Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr. James Boateng, and The Gambia’s High Commisioner to Nigeria, Mrs. Angela Colley...during Gambian Day

ticipation has increased. All we need to do is to build on what we’ve started” Speaking further, Otunba Runsewe called on foreign investors to take advantage of the momentum NTDC is generating, observing that Nigerians are very rich in culture and have been able to key into the development of tourism, affirming that there are currently over 150 festivals in the country creating jobs, uniting Nigerians and creating better relationships, asserting that tourism is the answer because it is sustainable while oil is exhaustible.

This year’s edition of the programme had in attendance a lot of travel practitioners and stakeholders from across Africa with the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation featuring the best that Nigeria has to offer.

As a way of expanding the frontiers of tourism promotion in Nigeria, the NTDC came out with three major tourism products to exhibit during the fair and they are cultural tourism, food tourism and sports tourism.

The event commenced with cultural exhibition which was a spectacle to behold as the attire from the six geo-political zones in Nigeria was showcased with the Eyo masquerade on hand to entertain both exhibitors and visitors.

Food tourism took centre stage at the yesterday’s exhibition and was widely celebrated at the event with major Nigerian delicacies on display for all to savour.

50

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

British Airways marks 75th anniversary in Nigeria

B

RITISH Airways marked 75 years of flying to Nigeria at a gala event in Lagos where it unveiled its new brand campaign which puts the customer at the heart of the airline’s business.

Tracing the history of the airline, British Airways Country Commercial Manager for Nigeria, Mr. Kola Olayinka, said a lot had happened since it made its debut flight to Lagos in 1936 through its predecessor, Imperial Airways, one of the pioneering airlines in Africa. The flight, an extension of a service from Kano to Khartoum, connected to the weekly Imperial Airways flight from Khartoum to Croydon in London.

Imperial Airways was succeeded by the BOAC, and at the end of the World War II, it opened the London-Lagos services via Casablanca, Dakar and Accra, with the flight taking 29 hours. Commercial jet service , however, started on the route on April 1, 1964, using a Vickers VC-10, flying London Heathrow-KanoLagos. These services were taken over in 1971 by the British Caledonian Airways which later merged with British Airways.

Speaking also at the

event, British Airways Area General Manager for Europe and Africa, Mr. Gavin Halliday, described the occasion as not only significant for the airline in Nigeria, but also an important time in its history globally, as it coincides with the unveiling of its first major brand campaign in 10 years. The new brand campaign, he said, signifies much more than an advert, as it represents the opening of a new chapter for the British Airways.

According to him, the new brand campaign places new emphasis on a symbol from the airline’s heritage, namely, the coat of arms and its motto, “To Fly. To Serve.”

“Today this still has real meaning and resonance. It describes our purpose. It encapsulates our flying expertise and commitment to customer service. It puts the customer at the centre of everything we do and defines the essence of British Airways, namely, our flying knowhow, our thoughtful service and our British style,”he said.

The campaign, Halliday said, is the guiding principle behind £5 billion the airline is investing over the next five years to improve what it offers its customers. This investment, he disclosed, will include acquisition of

three new Boeing 777ERs in the next six months, and by 2013 the arrival of the first of its A380 aircraft, as well as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The new acquisitions, he said, will be fitted with the new First class, the airline’s award-winning Club World, brand new World Traveller Plus and World Traveller cabins.

British Airways, he pointed out, is still the only airline with fully flat beds in both the Club and First cabins, with its new First cabin now on 60 per cent of its long-haul fleet, including those on the LagosLondon and Abuja-London routes. And from November this year, he said, the airline will begin the refurbishing of 18 of its Boeing 777-200s which will have all-new cabins.

In addition, he said, its new World Traveller cabin now has more comfortable seats with adjustable head rests, while the World Traveller Plus offers greater seat recline, with both offering new in-flight entertainment that boasts of bigger screens and far more choices.

These investments are not limited to onboard products, as the British Airways has also upgraded its menu and wine lists across cabins, while also employing the latest technology to provide faster, more efficient, personalised service, including the use of iPads by its senior cabin crew.

•Lagos Commisioner of Tourism, Mr. Disu Holloway joins hand with BA Country ManagerMr. Kola Olayinka and wife to cut BA’s 75th anniversary cake. he is joind by General Ike Nwachukwu (2nd left) and other members of BA team

•L-R: Erelu Ojuolape Ojora, Otunba Kunle Ojora and Mr. Gavin Halliday

Kehinde FALODE: 08023689894

Health and nutritional value of onions

Ikokore Foluke ADEMOLA

This delicious meal, made with grated water yam, is one of the favourites of ljebu of the South West. It can be eaten at any time of the day. Looking for something new, try yours today.

Ingredients •One tuber of water yam •Fresh Titus fish •Roasted fish •Dried fish •Palm oil •Ogiri/locust beans(iru) •Beef •Crayfish •Seasoning •Onions •Fresh tomatoes •Fresh pepper •Salt •Liver Preparation • Grind tomatoes, pepper and onions together; pour them into a clean pot and leave to boil.

• When boil, add crayfish, ogiri/iru

with your palm oil and stir together. After a few minutes, add diced liver, dried fish, grounded crayfish with seasoning cubes and leave for five minutes.

• Cook your beef; when it is soft; put it in the stew with the stock and leave to stir together.

• Peel and grate your yam, season it with salt and lay aside. When the stew is ready, mould the grated water yam

into balls and used your hand to put them into the stew gently when still on the fire.

• Soak your smoked fish (sawa or gbodo or any other smoked fish in hot water) with salt.

Clean out the fish and remove the bones.

Wash with water and lay aside.

• Add your smoked fish, palm oil and salt (if required) to the stew.

Leave to cook for 20 minutes and serve.

Onions (allium cepa) belong to the lily family, the same family as garlic, leeks, chives, scallions and shallots. There are over 600 species of allium, distributed all over Europe, North America, Northern Africa and Asia. The plants can be used as ornamentals, vegetables, spices, or as medicine. There are over 120 different documented uses of the alliums.

Onions are a great source of nutrition as well as a fat burning food. Learning about them will help you incorporate them into your diet for a flavourful way to eat healthy.

•The health benefits provided by onions are mostly due to their content of several organic sulfur compounds. Like garlic, onions also have the enzyme alliinase (released when an onion is cut or crushed).

Other constituents that are found in onions include flavonoids (primarily quercetin); phenolic acids (such as ellagic,caffeic, sinapic and pcoumaric), pectin, sterols, saponins and volatile oils.

•They are a very good source of vitamins B6 and C, chromium, biotin, and fibre.

They are also a good source of folic acid and vitamins B1 and K. •Studies have shown that like garlic, onions and onion extracts decrease blood lipid levels, prevent clot formation and lower blood pressure. It has also revealed that onions have a significant effect in lowering blood sugar levels.

•Onions can also be use to

treat asthma. Their action in asthma is mostly due to their ability to inhibit the production of compounds that cause the bronchial muscle to spasm which then causes the muscle to relax.

•The sulfur in onions has been linked to cardiovascular health, by preventing blood platelets from clogging. It has been also linked to lower cholesterol, something many with excess fat are at risk of getting.

•Onion extracts, rich in a variety of sulfides, provide some protection against tumor growth. It helps in preventing the growth of cancerous tumors stemming from various forms of cancer. In addition to its cancerfighting properties, many types of onions can increase bone density to

help you avoid injury.

•Onion may be a useful herb for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, especially since they diminish the risk of blood clots.

Onion also protects against stomach and other cancers, as well as protecting against certain infections.

Onion can improve lung function, especially in asthmatics. The more pungent varieties of onion appear to possess the greatest concentration of health-promoting phytochemicals •Onions have a universal appeal. They are safely consumed by most people.

However, consuming large quantities of onions can lead to stomach distress and gastrointestinal irritation that may result in nausea and diarrhea. There are no known interactions with drugs, except that they can potentiate the action of anticoagulants.

51 SA launches online travel programme

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

New queen for Olokun festival M S ISS Anietok Akan has emerged the winner of the annual 2011 Olokun Beauty Pageant.

With this, Miss Akan, a 300Level undergraduate of the Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State, will hold sway as the seventh queen of Olokun.

In a colourful ceremony held at 10 Degrees Event Centre, Oregun on Sunday, the pretty and unassuming Akan slammed 16 other contestants to claim the title. She was presented with a brand new Honda Civic car.

The contestants had represented Nigerian states nationwide such as Bayelsa, Kaduna, Delta, Enugu, Benue, Lagos, Edo and Oyo states.

Others were: Kogi, Edo, Rivers, Abuja, Ekiti and Imo states, among others.

Similarly, Miss Areola Rebecca and Miss Unugboji Mariam who represented Ondo and Rivers states emerged first and second runners up with N150.000.00 and N100.000.00 cash rewards respectively.

As usual, the occasion was not devoid of its usual colour and grandeur with the contestants appearing resplendent in their varying outfits and African hairstyles to endless applause from guests. The pageant, which had as MC the stand-up comedian, Koffi, also featured a blend of performances from established and upcoming artistes. Guest artistes, such as the juju maestro, Sir Shina Peters; fuji musician, Sule Alao Malaika; Dele Taiwo; prominent actor, Charles Olumo; Femi Davies;

• Otunba Gani Adams congratulating the new Miss Olokun, Miss Anietok Akon

By Adegunle Olugbamila and Alapinni, among others.

The high point of the event was the crowning of the new queen by Miss Olokun 2010/ 2011, Miss Evan Oyinye. Earlier, Miss Oyinye, who expressed her gratitude to her family and particularly Nigerians during her reign in the last one year, said the position had offered her the opportunity to experience great things, touch lives and know much more about her culture.

The outgoing queen also used her good office to redeem the battered image of Nigeria.

She urged other contestants to always aspire to be role models and propagate the African culture.

She also had a word of ad-

vice for the new queen.

“To the young lady who would be crowned the next Miss Olokun, make your reign spectacular and remarkable.

Be patient, respectful and understanding. But most importantly, be proactive as those are the things that test how prepared we are for our blessings.”

Earlier, the convener/promoter of Olokun Festival, Otunba Gani Adams, in his address, thanked the entire Nigerians, including those that had supported the pageant financially and otherwise over the last seven years.

He said despite challenges, the pageant had always held successfully with greater improvement over the previous

which, Gani said, is evidence of its general acceptability by Nigerians.

“We have made giant strides from a little known pageant when we made our debut about seven years ago to making the Olokun Beauty Pageant one of the most sought after in the country within less than one decade.

I am confident that with your continued support, we shall continue to make greater progress that will surely catapult the pageant and make it a global event that will feature queens around the world” He nonetheless urged guests not only to revel in the pageant celebrations alone, but also acknowledge its significance.

Oke-Ahun appeals to indigenes as Edi festival approaches

O

ke-Ahun in the Efon Local Government Area of Ekiti State has appealed to its sons and daughters, including all lovers of rich ancestry of the Yoruba, to come and pool efforts towards the development of the ancient community and vast tourism opportunities which richly abound in it, as another Edi festival approaches.

The appeal, made by the Alahun of Efon Kingdom, Oba Jacob Adeniyi Adelowo, Omole II, during a recent chat with journalists, disclosed that efforts had reached high level regarding the preparation for the coming Odun Edi which is essentially a masquerade festival.

Oba Adelowo, who explained that the Oke-Ahun community has two other major festivals, including Odun Oloere and Odun Ijesu which had come up earlier in the year, noted that Edi festival comes up in November of every year.

He stated that Odun Oloere was the same as Odun Agbon in Ile-Ife, while the Ijesu festival which held in July of the current year as always witnessed unprecedented turnout of indigenes from far and near who thronged back to the community to receive ancestral blessings.

Disclosing that on Edi day, the masquerade called Ahun would come out and dance round the community, the oba disclosed that apart from the three festivals which distinguished Ahun, the community was unique as it was the only place in the entire

OUTH African Tourism today launched its revamped online expertise programme, also known as “Fundi”, for Nigerian trade partners and travel consultants selling destination South Africa.

Before 15 November, anyone of them who successfully complete the course will be given the opportunity to win a trip to South Africa for a valuable personal experience within the country.

Fundi is an online programme that is designed to transform SA tourism trade partners and travel consultants into product specialists on all things concerning travel to South Africa.

According to SA Tourism Regional Director for Africa/ Middle East and Domestic, Phumi Dhlomo, “The Fundi programme is an initiative of empowering trade partners and travel consultants with a diverse knowledge of South Africa, allowing them to better sell destination SA.” He said Fundi equipped trade partners with the travel information knowledge that sets them far ahead of competitors. In this instance, says Dhlomo, knowledge is most certainly a tool that will increase their sales to our country and thus improve their businesses.

The Fundi programme can be completed in just three consecutive months, following the successful completion of which the trade partners are entitled to call themselves a “Fundi”, or certified South African Travel Expert. A certificate of completion is issued by South African Tourism, adding further credibility, trust and expert positioning to the individual and their business.

“Fundi has an additional benefit of significantly increasing productivity in servicing clients because time does not need to be spent researching and planning a possible package to South Africa.

“The Fundi will be well versed and trained in this, allowing for them to service more clients. Speed and productivity is further enhanced because Fundi is run entirely online, giving travel agents seamless solutions to all travel queries with just the click of a button,”Dhlomo said.

The newly revamped Fundi with a dedicated website, home-public, comes with an exciting challenge that aims to reward top performers of the programme.

Dhlomo confirmed that as part of the Fundi challenge, travel consultants who complete the course within the stipulated time period will have the opportunity to win a fullyhosted trip to South Africa to experience first-hand the many learnings absorbed over the course. This trip will be done as part of the Africa Mega Fam Trip, South African Tourism’s annual trade hosting.

Earlier in March, 2011, South African Tourism welcomed 10 Nigerian Fundi winners on a 10-day experience to South Africa. They include Adegoke Olanireti Omotomilola of Tour Brokers International; Adebanjo Ethele Olukanyinsola of TTL Tours; Olukotun Olabisi Aderonke of Perazim Travel & Tours; Olaronke Olanrewaju of GMT Travels Shitta and Eto Henry Ezinwanne of World N Traveland.

SUDOKU 1ST STEP IN SOLVING PUZZLE 345: Look at the 3 top horizontal (ABC) 3x3 boxes. The left box has 2 in cell Bc, while the middle box has its 2 in cell Cd. The right box must, therefore, have its own 2 in row A, where 2 in row A, where all 3 cells are vacant. But since column g already has a 2-in cell Hg, and column i a 2 in cell Ei, the only space available to accommodate 2 in the right box is cell Ah. Reasoning along these lines, try and fill in all the other vacant cells.

SOLUTION TOMORROW. HAPPY PUZZLING!

The oba assisted by others to break yam during the festival.

Sulaiman SALAWUDEEN, Ado-Ekiti world, apart from Ile-Ife, where anyone could find the shrine of Oodua.

He said: “Oodua is generally believed as the source of the Yoruba people anywhere in the world, and there are just two places in this world where you can find the shrine,and these are Ile-Ife and OkeAhun.

“Let me briefly state that the coming Edi festival is going to be very unique as plans have been concluded to allow people from anywhere, for

the first time, to have access to the view of the actual ancestral shrine of Oodua, while prayers would be rendered for all attendees after the conclusion of necessary rituals.

“Just see what Osun Osogbo has done to Osun State and see what Argungu has done to Kebbi State. Plans are on at the very highest levels to replicate that here in Ekiti and the people of Oke-Ahun want to be in the vanguard of that renaissance.

“This awareness is rooted in solid facts that are very accessible here. Let me

quickly say that Sonponna, the Yoruba god of Igbona (body heat), calling names like smallpox or chicken pox has its shrine here just outside my palace, and anytime it attacks any person or a group, once we perform necessary rituals, goes within minutes.

“On the Edi day, people will play with real fire which would not burn them at all unlike on other days and with ordinary fire. The festival is basically in honour of Oodua which is a collective heritage and source for all of us Yoruba anywhere in the world.”

•

52

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

Growing children of destiny (4)

D

EAR Reader, I welcome you to this teaching, in the Mighty name of Jesus Christ. All along, I have been looking at how to grow children of destiny in various ways.

I have explained that children are blessings from God. I have taught on the subject of training, and how to understand your teenagers.

This week, I want to teach on Ministering To Problematic Children!

It is important to note that children, like most adults, are often products of their environment. In the same vein, problematic children are products of a problemfilled environment, which the enemy is very fast to take advantage

F

RUIT and vegetables are low in energy and packed with vitamins, minerals, protective plant compounds and fibre, so they’re a great source of nutrients and vital for a healthy diet.

Some fruits contain many of their nutrients just under the skin, so eating them with the skin on can provide greater nutritional benefits and the maximum amount of fibre compared with just drinking the juice of the same fruit.

Due to their nutritional and health benefits, it’s recommended that fruit and vegetables form the basis of individual’s diet, with a minimum intake of five portions each day - about a third of the daily food consumption.

Fruit and vegetables should be incorporated into every meal, as well as being the first choice for a snack. Population studies have shown that people who eat a lot of fruit and vegetables may have a lower risk of chronic disease, such as heart disease and some cancers.

Health benefits can be gained from fresh, canned (in natural juice), frozen, cooked, juiced or dried versions. Potatoes don’t count though, as they’re a starchy food.

How much is a portion?

•One piece of medium-sized fruit, such as an apple, peach, banana or orange.

•One slice of fruit, such as melon, mango or pineapple.

•One handful of grapes or two

of.

In effectively handling this set of children, you must enhance your understanding by knowing the root causes of their problems. What are these root causes? They are, but are not limited to: Parents’ Reactions To The Way They Were Brought Up This is a major concern because some parents tend to use this as the foundation of fostering their children. Perhaps, they forgot to realize that children are not the same, and shouldn’t be handled same way. Until a child is properly understood, he/she cannot effectively be grown and nurtured in the most appropriate manner.

Such parental reactions have a

tendency of erecting walls between them and their children, and may possibly cause lack of respect, inability to speak in confidence to parents, resentment whenever there’s an attempt to discipline the child (even when the child is clearly wrong) and reluctance to receive guidance from them.

Homes Where There Is No Peace And Harmony It is a known fact that children are products of what they witness to a great extent, than they are of what they are informed. The more reason exposure to violence, ridiculous manners, and discrepancy in their parents’ relationship expose them to unkind certainties without the maturity to handle them.

Often times, lack of adequate attention and affection from parents cause the children to become aggressive, take laws into their hands and eventually become hardened.

This is one of the root causes of problematic children that should be deeply looked into, by concerned parents for possible adjustment.

In the long run, some children take advantage of the disarray between their parents, to maneuver circumstances to their benefit.

When they discover that it works at home, they’ll try it outside; thus predictably becoming conspirators, cheats and generally the source of most fights between people.

Rejection Wounds of rejection often cause unsteadiness in a child’s personality. Most children feel rejected by parents, who verbally throw abusive words at them, batter and physically or sexually maltreat them. Some are even rejected before they are born, for example, wrong sex preference often after a scan result, when a child comes too soon after the last one, or when there are already many children in the family.

Most of these children, in future, spend their entire life trying to be somebody else as a result of rejection. Most often, it fronts to their being double-minded, unsteady and having dual personalities, that is, saints at home and beasts outside the home.

Other reactions to rejection include watching television soap operas (in an attempt to forget hurtful pasts), reading (where the child projects himself into one of the prin-

Amazing health benefits of fruits and vegetables

handfuls of cherries or berry fruits.

•One heaped tablespoon of dried fruit such as date fruits.

•One small glass (150ml) of unsweetened 100 per cent fruit or vegetable juice.

Why are fruits and vegetables important?

Fruit and vegetables of differing colours contain diverse mixtures of phytonutrients (protective plant compounds). These can act as powerful antioxidants, protecting the body from harmful free radicals and helping to protect against certain chronic diseases such as cancer. Some fruit and vegetables are labelled as ‘superfoods’ because they contain high concentrations of some phytonutrients, particularly antioxidants, which appear to be beneficial to health.

•Berries - contain flavonoids that can improve circulation and help defend against infection.

•Broccoli - rich in the antioxidants vitamin C and beta-carotene, as well as folate, all of which can protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer.

•Tomatoes - rich in lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that can pro-

tect against harmful free radicals.

But variety is the key. In addition to these phytonutrients, each variety of fruit and vegetables contains its own combination of vitamins, minerals and fibre. Choosing a variety throughout the week will provide a diverse package of essential nutrients.

Harm/benefits of cooking fruits and vegetables Although fruit and vegetables are packed with vitamins and minerals, many of these essential nutrients can be easily destroyed by heat when cooking and during food preparation. Water-soluble vitamins are especially vulnerable when boiled. One solution is to eat raw vegetables as much as possible, such as raw carrot, peppers or leaves especially for salad.

When cooking vegetables, it is better to steam, microwave or poach rather than boiling it. These methods do not involve immersing them in water, so the maximum amount of nutrients can be retained, as well as their fresh taste.

Nigerians do prefer to boil vegetables, it is recommended that they do so for the minimum amount of time and in as little liquid as pos-

•Fruits and vegetables not only build the immune system and makes one live longer, it also helps one lose weight

sible in order to retain their valuable nutrients.

Source of weight control Fruit and vegetables are an important source of dietary fibre – both soluble and insoluble, they are virtually fat free and low in calories so in addition to keeping the digestive system healthy, they can help with weight management.

Once one start putting more emphasis on eating fruits and vegetables, the amazing health benefits of fruits and vegetables become obvious not only to the youthful look but also to the spring in the step. Fruits and vegetables contain vitamins and minerals that the body requires to maintain good health, but more than that, they really taste good too.

They also provide a source of fiber, that special ingredient that makes one get up and go in the morning.

Just a few of the benefits that increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables will do for one’s health are; lowered risk of heart disease, stroke and many cancers, lower blood pressure, a healthier immune system and lose weight.

Of course, the weight loss comes when one substitute fruits and vegetables for other higher calorie foods.

Most people need about 41/2 cups of fruits and vegetables per day. Fruit has its advantage over many foods; it comes in a handy container. One need not carry special carriers or bags, just wash the outside of the fruit and carry it along for a snack.

There are new studies done on the effect of different fruits and vegetables on the prevention and cure of cancer. Dark colored fruits like the blueberry, grape and cherry contain a substance that is effective in the treatment of cancer. Today there is research at several institutions attempting to isolate the anthocyanins in fruits and vegetables to create a medication to fight cancer. The treatment is already available in the form of a simple grape.

Other cancer fighters include the

cipal characters in the story), going to sleep not wanting to get up in the morning, resorting to drinking alcohol and drugs. Your children shall not be found in this array of children.

Being born again is the bedrock of effective child raising. To get born again, it starts by confessing your sins and calling on the Lordship of Jesus over your life. Are you ready for this new birth experience? Then say this prayer of faith: Dear Lord, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Now I know I am born again!

Congratulations! Call or write, and share your testimonies with me through: E-mail: faithdavid@yahoo.com Tel. No: 234-1-7747546-8; 07026385437, 07094254102.

For more insight, these books authored by me are available at the Dominion Bookstores in all the Living Faith Churches and other leading Christian bookstores: Raising Godly Children, Understanding Motherhood and Building A Successful Family. papaya, not a purple fruit but one that contains cancer fighters. It’s the fiber in the papaya, which sticks to the cancer cells and flushes them out of the system.

There are also antioxidants in all fruits that help prevent disease and some believe, even aging. Antioxidants reduce free radicals by joining with them.

Electrons all need a mate, they come in twos, if there’s not an antioxidant to give the electron a mate, and it robs one from the cell coat.

This chemically changes the outside coat of the cell from a soft penetrable surface to one that’s hard.

Once the cell membrane changes, it makes it impossible for food to get in or waste to get out. The cell and the DNA to reproduce it, dies. If too many cells die, you get sick, show signs of aging or potentially die with them. The antioxidants in fruits and vegetables help prevent the changes.

Individuals will get all the amazing health benefits of fruits and vegetables once they start to make them a priority in their diet.

5 quick tips on vegetables and fruits 1. Keep fruit out where you can see it. That way you’ll be more likely to eat it. Keep it out on the counter or in the front of the fridge.

2. Get some every meal, every day. Try filling half your plate with vegetables at each meal.

Serving up salads or other vegetable-rich fare makes it easier to reach this goal. Bonus points if you can get some fruits and vegetables at snack time, too.

3. Explore the produce aisle and choose something new.

Variety is the key to a healthy diet. Try some new fruits and vegetables.

4. Bag the potatoes. Choose other vegetables that are packed with more nutrients and more slowly digested carbs.

5. Make it a meal. Try some new healthy recipes where vegetables take center stage, such that you may decide to skip a meal by eating fruits instead.

53 Coping with diseases

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

DRUGS AND HAPPINESS: Psychoactive drugs

with Prof. Dayo Oyekole

Holistic remedy for HIV/AIDS

ARIJUANA leaves and buds c o n t a i n cannabinoids.

These chemicals behave like nerve chemicals called endocannabinoids that are found naturally in the human brain. The cannabinoids in marijuana are psychoactive and they overtake the actions of natural cannabinoids in the brain.

There are many different brain chemicals that are messengers in nerve cells in different parts of the brain that control various functions of life. Psychoactive drugs resemble some of these brain chemicals or interact with them or modulate their natural functions in various ways.

They are typically used socially for mind and mood alteration and many of them have come to be known as “street drugs” or “club drugs”. Officially they are referred to a

“drugs of abuse” or “drugs of addiction”.

Psychoactive natural products include morphine (dope) and other opiates and opioids (such as China white (very potent), heroin, methadone, Percocet, Percodan, and Vicodin); LSD (ergot), mescaline, and psilocybin. The last three are hallucinogens that have been adopted by various categories of people, including for “religious” experience.

A person under the influence of a hallucinogen cannot make rational judgment or avoid normal dangers. Hallucinogens produce hallucinations, depersonalization, .shape and color distortion, and distorted time perception. The user may get flashbacks several years after drug use. Hallucinogens do not cause dependence or addiction but can produce toler-

N

Staphylococcal infections (4)

M

ATURALLY, age has a role to play in erec tion sustainability that is it takes a little stimulation for a youth of between ages 20 to 30 to gain an erection, he may climax quickly but he gains back his erection in a few minutes.

An adult male of 40 years will need a more direct stimulation to attain an erection, while a 60 year old male may need an even more direct stimulation before an erection can be achieved. But these days it’s so amazing that even youths in their early twenties are having a problem of erectile dysfunction and almost all the cases involved are due to one infection or another most especially staph infection. This situation is so alarming that I begin to wonder what the situation will be like in the next 5 to7 years. Even as an adult one’s sexual life should be very active especially among married adults because this will foster a serious relationship among such couples.

Most men usually com-

plain of having difficulty in retaining their erection after a round of sexual intercourse, and this has really caused a lot of problem between them and their hubby. This reminds me of a case of Mr. Ade (not real name), who came to our office to complain bitterly of a problem with his sexual incompetence. He is a 40 year old man married to a lady in her late twenties and he is finding it rather difficult to satisfy her in bed. The reason being that after just about 5 mins of intercourse he ejaculates and could not get back his erection till the following day. After listening to his complains, we carried out some tests on him and it was discovered that he has a heavy growth of staph. aureus.

He was treated for the infection, then after the treatment he was giving some herbal drugs for his sexual performance. Now

H ance, the user needing more and more of the drug to get the same effect. Hence financial crises may evolve.

LSD is known in the streets as acid, bartman, microdots, window panes, and gelatin chips. Depending on the individual and the manner of administration, it can cause “good trips” with pleasant effects or “bad trips” with paranoia, panic, and agitation. LSD effects are mainly visual, e.g. colors become brilliant, shapes become distorted, distances between objects become confused. Senses may become fused, e.g. colors appear to

the table has turned around as it is the man that is complaining that his wife cannot withstand his sexual prowess.

There have been many cases like that, that we have treated and God has used us to save homes from breaking apart. If as a man you wake up in the morning without your manhood becoming turgid for more than 3 – 5 days then you should know that there is a cause for alarm. You really need to examine yourself before it becomes too late.

My candid advice to all men is to avoid having any form of casual sex in order to prevent infection. They should also live a healthy life, eat good and well- balanced diet, exercise regularly and abstain from casual sex. Whenever they notice any form of problem concerning their sexual life they should not hesitate to go for medical check up before the situation gets worse.

Sexual dysfunction does not pertain to male only, even the female folks are not left out, because there is this general assumption that it is only the male gender that are guilty of this menace. When a woman finds it difficult to enjoy a sexual relation with her partner then she too is suffering from sexual dysfunction. Sexual dysfunction in female is known as frigidity, that is such a woman no matter the extent of stimulation or fondling will never become excited or moved. This is usually due to 2 major factors (i) it could be an hormonal problem or (ii) an infection.

Such women will find the act of sex, boring and irritating and not something to enjoy. The partner of such a woman will also feel the effects because he will feel as if

have specific smells. The subject may undergo rapid mood changes during one drug experience from happy to sad, irritable to meditative, calm to frightened, and development of anxiety is common. Large doses induce abortion.

Phencyclidine (PCP), a “club drug” is known as angel dust, hog, horse tranquilizer, killerjoints, and peace pills. It produces disconnection from reality, a feeling of separation of mind from body (“astral travelling”), and visual distortions. If used chronically, irreversible schizophrenia-like psychosis may develop.

he is making love to a log of wood or a corpse. Tell me how that kind of marriage will work out. This reminds me of a case of a couple that came to our office all the way from the east. Although their main purpose of coming has to do with infertility i.e. they have been married for over seven years without an issue.

But during my interview with them I discovered that the woman does not enjoy sex with her husband and she does not complain whenever they are doing it. She said she just see it as her obligation and a means to an end which is just meant for procreation. I now lectured them that although sexual relationship between a man and a woman is primarily meant for procreation, but it is also meant to be enjoyed to bring a very close relationship between both parties. Well during the course of examination it was discovered that while the man has a moderate growth of staph infection, the wife is suffering from both candidiasis (yeast infection) and staphylococcus infections. After the initial treatment of the infections, both parties now seem to enjoy a very sexual life especially the woman who used to be frigid.

To cap it all after the whole treatment God has answered their prayer and they are parents of two wonderful children aged 4 and 2 years old.

So if you are a woman and you find it difficult to enjoy sexual relationship with your husband or partner, please don’t think its normal or you will adapt its better if you go for medical examination fast.

•Dr B. Filani is the Chief Consultant of Sound Health Centre, Lagos. You can contact him on 08023422010 or on facebook or email soundhealthcentre@yahoo.com.

OLISTIC Healthcare is the application of the best combination of natural therapies, in the provision of complementary and wholesome health care services.

Natural therapy in this context implies a non-conventional system of preventing or eliminating physical, mental, social or spiritual ailments; which may rely exclusively on past experience and observation handed down from generation to generation, verbally or in writing. It involves the use of natural plants (herbs), animal matter and mineral compounds.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a complex of diseases and symptoms resulting from unexplained immune deficiency; caused by a retrovirus, culminating in a “mixed-bag” of life-threatening opportunistic infections, which invariably result in death. The retrovirus that causes AIDS is known as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) with types I, II, and III already isolated.

During the past few years, a lot of technical and financial supports have been provided for scientists searching for a cure for AIDS. Many of their efforts have been to try and discover a single pharmacological or immunological solution to what is, in fact, a “mixed-bag” of different disease conditions.

Paradoxically, while orthodox researchers have been struggling unsuccessfully to produce a single drug remedy for AIDS, there has been a tremendous advance made by the unorthodox, self-financed but highly ridiculed holistic approach; and it has become clear that the natural defence mechanisms of the individual sufferer can be augmented towards evolving a panacea to the disease problem.

It is against this background of unproductive waste of human, material and financial resources, in the face of the physical, psychological and social hazards imposed on mankind by Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and several other devastating, insidious and otherwise intractable diseases; that I have embarked on this exposition of the “wisdom of ages”, as a private sector contribution to the strategies towards attainment of the much-desired “Health For All” in this millennium.

Over the past 28 years, I have conducted research at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria; as well as at Interdisciplinary Research Centres in Europe and Southern Africa; on holistic and complementary healthcare systems.

In the course of my research activities, it has become glaring that the body’s ability to protect itself from the onslaught of offending virus, bacteria, fungi, cancer cells, etc can be enhanced by holistic herbal ‘immuno-modulators’ , because, apart from supporting the body’s own immune defence mechanisms, they also prevent opportunistic infections.

In Holistic Lifecare, we are committed to total cure of HIV/ AIDS sufferers when they have just been tested and diagnosed positive, when they are still able to eat, drink and move around on their own, but not when they are expecting their funeral the next day!

The Holistic Natural Remedy being suggested for restoring good health, vitality, and total cure in HIV/AIDS sufferers; is a combination of herbal, nutritional and psycho-social therapies at the appropriate time and in the right proportion. Notable among the useful herbs for HIV/AIDS are Aloe vera, Allium sativum, Harpagophytum zeyheri, Echinacea augustifolia and Zingiber officinale.

For further information and consultation on Holistic Lifecare research and services, especially on Blood Infections, Infertility, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Chronic Debilitating Conditions as well as mental and social problems, please call on: 0803-330-3897 or visit: Mosebolatan Holistic Lifecare Centre, Adeyalo Layout, Ogbere-Tioya, Off Olorunsogo Express Bridge, Ibadan. Website: www.holisticlifecare.com. Distance is no barrier, we can send remedies by courier if need be. We also have facilities for accommodation, admission and hospitalization in a serene and homely environment.

54

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

W

ILL the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) still be a jamboree or business-minded?

This is the question on the lips of many citizens of this global bloc who were once colonised by Britain. Since its 1971 meeting in Singapore where CHOGM was adopted to include Presidents and Prime Ministers of member-nations, the session has always been a bi-annual political gathering battling to promote democracy, human rights and sustainable development. It is also used to pledge loyalty to Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

A peep at the Commonwealth before the Australian Summit The world is paying attention to CHOGM because it is contributing both a fair share to global development and substantial ratio to international problems. Apart from its members accounting for between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of global output, trade and population, The Commonwealth also comprises 32 small states and 22 small island economies. It is as well made up of five members of the G20 and 49 none G-20, including 17 Commonwealth countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Its global GDP firming to 2.7 per cent (2010) and 3.2% in 2011. According to the Director of Economic Affairs, Commonwealth Secretariat, Dr. Cyrus Rustomjee, member-countries are at risk as follows: Trade shocks (3); Remittances (medium risk 13); Aid (medium risk 16); and FDI (medium risk 13). He added: “On the average, Commonwealth developing countries have grown slower.”

Besides Fiji and Zimbabwe that have been suspended, virtually all member-states are under democracy. But the challenges facing The Commonwealth border on free and fair poll, tolerance of the opposition, free press and protection of fundamental human rights. In a report of a study commissioned by Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit, part of the University of London, and a democracy assistance organisation, Electoral Reform International Services, it was recommended in 2009 that “all Commonwealth countries should face a democracy health check every two years.”

The theme of CHOGM 2011 Ahead of the session, the leaders have endorsed a theme, “Building National Resilience, Building Global Resilience,” to guide their discussions. For CHOGM, no theme could have been appropriate because most of its developing member-states belong to those tagged as “smallest, poorest, and most vulnerable” nations which are being hurt by the global economic recession. At a recent meeting, the Ministers of Finance of the Commonwealth admitted as follows: “The ministers noted that the meeting was taking place in a period of significant global economic and financial uncertainty and substantial international regulatory reform. This environment presented acute challenges for all Commonwealth members, particularly the Associations’ smallest, poorest and most vulnerable members. International macro-economic and financial policies since the global crisis were not securing broad-based global growth.

“Ministers noted that in an increasingly interdependent global environment this had resulted in significant adverse consequences for Commonwealth members, with a loss of trade, output and employment, particularly among the poorest, smallest and most vulnerable members of the Association. Ministers recognised that while these countries had not contributed to the causes of the crisis, they were experiencing disproportionately both the adverse consequences of the crisis and the inability to secure global recovery.”

Ministers discussed the role of the G20 in contributing to accelerating global recovery.

“We noted that the G20, while representing a systemically important group of countries, did not possess all elements of a solution to global recovery. Many solutions were in fact to be found in other developing countries, and the G20 had a key responsibility to ensure that the voices of those not in the G20 are continuously

•Perth in daylight

CHOGM 2011:

Will it still be a jamboree?

In the next one week, Heads of Government and Prime Ministers of 54 countries in the Commonwealth, including President Goodluck Jonathan, will converge on Perth, Australia to discuss how to build “National Resilience and Global Resilience.” Although the theme of this year’s summit appears serious-minded, our Managing Editor, Northern Operation, YUSUF ALLI, in Australia, examines whether the leaders will walk the talk beyond the rituals of backslapping and sustaining colonial bond. heard. The Commonwealth was well placed to reflect the views of these countries, particularly the smallest and most vulnerable. “

Issues before CHOGM 2011 According to a memo by the Secretary-General of The Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma, some of the issues before this year’s CHOGM are reform of the Commonwealth, promoting democracy, human rights, civil paths to peace, counter-terrorism, climate change, relationship with G-20, international trade and investment, international environmental governance, debt issues and small vulnerable economies, education, women affairs, public financial management reform, cyber crime, disarmament and arms control, among others.

Reforming the Commonwealth But the reform of the Commonwealth appears to have drawn more curiosity since the inauguration of the Eminent Persons Group EPG) on July 7, 2010 by Sharma. The group comprises: Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

(Malaysia, chairperson) ; Dr Emmanuel Akwetey (Ghana); Ms Patricia Francis (Jamaica); Dr. Asma Jahangir (Pakistan); Mr. Samuel Kavuma (Uganda, Commonwealth Youth Caucus); Hon Michael Kirby (Australia); Dr. Graca Machel (Mozambique); Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind (UK); Sir Ronald Sanders (Guyana); Senator Hugh Segal (Canada); Sir Ieremia Tabai (Kiribati).

In a memorandum to all countries by the Secretary-General, Sharma, ahead of 2011 CHOGM, he has placed the reform as the first priority.

He said: “A headline mandate of the 2009 CHOGM was the establishment of an Eminent Persons Group (EPG). Whereas reviews involving reform of the Commonwealth in 1991 and 2001 were undertaken by representative groups of Heads of Government, it was decided that the review in 2001 would be undertaken by a group of distinguished individuals representing the Commonwealth’s diversity.

“Several member governments provided extra-budgetary support for the EPG which was constituted by the Secretary-General and

charged with developing reform options for consideration by Heads at the Perth CHOGM 2011 that would strengthen the networks, sharpen the impact and raise the profile of the Commonwealth.”

What the EPG said In a 22 March, 2011 report by its Chairperson, Tun Abdullahi Ahmed Badawi, the EPG said it is time for the Commonwealth to reform.

“The Commonwealth is in danger of becoming irrelevant and unconvincing as a valuesbased association,” declared the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group in a closing statement issued at their meeting in London on 21-22 March, 2011.

“To safeguard against this danger, we will recommend to leaders the adoption of proposals that will strengthen the Commonwealth, both as an association of governments and of peoples.

“We want the Commonwealth to be a champion of democratic values and fundamental human rights. We also want the Commonwealth to work towards narrowing the devel-

55

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

•Minister for Defence Stephen Smith (middle) has unveiled the uniform which will be worn by up to 500 volunteers during the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

•President Goodluck Jonathan

Can Nigeria set a new tone?

The successful conduct of the 2011 poll and its return to flagship foreign policy with its positions on Cote D’Ivoire and Libyan crises, Nigeria will no doubt be the toast of member –countries in Australia.

For President Jonathan, who is attending the summit for the first time, his new voice will certainly attract listeners on what Nigeria has to offer for its new leadership role in Africa which has relegated South Africa to the background.

The new foreign policy will also assist Nigeria to occupy strategic offices and chairs of committees in the association. A policy analyst, Dr. Michael Dung, said: “Nigeria is having a rebirth of its foreign policy which would earn it considerable respect in the comity of nations. What it has to do is to sustain the momentum with good performance, commitment to the rule of law and democratic tenets at home.”

One of the targets of the Nigerian delegation, being led by President Goodluck Jonathan, is to set a new agenda for the Commonwealth.

The President will lead a 70-man delegation of businessmen and investors to an investment roundtable on October 25. The fact that the businessmen or groups on the delegation will foot their bills underscores the commitment of the government to redirect the tone

•Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Sec.Gen.

,

opment gap between member countries, through bilateral, regional and multilateral co-operation. The whole range of Commonwealth organisations must work more effectively together.

“To actively cultivate the Commonwealth’s diverse cultural heritage and strengthen a common Commonwealth identity among its people, we would like to see increased interaction among Commonwealth scholars, professionals, artists, writers, media practitioners and sportsmen and women,” he said.

“Against this background, we are making recommendations for practical reforms to sharpen the Commonwealth’s impact and to tackle the most pressing global issues of our time.

“The next few months will be crucial and we invite further feedback from interested parties on the direction of our report before we finalise,” the group said.

According to the Commonwealth Secretariat, the group will, the summit in Perth, Australia call on the Commonwealth’s 54 leaders to adopt a package of reforms, including the need for adequate resources that will include the following: Championing values • A “Charter of the Commonwealth” to be developed by and for Commonwealth citizens.

• Expanding the range of measures available to the Secretary-General and to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to better respond where Commonwealth values are violated.

• Creating a Commonwealth Commissioner on Democracy and the Rule of Law to advise the Secretary-General and CMAG on serious or persistent violations of the Commonwealth’s core values.

• Specific initiatives on HIV/AIDS around the Commonwealth.

• Establishing academies for democracy and election training.

• Broadening the remit to strengthen a culture of democracy, including post-election transition of governments and civic education.

•Advocating for small and developing countries.

• Placing development concerns at the heart of the Commonwealth’s work by campaigning on priority global issues, leveraging its strength as a convening and influencing body. This should build on the Commonwealth’s many achievements, including its landmark antiapartheid role, debt reduction work, and more recently, advancement of Commonwealth perspectives in the international climate change debate.

•Maximising the Commonwealth’s political influence through the use of high-level advocacy missions to advance Commonwealth perspectives in organisations such as the G20, IMF, WTO and World Bank.

• Providing extra financial support to improve training for small states in meeting the demands of international regulatory requirements.

•Re-focusing the Commonwealth’s work with young people to strengthen policies to provide opportunities to all young people based on merit and stimulating investment in youth enterprise.

Institution fit for purpose • A significant focusing of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s work plan.

• Investment in the secretariat to attract the best international talent.

• Maximising time for dialogue on the priority issues of the day at the Commonwealth summit and ministerial meetings.

• Giving the Commonwealth Foundation an explicit mandate to mobilise Commonwealth civil society around global issues.

• Expanding opportunities for citizens, such as scholarships and professional exchanges, and expanding the “footprint” of the Commonwealth by creating incentives for Commonwealth organisations to relocate out of the UK.

We do not want to see CHOGM as a jamboree.

We are taking along a business team at their own expense, but we will also give them the umbrella. Our focus is to promote trade and investment in the Commonwealth which will be private driven

,

of CHOGM from politics to the economy. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru,

who spoke through one of his directors, said: “We do not want to see CHOGM as a jamboree. We are taking along a business team at their own expense, but we will also give them the umbrella.

“Our focus is to promote trade and investment in the Commonwealth which will be private driven.”

For Nigeria, its main shopping list is Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, said: “There are many reasons Nigeria will be well represented at the event. First, President Goodluck Jonathan will be delivering a keynote address on the investment opportunities in Africa.

But more importantly, CHOGM is an important trade and investment opportunity for all participating countries.

“And as part of preparations for this year’s event, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development and I attended an investment conference in Australia last month to identify the potential opportunities for trade and investment for Nigeria.

“During that meeting, we discovered that we have a lot of things that Australia needs and that they also have a lot of things that we need. For instance, Nigeria currently has at least 33 solid minerals which are yet to be fully exploited. On the other hand, Australia has the capital and over 100

•Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru, Foreign Affairs Minister

years of experience in mining business .And from the way the capital market is structured in that country, it is a lot easier to raise money for the juniors to come into the market. Currently, we have about eight Australian juniors doing mining business in Nigeria.”

He added, “Our objective is to increase that number by bringing more Australian companies to come to Nigeria and invest in the mining sector. In addition to the mining sector, Australia is a big player in the agriculture and oil and gas sectors. These sectors provide a lot of investment opportunities for Nigerian and Australian businessmen and women to explore given the fact that we have comparative and competitive advantages in these areas.

“We will provide the necessary platform for Nigerian business leaders to meet with their counterparts across the world so that they can have meaningful business discussions that will translate into Foreign Direct Investments and increased trade for the overall development of the Nigerian economy”.

What future for CHOGM? The Commonwealth seems to be at its twilight. Unless this latest summit reshapes the association to be relevant to the needs and aspirations of its citizens, it will become irrelevant. Will the leaders have the will to have a way?

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

DIALOGUE

56

Nnamdi Ndoh: Steering NAMA for the transformation, agenda

H

It is just a continuation of where my predecessor stopped. I have been part of the management and part of the new drive in the transformation agenda of Mr. President. Everybody here knows what we have been doing and we will just reintensify our efforts

,

ERACLITUS, the celebrated Greek philosopher, who lived in 5th Century B. C. seemed to have said it all, when he exposited the cosmological world view of the ever-recurring decimal of “change” as a permanent feature of human affairs.

This, in other words, is to expatiate that the world is in a perpetual state of flux; and nothing is permanent in life, except “change”.

It is already common knowledge that by now, Mazi, Nnamdi Udoh, a seasoned Engineer and renowned aviation technocrat, currently holds forte as the substantive Managing Director of Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

This followed the retirement of the immediate past incumbent in the person of Alhaji Ibrahim Auyo, after 32 months stint at the helm, dating back from February 18, 2009 to October 4, 2011.

This former Director of Safety Electronics and Engineering Services has undoubtedly come with fresh vigour, insight, vision and a new reawakening. This indeed should not be surprising, as this technocrat of high acclaim is coming from a position of strength, rather than an under dog.

This is because, for one thing, the Igbo-born Nigerian, from the Arochukwu area of Abia State, is anything but new, at his latest level of elevation, where he had indeed served a couple of times in acting capacity, while the incumbent Managing Director at that time, Alhaji Auyo, had cause to take temporary leave from official duty.

It is gladdening to note that on each of these occasions, this energetic jewel of great promise had accounted himself with impressive managerial competence.

Essentially coupled with the fore-going is his professional score-card of uncommon experience, exposure and expertise, allied with his remarkable competence, excellence and efficiency – which in the first place, had earlier catapulted him to the vantage placing of Director of Engineering and Safety Electronics.

It was on this account that when the retirement of the former M.D was announced, it became naturally logical to shift gaze to this engineering expert of proven competence, as the succeeding inheritor of the baton of continuity at the most elevated echelon of NAMA affairs.

It should also be expressed and in emphatic clarity too that this highly resourceful and energetic worker made history within the context of the strategic live wire role played by him as the project manager for the multi-billion naira TRACON project.

•Nnamdi Udoh

Supo ATOBATELE In this sense, it remains a tribute to his expertise and unalloyed dedication to service, that he led the project team that successfully delivered the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria Project, which involved deployment of Nine Radar sites located in Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Port-Harcourt, Maiduguri, Ilorin, Niuman, Talata-Mafara and Obubra.

He was also involved in several Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) and Site Acceptance Tests, for several deliverables of the TRACON Project in France, United Kingdom and Nigeria.

He led the technical team to ND sitcom for the Detailed Design of the VSAT, network in the TRACON project.

He was also involved in the initiation and definition phases leading to the award of the Total VHF Radio Coverage of the Nigerian Airspace and the Aeronautical Information Service (AIS), Automation Project.

It is against this background, therefore, that he could undoubtedly be said to have made a remarkably impressive footprint on the aviation firmament; just as it is equally apt to emphasise that, that record making exploit which represents a significant watershed of his career, places him on a most competent pedestal, not only for the consolidation and

optimisation of the gains of TRACON, but also for exploration of higher frontiers of the sophisticated hi-tech option of the new millennium, in the onerous drive for excellence.

This could not have been more aptly captured than in his expressed resolve to continue where his predecessor had stopped.

His words: “It is just a continuation of where my predecessor stopped. I have been part of the management and part of the new drive in the transformation agenda of Mr. President. Everybody here knows what we have been doing and we will just re-intensify our efforts. In order words, one of the new innovations in the area of the new upgrades blocks by ICAO terminology.

In order words, just moving from where we are, to a more sophisticated reliable and more effective technology.

Born on May 8, 1960, young Udoh attended Aggrey Primary School, Arochukwu, Abia State; National High School, Aba, Abia State; Nigerian College of Transportation Technology, Zaria; Transport Training Institute, Ottawa, Canada; German School of Aviation, Langen, Germany and London City University.

This Master’s Degree holder in Air Safety (Engineering and Mathematical Sciences) joined the Nigerian Airport Authority

on May 19, 1980, thus flaunting a 31- year span of remarkable expertise and track record of solid achievements in the provision of Air Navigation Services with specialized competency in Air Safety Management for surveillance, Calibration and Logistics.

The new Managing Director, who also holds a certificate in Logistics Management and graduated in Aeronautical Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering, has attended diverse professional development courses, including Digital Techniques for all Navigational Aids and Principles; Radar Maintenance Engineering; ICAO Air-craft Hijacking Workshop; AFI Regional Search and Rescue Workshop; ICAO CNS/ATM Systems Seminar; Fernau Avionics Direction Finder Training Course, Certified Technical Instructor and Scandinavia ICAO Certified Aircraft Accident Investigation Course; among others.

The widely acclaimed technocrat, who has the Nigerian German and Canadian ATSEP Licence in his kitty, is a member of various professional bodies.

They include: Royal Aeronautical Society (MRAs); National Association of Air Traffic Engineers; International Federation of Air Traffic Safety Electronics Association (IFATESA); Nigeria Institute of Management and Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).

Realising the infinite significance of industrial peace and committed work force to the realization of cherished corporate goals and objectives, the thoroughbred technocrat and new M.D is believed to have hit off on a right note by confessing his abiding resolve to operate an all-inclusive, broadbased open-door administration, devoid of parochial segregationism or discrimination, of any hue or colour.

His visionary impulse and dynamism also finds expression when he disclosed his passionate expectation to see a NAMA in the next 50 years, which would have given birth to a conglomerate of companies.

The NAMA of my dream is sustainable NAMA of the next 50 years, where my grandchildren can work, where I can consult for, where I can deliver papers, which I can do seminar for, and above all, everywhere in the world, organisations deliver new organisations; may be NAMA Consulting Limited; may be NAMA Training Institute, may be NAMA Hotels group, may be NAMA travels and tours. That is my dream.

•Mr. Atobatele is the General Manager, Public Affairs ,Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

57

58 NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

ACN, PDP slug it out as Lagos holds Continued from Page 6 council polls PDP chairman, Hon. Seton-

ji Koshoedo, who charged party members to be vigilant, clarified that the party would not boycott the elections in spite of the alleged observable lapses in the preparations

by SIEC.

The chairman of ACN, Otunba Oladele Ajomale, denied the allegation of overbearing influence on SIEC, saying that "ACN believes in the integrity and sanctity of

CJ inaugurates election/ appeal tribunals

the ballot box, the rule of law, due process and survival of democracy in the country".

He said ACN was ready for the electoral challenge because it had prepared ahead of the exercise.

Joseph JIBUEZE

LASIEC vows to frustrate election riggers Continued from Page 6 He urged political parties and the electorate to shun violence, thuggery and behavior that could mar the electoral process.

The LASIEC boss confirmed that 28 political parties would participate in the

election.

He reiterated the commission’s determination to announce all the results within 48 hours.

One of LASIEC commissioners, Hon Musbau Oyefeso told The Nation that 32, 000 adhoc staff had been recruited across the state for the ex-

ercise.

He noted that over 5,000 candidates would vye for 376 councillorship positions and 57 chairmanship positions.

On prompt payment of the adhoc staff recruited, he said arrangement has been concluded with Zenith Bank to for the payment.

Court orders Bankole, deputy to face trial fiability of the evidence “can only be done in case of no submission.”

He added that the proof of evidence of the prosecution can only be evaluated during trial.

“Let us see the cogency of the evidence before we can evaluate the evidence. The cause of justice will be better served in this case if the case proceeds to trial. This will afford the accused the opportunity to defend themselves,” he said.

At the last sitting, Awomolo (SAN) had argued that the man that is liable to be charged for criminal breach of trust that his client is facing is the one who has the control of the fund.

Referring to a memo from Omolori, Awomolo said: “There is nowhere the accused person said ‘I approve.’ If the accused is the authority to approve the money, the Clerk of the House of Representatives will not go to the National Assembly Clerk for approval.

“The man to be liable to criminal breach of trust must be the one who has the control; it is the Clerk of the National Assembly,” he submitted.

The EFCC lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, agreed that all those who appended their signatures for the approval of the loan obtained by the House

Continued from Page 6 were conspirators.

He admitted that the signatures of the National Assembly clerk and that of the House of Representatives appeared on the documents seeking approval for the controversial loan.

Asked by the Judge why the two were not charged, Keyamo replied: “It is the discretion of the prosecution. Nobody can query the power of the Attorney General.”

He added that the prosecution reserves the right to either prosecute a person or make him a witness in a case, depending on the circumstances.

Keyamo asked the Judge to dismiss the submission of the defence counsel.

He said it is only the Attorney General of the Federation who can challenge the fiat issued to him and not the defence, adding that the prosecution was not under duty to tender the fiat.

Besides, he argued that fiat could be given at any time, adding that it was wrong for the accused to presume that fiat must be issued before trial.

Referring to A Supreme Court decision in the case of Bode George, he submitted that the bur-

• Governor Fashola

T

HE Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Inumidun Akande yesterday inaugurated two Local Government Election Tribunals and an Appeal Tribunal to entertain petitions on grievances that may arise from today’s council election.

A tribunal will sit at the Lagos State High Court, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos Island, and will determine petitions from Agege, Ajeromi/Ifelodun, Alimosho, Badagry, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ikeja, Lagos Mainland, Mushin, Ojo, Oshodi/Isolo and Surulere local government areas.

It will also hear cases from Agbado-Oke Odo, Apapa Iganmu, Ayobo-Ipaja, Badagry West, Coker Aguda, Egbe-Idimu, Ejigbo, Iba, Ifelodun, Igando-Ikotun, ItireIkate, Mosa-Okunola, OdiOlowo/Ojuwoye, Ojodu, Ojokoro, Olorunda, Onigbongbo, Ori-Ade, OrileAgege and Oto-Awori Local Council Development Areas.

Members of the tribunal are: Retired Justice Francis Owobiyi (Chairman), Chief Magistrate Eniola Fabamiwo, Chief Magistrate S. O. Solebo, Senior Magistrate Rasaq Davies and a lawyer, Mr Wasiu Animasaun.

The second tribunal will sit at Magistrate Court 8 (Old Secretariat), Ikeja, and will handle petitions from Apapa, Epe, Eti-Osa, Ibeju-Lekki, Ikorodu, Kosofe, Lagos Island and Shomolu Local Government Areas.

It will also deal with suits from Agboyi-Ketu, Bariga, Eredom Eti Osa East, Igbogbo-Baiyeku, Ijede, Ikorodu West, Ikosi-Ejinrin, Ikosi-Isheri, Ikoyi, Imota, Iru-Victoria

Island, Lagos Island East, Lekki and Yaba Local Council Development Areas.

Its members are: Retired Justice Dolapo Akinsanya (Chairman), Chief Magistrate P. A. Ojo, Chief Magistrate Funmi Demi-Ajayi, Senior Magistrate Murziq Etti and former Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Branch, Mr Dave Ajetomobi.

The Local Government Election Appeal Tribunal, which will sit at the Lagos State High Court, Igbosere Road, Lagos Island, has the following members: Justice Opeyemi Oke (Chairman), Justice Samuel Candide-Johnson, Justice Mojisola Dada, Justice Habib Abiru and Justice Olatunde Oshodi, all of the Lagos State High Court.

PUBLIC NOTICE THE DIVINE CORNERSTONE WORLD OUTREACH The general public is hereby notified that the above-named church has applied to the Corporate Affairs CENTRE Commission for Registration in accordance with the Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Pastor Adebayo Olatunde 2. Mrs. Esther Oluwatoyin Alawode 3. Mr. Omotayo Alawode 4. Engr. Akin Oguntayo 5. Mr. Ibitayo Malomo 6. Mr. Timothy Ogundele 7. Mrs. Dorcas Oluwakemi Ajayi

– Senior Pastor – Secretary

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES a. To propagate the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. b. To organise outreach fellowship centres in the home of every member. c. To encourage believers to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and Fire. d. To bring healing and deliverance through preaching. e. To lead people to personal saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. f . To reach out to the lost sheep in and outside the Ministry.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 246 Tigris Crescent, off AgunyiIronsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, within 28 days of this publication.

Signed: A. B. OLABISI Esq.

NEWS 59

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

A witch-hunt tool •Continued from Back Page opposing side left their markers befuddled.

How Tella’s boys didn’t graduate into the stars that many had anticipated remains a mystery. I thought that they would form the bedrock of the Nigerian side that performed woefully at the U-20 World Youth Championship held in Egypt.

Had Tella lived on, he would have graduated with his boys and one is sure that he would have handled the Eagles better by creating competition in the team with the new lads that he would have discovered at the grassroots. There are many Moses Kpakpors, Edema Fuludus, Isaac Semitojes, Abdul Sules, David Ngodighas, to mention a few, in the nooks and cranny of the country. Our present-day Eagles coaches are lazy. They want quick-fixes and rely on all manner of shortsighted people to get players for the national teams. Is it not puzzling that our national team coaches use as many as 80 players for six qualifiers, yet the teams play very unattractive and nervy matches? Don’t ask me why.

Figure it out.

The next Nigerian Super Eagles chief coach should be the best from the domestic league. His knowledge of the domestic league will help the technical adviser in picking good talents for the Eagles.

We must immediately fill the position of technical adviser since that appears to be the vogue among African countries.

The next foreign technical adviser must be a tactician with a knack for grooming talents through academies.

Central to all the problems of our teams is the absence of a unique Nigerian playing style.

If we had one, Siasia wouldn’t have converted a holding midfielder to play in place of injured Okoronkwo. He would have promoted either the Dream Team V or Flying Eagles’ right back like they do in other climes to play against the Guineans. The same therapy would have been applied to the goalkeeping area with Vincent Enyeama suspended.

Moving forward, no Nigerian chief coach should be given free hand to run the Eagles. They have abused it.

With such powers, they show their mercantile tendencies.

They are unable to resist the lucre from European clubs’ agents and scouts. They act alone and make their lieutenants bystanders.

Eagles’ assistant coaches must be picked the way the chief coach emerged, otherwise we would have the setting now in our hands where if Siasia goes, none of his assistants is good enough for the job. Eagles’ bench must have the best hands in all the departments. That is the only way they can help the chief coach when he needs useful tips to swing the game in our favour during matches.

The quality of the Eagles technical crew has been very poor largely because the chief coach picks assistants who are not better than him. The assistants can’t walk up to the chief coach to offer advice so that he is not seen as trying to usurp the boss’ functions.

In other climes, when the chief coach goes, there is never a lacuna because his assistant is promoted in the interim.

Aggrieved Niger Deltans plan to march to Aso Villa

A

GGRIEVED people of the Niger Delta are set to protest naked at Aso Rock, Abuja to show their displeasure over the lack of commensurate development in the crude oil and gas-rich region.

The protest is being coordinated by the Watchdog of Niger Delta (WDND) and the Niger Delta Peace Movement (NDPM).

In an interactive session with reporters in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, yesterday, the President of the WDND, Amachree Oprite, in company with his counterpart of the NDPM, John Walter, accused the Federal Government of insincerity in developing the Niger Delta.

Bisi OLANIYI, Port Harcourt The groups said: “We are tired of living with persistent anomalies against our region and people. If the Presidency fails to heed to making our region move forward at the expiration of this week, we shall protest naked in thousands, at the door and cosy environment of Aso Rock, Abuja.

“The system has made us to be nothing, but dead men walking. We urge President Goodluck Jonathan to authorise that the Acting Managing Director of NDDC, Mrs Osato Areyenka, to be given the mandate to implement projects and enhance pay-

ments to develop the Niger Delta or put a new board of the commission in place.

“Mr. President sir, we wish to remind you that the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs resides within your domain, without any meaningful impact on the region and people. The construction of the East-West road which the ministry performs supervisory role, especially the Port Harcourt axis, is depleted and not motorable.

“With the pace of work on the East-West Road, we no doubt believe that Mr. President is likely to ride on the same depleted road after the expiration of his tenure, unless a drastic action is taken.”

The Niger Deltans further described as evident that the

Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs could not deliver on his mandate and should be sacked and replaced with a patriot.

The aggrieved people also stated that the Federal Gov-

Ogun land panel begins sitting

T

HE Ogun State Land Commission of Inquiry will on Tuesday begin public sitting to entertain documentary and oral evidence from witnesses to alleged illegal land deals during Daniel’s administration.

The Nation gathered that the six-man commission headed

•Wife of Osun State Governor, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola (left), receiving the drugs donated by Bond Chemical Nigeria Limited to Osun State Government at the Central Medical Stores in Osogbo yesterday. With her is the state Commissioner for Health, Mrs Temitope Ilori.

J

ernment interventionist agency (the Niger Delta Development Commission) charged with developing the Niger Delta had become politicised at the detriment of the region and people.

Ernest NWOKOLO, Abeokuta

by Justice Abiodun Akinyemi (rtd) has as at yesterday received over 100 memoranda from individuals and organisations.

Other members of the commission are Mr. Dipo Onabanjo, Mr. Ayo Biobaku, Arc. (Mrs) Bisi Olumide, Mr. Niyi Oguntula and Gbenga Kareem (secretary).

The team will inquire into the “sales and concession of government property” between January 2004 and May 2011 as well as investigate “any form of transfer of interest in any property held in the corporate name of Ogun State Government.”

While the public hearing holds three times a week at the Obas’ Complex, Governor’s Office, only ten petitioners would be entertained per day on the basis of first come first served.

According to Mr. Tunde Kassim, Media Officer for the commission, “those who submitted memoranda are invited to the public hearing and they are to come along with relevant documents and witnesses to establish their claims.”

Court grants NDLEA power to detain Baba Suwe for 15 more days

USTICE Okechukwu Okeke of the Federal High Court, Lagos has acceded to a request by the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to further detain actor, Babatunde Omodina, (a.k.a Baba Suwe) for 15 more days.

Justice Okeke’s permission was contained in a ruling he read yesterday after entertain-

Eric IKHILAE ing arguments on an ex-parte application from NDLEA’s lawyer, Theresa Asuquo.

The application was supported by a 29-paragraph affidavit deposed to by an NDLEA intelligence officer, Femi Johnson Osifuye, and a CT scan result issued by a con-

sultant radiologist with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Dr Subhash Vijayvargiya.

Osifuye averred that the result confirmed that actor has large amount of narcotic drugs in his body.

The NDLEA had arrested the actor on October 12 while attempting to board an Air

France plane to Paris on suspicion that the scanning machine at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport indicated that he had ingested substances suspected to be hard drugs.

Osifuye further averred that following Baba Suwe’s arrest, the man was placed on observation pending when he would defecate the ingested

Two Anambra monarchs still missing

T

HE kidnap of two firstclass traditional rulers in Anambra State has been causing pains and anger, especially in their communities.

The traditional ruler of Ihembosi in the Ekwusigo Local Government Area, Igwe Jerome Udechukwu Okolie, and Igwe Lawrence Oragwu of Adazi Nnukwu in the Anaocha Local Government Area were abducted by unknown gunmen five and three months ago respectively.

The people of Adazi Nnukwu organised a nineday prayer session for their septuagenarian monarch which ended last week.

The Anambra State House of Assembly member, representing the Anaocha I constituency, Hon. Ebele Ejiofor, told The Nation that the community had been in mourning mood over the incident.

Ejiofor, who was almost weeping while speaking with The Nation, said they had

...months after their kidnap Nwanosike ONU, Awka taken their case to all the security agencies in the state and the state government.

He said even if the man was killed, his body should be seen by his subjects, describing their monarch as a wellrespected man not only in Anambra State but the entire country.

The monarch was kidnapped along the Nimo-Neni Road. The nine-day prayer session, according to Ejiofor, drew priests from different denominations to the community.

The Ihembosi monarch, Igwe Jerome Udechukwu Okoli, another septuagenarian, was said to have been kidnapped by a five-man gang on his way from Nnewi on May 26.

An indigene of the community, Barrister Uchem Obi, told

The Nation yesterday that the kidnap of their monarch was an affront on the security operatives in this country.

“We were told that some people were arrested in connection with the matter, but till now, we have not heard anything from them.

We don’t know what is happening”, Obi said.

He said it was an indication that something was definitely wrong in the society.

He said: ”It is almost certain that this issue will be swept under the carpet. If a traditional ruler could disappear this way, what is the fate of ordinary people in the society.

“Where is the succour everybody seeks and where will it come from for the entire people of Ihembosi, our community.”

Meanwhile, the state police command has described the

situation as pathetic.

In an interview with The Nation yesterday in Awka, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Emeka Chukwuemeka, said the command had contacted other neighbouring states for help on the kidnap.

He said the fact that they had not been seen “does not mean that the command has not been working,” adding that more intelligent personnel from the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) and State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) had been deployed.

Chukwuemeka said: “We have sustained raids on all the identified hideouts in the state, including uncompleted buildings. We are calling on our people to come up with information that could lead to the rescue of these prominent men”.

substances, but that while on observation, the actor refused to eat claiming that he eats only once in three days.

He added that as a result of Baba Suwe’s refusal to eat, he had not excreted the ingested substances.

Osifuye stated that after the comedian made the second excretion and no substance was found, the NDLEA had to take him to LASUTH for another CT scan for a second opinion on whether he indeed ingested the narcotic drugs, and the test confirmed a large amount of drugs in his body.

He further stated that with the confirmation that the actor still has hard drugs in his stomach, he is bound to excrete it with time.

He contended that the detained actor’s case was not an isolated one as it takes some suspects a longer time to excrete than others, hence the need to further keep him in custody.

Osifuye asserted that it would take the detained actor about five to seven days to complete excreting the whole drugs in his stomach.

He added that the suspect must be in custody for the agency to retrieve the ingested drugs.

Osifuye stressed that it would be in the interest of the suspect to excrete the ingested substances so as to prevent them from bursting in his abdomen, a situation the agency argued might lead to his death.

60

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

THE STATE OF ANARCHY, SUPPRESSION AND RAPE OF DEMOCRACY IN BENUE STATE: A REJOINDER

O

ur attention has been drawn to a paid advertisement in one of the National dailies, purported to be an open letter to the Presi dent and Commander – Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan captioned “The State of Anarchy, Suppression and Rape of Democracy in Benue State,” written by an amorphous group that describes itself as Concerned Benue Elders.

Quoting a fictitious address as No.5, Padro Pio Street Judges Quarters, Makurdi, this group may have shied away from stating the obvious that their protagonist and sponsor resides in that part of the city where thugs are mobilized and armed to terrorize political opponents in the guise of opposition politics.

The tone of rascality implicit in the letter, its disrespectful medium of dissemination to Mr. President and its vile threats to their Lordships, the Justices of the Election Tribunals and the Justices of the Court of Appeal, show clearly how unworthy the authors were of the status of elders. Their uncouth language against the Executive Governor of Benue State, His Excellency, Dr. Gabriel Saswam, and their total misrepresentation of the true situation in Benue State, depict them as dishonest, mischievous and gangsters. They conclude their diatribe with a chilling warning which is indeed their manifesto statement thus: “Mr. President, those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable. Nobody should assume that the Arab Spring in Africa and the Middle East cannot replicate itself in our dear country.”

This threat is a classic expression of the desperation of the opposition parties in Benue State, to create confusion and plunge the State into anarchy because they lost to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April 2011 general elections. Most of these so-called elders were members of the PDP who left the party at the wake of the elections to protest their loss or the loss of their candidates at the PDP Primaries.

They lost the elections fairly and their egos were severely bruised. Their larger-than life impression of their political prowess which led them to boast that they were capable of dethroning one governor and enthroning another was pitifully proved wrong. The people of Benue voted overwhelmingly for Governor Gabriel Suswam to continue with his good work in office. Now they seek all desperate means, including thuggery and libellous publications, to intimidate the good people of Benue State.

These elders have neither scientific nor empirical proof that the April 2011 general elections were won by them. Their parties lost woefully in all the elections that were adjudged to be largely free and fair. Then they raised a litany of technical arguments at the Election Petition Tribunal but were roundly defeated for their inept and puerile arguments. It is clear that these elders cannot prove the allegations of “Anarchy, Suppression and Rape of Democracy” in Benue State, in their write-up as Governor Suswam has firmly restored peace in the State since coming to power in 2007 and sustained same with good governance and respect for human dignity. And as it appears, the nation’s judiciary has also proved to us in Benue State that it is indeed the last hope of the common man as it has refused to succumb to intimidation and blackmail of these desperate politicians. There is no anarchy in Benue State whatsoever; no Nigerian, no matter how lowly or highly placed, has been suppressed in any way and of course, Benue State under Governor Gabriel Suswam has continued to promote the values of democracy, freedom of speech and dignity in Government business and electoral matters.

We recall that during past regimes Benue state there was palpable

anarchy as Benue State was engulfed in crises from all corners. Benue was at war with Taraba, Cross-River, Enugu, Ebonyi and Nasarawa States. Internally, the people of Kwande, Ushongo, Konshisha, Logo, Ukum, Katsina- Ala, Obi, Gboko, Makurdi, Agatu, Apa, Oju, Gwer and Gwer-West and even his own Local Government Area, Tarka, were always at daggers drawn among and within themselves. This is a clear departure from the tranquil regime of Dr. Gabriel T. Suswam who has since 2007 taken pro-active steps to instil peace and harmony in Benue State. The crime rate is at its lowest ebb and night life flourishes in Makurdi and all the major cities, a situation that was strange during Governor Akume’s era.

Governor Suswam’s democratic credentials were first put to test in December 2007 when he conducted the Local Government Elections in Benue State. These elections were the freest and the fairest that had been conducted in the 35- year history of the State. The Tribunal set up to adjudicate cases after the exercise had little or nothing to do as virtually every contestant was satisfied with the outcome of the election.

However, it is on record that some self serving leaders and their soulmates, who are raising this false alarm today, threw the State into total anarchy when it was their turn to conduct the 2004 Local Government Elections in Benue State. Some of them raised a rag-tag army that unleashed terror on people, killing hundreds who resisted his corrupt administration and voted for the opposition party. Areas worst affected were Kwande and Tarka, his own place. The people of Tarka still live with the chilling memory of innocent youths who were executed crudely by hanging grinding stones around their necks and drowning them in the river. With Governor Suswam in Government House, Benue cannot return to those dark days of wanton killings and confusion.

The main objective of this open letter was to give a false impression that things have gone wrong in Benue State and to cause panic in the minds of people. On more than two occasions, these same elders had sent out a band of youths to raise bonfires on the streets to cause commotion in the serene city of Makurdi. They also attempted to cash in on the labour dispute over the N18, 000 minimum wage, but again failed as the Governor quickly settled the matter. The Governor had consistently remained calm, unperturbed and focused on his agenda of developing the State. He has proved through this rare display of maturity and statesmanship that he is not like his past administrators , who through complacency and ineptitude mal-administered the security of the State which led to great loss of lives and properties.

Not too long ago, for instance, former President Olusegun Obasanjo announced that some past leaders in Benue bear the blame for inviting the military who killed innocent civilians in the Zaki- Biam Massacre of November 2001. Some failed politicians had no convincing response to that assertion. It is in the same manner that they are misleading a host of their cronies to raise a false alarm concerning security in Benue State, not minding the implication such security threats would have for the State. These so-called elders have definitely failed in their endeavour once again to incite the good people of Benue State to revolt against their performing governor.

In their attempt to cast aspersions on the person of Dr. Suswam and his office, these so-called elders have deployed the use of abusive words and inappropriate sarcasm. This technique has obviously fallen flat on as they have ended up contradicting the very issues they had intended to use to disparage the Governor. In one breath they call Governor Suswam a “political neophyte,” meaning he is a greenhorn, neither knowing his left from his right. In another breath they accuse him of out- smart-

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011 ing the old generation of Benue politics in electoral and judicial processes. Yet, this is the same political “neophyte” who has won elections four consecutive times since 1999 and has moved from one level to another. This is the same young Suswam who contested for Governorship of Benue State in 2007 alongside some of the signatories of the said letter and convincingly trounced them. If this alone is not a testimony to Governor Suswam’s popularity and clout as a national legislator in the first eight years of his political career, we do not know what else it is. On the other hand, these so-called elders today have nothing to show for their presence on the political turf of Benue all these years.

Alarmed by their declining popularity and rejection by the people, they are now transferring their aggression to this rising political star.

These elders were also so tactless as to draw the attention of the world to the lack-lustre and corrupt performance of some of their leaders during their time in office, a matter which Governor Suswam had swept under the carpet much to the chagrin of the Benue people. They outlined a catalogue of non-existent factories on which the State “expended” over a phony N30 billion Naira and a few other uncompleted projects which the previous administration had abandoned, but for which money was paid up-front to their conduit- pipe contractors.

The truth is that only one of those projects handed over to Governor Suswam, the Benkims Plastic Industry was purportedly commissioned by the previous administration but it was simply dead on arrival, as it was equipped with obsolete machines and was executed without a feasibility plan. The so-called Tomato/Mango processing factory situated at Wannune, the former Governor’s village, was not completed within the five years it took him to execute the project and the machines were allegedly paid for twice. This is the subject of EFCC,which a former retired police commissioner has taken up in his crusade against those who looted our State’s treasury.

We notice with pity these elders’ unsuccessful attempts to disparage the brilliant performance of the young dynamic Suswam, whose projects have exposed the bankruptcy of ideas of some failed leaders in Benue.

Among those who signed the letter were whose village, was the first to benefit from Governor Suswam’s massive rural road construction. The Adikpo- Ikogen-Jato-Aka road has also opened the access to the Ikyogen Cattle ranch which is being revamped by Governor Suswam as a world tourism destination similar to the Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross River State.

Another signatory of the letter is also benefitting from Governor Suswam’s road construction programme as the Lessel-Ikyobo-TseAgberagba road is being constructed just as Ikyobo, (the Late Governor Aper Aku’s village) has been electrified for the first time by Governor Suswam.

Indeed, under his rural road construction scheme alone, Governor Suswam has embarked on the construction of fourteen major roads, four of which have been 100% completed. That is only in the area of rural road construction. Time and space will not permit us to enumerate his achievements in other sectors like water supply, rural electrification, healthcare delivery, renovation of schools, renovation of public buildings, and construction of a New Government House as well as the restoration of peace in Benue State. One does not necessarily need the statistics from the State Ministry of Finance to know that under Governor Suswam our money is being prudently used. These so-called elders are definitely green with envy on account of Suswam’s unprecedented achievements.

These elders must be naïve to imagine that the people of Benue State would be swayed by their spurious arguments about the so-called popularity of the opposition parties in Benue State. The statistics are there

61 to prove the contrary. During the April 2011 general elections, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won 21 seats out of the 30 seats in the State House of Assembly; won eight seats out of the 11 seats in the House of Representatives and two seats out of the three seats for the Senate in addition to one out of one governorship seat. How is it possible for anyone to defy this consistent run of events and declare the opposition as winner of the governorship seat in Benue State? Who is intimidating who? Certainly it is this minority band of failed politicians masquerading as elders that is intimidating the good people of Benue State with false claims.

In conclusion, it is pertinent to thank the Almighty God for not granting the prayers of these mischief makers to set Benue State ablaze on account of their inability to reclaim Benue State and once again exercise hegemony over the poor, defenceless citizens. We also thank His Excellency, Governor Gabriel Suswam for his strength of character, honesty, integrity and courage to ward off these irritants who imagine that the public treasury must be brought to them to squat and share funds as they did in the past. We congratulate the Governor on his well deserved victory at the April 26, 2011 general elections and his subsequent victories at both the Election Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. We know he is conscious that the people of Benue State have voted him again and he is doing everything within his power to promote their welfare and progress. Keep up the good work, Mr. Governor.

62

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011

63

Tomorrow in THE NATION PUNCHLINE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL.5, NO. 1921

Gaddafi must have seen the difference between revolts and revolutions. He had survived many revolts, but no one in his kind of situation ever survived a revolution —Tunji Adegboyega

N

OTHING demonstrates the ongo ing re-alignment of forces on the turbulent terrain of Yoruba politics better than the solidarity visit, during the week , of leaders of the pan-Yoruba sociopolitical organization, Afenifere, to the significantly humbled former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

A powerful delegation of Afenifere led by Chief Reuben Fasoranti and including Chief Olu Falae, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Sir Olaniyun Ajayi and Chief Kole Omololu was at Daniel’s Sagamu country home to identify with him as regards his ongoing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 16-count charge of alleged diversion of public funds.

The Afenifere members claimed they were on a fact-finding mission over the charges preferred against Daniel. At the end of a fourhour closed-door interraction with the former Governor and his aides, Chief Fasoranti was satisfied enough to declare: “We’ve come to see the former governor and, at the same time, show our solidarity to him. We’ve listened to his own side of the matter and we are satisfied that the whole matter has been over-dramatized by the press.”

Cautioning the media on publications capable of damaging the reputation of potentially innocent people, the Afenifere leadership reportedly expressed confidence in Daniel’s innocence on the allegations against him.

Chief Fasoranti did not explain if it was the press that bombarded anti-corruption agencies with petitions against Daniel. Was it the press that ordered his investigation and eventual arraignment before an Ogun State High Court in Abeokuta? Was it the press that stage-managed the drama between Daniel’s supporters and opponents at the court premises? Was the press not discharging its professional responsibility in reporting what transpired in court? Were the trials of other former governors not also prominently reported by the media?

Yes, Daniel or any other accussed person remains innocent until a competent court proclaims otherwise. But in what capacity and on what basis has the Fasoranti-led Afenifere absolved Daniel of blame even before the commencement of the trial proper? Are these elders not guilty of the same bias with which they so wrongly want to smear the press on this matter?

These Afenifere chieftains have built an enviable reputation for moral integrity over the years. They readily flaunt their credentials as close confidantes of the reverred Chief Obafemi Awolowo who, alongside their leader, stood valiantly for truth and justice many times at great personal cost. Chief Fasoranti and his colleagues are widely regarded even by those who disagree with their

Afenifere, OGD and PDP

‘

The Afenifere elders were prominent participants in the recent Yoruba Unity Forum convened in Awo’s reverred Ikene home. The gathering was largely a lamentation party by PDP chieftains electorally dislodged from their illegal strongholds in the South West

’

•Daniel

politics as symbols of high ethical rectitude.

How can one then reconcile this with the alacrity with which these eminently regarded Yoruba elders have rushed to defend and declare as blameless a man who has demonstrated his readiness to stoutly prove his innocence before a court of competent jurisdiction? Yet, the Afenifere leaders maintain a thunderous silence in obvious cases where others have followed in the path of honesty and integrity – values which they ceaselessly proclaim from the roof tops!

The cases of Chief Bisi Akande, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Alhaji Lam Lam Adesina, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and the late Chief Adebayo Adefarati, former Alliance for Democracy (AD) governors of Osun, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo states, respectively, come to mind. They were swept out of power by the rampaging OBJ mainstream PDP forces in the controversial 2003 elections. Their ruthless PDP successors would have given anything to irreparably damage their political credibility and thus mortally injurring the progressive cause in the South-West by successfully

pinning corruption labels on the former governors.

Eight years after, they walk with their heads held high, their banner of integrity unstained.

Even more incredibly, while in the proverbial political wilderness, they did not scramble aboard the mainstream PDP train for pecuniary gains quite unlike the typical, patronage-seeking Nigerian politician.

Rather, their ideological steadfastness contributed immensely to the current progressive resurgence in the South West.

In the same vein, the imperious and vengeful OBJ could not hide his intense disdain and near obsessive irritation with the courage and audacity of the only South West governor that outsmarted him and survived his onslaught against the region in 2003 – Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The old General’s vindictive urge would have been hugely satisfied had he succeeded in giving Tinubu the Joshua Dariye, Ayo Fayose or Diepriye Alamiesigha treatment. Remember, OBJ never bothered to adhere to the rule of law or due process in removing any governor once he had cast iron evidence against him.

To his credit, the meticulous if atimes impetuous Nuhu Ribadu did his level best to nail Tinubu as the EFCC Czar during OBJ’s tenure. He had the former Lagos State governor thoroughly investigated within and out-

side Nigeria to no avail. Almost five years after his exit from office and his emergence as the foremost opposition politician and most potent threat to the PDP’s strangle hold on power, the Federal Government has suddenly decided to prosecute Tinubu at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for allegedly operating foreign accounts when in office.

No satisfactory explanation has been given why he has been isolated for prosecution when 14 governors including President Goodluck Jonathan were accused of the same offence in the 2006 charge sheet. The Code of Conduct Bureau has made the ridiculous claim that some of the accused former governors had entered into a plea bargain and refunded money to the federal government. Did they then admit that they stole money?

If they stole money publicly, why were they allowed to refund their loot privately, possibly in their bedrooms, without adherence to due process? Yet, the Fasoranti-led Afenifere Cognoscenti that has so hastily rushed to Daniel’s defence is utterly indifferent to such critical questions of public moralty and accountability.

The reality is that any line of demarcation between Fasoranti’s Afenifere and the PDP has clearly dissapeared. For all practical purposes, the two today constitute the effective joint opposition to the progressive governments of the South-West. Yes, there are largely ego-based differences between Daniel and his estranged god father – OBJ. What Afenifere’s intervention amounts to is taking sides in an internal PDP affair as an interested actor in the politics of the mainstream party.

The Afenifere elders were prominent participants in the recent Yoruba Unity Forum convened in Awo’s reverred Ikene home. The gathering was largely a lamentation party

by PDP chieftains electorally dislodged from their illegal strongholds in the South West.

They resolved to send a delegation to President Jonathan to protest the alleged marginalization of the Yoruba from the mainstream national cake sharing project.

Across the South West, the majority of the people do not share the sadness of the Ikenne unity convocation. Excited at the return of creative, innovative and accountable governance in the region, the people do not miss any deceptive mainstream largesse. From the serenity of his Hill top mansion in Abeokuta, the Ota farmer must be contemplating the scene with subversive contentment.

OBJ successfully launched the offensive against the spirit and legacy of Awo in the region in 2003. In 2011, some of Awo’s closest associates are effectively in alliance, directly or indirectly, with the Ota farmer’s mainstream political tendency in a bid to check and reverse the ongoing revival of Awoist values in governance. It cannot get more absurd than that.

Ade Ojeikere on Saturday talk2adeojeikere@yahoo.com

A witch-hunt tool

N

IGERIA is a very interesting coun try. When it suits us, we stand truth on its head. At other times, we find scapegoats where they don’t exist, either to hide our incompetence or to seek vendetta.

We distort facts for selfish reasons largely because there is no proper documentation here.

Discipline is fantastic when it comes from a sincere heart, devoid of witch-hunt, and meant to steady a team in order to get positive results. One is therefore miffed that we didn’t learn from the mistakes of Adegboye Onigbinde in 2002, when he wielded the big stick on Sunday Oliseh, Finidi George, Celestine Babayaro, Victor Agali et al on the prompting of NSC’s eggheads.

Ordinarily, the dropped players from the 2002 World Cup squad would have respected Onigbinde based on his pedigree. But those who chose Onigbinde dictated what they

wanted and the Modakeke chief, one who didn’t want to rock the boat, accepted to serve his country.

Onigbinde’s patriotic act to lead the Eagles to the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup earned him flaks from Nigerians when the team was eliminated without a win, especially the talk of the bag that he sat on. Onigbinde’s disciplined Eagles were later described by Taribo West as a squad of junk players. On the hindsight, would we then say that Taribo West was a disciplined player?

Acting on the NSC men’s script, Onigbinde axed Wilson Oruma et al on age grounds, yet his mate, Nwankwo Kanu, stayed just as ageless Taribo West made the list.

The Modakeke chief told us that Yakubu Aiyegbeni had issues with his sight. Yak not only made the Eagles side to the 2010 World Cup eight years after, he scored a brace against Arsenal penultimate Saturday without wearing a pair of eyeglasses.

Onigbinde would have done well in rebuilding the Eagles in 2002, if the NSC men didn’t tie his hands with the witch-hunt tool

called discipline which is being used in the Eagles to force our stars into early retirement.

With a shallow pool to pick new players from, Onigbinde bit the bait when he selected Bartholomew Ogbeche simply because he took a bicycle kick that didn’t find the net.

Rustic talents such as Femi Opabunmi, Benedict Akwuegbwu, and Ifeanyi Udeze et al wore Nigeria’s shirt for the 2002 World Cup, the country’s worst.

Before Onigbinde’s failed expedition, there was the third coming of Johanes Bonfrere and the kite which NSC theorists flew then was that the wiry Dutch was a disciplinarian. The journeyman came and couldn’t guide the Eagles to lift the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations diadem in Lagos against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon. Today, many have blamed Victor Ikpeba’s penalty miss for our loss. It formed the fulcrum for those who rooted for Bonfrere’s retention on the job until the fiasco in Freetown where Sierra-Leone beat us 1-0 with a ragged squad.

The big boys stayed away and put a lie on those NSC men who sold the disciplinarian kite to us for Bonfrere’s recruitment.

Ever since the Clemens Westerhof era, discipline in the Eagles has been an issue. But Westerhof was lucky because we still had a domestic league that produced very good talents. The craze for Europe was a bit alien, perhaps because our economy was retarding slowly and not as wayward as it is today.

Had Westerhof been brought in today for the Eagles job, he would have failed like he did with the Kwara Academy project in Ilorin. He had the guts to instill discipline because the nursery was rich with talents capable of forming six Eagles sides that could confront any African team.

Sadly, the man who would have rejuvenated the senior national team, Tella, is dead.

His grassroots orientation was legendary.

Tella’s Golden Eaglets played the most scintillating and exhilarating soccer that the country ever produced.

They were taught the basics of the game.

Tella taught them the rudiments of soccer.

Their movement on the ball and the decoy runs that they made as they attacked the •Continued on Page 59

Published and printed by Vintage Press Limited. Corporate Office: 27B Fatai Atere Way, Matori, Lagos. P.M.B. 1025, Oshodi, Lagos.

Telephone: Switch Board: 01-8168361. Editor-08094000052, Marketing: 01-8155547, Abuja Office: Plot 5, Nanka Close AMAC Commercial Complex, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja, Tel/ 07028105302 `E-mail: saturday@thenationonlineng.com Editor: DELE ADEOSUN