The Nation October 26, 2014

Newspaper of the Year

Guber Race: PDP in turmoil as consensus collapses in states

–Page 4

Number of aspirants hits 170

AWC: Super Falcons win

record 7th title Beat Cameroon 2-0

–Page 78

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.09, No. 3013

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

OCTOBER 26, 2014

N200.00

2015: PDP govs confront Jonathan over First Lady –Page 3

Demand assurances President's wife won't determine their successors

•River State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, addressing the tumultous crowd at Port Harcourt’s Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium during yesterday’s event marking the 7th anniversary of his Supreme Court victory.

APC, Amaechi shut down Port Harcourt

–Page 5

PIRATES KILL FOUR POLICEMEN IN BAYELSA Abduct six others, hijack police gunboat

–Page 76

VIOLENCE, LOGISTICS MAR DELTA LG POLLS–Page 6 Governorship aspirant's campaign office set ablaze

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

PAGE 2

CAPTURED

Ebonyi wins NAFEST 2014

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BONYI State has emerged the winner of this year's edition of the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST).

The state emerged tops at the 28th edition of the festival by winning six events-- Arts and craft, documentary, traditional cuisine, essay writing, traditional storytelling and traditional wrestling.

A total of 19 states participated in the festival, with Niger and Akwa Ibom placed second and third respectively while Benue, Bauchi and Anambra were joint fourth place winners.

Ebonyi also won the hosting state gong award as it replicated Bayelsa's feat in 2013 when it hosted and won the festival.

Gov. Martin Elechi said at the closing ceremony on yesterday at the Abakaliki Township Stadium that the event lived up to the billing.

“It is gratifying that the festival was a huge success despite the teething problems and uncertainty surrounding its exact date of commencement after the Ebola-induced postponement.

"Abakaliki has been a beehive of activities in the past one week as the contingents jostled for honours in various events.

"Our state and its people were witnesses to creativity and history. `` I declare that all participants are winners in their own right though winners of competitive events would savour their victory," he said.

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AST week, Governor Ayo Fayose released photographs of the governor's and first lady's bedrooms in the recently commissioned Ekiti Government House. He said the beds cost Ekiti some N50m, a price he said was exorbitant, given the poverty Ekiti people were contending with. The opulent bedrooms and the entire Government House project, he wailed, were both indefensible and a misplacement of priorities. To be fair to the 'brand new' governor, he was never really converted to the idea of a new Government House. That concept irritated, and still irritates, him. For such an unorthodox man, one who eats by the roadside, quaffs herbal mixtures with relish, and chafes at comfort and modernity, he is merely being true to himself by denouncing his predecessor's prim and proper habits. And for someone who finds talk of ideology so discomfiting and even extravagant, it is not surprising that Mr Fayose taunts his predecessor's ideological conviction, which he said was a deliberate falsehood when juxtaposed with the idea and cost of the new Ekiti Government House.

In all, since his inauguration, Mr Fayose has spent precious time and energy denouncing his predecessor,

Pilgrim’s progress

•Was it a religious or political pilgrimage? Well, there was a delegation of politicians waiting to receive President Goodluck Jonathan in Jerusalem yesterday. From left, Rep. Ndudi Elumelu; leader FCT delegation, Sen. Philip Aduda; wife of Benue State governor, Mrs Yemisi Suswam, and Gov. Gabriel Suswam of Benue.

BAROMETER sunday@thenationonlineng.net

Vulgarity on display in Ekiti mocking the electoral misfortunes of those he had defeated twice, as he put it quaintly, and busied himself contradicting the spiritual rebirth he ascribed to himself at his inauguration. If he feels the need for it, Dr Fayemi will defend himself in general terms. He may probably try once again to justify the idea of a new Government House. He may also follow up by breaking the figures down to reveal the cost of the two beds. Fortunately for him, he is not being accused of corruption but of bad judgement. I think somewhere along the line he will respond to some of his successor's accusations, with the understanding that Mr Fayose is merely trying to demystify him in order to prove that his own three years plus of doing nothing between 2003 and 2006 were better than Dr fayemi's four years of visible

developmental strides.

But this piece is not about defending Dr Fayemi, and absolutely does not need to; nor is it about joining issues in general terms with Mr Fayose as he questions the judgement of his predecessor. It is about wondering what it will take for the governor to understand that his policies, projects and ideas are all a reflection of his worldview, exposure and education. His leadership philosophy will doubtless be different from Dr Fayemi's, and the differences between the two orientations will impact on the type and quality of each governor's projects. The display of vulgarity in Ekiti must be understood from this perspective. Mr Fayose is of course free to take exception to his predecessor's priorities; but let him

reorder the priorities as he wishes, and with utmost decorum as governor. My fear, right from the beginning -- though Ekiti people seem to disagree -- is that Mr Fayose's limited philosophical perspective, not to talk of his idiosyncratic abrasiveness, will lead him increasingly to melodramatic measures unsuitable for the office he occupies and unbecoming of the man

he pretends to be.

Notwithstanding the photographs of the governor's bedroom which he released to the press last week, Mr Fayose will work and sleep in those same accommodations he has clumsily tried to vulgarise.

Superstitious like the average African, he is probably pained that he will have to replace the beds shown in the photographs, and lead a battery of exorcists to cleanse the Government House of all the demons he believes his predecessor had bequeathed him. Well, then, let him carry out his exorcism, but privately without offending his betters. And let him replace the beds with cheaper, flaky varieties. He is free to do as he pleases. Mr Fayose can't be other than what he is: a simple and simplistic politician, populist in his manners, pedantic in his policies, and cantankerous in his style. And those who voted for him, mindful they were getting a pig in a poke, can't be other than what they are: gullible, accommodating, sufferable and entertaining. This dream tag team, we however plead, should moderate their temper and exhibitionism as they march blithely down the fateful road the Roman Empire endured when the barbarians knocked at their gates.

Expressive Southwest governors and thanksgiving

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NE-TIME Oyo State governor, Adebayo AlaoAkala, popularised the idea of uninhibited thanksgiving by prostrating flat at a church altar in appreciation of God's favour.

Eyebrows were raised at the time, but both the church and Mr AlaoAkala himself defended the practice and pointed out that Israel's King David did more expressive things to the approbation of God. Barometer would not wish to dispute the exegetical propriety of what the former Oyo governor did, especially in view of how Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti also celebrated his own electoral victory at the

Deeper Life Bible Church, AdoEkiti. The equally expressive and extroverted Mr Fayose had prostrated on his church's altar last Sunday while offering thanksgiving, as church leaders and pastors looked on inscrutably.

But if we cannot question the exegetical finesse of Mr AlaoAkala's and Mr Fayose's actions, nor judge the sanctity of their thanksgiving celebrations, even if we were qualified to weigh in on the side of law and morality, we can at least try to assess their actions vis-avis their convictions -- their socalled body language. Mr Alao-

Akala, it will be recalled, knew he was an usurper, though he pretended God gifted him the governorship in 2006. Mr Fayose, on the other hand, seemed to have won last June's election, and has spoken glibly and glowingly of his spiritual regeneration. While the usurper saw nothing ethically and religiously wrong in colluding with the late strongman of Ibadan politics, Lamidi Adedibu, to steal the governorship from Rashidi Ladoja in 2006, Mr Fayose seems inexplicably inured to the reproof of conscience, a position his protestation of innocence and

saintliness in the face of his trenchant denunciation of his defeated opponents has led him to.

More than any other set of politicians, some Southwest governors exemplify the worst forms of religious pollution, having found ingenious ways of reconciling truth with falsehood, purity with impurity, and decency with obnoxiousness. In the coming years, there will doubtless be more such expressiveness and religiosity, as Mr Alao-Akala and Mr Fayose have displayed with unrestrained joyfulness and much brittleness.

There is no stopping them. Worse, there is no reproving them.

By ADEKUNLE ADE-ADELEYE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

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HE gubernatorial succession battle in the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP) is assuring a bizarre dimension with some of the ruling party’s governors protesting to president Goodluck Jonathan what they consider the increasing meddlesomeness of first Lady, Patience Jonathan Mrs Jonathan is said to be scheming to install her preferred candidates in Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi and Kwara States.

The source said that at a recent meeting with the president, some of the governors tabled the issue of the president’s wife’s overbearing influence in political affairs.

According to the source, the governors sought to extract commitment from Jonathan that his wife would not impose candidates on their states in 2015.

A highly respected PDP stalwart said President Jonathan risked protest votes from party members to save the country from further embarrassment by the First Lady.

The source who craved anonymity told our reporter, “I have spoken to many elders in the party and they said they would not vote for President Jonathan because of his wife. Even myself will not vote for PDP. “It is not because we hate the president but we

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2015: PDP govs confront Jonathan over First Lady •Demand assurances President’s wife won’t determine their successors

By Our Reporter

can no longer cope with the overbearing influence of his wife. So, expect among other things protest votes against Jonathan by even PDP members.”

Butteressing the argument, the source referred to the situation in Rivers State where Patience Jonathan is leading a campaign to make former Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike governor.

The source added, “The party elders are watching with shame the macabre dance in Rivers State by the First Lady. Recently, the First Lady visited Nyesom Wike in his house in Port Harcourt.

“In that televised visit, she held Wike’s hand and placed it in the hand of Dr. Peter Odili. It is an endorsement and it has never happened before.

That singular act is unbecoming of a First Lady.

With what she is doing in Rivers, we won’t be surprised if PDP loses that

•Patience Jonathan state to APC”.

The source added that in the history of Presidency in Nigeria, no First Lady was allowed by her husband to desecrate the office of the President the way Dame Patience had done.

“This is the first time a wife of the President would be allowed by her husband to be this powerful. It is shameful that Dame Patience has the liberty to summon service chiefs, ministers and top

members of our party at will.

“Remember her meddlesomeness in the Chibok girls’ saga how she called meetings of service chiefs and parents of the girls and was shouting at them, insulting them on national television.

“Where has it happened before? It was one embarrassment too many for Nigeria. The First Lady has brought the country to ridicule and party leaders are not happy with her ex-

cesses”, the source observed.

The source further accused the First Lady of acting without seeking the permission of her husband.

“Nigerians are amused that she has no regard for her husband. Imagine her recent resignation as a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State Civil Service.

Before the appointment, she begged for it and even her husband appealed for it.

“It was the appointment that even the last Governor of the state, Mr. Timipre Sylva, refused to give her. But when she resigned because of her problem with Governor Seriake Dickson, she did not tell her husband.

“She has been boasting to her aides and other governors that she would ensure that Dickson does not return and that there is nothing even her husband will do about it. The President must call his wife to order to stand a chance,” the source said, adding “What we don’t understand is why the President is allowing her to carry on the way she is doing. No

President has allowed his wife to be this power drunk. What is happening is not normal.”

Mrs. Jonathan had in April this year paid a solidarity visit to Wike in his Abuja residence, saying her visit was to give him her blessings, noting that the governorship aspirant proved himself as a member of the federal executive council.

She said, “I am giving you the blessing of a mother. The blessing a mother gives to a beloved son. Go and you will conquer. He is a Minister that delivered while he served in the cabinet. Wike proved himself and is ready to serve in a higher capacity”.

The first lady further described the former minister as a listening and respectful politician, who heeded her counsel to drop his senatorial aspiration in 2011.

“You listened to me and dropped your senatorial aspiration. I pray God to protect you, lead you and please go on with your aspiration.

“I have hand you (Wike) over to our father, Dr. Peter Odili and the people of Rivers State. You are going to Rivers State for the betterment of all of us and to wipe our tears,” she stated.

Responding, Wike assured the first lady that the PDP would emerge victorious in all elections in Rivers come 2015.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

NEWS

Guber race: PDP in turmoil as consensus collapses in states

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HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in a fix following the failure of the consensus option proposed for many states.

As at the last count, a check at the National Secretariat of the party showed that over 170 aspirants have collected the party's governorship nomination form in at least 20 states.

Out of the 36 states, there will be no governorship primaries in Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Anambra, and Kogi states.

It could not be immediately ascertained if the earlier nomination forms obtained by 13 aspirants in Adamawa State would still subsist or not.

But the governorship

• Guber aspirants' number rises to 170 • Wike, Maku, Wogu, Ishaku, Ortom face tough opponents nomination crisis is worse in the South-South, South-East and South-West with high number of aspirants.

Out of the seven ministers that resigned last week, five of them are facing serious battles ahead.

The affected former ministers who are aspirants are Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu (Health); Dairus Ishaku (Minister of State for Niger Delta), Emeka Wogu (Labour and Productivity), Nyesom Wike (Minister of State for Education); Musiliu Obanikoro (Minister of State for Defence), Labaran Maku

FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

(Information), Samuel Ortom (Trade and Industry).

While Wike is facing 16 opponents in Rivers State, Wogu has to contend with seven in Abia; Maku faces opposition from Sen. Solomon Ewuga and Deputy Governor Dameshi Luka; and Ortom will slug it out with five others in Benue.

In Taraba, the battle line is drawn between Ishaku and the Acting Governor, Garba Umar and a former Director of

Finance in the National Assembly.

The breakdown of the list of aspirants so far include Akwa Ibom (18); Rivers (17); Imo (16); Delta (14); Oyo (12); Adamawa (13); Kebbi (10); Niger (8); and Enugu (4).

Others are Abia (7); Zamfara (5); Kwara(6); Benue (6); Katsina(6); Oyo(12); Ogun (9); Bauchi (3); Yobe (3); Taraba (3); Plateau ( 7); Nasarawa (3) and Sokoto (2).

Findings confirmed that the increasing number of aspirants is worrying the party leadership.

It was learnt that the

•From left: Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Isaac Adewole; Speaker House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal and guest lecturer, APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, at the university of Ibadan Alumni Association of Nigeria 2014 Annual Lecture in Ibadan at the weekend.

PHOTO: NAN

challenges surrounding governorship nomination in some states made the President of the Senate, Chief David Mark to intervene in Oyo State when he hosted the aspirants to a meeting in Abuja.

It was also gathered that the same development forced the National Chairman of PDP, Adamu Muazu and the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan to make separate shuttles to Rivers State to calm down frayed nerves.

A highly-placed source in the party, who spoke in confidence, said: "So far, we have over 170 aspirants seeking the governorship tickets of our party in about 20 states. The number is likely to increase in the next one week because we are expecting returns from about 11 states.

"This turn out of aspirants might look healthy for our democracy but it also shows that we have a major crisis at hand. It is getting difficult for PDP to build consensus in many states.

"The crisis at hand is compounded by the determination of most of the outgoing governors to impose their successors.

"Some ministers, who resigned last week, have also added to the challenges facing the party because they have presented themselves as "anointed" candidates of the presidency."

A member of the NWC said: "The fact that these aspirants do not mind paying so much for nomination form indicated that we might be faced with problems in some states. Many of the aspirants are desperate.

"The party is certainly concerned because the nomination process is

virtually turning into a war in some states. But the National Leader of the party, President Goodluck Jonathan, members of the Board of Trustees and the NWC will find solutions to the nomination challenges.

"We are hopeful that things will take shape and we will be able to iron out our differences."

The president had on Sunday told PDP governors that there was nothing bad in having interest in their successors but they should put the party's interest and survival above personal aggrandizement.

The president told the governors that since most of them are completing their two terms in office, he will be the one to work with their successors.

Jonathan said: “I cannot take chances, the PDP cannot take chances, we are interested in those who will be governors in 2015. You should not field unpopular candidates or else the party will lose.”

The president said if he and the PDP were circumspect in 2011, the ruling party would not have experienced the defection of five governors to the opposition party.

THE ASPIRANTS SO FAR Adamawa-----------------------13 Akwa Ibom --------------------18 Rivers ----------------------------17 Imo--------------------------------16 Delta-------------------------------14 Kebbi-----------------------------10 Niger-------------------------------8 Enugu------------------------------4 Abia--------------------------------7 Zamfara---------------------------5 Kwara------------------------------6 Benue-------------------------------6 Katsina-----------------------------6 Oyo-------------------------------12 Ogun-------------------------------9 Bauchi------------------------------3 Yobe--------------------------------3 Taraba------------------------------3 Plateau-----------------------------7 Sokoto-----------------------------2

Odigie-Oyegun preaches hope, change in Ibadan T

HE National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun at the weekend declared that the only thing that can salvage the country from its present ailing condition is for the people to effect change through the ballot box in 2015 general election to rescue Nigeria from total collapse.

He took a cursory look at the country's 15 years after the return to democratic rule and concluded that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government has indeed plunged the country into many woes. He said "The truth is our country is really sick and needed help."

He charged Nigerians to vote PDP out of power in 2015 after 15 years of stagnation and agony, so as to bring development and growth.

The APC National Chairman, Chief OdigieOyegun made the declaration while delivering the 2014 lecture of the University of Ibadan Alumni Association held at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan on Friday evening.

He lamented the socio economic downturn of the country which he blamed on brazen corruption aided by top

government officials and misrule since 1999 by the PDP government, saying that the atmosphere that pervades the nation today is that of uncertainty and despair.

In attendance at the wellattended lecture are the APC presidential aspirant, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal , Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, representatives of Osun, Ogun, Kwara States, former governor of Osun State, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, a onetime governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, his Imo State counterpart, Rochas Okorocha represented by the Imo State House of Assembly Speaker, Benjamin Uwajimugo, Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed represented by the Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Bode Olayemi, the Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Professor Isaac Adewole, students, members of the diplomatic corps, and captains of industry amongst others.

• Says PDP must go in 2015 because it has failed Nigerians From: Oseheye Okwuofu and Bisola Oloyede, Ibadan

Chief Odigie-Oyegun in his lecture titled, "Nigeria, a trajectory of dashed expectation: Looking into the future with hope", said while it remains an obvious truth that Nigeria, 54 years after, was perceived and still behaves like a toddler, there is no doubt that the country has suffered stunted growth as a result of gross leadership failure.

"This is exemplified by our failure, as a people, to use our huge human and material resources to galvanize development in our country, this in spite of being a leading oil producing nation in the world.

"Despite the fact the Nigeria's economy is the largest in Africa, yet, it has not translated into a better living standard for the citizens. The people of Nigeria though amongst the world's most talented, are today suffering from brain drain, unemployment and poverty.

In reality, the country is

suffering from administrative and management neglect, high unemployment, social deprivation, abject poverty, filth, squalor, insecurity and even increasing endemic ethnic and religious conflict.

As the country is burdened by under development and insecurity challenges, the federal government being hamstrung in curtailing it, many are of the opinion that the country is sliding into chaos," he stated.

While noting that today Nigerians are virtually in a country at war with itself with so much violence, the lecture said the truth is, our country is really sick and needed help, even as examined the progress being made in many areas of everyday living by countries not as endowed like Nigeria.

For example, Chief Odigie-Oyegun said, "there is economic growth in all OPEC member countries. In 2012, the fastest growing economies were Iraq, Libya, Nigeria and Qatar, while the least growing economies were Iran, Libya and Algeria. However, in Nigeria, it is apparent that the

growth is yet to translate into tangible development. A quick check between Nigeria and her age mates shows clearly that while some of those who had independence same time with Nigeria have earned global reputation for their improved economies through manufacturing and export of their products, Nigeria still seems to rely on other countries for her survival."

He accused the federal government of championing the cause of corruption when he related the alleged $9.3million and over $5 million cash for arms deal seized in South Africa, adding that the whole episode makes mockery of Nigeria as a nation.

He wondered why will the federal government resort to using private jets for such transactions with the avalanche of official aircraft at its disposal, stating that it was a clear case of money laundering now being whitewashed by agents of the state as money meant for arms purchase.

"This is no time to lead the blind in our country. We are definitely leaving in difficult times beset with problems.

These problems and difficulties are by and large man-made and we must not, as Frantz Fanon had warned, continue to waste our time in sterile litanies and nauseating mimicry. We must avoid a leadership that will not serve our collective interests," he declared.

The Speaker, House of Representatives, Waziri Tambuwal, in his brief remarks bemoaned the state of education in the country, which he said needed urgent surgery.

He explained that over the past years the House had tried to ensure that education regained its glory, but blamed the executive for unnecessary interference in the legitimate role of the legislature in its oversight functions.

He, however, expressed hope for the future of the country, while urging for patience and understanding.

The governor of Oyo State , Senator Abiola Ajimobi in his address described the former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as the most stoic leader Nigeria ever produced, and stated that the message being sent by the arrays of leaders in the APC is that there is going to be Change and hope for Nigeria.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

NEWS

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UMULTUOUS crowd and all the presidential aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, to honour Governor Rotimi Amaechi. The occasion was the seventh anniversary of his Supreme Court victory, leading to heavy traffic in the Garden City.

The Rivers Solidarity Convention, with theme: “Seven Years of Change We Can See,” took place at the 40,000-seater Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Igwuruta-Ali, at the Greater Port Harcourt City, near the Port Harcourt International Airport, along the ever-busy Port Harcourt-Owerri Federal Road, recently dualised by Amaechi’s government.

Yesterday’s anniversary was also used to inaugurate the stadium, constructed by the Amaechi administration to boost sports in Nigeria, while thousands of members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), across the 23 local government areas of Rivers State, led by a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Emmanuel Deeya, who defected to the APC. The elaborate celebration was transmitted live on the Africa Independent Television (AIT), Channels Television; the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and the Silverbird Television (STV).

The APC’s presidential aspirants at the event were a former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.); ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; the Governor of Kano State, Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso; his Imo State counterpart, Rochas Okorocha and Sam Nda-Isaiah.

Also in attendance were the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; the Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed and his predecessor, Senator Bukola Saraki, as well as a former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and his predecessor, Segun Oni, an engineer, who is also the Deputy National Chairman, South, of the APC, lawmakers and other eminent personalities.

Buhari said the APC, from next year, would provide security and development in Nigeria, while Atiku urged Nigerians to vote for APC in 2015 to eradicate poverty and ensure steady electricity, good roads and good schools, among others, with Kwankwaso noting that Amaechi is ensuring peace and stability in Nigeria, as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

Okorocha assured that the APC would provide the best presidential candidate with vision for Nigeria, not based on religion or tribe, while NdaIsaiah stated that God gave Rivers people good governor Amaechi, declaring that he had never seen the kind of crowd at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium before.

Odigie-Oyegun assured that the APC would wipe out corruption in Nigeria and that APC is in charge of Rivers State, contrary to the claim of the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stating that the progress in the state could be replicated at the centre and all over Nigeria.

Amaechi, who danced so well, while addressing the unprecedented crowd, urged Nigerians to punish out the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan with their votes in 2015, in order to bring about the much-desired change.

The former head of state said: “I do not think there is anything remaining. All that needs to be said has been said, but I stand here to congratulate the Governor of Rivers State and you the good

•From Left: Gov. Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers; former Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, at the Rivers Mega Rally In Port Harcourt yesterday NAN

APC, Amaechi shut down Port Harcourt •All APC’s presidential aspirants honour Governor at seventh anniversary of Supreme Court victory From Bisi Olaniyi and Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

people of Rivers State. You have been lucky for seven good years and you are going to remain lucky for one more year, God willing.

“I assure you that the coming together of APC of the major opposition so-called political parties is to make sure that we consolidate what is lacking in Nigeria, security and development, and God willing, APC from next year, will provide them. God will answer our prayers.”

The former vice-president noted that he had been associating with the state since 1985 and had not seen the kind of progress in those years, like he had seen in the last seven years.

Atiku said: “Do you want the progress to continue? Do you want to feel the projects? Do you want to eradicate poverty? Do you want to go to good schools?

Do you want good roads? Do you want power? Vote APC. Vote APC. Vote APC.” Kwankwaso, while also speaking, said: “Let me start by congratulating my friend, my brother, my Chairman, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi. Let me congratulate him for the projects and programmes he had executed in this state in the last seven years, one of which is this very big stadium.

“Let me also congratulate you for being a good Chairman for Governors of this country and let me also congratulate you for ensuring peace and stability in this country. We are very much aware of the relationship that existed between this part of the country with the Northern part of the country and other parts.

“This governor (Amaechi) has worked so hard in the last seven years to ensure good relationship between us. I want to assure you that many of us from the other parts of the country will continue to work together with you and the other good people of this state and also this

part of the country.”

The governor of Imo State spoke so passionately about the crowd at the stadium and the massive support Rivers people gave the NGF chairman.

Okorocha said: “My people, my people, let me say that today (yesterday), my eyes have seen the good works of a gentleman.

I am simply tantalised, mesmerised and flabbergasted.

Today (yesterday), we have seen a sign of change; the change has come and the change must be.

“Let no one contest on the platform of tribe or you can become a tribal leader. We need a national leader that can move this nation forward. My prayer is that may the Almighty God, who has started the good work in Amaechi, may He continue with him in Jesus’ name.”

Nda-Isaiah said: “Exactly this day, seven years ago, God gave you a good governor, who vaunted the life of the people.

He built schools and did other good things. The best thing he did for you is to move from PDP to APC. “I hope you heard what the governor (Amaechi) had said. In 2015, I hope the other parties are watching. I have never seen this kind of crowd before and whoever is planning to rig will have to contend with this crowd.”

The national chairman of the APC also berated President Jonathan for describing Rivers APC as a party that existed only on billboards and posters.

Odigie-Oyegun said: “Like your governor (Amaechi) said, in Benin, during the PDP’s Southsouth campaign, he (President Jonathan) told the whole nation that APC does not exist in Rivers State. That it is only a poster party. We were worried and we were concerned. Your governor, a fantastic man, was challenged.

“So, today, he (Amaechi) brought all of us here. The entire leadership of the APC is lined up here today. .

“Those of you who believe that the progress in Rivers State can be replicated at the centre and all over Nigeria, say yeah. Those who believe that APC will wipe out corruption in this nation, Ni-

geria, give me one gbosa. Those who believe that APC will guarantee better security for this country, give me another yeah.”

Amaechi, who was so relaxed, in spite of the intimidation and persecution by the Federal Government and President Jonathan, said he was at the stadium to test his popularity.

The NGF chairman said: “They (PDP leaders) have made too much noise. The President (Jonathan) says we exist only on posters and billboards. So, we brought a large billboard for him. If the President is not watching (the rally), they will give him security report.

“This stadium is 40,000 sitting capacity. I built it. It was built by me. One of them campaigning for Rivers governorship (Chief Nyesom Wike, the immediate past Minister of State for Education) was the contractor to do the roads. He abandoned the roads and took N3 billion and left. Now, he wants to be governor.

“I challenge them to an integrity test. Any of them from Abuja to Rivers State, I challenge them to an integrity test. I have worked with them. I have their records and their (records) are in the Office of the Governor.

“We have developed 750 megawatts, but the problem is Federal Government not allowing us to distribute electricity.

“We were to give Port Harcourt water. As I am talking to you today, the Minister of Finance (Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala) has refused to move the file again back to Executive Council for approval, so that you can have water. They do not care for you. They want you to die of water-borne diseases. Punish them with your votes. Punish PDP with your votes. He (Jonathan) is our son, why can’t we have water?

“The problem we have is that the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) is no longer working. Corruption is at its industrial scale.

Thieves are thieves because we now have an industry called corruption.”

The Rivers governor also lauded all the members of the

National Assembly for standing by his government, stressing that eight of the members of the House of Representatives from the state came with him to the APC, while the rest betrayed him, declaring that they would be punished by Rivers people with their votes in 2015.

The NGF chairman also thanked Rivers people, for keeping him as governor and standing by him, stressing that he had no choice, but to deliver on his promises Amaechi also stated: “They said the reason why the President (Jonathan) is not performing in Rivers State is because he is quarrelling with the Governor of Rivers State. Okay, what is the quarrel between the Governor of Akwa Ibom State and the Governor of Cross River State that the roads from Akwa Ibom State to Cross River State is abandoned? Are they quarrelling too? It is more of lack of performance.

“When the President (Jonathan) spoke in Benin, he spoke in a stadium that was less than 20,000-sitting capacity.

When TAN (Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria) held their rally in Port Harcourt, they held it at the 16,000 capacity Elekahia stadium and this was a Southsouth rally. The rally in Benin was Southsouth. The rally in Port Harcourt was Southsouth. This one (APC mega rally) is Port Harcourt rally.

“Do you remember Ebola?

To show you how much the President hates us, he visited Lagos, did he visit Rivers State?

He did not care. He wanted all of us to die, but I took it as a challenge and said none of us would die. Whatever it will take, I will do what I can by God’s grace to protect Rivers people.

“Can you see our airport (Port Harcourt International Airport)? The president lands at the airport. But see how we look like refugees. They say there is no light at the airport. What did we do to them? We gave him the highest votes in the country and the punishment we get for giving him the highest vote is operation nothing. So, APC is

5

the solution to protect our interest. We must go there to vote out the PDP. It is not about our son.

“They tell you that you should not vote for these people, because they are Hausa people, they are Muslims, but the refinery in Rivers State was built and commissioned by Tafawa Balewa, he is a northerner. Shehu Shagari started NAFCON, Ibrahim Babangida commissioned it. IBB started the Eleme Petrochemical Company, Sani Abacha completed it. They are all northerners; they are all Muslims. NLNG was started and completed by Abacha and he is a northerner and a Muslim.

Bonny NLNG, NDDC, Niger Delta Ministry were established by northerners.

“In fact, when Yar’Adua was alive, Niger Delta Ministry was working, Now it is only one item: East-West Road, and they say he (President Jonathan) is our brother. He is not my brother.

My brother is the man who delivers on his services for me. If the President says he is our brother, let him call one project (his administration has embarked upon in Rivers State).”

The representative of Rivers Southeast Senatorial District, Magnus Ngei Abe, while speaking, stressed that yesterday’s rally was better than any of the rallies in Nigeria during the 2011 campaigns, stating that anybody Amaechi supports would do well.

Abe, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), declared that the charlatans and noisemakers (PDP leaders) that Nigerians were seeing now, they would no longer see them from May 29, 2015.

While speaking on behalf of the members of the House of Representatives, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who represents Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro constituency of Rivers State and the Chairman of the Rivers APC Contact Committee, described Amaechi as a man of integrity and character.

Peterside, who is also the Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), noted that with the trust Rivers people have in Amaechi, they would go for APC, all the way, while assuring that Rivers people are solidly behind the youthful governor.

The Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, Otelemaba Dan Amachree, stated that Amaechi had brought change to the state and transformed Rivers, as well as being the face of modern democracy, with 25 of the 31 lawmakers “solidly” behind him.

The Rivers Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Dr. Chris Oruge, maintained that labour is in support of Amaechi, while expressing surprise that just last Wednesday, some PDP leaders sent thugs to his office to kill him for supporting the NGF chairman, declaring that Amaechi is performing and Rivers workers are behind him.

The Chairman of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Rivers chapter, Chika Onuegbu, described Amaechi as a listening and performing governor.

In his welcome address, the Rivers Deputy Governor, Tele Ikuru, an engineer, who is also the Chairman of the Central Organising Committee of the seventh anniversary, stated that the giants Rivers people and other Nigerians are seeing today, they will see them no more from May 29, 2015, but to stand for progressive change and have the courage to sweep them into oblivion.

NEWS

6

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

•Some veluicles vandalised during yesterday’s council election

•Delta Commissioner for poverty alleviation, Dr Antonia Ashiedu (R), voting at ward 8, Martin Primary School, Issele-Uku During the local government elections in Asaba…Yesterday

Violence, logistics mar Delta LG polls I

T was tales of violence, thuggery, voter apathy and lapses in logistics delivery during the local government elections held across the 25 local council areas in Delta on Saturday.

The Nation observed that late arrival of election materials was common across the central and Southern districts of the state, as screening of eligible voters in most places visited did not commence until after 12pm.

There were also reports of skirmishes and destruction of properties in some parts of the state following alleged snatching of election materials.

In Ughelli South, Uwvie, Warri South, Udu, Okpe, Sapele, Warri South West, Ughelli North Ethiope West and East, Isoko South and North council areas of the state, materials had not arrived most polling booths when our correspondent visited the areas.

In Koko, the headquarters of Warri North council area, there were reports of violence between members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which left several persons injured, with not less than 12 cars vandalised.

Our correspondent gathered that trouble started when some persons, suspected to be political thugs working for the PDP, snatched election materials and were resisted by members of the APC. At Effunrun, the headquarters of Uvwie council area of the state, the campaign office of an APC governorship aspirant, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, was set on fire by those suspected to PDP thugs.

In some other parts of Uvwie, there were reports of attacks on members of the APC, who were reportedly beaten and tied up by thugs allegedly working on the instructions of some PDP members.

In Okpe-Olomu, Ughelli South council area, materials were still not available as at 11:23am, even as people were seen going about their normal businesses. At a community market, people who spoke with The Nation said they were not voting because there was no reason for it.

From Shola O’ Neil, Bolaji Ogundele, Warri and Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

Materials arrived Ughelli North council area for distribution at about 11:44am in Olomoro Wards 4, 6 and 7, as people were seen in groups waiting for materials to arrive as at 12:40pm.

At Olomoro and Irri, both in Isoko South council area of the state, angry electorate reportedly seized materials and destroyed them.

There had been allegations at Irri that despite the arrival of materials at about 1:30pm, election process could not commence because of the absence of security agents to supervise the distribution process and to prevent possible hijack of materials.

In Aviara, Ward 3, unit six of Isoko South, voting was yet to start at about 1:45pm. Meanwhile, just a few metres away, from unit 6, the collation centre was still packed with electoral officers, who were collecting materials for their units.

At Oyede, Ward 1 of Isoko North, the collation centre was still packed with expectant electoral officers and party agents waiting for their materials to be distributed to them at about 2:06pm.

At Ivrogbor-Irri, Isoko South, electoral officers were still screening eligible voters at about 2:30pm.

Late arrival of sensitive materials and voter apathy yesterday marred local government polls in some parts of Delta State.

In Asaba, the state capital, many voters shunned voting centres and opted to stay indoors during the period of election.

Although voting took place in many polling centres in Oshimili South/North local government areas, there was a low turnout of voters.

But at a polling centre located at Ozoigwe Primary School in Asaba, there was a huge turnout of voters, while voting and accreditation of voters went on peacefully.

Voting at the Anglican Girls Grammar School also in the state capital took place without hitches, although accreditation stretched till about 1.30 p.m when actual voting should have started.

In Aniocha South council area, sensitive materials arrived at about 12.30 p.m. when accreditation should have ended, with many eligible voters having waited in vain for election to commence left in disgust as election materials failed to arrive on time.

However, there was violence at Okpe council area after some unidentified thugs reportedly set fire on a bus filled with election materials.

Violence also characterised the conduct of the polls in Delta South and Delta central senatorial districts areas.

The Nation gathered that there were protests in Delta South and Central senatorial districts over the alleged disappearance of result sheets from the election materials.

In Koko, Warri North LGA of Delta South, over 10 ten persons were said to have sustained injuries, while no fewer than 20 vehicles of various brands were vandalised when fighting broke out.

Trouble started when a prominent chief allegedly led thugs to unleash mayhem on members of the community who had insisted on inspecting election materials before being distributed to the various units.

According to a source, there was anxiety that the materials might have been tampered with in favour of a particular political party.

A voter in the area, Anunu Esimaje, described the election as a sham, saying that he was a victim of the violence.

He said, “This is no election; some people used secu-

rity men to intimidate and molest voters. Even thugs came here to harass and molest our people in the presence of security operatives. Now they have taken the materials away.”

But in a swift reaction, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the community, Mike Diden, said the election was peaceful despite the initial hiccups. He praised the security agencies for living up to expectation.

Diden exonerated PDP loyalists from the violence, saying that one of the opposition parties had imported thugs into the town to cause confusion and ensure that the exercise did not hold.

Meanwhile, thousands of passengers were left seething with anger as military men and police shut down the state while the election lasted.

The lockdown followed a directive by the state governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, that movement of people should be restricted from 8am to 3pm.

The governor said the move was part of security measures taken to ensure a hitchfree exercise.

Findings, however, revealed that the lockdown led to endless wait at border towns to the annoyance of passengers and motorists.

The Nation gathered that major points in and out of the state were effectively closed by stern-faced police and military personnel who said they were under instruction not to allow anybody in or out of the state.

Our checks revealed that the bridges across the Niger River at Patani and Asaba were blocked by soldiers, forcing hundreds of travellers passing through the state to Edo, Lagos and Northern states to remain in Onitsha and Bayelsa.

Also, travellers going to Port Harcourt and other SouthSouth states through Benin City, the Edo State capital, were stopped at Koko-Ugbenu junction.

Among those stranded in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area of the state, were members of the Eyeta family who were on their way to Benin City to attend the wedding ceremony of their brother, Monday.

One of the disappointed travellers told our reporter, “I was hurrying to Benin but when I got to Effurun Roundabout at about 8 am, some wicked soldiers refused to let us pass. But they allowed politicians using military men as escort to pass but they would not allow ordinary civilians to go through.”

Trailer rams into Yenagoa market, kills one, injures seven

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RAGEDY occurred in Swali area of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Saturday after a trailer rammed into a roadside market, killing one person and injuring seven others.

The incident happened a day after The Nation in a special report sounded a warning on dangers posed by roadside markets in Yenagoa and called on the government to relocate them.

The trailer, with number plate, XY 259 FST, also destroyed four tricycles and goods on display at the market.

The list obtained by our correspondent from security agents at the scene of the accident showed three male adults, three female adults and two female children, were the casualties.

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

The names of casualties according to the list are, Chigozie Chukwu, 26; Ogadinma Chukwu, female; Juliet Emmanuel, female; and Alao Abule.

Others are Eyo Edem Okon, male, 27; Chinyere Uzoma, female, 42; Lawrence Okon; and Ade Emmanuel, female.

When our correspondent visited the scene, security men including men of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) were seen controlling traffic removing the trapped tricycles.

Bystanders, market women and men as well as sympathisers were seen crying and discussing the unfortunate accident.

The trailer, carrying an ex-

cavator, was descending the Swali Bridge when the accident occurred.

It was gathered that the accident occurred when the unidentified driver lost control of the heavy-duty truck because of brake failure.

Eyewitnesses said the driver escaped immediately the accident happened.

Sunday said that the driver of the vehicle was coming on top speed as if he was being pursued.

Inatimi said the dead victim of the crash, whose name was given as Edem Okon, was dragged by the vehicle more than 100 metres before the driver eventually rammed into the market.

He said many people would have died if not that most of the traders saw the danger and took

to their heels.

He said: “It was a gory accident. We saw the trailer from afar coming in top speed. The driver was driving as if he was drunk or he was being pursued by someone.

“In my very eyes, the driver descending from the bridge suddenly lost control of control of the trailer, swerved from the road and rammed into the traders. The tricycle operators were a bit fortunate that they saw the vehicles in time and ran for their dear lives.

“However, the tricycles were grounded by the trailer. If the drivers were inside when the accident occurred, there is no how they could have survived the accident.

“As I speak to you, the survival of the seven injured traders is doubtful. But we have it

on good authority that the first victim (Okon) died while being rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa. “ When contacted, the Sector Commander, Bayelsa State, Mr. Vincent Jack, told our correspondent that the crash was due to brake failure.

Jack said some of his officers and men were detailed to the accident scene as soon as they report of the crash.

He confirmed that one person died in the accident while seven persons were critically injured.

He said the dead and injured victims were taken to Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa.

He gave the number plates of the two destroyed tricycles, popularly known as Keke NAPEP, as BALAJ RE 205 and AWD 30 QA.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

NEWS

Rivers PDP crisis deepens as members fault Obuah’s leadership •Obuah: ‘It’s cheap blackmail’ From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt HERE seems to be no end to the crisis bedeviling the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers state as a chieftain of the party Chief Sara Igbe who was one-time Special Adviser to Dr. Peter Odili on Security Matters has accused the Chief Felix Obuah led-PDP of recklessness and impunity in the running of the party.

Igbe spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital while reacting to the comment credited to some PDP stakeholders in Ikwerre Ethnic Nationality that there was no zoning arrangement in Rivers State PDP. Igbe said: “Obuah is a small boy in the PDP, he does not know how the PDP came about, he was just brought in to contest council election and his experience ends there. Until the conspiracy that brought him into power is destroyed, he does not know how Rivers State is governed.”

However the Special Adviser on Media to Felix Obuah, Mr. Jerry Needam while reacting on the allegations said,” the party has expressed confidence in the leadership of the State Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah, and we have assured him of our unalloyed support and cooperation.

“PDP is for men and women of integrity, we challenge Sara Igbe to show proof of his membership of PDP and also tell the world when he visited the state party secretariat or his ward last.

He is only looking for cheap popularity.”

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Edo lawmaker explains N36m constituency vote From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin OLLOWING controversy surrounding the use of constituency funds by lawmakers in the state, the member representing Etsako Central council area in the Edo state House of Assembly, Hon Johnson Oghuma, yesterday insisted that no lawmaker in the state assembly receives cash for constituency projects as misconstrued by a section of the public.

It would be recalled that the majority leaders in the state assembly Hon Phillip Shaibu had challenged the electorate to demand how their various representatives spent N36 million annual votes for constituency projects.

He, however, admitted constituency funds was jacked up from N20 million to N36 million by the Governor Adams Oshiomhole to enable them deliver quality projects to the people, adding that choice of projects is determined by the need of the constituency.

Oghuma, who is aspiring to represent Etsako Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, spoke to newsmen shortly after picking up his nomination form at the All Progressives Congress (APC), state secretariat along Airport Road in Benin City, was accompanied by party leaders and supporters also insisted that it is time Etsako Central produce the next House of Representative member at the National Assembly.

The lawmaker while expressing confidence in the ability of the party’s leadership in conducting a free and fair primary said the electorates should be allowed to choice their representatives saying it is the only way to avoid acrimony in a democratic system.

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T

• Governor Seriake Dickson congratulating his Special Adviser on Political Matters, Mr. Fyneman Wilson, after his swearing-in in Yenagoa yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

UNIBEN student axed to death

A

300-level student of the University of Benin, Gbenedio Ejyroghene has been axed to death by unknown persons.

The late Gbenedio was in the Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Physical Sciences.

From Osagie Otabor, Benin The incident took place at the Ugbowo Campus of the institution.

It was learnt that the deceased was axed on the head killing him instantly.

Public Relations Officer of the institution, Harris Osarenren who confirmed the killing said it happened on Friday at about 7pm.

Harris said the killing has been reported at the Ugbowo

Police Station and that the body has been deposited at the mortuary of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

He said investigation has commenced to unravel the circumstances surrounding the killing.

Lawyer, widow docked for forgery

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WO lawyers, Samuel Urhoghide aged 75, Mrs Mercy Sheidum aged 46 and 50 years old Jona Sojah have been arraigned by the police in Edo State for allegedly forging a dead man’s Will.

They trio were arraigned before an Oredo Magistrate Court

From Osagie Otabor, Benin The court was informed that the accused persons forged the testamentary instrument (Will) of one late Kolawole Sheidum, an engineer in 1997 along Murtala Mohammed Way, Benin City.

Mercy was a wife to the deceased while Jona was a co-worker of the deceased.

Prosecution said the duo presented the fake Will the legal document made by the deceased.

The offence contravened sections 516 and 467(2)(f) of the Criminal Code but the accused persons pleaded

not guilty to the two-count charge.

Trial Chief Magistrate, Fred Igbinosa, granted the lawyer and widow bail on self-recognition while the third accused person was granted bail in the sum of N100,000 and a surety.

The case was adjourned till November 2.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

NEWS Enugu PDP chairman resigns, Ugwuanyi confirmed flag bearer 8

Product adulteration: 15 suspects in police net From Sunny Nwankwo, Aba

I

From Chris Oji, Enugu

T

HE Enugu State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Vita Abba, has resigned.

His resignation was through a letter to the State Executive Committee dated October 20, 2014, which was read on the floor of the State Executive Committee meeting held yesterday in Enugu.

Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi was unanimously adopted as the consensus governorship candidate of the party for the 2015 governorship election in Enugu State by the Executive Committee.

Abba said he was resigning to enable him stand for election in the forthcoming party primaries in the state. He is aspiring to be elected to the House of Representatives.

The executive committee accepted the resignation and appointed Chief Ikeje Asogwa who is from the same zone with the former state party chairman as the new chairman of the party in the state, in line with Article 47 (6) of the PDP constitution.

It commended Abba for his meritorious and selfless service to the party and wished him well in his future endeavors.

The meeting, which deliberated on how to move the party forward for the challenges ahead, unanimously adopted Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the consensus governorship candidate of the party for the 2015 governorship election in Enugu State.

APC governorship aspirant faults Ugwuanyi’s emergence From Chris Oji, Enugu

G

OVERNORSHIP aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, Dr. Ifeanyi Asogwa, has stated that the Peoples Democratic Party’s adoption of a sole consensus governorship candidate would be to the advantage of the APC during the coming elections.

Besides that, he reasoned that should the vote of the electorate of Enugu State count, PDP would certainly lose the governorship and other elections in the state to the major opposition party, APC. Briefing journalists at the weekend on his intention to contest the governorship position, Asogwa hinged his aspiration on what he called lack of good governance, which he said, was the greatest challenge facing the state since inception of the present democratic regime.

He alleged that the ruling PDP has failed the people and that he was in the race to bring good governance, improve the educational sector, create opportunities for employment and restore the people’s dignity.

On the perception in some quarters that the average Igbo is not APC, the governorship aspirant dismissed that as a PDP propaganda.

•Corps Commander, Nigerian Army Engineers, Maj.-Gen. Sarduanna davies addressing officers and soldiers of 14 Field Engineers Regiment, Onitsha, during his familisation tour…at the weekend.

PHOTO: NAN

Elechi to Senator: ‘You have lost your senses’ G

OVERNOR Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State yesterday took a swipe at the Senator representing Ebonyi Central Senatorial Zone,Senator Paulinus Igwe Nwagu, saying the lawmaker has gone out of his senses.

The governor was reacting to a publication in one of the national dailies (not The Nation) titled, ‘Ebonyi may lose presidential votes if gov-

From Ogochukwu Anioke, Abakaliki

ernorship primaries go awry’, which was attributed to the senator.

While condemning the report in its entirety, he regretted that the people he has assisted to become useful citizens have debased themselves through unguarded utterances.

He said, “ As I was reading the pages of newspapers

today (yesterday), I came across a publication on page 15 of a national daily titled, ‘Ebonyi may lose presidential votes if governorship primaries go awry,’ by one Senator Paulinus Igwe Nwagu.

“My position as the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state and as the Chief Executive of the state is that it pains me when the people whom we have helped to become useful to the soci-

ety have debased themselves with unguarded utterances as they have done in this publication.”

“I condemn the statement.

I condemn the publication and I condemn whatever is behind it,” he said, adding, “What Senator Nwagu is saying does not apply here. The fact that we assisted him to become a Senator does not mean he can bring us down.”

The Ebonyi State Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also yesterday debunked same allegation that the committee has been dissolved.

They noted that the people behind the purported publication are not members of the party and cannot be found in the party’s register.

Onitsha council chairman hospitalised as traders clash with LG workers

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NITSHA South Local G o v e r n m e n t chairman, Lady Ann Muoneke, said yesterday that she would have been a dead person if God had not intervened to save her life in the hands of traders.

There was a clash between Onitsha South Local Government Council boss and traders at the Millenium Merchants and Importers Association Markets, Onitsha, over market decongestion.

The council chairman, who was hospitalised following the attack, is yet to recover from the shock while some of the local government workers were still in hospital as at yesterday.

From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

When contacted yesterday, the State Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO), Mr. Uche Eze, confirmed the incident.

He told The Nation yesterday in Awka that the police command was still investigating the incident, adding that no arrest had been made concerning the clash.

However, he said the market leadership, especially the vice chairman who they alleged was the cause of the problem, had been invited by the police on Monday at Awka.

During the clash between the local government and

the traders at the weekend over 20 persons sustained various degrees of injuries, while shops were equally destroyed, including the local government chairman’s bus.

Narrating her ordeal yesterday to reporters, after she was discharged from the hospital, Lady Ann Chukwuneke alleged that the attack was sponsored by her opponents who she said shattered her vehicle with stones, broken bottles and other dangerous weapons.

Chukwuneka noted that about five local government staff that accompanied her to the market decongestion exercise were still in the hospital.

According to her, “I would have been dead by

now if not for my orderly and one other police officer who accompanied us to the market.

“I only went to the market with my personal assistant, two police officers and the Supervisory Councillor for works in the local government. I am very surprised that the media were quoting over 500 persons, including revenue collectors and MASSOB members.

“I have begged them severally to stop trading on the road but if you go there now, you will see vehicles, tri-cycles, motorcycles, heavy-duty- lorries parked along the road, thereby obstructing free human and vehicular movement.”

Abia 2015: Professionals drum up support for Otti

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OME professionals from Abia State have vowed to drum up support for Dr. Alex Otti, who on Friday, October 24, 2014, voluntarily resigned his appointment as the Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank Plc to pursue his 2015 governorship ambition in Abia State.

Describing the banker as “a fresh breadth in the politics of Abia State,” some of the professionals, who spoke to The Nation yesterday, said Otti represents the quality of leaders needed to rescue the state.

Coalition of Abia Profes-

By Sam Egburonu

sionals for Good Governance for example, said yesterday that “the news of the resignation of Alex Otti from his plum job at Diamond Bank Plc yesterday (Friday) to join the struggle to rescue Abia State was indeed heartwarming to Abians in particular and the generality of Ndi Igbo that appreciate the pride of place Aba occupies as a commercial hub of West Africa before the rot set in.”

President of the coalition, Dr. Sony Ajala, a lawyer, told The Nation that “Otti, a consummate investment

banker, has the moral compass, strength of character, integrity, mental stamina, intellectual sophistication, illuminated vision and the reach nationwide to place Aba State on the path of fast track recovery if he’s elected the Chief Executive of Abia State in 2015.”

He added, “For us at the Coalition of Abia Professionals for Good Governance, we shall mobilise Abians across party affiliations to drum up support for aspiration of Dr. Otti.

“Our coalition will from Monday (27/10/2014) commence the collection of sig-

natures from all persons of goodwill of Abia extraction across the globe to persuade other aspirants to the governorship seat of Abia State to step down for Dr. Otti who in sincere assessment represents a fresh breath.”

In a chat in Lagos with some media executives on Friday, few hours after his resignation as GMD of Diamond Bank Plc, Otti spoke passionately about the strategic importance of Aba to the economy of the state, South-East zone and Nigeria, promising that if voted into power, “we will run Abia as a business.”

N its continued efforts to sanitise the markets and save consumers’ lives from dangers of fake and adulterated beverages and foods, Consumers Protection Council’s (CPC) personnel and a combined team of policemen from Abia State Command have carried out a raid at Eziukwu Market in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state.

CPC Operations Director, who led the team, Mr. Eko Godwin, confirmed to reporters yesterday that 15 suspected persons were arrested in the two-day raid.

According to Godwin, the suspects have been handed over to the Abia State CID for further investigation and possibly charge the culpable ones to court after investigations must have been concluded.

“This is the second day of embarking on this exercise.

Three persons were arrested on Tuesday when we came here initially and about 12 persons were arrested on Thursday.

“They have been handed over to the police at State CID Umuahia. Hopefully they would be charged to court as soon as police concludes their investigations,” he said.

Don’t sell APGA, monarch, others beg politicians From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

monarch in Anambra State, Eze Onwubiko Udeh of Ndiowu, and stakeholders from the South Senatorial zone in the state, have begged politicians in the South-East not to allow the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to die.

They spoke yesterday at Ndiowu in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State when former Deputy Governor during Dr. Chris Ngige’s tenure as governor of the state, Dr. Okey Udeh, declared to vie for the South Senatorial election in 2015.

Udeh will contest the senatorial election on the platform of APGA, currently occupied

by Senator Andy Uba of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

It was like a carnival yesterday during Udeh’s declaration which was attended by all the stakeholders of the APGA in the seven local government areas that make up the zone.

The local government areas are Ihiala, Ekwusigo, Nnewi North, Nnewi South, Aguata, Orumba North and Orumba South.

Speaking at the event, Eze Udeh, in an emotion laden voice, told the politicians not to sell the party.

He, however, praised Governor Willie Obiano, the National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, and the former governor, Peter Obi, for leading APGA to such a height.

One of the leaders of the party in the area, Chief Ben Oranusi, said that APGA had a challenge which according to him was to fight back to show Obi that the party was not a one man show.

Senator Alphonsus Igbeke said APGA would not allow PDP to feature double candidates again for any election in the state.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

NEWS

It's a divine challenge to run for Plateau governorship Senator Pawjok

Nigeria can't develop under insecurity - Mrs. Sambo From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos,

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HE senator representing Plateau North Senatorial zone in the National Assembly has declared his intention to join the governorship race in Plateau State.

Senator Pwajok made his intention known while speaking with newsmen in his Jos residence yesterday.

It has been rumored that Senator Pwajok has been endorsed by the incumbent Gov. Jonah Jang to succeed him in 2015.

Confirming the rumour, Senator Pwajok said, "People say I have received the blessing of Governor Jang to be the next governor in 2015.

But let me say that it is not Gov. Jang's blessing per say, it is a divine endorsement for a bigger mandate in the state.

He said, "At the moment, I have the mandate of people of my zone whom I am currently representing at the Senate for the last two years, but now I have got a sort of encouragement by key leaders in the state, including Gov. Jang to seek for a higher position of authority in the state.

"I say so because it is God that gives power to humans; an individual like Jang cannot give power. Gov Jang himself is a product of divine mandate, he has only asked me to go and seek the divine mandate and that of the people of Plateau State. If it is the power of Gov. Jang alone, he would have simply announced that I will be his successor, but he has asked me to seek God's mandate and the mandate of people of the state.”

Kano trains 475 Street Hawkers On GSM repair From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano N its bid to curb the menace of unemployment among the teeming youth in the state, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has approved the immediate training of more than 475 street hawkers and traders on GSM repairs and maintenance and CD plate production and marketing.

The training package tagged "Kwankwaso Traffic Hawkers Empowerment Program" is being conducted by the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Metropolitan Affairs with the aim of training and empowering street hawkers with necessary incentives and tools, in order to rid the streets of problems associated with street hawking.

Speaking while monitoring the conduct of the training, the Special Adviser on Metropolitan, Dr. Ali Makoda said that the state government attaches great emphasis to ridding the state capital of street hawkers, especially in the eight metropolitan local governments areas and charged them to use the opportunity offered them which will benefit them immensely.

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•China Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Gu Xigotie (Right) with Acting Commissioner of Police, Mr. Wilson Inalegwu, after the former donated a 301 Peugeot car to the FCT Police Command at the weeekend in Abuja PHOTO: NAN

Army General threatens legal action against Thisday

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AJOR General Suleiman D. Aliyu has threatened to commence a legal action against the Leaders and Company, publishers of ThisDay Newspaper over a publication allegedly portraying him as a fifth columnist and saboteur in the Armed Forces.

Counsel to the Army General, Barrister Tajudeen Oladoja, in a press statement made available to newsmen in Kaduna alleged that the General who was the immediate past defence attaché to the People's Republic of China was reacting to a publication in

From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

the ThisDay Newspaper of October 18, 2014 with the caption 'Of Badeh's Alleged Fifth Columnists and a certain Borno General' which was referring to him and ThisDay should retract the statement within 72 hours.

Major General Aliyu further alleged that the aforementioned publication has embarrassed him and his family and portrayed him as a fifth columnist, saboteur in the Armed Forces, a corrupt officer who collected a huge kickback

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MEMBER of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Barrister Halima Alfa, has joined in the race for Kogi East Senatorial seat.

Alfa, who is also the National Co-ordinator, North Central, Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), commended the National Chairman of the

from two Chinese companies and compromised the quality of weapon purchased to fight the Boko Haram terrorist.

The state read further: "It is therefore clear beyond all shadows of doubt that the odious words contained in the paper's publication designated him in such a manner as to let those who knew and acquainted with him understand and identify him as the certain Borno General the publication meant.

"The fore-stated publication which is bereft of any shred of truth, is

malicious, offensive and intended to disparage and expose our client to public odium, ridicule and worst condemnation ever made against any serving Senior Military Officer at this crucial time when our country is faced with serious security quagmire.”

"Apart from tendering an apology, we on behalf of our client are also demanding a sum of Five Hundred Million naira (N500,000,000) only as damages for loss of reputation on account of the alleged defamatory publication," the statement concluded.

PDP BOT member picks Kogi nomination form From James Azania, Lokoja

Party, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, for refusing to give automatic ticket to any aspirant.

Her words: "I am a member, Board of Trustees

of the PDP and I am happy by the level playing ground provided by the national party leadership. This will greatly promote a healthy democracy in the country."

She said she was in the race to ensure better

legislation, especially on the issue of girl-child education.

She called on her male co-contestants to allow for a level playing ground as directed by the party "in order to allow free participation."

240 aspirants for Kwara APC primaries

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O fewer than 240 aspirants are set to participate in the primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State ahead of the 2015 general elections.

The aspirants are jostling for the governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly seats.

The APC said 186 aspirants are for State House of Assembly, 11 for Senate and 42 for House of Representatives.

In a statement, the APC spokesperson in the state, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, said that the leadership of APC in the state assured all aspirants of fairness and level-playing ground in the primary election process.

Said Buhari: "The high

Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

number of aspirants jostling for few political offices under our party is yet another established evidence that the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State has created a conducive political environment that encourages participatory democracy.

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"The calibre, pedigree and popularity of aspirants under our party is also a signal to the fact that all the aspirants that will emerge as Kwara APC candidates in the 2015 general elections will consequently and worthily emerge victorious at the poll.

"The leadership of APC in Kwara State will ensure level-playing field for all

aspirants in the primary election process. The process will be fair and credible.

"Meanwhile, we advise all aspirants to intimate APC members and the people of Kwara State with their electoral manifestoes for public review and endorsement because the people would ultimately decide aspirants' fate."

IFE of Nigeria's Vice President, Hajia Amina Namadi Sambo, has said that there cannot be economic prosperity and development in a Nigeria where there is widespread violence and breakdown of law and order.

This was said, as the Kaduna State governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, described ethno-religious and sectarian crises that have rocked Kaduna in the recent past as the cause of slow development of the state.

The Governor said people of the state must resolve to go back to the good old days when their tribes and religions were the xxx instruments of unity and peaceful co-existence, not source of discord and strife, if the development must be achieved.

They both made the declaration yesterday while speaking to a peace summit organised by the Global Peace Foundation in Kaduna.

According to the Vice President's wife, it is unfortunate that, Kaduna and the entire Northern Nigeria were experiencing violence and insecurity, which she said has resulted in loss of lives and property.

While noting that the crimes against humanity were committed by fellow human beings, Hajia Sambo said it is within the power of man to work towards building and sustaining peace in the society.

Addressing the participants, she said, "As traditional rulers, religious leaders, women, youths, government officials or private sector players, we all have important roles to play in ensuring that peace returns to all the trouble spots in our country. It should be our collective responsibility.

"Although, our country is a secular state, we do know that most of us are either Muslims or Christians. The same God creates us though we worship him in different ways. We are one family under God". she stressed.

Earlier in his address, Governor Yero who was represented by his deputy, Ambassador Nuhu Audu Bajoga, said, "In the past few years, the social strands which bind the diverse people together had been put under severe stress by series of ethno-religious and sectarian crises, which had undermined and disrupted economic and developmental activities of

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Lack of good laws, bane of Nigeria's agriculture sector

HE lack of relevant and much-needed agroinclined laws has been described as the bane of Nigeria's quest to diversify the country's economy and end the over-dependence on oil.

Former Gombe State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dahiru Buba Biri, made this declaration briefly after indicating interest to join

From Vincent Ohonbamu, Gombe the 'senatorship' race for Gombe North Senatorial Zone.

"There are many laws that you can help in promulgating that will affect the economy positively in terms of production and so many ways.

"For example, I am an agriculturalist by profession.

There is much legislation we need to make in Nigeria that will give agriculture a greater role in the economy, make agriculture a greater contributor to the economy, make agriculture the main stay of the economy as it used to be.

"The status-quo can be changed by necessary laws that will make agriculture the pivot

of our economy or the economic activities in Nigeria," he said.

He said: "The Maputo declaration requests all African states to budget at least 10 to 15% of their annual budget to agriculture and the Federal Government has so far not budgeted more than 2% annually.”

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

• Solar powered borehole

by Senator Solomon

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T was business as usual on Orimolade Street.

By 10am, most residents on the street had gone to their various places of work while many small shops scattered all over the neighbourhood opened for business. Children played around the road occasionally running into the way of oncoming vehicles, a frightened mother dashed after such a child, snatching him/her from the jaws of death.

Apart from the occasional noise of itinerant hawkers, the bleating of goats, fuji music blazing from a speaker placed outside a barber's shop, the street was quiet. Halfway across the street, a gigantic water tank equipped with a solar panel stood beside a house. About 50 metres away, three taps connected to the tank stood, empty and dry. In over three months, the residents of the street have been unable to benefit from the water due to a "recurring technical problem."

"We have not been able to use the tap for sometime because it has developed yet another fault and we have reported to the Senator (Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon) but they are yet to fix it. So instead of wasting the water I decided we should lock it," Mutiu Bakare, a community leader said.

The street is in Ifako Ijaiye Local Government in Lagos West Senatorial District which is being represented at the upper legislative council by Senator Ganiyu Solomon, a two-term Senator and former local government chairman who is currently in the run for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Lagos State governorship ticket.

The solar-powered borehole is one of the many constituency projects claimed by the Senator to have been given to the people of his constituency. Also scattered all over Lagos West are classroom blocks, Primary Health Centers (PHC), books and library equipments, toilets, electricity transformers and more solar powered boreholes. Each of these infrastructures bore the proud insignia of the senator "Sponsored by Senator Ganiyu Solomon."

Across the state on the East, Senator Gbenga Barehuu Ashafa, also has his name implanted on many of such constituency projects. On Emmanuel Keshi Street, Magodo Shangisha, several street light poles bore the name of the Senator as the sponsor and inside Magodo Community Primary School, three-block classroom also attested to the Senator's generosity to the people of his constituency.

Despite what the legislators say is laudable achievement of empowerment of the grassroots, civil society organizations and many Nigerians continue to criticize the policy of constituency

Much ado about constituency projects Since 2004, about N900billion has been expended on constituency projects for members of the National Assembly. This has raised a lot of controversy with civil society groups demanding the stoppage of the policy stating that it breeds corruption. Seun Akioye looks at both arguments projects saying it has nothing to do with the primary functions of a legislator and that it breeds corruption.

A controversial policy In 1999 after the return to democracy, the first set of National Assembly members found to their dismay that they are unable to fulfill their electoral promises of providing roads, water and electricity to their constituents. Ordinarily, this should not be the purview of legislators whose primary duty is lawmaking and oversight functions on Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government.

But after about 30 years of military rule, the crop of politicians lacking in proper knowledge of democratic campaign for legislators had campaigned not on issues but on provision of basic amenities to their constituents. Faced with a dilemma they reached a compromise with the executive where legislators would be awarded a grant every year and allowed to choose which project would be sited in the constituency.

A lot of money was going to be involved.

N100 billion a year with each member of the House of Representatives getting N30 million and a Senator N81 million to prosecute a project of

their choice which 'would benefit the constituents.'

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Senator Mohammed Ndume caused no small stir last year when he revealed that the National Assembly had received N900 billion since 2004 for constituency projects.

Ndume who was speaking during a one-day stakeholders' forum organised by the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs on completion of constituency projects said: "The National Assembly usually budget N100 billion for constituency projects every year since 2004 for the six geo-political zones. The money is domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs serving as a clearing house to approve the releases for payments to the various contractors."

The Senator added that legislators normally sit down to identify priority projects that are not adequately taken care of in the budget and then set aside money for their execution.

He said: "Constituency project is the most important projects for an average Nigerian as many Nigerians live in rural areas. As

representative of the people; your people will not ask you the number of the bills you have passed but will ask you roads, boreholes, hospitals as far as National Assembly is concerned, the constituency projects is being executed by federal government in 360 constituencies and 109 senatorial districts."

If Ndume was expecting an applause for his 'honesty' he got none, instead civil society organisations and other stakeholders came down heavily on the legislator criticising the allocation of a huge amount to a project which many say were never executed.

According to commentators, legislators have no business becoming contractors a situation which often leads to corruption and a short change of the masses that they claim to protect.

One of the leading voices in that direction is Wale Fatade, the Executive Director, Media Support Centre (MSC) an organisation which provides expert services for the media and engages in civil discussions about democratic principles.

Recently, the MSC organized a town hall meeting in Lagos where the issue of constituency projects was discussed with members of local constituencies, media and other civil society groups. While some communities acknowledge that they have benefited from various constituency projects, the consensus was that the policy has become a conduit pipe for siphoning public funds.

"The simple thing wrong with legislators handling constituency projects is that it is unconstitutional, legislators are supposed to appropriate money while the executives implement projects. That is what the theory of separation of powers says, it is also for efficiency and so that legislators can perform their oversight functions very well," Fatade said.

Minister of Special Duties and InterGovernmental Affairs Alhaji Kabiru Turaki said legislators have exclusive rights to decide which project to be executed in their constituencies.

"The government has decided in its wisdom to say that each member of the National Assembly has an envelope, they have an exclusive discretion of which MDAs to execute their projects. They also have exclusive rights to determine which projects are suitable for their constituencies."

This is the part that irks campaigners like Fatade. He decried a situation whereby a legislator will have the right to choose a contractor for a project and in some cases; the project is being executed by the legislator.

"It is a loophole that is being used to siphon

•Contd. from on 12

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

NEWS REVIEW

Much ado about constituency projects •Contd. from page 12

money; citizens are not getting full benefits of these projects. Also, most legislators decided on the specific projects without consulting their constituents on what they want specifically and all these detach from any noble objective that could have necessitated the projects initially," he said.

In March 2013, the Construction Research Journal published by the Department of Building, University of Lagos came out with a damming verdict on constituency projects declaring that it is unconstitutional. The editor, Godwin Idoro, a professor of Construction Project Management said construction projects generally involve a chain of complex processes that must be efficiently managed to achieve maximum result.

"No legislator whether at the Senate, House of Representatives, states' Houses of Assembly or Local Government level can lay claim to such capacity, therefore; constituency projects in the Nigerian context are poorly conceived, formulated and executed. Several of such constituency projects have ended as failed projects such as uncompleted, mal-functioning and unsustainable projects," Idoko said.

He also raised the issue of maintenance of such projects especially after the legislator who sponsored such is out of office. "Constituencies that benefit from such projects are inadequately organised and do not possess the capacity to maintain them. In most cases, the constituencies expect the legislators to maintain them.

"Legislators that accept such responsibility only do so during their legislative period. As soon as another person is elected, projects initiated by past legislators become abandoned and neglected.

Several of such constituency projects initiated and executed in the past have today become constituency monuments."

The professor faulted the process of procurement for such projects saying it runs contrary to the Public Procurement Act, 2007, which the legislators are supposed to protect.

"The procurement process usually fails to take into cognizance the purpose of the procurement of projects financed with public fund and the objective of establishing the Bureau of Public Procurement, which is to ensure the application of fair, competitive, transparent, professionalism and value-for-money standards and practices in the procurement of projects," Idoro said.

Abandoned projects One of the major arguments for critics of constituency projects is the rate at which many of such projects are abandoned. Many of them are either not done or only half done and abandoned.

The Minister of Special duties Aminu Turaki gave a startling revelation when he said 2,399 constituency projects were abandoned in 2013.

That was not all, the Deputy Director (Programmes), Ministry of Power, Mr. Rasaki Alonge, also disclosed that many rural electrification projects are pending across the country. "There are 1,400 abandoned projects at the ministry and also 1,600 rural electrification projects that have also been abandoned," Alonge revealed.

In Lagos State which has a slightly higher rate of performance for constituency projects, many projects still remained abandoned especially in the health sector. In Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), three PHC which had been paid for since 2010 have been abandoned.

According to the chairman of the council, Kehinde Bamigbetan, the contractor simply abandoned the projects at various levels.

"In 2010, Senator Ganiyu Solomon and Dr. Jaiyeola Ajasa, together had a constituency project in Oshodi/Isolo constituency 2, three health centres.

We were able to provide land for those health centres. The consultant came, the contractor had given design and the National Primary Health Care Agency mobilized them. But it will interest you that as at last year December, on the third site there have been no activity at all and he has been mobilized since 2010.

"On the second site at Ikosi, the man got it to foundation, the third case at Bucknor area, the contractor got it to lintel level and after the community protested another contractor was brought in and he got it to logging level, that is the fastest they were able to go. We had to go to Abuja and first interacted with Senator Ganiyu Solomon to intervene. We had to start again and it was put in the 2014 budget, we have now been assured that the contractor will come back and complete the Ikosi and Bucknor health centres."

This situation has brought the Executive and the Legislature to the brink on several occasions.

Last year, President Goodluck Jonathan was said to have withheld his assent to the budget which he claimed had been "increased" by N63 billion from the initial N4.924 trillion to N4,987 trillion by the National Assembly under the constituency project sub title.

The presidency however found a way to resolve some of the controversies around the project when last year, President Jonathan

• Computers by Senator Solomon

• A school donated by Senator Ashafa mandated the Ministry of Special Duties to take over the supervision of the projects. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Okonjo Iweala conveyed the President's decision. "Let me also add here that Mr. President has assigned the Minister of Special Duties to assist in overseeing the implementation of the N100bn constituency projects across the country."

Turaki began work in earnest compiling the list of thousands of abandoned projects and reversing the system so that contractors are paid based on stage of completion of the projects.

"Payment for the constituency projects will be made based on satisfactory performance in order to ensure value for money. Furthermore, contractors handling constituency projects will only be paid upon authorisation by this Ministry to the Federal Ministry of Finance," he said.

But the implementation of the project has not been without rancour. There is the issue of duplicity of projects where a local government and legislators have budgeted for the same project.

Senator Akin Odunsi representing Ogun West constituency last year accused the Ado Odo/Ota local government authorities of preventing the construction of Ilo-Ifako Bridge.

"Where were the LGA and the state government when the bridge collapsed? It is surprising that the local government that has been apathetic to the plight of the people along that area will now move to fix the bridge by merely placing a sign post at the site. And I do not understand the state's position, except that it was the promoter of the local government agenda.

"Since we are in the same party, I do not see how the state and local government administration should be working at cross-

purposes with me," Odunsi said.

However, an agreement was later reached leading to the Senator constructing the bridge while the road is still awaiting completion under the constituency project.

Lagos justifies projects Senators and Representatives in Lagos claim to have huge projects for their constituency allocations in the last four years. Senator Ganiyu Solomon documented more than 100 projects all over his constituency. An investigation by The Nation on some of the claims reveals that while a lot of those projects are being executed, the problem with many of the projects is maintenance.

A check on some of the bore holes reveals that while some have packed up, many like the one in Orimolade Street suffer from recurring technical problems. Also some of the blocks of classrooms donated in Mushin and Ikorodu lack maintenance and if left unattended may soon become dilapidated.

There are other challenges. In Agege Local Government where the senator has donated 60 computers and four air conditioners for use by the public, the Head of Department, Education, Mrs. Temilorun Ricketts said the computers would not be used until certain standards are met.

"I have said to them that the windows they put in the computer rooms will not work and there are other little details that the contractor needs to pay attention to before we can fully utilize the computers," she said.

Efforts to speak with the Senator proved abortive and for three weeks, he was unable to honour any of his interview promises due to what an aide called "busy political schedule."

An aide to the Senator however volunteers, "We have the highest number of constituency projects in Lagos and it is there for all to see. The only thing is that Senator Ganiyu Solomon does not like publicity and would quietly execute the project without any fanfare. Maybe that is why you have not been hearing about all these projects," he said.

Senator Ashafa also was not available for any interview. Phone calls and text messages to him went unanswered and when our correspondent sent questions to his twitter handle he simply directed the reporter to his constituency office.

One of his media assistants said the constituency office monitors all the projects being sponsored by the senator. "We monitor the projects as soon as the contractors call us we will send our engineering team to the site, many times we find errors and insisted that they be corrected," he said.

For Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, member representing Lagos Island Federal Constituency, the whole essence of governance is empowerment of the people. The legislator said she had built schools, drilled bore holes and installed street lights. Recently, she gave out school buses and donated 50 tricycles called Keke Napep to members of her constituency. "What we are trying to do is to completely eradicate poverty in our midst. People should shift from demanding money to empowerment. When people ask me for money, I tell them I don't steal in the National Assembly so they have to be content with whatever empowerment I give them," she told The Nation.

Indictment of the local governments Many local government councils are also not in favour of legislators carrying out constituency projects. According to Ayodeji Abdulkareem, the Chairman of Agege Local Government whose council has received a yet- to- be- used computer centre from Senator Ganiyu Solomon, legislators have no business with constituency projects.

"I think they should allow the Executive handle the implementation of projects," he said. He also denied that the projects could be an indictment on local governments for non performance.

"If local governments have enough money, then we will perform, but a situation where the local government has only N40 million per month and about N30 million has gone on paying salaries how much can N10million achieve?"

Bamigbetan prefers to look at the issues from both sides of the coin. "One of the functions of a legislator is to also lobby the federal government agencies for projects that could be sited in the constituency; it is a way of regulating access to federal government projects." Bamigbetan said the capacity of a legislator to lobby projects to his constituency would also ensure equitable distribution of national resources.

While Bamigbetan does not canvass for the cancellation of constituency projects, he would like to see its implementation through the grant system.

"What is done in matured democracy is the grant system. The Federal Government can say, we are building 1,000 primary schools in Nigeria within the year 2014/2015. Then local governments and agencies that are interested in primary schools will now access that grant and cause it to come to their local government. That should be the ideal thing not this system whereby you now corrupt the lawmaker because it does not allow the lawmaker to concentrate on his own primary duty of lawmaking," he said.

The way forward There is no easy solution to the controversy generated by constituency projects, while the legislators say it is a necessary evil, civil society members are demanding an immediate stop to it, local government executives say the money is better served with the local councils executing the projects while Turaki called it "noble projects." " Constituency projects should be taken away completely from the legislators and let the executives execute the projects, constituents must have a say on the kind of projects wanted in specific areas, citizens must also monitor more closely the quality of such projects and every kobo must be accounted for," Fatade said.

His said his organisation (MSC) is determined in its campaign for the stoppage of constituency projects by taking the town hall meeting around the country. "We are moving to Anambra State next, majority of Nigerians don't even know we have constituency projects not to talk of the huge amount budgeted for such projects yearly. We have our website and we continue sensitising citizens on how they can be involved, we need to engage our legislators better on these projects," he said.

It is doubtful if federal legislators will willingly stop a project that guarantees a N100 billion annual payout and which also raise their profile in their constituencies guaranteeing their political relevance. As Bamigbetan noted, as long as legislators continue to attract tangible projects to the local governments, it may be one reason to cheer.

Ropo Sekoni

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Femi Orebe Page 16

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

A 'divorce' long expected tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

Patience dumps Dickson as the scales finally fall from the eyes of the ‘romantic pair of lovers'

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IKE all such ‘marriages of convenience’, the political alliance between Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State and the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, finally collapsed like a pack of cards on October 23. I cannot say precisely when the ‘romance’ started. But not many would doubt that it was initiated by the governor, who must have felt he needed the First Family's support to realise his political ambition. It was in furtherance of this objective that the governor appointed Mrs Jonathan as a "super" permanent secretary in the Bayelsa State Civil Service in July 2012, barely five months after his inauguration. She was one of the 17 persons so appointed. Expectedly, the appointment caused outrage in the country, with many people expressing misgivings about it and the extent to which the civil service had been politicised, because, clearly, such appointment is injurious to the civil service, which is supposed to be the engine room of governance in the state.

Without doubt, it was an abuse of privilege which did not make sense in a place like Nigeria. What would the wife of the President of Nigeria do with the 'peanut' that a permanent secretary (super or ordinary) earns monthly, compared to the unlimited pork in the care of public office holders here? May be elsewhere, where public servants, including the president, are closely monitored to ensure that they do not have access to more than belong to them from the public till, such peanut could amount to something; definitely not here where public functionaries can spend and all we would do is keep wondering who appropriated the money for them and when?

But Governor Dickson, like most public officers in the country defended the appointment; he even quoted the constitution to support his decision. The governor probably would have quoted another section of the constitution to support himself or even quote the same section upside down if he did not want to do what he did. The point I am making is that deep down in his heart, the governor knew he made the appointment due more to political exigency, even if he was not willing to admit that much.

Mrs Jonathan's resignation has however confirmed what many of us have always known about such 'marriages of convenience'. Once the scales fall from the eyes of at least one of the lovers (which is more than enough requirement for a 'divorce') the 'wedlock' collapses. Since it takes two to tango, and since, as the late Chief Moshood Abiola once said, one cannot clap with one hand, the collapse of the ‘unholy wedlock’ was only a matter of time. That time came on Thursday.

Those who feel the resignation might be to pave way for others to climb in the civil service must have got it all wrong.

Since when did the First Lady realise that her appointment was blocking others from making progress, after all, she was appointed more than two years ago?

•Patience Jonathan

Secondly, how can only one space given to her be the obstruction on the part of those deserving elevation in the state civil service?

At any rate, what would it cost the state government to create offices for the deserving even where none ever existed; after all, again, there is a precedent already? For sure, Governor Dickson would gladly have created other offices if that had been the problem. So, that excuse certainly, does not hold water.

Moreover, at 57, the First Lady still has at least three more years to go, given the retirement age in the state civil service pegged at 60. Why then would she be in a hurry to leave the system?

In essence therefore, the only plausible reason that could be adduced for her resignation is that she felt she has bided her time enough and it is now time for her to come out of her shell which she had recoiled into a few months back, following persistent bashings she received online after the now famous blood that they are sharing (shedding) saga. Mrs Jonathan 's running battles with the governor have been in the news for long; apparently it has got to a point where she can no longer stay in her shell if she is to stop the governor's reelection bid. Already, according to reports, she has her eyes on Waripamowei Dudafa, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Affairs. Dudafa, a former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in Bayelsa State appears the only man that President Jonathan and former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha can trust and are therefore likely to back for the state governorship election in 2016. It would appear therefore, that Dame Jonathan is in charge of that flank for the election, apparently to allow the president concentrate on other areas that might not want to capitulate to the almighty 'federal might' in the coming elections.

We cannot also forget that Mrs Jonathan is a veteran of political battles. Her issue with Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State is still fresh in mind. She bared her mind on the rift with Amaechi to 16 bishops from the southsouth geopolitical zone who visited the

“Mrs Jonathan's resignation has however confirmed what many of us have always known about such 'marriages of convenience'. Once the scales fall from the eyes of at least one of the ‘lovers’ (which is more than enough requirement for a 'divorce') the 'wedlock' collapses. Since it takes two to tango, and since, as the late Chief Moshood Abiola once said, one cannot clap with one hand, the collapse of the ‘unholy wedlock’ was only a matter of time. That time came on Thursday”

Presidential Villa in July, last year.

According to her, "This matter started as far back as four years ago at Anyugubiri in Okrika when I begged him not to demolish a part of Okrika but (that he should) dialogue first with the people. After that incident, he called the chairman of Okrika (local government) and sacked him for holding a reception in our honour; that boy was the first victim. He also put my people on curfew for nine months. I called him and pleaded with him but he refused. Then I began to hear all sorts of propaganda in the media against me; this is not the way …"

It is a long story but the kernel is that Governor Amaechi stood his ground from the beginning to the end. No doubt he paid some price for that because his state was nearly made ungovernable by the powersthat-be. It could not have been worse for Governor Dickson if he had followed a similar course that is almost certain he would have to pursue now that the president's wife is almost set to go for his jugular. The governor must have realised, perhaps belatedly, that there are some people like that who can hardly be pleased once they have made up their minds or have their minds made up for them. But my own take is that what the governor cannot tolerate as a big man, he should have been rejecting even when he was poor.

Mrs Jonathan has by her resignation confirmed the saying that the cane that was used to whip the first wife (Timipre Sylva in this instance) was never thrown away; it was merely hidden in the ceiling.

Now that they have need for it again, they are going to retrieve it.

This however is contrary to what Mrs Jonathan told the visiting bishops on Amaechi's matter because; at a time in her speech to them, she went scriptural. At another, she went philosophical. Hear her: "… I pray that God touches Amaechi's heart as per his hot temper because when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers … Hebrews 12:14 urges us to embrace peace with all men without which; we cannot see God. Amaechi is my son; I cannot fight him, and I cannot kill him".

And the philosophical: "He shouldn't be used by outsiders against his own blood because this seat is vanity. "One day, no matter how long it takes; we will leave this seat. Power is not forever". Got the contradiction between words and deed?

Anyway, all said, whether the forces against the governor would prevail or not is difficult to predict, but what may not be is the fact that even the Dudafa that they reportedly prefer today is coming to have the same comeuppance. It is only a matter of time for today's lucky man to realise that he cannot please his political godfathers.

Once upon a time, Dickson was the anointed child with whom they were well pleased. As things stand, the governor must realise that he has a lot to contend with. If Dame Jonathan could treat Amaechi whom she referred to as her "son" the way she did, then Dickson who is not her "son" should know what to expect. But, like all those who rode to power on the back of the tiger, he needs more than his present tough posture not to end up in the tiger's belly, and to win the battle ahead. If the matter is about wars and chariots, he needs no soothsayer to tell him he is not in contention. He would be fought on all fronts - land, air and sea.

CHIBOK GIRLS. STILL IN LIMBO. SINCE APRIL 15.

Jonathan again?

B

ARRING any change, President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to formally declare his intention to contest a second term on November 11.

The announcement last Friday by the Chairman of the Presidential Declaration Committee, Dr. Haliru Bello, has been longawaited.

President Jonathan's interest to remain in Aso Rock had never been in doubt. The question has always been when would he make the declaration? He probably would have done so before now but for the abduction of the Chibok girls which has remained a major albatross for his administration.

To have embarked on any open political campaign when over 200 girls are still being held by the Boko Haram terrorists would have been considered insensitive. It is therefore understandable why President Jonathan waited this long while his supporters, under various guises, are having a field day drumming up support for him and making him look like a reluctant candidate who should be persuaded to remain in office.

Unlike other presidential aspirants in the All Progressives Congress (APC) who still have to contest for the ticket of their party in case the proposed consensus agreement fails, Jonathan has been adopted as the sole candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

As it is, the 2015 presidential election promises to be an epic battle between Jonathan and whoever is fielded by the APC. Based on the performance of Jonathan's government which has been generally scored low on various indicators, I am one of those who believe that it is time for Nigerians to vote for a change. We deserve more than the kind of lack lustre leadership we have endured under President Jonathan.

Another four years under President Jonathan who does not seem to have a solution to the high level insecurity, economic decline, decay of infrastructure, unemployment, endless strikes and many other issues will not augur well for the country. We are sliding on all fronts and it is time to reverse the precarious situation we have found ourselves by voting for another leader who has what it takes to tackle the challenges confronting the country.

The opposition definitely needs a formidable candidate to beat President Jonathan, who, among other factors, has the advantage of being an incumbent with lots of resources to deploy for the presidential election.

It is up to the APC aspirants not to allow President Jonathan to fulfill his ambition by putting the interest of the party before their personal ambition. The election of the party's candidate must be as rancou-free as possible.

Those who fail to get the party's nomination must rally round the winner with all available resources if the 'transformation to nowhere' government of President Jonathan is to become history.

0

14

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

COMMENT

With 774 autonomous LGs, states may become superfluous If governors fail to release funds meant to be used by local governments, the response should not be turning this integral part of state governance into an autonomous level.

O

F the many problems besetting our nation-state, one that is often forgotten is proclivity on the part of those in charge of governance to deflect attention from real issues when the need for rational debate is urgent. When the National Assembly initiated about three years ago one-day consultation with constituents from the six geopolitical zones on aspects of the 1999 Constitution they would recommend for amendment, citizens and civil society shouted foul, arguing that a constitution crafted by military dictators ought to require full consultation with citizens. But the lawmakers who saw (and still see) themselves as embodiment of the country's sovereignty thought and acted otherwise, by floating perfunctory consultations in six cities with individuals who could afford to travel to such cities. The response of labour unions and other civic society organisations to the latest list of amendments from both legislative houses in Abuja, shows if anything, that the lawmakers are thinking alone and perhaps solely for the sake of the political class.

On his own side, President Jonathan organised a national conference to discuss how to re-launch the Nigerian union. The conference also came up with several recommendations.

Optimists about the outcome of the conference called on the president to implement their recommendations. In response to such optimists, President Jonathan established a special task force to move the recommendations to the next level. It is not clear if the recommendations had been sent formally to the national assembly, but the recent amendments approved by the national assembly indicate that the lawmakers have not paid any attention to the outcome of the national conference. If it has taken the national assembly about three years to agree on amendments to be sent to state assemblies for ratification or rejection, it is right to speculate that recommendations from the national conference are more likely, than not,

to be kept in view for a long time, thus proving critics of the conference right on their view that no gain was likely to come out of a national conference convened a few months to national elections.

It is conceivable that conference delegates and citizens in support of the conference are already getting ready to call national assembly members to order for not giving a thought to conference recommendations which are already in the public domain. However, it is instructive that labour groups have lost no time in protesting against two of the amendments from the lawmakers: closing the door to national minimum wage legislation and giving autonomy to local governments. In case Abuja is too distant for federal legislators to hear the complaints of labour leaders, state house assemblies need to heed the complaints of labour organisations on these two issues. Labour's observation that these two amendments do not appear to have grown from holistic thinking deserves more attention in today's column, before the issues get swept off the radar by campaign jingles.

Part of the debate in the legislature on national wages is that federalism should allow states to determine how much they want to pay workers, putting into consideration such factors as differences in cost of living in the various states; each state's capacity to pay, etc. Having a national minimum wage does not preclude states from adopting different wage levels. What is missing in the national assembly's argument is the desirability of a national minimum wage in a country with an economy that is integrated to the point that some citizens work in one state and live in another. Wages and pension benefits may be on the concurrent list, but there ought to be some space for the national assembly to legislate on minimum wage level, below which no state may go in terms of emoluments to workers in the country but which any state may exceed should its economic fortunes allow.

With respect to local governments, it is

amazing how a civilian government can become an instrument of further militarisation of the polity. Apart from the fact that most countries of the world recognise that local governments are political units of states, no federal system on the globe gives the local government, country, borough, and other names for this sub-national level of government a status that makes it autonomous of the state of which it is a unit. It was military manipulators of the polity that created the concept of local government as third tier of government. It is also instructive that this was done principally with a view to pass funds from petroleum revenue to local governments.

It was the concept of local government as a source of funds for local leaders that also dictated the naming of local governments in the 1999 Constitution, to the extent that local governments created after 1999 are not eligible for funding from the federation account. Lagos State is a good example of the limit put on local government creation on account of funds from the federation account.

One argument prevalent at the national assembly about local government is the view that governors under the present dispensation are interfering with the funds allocated to the local government. Recommending autonomy for local governments is reminiscent of the syndrome at work when WAEC was believed by government leaders to be failing in its charge.

NECO was created to do the same job as WAEC. If governors fail to release funds meant to be used by local governments, the response should not be turning this integral part of state governance into an autonomous level.

Governors who withhold funds meant for local governments from them should be brought to book for violating the rights of local governments. Removing the Immunity provision from the constitution would have been enough to make erring governors act in compliance with the laws.

Without realising it, there are more dangers

for integrated development at the state level if local governments are made autonomous of states. What the national assembly has recommended is formalisation of the 774 local governments created under military rule as mini states. This recommendation has the capacity to undermine states' control over their development while increasing dependence of local governments on the federal government.

The thinking at the national conference on this matter was superior to that of the national assembly: local governments should not be separated from the states that house them in economic and political terms, if integrated development is to thrive at the state level.

However, the bug of manna from the federation account was at work at the conference when it still left the issue of direct funding of local government from the federation account intact.

Local governments are units of the state and need not be funded separately.

It is an irony that at a time that revenue is dwindling to the extent that the federal government is finding it hard to release states' shares of the federation account to them as and when due (on account of decrease in revenue flowing to the federation account from petroleum, the nation's largest crop), the national assembly is showing more enthusiasm about turning 774 local governments into selfcontained mini states. Now that federal lawmakers have shown their preference on how to achieve integrated development at the subnational level,state legislators should not pay more attention to the wishes of existing and would-be local government chairpersons at the expense of ensuring coordinated development at the state level. The standard practice in other parts of the world (federal and unitary systems) is about two tiers of government. The three-tier system in Nigeria is an aberration foisted on the polity by military dictators. State legislators need to consult fully with citizens at the grassroots as to their preference on this matter.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

COMMENT

15

Yakubu Gowon Toast to Nigerian statesman, officer and gentleman at 80

O

N October 19, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, former military Head of State who presided over Nigeria's Civil War (1967-1970), turned 80. The irony of the landmark is gripping.

Gen. Gowon fought tooth-and-nail to keep Nigeria one.

Indeed, the war-time acronym from his name, GOWON: Go-On-With-One-Nigeria, showed his personal commitment to his chosen cause, and, on the Nigerian side, the general enthusiastic identification with that cause.

Forty-four years after that war, Nigeria indeed has remained one territory. But the push-and-pull of disintegration has not totally disappeared. That, of course, has nothing to do with Gen. Gowon's noble and patriotic exertions, for a well-run, united and strong Nigeria is a heartbeat from greatness.

Rather, it has everything to do with not resolving the deep injustices and structural hiccups that led to the war in the first instance. It is a classic case of winning the war, and losing the peace! But again, that had little to do with Gowon, except of course, if his own tiny drizzle of leadership mistakes is now part of the roaring flood of leadership glitches, over the years, now threatening the sanity of the polity; and the integrity of the country.

But despite his mistakes, Gen. Gowon has remained an exemplar: a former ruler as a statesman par excellence; a high ranking soldier as the iconic officer and gentleman; a deposed leader, who bore his setback with grace and nobility; and a crisis-time leader oozing an excellent temper to cope with the perilous times, both with dramatic happenings in the polity and the often rash and hot-headed disposition of his military colleagues, juniors and contemporaries. Looking back on all these, Gen. Gowon has remained a study in calm navigating violent storm.

Comparing and contrasting Gen. Gowon with the late Gen. Murtala Muhammed (who overthrew him in a bloodless coup) and Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo (who succeeded Muhammed after his assassination in a bloody but failed coup) is instructive.

Gen. Muhammed was a hero in a hurry. Like the comet, he hit the land and expired in a flash, taking the Civil Service with him. Not a few believe that Muhammed's furious but failed reforms of the Civil Service built the foundation of the crippling corruption today, even if the brave soul's laudable target was to eliminate corruption "with immediate effect."

Gen. Obasanjo, on the other hand, is a recurring decimal with the Nigerian polity, crowning a tenure as military head of state with that of a two-term elected president in a democratic order. Indeed, given sentiments from Gen. Obasanjo's Not My Will, Gen. Gowon, who he brashly dismissed as "Mr. Gowon" in the vituperations in

T

HE demise of one of Africa's most respected historian and world acclaimed academic Prof. Ali Mazrui has sent shock waves to the entire world.

The world would never forget in a hurry his television programme of the late 90s called the Triple Heritage, that enlightened many Africans, whose culture and value was projected by that programme and show cased to the entire the

S

IR, Please permit me to react to some issues raised by my good friend Biodun Jeyifo in his column of Sunday October 5, 2014 titled ' The religion and science, faith and reason controversy - again (1)' Jeyifo's column is a compulsory reading for me every Sunday not because of our friendship but more importantly because of his insightful expositions of our socio-political issues. His uncanny ability to effortlessly weave words together to illuminate issues is a delight to me and his numerous readers.

The first issue is the aspect on the late Chief S. O. Awokoya, the legendary Minister of Education in the old Western Region. The late Chinua Achebe who was quoted by Jeyifo was wrong to give the initials of the Chief as 'S. A' and also to refer

the book, was a common criminal all but fit for the gallows -- all because of unproven allegations that Gowon was part of the Buka Suka Dimka failed coup that nevertheless killed Muhammed.

With the right temper, however, Gowon showed the way in institution-building and deepening, for it was after his regime and the Muhammed probes that the Civil Service unravelled. And with personal probity and golden quiet, Gowon projected "principle, morality, honour, integrity, character", words that periodically tumble out of Obasanjo's mouth but which Gowon exemplifies, even without uttering a word.

Still, on the right temperament for stability, Gen. Gowon was also an excellent study during the Civil War, with the way he managed his hot-head commanders, Murtala Muhammed, Mohammed Shuwa, and Benjamin Adekunle, to somehow achieve the desired balance. A precipitate move against any of them could have upset the applecart and led to more chaos.

If Gowon earned plaudits for the compassionate and humane way he prosecuted the war (though many Igbo that wilted in the Biafran heat would scoff at such a claim), his No Victor No Vanquished philosophy, followed by his famous 3Rs -- Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation -- was the stuff of which post-victory nobility is made.

Again, many on the Biafran side would dismiss the 3Rs as Nigeria's post-war gimmick and propaganda. To the extent that no policy can be implemented 100 per cent, the nobility in the concept was crystal clear. Besides, the absence of any post-Civil War recriminations and victimisation, and the fast reintegration of the Igbo into the Nigerian community is tribute to this fine philosophy.

Still, Gen. Gowon was not without blame. He was often perceived as fatalistic, weak and indecisive, an un-military trait, many insisted, that made his 12 governors become a law unto themselves, thus leading to massive corruption.

Indeed, 10 of the 12 governors of the era were found remiss,

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by virtue of the Muhammed government's probe.

But the Muhammed-Obasanjo government's attempt to rein in the governors, and turn military governorship into strict military postings, signposted the smashing of a federal Nigeria. That has resulted in the command mentality that has turned Nigeria's paper federalism into glorified unitary practice, with grave consequences. Yet, without rediscovering a truly federal balance, Nigeria's economic and developmental future hangs in the balance.

On the political front, Gowon's most grievous error was reneging on his promise to hand over to a democratic order in 1976. In a broadcast in 1974, he told a shocked nation that the promise was no longer "realistic", claiming politicians had not learned their lessons and he needed more time to consolidate on the economy. That radicalised his civilian opponents (like the late educationist, Dr. Tai Solarin, who printed a handbill, "The beginning of the end", which he mass circulated, after newspapers would not publish the opinion on their pages) and gave the military the excuse to move against him. He was ousted in 1975.

On the economic front, the Gowon regime was an era of scrupulous four-year national development plans, under which ambit the regime wrought great infrastructural achievements like Eko Bridge, Ijora Causeway Complex, in Lagos and other groundbreaking roads nationwide. The regime's expansion of opportunities into universities, with scrapped tuition fees and heavily subsidised meal tickets, also showed a military regime willing and ready to invest the new oil wealth in its citizens.

That cannot be said of the so-called "corrective regimes" that came after him.

As Gen. Gowon gracefully ages, he again epitomises what Nigeria can have but strangely appears beyond its reach. He was the most federalist of Nigeria's military heads of state, with a masterful juggling of federal diversity and the military's command structure. The Nigerian military exited power in a dust of disgrace, earning the tag of an institution that killed itself with the sweet poison of power. But Gen. Gowon eternally emits the noble image of the military, before the loss of innocence and rectitude.

When basic ennobling mystiques about governance continue to disappear, and the government and whoever are in it continue to project a din of sleaze, distrust and turpitude, Gen. Gowon, with his personal conduct and grace, continues to tell Nigerians that the paradise of a caring, compassionate and empathetic governance can still be regained.

We wish the Gentleman General and statesman many years yet of grace, health, peace and wisdom, as he continues to contribute to the development of his country.

LETTERS

Tribute to Ali Mazrui

world.

Prof. Ali Mazrui played a great role in shaping the way forward for the continent. The vacuum created by his death would be hard to fill and his legacy has been written in the anal of history and his

contribution to educational and cultural values of Africans has been enhanced with his wide indepth knowledge of the African continent.

Prof. Mazrui would be remembered for his articulate

and sound presentation while presenting programmes on radio and television.

The contribution of his likes to the development of education, social and cultural emancipation of black race

would be a source of future research into the continent's developmental effort in finding lasting solution to the underdevelopment of the continent.

I call on the leaders on the

Issues from Jeyifo's Talakawa Liberation Herald [85] to him as a medical scientist.

Chief Stephen Oluwole Awokoya who ended his career as a Professor at the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University was a redoubtable graduate of chemistry and a giant educationist. After pioneering the free primary education scheme in the old Western Region, he started the famous Federal Emergency Science School in Onikan, Lagos in1957. From there he became Adviser on Education to the federal government where he laid the foundation for the educational policy in Nigeria. He later had a stint at UNESCO from where he was appointed as a Professor of Adult Education at the University of Ife. The late Chief Awokoya was really a colossus in Education and whatever he might have written on 'Why our Children

die' must have been a product of his immensely profound versatile noble mind and not because he was a 'medical scientist' as erroneously stated by the late Chinua Achebe. Your readers must always be fed with correct facts.

The second point that caught my attention in the column was the assertion by Jeyifo that presumably in Nigeria 'we do not have a single man or woman of science to match the iconic stature of an Achebe or a Soyinka, none at all'. I salute these literary giants for what they have done to put Nigeria in the limelight of the literary world. I know that we have not got a Nigerian scientist who has got Nobel Prize in any field of science but that does not mean we do not have scientists who are recognized as scientific icons all over the world.

We have iconic scientists such as the late Adeoye Lambo (mental health), the late Benjamin Osuntokun (neurology) Adetokunbo Lucas (public health) Bede Okigbo (agronomy), the late Victor Oyenuga (animal science) and the late Olumbe Bassir (biochemistry). It is on record that the ground breaking pioneering work on guinea worm by the late Professor Sanya Onabamiro is yet to be surpassed very many years after his death and his work has virtually led to the eradication of the disease caused by the guinea worm all over the world.

It is my opinion that if the late Professor Onabamiro had not allowed himself to be distracted by our destructive politics he could have been a candidate for a Nobel Prize. Some of the

Nigerian scientists mentioned could not match the iconic stature of the two literary gurus mainly because they did not combine their academic prowess with political activism which gives people unlimited limelight in the press within and outside Nigeria.

Scientific research is relatively new in Nigeria compared with the situations in Europe, America and Asia and added to this our successive governments in the country have retarded our progress in this field by their myopic and unpatriotic underfunding of research in science.

Finally, I will like to point out that it is not only in modern Nigeria Literature that people 'challenged and overcame the racist colonial canard'. This happens also in other fields.

African continent to immotarlise the great man.

We hope Africa would continue to have the likes of this respected and renowned scholar to shape the advancement of educational concept on the continent to help our economic and political emancipation.

- Bala Nayashi Lokoja, Kogi State.

Professor Bede Okigbo fought for many years to get the scientific world to accept scientific basis for African farming system. In the same field of agriculture, a colonial researcher Dr Norris working in the old Belgian Congo in the fifties told the whole scientific world in the ' Annals of Botany' that rhizobium strains in African soils were not capable of producing viable nodules for effective nitrogen fixation of leguminous crops. This wrong notion persisted in the scientific world until Professor Ezedinma through his work in Ibadan and published in the 'Tropical Agriculture' in 1961 debunked this wrong assertion.

People in other fields apart from those in the field of modern Nigeria Literature had also shown 'unflagging struggle and effort'. It is just that 'Adie nlagun iye ni o je Kari'.

- Prof. Olabode Lucas

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16

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

COMMENT

Concluding the series: APC's ideal Presidential candidate (4)

Since General Buhari is known all over the country as a decent and untainted person, it should not be unduly tough to accede to his emergence in a consensual manner

A

S the title goes, this concludes our modest effort at showcasing General Muhammadu Buhari (RTD) as APC's best leg forward in the 2015 presidential election, if the party's intention is not to be just an 'also ran'.

Conscious of the fact that the party is out to rescue a Nigeria already clobbered by indescribable corruption, some hard truths will be told, and pleas made to some of the leading lights of the party who must bend over backwards, think less of self and give a pride of place to our hemorrhaging country.

The first of these pleas will go to the contestants who have been to all the nooks and crannies of the country selling their visions for party and country; trying to gain members' support. This must have been at great personal costs. Both the party and the candidates must, however, ensure that since only one of them will eventually emerge, everything must be done to avoid fallouts which the opposition could latch on to hurt the party at the election proper. That could easily happen if the contestant finally chosen is perceived by Nigerians to be morally unsuitable for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Since General Buhari is known all over the country as a decent and untainted person, it should not be unduly tough to accede to his emergence in a consensual manner. This is not to suggest that others are not honest, but this is a man who has held the highest office in the land and has never been known, even alleged, to have abused his office. This will not only demonstrate party unity but will allow

every segment of the party to coalesce around his candidature and ensure that he gets everything needed for a successful campaign. After all, the party survived the serial obstacles the opposition erected on the way to its emergence. It is also to be noted that President Jonathan did not emerge PDP's sole presidential candidate because there were no other interested party members. Even as you read this, a scion of the redoubtable Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria's first Prime Minister, is apparently still fuming.

However, if settling the presidential slot looks fairly straight forward, not so that of who emerges the Vice Presidential candidate. Given the unending geo political rivalries for political office in our country, even if in reality that never translates to any meaningful advantage, as we saw in the Obasanjo presidency when infrastructure in the entire Southwest collapsed, and akin to what is currently happening to the South South where the East-West road is taking like forever to complete, I should, ideally, be rooting for a Southwest Vice Presidential candidate. But political reality suggests differently.

Who becomes the Vice Presidential candidate, and where he comes from, are issues that must be handled tactically and strategically. This is one position that can, and should, indeed, be used to maximally hurt the president in order to substantially reduce the advantages derivable from his literal capture of the Southeast.

First and foremost, both General Buhari, who is my preferred contestant, and whoever emerges his Vice

Presidential candidate cannot afford to be both non-current holders of a high political office given the massive logistical advantage holding such an office confers in our skewed democracy especially with regard to funding, security and overall logistics especially when they will be contesting against an incumbent who does not take prisoners.

That fact, in my view, should, automatically eliminate any of the gentlemen whose names are currently being mentioned from the Southwest.

The only remaining likely candidate is, unfortunately, caught up in the Muslim/ Muslim argument which the PDP must eagerly be awaiting to latch on to.

Without a doubt, trying that combination will be ill advised as it will be used by the PDP to scare away millions of voters from the party, especially in the North Central zone.

So much has President Jonathan, unfortunately, imported religion into our politics that APC dares not go there at all. Nor has Boko Haram helped matters either.

President Jonathan's undisguised favoritism towards the Southeast from where he appointed not less than 70 percent of the headship of the country's regulatory agencies, the Central Bank inclusive, in addition to the most important ministries in his government, has so cemented his capture of that geo-political zone that it would be unwise for the APC to consider any candidate from there. So complete is the president's hold on the Southeast that former Governor Obi of Anambra State thought nothing of abandoning his promises to the Ikemba for the Jonathan cause, an issue that so upset Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, the late Igbo leader's spouse. I say this with considerable unease given Governor Rochas Okorocha's immense, pan Nigerian goodwill; a goodwill that is

obviously only a fractional appreciation of his large heart which knows neither Jew nor Gentile.

It is to be noted that the Yoruba, who also voted hugely for candidate Jonathan in 2011, have been remorselessly shortchanged by his government; a fact he admitted during the recent electioneering campaigns in the Southwest.

This therefore leaves us with only the South South as where the Vice Presidential candidate can come from.

As tactics, it must be a deliberate intent of the APC to keep the president busy campaigning in that zone rather than for him to have the luxury of taking their vote for granted. He must be made to sweat for every vote he would get there unlike in 2011. Luckily, there is a groundswell of reasons to ensure that.

Governor Rotimi Amaechi has shown conclusively that he has all it takes to emerge the APC VP candidate.

He has successfully fought a ruthless opposition to the hilt. Many in his situation would have crumbled, if not cave in to the multi-pronged attacks spearheaded, no doubt, by the presidency. The governor enjoys tremendous support in a state where, since 1999 PDP has routinely allocated its massive two million plus votes to itself. The APC must not let that happen in 2015 and with Amaechi on the ticket that will be an absolute impossibility.

Additionally, the massive anti-Jonathan sentiments arising from the Bayelsa/ Rivers Soku oil wells crisis and the deliberate, inexplainable impediments placed on the opening of the Abonnema seaport as well as the Soku gas plant projects approved by the late President Musa Yar'Adua will ensure that many will not be favorably disposed to Jonathan's candidature.

This article was about concluded when Wale Adeoye, a former Senior

Special Assistant to Governor Fayemi and a top chieftain of the O'odua Nationalist Coalition, sent me the Coalition's resolutions at its Ibadan meeting of October 7, 2014.

The relevant part, to this subject, reads as follows: 1. The coalition believes that it is more strategic for the Yoruba and the APC to present and support a SouthSouth candidate as the Vice President in the forthcoming election. Such a person will neutralise the passion of PDP's ethnic minority campaign tactics as well as strengthen confidence in the APC among ethnic minorities across the country.

2. The coalition resolved to have its contact committee meet with the APC in Yoruba land to recommend Governor Amaechi in view of his dogged spirit and libertarian heritage in the belief that given that he is an Ikwerre, with close genealogical ties to the Igbo, he would certainly enjoy a modicum of Igbo support and so break into the president's near monopoly of that zone. Also, the fact that the governor is highly regarded both in Nigeria and internationally, has vast political linkages across the country and can be trusted would be added advantages.

What more can I say?

As for the Yoruba, the most suitable post in an APC- controlled federal government, would, in my view, be the Senate Presidency. Given Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu's yeoman's contribution to the emergence and sustenance of the party, it should not be too much to cede this position to him, either in his personal capacity, or to his nominee.

And the nominee could very well be his spouse, the highly effective Senator Oluremi Tinubu who would be returning as a second term senator.

Concluded.

The heart of the Police There is no end to what the police could have done to help that boy that day, but it was definitely not to stand and gawk. Gawking is not on police syllabus

I

RECENTLY read a book that had a chapter titled 'The Heart of a Curate'. The chapter talked about many things the heart of a curate should or should not contain.

Naturally, the most basic ingredient to be looked for in a curate's heart is selfless love, even for God's own worst creatures like a serial murderer. Conversely, that heart should not contain anything like selfishness or self-preservation at the expense of even the littlest of God's own creatures.

That made me wonder: what really is at the core of the heart of Nigerians as one group? I suppose that will require a large study that will involve not only psychologists, sociologists, pathologists, etc., but also surgeons. Oh yes, dear people, we may need to slice open a few hearts to confirm what we have always feared: the heart of your Nigerian is black at the core. How do I know this? Listen to me now as I tell you.

A story broke during the week that fairly tore at everyone's heart. A helpless four-year old boy found himself being mauled by a pair of the landlord's dogs gone out of control. With unrestrained fangs, the dogs were said to have torn open the lil `un's scalp, in addition to inflicting all kinds of injuries on him.

That is so scary; at least it was to those standing around him watching the

event. Yes sir, some brave ones were daring enough to watch. Not me.

What surprises me (I don't know about you) is the fact that the report says that there were policemen among the watchers of the gory and goring event. Apparently, the residents who were overcome by the happening at its start had gone to call in the police who came to the scene but promptly became overcome too.

They must have exclaimed 'what the ...?!' when they saw the boy being mauled by the pair of dogs. When I read the report, I also echoed 'what the ...?! Not again!' about the policemen's inaction.

I hesitate to say that the police were helpless (even though one of them was said to have exclaimed something to the effect of 'Who wants to die?'), but clearly, they did not meet the high general expectation. And this is not the first time. Remember the one that happened somewhere on the outskirts of Port Harcourt some years ago when some students were torn apart by an angry mob as some policemen watched? There was also outrage because the rest of us humanity were and are still operating within a particular framework in which the police are expected to have a heart.

Normally, the heart of the police is expected to contain many things.

First of all, at the core of the heart of

a policeman, slice it ever which way you will, resides the most important ingredient: that willingness to serve and protect. When he leaves home in the morning to report for duty, he is not sure in what capacity he is going to serve the public, but his readiness is never in doubt. So, many a policeman has found himself climbing up fifty-foot trees just to retrieve a drunken fellow; they have also been known to have climbed down twenty-foot wells to bring out many an errant child or adult; they have had to wait on old ladies for minutes on end; they have also had to slug it out with armed bandits, robbers or highway men...

Obviously, when duty calls for the police, nature is the grand discriminator.

Whoever needs to be served, the heart of the police is self-sacrificing, even for stupid drunks.

Unfortunately, this essential ingredient of service has somehow metamorphosed in the heart of the police in Nigeria to mean service to big men only, like the rest of us. And so, the policemen called upon that day did not serve that little boy when he needed them most.

Naturally, in order to serve, the police need to be strong-hearted. This ingredient is so important that I believe it constitutes part of the qualities demanded of a recruit.

Indeed, he is expected to be physically strong enough to beat a robber under the table and not to be the one cowering under himself; mentally strong enough to anticipate the moves of the most slippery fish; spiritually strong enough not to go

around suspecting that everyone and everything is against him. Again, unfortunately, this important ingredient appears to have dissolved into ineffectuality around here. Many tales abound of the police politely giving robbers the right of way.

Above all, the heart of the police needs to contain wiliness and intelligence. This is because many a situation, not to talk of the antics of sociopaths and psychopaths, can tax the average brain. I imagine that this ingredient was sorely lacking in the policemen that answered the call to come to that little boy's rescue. It could also be that they missed out on the lectures on how to rescue someone being attacked by an animal. So, they did not know how to distract an attacking animal with a decoy while the victim is snatched off... or to tie up exposed parts of the body with some hard materials like jute before accosting a wild animal... or to call the mother of the victim...

Oh dear, there is no end to what they could have done but it was definitely not to stand and gawk. Gawking is not on police syllabus.

Seriously, what has so corrupted the heart of the police in Nigeria that makes its men stand by and gawk at evil again and again? Here we are, all the while being told that when you call the police, their training ensures that they will help you in your dire need, even give you their salary. And there they are, conditionalising their help. God will save us.

The incident above clearly points again to the endless number of lapses in the running of the police

system in Nigeria. It has been remarked again and again that there has been a systematic dehumanisation of the police by the nation's leaders, yet not much has been done to restore its humanisation. The very essence of the police has been devalued by the currents of things thrown at them, most notably their poor and insufficient kitting out, not to talk of the poor arms they give them to carry.

It is also well known now that every segment of the Nigerian populace calculates everything in terms of the naira and kobo value: what's in it for me? I believe the police are not different. This means that to a man, you, me, your police, etc., now believe that the incentive to act is inversely proportional to the risk investment in a venture. Should I rescue a man from inside a well?

Yes if a) he will be grateful; b) his folks will be grateful; c) if he will settle a large endowment on me afterwards. Should I rescue a child from dogs? Yes if a) his folks will take care of my people should I die in the process; b) there will be a large settlement; c) they will settle me... If none of the above will follow, then no. Naturally, this calculation takes place within nanoseconds.

What's in the heart of the police in Nigeria? I don't know. But let's have a change of that heart, police people. Serving in the police is all about going out on a limb. The heart of the police should not be different from that of a curate after all. It must be motivated by a selfless desire to serve the public.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

COMMENT

17

(88) Can we conquer the specter of educational kwashiorkor as we did that of the Ebola pandemic?

Specter: 1. An object of terror or dread: the specter of famine or disease.

2. A mental image of something extremely menacing: the specter of an epidemic disease Dictionary.com (online)

T

HIS past week, the declaration of the World Health Organization (WHO) that Nigeria is free of the specter of an Ebola pandemic finally hit the airwaves of the Western media in a big way. On radio, on television, in newspapers and in the virtual but ubiquitous universe of the Internet, the news finally broke and pervaded reports in every broadcast medium that Nigeria was no longer one of the West African countries to be avoided. This development gave me a relief of such immensity that I knew that something was involved that was much greater than my simple but profound joy in the realization that people would not be dying in their thousands or hundreds of thousands from an Ebola pandemic in our country. That "something" was the thought that we actually might have in us the capacity, the will to fight and conquer all the social evils that plague us now and seem impregnable, things like endemic, miasmic corruption; Boko Haram; a whole generation of young people with future prospects worse than the frightening present; and the metaphoric kwashiorkor that has made the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of education in our country one of the worst in the world.

In thinking about what to write, what to include in this piece, I consciously made the decision that first of all, I must give in to and express my great joy and relief that we beat the specter of the Ebola pandemic. The removal of Nigeria and Senegal from the zone of "West Africa of Ebola" is the single best piece of news from our continent in a long time. This is all the more exceptional because for the most part, we did it on our own.

We did get some assistance from foreign medical personnel and the active interest of the WHO, but no one can deny the fact that it was the work and dedication of heroic and selfless Nigerians that made this achievement possible. Thus, my mind goes back again to that woman of extraordinary bravery, courage and selflessness, Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh. From there, my mind wanders to the inspirational

•Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH)

story of Dr. Adah Igonoh's survival from the near-death clutches of an Ebola attack. And then to the Lagos State Government, with some help from the Federal Ministry of Health. As I write these words, I am filled with a pride, a faith in my country and its human capacities the like of which I have not felt in a long while. Indeed, in writing these words, I have a strong intimation that many of those reading this piece also feel, as I do, that beating the threat of the Ebola pandemic is the best and most positively portentous news that we have had in Nigeria in perhaps the last half of a decade.

Only now that we seem to have beaten the threat of an Ebola pandemic does it come with a startling revelation that in actuality, it was the specter, not the reality of a pandemic that inspired us to dig deep into our collective selves and find the capacities we have in us to beat the threat. For unlike Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea that are countries facing the grim reality of the Ebola pandemic, we had only seven deaths. And after the initial spread of the disease beyond the index carrier, Patrick Sawyer, the figure of real and suspected secondary cases of infection never exceeded a couple of hundreds. That is why, at least in hindsight, one realizes now that it was the specter of being overwhelmed by the reality of the pandemic raging in those three countries that spurred us.

Is this a general law, a general feature of human affairs, that people are often far more frightened and prompted to action by the threat and not the reality of great,

surpassing calamity? On this account, calamity itself - and not its specter - leaves little or no room for redeeming, curative action. This, it seems, is because with the threat, the specter of calamity, you are not yet overwhelmed by its actuality; you still have breathing room to act decisively. I think this is a false and unhelpful assumption but because we have just experienced the specter and not the reality of an Ebola pandemic, I wish to probe a little further into the matter through the example of what I am calling in this essay the kwashiorkor of a colossal fall in educational standards in our country.

I chose the metaphor, the image of kwashiorkor deliberately. This is a disease that comes from extreme malnutrition whose victims are, overwhelmingly, children. More spectral is the visual image of kwashiorkor stricken children: the belly is grotesquely bloated, making the head look shrunken or naturally undersize. This then makes it seem as if there is nothing in the head, the seat of knowledge, while the belly, the seat of nourishment for the whole body, is full, sated.

But of course in kwashiorkor the belly is also empty as, indeed, is the whole human frame and mass.

Thus, in kwashiorkor you have the perfect image for an undernourishment that is so severe that in both the bloated and shrunken parts of the body, there is nothing of value left to sustain the body and, indeed, life itself.

I first thought of this image as an appropriate metaphor for the collapse in education at all levels in our country when, in the year

2009, I read that the failure rate of those who sat for the NECO exams for the year was 98.2% which meant that only 1.8% passed. Since then, other facts, figures and actualities of educational doldrums in our country have added to the appropriateness of the kwashiorkor metaphor. One statistic is the fact that the passing rate for English and Mathematics in NECO exams in the last five years has never risen above 35%. Yet another fact is perpetual complaint of employers of labour in Nigeria that the graduates being produced in our tertiary institutions are so mediocre that they are virtually "unemployable". Add to that the fact that not only very rich Nigerians but also those who are only moderately well off are abandoning Nigerian universities and sending their children to foreign universities where "foreign" here includes African countries like Ghana and South Africa. Finally, there is this fact: even though everyone connected with education in Nigeria agrees that the standards of performance, of teaching by our primary and secondary teachers are very low, the teachers themselves are very resistant to re-training and reprofessionalization.

The reasons for this educational kwashiorkor are many, but most significant of all is the fact that public funds, or national wealth that could have been used to adequately fund education at all levels in our country are being massively looted and diverted to the private local and foreign bank accounts of a few thousands of members of the political class and their cronies in the private sector. I

think this is why our educational kwashiorkor has gone far beyond a specter to an overwhelming and crippling actuality. The most telling indication of this is the fact that, as far as I am aware, no Federal Minster of Education and no Commissioner of Education in any of the states of the federation has ever raised an alarm at the terrible failure rate of our secondary school leavers. I mean, when the specter has become a pervasive reality, why raise an alarm, why worry, especially if you are amongst and within the ranks of those causing the severe malnourishment to education in our country? In most countries of the world, a failure rate of 98.2% would have caused the powers that be to bring all stakeholders together to devise a strategy to avert the possibility of the specter becoming an overwhelming and crippling reality.

Specters constitute a very complex, very interesting phenomenon in human individual and mass psychology. Because I have not been in the country since July when I came twice, I have been informed by reliable friends that since the Ebola threat or specter, standards of public hygiene have improved considerably in many parts of the country, especially in public spaces and venues. If that is the case, we can assert that specters sometimes have beneficial uses and in the case of the Ebola scare, the specter was spectacular in the degree of civic mindedness that it inspired in thousands of Nigerians. All the same, we must realize that it is a desperate and failing state that needs a specter in order to do what is right, what will be of lasting value to Nigerians of living generations and generations yet to be born. And there is always the fact that specters are never completely laid to rest. We have beaten back the first specter of an Ebola pandemic that came with Patrick Sawyer, but who is to say that another "Sawyer" will never come into the country and start the scare, the specter all over again? Indeed, specters arise not only from what is yet to come but also from what has already come and is raging in the land. So that even as terrible as the undernourishment of education is in our country now, there is the specter of the fact that it could get far worse than what we are experiencing now. Thus, it is never too late to arrest a worsening situation; we are not trapped irrevocably between the specter and its reality. This coming week, there is going to be a National Education Summit (NES) to be hosted by ASUU and the NLC. This piece is written with fervent hopes that the Summit will end in a resounding success.

Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

18

F

OR a visitor, the sights of Paris, the French Capital, are a pleasure to behold. Ancient architecture competes with modern structures and spectacular aesthetics to earn Paris its reputation as one of Europe’s most beautiful. However, that was the last thing on the mind of Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed as he stepped into Paris on a cold October 7 Morning. Rather, the executive Governor of Kwara State was focused on the Kwara State Community Health Insurance Scheme (KCHIS) which had been nominated along with nine other development initiatives for the first Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) Development Assistance Committee(DAC) Award for taking Development Initiatives to scale.

In the run up to the event, Erik Solheim, Chair of DAC said although extreme poverty has been halved and progress made on MDG Goals, more innovative solutions needed to be taken to scale if “we are to end poverty, green our economies and to make sure that all the children now going to school now learn something”. It was an issue Ahmed will latch on to and escalate the following day at the globally renowned OECD New World Forum which dwelt on fresh pathways to Africa’s growth.

Back to the DAC awards, Ahmed’s enthusiasm was understandable. In seven years, KCHIS has provided 85, 000 rural dwellers in Kwara State access to subsidized basic health care in 10 of the 16 Local government areas of rhea state. The scheme, which provides participants access to basic healthcare for a year, started in Edu Local Government Area of the State in 2007.The Ahmed have gained this recognition despite our resource challenges. It is therefore very encouraging to us that we have won this prize. In Kwara State, we have always prioritized healthcare based on the premise that only a healthy populace can be productive. That is why we collaborated with the Dutch government and PharmAccess to initiate this scheme that has grown from 10 participants in 2007 to 85, 000 today.

“I must thank my predecessor, Senator Bukola Saraki, who is here with us, for his foresight in starting this project. We also appreciate the support of the Dutch government and other donor partners.

Our target is Universal Coverage of all 1 million rural dwellers in the state by 2018.This is why we look forward to others partnering with us in this direction”. As is usual with ceremonies of this nature, the awards were followed wellattended dinner in one of the OECD’s impressive halls. As the team from Kwara retired for the night, the delights of Paris were still not strong enough to distract from the following afternoon’s event.

The following afternoon, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed was the only Nigerian on a panel discussion at the OECD’S New World Forum which discussed Africa’s future developmental prospects. Themed Africa: The Future is Now,it explored among others whether Africa is taking off in general or through isolated cases. It also explored the champions and engines of success in Africa while also interrogating obstacles to growth and the place of the middle class in providing administration has now extended it to 10 LGAs, according to Professor Babatunde Opabola, the Senior Special Assistant on Primary Health.

Clearly,the simplicity, impact, and affordability of the scheme did not go unnoticed. The scheme had

Kwara’s day of glory in Paris

• Sebastian Le Fol, Managing Editor, Le Point, Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, (middle) and Professor Monsef Cheikh-Roumou, member of the Tunisian Parliament, at the Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECD) New World Forum in Paris

By Femi Akorede already received accolades from the Bill Gates Foundation, the World Economic Forum and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, said, However, the 34 member OECD had also taken notice of the innovative scheme.

To underscore the importance of the occasion, Governor Ahmed’s predecessor in office, Senator Bukola Saraki had also arrived Paris to be part of Kwara State’s moment of glory. Not only was the scheme initiated in his tenure, Saraki was clearly pleased his successor had scaled up the initiative and garnered it global acclaim.

Perhaps, to underscore the scheme’s importance and guarantee credibility, the DAC Jury was highly credentialed and global.

Headed by H.E. Lubna Bit Khalid Al Qasimi, UAE’s Minister for International Development and Cooperation, the panel also included K.Y. Amoako, President, African Center For Economic Transformation, Homi Kharas, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director for the Global Economy and Development, Brookings Institution, Washington, Geoff Lamb, Chief Economic and Policy Advisor to the CoChairs and CEO, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Dato Lee Yee Cheong, Chairman, International Science Technology and Innovative Center for South- South Cooperation(STIC) Malaysia.

Others are Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell, MP House of Commons,

UK, Charlotte Petri-Gornitzka, DG, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, SIDA and Julius Akinyemi, Resident Entrepreneur, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Media Lab. Diplomats and development experts attended the award ceremony, which took place at the OECD’s gleaming headquarters in Paris, from Europe, Asia, and Africa, including Christian Rebergen, Director General, International Cooperation, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. PetriGornitzka, DG of Swedish Development Agency, SIDA set the ball rolling by introducing the finalists. Apart from KCHIS, initiatives from India, Kenya, Nepal, South Africa, Bangladesh and Pakistan were also shortlisted for the DAC Award. Although, Katalyst, a scheme that provides high-quality seeds to Bangladeshi farmers as a means of helping to increase their income, won the overall prize, KCHIS managed to share the limelight with the DAC 2014 winner.

Indeed, jury member and SIDA DG felt compelled to acknowledge this given the attention and accolades KCHIS received in the run up to the main event as well as events that preceded it. For instance, at the breakfast meeting with representatives from the UK, Germany, Netherlands and the World Health Organization, WHO, the Kwara delegation, led by Ahmed and Saraki,

“Indeed, Pieter WalhofDirector, PharmAccess Foundation, one of Kwara’s KCHIS partners, told an earlier meeting that the scheme was so innovative that the World Economic Forum has selected Kwara State as a model for other states, a call that Kaduna and Ogun States had respond to as they are currently understudying the Kwara Model with a view to implementing it.”

received commendations from the European Countries and the global health body for being the only country in Africa to have taken Community health Insurance to scale. The Kwara delegation’s enthusiasm about DAC was therefore understandable.

Petri-Gornitzka told the audience that she knew there was a lot of enthusiasm for KCHIS given it’s the only subsidized scheme that has been taken to scale in the world but that Katalayst’s intervention had reached 458000 people, the highest impact among the 10 initiatives that made the OECD shortlist. Nevertheless, she assured, Kwara’s finalist prize was also laudable given it was shortlisted among close to 50 entries.

Indeed, Pieter WalhofDirector, PharmAccess Foundation, one of Kwara’s KCHIS partners, told an earlier meeting that the scheme was so innovative that the World Economic Forum has selected Kwara State as a model for other states, a call that Kaduna and Ogun States had respond to as they are currently understudying the Kwara Model with a view to implementing it.

Receiving the finalist prize for taking KCHIS to scale in Kwara State, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed said “we are very delighted to be here today because we sustainable development.

Other panel members, were Moncef Cheikh-Rouhou, Professor and Member of the Tunisian Parliament, Prof. Achille Mbembe of Witwatersrand University, South Africa, Magette Wade, founder and CEO of Tiossan, Senegal and Lionel Zinsou, Chairman of PAI Partners, France. Given the forum and its topic of discussion, the world media was well represented with CNN, the FT; Le Point; and La Republica.

Ahmed was blunt and straight to the point. Functional education is the key to Africa’s future. To succeed, Africa must decouple itself, from an educational system that remains shackled to the needs of colonialism more than five decades after. For Ahmed, a graphic manifestation of this dysfunction in African education is that an Af-

rican child has a 6 per cent chance of making it to tertiary education while his European counterpart has an above 80 per cent chance.

Ahmed said while he has no intention of excusing the violent insurgencies that were threatening to blight the future of Africa, the lack of appropriate education and opportunities for youths, he opined, contributed to Africa’s stagnation and violent strife. This has resulted in the continent having the highest number of internally displaced people, a huge number of unemployable youths and a significant number of out of school children.

The solution, he said, was to review the content and context of African education. Infrastructure is key in this regard, Ahmed admitted, but more important is educational content skewed towards the continent’sidentified needs in science, technology and entrepreneurship.

These, he said such can ensure that every child is equipped to innovate andcontribute to the country’s developmental objectives while achieving their own aspirations. Referring to Kwara, he said the state government was already pursuing this by focusing on entrepreneurial education at the state-owned university and by collaborating with City and Guilds of London to establish a groundbreaking International Vocation Center to plug gaps in middle-level manpower.

Other contributions keyed into the need for an educational system that is designed to meet Africa’s development and the urgent need to promote entrepreneurship to provide jobs, grow Africa’s middle class and contribute to its growth.

Clearly, Ahmed’s contribution had connected with the OECD’s call for better education for African children as the key to its future. More importantly, Kwara State’s innovative KCHIS and its leadership’s vision for state and continent earned it acclaim and applause in far away Paris. In the end, missing the delights of Paris proved worthwhile.

•Akorede is Senior Special Assistant to Kwara State Governor

‘Why Unilag is not ranked 19 among the world top universities Page 22 Foods for your eyes

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

Wild, Wild world of dogs: How safe is your neighbourhood?

20 SUNDAY LIFE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

•Omonigo

•Odia

Wild, Wild world of dogs:

•Mrs. Odia (mother of the boy)

How safe is your neighbourhood?

Gboyega Alaka attempts a critical look at the recent incident of dog attack on a four-year-old, paying specific attention to the inherent dangers of stray dogs on the loose, fatality of rabies infection, legal rights of citizens in the face of future challenges and more.

I •Continued on Page 21

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 20144

SUNDAY LIFE 21

•Continued from Page 20

‘You can get a court injunction to forestall similar attacks’

•Okpanem

•Continued on Page 24

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

22 SUNDAY LIFE PLATFORM

‘Why Unilag is not ranked among the world top universities’

•Graham-Douglas

•Bello

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

SUNDAY LIFE PLATFORM 23

The University of Lagos is not over commercialised. And when you say the services are not made available for ordinary people, that is not true. In term the calibre of students that we have now, they are the best of the best in the nation because the competition to get into the University of Lagos is fierce.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

24 SUNDAY LIFE

WILD, WILD WORLD OF DOGS: HOW SAFE IS YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD?

Dog bite will kill you if...

•Alao

•Continued from Page 21

Dr. (Mrs.) Funmilayo AIao is a veterinary doctor, clinician and small animal practitioner. She spoke to Gboyega Alaka on the potent danger of bites from unvaccinated dogs, the fatality of rabies if not immediately treated and the need to revisit the laws regulating the breeding of animals.

Why I staked my life for my son’s Mrs. Helen Edet Odia, mother of Omonigho recounts her moment of bravery, saying she could not afford to lose him.

•Odia

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

SUNDAY LIFE 25

How joggers cope on Nigerian roads A simple but efficient form of exercise, running can easily be embraced by different classes of people as all that is needed is just a place to run. In this report, Joe Agbro Jr, writes on why runners in many Nigerian cities should plan well for their own safety before hitting the roads.

•Igwe

TIPS FOR RUNNERS Don't go for a run when it is dark outside Avoid lonely or dangerous spots or stretches of road Join a group to run as there is security in numbers Wear reflective clothing or bright coloured clothes Avoid routes with much vehicular activities Oppose oncoming traffic

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

26 SUNDAY LIFE

Foods for your eyes An ophthalmologist, Dr. Emmanuel Aruona of Pearl Eye Clinic, Ikorodu, Lagos, in this encounter with Edozie Udeze explains why it is proper to keep the eyes healthy by feeding on appropriate, diets and protecting them from harmful effects.

•Aruona

Diamond and medical tourism

By Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha

Beauty

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

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In search of new capital market investment Page 60, 61

Nigeria to lift trade frontier in U.S. - Africa relations •Jonathan

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'June 2015 digital broadcast target certain' A S the competition to hold prime position in Nigeria's electronic broadcast space intensifies, StarTimes says it will meet the June 17 2015 target of digital broadcast transmission set by the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).

Addressing journalists in Abuja at the launch of nine new channels, Israel Bolaji, Public Relations Manager at NTA- Star TV Network, said StartTimes

From Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor) was already providing digital broadcast services in 32 states and 34 cities in Nigeria and will cover the remaining states and cities this year.

Commenting on 2015 digital migration deadline, Bolaji

Frustrations consumers face over migration to cashless system Page 63

said Nigerians can confidently migrate into digital space with StarTimes as it provides them with the latest technologies like PVR and DVB-T2 technology and offers quality digital pay TV. StarTimes, he said, "is a global capacity builder in system integration for large scale digi-

tal television and radio project, research and development of digital broadcast core technology as well as installation, content synchronisation, smooth network operation, maintenance and manpower development for digital pay-TV." "As a platform for digital migration, we are ever committed to supporting Nigerians actualise the 2015 deadline by ensuring that Nigerians get the best of digital television at an affordable price" he said.

Seplat restates commitment to capacity building From Frank Akatakpo, Warri EPLAT Petroleum Development Company Plc has reiterated its commitment to building strong human capacity in their area of operation.

The Managing Director, Austin Avuru, gave this hint at a public forum in Sapele, Delta state recently.

The event was the grand finale quiz competition for secondary schools in Delta and Edo states.

Justifying the need for the competition, Avuru, who was represented by Dr (Mrs) Chioma Nwachuku, General Manager, External Affairs and Communications, said it was borne out of the need to build the skills set of members of its host communities.

“Our company’s commitment to intellectual capacity building remains strong and unshakable. This is our third edition spanning for three years of organising the Pearls Quiz Competition and we are constantly impressed by the performance of the students especially the female students who are disadvantaged on account of their gender. We are convinced that the future of these children is bright indeed,” he stressed.

This year competition was keenly contested by over 1500 schools with Hebrew International Secondary School coming tops.

S

‘Insecurity, power bane of unemployment’

A •From left: Aig-Imokhuede, Ehigiamusoe, among other guests at the forum in Abuja…recently.

PHOTO: JOKE KUJENYA

Aig-Imoukhuede, others chart way out of poverty

A

LL that is required to get Nigerians out of the poverty trap is to properly develop the massive human and natural resources in the country, experts have said.

Giving the charge, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Chairman, Wapic Insurance Plc, President, National Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and former Managing Director, Access Bank, noted that focus for the development on Nigeria as a nation should be on improving the lives of those whose lives can be better.

S

By Joke Kujenya Speaking on the theme: 'Poverty, Development and Growth, Lessons for Nigeria' during the 21st annual forum of Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO), a non-forprofit agency, which held at the Niger Hall of the International Conference Centre in Abuja, recently, Aig-Imoukhuede said that in 15 years of Nigeria's economic renaissance, being one of the world's largest economy and being number 26th on the world economic table, "it is time we all began to ask why is there so much poverty and depriva-

tion amid our much touted economic renaissance as she brandishes great statistics? And why haven't we been able to solve the issues of poverty in the midst of plenty?"

According to him, one of the reasons it is salient for Nigeria to learn from China on how the Asian nation was able to blend the wealth of its human and natural resources that has now resulted in the economic, material, technological and overall human growth of China.

He said this simply shows that Nigeria really needs to fix both its institutions and entrepreneurs to develop the nation.

For both the former and latter, Aig-Imoukhuede said those driving the wheels of the nation must know that poverty reduction cannot be attained without income growth given that development is generally focused on alleviation of poverty.

The Managing Director, LAPO, Mr. Godwin Eseiwi Ehigiamusoe, while appreciating the guest speaker, said that his speech had reinforced his organisation’s commitment to offering assistance to women and widows and upcoming youth in the country through its LAPO Microfinance Bank Limited.

Shareholders’ group lauds insurance firm’s profitability

HAREHOLDERS under the aegis of Constance Shareholders' Association of Nigeria, one of the frontline shareholders' groups has passed a vote of confidence on Lasaco Assurance Plc, stressing that the latter has lived up to its pedigree.

Shehu Mallam Mikail, National President, who gave this commendation on behalf of his group at the weekend shortly after its annual general meeting in Ilorin, Kwara state capital, said the insurance firm has proved through its

impressive business fundamentals that it is one of the companies to beat in the sector.

"This is one of the most transparent insurance firm its in Nigeria in giving accurate information to shareholders/ stakeholders who believes in adherence to good corporate governance also taking bold steps to make sure that Nigerians show interest in having taking insurance policies and to believe in insurance companies and the company was able to make a profit after taxation of 271,405

in 2013 compare to 2012 which was 92,903 This is an encouraging development in an insurance industry."

Expatiating, Mikail said: "We would like to implore NAICOM to give adequate support to all insurance firms that abide to a good corporate governance so that Nigerians would be able to have confidence in Nigeria Insurance firms in order for people to be able to take one insurance policy or the others as we investors would be able to have confidence in investing in Nigeria insurance companies."

NAICOM, he further stressed, " should build a better relationship with the insurance firms by giving prompt response to any required information by the companies and not wait until they are penalised which does not necessarily required in other to build a room for the insurance industry in the country so that our economy would be able to have a sound understanding because most of Western World Insurance companies are the backbone of their economy which give adequate confidence to an investor to invest in their economy."

MEMBER of the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Ojo 1 constituency, Muyibat Adeyemi Rufai, has identified insecurity and unstable power as the reasons for high rate of unemployment in the country.

The lawmaker stated this at a weekly 'Time out with the press' question and answer programme organised by correspondents at the Lagos Assembly.

According to her, because of this twin factors, a lot of companies have either had to relocate to neighbouring countries or close down completely thereby denying many employment opportunities.

"And even those among the unemployed who want to go into private businesses are also discouraged from doing so because of lack of power and insecurity. Even artisans are also suffering from the same malaise.

"The private sector is supposed to provide the highest number of employment for citizens than the governments at the three tier but the private sector is handicapped because of this same twin problems," Rufai said.

She laid the whole blame for the current situation on the doorstep of the federal government saying, "the federal government has failed us in this country and that is why today they are begging investors to come and invest, but the prevailing insecurity and power problem scare the investors away.”

F

NB brands bag ADVAN awards for excellence

OR the third year in a row, brands from the stable of Nigerian Breweries Plc have again bagged awards for marketing excellence. Last weekend, Star Lager Beer, Star Lite, Gulder Beer, Amstel Malta and Fayrouz soft drink shone after picking seven prestigious awards during this year's edition of the Advertising Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) Awards for Marketing Excellence, which held at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos.

The Star brand clinched the gold Award for the 'Experiential Marketing Category' with its annual national musical concert, Star Trek. It was also the third position in the 'Campaign of the Year Category' with the Shine on Nigeria campaign.

Nigerian Breweries' newest product, Star Lite, also stood out as it clinched the golden award for the New Brand of the Year category and second position in the 'Innovation of the Year Category.'

Gulder Beer was awarded second position in the 'Consumer Promotion of the Year Category' with its Gulder Ultimate Search Consumer Challenge. Soft drink Fayrouz also clinched the second position in the 'Experiential Marketing Category' with the Fayrouz L'Original Expression Show. Amstel Malta got the third position for the 'Digital Marketing of the Year Category' with its 'Act the Part', an online contest.

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Breweries, Nicolaas Vervelde, said the awards was a major improvement from the 2013 stands and has proved to be a testimony to the professionalism of the marketing team of Nigerian Breweries. According to him, the award would boost the company's effort in its execution to win drive.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

BUSINESS

T

HE flurry of activities and otherwise of any stock exchange remains one of the cardinal fundamentals for gauging investors' confidence, market pulse, liquidity and health of the market as regards to its primary responsibility to the economy as a whole.

However, since the Nigerian capital market witnessed a downturn in 2008, companies have not been making initial public offerings (IPOs) for a number of reasons, chief among which is the fear that such venture might fail due to low investor confidence in the market as against rights issues and bonds.

Hitherto, many investors preferred investing in IPOs because of their capital gain potential just as it is believed that shares offered through IPOs are under-priced and have the potential to rise after listing. Hence, investors always swoop on such shares. However, the IPO market has been dormant since 2008.

Sadly, a cross-section of financial experts who spoke with The Nation said the Nigerian market will remain inactive until second half of 2015.

For instance, Head, Equity Primary Markets, Africa, India and Middle East at the LSE, Mr. Ibukun Adebayo, told The Nation that the driving force for capital raising across Africa now is debt, explaining that equity IPO raising, will become active in 2015.

"It (IPO) is a question of time.

The driving force for capital raising, not just Nigeria but across Africa now is debt. Companies are inherently underleveraged in Nigeria so we are going to see more debt issuance before you see equity issuance. Companies have to come because the balance between the interest of the investors and the company moving forward. So we expect more of IPOs taking off from the second half of next year," Adebayo said.

A stockbroker, Mr. Ayo Oguntayo, said the return of retail investors would encourage companies to issue IPOs in the very near future.

The primary aim of the Nigerian capital market is to mobilise long-term funds. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is the centre point of the capital market while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) serves as the apex regulatory body. It provides a mechanism for mobilising private and public savings and making such funds available for productive purposes. The exchange also provides a means for trading in existing securities. To enable small as well as large-scale enterprises gain access to public listing, the NSE operates the main board for relatively large enterprises and the Second-Tier Security Market (SSM) where listing requirements are less stringent for small and medium-scale enterprises. The exchange which started with only 19 securities traded on its floors in 1961 now has about 198 equities with a total market capitalisation of more than N13 trillion.

The major instruments used to raise funds in the market include equities, debentures, bonds and stocks. The capital market is classified into two segments, namely primary and secondary. The primary market is for new issues of securities. The mode of offer for the securities

In search of new capital market investment

The biting economic crunch has made it almost impossible for many companies listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange to go for new initial public offerings (IPO). Bukola Afolabi in this report looks at the issues

•

•Stockbrokers on the floor of the Exchange

traded in this market includes offer for subscriptions, rights issues, offer for sale, private placement etc; while the secondary market is a market for trading in existing securities. This consists of exchanges and over the counter deals where securities are bought and sold after their issuance in the primary market. Activities in the secondary market have increased substantially over the years. The number of stock brokers trading on the exchange increased from 110 in 1991 to 140 in 1994.

NSE and the economy However, the key drivers of the Nigerian economy hardly feature on the exchange; Agriculture, oil and gas, power and telecoms each constitute less than five per cent of the market capitalisation of the NSE. According to data obtained from the CEO of NSE, Oscar Onyema's keynote on "Re-awakening the capital market through participation of key players in the economy' in February 2012 showed that agriculture contributed nearly 44 per cent to GDP, yet was less than 0.3 per cent of market capitalisation; oil and gas was over 14 per cent of GDP but a mere three per cent of market capitalisation; power (specifically, electricity), at just over 3 per cent of GDP, is not represented on the market at all; while telecoms, with 5.5 per cent of GDP (not to mention almost 90 million GSM subscribers), was a meager 0.5 per

cent of market capitalisation.

With the rebasing of the GDP, the director -general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Ms Arunma Oteh recently said "Our market capitalisation to the GDP which is very low at 30 per cent has now declined further to 16 per cent after the exercise, compared in ratio to some of our peer countries like South Africa with market capitalisation to GDP being at 230 per cent, Malaysia 159 per cent, United States of America 118 per cent, China 75 per cent and India 69 per cent. So we have got our work cut out for us. Rebasing should wake us up to the urgent need to ensure that more companies list, so that market capitalisation can indeed better reflect our GDP." Oteh however projected that the Nigerian Stock Exchange would target 500 companies for initial public offerings over the next five years to reach a $1 trillion market capitalisation by 2016.

She pointed out that the bourse needs oil and gas, power and telecommunications companies to list stocks to meet its market-value objective. "There are a number of large, significant companies that are preparing to come to the market," Oteh said.

She said that talks are being held with telecoms companies on encouraging them to trade their shares.

Going back in the history, and particularly of IPO's in the NSE,

the primary market section experienced the strongest initial public offering activity between 2006 and 2008, which helped boost investment appetite from the retail end of the market, with the NSE recording 88 transactions from IPO activities.

During this period, retail investors and institutional investors increasingly felt confident in the capital market.

New listings in 2014 In 2014 so far, two new listings have been witnessed, as Seplat Petroleum Development Company listed its 543.28 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N567 after a successful IPO on April 14, 2014 while Caverton Offshore Support Group became the second firm to get listed in 2014 specifically on May 20, 2014, with 2.35 billion units at N9.50 which it issued through private placement since 2008 Capital market performance According to some market analysts, the inability of the exchange to inspire primary market activities can be seen in the performance of the secondary market as illiquidity persist in the market. The secondary market indicator, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index, which is the barometer of the market movement gained for the first five months in the year 145.21 basis point or 0.35 per cent from the 41,329.19 points it opened the year to close at 41,474.40 on May 30, 2014.

The market capitalisation, which opened the year at N13.226 trillion closed on May 30, 2014 at N13.694 trillion, gaining N468 billion. However, in 2013 Nigeria capital market gained 47.2 per cent but market analysts are still optimistic that the market in 2014 will close higher than 2013.

Although, the primary market has shown, sign of rebound through the rights issue as quoted, substantial major investors' holdings are falling back on the existing shareholders to bridge equity financing gaps and reduce dependence on short-term loans.

Not less than six companies have initiated plans to float rights issue in the past three weeks.

Shareholders of Diamond Bank, Sterling Bank, UBA Capital, Africa Prudential and May & Baker have approved plans by their companies to raise new funds through rights issue. Shareholders of Oando Plc have also mandated their board to float a rights issue while Consolidated Breweries has informed the NSE of its intention to access funds through rights issue.

Unity Bank is currently running a right issue of N19 billion.

Unity is issuing 38.45 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N0.50 per share. The right issue is expected to close on June 18, 2014. While Evans Medical has concluded a rights issue of 486.47 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N2.50 per share in

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

•Oteh

•Onyema

April, raising N1.22 billion from the market According to analysts, rights issue implies significant financial commitment by the core investors as expectation of more companies filing for rights issue as the years go by remain high.

Analysts' views Analysts are of the view that companies recourse to raising additional capital from existing shareholders (Rights Issue) who are members of the company rather than going to the primary market appears to be the thing to do.

"What they have been doing is to raise money through right issues. You have to understand why this is so. You will recall that the market went through a very distressing phase for the past four years when we all witnessed the downslide of most of the share prices listed companies," said an analyst who asked not to be named.

He added that while the primary market remained in limbo, many listed companies explored the already saturated option of sourcing cheap funds through right issues.

He maintained that it is only when activities in the primary market of the Nigerian capital market are rejuvenated that the Nigerian capital would be said to have started to breathe again.

The General Manager of Lambeth Trust & Investment Company Limited, Mr. David Adonri, noted that the crisis of confidence in the secondary market arising from the global financial meltdown of 2008/2009 had contagion on the primary market, noting that the door's becoming dormant due to massive erosion of investors' confidence.

He also observed that the restoration of investors' confidence in the secondary market will automatically lead to revival of the

primary market.

Managing Director of Dependable Securities Limited, Mr. Chineye Ayanwu, said investors are not keen on investing in the primary sector because investors who bought into public offers earlier have not gotten returns on their investments and the bearish market had eroded the share value of their stocks.

He also noted that the secondary market determines what happens in the primary market, although the secondary market is recovering, investors' confidence in the primary market is still low due to investors' scare of investment due to financial turmoil.

Another investment expert who asked not to be named observed that the low activities in the primary market is also a reflection of development in the secondary market.

He urged the capital market regulators to put more effort towards the rebounding of the market and when the market rebound then every stock will now reflect true value and that will attract investors to price the new stock appropriately.

"The primary market is hinged on the market rebounding, right now the value of most of the stocks is considered to be below their book values," he added.

In an attempt to restore investors' confidence in the primary segment, he said that the NSE had set up a new department to encourage companies that have done private placement in the past to come and list as this will give leverage to the primary market.

Shareholders' views Shareholders have called on the companies that raised private placement during the boom in the market to come and list as they promised.

The President of Association of Avid Shareholders, Mr Abayomi Obabolujo, said, "there are myriads of primary market activities without anyone asking questions on what happened to the initial funds raised by the companies and private placements that had not been listed."

General outlook of the market Market analysts are optimistic that the new issues recently approved by the NSE would revive the primary market and the successful IPO carried out by Seplat in January, 2014.

According to the General manager of Compass Investment & Securities Limited, Mr Sam Ndata, the new issues would deepen the market and revive the primary market.

He advised shareholders to prove to new investors that there was still hope in the nation's capital market by taking up their shares in the rights issue exercise.

While, the head, international primary markets, South Asia, Middle East, Africa at the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Mr Ibukun Adebayo, recently said the volatility in the Nigerian stock market has eased to a level that would attract more local firms to raise fresh capital through IPO. "The market has become wider and more diversified. We have the small capital market launched which is the alternative securities market. And we also have series of different measures that have been put in place by the regulator to strengthen the market," he said.

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Rivers records giant economic strides T HE biting economic crunch occasioned by high volatility in oil prices, whose resultant effect include but not limited to shrinking oil revenue receipts, inadequate investment in social infrastructure, among others, has literally left many so-called buoyant oil-dependent economies across the globe in dire straits.

Unfortunately, Nigeria, also a major oil-producer, is no exception as it is already suffering the negative effect of the decline in oil revenues.

For some time now, allocation from the Federation Account has been anything but adequate even as the excess crude oil fund has been virtually depleted with most states of the federation finding it difficult to pay salaries and wages and not to forget the rippling adverse effect on economic growth and development.

But some states like Rivers have fared better, thanks to their ingenuity. Described as unarguably Nigeria's treasure base and fastest developing state, Rivers, in the last few years, has undergone rapid turn-around in agriculture, social and physical infrastructure, education, human capital development, sports, health services and many more; such that many economic watchers marvel at the ease with which the state executes projects as though they are going out of fashion!

In the view of experts who traversed the length and breadth of the state, Rivers is brimming with possibilities. One way it has been able to achieve its many laudable feats, is through strict adherence to ingenious management and fiscal prudency.

The recent report by the international rating agencyStandard and Poor's where its annual rating for 2014 affirmed the ''B'' rating of Rivers State, with a long term ''stable'' outlook easily buttress, this fact.

The annual rating meeting was conducted in September 2014, by the firm in conjunction with the Rivers State Ministry of Finance.

It will be recalled that only last month, the Fitch Rating Agency also affirmed the BB- rating of the State (AA-National rating) with a long-term ''stable'' outlook.

Addressing newsmen in Port Harcourt, the state capital, the Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Chamberlain Peterside, expressed delight with the rating, adding that ''the report underscores the strong commitment and zeal of Governor Ameachi to bequeath a lasting legacy with the reform effort in the public finance sector of Rivers State."

Peterside said that the key rating, drivers is the continued effect by the government to reform and modernise its public finance architecture through ongoing automation project called State Integrated Financial Management and Information System (SIFMIS), being implemented with the support and funding from the World Bank. ''This project when completed will enhance the level of transparency whilst improving financial reporting especially in light of the ongoing transition to International Public Section Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in 2015 and 2016,''the Commissioner said.

The Commissioner said that the rating cites the current declining federal allocation as a key factor that could impact the liquidity position of the state, thereby bringing increased pressure on the states' finances and infrastructure investments.

According to the Finance Commissioner, a potential bright

•Amaechi

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf spot in the light of recent liquidity squeeze, however, is the relentless effort to boost Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), while curbing operating expenses towards the end of current tenure just as it reckoned that the overall financial outlook of the state remains stable despite these systemic fiscal challenges.

Recall that Rivers State first attained International credit rating in 2008 and ever since, it has remained the first and only state in Nigeria to maintain a dual International credit rating.

Besides foreign observers, local observers have also acknowledged that Rivers State has recorded giant strides in virtually all spheres of human endeavour.

For instance, several communities in Rivers State have taken stock of numerous peopleoriented projects embarked upon by Governor Chibuike Amaechi since he assumed office in 2007.

The communities showered encomiums on Amaechi during his 'Meet the People' tour of Obio/ Akpor communities recently.

In almost all the communities, the people thanked Governor Amaechi for empowering the people of Obio/Akpor LGA through the Chief of Staff, Government House, Sir Tony Okocha and the Caretaker Committee CTC Chairman of ObioAkpor Local Government Area, Dr. Lawrence Chukwu in skills acquisition, provision of vehicles, payment of Sure-P, monetary assistance for business and trading purposes for widows and indigent persons in the communities.

Speaking on behalf of the people of Mgbuesilaru, Rumuodara, Eliowhani and Iriebe communities which make up Ward 2 of the LGA, Ward Leader, Chimenem Nnanta Weli, said the people were happy with the landmark achievement of Governor Amaechi in the area.

In Ward 3- Rumuokwurusi and Atali towns, the people pledged to continually support the governor in his giant strides towards the transformation of the state.

A joint address by the Chairman, Rumuokwurusi Town Council, Kingsley Onuoma Ejekwu and Chairman, Atali Town Council, Chief Dareth Oparati read, "We wish to thank you for the various projects your administration sited in our Ward, which include; the ongoing dualisation of RumuokwurusiIgwuruta road, two model primary schools in Rumuokwurusi, one in Atali, one model health centre, construction of two Electric Power

Sub-stations, recognition and appointment of one of our sons, Sir Nelson Wali, to the Board of Internal Revenue in the state, the secured, peaceful and enabling environment, construction of Atali Civic Centre and empowerment of our women in various skills acquisition programmes, among others."

While commenting on the giant strides of Amaechi-led administration thus far, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, Commissioner for Information, noted that: "The administration, policy on infrastructure has been robust as government has completed 90 per cent of the Phase1A of the Rivers State Monorail…Now Rivers is open for business."

Expectedly, while situating some of the laudable socioeconomic developments in his domain, Governor Amaechi during a state-wide broadcast recently recalled that the modest achievements recorded under his administration thus far is a fulfillment of electoral promises he made seven years ago when he assumed office as the Chief Executive Officer of the famed Garden City.

Going down memory lane, Governor Amaechi recalled: "When we came to office in October, 2007, we committed ourselves to building a Rivers State of possibilities where none will be discriminated against.

We set for ourselves a target and a goal to leave our state better than we found it. It was, indeed, a big challenge but seven years after, we can present a commendable score sheet to the Glory of God." Upbeat, Amaechi noted that at the dawn of his administration, the state was confronting the pressing issue of insecurity, a monster that remained intractable for years.

"We lost our dignity as armed gangs roamed our streets, maimed and killed our children and relations at will. Their armed leaders became our lords and masters. They were law unto themselves. The first casualty was our life, then the economy of our state, then, our hope of giving our children a better tomorrow seemed bleak. Protected by their arms, our children became conscripts in a war they never triggered. Weeping parents, disembowelled and dismembered bodies littered our communities and waterfronts. We knew as a government that we had a responsibility to protect lives and properties. We were clear in our minds that we owed it to you the electorate to fulfill our oath of office.

We were not going to let any challenge hinder us. So we chose to confront the criminals who had stolen our peace. Not because we were strong, but because we loved our people. We chased them, not with arms and ammunitions, but with bravery and the boldness of our fathers. We soon made our streets safe again, life returned to our biggest city, Port Harcourt, and our communities. Our economy again began to blossom and those investors chased away began a return to our state. Today, our State thrives as Nigeria's second biggest economy."

Like the proverbial phoenix which has the capacity to rise from its ashes, Rivers State, to many analysts who have watched keenly the flurry of economic activities in the past few years, has come to signpost for many the birth of a new hope and world of possibilities.

Even though this truth is selfevident, the state government rather being complacent still has its hands on the plough as it is not resting on its oars at all.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

BUSINESS

RESIDENT Barack Obama deserves commendation for instituting a new engagement with Africa.

Bringing trade relations to the fore, even if the traditional concerns for security and good governance remain on his agenda, is especially laudable. For some, the recently concluded U.S.Africa Leaders Summit represents a fitting recovery from what had appeared as general apathy towards Africa. When finally he decided to broadly engage with African leaders, President Obama looked beyond the traditional model that has been criticized as paternalistic. In the past, the focus was on dolling out U.S. aid to Africa, in a relationship in which the hand of the giver was always on top. Even more commendable is that, as the U.S. contemplates deepening commercial relationship with Africa, it looked beyond the traditional sector of trading oil and few other extractive commodities.

Nevertheless, Africa commands this new attention. In the last ten years, Africa has significantly shed the image of war and deprivation.

Economic growth has been steady, averaging estimated 5 per cent annually, according to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Constitutional democracy has taken root in most African countries. Evidence of improved governance is seen across Africa, and economic reform initiatives -- like the ones enunciated in the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria -- have improved market performance, unlocked private sector resources and, consequently, helped to expand the middle class.

Africa remains resourcerich. But the new attraction for the continent, especially from China, recognizes so much that Africa has to offer and what it needs for further progress. Africa has become more aspirational than it had ever been or even taken to be, aware it has the capacity to give even as it takes from development partners. As a result, a winwin approach is being realized in engaging the African continent.

China has gained the head start advantage over the United States and Europe in commercial relations with Africa this new term.

Indeed, as the West loses the momentum for trade with Africa, even so has China pushed its appetite for African economic engagement. It is an open secret; China's trade with Africa has been on the increase. It rose from $166 billion in 2011 to $210 billion in 2013. In the same period, U.S. trade with Africa dwindled from $125 billion to $85 billion. Africa has opened the door to China's knock on the door of African opportunities.

While this is happening, for debatable reasons, the U.S. beats a retreat. The policy justification for U.S. exit cannot be because of the traditional concerns of insecurity and bad

Nigeria to lift trade frontier in U.S. -Africa Relations

•From left: President Barack and Michelle Obama flanked in the middle by President Goodluck Jonathan

By Roberts Orya governance. These issues have improved significantly over the past decade. Perhaps, the changing structure of U.S. trade interest, because of increased energy security at home, provides an explanation. Nevertheless, the $33 billion investment commitment by the Obama administration and U.S. investors in power and other industries during the recent meetings in Washington DC is a commendable reawakening.

There is no doubt that Africa's trade with the West, particularly the United States, has important and unique values. Well-recognized is sharing of best practices. Even if African leaders had been reticent towards policy prescriptions, the evidence now is that the continent shares the values of representative government, open and transparent policy and economic freedom for the private sector to drive growth and prosperity. Moreover, the riches of Africa's diversity accommodate multiple, external players, on the basis that Africans themselves are also investing in the continent and are establishing functional commercial partnerships. Yes, we have abundant natural resources.

But even more importantly, we have the population to support production of consumer products. Africa's demography -- about one billion people which comprises a higher youth population -- tells that longterm viability of investments cannot be in doubt. In Nigeria,

the services sector is now the biggest contributor to our Gross Domestic Product. The opportunities seem boundless.

Because U.S. businesses have largely overlooked African opportunities, and the U.S. press have yet to shed the old stereotypes in reporting the continent (although the European press have made better progress with objective and balanced reporting of Africa), it will be useful to highlight some of the attributes of the African growth story and the investment opportunities.

Nigeria is a fitting example, because of scale, homogeneity of policy around private sector development and commonality of Africa's aspirations. The Nigerian government protects private investment. One of the ways this is affirmable is respect for contract.

Competitive bidding has been the hallmark of licensing and sales of public assets in the country after the last of the military interregna 15 years ago. This ensures deals are transparent and valid. The reform of the legal and regulatory frameworks has been pursued with vigour since 1999, helping to define engagement, making contracts binding and making rules clearer and less whimsical.

As we affirm at the Nigerian Export-Import Bank, the Nigerian opportunities are not concentrated in oil and gas. At NEXIM Bank, we have identified manufacturing, agro-processing, solid minerals and services as areas

of big opportunities; not just for commercial profit, but also for socially impactful businesses through local employment and empowerment. In these sectors, Nigeria seeks to create opportunities for a vibrant youth population with realistic wage structures.

Broader investment in these high growth and job-rich sectors will enhance wealth creation, broader base prosperity and increase demands, in a virtuous cycle.

General Electric is one of the U.S. major businesses that have recognized the business potentials in the infrastructure gap in Nigeria and the bright policies of the Jonathan Administration to harness the potentials. GE is investing in the Nigerian power sector where we intend to increase output five folds over the next decade. The ripples of substantial progress in meeting Nigerian power sector demands will prove that the country is very well able to grow in double digits for a long time, given current 7 per cent GDP growth at a time industrial activities and enterprises are stifled by power shortage from the national grid. But in pursuing progress, public investments in infrastructure have been substantial even as private sector investment in power generation and distribution has towered, in contradistinction to when it was zero up till a few years ago. However, more private sector investment is necessary in infrastructure and power to accelerate progress.

Partnerships are working in Nigeria. Public-private

partnerships have delivered projects and unlocked potentials. Similarly, private sector partnerships are thriving. GE has been operating in Nigeria through business partnerships with local investors, who themselves are successful, savvy and understand the local environment.

In Washington DC this past August, GE and Heirs Holding led by Nigerian Mr. Tony Elumelu, further demonstrated the working of private sector partnerships by deepening relationship with the new deals they announced. Similarly, Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote entered project partnership with Blackstone-backed Black Rhino, in a $5 billion investment in infrastructure development. With policy support from the administration of President Jonathan, Nigerian small and medium scale businesses are growing. They are viable prospective partners to U.S. SMEs who want to invest abroad to generate new businesses and develop new markets.

It is in the area of private sector partnerships that Nigeria will provide the lift for the new commercial engagement of the United States with Africa. Using the familiar proclivity of the Nigerian diaspora to succeed, and the achievements of those in the U.S., the average Nigerian at home is selfmotivated to succeed. We have embraced the principle for self-actualization in business. Nigerian businesses are successfully raising capitals in the international

“Evidence of improved governance is seen across Africa, and economic reform initiatives -- like the ones enunciated in the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria -- have improved market performance, unlocked private sector resources and, consequently, helped to expand the middle class�

markets. A number of Nigerian banks and nonfinancial services providers are multinationals in their own rights, having subsidiaries in several countries in Africa. A few are listed in the London Stock Exchange, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and in Canada, closer to the United States.

These vibrant businesses will help U.S. businesses to quickly gain traction and gain market share as partners.

Nigeria is not just the biggest economy in Africa; it is the regional hub for West Africa. For businesses looking at Africa, Nigeria provides the base for further outreach to cover West and Central Africa. The two subregions account for over 400 million population. Intraregional trade amongst these two sub-regions is significant when we consider Africa's trade without factoring in extractive commodities. The traditional trade relation is receiving a boost by the efforts of NEXIM Bank to facilitate a private sector shipping company to provide maritime trade links between West and Central Africa. The Sealink project is coming to financial close, following investment interests by African investors. This initiative will help remove non-tariff barriers to intra-Africa trade.

Moreover, the past five years have witnessed NEXIM Bank's funding interventions in Nigerian SME manufacturers who now export to West Africa and beyond.

In the short term, a security challenge exists with the insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country. Efforts are being made to contain the threats.

Longer-term, the efforts of the Federal Government will come into fruition with its recognition that a society that promotes prosperity through the right combination of investments in its people and infrastructure will remove the desperation and some of the other incentives that drive criminal activities.

Lastly, Nigeria recognizes the importance of civil society engagement.

Civil engagement has been the hallmark of the administration of President Jonathan which promoted the national conference that recently concluded. Under the Administration, elections have become more transparent, conclusive and less acrimonious. Opposition parties freely engage, and have criticized the government without any untoward consequences. It is this civility and democratic ethos that further assures that Nigeria is the place to do business, even as Africa is ready for business.

- Orya is Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian ExportImport Bank

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

W

HAT spurred you into agriculture?

The company was incorporated on May 4th 2006. I can never forget the date because it was the anniversary of my mother's death. I had so many personal goals. For instance, I had a personal goal that I should get married before I am 25 and I did this after my 24th birthday. I also had a personal goal that I would have all my children before I am 30 years old. I had my youngest a few months before my 30th birthday. I also had this personal vision that I should stop paid employment before I am forty. When it was closing in, I started to ask myself what I would do to make that goal.

What were you doing just before this?

I worked since I was 23 years. I worked at Flour Mills and when I got married we were living in Kaduna, then we left for Lagos to work in a construction company and from there I worked in a bank and later a logistics company. I was also with the National Sports Lottery before moving to a consulting firm. It was when I was in the logistics company that forty almost met me. Then I needed to ask myself what I could do. I did not have any commercial skill and my parents were salary earners. I did not have anyone to encourage me in that direction. My mother-in-law was the only one in business and she would always say that you won't be able to do the business that we are doing. So just go and wear that skirt suit and do your hair.

I started attending programmes and seminars and I devoted a lot of time and money to it. Then God was on my side because my employers supported me, not because they knew what I was doing but if I told my boss that I had meetings to attend they would just allow me to go. It was at that time that President Obasanjo introduced the cassava revolution .Then I attended some seminars with International Institute Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and that was how I got fired up by agriculture. It was cassava that they were actually talking about. So I decided that I was going to get land and do cassava. That

'Agriculture remains goldmine for SMEs' Edobong Akpabio, Chief Executive, Visionage Agro Tech, is woman of many parts whose post-career experience cuts across banking, construction, logistics and consulting. But after putting over two decades in paid employment, she decided to set up shop as a mechanised farmer. She speaks with Yetunde Oladeinde on her passion for agriculture, challenges and prospects of start-ups, among others. was what I had in mind but when we got the land, the same IITA people who came to do the soil test told us that cassava was good but there were so many other things that could be done on the land.

What would you describe as the turning point for you?

Soon after my husband travelled to Israel for a conference and exhibition, he met someone who introduced some seeds for sale. He told them that our people were not used to the seeds and he gave my husband some to test. My husband came back and we tested the seeds that included cabbage, carrot, seedless watermelon, spring onions, tomatoes and pepper in all kinds of colours. They did very well. We had many packs but just opened a pack for testing and before we knew it, 10 acres of land were occupied. It was when they started growing, that we knew we were in trouble.

We were giving it to friends, relatives and neighbours and it was so much. I went to a friend who was a General Manager with UAC in charge of UAC restaurants and discussed with her. She took me to the Managing Director of NANDO's which was a South African subsidiary of UAC. The South African man was very interested and he came to my farm and saw what I had there.

He gave me a bill to supply them with vegetables. That was how I offloaded the vegetables.

Someone also introduced me to Jades Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant that had outlets in Ikeja GRA and Victoria Island.

•Akpabio I started supplying to them and that was how I knew that this was serious business.

The people who gave us the seeds were also using us to test the markets and the vegetables did very well. The seedless watermelon did very well, it grew very big but just before it gets ripe it would rotten. So we discovered that the planting

season was different. It does not like water and when it grows and it is getting ripe, it would start having worm activity because it is still raining and the water remains under it. It was better for us to plant it in October but we didn't know. We gave them the report and they gave us some instruments.

Now, we have to buy the seeds

and those seeds are expensive.

We did a serious cost analysis and discovered that we could not afford the seeds. We were encouraged because we discovered that these things are possible and that we had very good soil.

How did this experience affect your production?

At that time, we had only 30 acres and we bought an additional 100 acres. We did palm oil and palm kernel .In fact, one of the Israelis we worked with said we could use the chaff from this as rickets for suya barbecue. There is also someone from South Africa and they are still asking us when we are going to start. This is to show you that there are lots of potentials in farming. I think that from that moment, I was fired up to remain in agriculture. I began to learn a lot more; I began to get more exposure and not so long after my son said he wanted to study Agriculture. He had always had a flair for that even in secondary school and so he studied what he wanted. We do not put pressure on our children to do anything. They are the ones that tell us what they want and our own is to support. The additional responsibility is that in order to support him I must know what he wants to do.

So I had to open myself to so many opportunities and in doing that they started inviting me for speaking engagements at the Covenant University, Babcock, LASU and College of Education, some of which were in schools. I spoke with the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina and he

was really excited. It was through him that I got the speaking engagement at the Covenant University. It was in one of such speaking engagements that I discovered that the young ones do not want 10 or 50 acres of land to plant cassava. They are interested in processing and production to provide you with support.

While we are rearing table size fish, one of the young ones is interested in only fingerlings.

The largest capacity of the catfish for this pond cannot be more than 600 but you can have 50,000 fingerlings and you rear them every eight weeks. So you can imagine how much he can make in a year. He would make more money and that is what they want. So they would concentrate and develop it.

Did anyone also influence you in this direction?

I read English for first degree and also did a Diploma in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. I have nothing to do with Agriculture except the garden that my mother had at the back of the house and any Ibibio woman had this while I was growing up. My mother actually raised piggery and poultry. We were many in the family, all seven children. I recalled my mum told my father that it was going to provide eggs for the house.

That was how my father agreed but if she had said it was commercial, he would not have accepted it. His wife was a nurse. I believe very strongly that if he had supported her, she would have done better. It was that piggery and poultry that bought our socks, provisions and other needs when we were going back to school.

My husband is not a farmer but he is interested in farming.

He is ready to support me all the way. When he went to Israel it was for something else, only for him to discover that there was a conference on agriculture and he went there. He goes to the farm with me and that has made the difference in where I am today. When I tell people that I did not read Agriculture, they find it difficult to believe. I had to develop myself consciously because there are a lot of people who are dependent on what I know.

Insurance firms launch first online auto policy

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N its quest to encourage insurance culture, six leading insurance companies including AIICO Insurance, Custodian & Allied Insurance, Leadway Assurance, NEM Insurance, Royal Exchange Plc and Sovereign Trust Insurance along with the National Insurance Commission and Hightower Insurance Brokers at the weekend launched MyAutoGenius.com, arguably Nigeria's first online insurance comparison platform that promises to provide car owners across Nigeria with auto insurance policies within five minutes.

With 15.5 million cars in Lagos alone and over 14per cent of cars on Nigerian roads uninsured or driving with

By Tonia Diyan

fake insurance policies, there has always been a gap to access an insurance intermediary channel that will provide the advantage of convenience, speed and authentic insurance covers in real-time.

All insurance policies bought on myautogenius.com web or mobile sites will also be uploaded instantly on Nigeria Insurance Database (NIID), by Hightower Insurance Brokers Ltd (The brokerage company behind AutoGenius), to guarantee its authenticity.

At the launch, Mr. Kola Oyeneyin CEO, Venia Technologies Limited, owners of myautogenius.com, demon-

strated to the audience how fast and easy it is for prospective clients to buy their car insurance covers available from the leading insurance players in the country within five minutes.

Speaking on the new innovation, the Deputy Director of the Nigerian Insurance Commission - Mr. Segun Farinu, who represented the National Insurance Commissioner Mr. Fola Daniel, said the entire insurance industry in Nigeria is excited about an expected positive impact that technology would have in the insurance sub-sector, especially with initiatives like myautogenius.com.

He said that the seriousness of the insurance industry was

evident as all partners have come out in full support of the transformation drive embarked on by the team at AutoGenius.

Echoing similar sentiments, Mr. Onyeka Akumah, Lead Marketing/Communications Consultant at AutoGenius also explained that leading up to the launch, the marketing team created hash tag #OneGuyLikeThat to ask Nigerians about their 'One-GuyLike-That' experience in general and as it concerned auto insurance.

With over 204,285 Nigerians reached in seven days of starting off the campaign, there was a lot of buzz and expectation to the launch of AutoGenius in other to understand what

•From left: Mr Ben Agili of Royal Exchange and Mr. Samuel 'Brume Ogbodu of Sovereign Trust Insurance at the launch of MyAutoGenius.com in Lagos at the weekend exactly Nigerians were to expect from the platform, Akumah stressed.

Other partners who were well represented at the event and support the platform with added advantages for users

who will purchase their autoinsurance policies through the platform include AA Rescue, and Oando Marketing Plc , which had Mr. Mobolaji Bamiro representing its Chief Executive, Mr. Yomi Amobokun.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

Iran hangs woman who killed her rapist

Lunar mission tests China's space programme

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RAN has gone ahead with an execution of a woman despite an international campaign urging a reprieve.

Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, was hanged in a Tehran prison on Saturday morning. She had been convicted of killing a man she said was trying to sexually abuse her.

Jabbari was arrested in 2007 for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former intelligence ministry worker.

Human rights group Amnesty International said her execution was "deeply disappointing in the extreme".

A campaign calling for a halt to the execution was launched on Facebook and Twitter last month and appeared to have brought a temporary stay in execution.

However, government news agency Tasnim said on Saturday that Jabbari had been executed after her relatives failed to gain consent from the victim's family for a reprieve.

It said her claims of self-defence had not been proved in court.

• The president while chairing a meeting of the National Defence Council after the Sinai attacks

President Sisi says jihadists threaten Egypt's existence E

Jabbari was put in solitary confinement for two months after her arrest and went on trial in 2008

GYPTIAN President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi says the country is facing a threat to its existence from jihadists after the military suffered the biggest loss of life in decades in attacks in Sinai.

At least 31 soldiers were killed in two attacks on Friday, the deadliest a bomb blast near the town of El-Arish.

A three-month state of emergency has been declared in parts of the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt's Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip was closed.

There will be three days of mourning.

In a live TV address, Mr. Sisi said a huge plot was being waged against Egypt 'by external forces'.

"This is meant to break up Egypt and the Egyptians ...

Egypt is fighting a war of existence."

No group has said it carried out the attacks, which came as the army continued an offensive against jihadists in northern Sinai.

The area has become increasingly lawless since President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011.

Militants have stepped up attacks since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was ousted by the army last year amid massive opposition protests.

In the deadliest attack, 28 soldiers were killed and a similar number injured in a suicide bomb blast at a checkpoint near El-Arish, the main town in the north of the restive peninsula.

Three more soldiers died in a separate shooting at a checkpoint in the town itself.

The state of emergency, which began at 03:00 GMT on Saturday, centres on the north

and centre of the peninsula, a presidential statement said.

The decision was made after Mr. Sisi called a meeting of the National Defence Council to discuss the security situation.

"The army and the police will take all necessary measures to tackle the dangers of terrorism and its financing, to preserve the security of the region... and protect the lives of citizens," the statement said.

Egypt is in mourning with state television carrying black ribbons on screen, after the latest heavy losses in the lawless Sinai peninsula, says the BBC's Orla Guerin in Cairo.

Communications have been cut, and helicopters and Special Forces are now searching for militant hideouts, she adds.

In their continuing offen-

sive in northern Sinai, security forces have recently killed and captured dozens of suspected members of jihadist groups.

In September at least 11 policemen were killed in a bomb attack on a convoy in the peninsula as it travelled through the village of Wefaq, near the Gaza border.

That bombing was claimed by Ansar Beit alMaqdis, the most active militant group in Egypt. It attempted to kill the interior minister in Cairo in 2013 in a car bomb attack and has issued videos of the beheading of captives.

The group professes backing for Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in Iraq and Syria, although it has not formally pledged its support.

WHO reports: Ebola outbreak cases pass 10,000

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HE number of cases in the Ebola outbreak has exceeded 10,000, with 4,922 deaths, the World Health Organisation has said in its latest report.

Only 27 of the cases have occurred outside the three worst-hit countries, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea that account for all but 10 of the fatalities.

Mali became the latest nation to record a death, a twoyear-old girl. More than 40 people known to have come into contact with her have been quarantined.

The latest WHO situation report says that Liberia remains the worst affected country, with 2,705 deaths. Sierra Leone has had 1,281 fatalities and there have been 926 in Guinea.

HINA launched an experimental spacecraft early Friday that is scheduled to orbit the moon before returning to Earth, a first for the country's ambitious space program and considered a precursor to a planned mission to the moon.

The unmanned spacecraft was launched by a Long March 3C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan, western China, state media said.

It is China's first lunar module capable of returning to Earth and the mission's main technical challenge will be making sure the spacecraft slows down enough to re-enter Earth's atmosphere safely.

Too fast and it could overheat or become difficult to track and control, Hu Hao, chief designer of the lunar exploration program, told The China Daily.

It is expected to take around a week to fly around the moon.

The spacecraft will end its mission by landing on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.

The mission tests technology that will be used in a more ambitious launch, scheduled to take place in 2017, when an unmanned lunar probe will go to the moon, collect soil samples and return home.

Chinese astronauts have made five manned space flights on a series of Shenzhou "Divine Vessel" modules, with the latest mission in 2013 completing a successful manual docking with the Tiangong-1 space station.

Last December, China put a lunar rover -- known as the Jade Rabbit -- on the moon but it has been plagued by mechanical troubles, the China Daily said.

On course for the moon?

Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, said the lunar orbiter marks a step forward in the capabilities needed for a potential manned lunar program, which while under discussion hasn't been officially approved yet.

"It's significance is not only in demonstration of technical abilities, but in a continued political will to achieve its space goals over long periods of time - which is what China has that the U.S. currently lacks."

While the United States has pulled back its space program, other countries are trying to match or surpass China's accomplishments in what some observers have called an Asian space race.

In September, India became the first Asian country to send an orbiter around Mars.

Political symbolism China sent its first astronaut into space in 2003 and has made rapid advances in the intervening decade.

Despite this, its space program is still yet to achieve capabilities reached by the U.S. and then Soviet Union decades ago, says James A. Lewis, director and senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Nigeria has recorded eight deaths and there has been one in Mali and one in the United States.

The WHO said the number of cases was now 10,141 but that the figure could be much higher, as many families were keeping relatives at home rather than taking them to treatment centres. It said many of the centres were overcrowded.

And the latest report also shows no change in the number of cases and deaths in Liberia from the WHO's previous report, three days ago.

While in West Africa, Senegal and Nigeria have been declared virus-free by the WHO, eight other countries have registered cases in the outbreak.

‘Facts, not fear’ In the US, the governors of

the states of New York and New Jersey have ordered a mandatory 21-day quarantine period for all doctors and other travellers who have had contact with Ebola victims in West Africa.

Anyone arriving from affected West African countries without having had confirmed contact with Ebola victims will be subject to monitoring by public health officials.

The move follows the diagnosis in New York of Dr Craig Spencer, who had been working in Guinea.

The first person to be quarantined under the rules was a female health worker who arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday.

She had no symptoms then but later developed a fever. A

preliminary test came back negative for Ebola, the New Jersey health department said on Saturday, but the woman remains in isolation.

Also in the US, two nurses infected while caring for dying Dallas patient Thomas Eric Duncan have been declared free of the virus.

One, Nina Pham, 26, met President Barack Obama at the White House, hours after being discharged.

In his weekly radio and online address, Mr Obama repeated that people cannot contract Ebola unless they have come into direct contact with an infected patient's bodily fluids.

He said the disease had to be stopped at source in Africa.

Mr Obama added: "Patients can beat this disease, and we

can beat this disease. But we have to stay vigilant... And we have to be guided by the science, we have to be guided by the facts - not fear".

‘High-risk exposure’ N Mali, authorities continue to try to trace anyone who may have had contact with the victim there.

The child had travelled more than 1,000 km (600 miles) from Guinea through the capital, Bamako, to Kayes.

"The child's symptomatic state during the bus journey is especially concerning, as it presented multiple opportunities for exposures, including highrisk exposures, involving many people," the WHO said.

The girl's mother died in Guinea a few weeks ago and the child was then brought by relatives to Mali.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

WORLD NEWS

N the presence of Ebola or anything that threatens indiscriminate probable death, fear becomes rational. It certainly is an inevitable, natural response. Fear can be a strong call, piercing the miasma of false comfort and numbed inaction. Many a brave deed and innovative enterprise have been predicated on the cold slap of fear. Hysteria is of a different sort. It paralyzes logic, turning into madmen those who act out its passions. That the madness may be temporary does not require the damage wrought to be equally limited.

History is littered with the flotsam that hysteria's ugly hand has caused. Hysteria also is rarely a natural phenomenon. It is artificially induced, taking the kernel of fear and sowing it into a harvest of irrational dread. Generally, those who bestir public hysteria have ulterior motives beyond insulating themselves or others from the feared danger. They incite fear until it compounds exponentially, transforming itself into an acrid poultice of mistake, hatred, blame, illogic, prejudice and horrid superstition. With this in mind, we should weight the global response to the Ebola epidemic.

International reportage of Ebola should finally disabuse those of us who still adhere to the illusion that the major global media houses are committed to objective journalism. These media outlets have stoked hysteria and foreboding like an arsonist does fire. Their job has not been to objectively report the risks at hand and the progress made. Their mission was to strike fear so the public would say glued to their televisions. They did not set out to properly educate their viewers about Ebola. They sought to portray Ebola as marauding dread that would mesmerize the audience as much as their favorite action drama or reality show.

They turned the nightly news into a horror flick or a sports contest where we were daily told the scores of infected and dead Ebola had netted. The casualties were no longer people but numerical symbols of the deadly victory Ebola was said to be winning.

The more lethal and contagious Ebola was perceived, the more the newsmakers could continue making news and keeping people fixed to their television channels. The media is no longer about journalism. It is a big and global business. Thus, like any business, the objective is profits which are achieved through the paid advertisements high viewer ratings induce. If the truth serves to profit the corporate bottom line, then the truth they will present. But rarely does the truth suffice. Thus, they simplify then inflate it; they distort into something the truth would not recognize but something the corporate sponsors see as befitting their investments. Journalism is no longer the pursuit; it is the vehicle by which profits are pursued with a bill collector's vigor.

Yet, hysteria may arrive quickly but it never leaves without exacting a dear cost. The news of four Ebola cases sent the United States into near panic. The unfortunate Liberian who entered America with Ebola became the victim of umbrage and disgust. Xenophobia and racism were perceptible undercurrents. Not spoken in polite circles yet understood by all was the theme that nothing good comes out of Africa except sickness, war and death. On the lips of many Americans was the question: "Why let these people into our nation to destroy it?"

The fear of dreaded disease merged with the historic hatred of black skin to produce an uncivil response to what was entirely a human tragedy. The people of Black Africa were all seen as accursed by reason of their origins and not as unfortunate victims by reason of the incidences of history over which they have exercised little control.

At the same time Ebola came, American was experiencing an outbreak of enterovirus d68. The virus had affected people in almost all fifty states. At least, five deaths were confirmed due to the sickness which seems to spread faster geographically than Ebola but is less fatal.

News concerning d68 was minimal compared to Ebola although the number of deaths exceeded the total number of Ebola cases reported in the nation. Part of the reason for the discrepant attention was the steep lethality and dire symptoms of Ebola. This is understandable. It is fear at its most natural. But there is another more sinister factor at work. D68 was not as newsworthy because there was no outsider to blame. D68 was an American phenomenon and thus had to be tolerated with resolve and a stiff upper lip.

With only four cases in a population over 300 million, Ebola is limited to one person in every seventy-five million people. The likelihood of an American contracting Ebola was a fraction of that of being shot by a crazed gunman. However, Americans are more petrified of stricter gun control than of the maniacal guntoters who on a weekly basis bring carnage to some school or shopping center. But there is no great outcry, no hysteria. There is only resignation to the fact that indiscriminant commerce in guns is woven into American life.

Thus, cold-blooded, insane murder will also be part of the national fabric. However, Afri-

Ebola: of pestilence, pretense and poverty Fear calls forth genius and folly but never in equal measure; the greater the fear, the greater the folly.

•Doctors attending to Ebola patience

cans and their dreaded disease should not be. Thus, much of the fury and anger Americans should aim at correcting their own internal contradictions was hurled at the Liberian Duncan.

One can argue the morality of Duncan traveling to America given that he was cognizant of his exposure to the disease. Surely, it would it have been nobly self-sacrificing to have remained in Liberia. Yet, I dare not condemn the man for no one truly knows how he would respond if placed in similar circumstance. The best response is not condemnation but human understanding and empathy. That did not occur.

Duncan was begrudgingly admitted into the treating hospital. The treatment the uninsured black man received does not seem to have been inspired. At most, the hospital tried to manage his disease and not help him overcome it. To say the treatment received was minimalist would not be off-the-mark. This again exposes the intrusion of racism into every facet of American life even the administration of health care, which in some instances can be a decision of life or death for a fellow human being. It also reveals the moral emptiness of a health care system run as a business for profit instead of one that functions as a public service. In a profit-based system either you pay money or you pay with something dearer - your health or your life.

There is the gnawing sense that Duncan's treatment was kept to the lowest minimum because those in charge were unconcerned whether Duncan lived or died. There was an unspoken yet strong disincentive to curing the man. They feared his cure would flash a green light to other Liberians to take the same route to better treatment. His death would constitute a red stop light. The trajectory of human affairs is forever distorted by the twist of irony. Three hundred years ago, Whites were removing the likes of Duncan from his homeland against their will. This time, he wanted to come; this time, they no longer wanted him. Justice eventually comes but it does not arrive quickly enough to come for us all.

Waiting for Mr. Duncan to get out of the hospital was the Dallas County Prosecutor's office.

They wanted to bring criminal charges against him although his actions fit no known criminal offense. Trying to ingratiate themselves to American authorities, Liberian officials also announced they wanted Duncan deported that he may face criminal charges back home. Faced with a ravaging epidemic laying down hundreds of people

daily, Liberia had not the ability to manage the crisis at hand let alone divert inordinate attention to the lone man who got away. Neither the Texan or Liberian prosecutors would have their catch.

Duncan never emerged from his hospital bed alive.

The two nurses who contracted the illness from Duncan have survived the worst. They shall recover. The New York City doctor contracted it while treating patients in Guinea. He is in isolation and will receive the finest care. Yet, his case sustains the hysteria. Across the nation hospitals have been visited by people who had not the slightest chance of possible contact with anyone who might have had contact with anyone exposed to the virus. People were rushing to the hospital because they were sweating after being outside or felt a pain in their stomach after eating too much.

All the while, as they irrationally feared Ebola, they also irrationally cursed Africa and Africans.

Some of the invectives against Africa attached to President Obama. Racists opined he had not acted decisively because Ebola was an African disease and he wanted sick Africans to come and spread it on America. Thus, Obama refused to institute a travel ban on West Africa. The accusation is the height of animus. It is as senseless as it is vulgar. Yet, hatred has informed much of what has happened. Conservative Republican political leaders seized the opportunity to inflict additional political injury on Obama and other Democrats in the days before the important congressional elections in early November. Giving a nod and wink to the racists, they pronounced Obama's handling of "the crisis" as casual and inattentive.

They too blamed Obama for opposing a travel ban, failing to add President Obama was merely following the advice of the overwhelming majority of medical experts.

Last week, the president appointed an Ebola Czar, Ron Klain, to counteract the perception that his administration had lost control of this and other challenges. A consummate political insider, Klain has been Chief of Staff to the last two Democratic Vice Presidents (Gore and Biden). Klain's medical background is that of a layman. He has no greater knowledge of infectious diseases that you or I. Clearly, he can add nothing of medical value. His mission is to halt the political hemorrhaging inflicted on the Obama administration by the withering Republican criticism.

Even the American military has got into the act. Not only has the President deployed several

thousand troops to Liberia to help construct field hospitals and train local workers on basic medical procedures regarding the care of Ebola patients, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey proclaimed Ebola to be a national security threat.

If possible, he would recommend bombing the smithereens out of the virus. He would meet even less fortune in this endeavor as he is currently having in the air war against an advancing ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

The military has even established an Ebola rapid response force to deploy within America. This is lunacy. Once the soldiers get to the troubled person, what in creation will they do? The military's incursion in domestic concerns far flung from its core mission, is troubling. Government funds for medical care and even the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) which is the lead agency on Ebola have withered. The military is so flush with money and power that it can freely invade the province of specialized civilian agencies although the military is ill-equipped to make anything good come out of the encroachment. This is another signal of the slow erosion of American democracy. The greater the military's role in domestic affairs, the lesser becomes a nation's democracy. Wherever the military enters, democracy leaves.

Strangely, the tradecraft of the military does have an answer to the mystery of Ebola.

This goes not to the cure but the dissemination of the virus. Those nations that have suffered sustained outbreaks have one thing in common. They are nations laid bare by protracted civil war that have destroyed their national institutions included whatever rudimentary health care that might have existed.

Before the current outbreak, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan hosted the most severe outbreaks. Both those nations are sites of perennial war. Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea have also been victimized by ruthless war and unrest. The recovery they face will take several generations. Broken and impoverished by war, these nations became susceptible in a special way to Ebola's contagion.

War is often the first link in a chain of calamity. Where there is long war, pestilence shall follow.

This is not the first instance of disease riding the hind of war. As WWI was coming to a close in 1918, the Spanish Flu descended. It killed roughly 50 million people or over three percent of the global population in a matter of months. The disease was more deadly than the war. That the most deadly modern plague came on the heels of the first modern war is not coincidence. The conditions of war trenches, chemical weapons, compact quartering of troops and civilians - as well as the social and material depravations inherent in warfare coupled to make this disease as deadly as disease can get. If a disease as fatal as the 1918 flu now laid siege, it would claim roughly 250 million people. This is equivalent to eliminating almost all of West Africa or five of every six Americans.

The dysfunction and disease that follow war are often more fatal than the fighting itself. That Nigeria has sufficiently intact medical institutions and that health care professionals and leaders on the ground had the will and courage to respond were the reasons the disease did not spread in Nigeria.

Had the nation been then the throes of a complete unrest, the story would have different. Ebola would have marched the ravager's march through the land. The lessons of war and now of Ebola are ample ones to make all of us rededicate ourselves to peace and stability in Nigeria and throughout the region.

The other aspect of the disease that has gone unreported is that the virus not only attacks poor, scarred nations but the most vulnerable of the people in these countries.

Aside from infecting health care workers, few members of the middle or upper classes have been infected. The vast majority are the poor underclass who eat sparingly and whatever they can, including spoiled, diseased meat caught or paid for on the cheap.

Water is even a luxury. Had they or their medical system the ability to rehydrate people on an ongoing basis, the mortality rate of the disease would lower significantly.

In the end, Ebola is a virus, a serious and deadly one. We can do nothing about its existence. The jeopardy of premature death is part of life. Yet, mankind can do much better in how we respond to this and other scourges. For in the quality of our response, we find our humanity or lose it. Whether we treat the afflicted and whether we act to mitigate the socio-economic imbalances that turn a disease into an epidemic have nothing to do with the severity of the illness. They have everything to do with the largeness of heart and love of mankind we care to live by so that others may not perish before their time.

08060340825 (sms only)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

TADE IPADEOLA

ME AND MY BOOKS

I'm fascinated by intrigues of creativity Tade Ipadeola, lawyer, artist, poet, and prolific writer, won the 2013 NLNG Nigeria Prize for literature with his book, The Sahara Testaments. A versatile author and renowned poet, in this interview with Edozie Udeze, explores the world of writing and states all the numerous authors who have in one way or the other influenced his person and style of writing.

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HAT sort of books do you like most?

Collections of poetry, novels, the occasional biography and autobiography, short story collections and books of essays all interest me. Presently I am reading J.P Clark's Still Full Tide, his collected works.

A phenomenal collection for range and an example of what a committed poet should aim at accomplishing within a lifetime. I find myself wondering how he found the time to also write the plays. I read drama too but I'd rather go to the theatre for that than read the book. If the playwright is long dead and the play isn't part of the repertoire of any theatre company around, then I'd read the play in a book. Say Aeschylus for example, or Sophocles. I wrestle with scholarly books from time to time, I've been reading Akin Adesokan's Post Colonial Artists and Global Aesthetics recently, it is a rare accomplishment and I think every serious writer should engage the ideas in the book.

When you read a book, what are the salient things you look out for most?

Ideas, basically. I want to see how the author's mind engages with the ideas he is trying to express. They say a good book should be slightly more intelligent than the author though, so I am also listening for the pauses. I believe a good book should not only address the 'problema' in the proper Latin sense of the word, it should also address a

'lacuna' which the reader may not even be aware existed. I look for a book that solves a problem and I look for a book that fills a void.

Sometimes I'm lucky and I find a book that does both. Perhaps that is why I am predisposed toward poetry. When, for example, I first read the poems of Niyi Osundare at the University, it was a novel experience. The Eye of the Earth was unlike any collection of poetry I had ever read up till that point. It was fluid, mellifluous, African. I loved the way he made the English language obey his will.

Who are your favourite authors in the world and why?

Ah, e go hard to list all of them o. Let us start from home. I like J.P Clark, Soyinka, Okigbo, Amos Tutuola, Franz Fanon, Oswald Mtshali, Jared Angira, OusmaneSembene, AyiKweiArmah, Femi Osofisan, OdiaOfeimun, Tony Marinho, Afam Akeh, Harry Garuba, Akin Adesokan, Daniel Fagunwa, AkinwumiIsola, EbenezarObadare, Kgositsile, Marquez, Kunene, Lisa Combrinck, Andre Brink, NgugiwaThiongo, Sefi Atta, Wale Adebanwi, OgagaIfowodo, Niran Okewole, Emmanuel Iduma, OlubunmiFamiloni, ChumaNwokolo, Chijioke Amu-Nnadi, Benson Eluma, RotimiBabatunde, Molara Wood, Ike Okonta, Amatoritsero Ede, Jumoke Verissimo, ToyinAdewale-Gabriel, Chika Unigwe, ChieduEzeanah, UcheNduka, RethabileMasilo

and the yet to be properly published Yomi Ogunsanya and Sam Ogabidu. Yes, Leopold Sedar Senghor especially. From around the world: Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney, Czeslaw Milosz, Jose Saramago, Pablo Neruda, W.H Auden, Paul Muldoon, Le Clezio, C.L.R James, Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Primo Levi, Michael Ondaatje, Rohinton Mistry, George Elliot Clarke, Alice Munro, George Lamming, Kamau Brathwaite, Kenzaburo Oe, Tomas Transtromer, AravindAdiga, Ibsen, Joel Toledo, Gen Asenjo, AnkurBetageri and a really exciting young writer called Joel Dicker. I don't think it is possible to make a list of every author who has ever moved me profoundly. Several essayists I really like are not on this list but it doesn't mean their works are not deep. I live works that challenge the intellect and the imagination.

When and where do you like to read and what time and why?

I like to read in the morning and late at night. Those are the times I'm freshest. Depending on the gravity of the material, I also like to read when travelling.

What is your preferred literary genre?

Poetry, without doubt.

What book or books have had the greatest impact on you and why?

Books which provide the reader with a handle on the world are precious. The books that have had the most impact on me are books that have the capacity to transport me into the dimension of reality they try to relate. The novels of Garcia Marquez, especially Love in the Time of Cholera and the poetry of Derek Walcott, especially Omeros, do that for me.

As a child what books tickled you most?

Daniel Fagunwa's Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale was the book I couldn't stop reading.

After my first Fagunwa, I kept reading all the others I could lay hands on, and I couldn't stop until I had read every one.

At what point in your life did you begin to nurse the idea of becoming a writer?

In secondary school I did write essays and some of them won prizes. But I was in my mid-twenties when I knew for sure I would be a writer. I was lucky to have mentors and friends who pointed me in that direction. I was already working at the Ministry of Justice in Ibadan. There was a ferment in Ibadan of the early nineties. One day, the poet Lola Shoneyin delivered a message to me from Chief Bola Ige who had read some of my poems. He wanted to see me in person. It was at an ANA reading at his home that he began to really challenge me to write seriously. I haven't looked back since.

How has writing shaped or reordered your life?

Completely. I set out initially to practice as a lawyer and I do have a competitive streak in me. I knew I would not be content to just be one of the fellows in wig and gown. But since I immersed myself in serious writing, that has changed a little. Readings, competitions and residencies abroad on account of writing means I cannot but scale down my ambitions at the bar a notch or two. I haven't regretted it.

I still enjoy being a lawyer but a completed book gives the kind of satisfaction that one cannot get elsewhere. Nothing compares, really. It is now, for me, the life of one dancing to a distant drum. Those close by you may begin to doubt your sanity and a few bold ones will even suggest to you a change of course but a real writer cannot decline the enchantment of writing.

If you meet your favourite author face to face what would you like to ask him/her?

How do you do it? I want to know how the great authors do what they do best. In fact I want the how-of-the-how as well. Good writing isn't an accident. From the little I have read, it is a life of committed work.

Of the plays you've read which character struck you most?

I think that the character of Brother Jeroboam in Wole Soyinka's Trials of Brother Jero strikes me as a very accurate rendition of the personality of the scoundrel. The Nigerian scoundrel particularly, and how that scoundrel manages to be of such influence.

Look at Nigeria today. A building owned by a charlatan collapses and kills over a hundred human beings, both Nigerians and foreigners. And politicians who should enforce standards say they are paying the villain condolence visits. It is totally bizarre.

What book do you plan to read next?

I am currently reading the manuscript of a book by Mr Nigel Henry titled Do Something Before You Die, a truly fascinating document that every Nigerian ought to read in print.

And I am also reading King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild How do you arrange your private library?

There is a shelf hanging from my study walls. It has books that only my closest friends can read or take away. People like Niran Okewole and Wale Dada. These guys give me access to their own private libraries. Then there are the shelves in my living room which have books which everyone can read.

Are you a reader and how often?

Actually, I can't remember a time I didn't read. I can't imagine stopping my readings.

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N

OT only emotion, but also sympathy, outcry, agony and supplication for help that indeed surrounded the circumstances of the Women of Owu. The play which is on now at the National Theatre, Lagos, is the re-enactment of part of the 19th Century Yoruba wars in which the city of Owu was besieged for several years by the combined forces of Ife, Ibadan, Ijebu and Oyo. Owu people had been recalcitrant to the rest of Yoruba and this was not a welcome development.

With the students of the Drama department of the Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, involved in the play this year, it was easy to notice the level of resilience and stage craft and mobility which the youthful artistes brought to bear on the play. Watching them on stage showed that there is indeed hope for the stage theatre in Nigeria today.

Their ability to raise the tempo of the play, their ability also to highlight and interpret the nuances in very emotional and sympathetic ways embedded in the play helped the scenes to register in the minds of the audience. The play itself is a dirge. It is a dirge anchored on the sorrows of women who had to face the humiliation of defeat. After the city was razed and pillaged, the palace was despoiled, while some of the shrines were profaned and burnt to ashes.

In this devastating scenario only women were left. All the men of the city had been beheaded. The idea, more or less, was never to let Owu people breed men any more. It was to teach them an everlasting lesson not to dare the rest of the Yoruba nation in future. And this worked because on and on the women wept, cursed and mourned and moaned.

Yet no help or intervention came from anywhere.

The more the women wept, recounting how their woes and problems began and hoping upon hope to have some respite, the more the invading soldiers taunted and hounded them to submission. It was such a harrowing and colossal situation that Professor Femi Osofisan, the playwright, was able to capture and embellish the play with surplus dances and songs.

The dances and the songs were well handled by the student actors and actresses. The total epitome and beauty of the play was found in the flexibility of the dancers whose sorrowful dirges indeed helped in defining the historical importance and sequence of the invasion.

The whole episode is the total manifestation of what historical issues can do to encourage people look back into time. Osofisan was detailed in his

Title: Thoughtful & Thoughtless Thoughts Author: Ipoola Ahmed Omisore Year of publication: 2014 No of Pages: 166 Reviewer: Badejo Adedeji Nurudeen Publisher: Edistyle Company, Lagos

T

THE NATION ON SUNDAY,

ARTS

HOUGHTFUL & Thoughtless Thoughts by Hon Ipoola Ahmed Omisore, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly is a book based on his 'thoughts' on contemporary Nigerian issues and politics. It includes an account of his stewardship, marital life lessons, Yoruba and family history, general tips and wise sayings. The book contents are from his daily social media posts from 2010-2015. Divided into five sections and 14 chapters, section 3 deals largely with marital life in the context of weakening family values arising primarily from marital crisis in our society, it is common knowledge that the institution of family and marriage are endangered these days.

The author dwells on the vagares and challenges of marital life, family, love and sex. He places emphasis on home building, the age-long rivalry between mothers and wives, the importance of love in marriage (in actual fact, he encourages men not to give 100% love to their wives, suggesting 90% while the remaining 10% should be tied to the success of the marriage), according to him sex is a strong aspect in marriage. Both chapters 7 and 8 advise a man needs patience to be a good husband.

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Endless agonies of Women of Owu

•Scenes in Women of Owu

By Edozie Udeze

presentation, he looked succinctly at the nuances of the people, even the stubbornness of an average Owu person in those days was replicated over time to make it a vivid historical play.

In the end, the dramatic effects of what he did become a point of reference.

History is replete with such events that

touched the society in various core areas of their social, political and economic lives. The idea of staging the play is to help students who would offer English Literature in the next West African School Certification Examination, (WASCE). It is part of the syllabus and so it is imperative that the play is staged now to

help literature students master the techniques of the book better. It is to show them practical theatre.

Basically, this was why young undergraduate students were used to propel it on. The age range is not too far from what the secondary students can easily identify with. In fact, their deep involvement in the play on stage, showed that they too got infused into the story itself. They were carried away by the emotional aspects of the story, swinging away on stage, attired in simple costumes with other dirty and local linens, just to totally depict the sorry situation of the women of Owu. As soon as you enter the cinema hall of the National Theatre where the play was staged, the first attraction is the splendour of the stage. Built by Biodun Abe, the newly appointed Director of Abuja Carnival, the simple village setting embossed on the painting on stage made the whole exercise look real and convincing. Known for his practical and daring attitude to stage dĂŠcor and mesmerisation, Abe confessed that he did the stage to register a real village pattern of the time and to also situate the historical relevance of the story. "The people have to see what the rural life of the people was like in those days. This was a bush path, very narrow indeed, through which movements from place to place were made possible in those days. This becomes your first point of contact as soon as you enter the cinema hall," he said.

The representation of mud houses and the thick bushes on both sides of the village settlement, the desolate nature of the village further defined that the people were at war. The whole village was deserted and that in itself evoked profound pity. Abe drew on people's emotions with that stage design that you needn't be told that a core professional was at work to give opulence to a play that still remains poignant in the annals of Yoruba history. The play dissects love, it treats romance, intrigues, backbiting and it especially dwells on why most powerful men of history marry or fall in love with bitches.

With total and bewitching beauties, most of the women were able to hoodwink powerful generals of the invading armies to evade punishment and possible death. They all added to the import of the power of female anatomy, but also gave the play its proper place as an epic, a didactic expose of the norms of the people and their likes and dislikes.

In the bowel of thoughts As a politician of the progressive circle, he eulogises with fanaticism his leader and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a man with a lion's heart who bestrides the country's political space like a colossus.

To him, Tinubu is a master planner, a phenomenon and a generous personality.

From pages 79-87, the author gives an account of his stewardship; including the empowerment of 350 women and 250 youths in Ojokoro, free pre-WASCE lectures, 200 free medicated eye glasses, free exercise books, one day hounourable programme, youth football challenge and his visit to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) to settle the medical bill of a patient abandoned by his family and friends after an accident. He also defends his membership of the House of Assembly at 66 with a biblical proclamation! Also, he refers to an incident that almost made him quit the social media when someone described him as a clown; but thank God, he kept faith.

One very important aspect of this book is the author's unwavering belief in the indivisibility of the country. He looks at those issues troubling Nigeria as dashed hopes, religious folly, insurgency in the north, Islamic banking, failed agendas, petroleum subsidy removal, the crave for private jets by Nigeria's bigwigs, state of

infrastructure, the rich versus the masses, and graduate unemployment ( a time bomb). And he offers workable solutions.

Interestingly, he mentions the late Dele Giwa, the well-known Journalist killed by

a letter bomb in 1986, saying they both attended the same primary and secondary school. They completed their secondary education in 1967 according to Omisore.

A whole section of the book (section 4) is devoted to Yoruba and Ile-Ife history.

Omisore has his roots in Ile-Ife, and he gives a picture of his family history dating back to his earliest progenitors. Readers are taken on historical excursion from the First Republic to the present. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Akintola, Sir Adesoji Aderemi and great Ile-Ife indigenes like Chief Ajani Anibijuwon Omisore (the author's progenitor), Reverend Kayode (Femi Fani-Kayode's grandfather) Reverend Cole, R.A. Fani-Kayode, SAN, Chief Alex Duduyemi (former Paliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa), Chief Ijiwoye, Chief Adeyera, Barrister Micheal Omisade are given prominence in this chapter.

Chapter 13 is basically to celebrate the author's immediate family, most especially his aged mother, wife and children, while the last section (15) is devoted to general tips and wise sayings about life and development by great political leaders, former presidents, the Bible and others. It is to serve as a guide for anyone aspiring to greater heights.

On the whole, this is a good book.

However, publication of feedback from his audience would have enriched the book.

69

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

INTERVIEW

M

OST people handle prophecies with levity. Why is that?

Maybe people's experiences about prophecies did not encourage them to take some of what l said serious. A lot of people have seen it as a business and a venture.

They talk so that people will fear them and nothing came out of it. I am not in that class.

A pastor is different from an evangelist or a prophet.

Some people are miracle makers. They believe that if they do not perform miracles, they are not men of God. There are a lot of thousands spiritual gifts in the church of God. One person cannot get it all. That is why you have different pastors that handle different things.

Either they take the message serious or not my concern is that the message has been delivered. Those who take me serious get in touch with me and they offered prayers to avert the possible dangers, only l cannot mention some of their names.

There is what we call maturity. Prophecies are to warn an individual, corporate body and government of the impending danger and what to do to avert it. When you warn, it does not matter whether you like that person or not. That was how it was in the past. Prophets will go to government, leaders and people in authority to deliver God's message to them but today people did not take it in good faith. They did not listen to the prophets of God, an indication that they berate God. What is next after the last confab?

T

O halt the protracted leadership crisis rocking the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC), a group, known as CCC Unification and Renaissance Mission (CURM), has called on the factional leaders to eschew unhealthy rivalry and engender lasting peace in the church.

In a communiqué issued at the end of its meeting in Lagos, the General Coordinator of the group, Prophet Pepe Asebiomo, explained that the crisis is one that should be tackled with all sense of seriousness.

The statement reads in part: "CCC is a worldwide church divinely founded

by God through the blood of Jesus Christ and the first and only anointed head of the church was the late Reverend S.B.J Oshoffa.

"The supreme

'There'll still be another confab' The Spiritual head of Inri Evangelical Church Lagos, Primate Elijah Ayodele, spoke with Sina Fadare on 2015 elections and sundry issues. Excerpts: I have said it and I will keep saying it and for those who care to listen, there will be another confab. It will happen. Let them hear before the Scotts shouted for joy after independence, I said that the independence would not last and it happened. There is going to be independence in Nigeria.

I'm not seeing Nigeria as a nation in the next 30 years.

And for this reason, we have to pray very well because of this coming confab. There is going to be referendum where we are going to decide if Nigeria should disintegrate or not.

As I have said, we will have a new confab, which is going to be bigger than that of last time and that confab will determine where the country will go. This confab will be a foundation for Nigeria's future where all the social injustices that have been neglected in the past will be taken care of.

What do you see after Boko Haram?

I said that time that they would not capture Shekau but they would kill him.

Either the country believes it or not, he is dead. But Boko Haram is yet to die; the Boko Haram boys are going to regroup themselves outside the country. They might not be Boko Haram but they might be coming up as another terrorist group.

Our security forces should start working on

•Ayodele

how they are going to tackle this new terrorist group.

Rehabilitate these people or not, it will not end terrorism and government should not

have any dialogue with any terrorist because of the Chibok girls.

Government should stand firm. Those people who

empower Boko Haram should be exposed.

The killing of Shekau is not the end of Boko Haram in Nigeria. There is still going to be counter attacks but the head of the security can make it end. The end may come to terrorism in Nigeria but it may not be now either two or three to four years.

Do you think the Chibok girls will all come back alive?

No, not all of them will be released; they are going to see them but not all of them. 10 per cent of them are no more.

Do you think Nigeria will remain the same after 2015 election?

2015 is not the end of Nigeria. There will be peace in some areas whereas some areas will experience violence. Nigeria will still remain one entity. 2015 elections will not separate us. But I still foresee separation in the nearest future. There is going to be a lot of troubles in Central Bank of Nigeria. The CBN governor must be very careful so that he will not be misled.

We have a lot of men of God in the country, yet things are not what they should be. What is wrong?

Let me correct an impression, not all pastors are prophets. If you are not gifted as a prophet you cannot know what to do if a nation is in crisis. It is

NEWS Group seeks end to leadership crisis in CCC

By Kunle Akinrinade headquarters of the church is in Porto Novo, Republic of Benin as was established

by Oshoffa. All those currently claiming and usurping the rites of pastorship are all impostors and doing so for greed and selfish

D

O you know your wife's lingerie's sizes? Do you know the name of the primary school she attended and or her grandma's name?

If you are not too sure, you can start working on these areas and more so you don't get caught pants down.

This and more are some of the lessons picked at the grand finale of the one week conference of the

pecuniary motives."

The group emphasised the need for sanity and caution on the part of factional leaders in the church.

It said:" All anointment and bogus titles conferred on members since the demise of the founder of the church are not in the

interest of the church or the spiritual uplift of the members.

"The whole of Nigeria, Benin Republic and overseas were and still remain constitutionally individual diocese as left by Oshoffa. They can only have diocesan head and are therefore not individually

empowered under to appoint a pastor at its head.

"All necessary ground work towards actualising the already inaugurated "CCC Nigerian Diocese Transitional Elders Council" and proper regulation of documents including constitution,

'Bonding is important for marital success'

By Oyeyemi GbengaMustapha

Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Redemption zone, Lagos Province 9, Agege.

Men, who attended the conference with the 'the over flowing family', were charged to build intimacy with their spouses.

The guest minister, Pastor (Mrs.) Abigail Adarabioyo, said: "Our husbands must know the mind of God. And when they do, it will take a smart man to carry his wife along by loving her.

"And this can be achieved through some of these tips we have highlighted above. Women

should also not provoke their husbands to anger or disrespect them, either in public or in private.

"When a couple is in unity of purpose, it will be easy to raise the children, hence an overflowing family."

The hostess, Assistant Pastor (Mrs.) Olusegun John, anchored the session

different from a spiritualist, who has the source of his power through other means.

But a prophet is linked up with God and he delivers His message to whomever he was sent to.

Did you make prediction so that people will visit your church for solution?

No, not like that. When you came in, did you see any visitation time? All what we are saying is that if the Lord sends us to the nation, we must deliver the message. I thank God what l will eat till kingdom comes has been provided by God. When He calls you, definitely He will cater for your needs.

As a prophet of God, you have a covenant with you and he is going to be with you till the end. When you follow God's instruction, he will surely bless you. What gains will l be looking for? is it national awards? l have them in excesses. My position is higher than the president, therefore l don't need all these so call awards.

I have done a lot, not in Nigeria alone, but all over the world. Recently, l received a letter from Buckingham palace. They acknowledged our book of prophesy. I got another one from Israeli government. So, l do not need man’s commendation but that of God and if you are doing His work, you are blessed. I have a house and a vehicle that l can use, what else am l looking for?

administrative and financial guidelines for the smooth take off, of a new order in CCC should be intensified.

"It is further resolved that for the time being, all parishes of the church should conserve all money accruing to them for the development of their parishes." where men were told to dress their babies up.

Turning to the men, most of those who were uncomfortable with the chore, Mrs. John said: "You can see that it is not easy to dress up for children. So, whenever you feel your wife is taking time and 'delaying' you, bear in mind that children must not be mismanaged and your wife is a professional, trying to prevent crises."

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014

WORSHIP

70

COLUMN

Living Faith

By Dr. David Oyedepo

•Awesome Treasures Foundation founder, Mrs. Olajumoke Adenowo and the Awesome Treasures Team cutting her Birthday cake at the 2014 October Thanksgiving Summit with the theme Metamorphosis 3 "Revealing the real you" at the Muson centre,Lagos

M

EMBERS, wellwishers and associates of Olorunda Baptist Church (OBC) Aguda in Lagos were in exuberant mood last week as the church celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The anniversary coincided with the launching of musical instruments, a coaster bus and dedication of the church auditorium.

The week-long celebration also featured visits to orphanages, charity homes and free seminars.

The mood in the new auditorium was ecstatic as guests and members danced to the faithfulness of God. The minister-in-charge, Rev. Stephen Afolabi, said God has been more than

Olorunda Baptist Church celebrates at 50 •Dedicates new auditorium, bus

By Sunday Oguntola

faithful to the assembly since inception.

He assured that the church and members will be ushered to greater heights and prosperity.

The guest speaker, who is also the President, Lagos East Baptist Conference, Rev. (Dr) Emmanuel Awotunde, charged the members of OBC not to relent in their dedication to God. He asked them to be faithful in all their dealings

because God is about to do new things after the Jubilee celebration.

Speaking on repositioning the church for endtime harvest, Awotunde, who took his text Matthew 16:1619, called on leaders to reposition the church for members to be rooted in the word of God. He urged the church to rededicate to soul-winning, transformational leadership and discipleship.

Foundation harps on social impact

25

- YEAR- OLD Izuchi Samuel, was full of joy as he mounted the podium last Sunday at the quarterly seminar of Awesome Treasures Foundation, a non-governmental organisation aimed at empowering youths and building transformational leaders.

11 years ago, he attended the Awesome Youth Summit at the Muson Centre Onikan.

He was stunned as he listened to the transformations of lives at the event.

Izuchi narrated: "That Sunday evening at the back of the hall where I sat, I saw another side of life as per wealth, beautiful people, excellence, etc.

"After the beautiful music and the engaging interactive session, the convener of ATF, Mrs. Olajumoke Adenowo mounted the podium to speak.

"Her words struck me like an arrow piercing my heart. That day I made a decision to pursue my purpose and asked God to ensure I made it to the university in spite of my really adverse circumstances. If I made it then I would know there is truly a living God." After Izuchi left Lagos to serve as a houseboy in Onitsha, the message of that day shaped his journey.

"I reminded God each day of those words and told him to take me to the university if indeed she is His vessel."

By Nneka Nwaneri

vote as when disaster such as wars and plagues strike 75% of those affected are women and youth.

"Leadership is problem solving. Let's vote in leaders who can solve our problems," she pleaded.

The summit was agog with the melodious songs of sensational gospel music by PMA, Modele and Frank Edwards, which kept the crowd dancing.

Izuchi, a graduate of Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka is undergoing his National Youth Service Corps in Kokona Local Government of Nasarawa state.

The vision he conceived that day has become a reality.

Addressing participants after his testimony, Adenowo pointed out that the church had no choice but to be politically engaged. " T h e church in Nigeria must be relevant to the political, economic and social life of the nation.

Nigerians are tired of a c h u r c h focused only on personal issues and breakthroughs.

There can be no sustainable personal breakthrough on a sinking corporate ship," she stressed.

She urged w o m e n especially to shake off their •The chairman of Men's fellowship, Realm apathy about of Glory Church Gwarinpa Abuja. Mr.Sam l e a d e r s h i p Afolabi helping his wife Justina to cut her and turn out to birthday cake

Engaging the Miracle Power of Praise for Supernatural Breakthroughs!

W

ELCOME To the last teaching for the month. There is no better way to rap up the month than on the note of praise and thanksgiving.

Praise is a spiritual weapon that has the capacity to crush our toughest and roughest battles in life. We must also understand that praise is one of the most effective, but neglected weapons in the Kingdom. It is an unbeatable weapon in the battles of life.

This is because until we can beat God, we cannot beat praise.

That is why I define praise as the ultimate spiritual weapon in warfare.

More so, God inhabits the praises of His people. This means that God is in praise and thus, whatever battle cannot resist God, cannot resist praise (Psalm 22:3).

For instance, Paul and Silas, in the midnight of their ordeal, sang praises to God and He stepped in. The foundation of the prison was shaken, all the doors were opened and everyman's chain was loosed.

In response to praise, God stepped in and levelled their battles (Acts 16:25-30). You will likewise, become a surprise to your enemies through the weapon of praise!

Life is however, essentially a seedtime and harvest adventure and no one ever gets out of life more than he puts into it. As it is written: While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:22). (See also Ephesians 6:8, 2 Corinthians 9:6-7).

The scripture records that David danced with all his

might and secured vengeance on his mockers. No wonder, Bible records show that he never lost a battle. David knew how to bring God to bear in any situation and circumstance. We also recall the story of that one leper that glorified God with a loud voice and was made whole (2 Samuel 6:1-10, Luke 17:18-19).

This is why it is important to identify that praise is in categories. It is the level we engage in that determines the level of results we command.

What then, are the Categories of Praise?

• Normal Praise: As it is written, Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp (Psalm 149:3).

• High Praises: It is written: Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand (Psalm 149:6). While praises will attract wonders, giving God high praises will attract high level of wonders. Also, while praise produces a usual order of results, high praise produces high level order of results (Psalm 149:3-9).

• Highest Praise: This is the Hosanna order of praise. When we give God hosanna praise, we are entitled to a high level order of results. For instance, when the people went wild singing His hosanna as He entered into the City of Jerusalem, Jesus went wild in the temple and healed all that were sick (Matthew 21:916).

What are the Benefits in Praise?

• Praise is a spiritual medium through which we transfer our battles to God: (Jeremiah 32:17,27/ Psalm 125:13).

• Praise is a spiritual

medium through which our inheritance in Christ is forcefully released: (Psalm 47:1, 4Matthew 11:12).

• It is for the restoration of our physical, social and spiritual dignity: When we praise God, He beautifies us with all that redemption offers (Psalm 149:4).

Some of the toughest battles in scriptures were won by praise, which represent the testimonies of the triumphs of praise. They include: • The dividing of the Red Sea: (Exodus 14:13-15, 15:11, 2021/ 2 Chronicles 20:17/ Psalm 114:1-9).

• The walls of Jericho came down at the shout of praise (Joshua 6:1-5, 15-16, 20/ Psalm 47:1-2, 5-7).

• God stepped in by praise and took over the battle of Judah (2 Chronicles 20:12-15, 1724).

• The prison gates gave way to Paul and Silas through praise: (Acts 16:25-30).

• Jesus fed 5,000 in the desert by giving thanks (John 6:6-11/ Psalm 67:5-7).

• Lazarus came back to life as Jesus gave thanks (John 11:4044).

Praise warfare is vital to supernatural breakthroughs in the battles of life. As long as we know what to do, we cannot remain victims. Therefore, as we engage in high praises, every battle of our lives that has proved to be tougher than us, God will take over and turn it to a testimony! Remain ever Blessed!

Friend, the blessedness of praise can be maximized when you are born again.Say this prayer of faith: "Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner.

Forgive me of my sins. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You, for saving me! Now, I know I am born again!" Amen!!

I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners.

We have four services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:50 a.m., 9:40 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. respectively.

I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

NEWS

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HE New Revelation Bible School Lagos has graduated twelve new pastors.

Speaking at the maiden graduation with the theme You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, the coordinator, Pastor Gabriel Olutuwase, challenged the new pastors to make full proof of their callings.

Bible school graduates 12

By Famuyiwa Damilare He urged them to be steadfast and committed to changing lives through sound teaching.

According to Olutuwase, ''God is not a waster of resources; you are called and

ordained to be fruitful. There is no entitlement in title, your calling and appointment to God is a privilege.''

The rector, Pastor Segun Oluwatosin, said the school is driven by the passion to raise sound and exemplary preachers.

Arise Women supports women's health, others

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RISE Women, City of David, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), is screening women for breast and cervical cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes, among others.

Its convener, Pastor Siju Iluyomade, said the not-for-profit group was established to cater for the physical and spiritual well-being of women.

Speaking on the Arise Women's yearly

By Wale Adepoju

conference, with the theme seasons and reasons, she said women need good health of mind and body as well as empowerment to support the family and make the country a better place.

"There are answers to all problems in the word of God. "These seasons all come to past but the message is that there is for a good

future," she said.

Iluyomade said women need to be more aware of their body and should take ownership of their health.

"Coming for checkup is not sinful, rather it is scriptural, natural and needful," she said.

She said many women are suffering from high blood pressure because of the harsh economy, adding that they need to bring it down.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

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Search for true Bayelsan and Dickson’s entry

EBERE WABARA

WORDSWORTH T 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Silver, not gold, platter!

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HE GUARDIAN of October 7 nurtured two lapses: “Osun distributes Ebola prevention (Ebola-prevention) materials to schools” “Party commends Adeboye over (for/on) position on controversial audio CD” “Obituary Announcement” (Full-page advertorial, THE GUARDIAN, October 10) There is no need for ‘announcement’ in the extract.

“The condolence register for late (the late)…at her resident (residence) in Lagos.”

“Edo Assembly Speaker, leader arrested over (for) attack on colleague” (THE GUARDIAN Front Page, October 10) “Ikpeba wants more critical attention on (to) Eagles’ activities” (THE GUARDIAN, October 6) “Dangote projects Africa’s potentials (potential/potentialities) with ‘Marketplace Africa’ on CNN” (Source: as above) The next two blunders are still from the above edition of THE GUARDIAN: “…his residence in (on) Victoria island by Standard Chartered Bank is illegal.”

“Firm chief, EFCC bicker over alleged N120m bribery (bribe)” “Renewed clampdown against (on) rice smuggling” (THE GUARDIAN Banner, October 1) “…this award appropriately reflects your tireless contributions and selfless service to the upliftment (uplift) of….” (Full-page advertorial by Abia Patriots, THISDAY, October 8) “A giant whose strides creates (sic) paths for others to forge ahead” (Fullpage advertorial by Casers Group, THISDAY, October 8) “Your life is a testimony of (to) success and is an inspiration to us and millions of….” (Source: as above) “I join all well meaning (well-meaning) Nigerians to specially congratulate you for (on/upon) this well deserved (well-deserved) honour….” (Full-page congratulatory advertorial by Senator Nkechi Justina Nwaogu, CON, THISDAY, Saturday, October 4) “He deserves national honour, says (sic) Nigerians” (Sunday PUNCH Front Page Sub-headline, October 5) “Like (As) my friend says….” (Source: as above) “Obituary Announcement” (Full-page advertorial headline by Central Bank of Nigeria,

THE PUNCH, October 10) ‘Obituary’ encompasses ‘announcement’.

“Celebrating the girlchild amidst (amid) many challenges” (THE PUNCH Viewpoint Headline, October 13) “Western Union Bank Back to School Promotion” (Full-page advertisement, THE PUNCH, October 13) Get it right: Back-to-School Promotion “Jonathan condoles Alamieyeseigha over death of his son” (THISDAY Lead Headline, October 14) A rewrite: Jonathan condoles with Alamieyeseigha over son’s death “NASI flags off (inaugurates) cluster-investment concept for agro processors” (Source: as above) Wrong: “forthnight”, right: fortnight.

“It costs between 300 to 1,000 dollars to eliminate each time.…” Between 300 and 1,000 or from 300 to 1,000…. No combination.

“The only time I was opportuned (opportune or had an opportunity) to watch the low-keyed event….”

“In this vein, there must be a body regulating employments in these bodies…” ‘Body regulating bodies’ is shallow. ‘Employment’ does not admit any inflection.

“But since then, the existence of the country has received series of threats of disintegration.” (Nigerian Tribune, October 17) This way: a series of. There should be no delusion about the article preceding ‘series’ (a).

“Anambra police revokes gun dealer’s (sic) licenses” Let us rewrite: Anambra police revoke gun dealers’ licences.

“Going by precedence, it means that in about 10 days from today, the minister will be obliged to tell once again how the government performed in the third quarter.” Going by precedent…not precedence (in this instance)….

“He had probably never seen a balance sheet…talkless of balancing budget.” Balance the sentence by replacing ‘talk less’ with ‘not to talk of’ or let alone (‘talk less’, as a phrasal verb, is a good grammar).

“It is common knowledge that there is economic crisis in the country resulting to low capacity….” Correct forms: ‘an economic crisis’ or ‘economic crises’ and of course, ‘result in’ (not ‘to’).

“As earlier mentioned in this piece, lack of funds

and machines for exploitation have been the bane of solid minerals production in this country.” Lack of funds has (not have).

“Altogether the CBN has raked in a whooping N85.362 billion.…” Why the mix-up between ‘whopping’ and whooping’?

FEEDBACK THE first two external explications this week are from Mr. BAYO O G U N T U A S E (08056180046): The governorship ticket, “on a platter of gold” (on a silver platter), was, therefore, a befitting compensation for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s role in the democracy struggle.

(Advertorial, THE NATION, October 10, 2014) Usage note: The idiom known to correct English is “to have something handed to one on a silver platter, which means “to get or be given something (e.g. independence/a job or governorship ticket without having to put any effort into it”.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press or members of the press is preferred to gentlemen of the press. My brother, the spirit of activism goes on. Work hard!

FROM the columnist: In journalism, there are no ladies (gender discrimination) hence the generic term of ‘gentlemen of the Press’, pockets of feministic opposition notwithstanding. This professional jargon may not have grammatical justification, but has stuck! What do you think dear reader? Let the debate continue. And to SUNNY AGBONTAEN (08055162531): Your SMS on ‘air-crash’ and ‘plane-crash’ is immensely appreciated.

Send more!

THE next two observations are from DONTEXAS EKARIKA, Warri (0807625219): “Jonathan condoles (condoles with) CAN as Numbere dies” (National Mirror, October 20) “…the cleric passed on last Wednesday afternoon in Lagos, where he was flown, en route (en route to) Germany for checkup.”

(Source: as above) SUNDAY ADESINA (08029955388) dispatched this from Kaduna State: “…urging the electorate to be at alert in all ramification (sic)….” This way: be on the alert in all ramifications, ‘I’ can precede any name in the subjective if culpability is expressed. Sample this: ‘I and my son spat on the old lady.’ Do have a beautiful Sunday. (Intervention by CHARLES IYOHA), Chairman, Academy Ltd, 07033775454)

HE title of this writeup may seem very intriguing and strange, but it is one notty issue that has continued to constitute constipation in the stomach of many Bayelsa people.

Like the Biblical story of the struggle for supremacy between Esau and Jacob in the womb of their mother, Madam Rebecca, one has been contending with how to commit the concept of who is a true Bayelsan or in search of a true Bayelsan to writing. The question of who is a true Bayelsan has become very pertinent in the development process of the state.

The history of the creation of Bayelsa State is never in doubt as a culmination of several years of dreams and struggle.

The struggle is not essentially to have a state alone but to have a homogenous Ijaw state in fulfillment of the long sought dream of the founding fathers.

One could recall the politics of sitting the headquarters which almost aborted the dream of the creation of the state, when every prominent Ijaw man of Bayelsa extraction wanted the capital to be at his or her backyard, but God in his infinite mercy and wisdom saw us through the birth of the historic baby called Bayelsa State.

For record purpose, like a pregnancy that was near delivery, when the writing on the wall became clear that Bayelsa was about to be delivered, Late Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu warned the Late Head of State, General Sani Abacha against the creation of the State, stating that it would amount to releasing the lion out of the cage. Late General Sani Abacha defied the warning and went ahead to announce the creation of Bayelsa State.

One was not surprised at Ojukwu’s reported opposition to the creation of the state. The history of the Ijaws have been replete with struggle for a common identity and resistance against oppression. The Ijaws have been in the forefront of the struggle for Niger Delta republic and the first ethnic group to take up arms against the Federal Government led by the legend of the struggle, Late Isaac Boro in what is referred to as the Twelve-Day Revolution.

Interestingly, the state was not only created fourteen years later, providence smiled on the people when a worthy son of the land, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan became the fifth democratically elected president of Nigeria and the most populous nation in Africa.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s ascension to power does not only mark the climax of the dream of the ordinary Ijaw man or woman but also marks the actualization of the salty sweats of our heroes of democracy. It also marks the

• Dickson

By George Fente

coming to pass the prophetic statement of the best president Nigeria never had, Late Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo of blessed memory who prophesied years back that the enthronement of an egalitarian society will throw forth an Ijaw man as president of Nigeria. Just the same way Late Afro-American Human Right Activist Martin Luther King Junior dreamt of equal opportunities for all race in America. That dream came to reality when Barack Obama was elected president of the United States of America.

The emergence of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as President of Nigeria is obviously the handiwork of God and the fulfillment of that prophesy. That was why, apart from the 1993 annulled election of Chief M.K.O Abiola, the 2011 presidential election in Nigeria will go down in history as one election which Nigerians buried their ethno-religious persuasions to exercise their franchise by collectively queuing behind the son of a canoe carver from the creek of Niger Delta to become the president of Nigeria. This is a pan Nigerian mandate that no other Nigerian has enjoyed except Late Chief M.K.O Abiola. This is no doubt a no mean magnimity that will remain ever green in the sands of time and above all grateful to God and the Nigerian electorates.

But back home in Bayelsa, there have been a lot of contending issues that have become a virus that needs a surgical attention.

This is the issue of core Ijaw and non core Ijaw in the geopolitical configuration of Bayelsa State, whereby some group of persons claim to be more Ijaws than the others in the quest for survival particularly a state that pride itself as homogenous Ijaw State.

The same ethnic garments that have bedeviled the Nigerian politics and development in general have crept into the political fab-

rics of Bayelsa State. It may interest many Nigerians that the first opposition against the nomination of President Goodluck Jonathan immediately he was announced as running mate to Late President Musa Yar’Adua came from Bayelsa State. This is not a cheering news.

Some Bayelsa Ijaw Youth Council Leaders (IYC) protested against the nomination. These group of persons made it clear in a full page advertorial in ThisDay Newspaper, that president Goodluck Jonatha was not the choice of the Ijaw People.

The question again arose; who is the true Ijaw man? Or who is the true Bayelsa man? Is the question of who is a true Bayelsa man determined by birth through the red blood or through the white blood or through the blue blood? One thing is clear, some people are still wearing the thinking cap of the medieval era when a particular group of persons consider themselves of having the divine right of rulership to produce a governor or any other political office in the state. Ironically, the very people that oppose President Jonathan from Bayelsa State are the beneficiaries of his administration.

Sadly, the same characters have been importing the same sentiments over their definition of a true Ijaw man.

It became so expedient that one was compelled to flip through a book, History of the Niger Delta by Ebiegberi J. Alagoa where the history of the Ijaw people is succinctly captured.

Having read that book, one could not resist the conclusion that the Ijaw man is bound by a common source of history rather than a common dialect; whether it is the Agadagbabou account or the Olodiama account or the Benin account or even the Ille-Ife account. What matters is that the Ijaw people share a common history of culture and a life of struggle.

So one cannot just imagine the sentiment or the fuss about core Ijaw and non core •Continued of Page 77

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

Medical social workers, expert calls for passage of social workers bill From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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HE President of Association of Medical Social Workers of Nigeria (AMSWON), Mrs. Foluke Omotosho and an expert in the Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan (UI), Dr. Oyedunni Arulogun, has called on the National Assembly to ensure the speedy passage of the Social Workers bill pending before the Senate.

The passage of the bill, according to the duo, would provide a conducive environment for medical social workers to perform effectively.

They spoke separately at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Annual Conference of Medical Social Workers held at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

Omotosho explained that the speedy passage of the bill is necessary in order to confront the emerging medical conditions which call for a concrete policy framework?.

"Government policies have many dimensions and each is important and connected to all.

The challenges ahead of us as professional medical social workers are enormous which include ever increasing number of indigent patients, abandoned patients, shortage of professional ?medical social workers in comparison with the population, poor capacity development of medical social workers on the job and unfavourable government policies," she stated.

NEWS

Environmental sanitation fracas claims two lives in Ondo community

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T was a bloody weekend at Igbotako in Okitipupa local government area of Ondo State when two persons were allegedly shot dead by soldiers attached to the army barracks in Okitipupa, with four others reportedly sustaining serious injuries.

The deceased simply identified as Sunday Adejuwon and Yomi Akinyemi, were reportedly hit by stray bullets following a clash between the Chairman of Okitipupa local government, Niyi Gbirinsola

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

and some residents of Igbotako.

Eyewitness told The Nation that the crisis broke out following an attempt by the council chairman, who stormed the community to arrest residents who allegedly violated the monthly environmental sanitation order.

It was gathered that the people in the area shunned the sanitation exercise on the

grounds that it coincided with the market day and as such they could not abandon their business for the exercise.

The reactions of the people were said to have provoked Gbirinsola, who allegedly invited soldiers at the Okitipupa Barracks to the community in an attempt to scare the residents but in the process, two people were allegedly shot dead by stray bullets, while four others sustained injuries.

The State Police Public

Relations Officer (PPRO), Wole Ogodo, confirmed the incident, but could not provide more details.

He added that the State Commissioner of Police, Isaac Eke, was on his way to the crisis-ridden community as at press time to access the situation.

Attempts to reach the Brigade Commander, 32 Artillery Regiment, Akure, Brig. Gen Aliu Momoh for comments were unsuccessful as his line was inactive.

APC denies manipulating voter registration From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Iseyin, Oyo State has denied allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that it had manipulated the just concluded voter registration in the zone with a view to rigging the 2015 general elections in the state.

The party also denied holding any meeting or involved in unholy romance with the Electoral Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Iseyin Local Government, Mr. S.O Babalola. The APC chairman in the council area, Chief Layi Omokunmi, who addressed journalists in Iseyin, described the allegation as "untrue and baseless."

He also denied accusation that some corps members took the voter registration cards to the meeting venue of APC members in Ward 07 at Anwarul-Islam Primary School, Isalu, Iseyin for distribution.

Also reacting, Chairman, Iseyin Local Government, Alh Saheed Adejare Yusuf, denied that the APC bribed the said INEC official with N2.5 million in order to register over 1,500 people for the party.

According to him, the allegation by PDP stemmed from its fears of losing next year's elections and called on members of the party to join APC, which he described as the party to beat.

The INEC electoral officer in Iseyin Local Government, Mr. S.O Babalola further denied PDP's claim, stressing that during the voter registration exercise in the town, he discharged his duties without fear or favour for any political party.

•Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun (2nd left), his wife, Olufunso (middle), Speaker, Ogun State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Suraj Ishola Adekunbi (left) Managing Director, Ogun State Property & Investment Corporation (OPIC), Barrister Babajide Odusolu (right), and National Women Leader, All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. (Mrs.) Ramotu Tijani Aliyu while inaugurating the first fully serviced gated estate in the state at the Orange Valley, in Abeokuta yesterday.

Amosun inaugurates Ogun's first fully serviced estate

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GUN State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has inaugurated the first fully serviced gated estate in Abeokuta, the state capital, with an assurance that the initiative would soon spread across the length and breadth of the state.

The Estate, named Orange Valley, which is located along the Presidential Boulevard, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, sits on a nine hectare parcel of land with its first phase comprising 66 units of four bedroom detached duplexes and boys quarters.

Outstanding features of

the first of its kind estate include recreational facilities such as swimming pool, a squash court as well as dedicated 24-hour power supply, potable water supply and fire hydrants.

Speaking at the inauguration, Amosun said that the ultra-modern estate, the first in its 38 years of existence of the state, was completed within nine months and was a demonstration of his administration's commitment to reducing housing deficits, pointing out that, all that went into the project, including building materials and the

over 5,000 direct and indirect workers who worked on the project were sourced locally.

The governor disclosed that the estate, which was built without borrowing is for the executive class, adding that income generated from its sale would be used to develop other estates, which would be heavily subsidised for low income earners.

"Everything you see here is truly Ogun. The project gainfully employed over five thousand skilled and unskilled labour, empowering over 100 indigenous entrepreneurs and increasing their capacity. We

didn't borrow a penny to build this estate and whatever income that is generated from it would be re-cycled for low income earners' estates which would be heavily subsidised," he disclosed.

Amosun, who revealed that over 40 units of the houses had been sold, called on investors to take advantage of the great investment opportunities which abound in the State to increase the returns on their investments.

He said, "We are totally committed to our vision of affordable housing. We do not have access to unlimited funds but we are partnering with institutions of like minds to help our people access mortgages. The houses would be on owner- occupier basis, as we do not want to encourage shylock landlords."

Oyo partners firms on tourism development

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YO State Tourism Board will be partnering with 17 firms to improve tourism in the state in line with its public-private partnership policy.

The Coordinator, Miss Tourism Oyo State, Thompson Ukeki, who made this disclosure, said there was the need to develop the tourism potentials in the state, adding that close to

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

N250 million can be generated annually in tourism development.

He disclosed that the state has over 120 monument sites which include Captain Bower Tower, Oke-Are, the 350 years old tortoise i?n Ogbomosho, suspended lake in Ado-Awaiye, Agbele Rock in Igbeti, and Asabari hills in

Saki.

In his speech, the Chairman, Oyo State Tourism Board, Mr. Benedict Ogunwusi, said the state government has invested heavily in tourism development, adding that there is need for organisations and individuals to join hands with the government to develop the sector.

"Good road network and peaceful co-existence are the hallmark of tourism development and these, the state government has provided in the tourism sites in the state.

Developing tourism in rural areas will reduce migration of rural people to urban areas. Tourism is the only venture that can decentralise our urban areas," he noted.

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Ekiti needs new strategy to provide water provision' From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

Anew strategy must be adopted to provide potable water for residents of Ekiti State.

This was the view of experts who spoke at a two-day International Seminar on water tagged 'Water-Tech 2014.'

Speaking at the seminar, National President of Association of Waterwell Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners, Mr. Michael Ale, said the old method of laying pipes to connect different communities when rocky hills dot the state's landscape cannot achieve the desired results.

Ale said the solution to the problem is by sinking boreholes for each community which would maintain the facilities, saying, "The geological feature of Ekiti is one of the reasons why the state doesn't have water."

He tasked the Federal and State Government on the need to increase access to portable water by brokering partnerships with competent local and foreign experts.

While acknowledging the prevalence of water scarcity in the country, Ale questioned the figures recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, which stated that 54 per cent of Nigerians had access to water.

He noted, "I have not been able to verify the statistics. But access is not determined by the number of boreholes drilled. If a borehole was drilled to serve 20,000 people, did you go back to check if that borehole is serving the people? On paper it is right, but in reality it is not. If not for pure water factories, government would have been in big trouble."

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Akinlabi picks nomination form for second term

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member of the House of Representatives, Kamil Akinlabi, has picked his Expression of Interest and nomination form to contest for a second term into the National Assembly.

Akinlabi, who is contesting on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was accompanied to the party's secretariat in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital by his supporters.

Speaking to journalists on the declaration of interest of the Alaafin of Oyo's son, Prince Akeem Adeyemi, of the same party in the seat, Akinlabi said the people of Oyo federal constituency would determine where the pendulum would swing, adding, "The race has just begun; as you can see here, my people have appreciated my role, because I have served them and that is why they are supporting me. In fact, I can say all the people of my constituency are with me."

Akinlabi, who is the first aspirant to pick the nomination form in Oyo federal constituency on the platform of APC, is currently representing Afijio, Atiba, Oyo West and East in the House of Representatives.

He boasted that no amount of gang-up by opposition parties would stop the APC from winning the 2015 general elections in the state and the federal level, saying "As you can see, APC is the party of the moment. It is the people's party and we have done well to convince the people of Oyo State."

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

POLITICS / NEWS

'Plateau will not support another Berom governor in 2015' From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos ORMER National Chairman of the Nigerian Population Commission, Chief Samuila Danko Makama, has declared that the people of Plateau State will not support another governor from the Berom ethnic group in 2015.

Makama, a chieftain of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), stated this in Jos yesterday while reacting to the emergence of Senator Gyang Pwajok as his successor in 2015.

Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang, has asked Plateau people to support the candidacy of Senator GNS Pwajok to succeed him in 2015.

But, Makama said, "I did tell Governor Jang when he called us to a stakeholders meeting to ask for our support for Senator Pwajok as governor in 2015 that Plateau people will not support a government candidate."

He said, "Plateau people will not only reject government candidate, we will reject another Berom candidate to replace Jang in 2015.

"Gov Jang is a Berom man and he has been in power for two terms of eight years, the Berom people should allow other tribes to also produce a governor. We have over 50 ethnic groups in this state, allowing only Berom to rule after eight years of Jang amounts to perpetuating ethnic hegemony.”

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2015: Ex Makarfi's COS challenges him for Senate S

ENATOR Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi's ex-Chief of Staff (COS), Alhaji Nuhu Sani Ibrahim, has joined the race for senate to challenge his former boss who is the present occupant of the seat and who is likely to seek re-election in 2015.

Makarfi, who was a two term governor of Kaduna

From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

State, presently represents the Northern Kaduna Senatorial District and is also a twotermer at the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

His former COS's decision to challenge his boss has been generating excitement in the political circle in Kaduna and

as a result, many prominent politicians in the PDP have begun to encourage Alhaji Ibrahim not to relent in his effort at slugging it? out with his former boss, saying "political offices are not exclusive? preserves or birth rights of anybody."

Nuhu Sani Ibrahim, who was an active and superior

official of the Makarfi Campaign Organisation during the governorship and senatorial campaigns, and who also served as Commissioner of Information in the Makarfi cabinet, has already? concluded plans to vie for the Senate on the platform of the PDP.

Fresh crisis hit Enugu as chairman resigns

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RESH crisis has hit the Enugu State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), following the sudden resignation of the State Chairman of the party, Vita Abba, and the appointment of a new State Chairman in the person of the Managing Director of the Enugu State Housing Development Cooperation, Ikeje Asogwa.

According to a statement released at the end of an emergency State Executive Council (SEC) meeting presided over by Governor Sullivan Chime and signed by the State Publicity Secretary, Okey Eze, the party said it had accepted the resignation of Abba as State Party Chairman.

The statement said the acceptance was based on a letter Engr. Abba sent to the SEC

dated October 20, 2014, which was read on the floor of the meeting purportedly to enable him stand for election in the forthcoming primary of the party.

This was even as reliable sources accused the governor's faction of lies, insisting that Abba, an engineer, had been ill and was receiving treatment overseas.

In a sharp reaction to the development, the Deputy Chairman of the Enugu State Chapter of the PDP, Elder David Aja, described the purported election as "illegal, null and void" as it, according to him, did not comply with the PDP Constitution.

Elder Aja, who was at the meeting, insisted that he remained the authentic Acting Chairman of the party in line with section 47 (1) of the PDP

constitution.

Aja argued that he was the one duly empowered to convene the SEC meeting in the event of the resignation of the chairman and not the secretary.

The SEC appointed Asogwa, who is from the same zone as its chairman in the state "in line with article 47 (6) of the PDP constitution", and further adopted Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as its consensus governorship candidate.

However, Aja who expressed disappointment over the development, told newsmen that if the state Chairman of the party, Vita Abba, had resigned, he ought to be duly informed to enable him act until a substantive state Chairman was elected.

Declaring the SEC decision

as "illegal, null and void", Aja said: "I was sitting beside Governor Chime and I told him that what they were doing was wrong because I am the right person to convene the meeting but he said that under section 47(1), that the SEC can meet and chose another person from the same zone to replace the chairman.

"I told them that I was not complaining about who replaces the Chairman, but that the procedure was wrong. I wanted to walk out of the meeting but a governorship aspirant asked me to sit back that it was wrong to walk out on the governor.

"As far as I am concerned, I remain the Acting Chairman of the party in the state until a substantive Chairman is elected," he said.

Delta 2105 governorship: Uredi backs Ochei

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HE National Chairman of the Isoko Elders and Leaders' Council, High Chief Sergeant Uredi, has thrown his weight behind Rt. Hon Victor Ochei's gubernatorial ambition, which he described as his personal project.

He made the declaration when Ochei paid him a consultative visit at his Idheze, Isoko South country home.

According to him, the decision to support Ochei's gubernatorial aspiration stemmed from his knowledge of Ochei's impressive antecedents as a resourceful administrator, coupled with the sterling characteristic of being a detribalised Deltan.

He further disclosed that his stance came as a result of his conviction that the Ochei 2015 gubernatorial aspiration has a tinge of divine touch and as such, he has equally adopted it as his personal project.

The community and political leader therefore counseled Ochei to remain steadfast in the pursuit of his ambition, as its realisation will beget developmental prospects for Deltans.

Earlier in his address, Ochei revealed that his decision to pay the consultative visit was predicated on the imperativeness of seeking wise counsel from a man like High Chief Uredi who is abundantly endowed with political experience capable of steering his project to fruition.

Jubilation as APC aspirant declares in Anambra From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

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HE declaration by Olisaemeka Onyeka to vie for the House of Assembly seat in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State yesterday, has thrown the communities into frenzy.

Onyeka, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain is contesting the seat, currently occupied by another APC lawmaker, Tony Oneweek Muonagor.

The declaration, which was done yesterday at the APC Local Government office in Ogidi, attracted who is who in the political equation of the area, with young and old singing praises of their contestant.

In fact, two of the political chieftains in the area, Chief Obi Onwuachu and Hon. Uche Ilobi, declared Onyeka as Senator Chris Ngige's heir apparent in the area.

Other big wigs from the local government who attended Onyeka's declaration yesterday included Chief George Amobi, Council Chairman, Edozie Mbaneme, Secretary, Sir Uche Uzowulu and Hon. Mrs. Nneka Ekpechi.

The unprecedented crowd of APC faithful took to the streets, dancing, singing with Onyeka's and Ngige's posters, declaring that the aspirant is the person who the cap fits.

Though, the party had not anointed anybody for the ticket, it seems the battle would be between the incumbent lawmaker Muonagor and Onyeka.

Also, other parties like the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are in the race, but both Idemili North and South council areas are strongholds of APC.

Our error

From Left: Speaker’s wife, Mrs. Mayowa Ikuforiji; Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji ; Dean Emeritus, ArchBishop of Lagos, Anglican Church Communion, Most Reverend Adebola Ademowo and wife, Mrs. Oluranti during the Speaker’s courtesy visit to the Bishop in Lagos.

PHOTO: PHOTOS; OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

Umeh to appoint activist, Obele, as campaign D-G

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HE National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, is said to have concluded plans to appoint human rights activist, Obele Chuka Obele, as the Director-General of his campaign organisation.

Umeh is contesting the Anambra Central Senatorial seat, which is currently occupied by Sen. Chris Ngige of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Also, five persons have lined up from APGA to contest the House of Assembly seat for Onitsha South I Constituency currently held by Hon. Emeka Aniegbonam of APC. Leading the pack of the five

From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

APGA aspirants are Comrade Osita Ozalagba, Ikechukwu Obinka, Nonso Orakwe, Paddy Aniuno and Chibuike Akpotue.

However, The Nation gathered that Ozalagba may have

been anointed as the party's candidate by the powers that be in the party.

All the contestants had been holding secret meetings with the power brokers in the constituency for support.

Meanwhile, a source close

to APGA yesterday, told The Nation that Umeh opted for the lawyer activist to lead his senatorial campaign because of people's love towards the activist.

Before now Obele was involved in a one man match in

In a report last Sunday, we erroneously referred to the former Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Victor Ochie, as the 'deposed' former Speaker of the House.

Ochie actually resigned his appointment as Speaker and so was not 'deposed'. We regret the error.

Enugu State during the military regime when he was a member of NADECO. Though, Umeh had not made it public, we gathered yesterday that all plans had been perfected by the APGA chief to announce Obele any moment from now to lead his campaigns for the senatorial seat.

2015: Ohuhu youths call on Jonathan, Orji to contest

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HE youths of Ohuhu constituency and the maternal home of the First Lady of the country, Dame Patience Jonathan, which is made up of 60 communities have endorsed their son in-law and the President of the country, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to run for the presidency come

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

2015.

The Ohuhu Constituency, which is in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, in the same vein, has called on the state governor, Chief Theodore Orji, to go to the senate to represent

them.

Speaking during the weekend at Ohuhu Central School, the youth leader and a PDP stalwart, Engr. Nwabueze Onwuneme, said the youths in the entire constituency, having seen the good works of the two politicians, have resolved to endorse them for

the different offices.

Onwuneme said, "The good works of President Goodluck Jonathan which are there for all to see, including his transformation agenda, which has been a huge success, and the works of the governor in the state are the determining factors that called for their endorsements".

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014 CHANGE OF NAME OLAKUNDE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Olakunde, Temitope Joy Cynthia, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oluwafemi, Temitope Joy Cynthia. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADENUGA

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ABIODUN MUIBAT ADENUGA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ABIODUN OLAYINKA OGRA. All former documents remain valid. JOS ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION PLC, FIRSTBANK and general public should please take note.

OLADOSU

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ABASS

75

CHANGE CHANGE OF OF NAME NAME ORUYE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Grace Amakie Oruye, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Grace Amakie Muzan-Ekpelu.

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Ministry of Defence, 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Yaba Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and general public should please take note.

GINIKANWA

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Modibo Adamawa University of Technology, NYSC and general public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Saliu Modinat Olusola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Kelani Modinat Olusola. All former documents remain valid.

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ESENE

SULAIMAN

I, formerly known and addressed as Betty Omonyemen Esene, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Betty O. Niyi-Olaleye. All former documents remain valid.

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OTTUN I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Stella Olubukola Ottun, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Stella Olubukola Oloruntoyin.

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ALAWODE

I, formerly known and addressed as Alawode, Michael Olawale, now wish to be known and addressed as Emmanuel Michael Olawale. All former documents remain valid.

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FRIDAY

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POPOOLA I, formerly known and addressed as Popoola Anuoluwapo Enitan, now wish to be known and addressed as Sadiq Anuoluwapo Enitan. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

UGORJI I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. UGORJI OLUCHUKWU EVANGELINE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. UZOMA OLUCHUKWU EVANGELINE. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public please take note.

AGBAKOBA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Agbakoba ljeoma Onwusinkwue now wish to be known and addressed Mrs. Owolabi ljeoma Onwusinkwue. All former documents remain valid.

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BABALOLA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Babalola Comfort Olajumoke now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adedoyin Comfort Olajumoke. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

NGOZI

SALIU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Sulaiman, Bekky Zakirat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olorunfemi Ayomide Bekky.

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NYSC and general public should please take note.

SANNI I formerly known and addressed as Miss Sanni Mariam Abisola Amoke, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Osinowo Abisola Mary Amoke. All former documents remain valid. Lagos State Internal Revenue Service and general public should please take note.

TAIWO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Perpetua Moyinoluwa Taiwo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Perpetual Moyinoluwa Koleosho. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OKWUIBE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ajose, Adetoun Muinat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Yusuf Adetoun Muinat. All former documents remain valid.

Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and general public should please take note.

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ONAKPOYA

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS CHINEYE SCHOLAR NWAMUO, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS NWAZUE DAVID TREASURE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Onakpoya Oghenenyerhovwo Ivie, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Omosaide Oghenenyerhovwo Ivie.

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The general public should please take note.

KELANI

I, formerly known as Fausat Olaide Kelani, now wish to be known as Mrs Olaide Fausat Kasali. All former documents remain valid.

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ASHOWO I, formerly known as Miss Abimbola Hannah Ashowo, now wish to be known as Mrs. Abimbola Hannah Aiyedogbon. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OYEWOLE I, formerly known as Miss Oyebola Oluwatosin Oyewole, now wish to be known as Mrs. Oyebola Oluwatosin Oluwafemi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MALIK

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Mojisola Abiodun Malik, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Mojisola Ayodeji Ajisafe. All former documents remain valid.

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SUNDAY

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Sunday, Chioma Hope, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Okocha, Chioma Hope. All former documents remain valid.

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JOHNATHAN

DARAMOLA

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS PRETTY ONAGBONMAMA OSAWEMEN now wish to be known and addressed as MRS PRETTY ODIA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Adebayo Olubunmi Olanrewaju now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ojedele Olubunmi Olanrewaju. All former documents remain valid general public take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Daramola Omolere Olawunmi now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Umejiaku Omolere Olawunmi. All former documents remain valid. Federal Polytechnic, Ofa and general public take note.

ADEMOLA I, formerly known and addressed as Feyisayo Cecilia Ademola, now wish to be known and addressed as Feyisayo Cecilia John-Adebimpe.

All former documents remain valid general public take note.

SALAWU

I, formerly known and addressed as Salawu, Afeez Olamilekan, now wish to be known and addressed as Solaudeen Abdulafeez Olamilekan.

All former documents remain valid general public take note.

LAWAL

I, formerly known and addressed as Lawal, Mariam Bolanle, now wish to be known and addressed as Solaudeen Mariam Bolanle. All former documents remain valid general public take note.

OLADIPO I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oladipo, Taiwo Sefiyat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Abdullahi, Taiwo Sefiyat. All former documents remain valid general public take note.

OLADIPO

NGWU

JEGEDE

AKINMODUN

CHANGE OF NAME

OJO

ADEBAYO

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oladipo, Kehinde Rofiyat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Tijani, Kehinde Rofiyat. All former documents remain valid general public take note

I formerly known and addressed as Akinmodun Oluwakemi Elizabeth, now wish to be known and addressed as Adewole Oluwakemi Elizabeth. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

AJOSE

I, formerly known and addressed as MRS CHINONYEREM JONATHAN now wish to be known and addressed as CHINONYEREM NNENNA OKORIE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Florence Nchkube Ngozi now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Florence Adeyemi Akhidi. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Julianah Inasun Ngwu now wish to be known and addressed as Juliet Patrick. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Jegede, Bosede Mercy, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olatunse Bosede Mercy. All former documents remain valid general public take note.

OKAFOR I formerly known and addressed as Okafor Emmanuel Nwaneamaka, now wish to be known and addressed as Robert Emmanuel Nwaneamaka. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OSAWEMEN

IYIOLA I, formerly known and addressed as IYIOLA TOLUWALOPE ABIMBOLA now wish to be known and addressed as NEGEDU TOLUWALOPE ABIMBOLA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

SMOOTH I, formerly known and addressed as MISS LAYE SMOOTH now wish to be known and addressed as MRS LAYE AJUBE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

IMACHUKWU

I formerly known and address as VICTORIA AWELE IMACHUKWU now wishes to be known and addressed as Ms. VICTORIA NGOZI OKOCHA. All former documents remain valid. NPA and the general public please take note.

NZEWUIKE I formerly known and address as MISS ADLINE UGOCHI NZEWUIKE now wishes to be known and addressed as MRS ADLINE UGOCHI ROGERS. All former documents remain valid. NIPOST, UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA and the general public please take note.

ADEGOKE

I formerly known and address as ADEGOKE MARY TEMITOPE now wishes to be known and addressed as AJAYI MARY TEMITOPE. All former documents remain valid. The general public please take note.

GEORGE

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS GEORGE OLUWATOYIN DORCAS now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. OLORODE OLUWATOYIN DORCAS. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

ASAOLU

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ebunoluwa Modupeore Asaolu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ebunoluwa Modupeore Edwin. All former documents remain valid. Guaranty Trust Bank, Lead Capital and general public should please take note.

NWAMUO

OKEZIE

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OKWUIBE EMELDA CHIAMAKA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. AJUBU EMELDA CHIAMAKA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OGUNKELU

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OGUNKELU ADESOLA ABIODUN, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. FAGBOTE ADESOLA ABIODUN. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

HEBRON

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS GLADYS CHINAGOROM OKEZIE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. GLADYS CHINAGOROM IBEMOGBONNAYA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS HEBRON MARGARET ISAAC, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. MARGARET ZOE HARRISON. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ONYEMAIZU

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS RITA OPARA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. RITA OGBONDA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS CHINWE PRECIOUS ONYEMAIZU, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. CHUKWUEMEKA PRECIOUS OGWUEGBO NWABUKO. All former documents remain valid.

NYSC, UMUAHIA SOUTH L.G.A and general public should please take note.

UDUAK

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS UDUAK ASUQUO EKANEM, now wish to be known and addressed as MISS PRAISEWILL ASUQUO EKANEM. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

AJAYI I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ajayi Damilola Fidelia now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Yussuf Damilola Fidelia. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

ADESINA I formerly kmown and addressed as Miss Adesina Oyindamola Elizabeth, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adebisi Oyindamola Elizabeth. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OMUYEH I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Regina Orowo Omuyeh, now wish to be called and addressed as Mrs Regina Orowo Wilson. All document bearing my former name remain valid. The Authorities of Nigeria Police Force, Delta State University and the general public should please take note.

IKEKWEM

I formerly known and addressed as Miss IKEKWEM CHINWENDU OLUCHI now wish to be known as Mrs. OMENI CHINWENDU OLUCHI. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

GEORGE I formerly known and addressed as Miss GEORGE TAMUNOWENGIFIRI CHARLES now wish to be known as Mrs. TAMMY GEORGE MOROH. All former documents remain valid NSITF. And the general public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME JACK DOCTOR and FINEFACE KALADA M J. refers to one and the same person. Now wish to be known as FINEFACE KALADA M J. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME OBIAJUNWA MADU and OBIAJUNWA CHINAKA OGUERI refers to one and the same person now wish to be known as OBIAJUNWA CHINAKA OGUERI. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME JASON BARITOESAE and BARIDAM JASON BARITOESAE refers to one and the same person now wish to be known as BARIDAM JASON BARITOESAE. all former documents remain valid general public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, JOSEPH NDUBUEZE PASCAL and EBISIKE NDUBUEZE PASCAL refers to one and the same person. Now wish to be known and addressed as JOSEPH NDUBUEZE PASCAL. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, CHIEF JOB SOTONYE MEPIRI TUBOBIENIMI GOGO and CHIEF JOB SOTONYE JAMES GOGO refers to one and the same person. Now wish to be known and addressed as CHIEF JOB SOTONYE MEPIRI TUBOBIENIMI GOGO. All former documents remain valid. The Opobo Council of Alapu, Dappaye Amakiri Polo, Opobo and general public please take note.

OPARA

EKONG

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Elisabeth Sunday Ekong, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Elisabeth Chinedu Ndukwe. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

OGBANJE

I,formerly known and addressed as OGBANJE EMMANUEL now wish to be known and addressed as EJEMBI EMMANUEL. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EKUTUME I, formerly known and addressed as MISS EKUTUME GOODNESS IFEOMA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS CHINEDU GOODNESS IFEOMA. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EGEONU I, formerly known and addressed as MISS EGEONU CHIZOBA PASCALINE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS UGBAJA CHIZOBA PASCALINE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OZOFU

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Saiki Edith Ozofu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Esezobor Edith Saiki. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

OSINOWO I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Osinowo Titilola Olutoyin, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Hassan Titilola Olutoyin. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

ABALOGU I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Abalogu Chioma Mercy, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Bugo-Onyeukwu Chioma. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

AMUSA

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS BILIKI NIKE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS AMUSA BILIKI NIKE. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

YUSUFF I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Yusuff Khadeejah Kehinde, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Kareem Khadeejah Kehinde. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

OLATUNJI I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Olatunji Omolola Omobolanle, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Awosika Omolola Omobolanle. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

IBEM I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ibem Esther Ekene, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Molsberry Esther Ekene. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADEYEMI

I, formerly known and addressed as Seye Adeyemi, now wish to be known and addressed as Daniel Adenuga. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME SULAIMON

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Sulaimon Olaitan Sekinat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olubuade Olaitan Sekinat. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid.

General public should please take note.

TIAMIYU I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Tiamiyu Sidikat Adunni, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ojedokun Sidikat Adunni. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

POPOOLA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Popoola Oluwatomisin Ayobosola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Dahunsi Oluwatomisin Ayobosola. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

ALLI-IGBALAJOBI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Alli-Igbalajobi Balikis Omotayo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Elegbede Balikis Omotayo. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

OLADEJO

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oladejo Oluwafunmilayo Bolanle, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Agunblade Oluwafunmilayo Bolanle. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, SAMUEL U. NNAJI and SAMUEL UGWU refers to one and the same person. Now wish to be known and addressed as SAMUEL U. NNAJI. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

NMAJU I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Nmaju, Oluebube Miracle, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oluebube Miracle Johnson Agu. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

OKEIYI I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okeiyi Uloma Linda, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Stevens Uloma Linda. All former documents bearing my maiden name remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just N4,500. The payment can be made through FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number 2017220392 Account Name - VINTAGE PRESS LIMITED Scan the details of your advert and teller to gbengaodejide @yahoo.com orthenation.advert@ gmail.com.

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Note this! Change of name is now published every Sundays, all materials should reach us two days before publication.

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2015: US, UK, Ghana, Kenya, brainstorm on violence-free elections in Nigeria From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

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O ensure violence-free elections in Nigeria next year, experts from the United States, United Kingdom, Ghana and Kenya are among the countries brainstorming in Abuja on the best policies for the Nigeria.

This was disclosed by the Director General, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Prof. Tijani Bande, while briefing journalists on an international conference holding in Abuja from 27th to 28th of this month.

According to him, the absence of informed discussions on political parties' leadership and policy development have severely jeopardised the credibility of public policies, limited their acceptability and undermined their efficacy.

He said that policy documents from the conference themed 'Political Parties and violence-free election in Nigeria: Towards Deepening Democratic Process', will guide Nigeria in making improvement in its election policies.

The conference, he added, will among others address issues relating to how security can be arranged during elections and how to encourage the culture of accepting results by the losers.

He said, "The conference is designed to address questions relating to elections, in particular the necessity to have violencefree and fair elections in Nigeria.

With the support of international partners, we have designed a two-day intervention dealing with many aspects dealing with election, the question of how to have violence-free elections, which will be a major improvement from our past experiences.

"The partners have come from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, US, United Kingdom and a host of other countries. But the expertise is also available locally and therefore, we have invited from universities, from political parties and from electronic institutions.

Boko Haram no longer faceless, says group From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

NEWS

HE President, Jonathan Trust Foundation (JTF), Mr. Abiodun Dada, at the weekend said that the Federal Government's ceasefire agreement with the Boko Haram sect has become necessary because the sect is no longer a faceless organisation.

Speaking with our correspondent, he explained that what the country has always sought is for members of the group to come up for negotiation with the government.

He said, "The ceasefire is the best thing that has come out of this fight against the insurgents so far. Apart from killing Shekau, having a ceasefire agreement is a step in the right direction. Now, it (Boko Haram) is no longer a faceless organisation. At least, some people are coming forward to say they represent the group. They are willing to talk with the government, which is what we have always been trying to do over the years: to get them to talk. To get them come from their hideout and seat down and discuss with the Federal Government."

Pirates kill four policemen, abduct six others in Bayelsa P ALPABLE tension has gripped the Bayelsa waterways after pirates at separate incidents killed four policemen and abducted six other persons in Nembe waters, Nembe Local Government Area on Friday.

It was gathered that the gunmen also seized a gunboat belonging to the Nigeria Police in an incident that occurred at about 1.30pm on the fateful day.

The gunboat was said to be escorting a barge owned by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) when it came under attack.

It was gathered that the hoodlums, who operated on a speedboat, laid ambush for the gunboat and opened fire on the policemen.

They were said to have overpowered the police, killed and pushed them into the water

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

and took control of the gunboat.

It was learnt that the incident which occurred along Santa Barbara and Nembe waterways caused panic among travelers.

The development was said to have delayed the movement of persons travelling to Okpoama in Brass Local Government Area, for the funeral of the uncle of a former governor of the state, Tmipre Sylva.

Most of the guests for the burial were said to have waited at Ogbia jetty till after the gunmen finished their operation.

A security source who pleaded anonymity said the hoodlums were not interested in the Agip barge and its occupants.

He, however, said three policemen and the gunboat operator were killed after the gunmen hijacked the boat.

He identified the boat driver as a civilian, adding that the bodies of the policemen had since been recovered.

He revealed, "Policemen escorting Agip barge were attacked on Friday. The gunboat and the policemen were all taken away. The policemen were three including the driver of the boat making them four. The barge and its occupants escaped, because the gunboat was the

target of the pirates. This incident happened along Santa Barbara and Nembe route at about 1.30pm. The pirates were after the gunboat and the arms."

In a separate incident, six persons working for a company identified as Icon Xearex, an oil servicing firm, have been abducted at Oluasiri in Nembe.

It was gathered that the pirates attacked a boat owned by the company in the early hours of Friday and took the workers away.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in state, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, said he was in Abuja for a program and could not comment on the incident.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Valentine Ntomchukwu, when reached for comment, claimed to be in a meeting.

•From left: Mrs Elizabeth Ayodele, wife of Nigerian Ambassador to Greece; Barrister (Mrs) Funsho Lawal, Solicitor General, Kwara State; Rev Christie Bature Ogbeifun; Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulure, Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Pastor Siju Iluyomade, Convener, Arise Women; Dame Abimbola Fashola, wife of Lagos State Governor and Mrs Angela Adebayo, wife of former Governor of Ekiti State; Mrs Tokunbo Awoniyi, wife of Kogi State Deputy Governor; Pastor (Mrs) Oretayo Adetola, Special Assistant to RCCG General Overseer on Women Affairs and Rev Funke Adejumo, during the 6th Annual Arise Women Conference held at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (City of David Parish), Lagos on Saturday.

PHOTO: Solomon Adeola

FG, NB sign MoU on accelerated hybrid

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HE Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nigeria Breweries Plc to collaborate on the development and commercialisation of hybrid sorghum as part of its sustainability program.

The government said that despite Nigeria being the largest producer of food sorghum in the world, the country is yet to reap the benefits of using it for the production of high energy food as it is been done by other countries.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said this on Friday

sorghum development From Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

in Abuja during the signing of the signing ceremony on the "development and commercialisation of hybrid sorghum."

He added that the fastest way for Nigeria to unlock the potentials in sorghum is to turn it into other values that people can use.

He disclosed that the ministry reached 96,000 sorghum farmers in 2013 with improved inputs, seeds and fertilizers in other to enhance the development of the value chain, adding that the ministry

will scale up the access to about 2.5 million farmers in the North that will grow sorghum.

The minister said, "We (Nigeria) are the largest producer of food sorghum in the world which means we should use them. We are not doing well in adding values to what we have been blessed with. Sorghum remains a low value crop that people use.

"The fastest way to unlock those potentials is to turn sorghum into other values that people use. We must add value to every single thing that we have. We will provide financing for them to improve

inputs, seeds and fertilizers.

"What we want to do is make sure that Nigeria doesn't import high energy food.

High energy food is what we need to eradicate malnutrition in Africa. That is why Dansa Foods is setting up high energy food in Nigeria at a cost of $54 million."

Earlier, the Chairman of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Chief Kola Jamodu, said the company had invested heavily in the research and development of hybrid sorghum.

According to him, this will improve the productivity of sorghum through the breeding and selection programs.

FG can generate N360bn annually through lottery-NLRC

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HE National Lottery R e g u l a t o r y Commission (NLRC) has said that it can generate N360 billion for the Federal Government annually if 50 percent of Nigerian adults play lottery.

The commission said the lottery sector if well developed and regulated has the potential to become the second revenue earner for the country after crude oil.

Coordinator of NLRC,

From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

Kaduna zone, Alhaji Idris Mohammed Faruk (Jnr.), stated this at a press conference shortly before the commission's sensitisation road walk in Kaduna yesterday.

He said, "The constraint of the commission to generate such huge amount presently was because the lottery was not striving in

Northern Nigeria due to the belief that lottery is gambling and a taboo."

According to him, "With the popular 'Baba Ijebu' lottery in the South-Western alone, the commission remits N500 million into the Lottery Trust Fund annually," adding, "But unfortunately in the Northern part of the country, lottery is seen as a taboo. Lottery is not a taboo,

but one which is globally accepted and played in the United States, United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirate and Morocco to mention just a few."

He also disclosed that the commission was making efforts to get religious leaders to desist from passing 'Fatwah' (preaching) on lottery, so as to show to the Northern Muslim populace that lottery is not 'haram'.

NACA laments high rate of mother to child transmission of HIV From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

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IRECTOR General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Professor John Idoko, yesterday in Owerri the Imo State capital, decried the rate of mother to child transmission of HIV in the country, describing it as the highest in the world.

Idoko who was represented by the Acting Director of Program, Dr. Pricilla Ibekwe, recommended adequate antenatal care for pregnant women as a measure to reduce the number of children born with HIV, stating that "it is possible for HIV positive mothers to have HIV-negative children if necessary precautions are taken like is obtained in civilised countries."

He, however, noted that NACA has drastically reduced the prevalence of AIDS, stating that about 97% of Nigerians according to recent statistics tested negative to HIV. According to him, the Agency will screen 80 million Nigerians for HIV between 2014 and 2015 as a further measure to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.

Speaking during the flagoff of HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) campaign and medical outreach organised by NACA in collaboration with MDG at the Ugwu Ekwema Civic Centre in Owerri, Idoko urged Nigerians to know their HIV status by participating in the voluntary and free HIV Counselling and Testing programme organised by the Agency.

Navy warns against mining, dredging on River Niger waterways From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

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HE Naval Outpost of the Nigerian Navy in Onitsha, Anambra State, has warned agencies to steer clear from dredging and mining activities along the River Niger waterways without license.

Commander of the Outpost, Navy Captain Mike Oamen, gave the warning yesterday while briefing reporters in his office.

He added that only those who have operational license from the regulatory authorities like the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) are permitted under the law to dredge in the place.

Oamen confirmed the seizure of some boats and dredging equipment belonging to some members of Dredger Owners Association of Anambra State (DOAAS) for allegedly operating without license.

Stating that the Nigerian Navy was duty bound to stop all illegal activities on the waterways, Oamen further disclosed that officials of the Ministry of Mines had alerted the Naval authorities about some people dredging on waterways, adding that the Navy quickly swung into action and discovered that they were operating without license.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

POLITICS EXTRA

77

How to resolve Enugu political crisis

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HE ominous political climate in Enugu is very palpable. You could see it.

You could feel it even from millions of miles away from the Coal City. Sadly, what is happening in Enugu appears like how we treat the bad portions of our roads. The concerned authorities fold their arms until potholes deteriorate to ditches and small erosions mature to wide gullies, divide the roads and claim lives.

I have gone through newspaper reports and articles on Enugu in the past one year, and there appears to be a tacit consensus that Enugu would be one of the hotbeds of the 2015 politics.

First, the governor allegedly unilaterally zoned the gubernatorial ticket of the PDP to Enugu-North.

Some stakeholders, notably, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, grumbled.

Ekweremadu said he would be happy if someone from that zone emerged the governor, but not on the grounds of zoning as there was none, but on the grounds of fairness and equity since they were the only zone yet to produce a governor since 1999. Of course, there are many examples, including that of Chimaroke Nnamani’s deputy, Okechukwu Itanyi (EnuguNorth), who contested the PDP primaries against Sullivan Chime (Enugu-West) even though he hails from EnuguNorth.

Generally, Ekweremadu’s point was that there was need for stakeholders to meet and ratify zoning if that was the case. But even more importantly, he declared he was not in the gubernatorial race.

To me, that was a wonderful and reasonable suggestion.

First, Ekweremadu and the governor were on the same page that Enugu-North deserves to have a shot at the Enugu Lion Building.

Although the governor’s camp made so much unnecessary fuse about it, nobody could contradict Ekweremadu’s points. The good thing, however, and to Chime’s credit, was that he eventually summoned a meeting of the •Continued from Page 68

Ijaw or the question of who is a true Bayelsan. Perhaps we may resort to hiring the services of a spiritual surgeon to unravel the question of who is a true Bayelsan, but that will be very ridiculous.

The truth, however, must be told that this unnecessary sentiment has become a dangerous virus that must be quickly nipped in the bud. If this is not done and allowed to fester, then, we do not need a prophet to tell us about the impending implosion.

This is where some of us are waiting to welcome President Jonathan and express our appreciation for giving us Governor Seriake Dickson who has put in place visible actions in eradicating that virus of discord.

Bayelsans have been united more than ever before under his administration and as has given Bayelsa a new meaning as a people bound by a common history and destiny where everybody has the right to aspire to the highest office of the state whether you are a fisherman son by birth or a carpenter son or a president son, where everybody enjoys equal rights and freedom.

This has become one of the cardinal achievements of the countryman governor.

One could recall, when Governor Seriake Dickson announced his intention to contest for the gov-

•Chime

By Kennedy Okoronta Enugu PDP Stakeholders, as suggested by Ekweremadu, and the Nsukka-ward movement received everyone’s blessing. It is as simple as that.

In other climes, things should have flowed from here.

The snag here is that Chime never “forgave” Ekweremadu for “calling him to order” and went further to push it too far by not only trying to zone the senatorial seat to his political block in Enugu-West, but also declaring that all ranking members of the Enugu State contingent to the National Assembly must not seek reelection in 2015. Since then, Enugu State, Chime, and Ekweremadu have never known peace. The problem with most of our governors is that they see themselves as demi gods. They feel unnecessarily slighted by any contrary voice of reason. It should not be so.

•Ekweremadu

Till date, Enugu remains a suppressed volcano with occasional outbursts in the form of chicken impeachment, dethronement of royal fathers, etc. Awgu Local Government Council is in disarray. As proChime forces, led by the Council Chairman, Hon. Mathanus Nze, were accused of mobilising the armed thugs that allegedly invaded the legislative council chambers to unleash mayhem and cause pandemonium.

Alleged pro-Ekweremadu lawmakers, numbering 8 out of 11 councilors, have reacted by serving impeachment notice on the council chairman. They also impeached and suspended the leadership of the legislative council whom they named as accomplices.

Before now, the traditional ruler of Amandim-Olo in Ezeagu LGA of the same Enugu West District was dethroned for failing to return to the government a bus donated to him by Ekweremadu

as the Chairman of Enugu West Senatorial District Traditional Rulers Council. But the traditional ruler contended on an AIT programme that the vehicle was given to him on request and in his personal capacity.

He provided government the receipts of purchase and registration documents. He also displayed a letter written to the governor

by Ekweremadu affirming that it was indeed a personal gift to the monarch. This was eventually greeted with dethronement and imposition of another traditional ruler on the community.

I do not think the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and President Goodluck Jonathan have to wait until guns start booming and bombs start exploding in Enugu to arrest the ugly slide towards anarchy. All these political tensions and emerging crisis are very, very unnecessary and constitute a

Search for true Bayelsan and Dickson’s entry ernorship election in 2011, the scores of opposition came from the governor’s senatorial district just the same way some Bayelsans did to President Jonathan in 2007. Today, massive development has engulfed the state which has shut up all the mouths of cynics.

A cursory look at the development profile of the state indicate that even the critics of the administration are marveled at the spate of transformation.

For example, in the area of road construction, Bayelsans saw for the first time in the history of the state the dualization of virtually all major and minor roads.

The popular hospital road which used to be a one-way narrow path has been fully dualised, with all the aesthetic beauty of street lights.

The construction of the first flyover in the heart of the state capital has become a cynosure, such that people who visited the state three years ago and back to the state are wondering if it was the same Bayelsa that was very rural in nature.

According to one Nnaji

Amaechi, “Honestly I missed my way in Yenagoa, because of the structures I saw, I couldn’t believe it. Biko, the governor is trying Yenagoa has changed”.

The three senatorial roads under construction has become one of the selling points of the Dickson administration. These roads which are Federal government project had been in the drawing board for over forty years, until the state government breathed life into the project with a whooping lifeline of N3 billion naira to facilitate early completion of the road for quick access to the hinterland of a state that is 75 percent marine. In the area of traditional rulership, he has given the natural rulers a pride of place by building a state-of-thearte Traditional Rulers Council secretariat which has become a tourism site to behold. Until now the secretariat was like a makeshift structure made for tax collectors of old.

Another project that is critical to the economic concerns of the state is the construction of an airport at Amasoma, near the stateowned Niger Delta University.

This project which has reached advanced stage will make Bayelsa the hub of commercial activities and investors particularly a state that is ranked high in the list of oil producing states in Nigeria and regarded as the heartbeat of the oil rich Niger Delta.

This is being complemented by the construction of a deep seaport at Agge in Sagbama Local Government Area of the state. Many people believe that the take-off of a seaport in a marine state like Bayelsa is long overdue. This is where lies the enthusiasm by a lot of people in the state such that many people have added “Mr. Infrastructure” as the governor’s middle name.

Moreover, in spite of the paucity of fund, he has been able to confront the plethora of development challenges facing the state.

The true spirit of Ijaw nationalism runs through his veins and the entire gamut of his development architecture. As a matter of fact, he has given a new meaning to the question of who is a true Bayelsan.

He has simply defined it in his development agenda as a people

big distraction to the bigger picture, which is to ensure that Jonathan polls the maximum votes in Enugu and eventually gets re-elected, while the PDP produces Chime’s successor and win all the federal and state legislative seats in 2015.

Good enough, Ekweremadu, true to his words, did not join the governorship fray. Neither has he so far opposed the governor’s anointed successor.

It shows that Ekweremadu puts Enugu interest first. No doubt, his joining the governorship fray or anointing another candidate could have altered the political landscape a great deal.

He has enormous goodwill across the state as well as the resources and political connections to pursue it.

Therefore, the answer to the feud is simply a compromise because in fairness to the Deputy Senate President, Chime cannot singlehandedly anoint his successor (forget the stagemanaged Enugu North stakeholders endorsement meeting) and at the same time insist Ekweremadu cannot return to the Senate. It also amounts to playing god for the governor to in addition want to dictate who gets each of the national and state assembly seats.

The middle way would have been for Chime to go for either the governorship (producing his successor) and forfeit the Senate or go for the Senate and leave the governorship for Ekweramadu.

But since he has already anointed his successor and Ekweremadu has not made any trouble, such singular act places the burden of reciprocity on the governor to forgo the Senate.

Besides, Ekweremadu’s none-return to the Senate, for whatever reason, would be at a grave political cost to EnuguWest, the state, the South-East, given his ranking in the Senate, experience, and great representation. The MarkEkweremadu Senate leadership has also been the longest and most stable since 1999.

Okoronta writes from Enugu who have taken the bull by the horn to address the problems confronting them and reposition their image in the world map.

It is only a man with a character of ingratitude and sheer wickedness that will pretend not to see where the state was and where the state is, given the massive infrastructure that is dotted all over the state within the short period the governor has presided over the affairs of the state. This is indeed, how a true Bayelsan ought to be without the anachronistic sentiments of core Ijaw and non core Ijaw.

The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, should not lose sight of the development credentials of Governor Dickson who has restored the lost glory and pride of the creation of Bayelsa State.

This is where the PDP should capitalize on this shining testimony of good governance by ensuring that Governor Dickson continues the good work in Bayelsa State in the spirit of continuity and stability of the polity.

For the ordinary people of Bayelsa State the coming of Governor Seriake Dickson marks the high point in the history of the State as the triumphant entry of a man who came, saw and conquered the years of arrested development in the state.

78

SPORTS THE NATION ON SUNDAY

Cologne match winner thrilled Ujah

EXTRA

OCTOBER 26, 2014

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IGERIA striker Anthony Ujah has said he was delighted to score the match winner for German Bundesliga side Cologne against Werder Bremen.

Cologne won 1-0 at Bremen on Friday night and are now ninth on the table with 12 points from nine games.

Ujah came off the bench in the 58th minute to replace Daniel Halfar and scored a minute later, his second goal of the season in the Bundesliga.

"I'm really happy to have been able to score the winning goal after coming off the bench,” the striker told the Bundesliga official website.

“The team needed a spark and I was happy to oblige. I don't have any

MAN UTD. VS CHELSEA

Van Gaal plots Mourinho’s fall

Eagles may recall Haruna, Obasi

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KRAINE-BASED Lukman Haruna and Chinedu Obasi will be among the several other players who will be recalled by Nigeria for next month's AFCON qualifiers against Congo and South Africa.

Manchester City starlet Kelechi Iheanacho, Obafemi Martins and Ikechukwu Uche have already been widely linked with a return to the Eagles after they were overlooked by former coach Stephen Keshi.

AfricanFootball.com has now gathered that Lukman Haruna of Dynamo Kiev and Schalke 04 forward Obasi have been added to the growing list of players who will be given another chance by the African champions.

“Amodu will keep the core of the squad Keshi has worked with recently, but at least five of those who have not been part of the set-up for some time now will be considered,” a top official informed AfricanFootball.com “Lukman Haruna and Obasi among those to be so recalled as well.”

Midfielder Haruna has battled injuries at his Ukrainian club recently, but the class of the former captain of the Nigeria U17 and U20 teams has never been in doubt.

RESULTS England West Ham 2 - 1 Man City Liverpool 0 - 0 Hull City S’ton 1 - 0 Stoke City Sunderland 0 - 2 Arsenal West Brom 2 - 2 C/Palace SPAIN Almeria 0 - 1 Bilbao GERMANY Augsburg 2 - 0 Freiburg Dortmund 0 - 1 Hannover Frankfurt 4 - 5 Stuttgart Hertha 3 - 0 Hamburger H’heim 1 - 0 Paderborn

T

here have been many column inches comparing and contrasting Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho, two of the most intriguing and fascinating coaches, and egos, in the game.

For three years they worked together at Barcelona - or rather Mourinho worked

for Van Gaal. It was the Dutchman who schemed his way to four trophies and the Portuguese who did the opposition analysis, the odd session on the training pitch and made the tea. Actually, I'm kidding about the tea.

Van Gaal has described Mourinho's role at Barca at that time as "the substitute

coach", which can either be quite derogatory or quite a compliment depending on which tone of voice you use and which coach you're substituting.

Mourinho, in turn, has been quoted as saying "we are both great coaches". Whilst this is palpably true, it does nothing to undermine Jose's

AWC: Super Falcons clinch record 7th crown

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igeria have won a record seventh African Women’s Championship after they beat Cameroon 2-0 in the final on Saturday.

Both Nigeria and Cameroon along with third-place winners Cote d’Ivoire will represent Africa in next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.

Desire Oparanozie and Asisat Oshoala, who was the player of the competition, were the goalscorers for the Super Falcons, with both goals coming in the first half.

Oparanozie, put the Super Falcons ahead in the 13th minute scoring a beautiful free kick from outside the box as Nigeria edge towards their seventh African Women’s title.

The forward along with Ngozi Okobi had looked very dangerous for Nigeria in the opening exchanges of the match Cameroon striker, Deborah Enganamouit, was unlucky not

to have levelled matters a few minutes later as her strike bounced off the cross bar having placed a ball over the Nigerian goalkeeper.

The two teams continued to attack each other with Cameroon looking to get an equalizer while Nigeria wanted another goal to make it a comfortable lead within the first 45 minutes of the match.

Cameroon came close once again as a headed effort by Michele Madeleine from the corner kick went wide much to the relieve of Nigeria.

The goal scorer, Oparanozie, combined with her teammates once again as she nearly scored the second for Nigeria with four minute before the break, but his shot failed to find the target.

Nigeria increased the scored in the 43rd minute with Asisat Oshoala scoring her fourth goal of the competition to give the Super Falcons a comfortable 2-0 lead at half time break.

In the second half, Cameroon came out firing hoping to get back into the game, but were once again unlucky not to get a goal with another effort sailing over the bar.

Their dominance was not long however, with Super Falcons able to neutralise them to remain in control of the game.

Cameroon’s technical team was forced to look from their bench as the goals failed to come.

With the match heading towards the end, Cameroon came close with an effort from substitute, Iven Mihamle’s free kick hitting the crossbar to deny them a goal.

reputation for being comprehensively acquainted with his own abilities.

United's defence is still a big worry, and the way they conceded their second goal against West Brom on Monday was frightening.

They were all over the shop and I am just not convinced by Rafael at right-back, who seems to be at fault for a lot of their goals.

Surprisingly, given their Alist CVs, they have only been in opposing dug-outs once before in a competitive fixture - the 2010 Champions League final won by Mourinho's Inter against Van Gaal's Bayern.

Neither man will have forgotten.

Last season, Chelsea shut up shop at Old Trafford and took a 0-0 draw. It's significant that the game was played in late August, United's second Premier League game of the season and before the cracks had started to appear. What must have seemed like a good point to Mourinho at the time was in fact two points fewer than both Manchester City

and Liverpool took at United.

Mourinho used the same tactics away from home at all his big rivals last season, almost offering a draw to the home side. The only times the home side turned down the point and went for all three (Manchester City and Liverpool) they paid the price and Chelsea won.

Both sides have improved on last season, but with Wayne Rooney suspended, and especially if Diego Costa plays, it is expected that Mourinho to be consoling his old boss at fulltime with a generous smile.

Head-to-head, you may have to give it to Mouriho's men. Chelsea are unbeaten in their last three league matches against Manchester United, conceding just one goal and they are the only team to have beaten United more often in the Premier League (15) than they have lost (13). Angel Di Maria is expected to overcome a thigh injury in time to face Chelsea.

Ighalo signs permanent Watford deal

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ORMER Flying Eagles captain Odion Ighalo has sealed a permanent deal with English Championship side Watford.

He will now stay with Watford till the summer of 2017 after he penned a twoand-a-half-year deal with 'The Hornets' on Friday.

He joined the team initially

on a season-long loan from Italian Serie A side Udinese in the summer.

Ighalo, 25, has scored three times in four Championship starts so far this season.

The Nigeria striker said the target is EPL action next season after he grabbed his third for Watford in a 2-2 Federal Road Safety Corps led by Deputy Corps Marshal, Adeyemi Omidiji and members of National home draw with Nottingham Road Transport Workers led by the National President, Najeem Yassim at the Ember Month Walking Forest. and Jogging exercise in Abuja yesterday Photo: Abayomi Fayese

THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2014

Amodu may call up MLS Adi

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ANEN Adi , the young Nigerian striker currently creating waves in the MLS with Portland Timbers FC might likely get a chance under the new Super Eagles handler, Amodu Shaibu to done the national colours.

Adi who has always made his intention of playing for his father land was continuously snubbed by the formal Eagles coach Stephen Keshi despite his impressive performance in the American major league.

The Benue born striker has 12 goals 7 assists so far having joined the Major League side mid season from FC Copenhagen of Denmark where he had four goals.

The bulky striker has a lot of experience having played for Dynamo Kiev , FC Trencin where he played in the Europa League before crossing over to FC Copenhagen .

APFON to compile debts owed players

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HE Nigeria Players Union (APFON) has set up a special committee headed by former Nigeria International, and director of finance of the union, Fuludu Edema to compile a comprehensive and authentic verified list of debts owed players in the Nigeria premier and National leagues for 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 Football league seasons.

Other members of the committee includes, Aminu Yusuf, Morris Silas, Awolu Jada and David Aigbovo

SPORT EXTRA ITTF World Cup

Germany stands still WORLD for Quadri CUP

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XCEPT for the football team, the Germans have not been thrilled the way Nigeria's Aruna Quadri stole the show at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Cup after the Nigerian overcame world number 16, Hong Kong's Tang Peng in a thrilling encounter.

The ISS Dome, venue of the competition was filled to capacity but the Germans in their usual style celebrated the superb display of Quadri with his ferocious forehand that confused his opponent.

Prior to the encounter, Aruna's beautiful display had attracted a lot of fans to the venue that some of them were eager to see the Nigerian take to the table. And he arrived for the round of 16 clash against the highly-rated Asian, the fans applauded him and cheered him for every point he amassed during the entertaining match.

From the beginning of the match, the Hong Kong star was beaming with a lot of confidence to win the first game at 11-7. But the Nigerian re-enacted his form to level up in the second game with 11-9 win.

Quadri's forehand most times dazed his opponent and the Nigerian claimed the next two games 12-10, 11-8 to lead at 3-1. But what looked like the final game became the Nigerian undoing as this opponent won 11-9 to put the game at 3-2.

The sixth game was the icing on the cake for Quadri as he dominated from the start to

From Olalekan Okusan, Dusseldorf, Germany

the finish to end the encounter at 11-3 to be admiration of the German fans who had to give the Nigerian a standing ovation for his extra-ordinary performance in the competition.

The win made Quadri the first African and Nigerian to make it to the quarterfinal stage of the championship in recent time.

“I must confess it was not an easy match for me because from the start of the match I made a lot of silly mistakes which wanted to repeat itself in the second set but I was lucky to have escaped.

Throughout the match I was a bit nervous because I knew that I had to continue to slow down the pace of the game.

The time out I took in the fourth set really helped me because if I did not I would have lost. This is the biggest win of my career and I will not be complacent with all these victories but continue to work hard,” a confident Quadri told Nationsport.

Quadri

El Clasico

Ronaldo, Benzema batter Barcelona

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eal Madrid finally made their Decima dream a reality in May, but for some Blancos fans there was still something missing from last season. A pair of defeats to Barcelona never goes down

well, and a score needing settling on Saturday.

Their 3-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu gave them the same bragging rights over their hated rivals that they have over the rest of Europe, and also delivered a timely reminder as to why they should still be considered the best the continent has to offer.

In many ways it was a match which mirrored their season so far. They started poorly but once the Blancos clicked into gear they were simply unstoppable.

Madrid may have scored 35 goals in their last eight fixtures leading up to the first Clasico of the campaign, but they were even better against Barcelona than they have been at any stage in the past six weeks.

Barca got off to a great start, with Luis Suarez’s cross-field pass leading Neymar to cut inside two defenders and fire beyond Iker Casillas, but there were quickly signs that Madrid would have plenty to say about the destination of the three points.

Unusually, it was Carlo Ancelotti’s side dominating possession for long periods during the first half and, while they were denied by the woodwork and Claudio Bravo in equal measure, they eventually drew level from the penalty spot.

Gerard Pique made the ridiculous decision to block a low cross from the left with his arm as he slid in, and Cristiano Ronaldo slotted home from 12 yards.

Shortly after half-time Barcelona, not for the first time, allowed Madrid to get a free header in from a set piece and the unmarked Pepe made no mistake with a thunderous effort.

A magnificent counter-attack later and they were 3-1 up, Karim Benzema firing across Bravo and off the inside of the post after Ronaldo rescued Isco’s short pass and found James Rodriguez, who laid on the marauding French striker with a killer ball.

It was a performance which deserved the two-goal advantage and also warranted greater recognition than a couple of goals from set-pieces.

The display had earned such a fantastic strike.

Madrid completely nullified the Catalans. Lionel Messi came speeding out of the blocks, even picking up the game’s first yellow card, but by the second half had disappeared as a serious threat. The usually metronomic midfield was quickly bypassed, while a previously impregnable defence had been made to look like a colander.

Madrid scored three and could easily have had at least four more. Barca also had chances, but they spent the majority of the second half on the back foot.

Luis Enrique will probably wonder whether he got some things wrong in his team selection, but there’s a high likelihood that he’d have come away without the three points regardless of his starting XI.

Senior Special Assistant to the Governor State of Osun Folawiyo Kareem congratulating the winners of Olajoku Youth Competition, Team Agunbelewo recently

79

Danagogo, Gumba, Corporate Nigeria thumb up NFF

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ports Minister, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, First Lady of Delta State, Mrs Roli Uduaghan and the Chairman of Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Adamu Gumba were among the nation's leading personalities who graced the grand ball organized by the Nigeria Football Federation for Corporate Nigeria in Lagos on Friday.

The colourful event at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island was an experiential session by the new NFF Executive Committee, led by Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, to bond with NFF's partners and prospective sponsors.

In the presence of top government functionaries, corporate titans and political heavyweights, Pinnick espoused his vision with ease, academic and articulate, and it was applause all the way for the young and energetic new supremo of Nigeria football as he enraptured all who were there.

Put together by NFF's proposed financial consultants, Financial Derivatives, the event afforded participants and media chiefs an inkling into the new direction for Nigeria football, as Pinnick, 1st Vice President, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi and Chairman of the Marketing, Sponsorship and Television Advisory Committee, High Chief Emeka Inyama harped on useful partnership, mutual respect, accountability, probity and transparency.

Sports Minister, Dr Danagogo praised the idea behind the event and the vision of the NFF, saying he was bowled over by the ingenuity of it all and pledged Government's full backing for the Federation.

Access Junior Golf challenge to develop international brands

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he Junior Golf Challenge sponsored

by Access Bank in partnership with Caritas Communications and project owner Fairstroke has been described as a platform to develop international brands.

According to Amaechi Okobi, Head External Relations of the bank said, “We are supporting this project because it aligns with Access Bank's focus on developing communities through initiatives like Junior Golf Challenge.”

He noted that the Bank is passionate about the development of the Nigerian child and The Challenge is an opportunity to develop talents in our communities, Access Bank is proud to be associated with this tournament.

In his welcome address, the Captain of the golf section of the Ikoyi Club, Ted Iwere said “Ikoyi Club 1938 is proud to be associated with Fairstroke's initiative to position the Nigerian child for all round development through the Junior Golf Challenge.”

While giving the vote of thanks, Oluwaseun Adesida, Account Director, Caritas Communications said, “Caritas is in the business of growing international brands through the provision of brand and reputation solutions. The Junior Golf Challenge is a veritable platform to develop international brands from cradle to golf czar.

QUOTABLE “Mr. President, from what I heard from people who are close to you, you are humble with soft heart. But humility is never enough for effective leadership. Leadership is about listening and taking the good advice from people of wisdom, and not from those that benefit from you or have any agenda other than the unity and progress of this nation.”

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 9, NO. 3013

—Kaduna-based cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi on why President Jonathan should forget re-election

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LL political parties indulge in one form of propaganda or the other. As the campaign for the 2015 polls begins, the use of propaganda will intensify.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) will try to demonise the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the PDP will respond vigorously. Already, using various political and non-governmental organisation (NGO) vehicles, the PDP has taken on the APC’s leading presidential aspirants, and made the party look like a congregation of loathsome politicians. The APC’s choice of targets is a bit limited. It trains its guns on just one PDP aspirant/candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, who seems to grow in popularity as his leadership foibles multiply. Worse for the APC, it is unable to attack Dr Jonathan as heartily as it would like on account of the fact that he is president, and some decorum must be observed.

Expectedly, however, with the elections a mere four months away, and as the parties get desperate, the APC will open a fusillade of verbal and political fire against the president, whether he constitutes himself into a moving target or stands immovably and implacably as a buffalo.

But often propaganda morphs imperceptibly into fascism, especially in the hands of organisations and individuals who have found a way of disgorging it of its ethical core. And here Ekiti is the archetype, showing the way Nigeria is heading. It is easy to lose the import of what is happening in Ekiti in the partisan fog of politics. It is easy to dismiss criticisms of Governor Ayo Fayose’s methods and politics as tantamount to sympathising with the APC. However, the lurch to fascism is real and frightening, not only in Ekiti but nationally, notwithstanding the governor’s protestations to the contrary or his sanctimonious embrace of spiritual change and rebirth. Sadly, what is true of Ekiti is also true of the Goodluck Jonathan government, where propaganda is indistinguishable from fascism, and where tyranny is used interchangeably with liberalism.

Having tasted blood before the June governorship election by deploying misinformation and disinformation to hoodwink the electorate, Mr Fayose has found the value of misleading the electorate to achieve predetermined political objectives quite entrancing. Thus hundreds of thousands of text messages were disseminated to convince Ekiti voters and anyone else straying into the line of fire that the former governor, Kayode Fayemi, had enriched himself and enriched his godfathers. Spurious claims of costly diversion of state resources by Dr Fayemi for personal aggrandizement were told in the text messages. The public believed. After the elections, the same Fayose team also told stories of how hundreds of millions of naira had been budgeted to subvert the inauguration of the governor-elect.

On the basis of this unproven stories, Ekiti foot soldiers were whipped into a self-help frenzy to subvert the judicial process and frustrate the natural course of justice.

Seeing how successful that method was, and recognising tantalisingly that all the new governor needed was to modify a formula that is proving so effective, Mr Fayose has arbitrarily assigned figures to how much his predecessor spent on certain items and projects, proceeded to denounce those figures without proof, and elicited curses and mob action from the people of Ekiti. They have uncritically swallowed Mr Fayose’s accounts, and are bewitched by his words and populist inclinations. Reminiscent of Nazi era propaganda, and like every fascist government throughout history, Governor Fayose’s men have also purveyed stories of the opposition’s plot to impeach the new governor, for which, according to them, hundreds of millions of naira had been set aside by opposition leaders. There are already demonstrations by hundreds of Ekiti people denouncing the said plot. There will be more such stories coming out of Ekiti in the following weeks and months, all designed to malign reputations, instigate the people into unlawful acts and achieve predetermined goals.

2015: Propaganda and the road to fascism

•Oyegun

•Muazu

This lurch to fascism is not limited to Ekiti as a state, nor to Mr Fayose as a person. In fact he seems to have been inspired by the Jonathan presidency, which is replicating the same fascistic style in many parts of the country, especially the Southwest. It was this style that made the Jonathan presidency embrace the Iyiola Omisore option for Osun. And it is this same style that is inspiring the return of Adebayo Alao-Akala in Oyo State, the Gbenga Daniel/ Buruji Kashamu confederacy in Ogun State, and the Musiliu Obanikoro option in Lagos State. It was this sinister and cynical approach in the first instance that inspired the president into introducing Jelili Adesiyan and Mr Obanikoro into his cabinet. As events showed soon after, it was clear they were not brought into the Jonathan cabinet because they had anything to offer, seeing how roguishly they behaved during the Ekiti and Osun governorship polls. They

were hired for a decidedly malevolent purpose, and they have not disappointed.

The opposition cannot set the tone for the ennoblement of Nigerian politics; it is first and foremost the responsibility of the government.

The opposition can only respond dignifiedly to the fluctuating mood and temper of the Jonathan presidency; but so far, they have not responded adequately enough to overcome the ruling party’s subterfuge. Indeed, given the temper of the Jonathan government, it is apparent neither the president nor his men understand which direction to head, or that as things stand decadently, they appreciate what must be done to bring about healing and progress. I do not malign them. Not only have they fumed and sulked against the independence of the House of Representatives under Hon Aminu Tambuwal, seeking to rein him in

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media for reporting the military’s shambolic response.

After many years of confusion, the government has finally hunkered down to negotiating with Boko Haram, a terrorist group the president consistently and sneeringly described as faceless. Citizens and other intermediaries, including former president Olusegun Obasanjo, protested that if the government was sincere about negotiating, Boko Haram had a face. But Dr Jonathan stood angrily pat.

It is not clear how the Jonathan government finally put a face to Boko Haram, or whether its volte-face had anything to do with the defection into the PDP of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and the unusual meeting the president, the senator and Chadian President Idris Deby had in Ndjamena. No one also seems to know whether putting a face to Boko Haram and the ongoing negotiations do not have something to do with the general elections due to hold in about four months time. But whatever it was, Dr Jonathan has at last finally but belatedly recognised how Boko Haram looks like, who some of its leaders are, and that indeed the terror group can speak intelligible language.

While it vociferously but without substantiation accuses the opposition for politicising the anti-terror war, it now seems clear that all along, it is the Dr Jonathan government that continues to manipulate the war, especially the rescue of

and castrate the lower chamber like they did to the Senate, they have also renewed their plot to replace the Speaker with the grovelling Hon Mulikat Adeola-Akande.

They have found it difficult to understand that the health of Nigerian democracy is contingent upon the independence of the legislature and judiciary, and the principle of virile checks and balances without which democracy will be doomed.

But perhaps the most damaging propaganda embarked upon by the Jonathan government is turning the table effortlessly against the opposition on the Boko Haram controversy. The terror group and its violent acts predate both the Jonathan government and that of his predecessor, former president Umaru Yar’Adua. But by some incredible feats of propaganda, the Jonathan government has made it seem like the insurgency was inspired by the North and executed by the APC, both as a religious and ethnic plot to make the country ungovernable for Dr Jonathan, and to indicate that no one else but a northerner could and should rule. Sadly, the propaganda has caught on, especially in religious circles and among the unthinking elite of the Southeast and Southwest.

There is very little anyone can say to dissuade the PDP from intensifying its destructive propaganda, regardless of the cost to the county. It brings them much gain, and they will kick viciously should anyone try to smother their efforts and style. What stands in the way of the dangerous lurch to fascism and state failure is the opposition’s ability to counter the ruling party’s bitter and unconscionable propaganda. But if the spineless acquiescence of Ekiti to Mr Fayose’s trickeries is a judge, the opposition will have to look for other ingenious stratagems to demolish the PDP’s architecture of misinformation and disinformation, and to demolish the bastions of fascism they have begun to erect with shocking lack of concern for the peace and health of Nigeria.

Govt negotiates with ‘faceless’ Boko Haram

T was an unusual volteface. That is if you believe the Goodluck Jonathan presidency at any time ever had a principled or nuanced revulsion to negotiating with terrorists. The facts of the government’s approach to combating terrorism are, however, much plainer and simpler. They are now negotiating with Boko Haram over mainly the abduction of 219 Chibok, Borno State schoolgirls in a tripartite arrangement that sees representatives of the Nigerian and Chadian authorities speaking earnestly with representatives of Boko Haram or at least a faction of the terrorist group. The government was at bottom not really opposed to negotiating with the group, for it had no principles and no convictions about anything, but it was hesitant because it was not sure of a successful outcome. There was of course some disagreements between government officials over whether to negotiate or not, and the president had seemed chronically unable to make up his mind. But overall, the government recognised it lacked both the guile to rescue the girls and the muscle to defeat the terrorists. The delay in negotiating with Boko Haram is after all political.

In fact, the Jonathan presidency’s war against terror had been undermined by impotence and vacillation. No concise or comprehensive strategy to fight terror was ever articulated by the government. As the terror group gained in prestige and territory, the government’s security agencies wilted in confusion and in-fighting. At a time, the government even began to fight the

the abducted Chibok girls. Surprisingly, the violation of a controversial ceasefire by Boko Haram elements has not weakened the government’s resolve to press ahead with negotiations.

Instead, the government or its agents have shown clearer and more forceful persistence in blaming the opposition for the storm the negotiations have run into and the inability of the government to rescue the Chibok girls.

There does not appear to be any logic to the accusations, but it has not prevented the government from suggesting that the presence of some All Progressives Congress (APC) members in the BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) campaign is proof the group had been infiltrated by politicians. This suggestion rests partly on the boast by an APC leader, Audu Ogeh, that his party identified with the noble cause the BBOG was fighting for. Oby Ezekwesili, a leader of the BBOG and former minister, had taken exception to Chief Ogbeh’s boast, thereby eliciting an apology from him. But another visible APC member, Hadiza Usman, a daughter of the famous historian, Dr Bala Usman, defiantly insisted she had nothing to apologise for. It was okay for her to belong to a political party, she asserted, and also fight a noble cause, irrespective of the government’s disingenuous politicisation of the cause.

No one is certain how the Boko Haram negotiations will end, though there are talks the girls could be released tomorrow. But it is clear that the Jonathan government will do its best to salvage the discussions, bring it to some fruition because of the positive political spinoffs the release of the schoolgirls would engender for him, and try as much as it can manage to tar the opposition with responsibility for failure should the discussions end abysmally. The ruling party will also try to shift blame for letting the abductions last intolerably for more than six months, and for not having a strategy to defeat terrorism.

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Website: www.thenationonlineng.net ISSN: 115-5302 E-mail: sunday@thenationonlineng.net Editor: FESTUS ERIYE