The Nation Sep 15, 2013

Amaechi’s govt is fraudulent, says Wike Claims gov’s bid to remove him as minister failed Minister is an empty vessel – Gov –Page 5

Why Lagos is appealing Al-Mustapha judgment –Fashola –Page 8

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.08, No. 2609

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

N200.00

PDP Crisis: Jonathan, G-7 governors draw battle line –Page 2

Baraje: This is our ‘President will insist Tension mounts over last meeting if... on running in 2015’ N/Assembly resumption

IG weds daughter of former FCT minister •L-R: Senator Oluremi Tinubu greeting Oba Michael Adedotun Gbadebo, (Alake of Egbaland during the 70th birthday thanksgiving service of the monarch at Cathedral of St Peter Ake, Abeokuta, yesterday. Left is Dr Olori Tokunbo Gbadebo, 2nd right is former Governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba

–Page 62

KIDNAPPED ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP FREED IN P/HARCOURT

–Page 5

NEWS

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

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LL is set for a make or mar meeting today between President Goodluck Jonathan and the aggrieved G-7 governors and leaders of the Abubakar Kawu Baraje faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Baraje said today’s meeting will be the end of any further discussions with the president if he did not respond positively to the demands of the faction.

There were signs of likely deadlock yesterday following a disclosure by a presidential aide that Jonathan is going to insist on his constitutional right to seek re-election in 2015.

One of the key strategists of the president said Jonathan will not waive his right to contest in spite of threats from the aggrieved governors in Baraje’s faction.

To end the crisis in PDP, the G-7 and Baraje faction had tabled five demands before Jonathan and a sevenman peace panel headed by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The conditions are as follows: • The sack of National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

• Return of party structure to governors in Adamawa, Rivers, Kano, and other states • Sticking to one -term tenure by the president by foregoing re-election in 2015 • Resolution of NGF and Rivers crises, including the lifting of suspension of Governor Rotimi Amaechi • Stopping the harassment of governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) In an exclusive chat with our correspondent yesterday, Baraje said only two of the demands were partially addressed on Monday.

He said Jonathan and the Tukur-led PDP agreed to reverse the dissolution of the party executives in Adamawa State and the lifting of the suspension of Governor Rotimi Amaechi by the party.

He said although Jonathan agreed that the suspension of Amaechi was illegal and ought to have been reversed, the president added a caveat that the Governor of Rivers State should withdraw all suits in court before he can be reinstated.

But Baraje said his faction insisted on the lifting of the suspension before Amaechi can withdraw all party-related suits.

He said the two parties could not reach a compromise on the recall of Amaechi from suspension.

Asked what his faction will be taking to the peace talks today, Baraje said: “Our demands are still intact, they are not negotiable in any form. We are hoping to complete discussion on Sunday. That session may be

PDP CRISIS

PDP crisis: Jonathan, G-7 governors draw battle line •Governors take protest over blockade of Rivers Government House to session •Baraje: This is our last meeting with Jonathan if…

•Jonathan will insist on his right to contest, says aide

•From Left: Speaker, Conference of Speakers Of West African Parliaments, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu; Senate President David Mark And President,Ecowas Commission, Kadre Desireé Ouedraogo, at The Conference of Speakers Of West African Parliaments in Abuja yesterday.

FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

the end of any discussion with Jonathan and his group if we do not see any positive action or response. We will not tolerate any further attempt to postpone the peace talks to bid time or allow the situation to drag for long.”

He promised that after

today’s meeting “you should expect more action on how to put our group on a sound footing. There will be more political developments in line with our demands.”

Baraje expressed fears that the blockade of the street to the Government House in Port Harcourt was a new issue the G-7 will raise at

today’s meeting. He said his faction would make it an issue at the resumption of talks because there was no way the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, would deploy his men to act in such a brazen manner without orders from above.

He said: “You can see

that our demands are justified, we are fighting for the future of democracy in Nigeria, we are fighting for Nigerians to prevent them from being victims of repression. They are saying that we should discuss but to our chagrin, they are preventing a governor from entering the Government House.

“Is it even right for the police to invade PDP secretariat

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

making status,” he advocated.

He also urged the group to address three other critical issues of high turnover of legislators as well as the quality of legislations; the quality of supporting legislative aides and staff; and the financial autonomy of parliament.

“These, if tackled expediently, I believe will improve the standard of our Parliaments and therefore strengthen our democracies.”

Speaker of the ECOWAS parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, was particular about enhancement of the powers of the parliament, so as to be able to contribute effectively to the numerous challenges facing the region.

He also stressed the need for coordinated policies to fight terrorism.

“Our national parliaments must synergise to initiate, facilitate, and coordinate policies and legal regimes that fight insecurity, terrorism, separatism, bad governance, poverty, underdevelopment, and other ills that blight our international rating.

“On insecurity in particular, I continue to emphasise that the insecurity of the part is the insecurity of the whole. We must be united, determined, and spirited in our stand and fight against terrorism and violent crimes.

Our stand here must be total and defy all socio-political and religious affiliations. Terrorism must not find any foothold anywhere in the sub-region because it is anti-peace, anti-development, disreputable, and cancerous.

“The transmutation of the ECOWAS Parliament from an advisory institution to a full legislative institution is very central to its ability to contribute meaningfully to the overall socio-economic integration process in the sub-region.”

Speakers of W’African parliament seek common front against terrorism

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HE issue of terrorism dominated discussion at the ongoing Conference of Speakers of West African Parliaments (CSWAP).

The conference is pushing for a common front to tackle the challenges of terrorism and small arms proliferation.

Besides, the conference is also seeking more powers to be able to contribute meaningfully to the overall socio-economic integration process in the sub-region.

Senate President, David Mark, who addressed the conference, set the tone as he pointed out that the region is confronted with home-grown terrorism and insurgency of immense proportion.

He stressed that “these dastardly acts are committed right on our soil and by our own citizens; our own brothers and sisters. The nature of terrorism is such that it is difficult for us to point out where it originates and where it terminates. Put differently, terrorists and in-

surgents know no borders.

They move in and out of countries at will. Their main consideration is to get the right environment to operate and their common enemies are the people of goodwill.”

Mark said it was necessary for the parliament in the sub region to collaborate and find a common front in addressing terrorism and other vices, which have taken our societies backwards by several centuries.

While commending the efforts of the executive in establishing such multi-lateral structures, both within our sub-region and beyond, he said legislature must not be left out.

“I truly believe that our support is critical in getting the ECOWAS decision makers understand the need to follow the path of current global best practices in getting our sub-regional parliament attain law

and destroy flags? Is it democratic to barricade a road leading to Government House and inhibit the movement of a governor? It is the highest point of impunity, intolerance and an undemocratic action in a democratic setting.This is a way of getting at Amaechi to deny him immunity. The whole world has seen that our demands are justified.”

Baraje lashed out at Tukur led PDP for justifying police action against Amaechi.

He said: “I saw the siege coming; I have been saying that Tukur is the most undemocratic element in a democratic system. You can appreciate from video clips and even eye-witness accounts that the road to the Government House was blocked. We saw a lorryload of policemen disembarking to block the road but in a blatant display of dishonesty, the Tukur-led faction issued a statement justifying the prevention of Amaechi from entering Government House. It said that there was nothing like that. This is why Tukur’s continuing staying in office is unacceptable to our group.”

But a strategist of the president, who spoke in confidence, said: “The right to seek re-election is guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution, the president cannot waive it at all. Baraje’s faction is overpricing itself; there is no way Jonathan will give them a commitment not to contest in 2015.

It is an issue beyond the peace talks; Nigerians should decide the fate of the president.”

The spokesperson said the demand for the removal of Tukur was a smokescreen because the target is 2015.

“They want Jonathan to forget about seeking a second term in office. But they are dancing around it. Jonathan and his team are of the strong opinion that Tukur is not the issue. If the G-7 governors are controlling the party structure in their states, what is their business with the national structure?

They want Jonathan to take what they can never accept.”

The source added: “The best they can get, which Jonathan camp will offer, is for the G-7 governors to acknowledge Jonathan’s right to contest with a caveat that there should a level playing field for all aspirants. That is the minimum demand on 2015 that Jonathan and his group can accept.

“Do you know that some of these so-called G-7 governors had been removing elected local government chairmen in their states without recourse to due process or the 1999 Constitution? In Rivers State alone, 13 LGA chairmen had been sacked. Go and crosscheck your facts.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

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3 Police officer killed, couple injured in Ogun road accident

CAPTURED

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Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

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BRIEFING

Kanye West charged with battery, attempted theft

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APPER Kanye West has been charged with battery and attempted theft after he allegedly attacked a paparazzi photographer at Los Angeles International Airport in July.

Cameraman Daniel Ramos, who filmed the incident in which West allegedly attacked him and tried to seize his camera, filed a lawsuit last month alleging assault, battery and negligence against the US rapper.

"When Kanye West attacked me, I was in complete shock," Mr Ramos told a news conference hosted by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred.

"All I had done was ask him a question.

"I was terrified when Kanye started to come at me.

"I backed up because I felt from the look in his eyes that he was going to attack me."

The lensman said he was left having to use crutches after the incident, and more recently a cane.

West's lawyers claim the musician was only trying to prevent the photographer from taking his picture.

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A cook's best man is his governor

OR Peter Anyiman, a cook serving Catholic Priest, Rev. Father Michael Tumba, his wedding last Saturday at Our Lady Perpetual Help Cathedral, Makurdi, Benue State, was made just a lit bit more special by the fact that his best man was Governor Gabriel Suswam.

Suswam told the guests at the wedding reception which was held at the same venue that the groom who had served Tumba in Abuja for 18 years had

demonstrated commitment to his job and deserved to be honoured. He advised people to take their jobs seriously.

Putting his advice to practice, the governor took time to adjust the groom's tie and wipe sweat from his face to the admiration of the guests who attended the ceremony.

Anyiman said he considered himself lucky to have the governor serve as his best man and could not have wished for a better wedding gift.

From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

U.S., Russia strike deal on Syria chemical weapons

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USSIA and the United States put aside bitter differences over Syria to strike a deal yesterday that destroying President Bashar al-Assad's chemical arsenal may avert U.S. military action against him.

The agreement after three days of talks in Geneva between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demands that Assad give a full account of his secret stockpile within a week.

International inspectors would rapidly get to work to eliminate all the weapons by the middle of next year - an "ambitious" target, in Kerry's words.

If Syria reneges on a commitment to comply, Washington and Moscow pledged to cooperate at the United Nations to impose penalties - though these remain to be determined and Russia is highly unlikely to support military action, which U.S. President Barack Obama has said must

remain an option.

Kerry said Obama retained the right to attack, with or without U.N. backing.

For Assad's opponents, who two weeks ago were expecting U.S. air strikes at any moment in response to a poison gas attack on rebel territory last month, the deal was a big disappointment.

Despite Kerry and Lavrov's assurances that the pact may lay a foundation for broader peace, they said Assad would not comply and that the deal brought an end to their battles no closer.

Warplanes struck rebel-held suburbs of Damascus again yesterday.

For the world's two greatest military powers, however, the Syrian conflict has chilled relations to levels recalling the Cold War, and yesterday's agreement offers a chance to step back from further confrontation.

For Russian President Vladimir Putin, it brings management of

the Syrian crisis back to the United Nations. For Obama, it solves the dilemma created by Congress's reluctance to back military strikes that he was preparing without a U.N. mandate.

Yet many difficulties lie ahead - not least the technical challenge of enforcing a major disarmament involving complex and dangerous materials in the midst of a vicious civil war that has inflamed the entire Middle East.

Kerry told a joint news conference in Geneva: "The implementation of this framework, which will require the vigilance and the investment of the international community, and full accountability of the Assad regime, presents a hard road ahead."

Lavrov said: "It shows that when there is a will ... Russia and the United States can get results on the most important problems including the weapons of mass destruction problem."

"The successful realization of this agreement will have meaning

not only from the point of view of the common goal of eliminating all arsenals of chemical weapons, but also to avoid the military scenario that would be catastrophic for this region and international relations on the whole."

In Istanbul, the head of the Syrian rebel Supreme Military Council was dismissive of the deal, however, saying it would not resolve the country's civil war, now in its third year.

General Selim Idris called it a blow to opposition hopes of overthrowing Assad and accused the Syrian president of circumventing any disarmament by already sending chemical weapons to allies in Lebanon and Iraq in recent days.

Qassim Saadeddine, a rebel commander in northern Syria and a spokesman for the Supreme Military Council, told Reuters his forces would not cooperate: "Let Kerry-Lavrov plan go to hell. We reject it and we will not protect the inspectors or let them enter Syria," he said by telephone.

S U P E R I N T E NDENT of Police, Mr. Folahan Ogunkoya, was yesterday killed while an unidentified couple’s were critically injured when a car being driven by Ogunkoya collided with the couples' jeep on Siun stretch of the Abeokuta - Sagamu road.

The police officer, until his death in the auto - crash, was the head of the AntiRobbery Squad Unit of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Ogun State Command.

It was learnt that he was travelling from Abeokuta to Ijebu-Ode for a social function when he lost control and veered off into another lane before colliding into an oncoming Toyota Prado Jeep few metres to DayWaterman College along Abeokuta Sagamu road.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance Agency (TRACE), Mr Tunde Akinbiyi, who confirmed the accident, said the deceased was driving in his ash coloured Honda car marked (LAGOS) MZ 717 AAA when he lost control of the wheel and crashed into another vehicle.

Witnesses said while the deceased's car snapped into three pieces with his remains thrown out of the wreckage, the Prado Toyota jeep carrying the couple caught fire, following the impact.

According to Akinbiyi, the couple have been taken to the State Hospital, Ijaye, Abeokuta for treatment while the remains of the deceased police boss was also taken to the same hospital.

Kidnapped Anglican Archbishop Freed in P/Harcourt

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HE Rivers State Police Command last night confirmed the release of the kidnapped Archbishop of the Niger Delta North Diocese of the Anglican Church, Most Reverence Ignatius Kattey.

Public Relations Officer of the State Police Command, DSP Angela Agabe said the kidnapped clergyman was set free by his captors late yesterday. It was gathered that he was released in the Eleme area of the city. Further details surrounding the release were unavailable as at press time.

It was not clear if any ransom was paid. Kattey was taken hostage about a week ago minutes after he drove out of his residence at Eleme, Rivers State. His wife who was with him was later abandoned on a lonely road.

News

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Anambra 2014: CPC is part of APC merger in Anambra , says APC Chieftain From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Onitsha

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CHIEFTAIN of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State, Sir Chijioke Achu, has said that the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the state in particular and its national body in general were fully involved in the merger agreement that formed the APC, few months ago.

Speaking with newsmen yesterday in Onitsha, Anambra State, in reaction to a press statement credited to the former chairman of the defunct CPC in the state, Prince Chuba Ikeagwu, that CPC in Anambra State was never in the merger agreement that formed APC, Achu noted that although as an individual, Ikeagwu has the right to say his own opinion, but the truth remained that by virtue of the merger, all CPC members have automatically become members of APC. According to Achu, “Ikeagwu and his allies are free to move to AP or PDM instead of saying that the entire defunct CPC in the state, which had melted into APC with the national body and other states, are moving to PDM and no longer APC, as agreed by all at the national convention

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15 , 2013

PDP factions, NGF, Atiku, T mourn Agagu HE Bamanga Tukurled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Abubakar Baraje’s New PDP, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have joined other notable Nigerians to express shock over the death of a former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu.

In a condolence message by the National Publicity Secretary of the Tukur- led PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party described the late Agagu as a patriot and a brilliant technocrat who discharged his responsibilities both as minister and governor with finesse.

“His patriotic and knowledgeable personality was outstandingly expressed as minister and governor. We wish to put on record, his pioneer contributions to the groundwork of the current power reforms of the federal government.

“On behalf of the National Chairman of our great party, Dr. Bamaga Tukur, we send our sincere condolences to his immediate family and to the government and people of Ondo State. May he find rest in the bosom of the Lord”, Metuh added.

From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

Also, a statement by the National Secretary of the Baraje-led PDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, yesterday described Agagu as a committed, reliable, honest politician and an idealist. ‘’He was always committed to his chosen goals and agenda to a fault and was a blunt and consistent personality who was always prepared to shoulder responsibilities, particularly concerning those related to development and progress of our dear country.

“The news of Agagu’s sudden exit sounded rather incredible considering the fact that Chief Agagu was a committed, reliable and honest politician and credible idealist who never left anyone as to which side he belonged in any political divide.

“Chief Agagu was an elder brother whose wise counsel proved very useful at the decision-making level in the SouthWest chapter of the PDP during our relatively short but eventful political relationship.

“As a minister in the cabinet of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Agagu will be credited with contributing phenomenally to the revitalisation of the power sector during his tenure as Minister of Power and Steel”, Oyinlola stated.

The NGF described the late Agagu an excellent family man, a consummate politician, an academic and elder statesman.

A statement by the chairman of the Forum, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, regretted that the former governor died at a time the country needed his invaluable service most.

Amaechi said: “Dr. Agagu’s departure is deeply painful. But we take solace in the fact that he lived and died well. He dedicated his life to serving his people and country. We are especially proud that the former governor lived an exemplary life worthy of emulation.

“Although, we cannot but grief over the death of this public spirited community man, we are sure that Dr.

Agagu will long be remembered as a diligent, humble, patriotic, honest and philanthropic community organizer and leader.

“We commiserate with his family, friends and associates, the people and government of Ondo and Nigerians in general, and pray God to give us all the fortitude to bear this great loss.”

Atiku Abubakar described the late former governor as a consummate politician who would be missed for his sagacity and skilfulness both in politics and public administration.

In a message by his Media Adviser, Garba Shehu, the former vice president noted that Agagu’s death came with a personal pain to him because he was a friend, and a brilliant strategist.

“Agagu not only sat eminently among politicians of note in the country, his contribution to Geology, his area of specialisation is also very impressive.

“Be it in politics, scholarly undertakings or public administration, the late Governor Agagu was a first class material. I will miss him as a friend, but the country will miss him as a worthy citizen and leader.”

By Andrew Oyafemi

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‘Embrace peace,’Bishop urges Nigerians

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CLERIC, Bishop Odufuwa has called on Nigerians to embrace peace in order to ensure the socioeconomic and political development of the country.

Odufuwa gave the advice during the funeral of late Madam Susannah Odusote, the grandmother of the chairman, Lagos State Medical Guild, Dr. Olumuyiwa Odusote.

At the event, the guest preacher, Venerable Emmanuel Akinrodoye, conferred the church’s chieftaincy titles on Chief (Mrs.) Oni, Mrs. Tairan Odetola and Professor Kayode Taiwo for their immense contributions to the church and the nation at large.

From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

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VER 100 members of the academic staff of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe (NOCEN), Anambra State, yesterday embarked on a peaceful demonstration, demanding the sack of the Provost, Dr Clara Obiagwu and the governing council.

The protesters, dressed in black, up and down and carrying placards with various inscriptions, staged a procession yesterday morning from the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) gate, Onitsha, to Nwafor Orizu College of Education main campus gate at Nsugbe, about 1.5 kilometers distance.

The protest was in line with keeping with the directives from the National Executive Committee of Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) to embark on a seven-day warning strike in various colleges in the country.

They want state government to lift embargo on employment in the college to fill existing vacancies to encourage effective teaching and learning and at the same time reduce excess work load on academic staff members.

Lagos Assembly clerk advocates continuous training for staff

Gbonigi, Diya others canvass for equity, justice HE Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF) has charged leaders at tiers of government to embrace equity, justice and fair play, describing these virtues as the essential mechanisms of good governance.

The forum made the plea during its meeting to review its progress so far.

Former Chief of General Staff, Lt. General Oladipo Diya (rtd), former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and Archbishop of Methodist Church, Ayo Ladigbolu, in their speeches at the event also urged President Goodluck Jonathan to rectify what they described as ‘the marginalisation of the Yorubas’, as compensation for the massive support he received from them during the 2011 election.

The members also seized the opportunity to ratify the forum’s constitution, while the nomination of Chief (Mrs). H.I.D Awolowo and Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi as the chairman and deputy chairman respectively were also ratified.

Protests rock Nwafor Orizu College

By Oziegbe Okoeki

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•2,300 Days in office of Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) (2nd left) of Lagos State celebration held at LTV Blue Roof Ikeja, Lagos yesterday. With him are Deputy Governor Mrs. Adejoke Orelope Akinfulire (3rd left), Chief Omolade Okoya Thomas (left), Commissioner for Information and Strategy Aderemi Ibirogba, (4th left), Oba of Lagos Oba Rilhwan Akiolu (2nd right) and Admiral Ndubusi Kanu (right).

PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES

Ministry clears air on Zungeru power project cost

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HE Federal Ministry of Power has described as “unfair” insinuations that the contract award for the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Project was excessively high.

The ministry made this rebuttal in a statement yesterday while responding to a recent newspaper publication (not The Nation) which attempted a cost analysis of the contract and concluded that the contract price was unusually high compared to the cost of similar projects in other parts of the world.

While faulting the publication, the ministry stated that: “The selective benchmark pricing of three projects in Ethiopia, China and Brazil is over simplifying the complexity of three hydropower projects.”

Expatiating, the ministry said: “It is important to note that the cost of such projects depend on the details of the

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

design, topography, geo-technical conditions of the site and the availability of supporting infrastructure to deliver the project”, adding: “It should be noted that the cost of dams worldwide further depends on the specific social and environmental issues and ancillary structures that are to be provided along.”

Citing the 2012 Worldwide Survey of the cost of large hydropower projects by the International Renewable Energy Association (IRENA) which indicates that a cost of US$1.05m to US$7.65m per MW of installed capacity, the ministry stressed that: “The Zungeru project has a projected cost of energy at 5 US cents perkWHr, a very favourable figure when compared with the IRENA survey of a worldwide average cost of 2 – 19 US cents for large hydropower.”

Contrary to insinuations that the cost of the contract was over bloated, the ministry insisted that: “The Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) cost of the Zungeru hydroelectric project approved by Federal Executive Council is US$1,293m including transmission lines and substations indicating a cost of US$1.847m per MW. It is obvious that the benchmark price per MW for the Zungeru project falls at the low end of average world pricing. It is also to be noted that the Bureau of Public Procurement had, in its Due Process Review Report, indicated the average cost of similar large hydropower projects and accepted the competitively tendered price for the project.”

The ministry further noted that despite the inadvertent delay in executing the Loan Agreement with

China, which is the funding source, the contractors, Messrs CNEEC – Sinohydro Consortium has appropriately mobilised to site.

The ministry said that the EPC consortium, from its own resources, has been able to deliver to site construction equipment worth N371, 416,800 and placed on order for other construction equipment valued at over US$12,000,000, even as letters of credit have been opened and most of these items are now being shipped to Nigeria.

The ministry also hinted of plans by the authorities to deploy the key foundation staff of the Project Team ahead of work on the project over the next few months to fast track the completion of construction design, arrival of major construction equipment, establishment of quarries, and facilities for both employer and client.

LERK of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Ganiyu Abiru, has given an assurance that the training and re-training of its workforce to improve their skills and efficiency will be pursued with more vigour.

Abiru stated this through his representative, the Director of Finance and Administration of the Assembly, Mr. Azeez Sanni, at the opening ceremony of a 3-day retreat organised for its staff which took place at Bedrock Hotel and Suites, Badagry over the weekend.

The retreat, which was organised in collaboration with Messrs. Pervium Consulting, has as its theme: ‘Language proficiency training.’

According to Abiru, “It is no gainsaying that the demands of modern management dictate the need for human capital development and the Lagos State House of Assembly cannot afford to be found wanting in this regard in order to maintain its position as a forerunner amongst the comity of Houses of Assembly in Nigeria.”

He added, “Put simply, presentation skills can positively transform an organisation both internally and externally. This retreat has been packaged to sharpen the language proficiency skills of all ranks of officers in order to improve on the standard of usage of the English Language,” Abiru said.

This area, he said, is a highly neglected area of management that focuses on increased proficiency in the acquisition and usage of language skills, “specifically written English and the related skills that promote effective composition, editing and improved speech writing.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

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Amaechi’s govt is fraudulent, says Wike

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HE Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, has described Rotimi Amaechi’s government in Rivers State as fraudulent. He asked the governor to pack and go and that he is no longer sleeping, as he (Wike) promised him.

He also declared that he would not allow Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), to open a secretariat of the parallel Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, not even in Government House, Port Harcourt.

Wike, a two-term Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, stressed that Amaechi is not God and cannot be God, while teasing him that the condition he gave President Goodluck Jonathan to remove him as a minister did not work.

He stated these yesterday evening at the playground of the Girls’ Secondary School, Abonnema of Kalabari Kingdom, the headquarters of the coastal Akuku-Toru LGA of River state, at the LGA and Wards (17) inauguration of the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), of which Wike is the grand patron.

There was a thanksgiving service earlier at the same venue, with the minister of state for education, whom sources said would soon be made a senior minister, arriving the venue at 4:41 pm, in an Aero helicopter, marked BN-BHG, which left immediately.

Wike immediately proceeded to the nearby palace of the Amanyanabo (monarch) of Abonnema, King Gbobo Disrael Bobmanuel, on a courtesy visit, with the royal father asking the minister to give the

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HE Rivers’ Peoples Forum (RPF) has stated that the Presidency should be held responsible, if any harm befalls Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

The group, a leading socio-political organisation of all Rivers people, both at home and in the Diaspora, also declared that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was behind the many political travails of Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

RPF, through its president, Charles Bekwele, yesterday in Port Harcourt, after an executive meeting, strongly condemned Thursday evening’s police blockade of the Forces Avenue, the road leading to the Government House, with the governor’s convoy forced to take a longer route.

The forum described the blockade as one attack too many on the person and office of the governor of Rivers state.

However, the Peoples Democratic Party has faulted the claims saying the allegation was supported by a concocted video footage on the internet was a calculated ploy to further smear the name of the Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu whom he (Amaechi) has continued to demand his removal from the state.

The party, in a statement

by Jerry Needam, Special Adviser on media to the State

•Says governor’s bid to remove him as minister failed •Minister is an empty vessel— Amaechi From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

ancient town a federal secondary school.

The minister of state for education returned to the playground at 5:41 pm for the inauguration, while the chopper returned at 5:50 pm, but had to wait till the end of the programme.

Wike, a former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, was also the Director-General of the Amaechi Campaign Organisation in 2011, before being appointed as a minister, while he and Amaechi are both Ikwerre.

Earlier on Thursday, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Okocha, inaugurated the Rivers secretariat of the New PDP at No. 38, Forces Avenue, old GRA, Port Harcourt, before policemen invaded and sealed off the expansive premises.

The New PDP secretariat, directly opposite the old GRA Police Station, was the headquarters of Amaechi Campaign Organisation in 2011.

On Thursday evening, policemen prevented Amaechi and the visiting former speakers from accessing the nearby Government House, through the Forces Avenue.

Amaechi, through Okocha, in a telephone interview last night, described the minister of state for education as a misfit, empty vessel, intellectually dry, a ragamuffin and playing God. Wike said: “Change has come to Rivers State. I will plead with you to join me and

say this: ‘Amaechi, you are not God and you cannot be God,’ because you are a tenant. Your house rent has expired and you cannot pay.

Pack and go. Tenant, pack and go.

“Man proposes, God disposes. They thought they could give condition, because of your prayers, all they have

done have come to nothing.

Help me thank Mr. President, for the confidence he has in me, to keep me back, as a minister in the Federal Executive Council.

“Continue to support our brother, continue to support our son. Preach the message that come 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan will come back. Continue to support Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

•Chairman, Presidential Task Force On Power, Mr Reynold Dagogo (R), With Executive Director, Marketing, Presidential Task Force On Power, Mrs Vera Osuhor, at the inauguration Of 1x15mva,33/11kv Rantya Injection Sub-station in Jos yesterday.

“There is only one PDP. Those who said they have two million votes; they are still going for meetings to give conditions. We are not accepting any condition. The only Chairman of this party is Felix Obuah.

“They wanted to dare us, to see whether we are still in government. We are in government. We are PDP government and nobody can open office of any parallel party in Rivers State. They should go to their Government House. I will not allow them to open it, even in Government House, because their rent has expired.”

According to him, “Before, they said we were Abuja politicians. Now they are saying we are in Rivers State every week. The politicians have come home. When I told them they would not sleep, they did not understand. Are they sleeping now? You can now see 4-1-9. They have been showing the same model primary school since 2007. 4-1-9 government, pack and go.”

Amaechi stated that every citizen of Nigeria had the rights of the freedom of association, freedom of speech and the freedom of movement, and that the minister of state for education had no right to restrict the governor’s movement.

Rivers chief of staff said: “Wike should be told that the new PDP, led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje, has come to stay in Rivers State. There is nothing anybody can do about it. The secretariat of the New PDP has been opened and the party’s flags have been hoisted.

“Wike has no pedigree. He is a tout. I do not know who is

Hold Presidency responsible if any harm befalls Amaechi, says Rivers’ Forum From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

Chairman Felix Obuah, explained that Amaechi “in his usual characteristic only intended to win public sympathy as there was no reason for his choice of that route at the period when there are several access roads, some of which are direct and smoother leading to the Government House.”

But RPF said it was shameful and a big insult on the sensibilities of Nigerians, the reaction of the Bamanga

Tukur-led faction of the PDP on the intimidation and embarrassment of the Rivers governor by the Mbu-led police.

The forum stated that: “This current attack on the office and person of the Governor of Rivers State is one attack too many. They have grounded the official plane of the Rivers State Government. They have withdrawn some of Amaechi’s security

aides, thereby exposing the governor to harm and danger.

All these are being orchestrated by certain interests within the Presidency. The Presidency has been consistent in its harassment, intimidation and attack.”

It claimed that all these were being done because of 2015 adding, “They (Presidency) believe Amaechi will not support President Jonathan’s 2015 election. The

Presidency must stop using the apparatus of state to harass, intimidate and attack an elected governor.” It called on Nigerians and the international community to be alert, adding, “if any harm befalls Governor Amaechi, the Presidency should be held responsible.”

It wondered how the country’s fund was being used to hound an elected official. It observed that, “It is totally irresponsible, repressive, undemocratic, tyrannical and condemnable.

F

FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

is to take over the National Assembly to checkmate President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term ambition.

Before the factionalization of PDP, the party had 70 senators and 204 members in the House of Representatives.

The opposition had 39 Senators and 156 members in the House.

But with the emergence of New PDP, the decimated ruling party will be left with 48 senators and 147 House members.

Although some strategists in Tukur’s camp had initially ignored the threats but they have decided not to take things for granted.

A reliable source, who spoke

in confidence with our correspondent, said: “I think some PDP leaders are trying to influence the National Assembly to shift its resumption indefinitely to allow the ongoing peace talks on PDP crisis to go through.

“They want the leadership to attribute the shift to the repairs being carried out by the management of the National Assembly. But the reality is that these strategists are uncomfortable with the likely backlash of the PDP crisis on its position in the National Assembly. The party does not want to be in the minority. It is trying to see whether it could resolve its crisis or not.”

Another source said some

•He’s a liar - Rivers PDP

more 4-1-9 than Wike. He awarded to himself, all the contracts under the auspices of Almajiri, using pseudo names, without following due process.

He never bothered about the quality or standard of education in Nigeria, but he is concerned about infrastructure to make money. ASUU strike does not concern Wike.

“Wike, as a lawyer, has never worked in any firm. He has never practised law anywhere in Nigeria. Wike, as the supervising minister of education, is a misfit and appointed in error. Wike is one of the indices to measure a failed state, by putting a square peg in a round hole, when all nations of the world know the importance of qualitative education.

“Governor Amaechi is not playing God. Wike is the person playing God. What is Wike’s business of campaigning for Rivers 2015 governorship in 2013, when INEC has not lifted ban on campaigns?

He is using President Jonathan as a smokescreen. Wike is playing to the gallery, instead of focusing on ASUU strike.”

The Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Uche Secondus, in his remarks, stated that change had come to Rivers State, while the Rivers PDP Chairman, Chief Felix Obuah, said there was no cause for alarm, with President Jonathan to be re-elected in 2015.

The President-General of the GDI, Bright Amaewhule, said members of the Rivers PDP would never be part of the Baraje-led PDP, while the Coordinator of the GDI in AkukuToru LGA, George Georgewill, assured that Wike would ensure good governance.

We are not in a military dictatorship, a jackboot regime.

It is against the tenets and principles of our constitution.

These interests in the Presidency must be told in clear terms that the country does not belong to the Presidency, but to all of us in the federation. The Presidency must stop using the police, the aviation ministry and any other institution or agency of state to harass and attack Amaechi.”

The Forum said if the Presidency had any disagreement with the governor, it should be resolved politically rather than dragging the institutions of state into political disagreements within the party.

Tension mounts over National Assembly resumption

OLLOWING tension over the factionalisation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), there were fears that the National Assembly leadership may postpone the reconvening of members.

It was learnt that some members of the Assembly, who are pro-Bamanga Tukur faction of the party are pushing for a postponement. However, the leadership might hide under the excuse of ‘major repair’ of the Assembly complex to bid time for the resolution of the crisis.

According to findings, Senators and members of the House of Representatives are expected to resume on Septem-

ber 17.

But there were security reports that the members of the Kawu Baraje faction of PDP in collaboration with the opposition might take over the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

It was learnt that some senators in the New PDP had met last Thursday at the residence of a former Governor of Kwara State, Dr. Bukola Saraki, over what a source described as “for strategic purpose”.

It was gathered that part of the Plan B of the New PDP

Senators were being mobilized to push for the postponement, adding the normal practice is for the Senate and the House of Representatives to reconvene and go into Executive Session and consider factors for postponement. This may play out on Tuesday, September 17th.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Alhaji Zakari Mohammed, who spoke with our correspondent at about 9.30pm on Saturday said: “We are resuming on Tuesday in line with our legislative calendar. I am aware that some of our colleagues are calling for a little delay because of the challenge in PDP but we are going ahead.”

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Minister: FG on course to meet water, sanitation target From: Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

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HE Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target on water and sanitation by 2015. The Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe, made this known in Abuja when she received a delegation from Water and Sanitation for Africa (WSA) led by its Economic and Strategic Marketing Adviser, Mr. Oliver Ujah.

Ochekpe appreciated WSA’s efforts in solving water and sanitation problems in Africa.

She assured that the government is doing everything to improve on provision of water and sanitation.

The lack of potable drinking water, the minister explained, poses major sanitation challenges in Africa with severe health hazards.

In a statement by the deputy director (Press), Boade Akinola, Ochepke noted that the level of coverage in water and sanitation in Nigeria is close to the MDGs target set by the Federal Government. According to her: “Sometimes, our population makes it look like we are not doing much but the truth of the matter is that Nigeria has done much in that sector. We are looking to partner with other sector in order to meet this target.”

Ujah said the delegation was in Nigeria to contribute to the ministry’s efforts toward addressing water and sanitation challenges.

He said: “Nigeria would benefit immensely from WSA. Now we are talking about solving water and sanitation challenges in Africa, we have technical and financial partners across the world that will work with us to address such challenges.”

Non-oil conference to focus on agriculture

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HE 2013 edition of Nigeria’s non-oil exhibition conference and award will focus on how to revitalise potentials in agriculture to boost exports.

The Managing Director of Koinonia Ventures, Mr. Femi Boyede, stated this to reporters ahead of the conference slated for October 27-29 at the Abuja Sheraton Hotel.

Boyede said the conference will also focus on how to achieve self-sufficiency in basic food supply, attain food security and increase production of agricultural raw materials for industries.

There will also be facilitation of the production and processing of export crops using improved production processing technologies at the conference.

Boyede said the conference will feature exhibition, strategic roundtables and award dinner.

The exhibition, he explained, will offer an opportunity to leading manufacturers, producers/ merchants of Nigeria’s non-oil exports to showcase their products and services.

He expressed hope that President Goodluck Jonathan will be on hand for the presidential export award dinner designed to honour excellence in the non-oil sector.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

FRSC threatens to prosecute Ebonyi DCP over assaults

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HE Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has vowed to stop at nothing to ensure the prosecution of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ebonyi State Command, Mr. Istifanus Shettima, over an alleged assault and arrest of its officials in Abakaliki.

The Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the commission, Mr. Osita Chidoka, stated this yesterday during the sensitisation programme on speed-limiting devices in Abakalili, capital of Ebonyi State.

He bemoaned the constant assault of FRSC officials by police officers on the directives of Shettima, promising the incident will be the last in the state.

Chidoka, who was represented by the Zonal Commander FRSC RS9HQ Enugu, Mr. Chika Nwaka, stated that

From: Ogochukwu Anioke, Abakaliki

on different occasions the Deputy Commissioner had alleged the commission does not have the constitutional right to operate within the town.

This, he stated, has led to harassment and embarrassment of FRSC officials whenever they are on duty within the capital city.

A visibly infuriated Chidoka said: “What makes them (Police) superior to other uniform personnel? Is it because they carry guns?

“Most of them are not more educated than our men. Most of them don’t have integrity than our men. Why would they always harass our men each time they are on duty?

“If we have been mandated to carry firearms like others,

would such a thing happen? But we want to assure all that we must stop this humiliating act.”

But the Ebonyi Police Command spokesman, ASP Sylvester Igbo, in a statement debunked the alleged harassment of FRSC men.

According to him: “That morning (Wednesday), the Deputy Commissioner was visiting his men at various duty posts.

“At Presco junction along Abakaliki/Enugu Express Road, an official of the FRSC, who was directing traffic, passed two vehicles from opposing sides of the Enugu/Abakaliki lane at the same time and caused one tricycle and motorcycle to collide with each other.

“As a result of the incident, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, who was in the traffic with

his official car and personnel, directed the Road Safety official to accompany the victims of the accident to the MTD Abakaliki to give his statement as a witness and for treatment.

“But he refused and hauled abuses as well as assaulted him.”

The FRSC operative, Mr. Otu Onyinyechukwu, denied causing any accident on the road.

He accused the DCP of physically attacking him with his orderly and driver.

“I was controlling traffic along the ever busy Preso junction in Abakaliki around 8:30 am when I heard someone beckoning on me to come from an unmarked car.

“I became afraid immediately because of the hostile voice calling me. When I got close to the car, the caller, the state Police DCP, came down from the car

and asked what I was doing there.

“I told him I was posted to control traffic to avoid congestion as that junction is always busy in the rush- hour period.

He said I have no right to be there as it is not my duty to be controlling traffic.

“I insisted that it is my duty to be there. The next thing I felt was a slap from the DCP himself and then his driver and orderly joined him and started beating me, tearing my uniform given to me by the Federal Government of Nigeria in the process.”

He went on: “They then tried to drag me into the boot of their car. I refused and told him that I was posted there by my office so he should inform them before taking me away.

“But they continued forcing me into the car until they finally succeeded after which they drove me to their station.”

When contacted, DCP Shettima denied the allegations.

He said: “There was no time I asked my men to beat up any of them despite all their attempts to provoke me and my men. I, in fact, asked them to remain calm. ”Nobody was molested even when they blocked my movement. I continued pleading with my men to be calm and they should maintain law and order.

“I know most of them (FRSC officials) lack training.

That is why they will come into a police station and block the road.

“If we had used our powers, some of them would have been in the hospital but we remained calm. Even when they saw my uniform as a police officer they continued blocking my way.”

NIMC partners ALGON for enrolment

•L-R: Owners of Bajeiid Communications, Mr. & Mrs. Femi Ajala; Agbakin of Ibadan Land, Chief Waheed Edun and Director, Hand Held Products, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Mr. Emmanouil Revmatas at the official opening of Samsung’s Experience Store in Ibadan, Oyo State… recently

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday led prominent Nigerians to pay tributes to former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu, who died at 65 last Friday.

He described the ex -Minister of Aviation and Power, Dr Olusegun Agagu, as a man whose exemplary decorum, poise, urbanity, finesse and loyalty in the conduct of politics will be greatly missed.

A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, said: “On behalf of himself, the Federal Government and the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Jonathan extends sincere condolences to Dr. Agagu’s family, the government and people of Ondo State, as well as Dr. Agagu’s friends, political associates and colleagues in Ondo State and other parts of the country.

“The President joins them in mourning the distinguished academic whose exemplary decorum, poise, urbanity, finesse and loyalty in the conduct of politics will be greatly missed by all, especially his colleagues and associates in the Peoples Democratic Party.”

Former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, described his death as a blow to the renewed struggle to restore sanity to the nation’s politics.

He said: “Once again, the cold hands of death have snatched an illustrious man of

Jonathan,Tinubu, Northern govs, others mourn Agagu

By Sunday Oguntola and Jide Oritunsin, Minna

great character and devotion to country.

“Agagu was a good man, a bridge builder who never let the bitterness of defeat or political disagreements rob him of his patriotic spirit.”

Tinubu described Agagu as a man with a noble heart and a politician who placed national interest above self interest.

“His death will slow down this new movement but others will pick up from where he stopped.”

The Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) also paid tribute to Agagu, saying his death marked the end of a glorious era.

Chairman of the forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, described the late Agagu as a true nationalist.

A statement by Aliyu’s spokesman, Danladi Ndayebo, said: “From Agagu’s stint as a lecturer at the prestigious University of Ibadan, through his tenure as Minister of Aviation, to his election to the position of the Governor of Ondo State and his life in retirement, the former Governor remained with the people.”

Ogun State governor,

Ibikunle Amosun, described Agagu’s death as regrettable.

The governor, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mrs. Funmi Wakama, said: “He died at a time when the nation should have benefited more from his wealth of experience as an intellectual, politician and public servant.”

The governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, said Ibadan, the South West and indeed Nigeria had lost one of their most cerebral and intellectual politicians ever.

Ajimobi, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, recalled that Agagu left imperishable legacies in Ondo State where he was governor between 2003 and 2007.

According to him: “Dr. Agagu can never die; when the people tread those roads constructed by his administration in Ondo State, when they pass by those imperishable legacies he left.

“The foremost Geology teacher will live in their hearts and they will confront his great love for the people of the state afresh, even decades to come.”

Former Edo State governor, Lucky Igbinedion, said: “His exit at this period was a great setback for the nation due to his

wealth of experience in political engineering.”

A former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Kalu, described Agagu as a consummate politician, who played a key role in the socio-political development of Nigeria.

Orji, in a statement by his Special Adviser, Oyekunle Oyewumi, said: “No one can take it away from Agagu that he did his best as governor of Ondo State.

Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke, expressed grief over the demise. Imoke, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Christian Ita, recalled his time with the late governor as Minister of Power.

He described the deceased as an astute administrator, a consummate professional and a team player.

Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, said the death of Agagu was a “blow below the belt” for the political class.

He said: “He served as a very loyal deputy governor under our revered father, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua, and the legacies of that administration are still there for all to see.”

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LANS are on to extend identity management systems to all 774 local government areas in the country.

The Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Barrister Chris Onyemenam, said the commission is partnering with the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) to bring its services to the grassroots.

He spoke in Abuja during a meeting with chairmen of ALGON in states across the nation.

He stated that a summit is scheduled to acquaint local council bosses with identity management across the geopolitical zones.

The summit for the North Central, North West and North East zones holds in Abuja from September 17-19 Lagos will host the summit for the South West from October 8-10.

It will be the turn of Asaba for the South South and South East zones on October 15-17.

According to Onyemenam: “We have a vision to establish a trusted identity management system in the country because there has to be a proper system to generate data.”

ALGON leaders said over 50 per cent of Nigeria’s challenges will be resolved if NIMC gets the enrolment right.

They expressed apprehension over the possibility of “corrupting” the system at the local government level.

But Onyemenam said enrolling for the National Identity Number (NIN) and national identity cards are free.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

FMC Owerri to enforce ‘no work no pay’ against striking doctors From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

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HE management of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owerri has threatened to enforce the ‘no work, no pay’ policy against the striking resident doctors who had refused all entreaties to suspend their action.

The restive doctors currently on an indefinite strike over sundry grievances would also be issued query for abandoning their duty posts without cogent reasons.

The Medical Director of the Centre, Dr. Mrs. Angela Uwakwem , handing down the position of the management while briefing newsmen in her office argued that the grievances of the resident doctors, who she said are trainees, does not in any way warrant strike action, as the centre is duty bound to comply strictly with government’s laid down civil service rules.

Uwakwem, who bemoaned the avoidable consequences of the on-going strike by the doctors, said that she had taken steps to settle the sundry arrears of the agitating doctors to the tune of N10 million while efforts are on to settle the balance within available resources.

It would be recalled that the doctors, acting under the aegis of “Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) on 3rd September this year, in a letter with reference ARD/FMC/ OW/13/074 dated 3rd September, 2013 and addressed to the Medical Director of the Centre, commenced an indefinite strike over alleged failure of the management to settle their outstanding fees among others.

Ubah storms Anambra, promises a new lease of life

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From Chris Oji, Enugu

STIMATED 70, 000 people turned at the weekend in Onitsha, Anambra State, at a rally for Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party held at the Holy Trinity Centenary, Onitsha.

The crowd outside the stretch leading to the Holy Trinity Centenary Field was so huge that Ubah’s car and those of the other top politicians of the Labour Party had to literally move at a snail’s speed, to enable Ubah greet almost everyone on the way to the venue of the rally to flag-off his governorship campaign.

In his speech, titled; “Freedom Plan for Ndi-Anambra”, Ifeanyi Ubah enunciated his programme of action (Manifesto) by which he would better the lot of the people of Anambra State.

He promised that he would make potable water available to the people in the rural areas, revive the state water corporation as well as pay the staff of Water Corporation their outstanding 11 years of salaries and emoluments owed them by previous governments in the state.

News

No leadership tussle in Imo APC— Okorocha, Udenwa I A

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Building collapses in Enugu

MO State Governor, Rochas Okorocha and Chief Achike Udenwa, also a former governor of the state, yesterday cleared the air on the speculated leadership tussle in the state chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

They maintained that they have been working closely to advance the party in the state and the entire South-East zone, adding that the rumour was a total lie.

Addressing newsmen shortly after the two day meeting that was brokered by some leaders of the party, Okorocha said the essence of the briefing

From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

was to clear the air on the alleged disunity in the party.

According to him, “The unity of our party has been signed, sealed and delivered and victory for our party come 2015 is assured.”

He also announced the formation of the Elders Council of the Imo State chapter of the APC, which according to him, has Chief Udenwa as chairman, while Senator Osita Izunaso will serve as secretary.

Speaking in the same vein, Udenwa debunked insinuations that he was at loggerhead with the governor, describing it as a complete lie.

The former governor, restated the position of the governor that there was no division in the party as all the leaders are operating on the same page.

He added, “We are here to redefine leadership to Nigerians. As for Imo State, there is only one united APC. It is the only political party with structures down to the ward level.

“We urge you all to join us as we are hoisting a new flag in Imo State.”

According to Udenwa, “APC will retain its government in Imo State and will go on to install an APC govern-

ment at the federal level in 2015.

“We have given the PDP opportunity since 1999 till date to make an impact but unfortunately, there have been no change in the living standard of Nigerians. Now is the time for change and it beckons the APC.” Also at the peace parley were the Imo State Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon.Benjamin Uwajumogu, Col. Lambert Iheanacho, Hon. Uche Onyeagucha, Senator Osita Izunaso, Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN), among others.

•Gov. Peter Obi at the 2013, Sustainable Good Governance Summit, organised by the League of Anambra Professionals at the Women Development Centre, Awka, at the weekend.

Female police officer molested, stripped naked

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ANDEMONIUM was averted yesterday at Bridge Head, Onitsha, when a female police officer, Inspector Tochukwu Offoegbu, was abused, molested and almost stripped naked by a dreaded wealthy man, (name withheld) who allegedly slapped the Commissioner of Police last year.

An eye witness and a tout, who gave his name as Tunde, said Offoegbu was on duty when the ‘big man,’ who owns a park in Onitsha, approached her, allegedly telling her that he would facilitate her removal from Onitsha as he did to one Archibong.

He said the female police officer demanded to know what she did that would warrant her removal, so he gave her a slap for daring him. Also, his boys allegedly tore the female officer’s uniform, leaving her almost naked. ‘’She ran for her life into the Police post to avoid the peering eyes of the public before the Area Commander Benjamin Nwordu asked all of them to come to the area police station, Onitsha. ‘’That man cannot be arrested because last time he slapped the Commissioner of police because of park matters and so the governor closed the park and now, it is an Inspector. I fear,” said Tunde.

When contacted, the DPO

From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Onitsha

Fegge, where Offoegbu works , Muikdi Shehu, said he would not speak on the matter, insisting that the PPRO is the only person authorized to speak.

The PPRO, Emeka Chukwuemeka, when contacted on phone said he was with the Onitsha Area Com-

mander and would get back to this reporter on the issue.

CP Balah Nassarawa was said to be out of the state as at the time of going to the press.

Reacting, another eyewitness and Campaign for Democracy Coordinator, Dede Uzor A Uzor, demanded for the immediate arrest of the accused and thorough investigation into the

matter with a view to punishing the offender to deter future occurrence.

CD gave the Commissioner of Police seven days to arrest the man or face human rights groups protest and call for his removal as that was the height of abuse of an officer on duty, particularly a woman.

Erosion ravages three Isuochi communities

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HE member representing Umunneochi State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Prince Ikedi Ezekwesili, has called on the federal government to come to the aid of three communities in his constituency to save them from several erosion menaces ravaging the area.

Ezekwesili said that the scope of the menace is beyond the capacity of the state government, as it will require about N15 billion to tackle the situation which has almost sacked a community, while five houses at Umuobasi Mbala have been swept away.

Speaking while conducting journalists and a team of experts from the state Ministry of Environment round the erosion sites, Ezekwesili said the menace has been on for over 10 years now and wondered why his people failed to bring the problem to his

Ugochukwu Ugoji-eke, Umuahia notice before now. Ezekwesili said that the erosion menace has taken over the entire community of Mbaezi Mbala, while over 20 houses at Umuaku Isuochi have been swept away by gully erosion which has kept increasing

with every rainy season.

The political leader in the area, Chief Chukwuma Olima, said that the visit to the erosion sites at Umunneochi has marked a new beginning in the history of the constituency and the state, “As my people have suffered erosion menace for several years”.

50 prison inmates give life to Christ

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NGLICAN Bishop of Awka Diocese, Right Reverend Dr Alexander Chibuzor Ibezim, yesterday performed the sacrament of confirmation on more than 50 prison inmates in the Federal Prison, Amawbia, assuring them of God’s salvation if they are steadfast in upholding God’s glory, having repented of their sins.

Ibezim admitted 10 others into the father’s fellowship at the Chapel of Compassion, Federal prisons.

From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Onitsha

In his sermon, Bishop Ibezim observed that God destined the youths and all men to succeed in a godly way rather than through foul means.

“So, they need to live a life of integrity as their future lies in the hand of God,” he said.

The clergy further informed that most great men like Joseph, Peter, Apostle Paul and Silas, as was recorded in the Holy Bible, had been to

From Chris Oji, Enugu

3-STOREY building, with a pent house, yesterday collapsed in Enugu.

The State government, through its Commissioner for Lands and the Enugu Capital Development Authority, Dr. Emeka Ujam and Engr.

Ikechukwu Ugwuegede respectively, announced the revocation of the land when they visited the site.

The building said to be owned by a Southern Africanbased businessman, caved in at about 6.40 am.

Work on the collapsed building situated at plot 16, Nnobi Street, Uwani, Enugu, was said to have been stopped since early last year for an undisclosed reason.

As at the time of filing this report, bulldozers from the Arab Contractors Construction Company and men of the state Fire Service were clearing the debris in search of casualties if any.

The Commissioner for Lands, Emeka Ujam, told reporters at the site that government was fully aware that the building was not approved and had severally warned the owner and the builders to stop work.

According to the commissioner, the ministry’s field men discovered that the building was defective and the foundation could not carry a 3-storey structure, and hence promptly stopped work on the site.

But the builders, he said, clandestinely continued work and brought it up to the level that led to its collapse.

Masquerade invasion: Community blames Church on crisis From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Onitsha

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WBA-OFEMMILI community yesterday decried the destruction of property and maiming of lives in a clash between traditionalists and Christians in the community last week.

The community, through its lega adviser, Chukwudi Madukife, described the clash as unwarranted in view of the long standing understanding between the Church and traditionalists.

They appealed for the immediate transfer of all the young priests in the Churches in the community to forestall further break down of law and order. He said this when done would restore peace within the community between Christians and Traditionalists.

They alleged that the formation of Awba Ofemmili Christian Youths Movement by the priests was geared towards defacing of the culture of the community. He further said the community is a deeply religious one, accommodating all types of Christian denominations, adding that Christianity came into the community in early 19th century and has stayed for over 200 years.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

xxx Okoh urges leaders to put service above self

US lawmakers pledge assistance for Nigeria’s legislature

By Oziegbe Okoeki

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EMBERS of the Senate and the House of Representatives in the State of Georgia, United States of America, have pledged the assistance of their respective legislatures to the development of the legislative arm of government and businesses across Nigeria.

This statement was contained in a press release by Mr. Rotimi Adebayo, the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who recently led a delegation on a 5-day study tour to the two legislative chambers in Georgia.

Ikuforiji was accompanied by some selected members and support staff of the Assembly.

According to the release, Senators Ronald Ramsey and Mrs. Donzella James, as well as Mrs. Dee Dawkins, a member of the House of Representatives in Georgia, made the pledge during the 5-day study tour.

Ramsey and James particularly expressed their legislatures’ special interest in developing the legislative arm of government in Nigeria and improving business relations.

James noted that “a resolution has been passed towards entrenching business partnership and ensuring the development of democratic institutions especially the legislatures in Africa.”

He continued, “We will sincerely work with Lagos State House of Assembly on how to make legislations work better particularly on infrastructural development, transportation, safety of motorists, waste management, security of lives and property, health and education.”

In his remarks, Ikuforiji observed that though “our expectations and realisation of our dreams remain a mirage, but the nation must not despair because according to him, “people will laugh last in no distant future.”

Alakija’s funeral rites announced

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HE programme for the funeral service for Nigeria’s first female Head of the Civil Service, Mrs. Tejumade Alakija, has been announced.

Alakija, who was the daughter of the late Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the Ooni of Ife, died on Friday, 23rd August, 2013.

The funeral proceedings will commence on Wednesday, November 6 with a service of songs in Ibadan.

On Thursday, 7th November, a commendation service will hold, while the Christian wake keep and funeral will take place in her hometown, Ile Ife, on Friday, November 8.

Princess Alakija served meritoriously in the civil service of the old Western Region, which culminated in her appointment as the first female Head of Service in Nigeria.

By Nneka Nwaneri and Ernest Nwokolo

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•L-R: Children of the former Director/Acting Secretary of Programme on Millenium Development Goals(MDGs), Abdul Lateef Babalola, Agboola, Femi, Shalewa and Olamide with Senator Gbenga Ashafa(Lagos East) during the Fidau prayer for PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN their late father in Lagos... yesterday

Why Lagos is appealing judgment on Al-Mustapha, by Fashola

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AGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has explained the reason why the state government appealed the acquittal of Major Al Mustapha at the Supreme Court, saying the state places highest premium on human lives.

Fashola, who made the re-

mark at the commemoration of his 2300 days in office held at the Blue Roof of Lagos Television, Ikeja, said the government acted based on the popular agitation of the people.

He said, “The first report is in respect of the verdict of ac-

quittal of Major Al Mustapha for charges of conspiracy and murder by the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which has generated some mixed reactions.

“Because our Constitution permits a further appeal to the Supreme Court, and because we place the highest premium on every human life and be-

to N7.5 billion was for the early acquisition of the Lekki Concession as provided under the Concession Agreement “in a way that helps us to keep investor confidence and control any possible increase in the toll fees.”

Expressing optimistism that his administration is heading in the right direction in terms of its new education policies, the governor added, “I am also able to report that we have received the results for 2013 WAEC Examinations which show that out of 51,604 students who sat for the examination, 21,193 secured

the five credits in Mathematics and English in one sitting representing, according to him, a 41.06% pass rate over the 39% of last year.

On security, the governor, who said there has been an aggregate reduction in crime in the state, however, noted, “In a world that is getting increasingly complex and where no nation is crime-free,” the state was getting its own fair share of problems associated with population increase with some of its citizens falling victims to crimilals.

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

2,300 days: Fashola renders stewardship, urges mutual co-existence

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AGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), yesterday rendered the account of the stewardship of his administration in the last 100 days with an appeal to the citizenry for support, mutual co-existence, ethnic and religious tolerance, as well as obedience to law and order.

Addressing a capacity audience at the LTV Blue Roof Hall on Agidingbi Road, Fashola said the continued development and transformation of the state would only be possible with the full cooperation of the citizenry in terms of maintenance of peace, law and order.

The governor, who enumerated the various projects executed across the state, said major impacts were already being felt in the health and education sectors and also in the area of infrastructural development.

According to the governor, such projects include the completion of the Trauma and Burns Centre in Gbagada, two more flagship Primary Health Care Centres in Eredo Epe and in Itire, the Folarin Coker Health Centre for public servants in Alausa, the street light of Carter Bridge, the progress in the Technical and Vocational Education Colleges as reported during the State’s Enterprise Day and the reports from the education sector at the Annual Governor’s Education Award.

Governor Fashola explained that of the two supplementary budgets presented by the government after the second quarter, the first, with the size of N7 billion, was to enable government finance the building of more houses under the Lagos Homes Scheme, while the second, amounting

cause the families of the victims deserve every right to agitate the matter to the final court, just as the accused would have been entitled, your government has appealed on behalf of the people to the Supreme Court.”

He also disclosed that the government filed 20 different petitions in the Census Tribunal to challenge the figures in the 20 local governments, adding that the petitions were successful in 14 of them where the tribunal made various findings that included the orders for recounts.

He added, “From these findings, it seems fair to conclude that the census returns were manipulated against Lagosians in an act of grave injustice to say the least.

“No nation that wants to prosper and solve human challenges should ever be tardy or play politics with data collection projects such as population census. You cannot manage what you cannot measure,” he said.

Opposition lacks education on public finance, says Osun commissioner market can not allow this to hap-

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HE Osun State Commissioner for Finance, Economic Planning and Budget, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro, has said that members of the opposition in the state lack education about public finance.

Speaking in Osogbo, the state capital, while reacting to a statement credited to the immediate past Head of Service in the state, Mr. Segun Akinwusi, in some newspaper reports on the state’s debt portfolio, Bolorunduro said, “Throughout the world, debt remains one of the sources of public financing and as such, borrowing by government is not a crime.”

According to the commissioner, uncontrollable and irresponsible borrowing is, however, condemnable.

He said, “As much as we have decided to ignore the rising false alarm and insinuations from the opposition parties on the state’s manner of financing, particularly in connection with the state’s decision to access long term funding from capital market to finance some of the monumental capital projects ongoing in the state, it is necessary to address that we do

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

not ignore this.

“As expected, Mr. Akinwusi’s claim that the state has borrowed about N350 billion since November 2010 is not different from our opponents’ usual false alarm about the state’s debt portfolio.

Aside the fact that there are statutory bodies in the country where such information pertaining to states’ level of exposure can be verified such as the Debt Manangement Office (DMO) and Fiscal Responsibility Commission, it is also necessary to note that such a statement and claim

by Akinwusi is malicious, unfounded and amusing.

“We have said it times without number that even the whole banks in the country put together cannot afford to lend such a colossal amount as loan to a single borrower and neither can any state in the country be adjudged buoyant enough to access such a huge amount from the country’s capital market.

“And also the regulatory frameworks guiding borrowing from both money and capital

pen. For instance, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) prescribes certain limits known as ‘single obligor’s limit’ for commercial banks, benchmarking the total loan a single borrower can take as loan from commercial banks as a proportion of a bank’s shareholder’s funds.

“In the same direction, the volume of loan any state can access from the capital market is also tied to its total revenue and current indebtedness to commercial banks. Going by the above clarifications, and considering the state’s current level of revenue both from the Federation Account and internally generated revenue (IGR), one can easily figure out what the state’s current level of borrowing can be.

“For the benefit of the good people of our dear state, the state government of Osun is stating expressly that the opposition party’s claim about the state level of borrowing is not true. As a matter of fact, the state only borrows responsibly and its stock of loan portfolio is sustainable.

RIMATE of the Anglican Communion, Rev. Nicholas Okoh, has urged leaders at all levels to put service above self in the discharge of their duties.

Okoh said this yesterday at the St. Peter’s Cathedral, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during the thanksgiving to mark the 70th birthday of the Alake of Ebgaland, Oba Michael Adedotun Gbadebo.

“Sacrificial leadership, self denial and compassion are important; our leaders should be men and women who have the qualities of self sacrifice and self denial,”Okoh admonished. The clergy further urged Nigerians to demand for leaders that would tackle the sufferings in the country in 2015 and beyond.

He noted that leadership is very crucial to the destiny of a people or nation, adding that aspiring leaders for various offices should be persons that can “afford to lead a life of self denial and sacrifice” for the betterment of the masses.

According to the Anglican Primate, leaders should ensure that they “impact on followers” and have them as their constituency and beneficiaries of sacrificial service.

In his speech, the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, promised to abide by the advice of the clergy, adding that his administration will leave a legacy for that will outlive his tenure.

Agagu Ibadan home remains calm, as Akeredolu, Ladoja extol virtues From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

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OLLOWING the death of former Govenor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, on Friday, his Bodija, Ibadan residence located on Gbadamosi Olawuyi Street, was calm when The Nation visited yesterday.

However, the main gate leading into the expansive edifice was shut against visitors.

The few people seen in the house were observed wearing sorrowful look.

No family member was sighted, but a security man, who managed to attend to curious journalists but refused to disclose his name, said no family member of the late governor was around, adding that no condolence register has been opened as at the time of The Nation’s visit.

Meanwhile, former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, yesterday, described the death of Agagu as a rude shock.

Ladoja said, “Governor Olusegun Agagu’s death at this time is a colossal loss to both the country and Ondo State,” while stressing that the vacuum created by his exit would be a great task to fill.

He added, “Agagu’s ability to overcome every obstacle in his path in administering Ondo State was his personal strength and style of politics.

You can disagree with him, but it is important to understand the kind of politician he was.

He always strived to be fair to all no matter whose ox is gored.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2013

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

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Two Killed in Rwandan grenade attacks

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WANDAN police said yesterday that two separate grenade blasts killed two people and wounded 22 in Kigali, Rwanda's capital, ahead of parliamentary elections on Monday.

A grenade exploded Friday night at a busy marketplace in the Kigali suburb of Kicukiro, killing one person and wounded 14, according to police spokesman Damas Gatare.

Another grenade was detonated yesterday in the same area, killing one person and wounding eight, Gatare said.

Three people have been arrested for their alleged roles in the Friday attack, he added, giving no details about who was likely responsible for both blasts.

The blasts follow three others in March and July.

Since 2010 the country has been hit by grenade attacks that authorities sometimes blame on political dissidents.

Mexico police clash with teachers

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UNDREDS of antiriot police have regained control of Mexico City's historic center using water cannons and tear gas to clear the area of striking teachers, who responded with firebombs.

At least 40 people were wounded in Friday's clashes at Zocalo square after a few hundred demonstrators violated a deadline to vacate the area to make room for the nation's independence day celebrations this weekend after weeks of protests against education reform.

WORLD NEWS THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Funeral bombing, other attacks kill 25 in Iraq

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suicide bomber attacked a funeral yesterday in northern Iraq attended by members of an ethnic minority, part of a series of attacks that killed at least 25 across the country, officials said.

Iraq is weathering its deadliest bout of violence in half a decade, raising fears the country is returning to a period of widespread killing such as that which pushed it to the brink of civil war following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in violent attacks since the start of April, including 804 just in August, according to United Nations figures.

In the suicide attack, the bomber detonated his explosive belt inside a tent during the afternoon ceremony held by members of the Shabak minority near the city of Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Authorities said the blast in the village of Arto Kharab killed at least 20 people and wounded 35.

The funeral was for a member of the Shabak minority who had died of natural causes, officials said.

The Shabaks are ethnic Turkomen and Shiite Muslims. Most of them live in villages east of Mosul, the provincial capital of the ethnically mixed Ninevah province that is

Egypt's Mubarak waves, grins as his trial resumes

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GYPT's ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak was back in court yesterday, grinning and waving as his trial resumed on charges related to the killings of some 900 protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to his ouster.

The 85-year-old former president was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for failing to stop the killings, but his sentence was overturned on appeal earlier this year and a retrial was ordered.

The retrial comes against the backdrop of continued turmoil in Egypt. Unrest has spiked after the popularly backed July 3 military coup that toppled Mubarak's successor, Mohammed Morsi. The interim, militarybacked government has targeted members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group and arrested hundreds on charges of inciting violence.

Morsi himself is detained at an unknown location and a state of emergency was

imposed following a deadly crackdown on his supporters last month. Morsi, who was Egypt's first freely elected president, faces accusations of conspiring with Palestinian gunmen from neighbouring Gaza Strip in his escape from prison during the anti-Mubarak uprising.

One of the defendants' lawyers in Mubarak's trial yesterday suggested that the Brotherhood and Palestinian militants were behind the killings of protesters during the uprising.

The case against Mubarak also involves seven top security officials, including Mubarak's exInterior Minister Habib elAdly. They all face charges of complicity in the killings during the 18-day uprising.

Mubarak, his two sons and a business aide - who has since fled Egypt and is being tried in absentia - also face corruption charges in the same case. Both of Mubarak's sons were in the Cairo court with him yesterday.

predominantly Sunni Muslim.

There was no immediate claim for the funeral attack, but Mosul has been a hub for alQaida in Iraq in past years.

Militants have used violence and intimidation

to drive hundreds of members of minority groups out of the city.

In other violence, police said a roadside bomb hit a car in Dujail town, just north of the capital, killing the driver and his wife.

Police also said an 11-year

old boy was killed when a bomb hit a minibus travelling on a road near Suleiman Beg town, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

Gunmen also stormed a tile factory in eastern Baghdad, killing the

factory owner and a worker, police said.

Officials in nearby hospitals confirmed the death toll. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

•Evacuees affected by the stand-off between Philippine government forces and Muslim rebels put up their makeshift shelters along the sea wall in Zamboanga yesterday. Philippine troops were clearing out the last remaining Muslim rebels after a six-day operation in the south that killed dozens of militants and allowed scores of hostages to flee, officials said yesterday.

AFP PHOTO

37 dead in Russian psychiatric home fire

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HIRTY-seven people were killed when a fire swept through an aged psychiatric hospital in northwest Russia in the early hours of Friday, the latest tragedy to hit the country's mental health institutions.

The fire was apparently started by a patient who was either smoking or deliberately set fire to his bed at the hospital in the village of Luka, 220 kilometres (137 miles) southeast of Saint Petersburg, officials said.

The single-storey woodand-concrete building housed around 60 male patients including 15 who were bedbound, and the institution had been previously warned by the authorities to improve its fire safety.

Local residents told AFP that one of the patients was believed to suffer from pyromania.

"During a fire in the Oksochi psychiatric hospital 37 people died," regional investigators said in a statement, adding that 30 bodies had already been pulled from the wreckage.

A nurse perished in the fire that broke out at 2.45 am (2245 GMT) while saving patients. She left behind a husband and four children, locals said.

Authorities were planning to

decorate her posthumously.

The blaze was the latest tragedy to hit a psychiatric institution in Russia.

In April, a fire ravaged a psychiatric hospital in the Moscow region, killing 38 people, most of them patients who were engulfed by flames as they slept behind barred windows.

The fire in Luka, which

broke out in the middle of the night, reduced the decrepit wooden building on the outskirts of a village beside a forest to smouldering wreckage.

Rescue teams were combing through the debris and taking away bodies in black plastic bags from the scene.

Novgorod region governor Sergei Mitin told AFP at the

scene that 23 people had been rescued from the fire.

Ilya Denisov, a representative of the emergencies ministry, said it was still possible that more survivors could be found.

He said the firefighters were quick to react but that by the time they arrived the fire had consumed the entire building.

railway, steel and health workers among others, descended on Warsaw from across the country.

Clad in hard hats and brandishing union flags they blared sirens, beat drums, blew whistles and stalled traffic as they marched through the city centre.

Solidarity protesters followed a gilded statue of Tusk with one arm extended, mocking communist-era aesthetics. A funeral wreath laid at its foot read: "For Flexible Labour Policy".

"Wake Up Poland," read another banner.

Lewandowski said Solidarity had drawn over 100,000 protestors alongside tens of thousands of members of left-wing unions. Warsaw city hall confirmed a total of 100,000

protestors on the streets by 1200 GMT. They have the support of a majority of Poles, according to an opinion poll by MillwardBrown on Tuesday: 59 percent of respondents said they backed demonstrations.

While the unionists have a long litany of grievances, their anger is centered on recent changes in labour and pension policy.

"We want pensions at the age of 65 as before and not at the age of 67 as Tusk's reform would have it. We want better social policy and guarantees for employees," Lewandowski said.

The union is also calling for improved public sector wages, a higher minimum wage and job security -particularly for young people -- in the EU member.

Polish unions in mass anti-government protest

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NE hundred thousand angry Polish trade unionists marched through Warsaw yesterday in the finale of a four-day protest against the unpopular and increasingly fragile centre-right government.

The protest reflects widespread public gloom over a sharp economic slowdown in Poland, which has sent the coalition's popularity plunging to its lowest level since Prime Minister Donald Tusk took office in 2007.

Marek Lewandowski, spokesman for Poland's iconic right-of-centre Solidarity trade union, told AFP: "We want the departure of Donald Tusk. This is the only way to change social policy in Poland."

Union members, including coal miners,

Continued on page 62

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World/Commenatry

YRIA remains at the point of war and thus continues at the tip of global attention. There are important lessons embedded in this crisis that transcend the art of war and touch on how we come to know what we think we know. We should use this crisis to examine how we fashion opinions on public matters. I raise this issue because of comments received from among this column's readers.

Many readers oppose the position I have staked on Syria. That does not trouble me. My weekly expositions are not draft that you might agree with them. Their greater utility is in offering an alternative, progressive viewpoint. This column's perspective differs from mainstream media but is equally valid. I like the back-and-forth of keen discourse. Sharp debate adds more than it ever subtracts. The disquieting thing is that almost all opposing comments were emotive outbursts. Disagree; yes by all means, but have reasons that reason can articulate.

Most comments favoring American intervention were of this variety: "If your family was being gassed you would bomb Assad!" or the slightly less ad hominem "How can you stand to watch people be gassed to such a grisly death?"

These are expressions of emotion not of reason. As a race, we must do better in how we make decisions. If not, we will not recover lost ground in our race for political and economic development. For instance, in a government worth its salt comprised of leaders worth theirs, an officeholder would recuse himself from the matter if his family were place in unique danger different than that of the rest of the nation. Otherwise, he would be acting under duress. Nations are not to be governed in such an unstable fashion. To do so would be to exalt frailty and rashness over caution and wisdom.

Here, I assume these comments roughly parallel overall opinion. If my assumption is true, good percentage of us do not sufficiently scrutinize the information transmitted to us by global corporate media. For a race and people who have been subjected to an encyclopedia of negative stereotypes and half truths, it is startling how easily we imbibe the message of the very same global informational condominium that has libeled us. This informational architecture historically has been erected against our interests yet we so easily believe rather than question it. Thus, my fear is not that we disagree over Syria. My fear is that if this same machine that can so easily persuade so many o f us to become emotional over Syria it may be able to accomplish the same feat on matters more germane to our political and economic fortunes as Black people.

I have assiduously watched mainstream media coverage of Syria for weeks. Not once have I heard any news reporters or the hirelings paraded as neutral experts question whether Assad's government actually committed the attack. It is treated as incontrovertible as a mathematic proof that Assad's is the guilty hand.

Western governments and the vested economic interests they serve have wanted to topple Assad for years.

They certainly want to prevent his imminent victory over the weakening rebels. These same economic interests own the news networks. The media houses work not to disseminate truth, advance honest debate or promote objective analysis. Their task is to promulgate the opinions of those who fund their payrolls. Such is how the world currently turns.

The media houses are the butlers and stevedores of the powerful and mighty who seek to perpetuate their control of the world by controlling a good portion of our mind and opinions.

At this moment, I am skeptical about the claim against Assad for particular act. He has done enough to consign himself to a terrible afterlife.

There is no need to attribute to him the wrongs of others for he has enough of his own. The evidence adduced

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Stumbling out of war? Syria, the media and lessons learned A mistake timely made can often be more profitable than a perfect answer tardily had.

•Syrian leader, Bashir al -Assad

BRIAN BROWNE

against him is not wholly convincing.

There is also a quantum of evidence leading to a different conclusion but that information has been embargoed by corporate media.

In the end, I could be wrong.

However, I might be right. The bigger point is that we should allow reason and facts to guide us and forbid propaganda-fueled emotions from turning us into the instruments of other people's designs. As much as possible, I came to my position based on the facts as I know them.

That Assad would plot such an attack is illogical. He was winning the war and decisively so. Also the opinion the rebels had not capacity for this atrocity is unfounded. The UN already concluded rebels used sarin gas months ago to lethal effect. Neutral military analysts also believe rebel arsenals possess rockets with gasfilled warheads.

America claims over 1400 people were killed in the incident. However, the France-based medical NGO, whose doctors were on the ground, estimates fatalities at 350. The discrepancy is too large to ignore.

American political leaders have stood before the world claiming the evidence against Assad is "beyond a shadow of a doubt." Yet, the American intelligence community is divided because there are many shadows and even more doubts. Some believe Assad is the culprit. Yet, some analysts working in the American government believe their own clandestine agency, in league with the rebels and other dark operatives, concocted the incident to pull America into the conflict. Yet, corporate media has boycotted this jarring news because it does not fit their thematic narrative and the rush to war against Syria.

Last week, a group of retired intelligence officers, Veteran Intelligence Officers for Sanity (VIPS) sent President Obama a disquieting memorandum. The missive's dozen signatories warned the President not to embark on war based on dubious conclusions founded on incomplete evidence. VIPS members claimed contact with intelligence analysts still in government employ. These

analysts have informed VIPS that the preponderant evidence points to a conclusion contrary to the one dominating the airwaves. The memo mentions a subtle but important point the laymen would overlook. The nonclassified document the American government published to defend its push for military action was released by the White House and not an intelligence agency. This is not standard procedure. The deviation is because the American intelligence community is strongly divided on the matter. Thus, the White House made a political decision against Assad but that decision might not accord with the true facts.

The memo also reveals a secret meeting in Turkey on August 13-14, the week before the fateful incident.

The meeting was attended by American, Israeli, Saudi and Turkish clandestine officers as well as by rebel leaders. Allegedly, the rebels were told they would soon benefit from a massive influx of weapons and war materiel. There was talk of a mysterious event that would soon occur in Syria, bringing America actively into the war.

If this report is true, the intelligence agents at the meeting apparently are as gifted in prophecy as they are in dark operations. The simpler explanation is that they could forecast this peculiar future event because they were its authors.

The VIPS memo is not to be summarily dismissed. VIPS wrote a similar memo to President Bush cautioning against the dash to war in Iraq based on dissimulation. Bush ignored the advice. He was wrong.

VIPS was right. Ten years later, Iraqi is mess. Perhaps the most strategic military blunder of the last fifty years, the primary result of the war has been to turn Iraq into a client of Iran. Rarely has a nation so unnecessarily and unwisely expended so much just to benefit a mortal foe.

If media houses were objective, they would report the VIPS memo.

They would investigate the claimed divergence within the intelligence community and the secret meeting in Turkey where intelligence agents

demonstrated a remarkable clairvoyance. However, corporate media has buried these and other reports that don't mesh with the yarn they want to spin. As such, they act not as objective news outlets but as instruments of government. They are the private sector equivalent of a ministry of information.

In the end, Assad may have committed this atrocity. However, the evidence is not as convincing as portrayed. There is substantial evidence pointing in the other direction. Yet, global corporate media has no stomach to show us things that may lead to independent thought and weighing of complex facts. Instead, they show us videos that may be staged in whole or part. Then point and keep pointing an accusatory finger at the sinister figure we all love to abhor. This rouses emotions yet dulls the mind. They manipulate our decency and humanity to make us feel Assad must be punished in the worse way. We have been manipulated into a subtle trap where our emotions work against our mind.

Another important lesson is that we must adjust our perspectives of America. It is a great nation but one with a government handicapped by narrow-minded, often banal politicians. The current crop of leaders is so much less than the nation they lead. Statesmen are few; political journeymen abound. Ambition is more abundant than wisdom. We are used to looking at a nation's leaders as a symbolizing the nation's greatness. This is no longer the case in America. Collectively, the nation's leaders are the most ineffectual group since the Vietnam War. They do not represent greatness's continuity. They prove greatness is not guaranteed even to the high and mighty. It is a rarity to be nurtured and cultivated, not a commodity to be purchased at auction by the highest bidder.

America is undisputedly the most powerful nation on earth.

However, this week's events affirm that those controlling the American helm are not the wisest of statesmen. Thus far, only one American looks wise, almost prescient, in this matter: Hillary Clinton. The former Secretary of State had the presence of mind to refuse a second term as the nation's top diplomat. She jumped ship before it ran aground amid a storm much of its captain's own making.

She did not foresee the approaching squall. In fact, her diplomacy or lack of it contributed to the desultory course the American ship has meandered.

However, the consummate political survivor if not an astute diplomat, Clinton exited office unscathed if not free of culpability. At times, it is better to be the recipient of good fortune than it is to be skilled.

Her successor John Kerry will not be as lucky. His name forever shall be tarnished by his bombast and inconsistency during this complex international crisis. A diplomat's inherent responsibility is to tongue and measure his words.

Kerry evidently misread that section of the diplomat's handbook.

Here is a man who measures his word by how far he can sling them, not by how closely he holds them to his chest or limit them to their precise meaning. America has selected as its head statesman a person who splashes words about like an avant-garde artist does paint. In the average man, the consequence of this condition is his alone to bear. In a diplomat, the condition portends trouble for his nation. In the primary American

diplomat, such a condition causes the world to shudder for it could bring us all close to the lips of steep crisis that need not be.

Thus, we had the spectacle of Kerry attempting to be two men at once. Responding to questions about the efficacy of America's intended strike, Kerry said the attack would be sufficient enough to degrade Assad's capabilities and deter future chemical weapons use. Responding to those wary of America entering headlong yet into another war, Kerry promised the threatened strike would be "incredibly small." The statements reveal a man who responds to the moment not a person with an intimate relationship with veracity. Both statements can be false but both can't be true.

This is the rustling of an awkward but powerful man trying to thread the delicate needle. However, he is abjectly ignorant the needle can only be coursed by wise, truthful policy.

Instead of navigating the narrow channel with truth, he has tried to thread the needle with two plumb lies.

The man was making a grand mess of this affair.

Fate sometimes smiles on those who don't deserve its benevolence. It has come to Kerry's rescue in the nick of time. During a press conference, Kerry blurted Assad could avert the military strike if he relinquished the chemical weapons. Kerry meant the statement as a lark. The Russians seized his unguarded utterance as a basis for a new policy, thus corralling the American war machine by the words of its very own public embassy.

As I write, American military action has been forestalled by the Russian initiative that Syria quit its chemical arsenal. The outline of an agreement between Russia and America has been reached. Syria will hand over its chemical weapons and America will sheathe its sword. If the deal works, Syria will still be at war with itself but the world will be safer.

The possibility of the conflict growing will be forestalled for the moment.

The reluctant warmonger, President Obama, will get a fortunate reprieve from lunging into war as did his predecessor. John Kerry can return to re-reading the diplomat's handbook or a work on the finer points of circumlocution. Meanwhile, a formal KGB agent and hatchet man will emerge as the man who out maneuvered America's best and brightest. While Russian President Putin acted in his national interests and not for any utilitarian motive, he has been the peacemaker. On the other hand, America claims a humanitarian motive for its incessant talk of war.

On this occasion, American leaders slipped on their own arrogant inconsistency and the Russians took advantage this clumsiness to outwit them with their own words, thus averting a broadening tempest. Putin is far from an angel; he is the quintessential anti-hero but what he has done is to counterbalance the American government's militarism.

In the end, the cold-blooded Russian prevented the American Nobel Peace Prize winner from attacking a nation that posed no threat to his. This is the elemental truth of the matter. This is true news because it shows a steady reshaping of the global configuration and roles of nations. America has been too quick to pounce on nations it considers its enemies. Wisdom dictates one should not war with all those whom you dislike. It makes for a rather dangerous neighborhood and an unsettled world. Hopefully, America has learned this lesson. Sadly, the lesson the American government will likely glean is not this pacific one. The American war machine bristles at being stalled. The next time it will leap faster to the attack.

The world may have dodged great danger this time but danger shall return and the warmongers will be poised to take quicker advantage of it. And that is the real news!

08060340825 (sms only)

COMMENT and ANALYSIS

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Talakawa Liberation Herald (30)

Fifth anniversary of the global economic Lekan meltdown of 2008: counterintuitive Otufodunrin anti-capitalist reflections (1)

Otufodunrin@thenationonlineng.net 08050498530 (SMS only)

BY BIODUN JEYIFO

Adieu Debo, Adieu Madu-West

Counterintuitive: adjective - counter to what intuition would lead one to expect: The direction we had to follow was counterintuitive; we had to go north first before we went south.

Dictionary.com (Online)

I

Greed is good.

Gordon Gekko, the protagonist of the 1987 film, Wall Street.

T

HIS week five years ago, the world was stunned by an economic meltdown that was worse than any previous worldwide downturn since the crash of 1929 that led to the so-called Great Depression of the 1930s. And indeed, comparisons with that crash of 1929 were made in September 2008, though these did not come immediately; they came gradually and fitfully as analysts and pundits slowly realized the scope of the crash. This slow pace in coming to a full comprehension of the humungous scale of the collapse was not unusual since capitalism routinely goes through the so-called “boom and bust” cycles. Rather like the biblical “seven fat years and seven lean years” of the dream of Moses, this cycle implies periods of relative growth and wealth that are typically followed by periods of hardship and scarcity. Because of this cycle, it takes a while to perceive whether a particular meltdown is a mere cyclical recession or a full-blown depression.

By December 2008, it was clear to most analysts that the unfolding economic crisis was far worse than a mere recession. Not just individual banks and financial institutions like hedge funds but the whole financial services sector, the driving engine of 21st century capitalism, came crashing down. Within the space of a few weeks, millions of workers and pensioners lost their entire life savings.

As if that was not bad enough, workers began to be sacked in their millions as massive retrenchments in both the public and private sectors descended on the workforces of the rich countries of the world. The housing industries of European and North American countries, together with their central location in the available or disposable loans and credit in the global capital pool, came unstuck. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners not only lost their homes, but they were also sucked into loan portfolios whose value sometimes quadrupled the amount they had initially borrowed as principal.

As a consequence of these and many other extremely frightening crises, a specter descended on capitalism in all its formations, national, regional and global. But that specter was not socialism or communism. Rather, it was the fear of something not outside it but within capitalism itself, something like a cancerous growth, a corrosive toxicity, a suppurating rottenness. This spectral, profoundly destabilizing element within capitalism itself is the subject of this “commemorative” essay on the fifth anniversary of that meltdown of 2008. However, before I come to it, permit me to make a few remarks on the personal and social location from which I observed that meltdown five years ago.

These initial remarks hinge on the supposition that the privilege – or, conversely, lack of privilege – with which one surveys the globality of economic and other relations in our world ought not to be taken for granted but should be woven into the fabric of our

•Currencies

analyses and reflections.

The first direct personal encounter that I had with that global economic collapse of 2008 came from the shock waves that it sent throughout the ranks of administrators and faculty of Harvard University, the richest university in the world, my employer and the community of teaching and research in which my professional life is based. As if in one fell swoop, Harvard lost about a third of its endowment. As a result, a regime of very stringent austerity measures were put in place drastically downsizing the budgets of departments, schools, colleges and institutes of the university. Development projects that were designed to place Harvard at the forefront of 21 st century transformations in academia were put on hold indefinitely. In all this, the great fear was that no one knew where it was going to end, together with the great worry that the university’s endowment could shrink further and may even disappear completely and with it all that Harvard thinks of itself and all that the world thinks of Harvard with regard to the upper stratospheres of meritocracy.

But in spite of the seismic scale of this worry, Harvard actually continued to be a place of great privilege and opportunity for its faculty and students. As a matter of fact, the third of its endowment that the university lost through the meltdown still left it with financial resources far in excess of what most of the other universities and even nation states of the world could count on in the lean months and years ahead. In this respect, the “view from Harvard”, if one can call it that, is only one view among many others from which one can take stock of the globality of affairs in our world. Another way of expressing this idea is to say “globality” does not imply and can never yield a single, overarching vantage point from which everything can be seen in totality. There is no neutral or God-like viewpoint available to any of us. The 2008 economic crash proved

“The first direct personal encounter that I had with that global economic collapse of 2008 came from the shock waves that it sent throughout the ranks of administrators and faculty of Harvard University, the richest university in the world, my employer and the community of teaching and research in which my professional life is based. As if in one fell swoop, Harvard lost about a third of its endowment”

that beyond any shadow of doubt.

Ironically, it was actually within the portals of Harvard itself that I first directly and without any mediation encountered this dimension of the specter unleashed by the crash of 2008. In my classes, and from my advisees, I began to hear expressions of deep anxieties and uncertainties about the future. The jobs were vanishing quickly while student debts were mounting. Where they had been eagerly looking forward to leaving their parents’ homes as soon as they finished their college education and striking out on their own as did most of the members of nearly all previous generations of college-educated youths, my students could only look forward to living with their parents as grownup dependants well into their late twenties or early thirties. Caught between, on the one hand, the shrinking ranks of the very rich and, on the other hand, the expanding masses of the working poor and the permanently unemployed and “unemployable” underclass of the inner cities, many of my students at Harvard felt powerfully drawn to the “occupy movements” even in cases where they did not actually join them. It is no small matter for a whole generation to suddenly come to the realization that everything it had been told, every promise that the society had made to it either had no solid foundations or was based on deceit, cheating and greed. Let me make an elaboration on this observation carefully.

It took little or no time after September 2008 for it to com to full public knowledge all over the world that the crisis had largely been caused by legal but extremely cynical corrupt practices in the financial services industry. The technical term, the special jargon for this was something known as the “securitization of debts”. In layman’s terms, this means bunching together millions of individual and group debts and using these as not only an article of trade but the prime article of trade in the whole economy. For once you have “securitized” and thereafter own a bundle of debts, you can speculate endlessly with it: buy out your competitors; buy or sell ailing factories at a profit without having really rescued them; declare huge profits without having ever produced anything of value; buy or sell insurance to the tune of billions of dollars (credit default swaps) without having the means to redeem the premiums should the need to do so arise; and resist or even defy the efforts of regulators to rein in your activities.

Continued on page 18

N my over twelve years sojourn in The Punch Newspapers, I worked with many colleagues who I have fond memories of.

Two of them are Adegoke Adebowale and Augustine Madu-West who recently died.

Adebowale succeeded me as the Ogun State Correspondent of the The Punch while MaduWest, who until his death was with National Mirror, was then the Kano State Correspondent.

Years after leaving The Punch, we remained friends and whenever we met physically or spoke on phone and chatted online, we never ceased to relive the good old days of working together.

Just about a month ago, Madu-West, who was one of the longest -serving newspaper correspondents in Kano, (after a long while of not being in touch), called to find out how I was doing.

He had seen the phone number on this column and decided to call to confirm if he could reach me through it. I was glad to hear from him and we spoke about a number of issues including the state of the media, exPunch staff at The Nation and our families.

We joked about how we have become veterans in the profession and why we should start thinking about our exit plans with all the ‘small boys’ becoming editors.

I was worried about his health since I knew he had been battling with diabetes for some time. He confirmed the ailment had taken a toll on him and restricted his movement but he had been taking necessary medication.

I promised to be in touch, but alas that was to be the last time I would speak with MaduWest, who I still recall his voice on the radio phone through which we used to send stories from stations to The Punch headquarters in Lagos. “Kano calling Lagos” he usually yelled on the radio and his stories were usually compelling to displace those who had routine stories to send.

With Madu-West (who some of us preferred to call Madu-North, due to his reporting exploits in the old Kano back then), editors of The Punch were sure of exclusive reports for the cover pages of the first editions of the paper and even the second edition when Kano was in the news.

Adebowale, whom I called Debo, was indeed my worthy successor in Ogun State and distinguished himself in the coverage of the state until he left The Punch. Somehow we had the same ‘gentlemanly’ personality and always kept in touch on our career.

The first thing that I remembered when I read of his death on Facebook, were some of our Facebook chats. On July 24, 2012 he wrote: “Such a long while. Hope all is well with you? I love what you are doing with yourself. May you be really blessed. He followed up on August 13, 2012 with “Lakeside emeritus, You are shining. I enjoy reading you and seeing the great things you are doing for yourself. I wish you well”. The last message on April 5, 2013 was “It has been a while. How is business? How is The Nation? I wish you well”. You cannot ask for a better compliment and care from a colleague.

The various testimonies I have read about Debo and Madu confirm that in their own little way they gave a good account of themselves in their professional and personal dealings. I condole with their families and other colleagues who will miss them like I will.

I pray that their souls rest in peace. Adieu Debo, Adieu Madu.

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Festus Eriye efestus2003@yahoo.com sms only: 08116759748

W

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Comment & Analysis

HEREVER there is war, you’ll find a steady stream of refugees fleeing the conflict zone. No surprise then that the infighting within the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) threatens to unleash a flood of displaced politicians seeking refuge with whatever resembles a credible alternative platform.

In the real world playing host to refugees can be nightmarish for whoever is at the receiving end. Sometimes communities and countries fearful that the newly homeless could overwhelm them have been known to slam the door in the faces of the desperate rabble.

But no such misery awaits Nigeria’s burgeoning breed of political flotsam.

Unlike the wretched of the earth to be found in war zones from Syria to Afghanistan, those on the verge of walking out of, or being kicked out of the PDP, can look forward to a warm embrace from a string of opposition parties.

A few days ago the All Progressives Congress (APC) announced that not only was it willing to accommodate the disaffected PDP members, it mandated its own governors to woo their colleagues.

The newly-registered Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) was ecstatic in hailing the rebellion on the very day it played out on Eagle Square, Abuja. It, too, would gladly welcome the G7 in its ranks.

That the disgruntled PDP governors have so many suitors is understandable. The ability of incumbents to swing political fortunes in whatever direction they decide is far more assured at state level than at national level.

Indeed, it is the recognition of that gubernatorial influence which triggered the desperate, but ultimately shambolic attempt to install a pliant person who will dance to the presidency’s tune as head of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).

APC and the PDP refugees As members of the New PDP have pointed out to their adversaries on National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur’s side, President Goodluck Jonathan, cannot win the 2015 elections without them. Operating as a united team, the ruling party – its diabolical performance in office notwithstanding – still has a chance of clinging to power courtesy of Nigerian-style “free and fair” elections.

If the rebellion turns out to be irreversible and the New PDP joins forces with the likes of APC and others, that coalition stands a good chance of seizing power. That stark reality is not lost on analysts within the ruling party. It is also the greatest incentive for Jonathan and his people to quickly cut a deal with the troublemakers and keep the unraveling ‘largest party in Africa’ in what approximates one piece.

Forget the posturing, rumours and fingerpointing: just look at the speed with which Jonathan has rallied to prevent the Abubakar Kawu Baraje faction from slipping through his fingers. From the day of the disastrous convention till now, an unending string of meetings have been holding.

Even more significant is the fact that the band of rebels for whom a traffic jam of suitors has formed, have been attending the negotiations faithfully. That is not the sort of conduct you would expect from people who have blown up the bridge behind them.

Everything that has been coming out of those meetings indicates that the president and his people will capitulate and give in to the demands of the rebels. But… The sticking point remains whether Jonathan should run in 2015 or not. On the basis of constitutionality it is impossible to bar the president from putting himself forward.

But much has been made of some 2011 agreement in which the incumbent purportedly com-

mitted himself to serving just one term in exchange for getting northern support to breach existing zoning arrangements.

All pointers now are that even if such an agreement exists in written form with thumbprints, signatures and legal seal, they will be repudiated by Jonathan. There’s been a lot of huffing and puffing on the part of northern figures over the breaching of that accord.

We will soon know if such talk is just a negotiating stance or whether it has become a point of principle and deal breaker. Still, we must remind ourselves of the words of onetime German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck who defined politics as the art of the possible.

It is easy to envisage Jonathan throwing Tukur under the bus, restoring control of party structures to governors in states which have been deliberately factionalised as part of the politics of 2015. The heat and dust generated so far notwithstanding, it will be no big thing to lift the suspension placed on Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

But then negotiations are give and take.

Jonathan can’t be doing all the giving. What does he get in return? Stranger things have happened before in politics; but I will not be shocked if after all the noise, those on the northern flank who have been resisting, surrender to Jonathan’s desire to run for a second term.

What will be left will be selling the bitter pill to the party’s supporters in the region.

Caution! Despite its very public mud fight, the ruling party is not dead. It still holds the presidency and all the advantages of incumbency. It controls security agencies and has shown that it will not shy away from dragging the Nigeria Police into its partisan battles.

More importantly, its leading lights will do whatever is necessary to hang onto power – including swallowing healthy helpings of

“Unless the opposition plans to defeat a full-strength PDP, it could be disappointed again as the monster recovers from self-inflicted injuries to entrench itself for its self-proclaimed 60-year hegemony”

humble pie.

I am amazed therefore at the naiveté of commentators who take it for granted that reconciliation between the rebels and the Tukur-controlled party leadership is foreclosed, and that the PDP as we knew it is dead and buried. It reminds me of that quote by the famous American writer, Mark Twain: “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

It would be disastrous for any party or groups of parties to base their short or long term plans for capturing power at the center on the help of PDP decampees. The question such strategists should ask themselves is what if the expected split never materialises?

Even if the break with the Baraje faction is irrevocable, depend on it that the rump of the party that is left will not go down without a fight. That desperation to survive will make the 2015 polls potentially the most bloody and contentious Nigeria will witness since independence.

After 14 years most Nigerians have a good idea of what PDP has to offer and given a chance they will deliver a damning verdict at the polls.

That is why instead of wasting time gloating over the travails of the ruling party, or dreaming that the behemoth will crumble in such a fashion that it will no longer be a credible vehicle for capturing federal power, all serious opposition parties should be defining the alternative they offer in ways that will excite voters, and ensure apathy does not hand the ruling party victory against the run of play.

We also know that in large parts of this country, ballots count for nothing. In many inaccessible areas votes are simply written – producing voting day numbers that would have embarrassed the likes of Saddam Hussein.

The opposition should focus on developing ideas to checkmate the rigging we all know happens, but can do nothing about.

Unless the opposition plans to defeat a fullstrength PDP, it could be disappointed again as the monster recovers from its self-inflicted injuries to entrench itself for its self-proclaimed 60-year hegemony.

Comment & Analysis

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

15

Politics of reprisal This is fast becoming one of the hallmarks of the Jonathan administration

R

EPRISAL is the name of the game, and the presidency is proving to be adept at it. The signs of presidential prompting, or backing, were evident in certain events that developed from the messy internecine conflict in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Take the case of the reported unexplained police withdrawal of the security guards and escorts of Senator Bukola Saraki, a former two-term governor of Kwara State (2003 to 2011); and the reported branding of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as persona non grata by exNiger Delta militants. It can be deduced that both politicians were on the receiving end because of their perceived guilt by association, following their membership of a splinter group.

However, there are larger issues involved in the fragmentation of the PDP, with serious implications for the polity, beyond the personal troubles of Saraki and Abubakar. In the case of the former governor, it amounts to a raw abuse of federal might to deny him the benefit of security agents, if indeed he has such entitlement under the law. It is significant to note that this episode, again, raised questions about eligibility for state security services, and the implementation of related legislation.

In rather dramatic circumstances, a side show

by Kwara State House of Assembly Speaker, Razaq Atunwa, shed light on Saraki’s situation.

Atunwa told reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, “By virtue of Section 2 (3) Paragraph H of the Third Schedule of the Kwara State Governor and Deputy Governor Payment of Pension Law 2010, Senator Saraki is entitled to the provision of police security as part of his pension entitlement.” He added, “That was a law validly enacted by the Kwara State House of Assembly.”

Interestingly, he chose the occasion not only to condemn the treatment of Saraki, and appropriately described it as “a clear breach of the law”; he also strikingly disclosed that he had notified the state police commissioner that “by Friday, September 13, he should relinquish the police security attached to me until the police

W

ITH the current strike action by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of the federal owned universities lingering for seventy days, students are left in limbo. Truly, when two elephants fight the grass undergoes torture while it lasts.

In this case, the two elephants we have are in the Federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The academic calendar hampered once more.

Students left to rot at home.

They all open to embark on unproductive and self destructive activities. Whilst their counterparts in private owned universities enjoy uninterrupted academic calendar.

These strike actions have been a recurrent decimal in federal owned universities. It has been an indelible mark on the public education sector of Nigeria.

It is no longer news that the government is bent on not fulfilling an agreement it entered with the lecturers in 2009. This is the cause of the continued stay-at-home directive from the union of lecturers to students. They call it an indefinite strike action. The lecturers are staying put on returning to lecture theatres until their agreement with the federal government is implemented.

With this hullabaloo on the front burner in the public terti-

security of Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki is restored.” This development, following an ironic contempt for the law by the police, gave a glimpse of the undesirable consequences that could arise from escalating politicisation of the police and accompanying partisanship, which are unwelcome.

The selectiveness in Saraki’s case further exposed the complicated fallout of the PDP split; and again highlighted the controversial subject of state police as a possible counter to the apparent drift in the direction of a virtual police state by the powers at the centre who control the force in the existing arrangement. It is alarming that a pattern seems to be forming, to go by the recent police withdrawal of River State Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s escort commander in circumstances which suggested that the move was inspired by his running clash with President Goodluck Jonathan; and the scandalous blockage of a major road to the Government House in Port Harcourt by the police. Also, Jonathan’s recent sack of nine ministers had undertones of retaliation, considering the fact that it generally affected those who were sponsored by his perceived enemies, or who came from supposedly antagonistic areas.

Notwithstanding the legal context provided by the Speaker, and his spectacular mode of protest, it is pertinent to contemplate the scale of police security that Saraki enjoyed before the disruption. Reports listed seven security personnel, including two at his Abuja residence, three at his home in Ilorin, and two TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye •Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile •Associate Editors Taiwo Ogundipe Sam Egburonu

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others “at his beck and call.” Certainly, this number of policemen attached to Saraki alone defies logic, particularly given the general inadequacy in policing across the country.

Furthermore, the fact that the Saraki example is likely to be replicated among others of his ilk is a sad commentary on the abuse of state apparatus.

Regrettably, the presidency’s hand was similarly discernible in the barefaced assault on Abubakar’s freedom of movement by former militia leaders who curiously belong to President Jonathan’s ethnic base. The meeting of the retired but perhaps unreformed warlords representing all nine states of the Niger Delta under the banner of the Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative (LPCDI) in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, was suspicious and reeked of reprisal. The group declared, in words that were disturbingly revelatory, “It is unfortunate that Atiku, who has benefited so much from the Niger Delta’s crude oil and gas, is leading dissidents in a political coup against the first Southerner to ever ascend the seat of President of Nigeria.” Additionally, it issued a not-so-subtle threat that deserves condemnation, particularly because of the potent danger to the right to free movement. LPCDI said, “We are aware of his vast business interest in the Niger Delta and we are warning him, in his own interest, to stay off the region.”

Such crude posturing, most likely informed by proximity to power, does its supposed beneficiary a disservice. It bespoke aggressive intolerance and should be discouraged by any responsible government. To allow any group to wallow in the conceit that it can unlawfully deny others freedom of movement, or even association, is to send wrong signals, for such illegality could be adopted as a guiding example by opportunists, to the country’s detriment.

There can be no acceptable rationalisation of the brazen lawlessness and stifling tendency promoted in these respective cases. They are paths that will do the country no good, and the government should know this.

LETTERS

The future Nigerians

me how the best can be gotten from such students.

What of the science, technical and professional related courses. These courses indeed need adequate practice. Therefore, laboratories ought to be the students’ habitat. Specimens of various kinds and shapes are meant to be examined. The reverse is the case.

The absence of laboratories in most schools becomes to order whilst students with access to laboratories do not engage

ary sector, one can only imagine the quality of future that awaits our dear nation, Nigeria. If the government has continued to treat matters of the education with I-don’t-care attitude then what future do we foresee? The relationship between government and lecturers is rather appalling.

Without mincing words the

nation has lost it in the education sector. What used to be the cynosure of the world is now operating in its lost glory.

The schools are not funded adequately for effective administrative running. Take a visit to a federal university nearby while the school is in session.

You shouldn’t be surprised to

WISH to use this medium to draw the attention of the Anambra State Government and the general public over the recent spate of armed robbery attack, intimidation, hooliganism and other criminal activities that are ravaging the city of Onitsha and its environ.

First, I must commend the Peter Obi-led administration which since its inception has drastically tackled the security challenges confronting the state. Onitsha in previous times was a “no-go area.” It was known for its series of armed robbery attack, ritual killings and several other criminal activities.

This prompted the then

Onitsha and its security challenges

I

governor of the state Dr. Chinweoke Mbadinuju to bring in the notorious Bakassi Boys. Although the activities of the group scared armed robbers and ritualists away from the state, they were strongly criticised by some human right group for indiscriminately setting human beings ablaze. They were also alleged to have killed innocent citizens. When Dr. Chris Ngige became the governor of the state, the Bakassi boys were sent packing because their services were no longer needed by government but some of them regrouped and

find a class of four hundred students. That’s not all. The lecture theatre housing the students not having adequate seats thereby students are made to hang in uncomfortable positions for a 2- hour lecture! Furthermore, the lecturer hasn’t a loud voice to substitute for the absent Public Address System (PAS). Tell

were later found to engage in armed robbery.

The situation changed lately when some group of youth who hide under the guise of Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Association of Igbo Youth (AIYO) terrorises, rob, harass and dispossess innocent residents of Onitsha and environs of their properties.

The worst part is that this group of youth carries out this unholy practice with impunity. They defy security personnel to attack their victims because they were believed to

possess a special kind of “odeshi charm” which make bullet not to penetrate their body.

They carry out this operation in group and often with motorcycles and tricycle popularly known as Keke-Napep.

They demand money from wholesale importers before allowing them to offload their containers. They attack road side traders and dispossess them of their hard-earned money even in broad daylight; they forcefully dispossess their victims of jewelleries, phones and other valuables.

in practical by themselves due to inadequate equipment. And you tell me such student can turn around the fortunes of Nigeria in the future.

Authoratively, all federal universities in Nigeria are living on past glory. The earlier our government start investing in our education sector the better for the future of the country. Ask for a country that prepare for a better future, it is a country that funds and sustains the standard of her education sector.

Amakoh Kelechi University of Lagos.

A look at what the present situation reveals to us is enough to issue a Clarion Call on every Anambrarian to eschew violence and embrace peace. As the spokesman of the apex youth body, I call on Anambra youths to resist any attempt by any politician to use them as political thugs or entice them with money in order to vote against their conscience.

I enjoin Anambraians to vote wisely and to maintain peace within themselves and their various communities.

By Oluchukwu Charles Igwe and Nelson Anyiam, National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) Onitsha South L.G.A.

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16

Comment & Analysis

Ropo Sekoni

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Education and democracy: training the future generation 2

ropo.sekoni @thenationonlineng.net

It is clear that the power of a properly educated and trained citizenry to increase the competitiveness of Nigeria in the comity of nations cannot be ignored without devastating consequences for the country and its citizens.

F

the federal government to achieve quality in secondary education has led to the abandonment in a democracy of the principle of equality of opportunity for all citizens. With about 100 Unity Secondary Schools across the country, the federal government has for decades believed it is possible to provide quality education that can bring about what W. E. B. DuBois once characterised as the Talented Tenth that moves society to higher achievements. Admission to Unity Schools has, as Femi Folorunso observed in a recent lecture in Lagos, generated suspicion and resentment on the part of southern Nigerians whose children with higher scores could not get into the same Unity School that children from the north with far less points than their southern counterparts easily got admitted to, on account of keeping Nigeria united.

As bad as that situation is for achievement of a union of affection in the country, another related problem is that it is generally only children of the middle class that get admitted to Unity Schools. Where the admission policy or process does not openly endorse discrimination, exclusion of children of the working class or under class have no access to even sitting for entrance examinations to most of the Unity Schools. Most of such children have been restricted by material poverty and lack of access to middle-class influence peddling to neighbourhood primary and secondary schools, most of which may not even appear on the register of schools in the federal ministry of education.

In addition, efforts at the private

OLLOWING the conclusion to last week’s piece, today’s column will be devoted to fuelling public debate on how to address the failure of the education sector in the country. Today’s emphasis will be on ideological underpinnings of education in a ‘federal democracy.’ Efforts will be made to spell out what should be done to bring education back to the front burner, not only in terms of policy making but also in terms of school/ college effectiveness.

Given the dismal statistics about low learning outcomes in WAEC and NECO, it is safe to assume that the foundation for higher education in the country has been compromised by the failure to create effective primary and secondary education culture in the country. The failure of the education sector is similar to that of the energy sector which provides electricity for less than 25% of the population less than 25% of the time. The decline in education should be worrisome enough for the federal government to declare an emergency in this sector. But lessons learned from declaring an emergency in the energy sector years back are too clear for the federal government to take a similar risk with education. The provision of electricity has been getting poorer since the declaration of an emergency in the sector. But no problem goes away by itself. There is a need for human intervention in any institution created by human beings.

The major problem facing the education sector is how to achieve and sustain quality and equity at the same time. For example, ongoing efforts by

Femi Orebe femi.orebe @thenationonlineng.net 08056504626 (sms only)

A

T the best of times, it is the tradition of the Ekiti PDP to have no idea about any matter, however serious, or pedestrian, until they have visited Ota. Even at a time when former governor Gbenga Daniel gave Obasanjo, even as President, no quarters whatever in the affairs of his native Ogun State PDP, our friends in Ekiti would still first visit with Baba or, at the very worst, divine his innermost cravings. Thus, at a point, it became impossible for Ekiti to nominate a candidate as federal minister on its own; and once, when they went beyond their bounds and nominated Dayo Adeyeye, it only took President Obasanjo enough time to remember that the prince was his nemesis as Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, and so, promptly collapsed the party’s temerity and Adeyeye’s earnest hopes.

These were the thoughts running through my mind this past week as I posed the following question to the ekitipanupo web portal: Wither Ekiti PDP, as the ‘largest rally in Africa’ unravels?

As I tried to sketch above, at no point in time had the party in Ekiti being as free as you found in Oyo, Osun, Ondo or in Gbenga Daniel’s Ogun. The few times President Obasanjo busied himself with state matters, any of Bode George, the late Baba Adedibu or Senator Omisore took charge; took as much contracts as he wanted or arranged charter flights for the current governor, however transient. Indeed, when matters came to a head, our dear governors were not unknown to have run to a paramount ruler outside the state to help out. An instance

level to provide quality teaching in primary and secondary schools have resulted in mushrooming of private or fee-paying schools in the nooks and corners of the country. Again, it is parents with material resources that can afford to send their children to private schools. Thus, the children of majority of Nigerians are left to choose among neighbourhood primary and secondary schools funded through a combination of efforts by the federal, state, and local governments. If there is any noticeable quality being offered in the private schools, the exodus of children of middle-class background that go to Ghana every year for primary and secondary education, (not to talk of those who go to the U.S., U.K., and now U.A.E.) does not show any durable confidence in the education provided by most of the fee-paying schools in Nigeria.

To say that the country is at a crossroads in terms of education provision is an understatement. With about an average of 40% success rates at the end of secondary education and a university system believed by many federal ministers as producing unemployable graduates, the country is in deep trouble that can affect its foundation, not necessarily in terms of disintegration that has become a popular bogey in the mouths of politicians and cultural leaders from the north and the Southsouth in recent years, but in terms of not transcending its present status of the world’s dumping ground for all goods from pasta to plasma television. Any further lowering of the competitiveness of the country

will be enough to make the country import more than it can pay for, even now that oil is enjoying the benefit of a seller’s market. The situation will be worse for Nigeria when oil in the next decade or two becomes an item in the buyer’s market with the resultant falling of oil price.

It is clear that the power of a properly educated and trained citizenry to increase the competitiveness of Nigeria in the comity of nations cannot be ignored without devastating consequences for the country and its citizens.

Like everything else, organising provision of education to respond to the fear that allowing states and regions more freedom to determine how to refine their culture and advance their development, is not likely to achieve anything more than the organisation of the Nigeria Police Force has done: inefficiency and ineffectiveness. It is indeed safer to believe that encouraging all parts of Nigeria to develop ways of providing quality education to citizens without excluding any group or class directly or indirectly has a higher chance of enhancing the country’s unity than holding parts of the country down from getting imaginative about how to solve the problem of education provision for citizens.

What is needed is for the federal government to leave the running of schools to local governments, as Folorunso recommended in the lecture referred to earlier. This will allow states and local governments to collaborate on curriculum development and inspectorate system. The current system of allocating funds to

states and local governments from the revenue from rents collected on oil and gas may need to stop, to allow local governments and states to collect taxes from citizens and in the process create a bond or contract between the two sides about how to solve the fundamental problem of training children that can keep Nigeria going beyond the decades of oil.

What the federal government needs to do is to work out in conjunction with the federating units a vision of what type of Nigeria we plan to create. The present mantra that Nigeria is being prepared to become the 20th largest economy is too vague to base an education development strategy on. Whatever number Nigeria occupies at present in the ranking of economies has not come from its efforts as much as it has from the oil in the womb of its soil. Now that it is becoming clearer by the day that the century of hydrocarbon may be coming to an end, the preparation for the century of knowledge as the source of wealth and employment requires that the current system of a big federal bureaucracy directing national education for the purpose of keeping the appearance of national unity will be unable to face the challenge of designing an effective education provision for all citizens. Since most citizens attend public primary and secondary schools, it is no use pretending that the problem of quality and equity will go away by either sending children abroad or allowing private vendors of education to operate with little or no monitoring from the governments with jurisdiction over their locations.

To be continued.

As PDP unravels, where is Ekiti PDP? If Ekiti PDP has always been fractious, its problems have now quintupled as the falcon can no longer hear the falconer.

was when an overbearing chieftain of the party was going to overawe the state governor with his relationship with a top Abuja government official to get a seat on the National Executive Council of the party and the governor had to dash to Kabiyesi for succour.

It must be said though, that at that time, all Southwest chapters respected the former president as it predated the current Buruji Kasamu’s suzerainty which has seen leading lights of the Obasanjo group shoved aside, even from posts to which they were elected.

No thanks to a combination of President Jonathan and a rambunctious Chairman Tukur.

Therefore, with the Presidency reportedly of the view that Obasanjo is behind the present crisis ravaging the party, whither Ekiti PDP? Kasamu’s desire to add Ekiti to his Ogun conquest must have informed his boast to spend a billion naira on the Ekiti election, knowing full well that once his PDP people hear about money, all sense is lost.

So what exactly is their permutation; which of the Tukur /Baraje groups offers the best for their chimerical hopes, for 2014 in Ekiti? This is the problem that must literally be eating them up now and I won’t be surprised if all manner of diviners, soothsayers and marabouts are already smiling to their banks. It becomes worse when one remembers that there are no less than 16 wannabe governors within their ranks.

Writing in answer to the question was Wale Adeoye, a brilliant journalist, and Senior Special Assistant in the Fayemi administration. I shall quote him at some length. Wrote Wale: ‘The Ekiti and South West PDP are in a fix. It is unlikely they will come out unscathed. The Tukur faction, by crook and

arm-twisting, will dominate the scene.

The two sides are not fighting any ideological war. The Tukur faction wants the President, probably because he has paid his material price for the bidding or the pudding. The Baraje group, in turn, wants power so as to enhance the diminishing influence of the northern (Hausa-Fulani) oligarchy. Neither Tukur nor Baraje has told us that the battle is informed by the interest of Nigeria or Nigerians; neither has either disagreed with the ruinous economic policies of the PDP at the national and local frontiers. The devil is split in two: one is a rattle-snake, the other a scorpion. None is useful to mankind, not even for the eating, except to isolate and kill them before they finally pour their insidious venom on society. The Ekiti and South West PDP are split along the two divides: OBJ is an opportunist, trying to exploit the crack to full advantage. In reality, he is a vocal, devilish authority, but in praxis, he lacks any compelling political structure. Atiku, the knight of treacherous adventures, is using the PDM as a platform to destabilise the setting; to pave the way for his personal ambition or, at worst, to ensure the emergence of his crony as the next president. OBJ is not comfortable with Atiku, but for the plot against the President, he needs to surge at the hawk first, before he could chastise the rebellious, back-stabbing musketeers on his heels. This crisis has exposed the barrenness of the PDP, its lack of tact, its destructive antics, its lows, its selfseeking man-oeuvres and the imminence of its collapse as one of history’s most heinous political institutions.’ He then warns: ‘Let the progressive forces be aware: we need a movement; a movement in alliance with labour, students, workers, seafarers, haves and havenots, rich and poor, dregs and roy-

als, to rise up and agree on the need to stop the PDP in all its deceitful shapes, come 2015.’

If Ekiti PDP has always been fractious, its problems have now quintupled as the falcon can no longer hear the falconer. If the Oni group can be said to have been weakened by the vicissitudes Obasanjo suffered in the hands of Buruji Kasamu working as a Jonathan/Tukur hireling, the Fayose/Olubolade group, which won its rancorous convention, has uproariously atomised, with both men sparing no lurid word in publicly describing each other. While Akin Omole of the Oni group, who lost the chairmanship election, has since been in court asking it to send packing the incumbent state chairman, Makanjuola Ogundipe, on the grounds that members of the state executive committee came in through a manipulated congress election, as if rigging is not their party’s middle name, Ogundipe has, in turn, threatened to haul Omole before the enforcer, Chairman Tukur, for anti- party activities.

Things have gotten even worse.

There had been serial mutual suspensions of party chieftains, including both Fayose and Ogundipe. Fisticuffs, cutlasses, guns and charms have also been brought into play with a former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly a major victim. Abuja has, as expected, done its usual abracadabra; rescinding Fayose’s suspension while tenaciously holding to the consensus arrangement which is the very reason Fayose is fighting to the death. In the meantime, the Oni group has been further affected by the publicised exit of Professor Lola Borisade to energise the PDM which is guaranteed to be Atiku’s next platform to confront the Obasanjo/Lamido group. And that will be the duel! Therefore, even if the Oni group, which is the

single most cohesive group, joins the new PDP in the meantime, the romance will most likely be short-lived as most of the 16 aspiring to win the guber slot are likely to tilt towards the Jonathan group which, with power behind it, will most probably thump the new. But, in the meantime, fearing a mass defection into the new PDP in the state, the President will most probably go back on his erstwhile support for his Police Affairs Minister who, of course, has nowhere else to go besides the president’s group.

That exactly is where the Ekiti PDP is today; their jigsaw puzzle, in no man’s land, marooned and, literally leaderless.

Even then, in the most unlikely event that the party resolves its many problems, national and state, where is the PDP going to start from in Ekiti? Is it from its dismal failure to attract any meaningful federal project to the state in 14 years of their party’s stranglehold on the country? Is it in the federal government’s pernicious marginalisation of the Yoruba in the affairs of the country such that you cannot count a single Yoruba man in the topmost 10 jobs in the country? Is it the fact that nothing of substance stands to the memory of PDP’s seven years of locust in Ekiti? Compare that miserable record with the exploits of the Fayemi administration which, in under three years, has touched every nook and cranny of the state, having a minimum of at least one project in EVERY town, village or community; continuously impacting every segment of governance and very positively presenting the state to the world as a caring government via programmes like the monthly stipends to the elderly and the multi-birth care, to mention but a few.

So to the question, I answer: Ekiti PDP is certainly in the doldrums.

Comment & Analysis

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Tunji

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

K

ING’S goat. That was an expression I heard, probably for the first time when I was a student of Ijebu-Ode Grammar School, Ijebu-Ode, in present day Ogun State, sometimes in the early ‘70s. Then, one of our students, Lekan Fenuyi, a table tennis star of global acclaim did the school proud in one of his outings and the principal declared him a ‘King’s goat’. The implication was that the young Lekan was to, henceforth; enjoy certain privileges that should accrue only to ‘kings’ goats’. King’s goats are untouchables. Many of us wished we could be like him. That has ever since been my idea of what should qualify anyone for that appellation.

But, as it is with many things Nigerian, especially these days when we no longer have standards, we have turned many things upside down. Even when we lack the capacity to manufacture things, we specifically ask the manufacturers to produce less potent ones for fellow Nigerians. It is almost in this cynical context that I use the concept ‘king’s goat’ to refer to the sack of nine ministers by President Goodluck Jonathan on September 11.

The ministers are Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai (Education); Okon Ewa-Bassey (Science and Techology); Olugbenga Ashiru (Foreign Affairs); Hadiza Mailafia (Environment); Shamsudeen Usman, (National Planning); and Ama Pepple (Housing, Lands and Urban Development). The Minister of State for Defence, Olusola Obada, and her counterparts in the Agriculture Ministry, Alhaji Bukar Tijani and Power, Zainab Kuchi, were also affected.

Postscript, Unlimited!

By

Oyinkan Medubi 07057012862 (SMS only) puchuckles7@gmail.com

I

T is a true axiom that we learn most through experience. For example, by experience, I have since learnt not to initiate any conversation with a snake, scorpion, or bees. They have very little tolerance for English. Once I tried to reason with a scorpion and came away with a nasty sting resulting in screams that could be heard for miles.

Through experience, I have also learnt that my dog, or any dog, can only take this much taunting. Hurl sticks at them, they can take; but hurl abuses at them and out comes their weapon of single destruction: the nip. Nah, nah, I don’t want to regale you with the tales of the so many nips that have come out of those four-legged things. By far the most important lesson I have learnt – no it’s not quite the most but it nears it – so far through experience is that you never, just never, leave your favourite pot of stew on the stove and pick a call from your favourite friend. The two favourites never mix – a little like introducing your favourite friend to another favourite friend. You’re the common denominator and they’d both rather talk only to you. I’m sure you know I’m really talking about the stew.

Life, you find, is full of little lessons, if you would only learn

17

The king’s goats President Jonathan on Wednesday sacked nine ministers. Good news? Bad news? Mixed bag?

There is no questioning whether the president has the right to re-jig or change his cabinet whenever he so chooses. Indeed, just as business enterprises or other bodies, presidents also rejuvenate their cabinets when the ministers are not pulling their weight or some of the aides have soiled their hands, or their actions or utterances are no longer in tandem with those of the government they are serving. The idea is to inject fresh blood into the system and make the impact of government felt better. On this score therefore, one would welcome the president’s decision to give the nine ministers the boot.

Unfortunately, there is nothing to suggest that this was the main reason the ministers were sacked, notwithstanding the Presidency’s reasons as to why the nine had to go .

Nigerians should therefore not celebrate too soon because they were the least in the calculations of the ministers’ sack.

No doubt, some of the ministers deserve the boot; but the irony is that there are even some ministers that have been retained who ought to have been fired a long time ago. I am not sure many Nigerians are going to lose sleep because Prof Rufa’i, for instance, has been relieved of her appointment, considering the way and manner she handled the education sector, particularly the strike by the Academic

Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Again, one might argue that all she did was to articulate the government’s position on the ASUU demands; the lesson in it is that her successor as well as other ministers ought to know how to be their own in dealing with matters such as this. I do not believe whatever Prof Rufa’i did as minister, including her position on the ASUU strike, was her personal decision.

The import of what I am saying is that if she did not agree with the government’s position, she had a right to quit, citing irreconcilable differences, or even simply quitting without giving any reasons. But here, people don’t quit; they rather wait until they are sacked. Prof Rufa’i has been sacked now and may become the fall guy in the crisis. Meanwhile, she has, according to some report, indicated she would return to her job as Professor of Curriculum Studies at the Bayero University, Kano. Will she now join the strike by her (former) kith and kin, ASUU? I cannot wait to see how she would fare in her new position and whether she would get a heroine’s welcome from ASUU. Quite ironically again, as she is leaving, her minister-of-state, Nyesom Wike, the one that has been spearheading the crisis in Rivers State on behalf of the powers-that-be has been promoted. Wike is now to

“But some things are already crystal clear: One, ‘We, the people’ are clearly out of the calculations.

Second, the era of ‘super perm secs’ may be over but we are now in the era of ‘super ministers’ or ministers with nine lives, if you like, so super that whatever they do cannot be with blemish.

The king’s goats!”

oversee the education ministry. Could that be the reward for his ‘meritorious service’ in Rivers State, because it cannot be a reward for his stellar performance in the ministry? Even Labaran Maku, the information minister, is now to oversee the defence portfolio. President Jonathan apparently has been pleased with the way the two have carried out their respective assignments. Pity Nigerians who had hitherto thought that Wike has not delivered when they did not know the brief he got from his principal.

Now that his principal has promoted him, it should be clear to all that the man has done so well in the eye of he that sent him, which is the most important thing.

It is for the same reason that we should not wonder far as to why super ministers like Diezani AlisonMadueke (petroleum), Stella Oduah (aviation), and finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a woman many Nigerians know more as an apostle of the West rather than their minister of finance, are still waxing strong in the government despite public perceptions of them.

What this tells us is that Nigerians are least in the calculation concerning the ministers’ exit. The reasons are clear; yes, some may have to do with corruption, but I have a feeling many of those sacked got the boot because of the ongoing crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). President Jonathan is easily predictable. Without saying it, he acts as if vengeance is his and he would almost always revenge, never mind his seemingly harmless looks. Like former President Obasanjo, he appears poised to take his pound of flesh from those behind his travails.

Just on Thursday, Governor Rotimi Amaechi ‘heard’ from him again, when

he was stopped from passing through a particular route to the Government House in Port Harcourt. I am sure someone from the Presidency would soon issue a release to the effect that the president knew nothing about this!

But, wait a minute! Could there be something that the generals in the PDP are seeing that the president is not seeing? When army generals, including those who received bullets with their chests and those who received them on their buttocks begin to scamper in search of solutions to a particular problem, particularly one that they are very much involved in, couldn’t it be that there is something that they know that the rest of us do not know? As I have always argued, it is only those who know what wicked things people do with spittle that quickly rub their feet on theirs whenever they spit. Are our generals being guided by that great teacher: experience? That could be food for thought!

Without doubt, the question as to whether the ministers’ sack should not have been all-encompassing, given that the entire government itself appears colourless, is not misplaced. But, since the president has both the yam and the knife, he decides who to call to ‘come and chop’. Those who have not yet known those who may contest the presidential race in 2015 by now will forever remain in their blissful ignorance. What we may not know, for now, perhaps, are those who may not.

But some things are already crystal clear: One, ‘We, the people’ are clearly out of the calculations. Second, the era of ‘super perm secs’ may be over but we are now in the era of ‘super ministers’ or ministers with nine lives, if you like, so super that whatever they do cannot be with blemish. The king’s goats!

Demonstrate democracy now or quit trying

If only we did not have all these politicians standing in the way of our pursuit of democratic ideals. Now, what do we do? Just what do we do?

them. I have been told endless times by the maintenance officer in my house to always look out for things in the car before zooming off: do the tyres look normal?; what is the fuel gauge reading?; is the oil screaming at you ‘change me, change me’?, and another long list of things. Well, I think he has since learnt that the only item on that list I am able to cram into my over-filled head is really the one about the fuel gauge, and that too came from the experience of finding that it is possible for cars to stop in the middle of nowhere and refuse to go further. Before that experience, I honestly never suspected cars to be capable of treason.

Just the other day in May, we celebrated the national democracy day, and now, we are learning that the world is celebrating it too. Now, what am I to make of this – that democracy is that important to the world? Going by its ideals, I would say, yes. But going by its practice, I would say, naaaah. Just look at its ideals: a government chosen by the people themselves and expected to be accountable to the people; a government imbued with internal checks and balances; a government deliberately purposed for good things for the people. If democracy was such a good thing and half the world is going for it, how come then that the world is in such a sorry state?

How come we the people are always so short-changed? How come I have so much to complain about? How come all these how comes?

The reason is not so far-fetched:

the way it is practised. Just look around the world and tell me, which democracy is really working at full capacity? What in truth do people get when they go for democracy? For democracy, most people get governments of people who have no idea what to do with their mandate, like watching monkeys on trees.

Now, you know what those are, don’t you? Monkeys are that breed of animals that deftly move around the world, your legs, and the treasury with incredible nimbleness. They generally do not do any work, eat voraciously, are forever picking out lice and are attracted to shiny stuff.

Don’t they just remind you of a group of people we know so well in Nigeria?

Honestly, we just cannot write enough about Nigerian politicians’ interpretation of democracy. Going by their antics, I sometimes believe they have never even heard the word, let alone what it means. You can certainly say about them ‘they have got the wrong end of the stick, alright’. Now, let’s examine their work ethics. I have always wanted to trail a Nigerian politician on his/ her typical day just to find out what their work ethic looks like; just that dear reader, nothing else. Failing that, I am left to my imagination. I am therefore seriously tempted to believe that most politicians’ days are filled with anything but work. The men get busy on little things and the women among them get busy on littler things and well ... shopping.

Just look around you. How many areas of Nigerian life have been

impacted by this group of people?

We have asked this question before, yet no answer has been forthcoming.

Listen till I tell you, the voracious appetite of politicians is sure staggering. Funny thing, I am thinking they consume all in the name of democracy. In my town, currently, a certain party chieftain is said to be in the process of buying up an endless number of properties, and all within a spate of a few months of ascending a particular throne in the party. And the country is paying for everything. I honestly do not know what they want the rest of us to do: knock our heads against our puny brick fences while they keep acquiring? I believe one of the things this country needs is a law that limits this particularly sickening, indiscriminate property ownership.

Sadly, that is one thing I know this breed of politicians will not get round to. They are much too busy acquiring.

Well, for one thing, democracy gets politicians busy picking out lice, mostly from their own breed, (smile) just like monkeys. Have you seen the way these people have been going at each other in this country? If they are not busy inanely counting votes of no more than thirty-five upside down, then they are busy chasing each other across the pages of newspapers. If they are not busy hacking each other down with machetes, they get down on the hack job of literally picking out lice from the deep folds of their agbada and babanriga. And the serious business of governing? If you don’t know, that is the serious business of

governing – bringing down the opponent.

All of that rigmarole of playing politics is to one end really (and this is so hard for me to write): to acquire the shiny stuff that life has to offer.

This includes acquiring million dollar personal houses at home and abroad, shiny new cars for wives and girlfriends and friends of girlfriends (somehow, that never gets to me), shiny new islands in Dubai and environs where they think the long arm of the law and, God forbid, that of God Himself, cannot reach. All those shiny stuff allow them to bring up their children in the opulence of a workless environment where those children’s heads are filled with nothing but how to pilfer more from the world in greater style of ... guess, opulence! There, was that so hard?

We need to demonstrate that we understand democracy now or quit trying. Clearly, in the hands of this present breed of politicians, it is patently endangered. In itself, doubtless, it is one of the noblest pursuits of man. Democracy allows government to be unobtrusive and minimally involved in man’s daily life as it quietly directs national activities for altruistic goals such as building structures for the benefit of mankind. Democracy is worth pursuing because it allows man to reach that basic and minimum level of life required for the pursuit of happiness. If only ... if only ... (sigh!) ... if only we did not have all these politicians standing in the way of our pursuit of democratic happiness. Now, what do we do? Just what do we do?

18

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Jonathan in the shrine of power

HE intrigues of power fascinate me but the complex abstraction of power intrigues me more; yet it is the relationship between man and power which excites me the most. In most cases, when man finds himself in position of authority, he mistakes it for power, unknown to him that authority is of the temporal while power is ethereal. Power and authority are two different things.

When GOD created the earth and other creeping things, his instruction on authority was so clear: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion (authority) over........all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth”. GOD delegated authority, not power, to man.

Post-creation dramatics showed that man wanted power, not ‘delegated authority’. Exaggerating his status in the earth project and exploiting God’s invisibility, man started thinking of God as an absentee ruler whose power can be usurped. Man, who is only an indulgence of an awesome God, began to think of himself as the alpha and omega whose authority was absolute. On two occasions, God had to show his power and wrath for the rot of man. He destroyed Noah’s world and only saved Noah and his family. He destroyed Sodom. But when He saw the contradiction of His actions, God mellowed. Destroying the righteous with the wicked in order to attain a perfect world was sliding into tyranny. This is the contradiction: tyranny is not a symbol of power but an emblem of weakness and fear. On the strength of this, the angry God became a humane God that dignified His awesome power with incomparable humility and tolerance of man’s excesses. After revealing Himself as the only power, the only absolute power that can create and destroy, God withdrew again. Man took advantage of this. In the hands of man power became the weapon of misbehavior; the blindness of man to the reality of who he is.

When, therefore, President Goodluck Jonathan suddenly found himself in the shrine of power (Presidency /Aso Rock), he failed to draw boundaries between the ephemera of his present and the reality of his past; between diffidence and vanity; between greed and contentment. It is the greed of Goodluck for power that is responsible for the gridlock in our polity.

The present opposition to the President’s 2015 ambition is ominous, but he does not seem to accept the fact that it is.

When he was the favorite of grace and luck, it was easy for him to become Diepreye Alamieyeseigha’s deputy in Bayelsa State.

When again he was the anointed of grace and luck, he succeeded his boss who was the architect of his own fall as the Governor of Bayelsa State. When luck was still cuddling him, he was chosen as the nation’s vice president out of many other intelligent fellows in his party. When again luck overwhelmed him with its generosity, he became the president of Nigeria with national solidarity and even enjoyed the support of his political opponents after the sudden death of Umaru Yar Adua. Even in the 2011 elections, he was so favored by the heavenly hosts in such a miraculous way that left the opposition camp in disarray with many of them abandoning their candidates and voting for Goodluck’s PDP. It was as if they were acting under a spell. All through these periods, he was the toast of the divine realm. He himself had confessed on many occasions that he is a man of luck. However, luck, Jonathan’s vehicle to the shrine of power, may have decided to terminate the relationship between the two of them having realised that its client no longer possesses the spiritual maturity and wisdom to manage his present challenges. But this is the truth our President and his ‘priests of praise’ will not want to admit because it is too bitter to swallow. The president will not

By Dapo Thomas

want to accept the fact that his encounter with the luck that gave him the power has reached a terminal end because of abuse and misuse. Of what use is power, thrust upon a man of remote identity by providence, which is not used for the development of the society? How can a man who has been in the comfort zone of the shrine of power both at the lowest and highest levels for 14years gloss over the fact that his ambition is tearing his party apart and causing serious disaffection within the political sphere? As a journalist who had spent many years on the political beat, I know that the name Goodluck Jonathan was never among those who formed the PDP in 1998. But it is strange that today, most of the founders had been frustrated out of the party while those who are still there are being treated like strangers in a party they sacrificed their time and resources to build. All because Mr. Goodluck is now the president. Any further attempt for power by the president after his term in 2015 is no longer within the realm of luck but greed.

As much as one is not saying that President Jonathan is not entitled to a second term, my contention is that whether it was true or not that he had an agreement with some group of people not to go for second term or not, he should do what is honorable in this circumstance by forgetting about 2015 to avoid plunging the nation into another political stalemate. It is a sacrifice for peace expected of any statesman of Jonathan’s pedigree. The president should be grateful that people are not calling for his resignation for non-performance. Few obvious failures will suffice: The government has failed to resolve its disagreement with ASUU almost three months into the crisis. What further evidence of government failure do we need to show that our education system is on crutches? Our hospitals have become the estates of death where no sick person wants to visit. Corruption has naturalised itself in Nigeria having been treacherously aided by those in government. The nation is struggling to pay workers’ salaries because the economy is on the wheel chair on its way to the ‘World Bank hospital’ for further treatment after a fatal accident caused by our so-called economic drivers, nay ‘experts’. Roads, the only visible and popular mode of transportation, are

“

The present opposition to the President’s 2015 ambition is ominous, but he does not seem to accept the fact that it is. When he was the favorite of grace and luck, it was easy for him to become Diepreye Alamieyeseigha’s deputy in Bayelsa State. When again he was the anointed of grace and luck, he succeeded his boss who was the architect of his own fall as the Governor of Bayelsa State. When luck was still cuddling him, he was chosen as the nation’s vice president out of many other intelligent fellows in his party.

“

T

Comment & Analysis

queuing up for attention at the Villa gate waiting for FEC to approve their rehab.

Thanks to the Governor of Osun State Rauf Aregbesola, whose contribution, at the just concluded 19 th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, opened our eyes to the fact that agriculture yields more millions for government officials who smile to the bank with the harvest of their fertilizer fraud to the detriment of the real farmers who grow the crops. Our foreign policy has been reduced to mere routine activities with Nigeria achieving nothing of historic significance either at the regional level or at the global level.

The Nigerian paradox is the paradox of Jonathan’s government. The country is rich in resources but its people are poor in their purses. The Jonathan government is blessed with a galaxy of brains but his administration is like a paradise that is stripped of grace. The paucity of ideas and policies accustomed to this government is a glaring injustice to the collection of stars in its assembly.

The government seems not to have a clear direction of what to do about governance. Its only specialisation is engaging in conflict with ‘rebel’ governors and sealing-off the offices of the enemies of President Jonathan’s 2nd term re-election bid. This is what happens when a man has no clear vision of what to do with power. The president’s lack of focus was caused by his chronic fixation on power to the point that every opposition to his ambition receives unconscionable reprisal from the uncouth priests of his shrine whose duty it is to magnify the ego of their god. The shrine of power is a mystique where human leeches hibernate to worship the man in power for their own survival.

They are the cabal keeping the man with authority in an imaginary cage pretending to idolise and venerate him for his indispensability. But the truth is that it is a façade to flourish their political enterprise. The men and possibly women, who stay in Jonathan’s shrine of power, are the leeches of venality that will want him to continue in power till eternity, notwithstanding the position of the rest of us. I sympathise with men who live in the shrine of power because they live a life of fantasy, deception and falsity. One glaring weakness most of them have is that they are surrounded by ‘priests of praise’ who withhold the truth of their unpopularity from them and also prevent them from realising the magnitude of their atrocities. Only few of them that are wise and intelligent invent independent mechanisms for discovering the truth about their performance and behavior.

Only President Jonathan can tell which category he belongs.

Nature confers on us the discretion to be sincere in the assessment of ourselves only that we conveniently dismiss this procedural self-evaluation, not until we have bruised our ego. President Jonathan, therefore, should endeavor to view his ambition, sentiments, actions and motives from a distance, with the eyes of other people. It is only then he will realise that he has reached the peak of his luck with providence and the people. If he was still in the good books of luck there will be no need for his present desperation from his shrine of power. This is the difference between then and now.

It will be a great disservice to the nation and its 150million(less Jonathan, his wife and their orchestra) citizens to go through another 4 year- term with this government till 2019. With due respect, but no apology, it is like going through hell. It is a lifeless and clueless government headed by a fortunate leader whose vision is opaque. In short, this government is not “jazzy”, apology to my late boss Chris Okolie of defunct Newbreed Magazine in whose memory I wrote this piece.

•Thomas is a lecturer at Lagos State University (LASU)

Fifth anniversary of the global economic meltdown of 2008: counterintuitive anti-capitalist reflections (1) Continued from page 13

It is no accident, no misnomer that these “securitized” debts became known as “toxic assets” when the bubble bust. But true revelation came only when the managers and chief executive officers of the banks and financial services enterprises that caused the meltdown continued to pay themselves huge salaries and bonuses even after they had been rescued by bailouts from the governments of the rich countries of North America and Western Europe; even after hundreds of millions of people whose lifetime savings they had wiped out were reeling from the shock. As Gordon Gekko, the unscrupulous protagonist of Oliver Stone’s 1987 Hollywood film, Wall Street, declares at the climax of the film, “Greed is good”!

To or for whom is greed good? To or for whom are the toxic assets of securitized, over-leveraged debts good? The economic crash of 2008 provided an unambiguous answer to that question. Greed is “good” when it is either completely unregulated or only minimally regulated. But this unregulated or minimally regulated greed is good for only a tiny fraction of humanity in every nation, every part of the world; it is calamitous for the vast majority of the denizens of the planet, seen as the homo economicus of a greatly interdependent but vastly unequal world order. Unregulated, rampaging greed, this is the Achilles heel of contemporary global capitalism as revealed to us in the weeks and months following September 2008. If meaningful change for most of humankind is to come on the heels of the current economic downturn in the world, this is one of the catalysts that will cause such change.

Historically speaking, it is a great departure from the received wisdom of progressive politics and revolutionary anti-capitalist consciousness to assert that the specter that haunts contemporary, 21st century capitalism is neither socialism nor communism but a malaise, a rot within itself. The only remaining officially “communist” states in the world are the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Cuba and the People’s Republic of China. Not a singe one of them poses any real challenge or threat to capitalism. As a matter of fact, China and Cuba have both made significant compromises with capitalism; in the case of China, the compromises are very big and very farreaching. The DPRK is a caricature, a grotesque deformation of the communist states of the first half of the 20th century. Socialism remains on the horizon of historic possibilities but it is presently locked into seemingly inevitable or compulsory compromises with capitalism. We must think carefully through the complex, tangled webs of these negotiations between socialism and capitalism in their diverse expressions and incarnations, paying special attention to the concrete effects on actual human lives beyond the abstract, reified formulations that we give to either capitalism or socialism.

Five years after the crash of 2008, the struggle over who or what structures shall regulate the operations of capitalism and to what extent continues to dominate the political and economic affairs of almost every nation in the world. The market or the state?

If one or the other, to what degree? Remarkably, after an initial retreat, the apostles and warriors of an unregulated market have risen up again and are indeed on the offensive in many countries of the rich nations of the global north, especially in North America and Western Europe. In Nigeria, free and completely unregulated capitalism is enjoying its most successful ideological and political successes at the present time, especially since the institution of the Fourth Republic in 1999.

Is this because the market has proved superior to the state? Or because the state has generally been so lackluster, so comatose that the market has made the most of the opportunities open to it by default? What of the tremendous strength and resilience of the almost completely unregulated parallel market in which millions of Nigerians make their living? These and other issues will be our point of departure in next week’s concluding essay in the series.

Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

POLITICS

19

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

PDP Crisis: Sambo walks a tight rope As President Goodluck Jonathan’s epic battle with the northern political elite over 2015 presidential race gathers momentum, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, reports that Vice President Namadi Sambo, a northerner, is caught in a tricky political web. He examines how the architect is walking the tight rope amidst suspicions from the two opposing flanks.

A

T the Presidency, where Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, is the second most important personality, his every step today is carefully studied by political experts, ahead 2015 presidential elections. There, in Aso Rock, President Goodluck Jonathan’s inner political handlers are not totally convinced that Sambo does not have 2015 presidential ambition or at least that he may not be working discreetly to help realise the ambition of “his people.”

Ironically, amongst the core northern political elites, who have sworn that presidential power must go back to the North in 2015, Sambo is also viewed with care, given his alleged loyalty to Jonathan, notwithstanding Jonathan’s unhidden resolve to contest in the 2015 presidential election.

So, for Sambo, these are very trying days in his robust political career.

The Nation gathered that the vice-president is, however, aware of the cross fire and is walking the tight rope with extreme caution, although, according to an insider, “he is sometimes angry over insinuations by some close associates of the president.”

The source, who spoke in absolute confidence, said: “This suspicion did not start today. During the 2011 election, he (Sambo) was also accused of nursing similar ambition. But the truth is that the vice-president is not planning to contest against his boss. That is not possible. The man is loyal to the president and is simply doing his job. It is because of the genuineness of his intentions that he is sometimes very angry when some presidential aides and associates come up with some wild insinuations. I don’t want to name anybody, but those painting the vice president black before the president, for selfish interests, know themselves.

How can the vice- president contest against the president? Does it sound plausible to you, given the nature and personality of Sambo?” the source queried.

Such denials from Sambo’s camp notwithstanding, we gathered during the week that some political strategists of President Jonathan had since been assigned to watch Sambo’s political moves, especially his moves in the intricate Kaduna State politics. The assignment became more important after the tragic death of former Kaduna State governor, Patrick Yakowa, a Jonathan’s confidant and Sambo’s alleged roles in the selection of Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga as the deputy governor in December 2012.

Also amongst the top northern elites who are eager to take power in 2015, a source hinted that Sambo is not deeply trusted. “The leaders here see him more as Jonathan’s

•Sambo

ally, who would rather remain in the boat where his personal feathers are being nurtured. It is for this reason that some of his opponents in the north, even if they lose the presidential slot in 2015, will prefer a replacement of Sambo by a more conservative northerner that will understand the politics of the North better and represent its interest better.”

Sambo’s political pedigree Though former Kaduna State governor, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, reportedly masterminded Namadi Sambo’s integration into the mainstream Kaduna politics, Sambo’s sponsorship for high office in Nigeria could be traced to his close and long business association with former Mili-

tary President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, who, some alleged, was one of the powerful northern political elites on whose back the vice president first rode to political limelight.

So, though dismissed by experienced politicians as being more of a successful professional architect and businessman than a thorough-bred politician, his growth as a politician and as a public leader has been rather very smooth and rapid.

His first major public office could have been in 1988, when he was appointed Commissioner for Works, Transport and Housing in Kaduna. He, however, left public office in 1990 and went back to private practice as an architect, a field he reportedly excelled in.

However, in May 2007, Mohammed Namadi Sambo assumed office as the governor of Kaduna State.

While he was still serving as governor, he was suddenly picked

by President Goodluck Jonathan to serve as the country’s vice- president, with effect from May 18, 2010, when the National Assembly approved his nomination. This was made possible because of the death of former President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, a development that led to the emergence of former Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as President. So, on May 19, 2010, Namadi Sambo was formally sworn in as the vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

This smooth sail to federal government’s seat of power in Aso

Rock, Abuja notwithstanding, it seems Sambo’s political career got its major challenge soon after he became Kaduna State governor and fell out with the former governor and godfather, Makarfi. From this point, even after he emerged the country’s vice- president in a twist of fate, his political standing in his state has remained an issue that has been used severally by opponents to belittle his stature as a politician and possible president of Nigeria in the near future.

To worsen his popularity as a politician, some outspoken leaders from his state have not spared him in their open criticism of his tenure as the state governor.

One of such critics is the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who once described as a disaster, Sambo’s tenure as governor of Kaduna State.

Speaking as guest of the week on Liberty FM Radio, Kaduna, ElRufai , also from Kaduna State, had said: “We’ve not had leadership in Kaduna State since Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi left office as governor of Kaduna State. I know Makarfi performed well in terms of peace and infrastructure. Since he left, however, Namadi Sambo as a governor was a disaster. He wasted the resources of the state and the state acquired debts, which the late Governor Yakowa complained to me about before his death.”

Battle for the soul of Kaduna After Sambo left Kaduna to assume duties as vice- president in Abuja, it soon occurred to him and his close associates that he must secure a firm political base in his state in order to be relevant at the centre. But with the late Patrick Yakowa as the state governor, the battle for the political soul of Kaduna became, for Sambo, a major battle that must be won.

Yakowa, who came from PDPstrong Southern Kaduna axis, had grassroots following and was skillful enough to take advantage of the political edge at his disposal.

Also, Yakowa was not the only obstacle that faced Sambo at that time. He had to contend with Makarfi who had risen to become a formidable senator representing Kaduna North Senatorial District after they allegedly fell apart.

That was not all. There were also some other powerful political forces in the state allegedly led by Alhaji Suleiman Hunkuyi.

Faced with these formidable opponents, Vice President Sambo, for about two critical years when he desperately needed to stamp his authority, remained in a political wilderness in his state as candidates loyal to him repeatedly suffered scandalous defeats at various elections.

Aware of his position as the number two citizen in the country, Sambo would, however, not give up.

So, the battle for the soul of Kaduna dragged on for a very long time, giving impression that Sambo was vulnerable and may hardly be in charge of the relevant structures in the politically strategic state, and by exten•Continue on Page 20

20

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Politics PDP CRISIS

Though final reconciliatory talks with aggrieved PDP governors are scheduled for today, the Presidency, while not foreclosing a truce with the party’s new faction’s arrowheads, is considering other options, reports Assistant Editor, Remi Adelowo

Presidency’s plot to checkmate Kwankwaso, Aliyu

I

T was one move that caught almost every member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) napping.

For the ministers who were relieved of their jobs by President Goodluck Jonathan, the announcement of their sack by the president himself shortly after the weekly deliberations ended was as shocking as it was unexpected-at least on that fateful day.

The Nation gathered that the decision to fire the affected ministers was decided at a strategy meeting held on Tuesday night (a day before the FEC meeting).

Present at the meeting were the president, his trusted aide, Oronto Douglas the Chief of Staff to Jonathan, Mike Ogiadhome and two other persons whose identity could not be confirmed.

At the end of the almost three hour meeting, nine ministers, including Professor Ruqqayatu Rufai (Education) Olugbenga Ashiru (Ogun) Shamsudeen Usman (National Planning); Amma Pepple (Rivers) Hadiza Mailafa (Environment); Ita Ewa (Science and Technology) Olusola Obada (Defence) Zainab Kuchi (Power) and Tijani Bukar (Borno), were relived of their plum jobs.

A source privy to the meeting told The Nation that beyond the reason of alleged non-performance by the former ministers, their sack may also not be unconnected to the president’s firm resolve to adopt a counter-offensive against the arrowheads of ‘rebel’ governors who have set up another faction of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led

by Abubakar Kawu Baraje.

The source added that after a careful appraisal of the current crisis bedevilling the party, the meeting allegedly reached a consensus that the nine ministers cannot fit into the plot to serve as foot soldiers of the president in some states considered as ‘strategic’ by the president’s kitchen cabinet. These states include Kano, Jigawa, Niger and Kwara.

Na’Abba may checkmate • Continued from Page 19

sion, that though he is the current vice president, he may not really be a political heavyweight of reckoning in Nigeria’s power game.

The Kaduna twist The political equation in Kaduna, however, witnessed a dramatic change with the December 2012 sudden death of the then Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Yakowa, in a helicopter crash and the swearing-in of Namadi Sambo’s political son, Mukhtar

• Na’Abba

• Kwankwaso

Kwankwaso The sack of Dr. Shamsideen Usman, who hails from Kano as the Minister of National Planning was a big surprise to his former colleagues in the FEC. Just some days ago, the former minister, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), received commendation from the president over how he successfully formulated a strategic masterplan for the nation’s economy. Usman has also been credited with the initiative of the formulation of the performance benchmark set for each minister about one year ago.

And so, it was assumed that his job was safe. But sources say Usman had to go to realise the short term political objectives of the president, who is alleged to be interested in securing a second term in office come 2015.

With Usman out of the way, there are unconfirmed speculations that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba, is highly favoured to fill the Kano State slot.

“Usman did quite well, no doubt, but what the president needs now are politically grounded individuals who can project his interests at these challenging times,”said a source.

Some days ago, Na’Abba in company of some stakeholders in the Kano State chapter of the PDP had visited the party’s national headquarters in Abuja to lodge a protest against the incumbent state executive council, which tenure they reportedly argued, had since lapsed.

They further urged the national leadership of the party to constitute a new council to oversee the affairs

of the party in the North West state.

Sources say by this action, Na’Abba was allegedly acting a script of some powerful forces, which are said to be uncomfortable with the strangle-like hold of Governor Kwankwaso on Kano PDP. In the calculations of these forces, the former speaker fits the bill of a tough politician who can give Kwankwaso a run for his money in the unfolding battle for the soul of Kano PDP. Another factor that is working in Na’Abba’s favour is his no-lovelost relationship with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo while he served as the nation’s number four citizen. The former president is considered as Kwankwaso’s political mentor.

Besides considering appointing Na’Abba as minister, plans are also afoot to dissolve the Kano State council of PDP, which members are loyalists of Kwankwaso and set up an interim council that will work for the president’s interests.

Jigawa’s peculiar case But unlike in Kano where the Presidency has found willing members of the party to challenge the governor’s authority, the situation is a bit complicated in Jigawa State.

As at the time of filing this report, the Presidency is reportedly still searching for a popular politician who can carry out its bidding in the state. But the situtation, it was gathered, is not helped by the fact that practically the entire members of the PDP in the state, including elected state and federal officials are solidly in support of the state governor, Sule Lamido.

Apart from Rufai, who was removed as minister a few days ago, the other minister from the state is

•Aliyu

Senator Kabiru Taminu Turaki in charge of Special Duties portfolio.

He is also the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts.

Aside being preoccupied with his latter assignment, Taminu, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, in the thinking of the president’s strategists, lacks the stature to ruffle Lamido’s political feathers.

But the Presidency, according to sources, is reportedly hopeful that it will soon come up with a strategy to neutralise Lamido’s alleged larger-than-life image in Jigawa.

Why Abdullahi was retained and Abdulrahman Oba’s option One minister whose retention was not surprising is Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi. That the Minister of Sports and the Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC) has performed well above average is not in dispute.

Abdullahi was nominated as minister by the former governor of Kwara State and now a senator, Dr. Bukola Saraki, whose relationship with the Presidency has been far from cordial.

The Presidency’s grouse against Saraki is his role in the new PDP and his alleged backing for the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, despite several entreaties to him to dump the governor.

Also, Saraki’s protégé, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, is among the G7 governors opposed to the president.

And because of Saraki’s disposition to the Presidency, not a few people had assumed that Abdullahi may be given the boot by the, president. The Nation however gathered that Abdullahi’s deft handling of his relationship with

•Gana

Saraki and not his performance as minister may have saved him his job.

Sources claimed that the search on who will take on Saraki’s dominance of Kwara politics may have been narrowed down to Professor Abdulrahman Oba, the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, who currently chairs the Federal Character Commission (FCC), whose relationship with Saraki has been frosty in recent times.

Can Gana deliver Niger for Jonathan?

In recent times, former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana, has been a regular visitor of the president.

Gana, who was the chairman of the PDP mini convention, which held few weeks ago, has been a staunch ally of Jonathan in spite of his state governor, Babangida Aliyu’s ‘rebellious’ stance against the president.

There are unconfirmed speculations that Gana may be handed the brief to deliver the state’s support for the president as the 2015 elections approaches and to counter the gameplan of the governor’s camp.

But can Gana deliver Niger State, which boasts two former Nigerian leaders, General Ibrahim Babangia and General Abdulsalami Abubakar, whose body languages lately suggest that they may not be huge fans of the president currently.

But on a final analysis, it remans to be seen how the Presidency will hijack the party structures from these governors whose support are key for the president to realise his speculated second term agenda.

PDP Crisis: Sambo walks a tight rope Ramalan Yero, as the new state governor. At this point, most observers posited that the Sambo may have finally captured the power base of Kaduna State and that if he truly does that, given the position of Kaduna as the political headquarters of the North, his political relevance in Nigeria may have garnered a new spectrum.

This feeling was further strengthened when it was alleged that Sambo single handedly deter-

mined the choice of Yero’s deputy and that even President Jonathan, who was not in the picture, during the search for Kaduna State’s deputy governor, decided not to get involved once he learnt of Sambo’s deep interest and involvement, notwithstanding the understanding that what was at stake then was the intricate power balance in Kaduna State politics.

Sambo’s fate

As the scenerio unfolds further, there is fear that Sambo’s political future may become a victim of unconfirmed suspicions both from the presidency and his fellow northern political elites.

Dr. Linus Nkemjika, a political commentator, told The Nation during the week that “if this happens, Sambo should share in the blame.

I think he has remained too quiet.

In a dicey situation like this, a leader must make a choice. That is

what makes you a leader. You cannot eat your cake and have it. This is not a case of diplomacy or being careful. A choice is needed and except this is done publicly, we may not blame any of the sides if they watch Sambo’s political moves carefully. Sambo is a Nigerian citizen, well qualified to hold the office of president, so don’t blame anybody who suspects he is working towards achieving that ambition. “

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Politics

21

PDP CRISIS

PDP CRISIS Jonathan’s camp plots new 2015 battle plans Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, unveils new moves by the president’s associates to survive current intrigues

P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, unable to curtail the G-7 Governors’ challenge and the festering uprising within his ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through peace moves, may have consented to a move being mooted by his associates that will see him attempt to take a firmer grip of the party structure at all levels ahead of the 2015 general election.

The Nation gathered that the move to go all out and take charge, which is being championed by leading allies of the president across the six geo-political zones of the country, came about as a result of suspicion among the president’s men that the opposition within the ruling PDP may be using the ongoing reconciliation parleys to buy time while consolidating its hold on the party structure across the country.

Sources within the president’s camp said a group of eminent chieftains of the ruling party, loyal to Senator Pius Ayim Pius, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF) first mooted the idea to the president recently when it became obvious that the factionalisation of the party was intended to force Jonathan to dump his re-election bid.

According to insiders, at a meeting of the group which was held at the Abuja home of a frontline female politician from Lagos State, it was suggested that the president need to re-appraise his plan ahead of the 2015 presidential contest given the unexpected polarisation of his party by leaders of the new PDP. “The group is largely made up of politicians and leaders of thought, who along with Anyim, prevailed upon the National Assembly in 2009 to declare Jonathan the acting president. They have remained together ever since, relating closely with the SGF on matters of state and party.

It was at one of their periodic meetings to appraise the state of the nation and offer critical advice to the presidency that they arrived at the decision to urge Jonathan to give the reconciliation effort within his party a more critical look. Their opinion is that the

opposition may be using it to distract the president while they solidify their resistance to a second term for him in 2015.

The meeting rose with a decision to prevail on the president and his handlers to be more careful in making commitments during the various peace parleys being held to reconcile the warring PDP factions,” a source told The Nation.

It was, however, gathered that the President was not keen about the idea when he was first informed of it. According to sources, Jonathan was more interested in closing ranks with the Kawu Baraje-led faction of his party before considering any move towards 2015.

“Initially, he politely turned down the idea. He was optimistic that the factionalisation of his party would not last.

He expressed confidence in the ability of the elders to nip the crisis in the bud in a matter of days. He never expected the turn of events of the last weeks,” a source added.

But following explicit demands by the break-away faction that he should dump his 2015 ambition and resolve the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) crisis in favour of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, the president may have given a listening ear to those urging him to re-tool his plan ahead of 2015.

“Contrary to the plan of the opposition, the presidency is not going to be caught napping. We have realised the plan of the fifth columnists within PDP, parading themselves as the new PDP. Even President Jonathan is now convinced that the whole crisis in the party is about his second term ambition.

“For now, I can tell you that we are restrategising with a view to ensuring that we don’t lose any ground to the reconciliation effort currently ongoing within the ruling party. We are still very committed to achieving one peaceful united PDP but at the same time, we are not oblivious of the plot to distract us,” an aide of the president said in Lagos on Thursday.

The Nation learnt that the group recently

met again and considered the president’s readiness to move all out. Far reaching decisions were taken and new members were invited into the fold to enlarge the group and ensure that it spreads across the country as fast as possible.

Two former Speakers of the House of Representatives from the North and the Southwest were said to have joined the group at the last meeting among other people. Far reaching decisions were taken and a small committee was inaugurated to liaise between the group and the Presidency.

A source said: “Believe it or not, the group’s recommendations are now being seriously considered in the Presidency. One of such is the need to do away with allies of the rebel governors within the government.

Other people with doubtful loyalty are also to be discarded soon.

“The recent sack of some ministers may not be unconnected with this same 2015 battle plan. A good look at the list of affected ministers will tell you why they have to go.

“In their place, the president has been advised to appoint loyalists who are also political heavyweights in their own rights.

The idea is that these are the type of people who can help him combat the rampaging opposition across the states of the federation.

“Don’t be surprised to see names like Ghali Umar, Na’aba and Chibudom Nwuche in the next list of ministerial nominees. The president is now ready to confront those who want to stop his re-election bid strength for strength and wits for wits.

“Another recommendation of the committee is that Jonathan should support and encourage the moves by the PDP leadership to inaugurate a new executive committee for the party in the seven states being governed by the rebel governors.

“It would be recalled that the Presidency recently halted moves by the national leadership of the PDP to inaugurate a new executive committee for the party in Kano State.

“Kano State is one of the seven states whose governors belong to the factional PDP opposed to the leadership of Bamanga

Tukur. Governor Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State and his counterparts in Kwara, Sokoto, Jigawa, Niger, Rivers and Adamawa joined a former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and other chieftains of the ruling party to float the “new PDP” last August 31.”

Another source said; “Following the adoption of the group’s recommendation, caretaker committees may be appointed to run the affairs of the party in these states pending the conduct of fresh elections to elect new executive committees. The idea is that it is dangerous to leave party structures in the hands of governors opposed to the President.

“This may not be too difficult to do as the tenure of most of the committees expired or will soon expire as the case may be. But for the intervention of President Jonathan, this would have been done last week by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.”

Also, according to a very reliable source, the president has been told to personally reach out to key eminent northern leaders to sell his candidature and correct wrong impressions being created by the opposition about his administration and his 2015 reelection bid.

“A list of northerner and northern groups that the president will reach out to has been drawn upand work is in progress to facilitate these interactions as soon as possible. The names cut across all political, religious and socio-cultural divides. The bottom line is to ensure that the opposition doesn’t get to meet these people ahead of Jonathan.

Already, the President has met about six leading northern politicians to discuss the state of the nation and his 2015 ambition.

He met former President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and Alhaji Adamu Ciroma recently.

He also met a former Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Alhaji Maitama Sule, a respected former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Junaid Mohammed and Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, among others,” a source said.

22

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Politics

‘Democracy has been widely abused in Nigeria’

Prince Amen Oyakhire, former military administrator of Taraba and Oyo states, has refused to join partisan politics since he retired from the Nigeria Police as an Assistant Inspector-General.

But he told Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, in this interview, that he was not apolitical. He spoke on the state of the nation, roles he played in the arrest of the notorious armed robber, Lawrence Anini and his gang, among other issues. Excerpts.

U

NLIKE many of your colleagues who served as administrators, it appears partisan politics holds no allure for you. Why the apathy to partisan politics?

I don’t have apathy to politics.

Every human being is a politician. I am not at the moment involved in party politics.

Is it that the political parties have never approached you to join them?

Many approached me but I declined. I have decided for now to maintain political neutrality. I am prepared to continue to serve Nigeria when so requested. I am not against politicians. Many patriots will definitely make Nigeria a very good country. Patriots are accountable, disciplined, sincere, have strength of character and fear God in their dealings generally.

So what has happened to the patriots?

Patriots with the ability and capacity to serve are sidelined, ignored and methodically excluded from participation. The desire is not often to serve. Today, most things in Nigeria are quantified in terms of naira and kobo. Our political system is currently synonymous with money, fame, wealth and materialism. Consequently, many good people never reach top positions in the political setting.

Some were groomed for leadership but are currently occupying strategic positions. Charlatans, reprobates and peculators have suddenly become leaders without solid foundation and adequate preparation. Many, through patronage, have majorly penetrated the system and produced poor leadership.

So how do we get out of the woods?

It is easy. Security reasons preclude me from answering your question directly. It is inappropriate to openly disclose the details involved.

People in authority should seek knowledge widely always. Knowledge is not sold in Mr. Biggs (market) but acquired through learning and research. Knowledge is for public good. Well informed, brave, disciplined, patriotic and God fearing people will take Nigeria out of the woods. There are many capable Nigerians blessed with good qualities that can courageously put things •Oyakhire right.

But most people agree that the military administrators lacked accountability since they were only answerable to the military Head of State who appointed them?

It is not true. People who assume or have such opinions are not properly informed. The military system is accountable and takes responsibility for anything done rightly or wrongly.

The poor security situation of the country is something that should be of grave concern to you as a top security expert. How do you think the situation can be improved, most especially how can Nigeria handle the Boko Haram insurgency?

Government must be very serious in handling security matters and should fund security agencies adequately. Security is a costly commodity. It is the essence of nations. Insecurity renders mankind useless.

Security is a key responsibility of government but when it fails, its legitimacy diminishes, particularly in a democracy. Money spent on security is wisely

spent because without law and order, peace and security, there can be no sustainable development.

Security services must be well funded. Enhanced security will lead to stability, development and growth.

When I, as the Military Governor in Oyo State I bought 80 pickup vans for the police, gadgets were installed.

Communications within police formations became very easy. Policemen could easily communicate from Oke Ogun with those in Ogbomose, Iseyin and down to Ibadan. Petrol stations were designated in the various divisions for petrol collection on daily basis. Government paid the dealers for the petrol directly on monthly basis. DPOs had sufficient fuel for patrol duty daily.

Men on patrol were paid Ration Cash Allowance monthly by government. Pipelines were effectively protected. Are such things still being done nowadays?

Armed robbery and analogous crimes subsided. Robbers fled and left Oyo State unceremoniously. Consequently, Oyo State became peaceful, stable and progressive.

As a former military administrator, how do you rate

the performance of governors today?

Democratic governors have money far beyond fifty times what military governors had. The performance of many is abysmally poor and unimpressive. Misrule by many governors has greatly consigned a vastly majority of Nigerians to a parlous life of despondency, misery and poverty (penury). The tenure of some is an anathema being vastly unsuitable and grossly incompetent. Some constitute outposts of Nigeria’s political decay.

What can you say about the present administration in Edo State?

We had poor outing in the past. It was as if there was no governor here for a long time. His Excellency Governor Oshiomhole is actually performing well when compared with what happened here in the past.

What role did you play in the arrest of the notorious armed robber, Lawrence Anini and members of his gang?

I was a Principal Staff Officer at the Supreme Headquarters when five commissioners of police and myself, a Detective Assistant Commissioner, were drafted to Bendel State in 1986 on a rescue mission (operation). Actually, I was the Head of General Investigation Department at Force CID, Alagbon close, Ikoyi in Lagos but temporarily deployed to Supreme Headquarters, Dodan Barracks, Lagos. At the peak of the Anini crisis, His Excellency, General Babangida allowed me to proceed to Benin because the then Inspector-General of Police, Chief Etim Inyang, had made a request for me to join others in the national assignment. He knew the officers who would do the job expeditiously and satisfactorily. In Bendel State, I was the Assistant Commissioner incharge of the State CID. My office was the memory and the clearing house of the Command. I was the co-ordinator of the entire operations. We did the job carefully and by the grace of God, intelligence, loyalty and patriotism, we arrested all the violent criminals. The leader of the vicious group was a young man called Lawrence Anini, aged – 24 years and a driver of average intelligence. Others which include Monday Osunbur, the armourer of the team, Ihebelue, Godwin Osemwenkhian and a police driver, Iyamu, were active in the syndicate. One striking thing about Osunbor was his dexterity for guns. He had no military or police training and was never regimented. He did not even complete his Benin Technical College course but could dismantle an SMG or a rifle and recoupe it. I can still recall these details very vividly after 27 years because I was the Principal Investigator of the case.

Besides, I am a trained forensic detective of the New Scotland Yard fame. We were exposed to the best training within and outside Nigeria. For example, we trained in Bramishill, Wakefield and Hendon in the UK, New Scotland Yard of the Metropolitan Police in London and elsewhere in the world.

Nine policemen and 18 civilians were murdered

by Anini’s armed gang who successfully robbed 12 banks before the rescue team of six senior police officers, led by DIG Parry Osayande, arrived in Bendel State.

The syndicate confidently robbed banks in day light and threw money at women in crowded markets as a show of bravery to earn sympathy and popularity. Our mission was to carefully, professionally and methodically apprehend and remove the outlaws from criminal circulation. We did exactly that without killing them. We arrested them because we knew that if killed in the process and their dead bodies put on the TV, many people including His Royal Majesty, the Oba of Benin, might not be easily convinced that such dead bodies were those of Anini and his cohorts. When arrested, they didn’t hesitate to disclose their escapades during interrogation. They were allowed to speak and indeed they spoke to Nigerians. We put them in the Military Hospital, Benin and we invited journalists, who interviewed them from time to time for public consumption. The interviews were telecast in TV and radio stations newspapers also printed and carried the news of the gang’s arrest frequently. The success of the operation was overwhelmingly impressive. It was after then that people said publicly, “So Anini is a weak human being after all”.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

ripples

Between Suntai and Taraba lawmakers

Bankole’s surprise presence at PDP convention

F

T

HE last has not been heard of the power crisis in Taraba State. At the weekend, the senator representing Taraba south senatorial district at the National Assembly, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha confirmed the deepening crisis when he condemned the deliberate refusal of the members of the Taraba State House of Assembly to honor the earlier transmitted letter to the House by Governor Danbaba Suntai.

The question on the lips of most observers today is whether it is the House of Assembly members that acted outside their powers in refusing to accept the said letter sent to them by Governor Suntai, or if the governor needs to understand the realities of today?

•Bankole

OR about two years now, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, has not been visible at events organised by his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), both at the state and federal levels. This is deliberate, sources have said. The former speaker is alleged not to be in the good books of some powerful forces who are still peeved over his alleged role to frustrate then Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, from being confirmed as acting president in 2010.

However, Bankole’s presence at the last PDP mini convention was quite a surprise, as it was once rumoured that he may have dumped the party for good.

•Akala

•Ladoja

Cracks in Ladoja’s accord with Akala

T

HE alliance between two former governors of Oyo State, Rashidi Ladoja and Adebayo Alao-Akala, may have broken down, it was learnt. The alliance was consummated a few months ago to frustrate the alleged second term ambition of the incumbent governor, Abiola Ajimobi. The major reason for the collapse of the accord may not be unconnected with the breach of certain agreements between the two parties, with Akala’s camp allegedly pointing fingers at Ladoja for the current situation.

•Suntai

Jonathan’s deal with Obi

I

•Jonathan

S it true that President Goodluck Jonathan may have entered into a deal with the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, to support the governorship ambition of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (Obi’s party), Willy Obiano? This is the question on the lips of many PDP members in Anambra State, particularly supporters of Senator Andy Uba. These PDP members are alleging that the president’s alleged decision to support Obiano, is the best way to pay back Obi, whose loyalty to him (Jonathan) has been total.

•Obi

Politics

23

Political Politics turf

with Bolade Omonijo boladeomonijo@yahoo.com

Nine ministers sacked, what next?

T

HERE was nothing strange in the action taken by President Goodluck Jonathan last Wednesday. He acted within his powers as the Chief Executive. He is expected to set targets and has a duty to constantly review same. Whoever he feels is surplus to requirement has to go. The reshuffle that saw nine ministers sacked was nothing new.

Indeed, before he wielded the big stick, many Nigerians had called for such a move. We had complained aloud that the cabinet lacked sparkle; that many of the helmsmen (and women) were too lethargic and it appeared they lacked commitment to the country. So, a response to the yearnings of the people ought to have been well received.

But, was it? If not, why wasn’t it? The political environment had suggested that the President did not act in consonance with the demands of the people. Actually, leaving Diezani Allison-Madueke in office was enough proof that Jonathan has no regard for the country and its people. The performance of the woman had shown her as undeserving of handling the trust of the critical Petroleum industry. She has merely been fumbling and stumbling along since she was planted in the ministry. She only enjoys the confidence of those who have held down the Nigerian economy.

Following the massive, popular protests against the hike in the prices of petroleum products last year, the minister was quick to set up panels to review practices. She made sure she appointed men in whom the people repose some trust. But, since then, nothing has changed. The panels were meant to buy time and then continue doing business as usual.

Frankly, I am not a fan of any of the sacked ministers.

Why would I hold the brief of Madam Ruqqayatu Rufai?

She was touted as the best appointment ever made for the education ministry at entry into the government. She came highly recommended by her education and experience. She had worked as a Professor of Education at Bayero University, Kano, and was the Jigawa State Commissioner for Education under Governor Sule Lamido. But, no one at her exit could point at any concrete policy input from the minister. Even at the level of mere implementation, she had floundered. She just made up the number in the executive council and was an addition to the number of ministers who had presided at the ministry. So, really, we should be rejoicing at her exit.

But, was she removed for incompetence? The facts suggest otherwise. A President genuinely concerned about the state of affairs would have shown that he intends walking in a different direction. What do we have? The man who wakes up daily dreaming and plotting what to do to hurt Governor Amaechi is now placed in charge.

Nyesom Wike who has been more of the Minister coordinating assault on Amaechi now oversees affairs of the ministry. Before the reshuffle, Wike was the second-incommand at the ministry. Under his watch, the Universal Basic Education scheme has virtually collapsed. It could be argued that Wike is merely standing in until another substantive minister is appointed. However, his utterances suggest otherwise. He has started belching orders and indicating that he was sent on a mission that he intends to accomplish.

How else could one explain the sack of Dr. Shamsideen Usman? Again, I do not think highly of his service to the country. He has been permanently in government. But, the sack negates a recent commitment of the President to keep him for as long as he is in the saddle. The President had presented Usman as one of the shining stars of his administration. He rated him the best minister to have taken charge at the National Planning ministry. Yet, he is now out.

Was Ama Pepple sacked because she opted to play the role of a mediator between the President and the Rivers State governor? Did the matronly Obada lose her position in Defence because of her loyalty to Oyinlola? And, was Maku put in charge because he has what it takes to handle the sensitive sector? In any case, how could the symbol of incompetence frown at a mere demonstration of ineptitude?

We may not have the full story yet. But, what is clear to me is that the ship of state may not remain stable on the high sea until 2015. Unfortunately, President Jonathan has opted too early in the day to shun governance and shuffle his feet in the ring. It is a bad omen. It suggests that things could further degenerate in the next few months. All the energy that should be concentrated on resolving the power crisis, build consensus to confront the Boko Haram monster and wage war against infrastructure decay is now being funneled into smoking out imaginary enemies. Opponents of the President’s dream and puerile schemes are now being treated as enemies of the state.

All men of goodwill should rise now and check the slip. The reshuffle was merely to advance the selfish interest of Jonathan. It is not about Nigeria and her people. God save our country.

24

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Politics PDP CRISIS

Power game across the states

In Kano, it’s ‘New PDP’

Kolade Adeyemi in Kano x- rays the decadeold power battle in the state chapter of Peoples Democratic Party and reports that as at today, the Baraje-led New PDP has the upper hand in the state

W

HEN Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso served out his first term in 2003 and was unable to secure a second term, many thought he would become a political liability, but the reverse has became the case. It did not take him time to get over what his associates continued to describe as plotted betrayal by some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains who they alleged, joined forces with the opposition and ousted Kwankwaso out of power. Determined to remain relevant, Kwankwaso pulled resources, penetrated the grassroots and oiled a political structure that played a major role in his re-emergence as PDP governorship candidate in 2011 and eventually the Governor of Kano state, for the second time.

It was not an easy battle for him as some PDP elders, led by Ambassador Aminu Wali, stood against his ambition.

Using the goodwill he generated as Defence Minister, coupled with his mutual relationship with some PDP founding fathers in Abuja, including ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Kwankwaso survived all plots orchestrated to stop his second-coming. The genesis of PDP crisis in Kano can be traced to the political rivalry that existed between Kwankwaso and the late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, first civilian governor of Kano state.

Rimi was the leader of the Social Progressive Party, (SPP), one of the three major political blocs that controlled power in the party’s state leadership.

Wali, a former Nigeria’s Permanent Representatives to the United Nations, (UN) and now Ambassador of Nigeria in China, led the All Nigerian Congress (ANC), while Kwankwaso belonged to the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), another political group within the (PDP), led by a former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Alhaji Musa Gwadabe, who is now a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

After Rimi’s death, his lieutenants came up with a new political movement

known as the Garkuwa, while Kwankwaso floated the Kwankwasiyya ideology. These two groups remained the major factions in Kano PDP until the emergence of PDP Jam’iyya led by Ambassador Aminu Wali. The Garkuwa seemed to have gone moribund with the exit of its leader, Alhaji Usman Alhaji who is now a governorship aspirant in the APC. The Kwankwasiyya group, however, is in absolute control of the party machinery in the state.

Another identified political enemy of Governor Kwankwaso is the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, who the Kwankwasiyya group believes the presidency is using to oppress them.

Just recently, some high-profile members of the PDP under the auspices of PDP Jam’iyya converged in Kano and announced their opposition to Kwankwaso and the Kwankwasiyya ideology. The breakaway faction, led by Nigeria’s Ambassador Wali, has other party bigwigs like Alhaji Aminu Babba Dan Bappa, Colonel Habibu Shuaibu, Akilu Sani Indabawa, and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Salisu Buhari, in its fold. They accused Kwankwaso of suppressing PDP’s founding principles through the introduction of his ‘Kwankwassiya ideology’ which they condemned as ‘illegitimate and unconstitutional.”

At the meeting, a committee tagged ‘PDP State Working Committee’, chaired

by Senator Aminu Inuwa, was set up to restore the party to its constitutional roots and bring back members who quit the party because of their alleged disagreement with the ‘Kwankwassiya ideology.’

“We want to inform the chairman of our intention to re-launch the PDP in Kano State, following the bastardization of its principles and ideals by the Governor of Kano State and inexplicable and the indefensible registration and promotion of a new anti-PDP political movement called ‘Kwankwassiya’.

“Since the success of the PDP at the

•Kwankwaso

polls and the subsequent swearing-in of Kwankwaso as governor, he has jettisoned both the symbols and ideals of the PDP and has been propagating a disrespectful and disreputable ‘idea’ of ‘Kwankwassiya’ in a manner that has negated the visibility of our party and confused the identity of its membership”, a memorandum distributed at the meeting read.

The new group was particularly infuriated by the use of red caps instead of the party flag by members, saying the practice represented ‘defiance and disrespect’. They also questioned reasons why projects executed with public funds would be branded with the ‘Kwankwassiya’ insignia, fearing that the act could “squander the goodwill the PDP once enjoyed in the state”. “The governor and his group have even gone to the extent of registering ‘Kwankwassiya’ with the Corporate Affairs Commission, giving an indication of a sinister political motive,” the group claimed.

As it stands, the PDP Jam’iyya represents and protects the interest of what

has come to be tagged the Old PDP, seriously aligned with the Bamanga Tukurled PDP leadership, and as well, projecting the 2015 ambition of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

However, on Thursday, September 5, Kwankwaso gathered his loyalists and the Kwankwasiyya group from the 44 Local Government Areas of the state and briefed them on the travails, grievances and principles of the G7, a group of PDP governors who staged a walk-out during the last PDP Special Convention in Abuja and gave birth to the New PDP. According to Kwankwaso, while briefing his followers at the stakeholder/elders meeting in Africa House, Government House, the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP lacked the tenets of justice and fairness. He further alleged that the party leadership was dealing with microscopic individuals to the detriment of the majority members of the party. Kwankwaso said that the old PDP leadership has subjected other party faithful to various forms of intimidation, “and this is a ploy to destroy the party.”

Ondo PDP pledges support for Tukur Damisi Ojo in Akure, Ondo State, unveils the power game in the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party.

•Oke

E

VEN before the split at the national level of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Ondo state chapter had been embroiled in crisis before the last year’s governorship election declared in favour of Dr Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party (LP).

The rift emanated from its factional group led by Professor Olu Agbi that dragged the State Executive Committee of the party, led by former local government chairman, Hon .Ebenezer Alabi, to court.

Agbi’s group reportedly worked for the victory of Mimiko as against its party’s candidate,Chief Olusola Oke.This development affected the fortunes of PDP in securing victory at the poll because of the visible crack within the party.

However, at the end of the day, Justice C.T Ajama dismissed the suit filed by Agbi’s faction and upheld the election of Alabi’s led State Party Executive Committee [SEC].

The SEC said efforts of those it called ‘’disgruntled ‘’ members who had engaged in surreptitious collaboration with Dr Mimiko to cripple the activities of PDP had been nailed permanently with the court’s judgement in favour of the State Executive Committee.

The suit was dismissed on the ground of incompetence,while the writ of summon, according to the presiding Judge, was grossly defective because the names of the

parties to the suit were not signed.

With this development, Ondo PDP officials said the state chapter is still officially united under the national leadership led by the embattled Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Its state publicity secretary, Wale Ozogoro, though described the present imbroglio that has engulfed the party immediately after the National Mini Convention as unfortunate, stressed that it calls for sober reflection.

But he quickly pointed out that the party has enough ability and zeal to combat any crisis that may come to fore as a result of this convention, noting that PDP is a big family where such is unavoidable.

His words ‘’We have witnessed serious crisis than what is presently rearing its ugly head and shall soon go the way of others. The internal mechanism of the party is up and running and we will tackle all the differences and nip all in

the bud.

According to him, Ondo PDP as a chapter, remains committed to the aspiration and belief of the founding fathers of its great party and the leadership as well as the transformation agenda of President, Dr. Goodluck Ebelle Jonathan.

This official position suggests that the Ondo state chapter of PDP is solidly behind the leadership of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and its national executives.

The party commended the efforts of its national leaders in trying to resolve this seeming differences.

It however appealed to all aggrieved parties to see reasons with the leaders that are making frantic efforts at making peace return to the fold, saying ‘’PDP in Ondo state remains a united entity and indivisible front, making unequalled stride in developing the nation.

He argued that this is the right time to bring changes and reform the party so that it can serve the interest of the masses. He said the G7, which is determined to bring change and reform after realising the weaknesses and lopsidedness in the party in their efforts to bring party members together in the country. According to him, the G7 has concluded plans to make PDP a better party, pointing out that the birth of the new PDP is a good omen to millions of party members, particularly, those at the grassroots level.

He accused the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP of disregarding the Constitution and manifesto of the PDP, “having realised the weaknesses of the party, we decided to rescue it and make it a better party.” Kwankwaso listed the grouse of the G7 to include crises in the Rivers and Adamawa PDP, election of the PDP Governors Forum where 19 governors elected Governor Rotimi Amaechi, “we did all we could to make them know the truth, but it didn’t work.”

According to him, even in Kano, since 2010, “we have been drawing the attention of PDP national headquarters to Kano, especially, in the area of appointments, but to no avail, “adding that party politics is about interest and upholding the virtues of internal democracy. “Therefore, we are calling on our party at the national headquarters to do the right thing, we cannot fold our arms to witness the drifting of leadership in our great party,” adding that it was because of the undemocratic antics of the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP that made the G7 to converge at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre and elect, “the authentic party executives led by Kawu Baraje.”

Kwankwaso, who passed a vote of no-confidence on the Tukur-led PDP said the new PDP as it is structured need somebody that is tested and trusted, while appealing to other PDP governors to join the G7 in their bids to reform and reposition the party. “We want to ensure that there is justice and equity in the party. This is the right time to bring necessary changes and reforms to ensure the success of the party. You have to come out and defend justice and fair-play. Kano has been in the forefront of political revolution in the country. Go back to your constituencies and sensitize the people on what is happening,” he stated.

Also speaking at the event, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Gambo Sallau, commended Kwankwaso for carrying stakeholders and party elders along in all that has been happening in PDP at the national level and promised that the PDP caucus in Kano State House of Assembly remain loyal to the cause of the new PDP. Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, who spoke on behalf of PDP members in the National Assembly said all PDP House members from Kano state and two PDP Senators are solidly behind the vision and mission of the new PDP. Doguwa noted that Kano has been denied of political followership at the PDP national leadership for a long time, pointing out that nominations for appointments which should have been coming from the governor of the state and party chairman are being given through the back-door.

Also speaking, Commissioner for Agriculture, Baraka Sani, who spoke on behalf of women in the party, regretted the crisis rocking PDP, just as she lamented the travails and trials of the Kwankwasiyya group in the hands of what she described as a ‘cabal’ determined to bring down the ‘umbrella.’

As it stands, investigations by our Correspondent reveals that even if the crisis at the PDP national leadership ends, the fight for supremacy between the Kwankwasiyya and the PDP Jam’iyya may continue to linger going by the defiance exhibited by the two camps whose rivalry dates close to over a decade.

•Continue on Page 25

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Politics

25

PDP CRISIS

In Kaduna, it’s a waiting game

I •Yero

W

HEN Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu commandeered Niger State delegates out of the last Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national convention in Abuja, all but one delegate, Hon. Hussiaini Mai’basira, left the Eagle Square with the self-styled Chief Servant. With the mass pull out of Niger state contingent, political watchers at the convention may have concluded that the state is sold out wholesale to the Kawu Baraje-led fashion.

Post convention development and unfolding political scenario in the state showed that the mass walk-out was not a true reflection that members of the party in the state are for the Atiku Abubakar group where the state governor is a prominent figure.

Investigations into the party in the state revealed that many delegates, especially some key officers of the party in the state, were not comfortable with the arrangement. It was gathered that some stakeholders in the state, who were at a loss at the sudden walk out and defection, mounted pressure on the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Abdulrahaman Enagi, for explanation on what informed the sudden switch from the mainstream PDP to the “rebel” camp.

To them the decision to walk out of the convention and teaming up with Baraje faction was solely that of the governor without consultation with party

C

ROSS River State at the moment appears to be sitting on the fence as far as the factionalisation within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is concerned. This is exhibited in the reluctance of frontline party leaders in the state to comment on the issue, as they appear to be observing which side the pendulum swings to.

Senate Leader Victor NdomaEgba’s comment on which faction he belonged to aptly exemplified this wariness.

Hear him: “The PDP remains one party. We don’t have different logos or colours or motto. So, we are still one.”

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

T is a waiting game in Kaduna as the problem within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party PDP deepens.

Political actors in the state are watching the emerging scenerio with keen interest and have refused to be indentified with any of the factions. But one thing that is glaring is the fact that Kaduna PDP is divided into the Sambo and Makarfi camps.

Even though both of them have been at each other’s neck for a long time, over control of the party, Kaduna state governor, Mukthar Ramalan Yero, recently told members of the party not to abandon the party for the unknown. He said at a birthday dinner for Senator Makarfi that even though there is problem in the house, it will not be ideal for them to abandon the house they helped to build for another whose foundation they knew nothing about.

His belief is that it is better to remain and help rebuild the collapsing house. Responding to that request, Senator Makarfi told the governor that it is always better to leave a collapsing house so that it does not consume you.

One thing that is clear in Kaduna State is the fact that Kaduna PDP is not united at the moment. While the Makarfi group are still mobilising, it is believed that their grouse is against the vice president and his group,

Niger, another divided house Jide Orintunsin Minna

leaders or the delegates.

This development led to the convocation of stakeholders meeting which had in attendance some national and state assembly members, commissioners and members of the State Working Committee in Minna the other Tuesday where the governor gave reasons why he unilaterally led the walk-out of the state delegates without adequate consultations.

Addressing the meeting of mostly delegates and other key members, the party chairman diplomatically set the tone of party members’ displeasure to the walk-out and even the pitching of tent with the Baraje group. Speaking, Enagi said the state delegates pulled out of the national convention on the instruction of the governor. “As loyal members, when our leader (governor) asked us to move out, we complied because we believed he must have good reason for that action; we are here today for him to tell us why he took that decision. For us in Niger State, we are still in PDP.” This pronouncement showed a serious crack as it became evidently clear that the leadership of the party and in-

•Aliyu

deed delegates were not consulted before the walk out at the convention.

Trust the outspoken Governor Aliyu who, while addressing members at the meeting, insisted that the main PDP was trying to intimidate and scheme them out of the goings on in the party. He was, however, quick to tell his audience that their decision to walk out of the convention was not actually to pull out of the party as he as-

sured them that negotiations were on to resolve the impasse.

Aliyu said, “negotiations was lacking in the party. We should rise against intimidating people, we are still in PDP. What happened is part of politics and negotiations is on.”

He praised the delegates of the state for remaining steadfast with the leadership, assuring that as events unfold, the stakeholders will be briefed accordingly.

Dousing tension, Aliyu told the meeting that his group met with President Goodluck Jonathan and that elders have intervened, assuring them that the party will call them for what line to take in future.

Despite the mixed feelings by those present at the meeting, the governor was able to secure a vote of confidence and endorsement for his action from the state working committee, his commissioners and some members of the national and state assemblies.

However, it was reliably gathered that some notable members, who distanced themselves from Tuesday stakeholders meeting, have pitched their tent with Bamanga Tukur and those elected last weekend as the legitimate leaders of the party. This group have spread across the three geo-political zones of

T

HE Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) in Plateau State has been in two major factions since 2010. They have existed in what were termed PDP 1 and PDP 2. These factions existed prior to the August 30th mini national convention of the ruling party.

the state.

Our findings showed that prominent supporters of the Tukur-led PDP in the state include Board of Trustees (BOT) member and the state former governor, Engineer Abdulkadir Kure and all his supporters in the 25 local, government areas of the state.

A close associate of the former governor, Alhaji Hamisu Ndakostu, said, “Engineer A. A Kure and his supporters in the 25 local government areas of Niger State recognise Bamanga Tukur and all the officers elected last Saturday in Abuja. These are the only leaders recognised by the party’s constitution and even by INEC.” Others are the newly elected National Youth Leader of the party, Hon. Hussiaini Mai’basira, the chairman of the just concluded convention, Professor Jerry Gana, Minister of State for Power, Hajiya Zaynab Kuchi, the Executive Secretary Export Promotion Council, Engineer Mustapha Bello, Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta, former deputy governor of the state, Dr. Shem Zagbayi Nuhu and the strongman of Minna, Hon. Nma Kolo.

Our findings also showed that some members of the state working committee of the party, national and state assemblies members as well as some political appointees for fear of victimisation cannot publicly declare for the Tukur- led PDP.

Sitting on the fence in Cross River?

From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

According to him, what is currently going on with the party is “mild irritation,” which would soon be resolved.

His words, “I don’t remember a time there has not been a problem in PDP. The party had survived bigger crisis than the one rocking it now. It is a simple family irritation and it would be resolved soon. If there is no crisis, it means the party is either dead

or run by a single individual. Crisis is what assures the individual that it is alive. The bigger the party, the bigger the crisis. It is a normal thing. In due time, it would be resolved.”

Given that any dissenting voice within the party in the state is stifled or is simply afraid to own up, every member of the party only seem, to agree on the same thing.

At the moment, the body language suggests an alignment with the Tukur-led faction which

appears to be on the same side with the presidency. But observers believe the state harbours a lot of dissent with the Federal Government, especially given the way it has treated issues concerning it like the loss of Bakassi to Cameroon and the 76 oil wells to Akwa Ibom State, among others.

Hence, the leadership of the party in the state are just observing and would rather go with whichever favours it most at the end of the day.

Tukur enjoys Plateau’s support

•Jang

whom they believe have not given them the required credit.

A strong member of the Makarfi group in thr PDP told The Nation that for now, they remain in the PDP, while watching events unfold. “We are in PDP and we remain members of PDP. I don’t know what you are talking about or what you call New PDP. But we are watching events and as time goes on, you will know were we belong.”

Another member of the party, who worked in the Jonathan campaign organisation in 2011, also spoke in the same vein.

From YUSUFU Aminu Idegu, Jos, Incidentally, both factions of the party owed their loyalty to the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur-led PDP. For instance, incumbent Gov. Jonah Jang and his followers, including all members of his cabinet, belong to PDP 1 and Gov Jang remained on the side of Bamanga Tukur and his name stand prominent among elders standing on the side of Tukur in all the reconciliatory meetings going on in Abuja to reconcile the factions.

The other faction of PDP in Plateau State, known as PDP2, led by a Second Republic governor of the state, Ambassador Fidelis Tapgun, has the first civilian governor of the state and first national chairman of the party, Chief Solomon Lar, former deputy senate president,

Senator Nasiru Ibrahim Mantu, Dame Pauline Talen and many other top politicians in the state.

The PDP 2 faction are also standing behind Tukur considering the fact that their faction is recognised by Tukur even when the Plateau PDP allegedly excluded them from the scheme of things. Indication towards that emerged during the preparation for last month’s national convention of the party. Names of those in PDP on the plateau appeared in the convention planning committee and these are names considered to be non-PDP members in the state.

So, when names of Ambas.

Fidelis Tapgun, senator Timothy Adudu and Alhaji Ado Datti appeared among members of the electoral sub-committee, the Jang -led faction cried out and petitioned the

national chairman of the party to drop those names on the ground that they are not recognised in the state as PDP members. In fact, they petitioners alleged that Tapgun is a member of Labor Party, Timothy Adudu belongs to ANPP and Alhaji Datti is a member of the defunct ACN which has dissolved into APC. However, the petition by the Gov Jang-led PDP1 could not stop these members of PDP2 from participating in the last month’s convention of PDP as the trio of Tapgun, Adudu and Datti served in the planning committee for the convention. The national chairman of the party, Tukur hoped to reconcile both factions after the national convention. But unfortunately, the ruling party broke into two factions from the national con-

•Imoke

vention. One of the factions is led

by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur while the other is led by Baraje.

That notwithstanding, both Plateau PDP factions are loyal to Bamanga Tukur faction of the party based on the forgoing. While Gov Jang stands prominently behind Tukur in the ongoing reconciliation, Tapgun and his group owe their sympathy also to Tukur.

Tapgun said, the battle Tukur is fighting is an effort to restore the last glory of the ruling party, the party needs to be returned to its original principles of people’s party. Governors have pocketed the party and made state party chairmen their staff. The reverse should be the case, party chairmen should be made superior, the party should be owned by the people, not governors and internal democracy must be returned to the party. This is the original ideal Tukur is fighting to restore and he has the full backing of President Jonathan”

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Politics

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Awo’s 1963 imprisonment: Lessons for PDP, Jonathan

Assistant Editor, ‘Dare Odufowokan, covered the 50th remembrance lecture of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s imprisonment and reports

•Awolowo

A

S family and friends of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, remembered the incarceration of the former Western Region Premier, exactly 50 years ago last Wednesday, some of his disciples gathered in Lagos to revisit the events that led to the much criticised sentencing of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) founder and presidential aspirant.

Five decades after his incarceration on alleged trumped up charges of treasonable felony, his disciples and close watchers of events in the country, still reflect on the incident as a watershed in the history of Nigeria. They believe that Awolowo’s imprisonment marked the beginning of forceful repression of the opposition by governments in the country.

“Unfortunately, today, exactly fifty years after that inglorious mistake on our part as a country, our leaders are yet to learn from it. Today, we still find a situation where a President is using the machineries of state to clamp down on perceived political enemies.

We are currently in a situation where the security of an incumbent governor is withdrawn because he has political differences with the President. A serving senator is being hounded by security agencies because he disagrees with the Presi-

I

MO State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, recently posited that he had forgiven the National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief (Sir) Victor Umeh, for what he termed his antagonism and blackmail against him.

According to the Imo State Governor, he had forgiven Umeh for all he said against him. He went further to make some sarcastic comments that suggested that the APGA National Chairman was licking his wounds for losing some phantom APGA Chairmen to All Progressives Congress (APC). As a matter of fact, Okorocha said, among other unfortunate utterances, that Umeh’s reaction to him was predictable since he (Umeh) lost dozens of state chairmen to APC and his source of livelihood.

This is laughable and most unfortunate. My intention here, however, is not to join issues with Gov. Okorocha, or rubbish his person as governor of Imo State. Our culture in APGA is to respect constituted authorities and recognise our superiors in office while addressing them.

Basically, my intention here is merely to put the records straight, for posterity and the good people of Nigeria to judge. Owelle Rochas Okorocha, a colourful politician and orator (he captures his audience with his oratory that they even fail to see in-between the things he says), claimed that 22 state chairmen of APGA defected to All Progressives Congress (APC).

Of course, APGA National Chairman has put the records straight, but we are coming to that subsequently.

The Imo governor, in jumping ship to APC, tried to give the impression that he got to office of governor of Imo State in his personal capacity as

dent.

Peoples’ homes and offices are being sealed off because they are not in agreement with the ruling camp.

This is saddening. When the ruling party sent Awolowo to prison in 1963, the whole world condemned it as intolerance of the opposition; the southwest went up in flame and the politics of Nigeria has never been the same again.

It is important for our current crop of leaders to learn from that incident and avoid what can return the country to the part of violence,” Chief Olorunfunmi Basorun, former Secretary to the State Government in Lagos State, who chaired the programme, warned.

The event, which was put together by The Factor Media, publishers of Factor Magazine, had the national legal adviser of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Dr. Muiz Banire, as the guest lecturer.

Banire, while calling on government functionaries at the federal level to desist from bickering and face the business of government, lamented the high level of ignorance that has overtaken the youths in Nigeria despite the monumental legacy of education bequeathed to the country by the towering intellectual leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

“Awo’s desire to serve Nigeria made him to resign his premiership position in Western Nigeria in 1959 at a time when he had two more years in office as his election in 1956 gave him a five-year term till 1961. He left the office of Premier and vacated his seat in the House of Assembly to partake in the federal parliament election.

He ended up being the leader of

the opposition at the centre as the feat he had achieved in the West, coupled with the lofty dreams of transferring all these to the entire nation, could not appeal to the largely uninformed voters in the north whose arithmetic of election did not go beyond what was dictated by the then prevalent feudal structure,” Banire said.

He went further to explain that Awolowo was prevented from repeating the feat he attained as the leader of the Western Region at the federal level by the ruling Northern Peoples Congress and its allies in the West.

“The need to gag Awolowo and his supporters, which Akintola and his northern allies believed was the only way to seize complete control of the Western Region, matured in the imprisonment of Awo. The trial of Awo began on November 5, 1962, having been detained without bail in Broad Street prisons in Lagos since November 2, 1962 and having been under restriction of movement since May 29, 1962.

His colleagues were equally restricted with Adegbenro to be in Osogbo while Awolowo was to be in Ikenne, Enahoro to be in Uromi. On the same day, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi, who was also the Governor of the Western Region, was to be forcefully ejected by the police upon an order of the Administrator.

Twenty five other members of Awolowo’s party were also placed under restriction.

The scheme to ensure Awolowo was jailed together with his colleagues led to a quick promulgation of an Act empowering the Minister of Internal Affairs to refuse the entry of any foreign expert, including Common-

wealth lawyers. The English lawyers briefed by Awolowo were not allowed right of entry and therefore could not take up his brief.

On September 11, 1963, Awo and his 28 colleagues were sent to different terms of imprisonments. Awo’s allocutus was a prediction of danger for the country which ultimately came to pass,” Banire recalled.

While warning the leadership of the country to heed lessons from the shameful trial of Awolowo by the powers that be, through the instrumentality of the judiciary, Banire regretted that Judges are still allowing themselves to be used to suppress the opposition 50 years after Justice Sowemimo allegedly allowed himself to be used to send Awolowo to an unjust prison term.

“It is a clear suggestion that the days and years of Judges’ clandestine relationship with government in power have been long in Nigeria. It did not start today. Even when the matter went on appeal to the Supreme Court, presided over by Sir Adetokunbo Ademola in whom Awolowo expressed great lack of confidence and likelihood of bias, the ultimate final decision was the dismissal of Awo’s appeal,” Banire said.

In his own remark at the event, another disciple of the late sage and former deputy governor of Lagos State, Prince Abiodun Ogunleye, assured the people that although tyrants in power may once in a while succeed in gagging progressives in opposition, they usually don’t get away with their evil for long.

“When they got Awolowo into prison along with his men, Akintola felt on top of the world, thinking he was in total political control of the

Western Region. He condemned Awolowo and enjoyed all the peps of office but he remained unsecured as the peoples’ anger could be felt by him and his allies.

They also went ahead to rig the 1964 election in favour of Akintola and the NPC. Crisis erupted in the region. Houses were burnt and many supporters of Akintola were killed.

This was the situation until January 1966 when the army struck. The consequence was the assassination of Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Tafawa Balewa, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh and Chief S.L Akintola, all collaborators against Awolowo,” Ogunleye said.

Hon. Japhet Odesanya, convener of the memorial lecture and publisher of Factor Magazine urged President Goodluck Jonathan and the ruling PDP to return the country to the path of peace.

“Today we recall how the country started its journey towards the anarchy that led to the first coup and counter coup. Today, we remember how Awolowo’s traducers used the powers of state to hound him into jail.

Today, we are talking about the repercussions of that singular act of suppression.

Still today, we have a situation that is very similar to that on our hand.

State governors are being hounded for expressing their views. The judiciary is allowing itself to be used to gag the opposition. These are signs that our President and the ruling party need to take a cue from the incarceration of Awolowo in 1963 if Nigeria is to escape a return to anarchy,” he cautioned.

Other dignitaries who graced the event include Cardinal James Omolaja Odumbaku, an APC leader, Alhaji Moshood Owokoodu, Hon, Funmi Tejuosho, Hon. Ladi Balogun, Hon. Sinai Agunbiade, Hon. Sunmi Odesanya and Hon. Olatunde Adepitan.

Between Umeh and Okorocha

By Stan Okeke

Owelle Rochas Okorocha but the APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, said no, APGA provided you the platform and structure with which you got to office. These are, perhaps, Umeh’s sins against Gov. Okorocha.

These were all statements of fact but the Imo State Governor, instead of seeing and stating the facts as they are, resorted to propaganda. Again, this should be a discourse for another day.

On the issue of 22 APGA state chairmen declaring for APC, Chief Umeh had long put the records straight, stating categorically that no such thing ever happened. He explained that it was five redundant state chairmen from Lagos, Cross River, Niger, Kogi and Taraba states that joined the APC. This claim by Okorocha, the APGA National Chairman stated, was at best, “politics of propaganda and falsehood.” We also know that these so-called chairmen have names and their various states of origin. Can Gov. Okorocha publish these names for scrutiny and verification?

Okorocha also talked about source of income... for who? One is really at a loss as to what he meant by that?

Was he implying that the nonexistent state chairmen were Chief Umeh’s source of income? We cannot, at this age, degenerate to this level of politicking.

Gov. Okorocha, for the records, is the greatest beneficiary of Umeh’s political benevolence. Umeh afforded Owelle Rochas Okorocha the

•Umeh

best political opportunity of his life by offering him the APGA platform to run as governorship candidate in Imo State.

Even in 2011, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ordered for a supplementary governorship election in Imo State, Rochas Okorocha headed to court to stop the supplementary poll. It was the same Umeh that Okorocha is castigating today, who overruled Okorocha, disassociated APGA from the lawsuit and insisted that APGA would participate in the supplementary poll. He forced Okorocha into the supplementary election.

Had the court stopped the supplementary election, Ohakim would have been the governor of Imo State today and not Okorocha. The same Chief Umeh, as National Chairman of APGA, worked as the polling agent for APGA/Okorocha at the

•Okorocha

supplementary poll in Mbaitoli Local Government Area, which was considered a difficult Local Government Area, returning 24,700 votes for APGA, against PDP’s 12,278 votes and at the same time, protecting the victory of the APGA House of Assembly candidate for Mbaitoli LGA, Hon. Victor Chidi Ndunagu.

Indeed, Okorocha has forgotten how he secured victory in the 2011 governorship election in Imo State.

It is also on record that when the Imo State governor lost the PDP ticket for the Imo gubernatorial race in 2011, he moved from one political party to another, seeking their platform to run the race, until he berthed at APGA. In Okorocha’s desperate bid to take advantage of APGA’s electoral goodwill in Imo State, party leaders resisted his late entry into the party, earning him an expulsion from the

party’s State Executive Committee.

It was Umeh who overruled his expulsion and afforded him the opportunity to continue in the race for APGA ticket, and subsequently resolved the issue between him and Chief Martin Agbaso in a round table dialogue that eventually gave him the opportunity to fly the APGA flag in Imo State which eventually gave him victory. He got all these on a platter and has today forgotten history.

Chief Umeh, in all his reactions to the current developments, had addressed issues and stated facts about recent developments in Imo State governorship stool. He never said anything that is unfamiliar or not well known to Nigerians about Okorocha’s political journey, nor did he lie against him. So, where is the blackmail or antagonism?

Okorocha has forgotten that he was once a member of the PDP and ANPP, which he considered to be national parties and achieved nothing in both of them. Time will however tell. And what is the guarantee today that being in APC, which he considers a national party, that he would achieve anything? His position today therefore lacks depth of intellectual argument, as what happened to him in PDP and ANPP will most likely befall him in APC. Obviously, the 2015 general elections will prove on whose side of the coin, the good people of Imo State and the entire South-East stand.

Okeke is the Special Assistant (Media) to the National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Glamour

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Glamour

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New WOMAN

Solutions to real life

?

Princess

relationship issues

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

with

YETUNDE OLADEINDE

Keeping unrealistic hope alive

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

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N old times, dare to call a woman a vixen and you are sure to draw her ire and indignation but these days, the word now comes w i t h a n e w colouration. Lovette Awode wears her vixen label with a toga of pride and bravery. The 19-yearold is claimed to be one of the most sought after video vixen in a country where pictures of girls dancing in musical videos with little cladding is gaining ground as a profession not to be ashamed of.

Born of a Nigerian father and Liberian mother, her professional resume boasts of appearances in videos of hip-hop acts like P-square, Wande Coal, Duncan Mighty, Burna Boy, Skales, amongst others. In an interview she granted an online medium recently, she concurred to the negative perception people have about her profession. “I do my job to make the videos professional, sexy and marketable. People who think that females in musical videos are sex objects are 95 percent wrong. There are porn models and the trained, intelligent models who have the love for the game and always do their best to make the video look great and international.” For those who think video vixens are sex objects, she has

New WOMAN 41

this to say: “All I have to say to those who think video models are sex objects is that when you see a sex object, you will know the difference from a home girl who is acting in order to follow her dream or passion and making people to always think about that video. She is just the girl who makes you fall in love with the video,” she submitted.

How many people will agree with her point especially now that girls dancing with cleavages bursting loose and naked bodies in bikinis are heavy features in Nollywood films and musical videos.

For many, the act falls s h o r t o f professionalism; it is a degradation of the feminine gender.

Findings revealed that some feminists also regard the acts as contributing to the inequality and subordination of women in society because it reflects and reinforces male power and sexuality by depicting women as sex objects who exist to fulfill the pleasure of men. Another person who agrees with this perspective is Dara Olajide, a business woman residing in Ibadan.

“Sexual objectivity as it were is treating an individual like a commodity.

Hence, treating women as sexual objects in homes and music videos is just one of the features of gender inequality. It shows

watching the trend in show business now, it is like a reversal as many do not see anything wrong in barring it all.

V i c t o r Ogunleye, a p u b l i c administrator, believes the trend of women being used as sex objects does not only thrive in home and musical videos, but also in advertising. “Personally, I have issues with it and I do not think it is just in home/musical videos alone. It is even in some adverts because I do not see any reason why these directors/producers will have it in mind that whatever it is they are directing and producing will not sell or make headway unless it contains a heavy dose of pornography. I believe the culture is thriving as a result of the decay in the immediate society and the world at large. It appears nowadays that pornography sells more than any other project, be it documentary, inventions and the likes.”

Who does he blames for the norm?

Ogunleye points his fingers at mothers.

“Our mothers should teach the girls on selfesteem, dignity as well as protection of the woman body. The world has gone haywire and that's why you hear all sorts of things like rape and other atrocities. What I just see in the whole thing is that the ladies do not know that what they regard as how little men regard women. Women are professionalism may have lasting effect on not only looked down on intellectually but the future. You dress half naked in movies, even sexually and it is rather demeaning dance almost unclad in videos and adverts, that a few women see being sex objects as no man sane or otherwise will ever take you emancipation to star status. For me as a home to marry because he sees you as an female, I see the trend as an embarrassment object without value.” Giving further to the feminine gender and it makes me clarifications on how the trend can lead to ashamed of girls who subject themselves to rape, he said: “Most men, no matter how faithful and strong, could be carried away these acts all in the name of modeling.” when they see such unclad pictures and The trend is a global phenomenon but moves. The thought that runs through their many perceive it as an imported culture that mind when they see those ladies is just to has gained ground in Nigeria, Ghana, South 'get down' with them because they see the Africa and other countries in Africa. At a girls as having nothing to lose. Small girls time in the past, most of the video vixens are also catching the trend as teenage girls were imported mostly from South Africa. even as young as eight years old tell their The excuse given by some artistes who mum they want to wear spaghetti tops and patronise them is that Nigerian mini skirt.” girls are too shy to go A trained guidance counsellor with t o t h e e x t r e m e ; qualifications from the University of Lagos, b u t Mrs. Atinuke Oyenuga, gives reasons why women may be engaged in such activities that tend to portray them as sex objects.

According to her, “The feminine gender who agrees to be used as a sex object in a public video does it mainly for reward. She believes she is endowed and should make the most of her endowment. She sees herself as an object to rake in profit. Lack of selfrespect, brain-washing by head-hunters for film roles, peer pressure are other factors of indecency in roles played by girls,” she said.

Oyenuga who is a relationship expert with experiences in mentoring women said that financiers' motive is in putting their money where they will get huge gain. Pornography appeals to the perverted mind; be it male or female. That is why some spend huge sums to visit sleazy clubs.” She said the trend will continue to thrive because of complacency on the part of concerned citizens as many see it as part of the trend of the times and as such do not really put in effort at condemning it. “More so, we have a capitalist economy so everyone is free to do business within the ambit of the law,” she added.

On how the trend can be controlled, she advised movie makers and song producers to always work towards wholesome movies in order to make them interesting.

“Feminist groups should speak up against it. Quite honestly, the trend will prevail. It's a matter of your choice what you allow in •Loveth Shade Awode-Female vixen your home or pay to view.”

•General Pype

•Oge kimonos

Orits Williki

•Majek Fajek •Ras kimonos

•Jesse Jagaz

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

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‘He wanted a son so he drowned his daughter in rage’ —PAGE 48

‘Grandfather‘of nutrition goes into retirement Professor Babatunde Oguntona, who recently turned a septuagenarian is popularly called ‘Grandfather of Nutrition in Nigeria’ because of his contributions to the development of the nutrition in the country. Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha writes on his accomplishments as he goes on retirement.

•Oguntona

I

N 1978, when he branched into academics to teach nutrition, each time, he had to wrestle to justify that the course be given a chance in the university curriculum. Now as he proceeds into retirement, he is happy that at least five Nigerian universities now offer food sciences and technology as well as nutrition at degree levels.

Prof Babatunde Oguntona puts it succinctly: “Unfortunately, that has not changed our attitude but we believe we shall get there. It is not too easy to convince people to understand the essence of good nutrition and in the academia, accepting it to be a course was always a challenge. For me to have been able to develop a programme for the Department of Animal and Food Science of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), was indeed a thing of joy for me.”

Working through the past 35 years, first as a teacher and administrator at the level of developing programmes for the take-off of the Department of Animal and Food Science, which later metamorphosed into department of Food Science Technology at the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), as well as developing the curriculum and programme for the take off of the present College of Food Science and Human Ecology at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) was not a mean one.

Even at that, Prof Oguntona said: “Nutrition is a profession I look back at and I cherish with nostalgia. I will surely miss that real passion for teaching in my retirement but then the good thing is I am not going to entirely quit teaching. In the first instance, I already have a year consultancy with FUNAAB and I will take postgraduate students and afterwards, I will take on to some other things, which would unfold.”

In his active 35 years of developing nutrition in Nigeria, he said he considers his major achievements that give him intense satisfaction to include initiating and, “galvanising the establishment of nutrition programmes in many Nigerian educational institutions. I have published (with another colleague) the only text on the Composition of Foods commonly consumed in Nigeria.

“Published about 15 years ago, it is standard text for nutritionists and dieticians in Nigeria. The only truly national survey of ‘Food Consumption and Nutritional Status of Nigerians’ were conducted between 2001 and 2003 by

a team of which I was the zonal co-ordinator.

That was a seminal work that surveyed families in every nook and cranny of this country and it is an indication of the state of commitment of the cognate federal ministries to Nutrition issues that such a survey has not been attempted ten years after.

“As President of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, we took nutrition advocacy all the way to the Presidency in Abuja and got the President (Obasanjo) and Ministers of all relevant ministries and other stakeholders to listen to why government should do more for the nutrition of Nigerians. Regrettably, despite the president’s commitment and directive on that day, not much has happened.

“In the last five years, I am very happy to be able to establish a fruitful linkage between the private sector and academia. About 50 students studying nutrition at postgraduate level in several Nigerian universities have been beneficiaries of scholarships provided by a food manufacturing company through this linkage.”

That is not all, to further create awareness on nutrition, he floated an idea by starting a Nutrition Club, “a small club where we brought together all the people who were in disciplines and in peripheral to nutrition because we couldn’t find anybody with a nutrition qualification. One of the achievements of the club was the production of a newsletter which circulated in the community and we were able to invite notable people to come to major activities like the World Food Day on October 1.

“This galvanised into celebration of world Breastfeeding Day which later metamorphosed into the Breastfeeding Week which is still celebrated till today. The most important effect of the club was that we were able to generate sufficient awareness to encourage people to want to study and become nutritionists. To cap it all, we succeeded in hosting the National society of Nutrition in 1984/1985.”

Recalling the early years of his life and what inspired him to pursue his vision, he said, “My first university degree was at the University of Ibadan (UI). At that time, it was fashionable to do either medicine or science but I wasn’t too keen on medicine for so many reasons.

“I’d always loved agriculture and so I applied to study agriculture in UI and was admitted; but in the programme, there were several options and one of these was agricultural bio-

chemistry and nutrition. My first love was biochemistry and I was really enjoying it but then, biochemistry at a point became a very dry subject and so my introduction to nutrition was there at the University of Ibadan.”

Against the grains Though it was unheard of that men be found studying such a course as ‘food and nutrition’, Ogunbona was undeterred: “people around me including my mother actually saw nutrition as cookery. But I was determined and I had mentors to encourage my passion while I was in the university studying for my first degree. There was a lecturer who was not an Agriculturist, Dr. Emmanuel Idusogie. He was the first person that taught me nutrition then and he made so much impression on me and one couldn’t but fell in love with the subject.

“He emphasised so much on the importance of nutrition, pointing out that no matter what we were doing whether in medicine or agriculture, the end point was really the nutrition of the people.”

After graduating with a B.Sc. in Agriculture, the windows of opportunity to pursue the reverie of becoming a food nutritionist were somewhat narrow for Oguntona, but he found his feet at the University of London, where he was offered admission for his Masters’ degree in animal nutrition and so began his sojourn into the world of nutrition.

“I didn’t come back to Nigeria immediately because there was nowhere to practise my programme. Ibadan was not doing a degree programme in nutrition. Subsequently I got an offer from the University of Nottingham to pursue my Ph.D programme and it was easy to go there since there were awards to support the course – the British Petroleum awards called BP Proteins, a food product.

“I was fortunate to be chosen to work on the product and it really opened so many opportunities. Incidentally, it was in the same laboratory that I met my wife who was working also as a postgraduate student in nutrition from Argentina.”

The desire to return to Nigeria grew in the mind of Oguntona who had left the shores for seven years (1970 to 1977) like all his other peers who had gone overseas to study. “Nigeria was very good at the time and there was attraction for us to come back home. A lot of

people were in UK recruiting for the second generation of universities that were taking off then, and I applied into three, University of Ife, Ahmadu Bello and university of Maiduguri; all offered me employment but I chose UNIMAID because my wife was also offered employment there”, he said.

But on returning to Lagos in 1977, Prof Oguntona with his wife, Prof Clara Oguntona, whom he met in a laboratory and married while he was conducting research in the US, and also in an academic world with him at UNAAB, was met with a big jolt. “I had told my wife how beautiful Lagos was, the Marina, the Bar Beach, the seashores and night life of the 60’s among others. When we got home I took her to Lagos Island, where we got the rudest shock ever. Lagos had transformed and was no longer the beautiful city I was born in and grew up with through the 50’s and 60’s,” said Oguntona.

The Oguntonas, however, got the desired relieve when they got to Maiduguri to begin a career in teaching and were buried in developing the curricula for the Department of Animal Science and Nutrition as well as Biochemistry where Clara was equally a pioneer staff.

Both taught there for 12 years and had all their three children in Maiduguri.

On how people should perceive nutrition and harness the best from it, Oguntona said: “For me, nutrition means life and quality of life. The whole essence of life is nutrition and for me what are important in proper nutrition are knowledge, food, and care. Knowledge because if you have all the money, resources and you can’t put it together to get good food, it is a waste; then the food can be grown or bought. If care is not seen as important because it includes health, hygiene, environment, sanitation and all that, then death can come. Care is very complicated but very essential as an element of nutrition and if one is missing, there is no nutrition.”

The ‘Father of Nutrition’ summed it all up why nutrition is so important to life: “The start of life in the embryo needs good nutrition to form and become healthy and no one must lose sight of this. There is the school of thought which has propounded that whatever a child is fed on while in the embryo stage come to really affect the lifespan of the child.”

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Life

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

‘He wanted a son so he drowned his daughter in rage’ A man in Pakistan who confessed to drowning his one-and-a-half year old daughter says he now regrets his actions. His family says it was because he wanted a son, but it highlights the grave issue, across South Asia, of female infanticide. The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool met the family in Lahore, Pakistan.

•Umair Zaib says he drowned his daughter in a fit of rage.

W

E meet 28-year-old Umar Zaib as he waits, shackled, outside court.

“It was a mistake,” he tells me. “I made a big mistake. I don’t know what was going through my mind when I did it.”

Umar Zaib is talking of the crime he committed against his daughter, Zainab, who was just one-and-a-half years old.

Then the police jostle him and push him towards the courtroom. He is under arrest and yet to be charged but has admitted to the police that he drowned his daughter.

He insisted it was all because of a fit of rage. But when she described the horrors of what happened, Umar Zaib’s wife told us a very different story.

“It was late at night but my husband told me we all had to visit his sister, but we stopped close to the river,” says Sumera, 24.

“I had both our daughters with me. My husband told me I wasn’t holding Zainab properly and he took her from me.”

“In front of my eyes, he threw her in the river.”

“I was helpless, I started crying, Zainab

was screaming in the water but when I tried to save her he beat me.”

Pleading for help On the outskirts of Lahore, we visit the place beside the powerful River Ravi where Umar Zaib has now told investigators he killed his daughter.

On the Ravi Bridge towering over the spot, devotees hurl meat for the flocks of carnivorous birds that circle close by, hoping for blessings in return.

This dirty bankside, where the stench of the brown waters mixes with that of rotting meat, is where Sumera says she last saw little Zainab struggling and pleading for help.

A short distance downstream, we find two divers still looking for her remains in the fast-flowing waters.

They are ill-equipped, and admit to us that so long after the event they have all but lost hope of finding Zainab’s tiny body.

Sumera says her husband threatened to kill her as well if she told anyone, so for several days she was too scared to go to the

•Sumera: “I had both our daughters with me... In front of my eyes, he threw her in the river.”

police. But finally she found the courage to tell her parents.

They will now support their daughter and her young baby.

Sumera says she is certain of her husband’s motive in killing their daughter.

“Since our first daughter has born, he wasn’t happy, he wanted a son,” she tells us.

“He said if I had another daughter, he’d kill our first child, Zainab. When, eight weeks ago, I did have another girl, he kept threatening more and more, then he did it.”

She says her husband, a rickshaw driver, and his extended family all looked down on female children, thinking them a curse, but she says their family was not alone.

“My life is empty without Zainab,” she says. “But he has forgotten her already and he told me she’s gone where she is supposed to go.”

Cultural pressures The disturbingly prevalent tendency, across this region, to kill babies purely because they are female is been well-

documented.

The United Nations Children’s Fund, Unicef, has a team dedicated to the issue in Pakistan.

It says girls are murdered primarily because of cultural pressures and poverty.

But for years, rights groups in Pakistan have also accused law enforcement agencies of not taking the issue seriously.

“Yes, of course cases like that happen in Pakistan,” says Basharat Ali, the investigating police officer in Zainab’s murder case.

But then he suggests that Zainab’s mother has questions to answer too.

“How can a mother, who sees someone else throw her daughter in the river, just leave quietly and not report it for a week?”

He may be behind bars now, he may even have admitted to killing his daughter, but in Pakistan there are no guarantees Umar Zaib will be properly punished for killing his child, apparently just for being a girl.

Courtesy: BBC

From shrine to pulpit Her life story reads like an interesting book. Born into a family of Ogun worshipers at the Ijomu area of Ikorodu, Prophetess Hannah Olude, aka Iya Adura, tells her story of escape and reformation from the shrine to the altar. Hannah Ojo met her.

H

ER abode has no misleading; at the mention of Iya Adura’s house at the Solomade area of Ikorodu, a bike man sets the ignition in motion and stops after some minutes at a striking edifice in a street adorned with other beautiful structures. Her garage boasts of the latest brands of Land Rover Jeep, Camry, Honda and other exotic cars. Is she a business woman? Yes, she deals in perfumes and importation business but that is not where the bulk of her wealth comes from. Her clients are diverse and include politicians such as the late popular Ibadan politician, Lamidi Adedibu, who she said used to shower her with gifts.

From the shrine to the altar Chronicling her runaway experience at age 16, Prophetess Olude said she was already getting fed up with the constant incisions (marks) on her body and other rituals. Escape eventually came when she found solace in a Celestial Church where a neighbour took her to seek cover. Something akin to a supernatural encounter also rekindled her resolve to stray from the tradition of Ogun worshipping which her father was an adherent of. She further clarifies: “Before running away, whenever I sleep, I would see myself in a white garment; singing. There is a woman around our house called Aunty Dupe that I told my dreams and she replied that God wanted me. I didn’t believe that because looking at my background, I couldn’t fathom why God could be interested in someone like me.

She helped me to escape. My family searched for me for four years but to no avail. By the time I returned home, I had become a prophetess and also married.”

She later converted her father whom she said became sick and could not be healed by his gods. “I was the one that took him to church and he became healed. He converted to Christianity and followed me to church for nine years before he finally died. I thank God my family saw the glory in me. My brothers didn’t have jobs and I told them to come to Celestial; I did ‘blessing work’ for them and they got jobs,” she said. She traces her being a prophetess to her husband, the shepherd of a popular Celestial church in Ketu, whom she said helped groom her and made her have a better understanding of her calling.

Marital experience She was married for 31 years before she left her husband. Interestingly, she married at 20.

She became wife number 18 in the line of 28 wives! Narrating her marital experience, she didn’t seem bitter as she said all the wives lived comfortably and were all prophetesses. She gives her take on how women can survive in their marriage. “My advice for women is this: We all know 2+ 2 is 4 but in marriage your husband may tell you 2+10 is 4, if you want peace, you need to take it. If a woman gives the husband the respect he needs, she is not doing it because of her husband but for her children. Women

•Olude should respect their husband and be calm, there is no perfect marriage, just make it perfect for yourself.” Her decision to separate from her husband eight years ago came as a result of her inner cravings to fully concentrate on her ministry. According to her, “With the glory God has given me, I knew that if I remained with him, the glory will go to him. He has many children, I have only four.” However, she maintains that they still have a cordial relationship.

Why she cannot head a church Despite the followership she commands due to the testimonies that have trailed her prophetic ministry, she says she cannot be moved to establish a church even though the phenomenon is common in other denominations. “I have seen

many prophetesses who tried to raise a church but they ran mad, I can count about seven of them. A prophetess should not establish a church except if she is under a shepherd, that is the instruction given by God to the founder, the late Reverend Samuel Oshcofa. Any prophet who stays in line will be successful,” she submits. She also denies the allegation that the church engages in blood sacrifice by using animals and engaging in other fetish practices. “ I can take you round my house, there is no hidden corner where such occurs. The only time you see blood is during harvest when we kill cows to feed members.”

She says her leaving the world of shrine for the pulpit has brought her closer to God, her Creator.

BUSINESS THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

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HE Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) says it is targeting four per cent returns on its investments in the Future Generations Fund (FGF) component of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).

Delivering a lecture at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lecture series, Managing Director of the NSIA, Mr. Uche Orji said “the target return is presently set at US CPI + 400 basis points (US inflation +4%), the Fund shall aim to deliver a return in excess of US inflation.”

The Fund he said will be invested for the long term, since it has been understood that “this should mean an investment horizon of more than 20 years and multiple economic and market cycles.”

According to Orji, the Fund’s investments shall be diversified by the manager, by geography and by economic sector.

To achieve its long-term investment objectives, the Future Generation Fund Orji noted will be “invested primarily in asset groupings

Future generation funds: Briefs Authority targets 4% returns GSK Nigeria assures

•SWF Governing Council coming soon From Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor), Abuja

according to specific roles in the portfolio, ‘Growth Assets’, ‘Deflation Hedges’, ‘Inflation Hedges’.”

Orji added that the Investment Committee of the NSIA will “review the Policy Allocation at most annually and may make changes from time to time. The bias would be not to change, and it is anticipated that changes will be infrequent. Long term strategic changes may result in modifications to this IPS.” To facilitate shorter term monitoring, the Fund’s performance Orji stated will “be judged against a Policy Benchmark and a Strategic

Benchmark and the base currency against which the Fund shall be judged is the US dollar.”

The purpose of the Future Generations Fund is to preserve and grow the value of assets transferred into it, thereby enabling future generations of Nigeria to benefit from the country’s finite oil reserves.

Also at the lecture, the NSIA Managing Director revealed that the governing council for the $1 billion Sovereign Wealth Fund would soon be constituted.

Orji said that the board of the NSIA would announce its first investments, adding that adequate measures had been taken to ensure the safety of the fund.

To ensure the investments yield

profitability returns, Orji said “innovative products are being developed that would help guarantee maximum returns on investment.”

One of such initiatives, he pointed out is the creation of a monoline insurance.

According to him, “one of the best ideas we have seen so far is the creation of monoline insurance. Now we have to appoint somebody to go and develop the idea and get investors and see how that eventually works.”

Orji said about seven areas have been identified for the funds to be invested and these include: roads, transport, health care, housing, power and gas, agriculture and water resources.

Asked to explain how investing in the nation’s healthcare would generate returns on investment, Orji stated that the Authority in conjunction with General Electric (GE) of the United States is looking at investing in diagnostic equipments.

He said that within the next few weeks, details of how much is going to be deployed to the seven sectors penciled down for infrastructure investment would be public.

When officials of the SEC confronted him on the percentage of the fund that would be invested in Nigeria’s stock market, Orji responded by saying “there are two tranches of our investment that would be invested in the capital market. The first tranche of investment is the emerging market portfolio and there is also the private equity. We are going to be investing in private equity companies here and abroad.”

Also speaking at the event, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms Arunma Oteh said “the Ministry of National Planning recently put together an integrated infrastructure master-plan which says that in the next 30 years Nigeria will need about $3.9 trillion to invest in infrastructure.”

World Bank, ADB, IFAD boost agriculture with N200.3bn

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By Bukola Afolabi

He disclosed this in Abuja, at a press briefing while taking stock of the activities of the ministry, saying that $900 million was approved by the World Bank, $250 million by ADB and $80 million by IFAD. He explained that the international community is rallying round government’s effort, saying that $500

million of $900 million obtained from the World Bank was meant for agriculture, while $400 million would support water and irrigation projects. ‘’As you know, the World Bank has agreed to invest $900 million behind agricultural transformation in Nigeria, $500 million for agriculture and $400 million for water and irri-

gation. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), their board has approved the release of $80 million to Nigeria to support the agricultural transformation going on in Nigeria. The African Development Bank is considering $250 million in support of the transformation agenda on agriculture,” he said.

Electricity Authority, also parades a team of electricity infrastructure engineers, owners/operators of electricity power distribution companies, upstream and downstream oil operators and empowerment partners, has a collective global experience of over 80 years.

It was incorporated as a vehicle for the purpose of acquiring and operating Electricity Distribution Companies in Nigeria and it emerged as the preferred bidder for the Enugu DISCO after a bidding process for the sale of PHCN in 2012, with an Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Col-

lection (ATC & C) loss reduction proposal of 20.83%.

The consortium’s technical partner was identified as Metropolitan Electricity Authority of Thailand (MEA) with over 50 years experience. It is responsible for the distribution and sales of electricity to users in Bangkok and metropolitan vicinities, including Nonthaburi and Samutprakarn provinces.

MEA’s distribution area covers 3,195 square kilometers divided into 14 districts with a population of about eight million and energy sales of 44,714 GWH of electricity.

Interstate Electrics completes payment for Enugu Disco

I

NTERSTATE Electrics (IE) which won the bid for Enugu Electricity Distribution Plc has completed the payment for the electricity firm.

The payment is coming some days after it took advantage of the available window of opportunity for the completion of outstanding balance as recently spelt out in the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of the enterprise.

Interstate Electrics which is floated by multi-billionaire businessman, Sir Emeka Offor, had recently assured the Bureau of Public

‘Nigeria loses N40b to lateness to work’ -- Page 52

•From left: Company Secretary, GSK Consumer Nigeria Plc, Mr. Uche Uwechia, Managing Director, Mr. Chidi Okoro and Communication and Engagement Manager, Mrs. Bolaji Sanyaolu at a media briefing on the GSK Nigeria Plc Lucozade-Ribena global divestment deal at GSK Nigeria Headquarters in Lagos, recently

HE World Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the African Development Bank (ADB) have approved $1.23 billion (about N200.3bn) to boost food production in Nigeria, according to the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Dr Akinwumi Adesina.

49

From Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor), Abuja

Enterprises (BPE) that the payment processes will be completed before this weekend.

A source at the BPE who refused to be named said that a total of $94,505,000.00(about N148,372,85,000.00), has been credited into the privatisation agency’s account, thereby enabling the company to prepare for IEs takeover.

The consortium which is made up of Chrome Consortium Energy Nigeria Limited, Powerhouse International Limited, Metropolitan

on continuity of premium brands

F

ROM the Chairman, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, and Managing Director, Mr. Chidi Okoro, have come a word of encouragement to Nigerians loyal to some of its premium brands like Lucozade and Ribena: “We’ll continue to deliver total satisfaction to all our customers.”

The duo spoke separately ahead of the global divestment of the brands announced by GlaxoSmithkline Plc to Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd (SBF).

Under the new arrangement, GSK Consumer Nigeria will continue to carry on with Lucozade and Ribena business for SBF following the completion of the deal.

Subject to regulatory approval in Europe, the deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

It would be recalled that Lucozade and Ribena accounted for over half of GSK Nigeria’s sales and operating profit in 2012. Last year, GSK Nigeria’s sales of these brands grew by 26%.

SBF is a core company of Suntory Group, which was founded in 1899.

With global consolidated sales of over £12 billion in 2012, Suntory has a range of businesses encompassing alcoholic beverages, wellness, food, restaurants and flowers with approximately 200 companies and 29,000 employees across Japan, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas.

According to Osunkeye, Chairman, GSK Nigeria, this new arrangement with GSK Nigeria to continue with Lucozade and Ribena business is an indication of the positive contributions of GSK Nigeria to the global business.

“Lucozade and Ribena are great products, loved by consumers in Nigeria. They are an important part of our business and I am very pleased that we will continue to supply these products. Today’s deal is a show of confidence in us by GSK Plc and SBF, and gives us a solid growth platform for the future,”Osunkeye said.

Also, speaking on the new deal, César Sánchez Moral, Head of Africa, SBF, said: “SBF is delighted to be the new owner of the global Lucozade and Ribena brands. We view Nigeria as a hugely important growth market and we believe that the combination of Lucozade and Ribena and our portfolio of international brands open new opportunities for both partners. We have had the opportunity to visit GSK Nigeria’s factory in Agbara and we are very impressed by the quality of the facility and the commitment of GSK Nigeria’s people. SBF is also committed to developing the business over the long term and we look forward to working with GSK Nigeria as we grow the business together.”

Echoing similar sentiments, Mr. Chidi Okoro, who spoke at a media briefing held at the company’s corporate headquarters in Lagos, stressed that the two premium brands remain a major staple in the company’s product line, hence the commitment and drive to keep them as flagship products in the country.

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BUSINESS

O parody the words of Mark Twain, American literary great, a bank is perhaps the only institution willing to borrow you money when you least expect it and deny you outright when the need arises.

The above wisecrack becomes apposite in describing the frosty relationship between banks’ customers and the money deposit banks operating in the country today as it is practically difficult for prospective investors to get loan facilities to finance their business these days.

Crux of the matter At issue is that, save for a few so-called high networth customers or blue chips that have access to credit at attractive interest rates of below 20 per cent, all other customers, depending on how banks weigh their risk assets, have been forced to borrow at well over 20 per cent. Even where banks lure customers with interest rates of 18 per cent, oftentimes than not, there are hidden and unhidden bank charges which inevitably shoot up the cost of funds from 25 to 30 per cent and more.

According to analysts, the inability of business owners to get loan facilities for their businesses will persist as the apex bank has maintained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 12 per cent.

The MPR is the rate at which banks borrow from the Central Bank of Nigeria to cover their immediate cash shortfalls from time to time. Thus, the higher the cost of such borrowing, the higher also will be the rate at which banks advance credit to the real sector.

For instance, the CBN’s lending rate of 12 per cent to commercial banks instigates the current borrowing cost of 18 to 28 per cent to the real sector.

Such a high cost of borrowing, analysts contend, increases production costs and also makes local products uncompetitive against imported substitutes, which are aggressively supported with conversely lower single digit interest rates in their home economies.

As to why it has continued to retain the MPR at 12 per cent, the CBN said the economy could not have a low interest rate in a high inflation rate regime, stating, “The CBN’s ability to bring down rates is a function of its ability to maintain stability.”

The CBN Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, said in a communiqué made available to our correspondent after the MPC meeting, that given the stability achieved in the last 12 months with average year-on-year headline inflation rate at 12.24 per cent, in 2012, the MPR of 12 per cent was considered to be “just about right.”

“The Committee considered the calls for a reduction in the MPR because of the benign inflation outlook, other things being equal.

However, this may be undermined by the increased sub-national government spending and Federal Government’s high expenditure in 2013, the higher benchmark oil price in the 2013

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

•CBN Headquarters

How cost of credit is stifling business

The excessively high interest rates offered by most of the money deposit banks to the real sector of the economy remains a disincentive to business, reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf budget and the US debt ceiling with possible impact on commodity prices,” he said.

In the last meeting, Sanusi said the committee noted uncertainties in global demand and supply of crude oil, weak performance of non-oil and Value Added Tax revenues.

The committee also noted that there was still the need to continue to drive down recurrent expenditure in favour of capital in view of infrastructure deficit that continued to constrain growth performance.

However, the CBN governor said, given the stability achieved in the last 22 months, the committee decided with a majority vote of eight to two to maintain the current policy stance.

This, he said, would be to retain the MPR at 12 per cent with a corridor of +\200 basis points around the midpoint; retain the Cash Reserve Ratio at 12 per cent; and retain the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.

In reaching this decision, Sanusi said the committee was faced with three choices.

They are an increase in

the MPR in response to the higher oil price benchmark for the 2013 fiscal year; a reduction in MPR in view of the declining Gross Domestic Product trajectory and headline inflation; and retaining the current monetary stance in view of the conflicting price signals, global uncertainties and need to preserve the stability of the system.

Backlash Reacting to the MPC’s decision to retain the 12 per cent benchmark lending rate, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries’, LCCI, Director-General, Mr. Muda Yusuf, in a statement, argued that the decision to leave the MPR at 12 per cent would further impede com-

petitiveness of firms.

The LCCI boss maintained that the resolution by the MPC would bring about unfavourable economic conditions such as depressed activities, which had manifested in low sales, weak consumer demand, huge inventories by manufacturers, liquidity squeeze and tight cash flow conditions in the economy.

The LCCI DG listed other consequences of the MPC’s decision to include high risk of loan defaults, poor access to credit, weak financial inclusion, limited capacity of firms to retain or create new jobs, crowding out of domestic investors by foreign investors as well as influx of hot money into

“

the economy.

He said: “What is paramount at this time is the stimulation of the economy and that is the norm globally. Affordable and longtime finance may not be a sufficient condition for economic growth, but it is a necessary condition. Cash is the life blood of business.

We acknowledge the structural and institutional bottlenecks in the economy and their impact on economic growth.

“Consequently, all policy tools — monetary and fiscal — should be deployed to stimulate the economy. Low inflation and robust reserves are good, but they are not ends in themselves; they are means to an end. The ultimate objective is to strengthen the economy and improve the welfare of citizens. The fixation of the CBN for curbing inflation and building reserves is, in our view, disproportionate.”

Yusuf, therefore, urged

What is paramount at this time is the stimulation of the economy and that is the norm globally.

Affordable and long-time finance may not be a sufficient condition for economic growth, but it is a necessary condition. Cash is the life blood of business

”

policy makers to soften the monetary policy stance, reduce the yield on government securities to single digit, give more room for banks to create credit, increase the credit risk tolerance of the banking system and fix the structural and institutional bottlenecks in the economy.

Speaking on the negative impact of this development on micro-businesses, the President, Association of Micro-entrepreneurs of Nigeria, Mr. Saviour Iche, said that the CBN’s benchmark lending rate had been highly unfavourable and destructive to indigenous businesses as some deposit money banks charged as high as 19 to 25 per cent interest rates on loans given to Micro, Small Medium Enterprises.

Iche, who spoke at a press conference recently, added that tough access to credit did not create room for MSMEs to grow in the country and this was seriously affecting Nigeria’s industrial development negatively.

In a related development, analysts at First Security Discount House Limited, in a report made available to our correspondent, said it was expected that the MPC would maintain rates at the current level.

Blame game Banks have blamed everything from their cost structure to the CBN’s monetary policy regime and lack of vibrant credit bureaus for the high interest rates.

Worried about the excessively high interest rate regime, Godwin Emefiele, Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc, and his coun-

Continued on page 51

BUSINESS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

How Nigeria can become Asian tiger

How cost of credit is stifling business

A

•Okonjo-Iweala

•Sanusi

Continued from page 50 terpart at Skye Bank Plc, Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, at separate interviews, blamed the drop in liquidity in the banking system and rise in lending rates on the decision by the apex bank to raise the cash reserve requirement for public sector funds to 50 per cent.

A growing trend Recent figures reeled out by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, showed that domestic credit to the private sector as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), stood at 25.32 per cent in 2007, grew to 33.9 per cent in 2008, grew again to 38.6 per cent in 2009, then dropped precipitously to 24.9 per cent in 2010. In 2011 and 2012, total credit as a percent of GDP stood at 21.1 per cent and 20.8 per cent, respectively.

It is also instructive to note that between 2007 and 2009, credit growth could be attributed to the postconsolidation era when banks had too much money on their hands and lent with reckless abandon to the stock market (margin lending) and oil marketing sector. 2010 to 2012 covered the period of central bank reforms and when the banks became risk averse.

Experience abroad Like Nigeria, high cost of credit remains an issue as families’ debt levels are at their worst in at least two-and-a-half years, with one in 20 families ‘reliant on payday lending’, according to the Daily Telegraph of London.

According to the report, the rising level of high interest rate has led to less than half of families managing to make monthly debt repayments, household debt, excluding mortgages, highest since January 2011.

Around one in 20 households are “relying” payday loans to get by, according to the Aviva Family Finance report, published recently.

The finding comes less than two weeks after the Office of Fair Trading referred the £2bn industry to the Competition Commission after uncovering evidence of “widespread irresponsible lending.”

The report also revealed that household debt, not including mortgages, had risen to almost £13,000 – the

51

largest sum since the study began tracking it in January 2011.

Average household debt has jumped from just over £9,000 a year ago to £12,834, including around £2,011 borrowed from friends and family, £2,006 piled onto credit cards and £1,959 in personal loans.

Less than half (45pc) of families said they are managing to make monthly debt repayments, falling back from 57pc one year ago.

Peter Tutton, head of policy at debt charity StepChange, said the report showed the “increasingly fragile nature” of many household budgets.

“That 5% of families now rely on payday loans highlights how for a substantial proportion of the population simply meeting essential living costs is becoming increasingly unaffordable. While the increase in average incomes should provide some respite for families’ finances, the reality remains that we are seeing increasing numbers of people falling behind on essential bills like rent, gas and electricity and council tax.”

Little wonder, the report added, why Paul Blomfield MP’s Private Members Bill on High Cost Credit is so timely. The Bill, due to be given its Second Reading in the House of Commons, includes important measures to ensure that the new regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), acts in the interests of low income consumers when it takes on responsibility for consumer credit in April next year.

The Bill would make the FCA take action to restrict advertising; require lenders to undertake affordability checks and limit excessive charges; it would enable the FCA to establish a single, real-time database of high cost loans and provide the FCA with the power to cap the amount of high-cost lending to a reasonable proportion of the borrower’s income. Importantly, those identified as over-indebted would also be identified and properly referred to support services including debt advice.

Light at the end of tunnel Notwithstanding the problem of excessive cost of credit lending, most analysts have, however, argued that things can be made right if banks strive hard to stick to their traditional roles as a bastion of the economy.

SIAN countries like Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and China believes are the envy of the rest of the world today on account of their technological advancement and progressive economies. Of course, they didn’t attain this height overnight. Hard work, toil and sincerity of purpose made this possible. As a corollary, Nigeria can also attain as well as surpass the feat of the new famous Asian Tigers if it is determined.

One man who believes Nigeria can get that far is Surveyor Mohammed Bello Abubakar, Rector, School of Surveying in Oyo town, Oyo State.

The school which celebrated its centenary in 2009, and is the first of its kind in Africa, South of Sahara has been pioneering survey education from analogue to dig-

From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

ital system, as well as embark on the training of people for professional, Diploma and Higher National Diplomas in Geographic Information System (GIS).

Speaking in an interview with The Nation, the Rector said the school can turn around the country to be African Tiger and one of the leading world economies, especially in the area of GIS. Explaining the importance of geo-informatics in national development, Abubakar stated that “Data concerning human population distribution are critical development information, adding that most countries engage in ten-yearly censuses to establish not only the rate at which their population has been growing but also changes in its spatial distri-

bution both regionally and between urban and rural areas. This latter set of changes are only being captured through census data that are disaggregated and preferably geographically referenced.’’

In advanced countries, therefore, he pointed out that “censuses provide the information for survey and mapping agencies to re-define the boundaries of elect oral districts, voting wards, school districts, health management districts and catchment areas for various service delivery activities. The analysis of such geographically referenced census data can also be used to calculate the population at risk, often with little or no advance warning in respect of many pathologies affecting people in the country.”

The Rector argued that one of the critical factors in the pervasive poverty of the coun-

try, as of most other African countries, is their failure to provide themselves with necessary cadastral data and information to validate the property rights of their people and enhance their productive capacity.

“It is the absence of this level of spatial data that has been hampering the emergence of a broad-based development in the country and which the present administration is determined to initiate in the country. The cadastral survey of any country is a demanding, onerous and longterm programme of determined activities. It is a re-discovery and appreciation of the land resources of a particular country, as it facilitates the identification of every settlement and promotes a sense of inclusiveness of all groups and individuals within the country.’’

•From left: Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi decorating Lt. Terzungwe Kumaga Avyoko, an officer of the Maritime Guard Command of NIMASA) with his new rank and the officer's wife, Mrs. Doofan Avyoko, in Lagos… recently

Union protests against conditions of service

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HE Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Zuba Chapter has moved against the Federal Government in a protest against the condition of service of the lecturers.

Decked in black t- shirts and trousers, the members matched through all the roads in the college with placards last week.

The chairman of COEASU, Dr. Ahmed Lawal, who spoke to our reporter at Abuja, said that most of the government policies were anti-labour that was not beneficial to the academic staff.

The union urged the government to “stop the illegal imposition of the Integrated Personnel Payment Information System (IPPIS) on the academic staff of Colleges of Education.

It asked government to commence the renegotiation of the 2010 agreement with the union, stressing that the 2009 must be implemented immediately..

The staff also urged government to release the report on the visitation panels of 2011.

The union also insisted that government must discourage the brain drain from the Colleges of Education system by harmonising the conditions of service of tertiary institutions.

On the protest in Zuba campus, Lawal said that “On

From John Ofikhenua and Chioma Onyia, Abuja

Monday, the national union declared a seven-day warning strike across all other colleges of education in Nigeria. It is from the national body.

“Generally, somebody comes in, thinks of something and dumps it on us. One of these policies is an example is. The union is not saying we don’t want a system whereby it will check ghost workers or to ensure accountability you don’t just bring a system that is not applicable in all sectors of the economy. “For example, this is a tertiary institution, universities, polytechnics

and colleges of education is different, is a community and one of the major pride of every tertiary institution is sabbatical leave . For example, it is a global practice where educationists share knowledge but today with the system called IPPIS, you cannot share such knowledge because you are not allowed to go on sabbatical leave.”

He noted that the next action of the strike will be determined at the national level, which has several strategies.

Continuing, “If you look at the history of the union, we are not a union that goes on strike. We were pushed. This

discussion has been going on since last year. COASU has given seven-day ultimatum, 21 day ultimatum before we even went on warning strike.

“The union is not saying that we are not negotiating, we have told the government let’s sit down and outline such programmes and the request of the union which centres generally on teachers education and education in Nigeria. And we are calling on government to declare a state of emergency on education sector because it is a political promise of this government so that we will revive this system.”

ance, durable and quality products.

He explained further that the products are of new brand, features and technology which make them unique.

Justifying the need for the company’s foray into the Nigerian market, Manoj Jagtiani, Mace Industries Nigeria Limited- the major dealer of SB&D products in the country, said Nigerians are getting very selective about the quality of products they use or invest in.

He added that SB&D has a track record of many years of performance in the Nigerian market.

“Users in Nigeria are

Black& Decker’s history is built on a reputation of sound and global durable quality. I’m quite optimistic that with the re-launching of the products, we will be able to convince more Nigerians to purchase the product,” he enthused.

Muyiwa Latunde, the representative of SB&D in Nigeria, reiterated the company’s commitment to providing Nigerians with the best of world-class products, even as he hinted of plans by the company to partner with more willing dealers/distributors across the federation.

Stanley Black & Decker unveils products ENOWNED maker of aware of the quality of the in Nigeria power tools and home products over time. Stanley

R

appliances, Stanley Black & Decker, has launched its products in Nigeria.

The two-day launching conference, held in Lagos, showcased many portable, battery-powered and energysaving home products and power tools that can provide solution to the need of users who desire multifunctional and efficient products.

Speaking with news men, Manoj Panikkal, SB&D Marketing Manager, Consumer Products, Middle East and Africa, said the initiative became necessary to satisfy the needs of users of the products in Nigeria who desire perform-

52

BUSINESS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

‘Nigeria loses N40b to lateness to work’ Beyond

W

HAT has been the impact of the CMD on the Nigerian economy, politics and the society at large since inception?

I can easily say that we have made a dramatic impact in five different areas. One, in the areas of raising capacity, capability and competence of the workforce with particular reference to the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation. We have been instrumental in terms of training of all the relevant personnel in the federal civil service and we have trained over 8000 within a period of less than four years. In fact in every training programme we undertake, there is an evaluation and we do ask the people to tell us to what level they are satisfied with the quality of the training. We also do a little bit of sampling to track those particular participants to see whether what they have learnt they are putting into practice and are making any impact.

And one of the significant differences between this kind of training programme we have in the CMD and many others is that once people embark on a training programme we do not just only produce a communiqué but we produce an action plan. Because we always feel that whatever people learn is meant for them to cascade upwards and downwards. In the process of our impact assessment, we design some questionnaires and visit our participants and ask them how they are doing and give us evidence as to whether what they have learnt is really impacting on their productivity.

The second aspect is the issue of accreditation. If you look around now there are quite a number of management development consultants that are operating illegally; some of them are quarks. Very soon you will read series of publications on those that have been found worthy. We have over one thousand one hundred management consultants that have been accredited by us. We went almost everywhere in the country and we got over one hundred and fifty management development institutions that have been accredited by us. We visited these institutions to check the quality and standard of their training programmes. We checked whether they are operating legally, we checked the capacity of their staff, we checked whether the curriculum they are offering or the programmes are relevant; whether they will contribute to the growth of the economy and impact positively on the lives of average Nigerians. We make sure that these agencies are established by law and are doing actually what they are supposed to do.

It is very unfortunate for me to say that we have not yet concluded a research we are conducting but we will soon make recommendations to the Minister of National Planning about local contents because we believe that a lot of training that is taking place outside the country should happen actually in Nigeria. We have the capacity and the ability to do that.

If you do that, how will that impact on our economy in terms of probably saving a few naira and kobo?

It will, dramatically! Because a typical example is that

The challenges of human capacity development in Nigeria are no mean tasks, but the Centre for Management Development, CMD, the body statutorily responsible for regulating management education and training in the country is determined to deliver top quality managers to enhance Nigeria’s political, social and economic development, according to its Director General, Dr Kabir Kabo Usman. He spoke with journalists in Abuja recently, Waheed Odusile was there

•Usman

INTERVIEW the number of overseas trainings of Nigerians cost in the range of billions of dollars and even if we save half of that – we will create job opportunities, fight poverty, enhance equity and likewise we are going to be actually more skillful. I am not saying we should not send anybody for overseas training – it could be about train the trainers or in high specialty areas where people need to go and learn and come back and cascade and so on and so forth.

We believe that if somebody is a management consultant, then he is doing three jobs in one. The first job that person is doing is actually the job of the Minister of Education in the sense that when you are providing capacity building then you are impacting knowledge, skills, the right attitude, competence, capabilities as well as capacity.

And the second aspect is that we see that person like a Minister of Labour, because of job creations – and creating job opportunities in the country will stabilise the economy and enhance security for the country. If people have got something to do, particularly the youths in areas of enterprise and entrepreneurship – that contribution will really address social issues. So in that respect, the kind of programmes we provide and support in areas of accreditation are helping in that direction.

The other aspect is about quality assurance. We make sure that training agencies are delivering what is relevant and meeting some certain benchmarks and minimum standards. We ensure that facilities are adequate to cater for the needs of the participants and there is value in what they are learning. An example is the Federal Civil Service. If you look at the number of staff and want to tackle the issue of punctuality in particular – people coming in (to work) late or leaving early or having long breaks – if we can

control that every day just for half an hour a day, it is going to save the country about 40 billion naira. So you can see that the little thing that we can do can raise the level of productivity and raise the performance of the workforce.

Another example is the issue of capacity building. Most of government agencies generate their incomes from their overheads and if there is a reduction in overheads – where are they going to get the money? And again this is why we are doing a lot of research and trying to work together with the Office of the Head of Service so that we can produce a National Training Policy so that anybody who is employed by anybody, either in the public or private sector, should have a right to training.

All these are very fundamental to the economy. We also ensure quality assurance and quality control as they are the other critical important elements. These days we conduct inspections to ensure that there are no bogus management development consultants because we hear a lot of stories – people come and take away the money and they issue certificates without the training being conducted and some of them without even a venue. So, we are clamping down on them and we feel that it will support the economy and the society in general.

What is the value of such certificates and what is the CMD doing to halt such practice?

Such certificates issued by institutions not accredited by CMD are valueless. If you are a Management Consultant accredited by CMD we will give you a certificate which is your license to practice. Before we accredit we check all the relevant qualifications, registration with corporate affairs commission, payment of applicable taxes and making sure that such institutions are operating in accordance with the laws of the land.

What is stopping CMD from vetting certificates being

issued by management training institutions like what other regulatory agencies are doing by stamping its logo on such certificates to give it legitimacy, like NAFDAC does for the foods and drugs manufacturing companies?

Literally, there are three step processes in what you are asking. The first step we are trying to do is to make sure that an agency or a company or a government organisation that has the responsibility for capacity building must be accredited by us and there are guidelines and requirements in the areas of qualification, competence and infrastructure to enable them deliver high quality training. So we have a check list. For the second step, those who have the capacity to deliver training must have been certified to do so by us and they must attend our management training programmes. In the third category or step, is when they are providing a training programme they must follow the guidelines and a check at our website will provide all our training programmes and guidelines for accredited and potential management trainers. Now your question touches on all these stages but particularly the third stage where of course we were expected to put our stamp. We are going slowly but surely.

We have the carrot and the stick but because of the lack of awareness and lack of understanding, we are focusing actually on the carrot so that the people understand what we are doing and bring them on board.

When I came we had some bits of sanctions in the act (law establishing the CMD), but the sanctions are not far enough, so what we have done is to review the act and send it to the Federal Executive Council and it was approved in 2011. It is now before the National Assembly for passage into law.

Once we get that, then we will have to apply severe sanctions wherever necessary. These are the kind of initiatives we are introducing to bring more sanity into the system.

What are the proposed sanctions contained in the bill before the National Assembly?

There is a fine and if at all people do not conform then we will apply the law and seal off the place and close it down exactly like what NAFDAC is doing.

It appears the CMD concentrates or gives priority to the public sector in its activities and training programmes.

What of the private sector – what is the impact of the CMD on the private sector?

My first assignment when I came in was a courtesy call to a private sector organisation – Premium Pension Commission. If you look at PENCOM, the structure and the pension reforms and the various pension administrators, we felt that there is quite a lot of money there in the range of trillions and these are public funds, so we must make • Continued on page 53

By Adetayo Okusanya

Live life in motion picture…

I

HAVE, literally, thousands of digital pictures, some dating as far back as the year 2004. That was the year I made my first investment in a digital cameraand began to immortalize my life’s experiences. It was also the year that I left Nigeria to embark on my graduate studies in the United States. It was the beginning of an adventure, and I wanted to capture as many of the moments as I could.

From time to time, I find myself going into my photo archives and looking at old pictures of times that I hadforgotten about. I remember seasons, occasions, places and people that I have experienced and it feels like I am reliving them all over again. It never ceases to amaze me the things that I have done, the fun times that I have had and the places I have been to. In those moments of recollection, I am awed by how much I have been through and how much I have grown. I treasure these moments of recollection because they remind me of where I am coming from and give me hope that better things are still ahead of me.

Sometimes I have doubts about my decision to quit my job to start a performance consulting business. Those days are few but they do exist. Things were easier then.

There was great comfort in knowing that I would get paid every month, as surely as the sun rises and sets every day. Now, when and where the next pay cheque will come from, is sometimes a mystery. Take July for example, I only had two client engagement days out of thirty-one and spent the rest of my time following up on business leads and taking care of the business. Do the math. I had two days that generated income and twenty-nine that did not.

That is depressing, especially because I work twice as much now, as I did then, and believe me when I say I worked a lot then. So, sometimes I feel greatly overworked and vastly underpaid.

I was telling a close friend of mine the other week that it is so easy for me to feel a sense of discontentment or a sense of failure. All I have to do is take a snapshot of my present situation and it would show the depletion of my savings account, my current modest accommodation, my almost comatose social life and the limited inflows into my bank account. Those factors are enough to make an over-achiever like me depressed and close to suicidal… seriously. This is not the grand picture of the future that I had in mind. Then I remember…

I remember that life has been a journey. I remember that my life has been a series of pictures and not just one picture. I remember where I started from, where I have been to and where I am now. I remember to zoom out of the current situation and refocus on the bigger picture… the master plan. I remember the truth that where I am now is by choice and not happenstance. I chose the life of an entrepreneur, and that life comes with its own set of risks and rewards. I remember that I am living my dream and that comes with a price, if only for a short term. I remember that I am on a quest for self-actualization and this is a phase I must pass through not settle into. I remember that I am living life in motion picture and not still picture, and so my story continues.

We are in the ninth month of the year, well past the half-way mark. What is your 2013 story so far? If you have accomplished all that you set out to do, “Congratulations!” Give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back, take a moment and start gearing up for an even greater 2014. If, like me, some of your goals are still work-in-progress, “Congratulations!” Give yourself a pat on the back (You are still here. Are you not?), take a moment and gear up to finish 2013 strong. You still have four more months to go, and much can be achieved in that time. Don’t write-off the year. To do so, would be to live life in still picture.

Whatever your story, remember to stay focused on the bigger picture. You can’t do anything to change your past but you have the chance to shape your future. Enjoy your life’s journey. Live your life in motion picture.

• Okusanya is CEO of ReadinessEdge

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

BUSINESS

53

Shares: To buy or to sell?

•Alhaji Kafaru Atiku, Managing Director of Express Discout Limited Offers expert advice on your stock portfolio

C

OMPANIES’ performance based on the last year’s quarter result and this year first quarter result.

can sell for capital appreciation because it has moved from N18 to N54, then a lot of insurance companies should be sold because they are not doing too well.

Looking at the market we discover that the market has being on the bearish side for a while and it pose an opportunity for whoever wants to invest because the prices are at rock bottom.

Buying stock depends on your intention of coming to the market: are you risk abaft, are you a risk taker, are a speculator or are you buying for retirement, though there are many but basically those are the four reasons people come into the market. If you are a risk taker, after doing your analysis and taking antecedent of the stock you can decide to gamble. But one thing is that the market is a place for formation or deployment of a long term capital. So when coming in it is expected that you are aware of the motive of the market itself, and in the market you are supposed to be very patient after doing your analysis as the case may be.

Speculation is done in any market, but as a speculator, you need to be very careful and do your analysis and avail yourself with every information you can lay your hands because of the downward trend in the market, you need to look at the history issues of some companies to buy, I will recommend first bank, GTbank is also good, it is just N25, the result is impressive their dividend is not bad and it is a very ethical company. Looking at Zenith it is still under N20. Sky bank has also being known for bringing in good returns on investment. In 2012 they gave a dividend of 50 kobo and they are trading around N4.20 kobo so when you consider the dividend of which I know they may give up to 50 kobo again this year which is about 10%, is still a good return on the stock, you can also look at UAC property and NASCO.

GTBank bags award

BUY

• Continued from page 52 sure that they are protected, not abused and are managed properly.

We are also working with NGOs, oil service companies and others in the private sector. We also train staff of banks particularly on leadership and accountability.

We have signed a lot of memoranda of understanding with many private management development institutes. In 2009, the CMD trained 4,000 people in various aspects of management but in 2010 the figure jumped to about 8,000 and we also doubled the number of the programmes. So, on the average we conduct management trainings for 10,000 people annually for both the public and private sectors. We raise the capacity and capability of the participants. There are very critical training programmes that we focus on and most importantly one of them is about leadership and another one is about strategic management. The other aspect is about projects. We need to know how to manage our projects – how do we monitor and evaluate.

The bulk of trainings and other activities of the CMD appeared to be tailored towards middle level manpower. But Nigeria’s problems have been diagnosed to be that of leadership. How do we address the problem of leadership training, especially at the top?

At CMD we are very much aware of the society and all the attendant challenges; issues about transparency, accountability and problems of

G • Atiku

HOLD

To hold, stocks like Transcorp, because of the transformation and expansion that is happening in that conglomerate, they are into power hospitality, agriculture it is going to be a one stop shop later, for Dangote flour and Dangote sugar, we anticipate more benefit to stakeholders because a company that is producing a very stable and essential services for every household, they have created a niche for themselves in the market and they have a very good market share in the area they find themselves however it is very liquid, it is a stock that anytime you want to sell there are always buyers . ABC transport is good to hold, then Courtville is also a good one and IOHS it is a communication collocation company

SELL

For the sell, you can look at Nestle, you can sell it for capital appreciation, and you can sell PZ because their return is not encouraging it is suffering from a downward trend. Cadbury is a company of the future, but you

UARANTY Trust Bank Plc;, has once again led the way by winning the ‘2013 Best Banking Group – Nigeria’ in the 2013 Annual World Finance Banking Awards in an announcement made on Friday, 13th September, 2013. Outlining the rationale for GTBank winning the ‘2013 Best Banking Group – Nigeria award’, judges commented that the bank scored high marks in innovation and product offering in the financial services industry, regional reach to cover high growth markets, significant proof of continuous development, good Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility.

According to World Finance’s correspondent, “We rely on reader insight and experience to provide nominations to the judging panel, and we relish hearing about new experts and burgeoning markets. Our award programmes are tailored to provide a comprehensive analysis of the very best in each market.”

World Finance cited GTBank’s clearly defined customer centric strategy dedicated to improving the client experience, innovative financing solutions tailored to client needs, investments in new technology, and unique industry specialisation as important factors in winning this award.

The bank’s half year audited results which were released on the floor of the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges recently showed gross earnings of over N113.52 billion and Profit Before Tax of N57.36 billion over the period.

T

WITTER has pressed the button on its initial public offering (IPO) by filing an application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg gave this advice to Twitter at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco. For a smooth IPO, he said: “You have to know everything about your company. You’ve got to stay focused on doing the right stuff.”

He cited Facebook’s strong growth in mobile as an example of the importance of identifying the right areas of focus for a company.

Lack of mobile presence had weighed on the company’s shares but this changed in July when the company reported that 41pc of its total advertising revenue was derived from mobile.

‘Nigeria loses N40b to lateness to work’ leadership. So in the process of delivering our training programmes we integrate all these areas. We do not only focus on the professional aspect but we also focus on areas of attitudinal change, value reorientation, ethics, honesty and integrity.

In any programme we deliver, we touch on areas of leadership.

There are ten critical components of leadership – vision, integrity, responsibility, accountability, creating a team, courage, decisiveness, strategic plan, wisdom and knowledge.

These are the attitudes we must adopt as a nation. We don’t want to have a country but a nation whereby we can tolerate each other and respect each other, generate wisdom and have discipline and there on we can build and get integrity.

You have spoken about the civil service from the bottom to the top as well as the entire workforce in the public and private sectors, what about the managers, the politicians, policy makers, law makers, do you a have a programme for them?

In view of our experiences and the challenges identified, we have now focused our training on policy makers, law makers and decision makers because that is where we will make the greatest impact. For example, I have written a curriculum to train all board members of parastatals. They are to be taught to know their rights, expectations and

responsibilities. Likewise the politicians. We have drafted programmes and we are talking to INEC - and what we are essentially saying is that before anybody can contest an election, we would wish to work with them so that they know the terrain, what is really ahead of them, what the challenges are and what is expected of them. If you want to contest for the Senate, this is it, if it is House of Representatives this is what it takes, if you want to be a councillor this is what it is about - that is what CMD is currently pushing with INEC. And not only that, we have also drafted some programmes for the political parties so that we sit down together with them – because they need to articulate their manifestos, they need to have a vision, which they need to sell to the public and for the public to understand it and buy into it. We started these just six months ago.

For the law makers, we have proposed capacity building programme for them and our focus is on areas of decision and we feel as leaders we need to recognise what is going on.

There is so much debate about salaries, allowances and so much comparison between Nigeria and many other different countries. Now all these things are bordering on integrity and it is our responsibility as an agency of government to make sure that government resources are managed effectively, equitably and to

make impact on the quality of lives of Nigerians.

I cannot just sit down here and say to you we have succeeded but we have articulated the issues and we are doing our best and we are working in partnership with various agencies – we do quite a lot of capacity building on leadership to NIA, the Police – DIGs, AIGs and Commissioners of Police – to those that matter and make the difference – we have been doing that with the SSS – the education sector, we have been doing that with SUBEC, the agriculture sector etc. So we are picking specific sectors and designing programmes that we feel are going to make dramatic impact in the relevant sectors, but certainly it is the beginning of the journey and the sky is the limit.

How has it been managing the challenges of a 40-year-old institution and the workforce?

When we first came in the infrastructure does not befit an environment for decent learning to take place, but we have succeeded in raising the standard of our infrastructure across the country. We also did a lot in capacity building of our staff. In those days, if people were employed, it took ten to 15 years before they became qualified trainers but it has changed now as you must be a qualified trainer in CMD within three years. Last year we trained over 240 out of the 315 CMD staff and they all qualified as trainers. In the past three and half

Twitter files for IPO

Twitter recently announced plans to update its site and mobile apps to make it easier for users to carry out conversations on the site and share them with others outside of Twitter.

Twitter has also acquired a mobile advertising firm, marking its biggest acquisition to date and helping to plug some of the holes that could hinder its flotation. MoPub, a mobile advertising business, enables companies to buy ad space automatically.

“I’d expect to see a similar response from Twitter post-IPO that we saw from Facebook – a razor-sharp focus on building the platform into a financially viable business (which, given it has confidentially filed for an IPO, suggests current revenues are under $1billion).” years we have provided overseas capacity building to about 67 CMD staff – some went to China, the UK, the USA (Harvard University), India, South Korea and Malaysia. We are committed to raising significantly the capacity of our staff so that they can contribute more positively.

We also established a staff welfare scheme to raise the morale and attitude of the workers. We introduced the merit and long service award so that we can recognise the contribution of staff. It has been challenging though to sustain it because of shortage of funds and so on.

On promotion of staff, the tradition is that people are promoted on the basis of length of service which gives you experience and then secondly because of your qualification, but little is pronounced in terms of performance. But here in CMD we developed a model – experience, experience and productivity and then we conduct a test for you to show us what you know to deserve promotion.

This model we have exported to places like the National Assembly, Bank of Agriculture, Federal Mortgage Bank, NISER etc., we also do the assessment and set the promotion examinations for them.

We have reviewed the curriculum of one hundred training programmes to ensure that our programmes are responsive, relevant and are the ones that will help in the Transformation Agenda of Mr. President and also support the achievement of Vision 20: 2020.

54

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

BUSINESS

A

LIKO Dangote is a business juggernaut of some sort, whose middle name is entrepreneur.

He is never dissuaded from entering new businesses despite the general inclement operating business environment. Given his foray into many different business terrains and the successes he has recorded thereof, it would appear he has the uncanny ability to juggle different balls at the same time and get results.

He made a bold move to acquire the Kaduna refinery in 2007 along with one of his friends in response to the government’s call to help rejuvenate the ailing refinery which by then had become a draining pipe to the Federal Government. For one reason or the other, Dangote returned the refining plant back to government. Since then he had been on the drawing board deploying his business dexterity on the best way to enter into the critical oil and gas sector.

The global business community would have been shocked last week when it was announced that the business mogul was ready to build in his home country, the biggest petroleum refinery in Africa. This is a feat thought to be unrealisable given that many who had been licensed to build refinery years ago failed woefully to commence business citing the deregulation policy as a hindrance.

Those of that school of thought would have then swallowed their pride when Dangote gathered a consortium of both local and international banks in Abuja to sign a term loan agreement to the tune of $3 billion to execute the refining plant project, a fertilizer plant as well as petrochemical industry. Other African financial institutions are also expected to bring some facility while the man himself is coming on

Oil refinery: Dangote braves the odds

By Francis Awowole

board with an amount equaling the total sum being put together by all the banks.

The total investment is $9 billion.

This is a giant stride, the facility itself is historic as it remains the largest loan facility to any individual by Nigerian banks. What this says of Dangote is that the banks could vouch for his integrity and honesty of purpose when it comes to business.

And so Dangote, President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group made an audacious foray into a new territory, petrochemical and oil and gas refinery business.

Whatever the myth around the petroleum refinery sub sector of the oil and gas industry which made other sectorial stakeholders see importation of the petroleum products as making a better investment sense than going into local refining, Dangote has destroyed the claimed and removed the veil when he signed the N528 billion term loan with the banks to finance the project.

By this singular act, Dangote has proven once again that he is a valuecreating investor in the domestic economy who will risk his money to stimulate Nigeria’s economy as opposed to other investors with undiluted appetite for importation as only business option.

Dangote sought the commercial loan to augment his own contribution in the same region as the borrowed facility. It gladdens the heart to know that works had already commenced on the construction of these plants with the fertilizer plant being cited Edo and the Petrochemical and Petrol refining plants

•Dangote

situated at OKNLG Free Trade Zone bordering Ogun and Ondo states.

Dangote revealed that the contract for the refinery and petrochemical plant had been awarded to UOP, a subsidiary of Honeywell International, a Fortune 500 company and USbased conglomerate that specialises in consumer products, engineering services and aerospace systems.

The project manager for the refinery and petrochemical plant is India Engineers Limited, an Indian governmentowned company credited with the setting up of refineries in India while the contract for the fertilizer plant had been awarded to oil and gas contractor, Saipem, a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni, which already has a presence in Nigeria.

Giving the details of the project regarding the scope of the project and the production capacities of the various plants, Dangote indicated that the Fertilizer Plant is designed with a capacity to produce 2.75 million MTPA of Amonia and Urea; the Refining Plant with overall capacity 400,000 bpd and the Petrochemical Plant to produce Poly Propylene to the tune of 600, 000MTPA The Refining and Petro-

chemical Plants, he stated further will be the largest in Africa and have been designed to produce Euro 5 quality standard as compared to the Euro 3 currently supplied in the Nigerian market. On completion, he stated the refined products output would be Gasoline (PMS) of 7.684 million MTPA; Diesel-5.30 million MTPA; Jet Fuel/Kerosene-3.740 million MTPA; LPG-0.213million MTPA; and Slurry/Fuel Oil0.625million MTPA. There is no doubt that the projects which will be the single largest individual investment since the commencement of the democratic government in Nigeria.

At the agreement signing in Abuja, Dangote said: “this is our contribution to the present government’s economic transformation agenda and it forms part of our expansion initiatives of his Group which size has in the last five

years increased ten-fold to a market capitalisation of $22 billion.”

Expatiating, he said: “Dangote Group today accounts for over 30% of the total market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Our massive expansion in the last five years has coincided with the tenure of this administration and has been due mainly to the formulation and implementation of progressive policies of this government like the cement backward integration policy that has seen Nigeria achieve selfsufficiency in cement production.

“It is on record that this administration has helped create and maintain the enabling environment that has encouraged us to invest over $6 billion in the Nigeria cement manufacturing industry in the last seven years.

“We are happy to inform

you that we are not resting on our oars as we through this letter want to inform you of our recent decision to make possible what could.”

However, analysts are of the view that apart from the removal of bottleneck created by fuel importation and its attendant corruptive tendencies, the job opportunities would remain unquantifiable as direct and multiplier effect of jobs to be created would engage over 25, 000 people. Thus poverty will be reduced again and standard of living of many shored up.

Besides, the coming on stream of the projects will eliminate fuel scarcity, kerosene shortage and other problems associated with availability and affordability of petroleum products in the country.

It means that the days of long queues at the filling stations for petrol and kerosene will soon be history.

•Mr. Moses the Ekenimoh of the Centre for Management Development (CMD) presenting a copy of an MoU to President, Institute of Planning, Nigeria (IPN), Dr. Mcarthy Ijiebor in Lagos recently

Current steady power supply in Awka has changed our lives- UNIZIK VC

F

OR some months now, some residents of Awka, Anambra State capital, have been experiencing sustained improved power supply, and this, according to Prof.

Boniface Egboka, the Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) Awka and Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu, President of Awka Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA) has ushered in “new lease of life, new enthusiasm and hope for residents.”

“Not long ago, power supply in Awka, as in most communities across the country, was anything to be proud of.

But today, the story has changed and residents are hopeful and praying that this would be sustained by Professor Chinedu Nebo- led federal government electricity revolution,” said Egboka.

Commenting on this improvement, Egboka said: If one can talk about one’s experience here in Awka, one can say that the university community and the community around it have experienced a new thing. For some time now, the students have been coming around to thank me and to glorify the government for that effort. The community around the university has done so too.

So, one believes that if the minister will be given enough time and enough support, the moral, financial, political and

other support he needs, he will do a lot better than where he met the situation. The efforts to get enough power supply here actually started during the tenure of his predecessor, Prof.

Berth Nnaji.

In fact, recently, we had to commend the power ministry for this monumental improvement. As you know, universities cannot run without adequate power supply. It is what is needed in achieving optimal results in teaching and research. So, that is the situation and one believes that there will be greater improvement with time.”

Nebo added: “Life is better, people are happier. We have more power source all the day round, day and night. This has a lot of impact on security, because the lights are on, the streetlights are on. It has a very serious impact on research and productivity because people can now stay late hours, work on Saturdays and Sundays. Lecturers and students can also benefit. We used to spend a lot of money on diesel and we are going to cut down a lot on that.

Already, we have cut down from the N1.4million we spent every week on diesel to more than half. But it is not only the cost in terms of money, but cost in terms of the environment, because when you burn all these fuels in the generators, you release a lot of noxious

Prof. Boniface Egboka, the Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) Awka, and Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu, President of Awka Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA) recently told newsmen in separate interviews that electricity supply in Awka, Anambra State capital, has improved tremendously, Sam Egburonu reports gases into the environment.

These include carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide ammonia and so on. All these are not healthy for not just the environment but the human beings and animals. All these small scale industrialists, those who rely on generators for their small scale industries and other small scale entrepreneurial activities, the impacts are on them. Around the university and beyond, the current steady power supply has changed their lives. So, it has very wideranging implications.

For instance, when you talk abbot Ghana, Republic of Ghana having stable power supply, one is very pleased that in Nigeria, at least here, we can talk of the same thing. And we pray that it should be sustained and the sustainability is very important. We can make it sustainable if we appreciate what has been done so far and encourage the government, the authorities in the power ministry, including the PHCN. Happily, it is no longer a storm in a teacup, because it has lasted for more than one month. Even though once in a while, the supply goes off, but in just five

or ten minutes it is back. Sometimes it takes just about two minutes for it to come back.

And the power we are talking about comes in full scale. It is not the type that comes in 20 or 30 percent illumination, it is full blast. As a result, you can use all your electrical facilities freezers, storage facilities, and so on and so forth. So, it has far ranging implications, not just for the university community but for the society at large, especially in the sociology-economic activities that I have enumerated, including the cut down of noxious gases on the environment. Even the terrible noise pollution from the generator sets are reduced, if not eliminated. Besides, you will no longer be talking about such issues like fires from generator sets, kerosene or fuel explosions or people dying from generator gases. They are going to be past issues. You will no longer be talking about the huge amounts being spent

by Nigerians in buying or repairing generators and fueling them.

As it is for the university, so it is for the society.”

Egboka explains the source

of the new lease of life in Awka thus: “First of all, there is this central generating facility that was brought in to support this new one being built and was hooked into this our line, the Enugu-Onitsha high tension line.

Before, we used to get power from Nibo power station and it was terrible. The power source was very low and very poor. Then we used to spend millions of Naira on fuel and diesel. But now, we get direct connection from the high tension from the station at Agu Awka. This has brought a lot of improvement. And it is not only in the university community, or the Government House or the Central Bank or Juhel Pharmaceuticals, but many communities here are enjoying the improved power supply...

“Already, as I have said, we have experienced this change for over a month now and I pray it is sustained. If it is sustained, business people that left here before because of poor power supply will come back.

As you know, people from this part of the country are very entrepreneurial. Instead of all

these generators and purchasing of diesel, if people are sure of credible and sustainable power supply, they will come back. Many of them have about two or three generators that they are using and frustratingly managing. So, they will be noticing. They are businessmen and women. They will be noticing this positive change even more than all of us. Even more than you media people. And if they are convinced that it will be regular and continuous and I pray that it will be sustainable, they will hook on it and there will be a lot of change.

We need to encourage our young men and women to become entrepreneurs and become self-sustaining. And this will be a boost if it will continue and I’m sure government is conscious of it.

Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu, President of Awka Chamber of Commerce Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA) also confirm the alleged improvement in electricity supply.

According to him, “Since, we learnt that a mobile sub-station was brought to the Agu Awka area to decongest the Nibo power station, power supply has improved drastically in that part of Awka, from the Millennium Industry into the town. But, I can say that those who are making use of the Nibo sub-station are yet to see this improved power situation in Awka. Maybe it is yet to come.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

M

ORE and more, the consequence of brands’ negative character traits manifests on the bottomline, in value terms; if you will, a persistent dent on investors’ expectations (ROI). Evidently, negative character traits are not considered in the class of “very serious” or very important elements of the over-all operating standards – perhaps because the consequence or consequences of their presence in the daily operations around the guilty brands are not made manifest in the immediate.

By reason of their deferred consequences, therefore, the average Nigerian’s knack for quick-fixes or short-cuts, push back any consideration in the direction of adjusting those negative character traits operational in those brands’ personality. Interestingly, however, these behavioral patterns of negative influence and consequences are non-existent in the DNA of such brands.

In fact, they can be said to be grafted into the ordinary personality of those brands, by reason of our ability to contaminate GOOD, no matter how strange the process of doing such is (and how much it costs).

Consequent upon such forced personality adjustment, the unfortunate brands assume attitudes (complex mental state…to act in certain ways) that are quite strange to their natural form, leading to behavioral patterns that attracts odium/hate, from those that should ordinarily have been friends to them (the target consumer). For purpose of quick connect, let us place in view, negative attitudes such as deceit, disrespect, recklessness, lawlessness (please add the ones you can immediately remember)…. All of such vices are potent in character profiling, directly influencing interpersonal relationship, in a normal society or social environment.

Interestingly, however, the consequences of such bad behavior are resonates at a much lesser degree, on the side of the perpetrator, as against that of the victim. Secondly, the perpetrator does not get to contend with such attendant consequences, until at a much later date or circumstance. That explains why those perpetrating these ‘negatives’ do not bother themselves over changing for better ways. The operating environment (the market) is either totally informal, unregulated or at best, just near-monopoly. At every point of the chain, the victim (target consumer) is at the mercy of such brands (owners). So, while the brand should experience consumer/market reaction equal to and directly opposite to its ACTION (consumer apathy, drop in sales figures, negative value and correspondent negative at the profit level), the opposite is the case - in our peculiar circumstance. The consumer bears the brunt.

Like the BEAUTIFUL ATTITUDES told the BEATTITUDES in the bible, brand-consumer relationship is built on certain and given principles. Indeed as in an average civilization, there are at the least, norms guiding interpersonal relationships. Each of the elements is agreed upon, and up-held for collective adherence, with attendant consequences in instances of defiance. We at MC&A DIGEST have constantly put in focus, the fact that brands are as much as humans, especially in the area of emotions.So, brands feel. They react. It therefore beholds on brands, since they exhibit emotion, to respect others, for a mutually beneficial co-existence. In the face ofnormalcy, therefore, the average

55

The deceitful brands

brand in an ideal market situation gets what it deserves, in accordance with its behavior or character; if it connects with the target consumer at his/her value touch-points, for instance, it gets patronage. If it does that value-connect consistently, it earns consumer loyalty and friendship.

Conversely, if the given brand exhibits negatives, it should get equally negative reaction at the market place.

But we know the global market divide along the lines of perfect competition, the imperfect competition and out-right monopoly. Theses classification remain classic. The basic structure of each of these divides is clear and operative, with attendant principles. To the extent that they are all equally subject to time and space, give credence to their limitations, especially in the case of the extremely unfriendly.

So, the market of monopoly, assumes some level of extreme investment and exclusivity in terms of source, location or presence. Sometimes, such exclusivity is enabled by law, due to the extent of investment, which must be protected, in appreciation of the investor’s guts. So, patent laws/rights, for instance, has the potentials of enabling some form of limited monopoly.

The interesting thing about our local market, however, is its uniqueness – purely independent of global standard.

Known principles are not recognized here, at-all. Brands are at will to assume any position; in so far investors’ return is protected and illogically multiplied.

As a trading economy, most of these brands don’t even seek to assume any form of exclusivity. The over-riding interest is PROFIT at all cost. How much of choice does the family have, in dealing with Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), for instance, in the market of energy or electricity? So, being totally

helpless, electricity consumer do the bidding PHCN, without option. One day, there is the post-paid meter; the next is the pre-paid meter. For no fault of the consumer (and without prior consultation or information), electricity tariff increases by over a hundred percent. The surcharge made mandatory for the forced use of pre-paid meter has just been increased from N500/month to N750/month. Whether the consumer likes it or not, is not important.

Interestingly, this surcharge is irrespective of whether the consumer has loaded enough tariff credit to last for half a year, or whether the consumer stays away for work or private reasons, for so long he/she has no need for PHCN service for a very long time - PHCN will keep piling the monthly surcharge.

Sinful! The Frequently-Asked-Questions (FAQs) are: • What is the reasoning behind putting the cost of vending/sales administration on the consumer, as a distinctly separate cost?

• When will this surcharge stop?

• If it is designed to be in perpetuity, does it not mean the user will end up paying up to N2million naira for a unit of PHCN pre-paid meter?

• How much is the cost of a unit of these pre-paid Magana to PHCN? • Does it not amount to defrauding electricity consumers, if this continues?

Not minding the nonsense about PORTING, GSM operators have been so persistent in the violation of consumers’ privacy and sense of decency, they make promises they pre-determine to not keep.

GLO will send this message that invites the customer to call a certain toll-free number for free credit. The unsuspecting caller is quick to find the deceit in that invitation, immediately he/she dials the advertised number, with a voice message that starts reeling out instructions

preparatory to an unsolicited dialogue of no value to the caller. Hmmm! Would a service provider dare such insult in developed economy, when the customer can truly PORT in the real sense of it? It all amount to deceit and irresponsibility!

The market for pharmaceutical products is replete with brands that do not keep their promises. For want of appropriate classification let us just keep with the simple reference of “fake drugs”. How would one describe a brand of pain killer that does not kill pains? At a pharmacy somewhere in Garki, Abuja, an attendant tried so hard (for well over 30mins) to distinguish among variants of a popular pain-killer brand, in vain. At the end, she summed up the difficult task by saying the premium version of same brand is the ‘original’. Funny!

Air travel operators are also guilty of consumer abuse. Among other disappointments, courteous customer service is persistently being eroded, as time goes on. Across the local airlines cabin crew members manifests impatience, unfriendly behavior and outright aggression. It all comes across as though crew member-customer relationship is replication of the MOLUE scenario (before they were banned in Lagos).

Sanity can only come when basic rules are adhered. In brand-consumer relations, quantifiable value is involved, and that is why we must all make deliberate efforts to ensure compliance, as a duty. The consumer protection community has been reduced to a population of ineffective and tired hustlers, to a large extent, and that poses its own challenges. But on the whole, we must responsive, to ensure Brands’ RESPONSIBILITY.

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WORSHIP THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

‘How to make marriages work’

Dr Vic Victor is a practising lawyer based in Houston, Texas and host of International Relationship Conference, which holds in Nigeria, South Africa and the United States of America annually. He spoke with Sunday Oguntola on matrimonial affairs. Excerpts:

W

HY are families packing up these days?

There are several reasons for the mass failure of marriages in our society. Some of these reasons are specific to nations, cultures and subcultures. For instance, some experts posit that there is a direct correlation between the movement for emancipation of women under the various women liberation and the failure of marriages.

I agree with this conclusion to the extent that women have always been the preservers of marriages and families. Anything that affects women and how they view themselves is bound to affect our marriages and family units. Women endure and sacrifice a lot for the family to remain intact.

Another historical reason is that we have seen in cultures that were previously oppressed is what we in Twogether for ever call “the wusification of men”.

“Wusification” is the policy of the oppressor (the slave master, the colonial master, the economic master) to take away the manhood of the oppressed men.

This is very evident among the African Americans of the United States, the blacks in the Caribbeans and the Southern Africa.

In those cultures, the role of men and the psyche of men were deliberately redefined to reduce threats of rebellion and violence. The net result

A

CLERIC with the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church (MFM), North Central Region, Pastor Lawrence Olasehinde, has instituted a character-moulding essay competition for Senior and Junior Secondary Schools in the nation.

The competition holds under the auspices of the Pastor Lawrence Olasehinde Youths Development Foundation (PLOYDEF).

Ernest Ezekwere emerged the winner of the competition in the senior category.

Bolaji Oluwaseun was the runner-up.

In the junior category, Omeiza Ozauize won while Offering Ogala and Happiness Williams were second and third respectively.

Speaking at the inaugural prize-giving ceremony at the region’s headquarters

of that are men who are less of “KuntaKinte”, the epitome of the brave African man.

Now you have absentee fathers, deadbeat dads and baby mamas who are not interested in making a good nest for the children before they have them.

Other reasons, which are perhaps more specific to the culture in Nigeria, are the influence of western education and culture. It is amazing how Africans adore bad American and British cultures. The things that I see on our televisions in broad day light in our eateries and public places are things that cannot be shown anywhere you have children.

Add to that the domino effect of a culture that has been thoroughly messed with and redefined in the US and Europe. These are the underlining causes of divorce and separation.

The more visible symptoms are money matters, lack of communication and couples’ inability to nurture their marriages. I see Nigerian and Middle Eastern women and their children in the best vacation spots in the world. I always ask where are their fathers?

The fathers are at home, at work or just not part of the deal. The problem here is that we want to copy the westerners without copying the whole thing. No American woman will haul five children to Kenya or Disney

World without their dads.

Vacation time is family time to bond, refresh and regroup.

Submission has been largely controversial. To what extent should a wife be submissive to her husband?

I will like to be politically incorrect here and hopefully scripturally correct. A woman should submit to her own husband at all times. We always advise young women to make sure that the man they are marrying is big enough, smart enough and strong enough to earn and command their respect.

The Bible did not qualify the responsibility of wives submitting to their own husband. What the Bible contemplated is a husband that loves his wife so much that he is willing to die for her. Any man who has that much love for his wife should demand that his wife submit to him.

At the end of the day, the man is working to make the woman and the children happy. I think about it if a man is working for the welfare of his wife, who is the boss? Submission is not a dirty word; it is a directive that saves marriages and keeps families together. You cannot have two captains in one ship.

Is love enough to make a marriage work?

It depends on how you define love. If a man defines love as doing all that he can to make his wife happy, encourage her spiritually and

play his role as a father, husband and pastor of the house, then that kind of love can sustain any marriage.

If love means being the best wife to her husband then that love can sustain a marriage. Love is an action work.

If it is backed by responsive actions, the answer is yes.

What is your forthcoming conference all about?

The International Relationship Conference is an event that holds annually in Nigeria, Houston, Texas and Johannesburg, SA. The idea is to prepare singles and courting couples on the art of marriage before the event starts.

It is said that prayerful preparation prevents a poor performance. We have a mandate to equip couples on how to enjoy their marriage and not endure it. There is a statistic that says that it takes five generations of corrective actions to restore a marriage broken down because a divorce leads to several divorcing threats in a family and society.

The circle will definitely continue with some of the children unless broken. An abusive father will raise children who are abusive. If we have not taught them, we cannot blame them. Twogether For Ever through the international conference on relationship is teaching relationships.

What do you imagine would have happened after the conference?

This conference is a date

NEWS

Cleric institutes essay competition for students

• Olasehinde presenting the plaque to the overall prize winner, Ezekwere of Government Secondary School Gwagwa in Abuja… at the event

in Utako, Abuja, the Chairman/Coordinator of PLOYDEF, Dr. EtimAmba, stated that all the activities of the foundation are de-

signed to create avenues for fostering desirable character traits and grooming youths to become competitive and formidable soldiers

of the faith.

The Senior Regional Overseer, South-South 1 Port-Harcourt, Pastor Lawrence Olasehinde, who was the pioneer pastor of North Central region Utako Abuja, stated that youths are confronted with enormous challenges such that without proper guidance and tutelage, many of them may not fulfill their destinies.

He lamented that the nation is building a society where the right moral values, norms and ethics needed to nurture children to responsible adults are eroded.

He hinted that the annual competition will expand to other areas such as capacity development, skill acquisition, career counselling, academic coaching and recreational activities.

•Victor with destiny. I imagine that destiny keepers who attend the conference would have made an investment of a lifetime. Destiny is an irresistible path that one must take.

Participants will be equipped to understand relationships and make informed decisions about life.

This conference will remove all confusions and guess works about relationships. Participants will be empowered to walk with confidence in life.

What will be unique?

The International Relationship Conference is the mother of all relationship conferences that combines learning life skills with a touch of red entertainment.

The curriculum for the seminar was drafted from real life experiences gathered from counselling pre- and post-marital couples, televi-

sion interviews, radio interviews and conferences questions. The conference also boasts of guest speakers who have distinguished themselves in specific areas of relationships in the “Nigeria context.”

The red carpet event is a formal relaxing evening of entertainment and fun hosted by our own comedian extra ordinarie, Holy Mallam. Any comedian can crack a joke but not all comedians can keep their audience cracking and righteous at the same time.

We will be joined by Houston’s own gospel recording artist, Stacy Egbo, who will be ministering that evening.

Couples will get a chance to renew their vows and strengthen their relationships. Singles and courting couples will not be left out.

There will be a meet-andgreet for interaction and fun.

xxx

READ T S U M 50 AN NIGERI AN I CHRIST R S AUTHO Are you a Christian author? Are you bothered about poor exposure at bookshops and limited patronage?

The Nation is offering you an unbeatable opportunity to showcase your books and talk about your passion.

The 2-in-1 project involves an advert supplement backed with a profile story on each participant.

Kindly contact Sunday Oguntola on 08034309265 or shinystarontop@gmail.com for advert details and participation.

You will be glad you did!

Worship

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

COLUMNS

OPM commissions free ICT-based school

Living Faith

•Offers free meals, textbooks, others

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MEGA Power Ministries (OPM) upped its novel humanitarian activities last week with the commissioning of a free ICTbased free nursery and primary school in Port-Harcourt.

The school situated at the church’s headquarters on Olusegun Obasanjo airport road, Port-Harcourt boasts of state-of-the-art facilities such as well-equipped scientific laboratories, basket ball court, internet-ready computers and a department of phonetics.

The commissioning also coincided with the graduation of 20 pupils from the school.

General overseer of OPM, Apostle (Dr.) Chibuzor Chinyere, said the school was conceived to offer free, qualitative education to children

By Sunday Oguntola

from the slums.

Chinyere recalled how his parents could not afford his educational needs owing to abject poverty, pointing out there are many of such children on the streets as against classrooms today.

He stated that the modern facilities in the school are to expose pupils from poor background to contemporary knowledge so that they will not keep lagging behind.

Aside the free tuition in the school, he announced that pupils will also be offered daily lunch packs to enhance learning.

He assured that only pupils from poor homes drawn from across religious and ethnic

groups will attend the school.

The cleric also promised that free text books, school bags and other writing materials will be provided to the pupils entirely free of charge.

He appealed to other churches and religious organisations to consider the plight of the less-privileged in their activities.

Parents at the graduation praised the church for the gesture.

Mrs. Chinasa Alozie said she could not imagine her child would ever learn in such a conducive environment.

Madam Favour Chukwudi thanked Chinyere and the church for taking her child through such a wonderful learning experience.

•Chinyere commissioning the school in Port Harcourt... last week

Group celebrates women, confers awards on Ajimobi’s wife, others

A

GROUP, Peace Tabernacle Ministries, has concluded a 3-day conference in Oyo town to appreciate the contributions of women in public service and governance.

It also empowered no fewer than 35 women and conferred awards on the First Lady of Oyo State, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, and her personal assistant, Rev(Mrs).

Adefolaju.

While Adefolaju was conferred with the Good Women of Impact award, her principal, Ajimobi, bagged the Excellent Women of Impact award.

The theme of the conference was Women of the day.

There was also a motivational talk by the wife of the former Police Public Rela-

By Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

tions Officer, Pastor Bimbo Longe.

Longe advised women to embrace tolerance, submission, perseverance and love regardless of the tribulations they might be passing through.

The graduate of Chemistry recalled how her in-laws ganged up against her for giving birth to only four daughters and no males 27 years after marriage.

She stated that her steadfastness and humility saw her through the storms.

According to her: “All the female children are today graduates and excelling in their various callings.

“This is because I remained contented, endured and persevered, that moment

of sadness disappeared and my joy comes back till today.’’

The founder of the group, Pastor Bola Aderibigbe, stated that issues affecting women are fundamental and must be resolved.

She said: “Considering their indispensable roles in the society as mothers, custodians, and shapers of the society, we are of the conviction that empowering women is empowering the nation.

“This is why we provide micro finance scheme for the women to enhance their status in the society.”

The president of the Youths, Mr. AkinpeluDolapo, said all those awarded will be inducted into the Ministries’ Hall of Fame.

Adeyemi for inauguration of Church HE Senior Pastor of administrators sponsibility Officer of Church Daystar Christian Management Consult, Seyi

T

Centre, Sam Adeyemi, will next Wednesday perform the official inauguration of the Church Administrators Society of Nigeria (CASON), Africa’s premier and foremost regulatory body for Church Administrators and Manag-

By Busola Odusola

ers, in Lagos.

The body will set the professional frame work for the practice of church administration and management in Africa.

The visioner and Chief Re-

Oladimeji, stated that “CASON will promote the practice of church administration and management as a discipline in Africa and facilitate adherence to global ethical standards in church organisational management.”

By Dr. David Oyedepo

Securing your high places

W

ELCOME to your regular column. Last week, I taught on some scriptural steps to double portion restoration. I showed you what happens, when God leads you. Also, I showed you how to access divine guidance.

This week, I will be teaching on Securing Your High Places. In this world of gross darkness, divine guidance is one of our greatest assets (Joel 2:2). When you miss God’s leadings, you run into crises.

Don’t lean on your own understanding, because you have no access to the future. Only God knows the end from the beginning. In all your ways, acknowledge that God is the only One who knows tomorrow.

Today looks great, but will tomorrow also be great or greater? Only God knows.

Your understanding is inadequate to guiding your steps into the future. No one knows tomorrow like God; you must acknowledge this consistently, for you to walk free from the crises of life.

Recognise that every child of God is a candidate for the high places of life. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid (Matthew 5:14). You are ordained for the top! You are redeemed to reign as a king on the earth.

There is a special price on your life. So, you are a special citizen on the earth. But you cannot be made until you are led. God’s leadings are the gateways to your makings.

Until you allow Him to lead you, He cannot make you.

For instance, the Israelites knew no lack when God led them. They had plenty of peace, health, food, dignity, protection. Every good thing accompanied them as they were led by God (Isaiah 48:21).

Many times, God’s leadings may not agree with your thoughts, but they are the highways to your high places (Isaiah 55:8). When God leads, strange doors are opened.

What Makes His Leading?

•When God leads, He goes before the led (Isaiah 45:13): When God goes before you, all gates must lift up their heads. There is no global barrier against the man led by God. When God leads the way, you become unstoppable, unshakeable and immoveable.

•When God leads, He goes with the led (Matthew 28:20).

•When God leads, He works with the led (Mark 16:20; 1 Corinthians 3:9).

•He works through the led (John 14:10).

•When God leads, He works for the led (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

•When God leads, He protects the led (Exodus 23:20).

•When God leads, He renders the enemies of the led helpless.

How to be led by God? • You must desire to be divinely guided (Proverbs 3:56): What you don’t desire, you don’t deserve. What enhances your desire is your understanding of the role of divine guidance in securing your glorious destiny in Christ.

• Meekness: This is one of the virtues that entitle our access to divine guidance (Psalm 25:9). It takes meekness to access divine guidance.

Benefits of Divine Guidance: •Supernatural Empowerment (Judges 6:14): When God leads you on a particular mission, He supernaturally energizes you to deliver. You are awake intellectually, you are alive emotionally, and you are strong physically.

•Divine protection (Psalm 105:13-15): This is the entitlement of everyone led by the Lord (Exodus 23:20).

•Supernatural Insight (Isaiah 48:17): When God leads, He is committed to teaching the led how to be profitable.

•Supernatural breakthrough (Genesis 26:1-2, 1214): This is one very outstanding benefits of divine guidance.

Friend, the power to benefit from divine guidance is the preserve of those who are connected to God. You get connected by confessing your sins and accepting Jesus as your Saviour and Lord. If you are set for it, please say this prayer: 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, Jesus.

Now, I know I am born again!

I will continue this teaching next week.

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

Catholic men plan faith convention

T

HE Catholic Men Organisation (CMO) of the Lagos Archdiocese will hold a faith convention aimed at addressing immoralities in the society.

President of the organisation, Chief Emeka Asoegwu, told newsmen that homosexuality, gay marriages abortion, religious fanaticism and corruption will also be discussed at the conference.

He assured that other spiritual, family, economic and business issues that will reawaken Catholics in the archdiocese will be at the front burner at the convention.

It holds 3rd-5th October at St. Leo Catholic Church, Toyin

Street, off Allen Avenue Lagos.

Rev. Fr. Maria Ozele, Rev Fr. Joseph Atado, the host, Monsignor John Aniagwu and the Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev Dr. Martins Adewale will

minister at the event.

There will also be a business clinic to be handled by Dr. Imo Itsueli, Charles Iluegbunam and other entrepreneurs at the convention.

•R-L: Asoegwu; Chaplain CMO, Rev Fr. Daniel Nwankwo and Chairman, Planning Committee, Mr. John Aigbokhaode at the briefing

Joy as book shop opens in Lagos

O

KRAY Christian Bookshop owned by Pastor Raymond Okonkwo has officially opened in Lagos.

The bookshop was unveiled at Jesus Plaza in Iyana Ejigbo Lagos.

Okonkwo said the venture was borne out of the passion to enlighten Christians and broaden their scopes.

The vision, Okonkwo stated, started with the establishment of Okray Christian Market about 20 years ago in

By Busola Odusola

Ikotun area of Lagos.

Okonkwo stated that the establishment is “a vision borne out of the desire to equip the saints for the master’s use.”

Okonkwo described Okray Christian Market as “a Christian centre where all soldiers of the cross can come and get all the ammunition and materials they will need to be able to do the work of the kingdom.”

The guest speaker, Rev Albert Emiehor of Wholesome Word publications and proprietor of New Life group of schools, emphasised the importance of Christian bookshops.

He described a Christian bookshop as the gate of heaven and a storehouse of the treasures of heaven.

He, however, lamented that “Christian bookshops are not given enough attention and the publicity needed.”

THE ARTS

60

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

FEMI OSOFISAN

Why we’re reviving ethnic-based theatre At a time when plays, dances and songs in local languages are going extinct, Professor Femi Osofisan, a prolific writer and renowned playwright, has chosen to discuss and organise a national conference to revive people’s interest in ethnic-based stage theatre. In this interview with Edozie Udeze, Osofisan speaks on the need to look closely at D.O. Fagunwa’s works to see their relevance to national issues, the need to ensure that issues raised in plays conform with the problems of the society and lots more

Y

OU translated one of D.O. Fagunwa’s work Igbo Eledumare into English.

What does it mean to have his work on stage?

Oh, it is not really a direct translation. What I have is a stage adaptation of one of his works into English.

When you did that, what were the essential issues you encountered?

Well, it is more or less what many scholars have been talking about. Anyway, in my own case, we had a project, a contract with one of these computer companies. We wanted to do all the Fagunwa’s stories on stage. It is one of the issues of reviving and showing interest in his works and then helping to promote indigenous literature.

It is also part of the reviving of Yoruba culture. In fact, ours was essentially to revive Nigerian cultures but we were to start with Yoruba and later move to other cultures. So, we chose D.O. Fagunwa’s works first. I was appointed the consultant for that project. So, that was it and we were to do seven works of different artistes every year. I also have my own agenda too, which is to help actors to stage plays throughout the country.

If we are able to employ about 50 actors and 50 crews every year that would be fine. But we were able to do only two when they stopped the project. So that was it. My own concept of it was to do two adaptations of Fagunwa’s works and one in English, the other in Yoruba. It was then I hired Professor Akinwunmi Ishola for the Yoruba adaptation and then I’d do the one in English. So, every year we did one and we started Ogboju Igbo Olodumare which we had produced. Then we were to go on with the third one when that problem cropped up. So, we’ve not continued with the adaptations so far.

The play was too frightening to watch on stage. How were you able to situate all the mysteries and strange forests and human beings to give the play its proper bent?

You know, I had a good director in the person of Dr. Tunde Awosanmi of the University of Ibadan. Yes, he did justice to the play on stage. He did a good directing and was able to bring out the true colour of what I had in the translation. I hired him to handle the English one and he did it so well that people who watched it came out not only fascinated, but better informed about the works of Fagunwa. Our first problem was to get the script. It was not really a big problem for me to trans-

late it into stage. The narrative was a bit clearer – a bit more understandable.

However, in the other plays and other books, the narratives were not as clear and as understandable. Sometimes, it was not that clear to situate it. So, the first thing we did was to sit down and decide which one to take.

As we heard from the panel thereafter, there was a lot of ambiguity concerning Fagnwa’s works because of his Christian background combined with his traditional beliefs. All we did was to give all that their tonal phases. And as a writer, he had his own artistic pedigree. So, all these things clashed again and again as we worked on the project to get the best translation for the stage. And so sometimes the stories are not really resolved. You know the hunters and so on, travelled to places and in the end what happened? It talks about the morality of a people, the morality of a society and so on.

So, there are lots of moralising, a lot of sermonising and also a lot of contradictions in the works. So, how do you bring them all to bear on stage for people to watch and be conscious of what the story is all about? Ogboju Olodumare even seems to be the clearest of all his works.

Yet at the end of it all, it was like the people were being tricked. When they came back it seemed people did not even remember them. I mean the hunters. Although there are issues there to make them look like national heroes and so on, but the actual story shows that they wasted their time undertaking that adventure. Look at the story again and you’ll see it clearly there.

So, there are lots and lots of ambiguities in the story, that is in Fagunwa’s works. But as a playwright you have to situate them properly to suit the stage, to appeal to the audience. You need to decide the real emphasis for the stories, for there are many stories therein. So, for us to find a coherent theme, we had to arrange and rearrange and then said okay, what were the main stories in all these?

And then we decided which would form the main part on stage.

We also worked Ireke Onibudo out to see how it relates to his primary aim. While investigating around, we discovered that that name was given to one of the Ibadan army generals. It is the lion of the people, yet it is a metaphor for love.

So, we decided to concentrate on those love motives. It was a time

•Osofisasn

really to find out what to do about that. Then the other thing again was to go back to the more narrative aspect of it. Finally, the second part goes to the hunters. The thing is that they were tricked by the Oba of the town. The question now is why did Oba do that. So, you have to read the story, read between the lines and reading between the lines, you’ll see what happened in the town.

That meant also, there was contest of power. The Oba discovered that if you are too powerful, you ought to be made an ambassador to throw you away from his domain.

He was thinking the hunters will never come back. You have to look at it properly to get how that story happened. I have just completed Igbo Olodumare. When Wale Ogunyemi did Langbodo, he just ignored the first part of it and just went from there to the time of the hunters who went on that journey. But the question is what of the first part of that story?

Therefore, it has been challenging. When I gave Akinwumi Ishola his own part of the Yoruba language to work on, without discussing it, he thought somehow that my own story is different. So, what is the

principal line? While he worked on his own, I did mine on my own.

What I did was to ensure that both the English and Yoruba films should not be exactly the same thing. Now they look a bit different and that makes it more interesting.

Yes, in terms of love and social issues raised, is there any relationship between this and the Women of Owu, your own play?

Well, in Women of Owu, to me, our theatre has always emphasised on entertainment, dance, songs and so on. That is what appeals to people. People here love to watch total theatre where you have plenty of entertainment mixed with the story itself. If you have to have a good play, all those features have to be there.

That is what Women of Owu stands for. But I don’t restrict my attention to only dance.

I have done other plays without total emphasis on love and dance. But in Women of Owu, I feel when you are dealing with that sort of issue you need to do that. So, even in Fagunwa’s works, you’ll always see musicians there. That is the whole essence of that. If you go through them you’ll see singing, dancing and so on. These played vital roles to get

people out of danger, that’s with the songs, the dances. So you cannot avoid that. And also since it is the aim of our producer to revive our dying cultures and all that, they ensured that we did it to bring in certain essential theatre elements to make people love what we do.

What do you think is the role of mother tongue in Nigerian theatre?

It is very interesting. In fact, I think I will call for a conference may be in January next year on the issue of mother tongue and literature. We need to talk about it. We need to discuss it. What we are doing is to raise interest in local theatre or ethnic theatre. Be it in Igbo culture or Urhobo. The thing is if you do not do it, how do you now say theatre in local languages does not happen at all? How do demonstrate that it does not write. So, we need to situate that in our cultural parameters. But while we are doing that, what do we say now is happening to the national agenda, with the National Theatre, the Nigerian theatre itself? How do you propagate these ethnic-based theatre? This is why I said I have to convoke a national conference on this next year.

Boosting girl child education with books

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EMBERS of the Soroptimist International, Lagos, an organisation dedicated to bettering the lot of women in Nigeria, on Sunday, September 8, donated books to the Ansaru Deen Girls Secondary School.

According to the President of the Non-Governmental Organisation, Abiola Agusto-Agoro, the decision to donate books to the school was tied to the World Literacy Day which was marked on the same day.

“We had earlier donated books to Methodist Girls High School and we felt we should also give the Muslims a chance as we decided to come here to donate books. We are here to fulfill a part of our pledge. The idea is to encourage the girl child. As women, we are not as privileged as the men hence we are trying to create awareness so that they will know that education is very important. We are the mothers of the society. What a woman teaches the children goes with them for life so once you teach the woman, you have already taught

•Members of Soroptimist International presenting the book to the principal of Ansaru Deen Girls Secondary School

By Ovwe Medeme

the nation,” the president said.

The principal of the school, Mrs. Olaitan, said that the donation makes her feel excited. “Reading is another form of travelling. If you read a book about Germany and you understand

it very well, you would have travelled through Germany. These books will assist the students expand their knowledge and give them more exposure and we are grateful to the organisation for this opportunity,” she stated.

Arts/Reviews

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013 Title: The Tragedy of Victory Author: Gen. Godwin AlabiIsama Publishers: Spectrum Books, Ibadan Year of Publication: 2013 Reviewer: Alfred Ilenre

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HE Tragedy of Victory is a book written

by Brigadier General Alabi Isama, providing the inside knowledge and information about the separatist war in Nigeria from 1967- 1970 Many books have been published on both sides of the war, since the combatants laid down their weapons in 1970. Yet, non has provided vital information about the conception, execution and end of the Nigeria- Biafra war, backed by facts, evidences and witnesses, illustrated with photographs, maps and monuments like the Tragedy of Victory.

What made a great difference in Alabi- Isama’s book is his ability to provide new information backed with hard facts, by refusing to make use of the already over-worked and over-played press releases, resumes, newsletters, interviews, opinion and views produced by both the Nigerian federal government and the Biafran side, made popular by the Nigerian media. The book is the work of a man who is not only just scrupulous but meticulous to the minutest detail in rendering on – the – spot account of the Nigeria Biafra war in the Atlantic theatre.

As one traverses the pages of the Tragedy of Victory, it becomes very clear that the military, in 1966, plunged head long into the Nigerian political crises of the immediate post – independence era, without realising the gravity nor the complexity of the issues involved. It soon discovered that ethnic bias, tribalism and sectional feelings were not exclusive to the political class; that the pervading societal vices were equally prevalent within the small but unique population of the Armed Forces.

Brigadier - General Alabi Isama was an officer at the 4th Area Command of the Nigeria Army in Benin City, the Midwest capital before the Nigeria – Biafra war broke out in July 1967.

He had a stint in the Biafran Army during their two months, occupation of the Midwest from August 9, 1967, until he had an escape route to join the federal troops, taking all forms of dangerous risks: After the liberation of the Midwest by the federal troops, he was summoned to Lagos by the then Head of State, General Yabubu Gowon, only to find himself at the Kirikiri prison.

He was later released and posted to the newly established Third Marine Commando Division (3MCDO) as the Chief of Staff under the Command of Col and later Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle. He remained at the war theatre throughout the three years duration of the war. Retired from the Nigerian Army in 1977,

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Read The Tragedy of Victory and think Alabi-Isama now lives in the United States of America as a communication consultant.

The Tragedy of Victory is compartmentalised into three parts. In part one, the author in a chronological order narrated the story of his early life. The only son of a mother in a polygamous inter-tribal marriage.

His mother from Ilorin and his father from Ukwuani, an authentic ethnic minority tribe, linguistically related to the Igbo tribe and culturally linked to the Edo tribe. He decided to join the Nigerian Army at the age of 20, on leaving the high school against his mother’s wish.

The author tabled the records of his military trainings in Nigeria and overseas and his service in the Congo during that country’s national crisis of the early 1960s as a member of the United Nations peace keeping force.

Having a vast knowledge of Nigeria’s pre-and post independence political history, he touched on the contradictions in the Nigerian geo-political system; the beginning of the national political crises; the military coup of January 1966; the rumples within the Armed Forces, the vengeful counter coup of July 1966 that followed; the eventual blood bath and the pogrom against the Igbo race and other southerners in Northern Nigeria and the Igbo exodus to their original homeland in Eastern Region. The blood letting led to the break away of the former Eastern Region from Nigeria, becoming the Republic of Biafra led by Col. Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.

The outcome of the declaration of Biafra was a war between the two sides which started in July 1967.Things started happening in sequence as Biafran soldiers invaded and occupied the Midwestern region. Most of the Midwest Igbo military officers defected to Biafra, while Alabi-Isama made good his planned escape to the federal side on the liberation of the Midwestern region by the Nigerian Army, 2 nd Division commanded by the late General Murtala Muhammed, then a colonel.

On joining the 3 MCDO in Calabar after his brief Kirikiri experience, he suggested the idea to attack Port Harcourt from Calabar.The wisdom of the strategic plan to march from Calabar for the liberation of Port Harcourt, a distance of over 400 kilometres, instead of Bonny which was nearer, was a subject of long debates for many days by the war commanders, and at last the Alabi-Isama proposal prevailed.

In part two, Brigadier – General Alabi – Isama related in details the strategic plots and all the ordeals

experienced in the liberation of Port Harcourt and all the rivevine cities, including Oron, Eket, Obubra, Ugeb and other major points in the old South Eastern and Rivers states. The role of the Navy and the Air Force in the battle for the capture of Port Harcourt added strength to the exercise.

The book traced the politics behind Brigadier Adekunle’s replacement by the then Brigadier Olusegun Obasanjo. On Obasanjo’s assumption of office at the 3 CMDO, political intrigues came to the war front. Obasanjo was not very good at listening to genuine advice and this led to many wrong orders which claimed the lives of thousands of troops at the Owerri sector.

With both sides tired and exhausted by the fatigue of a baseless war, the final push and fall of UliIhiala, the Biafra last strong

hold, hosting the Biafra Headquarter, the Airport and Radio station was a dramatic encounter led by the self-assured General Alani Akinrinade, then a Colonel. His meeting with the sensational Colonel Joe Achuzia, the rugged Biafran Army all-rounder, was a graphic, solemn and sombre affair as both sides laid down their weapons, after over two million people have been killed in an unnecessary war.

At the end of the war, the military embarked on re-organisation, involving itself everywhere into civil administration. Thus intrigues penetrated the Armed Forces as many officers took over the civilian functions for which they were least qualified. The authors talked of the attempt made to blackmail and dent the records of his long years of service in the military and the design to frame him up in the Dimka

“As one traverses the pages of the Tragedy of Victory, it becomes very clear that the military in 1966, plunged head long into the Nigerian political crises of the immediate post – independence era, without realising the gravity nor the complexity of the issues involved. It soon discovered that ethnic bias, tribalism and sectional feelings were not exclusive to the political class; that the pervading societal vices were equally prevalent within the small but unique population of the Armed Forces”

attempted coup of 1976. He finally withdrew his service from the army by resigning his commission in 1977.

By the time he left the army 36 years ago, the military had been divided into two groups, the group that believed in professionalism and the political group that believed in coup making festivals and the hustle to amass wealth.

In part three, Brigadier General Alabi-Isama simply made a critique of “ My Command” a book written in 1980 by General Obasanjo who took over the command of the 3CMDO after Brigadier Adekunle, six months to the end of the war. After his review and analysis of the book, backed up with documents, memos, and pictures, “My Command” looked more like a package of made-up stories and fibs told for self esteem Demonstrating with maps and statistics, the author observed the inherent incompatibility in the Nigerian formation created by the British. The northern regional government occupied a land area and population, bigger than the whole area occupied by the governments of the Eastern, Midwestern and Western Nigeria put together.

The author no doubt was very emotional while relating certain aspects of the events that happened during the war, which is understandable. One cannot help being emotional while relating a situation where you see colleagues you had just spoken to or even shared the same dinning pit shot dead the next moment, from bullets, fired by fellow Nigerians turned enemy in a war that was virtually needless. How the Ijaw nationalist Adaka Boro died was particularly a painful incident, evoking emotion.

Alabi- Isama highly elevated, valued and commended the role played by the Nigerian womanhood during the war. So many of them, young and old, volunteered as intelligence gatherers between the war borders. Some lived to tell the story, while so many others paid the supreme sacrifice.

The author paid a merited posthumous tribute to the late Ken Saro - Wiwa, the matyred Ogoni self determination and environmental rights intellectual and activist, who he mentioned worked hard effectively to organise the civilian population in support of the federal troops in the liberated areas throughout the war.

At the launch of the book on July 18, 2013, which was attended by many important persons at the NIIA in Lagos, the sight of many of the retired soldiers and officers was very pathetic, some came on wheel chair, many looking

frail and many others struck by total or partial stroke, shaking with the wasting ailment of Parkinson diseases, abandoned in misery, after fighting a bloody war for ‘unity.’

Said Alabi-Isama, “Sometimes I begin to wonder if the Nzeogwu/ Ifeajuna January 1966 coup was worth it and when we all got there, what good came out of it for the people other than to some opportunists at the expense of the masses.”

The book is coming at a time military rule all over the world has been condemned and discredited, even by the military rulers themselves.

The whole narrative portrayed the military adventure into politics in 1966 as a mission in self annihilation. Lacking the basic skills for civil administration, as soon as the coup plotters succeeded in dismissing the politicians from power, the hard core civil servants seized the rein of authority from them and started creating wealth for themselves and their favourites. The Tragedy of Victory published 43 years after the end of the Nigeria- Biafra war is a book for the younger generation who were not born or were toddlers during the war; many of them now holding responsible positions in the private and public sectors of the Nigerian establishment. They deserve to know about what happened in order to avoid past mistakes in planning for the future.

Before the military intervention in 1966, members of the Nigerian political class had sufficiently discredited themselves.

Once again, Nigerian politicians are behaving in a way that suggests to members of the public; “get what you can, today, for there may be no tomorrow”.

What the Alabi- Isama book has eloquently told the Nigerian nation in the Tragedy of Victory is the cold fact that Nigeria is working but doing the wrong job; that the country is solving the problems of its socioeconomic theory base but arriving at answers with the wrong formulas; that we are moving but advancing on the wrong road, leading to a wrong destination Rich in details, the book did not just reel out only grievances by telling readers about what went wrong in Nigeria, but it also produced an outline on how to get about solving the problems, stressing on restructuring. The Tragedy of Victory is a book any body that cares about the future of Nigeria should read and think.

•Ilenre is Secretary General, Ethnic Minority and Indigenous Rights Organization of Africa (EMIROAF)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

News

Osun to eradicate illiteracy From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

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HE Osun State Government will soon embark on a programme on the eradication of illiteracy among the youth and the elderly in the state.

The state Deputy Governor, Mrs. Grace Titi Laoye-Tomori, disclosed this at a workshop on the revitalisation of youth and adult literacy in Ada, Osun State.

She added that the state government’s focus was on how to extend a second chance literacy opportunity to disadvantaged youths and adults, particularly women in the state.

The 5-day workshop organised by the state Ministry of Education in collaboration with the United Nations, Education, Scientific and Cultural Education (UNESCO) and National Commission for Mass Education (NCME), was for the training of facilitators on youth and adult literacy.

The deputy governor, who is also the Commissioner for Education, said many of the less privileged people in the society are illetrates due to the harsh socio-economic factors that forced the situation on them and made them miss the opportunities offered by formal education.

Represented by the permanent secretary in the ministry, Mr. Lawrence Oyeniran, the deputy governor reiterated the commitment of the state government to the physical and mental well being of the people, assuring that “this administration will assist youths and adults illiterates in realising their dreams of better future.”

The Executive Secretary, National Commission for Mass Education, Alhaji Jibrin Paiko, through the Director, Higher Education, Mr. Tunde Ajiboye, said the success of literacy programme nationwide depends largely on the support of the state and local governments.

The Director, Osun Mass Education Agency, Mr. Olugbenga Dairo, said Osun State was determined to make the education for the less privileged work because, according to him “an elightened population is a great asset to the nation.”

Nasarawa violence escalates

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HE communal crises in Obi Local Government area of Nasarawa State that claimed over 20 lives escalated yesterday with reports of razed properties at Asakio in Lafia Local government area of the state.

It was learnt that the crises that started between the Alago

•Women, kids flee troubled spots From: Johnny Danjuma, Lafia

and their Eggon counterparts last Thursday in Obi council area has spread to Assakio in Lafia Local Government Area.

•Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, with former Minister of Education, Prof. Rukayyatu Rufa’I at a civic reception in her honour in Dutse… at the weekend.

PHOTO: NAN.

2015: Kaduna ALGON divided over Yero

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HE Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) in Kaduna State is divided over the alleged endorsement of Governor Mukthar Yero for the 2015 governorship election.

While ALGON’s chairman, Danjuma Akuso, said that the association has decided to endorse the governor for the election, the chairman of Kaduna North Local Government Area, Samaila Suleiman, said he was never part of such exercise.

Suleiman said such endorsement was null and void.

But ALGON’s chairman said they endorsed the governor because of his style of leadership, which has brought governance closer to the people.

He said that since assuming office last December, Yero has ensured that all monies belonging to the local government councils are released as and when due without any deduction aside teachers’ salaries.

Akuso assured that as grassroots politicians, the chairmen, their councillors and administrators of the 46

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

development areas in the state will do everything possible to ensure Yero emerges governor come 2015.

The endorsement, he claimed, is not to secure tenure elongation but to take the state to the next level.

But Suleiman, who is the only APC chairman in the state, said: “I was invited here as a member of the executive committee of ALGON to address

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the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said: “We are very much disappointed with the way the politicians have destroyed our economy, extinguished our hopes and sunk this country into debt and economic ruination.

“Our own political movement is to rescue this country and what is left of our people.

“With the levers of power we hope to demonstrate those ideas, those ideals to which we hold firmly.

“We also hope that with

the media on how the 23 local government councils have fared so far and not to endorse anybody for whatever position regardless of his political party.

“I am of the APC extraction and I remain with the APC 100 percent. It is the people of Kaduna State that will determine who will govern them with the ultimate power of God come 2015.

“I am of the view that jus-

tice should prevail in whatever we do. I do call for a free and fair election come 2015 where the voices of all will be heard and what the majority wants will be what will be given to them”.

He dissociated himself from the endorsement of Yero, saying” “in as much as I cannot claim to be the husband of my neighbour’s wife, I cannot endorse anybody that is not from my own party”.

From: Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

cessing zone.

“The installation of power within the facility would strengthen the rural economy in this area, create job opportunity and strengthen capacity of Nigeria to be able to process the crops that are being produced by farmers.

“This will increase the level of foreign exchange and reduce dependency on oil revenue.”

‘Galma Dam will improve Kaduna’s economy’

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HE Galma Multipurpose Dam will improve the economic value of Kaduna with special focus on irrigation farming, water supply and hydropower generation when completed, the minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe, has declared.

She said the dam has reached 95 percent of completion.

Ochekpe explained that the facilities of the dam project include the development of irrigation facility to irrigate between 1,500 to 2,000 hectares of land and provision of water transfer from Galma Dam to the Zaria Dam to support the

Why I want to be senator, by Shehu Sani

human rights activist, Shehu Sani, yesterday said that his plan to contest for a senatorial seat in 2015 was borne out of zeal to give the people the dividends of democracy.

Sani told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna that most of the activists who fought for the actualisation of democratic rule in Nigeria are disappointed with the present political situation.

Sani is aspiring to represent Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the Senate on the platform of

Though no life has been lost yet, it was gathered houses and belongings have been razed on both sides.

Though the Police Public Relations Officer, Cornelius Ocholi, said he was not aware the crises had spread to Asakio

area yet, it was learnt no fewer than 40 people, mainly women and children, have fled the area.

They are said to be taking refuge in Keana Local Government Area while others are believed to have fled to the neighboring Benue State and other parts of Nasarawa.

power, we can connect our people to their own resources; we can end the regime of fraud, injustice and deception that has become the feature of our politics today,” he said.’

Sani said that if elected, he would make a huge difference in the way politicians behave in the country.

On the crisis in the PDP, the human rights activist described it as a blessing to opposition parties.

“The division in PDP will create the ground for the opposition to take over power in 2015,” he said.

Zaria Regional Water Project funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

According to her: “The hydropower component of the dam will generate about 2.5 megawatts being the core desire of the FG to see that the rural communities are well developed so that the country would have a staple crop pro-

Northern council chairmen seek autonomy

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HE chairmen of 419 local government councils in the North have called on the Federal Government to grant autonomy to all local government councils in the country to ensure transparent and efficient administration.

The group, under the aegis of Northern Local Government Chairmen’s Forum (NLGCF), also warned against politicisation of the on-going face-off between the Academic Staff Union of Universities and government.

The national chairman of NLGCF and Chairman Dekina Local Government Council in Kogi State, Mr. Ali Mohammed, told reporters in Abuja at the weekend that the internal crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a threat to the national

From: Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

interest.

He said: “The current ASUU strike should not be swindled with political strokes; rather ASUU and the Federal Government should, in the interest of our educational system and Nigerian students, resolve this matter amicably and on time too.”

The NLGCF also called on the PDP’s National Working Committee to broker peace and foster unity within the party to safeguard the unity and peaceful coexistence of Nigeria.

Mohammed said: “A political party is a big family bound to encounter crisis.

Thus a mechanism should be put in place to resolve the matter amicably.”

IG marries daughter of former FCT minister

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HE Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday married Zarha, the daughter of a one-time FCT Minister, Mr. Ibrahim Bunu.

The wedding “fatiha’’, which took place at the National Mosque, Abuja, was conducted by the Chief Imam of the mosque, Ustaz Musa Mohammed, who prayed for the success of the marriage.

Dignitaries at the wedding include Vice-President Namadi Sambo, two former Heads of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, the FCT Minister, Alhaji Bala Mohammed and members of the National Assembly.

The reception, which was held at the ThisDay Dome in the city-centre, was attended

by Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State; the Acting Governor of Taraba, Alhaji Garba Umar, Senators Andy Uba and Paulinus Igwe.

Others dignitaries at the reception include the former Chief Security Officer to late Gen. Sani Abacha, Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha, business moguls Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola as well as Chief Akin Oshuntokun, a former Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Alhaji Adamu Bello, who spoke on behalf of the bride’s family, described the turnout for the marriage as “fantastic’’ and expressed gratitude to Allah for the event.

Bello urged the couple to live according to Islamic tenets for the success of the marriage.

Stop heating the polity, PDP youths tell leaders

From: Tony Akowe, Kaduna

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group, the Kaduna Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Youth Solidarity Forum, yesterday charged leaders of the party to stop heating up the polity but seek alternative ways of addressing issues affecting them.

In a statement by its chairman, Danjuma Sarki, the group expressed support for the Bamanga Tukurled PDP. The youths, who were reacting to the division in the party, said the PDP in Kaduna State remains one, intact and indivisible under the chairmanship of Abubakar Haruna.

Haruna, they said, was duly endorsed by the caucus of the party in the state and has been performing well since assumption of office.

They described those behind the new PDP in the state as desperate politicians and spent forces seeking unavailable relevance.

A group, Save Kaduna, spearheaded by a former chairman of the PDP in the state, Yaro Makama, last week expressed support for the Abubakar Baraje- led faction of the party.

It accused the Vice President Sambo Namadi of failing to harness the fortunes of the party in the state for the collective good of all members.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

336 ex-militants, 8000 others benefit from NGO From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

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VER 336 ex-militants and 8, 000 others have benefited from various programmes initiated by the Search for Common Ground (SFCG), a nongovernmental organisation in partnership with European Union (EU) in the Niger Delta.

Making this disclosure yesterday was the Nigerian Director of SFCG, Chom Bagu, while presenting a report of 21 months capacity and peace building project in seven Niger Delta communities in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.

Going down memory lane, Bagu recalled the collaborative efforts made by his organisation towards the actualisation of the Amnesty programme.

“SFCG is funded by the European Union which seized the window of peace created by the Amnesty to initiate a holistic conflict resolution and community development project benefiting both the violent and peaceful in seven crisis prone communities transcending Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa State,” he stressed, adding: “We worked to engage the entire community, encouraging reintegration of exmilitants without undermining the frustrations of non-militant youth and other stakeholders, not directly benefiting from the Amnesty Process. We have succeeded in training 336 exmilitants and 8000 lives in various communities who benefited.”

News

Bayelsa police launch manhunt for new PDP members •Sylva loyalists flee, switch off phones T T •Ex-lawmakers, PDP ex-officials flay splinter group

Kingship crisis: Claimant writes Amaechi From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt

HE police in Bayelsa State on Saturday declared war against members of the Peoples Democratic Party who declared their loyalty for the Alhaji Kawu Baraje-led faction of the party.

Members of the splinter group who identified themselves as the new PDP are mainly loyalists of the estranged former governor of the state, Mr. Timpre Sylva.

The police were said to have launched a manhunt for the new PDP members who were reportedly on the run.

“Security agencies are after us. This has compelled most of us to go into hiding and to switch off our phones,” a member who pleaded anonymity said.

The state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hilary Opara, described the new PDP as an illegal political organisation and advised the people of the state to disassociate themselves from the group.

The police issued their statement shortly after a coalition of former PDP officials, legislators and ex-gov-

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

ernment officials visited the state headquarters of the party in Yenagoa to declare their allegiance to the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP. Opara in a statement vowed to clamp down on the activities of any group not legally registered in order to maintain the existing peace in the state.

Opara said: “The police in Bayelsa State have alerted the public of attempts by some people in the state to form an illegal political organisation under the name of ‘New PDP’ and advised lawabiding Bayelsans to dissociate themselves from the group.

“No such group or any other organisation not legally registered would be allowed to disrupt the existing peace and tranquility in the state.

“The police and other se-

curity agencies in the state have been put on notice and urged members of the public to promptly report the existence or the activities of such illegal groups in any part of the state to the nearest police station or security outfit for necessary action.

“While advising members of the law-abiding Bayelsa public to go about their legitimate businesses, we warn that anybody or group of persons that violate the order will be made to face the full wrath of the law.”

Also the coalition of former legislators and government officials led by the former Assistant National Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Blesson Akpoloma, disassociated themselves from the new PDP. Akpoloma said: “There can be no better time than this for every well-meaning Bayelsans to stand up and be counted on the side of rea-

son and good conscience. We hereby pledge our unalloyed loyalty and unfettered commitment to a one indivisible PDP at all levels.

“Those who claim to have founded a splinter group in the state PDP are best advised to retrace their steps as we remain convinced that our interests as Nigerians, as people of the Niger Delta and as Bayelsans are best served with the continuing Presidency of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

“Some have claimed that public officers who served under a previous administration in the state are disgruntled and have therefore resolved to defect to the splinter group.

“We unequivocally dissociate ourselves from any such position. In any event, must we in the pursuit of the goals of a state administration lose sight of the greater benefit of the Presidency?”

Kidnappers demand N10m for monarch’s release

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

A

BDUCTORS of Iyase N’ Udo in Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State, HRH Patrick Igbinudu, are demanding N10m from his subjects to secure his release.

HRH Igbinudu is the first traditional ruler to be abducted in Edo State.

He was abducted by four armed men inside his palace on Thursday at about 8:15pm and whisked through a river.

Some sources confirmed to The Nation that the kidnappers made contact on Saturday night demanding N100m and it was negotiated down to N10m.

It was gathered that the community leaders are making effort to raise the money to secure the release of their king.

A top ranking chief in the community, Chief Francis Osas Ihama, the Ihama of Udo told The Nation they would not have any problem with anybody if their king is released unconditionally.

Chief Francis described the abduction as a big blow to their community and the entire Bini race.”We have not seen a thing like this. Removing the head is a big blow to us.”

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•L-R: Director-general, Standards Organisation Of Nigeria (Son), Dr Joseph Odumodu; National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh and the Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC), Chief Osita Chidoka, at the League Of Anambra Professionals in Awka... at the weekend

Dickson warns contractors against delaying projects

B

AYELSA State Governor Seriake Dickson has warned contractors against delaying their projects beyond the timeline agreed.

Dickson, who gave the warning while inspecting projects over the weekend, insisted that projects must be completed timely and expeditiously.

The governor, who was in the company of other top government officials, expressed satisfaction with the pace of work on most of the projects, while assuring that the onsite inspection was to ensure that the jobs were executed according to specifications.

Dickson visited the ongoing construction of the governor and deputy governors’ office complex, government house clinic, new secretariat

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

annexes, modern police officers’ mess, and the state archives, museum and language centre.

He also toured the Gloryland Cultural Centre, pharmaceutical storage and distribution complex, ring road project, Elebele and flyover bridge project.

Dickson said he was particularly impressed with the

N

IGERIA Institute of Surveyors, Edo State branch and Esan Students Association have commended Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Prof. Osayuki Oshodin, for leading the fight against sexual harassment and corruption among lecturers.

Both bodies urged the VC to continue the fight against

pace of ongoing reconstruction of the GloryLand Cultural Centre.

He said he was excited at the quality of new sculptural work designed to enhance the aesthetics of the events centre.

But he ordered that the stage and some parts of the edifice should be redesigned to make them world-class.

He directed the Commissioner for State Capital Devel-

opment, Mr. Zuwa Konugha, to liaise with his Culture and Ijaw National Affairs counterpart to adorn the city with more artifacts portraying Ijaw culture and values.

The governor also directed the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Lawrence Ewrudjakpo, to ensure the construction of a befitting road to link the archives, museum and language centre.

HE controversy surrounding the Rebisis Kinship has escalated with the paramount ruler of Oro-Worukwo Community of Rebisi Kingdom in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area (PHALGA), of Rivers state, HRH, Eze Emeka Anyabelem insisting that he would not cede his position to other contenders to the throne.

Eze Anyabelem stated this in an open letter he addressed to the state governor, Chibuike Amaechi, on the deepening chieftaincy crisis in the community.

In the petition tagged: ‘Open letter against blackmail, mischief and campaign of calumny by Barr.

Uche Isaiah Elikwu and Prince Victor Woluchem over the paramount rulership (Eze Apara Rebisi) of Rebisi/Port Harcourt and my person,’ the traditional ruler urged Governor Amaechi not to recognise any of the other two persons laying claims to the throne, describing them as mischief makers.

Rebisi traditional stool became vacant in 2011 after the death of the last ruler Eze Sunday Woluchem.

Two persons, including one of the sons, Victor Nnanna Woluchem and Uche Isaiah Elikwu, a lawyer were installed as the new occupants to the stool at different ceremonies recently.

Eze Anyabelem emerged after few days, claiming it was the turn of his community, OroWorukwo to occupy the seat, and as the incumbent paramount ruler of the community (OroWorukwo), he was the rightful person for the stool.

Besides, he faulted the coronation of the duo and their claim of Eze Epara Rebisi a traditional title he claimed was not known or recognised in the Kingdom or state.

He accused Woluchem and Elikwu of separately scheming to mislead the government and people of the state by creating the impression that he and his subjects have relinquished their right to the throne to them.

He urged the governor and the government of the state to jettison their ploys and not accord them any recognition in the interest of peace, justice and fair play.

Anyabelem maintained that neither him nor his people(members of his community) would ever cede, mortgage or alienate their rights to the throne of Eze Apara Rebisi, to duo or any of their sister communities.

Students, Surveyors hail UNIBEN VC From Osagie Otabor, Benin

such social vices until they are eliminated in the institution.

They spoke separately during a courtesy call on the VC. The students under the auspices of Esan Students Association passed a vote of con-

fidence on the leadership style of Prof. Oshodin.

President of the body, Sunday Ogun said there was a big difference between the administration of Oshodin and previous administrations.

The chairman of NIS,

Eromosele Iria Oboh, expressed the body’s readiness to partner with the university to develop the newly created department of geomatics.

He stated that establishment of the Geomatics Department in the university has been their dreams.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2013

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Etcetera

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

POLITICKLE

The readers’ writer •Advanced edition

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

FOR effective transition from reader to writer, productive time spent in the library - home, school or public - helps. The writer may loaf elsewhere, but only if it is documented. A story ultimately written could be lasting reward, but knowledge thus gleaned, character formed and thought pattern shaped by the greatest books from all corners of the world similarly enrich.

To mine a rich field of thoughts, dreams and experiences, however, let the budding writer keep a notebook by his side as much as possible for natural and ready writing material. Thoughts and possibly dreams recorded are often valuable. The writing process thus becomes infinite: a single process merely punctuated by sleep.

But be wary of comparison or mimicry. Just as an original writer imitates no-one, none can imitate him. Do not confuse words or misplace and misuse them, as the difference between the right word and the almost right appears immediately clear to the discerning mind. Yet, words are not the same in the hands or minds of writers; while some chisel away, others conjure them.

Note that with conviction, confidence and courage, as well as the ability to improvise, everything and anything is writable. As a creator, you can be present everywhere and visible nowhere in your writing. Mind the gap between your inner vision and eventual expression. It is never completely bridged. Only, as a contributor to the history of mankind, be fair in treatment of your subject, man or material.

Do you desperately need ideas? Relax. Ideas could come simply from staring out of the window or doing chores in the house. Just remember, when something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.

What about dialogue? Yes, by all means. But better to qualify the speech with expressions, pauses, adjustments of shirt collars, drawing imaginary stick figures on the dinner table and crossings of legs.

Your story should have a beginning, middle and end, but not necessarily in that order. Learn to leave out the parts that the reader might skip as he would easily detect what you state as well as whisper. In fact, he would sooner hear the wind and market square din than note spelling and pronunciation.

The two most engaging powers of an author are therefore making new things familiar and familiar things new. There are no new materials in other words. To lasting extent, writing entails recycling of plots, climax and anticlimax of thoughts and materials already handled by the ancients.

Nonetheless, whatever and however you write, learn to use adverbs judiciously. Deploy more verb and employ less adjective. Treat your phrases tenderly. Use metaphors well, for they make for firm and meaningful writing.

The best writing will also evince some form of suspense. To do this, the skillful writer often arrives at a simple conclusion by some puzzle.

Now here’s the catch: every time you compose a story, your character is at stake. A writer’s style clearly gives an idea of the man behind the work.

Beyond the inclination for simplicity or flourish, the writer must seek to refine personal thought and character to complement skill, for, words, so innocent and powerless in a dictionary, become compelling, even damaging in the hands of the malevolent. A good book justifies its hero as a bad book justifies its author.

Finished? Likely not. At the point where you think you are satisfied with your work, you begin to clearly and logically grasp what you really want to say. So, sleep on your work; take a walk over it; scrutinise it early on a morning; pore over it on an afternoon; chew it like a meal; let it lie for months, even.

Whereas it takes an hour to write a paragraph with imagination, it may take only a minute to cut. You become an author when you expunge the useless parts of your hard writing without sentiment. Write with your heart and re-write with your head.

In the end, writing is bliss; it takes you to a place where words tango with human emotions until a work of art emerges. It’s not plain sailing all the time, of course. Now and then, the writer is stumped and his mind a blank. But as every practiced writer knows, respite remedies writer’s block. The itch returns soon enough for you to fill pages meaningfully or punch away on the computer to your heart’s content.

QUOTE

Jokes Humour Smart Cookie THE neighbourhood day-care center spent time helping the kids memorise their home addresses. Little Jenny had her street name down, but couldn’t remember the house number.

“If our house is on fire and you call 911,” the teacher asked, “how will the firefighters know where to go?”

Little Jenny had a plan. “I’ll tell them to go to South 14th Street and look for the house that’s on fire.”

Pardon My French “WHO here speaks French?” demanded the sergeant. Three guys raised their hands.

“Good,” he said. “You get to clean the latrine. That’s a French word.”

Get Busy Signal SHORTLY after joining the Army, Joe was in line with some other inductees when the sergeant stepped forward with the day’s assignments. After handing over various tasks, he asked, “Does anyone here have experience with radio communications?”

A longtime radio operator, Joe said, “I do!”

“Good,” said the sergeant. “You can dig the hole for the new telephone pole.”

Wise Guy A CO-WORKER returned after lunch carrying a dress from the cleaners. “Pretty,” said one of the guys named Jerry. “Big date tonight?”

“I picked it up for a friend,” she said, adding, “Do you really think I could fit in a tiny thing like this?”

Jerry smiled and said, “Do you really think I’ve lived this long by answering questions like that?”

Painfully Funny Obituaries YOU’D die of embarrassment if these phrases appeared in your obituary: “She leaves behind a brother and 117 cats.”

“Passed away in a failed stunt that has already been viewed more than 40 million times on YouTube.”

“Was always quick to point out others’ grammatical errors.”

“Survived by his parents and his animatronic wife, Elizabot.”

•Adapted from the Internet

S

The writer writes in order to teach himself, to understand himself and to satisfy himself; the publishing of his ideas though it brings gratification, is a curious anticlimax.

—Alfred Kazin

TOPPING Writer’s Fountain COMMON ERRORS: It’s best to avoid having express how someone is looking at someone unnecessary details that just clutter up your else.

Examples: prose.

“His eyes bounced back and forth between Don’t have eyes performing impossible actions with oddly phrased sentences to them.”

“Her eyes shot daggers at him.”

“She dropped her eyes to the floor.”

Historical reference: “Her eyes clung to his.”

•Duffel bags are named after a town of “He devoured her with his eyes.”

Duffel, Belgium, where they were first “Her eyes darted across the room.” made.

“His eyes followed her across the room.”

•Motivated by his desire to avoid getting “Her eyes fell to her lap.” his hands dirty by building a mound of dirt Since readers easily form comical mental to place his ball on, Dr. George F. Grant pictures of eyeballs popping out of someone’s took a U.S. patent for the golf tee in 1899.

•Dr. Guillotin merely proposed the head and doing strange things or thinking machine that bears his name with the first it’s some kind of parody, it’s best to find a working model was made by his assistant more subtle, natural way of expressing how years later. When the machine attained the characters are looking at each other. One infamy in the French Revolution, way is to replace “eyes” with “gaze”.

Not: “His eyes followed her across the Dr.Guillotin protested its use and went to his grave claiming that the machine was room.”

But: “His gaze followed her across the unjustly named after him.

•Each king in a deck of playing cards room.”

Slashing unnecessary little details and represents a great king from history.

Spades: King David; Clubs: Alexander the directions cluttering up the pages clearly Great; Hearts: Charlemagne; and improve the flow of ideas and pick up the pace in your story.

Diamonds: Julius Caesar.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

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EBERE WABARA

WORDSWORTH 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Oguntunase replies critics

“L

ET me quickly say it for the benefit of Kola Danisa, Stanley Nduagu and others of their like that I was educated by the British and trained by the Germans in the Old West Germany. Besides, I started writing a column, Mind Your Language, on the English crises or challenges in Nigeria in May 1984 in the defunct National Concord.

From the outset, I made it known that English, like German, is a dynamic language. The use of the word ‘dynamic’ implies that the language is not static, and that it adapts itself to usage and the demands made upon it by the users. Language is always changing! “’Upliftment’, meaning ‘uplift’, is a NOUN, like ‘uplift’ and ‘uplifter’; while ‘uplift’ is verb and Noun (WORLD BOOK DICTIONARY, Page 2299) refers. A teacher is a student; nobody is too old to learn. A man must change in a changing world. And only a horse does not change its mind. After all, a change is as good as a feast!

Gentlemen, you must keep abreast of the current tendencies in the English language. “’Shorthand for something’, meaning ‘a shorter way of saying or referring to something, which may not be as accurate as the more complicated way of saying it’, is an idiom. Example: ‘Mad Cow Disease’ is shorthand for ‘Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy’; ‘Exco’ is shorthand for ‘Executive Council’; ‘telly’ is shorthand for ‘television’; ‘advert’ is shorthand for ‘advertisement/ advertorial’; ‘congrats’ is shorthand for ‘congratulations’. “’British English (BE) resists the use of VERBS as NOUNS as American English (AE) does such as ‘author, critique, host, impact, hemorrhage, loan, party, pressure, and roundtable’; also ‘gun (down)’ which means ‘shoot’ (The Economist STYLE GUIDE–-The Best–Selling Guide on English Usage, Page 74). You can add ‘debut’, ‘task’ and ‘chairman’-–all of which had been made verbs through the force of usage and American influence!

“’I repeat, ‘about’ means ‘approximately, nearly, some, circa, more or less’ E.g. ‘About 142 persons reportedly died last April–- some refer to it as Bloody April–-in road mishaps.’ (The PUNCH Editorial, August 14, 2013). ‘The deportation of about 70 beggars to Anambra State by the Lagos State Government caused national uproar. “’If you are not sure whether to use a term, look it up in a current College Dictionary-–NEOLOGISMS (The Brief Holt Handbook by Kirszner & Mandell, Page 157) Not ‘check it up’ in the College Dictionary! The Mother and Child Centre (MCC) of Ifako Ijaiye General Hospital on College Road, is a beehive of activity (THE NATION HEALTH Page, July 23, 2013). “’Witch hunt’ or ‘witch–hunt’ is a noun; ‘Witch–hunting’, is a noun and an adjective (in the informal sense or context); ‘witch–hunting’ (a noun) means ‘witch hunt’; as an adjective, it means ‘of or having to do with a witch hunt’.

Truly, ‘witch hunt’ has not yet been verbalised.

“The central question is: am I to blame when some users of the language can’t read on a daily basis or when they can’t afford to buy desk dictionaries? This is simply an academic exercise regarding linguistic skills and word usage.” (Bayo Oguntunase/08056180046) LAST week, I extracted a faulty sentence from The PUNCH Editorial of September 6 entitled ‘False dawn in railway sector’ and carried it here without pointing out the error: “Not only are the roads decrepit, an endless caravan of trailers and trucks hauling petroleum products and other goods from one point to the other compounds the chaos around the country.” ‘One point to the other’ is restrictive (just two points, actually), when the writer meant ‘one point to another’— implying a limitless latitude—which is the right context.

NATIONAL MIRROR Front, News, Editorial and Back pages of September 12 fumbled: “Lobby for replacements begin (begins)” “ S a c k e d ministers…how they

fared: Mailafia’s tenure holds (held) much promise, but little impact” “…Nigerian staff of the then Zain GSM network operator, (sic) (now Airtel) raised alarm (the alarm) over the systematic replacement….” “…the commissioning ceremony (the inauguration) of a new cement plant in Ewekoro, Ogun State.” And this: 36 years (years’) time.

The PUNCH AM BUSINESS of September 11goofed: “People like this (these) are referred to as asset rich, cash poor.”

“A major financial crisis can cause one to dispose of their (one’s) assets at a giveaway price because they need (one needs) the money urgently.” And this: every buyers (buyer’s) dream.

Wrong: intelligent quotient; right: intelligence quotient DAILY SUN of September 11indulged in farcical legalese: “Land tussle: Judge advises parties to settle out-of-court (out of court)” The noun ‘out-of-court settlement’ is different from the context here (that is without hyphenation).

“Making a mountain from a little heap of sand” (DAILY SUN OPINION Page Headline, September 11) Fixed/stock expression: make (making) a mountain out of a molehill—not ‘from a little heap of sand’!

The PUNCH AM (sic) BUSINESS of September 9 commercialised the English language: “While some advocate for the flexibility that a homebased business gives….”

Delete ‘for’.

“This makes it easier to achieve ones (one’s) goals.”

“But when distractions like this become very common it disturbs business focus.” Either of these: distractions like these or a distraction like this.

“From reading materials daily to attending annual conferences or trainings, effort should be put into self-advancement.” Self-improvement: ‘training’ is uncountable.

“The Delta State Government flags off (launches/inaugurates) the Delta Education Marshals (Delta E d u M a r s h a l s ) Programme on 16th September, 2013.” (Full-page advertisement)

O

N July 4, 2013 the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) embarked on a nation-wide s t r i k e to press for the implementation of the 2009 agreement signed with the Federal Government.

One of the critical issues in the agreement is the urgent need to provide critical infrastructure on the university campuses or rehabilitate existing facilities in deplorable state of decay.

In order to tackle the problem of gross infrastructural deficit on the campuses in a systematic manner, the Federal Government set up a Needs Assessment Committee made up of Federal Government officials drawn from relevant agencies, representatives of the governing councils of the universities and the ASUU. The committee toured all the federal and state universities in the country to obtain first hand, the status of infrastructure on the campuses with the view to ascertaining the quantity and quality of facilities required on each of the campuses that would make learning, teaching and research more conducive for both the students and lecturers.

A comprehensive report made from this exercise and a technical report drawn from the main report was presented to the National Council on Education, the highest policy-making body on education matters in the country for ratification. The report was also presented to the Federal Executive Council and the National Economic Council which variously approved the report. Having received the necessary approvals, the stage was set for its implementation, hence the setting up of the Needs Assessment Implementation Committee for the Nigerian Public Universities.

The committee headed by the Benue State Governor, Dr Gabriel Torwua Suswam, held its inaugural meeting on August 1, 2013 after its earlier inauguration by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. It has as members a Senator representing the Senate Committee on Education, Honourable Member representing the House of Representatives Committee on Education, the Ministers of Education, Labour and Productivity, Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC), Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Executive Secretaries of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund(TETFund) and Petroleum Technology Development Fund(PTDF), Chief Executives of the National Communications Commission(NCC), National Universities Commission(NUC) and representative of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation(SGF). Other members of the committee include the representatives of the ASUU, Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities(NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities(SSANU).

Since its inauguration, the committee took up its assignment with vigour and commitment leading to the successful mobilisation of N100billion for injection into the university system in the area of provision of infrastructure.

But achieving this feat within a few weeks was not an easy task.

Governor Suswam, the chair of the committee deployed his immense experience in handling labour matters in his state as well as his lobbying skills as a former legislator and his understanding of bureaucratic processes as governor of Benue State to bear on the assignment while harnessing every useful idea from committee members for the desired result.

The first strategy deployed was to pool all contributions of the federal agencies to the provision

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

ASUU: Inside the Needs Assessment Implementation Committee

•Suswam

By Cletus Akwaya of infrastructure to universities which was hitherto done in haphazard or uncoordinated manner. This strategy saw the NNPC, CBN, PTDF, NCC, and TeTFund all bring huge sums of money which amounted to the N100billion raised for the first phase of intervention in the provision of critical infrastructure on the university campuses.

The next critical step in the committee’s assignment was how to distribute the N100billion to the state and federal universities in line with the Needs Assessment Report. To this end, a technical sub-committee was set up with representatives of ASUU to work out a formula for disbursement for the funds. The sub-committee benefitted immensely from the expertise of the ASUU representative, Dr Baffa, in the adoption of technical criteria as students population to determine how much funding would go to a particular university. The sub-committee relying on figures contained in the Needs Assessment report categorized the universities into three. The first category was those with students population of 30,000 and above, the second category had universities with students enrolment of between 25,000 and 29,000, the third category comprised universities with students size of between 15,000 and 19,000, while the fourth category had universities with students population of between 5,000 and 14,000.

The Technical Sub-Committee report was presented to the main committee for adoption. It was at this point that ASUU wrote to the committee announcing its intention to discontinue participation from meetings of the committee.

The committee nevertheless adopted the report of its Technical Sub-committee and approveddisbursement of various sums out of the N100billion to the 59 benefiting universities.

From the template approved by the committee, the University of Ibadan has received N3.25billion; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and the University of Benin have received N3.2billion; while the Bayero University Kano, Universities of Ilorin, Jos, Lagos, Maiduguri and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka have received N3.05bilion each from the fund. The other public universities also received various sums of money from the N100billion intervention package.

The funds were disbursed directly to the vice chancellors and chairmen of the governing councils of the universities at a meeting held on August 23, 2013. The management of the various universities and their councils were directed to quickly complete the procurement processes and get the projects started. The committee further directed that both the renovation works and new projects initiated should be completed within 12 months. The disbursed funds are to be committed to the construction of new

hostels of various sizes, renovation of existing hostels, building of new lecture theatres, classrooms, laboratories and libraries in accordance with the priority needs of the universities as already captured in the Needs Assessment Report.

It is important to emphasize that the Presidential Implementation Committee headed by Governor Suswam has nothing to do with the award of contracts under this programme as the governing councils of the universities have the overall control of the funds disbursed to their respective institutions.

At this point, it is pertinent to return to the concerns raised by the ASUU on basis of which it opted out of the committee.

After a careful analysis of the situation, the ASUU’s action was premature and not based on the realities of the situation since the issues raised in its letter of August 20, 2013 either did not arise or were adequately addressed in subsequent meetings of the committee. For instance, the federal government disbursed the N100b directly to the universities and assured that the Due Process Office would be contacted to fast track the procurement processes of projects under this programme. Besides, the committee disbursed every kobo of the N100b to the 59 universities.

This also addressed the fears of “pinching and pilfering” raised by the ASUU in its letter earlier referred to.

Also, the disbursement of the N100b was based on the criterion of population of students as proposed by the ASUU while the choice of projects in each university was in line with the Needs Assessment Report.

The other issue worthy of further elucidation is the quantum of funds to be injected into the system for provision of infrastructure. In the ASUU’s view, the 2009 agreement provided for N100b capital injection to stimulate the process of infrastructure on the campuses. This was to be followed by a progressive increase on an annual basis up to the tune of N400b by 2014. The Federal Government unfortunately could not commence this aspect of the agreement in 2009. The Federal Government position is that although there were delays in the implementation of this aspect of the agreement, having commenced the process in 2013 with N100b, there would be annual progressive intervention in the following years.The Chairman of the committee, Governor Suswam has repeatedly assured that based on the assurances received from the sources of funds (federal agencies) more funds would be mobilized and progressively applied to the identified needs of all Nigerian public universities. It is evident from assurances received that funds for the intervention package for 2014 will surely increase and possibly double in quantum. What this means is that the universities would in the same vein progressively increase the quality and quantity of their infrastructural facilities.

From the foregoing, there is absolute need for the ASUU to have a rethink and discontinue the strike. The two-month old strike has yielded results in the sense that the ASUU has by the measure got the Federal Government to begin work on the infrastructural requirements of the public universities. The ASUU can and should encourage the Federal Government to continue in this direction by calling off the strike to enable the students resume lectures on the various campuses.

• Akwaya, a Public Affairs Analyst, wrote from Makurdi, Benue State.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

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With Hannah Ojo 08062952262

PRIZE GIVING

Hello Children, Hello Children, How time flies? Now the holiday is closing by and it is time to get our books and paper and head back to school. As you plan towards another school season, resolve in your heart to start on a bright note. With hardwork and dedication; your dreams of coming out with flying colours at the end of the term would be sure. Also, this is another period for parents to cough out hard earned money for school fees so pray for your parents and respect their wishes. Till we meet next week; better your best and be at your best behaviour!

GRADUATION

•Graduating pupils of Fesola International Kiddies School, Oko-Oba, presenting a gift to Mrs Sola Iyiola, the proprietress of the school

Sunshine School’s best pupil gets scholarship T HE memory of the second prize giving/end of the session party of Sunshine School, Magboro, Ogun State, which took place recently will continue to linger in the minds of parents and children present at the occasion.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of a scholarship by the Chairman of the occasion, Mr Biyi Odusola, to Miss Busola Akinola, a basic 5 pupil who emerged the best pupil of the year.

In an emotion-laden voice, Odusola, said he was motivated to present the prize in memory of his late brother, Adetola Odusola, a youth corps member who was killed during the Jos crisis. Other students who also got rewarded for academic excellence include Ikechukwu Gbemudu from Basic 4 and Ayomide Ibrahim from basic 2.

To encourage the reading culture of the students, a special guest at the occasion, Engr. Felix Oyediran donated books worth N50, 000 to the school library. Mrs Chika Gbemudu who won the best teacher award got a standing fan as a gift.

•Ikechukwu Gbemudu (left), Basic four second best pupil of Sunshine School, Magboro, Ogun State (2012/ 2013 session) receives a prize from Chairman of the occasion, Mr. Biyi Odusola during the school’s prize giving/end of the session party

WORD WHEEL

JOKES Police: Akpors: Police: Akpors: Police: Akpors: Police: Akpors: Police: Akpors: Police: Akpors:

•Cultural dance performed by pupils of Mariesworth School, at the annual thanksgiving and prize giving graduation service of the school held last week at the teens church building of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Ojudu, Lagos

HOW many words of three or more letters, each including the letter at centre of the wheel, can you make from this diagram? We've found 31, including one nine-letter word

Where do you live?

With my parents.

Where do your parents live?

With me Where do you all live?

Together Where is your house?

Next to my neigbour’s house.

Where is your neighbour’s house?

If I tell you, you won’t believe me.

Tell me?

Next to my house.

SUDOKU To play Sudoku: Fill the box with the numbers 1 to 9 in a way that •Each column must contain all of the numbers 1 through 9 •Each row must contain all of the numbers 1 through 9 •Each block must contain all of the numbers 1 through 9 •No two numbers in the same column, row, or block can be the same.

3

2 7 5 7

8 4 6

3

2

9

5

3 6 3

3 8

1

Send in your stories, poems, articles, games, puzzles, riddles and jokes to sundaynation@yahoo.com

1 4

5 2

7 4

9 5 8 2

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THE NATION SPORT SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

SPORT EXTRA

Fed Cup Final: Enyimba, Wolves battle for supremacy

Ideye:

I

T will be winners take all in Sunday's Federation Cup final between Enyimba and Warri Wolves after both teams cancelled themselves out in the league this season.

This season, both cup finalists have drawn in the league and so this cup final will determine who is the better team.

Enyimba have won the cup competition twice, while Wolves are yet to clinch it.

Enyimba striker Fidelis Saviour told MTNFootball.com that he is gunning for his second Federations cup title against Warri Wolves after helping Kaduna United beat Enyimba 3-2 in 2010 edition.

"This is my second time of playing in the final of the Federation Cup. I want to win it again. We have met Wolves twice this season and both matches ended in draws and so this will be the decider for both teams this season.

We have a strong team to beat them,” Saviour declared.

Last season's league hotshot Sibi Gwar said he hopes to get his first cup winners' medal with Enyimba on Sunday.

"This is the first time I will be playing at this level of the competition, so I want to win it. It is not going to be an easy game, so I expect a good challenge from Warri Wolves,” said the former Niger Tornadoes star.

“I pity them, they are meeting us at a wrong time because we are in form of our life now, with God on our side, we will triumph."

However, Warri Wolves captain Azubuike Egwuekwe told MTNFootball.com that they have score to settle with Enyimba in the Federation Cup final.

"It is not going to be an easy game we all know after how we all worked hard to get here. It will be an interesting match but we have scores to settle. We could not beat them in both league games this season. We are therefore looking forward to win the Federation Cup and that way settle the scores," Egwuekwe stated.

Wolves goalkeeper John Dosu added: "Everybody is expecting an interesting and tough game, but we will come out victorious because we have prepared well for the game."

Wenger hails 'outstanding' Ozil after Arsenal debut

A

RSENE Wenger has hailed the impact of Mesut Ozil after the play-maker sparkled on his Arsenal debut against Sunderland.

Ozil shrugged off illness to make his first start in a Gunners start at the Stadium of Light, and bagged an assist in a 3-1 victory.

And speaking after the match, Wenger admitted he was delighted with the performance of his new £42.5million signing.

'He was absolutely outstanding,' Wenger told Sky Sports.

'In the second half he was lacking a bit physically, but considering he has been ill this week, he was very good.'

Wenger went on to praise the performance of his side, who struggled after Olivier Giroud's opener, before Aaron Ramsey hit a late brace to seal the win.

'It was a very interesting match,' explained the Arsenal manager.

'There were lots of good chances early on, and we could have won the game by half-time. We dropped physically in the second half, but we found a bit more and then took our chances.’

My best yet to come B

Kanu wants Jonathan support for Eagles

E

RSTWHILE Super Eagles' captain, Nwankwo Kanu has begged President Goodluck Jonathan not to wane in his support for the senior national team towards qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The Super Eagles last weekend edged out Malawi to qualify for the final round of the African Zone qualifiers and would know her opponent when the draw is held tomorrow in Cairo.

“Let me use this opportunity to thank President Jonathan for his continued support for the Super Eagles specially since the beginning of this year when we won the African Cup of Nations in South Africa,” said Kanu, who captained the Super Eagles to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Nigeria is two matches away from qualifying for its fifth World Cup appearance and Kanu has therefore made a clarion call on President Jonathan to come to the aid of the team yet again.

He said: “By tomorrow, we are going to know the country we are going to meet in the final round;

every country would want to be at the World Cup in Brazil and it is important that we all rally behind the Super Eagles.

“Of course, President Jonathan has done so much for the Super Eagles recently but we need his support more now to ensure the team qualification for the World Cup.” He further enjoined the National Sports Commission (NSC) to work in tandem with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in the onerous task of seeing the Super Eagles make the trip to Brazil.

ROWN Ideye has told MTNFootball.com his best is yet to come despite his brace against Burkina Faso in a friendly in Kaduna.

He said he is delighted with the goals as he was sure his goals would come for the Super Eagles.

"I can't say this is my best moment for Eagles because I know I'm much better than what I did and it's just a matter of time for my goals to rain for my country," Ideye told MTNFootball.com "I thank God I scored both goals and I believe the goals will spur me to more in the subsequent matches “My priority has always been to contribute my quota to the success of the Super Eagles. But I also understand the critics, but sometimes it does not work except you are more patient."

The Dynamo Kiev striker said he has never allowed the criticisms weigh him down, but rather the knocks have driven him to work harder.

"I have never been bothered about the criticisms because I believe in myself so much and the coaches still have confidence in me," Ideye told MTNFootball.com "I will not give up irrespective of the challenges. I am happy to show that I can score goals and I am happy to say it with the two goals against Burkina Faso."

Abuja National Stadium reopens Tuesday

T

HE Abuja National Stadium pitch, which has been refurbished, will be handed over to National Sports Commission (NSC) on Tuesday.

Nigeria Golden Eaglets, the U17s, will take on Amakson Football Academy to test the pitch.

Ice prince Zamani, Wiz Kid and White Nigeria would perform during the reopening of the arena.

"We needed to make this a huge

ceremony to announce to the world that the Abuja National stadium is now ready for any world-class game," Stated Julius Ogunro, special assistant (media) to the Nigeria sports minister.

On whether the stadium would host the next Eagles game, Julius said, "I cannot confirm anything now, but nothing is cast on stone.

The point here is that Abuja is ready for the Eagles."

T.Akoma, Igho maintain top positions

T

HE Zenith Bank Delta State Division 1 league resumed over the week with T.Akoma Warri maintaining its top position on Group A table following an away win to Greater FC Warri.

The match ended 3-1 in favour of the high flying team from Warri.

T.Akoma also achieved the only victory on away soil in the eight matches played last Wednesday and Thursday.

With the latest win, T.Akoma now has 15 points amassed from five s and three losses, but still perched uncomfortably on top of Group B, a point Ekette United FC with 14 points.

Ekette of Ughelli got a 1-1 away draw against Golden Friends FC Ekpan to move to second position on the log table ahead of Golden Friends also closely pursuing with 13 points.

In Group B, the boys from Sapele; Igho FC are still hot favourites to nick the Group's ticket with 19 points having won six of their seven games. On Wednesday their match against Lisborne FC in Abraka was inconclusive when a when a referee was molested by the Abraka fans.

The board immediately met and invoked articles 4.0(2) which meant Lisborne FC are fined and banished to a neutral ground.

According to chairman Delta State Division 1 league board, Edema Fuludu, who was on ground and had first hand information on the match, “the

By Taiwo Alimi article was invoked because the referee by his actions caused the disruption of the game.”

The referee has also been suspended indefinitely from the league.

Swansong FC Asaba and Sundof Sapele are in second and third positions respectively, both having garnered 13 points. Swansong could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Ibusa United while Master Academy Irri defeated Sundof 2-1.

The next round of league matches will hold next Wednesday and Thursday across the state.

DELTA LEAGUE WEEK 8 RESULTS GROUP A Invincible Fc Warri 3 - 2Aghogho Fc Warri V.Go Money Fc Ughelli 0 0 Delta Rovers Fc Golden Friends Fc Ekpan 1 - 1 Ekete United Greater Fc Warri 1 - 3 T.Akoma Fc Warri GROUP B Lisborne Fc Abraka v s Igho Fc Sapele (inconclusive) Swansong Fc Asaba 1 - 1 Ibusa United Fc Prodigy Fc Kwale 3 - 1 Young Shall Grow Master Academy Irri 2 - 1 Sundof Fc Sapele

Arsenal and Man Utd victorious, City frustrated

A

FTER Manchester United FC defeated Crystal Palace FC in the early kick-off, Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC made it three wins out of four respectively while Manchester City FC drew.

Manchester United FC returned to form in the Premier League with a 2-0 home victory against ten-man Crystal Palace FC, on a day when Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC respectively made it three wins out of four.

Without a goal in their previous two games against Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC United required a penalty in first half added time to get their noses in front. Robin van Persie scored from the spot after Kagisho Dikgacoi had been dismissed for bringing down Ashley Young.

The champions, who after the break gave debuts to Marouane Fellaini and 18-year-old Adnan Januzaj, wrapped up the points through an 81st-minute free-kick from Rooney.

Hoffnung Foundation donates table-tennis equipment to schools

I

N the demonstration of its objective towards the development of sports at the grass root, Hoffnung Sports foundation has donated table tennis and badminton equipment for schools in Ogun State.

Dapo Akiode while making the donation which came barely after the formal launching of the Foundation promised to extend the gesture to more schools in the state with the intention of also spreading foundation's objective to other parts of the country.

Abeokuta Grammar School, Ijemo-Titun High School, African Church Grammar School, Nigerian Navy Boys Secondary School and Abeokuta Girls Grammar School were the first set of beneficiaries of table tennis equipments which were brought from Germany.

Some of the promising players in table tennis and badminton in Ogun State were also given equipments to aid their game.

Akiode, a former African junior champion, urged corporate bodies and individuals to assist the foundation to unearth the country's talent in table tennis and other racquet sports.

He lamented the absence of progressive developemtnal programme for the up and coming stars citing the case of Nigeria's Ganiyu Ashimiyu and Egypt's Omar Assar.

RESULTS England Man Utd 2 - 0 C. Palace A.Villa 1 - 2 Newcastle Fulham 1 - 1 West Brom Hull City 1 - 1 Cardiff City Stoke City 0 - 0 Man City Sunderland 1 - 3 Arsenal Tottenham 2 - 0 Norwich Everton 1 - 0 Chelsea SPAIN A. Madrid 4 - 2 Almeria GERMANY Augsburg 2 - 1 Freiburg Leverkusen 3 - 1 Wolfsburg Bayern 2 - 0 Hannover 96 Mainz 05 0 - 1 Schalke 04 Bremen 0 - 3 Frankfurt

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THE NATION SPORT SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

SPORT EXTRA

West Brom boss hails Anichebe

Eto'o scored low as Everton beat Chelsea S

Ramsey delighted at Arsenal win

A

ARON Ramsey expressed his delight at scoring another two goals after Arsenal beat Sunderland 3-1 away from home.

Ramsey has started the season in terrific form and he was impressive again as he helped the Gunners to victory at the Stadium of Light.

He has worked hard on his finishing and believes he is beginning to reap the rewards, although he admits Arsenal made hard work of seeing off the Black Cats.

"We were totally in control in the first half and then we conceded a goal very early in the second half," the Welshman told Sky Sports.

"The crowd was right behind them and we were under pressure, but we had to dig in and be patient and the goals came at the end. And I thought we deserved it in the end.

"I am delighted to be on the score sheet again. I feel like in the last few seasons I have been getting in the right positions but I've lacked composure maybe.

"Now I am feeling good again and everything is starting to click into place."

Ramsey is also relishing the prospect of lining up alongside Mesut Ozil on a weekly basis after the German impressed on his Arsenal debut.

"Absolutely. You have seen what he is all about today. He is a fantastic player and I think he is going to create a lot of opportunities for us," said Ramsey.

S

Pellegrini happy with Man City's 0-0 draw at Stoke

M

ANCHESTER City manager Manuel Pellegrini claimed that his side's 0-0 draw with Stoke City was a good result, given their busy schedule.

City were dominated for long periods at the Britannia Stadium, with Joe Hart making several saves and Jon Walters guilty of heading wide from close range.

The club have now taken just four points from their last three league games, a relatively inviting set of fixtures against Cardiff away and Hull City at home before the trip to Stoke.

However, the Chilean insisted that he was happy with how his side had fared.

"It was a very tough test," Pellegrini told Sky Sports.

"It's a difficult place to come, and it was also difficult because we have a Champions League game on Tuesday and had an international week. So it is a good draw.

"Players played with their national squads twice in a week. We have seven games in 21 days.”

TEVEN Naismith fired Everton to their first Premier League victory under new manager Roberto Martinez with a 1-0 win against Chelsea.

The home side took the lead moments before half-time as Ross Barkley and Leon Osman combined with the latter's cross to the far post nodded back across goal by Nikica Jelavic for Naismith to head beyond Petr Cech from close range.

Chelsea had already missed a host of chances in the first period, with Samuel Eto'o unable to open his account on his debut for the Stamford Bridge side and Gareth Barry preventing a certain goal with one superb challenge on the former Cameroon international.

The much-anticipated Premier League debut of Eto'o did not go to plan for the 32-yearold, who was outshone by Barry making his first appearance for the Toffees after his deadlineday loan move from Manchester City.

His class is not in doubt but the former Barcelona and Inter Milan forward may be a bit rusty after a money-spinning spell in Russia with Anzhi Makhachkala.

It certainly looked that way when he headed wide Ramires' cross after five minutes when he should have - at the very least hit the target.

More embarrassingly, the striker then ballooned a longrange shot into the upper tier of the Gwladys Street end.

Jose Mourinho's men dominated proceedings after the break and pushed Everton back for long periods, but they were unable to find a way past Tim Howard and his superbly

U

Vidal goal secures Juventus 1-1 draw at Inter

•Eto’o organised defence.

But Everton offered precious little up front themselves, with Jelavic's weak header and Naismith's cross-shot palmed away by Cech at the near post all they could muster in the opening half-hour - as midfielder Barkley began brightly but faded quickly.

And Martinez's preference for them to play out from the back almost cost them a goal when goalkeeper Howard tried to pass square from his six-yard box.

He found only Andre Schurrle, who cut back for Eto'o to shoot into an open goal, but as the striker eyed his first goal in English football, Barry slid in with perfect timing to deflect the ball behind.

The England international, out of favour at City, brings a wealth of experience greater and different to that of his fellow 32year-old midfield partner, Leon Osman.

And it may have been his first outing with his new team-mates but Barry's positioning, reading of the game and general calmness under pressure, give the Toffees a first-rate shield in front of the back four.

Chelsea cranked up the pressure in the 15 minutes before the break with Howard saving Ramires' shot from an Eto'o pass, Schurrle firing over after Ramires' run and Branislav Ivanovic heading over Juan Mata's freekick.

A

superb equaliser from Arturo Vidal earned Juventus a 1-1 draw at Inter Milan in an intriguing Derby of Italy clash in Serie A on Saturday.

Walter Mazzari's Inter took the lead on 73 minutes through Mauro Icardi's first goal for the club following fine work from Ricky Alvarez.

But the away side equalised two minutes later when Vidal expertly controlled Kwadwo Asamoah's drilled cross before clipping his third goal in three games past Inter keeper Samir Handanovic.

Sanchez: Ronaldo worth more than Bale

R Martins goal lift Sounders to top spot S UPER Eagles striker, Obafemi Martins, again showed what he can bring to the table when he is fit as he scored a goal for Seattle Sounders in their 2-0 win over conference rival, Real Salt Lake, in the early hours of Saturday.

The latest victory for Sounders has now shot them to the top spot in their conference as they now have 49 points from 27 games.

Martins and Neagle scored in the first half to secure the latest victory before an impressive

Nadal keeps Spain in Davis Cup World Group S Open champion Rafael Nadal teamed up with Marc Lopez to give Spain an unassailable 3-0 lead over Ukraine in their Davis Cup World Group play-off on Saturday.

The Spanish pair beat Denys Molchanov and Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-4 in just over three hours to ensure the five-time champions will remain amongst the world's top 16 nations next year.

It was Nadal's third best-of-five set match in just six days as after sealing his 13th Grand Slam title in New York on Monday, he cruised to a 6-0, 6-0, 6-4 win over Stakhovsky on Friday.

The 27-year-old hadn't been expected to play in the doubles having not done so in the Davis Cup since pairing up with Fernando Verdasco to beat the Italian pair of Daniele Bracciali and Giorgio Galimberti back in 2005.

However, Nadal admitted on Friday that having made the effort

TEVE Clarke spoke of his relief as his West Brom side finally scored their first Premier League goal of the season in their 1-1 draw with Fulham.

Deadline day signings Victor Anichebe and Morgan Amalfitano were handed their West Brom debuts and Clarke believes that they both proved their worth at Craven Cottage.

"Victor is a big, strong striker, he showed all his qualities today. He can hold the ball up, can link the play well.

There was some good understanding with Nicolas (Anelka) as the second striker," said Clarke.

"Morgan's come from the top division, a top team in France. He understands the game, he understands his position very well and I thought for his first game in the Premier League, he's got to be really pleased with his contribution."

The Baggies had failed to find the net in their opening three games of the campaign, but Gareth McAuley's late header secured a point.

to come straight from six weeks on the American hard courts back onto the clay of the Spanish capital, it was only a small extra demand to play in the doubles.

And with the job now done for Alex Corretja's men, the world number two is expected to get a well-earned break for the dead rubbers on Sunday.

Nadal

55,107 fans at CenturyLink Field.

Martins' goal was his eighth of the season and in his third straight game; it was a quick strike due to the hustle of midfielder Andy Rose.

The Nigerian striker's pass was close to going over the end line, but Rose was able to chase it down and place a perfect pass to Martins, who was open in front of the net.

Saturday's victory is the Sounders' fifth in a row and moved them into the lead in the Western Conference by a point over RSL with two games in hand.

While Martins was in the thick of action all through, the returning duo of Dempsey and Johnson, who started in Tuesday's U.S. World Cup

EAL Madrid legend Hugo Sanchez believes that while Gareth Bale is now the world's most expensive player, Cristiano Ronaldo remains the more valuable.

Los Blancos paid Tottenham a against Mexico, came on only in record-breaking €100 million to bring the Wales international to the Santiago the second half.

Bernabeu just before the close of the summer transfer window.

The size of the fee caused controversy, but as far as Sanchez is concerned, the only odd thing about the price is that it has seen Bale replace Ronaldo as the game's most valuable player.

"If someone pays it, that is that he [Bale] is worth," the Mexican reasoned in an interview with Marca.

"What I do believe, though, either way, he would have to be worth less than Cristiano."

Meanwhile, Sanchez, a former Madrid No.9, had some words of support for Madrid striker Karim Benzema, who has come in for more criticism for his poor goalscoring record at international level for his •Martins native France.

Flying Eagles: Elegbeleye pledges to execute promise

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HE Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Gbenga Elegbeleye, has promised to present complaints of unexecuted scholarship from the Federal Government of Nigeria from the 1983 Flying Eagles team to the presidency thirty years after.

It was gathered that some members of the team, led by Paul Okoku who was the vice captain of the team, were at the office of the DG to lay an official complaint on Wednesday following reports in the media that the Federal Government was indeed oblivious of the pledges made by the Shehu

Shagari-led government.

Speaking to Okoku, he said: “We have filed in the document to support our claim, the DG has been gracious. He has promised to present our case to the minister and the Federal Government. This is the closest we have come in thirty years. It has renewed our hope in the system and it has brought hope to my colleagues abroad and here in Nigeria.

“My colleagues are monitoring the development and they are very excited, the DG has lifted their spirit again. The spirit they once had playing for Nigeria has been lifted again.

“We have come up with the list of players that played then and we have presented it to Mary Onyali.

The DG told me specifically that he will get back to me in due course. When I came to Nigeria after my initial travel, I needed money as a foreign student. Right now we are not putting any demand on them, we just hope that they would do something that will benefit us all either monetarily or otherwise. That is what we are hoping for. We are not putting any demand on them, the DG has given us a listening ear, so we just want to take it in at a time,” Okoku said.

QUOTABLE "The government should find a way to either privatise the universities or get ASUU to be limited to individual universities such as there will be no national ASUU body mandating even institutions without grievances to go on strike. There is no such body (ASUU) anywhere in the world. Challenges facing any institution should be treated locally without involving others…"

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 8, NO. 2609

— Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, carpeting university lecturers on the prolonged strike that has crippled university education for about three months

L

AST Wednesday, President Goodluck Jonathan suddenly and unexpectedly axed nine of his ministers, all of whom, it appeared, were appointed through those now ranged against him in political battle. It is instructive that when the president was finally persuaded to substantially reshuffle his cabinet, he did so in defence of private political objectives and in ways that baffled presidency watchers. We do not know whether Dr Jonathan appreciates the irony that dogs his presidency; but to many of us it is clear that whenever he projects power it is mainly to advance ignoble causes. Indeed, I add that anytime the president yields to his often overpowering inclination to do wrong, it is in spite of the loftiness of the cause before him and to the detriment of his imposing and outsized office. It was with characteristic surliness, for instance, that he deployed the military to crush the January 2012 nationwide fuel revolt when all he needed to do was placate the electorate and gain political capital as he grudgingly reduced the price of a litre of fuel from N145 to N97. In last week’s cabinet reshuffle, Dr Jonathan adds imprecision to surliness.

Perhaps tired of being punched and wrongfooted by his enemies, Dr Jonathan finally felt compelled to respond in a way that has left his aides struggling to rationalise what is obviously a baffling political move. Except newspaper reports quote presidency sources wrongly, it is known that the president and his aides are still negotiating with the Group of Seven governors and others sponsoring or inspiring them into intra-party revolt. But by moving against the G-7 nominees in his cabinet, it is not clear which the president values more: to root out those he suspects are disloyal to him; or to reconcile with the G-7 and restore peace and order in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). His priorities, however, seem already self-evident. It is obvious he intends to continue indulging his counterproductive pugnacity, a contentiousness that has been given fillip by the gerontocrats surrounding, captivating and seducing him to war. The president has enormous powers, they say, and it is both presidential and fitting to use them in such a manner that no one will be left with the mistaken belief that Dr Jonathan does not understand the nuances of power.

Dr Jonathan does not interpret the grievances of the G-7 governors as proceeding from their exasperation with the leadership style of the PDP chairman, Bamanga Tukur. Nor does he think those grievances, even if they were substantial or potent enough, were genuine.

Indeed, with the presence of the intrepid Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State in the ranks of the so-called rebels, the president is sufficiently persuaded to believe that rebellion, rather than grievances, was the bane of the party. The president also gives the impression, without saying so, that the rebellion is driven by a combination of irreverence (some call it rudeness), opposition machinations and deliberate contempt for his person and ability, all of which are summed up in the unflattering and insulting opinion that he is unfit to rule.

But rebellion, as he and his aides also secretly hold and whisper in pianissimo tones, should be crushed rather than mollified.

Jonathan goes for broke

•Jonathan

•Atiku

When political battles are cast in military terms and symbols, such as Dr Jonathan and his brash aides have done, it portends danger for both the state and the combatants. For even harmless feints, which former President Olusegun Obasanjo is besotted to in his uncalculating and continuing obsession for relevance, can easily become a gritty test of wills from which it is impossible to climb down. Dr Jonathan has faced many tests since he assumed power some four years ago, but none of those tests has produced in him the maturity, reflection, astuteness and perspicuity great leaders acquire after passing through trials. On the contrary, every notable test he has faced and every dubious victory he has achieved has made Dr Jonathan more intransigent, less contemplative and given to romanticising brute power. Having thus allowed himself to be persuaded that he faced war against the rebel governors, and after having cast himself obliquely as a war leader who needed to take decisive and powerful steps to rein in dissent, Dr Jonathan has decided to go for broke.

While it is incontestable that the many haphazard and unthinking policies of Alhaji Tukur spurred rebellion in the party, and while the president was more careless in overseeing the affairs of the party than he has deliberately courted trouble and disaffection, it is fair to say that his current temper is a reaction to the impertinent goading of the G-7 governors. By coming out with an alternative power structure on the day the PDP held its special convention in Abuja, and doing so with such secrecy as ridiculed, if not humiliated, the presidency and its coercive agencies, few failed to notice that the G-7 governors had also gone for broke. Given the stiffness of their conditions for peace in the

party, it seems inconceivable that the rebellious governors left room for any peaceful settlement now or in the future.

There is little doubt that the aggrieved G-7 governors drew first blood, and the president had to respond whether he liked it or not. What is in dispute, however, is whether in the circumstances the president has reacted with the decorum becoming his office and the restraint and circumspection he has claimed for himself for so long. By any standard, sacking nine ministers in one fell swoop is not only excessive and inexcusable, it is indicative of the president’s poor judgement in cabinet selection. It is also doubtful whether Dr Jonathan can convince himself, let alone the country, that the ministers he sacked were either incompetent or underperforming, or whether they were the only guilty ones. More crucially, even if he wishes to assemble a war cabinet for Poll 2015, as some now speculate, it is hard to see from where he would recruit those field officers who can deliver the easy victory he covets and who would not succumb to the rabidness and thoughtlessness of his man Fridays. Yet, it is well known in Abuja that it is his leadership style, not to say his lack of visionary depth, that predisposes his presidency to repeated mishaps, humiliation and crushing defeats.

Any rebellion, such as the one triggered by the G-7 governors, is not strange in politics.

In fact many established democracies, which run the parliamentary system, have witnessed the kind of political rebellion that is making Dr Jonathan froth at the mouth with rage. There will, therefore, always be rebellion, and presidents and political leaders must have the common sense and moderation to tackle it when it arises. Sadly, Dr Jonathan has approached the

It turns out CP Mbu is actually governor of Rivers

S

INCE the officious Rivers State police commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, began to lend himself for political uses, neither he nor victims of his insubordination have slept peacefully. His career seems fated to crumble like that of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Raphael Ige, who in 2003 led the abduction of Chris Ngige, then governor of Anambra State, but what does he care? He is inured to history and its harsh lessons. He boasts a high level of education from reputable schools, but in all his doings in Rivers State, he has shown nothing of the learning and character required of an educated officer and gentleman.

But Mr Mbu, we all appreciate, could never on his own summon the courage or the recklessness to undermine the person or office of the governor of the state as he did last Thursday when he blocked the access of the governor and his august visitors to the State House.

And like many of his colleagues, there is no

incentive in the police conditions of service, nor flexibility in their training, to equip them with the character required to resist unlawful orders or to call their souls their own. Except I err gravely, I do not also think the urbane Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, would give Mr Mbu orders to disrespect the Rivers State governor. If anything, I suspect that if it came to the crunch, the two, or any other police officer in their shoes, would simply and safely second-guess the presidency.

But whether they were ordered to disrespect and subvert the elected governor of Rivers or not, or they second-guessed the presidency with intent to curry favour or secure promotion or not, the important thing is that Mr Mbu has acted and presented himself as the real, not even alternate, governor of Rivers State.

He proves increasingly that he has more real power than the governor, and could even ruffle the feathers of the governor, if not singe them altogether, if provoked. That we elected

the defiant Governor Amaechi, not the snivelling and grovelling Mr Mbu, is, to the police officer, a small theoretical inconvenience.

Given the way he speaks whenever he crosses path and arms with the governor, it is obvious that Mr Mbu has assured himself that what obtains in the state, and in which he is not disadvantaged at all, is what historians describe as contrapuntal paramountcy. Cheeky analysts may even describe the balance of terror in Rivers State as a sort of dual mandate, where Mr Mbu draws his insidious and destabilising power from Abuja, and Mr Amaechi draws his legitimate power from the long-suffering and sometimes confused electorate. To our collective dismay, we know that the real power resides in Abuja, not in some vague and indefinable electorate.

Someday, however, we will have a bright patriot as president. He will know what to do, and he will do them well. That day, alas, is not here yet.

rebellion in his party with unseemly and demeaning comportment. Because he and his predecessors unwisely personified party leadership and have accreted enormous party powers to the presidency, it has been difficult for him and his predecessors to confine party disagreements to party boundaries. Instead, they have formed the bad habit of transferring disagreements to the presidency and foisting a needless crisis on the country, thereby threatening not only good governance, or indeed governance of any sort, but also peace and stability.

Encouraged by sycophants, jobholders and some insensitive South-South political leaders and herdsmen of jaundiced votes, Dr Jonathan has embraced a fanatical and unyielding style of crisis management. We always knew he was not a democrat, nor, like Chief Obasanjo, can ever be, but his ham-fisted manner of conflict resolution and his monarchical approach to general politics have so polluted and prejudiced the atmosphere that for the first time, this column has started to fear that the foundation of Nigeria is threatened. The threat, it must be reiterated, is not because there is crisis at all, but because the men in power lack the reasoned agility to respond in ways that will reassure everyone that those in power are rational, patriotic and civilised people. One of the variables in the crisis is the 2015 presidential poll.

Dr Jonathan, of course, has the right to contest in 2015, and that right can be advanced and defended intelligently; but his opponents also have the right to discourage him as much as they can without being subjected to unconstitutional, not to say autocratic, measures.

I suspect that no one but fate itself can restrain Dr Jonathan. He will fight everywhere and every person, and he will spare nothing, not even the constitution, in waging his selfinflicted war. Democracy and its spinoffs are dispensable to him, for after all, he has never shown he understands what they mean. He has a vague notion of the greatness of the country he presides over, but that notion does not include its peace, stability, growth or superiority over other African nations. He knows a thing or two about what the presidency stands for, but his perception is coloured by the traditional African system of hero-worship, superstition and idolatry. This was why, for instance, he and his men took umbrage when his opponents described his style as kindergarten. So, let us brace ourselves for the worst or be prepared valiantly to reclaim our democracy, or what is left of it, from the hands of charlatans.

Dr Jonathan, it is clear, is incensed by the seemingly harmless effort to limit him to a oneterm president. He will do everything to destroy his opponents, and if need be, the country, not only because he has taken the fight personally, but also strangely because, for a 20th century man, he views politics and leadership from an antediluvian prism.

Jonathan, Obasanjo, Farida and Ribadu

F

OR the better part of last week, the fiery quartet of President Goodluck Jonathan, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the two past chairmen of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Farida Waziri and Nuhu Ribadu, regaled media professionals with exciting brickbats. As usual, Chief Obasanjo attacked first with his tendentious remarks on Mrs Waziri, whose competence and integrity he gleefully cast aspersions on. Infuriated, the maligned woman replied with her own excoriating remarks. Obasanjo, whom she described as living in a glass house, failed to respect his age, she fumed. She thus reminded us, so to speak, that the former president had kept his vindictiveness and surliness intact in spite of old age.

But nothing quite matched Dr Jonathan’s indefensible excuse for firing Mrs Waziri. She lost her position because of negative perceptions, notwithstanding her supposed guilt or innocence, said the president unreflectingly.

Were people to be fired merely because of negative perceptions, surely, Dr Jonathan should have lost office barely one year into his first term. However, we take the hint he offers us, as we gaily prepare the scaffold upon which to hang him whom we perceive as a gross underperformer.

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