Sun News - October 26, 2012

2015: Only Igbo presidency can save Nigeria N150

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012 VOL. 7 NO. 2482

– Kalu Page 6

In Ebonyi, it’s one day, one rape • LG boss decries defilment of 5-yr-old girl by man, 80 Page 11

Commissioner for Sports, Ebonyi State, Samuel Mgbada (L), presenting the National Torch of Unity to Gov. Martins Elechi in Abakaliki yesterday. With them are members of the State Photo: NAN Executive Council.

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Taraba gov’s plane crashes •Suntai, five others critically injured

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I watched them slaughter her • Woman, 25, who escaped from ritualists Page 5 gives chilling details

2015 behind budget impasse – Jonathan’s aide Page 50

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012 VOL. 7 NO. 2482

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Budget impasse: Don’t rule out 2015 – Gulak Only Igbo presidency can save Nigeria in 2015 – Kalu Page 6

EID-EL-KABIR

Jonathan, govs, others greet Muslims, urge peaceful co-existence • President says Hajj deportation embarrassment won’t happen again Page 7

Pilgrims on Mount Arafat yesterday.

Photo: AFP

Taraba gov’s plane crashes •Suntai, five others critically injured

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I watched them slaughter her • Woman, 25, who escaped from ritualists Page 5 gives chilling details

Tiv/Fulani crisis: Speaker, police disagree

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Cocaine, Indian hemp and all...

Majek Fashek finally confesses Page 25

N150

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012 VOL. 7 NO. 2482

EID-EL-KABIR

Jonathan, govs, others greet Muslims, urge peaceful co-existence

• President says Hajj deportation embarrassment won’t happen again Page 7

Pilgrims on Mount Arafat yesterday.

Photo: AFP

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Taraba gov’s plane crashes •Suntai, five others critically injured

Page 5

I watched them slaughter her • Woman, 25, who escaped from ritualists Page 5 gives chilling details

2015: Only Igbo presidency can save Nigeria – Kalu Page 6

Cocaine, Indian hemp and all...

Majek Fashek finally confesses Page 25

N150

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012 VOL. 7 NO. 2482

EID-EL-KABIR

Jonathan, govs, others greet Muslims, urge peaceful co-existence • President says Hajj deportation embarrassment won’t happen again Page 7

Pilgrims on Mount Arafat yesterday.

Photo: AFP

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Taraba gov’s plane crashes •Suntai, five others critically injured

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I watched them slaughter her Oyo 2015 guber: Akala, Folarin, eye PDP ticket

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• Woman, 25, who escaped from ritualists Page 5 gives chilling details

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DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

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Amaechi’s critics are enemies of Rivers State, says David-West •••Extols dev strides From CHRIS ANUCHA, Port Harcourt

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ormer minister of petroleum resources and Professor of Virology, Tam DavidWest, yesterday described the critics of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as enemies of Rivers State and by extension, his (Tam-David) enemies.

The outspoken don stated this in Port Harcourt, at the first Pan Rivers Summit, organised by Pan Rivers Leadership Network, held at Diete-Spiff Civic Centre, in the Garden City.

The summit, with the theme, ‘Uniting for Development of Rivers State,’ was to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Supreme Court judgement of October 25, 2007, which installed Amaechi as the governor of the state.

Professor David-West, who was one of the guest speakers at the event, explained that Amaechi had done well, adding that he was ready to fight anyone who fights the chairman of the Governors’ Forum.

“Anybody who has not seen what Amaechi is doing in the state is blinder than bat,” he said.

He recalled how he fought for the governor through comments and write-ups when he went on self-exile to Ghana while the case was still going on without meeting him personally.

The university don said even when Amaechi was given his stolen mandate by the Supreme Court, he had never interacted with him for more than ten minutes.

“I cannot be bought, I don’t have his phone number, I have not spent more than ten minutes with him,” he said.

David-West, who later spoke exclusively to Daily Sun, disclosed that the first thing that made him to support Governor Amaechi was the injustice he suffered in the hands of former president Olusegun Obasanjo-led PDP government, which wanted to rob him of the opportunity of ruling the state.

“I’m naturally in support of the underdogs; people who have suffered injustice. I have suffered a lot of injustice in my life, both in the university and in politics. Whenever I see someone suffering injustice, as underdog, I support him. He disclosed that another thing that endeared him to the governor was his efforts to recreate Port Harcourt to its former glory.

The former minister also described Amaechi as a clean person, adding that his impression of him now was, however, left to him(Amaechi) and God. According to him, if the governor proves otherwise before or after he leaves office, he would criticise him ten times more than he praised him.

David-West, who presented a paper: “Reflections on the quest for unity in Rivers State: Contemporary Perspectives,” blamed Nigeria’s problems on bad leadership and charged Nigerian leaders to accommodate criticism and discard sycophancy, as the former would help them to perform better.

In her paper: “Credible leadership: As a panacea for socio-Economic development of Rives State: The role of followership”, a frontline activist, Mrs. Ayo Obe, urged leaders to always meet the needs of the people. She also stressed the important role the followership could play in measuring the success or failure of a leadership. The former president of the Civil Liberaties Organisation (CLO), also advised leaders to tolerate criticisms and do away with sycophancy or praise-singing.

Governor Amechi, in his speech on the occasion, reeled out his achievements in the areas of health, education, security and infrastructural development. The governor, gave God the credit for the position he is occupying presently, adding that he would put pressure on contractors to complete most of the projects going on in the state as well as fund the New Port Harcourt project, among others, to avoid their abandonment by his successor.

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DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

Friday, October 26, 2012

DAILY SUN 5

L-R: Counsellor for Economic and Commercial, Chinese Embassy, Abuja, Mr. Rong Yansong, Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce, Mr. Li Jinzaqs and Vice President Namadi Sambo, during the minister’s visit to the presidential villa, Abuja, Wednesday.

L-R: Mrs. Omoyemi Akerele, Creative Director, Style House Files, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi, General Manager, Consumer Marketing, MTN Nigeria and Ms. Nonny Ugboma, Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, at the cocktail event to formally open the MTN Lagos Fashion and Design Week 2012 in Lagos, Wednesday.

President Goodluck Jonathan with his wife, Dame Patience, during the First Lady’s birthday in Abuja, yesterday.

COVER

By UCHE USIM, SAM OTTI, Lagos and PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi

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overnor of Taraba State, Danbaba Danfulani Suntai, was critically injured on Thursday night when his private jet crashlanded at Ngoro Village, located about 30 kilometers to Numan, in the state.

He was piloting the airplane, which had five others on board from Jalingo, Taraba State capital, to Yola Airport when the incident happened.

The victims have been rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Yola for treatment even as arrangements were being made to fly them outside the country for better medical care.

The accident, according to the spokesman of the Aviation minister, Joe Obi, involved a Cessna 208 which had six souls on board.

The flight, he said, departed Jalingo for Yola but reportedly lost contact with the Yola Control

Taraba gov’s plane crashes •Suntai, five others critically injured Tower (1720Z) and field in sight at 38 miles estimating landing at 1730Z. “The pilot lost contact with Yola Control Tower and subsequent effort to trace the aircraft failed. Search and Rescue was immediately activated and the site of incident was located with all victims alive with various degrees of injuries. The victims have been evacuated to hospital for treatment pending further investigation of the incident,” Obi said.

A Pharmacist by profession, Suntai also holds a Private Pilot Licence (PPL) from the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, which he

obtained in 2010.

He was planning to build an airport in Jalingo, which, he said, would stimulate rapid economic growth in the state.

The Accident Investigation Bureau had since begun investigations into the incident.

According to a source, prominent individuals had earlier advised the governor to employ a pilot rather than risk the adventure of flying the aircraft, while still being a governor.

In its reaction, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) expressed shock over the incident and urged its members to pray for the governor and

other victims.

In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, the PDP said, “We are officially awaiting news of the true position right now and we urge all our members in Taraba and Nigeria to pray for him.”

Suntai’s misfortune came barely few weeks after his deputy, Mr Sani Danladi Abubakar was impeached in controversial circumstances.

Abubakar’s impeachment followed the State House of Assembly’s adoption of the recommendation of a seven-member Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by Justice Josephine Tukur, the Acting Chief Judge of the state to investigate him.

How woman, 25, escaped from ritualists From PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi,

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all it a narrow escape or a close shave with death, you are not wrong in capturing the story of 25-year old Patience Bitrus who recently escaped from suspected ritualists in Bauchi State. However, her cotraveller was not as lucky as Patience painted a gory picture of how she was slaughtered like a sacrificial ram by the evil men.

Narrating her ordeal, Patience recalled that she watched with trepidation, how three men pinned down the victim, a young woman of about her age, slit her throat, chopped off her breasts and plucked out her two eyes.

Recalling how the victim was dismembered, Patience told Daily Sun: “On a fateful Sunday after church service, at about 11 am, my boyfriend, Sunday Noma took me to the Central Market Motor Park in Bauchi.

“I was travelling to Kangare to meet my aunt.

Suddenly, a woman came on a motorcycle. The men inside a black coloured car asked about her destination and she replied that she was travelling to Kangare.

“I waited beside the car, a black Opel Vectra.

Five men were sitting at the backseat. One of them stood up and asked us to enter into the car.

•Gives chilling details of how her co-traveller was slaughtered The four men told us they were traveling too. We entered and all left” She said that when they arrived at Kangare, a distance of about 15 kilometres from Bauchi, the driver refused to stop the car.

According to Patience : “The men inside the car started insulting us. They threatened that we won’t be allowed to alight from the vehicle. They quickly gagged our mouths with clothes but I stood up and gripped the steering of the car.

Turning it, I told them that they should stop or else all of us would die. One of them dragged me down and that was how they captured us. The driver kept driving until we passed Kangare and reached Bishi.”

She recollected that the driver stopped the car at a spot. He and the other men in the car led them to a bush near Bishi. They were later joined by another man who led them on a bush path, beating them and urging them to walk faster.

“When we arrived at a spot, we were made to sit on a rock. They told us to make our last call. I called my boyfriend and told him what happened and he screamed. They later seized the phone

from us and collected our money” Patience said that around 1pm, they started debating among themselves who would die first between I and the other woman. Eventually, they finally brought the woman who was crying for help.

“She kept saying, sister, please help me! They seized her, pinned her to the ground, cut her throat, plucked out her chopped off her breasts and parts of her body. I did not know where I was again and I urinated on my body. I started screaming that I would not die this way and one of them men started laughing.”

Patience who attributed her escape to divine intervention, described how the man assigned to watch over her while the other men left with the body parts, rested his head on a stone and slept off.

“When I sighted him, I sprang up and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I ran for over five hours because I could not trace my way back to the road. I fell into muddy water until I got to the main road. I saw a man in a car and stopped him.

After I narrated my story, he took me to the police

Patience station. I took the policemen back to the spot where the woman was killed but we did not meet anybody there but we saw traces of blood.” The policemen headed to the motor park and made arrests” When contacted, the Deputy Public Relations officer of the Bauchi police command,Mr Mohammed Auyo, said he was not aware of the incident but promised to inquire and contact or correspondent as soon as he got the details.

6 DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

NEWS

Jonathan’s wife marks 55th birthday From JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, Abuja

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he First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, yesterday marked her 55th birthday, appreciating God for keeping her alive to mark the day.

She spoke at a ceremony to mark her birthday at the presidential villa, Abuja, saying whatever might have happened to her was God’s design for her life.

Mrs. Jonathan, however, appreciated God for the gift of life, thanking her immediate family and Nigerians for praying for her. “I thank God for the gift of life and I want to deeply appreciate and thank my beloved husband for his love and support.

I also thank my family, staff and Nigerians for praying for me.”

President Goodluck Jonathan, after presenting a gift to his wife, described her as a shining star in his life and thanked God for granting her good health.

Jonathan said, “I thank God for her life and that she is not celebrating the day on a sick bed. She is the brightest star in my life, she is my jewel of inestimable value and I thank God for granting her good health.’’

Meanwhile, Vice President Namadi Sambo has felicitated with the first lady on the occasion of her birthday.

In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Umar Sani, the vice president wished Mrs. Jonathan long life, prosperity and many happy returns as she celebrated the day he described as “significant in her life.”

Some of her well wishers and friends who graced the occasion include the Ondo Governor, Olusegun Mimiko and his wife, Olukemi, ministers of women affairs, finance, aviation, labour, foreign affairs, among others.

MTN wows customers with weekend freebies

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ew and existing customers on the MTN network, are getting more value for their money as MTN has rolled out another mouth-watering package, the MTN Wow Weekend, which offers subscribers double the amount of recharge made on weekends.

The MTN Wow Weekend, just like the other exciting and engaging packages currently being offered on the MTN network, wilould enable subscribers talk more, laugh more and love more.

Speaking on the Wow Weekend package, Larry Annetts, the chief marketing officer, MTN Nigeria, affirmed that MTN was committed to initiating innovative and exciting packages that would not just excite its consumers but offer them the opportunity to do more of what they love.

“MTN Wow weekend allows you to get instant 100 percent bonus airtime on every recharge you make, which is double the amount. If, for instance, you recharge your phone with N200 worth of credit, you get an additional N200 for MTNto-MTN calls. It’s another way of helping our customers bond more and connect better with family and friends, especially at weekends when everyone should be taking time out to relax,” he stated.

To enjoy this exciting offering, subscribers are encouraged to load airtime from 6pm on Fridays using the code *888* the 12-digit PIN # and send. You, instantly, get 100 percent bonus to make calls to MTN lines.

Boko Haram threats: Heavy security in Borno From TIMOTHY OLA, Maiduguri

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ollowing reported threats by the Boko Haram sect to launch massive attacks in Borno with foreign mercenaries during the Eid-el-Kabir celebration, security has been beefed up in Maiduguri, the state capital and its environs.

Daily Sun observed increase in surveillances and patrol by the military and policemen of the Joint Task Force (JTF) since Wednesday. Army armoured cars were also deployed to some parts of the city while an air surveillance was also conducted yesterday morning which was believed to be part of measures to forestall the said “planned attacks” by the sect.

Though the popular Maiduguri Monday Market was opened for commercial activities, a large number of business premises and shops did not open yesterday despite demands for household needs, confessionaries and consumables for the Muslim festival today. All the shops at the Circular Road, Polo, a thriving commercial area were locked, fueling speculation among residents that they might have been warned by security agencies not to open.

However, JTF spokesperson, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa in his reaction, said the traders were not given any marching order by the security forces to shut down their businesses. “We didn’t ask them not to open their shops. I think they just decided to close probably to celebrate Sallah since there is no threat to their commercial activities,” he explained.

•First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan (middle), cuts her birthday cake with President Goodluck Jonathan (4th left), Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State (2nd right), his wife, Olukemi (right), Chaplain, Aso Rock Villa Chapel, Ven. Obioma Onwuzurumba (left) and members of her immediate family at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.

2015: Why Nigeria needs an Igbo President -Kalu

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ormer governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu has said that there is need to elect an Igbo man as president in 2015 if the country must make progress, just as he dispelled insinuation that he scuttled Dr. Alex Ekwueme’s presidential ambition in 1999.

Kalu, who is the founder of Njiko Igbo, a socio-political group committed to advancing the Igbo interest in the country, stated this yesterday while speaking as guest on “Platform”, a Radio Nigeria political programme.

He said the need for a president of Igbo extraction had become imperative because apart from the South-East, all other sections of the country had opportunity of producing a president. Consequently, Kalu said in the interest of equity and fair play, other parts should allow an Igbo man to emerge as president in 2015, pointing out that as at today, the Igbos were the most populous ethnic group in the country.

His words: “I am not even canvassing for Nigerian president. I am saying that an Igbo man should be president in 2015. It matters where the president comes from because all segments of the society had been president. People continue letting Ndigbo down because they think we were defeated during the war, which is not true. And until an Igbo man rules this country, the country will not move anywhere.”

Speaking on Njiko Igbo, the former governor explained that the socio-political group was geared towards mobilising all Igbo sons and daughters to champion the cause of Ndigbo. He said the group was neither tied to any political party nor out to displace other existing platforms in the

South-East.

According to him, “we are not trying to do the job of Ohanaeze. We are not trying to do the job of Aka Ikenga. We are not trying to do the job of Igbo Congress or any other Igbo platform. The Njiko Igbo is totally socio-political. It is purely an avenue to get back all political parties that are Igbo-based and see if they can become one platform to win an election any day and any time. Those organisations are socio-cultural. We are sociopolitical. We don’t hide it.

Njiko Igbo cannot put anybody on any platform to run for election because it is not a political party. We want to get all political players to see if they can agree together.”

He expressed optimism that the organisation would be able to get 65-70 percent of Ndigbo to agree on the Igbo project.

Speaking on the role he played in the emergence of former president Olusegun Obasanjo as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999, Kalu said he told Ekwueme in 1998 that the military had zeroed in on

Obasanjo as the next president. He said he had alerted the former vice president to this, so that he could negotiate with the military, especially as Obasanjo had already made some commitments to the North.

The former governor said instead of Ekwueme’s group appreciating him for his suggestions, he was called an “apostle of doom” and asked out of the house for speaking the truth.

“I told Ekwueme in his house in 1998 that the military had made up their mind on President Obasanjo. I told him this in his house to enable him talk to the military. I heard from a reliable source that the military had made up their mind to give the presidency to the West to pacify them for June 12. I explained all these to him. Instead of appreciating what I said, they sent me out for speaking the truth. I never scuttled anybody’s political wellbeing. I only spoke the truth to them even before the convention.

I told them to go to the military and negotiate because Obasanjo had gone and made

promises. I told him that if he didn’t do that, it meant he was not ready for leadership. I told him ‘this is where this people are going and unless you go and negotiate with them, it would be disastrous’. They said I was an apostle of doom and I left the house.”

On the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution, he called for the creation of at least an additional state for the South-East. However, he stated that in a situation where the National Assembly would want to create states in other geo-political zones, then the South-East should get more than one state to bring it at par with other zones.

Furthermore, Kalu said the constitution should be amended to make for only one legislative house at the federal level. He also canvassed that the legislature should be a part time job. He said it did not make sense to use 25 percent of the budget in servicing the federal legislature, especially when there were serious developmental challenges confronting the country.

Muslim clerics hold special prayer for Nigeria at Arafat From ISMAIL OMIPIDAN and AKEEB ALARAPE, in Saudi Arabia

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rominent Muslim clerics under the auspices of the Council of Ulamas of Nigeria (CUN), who are part of Federal Government delegation to this year’s hajj, yesterday held a special prayer at Mount Arafat for the continued peaceful co-existence of Nigeria.

The delegation, led by the Sultan of Sokoto and Amirulul-Hajj of Nigeria, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, also asked God to bring to an end soon-

est, the atmosphere of insecurity in Nigeria.

This is even as the Sultan also seized the occasion to admonish Nigerians to eschew tribal and religious differences in their dealings with each other.

The clerics were drawn from the three major tribes in Nigeria. Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, prayed in Hausa, Baba Adini of Lagos, Sheik Abu, prayed in Yoruba, while Sheik Dauda Onyeagocha, the chief imam of Imo State, prayed in Igbo.

Others who offered prayers were Imam Abdulrahman Ahmad, chief missioner of

Ansar-ud-Deen Society and Sheik Aminudeen Abubakar from Kano.

In his Sallah message to Nigerians on the occasion, the Sultan appealed to Nigerians to see themselves as God’s creatures, saying it was not by accident that God created Nigerians differently.

He further enjoined Muslims to use the occasion to reflect on their lives and rededicate themselves to serving God and promoting peace and love among humanity in Nigeria and wherever they found themselves.

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012, 7

NEWS Eid-el-Kabir: Nigerians enjoined to pray for nation

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he Senator, representing Lagos East Senatorial district, Senator Gbenga Bareehu Ashafa has enjoined fellow Muslim brothers and sisters to use this year’s Eid-el-Kabir celebration as another opportunity to reflect on their spiritual lives, pray for themselves, others and the nation at large.

Ashafa said as the celebration goes on: “We should all reflect on the ideals of good living, which all religious preach, avoid any form of violence and promote peace and religious brotherhood among men, regardless of religion or tribe.

The lawmaker concluded that: “This period reminds us to be faithful to the Almighty Allah and live according to His dictates, especially in our world that has been seriously wounded by various vices of all kinds and that we all (both Muslims and Christians) should aggressively pray for our nation at this trying time, so that Nigeria will regain its pride of place among nations of the world.”

Worried by the trauma experienced by some Nigerian pilgrims in the year’s Hajj exercise, the Senator representing Oyo South Senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin has called for the priotization of issues bothering on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and Israel by the relevant authorities in the country.

In his Eid-el Adha message issued by his media aide, Mr. Olawale Sadare, the lawmaker noted that what recently transpired between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia bothers more on diplomacy than on religious matter, While rejoicing with all Muslims across the globe, the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on National Planning, Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation made a strong appeal to everyone in the country to give peace a chance and promote the spirit of brotherliness with a view to advancing the cause of a united and prosperous Nigeria.

Also, the Post Master General (PMG) and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), Mallam Mori Baba, has wished all Muslim faithful in Nigeria a joyful Eid-elKabir celebration.

In a statement issued in Abuja, the PMG expressed the hope that Allah in His infinite mercy would answer the prayers of Muslim faithful, resolve the country’s numerous challenges and grant the country’s leaders, the wisdom to lead the nation aright.

“I pray that the eternal lessons of Eid-el-Kabir will live beyond our celebrations and reflect in our daily lives.”

Baba assured Nigerians that NIPOST would continue to render service faithfully to its customers to the best of its ability.

In a related message, Osun State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has declared that Nigeria needs a lot of prayers now than at any other time in its 52 years of existence, urging all Nigerians to expedite actions to safe the country from collapse.

In a statement of goodwill released in Osogbo to felicitate with Muslims on the occasion of this year’s Eid-el-Kabir festival, the party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi urged citizens of the state to join other Muslims across the country to pray for peace in the country.

Oyatomi also called on Nigerians to renew their faith in God and the possibility of the human spirit to re-engineer their environment, which he noted had been devastated by corrupt leaders and visionless politicians.

According to him: “The people of Osun State should give praise to God for providing a leader of the calibre of Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, who is doing everything possible to bring joy and hope to homes and families through his unprecedented delivery of services that are impacting on the people’s life, and deepening their faith in God.” Nigerians have been urged to be steadfast, tolerant, persevere, love one another and be each other brother’s keeper, as exemplified by prophet Ibrahim.

The Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Razak Atunwa gave the advice on the occasion of Eid Kabir sallah message to the people.

Atunwa in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Alhaji Abdulrahman Sanni described Prophet Ibrahim as father of faith, who wanted to sacrifice his only son to Allah.

The Speaker explained that when Nigerians imbibe the spirit of sacrifice, love, steadfastness, benevolence, Nigeria would be a better place to live in.

Member, House of Representatives representing Egbeda/Ona-Ara Federal Constituency, Oyo State, Sikiru Busari-Olayemi has urged Muslims to celebrate this year EidEl-Kabir festival with moderation, fear of Allah and prayer, being their cardinal principles.

Busari-Olayemi who disclosed this in his Eid-el-Kabir message through his Media Consultant, Mr. Lai Ade, added that what Allah expects from his faithful are consciousness of Him (Allah) in righteousness and abhorrence of evil and its tendencies.

Also, former deputy governor of Ekiti State and the Baba Adinni of Ekitiland, Alhaji Sikiru Lawal has urged Muslims in the country to emulate Prophet Ibrahim, by always submitting themselves to the will of Allah, saying: “Prophet Ibrahim exhibited faith and great submission to the will of Allah by offering his only son as sacrifice to Allah and this should be emulated by all Muslims.”

•R–L: His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III and other personalities in a special prayer session at Mount Arafat, Saudi Arabia yesterday. Photo: ISMAIL OMIPIDAN

Jonathan, govs, others greet Muslims, urge peaceful co-existence From JULIANA TAIWOOBALONYE, Abuja

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resident Goodluck Jonathan has charged the Muslim faithful in particular and Nigerians in general to remember the plight of the many thousands of compatriots who have been displaced by the floods, which recently devastated many communities across the nation.

In his message to the Muslims as they celebrate the Eid-el-Kabir, said he has already announced a relief package of close to N18 billion and constituted a national committee to raise more funds to help victims of the floods.

He said: “In the true spirit of our major religions, which enjoin us to be generous to the needy, I urge all Nigerians who can do so, to donate to the national relief fund for the affected persons and communities.”

The president congratulated all those who successfully undertook the Hajj this year, despite the unforeseen difficulties, which developed over the issue of male companions for some of Nigerian female pilgrims.

The president said: “Although the problem was eventually resolved with the positive intervention of the Federal Government. I have ordered a thorough post mortem of the incident with a view to ensuring that our Hajj airlift operations are never distrupted by such problems in future and that no Nigerian pilgrim is ever subjected to such traumatic experience in the Holy land again.”

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has charged Nigerians to restore the virtues of good neighborliness and strive to maintain law and order at all times.

Similarly, the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha has charged Nigerians to play up unity and brotherliness in their relationship with one another.

The duo gave the advice in their messages signed by their media aides Mallam Imam Imam and Oke Epia to commemorate the Eid-el-Kabir.

In his own message, Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State admonished Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of togetherness and peaceful co-existence to enhance growth and development of the country.

The governor, in his message to Muslims said it was only in an atmosphere of peace that Nigeria could achieve the desired greatness.

Sen. Ajimobi, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, condemned the spate of violence in some parts of the country, saying it was an illwind that would not blow anybody any good.

Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda admonished Nigerians to use the occasion of the Eidel-Kabir to reflect on their past, re-assess themselves and take corrective measures where necessary.

Yuguda, who stated these in his goodwill message to the people of the state on the occasion of this year’s Eid-elKabir, noted that the celebration is all about sacrifice and total submission to Allah.

He emphasised that Nigerian Muslims needed to rededicate themselves to the worship of Allah.

Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has identified good governance, purposeful leadership and prudent management of resources as necessary preconditions for Nigerian leaders to curb the worrisome trend of deterioration in nearly all spheres of the

nation’s life.

Aregbesola, in a goodwill message to Muslims across the country on the occasion of this year’s Eid-el-Kabir celebration stated that the nation needs sincere leaders, who are driven by the desire to redirect it from gradual slide into the abyss at this period of time.

In the statement issued by his Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, Aregbesola identified corruption in high places and divisive tendencies among ethnic groups as diseases, which must be cured, for the country to get her development bearing right.

On his part, the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed assured Kwarans that his administration would stop at nothing towards ensuring that the people get the dividends of democracy, no matter their political or religious inclinations. To this end, the governor explained, government would continue to embark on specific projects on monthly basis, with a view to reaching every community in the state.

In a related development, Governor Umaru Tanko AlMakura of Nasarawa State enjoined all Muslims in the country to celebrate Eid-elKabir festival by re-affirming their obedience to the injunctions of the Almighty Allah, as contained in the Holy Quran and the Hadith.

Al-Makura also said Islam teaches peace, good neighbourliness and kindness and urged Muslims to used the occasion to continue to reflect on the virtues of love, harmony, peaceful co-existence, understanding and respect for one another at all times.

Similarly, the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, called on the Muslim community in Nigeria to obey all the teachings of Prophet

Muhammed (SAW), noting that obedience always attract immense reward from the Almighty Allah.

He enjoined adherents of Islam to follow in the footsteps of Prophet Ibrahim, who received immeasurable blessings from Allah through total obedience to His command.

In a goodwill message signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mrs. Funmi Wakama, Governor Amosun said: “The import of Eid-el-Kabir should not be lost on us as Muslims even as we count our blessings and celebrate the goodness of Allah in our lives during this season.”

Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State also enjoined Muslims and other Nigerians to embrace peace as a catalyst for accelerated development.

The governor gave the charge in a Sallah message signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Mr. Jacob Edi. He noted that Islam is a religion of peace and urged all adherents to be truthful in all their undertakings and to follow the example of Prophet Mohammed (SAW).

Muslims in Ekiti State have been commended for their support for the Dr. Kayode Fayemi-led administration.

Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mr. Funminiyi Afuye, in a statement on Wednesday, conveying greetings to the Muslim faithful on the occasion of Eid-el-Kabir urged them to pray for peace and development of the state.

He described Muslims as: “Important stakeholders in the desire of the administration to transform Ekiti, in consonance with the wish of its founding fathers.”

8 DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012,

NEWS Parents decry neglect of hydrocephalus children

By SAM OTTI

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arents of children living with hydrocephalus in Lagos have called on the government to establish rehabilitation centres to aid the treatment of the young patients.

Also, the International Federation for Spinal Bifida and Hydrocephalus, yesterday celebrated the first world Spinal Bifida and Hydrocephalus Day at the European parliament in Strasbourg, with the participation of all members around the world.

As part of this global celebration, parents of victims on Wednesday decried government’s neglect in an interactive session organised by the Festus Fajemilo Foundation in Ikeja.

The President of the foundation, Afolabi Fajemilo said government’s neglect of physically challenged children, especially those living with spinal bifida and hydrocephalus, had left many families with intolerable burden.

He said the establishment of a rehabilitation centre would help in giving the affected children unhindered access to medical services that would improve their chances of life.

Fajemilo said the association also organized health walk in Lagos, as part of regional efforts to creat awareness of the congenital disease. According to him, the disease had become quite common among children in the country, occurring at a ratio of 1/2 in every 1000 births.

He also called on the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), to enforce the fortification of folic acid in flour and other consumables for the sake of women of child -bearing ages. According to him, such policy would help to reduce the rising cases of spinal bifida and hydrocephalus in the country.

Fajemilo explained that although there had been no total cure for hydrocephalus, the situation could be effectively managed through a corrective surgery, involving the insertion of a device called shunt to drain the excess fluid from the brain.

NDLEA arrests 8 suspects for concealing drugs in Aso Oke

By UCHE USIM

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he National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) has arrested eight suspects who concealed 10.635kg of methamphetamine inside native clothe popularly called ‘Aso Oke’ for onward ‘export’ overseas.

According to the dreaded anti-narcotic officials, one of the suspects, Tembo Gideon a.k.a Benson Okechukwu a Nigerian travelling to Thailand with a Zambian passport concealed 2.522kg of methamphetamine inside native clothe.

The breakdown of drugs recovered includes 4.460kg of methamphetamine, 4.030kg of heroin and 2.145kg of cocaine. Apart from one of the suspects caught attempting to smuggle 3.455kg of heroin from India, others were going outside the country with different quantities of drugs.

NDLEA Commander at the Lagos Airport, Mr Hamza Umar gave the names of the suspects as Onyekwere Wisdom Chinedu, 26years, Obinna Christian Chigbo, 37years, Muogbo Uchechukwu Sixtius, 25years, Tembo Gideon aka Benson Okechukwu, 25years and Orabusinze Chukwuka Joseph, 28years. Others are Ogbonnaya Kalu Robert, 54years, Obiorah Celestine Nonso, 31years and Udeh Lazarus Makwe, 44years.

MTN Lagos fashion week begins

By CHRISTY ANYANWU

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he MTN Lagos Fashion and Design Week (MTN LFDW) has kicked at the Eko Convention Centre of the Eko Hotel Lagos.

The event, which would feature 33 Nigerian designers, as well as British designer, Matthew Williamson would end on tomorrow .

The designers participating in this year’s runway shows are: Ituen Basi, Lamisigo, Kelechi Odu, Jess Stefanie, Marayah Oh, Eki Orleans, Sunny Rose, Bridget Awosika, Iconic Invanity, Tiffany Amber, Odio Mimonet, Alali Boutique, Ozora by Zee, Viv La Resistance, Vintage Colette, Grey, Omer Asim, Alter Ego, Jewel by Lisa, Lanre Da Silva Ajayi, Akpos Okudu, Xclamations, House of Form and Function, Ejiro Amos Tafiri & Beatrice Black, among others.

According to the General Manager, Consumer Marketing, MTN, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi, through the LFDW MTN was delivering its brand promise of enriching the lives of its customers via experiential, exciting and engaging platforms that connect with their passion. “MTN is not just in the business of providing its customers with reliable telecom experience, we are continuously seeking different avenues to positively impact the lives of the people and communities we operate in and fashion provides us a veritable platform which cuts across different segments of the society like age, profession, gender, religion and economic class to contribute to the development of the nation,” he said.

• Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Publicity, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (left), with Director-General, National Broadcasting Commission, Mr. Yomi Bolarinwa, at the Africast Competition award night recently in Abuja. NAN

Jonathan laments state of corruption, insecurity

By IHEANACHO NWOSU Director-General of the for National and CHUKS AKUNNA, Institute Transformation, Prof.

Abuja Vincent Anigbogu, in his resident Goodluck keynote address underscored Jonathan yesterday the need to put in place qualdecried the state of cor- ity leadership for the developruption in Nigeria and ment of the country.

He listed the provision of warned that unless the vice is shunned by the populace, the basic infrastructure as a basis hope of a better nation might for sustainable development.

He said: “We must create linger for a longer time.

He also identified insecuri- an environment where every ty as his main headache even as he called for a new orientation which emphasised hardwork and honesty to be imbibed by the citizens.

President Jonathan spoke yesterday at the 3rd National By UCHE USIM Prayer Breakfast organised o square up against all by members of the National forms of terrorism within Assembly. the aviation circle, the The event was entitled: “Sacrifice with Federal Airports Authority of Righteousness, a Necessary Nigeria (FAAN) has introIngredient for National duced sniffer dogs and antiterrorism squads at the four Transformation.”

The President, who was- operational international airrepresented by the Minister of ports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano Police Affairs, Mr Caleb and Port Harcourt.

The Spokesman of FAAN, Olubolade charged the populace to step up prayers for Yakubu Dati, said the move Nigeria, describing prayer as became necessary to up the an unfailing tool for tackling security apparatus at the international terminals which every problem.

Outlining some of the chal- would ultimately enhance lenges facing his administration, the president identified insecurity as his main headache.

Also speaking, the usiness mogul, Sir Emeka Minister of Information and Offor, has backed efforts National Orientation, Mr to eradicate polio out of Labaran Maku, remarked Nigeria with a gift of $250,000 that Nigeria had all it takes to develop as a nation. He pre- (about N40 million) donated to dicted that the present chal- Rotary’s PolioPlus prolenges would be a blessing at gramme, a charity, which provides funding for the Global the end.

Maku stressed that if Polio Eradication Initiative Nigerians would key into the (GPEI).

In recent years, Rotary transformation agenda of International had been deeply Jonathan, the country would involved in promoting the develop as a nation.

Speaking on what would global effort to eradicate the make Nigeria grow the crippling childhood disease.

Nigeria remains one of the

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Nigerian will be allowed to give his best.”

Anigbogu lamented the deplorable state of the country’s education system after 52 years of independence, describing it as shameful He implored all Nigerians to join forces to build a virile nation devoid of poverty and insecurity.

In his contribution , Senator Uche Chukwumerije,

who is the president, National Prayer Breakfast, explained that the occasion afforded them the opportunity to pray for the country.

Former head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and the Minister of Water Resources, Mrs Sarah Ochepke, lawmakers and clergymen were among the dignatories that graced the prayer session.

Aviation security: FAAN introduces sniffer dogs, anti-terrorism squads

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safety and security of lives and property.

He added that the decision was in consonance with the aviation road map of the Aviation Ministry.

“This measure, which will be extended to the other airports in the country later, is in line with the transformation agenda of the Federal Government in the aviation industry designed to provide world-class facilities and service in all Nigerian airports,” he stated.

Dati revealed that a comprehensive audit of security and surveillance had been

conducted on aircrafts, terminals and security personnels to align them to standards in the industry.

“The airport security personel have been trained in crowd control, body search and other specialized areas, while undercover surveillance is conducted by plain clothes crack team. At present, all Nigerian airports have a full complement of modern security equipment, handheld metal detectors, CCT cameras, X-ray screening machines to the 3D scanning machines.

Emeka Offor backs polio eradication with N40m lar contribution to polio eradi-

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polio-endemic countries.

“It is unacceptable that polio continues to infect our children and cause such suffering in Nigeria,” said Offor, who is the executive vice chairman of Chrome Group and founder of the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation.

“I hope that my gift to PolioPlus will inspire other donors to step up so that we can eliminate this terrible, yet readily preventable disease forever,” Offor added.

Offor’s quarter million dol-

cation followed his gift in the same amount to Rotary’s global peace studies programme in early October.

The innovative, interactive world’s biggest commercial campaign gives everyone a chance to join Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bill Gates, Jackie Chan, Amanda Peet and other world figures and celebrities already participating in Rotary’s “This Close” campaign in raising awareness and support for polio eradication.

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012, 9

NEWS LAWMA provides 1m free trash bags for Sallah

By TESSY IGOMU

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n line with its objective to ensure that the state is free of dirt all year round, especially during festive periods, the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), has concluded arrangements to release about a million free trash bags for adequate waste collection during this year’s Sallah celebration.

According to a press statement issued by the agency and signed by its Managing Director, Ola Oresanya, the 350 Private Sector Participants (PSP) operating in the state have been mandated by LAWMA with the task of ensuring that every part of Lagos is rid of waste during and after the celebration.

Distribution of the free trash bags, which commenced five years ago, would be done through PSP operators and the authority’s advocacy group to ensure that refuse are properly bagged and disposed in covered bins.

Fake product: Coscharis to reward informants

By PHILIP NWOSU

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he Coscharis Group has called on members of the public to assist in nabbing persons importing or retailing adulterated products with its brand name and get a reward.

Indeed, the officer in charge of enforcement in the company’s Corporate Services and Legal Department, Ambassador Nwameme Joel told Daily Sun that anybody who makes such reports would be rewarded with N150, 000.

He spoke while answering questions on a recent incident in which a Nigerian businessman was caught adulterating Abro Masking Tape by faking the design, colour and trade mark of Coscharis Motors Limited.

The man who was identified as Chinedu other name withheld was recently arraigned in Apapa Magistrate Court 3 on a two-count charge of adulterating Abro Masking Tape by faking the design, colour and trade mark of Coscharis Motors Limited, the sole distributor of Abro product in Nigeria. The offence, the prosecution counsel said is punishable under section 158 (3) (a) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011 Earlier, Mr. Raphael Agbasionu of Coscharis Group told Daily Sun of efforts being made by the company to prevent the faking of its product.

Toyota pedestrian bridge: Ladipo traders send SoS to Fashola

By OYE OGUNWALE

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he Ladipo auto traders through their association, Ladipo Auto Central Executive Committee (LACEC), yesterday again cried to Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State, on the urgent need to construct pedestrian bridge at Toyota Bus Stop and save their lives.

In a Save our Soul (SoS) message sent to Fashola through the media, the LACEC President-General, Brother Iyke Animalu said the lives of over 20,000 members of his organization are in danger, as they cross Oshodi-Apapa Expressway to seek their daily bread. Addressing newsmen at the end of their monthly environmental sanitation exercise, Animalu disclosed that within the last three months, five Ladipo traders had been killed by hit-and-run motorists, apart from others who were seriously injured and taken to hospital for treatment. He explained that their customers who come to the market in droves also face the same danger and urged Governor Fashola to save them from untimely and avoidable death.

Book on Justice Mustapha for launch on October 31

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ormer justice minister, Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim (SAN) has described the former chief judge, Federal High Court, Justice Abdullahi Mustapha as a judicial officer, who rose to the challenges of adjudication in Nigeria.

This is part of his contribution to a book: “ Rethinking The Administration of Justice: Essays In Honour of Hon. Justice Abdullahi Mustapha, OFR, ARB, FCI (Retd),” a book co-edited by Rickey Tarfa (SAN), Prof. Lanre Fagbohun and Gbolahan Gbadamosi.

The book would be launched on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 by 11.00a.m at Zuma Hall, New Rockview Hotels, Abuja.

The 68th birthday of Justice Mustapha, a former chief judge, Federal High Court would also be celebrated on that day.

Justice M. Dattijo Muhammad, JSC, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria would be the chairman on the day while, the Chief launcher is Alhaji Abdul Dantata.

•L–R: Public Relations Consultant, Aramide Tola Noibi with Supervisory Councillor for Works, Somolu Local Government, Olisa Adefalujoh, UK Industrialist, Chief Bayo Okunola, Supervisor for Works, Somolu LG, Keke David, Vice Chairman, Somolu LG, Abiodun Orekoya, Special Asst. on Special Duties, Somolu LG, Femi Titus and Vice Chairman Bariga LCDA, Kolade Alabi at Senator Adefuye’s 68th birthday party held at the St. Dennis Church Event Centre, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos recently.

CBCN, CAN hail Onaiyekan’s elevation From AIDOGHIE PAULINUS, Abuja

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he Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), has said that it was overwhelmed with joy over the elevation of the Archbishop of Abuja, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, who was appointed cardinal yesterday.

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, yesterday, at the end of the weekly general audience, appointed Onaiyekan and five others, when he said in a surprised announcement that he would be appointing cardinals in a consistory on November 24.

Speaking with Daily Sun, President of the CBCN, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, said: “We are overwhelmed with joy that the Holy Father has once again, recognized a prominent Nigerian in the person of Archbishop John Onaiyekan and appointed him to the position of cardinal, which means he is going to play an important role in the affairs of the universal church.

“Therefore, it is a thing of joy for Nigeria and also, that one of us is selected to that office whereby they can elect the Pope and advice the Pope on how to run the church. It is a thing of joy.

“Remember we have three Cardinals now: Cardinal Arinze, Cardinal Okogie and now, Cardinal Onaiyekan. So, the Nigerian Church is very happy and it is a sign of good things to come, not only for Nigeria, but Africa,” the Metropolitan Archbishop of Jos said.

Kaigama further said Onaiyekan’s appointment means that the Nigerian Church has a voice, even at the international level, adding that it was not a political thing whereby one would say

Onaiyekan is going to be attracting the dividends of office to Nigeria.

“No. It is not like that. It is a service to the Catholic Church and it just happens that he comes from Nigeria and therefore, we will be privileged to have some information through him and some information from us to the church.

That is the privilege,” he added.

Similarly, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has said Onaiyekan’s eleva-

tion had placed Nigeria on the world map of Christendom, saying his fame now spans the globe.

In a personal letter addressed to Onaiyekan by the President of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and made available to Daily Sun in Abuja, Oritsejafor said it was with joy that he received the news of Onaiyekan’s appointment as a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

“I am happy that this appointment has placed

Nigeria on the world map of Christendom and that your fame now spans the globe.

“I am particularly happy because of your current status as one of the ‘cardinal electors,’ a position which qualifies you to be among those to choose Pope Benedict’s successor.

“I pray that with this appointment, you will pursue with vigor, those attributes that earned you this appointment,” Oritsejafor said.

Bayo Ohu’s widow flags off foundation, empowers 4 widows

By SEYE OJO

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our widows in Lagos State yesterday received four grinding machines from Mrs. Blessing Ohu, widow of Mr. Ogunbayo Ayanlola Ohu, an assistant news editor with the Guardian Newspaper, who was murdered on September 20, 2009 by gunmen.

The presentation was made to the four beneficiaries, Marian Mohammed, Esther Osayande, Mercy Nwagasi and Juliana Udeh, during the flag-off ceremony of the Bayo Ohu Foundation held at the Eko FM Multipurpose Hall, Agidingbi, Ikeja.

The programme tagged: ‘Every Widow Deserves to Smile,’ was organised to commemorate the third posthumous anniversary of the deceased. Apart from the four widows that received grinding machines, many other widows that graced the anniversary also went home with gift items from the foundation.

Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Adejoke OrelopeAdefulire, was represented on the occasion by her Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Tunde Abatan. Also in attendance were the president, Centre for Morals

Development, Mrs. Aduragbemi Alagbada, founder, Head High International, Pastor (Mrs.) Tinu Odugbemi, author of a popular book, ‘Coping with Widowhood,’ Mrs. Margret Adeosho and Pastor Anthony Okere of the God’s Intercessory Evangelical Ministries, Oshodi, Lagos.

In her welcome address, Mrs. Ohu said the foundation was founded to put smiles on the faces of widows. She stated that the main vision of the foundation was to advance help for widows, urging individuals, the Lagos State Government and corporate organisations to advance help to widows, especially those that could not cater for themselves and their children.

“This foundation is brought together to empower widows and to put smiles on their faces. According to the theme of this anniversary, Every Widow Deserves to Smile, we want every widow to smile.

We want every widow to be happy. We want them to come out of their shells and that is why this foundation is upcoming.

“The main vision of the Bayo Ohu Foundation is to attract help for widows because they deserve to smile.

Having passed through the experience of widowhood myself, I decided that I don’t want widows to be in sorrow mood. This is why I established this foundation to promote the ideals of my late husband,” she said.

While saying that the foundation would ensure that 100 widows are empowered next year, Mrs. Ohu noted: “I know that the Ondo State governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, is doing something for the widows. I want to enjoin the Lagos State Government to look at the direction of the widows. I know that there are some widows who are better off but there are others that need help.

“I want the government to look at their direction and probably make a programme for them. We are not encouraging widowhood because they must be in the land. I didn’t plan to become a widow.

But it just happened. After reading a book, ‘Coping with Widowhood,’ I decided to move on with my life. I don’t want to die because I am widow. God has been faithful.”

The four beneficiaries were happy and prayed that God would increase Mrs. Ohu.

10 DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

SOUTH SOUTH Army denies shooting commuter bus •Vows to unravel culprits From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt

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he Headquarters of 2 Brigade of Nigerian Army, Bori Camp, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has debunked an allegation that its personnel deployed to Agip Roundabout, shot at a commuter bus.

Two passengers, including a 13-year-old girl, were said to have been severely injured and were rushed to a nearby hospital.

A statement released yesterday by the Brigade’s Public Relations Officer, Major Michael Etete, condemned the shooting, vowing that the Army would not leave any stone unturned to get the perpetrator(s).

The APRO, in that statement said preliminary investigation conducted by the Nigeria Police indicated that soldiers did not fire their rifles, as their ammunition were intact.

“The attention of the Headquarters of 2 Brigade/Sector 2 Joint Task Force Operation Pulo Shield, Port Harcourt Barracks has been drawn to an alleged shooting of a commuter bus on Wednesday, October 24, 2012, by soldiers at Agip roundabout check point, Mile 3, Port Harcourt.

“The Brigade sympathizes with those said to have been injured during the incident and states categorically that investigations to unravel the circumstances surrounding the incident has commenced, though preliminary investigation by Nigeria Police indicated that soldiers deployed at the location did not fire their rifles as their ammunition were complete.

Group preaches sustained support for flood victims in Delta From PAUL OSUYI, Asaba

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ublic-spirited individuals and organisations in Delta State have been urged to sustain the material support to victims displaced by the recent flooding across the state.

A socio-political organization, Anioma Agenda made the call through its chairman, Mr Alex Onwuadiamu, a lawyer, in Asaba.

Onwuadiamu, who described the flood as “a monumental disaster of immeasurable proportion,” emphasised the need to intensify both medical, material and logistics support for the survival of the victims even after the flood had receded.

He stated that Anioma Agenda was committed to realising the quest for the state governor to emerge from Delta North Senatorial district in 2015.

Onwuadiamu argued that the demand was legitimate as it was hinged on morality, equity, natural and political justice, stressing that it was only the district that had never produced the governor of the state since it was created in 1991.

According to him, the group had commenced sensitisation on the demand, adding that Anioma Agenda would partner with individuals and groups who would buy-in to the crusade and lauded other organisations already championing the same cause.

He admitted that the struggle to achieve the objective was not going to be easy, urging all Anioma natives (Delta North) to support his group “by not playing to the gallery of our brothers and sisters, the Urhobos, Ijaws, Isokos and Itsekiris who are already reasoning and cooperating with Anioma to attain a truly united Delta of our dream and statehood through the emergence of the state governor from Delta North in 2015.”

Constitution review: Journalists asked to focus on media freedom From JOE EFFIONG, Uyo

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articipants at the just concluded Zonal Media Conference stakeholders’ meeting for the South-South geo-political zone on the Review of the 1999 Constitution have charged media professionals in Nigeria to focus on issues that would guarantee press freedom in the build-up to the constitution amendment.

The charge was contained in a communiqué drawn at the end of a zonal media conference stakeholders’ meeting which took place in Calabar, Cross River State on Monday and Tuesday and organized by Democratic Governance for Development Project (DGD) UNDP in collaboration with the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

The participants at the conference lamented that the media focus so far on the constitution amendment had been on state creation and state police and suggested that attention should shift to issues on the media, gender, youth and electoral reform.

According to the communiqué signed by Mr Eniang Ndem and Gomo Oyiborhoro on behalf of the participants and the nine-member, Zonal Media Network Team was set up to mobilize stakeholders from the states and National Assemblies, state and Federal Executive Councils and all relevant institutions/individuals. The conference charged the media to henceforth look inward with a view to entrenching changes that could enhance its performance.

• Professor of Agricultural Engineering, Prof Victor Ndirika, with his wife, Maryann and management staff of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, (MOUA) Umudike, at the 15th inaugural lecture at the University yesterday.

Delta earmarks N37.3bn to upgrade Warri airport From PAUL OSUYI, Asaba ancillary facilities.

She added that the project elta State Government would also include electrical has approved the works comprising run-way award of a contract for lighting system, air-field the upgrade of Osubi Airstrip lighting system, navigational in Warri to the standard of an aid control, instrument landinternational airport in the ing system, generator house, fuel tank farm, control tower sum of N37.3 billion.

The decision was part of and power bud station.

Flanked by the the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Asaba.

The contract , when finally awarded, would be another resident Goodluck of the mega projects of the Jonathan will pay a onestate government . day working visit to Most of the projects Akwa Ibom State today. including the Asaba A release by the International Airport, Commissioner for Governor Emmanuel Information and Uduaghan had admitted back Communications, Mr. in August at a function, would Aniekan Umanah indicates not be completed before he that the president would perleaves office in 2015. form the groundbreaking cerThe Osubi Airstrip upgrade emony of the new contract, according to the International Stadium in Uyo Commissioner for Special and also inspect and commisInfrastructure, Orezi Esievo sion the new governor’s would entail the construction office built under one year by of a car park, construction of the Akpabio administration. a 4km run-way and other The new governor’s office,

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Commissioner for Information, Chike Ogeah, Esievo told journalists that upgrading the airport was to enable it to “carry body aircraft and basically, it is going to carry the status of an international airport.”

She explained that Warri was the economic capital of the state and as such would

make the project, when completed, economically viable.

In the build-up to the second South-South Economic Summit hosted in Asaba in April, the state government approved a contract sum of N7.4 billion for the crushing of hills around Asaba Airport so that larger air-craft could land.

President Jonathan visits A’Ibom today

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according to the release was an architectural masterpiece, which consisted of conference room, lounge, multimedia studio, a press room and an Executive Council chambers with video conferencing facilities, among others.

According to the release, the stadium, among other features, comprised classic multi-purpose layout with running tracks, 2-tiered seating arrangement excellent viewing conditions, arena with football pitch and 8-lane 400metre standard track,

Okada rider, 31, arrested stripped naked in Warri over alleged theft From EMMANUEL ed by some youths in the garage area of Warri was OGOIGBE, Warri given the beating of his life, t was a bitter experience for even as he insisted that he did a 31- year-old Okada rider not steal.

It was gathered that the as he was stripped naked and paraded through some suspect was stripped naked major streets in Warri for and parts of his body, including his manhood were mutistealing.

Identified simply as Akpa, lated.

Daily Sun gathered that the victim was alleged to have stabbed a lady and immediately he was apprestolen her handbag contain- hended, he started speaking ing N14,000 and a cellphone. in tongue, pretending to be a Daily Sun gathered that the prophet but those who knew culprit, who was apprehend- him quickly identified him as a notorious thief.

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Nemesis caught up with him when he hit a pregnant woman as he attempted to escape with his Okada, unfortunately, both of them fell to the ground.

The suspect, after being stripped naked, was taken to a hotel where he was identified and mocked by prostitutes known to be his customers.

Daily Sun gathered that after he was humbled and beaten to stupor, the suspect was handed over to the police at “A” Division Warri for interrogation.

including complete athletic facilities in the segment of the field.

Also, the access and exit system of the stadium complies with international safety requirements, as it provides emergency routes and allows an evacuation time of less than eight minutes. It will on completion, be equipped with three video boards under the roof.

The statement recalled that President Jonathan, during his previous visits, had commissioned landmark projects like the concentric flyovers, Akwa Ibom International Airport phase I and the dualised International Airport Road, Governor’s lodge, underground pipe-jacking drainage facility, including 17 other projects initiated and completed by the present administration in the state.

During his last visit in June, President Jonathan also commissioned the newly dualised Aka-Nung Udoe Road and the ultra-modern ELibrary, the very first of its kind in the West African subregion.

Already, preparations are in top gear by the state government to accord the president a rousing and befitting welcome to the state.

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012, 11

SOUTH EAST Tension over plans to relocate Onitsha market From EMMANUEL UZOR, Onitsha

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here was tension yesterday in William Market, one of the markets in the commercial city of Onitsha following the alleged state government’s plan to relocate it to its permanent site at Ogbunike, Oyi council area of the state.

Daily Sun gathered that the recent event in the said market, which resulted in physical brawl between the Acting Chairman of William Street Market, Mr. Solomon Maduike and his principal officials bordered on the alleged refusal of the chairman to implement the relocation exercise of the market to its permanent site.

Addressing journalists over the incident, the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee set up by the state government, Mr. Gabriel Momegha, said the committee went to the William Street Market to seek audience with the executives with a view to embracing dialogue to relocate the market to its permanent site at Ogbunike.

According to Momegha, “the visit was to seek the possibility of the executive of the market to embrace dialogue to see reasons and necessity to relocate to the permanent site which they have completed and officially commissioned by the Anambra State government since 2009.

“The mere mention of Ogbunike Building Material Dealers’ Market in the introductory speech, the Acting Chairman, Solomon Maduike, started shouting at the top of his voice and said he was not interested in Ogbunike Market.

All efforts to explain the need for them to relocate to the new site where he has shop failed. We also tried to tell him the need to relocate because William was no longer big enough to accommodate their goods but he refused,” he said.

Flooding: Cleric calls for special education for victims From ALOYSIUS ATTAH, Onitsha

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he Pastor in charge of Dominion City Church, Onitsha, Lawrence Ughamadu, has called on the government to provide special education programme for children of flood victims in various camps in Anambra State.

Ughamadu made the call at Unity Primary School Camp, Umuoba Anam when he led members of his Church to assist the flood victims.

Decrying a situation where most school children among the victims were loitering in various camps, he said it had become imperative that the government should provide an alternative studies’ arrangement with teachers for them so that they would not be displaced educationally.

Commiserating with the victims, he admonished them to look unto God as the ultimate provider who wilould eventually wipe away their tears and give them permanent solution to their problems.

He called on wealthy individuals and corporate bodies to lend their support to government in giving the flood victims a sense of belonging both now and when the flood finally recedes.

Ughamadu who was visibly pained to see that some of the victims at Father Joseph Memorial Camp, Aguleri, slept in the open field also appealed to the government to put a roof on some dilapidated buildings in the camp so that the people could lay their heads.

LG election: Ebonyi warns politicians against violence From GODDY OSUJI, Abakaliki

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s the local government election in Ebonyi State approaches, the state government yesterday cautioned politicians in the state against any act of violence that could truncate the election scheduled to take place in 2013.

The state Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Mr. Chike Onwe, gave the warning in Abakaliki while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the weekly executive council meeting.

He disclosed that security reports indicated that some political gladiators were planning to hijack and unleash mayhem during the council polls in the state.

The commissioner stressed that government would deal decisively with any politician who tried to create confusion, anarchy, violence or chaos of any type in the state during and before the election.

“Security operatives in the state should wade in and nip the situation in the bud while political office holders should caution their supporters and followers against any act that would disrupt the peace in the state,” he said.

He advised politicians in the state to eschew politics of violence and bitterness and to pursue their ambition peacefully.

•Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, on earth moving equipment for the flag-off of construction of Lot G Roads, part of Onitsha Township roads comprising Eze Iweka, Oraifite, Ezenwa roads, yesterday.

In Ebonyi, it’s one day, one rape •LG boss condemns defilement of 5-yr-old girl by man, 80 OSUJI, almost lynched by the youths after their arrest at Ugwulangwu by Okada ridhe Vice Chairman of ers but were rescued from Afikpo Local jungle justice by the timely Government Area, intervention of the police.”

The Head of the foundaDame Priscilla Otu Eme, has decried the alarming rate of tion, Mr. Ifeanyi Anyanwu, rape and violence by youths disclosed that Afikpo North in the local government area.

Dame Eme who spoke against the backdrop of incessant security breaches disclosed that no day passed without a case of reported rape incident.

She specifically mentioned From VAL OKARA, Owerri a particular case where an 80year-old man raped a child of group, South East Governance Network five years whose case was (SEGON) has accused before the Afikpo High Court and noted that people without Imo and Abia states governconscience, people not being ments of administering their religious and youths perpe- states without any accessible budget. trated the dastardly acts.

In a statement issued by the The council deputy boss disclosed that such rape inci- group in Owerri and signed

by Dr. Jude Ohanele and Mr. dents were reported by the Ifeanyi Anyanwu, the group committee instituted by the noted that spending public wife of the Governor of funds without appropriation Ebonyi State in various wards amounted to misappropriain the local government areas tion of public funds. of the state.

It condemned in its entirety The vice chairman who any approach to governance represented the local govern- that is anchored or suggests ment Chairman, Tony Ekoh, glaring misappropriation of at a one-day workshop on public funds.

“Governance and Security The group therefore urged Forum” organised by Cleen two states to make public Foundation at the local gov- their 2012 budgets and as ernment council said despite well as their proposed budgthe fact that bank robberies ets for the 2013 fiscal year.

SEGON noted that sustainthat were the order of the day in Afikpo had stopped, the able development was not people still slept with their going to be possible in eyes wide open as armed rob- Igboland until public expenbers still invaded private diture was anchored on all homes and cart away money inclusive and participatory and other valuables and bru- budgets and budget processes. tally assault victims.

Reacting, the Chief Press According to her, “we are faced with incessant disap- Secretary to Abia State goverpearance of commercial nor, Ugochukwu Emezuo, motorcycles (Okada) and just described the assertions of the recently two suspects were group as untrue saying the From GODDY Abakaliki

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Local Government Area was selected in organising the workshop because of its violence-prone nature and the open door policy of the chairman of the council.

He promised to provide legal and organisational support to any town union leader

demanding for the community’s right which was development in accordance with FOI Act, adding that the foundation was set up in response to challenges of governance and security hampering development in the South East in order to find lasting sustainable solutions to challenges of governance and security.

Imo, Abia govts administer states without accessible budgets –Group •It’s a false claim –States

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budget was first presented to the state parliament in the presence of newsmen and as such, the state budget was in the public domain and that it was blackmail to claim that the budget was not accessible.

In his reaction, the Imo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chinedu Offor, described it as false that the Imo State Government was operating without an accessible budget.

He said, “either you come to my office or ask any of the folks to come to my office and collect a hard copy of the budget. Some of these groups are either too lazy or mischievous or both in making the minimal effort to get to the truth of matters.

“In any case, the fact is that Governor Okorocha on live television presented his budget to the House of Assembly.

The unique feature of the Imo budget is that instead of an annual budget we have a rolling four-year budget that has taken into account all capital projects within the tenure of this administration.”

But in a telephone interview with Daily Sun, Ohanele stated that the issue at hand was that of understanding the concept of budg-

ets.

“When the budget is taken to the State Assembly, it is about the only time an infinitesimal minority gets a glimpse of a budget proposal and not the budget itself.

After that, amendments or none, the budget is taken back to the governor for assent and thereafter it disappears from the public domain. There should be active public participation in budgeting and its implementation.”

The group further described as unfortunate and worrisome, the absence of democratically elected leadership at the various local government councils in the South East, especially Imo, Abia and Anambra states accusing the state governments of allocating poverty to the region and by extension inflicting insecurity by the adoption of this undemocratic practice.

The statement said, “SEGON is of the view that this situation is at the root of spreading and deepening poverty across the communities in Igboland and the escalating and unchecked spate of violent crimes across the land and condemns in clear terms the ongoing violation of the democratic rights of our people.”

12 DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

SOUTH WEST 17 students bag First Class ... As Bells University holds 4th convocation From MOSHOOD ADEBAYO, Abeokuta

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eventeen students will graduate with First Class and 76 others bagged Second Class Upper as the Bells University, Nigeria’s premier private university of technology holds its fourth convocation next Saturday.

Eighty students and another 42 will also graduate with Second Class Lower and Third Class as well as two with ordinary Pass.

The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Isaac Adebayo Adeyemi who made this disclosure on Wednesday also disclosed that two eminent Nigerians, Dr. Pascal Dozie, Chairman MTN Communications and Nigeria’s first female Professor of History, Prof. (Mrs.) Bolanle Awe will be conferred with honorary degrees.

Reacting to the poor performance of the students of the university who will graduate from the tertiary institution with Third Class, the VC said: ‘’Here in the Bells, we don’t sell degrees. ‘’The facts that a student comes to a private university is not a guarantee that such a student will graduate with a First Class, he or she must work for it. For us as a university, if we award a First Class Degree to any of our students, such a student will repeat the same feat anywhere in the world.’’ ‘’It will be disheartening for me as a Vice Chancellor and as teacher to produce a First Class graduate that can’t meet the challenges of such a grade. Any institution that sells degree because it is a private university was not worthy of accreditation as a university.

According to him, there were standards put in place in the university to ensure that there is no frivolous allocation of marks and grades to students.

His words: ‘’Even when questions are being set or marked there are external moderators that look into them and ensure that standards are maintained because we value our reputation’.

Adeyemi prides the university as one of the best in the country in term of academics and moral upbringing and expressed delight that its students were doing well at both local and international competitions. ‘’Our university is committed to the training and grooming well-balanced graduates that are job creators and change agents. It is our firm believe that the future of this country, albeit, the world at large, rests with the youths.

The Convocation Lecture: ‘’Their Path...Our future’’ will also be delivered by Dr. Dozie, while the Convocation Play, ‘’ Jewels of the Shrine’’ an adaptation of a play written by James Ene Henshaw will be delivered by the university’s drama group on Friday.

NANS gives Ekiti education college 7-day ultimatum From CHARLES ADEGBITE, Ado-Ekiti

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he National Association of Nigerians Students (NANS), has given the authorities of the College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, a seven-day ultimatum to reverse its action on the cancellation of the students’ union election in the institution or face mass protest.

The students , who declared the action of the Provost of the institution , Prof Francisca Aladejana as illegal and erosion of the students’ rights, threatened to unleash unprecedented tension on the campus should the management treat their ultimatum with disdain.

NANS also commended the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi and the Vice Chancellor of the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Prof Oladipo Aina for reducing the reparation fee imposed on the students over the recent protest from the proposed N10,000 to N6,500.

The fee was imposed on the students following mass protest leading to monumental damage on the institution after a 400-level student of the university, Mr Teslim Yusuf Abiola was killed by a runaway driver on the campus, which elicited violent reactions from the students.

In a protest letter jointly signed by the duo of NANS/ Joint Campus Committee (JCC) .the Director of Action and Mobilization (Ekiti axis ) and the NANS/JCC Public Relations Officer(Ekiti axis), Comrades Agbetuyi Omotayo and Temitope Aduloju respectively, slammed the management of the College for resorting to barbaric action after their alleged preferred candidate lost out in the election.

NANS hinged the cancellation of the results on the failure of the College’s management to successfully instal a stooge as students’ Union’s leaders on the campus.

They contended that the election was peacefully conducted in the presence of security agencies and Director of Students’ Affairs, Mr Adeyeye Emmanuel, whom they said declared the results of the election and announced the winner.

They alleged that Mr Adeyeye, who declared the results against the interest of the Management was now being victimized , as they alleged that the Provost immediately transferred him to the Directorate of Personnel as a sign of punishment.

• Eid-el-Kabir free train ride: Passengers who benefitted from the Osun State free train ride from Lagos to Osogbo as they arrived the Railway Station Osogbo, Wednesday night.

Ajiboye denies Alaafin’s allegation ...Says he’s protecting his father’s right From GBENGA ADESUYI, assisting him to break the law by committing same offence.

Ibadan As Muslim faithfuls preollowing the allegation of pare for another round of Alaafin of Oyo, Oba anniversary today, Chief Lamidi Olayiwola Ajiboye said Alaafin raised Adeyemi III, that the Oyo the issue before the police State Police Command was boss in his palace “with intenpromoting illegality by tion to prevent me from exerallegedly providing security cising my rightful role today cover for a lesser chief at an as a Muslim,” adding that the Oyo praying ground, the allegation was false.

Speaking on phone with Baale of Ago Oja, Alhaji Ganiyu Ajiboye has said that newsmen in Ibadan yesterhe never applied for police day, Ajiboye said, “the allegaescort or called himself what tion by the Alaafin that I used police escort to the praying he was not.

Alaafin had accused the Oyo State Police Command led by the Commissioner, Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu, of aiding and abetting criminality by allowing security men to ...As Amosun seeks guard Ajiboye to the Oyo praying ground some months By MOSHOOD ADEBAYO, ago after a High Court had Abeokuta ruled that his claim of Alago gun State Governor, Oja of Ago Oja was non-exisSenator Ibikunle tent, and, therefore, restrained Amosun has sought the from further parading himself assistance of the Rotary Club as such.

Alaafin had further alleged International for its “save our that the chief regarded him- sight project.’’

In this vein, the governor self as an oba during the anniversary and was so treat- has expressed the willingness ed by the police at the praying of his administration to allot ground. Oba Adeyemi parcels of land for the internaalleged that the same police tional organization to site its that had arraigned Ajiboye eye hospital in the state.

Amosun spoke in before an Iyaganku Chief Abeokuta, the state capital Magistrate’s Court were still during free eye screening and

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ground was false and untrue.

“Since 1985 when my late father, the Ashipa of Oyo, Alhaji Amuda Olorunosebi, was going to pray at the Eid ground, police had always been sent there. It was being done annually. So, it was not because of anybody that the police were at the venue being referred to.

“The presence of the police was for the purpose of protecting worshippers. Similar thing was always being experienced at the Agunpopo Praying Ground in Oyo. I never wrote to the police

applying for police to escort me. I never called myself what I’m not. So, Alaafin’s allegation against the police that they illegally provided security for me is untrue”, Ajiboye said.

On the allegation that he was still parading himself as an oba contrary to court order, Ajiboye said the court judgment, which the Alaafin referred to had been appealed against and so he had not done anything criminal.

“Immediately the court gave the judgment and we were not satisfied, we went straight to the Appeal Court to challenge it.

500 undergo free surgical operations in Ogun

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Rotary’s assistance surgical operations for 500 people of the state at the State General Hospital, Ijaye.

His words: “We will want you to come and domicile here in Ogun State so that our people can learn more about it.

‘We plan to collaborate with them to have an institute here and train so many of our people and I think so many people will come from far and near to have the training. Once we have those capacities, they will be willing to assist us, that’s what we are trying to do.”

He adds: “We even want to

Ogun ministry lauded for taking step to measure performance

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he Ogun State Ministry of Information and Strategy has been given the thumbs up for initiating a media analysis team to measure the performances of all Information Officers attached to Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government in the state.

Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru who gave this commendation when

hosting the team, pointed out that it would go a long way in assessing the performances of the Officers in the area of media coverage for government and its activities.

According to Ashiru, the exercise would create an opportunity for stock taking and serve as a feedback mechanism, stressing that even in the private sector, a similar step is undertaken to measure per-

formance.

“The Management of the Ministry of Information and Strategy should be commended for putting up a team like this. I remember that when I was in the private sector, similar exercises like this were undertaken because they provided avenues for stock taking, served as feedback after which adjustments were made where necessary,” Ashiru stated.

encourage you so that you can come and train so many of our sons and daughters so that they can travel to India and learn how to do things or learn and improve on the knowledge they already have’’.

The leader of the team from India, Viral Purchit, Secretary of the Rotary Eye Institute, India expressed the willingness of the Club to partner with the state government.

According to him, he had viewed the request of the state governor with all seriousness and ‘’we are going to come up with a proposal that will benefit the people of the state’’.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka assured that the Institute would in the nearest future, be sited in the state for the benefits of mankind. ‘’Ogun State is blessed with many doctors, we have the manpower and we are going to recruit more people to achieve the aim. I will say within the next year if the institute is not commissioned, we will be here and nearing completion and ready to commission.’’

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012,13

AREWA Flood: 94,458 persons displaced in 200 Nasarawa communities From ABDULLAHI SHU’AIBU, Lafia

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o fewer than 94,458 persons in about 200 communities were displaced by flood in Nasarawa State this year.

Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr. Idris Abdulllahi who disclosed this in a chat with journalists yesterday, also said Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura would resettle the displaced persons in various parts of the state.

Abdullahi further explained that schools, houses, clinics and farmlands were submerged by the flood, pointing out that the water was eight kilometers from the river bank which was the highest that was ever experienced.

He commended Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura for visiting the affected communities and his prompt efforts in providing relief materials to the victims.

The areas affected by flood included Guto in Loko Development Area, Umaisha in Toto Local Government Area and Rukubi in Ekye Development Area.

Other areas affected include Tunga and Hunki in Awe Local Government, Kokona and Keffi Local Governments among others.

He assured the various communities affected by the flood that Governor Al-Makura would do everything possible to ensure that they returned to their various houses.

Meanwhile, Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State has assured various communities in the state of his administration’s commitment in ensuring the security of their lives and property.

The governor, who disclosed this while on visit to crisis-ridden areas in the state, also urged various communities in the state to live peacefully with one another irrespective of their tribal, religious, political or ethnic differences.

My administration’ll be guided by equity, justice, fairness –Tukur From DAVID MOLOMO,Yola

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he National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has said his administration would be guided by equity, justice and fairness to all members of the party. He, therefore, sought for the support of the membership for him to realise his set goals.

According to him, the National Working Committee of the party would be woven around the three ‘Rs’, which he termed as reconciliation, reformation and the rebuilding of the party.

He made the pledge at a reception held for him at Yola, Adamawa State yesterday.

He declared that NWC was poised to reconcile all members that have divergent views, interest and standing on how best to run the affairs of the party. Tukur added that the reconciliation move would as well entail invitation to those aggrieved foundation members of the party that has decamped to other political parties retract their steps back to the party On the issue of reformation of the party, Tukur said there was need for all party faithful to join hands with the national leadership of the party, to raise the standard of the party as the largest and the biggest party in Africa.

Tukur said the rebuilding of the party would be without rancor and strife, but all hands must be on deck in that regard.

No work, no pay, Jang tells striking LG workers From MARIAM ALESHINLOYE AGBOOLA, Jos

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overnor Jonah Jang of Plateau State has dashed the hopes of striking local government workers expecting to collect salary arrears as soon as they returned to work. He said emphatically that they would not be paid for the six months they had been on strike, and that their pay would start running as soon as they return to work in accordance with international labour law.

Answering questions from citizens of the state at the Town Hall Meeting during the tour of National Good Governance team, Governor Jang said , “it is not as if the state does not have the money to pay the workers because for every month they were on strike, their money were being kept aside but since they did not work for it, it will be diverted towards developing other projects in the local government areas.”

Governor Jang who shocked the workers, however, gave them as little concession by saying that if they should resume

by Monday, October 29, he would give them a full month pay for this month.

“The international labour law says no work no pay, so if they are sitting down at home to come and collect arrears for five or seven months, they better come to work before they die of hunger,” he said.

•L–R: Mrs. Rebecca Namah Ayuba, Mrs Fariku Juline Mintang and Mrs. Florencia Anene after their decoration as Assistant Comptrollers-General of Immigration in Abuja recently.

PHCN threatens blackout in Sokoto over alleged assault of staff by gov ...As students issue 24-hr ultimatum for power restoration From TUNDE OMOLEHIN, Sokoto

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he Sokoto State chapter of National Union of Electricity Employee (NUEE) has threatened to withdraw its members from all PHCN’s formations, which might cause a total blackout across the state till further notice.

This followed the alleged beating up of one of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Business Managers in Sokoto State.

The PHCN authority in the state, Daily Sun gathered, had also continued a mass disconnection of power supply to all state government institutions, including state hospitals and other establishments across the state over payment default, apparently a retaliatory move against the state government.

In a statement signed by the union chairman and secretary, Abubakar Sani and Yusuf Abdulkarim respectively, the union stated that the decision to withdraw its staff followed the recent alleged harassment of PHCN officials by the state governor and his security aides.

The union further alleged that Governor Aliyu Wamakko’s security aides beat up the PHCN official while on official meeting at the instance of the governor.

The PHCN was in the governor’s house to explain why his hometown’s electricity could not be restored.

According to the statement, “Report reaching us from Sokoto Business Unit revealed that on October 20, 2012, the state Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko invited the two Business Managers of Marina and Gwiwa with other two PHCN staff to his

house in respect of the Wamakko township 2.5MVA transformer.”

“Thereafter, the governor personally assaulted the Business Manager and two other staff who were mercilessly beaten and finally handed over to his personal security for further assault and torture.” All PHCN staff in the state are under intimidation and are no longer secure in carrying out their legitimate duties.

“In view of the above, the state executive council of NUEE resolved to withdraw our staff from PHCN forma-

tions and to cause a total blackout across the state till further notice,” it stated.

Meanwhile, the leadership of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has urged the authority of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in the state as matter of urgency, reverse its decision of disconnecting power supply to any state government institution or face what it called ‘mass action’ from the students.

Addressing journalists in Sokoto yesterday, the union Secretary General Zone ‘A’, Comrade Kasimu Aliyu

Nakura also called on President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to as matter of urgency intervene in the matter.

“The Nigerian students and concerned youths of Sokoto State have strongly condemned the action of the PHCN to cause blackout in the state for no just reason. And we are hereby calling for the immediate restoration of electricity supply in the affected areas within 24 hours of this ultimatum, pending when the issues would be resolved with the state government as masses are on the receiving end of this action,” it stated.

Tiv/Fulani crisis: Speaker, police disagree over casualty figure From ROSE EJEMBI, Makurdi

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peaker, Benue State House of Assembly, Hon. David Iorhemba has raised alarm over what he described as the incessant killing of his people by Fulani herdsmen.

Iorhemba who represents Guma State Constituency in the Assembly, told newsmen yesterday that 30 Tiv people died in the October 14 invasion of six villages within his constituency by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

However, in a swift reaction, the Benue State Police Command through its spokesman, Daniel Ezeala, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) insisted that only one person was killed in the said attack.

Armed with gory pictures of corpses of persons who were allegedly murdered in the mayhem, the Speaker who decried the wanton destruction

of lives and property of his people by Fulani herdsmen claimed that some Nigeriens were even hired to wipe out the Tiv race.

Speaker Iorhemba lamented that some of the corpses of those who were killed in the attack had decomposed to the extent that they had to be buried in mass graves, which according to him, was against the Tiv culture.

While calling on the Federal Government to immediately set up Presidential Committee of enquiry to look into the Tiv /Fulani crisis, Iorhemba also advocated that the National Assembly should define the scope of terrorism in the country.

He recalled that on August 8 and 9, this year, Fulani herdsmen stormed Kardarko Market in Nasarawa State and killed eight Tiv people without any provocation.

“I ask why these senseless killings of my people? Is it that the Tiv people are no longer

needed in Nigeria? I think I may have to take this matter to the United Nations if this progrom continues.”

The lawmaker who indicted some traditional rulers in Nasarawa State for allegedly habouring the Fulani herdsmen to unleash terror on the Tivs, also recommended that monarchs should be cautioned and disciplined if found guilty of aiding and abetting the killings.

Meanwhile, PPRO Ezeala told Daily Sun in a chat that only one person was killed in the attack, stressing that normalcy had returned to the area as both the Nigerian Army and the Police immediately stepped into the matter and had continued to keep surveillance on the affected communities.

The police spokesman called on all those villagers who fled the affected areas to return to their homes, assuring them of the safety of their lives and property.

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DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

Foreign Affairs British military dog joins list of animal war heroes

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• A man balances a child and umbrella on his bike as it rains during the approach of Hurricane Sandy in Manzanillo, Cuba on Wednesday. Photo: Associated Press

ritish soldiers and military dogs gathered at a British army barracks Thursday to honor a fallen hero with selfless courage, nerves of steel — and four legs.

Theo, a bomb-sniffing springer spaniel who died in Afghanistan on the day his soldier partner was killed, was posthumously honored with the Dickin Medal, Britain’s highest award for bravery by animals.

Theo worked alongside Lance Cpl. Liam Tasker, searching for roadside bombs in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.

Tasker, 26, died in a firefight with insurgents in March 2011, and Theo suffered a fatal seizure hours later. Tasker’s mother, Jane Duffy, says the pair were inseparable. She’s convinced Theo died of a broken heart.

“They’ll be watching us, and they’ll be so proud,” she said.

“I just wish they were here to get it themselves.”

Since 1943, the Dickin Medal has recognized gallantry by animals serving with the military, police or rescue services.

Some of these animal heroes: Theo is the 28th dog to receive the medal, awarded by animal charity PDSA and named for its founder, Maria Dickin.

One of the earliest winners was Rip, a mongrel found abandoned in a bomb shelter and adopted by a London air raid warden. He was credited with finding more than 100 people trapped in rubble by German bombs during the 1940 Blitz.

Another World War II hero was Rob, a collie who joined British commandos in more than 20 parachute operations behind enemy lines in North Africa and Italy. His medal citation said that “his presence with these parties saved many of them from discovery and subsequent capture or destruction.”

Netanyahu, Lieberman merge parties

Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in Cuba P H urricane Sandy rumbled across mountainous eastern Cuba and headed toward the Bahamas on Thursday as a Category 2 storm, bringing heavy rains and blistering winds that ripped the roofs off homes and damaged fragile coffee and tomato crops, but caused no known fatalities on the island.

Two people died elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Even as it pummeled Cuba’s rural eastern half, Sandy refused to lose intensity as storms normally do when they cross over land, raising fears that small mountain villages still unheard from might not have been ready for its wrath.

“It crossed the entire eastern region practically without losing intensity or structure,” said Jose Rubiera, the island’s chief meteorologist.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Sandy

emerged off Cuba’s northeast coast around dawn and was moving north at 16 mph (26 kph), with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph) as it closed in on the central Bahamas.

Late Thursday morning, it was about 65 miles (110 kilometers) south-southwest of Long Island in the Bahamas.

Schools and government offices were closed across the Bahamas on Thursday and some residents in southern Ragged Island already reported downed tree branches. All airports, seaports and bridges

in the Bahamas also will remain closed through Friday, the government announced.

Residents of Siboney, just outside the eastern Cuban city of Santiago, reported waves as high as 32 feet (10 meters), with water coming as far as 115 feet (35 meters) inland. In Santiago itself, tin roofs were ripped off some homes, according to resident Yolanda Tabio, a 64-year-old retiree.

She said a small Santiago church called San Antonio Claret was damaged, though there were no casualties.

“We’re still wet, cleaning

Ayatollah blames US, Israel for Syrian war

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ran’s Supreme Leader is blaming the U.S. and Israel for the bloody, 19-month civil war in Syria.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also warns Western powers not to intervene in the conflict.

In his message to Muslims performing the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, he charges that the civil war, which he characterized as “young Muslims killing each other,” is a “crime initiated by the United States and the

Zionist regime, Israel,” punishing Syria for resisting Israeli occupation and supporting anti-Israel Palestinian and Lebanese groups.

Khamenei noted “serious dangers” of Western intervention in Syria and other Mideast nations. His statement was read Thursday on Iranian state TV. Iran has been a close ally of below their market value.

Syria for decades. It has The investigators also staunchly supported the searched the apartment of regime of President Bashar Yevgenia Vasilyeva, the for- Assad during the civil war. mer head of the Defense Ministry’s property department who now holds a senior position in Oboronservice.

They seized some documents and confiscated more than 3 million rubles ($95,000) in cash along with antiques, paintings and jewelry items, the agency said.

It did not say what Vasilyeva stands accused of or explain the reasons for the confiscation of her property. • Ayatollah

Russian investigators probe alleged military fraud

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ussia’s top investigative agency on Thursday launched a criminal probe into alleged fraud in the selloff of Defense Ministry assets, a high-profile case that could shake up the nation’s scandal-marred military establishment.

It may also threaten Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who has enjoyed President Vladimir Putin’s support despite years of strong public criticism.

The Investigative Committee said that the state had suffered damage of more

up leaves and branches that the wind brought down,” she said. “It was very unpleasant.”

Despite that, Cuba’s second largest city was spared the worst of the storm’s force, which slammed into the provinces of Granma, Holguin and Las Tunas.

Some 5,000 tourists at beach resorts in Holguin were evacuated ahead of the storm, along with 10,200 residents, according to Cuban media.

Another 3,000 people in low lying areas of Las Tunas were moved away before Sandy arrived.

than 3 billion rubles ($95 million) from an alleged scheme that involved the sale of prized land plots and real estate in Moscow and other parts of Russia.

Investigators have questioned officials and conducted a series of searches at the offices of Oboronservice, a state-controlled company linked to the Defense Ministry and its affiliates, the agency said. The agency said it suspected unidentified Defense Ministry officials of using the company to sell valuable assets at prices far

rime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main coalition partner, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, plan to merge their right-wing parties ahead of Israel’s January 22 election, a cabinet minister said on Thursday.

“The fact they reached agreement should be welcomed by all of us,” Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, a stalwart from Netanyahu’s Likud party, told Israel’s Channel Two television.

“There will be a really clearly defined nationalist, rightist camp here.”

Netanyahu and Lieberman, who heads the ultranationalist Israel Beiteinu (“Israel is Our Home”) party, scheduled a joint press conference for 8.00 pm (1800 GMT).

According to Channel Two, the new party would be called Likud Beiteinu - “The Likud is Our Home”. Erdan said the merger would be subject to the approval of the Likud central committee.

Such a move, if confirmed, would further strengthen Netanyahu’s hand ahead of the election, with the newlook party capable of winning around double the number of seats of its nearest rival at the forthcoming vote.

However, the merger might raise eyebrows abroad.

Lieberman has been a long-standing and outspoken critic of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, calling earlier this year for the ousting of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

South African unions agree to settle dispute

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outh African unions and gold-mining companies have agreed a deal aimed at settling a bitter long-running dispute.

The National Union of Mineworkers and two other unions signed the pay deal with industry body the Chamber of Mines, but few details were released.

It is unclear whether the deal will satisfy thousands of striking workers, many of whom have been dismissed after their action was ruled illegal.

The strikes have slashed production and cost the industry millions of dollars.

Strikes in the platinum and coal sectors, which are not covered by Thursday’s agreement, have also raged for weeks.

More than 40 people died in violent clashes between police and striking workers at a platinum mine in August.

The National Treasury said on Thursday that strikes across the mining industry had cost the country’s economy 10bn rand ($1.1bn; £710m).

South Africa is one of the world’s biggest producers of precious metals.

Thursday’s deal looks like a tentative step to ending all the strikes in the gold sector. But the impasse in the platinum sector still exists and many mines remain closed.

Part of the problem is that platinum mines, unlike their counterparts in the gold industry, tend to negotiate with their own workers rather than with all the workers across the sector.

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012,

15

Foreign Affairs 2 US soldiers killed in Afghanistan

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• African Union (AU) troops in Somalia. Photo: AFP

man in an Afghan police uniform shot and killed two American service members Thursday, in what appeared to be the latest in a rash of attacks on international forces this year by their Afghan partners.

The so-called insider attacks have stretched to the breaking point a partnership that U.S. and NATO officials consider a key part their exit plan — preparing the Afghans to take over responsibility for their country’s security in just over two years’ time. They have also cast major doubts over the program, where Afghans and international troops are supposed to work “shoulder to shoulder.”

In Thursday’s shooting, authorities had yet to determine if the attacker was an Afghan police officer or an insurgent who had donned a uniform to get close to the Americans, said Maj. Lori Hodge, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The assailant escaped after killing the service members while they were out on a late morning patrol in the southern Uruzgan province, she in a statement.

Nigam said the United added.

Nations was appealing for “immediate and unconditional access to all communities in accordance with humanitarian principles.”

The statement said large numbers of people fleeing the new violence were headed for already overcrowded refugee ganda said it is reviewing camps currently housing the presence of its troops about 75,000 people previin Somalia, after the UN ously made homeless. accused it of backing “Short term humanitarian Democratic Republic of support and action towards Congo rebels. long term solutions are A senior Uganda minister urgently required to address told journalists that it had been the root causes of the con- “stabbed in the back” by the flict,” said the statement.

UN. Asuman Kiyingi said Uganda could now suspend its involvement in Somalia, where it supplies the largest United States, France and number of troops to the Britain have said they will African Union mission. offer logistical support, but The AU has helped governthe invasion needs to be led ment forces gain ground

by African troops. against Islamist militants.

Mali was once considered Suicide attack one of the only stable democThe report by a UN panel of racies in West Africa, but it experts last week said Rwanda has since plunged into chaos. and Uganda were both supplyIslamist groups, including Al- ing weapons to the M23 Qaeda in the Islamic rebels, whose insurrection has Maghreb, are the de facto forced some 500,000 from rulers of the north. their homes since April Ramtane Lamamra, the charges both countries denied. head of the African Union’s “We are reviewing our Peace and Security Council, engagement in Somalia until said the AU is willing to hold these malicious allegations are talks with armed groups in withdrawn and the internationMali if they unequivocally al community at the UN assure denounce links with terrorists the people of Uganda that the and are willing to forgo their sacrifices they are making are appreciated and recognised separatist agenda.

Separately, the AU council instead of being stabbed in the gave Sudan and South Sudan back the way that... report did,” to reach an agreement on the Mr Kiyingi told the BBC’s contested region of Abyei and Newsday programme.

He also said Uganda was two weeks on the disputed border areas. South Sudan reviewing the presence of its peacefully broke away from troops in the UN’s peacekeeping operation in the Central Sudan last year.

African Republic.

Ethnic violence claims 56 in Myanmar A

t least 56 people were killed and nearly 2,000 homes destroyed in the latest outbreak of ethnic violence in western Myanmar, a government official said Thursday.

The 25 men and 31 women were reported dead in four Rakhine state townships in violence between the Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities that re-erupted Sunday, local government spokesman Win Myaing said.

He said some 1,900 homes had been burned down in fresh conflict, while 60 men and four women were injured. It was unclear how many of the victims were Rohingya people and how many were Rakhine.

In June, ethnic violence in the state left at least 90 people dead and destroyed more than 3,000 homes. Tens of thousands of people remain in refugee camps.

An Associated Press photographer who traveled to Kyauktaw, one of the affected

townships 45 kilometers (75 miles) north of the Rakhine capital of Sittwe, said he saw 11 wounded people brought by ambulance to the local 25bed hospital, most with gunshot wounds.

One was declared dead after arrival. All the victims being treated were Rakhine, but that could reflect an inability or unwillingness of Rohingya victims to be treated there.

A male volunteer at the hospital, Min Oo, said by telephone that five bodies, including one of a woman, had also been brought there.

He said the injured persons were brought by boat from Kyauktaw town 16 kilometers (10 miles) away, and taken from the jetty by the ambulances.

An account by a Rakhine villager in the area suggested great confusion and tension.

The villager said that when groups of Rakhine and the Rohingya had a confrontation, government soldiers shot into a crowd of Rakhine,

even though, according to his claim, it had been dispersing.

The villager would not give his name for fear of violent reprisals.

There have been concerns in the past that soldiers were failing to protect the Rohingya community, but the Rakhine villager’s account hints that the military may have been defending the Rohingya in this case.

Curfews have been in place in some areas since June, and been extended to others due to the recent violence.

Tensions still simmer in part because the government

AU set to battle Al-Qaeda in Mali

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he African Union on Wednesday pledged to mobilize an African military force to battle Al-Qaedaaffiliated groups controlling northern Mali.

African foreign ministers meeting at the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia

Khartoum drags Israel to UN over blast port their claim, and Israel may never know.

F

ire engulf the Yarmouk ammunition factory in Khartoum 24 October 2012 Soldiers blocked roads to the factory in Khartoum Sudan has said it intends to complain to the UN over an explosion at an arms factory that it claims was caused by an Israeli air strike.

Sudan’s UN envoy DaffaAlla Elhag Ali Osman said Israel had violated Sudanese air space three times in recent years.

The Sudanese have not revealed any evidence to sup-

has not commented.

Sudanese sources told the BBC that the arms factory was believed to have been operated by the Iranians.

BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the factory is thought to have manufactured rockets and other munitions for Iran to transfer weapons to Hamas by an overland route.

There is much that we don’t know about the alleged Israeli air strike on the Khartoum factory. Indeed there may be much that we

has failed to find any longterm solution to the crisis other than segregating the two communities in some areas.

The United Nations called for calm Thursday in response to the new violence.

“The U.N. is gravely concerned about reports of a resurgence of inter-communal conflict in several areas in Rakhine State — which has resulted in deaths and has forced thousands of people, including women and children, to flee their homes,” U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar Ashok Nigam said

Short of an Israeli admission, which is unlikely, or some hard physical evidence like fragments of munitions that can be identified, it may be impossible to say with any certainty that Israel was involved.

But the balance of probability suggests that Sudan’s claims should be taken seriously. The Sudan raid appears to be yet another episode in the shadowy war being waged by Israel and Iran over arms supplies to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

agreed to write a final operational plan for the African-led force by the end of the month, as well as calling for arms and equipment to be provided for Mali’s army from members and international partners.

Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, the president of the Economic Community of West African States, told The Associated Press after Wednesday’s closed-door meeting that roughly 3,200 troops would be needed.

Western officials have said the planned African-led military offensive is unlikely to begin before next year — despite growing concern about the terrorist threat militants there pose to the continent and the rest of the world.

The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution earlier this month giving Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon 45 days to help Mali develop a plan to recover the occupied territory. The

Ugandan military reviews Somalia operation

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16

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

NewsPlus Rage of the okada men For two days this week, operators of commercial motorbikes (okada), protesting against restriction of their activities by the Lagos State Government seized Lagos roads, causing untold hardship.

HENRY UTSALO reports. hey were like a hive of murderous bees, ferociously stinging anyone that came their way. On Monday, October 22 and Tuesday, October 23, all was not well in Lagos. Mobs of angry operators of commercial motorbikes took over the highways, wreaking havoc on LAGBUS and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) buses as well as on law enforcement officials. In their thousands, the protesting motorbike operators seized many roads and made them impassable, causing untold hardship for motorists and commuters. From Ikorodu Road to Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, from Onipanu to Alagbado, angry okada men turned themselves into bands of bandits, destroying whatever stood in and out of their way. At the last count, no fewer than 42 LAGBUS and BRT buses were thoroughly vandalised by the commercial motorbike operators who were protesting the restriction of their operations as well as their arrest by law enforcement officials.

In the new Lagos traffic law, motorbikes were barred from operating on 475 major highways, roads and bridges in Lagos State. The roads included all the major highways in the state, among which were the Third Mainland Bridge, Ikorodu Road, Agege Motor Road, LagosAbeokuta Expressway, Funsho Williams Avenue, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lekki-Epe Expressway and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and others. Their operations were also substantially restricted in most parts of the metropolis, including Ikeja, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Apapa and Victoria Island, among other areas.

Since the law was gazetted, the okada riders have consistently voiced out their opposition against the sections that considerably restrict their operations. They have even commenced legal proceedings against the state government. The okada operators, through their lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, are contending that the state lacked the powers to ban or restrict their operations from the federal highways. But the state government has always insisted that the restriction of okada was in the best interest of Lagosians, noting that the death and injuries resulting from okada-related accidents were mind-boggling.

The state governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, has even encouraged those against the restriction to visit the emergency sections of public hospitals in the state and see the havoc wreaked by okada riders. Fashola said such okada protagonists would be shocked by the number of those that have lost limbs, arms as well as those who have lost

T

Okada riders making a bonfire on a Lagos road

Protesting motobike operators their children and parents to the recklessness of okada riders.

In a bid to enforce the law, men of the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and other Offences have been storming the major highways and bridges in the state, going after okada riders. Thousands of commercial motorbikes have been seized by the task force. Recently, 3, 000 of such motorbikes were crushed at the state-owned crushing plant at Oshodi.

On Monday, the okada riders trooped out into the streets of Lagos, purportedly for a peaceful rally against the restriction of their operations. But the protest was far from peaceful. Marching through the streets in their numbers, the okada riders disrupted traffic in several parts of the metropolis, forcing private and commercial vehicles off the roads. They made bonfires on the major roads and vandalized vehicles.

There was considerable gridlock in many parts of the state, as many motorists struggled to avoid the roads

invaded by the okada men.

Thousands of commercial buses also disappeared from the roads, to save their buses from suffering the same fate as the government buses vandalized by the okada mobs.

For thousands of unsuspecting Lagos residents, the social media and Blackberry messenger came to the rescue. From early in the morning, a message had been circulating. The tone of the message was urgent, and in no time, it went viral on social media and Blackberry messenger.

Please avoid Ikorodu Road, Onipanu, Lagos, because okada boys are on the rampage. Also do not board any BRT buses because they are destroying them and injuring people. Please be careful.

Those who had access to such messages quickly reexamined their itineraries for the day. There were those that avoided Ikorodu Road and other routes where the okada men were causing mayhem. But many were those caught unawares.

On Ikorodu Road, the commercial

bike operators moved from bus stop to bus stop, disrupting traffic. They later went violent, forcing passengers off BRT and LAGBUS buses and vandalizing the vehicles. Looking wild and dangerous, the okada men accused Governor Fashola of turning their lives into hell.

Those who had thought that the rampaging okada riders would put a stop to the violent protests were shocked. On Tuesday, the protests took a more dangerous dimension.

From very early in the morning, groups of okada riders stormed the major highways in the city and disrupted traffic.

At Kola bus stop, Alagbado, and parts of Ikotun, Ejigbo, Yaba, Agege and other places, the okada operators made bonfires on the road, forcing commercial buses to run for their lives. Thousands of commuters were forced to trek to their destinations.

The situation turned ugly when a motorbike operator was allegedly killed at Pen Cinema area of Agege by some policemen attached to the

Rapid Response Squad. The victim, identified as Alagede, was said to have been stopped by the police, but reportedly attempted to evade arrest.

A man, who said he witnessed the incident, told journalists: “The okada rider was trying to escape from being arrested by the policemen. He started speeding towards Ogba-Ijaiye, but the policemen pursued him in their vehicle. One of the policemen then hit the okada rider with a baton, and the okada rider collapsed and died.”

The police denied the incident, however. Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Umar Manko, said he had no information about the shooting of any okada rider.

“I know that the okada riders came out early this morning and were making bonfires but I deployed officers there to quell the protest. I don’t have any information on the shooting of any Okada rider,” he said.

Residents said they had a terrible time on the road as the okada riders caused untold mayhem on Lagos roads.

“I have never trekked like this all my life,” Seyi Adelabu, a journalist, told this reporter. “I left my house in Ikotun for the Island on Tuesday morning. The assignment was for 8.30, but I didn’t get there until 11.

The okada people just turned themselves into a menace. They were so wild, destroying anything in sight. I don’t know why they should be violent with their protests. But if the government says they should get some new jobs, let them do so. After all, they have not been banned totally. The government has only restricted their operations in parts of the metropolis. My suggestion is that government should ban them totally if this is the kind of violent protests with which they want to make their grievances known.”

Reacting to the incident, the ruling party in Lagos, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), has accused some opposition politicians of being behind the violent protests. A release signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, urged the security agencies to arrest and prosecute anyone found vandalizing government property.

And if the okada riders continue to be unruly, the Lagos State House of Assembly may soon place an outright ban on their activities. Speaker of the House, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, said on the floor of the House that the lawmakers might be forced to ban their operations in the state if the violent activities continue. “The Assembly will not hesitate to ban okada outright if the riders continue to destroy government property and constitute nuisance in the state,” he said.

Another member of the House, Mr. Bisi Yusuf, agreed with the speaker, saying there was nothing wrong in banning the operations of okada riders in Lagos. “If okada riders’ operations have been banned in states like Yola, Yobe, Kano, Abuja, Rivers and some parts of the Osun State. Banning them in Lagos will not be a new thing.”

Friday, October 26, 2012 DAILY SUN

17

NewsPlus

By COSMAS OMEGOH

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he arts heritage of Ekiti women will be given massive boost, according to Erelu Bisi Fayemi, wife of the governor of Ekiti State. The assurance came during her recent visit to Ogotun Mat Weaving Centre and Igbara-Odo Pottery Works in Ekiti South West Local Government Area of the state.

She said her pet project, Ekiti Development Foundation (EDF), would support all women in the state engaged in various works of arts.

Ekiti State is home to many works of art. A delegation from Yorubas in Cuba recently visited the state to learn about this. The Cubans had a true taste of Ekiti culture before leaving the state with stories to tell their folks at home. They were given various exquisite pieces of arts as eloquent testimonies of their sojourn in the country.

But arts are not the only striking things about Ekiti. The state is also a land of a thousand hills. AdoEkiti, the state capital, sits at the feet of a ridge of hills which overlooks the city with a menacing mien. But at the same time, Ado stands on hills which seem to point it to the sky. So Ado is a city of contrast!

As you hit the road to Akure on the left flank of the city, you meander through a chain of hills – some wooded, some of bare-faced rocks which have endured the centuries.

They form part of the scenic splendour of the city no one can ignore.

Just when you are sucking the breathtaking spectacles of AdoEkiti, a city still labouring to free itself from its rural past, you begin to descend into Ekiti South West.

Tearing through the woods, you are hit by a gust of rich air – pure, dense, humid and fresh. You will love to let it all in, in one full breath. Then you veer off to Ogotun, a community which still has much of its pristine innocence intact. You then begin to have this inkling that you are in for an embrace with nature and the artistic wonders of Ekiti State - the Ogotun mat weaving and the Igbara-Odo pottery works.

Interestingly, these heritages of the areas have been resonating in Cuba. So strong was their impact

From Cuba with love for Ekiti mats, pots • As Fayemi’s wife pledges support for state’s art heritage

Erelu Fayemi (l) with Madam Florence and the Cubans that from the Fidel Castro country, a cultural team with strong Yoruba ancestry came to see for itself. The Cubans had heard so much about the exploits of some untaught women of Ogotun who are highly skilled in mat weaving and pottery.

The Cubans’ visit coincided with the second anniversary of the administration of Dr John Kayode Fayemi. The Cubans were in the state as part of their cultural visit to Nigeria.

They were led by Erelu Bisi Fayemi to Ogotun, accompanied by the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Fola RichieAdewusi and many others.

For hundreds of decades, the simple women of Ekiti have been producing amazing, world-class art

pieces. During the days of Chief Olabode George as Military Governor of Ondo State (from which Ekiti was created) his wife gave the Ogotun women and their heritage a voice by building a weaving centre for them. It is there that the women gather to ply their trade and to mentor the young ones so that the heritage would not die.

And now, the women even have a formidable co-operative society to enhance their trade.

So when Erelu Fayemi and the Cuban cultural troupe visited Ogotun recently, what a massive boost the women of the area got.

Inside the weaving centre, seven old women whose ages averaged 65 years, sat on the floor, hands on the job. Their fingers were all at

The Cubans, Erelu Fayemi and others watching the Ogotun mat weavers at work

work, moving with dexterity as they weaved strands of dyed materials together which gradually formed various eye-popping designs on sheet of mats – some bed sized.

Meanwhile, outside the building, a carnival-like atmosphere had formed as a local dance group gathered, drumming, dancing and singing for the First Lady and her entourage. Soon, the arena turned into rapture as the Cuban troupe joined in, dancing and beating their own drums. Both groups quickly fused, forming a distinct musical mosaic.

One of the weavers, Madam Florence Kolawole, speaking through an interpreter told Daily Sun: “I have been doing this work since I was 10. We use materials from ewe eeran (the sliced stem of a plant whose leaf Yorubas use in wrapping moi-moi). We dye them into various colours and let them dry before we sit down to weave.

We are in a co-operative society here and that helps us a lot. We gather in this building for our work and to teach the young ones so that this trade doesn’t die. The young girls coming to us are showing tremendous interest.”

Erelu Fayemi expressed delight at coming to see the women.

Sitting on the mats spread out for her, she said: “We are happy to be here with our sisters and brothers from Cuba whose ancestors were forcefully taken away from this land over 500 years ago. You can see that they are part of us from their dance steps as they beat their Bata drums.”

Turning to the Cubans, she said: “You are welcome back to Ekiti. We are all here to see the wonderful works of arts our women are well known for. These mats you are seeing here can be used for sitting down, sleeping and decorating homes. That is why we are going to encourage them to produce more of these mats even for export. The present administration in the state is going to make the development of their activities a top priority. To begin with, we are going to reconstruct this building so that when next you visit here, it will be a marvellous place.”

Speaking in a chat with Daily Sun, Mrs RichieAdewusi said her ministry was already doing all it

could to bring the fame of the women weavers into greater limelight. “Apart from this centre, we also have some others in Emure and Ipoti-Ekiti. My ministry is very much aware of what these women are doing here. So we have been assisting them. Once an opportunity arises, we try to expose. When we have an exhibition in and outside the state, we invite them and showcase them to the world. Their activities are part of the important cultural heritage of Ekiti State. We are all proud of them.”

She disclosed that as part of efforts to ensure that the mat weaving culture was sustained, “during the holidays, we bring some young girls from different parts of the state to the centre to be taught the trade. We want the women to impact on the girls so as to sustain this culture. As you can see, most of the women here are already very old. That is why we are encouraging them to get as many of our young girls as possible to be interested in what they are doing.”

She hinted that as part of efforts to also assist the women, the government would continue to sustain their co-operative society and provide them with micro finance to further enhance their activities.

From that location, the party snaked its way to Igbara-Odo to behold another wonder of Ekiti. In one moment, the First Lady and her entourage were in the art gallery and workshop of an unsung heroine, Madam Felicia Adepetu whose skill in pottery works resonates in the state. Madam Adepetu’s age is in the region of 75; she has been in the trade all her life. An uncompleted building houses her works which include various exquisite pieces of pottery ranging from pots, flower vase, artifacts to mascots and more – all of various sizes. They were simply breathtaking. Everyone was held spellbound, especially against the backdrop that she is a rural woman.

A young girl, Ojo Opeyemi told Daily Sun that “mama simply uses clay mixed with water to mould any shape or object. The job is painstaking, depending on the image. After moulding, the items are left to dry and later fired. The ones that survive in the fire are then decorated with the right colours.”

The governor’s wife was thrilled by the quality and quantity of works in Madam Adepetu’s workshop. She told the Cuban troupe that such workshop was part of the cultural heritage of the state. She then handed the troupe’s head of delegation, Comrade Karina Palacious some of the works. She told the visitor: “I give you this for you to remember Ekiti State.”

Receiving them, Comrade Palacious thanked Mrs. Fayemi for the gesture. She promised that her delegation would preserve them as priceless pieces from Ekiti State.

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DAILY SUN Friday October 26, 2012

Happy

Eid-el-Kabir

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igerian Muslims, today, join their counterparts all over the world to celebrate the Islamic festival of Eid-el-Kabir, which commemorates the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son, Ismail, to Allah. God, however, provided a ram to replace Ismail at the point of sacrifice.

Prophet Ibrahim’s readiness to sacrifice his son, and Allah’s mercy in providing a ram as replacement for the sacrifice, is celebrated in the Muslim world with the killing of rams in remembrance of the historical event. The celebration follows the Wuquf Arafat (standing at Arafat), which is the visit of Muslims on Holy Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, to Mount Arafat, at the climax of the pilgrimage rites.

The Eid-el-Kabir is, however, not about merrymaking alone. It is preceded by prayers in mosques and other designated prayer grounds, following which rams are slaughtered and shared to the less privileged, as the merriment begins.

Beyond the eating and drinking, it is a period when true Muslims reflect on Prophet Ibrahim’s great sacrifice and Allah’s mercy, and draw closer to God to receive His favour.

Eld-el-Kabir is one of the greatest festivities in the Islamic calendar. It is marked annually with great cheer by Muslims and their well-wishers all over the world. The killing of rams is seen as part of the sacrifices a mature believer who can afford it should make to gain favour with Allah.

We congratulate Nigerian Muslims on this great occasion. We wish the faithful a happy celebration. As the essence of the festivity dictates, this celebration should go beyond partying and jollification to deep reflections on their lives and the society, and how they can make Nigeria a better country.

It should be a time to adopt and demonstrate the virtues of humility, devotion and unquestioning obedience to Allah that are glaring in Prophet Ibrahim’s remarkable gesture. It is also appropriate at this time for the celebrants to pray for peace, progress and unity of the country as they draw closer to God. They should focus less on merry-making and frivolities that sometimes accompany the august cele-

bration but direct their attention to its spiritual significance.

This year’s Eid-el-Kabir has come at a time that flooding of different parts of the country; resultant displacement of vast populations of the people; insurgency in the North and high cost of food have greatly circumscribed the ability of many Nigerians to celebrate the festivity as they would have wished. Meeting up with responsibilities for the celebration is a challenge for many.

In the midst of these problems, we urge Muslims to cheer up and renew their hope and faith in Almighty Allah who is able to fulfill all their expectations. They must strive to remain faithful to Allah’s injunctions and do all that is expected of them to obtain his mercies.

This should be a season for charity. It behoves those that have been blessed by Allah to share their blessings with the less privileged at this auspicious period. It is also good that Nigeria’s leaders learn the appropriate lessons from Prophet Ibrahim’s great sacrifice. They should demonstrate more commitment and a sacrificial attitude in their administration of the country.

They should recognise that they are elected into public offices to serve the people, and not to lord it over them, and line their own pockets. All faithful should thank God for the opportunity to witness the festivity which is recognised as one of the most remarkable in Islam and commit themselves to the service of God and humanity.

All Nigerians should embrace tolerance, peaceful co-existence and love of fellow citizens.

This is the only way to reduce tension along the nation’s ethnic and religious divides, and lay a solid foundation for a stable and prosperous country.

We wish all Muslims joy, peace and blessings on the occasion of this celebration. Let it be another occasion to cement the bond of unity in the country. We also wish Muslim brethren on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina safe return.

May God accept and reward the prayers and other acts of worship of all Muslim faithful on this festive occasion.

COMMENT

LETTER

Disability: How to rescue the perishing

THIS letter could not have come at a better time than this period of our national constitutional review and amendment. I am grateful for the opportunity to air my view on the effort to take our country from where we are to where we ought to be. Presently, when I write, it is either to spread the campaign against wild polio cases or to advocate support for the maimed and the disadvantaged in the society as a result of disability occasioned by polio or a combination of other causes.

All over the world, the responsibility of care-giving and support for the downtrodden in the society has always been a combined effort, with government providing the enabling environment through constitutional provisions. That is not all, government still provides the necessary body capable of overseeing compliance with the constitution and formulating policies and programmes needed to drive the full implementation. If government, as the parent body, fails in its responsibility, then there is

a fundamental problem.

In the United States, for instance, we have Polio Survivors and Associates (PSA) as one of the organisations working closely with government at all levels. It does not only support government’s efforts in maintaining a polio-free America, it also assists in providing welfare to polio survivors and other physically challenged persons. Just as the Lagos State Special People’s Law 2010, United States has Americans with Disability Act (ADA) 1990 enacted by U.S Congress and assented to by President George W. Bush. It may interest you to know that the first title in this all-important document is employment. This is followed by transportation and accommodation in that order.

And in the United Kingdom, there is British Polio Fellowship among many other organisations championing the cause of continued freedom from wild polio invasion and soliciting care for polio sur-

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vivors and persons suffering from other forms of disabilities. Before the year 2010, there were various laws fighting the cause of the disabled in the land. These laws were then referred to as Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). But in 2010, UK replaced the DDA with a more comprehensive disability law called the Equity Act 2010 which is meant to protect the disabled people and prevent disability discrimination. Just like the American ADAof 1990, Equity Act 2010 provides legal right for persons living with disability in the area of Employment, Education, Accessibility to public facilities and services, etc in that order.

These two countries have well grounded and solid foundations upon which other stakeholders can build to ameliorate the pains and trauma of persons living with disabilities in them. With such structures in place, corporate organisations, NonGovernmental Organisations (NGOs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Individual philanthropists and the general public will know their obligations to this special set of people. This is very close to an ideal situation.

Coming back home to our country Nigeria, there is no part of 1999 constitution that has much provision for the disabled part of the society. No part of this document that has anything to do with discrim-

ination against disabled persons. No provision for employment, transportation, education, health and recreation. Nothing, absolutely nothing for us!

Little wonder, there is a direct correlation between disability and poverty in the land. The mention of discrimination in Section 42, under “Right to freedom from discrimination” has nothing to do with disability. And in Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 1990, Article 7 of part III of Schedule 5 did not give any directive to company directors on the employment and training of physically challenged persons. This part only instructs directors to state in their report, if on any ground, they had employed any persons living with disabilities in the reporting year.

This is no time for lamentation and wailing over what we failed to do in the past. This is a time for a new beginning. The ongoing constitutional review and amendment provides the opportunity to right all wrongs and incorporate everything needed to better the lives of the disabled community in this country. This is also to highlight the urgency of the passage of the Nigerian Disability Bill lying on the table of our president. With all these in place, it won’t be long that Nigeria will take her place in the comity of progressive nations.

Olugbenga J. Kuye, Lagos.

CMYK

DAILY SUN

Friday October 26, 2012

19

Re: The heat over Achebe’s war memoir (1)

M

y write-up on the above subject generated lots of responses. Many readers called to express their gratitude. My phone and email boxes were bombarded with reactions from diverse readers. Enjoy them.

Obi, I just finished reading your article on Achebe’s new book that is raising needless controversy in the polity today. I enjoyed what you said alongside those of other detribalized columnists on the issue. What pains me to the marrow is that the country has learnt nothing and forgotten nothing about her past experiences. If the blood of Abel in the Bible could make Cain a living corpse throughout his stay on this planet, imagine what that of millions of innocent, defenceless women and children butchered during the Biafran genocidal mass killing could do to a country like Nigeria. Could this not be the reason the country has remained half alive, making so much progress in retrogression for decades now? Is it not unbelievable that solution that change things for the better in other countries end up breeding problems if applied to Nigeria’s case? Nigeria is a convict of natural justice.

Ifeanyi O. Ifeanyichukwu.

It is difficult to see how Achebe’s works, his celebrated protests against corruption by rejecting national honours etc are suddenly reduced to nothing by some people, just because of a paragraph in a whole book expresses his personal opinion about Awolowo. Since all that the intellectually-lazy columnists care about in a whole book is a paragraph of the author’s opinion on Awo, the question they should answer is: Did Awo formulate those policies and why? This they should do instead of trying to unsuccessfully to bring down a man whose intellectual shoe lace they are not worthy to untie. Achebe has told us what he knows. Let others tell theirs.

Greg Ugboaja.

Robert Obioha 08084951442 robobioha@yahoo.com answer. The evils he committed are living with him and his cohorts. In the meantime, may the soul of our Leader, Ikemba rest in piece. Igbos will surely triumph over evil of Nigeria’s oppressive leadership and marginalization. Ride on my brother. We need more of this for the whole world to know the truth. You are a true son of Igbo land.

Okey JN. Owerri.

Mr. Obioha, good day sir. I am a Yoruba man.

I read your article in The Daily Sun of today (October 19). You ought to observe decorum in use of words. After all, your deity-Ojukwu labeled Awo as the best president Nigeria never had. Achebe could have made his point without putting Awo’s name. We respect elders and worship our heroes. If we are all bolekaja critics, was it not the same that is used to convey your people to Lagos for trading? Awo to us is an institution.

Comrade JOA Onagunwa, Lagos.

I read your write-up in defence of Prof.

Chinua Achebe’s Nigeria/Biafra civil war memoir. It is very good. You assembled all the parts well. My impression moved me to dial your number immediately after reading it to say thank you but your phone was switched off. Do not be afraid of any person. How can I obtain this Well-done my brother! You have painstaking- revealing book? Engr Mbadiwe. Response: It is ly defended the work of the Iroko of our time in available at Glendora Bookshop in Lagos, the the literary world, Pa Chinua Achebe. Don’t two Airports in Lagos and French Cultural Centre Abuja. RO. worry; the evil of ceding Bakassi to punish Robert, Thanks for a job well done. Please Biafrans is spelling doom on them. God has vindicated us. Gowon has more questions to remind those whose actions and decisions led to

the genocide in Biafra that Achebe has quickened their sense of reason to apologize to Ndigbo and God to obtain forgiveness or else it will be too late in hell. Once in hell, torment of evil committed on earth starts. No need to go to church or mosque with filthy and soiled garment. As for those dead already, it is too late.

Linda. Benue State.

Mr. Obioha, Thank you for your article. You are right. Achebe is a treasure in Igboland and beyond. Yoruba people will never agree that their own is at fault. Was it not to appease them that Awo was appointed Finance Minister? Femi Fani-Kayode never respected elders and he knew nothing about the war. Thanks for being an Igbo man. Chukwu, Ojo Lagos.

You answered Achebe’s critics rightly with a lot of professional insights but for the records, Rear Admiral Allison Madueke, another Igbo man also headed the Navy. Engr Uchenna Mgbecheta. Response: For how long? It is one of those mere tokenisms Nigeria offered the Igbo, once in a while, to justify their Igbo-phobic agenda. All the same, thanks for the corrigendum. That fact actually escaped my memory at the time of writing the piece. RO. Your article on the recent book by Prof.

Chinua Achebe has no doubt evoked more reactions than any other in recent times. However, be informed that Rear Admiral Allison Madueke, an indigene of Enugu State, was a former Chief of Naval Staff during the late Gen. Sani Abachaled administration. Thanks.

07039677204.

Achebe is a respected individual when it comes to matters of education. My problem with his recent memoir is that what impact it does to the already fragile peace in Nigeria? What did he intended to achieve when tempers go high? Is this the right time to release to release the memoir? Achebe is better than that please.

08188541188.

Robert, I have just read your piece, “The heat over Achebe’s war memoir.” Thank you very much for the piece that could pass for an academic seminar. The people criticizing the book are failed politicians and not intellectuals and their criticisms should be discarded into the dust bin.

Okey Unegbu.

Mr. Obioha, Thank you for your article on Achebe’s new book. I also thank all the Igbo columnists and intellectuals who are countering the Lagos/Ibadan media axis. No matter how long it takes, those that committed the genocide will be tried one day for war crimes.

John Ikebuiro.

Obioha, the truth is always bitter. The innocent blood of Igbo race callously wasted by the actors will continue to haunt Nigeria until they atone the blood of Igbos shed during the civil war from 1967-1970. I bu ezi nwafor Igbo, nna gi muru gi. True son of Igbo, keep it up.

Barr Anayochukwu.

My brother I read your article entitled, “The heat over Achebe’s war memoir.” It is in order.

Tell them the truth. Even the war we fought is as a result of the Western Region’s election crisis of 60s.

08126090786.

My brother, God bless you for your well composed article on page 19 of today’s (October 19) Daily Sun newspaper.

Chris Newman Emeka, Port Harcourt.

Hello Mr. Obioha, Thank you very much for your article in defence of the truth, Achebe and Ndigbo. May God continue to bless you.

Pharm Ifediba.

Continued on page 47

Aluu Four, State Police and farcical constitution amendment

BY DANIEL OKECHUKWU

T

he hair-raising, hedonistic, primitive and barbaric killing of four students of University of PortHarcourt in Aluu community in River State by errant youths for alleged constant cultic and robbery activities in the community and environs has reinforced the call for radical restructuring of the country to berth True Federalism with the inherent component of State Police.

According to news reports, the community’s vigilance group ferreted out the students from their hideout in an uncompleted building and the alleged fury of their constant robbery attacks and cultic activities led youths of the community to club them to death and set their corpses on fire.

The disgusting feature of the pre-medieval resort to self help and jungle justice in the absence of the police personnel and its corruptive maneuvering of cases reported to them highlighted the handicap and shortcomings of vigilance services currently in place in many communities because of the obvious failure of the Nigeria police.

The searing fact is that the Nigeria police lack the basic facilities, equipment and adequate personnel to check the rising tide of criminality and civil disturbances all over the vast territory of the country. The Nigeria Police would have collapsed irretrievably but for the massive injection of public funds and supporting facilities by the state governors. The Federal Government has proven that it cannot maintain a

police force that can cover the federation in addition to the poor standard of prison services. This is due to the overcentralization of MDAs born out of the age long quest of the Northern Muslims to the control all the sectors of governance directly and indirectly.

This ever cunning chameleonic phalanx have been manipulating and exerting subterranean influence on the ruling party (PDP) and the National Assembly to embark on a farcical Constitution Amendment of the 1999 largely flawed military imposed constitution to thwart the patriotic call for National Conference to produce a truly federal constitution that will berth True Federalism and its inseparable components like state police/prison and massive decentralization of MDAs. Vigilance service is a child of necessity and a crude, interventionist innovation to bridge the yawning gap in the gross inadequacy and performance of the Nigeria Police. The palpable solution to the pervasive insecurity and lawless resort to self-help and jungle justice by aggrieved and exasperated victims of criminality is to replace vigilance services with state police.

The difference between vigilance services and State Police is that the former were not properly groomed and trained like the later. Formality in training, adequate personnel, facilities and requisite remuneration of vigilance services personnel and conversion to State Police will enable them to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the beleaguered masses who have been deprived of basic fundamental human rights for security of life and property in

the constitution. State Police cannot be abused if the immunity clause for governors is removed and creative laws are made to checkmate the excesses of the state governors and chairmen of local government councils.

The nation-wide outrage of the hedonistic and primitive clubbing to death and burning of the bodies of the four students in Aluu community has reinforced the imperative of State Police which is an integral component of federal system of government all over the world.

In an elaborate opinion poll conducted by a team of reporters in the Tuesday October 16 edition of THE NATION, the president of Nigerian Bar Association, Barr. Okey Wali (SAN) pointed at the gross under-performance of the Nigeria Police and other security agents which has its roots in over-centralization and the apparent collapse of justice system in the country which is coterminous with the pseudo federalism in practice in Nigeria. He said: “The system has definitely collapsed… a situation where people will parade some suspects some hours before they are eventually killed and there was no intervention from the law enforcement agencies is an obvious indication of the system’s failure. If we have anything called security system in the society; those deaths would have been prevented because, from where those boys were beaten till when they died, from what we heard and read from the papers, there was sufficient time for the police to have intervened”.

On the clamour to re-invent a decentralized security structure as it

was in the First Republic, the NBA President said: “That is why we call for State Police because that will lead to better policing and protection of lives and property in addition to more intelligence gathering. The police are not well funded; they are not well equipped, so they are unable to match the criminals in the society, whereas if State Police is the answer to the problems, so be it.

Why not have it?”

In the same realistic position of a civilized mindset, an outspoken constitutional lawyer, Barr. Fred Agbaje, contended that Nigeria should stop groping in the dark by listening to the ultra conservative forces as represented by the Northern political and religious leaders who stridently oppose State Police since it would strip them of age-long direct and indirect control of security apparati of the country which had occasioned total collapse. He said: “Whatever the misgivings about State Police, it’s still the best option in this season of social malady and extra-judicial killings. Coupled with this anomie is the failure of the justice system, with so many awaiting trail inmates, slow speed of justice delivery, more corruption cases in court and lesser convictions arising from lack of logistics and tools to enhance justice delivery. He maintained that “absence of good governance and the wicked culture of impunity are cascading our political, economic and social landscape”, adding that “mass revolution as witnessed in the Arab world would be a perfect answer”.

Okechukwu writes from Awka CMYK

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DAILY SUN Friday October 26, 2012

Owerri zone and the burden of IMSU relocation

BY IWUALA EMPEROR

B

efore I go into the principal menu for the day, I will want to share an experience with my readers. Last weekend, I traveled to Umuahia, the capital of Abia State. I traveled from Owerri and passed through Obowo.

While traveling, I saw a very big bill board mounted firmly on the ground that carries the photographs of the Member Representing Obowo in the Imo House of Assembly. The name of the legislator as written on the billboard is Hon. Celestine Ngobiwu. If one is going to Umuahia from Owerri, the billboard is located by the left roadside.

It is a short distance after Achingali/Ezinihitte Mbaise Junction. When I further observed the board, I noticed that the usual umbrella was missing from the billboard. I am very much aware that the billboard this honourable member used during his campaigns and elections in 2011 carried this symbol boldly. But today, the PDP logo is now missing on Hon. Ngobiwu’s billboard. Now to my opinion, since I saw that sign, I have been pondering over what must have prompted the recent noninclusion of the logo of PDP. Nobody knows whether he is APGA by heart and PDP by opportunity.

On Imo State (IMSU) University, I have always said it that the issue of relocation of the university will continue to be an albatross to who-

ever gets involved in it. Governor Rochas Okorocha tried it and saw the heat and has shifted the burden.

Recently, the governor announced his decision not to relocate Imo State University again to Ideato South L.G.A. of Imo State. He therefore set up a committee made up of some prominent men, women and supposed leaders from Owerri Senatorial Zone to recommend a suitable location in the Zone for the university.

When the Governor set up this committee, I had my fears. My fears were that the people of Owerri Zone may use the assignment to dance naked in the public.Incidentally, the mass media have been inundated with recent stories on how the Imo State Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, who is also the Chairman of the Committee on the Relocation of IMSU wants to use his position to unduly influence the relocation of the Imo State University (IMSU) to his preferred location. From investigations, we were able to exhume that the saga was as a result of a petition by some members of the relocation committee who are also very prominent members and key actors in the administration of Governor Rochas Okorocha who are from Owerri Zone. The petition was written to the Governor on the earlier said purported move by Sir Agbaso to appropriate the location of IMSU to his place.

However, the Deputy Governor’s media aide has debunked the allegation in its entirety, labeling

it as false. Interestingly, from investigations, I was able to find out what I think really transpired in the committee. It is summarized like this: At the inauguration of the said committee, the Governor made the Deputy Governor the committee Chairman. He also gave the committee some terms of reference as a guide to operate with.

At the commencement of the proceedings of the committee, all members of the committee unanimously decided on a set of criteria for any site to meet before it qualifies for recommendation. The Deputy Governor was said to have judiciously conducted the affairs as a referee in the committee following these terms of reference and the set out criteria for qualification. Consequently, all decisions of the said Committee were said to have been arrived after open and fair contributions of all members of the committee.

Unfortunately, problems started when the committee started visiting the various sites earlier mapped out by the committee. It was discovered that some committee members visited only proposed sites in their places and refused to join others to visit other sites outside their places. It is unfortunate that most of these petitioners today could not make their positions known when the university was relocated to Ideato early this year out of cowardice. In most of my write-ups on the relocation of the university, I have always said that all I wanted was for the university or one of its campuses to remain in Owerri Zone Q.E.D.

Regrettably, the scenario being created by the whole saga gives the impression that some members of the Committee had already made up their minds where the University would be sited and would not subscribe to anything short of their preferences. It is believed that such a mindset is very incongruous with the original motive for which the committee was set up. This, I believe, the petitioners should have earlier told the Governor instead of accepting to work in the committee just to turn around to blackmail the Deputy Governor in the end.

However, the beauty of democracy is that all that are involved should have their say and that the majority will at the end carry the day. Even if some individuals had wanted to influence the location of the university to their preferred choice, they would have still achieved it using diplomacy in the committee than calling for the dissolution of the committee.

Therefore, this conduct of some leaders from Owerri Zone does not present the zone in good light. The zone has failed the first examination and I hope it will pass the resit. On his own side, the Deputy Governor should take the whole saga as one of the travails of a leader which is inevitable and should not be deterred. Owerri Zone should be careful to avoid abortion before pregnancy.

Emperor writes via emperoriwuala@yahoo.com

Jonathan’s ‘newborn’ revolution

BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO

A

frica is largely a traditional society.

Africans have succeeded in retaining some of the original cultural values like respect for the sacredness of life. Historically, Africa came under domination of some foreign forces from the West who originally invaded Africa in search of economic prosperity for their hometerritories. Political historians have recorded that the interface that Africa has had with the then invading foreign forces were in two parts, namely, cultural and political.

It is a historical fact that when the foreign invaders besieged Africa nearly two centuries ago, the political forces from the West were accompanied by their spiritual leaders who brought their foreign religions into Africa. As a result of the aggressive religious teachings, most traditional Africans embraced these foreign religious belief systems but nevertheless retained some aspects of their original African value system. One of the original African cultural value systems retained by Africans is the African symbolism attached to the arrival of ‘new born’seen as the arrival of new life.

Nigeria, being the largest African country worldwide, is renowned for this beautiful cultural value attached to new born but because of dearth of standard health facilities caused by political corruption and economic crime perpetrated by the political elite, a lot of children have died during childbirth even as infant mortality has become the

most troubling health challenge that confronts twenty first century Nigeria.

Sadly, successive political administrations since independence in 1960 have paid only lip service to the critical issue of tackling the unprecedented rate of infant mortality in the country and this reality has made Nigeria a laughing stock in the international community as a nation that is richly endowed with mineral resources such as crude oil and solid minerals but also as the nation with some of the worst cases of high infant mortality annually.

Nigeria’s current president, Goodluck Jonathan, who was a former lecturer in a tertiary institution, has told Nigerians of his passion to stop this dangerous trend. Jonathan was once recently quoted in the media as saying that his resolve to stop the high rate of infant mortality was because of what he witnessed in his biological family where a lot of infant mortality cases were recorded.

He vowed to institute what I may call the ‘Jonathan’s new born Medicare revolution’aimed at delivering quality pre and post-natal Medicare to pregnant ladies and their new born.

The United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Banki Moon, has provided institutional support to President Jonathan’s lofty health ambition to bring succor and good Medicare to Nigeria’s new born.

The United Nations has subsequently appointed the Nigeria’s President as co-chairman of the United Nations Commission on life-saving com-

modities for women and children along with the prime minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg. This appointment is seen in human rights circles as the necessary tonic for Nigeria to overcome these dangerous threats to life confronting pregnant women and our unborn children.

In a recent article published in major Nigerian newspapers titled “Saving the lives of women and children” both President Jonathan and Prime Minister Stoltenberg made profound commitment to see to the reduction of the high rate of infant mortality.

These great people, one from Nigeria (Africa) and the other from Norway (Europe), have through this well written newspaper article provided germane reason why infant mortality has remained a dominant health challenge even in this twenty first century that has seen several healthrelated innovations and inventions by scientists.

They jointly argued thus: “The overarching health system and financial impediments for governments and end-users to access life-saving commodities is made worse by the lack of awareness of how, why and when to use them, preventing women and children from accessing and using appropriate commodities”.

They also submitted thus: “Other system barriers to these commodities include the severely under-resourced regulatory agencies in lowincome countries, which lead to delayed registration of commodities, lack of oversight of product quality and general inefficiencies; market failures,

where return on investment is too low to encourage manufacturers to enter the market or produce sufficient quantities; and user supply and demand challenges such as limited demand for the product by end-users, local delivery problems and incorrect prescription and use”.

One clear fact is that President Jonathan needs to work like a “lion” with the needed creative zeal to be able to minimize the unprecedented high rate of infant mortality in Nigeria.

Statistically, Nigeria is ranked as one place in the World whereby infants and new born are endangered species requiring special, urgent, comprehensive, effective, transparent and resultbased measures to overcome rapidly to save our new born from pre-mature deaths.

From pulitzercenter.org we learnt that the health statistics published by all respected and highly respected health authorities in the World have returned unpleasant report on the high rate of infant mortality in Nigeria.

As can be seen from the scientific facts produced by health experts, President Jonathan should note that his “pro-newborn health revolution” will require profound political will and the necessary resources to achieve. In doing this, the current government must put politics aside and render quality health care for the benefit of our newborn and pregnant women.

Onwubiko writes via www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

Nigeria: Options for national construction (1)

BY ABDULWAREES SOLANKE

A

s Nigerians, we should all sympathise with ourselves that despite our limitless potentials and possibilities, we have been constrained in constructing a true nation, united in her diversity and progressive in her national ideology. We have been on this tortuous trajectory, not because we do not possess the wherewithal to advance but because we lack the courage to begin from the numerous starting points of national construction.

The problem with Nigeria is that we are too blessed to know the biggest blessing to leverage on. Confronted with so many options, we seem to be in the greatest dilemma of deciding the most cost effective and fastest means of reaching our promised land.

Rather than just taking any of the trains and routes available to us, we are busy at the national terminus of development figuring out and fighting among ourselves on which of the routes does not have sharp bends and creaky joints and which of the trains have air full conditioned coaches to travel in luxury to the extent that we all seem to be dragging the steering with the captain and pushing him almost out of cabin. If we are not care-

ful, we will collectively derail this train of a nation and crash together woefully, recording unimaginable casualty and fatality.

The crises of nation building are not peculiar to Nigeria: Leadership, Integration, Participation, Representation, Resource distribution and allocation are issues that every diverse society has to contend with. It is in the management of these crises that we shortchange ourselves as sectional vested interest take precedence over the collective national interest. What to do in our various ethnic cocoons and tribal camps that we have holed ourselves since independence is to lower our garb of pride, remove the stained and dirty lenses with which we view one another from the distance and travel from our various primordial posts towards that national confluence and have the warm and affectionate handshake across the rivers Niger and Benue rather than posting fake letters and emails without the attachments of love and understanding. What options are available for us? I believe the best options we have are not anything close to dissolution and disintegration as many disappointed patriots would prefer. They are not what marginalized and aggrieved Nigerians should contemplate, even though these seem the easiest way to meet their demands. In the final analysis, if we take the road to the

Balkans, we will soon come to the table of negotiating reunification.

The challenge we really have in Nigeria is the lack of will and weakness of structures and institutions required to build a strong nation. In our tribal confusion and ethnic viral infections, we acquired certain national immunity deficiency syndromes.

In this scenario, what kills the nation is not the disease, but the arising depression from the stigma associated with the disease. But it is better to admit we have this natural and national virus and take the necessary cocktail of drugs in addition to following the strict dietary regime and have a new outlook to life if we must live happily with our malaise. This is a national strategic management challenge, managing our diversity, our opportunities and our strengths while remaining conscious of our internal weaknesses and national threats.

In my recent reflections, I isolated a number of factors as responsible for our national crises. Drawing from our colonial experience, one can say there was no sincere attempt by the departing imperialists to nurture a true nation from the diverse and complex peoples aggregated into Nigeria. From the dawn of independence, therefore, there is what I refer to as structural disaggregation or misalignment in the new nation which

gave room for uneven and unequal development. It is to be noted that the colonial government ran Nigeria with policy differentials and variation suitable to their own economic interests. So, before Nigeria attained political independence from the British colonialists, the nation had been a victim of policy inconsistency. The fallout of this misnomer is that the constituents of the new nation, even before the Union Jack was lowered on our soil for the green white green flag to fly in the new Nigerian sky, had begun to nurture animosity towards one another. In any case, our resolve for independence was not uniform which explains why Southern Nigeria attained self government earlier than the North.

It is, therefore, not surprising that on the eve of independence, Nigeria was birthed on a keg of gun powder waiting to explode. In less than two years of nationhood, the West was on the boil. Wetie was in the air.

The mainstream political party in the Western Region, the Action Group, despite its standing as the most cohesive and disciplined political party with a coherent ideology, was already being penetrated , compromised and eventually isolated as the opposition party.

To be continued Solanke writes from Lagos

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

Memories

Philip Nwosu 08176449110

21

R YOU S U SEND HOTOS P OLD wosu@yahoo.co.uk phillipn e-mail:

Today in History

South Korean president killed On this day in October 1979, the President of South Korea, Park Chung Hee, was “accidentally” shot dead by the chief of his intelligence service, Kim Jea Kyu. Five other people, including the president’s bodyguard, were also killed.

The incident took place at the Korean Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters during a dinner being held by Kim in honour of the president.

A government statement revealed that an argument broke out between Kim Jae Kyu and Park’s chief bodyguard, Cha Chi Chul, during which a shot was fired by Kim which hit the president as he tried to intervene.

The President was taken from the scene to a nearby army hospital where he later died.

There had been a long-standing dispute between the president and Kim Jae Kyu over whether to adopt a tough or moderate policy towards political opponents.

An emergency meeting of the Cabinet has named Prime Minister Choi Kyu-Hua as acting president. Martial law has also been proclaimed throughout the country.

General Chung, the army chief of staff, has been appointed commander of martial law.

His first act was to order a nightly curfew and to ban all demonstrations throughout the country.

The US Government reacted immediately saying that it would deal strongly with any attempt by North Korea to exploit the situation.

The US Defense Department ordered American troops based in South Korea to be on “alert status” as a warning.

Park Chung Hee became President in 1961. He was known for his firm rule which he said was justified by the constant threat of invasion from North Korea.

He had already survived one assassination attempt. In August 1974 a series of shots were fired at him as he gave a speech. All shots missed him but one killed his wife.

1979

Passengers proceed to board a Nigeria Airways flight in the 1970s A British citizen, Mr. Ian Hazlett Miller, was on this day in October 2003 sentenced to death by a Lagos High Court over the death of his livein lover, Miss Anne Marie Gale, an Australian citizen, aged 43.

Miller had been standing trial before Justice Grace Onyeabor since October 3, 2002 and first appeared in court over the one count murder charge on September 19, 2002.

Before the death of Miss Gale, the two lovers had lived together at No. 19, Dakar Road Apapa and both are directors of Ian Consultants Limited jointly established by both of them.

Miller before running into trouble had had quite a sojourn in Nigeria. He was a general manager in a glass industry (name withheld) in Ondo State, while his last paid employment was with a merchant bank in Lagos, where he held the post of an executive director.

The condemned man, a six footer, had been a resident of Lagos University Teaching Hospital since the case started, where he was being treated for diabetics which had left him with a sore

2003

Lagos court sentences Briton to death on his right foot and a walking stick.

Miller was accused of killing Miss Gale on or about April 12, 2002 and leaving her body under her room in their house until it was discovered on April 14, 2002.

The state had thereafter, following the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) advice, charged him with murder.

The state, represented by Mrs. Margaret Asumah, chief state counsel in the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, called eight witnesses to support its case.

The first prosecution witness, Mr. Clifford Richards Oghebor, a former employee of the lovers, told the court how he worked with them but had to leave because their business was not doing well.

The second witness, Mr. Sam Onobe, a retired Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) is a friend to the deceased’s father, and also the complainant. He told the court how he was informed by the deceased neighbour of her death.

Churchill wins general election On October 26, 1951, the Conservative Party won the general election by a small majority, making Winston Churchill prime minister for the second time.

Mr. Churchill was nearly 77 and the second oldest prime minister in history. William Gladstone was 83 when he formed his last government.

The first results, which started coming in, put Labour ahead. But later, the Conservatives took the lead.

At about 1730, when it became clear the Conservatives had a majority, Clement Attlee drove to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation as Labour Prime Minister.

Mr. Churchill was received by the King soon afterwards and accepted his invitation to form Great Britain’s 40th government.

Opinion polls throughout the five-week election campaign had predicted a comfortable majority for the Conservatives and it will come as some disappointment the gap was not bigger.

Several main issues were highlighted during the campaign including the rising cost of living, housing and the expensive rearmament programme which has been ongoing since the war.

Voters rejected Labour’s tactic of labelling Mr Churchill as a warmonger and instead embraced the Conservatives’ election promise that they would now create a “strong and free” Britain.

Throughout the campaign Mr Churchill has spoken of the need for a broad-based government and he is widely expected to appoint a Cabinet with as wide a representation as possible.Following his victory in his constituency of Woodford, Essex, he said: “We have all, I feel, a great deal in common; and now, perhaps there will be a lull in our party strife which will enable us to understand more what is good in our opponents and not to be so very clever at finding out all their shortcomings.”

1951

22

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

By ADEBOWALE JOHNSON

T

he Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has arrested some agents involved in fraudulent registration and sale of pre-registered SIM cards in Lagos.

The team from enforcement unit of Commission was in Lagos Tuesday to confiscate

NCC moves against fraudulent SIM registration •Arrests suspect in Lagos the Serial Identification Module (SIM) capturing machine being used for the illegal registration and also to arrest the suspects involved in the fraudulent registration.

Addressing the team of journalists in their convoy, Mr. Efosa Idenhen, Head of Enforcement of the commission said: “NCC has identified numbers of SIM registration, capturing machines used for illegal registrations of SIM cards and these machines have been traced to some agents saddled by the GSM service providers with registering subscribers. This is the reason the enforcement is going out to have the machines confiscated and at the same time effect arrest of the culprits for prose-

cution.

Idenhen further explained that the SIM cards registration exercise was meant to furnish the commission with the accurate bio-data of telephone subscribers, which would help the government in national planning.

He lamented that those who

sold and purchased pre-registered SIM cards were sabotaging government efforts and would henceforth be prosecuted.

At the office of one of the agents identified to be in possession of these SIM registration machines used for the illegal act on Awolowo Way, Ikoyi, no machine was retrieved, as the three machine traced to them were said to be

in Katsina, Lafia and Borno.

However, the agent was given a seven-day ultimatum to retrieve the said machines and bring them to the commission for verification.

Another agent, handling registration of SIM cards for one of the leading GSM service providers in Lekki Phase 1, said he had taken steps to halt the fraudulent act by the hawk-

er, using the machine in his custody. The company said it had already written to the service provider to that effect and had withdrawn one of the said machines traced to them and returned it to the owner.

However, one SIM registration machine was confiscated and the hawker, using the machine, was tricked to come to an office at Allen Junction, Ikeja, Lagos, where he was arrested and the machine confiscated.

ILRM admits new members

By WILLIAMS UKADIKE

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he Institute of Loan & Risk Management of Nigeria (ILRM) recently admitted new members into their fold.

The induction ceremony took place at Federal Medical

Research Centre, Yaba, Lagos. Five categories of Members were awarded Certificate of Membership which included Fellow members. Senior Member, Full Members, Associate Member and Graduate Member. Over 500 were inducted and the President/Chairman of

Governing Council, Chief (Dr) Sir Oladipo Abiodun Bailey, Congratulated the participants – inductees – for their wise decision to developed themselves through ILRM programmes for impactful life. He said that they should always be relevant in any position they find

themselves as life is very dynamic. “There are stages in life to follow which if missed cannot be met again”, He further stated that there is time for everything, advising the newly inductees to always “learn aspire, inspire before they expire”.

The high point of his address was the revelation that “Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other well meaning organizations such as NDI(C, NAICOM, etc, have accorded recognition to Institute of loan & Risk Management Certificate in the area of job placement for both top and lower levels stating that the institute is working vigorously towards obtaining the chartered status from the authority. He had earlier in the address stated that the institute has established offices in the Abuja, Jos, Port-Harcourt, Enugu, Abeokuta, Ibadan and Uyo for easy accessibility.

AIFCE to be upgraded to university

By ANDY ONWERE, Owerri

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he Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education (AIFCE) Owerri is to be upgraded to a Federal University of Education to further advance the production of relevant manpower in the country. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije disclosed this when members of the committee visited the institution for an oversight function.

Senator Chukwumerije noted that the college founded in 1963 as an Advanced Teachers Training College has emerged as one of the most credible institutions in the country, with remarkable role in the educational advancement of the nation.

He assured that necessary formalities to elevate the college to a Degree Awarding Institution had been concluded and commended the authorities of the Institution for the massive infrastructural development-going on in the school.

Chukwumerije, who expressed satisfaction with the performance of the school management in the promotion of academic excellence, infrastructural development and moral values among students attributed the on going monumental transformation to effective and judicious utilization of human and material resources by the school.

He added that Governor Rochas Okorocha had assured his committee that no inch of the college land or property would be taken over by the state government.

Friday, October 26, 2012

By JESSICA UGURU

C

aterpillar Financial Services (Dubai) Limited (Cat Financial) and Standard Bank, Africa’s largest banking group, have entered into a collaboration to provide a range of financial services to Caterpillar customers in six African countries.

With the collaboration, Standard Bank Group will provide financial services to Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and Sierra Leone, which are countries covered by the Mantrac Unatrac Group of Cat dealerships. It will initially commence in Nigeria and Ghana with a range of financial products and services but will eventually be extended to the remaining countries over a period of time.

According to Kent Adams, President of Cat Financial and Vice President of Caterpillar Inc.: “The combination of the globally recognised Cat Financial brand with Standard Bank, which is a well respected and trusted financial institution within Africa, creates a powerful competitive advantage for our dealer networks to enable them to obtain financing for their customers and enhance their sale of equipment.”

To Ben Kruger, Standard Bank’s Deputy

DAILY SUN 23

Cat Financial, Standard Bank collaborate Group Chief Executive further explained that: “We value our existing relationship with Cat Financial and believe that this relationship provides the platform to strengthen these ties and provide further services to other countries in Africa.”

He described Standard Bank as Africa’s largest bank by assets and earnings with a banking presence in 18 African countries.

In the same vein, Loutfy Mansour, CEO of Mantrac Unatrac Group said they were pleased to be part of the collaboration, adding that their cus-

tomers were now assured not only of the right equipment but also will be able to offer them integrated equipment purchasing solutions.

He added that the collaboration would empower the company’s clients and further entrench the company’s position as the first choice distributor of Cat equipment in the African region.

CNPP backs Fashola on Lagos Traffic Law

By RAZAQ BAMIDELE he Lagos State chapter of the Conference of Nigerian Political Party (CNPP), has pledged its support to the state government over its newly signed Traffic Law agreeing that “it is a right step towards sanitizing the chaotic traffic situation in the state.”

Addressing a press conference in Lagos during the week, the Conference Chairman, Akinola Obadia stated that “the new law, like the amended tax law, will bring sanity and orderliness to a responsible community.”

Obadia, who was supported at the press

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briefing by state chairmen of other 18 political parties also averred that “the law will make us catch up with the rest of the civilized world and stop the chaotic driving culture in the system,” admitting that “the diligent enforcement and honest application of the law would be to the advantage of the citizenry.”

The Conference therefore urged reasonable and responsible law abiding citizen of the state to back the state government on the new law, just as the media were also urged to educate the general public on the need to obey the new law for the safety and convenience of all and sundry, believing that “unnecessary criticism

of progressive policies of any government would do nobody any good.”

However, the State Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Lateef Aderemi Ibirogba has said that the purported opposition to the law, was being sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to curry people’s favour towards 2015.

Ibirogba stated that “the PDP members have realized that if we succeed with this law, by 2015, nobody would be ready to listen to anybody from that party because the Lagos people love peaceful life where law and order reigns supreme.”

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DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

NEWS DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012 41

SUN SPORTS EXTRA

Williams sisters to visit Lagos

Mikel, Musa happy with AFCON draw

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s a part of planned African T o u r , Inter national Tennis Champions, Serena and Venus Williams are scheduled to visit Lagos, Nigeria from Tuesday, 30 October to Friday 2, November 2012 as a part of the first leg of the recently launched ”Breaking The Mould” (BTM) campaign, a women’s empowerment initiative that has already garnered international support.

While in Lagos, the dynamic duo will inspire, motivate and mentor a broad range of audiences through a series of supporting initiatives which include a gala dinner, a tennis clinic and an exhibition match which will also be the first time the sisters will pitch their strengths against each other on the tennis court anywhere in Africa. The intent of Breaking The Mould initiative is to recognise and acknowledge the role that women play in shifting perceptions and encouraging development at all levels across the African continent.

Breaking The Mould is an inspiring mechanism to help women at various life stages to embark on a journey of self-belief, so that they can know that indeed they can achieve anything once they set their hearts to it. The message of the African Tour by the Williams sisters will resonate with African women as a whole. Serena and Venus are role ‘Mould Breakers’ having gone through the crucibles of life to become what they are today. As ‘Champions of Change,’they are coming to Lagos to encourage more women to break moulds that have stood between them and their potentials.

Victor Moses (l) in action

Nwosu dismisses Eagles’ Nations Cup opponents F

ormer Golden Eaglets’ coach, Henry Nwosu, said Super Eagles had nothing to fear over their 2013 AFCON group opponents.

The Africa Cup of Nations draw held in Durban, South Africa on Wednesday by CAF pitched Nigeria in Group C alongside Cup holders, Zambia,

Champions League, key for Arsenal - Wenger

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rsene Wenger believes Champions League qualification is more important than winning the FA Cup or League Cup. The Gunners, without a trophy since 2005, are in Europe’s top competition for the 15th consecutive year.

“There are five trophies,” the Arsenal manager told the club’s shareholders.

“The first is to win the Premiership, second is to win the Champions League, third is t o

qualify for t h e

Serena

Champions League, fourth is to win the FA Cup, and fifth is to win the League Cup.”

Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.

Nwosu dismissed the trio as no threat insisting that we will have ourselves to blame if we failed to qualify from the relatively fair group.

“It’s a good one for us, but we must not see the opponents as walk over or teams we can leisurely beat.

“I quite agree they’re beatable if we work extremely hard.

“Zambia are title holders, but down their spines they believe Nigeria are a strong football

nation. “Nothing to fear against the other two foes, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.

“We’ll blame ourselves if for any reason we don’t qualify ahead of other opponents,” said the former Nigerian player to supersport.com.

However, Nwosu will want massive repair work done on the Eagles’ backline even as he declined to set a mark for the nation’s campaigners at the biennial football showpiece.

“Let’s start the competition first before setting the mark. Of

course, the 16 teams are in South Africa for the title.

“I believe Keshi knows what to do to raise a squad that will gun for laurel but suffice to chip in that some areas need to be fortified especially the defence.

“We have abundant quality players in the midfield and attack. What needs to be done is test their skills and form a solid side that will achieve positive results,” said the former ACB player. The 2013 AFCON starts next January and Nigeria will be gunning for her third title.

agles’ stars led by Mikel Obi have promised a good AFCON outing after they drew champions Zambia and Burkina Faso in the first round.

On Wednesday, Nigeria were drawn in Group C in Nelspruit, along with Ethiopia.

Chelsea midfielder, Mikel Obi, said it was a favourable draw for Nigeria.

“The draw favours us even though I am not saying we will just run over the other teams, but looking at the opposition, it is a group we should have upper hand,” said Mikel.

“We just have to take all the teams in the group seriously and we will be okay. I think the draw favours us.

“It is a very good first round group for us. I am sure no team there can stop us and so we will make it out of this group,” added Russia-based Ahmed Musa, who is set to make his Nations Cup debut in South Africa.

However, Celtic defender, Efe Ambrose warned that though Nigeria will be fancied to go past this first round, they will need to prepare well to ensure they live up to expectations.

“It’s a good draw. But I will not say it would be an easy walk for the Eagles. When something looks very easy on the surface, it may not be the same in the inside. So, we must prepare very well because there are no longer small teams in Africa,” cautioned Ambrose.

The Eagles will begin their quest for a third Nations Cup title on January 21 against fellow West Africans, Burkina Faso, who they last clashed with at the 1978 tournament in Ghana.

Nigeria won that game 4–2 against the Burkinabes, who were then known as Upper Volta.

Total Promotions gives NPL’s auditors 72hrs to prove allegations

By CHIMAOBI UCHENDU

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igeria Premier League (NPL) broadcast title holders, Total Promotions has threatened to drag external auditors that looked into the books of the NPL to court within 72hrs if it fails to back its claims of fraud levelled against it.

In a letter to the audit firm through its lawyers, DEI GRATIA chambers, which was made available to Daily Sunsports yesterday, Total Promotions also asked them to be precise in their reply on the period covered by their report as the period stated on the cover of the report appeared nebulous.

It said in view of the indictment of her client in the report, it would like the audit firm furnish it with certain facts to determine what corrective actions to take in the interest of Nigeria League.

Specifically, it asked the audit firm to furnish it with proofs that the whole bid process for the title sponsorship of the league had been pre-planned not to get the best for NPL and also that after then Total Promotions Limited in

turn reciprocated the effort of the directors, which appeared in page 8 of the report.

“Page 11, par.13 carried the serious criminal indictment of Fraudulent award of television broadcast right to Total Promotions Limited, would you please oblige us with conclusive proof of this with judicial authourity backing this claim?.

“We also require a copy of your previous report being alluded to here. Also, did you mean that there was no advert inviting pub-

lic bids for the right?.

“More so, page 12 section 14 stated that you had a news (…Sighted the cars) that the immediate past chairman and vice chairman accepted a Mercedes Benz R class and Mercedes Benz C class from Total Promotions Limited”.

“We require you go beyond “heard a news” and “sighted the cars” to prove the veracity and authenticity of these highly inflammatory statement of criminality an the part of our client.

Mikel

Kuffour dreads Black Stars’ opponents

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ormer Ghana international, Samuel Osei Kuffour, believes Nigeria’s Super Eagles face an uphill task if they are to qualify for the knockout stages of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

Nigeria is in Group C alongside Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and the reigning champions, Zambia.

Kuffour, who played in four editions of the Africa Cup of Nations with Ghana’s Black Stars believes the Eagles have

their work cut out against the three sides who make up the group.

“Zambia are the defending champions and everybody is looking forward to seeing their performance again. Watching them and Nigeria will be quite fascinating,” Kuffour said after the draws.

“The game between Nigeria and Burkina Faso will be fascinating as well because these are two teams from West Africa, so it is a derby of sorts. Ethiopia also overcame Sudan in qualifying

after losing 5–3 in the first leg.

“This is a very, very tough group,” Kuffour said.

Nigeria won the Nations Cup twice in 1980 and 1994 with Zambia being their victims in the final in their second triumph in Tunisia.

Zambia’s solitary success in the competition came in 2012 when they beat the Ivory Coast on penalties in Libreville.

Ethiopia were African champions in 1962, while Burkina Faso have never won the competition.

NEWS

42 DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

SUN SPORTS EXTRA Sylva Eleanya: Silverware gone too early

By EMEKA OBASI

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eath, no doubt, must be everyone’s final activity, a price we must all pay. Under very normal circumstances, mortals shy away from our end. Yes, there are a few suicide cases here and there, through bombs or hara-kiri (Japanese for belly cutting). By the way, I do not think there are still any kamikaze pilots. Even euthanasia (mercy killing) remains a taboo in sane minds. Death indeed is a thief!

Sylva Eleanya won prizes in the course of his job as Sports photo journalist. The laurels came in torrents-encomiums, plaques, shields, trophies name them. And we were like Oliver Twist expecting more. Now, we did not plan for this. Death. Oh death. It arrived at night, while the man slept. Death is a coward.

You know, it caught our man napping. Trust Sylva, his lens would have captured the act, that was why death came knocking at dawn. Like quicksilver, the deed was done. Not in our dream.

This is real.

There is this generation of photo journalists that I code named ‘Digital’. In this group, you have Sam Olusegun, Wilson BodisoOwei, Pius Esiri, Femi Gbadegesin-Kuti, Gordon Omoigui, Ayodele Ojo. Sylva was one of them.

At the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, eight of us shared the same apartment. Our home was the Media Village, inside the Cumberland campus of the Sydney University in Lidcombe. My room mate was Emeka Enechi (now late), Kunle Solaja paired Gboyega Okegbenro, Felix Awogu and Nnamdi Anazia (of blessed memory) took same room while Sylva stayed with Sanni Zaria. Sylva loved the Dream Team so much that he travelled all the way to Melbourne, about one-and half hours flight away as they played Honduras. With mega stars like Maurice Green, Michael Johnson, Marion Jones (before we fished out the beast in her) and Gail Devers, I placed athletics ahead of soccer.

Going to Melbourne was good though. I had an uncle, who left Lagos in 1978, and had not seen Nigeria ever since. Somehow, he was incommunicado a few years to 2000. My trip to Australia, therefore, was also to locate him. Thank God I did. We agreed to meet at the end of the Games. Sylva’s trip caused me to send a message. My uncle was to meet the photo journalist at the airport.

Something changed the plan. They could not meet. When they spoke on phone, my friend gave it to my uncle, albeit, without my consent ooo.

In his typical Owerre dialect, Sylva hollered, “enyi, ashi ijena ayo uyo!” (my friend, they say you have refused to visit home).

When he told me this, I shivered. It was what I had mentioned to Sylva, but I did not send him to harass the ex-Biafran soldier.

Well, I eventually met my uncle in Melbourne. We laughed over it, and got talking. The man was so bitter with the Nigerian system that he asked me if Gen. Babangida was still the President.

For an 18-year-old, who joined the army from college, got his intenstines gushing from his stomach in battle and could not see his mother’s corpse, he had every reason to be angry.

Twelve years later, the London Olympics came. Vanguard Sports Editor, Tony Ubani Nwokoma was there. While bewailing Sylva’s inability to secure travelling documents, I sent him a mail about Sylva. I knew he could make it, and he did. I told Ubani the Melbourne story. Two weeks ago, I was on line to Dean of Sports Editors, Onochie Anibeze, Onyegwu. I also talked about Sylva. We laughed over Dada Adekola’s cartoon, ‘Toni and Silva’. You cannot miss the ‘mischief’. The randy cartoon character, Toni is different from Tony Ubani. Sliva could be one Onitsha market character, not Sylva Eleanya. In fact, my mind was still there when the sad news hit me.

Sylva loved his camera, he enjoyed his job.

Were it possible, he might ask God for one last opportunity-to play a fast one on all of usSylva would wake up.

Grab his tools, attend his funeral. Just to capture crying faces, flooded eyes, failed voices and weeping friends. A parting gift, maybe, a painful exit. All Fairy tales.

Emeka Obasi is Media Adviser to former Abia state Governor Orji Uzor Eleanya Kalu.

Ibadan Soccer Tourney enters final

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ootball competition designed as a part of activities marking the 2012 Ibadan Week Festival, which has all the 11 local government area within Ibadan metropolis participating has entered its final round.

Akinyele LG team would confront Egbeda LG team in the first semi-final slated for Monday, 29th October, 2012 at Olubadan Stadium, Ibadan while Ibadan North East girls would also do battle with SOEM Soccer Queens in the female category of the tourney in the first female semi-final scheduled for 2:pm at the same venue.

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op seed in the Men's Singles, Kamil Capkovic of Slovakia, has been bundled out in the quarter finals of Futures 2 of the 2012 Governor's Cup Lagos Tennis Championship, but his Women’s Singles counterpart, Nina Bratchikova of Russia, has qualified for the

Governor's Cup: Capkovic crashes, Nina berths in semi-finals semi-finals of the ITF pro circuit.

Capkovic was upset by No.5 seed, Spanish Enrique LopezPerez in straight sets of 6-3,6-3.

Perez will face Kento Takeuch of Japan, who defeated Alessandro Petrone of Italy in

another straight sets of 6-3,6-3 at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan yesterday.

Italian Alessandro Bega beat Karim-Mohammed Karim of Egypt 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, while South African Ruan Roelofse beat Sherif Sabry 6-1, 6-0 In the Women’s Singles, Dalila

Jakupovic could not complete her game against top seed, Nina Bratchikova as she retired in the second set. The game ended in favour of Nina 6-0, 2-1 to set up a semi-final match against Conny Perrin of Switzerland, who beat Margarita Lazareva in 6-2,6-3 game.

States FA chairmen reject PH for AGM

By CHIMAOBI UCHENDU

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Eaglets’ star with the ball

tates Football Association chairmen have rejected Port Harcourt as venue for next Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) because of what it described as unwarranted attack on football by Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Ameachi.

Chairman of Chairmen of the NFF, Effiong Johnson, told Daily Sunsports on phone from Uyo yesterday that calls from chairmen of state FA’s have made him speak out.

He said the chairmen were worried that a state chief executive could make such statements about a body that had approached him to help them host an event that would cost them millions of Naira.

He said he would forward their request to the leadership of NFF for consideration because they were the congress of football in Nigeria.

“I have had a tough time trying to convince the congress of NFF to have a rethink on changing the venue of the AGM from Port Harcourt to no avail. I will have no option than to forward their request to the leadership of NFF for consideration.

U-17 cracker in Conakry

Manu fires Guinea warning C

oach Manu Garba (MFR), has revealed that the Golden Eaglets would approach Sunday's Confederation of African Football (CAF) Under17 Championship second round-second leg qualifying match against Guinea like a World Cup final match!

Garba said the national Under-17 team was battle-hardened for this particular encounter, adding that the team was in good form to preserve its streak of 16 successive wins in both friendly and competitive matches.

“I’m sure we can beat Guinea in Conakry,” Garba said with an unmistakably confidence before travelling out of the country.

“Except the first practice match we drew when we were just one week in camp, we have won all other matches and Guinea is not going to be an exemption.

“In fact, we are going to play against Guinea on Sunday as if we’re playing a World Cup final match and by the special grace of Almighty Allah, we are going to come back victorious.”

Meanwhile, CAF has selected Moroccan referees as officials of the match between Guinea and Nigeria. Thirty-six-year-old Mounir Errahmani, an International referee since 2011

...As CAF appoints Moroccan ref would be at the centre and would be assisted by Mouhib Abdallah Filali and Mohamed Lahmidi.

The fourth referee is Hicham Tiazi, while Leonal Vangente from Sao Tome & Principe would serve as the Match Commissioner.

In a related development,

Nigerian referees would be on duty when Burkina Faso hosts Namibia this weekend. The first leg in Windhoek ended 2–0 in favour of the boys from Ouagadougou and their reverse fixture at home would be directly supervised by Nigerian Shina

Henry Ogunyamodi as the centre referee. Isah Usman and Abel Baba would function as Assistant Referee 1 and 2 respectively. Benjamin Odey is the fourth referee, while Ivorian Adriouma Kone would be the Match Commissioner.

Niger coach aims upset at Nations Cup

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iger coach, Gernot Rohr, believes his team can cause a surprise during the group stage of next year's Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

After Wednesday’s draw in Durban, Niger learned they would face Ghana, Mali and DR Congo in a tough Group B. Rohr took heart at being based in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth, as he says the hot and humid conditions will suit his players.

“We must learn and we must make progress,” he said.

“And why can’t we win our first ever points in the tournament. We think we have a lot to deliver.”

Niger lost all three group

games, against co-hosts, Gabon, Tunisia and Morocco at their first ever Nations Cup earlier this year.

Rohr had first-hand experience of watching Niger then, as he was coaching Gabon, but since his move north, Niger have qualified for the Cup of Nations at the expense of Guinea.

“In our group, we have three of the best teams in Africa,” Rohr continued.

“We would like to make a surprise, but we know it’s very very difficult. We don’t have superstars, but we think we can handle it.” If they are to do well in South Africa, they will need striker Moussa Maazou to be at his very best. Now at Tunisian side, Etoile du Sahel, the 23-year-old has been among the goals for CSKA Moscow and Monaco in recent

years, and his goal against South Africa in qualifying for the 2012 tournament helped Niger prevent Bafana Bafana from progressing.

Niger will not be one of the most heavily supported teams at the tournament, but the German-born manager has every confidence his players will feel welcomed.

“I think some people from Niger will come, I hope so. It will not be thousands of supporters, but the most important thing is not the numbers, but the quality,” he said “I think we will have very good support here.”

Rohr added his team will play a friendly match in November, against Togo, and one or two more before the tournament starts, with Tunisia mentioned as likely opponents.

Friday, October 26, 2012

DAILY SUN

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South-West Report Oyo 2015 guber: From YINKA FABOWALE, Ibadan

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lthough 2015 is still more than three years away, jostling for the Oyo State governor’s seat has begun in earnest within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Various power blocs in the party, still smarting from a crushing defeat by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2011 elections, have started subterranean campaigns for their preferred choices of aspirants to emerge as the party’s candidate in the next election.

This is coming amid moves by some followers of immediate past governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, to draft him to re-contest in the next round of the poll.

Those behind this move are said to have been motivated by grumblings of the electorate on alleged non-performance of the ruling ACN that has thus created the impression that the people of the state fared better under the former regime.

“The fact is that under Akala, there was government, you could see things moving, but (Governor Abiola) Ajimobi and his ACN have been inactive even two years after they came into office. Our people are groaning and have started comparing Akala’s tenure with this government’s”, said one of the promoters of the Akalamust-come-back project.

But a section of the former governor’s camp does not support the agenda, believing that it was best that their leader quit the stage, as he has done, when the ovation was loudest. A member of the group told Daily Sun that the Akala-must-return members had mistaken a seeming popularity occasioned by superficial, comparative assessment of his tenure with the incumbent’s, for a demand for the “ancient regime”.

The group contends that at 64 years and having been deputy governor and governor, the best Akala could do was to recline to the duty of a statesman and power broker, offering advice to younger politicians in the PDP fold.

Those egging the former governor on, on the new quest, said another member of the group, were only out to feed fat on the huge war chest he was likely to deploy, if convinced to throw his hat in the ring.

Beyond this, pundits reckon that the present political tide in the state does not favour an Alao-Akala come-back, as the

Akala, Folarin, others test murky waters

Akala forces that worked against his re-election last year are not only still in place, but even more entrenched to shut him out of elective office. For instance, they note that two years after leaving office, the former governor is yet to smoothen his relationship against power brokers in the state including the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi; billionaire businessman, Alhaji Abdul Azeez Arisekola Alao and Senator Lekan Balogun led-faction of the PDP who helped considerably in his ouster from office.

He has also begun to estrange himself from Balogun/Teslim Folarin group with which he went into alliance last year, by allegedly hobnobbing with the faction led by the Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory, Ms. Jumoke Akinjide. Party sources said after Adetoro, his candidate for the chairmanship of the state PDP was defeated by Yinka Taiwo, believed to have been sponsored by Senator Hosea Agboola, an ally of the former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, who is also eying the governorship, Akala allegedly endorsed Kunmi Mustapha, who emerged chairman of an illegitimate, parallel congress organized by the Akinjide camp at the Olubadan Stadium

Folarin in Ibadan.

At present, the former governor is said to be confused on what to do with his re-election ambition. His indecision to declare his stand on the matter, however, has led to some of his followers, equally interested in the governorship, to begin working underground to realize their ambition. Among these are former State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Chairman, Soji Adejumo, former Sports Minister, Professor Taoheed Adedoja and business mogul, Femi Babalola (a.k.a. Jogor).

Adedoja and Adejumo seem favoured, being both from Ibadan, which, on account of controlling majority of the state’s voting population, has often produced the governors.

Babalola too has lived all his life and had his education and businesses in Ibadan.

The snag, however, is that he faces the dilemma of being accepted as an indigene, his ancestry having been traced to Fiditi, a suburb of Oyo town.

But if these aspirants are still discreet about their activities, not so Folarin, who is working to gain acceptance by the various stakeholders in the party. A Muslim and on

the succession line of the Olubadan Chieftaincy, his popularity has soared following his detention and trial for alleged murder of the National Union of Transport Workers (NURTW) factional leader, Alhaji Lateef Salako (a.k.a.

Eleweomo) late December of 2010.. He is said to share a synergy with Agboola, the only PDP senator from the South West believed to control the Okeogun political zone of the state.

He is believed to have also surged into Akala’s camp, poaching at least eight of his former commissioners. The party’s exscribe in the state and Ogbomoso kinsman of Akala, Bashir Akanbi, and two other stalwarts former chairman of the State Water Corporation, Nureni Akanbi and Bisi Olopoemiyan, are also said to be with Folarin.

Explaining the shift of allegiance, a party source said: “Politicians do not believe in vacuum. They believe their political future is tied to a new aspirant who can offer leadership, and other wherewithal rather than an Akala whose era, they believe, had ended with his exit from the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan.

Other likely aspirants, who, however, are yet to come out to test the waters, include former deputy governor, Gbolarumi Hazeem and his successor, Taofeek Arapaja as well as Ms. Akinjide.

While sources dispute the likelihood of Arapaja joining the race due to his absence and new job as High Commissioner to Jordan, they say, Akinjide may rather prefer to run for the Senate, which has been her ambition, as her gender and being a Christian may not favour her emergence. It is said that prejudiced Islamic elements as well as traditional rulers are not likely to welcome a woman as governor of the state at this time yet.

How we rescued Osun Speaker’s wife from kidnappers –Okoye, Ogun CP From NGOZI UWUJARE, Ibadan

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he Ogun State Police Command has arrested 60 suspected armed robbers and recovered several arms and ammunition just as it explained how it was able to rescue the wife of the Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Mrs Muibat Salam, who was kidnapped and taken to Ogun State.

Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye, told Daily Sun that the greatest achievement by the command in recent times was the rescue of Salam from kidnappers, who abducted her in Osogbo.

Okoye said Salam was rescued after five days in bondage. “She was rescued at Ogunmakin in Odeda Local Government Area of the state along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway by the joint efforts of the police and the state vigilance group.

“The police swung into action and exchanged fire with the kidnappers. The command recovered two AK47 rifles, four magazines loaded with 78 rounds of live ammunition from the hoodlums.” The suspects have been transferred to the Osun State Police Command in Osogbo.

In another development, one Otunba Adekoya of No 2, Adekoya Street, Ago Iwoye, who is also the chairman of the Christian Committee of Ago Iwoye and who is in charge of Christian cemetery located at Ago Iwoye Area reported Okoye that when he visited the cemetery on a routine check, he discovered that some graves had been broken into. He said he suspected foul play by some ritualists. He mobilised some people and they were able to arrest two ritualists at the cemetery with human flesh and skull.

Okoye explained that the police also

arrested some armed robbers along LagosIbadan Expressway and Lagos-SagamuOre Expressway. He disclosed that policemen in Ibafo Division intercepted and confronted three armed robbers who were shot dead.

He said that the armed robbers attempted to rob one Mustapha Saba of Anjara village along Lagos/Ibadan Expressway when they stabbed the man with a knife: “The armed

robbers were arrested when they went to Ita-Oko, Abeokuta, and moved from where they parked a Toyota car at No 7, Tinubu Street, Oke Sokon, Abeokuta.

He added that another armed robber was arrested by the Imeko PoliceDivision. The suspect was said to be patronising a woman before he dragged her inside the bush and had carnal knowledge of her.

Simply Elegant berths in Ikorodu

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s a way to satisfy the yearnings of people within the locality of Ikorodu, Lagos State, to fill the vacuum created by locally made fabrics, a fashion outfit, Simply Elegant Boutique, came into being in the town recently.

Its owner, Mrs Yetunde Ajiboye, said: “We are poised to satisfy all customers, who crave for foreign wears from countries like Turkey, UK, USA and Brazil. We satisfy other strata, who believe their children and wards must put on quality shoes, Brazilian gold, ornaments at a burst price.”

“We had to reconstruct every section in the shop to create room for employment.

The usual traffic within the shop is not there anymore, potential customers move around with ease. We also respond to the call by the Lagos State Government to house owners to remodel every house in the state.”

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DAILY SUN

Friday, October 26, 2012

South-West Report Alaafin laments @ 74: This is not Nigeria of our dream From GBENGA Ibadan

ADESUYI, promises to our people. We believe that the council is the nearest to the people and we have he 74th birthday celebra- to do this if we want to satisfy tion of Oba Lamidi their yearnings.

“The council chairmen have Adeyemi, the Alaafin of Oyo, on Monday, October 15, gone round their areas to see what 2012, was unique in every sense. the people actually want in order Instead of only eating and of priority. I challenged them that drinking, the royal father visit- if they want my 74th birthday to ed the four local government be worthwhile they should work areas in the town, Oyo West, towards the projects that will meet Atiba, Oyo East and Afijio, to the yearnings and aspirations of commission some projects our people and these I am comundertaken by the council missioning. The projects include chairmen to mark his birthday. boreholes, transformers, roads The projects, among others and others. In Atiba alone, I comincluded roads, transformer, missioned 15 projects including poverty alleviation materials and boreholes, health centre and transAlaafin of Oyo bursary awards to students. In formers.

“In Oyo West, apart from comOyo West LG, stoves, motorcycles, grinding machines, food- missioning one the longest roads money from cocoa and groundnut stuffs, refrigerators, customized in the town, I also distributed was used, but what has the govtelephone sets and many others human empowerment materials ernment used the money for crude were distributed especially to such as motor-cycles, grinding oil to do? Look at the state of our widows.

Bursary award of and sewing machines and other National Stadium and National N10,000 each was also given to materials that will assist people in Theatre they claimed to have used their vocational works. Water is our money to build. The railway 700 students.

Mr. Adesoji Ojoawo, the care- our major challenge over here and system is bad, while our airports taker chairman of the local gov- I am happy the council bosses are in a pitiful state. The governernment said Alaafin is not an were able to solve that with the ment needs to sit down and ordinary Oba who would cele- borehole they have drilled which I restructure this country.” brate birthday in just one day: “It have commissioned.”

Oba Adeyemi also bemoaned Oba Adeyemi stressed the need the marginalization of the Yoruba must be specially celebrated so that the people can really feel the for the people to maintain projects race in the present political disimpact.” He added that all the especially the boreholes and pensation, stressing that given the four council chairmen decided to transformers. He said it is by contribution of the race to the execute the projects to honour the doing so that the projects would development of the country, the monarch for the role he played in serve them for a very long time present situation is uncalled for making them since according to and also encourage the council and not in the interest of the counhim, Alaafin meant well for them chairmen to strive to do more. try: The first class monarch lamentand the people of the four local “It is just a pity that the Yoruba ed that 52 years after the nation’s race has been sidelined in the governments: “It is incumbent on any politi- independence, the country is yet position of power in Nigeria cal office holder to listen to words to take its rightful place among because the labour and sacrifices of wisdom coming from a revered the comity of nations: “We have made by the race to evolve modroyal father like the Alaafin as he not been fortunate to have the ern Nigeria are immeasurable. will not be associated with what right leaders. Development is an There is no way we can have a would not bring development to ongoing process. We are growing country that will be the pride of his domain. This year’s birthday bigger and bigger everyday in everyone when they have segcelebration was an opportunity for terms of development, we are the mented an important part of us to tell our people that like the most populous Black race in the Nigeria.

Alaafin himself we are there to world.

Yoruba have come a long way, What the country lacks is a and it will not augur well for the serve their interest.

“The commissioning of the good leader that is why the gov- development of Nigeria. We the projects in the local governments ernment has not been able to sat- royal fathers are planning to kick areas by the traditional ruler was isfy the yearnings and aspirations against that act soon. We can only to tell everybody that he is there of the people. The military regime achieve this when the traditional for all of us. In our own local gov- brought backwardness to our fathers work together in unificaernment, apart from commission- development. If we were left tion. ing of 1.2km Mariam/Catholic alone to govern ourselves, we The Federal Government Road and a public toilet with four would have developed more than should look inward and correct compartments, Oba Adeyemi will this way. When we got independ- this abnormality in government. also distribute poverty alleviation ence, the founding fathers fought For instance, the first doctor, materials worth over N6 million for federal system of government, lawyer, engineer and attorneyto 160 people, bursary of N1mil- but today we are running a presi- general in this country came from lion to 700 students. We similarly dential system that is very expen- Yorubaland. Whether they like it renovated the dilapidated council sive. This is not the Nigeria of our or not they cannot relegate or dreams. hall”. marginalize the race because it “It is our leaders who are mis- will lead to the extinction of the Oba Adeyemi said he decided to move from the past celebration governing us. We can see how the entire country.” to associate with his people that he was committed to serving them. According to him, there is no point in restricting himself to the palace where there would be a lot to eat and drink by those who he General Overseer, Divine Power Bible Church, Prophet visit but that would only be for Olanrewaju Arogundade, has urged Nigerian leaders to move few days while the projects execloser to God. He said God revealed to him in a trance that cuted by the councils would be there for a long time to serve the Nigeria would be better, adding: “Our leaders should show mercy towards the down trodden masses.” needs of the people: Arogundade stressed that “every citizen of this nation should pray “The celebration is quite different from the past ones because I for the leadership to fulfill the transformation agenda of the Federal mandated the council bosses to Government. The children of God should as a matter of fact pray to embark on developmental pro- God against the forces of Boko Haram sect asking Him to render grammes to see how we can fulfill them powerless and make them have a change of hearts.”

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Move closer to God, leaders urged

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Ogun govt, community laud PABEDA farm village

By GILBERT EKEZIE he Ogun State Government has commended PABEDA, an agricultural firm, for locating a farm village at Alagbagba, Odeda Local Government Area of the state.

Representative of Governor Ibikunle Amosun at the official launch of the farm, his special adviser on political matters, Prince Niyi Adesanya, said the farm village would go a long way in encouraging agriculture and boost food supply.

He stressed the need to support PABEDA in its efforts: “PABEDA has really done well in this regard. It is not easy to come up with something like this.

Therefore, they need support to succeed.”

He called on the people to support the good programmes of the government, especially on agriculture, which serve as the major occupation of the rural dwellers.

Earlier, managing director of PABEDA, Captain Olalekan Olapade said that the project became necessary to save Nigeria from impending hunger. “Nigeria is one of the largest food importers in the world. The volume of import has assumed an alarming proportion and has become an embarrassment to the government. To confront the ugly development, we decided to establish the farm village in order to drive out hunger and poverty.”

Olopade informed that Nigeria has a large expanding and sustainable market for farm produce: “With PABEDAFarm village, the Nigerian farmers will have more to sell and earn more money, because the days of wastages of farm produce are no more.”

He pointed out that it is not only about putting food on the table of every Nigerian at affordable prices, but provision of employment opportunities to members of the host community and beyond, irrespective of age, tribe, gender, religion and political backgrounds. “We will also provide education, healthcare services, electricity supply, portable water, feeder roads and police post for security.

“We have acquired the necessary capabilities, including excellent facilities and highly motivated, technically qualified and experience professionals to meet and exceed our esteemed customers’ requirements at a very affordable price and on the right time. Our main targets are tomato, pepper, pineapple, pawpaw onion, banana plantain, mango cattle, goat, pig, chicken, yam, cassava, potato, corn, beans etc.”

He stated that there are plans to set up paste and corned beef factory at the village and called on the state government to create the enabling environment for farmers to achieve their objective of improving the lives of the people through abundant food production.

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One Voice Coalition bemoans corruption in Nigeria

By GILBERT EKEZIE

O

ne Voice Coalition, a civil society group, comprised of various non governmental organisations in Nigeria, has frowned at the high level of corruption among public office holders in the country.

The group, which spoke at a parley in Lagos recently, called for the establishment of a national judicial commission of enquiry to investigate the amount of money stolen by governments at all levels or their agents since independence and recommend mechanisms to locate and recover such funds.

Chairman of its Media Committee, Pastor Adedeji Adeleye, explained that the project for the reinvigoration of Nigeria will only be actualized if the stolen funds are recovered and utilized properly. “An independent commission of enquiry composed of representatives of civil society and relevant authorities should be set up to conduct impartial investigations into the amount of money stolen, as well as the impact of this on the social and economic lives of the people.”

To reduce problems of electoral rigging and other malpractices, One Voice called for review of the state‘s preparation towards the 2015 general elections, saying that early preparation would be necessary for constituency delimitation to address the challenges of demographic shifts at some of the constituencies that need to be looked into.

“The conduct of voters’registration is crucial as the country marches towards 2015. INEC would do well to begin with critical evaluation and assessment of voter registration and the election. It should introduce electronic voter registration that will always require updating, review and adjustment in the future. Also it is important that INEC should be empowered with adequate legal powers to prosecute electoral offenders, as that will go a long way in ensuring more free and fair election in the future.”

On the removal of transparency clause from the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), One voice said that will lubricate the wheels of corruption in Nigeria and stifle accountability as records of budgetary allocations and, payment transactions with local and foreign partners, revenue generated and other documentations will all be kept secret from the civil society.

It called on National Assembly to return the transparency clause in the bill before passage to curb the high level of corruption in the oil and gas industry.

Chairman of One Voice, Dr Adewale Balogun, said corruption has eaten deep into the fabrics of many Nigerian leaders and that it takes aggressive approach to tackle the menace. “The issue of corruption has reached a stage where we rise and fight against it. Our leaders are busy looting the public funds without thinking the people. We know many of our leaders that have their children schooling abroad, which their earnings cannot cover. Why is it only the lootings of those that are dead could be recovered, while many living past leaders of this country that looted our treasury are not touched?”

Dr Balogun therefore expressed non confidence on the power of recall, saying voting out bad leaders would solve the problem of corruptions. “I agree with the provisions of Professor Jinadu that the ultimate recall is voting. So, we should be wiser in that aspect.”

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

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DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

Light of Islam

Abdulfatah Oladeinde 08023078685

MarryMuslim

•The Aragbiji of Iragbiji, Oba Abdul Rashid Olabomi, his counterpart, the Olu of Famia, Ile Ife, Oba Kamarudeen Abimbola and other pilgrims from Osun, arriving Muna from the City of Makkah for the one-day compulsory camping exercise before Arafah Day on Wednesday.

Animals prohibited for sacrifice during Eid

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hat’s the significance of animal sacrifice and the Eid-ul-Adha?

To slaughter an animal on Eid-ul-Adha is to show and signify solidarity upon the sacrifices of Ibrahim (alayhis salaam) and his submission to Allah. By slaughtering an animal, it is to inculcate in Muslims the quality of sacrifice for the Deen of Allah, like Ibrahim (alayhis salaam) was willing to sacrifice his household in a barren land upon the order of Allah.

His eagerness to sacrifice his son to fulfil the order of Allah and his eagerness to sacrifice himself so that the Oneness of Allah may prevail and idolatory may be abolished are the lessons in this annual sacrifice. The celebration of Eid-ul-Adha should have the spirit of these sacrifices by Prophet Ibrahim behind it.

On whom is animal sacrifice on Eid-ul-Adha Fard (obligatory)? What are the different ways to offer animal sacrifice? Some people offer a lamb or a goat, whereas some people sacrifice a cow or buffalo or a camel? Please explain these various alternatives, and

which applies when? Please also provide the related Ahadith in this regard.

Animal sacrifice is Waajib (compulsory) on every person who is a free person, is Muslim, is a Muqeem (resident) and is wealthy, i.e. owner of the amount of Nisaab on the day of Eid alAdha.

A person can make sacrifice of camels, cattle (which includes buffalo, cows, etc.) and sheep or goats. The Ahaadith relating to the animals: Camel: Jabir (Radhiallaahu Anhu) narrated that Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) slaughtered on the day of Nahr 63 camels. (Muslim) Cattle: Jabir (Radhiallaahu Anhu) and Aaisha (Radhiallaahu Anha) narrated that Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) slaughtered on behalf of his wives cows.

(Saheehayn) Sheep: Anas (Radhiallaahu Anhu) reports that Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) slaughtered 2 sheep. (Saheehayn) Camels and cattle are divided into seven shares and therefore, seven people can fulfil their obligation of ani-

mal sacrifice from one of these animals. But sheep or goats are sufficient only for one person.

A person has the choice to choose between the different animals and is at total liberty to slaughter which animal he may so desire as explained above.

I am 55 years old. My parents did not kill a ram at my naming (Haqeeqah) in my childhood.

Alhamdulillah, now I am in a good position. Can I make animal sacrifice in my name for Eid-ul-Adha even though I wouldn’t have given Haqeeqah. If not, what is the solution?

You can slaughter an animal for Eid even though you have not done Aqeeqah. You may slaughter an animal for Aqeeqah at anytime in your life.

Can we offer animal sacrifice on the day of Eid-ulAdha on behalf of our deceased relatives or ancestors?

There are two aspects: 1) to make a voluntary sacrifice on behalf of any person e.g.

Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam), a relative, etc. This is permissible, the person will get the reward of the sacrifice. However, one

must discharge his obligation of sacrifice separately. The sacrifice on behalf of any other person will not suffice for one’s own obligatory sacrifice.

2) To make one’s compulsory sacrifice and thereafter make an intention of giving the reward to the deceased.

In such a case, the compulsory sacrifice of the person will be discharged.

Kindly provide a list of those animals that are prohibited for sacrifice during Eid-ul-Adha.

The following animals are prohibited for sacrifice during Eid-ul-Adha: a) Blind, one-eyed or has lost onethird or more of its eyesight. b) Lost a third of the ear.

Similarly, the animal which has no ear from its very birth. c) Animals whose one horn or both horns have been broken off from the root. d) Leg being lame to the extent that it walks on three legs only and is unable to use the fourth leg. e) Lean and thin that its bones have no marrow. f) Weak that it cannot walk to the place of slaughtering on its own. g) No teeth or lost most of its teeth.

(Shaami vol.6 pg.323; HM Saeed).

Are you a Muslim male or female searching for a suitable life partner? Or does your family want a spouse for a son or daughter of marriage age. Well, we can be of help to you. It has been observed lately that many matured female and male Muslims are getting agitated and confused due to their inability to find appropriate partners. Some of those affected, particularly the females end up marrying out of the fold of Islam, against the ruling of Sharia. With this column, MarryMuslim, we seek to redress the growing practices in which Muslim youths get abused or frustrated in the bid to have life partners.You are invited to send your profile just as Muslim families are invited to send profiles of their sons or daughters seeking life partners to the email address: fatakola@yahoo.com.

The profiles are to include: name, age, height, ethnic group, town, marital status, number of children (if any), qualifications, occupation and current position, telephone number for easy contact, any other useful details, qualities desired in prospective spouses and email address.

Please ensure that profiles sent for publication are written as seen published to save time wasted on re-writing. And note that names and e-mail addresses provided will be treated as confidential and will not be included when the profiles are published on this page. Owing to space constraint the profiles will be featured on this page for two weeks before being deleted to accommodate others. Prospective suitors interested in any of the published profiles are to contact the Coordinator, The Sun Light of Islam through the above email address, giving adequate information about themselves and if deemed to have satisfied the requirements will be linked up with the profiled person. Always read The Sun Light of Islam.

Profile 1752: Single riage.

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Profile 1755: 34 years old should Muslim male, single, an Igala Complexion not a barrier, but from Kogi State, tall choco- she must be also very tall and late-complexioned, educated, willing to settle down soon.

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Profile 1756: Single God-fearing and caring.

Profile 1761: Single Muslim male, 26, 1.70 metres tall, dark, chubby, Yoruba from Muslim male, 35 years old, Kwara State, holder of B.Sc Hausa from Twon-Abuja, (Ed) Physics, working, desires medical doctor (consultant surfor marriage, a pretty, young, geon), seeking to marry a virile, practising Muslim Muslim female who has the female who is caring, hard- fear of Allah, tall, slim, and working, kind-hearted, work- fair, holder of HND or NCE, ing/self-employed, aged Yoruba, Igala, or Nupe, aged between 22 and 25years, between 27 and 32. She must preferably a Yoruba from the be very very ready for marsouth-west, ready for mar- riage.

DAILY SUN

Friday, October 26, 2012

47

Re: The heat over Achebe’s war memoir Continued from page 19 You have succeeded in telling the Yorubas what they need to be told. Let Wole Soyinka who seems detribalised also reply them.08189631025.

Bros, Rear Admiral Allison Maduke was Chief of Naval Staff during Gen. Sani Abacha’s rule in 1994. 08086696844.

I say a million thanks to you for your answer to those Yorubas on Achebe’s war memoir. God bless you. 07032518194.

Congratulations on your write-up on the man of truth (Achebe) and the untruthful critics.

Ozoemena.

Thanks my brother for the cerebral feature, “The heat over Achebe’s war memoir.”

08036024619.

My Dear Brother, How are you today? I read your write up on elder Achebe’s book which is generating controversy now. One thing is certain, the truth must be told some day. I enjoyed every paragraph and I urge you to keep it up. Do not relent in your work. God Bless. Chidi.

I love you my big brother. Your ink will not fail you. Keep it up.08037241509.

You dey Eko when we de enter bolekaja? No be molue you de use? You Try. 08033344963.

You tried in your today’s write-up but you took side. 08033625105.

Great writing. Emma Okocha.

Robert, I just finished reading your un-putdownable piece, “The heat over Achebe’s war memoir.” It is a masterpiece. You spoke my mind and that of millions of people of my tribe.

Keep it up and may God bless you. Ecklo, Enugu.

Hi Mr. Robert Obioha, my name is Christian Ugwushie, from the Igbo extraction. I read your comments on the above subject matter, and wish to appreciate your sense of judgement on the rising controversy on the book. As a progressive, I had always like to identify myself with enlightened minds like you, therefore, I crave your indulgence to direct me where I can purchase a copy of the book here in Nigeria, that is, if it is actually available in the country.

As an upcoming writer, with a background from the political science orientation, I have a special respect for Prof. Achebe, whose writings to a greater extent, contributed to my perception of political issues, particularly, Things Fall Apart and the Trouble with Nigeria among others. Since the launching of the book “There was Country: A Personal History of Biafra” in London, I have been privileged to read a lot of criticisms both from the informed and uninformed, and, I can tell you that, I have not been able to sleep fine because I have tried to see on how I can get a copy of the book but to no avail.

Please, I would appreciate it if you could assist on how I can get a copy of the book. I can be reached on my mobile number 08054164064, and I reside in Abuja. Thank you.

Dear Robert, I say kudos to you for your wonderful write up on page 19 of Daily Sun of Friday October 19, 2012. Your write up was like that of a father playing a mediation role between his fighting children. If the likes of Femi Fani-Kayodes, Chief Ebenezer Babatopes, Dr. Frederick Fasehuns and Mr. Odia Ofeimuns are wise enough, they should have a rethink about their views and comments concerning Achebe’s book. Keep it up. You are the true son of your father. Best Regards. Mathew Nwokocha.

It was finally a hot one on Friday last week.

You really seared a hot knife across the butter.

Thanks a lot for that very good and rare analysis of the imbroglio. I spent a lot of time reading the comments that poured in on The Sun website. I know you must have gotten countless calls, both from vilifiers and vindicators. Good day.

Franklin Ngobili.

Those who do not like Achebe for speaking the truth shouldn’t worry about him, because he will continue to speak the truth. Those of us who have read this book know there is nothing controversial about it. He simply stated what happened during the civil war and then gave his opinion why the actors might have acted the way they did. Anyone who does not like his commentary should write his own book. It is a free world after all. Best Man. It is only the enemies of truth that are attacking Achebe.

For those arguing that Awo was not the one that initiated the genocide, Awo himself did not deny his role in that sad event. In his famous interview about the war with a news media, Awo said he cut food supplies to Igbo areas because Biafran soldiers were taking away the food.

However, only new born babies will suck that!

How can food supplies meant for civilians in conquered Igbo areas like Enugu, Onitsha and Port Harcourt not reach them when these places had been captured by the Nigerian army earlier on and under the control of the Nigerian army?

As it were, these places were safely under the control of the Nigerian Army, which enabled Awo to go there to do his so-called assessment of the food supplies – during which he claimed to have discovered the food supplies were being stolen by Biafran soldiers! Was the Nigerian army led by Gowon and Awo not in control then of Enugu, Onitsha, Port Harcourt and the other captured areas when Awo went on his assessment tour? Again, how come the Nigerian Army was able to get their food supplies, while those of Igbo civilians in the “liberated” areas were taken away by Biafran troops?

As much as one recognizes Awo as an economic genius, his excuse on why he imposed the starvation policy on Igbo civilians, even in the “liberated” Igbo areas, sounds like nothing but a contrived pretext for genocide. Awo and his worshippers can say what they want but truth will always stand out.

That Achebe, at 81 years, was able to release this book, long after surviving a ferocious accident, showed that he was carrying a truth genie, and as such, not even the evil spirit of accident or any evil force could destroy him until he had written that truth he was carrying for future generations to learn from.

Like the biblical Jonah, not even the belly of a fish could consume him! As a human, Awo made his own mistakes like any other person and people close to him should simply say sorry and let us move forward in a spirit of brotherhood. Ecce homo! Raphael Duru II. That’s it my brother. Let’s forget the praise singers like Babatope, Femi Fani-Kayode and co! These people made Nigeria to be like this.

People that hate the truth but always looking for opportunity! Well, real Yoruba great minds have not spoken. When they speak, then we can take a stand. Babatope and Fani-Kayode, as far as I am concerned are just praise singers that want to

use this as an avenue to look for another contracts. They just want to make themselves relevant again. Nigeria will never know peace until we accept what Achebe wrote and address them.

Nesty.

I love your intelligent and well researched write-up. Blood is heavier than the mighty sword. Nigeria will never have peace until they atone for the blood of the innocence. Ask Cain and Abel. This country shall continue to wallow in eyes blinded by thick blood clot. This is exactly what great and erudite Achebe is trying to voice out but those Yoruba opportunists are merely trying to gain relevance because even Prof. Soyinka justified Achebe! Wilson.

It is said that conscience is an open wound, and only the truth heals it. Nigeria’s wound will continue to degenerate until we all learn to say the truth no matter whose ox is gored. Your article is very inspiring, keep it up. Chidiebere.

My brother, l wish that most of Achebe critics will read the book. Achebe said the truth. He also sited how Wole Soyinka tried to end the war but was arrested by Gowon and sent to prison and Soyinka have not disputed what Achebe wrote because they are facts. If anyone is interested to have the book you can contact me and l will send the book across to you. It is a book everyone should read. Emmy.

This Awo must be truly great. 25 years in the grave he still remains the issue in Nigeria – the best President Nigeria never had. Our respected Prof. Achebe should have released his book before the death of the equally great Ikemba so that we would have the opportunity of a balance of opinion.

It was Chase who ones wrote “A man dealt a heavy blow for asking for his right does not start to smile just because his assailant says he is sorry” Prof Achebe was a participant in the war and he has a right to still nurse a kind of frustration for loosing a just war, likewise those critics of Achebe’s comments should not be castigated for believing that it is time we forgot trading blames on actions that would bring a war to an end by all means. My only regret is I don’t know when the Igbos and the Yorubas will do away with this bitterness that will do nobody any good. Omotayo Oyeyipo.

Your article is a great intellectual work on Prof. Achebe’s book. I wish to add that it is time for Igbos to pursue their course by introducing a subject on Biafran/Nigerian Civil War at our primary schools in the East and begin to take these Biafran children on excursion to these sites where these genocides were committed by Nigerian soldiers just like the way the Jews take their children between (5-10) yrs to Gas Chambers at Auschwitz in Poland every year where over 6 million Jews were killed. Let us fight the course by ourselves because no body is ready to do that for us. Sir Cyee.

The fact of the Nigerian Civil War cannot be

negated. The consequences are still with us today both physically and spiritually. I am of the opinion that the sorry state of Nigeria today has its roots in the war. What with the magnitude of inhumanity exhibited by the players – beginning with the coup that killed the then Prime Minister and others. The way Nigeria/Biafra shed blood before, during and even after the war is horrific.

This is the sole problem of Nigeria today.

I am writing this from a Christian perspective.

The Bible teaches that the earth will not conceal the blood shed on it. When Abel died it was his blood that cried to God for vengeance. Cain was not hearing that voice, but God heard. In the same way, innocent blood shed in Nigeria is crying for vengeance. We are not hearing their voices, but God hears. Just as Cain became a fugitive, Nigeria is a fugitive country today. I am surprised that our army of preachers does not emphasize this Bible truth. There are consequences for national wickedness. Read Isaiah 59: 1-10. Though I have not read the book on the war by the erudite Professor Chinua Achebe, I know he will in his usual clarity capture the events of the civil war vividly, and in the process name names. This will stoke bitter memories no doubt. The time has come to seek solution by calling for forgiveness, and restoration from God. Nigeria needs to have the blood curse over her broken. When God cursed Cain for killing his brother Abel, God for all eternity cursed whoever kills innocent person. The curse of Cain is operating in Nigeria. As the earth remained, seed time then harvest, says the Lord God. Genesis 8:22. Nigeria sowed the wind and is reaping the whirl wind. But thank God there is remedy. 2 Chronicles 7:14. Now that some players like General Gowon, Danjuma, Achuzie, Obasanjo, Achebe, Adekunle, etc., are still alive, Nigeria still has the opportunity to atone for the blood they shed. I am happy that General Gowon is now a practising Christian.

He should know the angle I am coming from.

The federal government should call for and support a forum where Nigerians will come together and cry to God with confession, fasting and prayers for forty days. Then powerful men of God from all sections of the country should pray and ask God to break the curse of Cain in Nigeria. This is necessary because the spiritual controls the physical.

Unless and until this is done, all our intellectual, academic and secular efforts will come to naught. The Bible said so, not me. The symptoms of operating under a curse can be found in Deuteronomy 28: 15-68. Nigeria is manifesting all these symptoms today. It is time to seek solution. Hoha Robert Obioha: Really beautiful write up! I am fighting no wars but I appreciate a great write up when I see one. Thanks for making me smile.

Now I have the urge to read Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” all over again. Achebe, Soyinka…

Nigeria’s sure got talent! Amanda.

Lessons from Mimiko’s victory Continued from back page hen upturned my medicine bottle, I will break its egg?’ No. If the average Ondo person saw the wisdom in economic integration of the South-west, which could be better lubricated by having the region under one political party’s banner, he could not reconcile it with the acrimonious campaign orchestrated by Tinubu. The bid for Ondo State was too virulent, too venomous, malignant and malevolent. And it cast Tinubu too much as an aggressor, simply out to win a personal battle. The Ondo people felt it was not really about them, but about Tinubu’s bruised ego, and a quest for revenge. So, they refused to be used as cannon fodder. Can our politicians, therefore, separate political and personal battles? For the sake of the region, reconciliation would be necessary between Mimiko and Tinubu in the near future. But with all those toxic words exchanged, won’t it be an uphill task? Tough, really tough.

Again, the ACN candidate, and how he emerged. By all means, Rotimi Akeredolu, a

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is an accomplished person. A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), he is a man of repute. But a partisan politician? We did not know him as one, neither did Ondo people. Many other ACN candidates were out in the field, working towards getting the party’s ticket, and then suddenly Akeredolu got handpicked from nowhere. When those who had worked their fingers to the bones protested, they were told to go to hell. No, that was not the way of democracy.

Naturally, those candidates would work against ACN, both from within and outside, and Akeredolu himself turned out to be a rather weak candidate. He got beaten by Mimiko in his polling unit, and in his Owo local government, he had approximately 46.1 percent of the votes, while Mimiko had 38.2 percent. Compare that with Mimiko’s Ondo West, where the governor won 69.2 percent of the votes, Akeredolu won 15.9 percent, and Oke, the PDP candidate, 14.7 percent.

You go to war with your best troops leading the assault, which the ACN did not do, to its

own sorrow.

Now that Mimiko has got a second term mandate, what is my advice for him? Don’t rest on your oars. Serve the people as if your life depends on it. Don’t spurn the criticisms that attended the campaign from the opposition. Look at each point on its merit, and do the needful. Only God could have cut the Iroko last Saturday, and He decided not to do so. Stay true to that God. Let me conclude with this text I received last Sunday from George C. Erugo, who lives in Owerri, Imo State: “Governor Mimiko’s victory has earned him additional title of the Bone Crusher, considering the calibre of politicians he defeated. It shows that Ondo electorate has clear direction. He should endeavour to fulfil his campaign promises.”

Hmmm. Iroko the Bone Crusher. Just ensure you also crush poverty in Ondo State.

Crush joblessness, crush misery and despair.

Replace them with prosperity, elevated quality of life, hope and joyfulness. And you will be our hero forever.

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Friday, October 26, 2012

DAILY SUN

POLITICS...&Polity The presidential ambition of the Ekwuemes may not be over yet, as a member of the family has decided to continue from where the former vice president, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Stopped. He clocked 80 years last week.

Dr. Ada Ekwueme-Onuora, is the Chief Medical Director, Kalva Clinic, Lagos, and a trained psychosocial rehabilitation practitioner at the University of Toronto, Canada, and former deputy chairman of the Democratic party (PDP) Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State. In this interview with Daily Sun, Ekwueme said the failure of Dr. Alex Ekwueme to clinch the PDP presidential ticket in 1999 and 2003 was a great political setback for Ndigbo.

While declaring her interest to run for the presidency in 2015, Dr. Ekwueme called on Ndigbo to forget individualistic acts but work collectively by giving her the necessary support towards the actualisation of president of Igbo extraction in 2015.

The princess of Oko, as her political loyalists fondly call her, stated that Nigeria was ripe for a woman president.

According to her, Nigerians are yearning for effective and good leadership, which she said she could offer, hence her reason for offering herself to serve the nation.

She noted that the name, Ekwueme, was a great legacy, which the family valued above all things and ready to protect.

She pointed out that Nigerians were looking for someone, who had the ability to fight corruption and must be seen to be transparent.

She also spoke on her NGO and other issues.

Excerpts.

The name Ekwueme as a legacy, how has it helped you? ight from my childhood, my father, His Royal Highness, Igwe J.A. Ekwueme, was the traditional ruler of Oko. When he died, my uncle, Prof. Laz Ekwueme, succeeded him. He always told us that a good name was better than gold and silver. So, we are guided by that and we have always maintained that. For instance, there are certain things you do, my father will ask: “Are you an Ekwueme or not?” So, you’re conscious even when you want to tell little lies.

My uncle, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the former vice president made it more obvious that as an Ekwueme, integrity, sincerity and good conduct must be your watch words and guiding principles, to keep the name stainless.

How has the name affected you?

I don’t know how to answer the question. If you mean whether the name has earned me political appointment, I will say no. But people accord me recognition some would ask if Iam his daughter, and I would say no, I am his niece even though we are both cousins because we are from the same grandfather.

However, the name has not opened political doors for me. Rather I have been striving and that is what my cousin believes in. He believes you should have good and sound education, then, go out there and fend for yourself.

Did he at anytime recommend you for political appointment?

Not to my knowledge. But as a matter of fact, it’s only the two of us in the family; Mike Ekwueme and I who are really out for politics. We are grassroots politicians going through campaigns and rallies.

So, he has not recommended any of us for political appointment.

What role did you play when he aspired to be President of Nigeria?

Then, I lived in Surulere and I still do. So, I rose from the grassroots and I belong in ward H Aguda as the publicity secretary of PDP. Later, I was voted to become the deputy chairman of the party in Surulere, Lagos.

Then, it was a great honour that my uncle was nominated to fly the party’s flag as its presidential candidate. So, everybody was working together towards achieving that until suddenly, the former President, Chief

R

Why I want to be President,

by Ekwueme Olusegun Obasanjo came in and divided the whole system.

I saw myself schemed out of politics. We didn’t know where we belonged anymore.

Ekwueme campaign organization in Anambra State was a strong force then, so I came back to support him from the home front because it was obvious that the south west including Lagos had adopted Chief Olusegun Obasasnjo.

The whole thing affected my political career and it’s really bad because I was of the opinion that having lived in Lagos for so many years, I was discriminated against by Lagos state PDP. In Canada, where I lived, if you are qualified to be a citizen, you have the right to vote and be voted for. So it would be nice where one is domiciled he or she continues to hold position there.

When finally my uncle lost the party’s ticket, coupled with the humiliation meted to me

by PDP Lagos, I had to travel to Canada for further studies.

What lesson did you learn from that experience?

Women should wake up.

Why didn’t Nigerian women vote Sarah Jubril during the PDP Presidential Primary?

It’s because she did not create the much desired awareness. Women should rally together instead of fighting each other.

Poverty is another thing working against the political interest of women.

Sarah Jubril, meant well for Nigeria but hadn’t the financial strength as most women at the convention came there for money.

Through my NGO, Kalvac Human Development Initiative (KHDI), we plan to begin sensitization and awareness drive for Nigerian women to brace up and take over the leadership of the country.

So, if that awareness had been created, it would have been a different story for my sister Sarah Jubril.

But a good number of women are in government. Why are you sounding as if women are marginalized?

How many of them are politicians? There is something about politicking. Forget about the underhand politics being played some times.

When I say politics, I mean, you read wide about what is happening globally. You become aware, you become knowledgeable by also attending seminars; strive to know what is happening in other countries and how countries get developed. Let women learn and get Nigeria developed.

I mean women should join hands to put Nigeria in the global map of developed countries by being knowledgeable politically.

I did not read political science, but I got myself educated politically. I read about it,

attended both local and international seminars and not just how to get A down so that B will go up, that is not the type of politics that can grow our democracy.

Anambra PDP is in crisis. As a party member, what are you doing to resolve the crisis?

I am more interested in women participation in politics. Anambra women should come together and form a focal point to unite the party.

This I have started few months ago because that is my primary constituency.

All efforts to resolve Anambra State PDP crisis failed because, women have not come to say “enough is enough”.

Remember the crisis is •Ekwueme-Onuora caused by men and these men have mothers and wives, and must Nigerians yearn for good leadership. If elected, I will implement my uncle’s manifesto, in always listen to us.

Can the Bamanga Tukur led Executive addition to mine.

I will run an all inclusive government, an unite the party?

As I said earlier, the survival of PDP lies assemblage of men and women of integrity and authorities in their chosen field of human with the women.

We must rise and make the desired change endeavour.

My education policy will turn out job creas mothers. We are stabilizers in time of crisis.

Women can and will play major roles in ators and not job seekers and reduce unembringing peace to PDP if we come together ployment. We all know that lack of steady power is the bane of industrial growth. and form a formidable force.

How has the failure of your uncle to rule Under my administration, the power sector the country affected your political career? will be totally overhauled, not just privatizing That goes to the roots, which is where we it, but making it to be more efficient. As a come from, the Igbo. medical doctor social service is the anchor of We must revamp our heritage because I developed nations and that will be the key of believe that the dissention came from the our medical system. roots, from our own root before it goes to the I will introduce effective medical system in entire nation. line with international standards. The society, I am sure Nigerians love Dr. Alex especially the grassroots would be enlightEkwueme even outside this shores, and they ened. If the grassroots has basic amenities, wanted him to be their president. He would then the country will be on the track of develhave carried everybody along like the archi- opment. tect he is.

Nigeria is a country where we run clinics, So if our people, the Igbo were united enough, he would have won the PDP primar- and most people find it difficult to come to the clinics but if the medical system functions like ies.

You have just declared your interest to an NGO, the medical personal goes to the run for the presidency in 2015. Do you see people wherever they are.

Medical personnel would leave their comyour dream coming to reality?

The dream of an Ekwueme to become fort zones to talk to and treat the people.

Nigeria’s president is realizable, because the Awareness will be created for the people to former vice President has laid a good founda- know how their body function especially girls. tion.

I am not saying it is our birthright. No, I am appealing to Ndigbo to support me and stop looking further for a saleable candidate for the presidency in 2015, I posses most “The dream of an Ekwueme to become of the qualities required for job.

We should avoid the mistake of 1999 and Nigeria’s president is realisable because 2003 when we had the opportunity to grab the the former vice President has laid a good PDP presidential ticket but sold out. foundation. I am not saying it is our Another opportunity is here. Who says Nigeria is not ripe for a woman president? birthright. No, Nigerians yearn for good is over ripe for a woman president leadership. If elected, I will implement my uncle’s manifesto, in Nigeria and I am ready to be the first Nigerian woman addition to mine.” president in 2015.

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

49

POLITICS...&Polity

Issues we have with the president – Maccido, Chairman, Senate Appropriation Committee Chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee, Ahmed Mohammed Maccido, lays bare, details of the 2013 budget with strict warning that the Executive should not expect to get back the document the same way it was submitted to the National Assembly.

In this interview with ADETUTU FOLASADE-KOYI, Senator Maccido is unapologetic about constituency projects for federal lawmakers in the budget, as it is a democracy dividend from the legislature to Nigerians. Excerpts: Is there any remarkable difference between the 2012 and 2013 budgets? es, there are few differences. For example, the actual aggregate figure has changed from N4.7 trillion to N4.92, which is like five per cent increase from that of last year and the benchmark has risen from $72 to $75 and revenues to be used for the budget is now N3.89 trillion, which is about three to four per cent higher than that of last year. The capital provision has risen too and as God would have it, luckily, recurrent expenditure has reduced. So, generally, all the parametres have changed from that of last year and we believe we would be able to work with these figures much more than that of last year.

Will acrimony between the House of Representatives and the Presidency on the budget affect its consideration?

Honestly, I don’t see any reason why our workings towards the budget should have any negative effect; I really don’t see any reason why these comments should have any negative effect on the workings of the new budget because the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives only reiterated what is enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As for the aides of Mr. President, as the Senate President has said, this is not the way for them to go about making friends for Mr. President but all the same, we know the comments did not come from Mr. President. But being spokesmen of Mr. President, we believe they should have thought better and deeply before they spoke.

But all the same, we want to believe that this is not the statement of Mr. President himself.

We are not going to hold it against him and even if we do hold it against him, it doesn’t necessarily have to mean that it would affect our workings of the budget because the budget is for the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not Mr. President.

Do you have an understanding with the Presidency not to touch the budget but pass it as they brought it?

No, we don’t have any such understanding.

The Speaker in his budget speech alluded to the fact that revenue from gas has not been reflected in previous budgets.

Has that anomaly been corrected now?

These are issues we need to take up with the Executive this year. As we go on, we make improvements on issues of our workings on the budget, not just on gas. There are issues such as the way the Sovereign Wealth Fund and the Excess Crude Account are being managed. All these things we will bring up with the President this year; they are issues we will bring up with Mr. President, including the one you just raised. We are going to sit down, deliberate on these issues because as we go on working on the budget, we always have pre-

Y

•Maccido budget meetings; even during our work on the budget, we do meet all the time. So, we are going to raise the issue when we meet with the Executive and we are going to insist on genuine and real answers so that we can tell Nigerians what is happening to their money.

During pre-budget meetings, what was the level of participation between your committee, other relevant committees of the Senate and the Presidency in the packaging of the budget?

Well, as it is now, it is limited to the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office of the Federation. On our side, it’s the Appropriation Committee, as well as the National Planning, Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation and Finance Committees.

These are the ones we have pre-budget meetings with. On the other hand, our leadership here at the National Assembly too have their own meetings with Mr. President and his ministers, sometimes. When they come back from such meetings, we are usually informed of what transpired between them and this goes a long way in helping us determine what went on during these pre-budget meetings

and what we need to do when the budget comes before us. As for other committees, it is now that they would come in board because the budget is already in the National Assembly and this is the stage when they become involved in these meetings. We now need to sit down and determine the next course of action.

Do you envisage a deadlock with the budget against the backdrop of insistence of the National Assembly increasing the benchmark?

Actually, I do not think so because the $80 oil benchmark is that of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper which goes a long way in helping us determine what should be in the budget but it is not actually the budget itself. By approving the MTEF and predicting the oil benchmark on $80 does not necessarily mean that it would be the same. But all the same, the House has its own position, the Executive has its position, we as the Senate have already done the same, having deliberated upon it on the floor of the Senate. But one thing we agree upon is the fact that it’s not a question of the

“These are issues we need to take up with the Executive this year. As we go on, we make improvements on issues of our workings on the budget, not just on gas. There are issues such as the way the Sovereign Wealth Fund and the Excess Crude Account are being managed. All these things we will bring up with the President this year; they are issues we will bring up with Mr. President.”

Executive having a figure of $75 or the House of Representatives having its own figure of $80. We as a Senate would sit down and bring logical reasoning and bring our own idea of what should prevail, considering the interest of Nigeria and not just because the Executive had $80 while anther figure emanated from another arm of government. No, it is not like that. We will deliberate on the fact that we need a concrete figure that is credible for the workings of the Nigerian budget. So, this is where we are now.

By implication, are you saying there would be a conference before you can get a workable oil benchmark?

That is most likely to happen because there is the possibility that we might stick to $75, we might even raise it from that $75 to $76, $77, $78 and we might even choose to get to that $80! It is not likely that we agree on either $75 or $80. We will arrive a figure hat is more realistic than the one being proposed but which will be acceptable to all parties concerned.

The House of Representatives has said that consideration of the 2013 budget is predicated on the performance of the 2012 budget. What is the Senate’s take on this?

Actually, on that particular score, we are on the same page with the House of Representatives. I believe even the Executive would agree with the fact that the budget has not reached more than 30 percent implementation. The onus rests on the Senate to verify that because as it is now, we are going on oversight functions to the MDAs and not just sitting in the minister’s office and bringing documents for us to look at. No, we will go out to the field to see what is happening. If, for instance, N1 billion has been earmarked for a particular project, say, a road, we want to go to site to see for ourselves the level of work that has been done on that particular road. Is the work on that road commensurate with the N1 billion budgeted? If not, we will come back and report to Senate that that road is not up to the amount earmarked for it. We will make our own deductions and conclusions and pass them onto the Senate. From there, we will know what to do. As I said earlier, it is not a matter of agreeing with the House or the Executive but actually, we have the same stand. All we are going to do is to debate the budget estimates and after that, we will not touch the budget again until such a time when we have finished with our oversight functions.

Where and how did you get this 30 percent implementation figure from? Did it come from oversight visits or documents available to you?

The figure was gotten from documents given to us from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation’s office (we all have them) because there were releases, there are cash-backings, there is the actual budget itself and based on all these, that was where we got the 30 percent budget implementation figure from. So, based on those figures, we made our deductions and arrived at that figure.

This 30 percent budget implementation is it with respect to capital or recurrent expenditure? Please, be specific.

Well, since you say I should be specific, I am talking specifically with respect to capital expenditure. They have no problem with recurrent spendings.

As Appropriation Committee Chairman, have you gone on oversight?

We will go on oversight because in most cases, we work on oversight reports from other committees. They compile their reports, submit to us and we work on them but to answer your questions directly, we go on oversight to very few MDAs but including the Finance Ministry and Budget Office of the Federation. These are the only two offices we go on oversight function. The rest, we have no responsibility on them because each office has relevant committees oversighting them. So, our oversight duties as Appropriation Committee is very limited that is why we wait until all the committees go out, compile reports and we work based on those reports.

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DAILY SUN

Friday, October 26, 2012

From AIDOGHIE PAULINUS, Abuja

S

pecial Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Ahmed Ali Gulak, has said the budget standoff between the Presidency and the National Assembly may not be unconnected to the 2015 presidency.

Gulak also spoke on the altercations between the Presidency and the National Assembly, saying it was not him but the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who called his fellow legislators illiterates.

Hear him: “I didn’t call them illiterates. Let me tell you: just yesterday, I was reading in the papers that the Deputy Senate President, that is Senator Ekweremadu, said some legislators can barely write their names. He said so.

“Go and read it. He said so. I did not say it.

So, if most of them can barely write their names, then how will they understand the intricacies of budget? I did not say it. It is the Deputy Senate President that said it and if he really said it, so, it means the National Assembly has a long way to go.”

Gulak further said: “You cannot rule out 2015 because what I always say and I keep on saying, is that people should not use their ambition to jettison national issues. Let’s wait. When we reach the bridge, we will cross it.”

Gulak, former Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, spoke on these and other sundry issues. Excerpt…

The 2013 budget has generated much controversy between the Presidency and the leadership of the National Assembly.

Why the exchange of words?

I don’t think the 2013 budget should have generated the controversy people are talking about. The 2013 budget was a comprehensive document submitted by the Presidency to the National Assembly as required by the constitution. And I believe that budget is a comprehensive document carefully worked out by experts and submitted to the National Assembly and the National Assembly, as required by the constitution, is supposed to look at the budget, approve it so that Nigerians can have benefit of the budget.

I was saying that if the budget is not implemented to a level, a reasonable level, I don’t think the executive should be blamed for it. I said, and I will still say it, that part of the blame must be shared by the National Assembly in the sense that if a budget is passed in April, that is four months into the year and you expect 70, 80 percent implementation by September, October; then you know that it is not feasible. It is not possible.

But if the budget is passed and it is effective from January 1, and by September, October, you don’t see the implementation of the budget up to 70, 80 percent, then you have quarrel and your quarrels must be genuine.

And that is why I always say that the budget as submitted by the President should be effective from January 1, so that it will have reasonable implementation.

You know the procurement process. There are due processes for you to procure certain items of the budget. You must publish it, it must be advertised and all the due processes must be followed. And if the budget is not passed early enough, how do you expect the executive to implement the budget by 100 percent?

Secondly, I said and I will continue to say that if the executive submits a budget which is a careful preparation of documents of expenditure and income and it goes to the National Assembly and certain projects are inserted into this budget that were not conceived by the executive; because certain projects like road construction need feasibility study, need soil test, need engineering design which the executive did not foresee and has not done and it is inserted by the National Assembly, how do you expect this item of the budget to be implemented by the executive within that year? So, what we are saying is that if the executive says road from point A to point B is going to be done this year for N5 billion, this road from point A to point B, the executive must have done the soil test, must have done the engineering design and must have done everything necessary before inserting that item on the budget. And if the procurement as determined by the executive is for example, N5 billion and

Budget impasse: rule out 2015 politics

it goes to the National Assembly and they reduce it to N200 million, how do you expect the executive to conclude that road within that year? It is not possible. For example, the executive is buying an ambulance for a National Hospital, everybody knows that the price of ambulance is N6 million or N5 million. It is an international price and it goes to the National Assembly and the National Assembly reduces this price to N1 million or N2 million, how can the executive implement such item of the budget within that year? It is not possible.

So, this is why we are saying that the National Assembly and the executive should be partners. They should collaborate. They should be partners in the Nigerian project so that Nigerians will enjoy the dividends of democracy. The project inserted must be executed within that year. But what people are saying -and I believe their fears are genuine, is that instead of partnership between the National Assembly and the Presidency, it appears there is a contest for power.

Why? I don’t really know because that has been in the burner. There should not be contest for power. The President is the President of this country. He was elected to serve Nigeria as President for four years and he has his constitutional power. The National Assembly have their constitutional power. Everybody derives his power from the constitution. And what I am saying is that Section 8 (1) of the Constitution should be carefully looked at.

Who presents the budget? Definitely, it is the executive. What is the budget all about? The executive will not just present a document.

They have to go into careful analysis. What are the priorities for this year? What are the roads you must concentrate on this year?

What of electricity supply? All these items in the budget are carefully studied and they are not things that you say maybe, you just go into the shelf and pay your money and pick.

No! They must work on it. So, what I think the executuve is complaining about, is certain items being inserted into the budget at

the National Assembly that have not been planned for by the executive for execution.

From your statement, there is the contest for power. What accounted for this?

It appears.

Is it because of the 2015 presidency?

Well I don’t know. I cannot say but you cannot rule out 2015 because what I always say, and I keep on saying, is that people should not use their ambition to jettison national issues. Lets wait. When we reach the bridge, we will cross it. Everybody has the right to aspire to the highest office in this land.

You also mentioned the reduction of the budget by the National Assembly. What is the idea behind it?

Well, I cannot answer that question because it is the National Assembly that should answer that question, why and how. But what we are saying is that it will have negative impact on the implementation of the budget.

The National Assembly warned the Presidency last week, saying that Doyin Okupe and yourself were deliberately stoking impasse between them and the Presidency. What is your take on this?

DAILY SUN

Don’t – Gulak … Ekweremadu, not I, called legis lators illiterates First and foremost, the first test in politics I had was that I was a parliamentarian. I was the Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly. So, I respect that institution because that was where I started. And I couldn’t have called the National Assembly bunch of stupid people. It is not possible.

Are you saying you didn’t call them illiterates?

I didn’t call them illiterates. Let me tell you one thing: I did not know and I couldn’t have because what I am saying is that they know the law. They are not ignorant people. Only ignorant people would say that we don’t know the law. But they know the law. They know the constitution. They have the constitution. In fact, the constitution is their document day-in, day-out. So, the constitution is clear on who has which power.

You see, the problem in Nigeria is that you leave the substance of the discussion and go and harmer on something else. What we are saying at our level is that budget implementation must be done in full collaboration and partnership between the two arms of government: the executive and the legislature.

Let me tell you: just yesterday, I was reading in the papers that the Deputy Senate President, that is Senator Ekweremadu, said many of the legislators can barely write their names. He said so.

Ah! He said so.

I have not read that…

You better go and read it. He said so. He said most of the legislators can barely write their names.

Doesn’t that suggest that they are illiterates?

I don’t know. But that is what they said. The Deputy Senate President said. Go and read it. He said so. I did not say it. So, if most of them can barely write their names, then how will they understand the intricacies of budget? I did not say it, it is the Deputy Senate President that said it. And if he really said it, so it means the National Assembly has a long way to go.

The National Assembly also said that there is overzealousness on your part and that of Okupe.

How true is this?

Well, at the time we worked for the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, we did that because we love this country. I did that as a person because I believe in Goodluck Jonathan. I did that because I believe that this country belongs to all of us irrespective of where you come from, what language you speak and the religion you practice.

I am from the north, north-east in particular. Atiku is from the north-east. He contested this election but I worked for Goodluck Jonathan to clinch this presidency because I believe in him. So, whatever somebody is saying that I am being overzealous, that is not true. I am just doing my job. I have to explain the issues to the public as a political adviser. I believe the budget of the executive was carefully worked out item by item for this year and I expected that the implementation of the budget must be by collaboration.

How about the issue of bills awaiting the president’s assent which you were quoted to have said that they won’t be signed. Did you actually say it?

No! Maybe it was a response. What was the context? You have to understand the context within which I spoke. If I was asked a question that there are some bills lying with Mr. President for example,

and the President is not assenting, I have to ask: these bills are they really before Mr. President? Secondly, the constitution is clear about it that if a bill is passed by the National Assembly, whether executive bill or privatemember’s bill and if such bills are passed by the National Assembly, it is for Mr. President to assent and if he withholds his assent, after 30 days, or he signifies his withholding of assent, after 30 days, the National Assembly, by the constitution, should know what to do.

That was what I said. It is a constitutional issue. It is not Gulak saying it, it is not President Goodluck saying it and it is not Senator David Mark saying it. It is this constitution that is the grand norm from which every other person derives his power. It is not being overzealous. I am not being overzealous. I am just explaining to the public what is involved.

It was also reported that the Presidency said you and Okupe are on your own.

What is your reaction to that?

Is it a crime if I express my personal view on an issue in Nigeria? It is not out of context. It is not. I am entitled to my own views as a Nigerian not withstanding that I am a presidential adviser. I am entitled to my own view and the view is; as it relates to this budget, it is a clear explanation that the executive and the legislature should be partners for full implementation of this Act. So, where are we faulty?

Ekweramadu said if he were the President, you will not last one day in his office because you are just putting the President on the part of confusion. How do you see his comment?

Unfortunately or fortunately for me, the Deputy Senate President is not the President of this country. The President of this country gave me a job and I am doing my job to the best of my knowledge and ability. By no means, by no means, I repeat, by no means will I ever disrespect the institution of the National Assembly, more so, the Senate.

But, like I said, the Deputy Senate President said it and he was quoted in the newspaper that many of the legislators can barely write their names. That is what he said and I read it. But if he comes to say that if he were to be the President, I will not last one minute in office, well, unfortunately or for fortunately, he is not the President. Let him mind his duty, his constitutional duty. As the Deputy Senate President, we respect the young man for that and we respect the institution. Today, I am the political adviser and tomorrow, I may not be. This time, he is the Deputy Senate President and next time, he may go for a higher office or he may not be. Today, Goodluck Jonathan is the President, next time he may not be. Last time, he was not.

Obasanjo was there for eight years.

All I am saying is that now that Goodluck Jonathan is in the saddle, all hands must be on deck to support him so that we can succeed. There is no point distracting the man.

There is no point for some of these people who have hatred for his presidency because this is much more than criticism. I believe because this is a man who came on board and people elected him. Right from his election, there have been crises. As a result of that election, some people said they were going to make the country ungovernable for the man. It is on record. I can start calling names if you want. People made these statements.

Why should they make Nigeria ungovernable under Goodluck Jonathan? Why didn’t they make Nigeria ungovernable under Obasanjo? Why didn’t they make Nigeria ungovernable under Yar’Adua? So, let the will of the majority carry the day. We have some few people who will never, who will never, I repeat, never appreciate the good work the President is doing for this country.

We have a lot of them.

The House of Representatives has just challenged the Presidency to make public the documents indicting the National Assembly over the alleged N60 billion constituency project execution. What did the document say?

I don’t know.

Are you saying you are not aware?

I am not aware.

In anyway?

In anyway.

Friday, October 26, 2012

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Deadlier insurgent sects are coming — Prophet

By VINCENT KALU Reverend Daniel Moses Samuel (DMS), Quaranic scholar-turned pastor and General Overseer of Upper Light Chapel, Okoko, Lagos, has painted a gloomy future of what lies ahead of the country. He told Daily Sun said that three more Islamic sects, deadlier than Boko Haram, are on the way.

Excerpts: My prophecies do not manufacture prophecies. I speak as God directs me. There have been attempts on my life because of prophecies that did not go down well with those in authorities and which eventually came to pass.

During the dark days of the despotic Head of State, General Sanni Abacha, I prophesied that he was not going to see the end of 1998.

He became livid and sought to arrest me but God saved me. I declared that another government would release General Oladipo Diya and others unconditionally over the phantom coup against Abacha. Abacha was furious and sent his killers squad after me on January 2, 1998. Somehow, I escaped the killer’s squad, arrest and tortured.

I gave another prophecy against the then First lady, the late Mrs. Stella Obasanjo that she would go to a foreign hospital for treatment and would not return alive to Nigeria.

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was furious and sent for me to appear in the Presidential Villa. I was delivered from Obasanjo through a renowned Man of God who Obasanjo respected and honoured. That brought me close to Obasanjo. I became his pocket prophet until today, after many prophecies concerning his government came to pass.

Obasanjo’s successor What made me threatened to quit pulpit was when God said I was going to be Obasanjo’s successor. However, Obasanjo handed over to the late President Umar Musa Yar ‘Adua. For reasons I cannot explain, I was anointed by God to succeed Obasanjo, but God remains God. I burst out in holy anger and said Umar Musa Yar’Adua, would not complete the first term in office, because

I

Samuel

he was sitting on someone’s seat. Also he will die in office, and that we are going to have two phases of government before 2011.

On May 29, 2010, I said if Jonathan wanted to run for presidency, he would win, but before December 2012, his good luck will turn into bad luck for the country. I warned the Federal Government to expect more bombings and insurgents. On July 2, 2012, in The Sun Newspaper, I said there is not going to be election in 2015. Another government is coming before May 29, 2013, to lay solid foundation for a new Nigeria. After then, we shall have one single term of six years from October 1, 2014. I see Nigeria sitting on a gun powder. I am warning on the last plague The last plague Three dreaded terrorists are about to invade Nigeria. They will disguised themselves in security outfits, it will be very hard for Chief of Army Staff and Inspector General of Police to differentiate their men from these terrorists, talk more of the civilians. It will shake the foundation of Nigeri. They are already here in all the 36 states of Nigeria.

But Nigeria will not disintegrate; rather we start from a new clean slate.

Security men should watch strange movements, let civilians report any suspicious movement to the law enforcement agencies.

We should all be concerned about our country at this trial time. Nigeria will come out stronger and indivisible after all over problems. I see Nigeria taking over from America, the whole world are coming to Africa again after Egypt.

Muslim parents My parents are devoted Muslims. I gave my life to Christ in 1991 at Deeper Life Christian Church, Calabar, Cross River State.

My parents trained me to be an Islamic scholar. When I was in the police, I gained admission to read Sharia Law in 1986. Police authority refused my transfer to Sokoto State, where I would have access to the university before God told me to leave police in 1987.

I was born prophet. I started receiving from God at age 10. There is nothing I say that does not come to pass, being a pastor or Christian has nothing to do with it.

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Friday, October 26 , 2012 DAILY SUN

People & Events Madam Echendu dies at 102

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eath stole a treasure in Oba, Idemili Local Government Area, Anambra State, recently when Mrs Florence Echendu, aged 102, died. Survived by her children and many grand children, she would be buried.

Born into the family of Mr and Mrs Edozie Uzochukwu in 1910 at Ire village, Obosi in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, the late Echendu won the hearts of people in the area by her cheerfulness and generousity. She had her humble beginning at the mission school, where she obtained her standard six certificate. She became an apprentice in sewing, from where she got married to Mr Augustus Echendu in 1946.

The couple had five sons but one died later at a tender age.

Popularly called Mama, the late Echendu lived an exemplary Christian life and an active

Mrs. Echendu

member of St Paul’s Anglican Church, Oba. Reputed for her strict enforcement of discipline, she won the respect of many people. Above all, she lived out the virtues of hardwork, peace, justice, equity, among others.

Aside being a philanthropist, she was also a motivator and great source of inspiration to the younger generation. Her labour didn’t go unnoticed, as she became the heroine among the women of Aboji Village, Oba. During her lifetime, Echendu preached by her works. Her good work testified for her before her friends, neighbours and even strangers. It was often said in the village that anyone that visited her would always return at other times. Her personal qualities were the secret charm that won her many admirers.

Her grand children, who lived in cities, always fantasized opportunities to return to the village to see her. She was a woman with a golden heart.

Members of the family said she would forever be remembered for teaching them the fear of God and the love of giving.

She always told her children never to give up, no matter the difficulties of life.

Suru Group boosts fight against insecurity

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The newly installed Baase of Ake, Chief Martins Folahan anaging Director of Suru Group of Companies, Mr. Sowunmi (left) and the Baala of Ake, Chief Samuel Olufemi Edward Akinlade, flanked by Lagos State Police Tanimowo (right) during their Iwuye ceremony at the Ake Commissioner, Mr. Umar Manko (right) and Bishop Palace Abeokuta last weekend George Amu after Akinlade, on behalf of his group’s outfit, the Charity Foundation, presented a new Toyota Hilux truck and CPM women hold convention Suru two refurbished ones to the the Lagos State Police Command at the state command’s headquarters, Ikeja, Wednesday.

ODM’s October anointing service

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he monthly anointing service of the Manna Prayer Mountain Ministry,(a. k. a), ODM , for the month of October will hold at 7.30am on the 28th of this month at the Manna Mountain, 8-10 Omotayo Banwo Street, Orioke-Ogudu, Lagos.

The theme for the service is: “TALITHACUMI- MYTESTIMONY MUST ARISE.” the Manna Mountain Monthly Anointing Service has become a fertile hunting ground for miracle seekers from around the world because of the amazing gift of prophesy Some members of Women Fellowship, aka Victorious Women, of and healing powers of Rev Dr Chris Kwakpovwe. Rev. Dr chris.

Christian Pentecostal Mission (CPM), Agodo Egbe Branch, after Kwakpovwe the General Overseer of the Manna Mountain will at the service. their maiden women convention on Sunday, October 23. Seated n minister their midst is head pastor of the branch, Rev. Ayo Israel and his wife, Mrs. Joy Israel, president of the fellowship.

“Golden Mum” goes home

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Princess Ruth Olufuwa passes on

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Princess Olufuwa

he death has been announced in Lagos of a devout Christian and trader Princess Ruth Anjola Olufuwa a.k.a Iya Olobi She died peacefully recently in her Agbowa-Ikosi home at the age of 85.

She is survived by her Children, grand children and great grand children, among whom are Prince Olusegun Olufuwa, a Chartered Accountant and Engr. Dayo Olufuwa. May Her soul rest in Peace.

Head of Sales, Handheld Products, Samsung Electronics, Olumide Ojo (lft) presenting Samsun’s Galaxy Smarphone to Dan Foster of Inspiration FM (middle) during Samgun’s visit to Ispiration FM Studio in Lagos recently, with them is Ayobami Akinsanya

Madam Okpoko goes home Nov.2

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he matriarch of Okpoko (Ologhe -Ebele Town of Igweben,Edo State), Mrs. Mary Akhoyaota Jonah Okpoko ( nee Aikinomioria) who died at the age of 95 years will be interred on

Madam Okpoko

Friday Nov., 2 ,2012 by 10 AM prompt.

In a signed statement by her grandson, Mr. Ighodalo Okpoko Adeyemi Aiyoze, Mama’s remains will leave the Unity morgue Ebule for her residence, Idumesan before arriving at St. Mark Anglican Church Ologhe-Ebele Town, Edo State.

Reception and entertainment of guests will hold next day (Nov. 3) at the family compound: Aikinomiora (A.k.A Papa Joe’s compound).

Thanksgiving service will also hold on Sunday,Nov.,4 at St. Mark’s Anglican church. She is survived by children, grandchildren, great grand children and other relatives.

Ido LG boss bags award

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aretaker chairman, Ido Local Government, Oyo State, Prof. Adeniyi Olowofela has bagged a national award for his performance in office.

Olowofela was singled ut as the best LG chairman in the fields of education and workls. He stated at the ppresentation in Abuja that his administration is irrevocably committed to the provision of infrastructure. He said as an offshort of the Abiola Ajimobi administration in the state, Ido LG would not rest on its oars to better the lot of the people. He aopoealed to the electorate to continue supporting the ACN government in the state.

Oby Charity Okonkwo CEO FEEL at home and with the Success Ladies during her thankging service for life at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church

Convention/Anniversary he God-Will-Do-It Ministries Int’ Nigeria, has begun its annual greater power convention 2012 and its anniversary with the theme :- “The siege is over”. It will end on October 30, Vigil holds today Friday, October 26, 2012 by 9p.m. at the church auditorium, House ll, Farayola Layout, Behind Bodija Market, Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo state.

Speakers are Dr. & Revd (Mrs) Gomba Fortune-Oyor (Host), Bishop Francis Wale Oke, Rev. Isaac Omolehin, Revd. Dr. Moses Aransiola, Dr. Chris Abhulime (USA), Dr. Kontein Trinya among others. Featuring – Total restoration, deliverance, true worship among others.

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Oru frontiers gets new executives

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he Oru Progressive Union (aka Oru Frontiers) has elected new executive to run the affairs of the association. In an election conducted recently at Approach Hotel, Festac Town, Lagos, Chief Brady Ogbenna and High Chief Marcel Okoro were elected as the President and Vice President respectively, while Prince Fidelis Obianozie was elected as the Secretary.

Others included Engr. Charles Ozoemenem as the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Ike Obereagwu as the assistant secretary, Martin Nwauba Treasurer, Jude Omeziri, Financial secretary, Austine Obi as the Director of Social Services and Barrister Gerald Olemgbe as the legal adviser to the association.

he entire community of Umuawuka, Emii in Emekuku area of Owerri, Imo State, stood still on October 24 when they paid their last respect to Mrs Maritha Ahunna Adim, a woman known for her generosity and devout Christian life.

The late Mrs. Adim passed on in September this year after a brief illness. She was not only mother to her three sons and three daughters, but also mother to her three in-laws, who gave her the name, Golden Mum. She was a woman who set her eyes steadfastly in making heaven, which is why, as if she knew her time was up, she made important restitutions, settling her differences with anyone she had offended.

Golden Mum, as we called her, always had food ready for any visitor to her home and hardly made any demand on those who knew her. She became a

Mrs. Adim widow in 1984, when she was still young enough to remarry or take a lover, but she refused to do so, saying: “God had blessed me with six children – three male, three female – what else do I want in a man?” Thus, she remained faithful to her late husband and to God, even till death.

She is survived by six children – Mrs Rosemary Asimole, Mr Paul Adim, Mrs Alice Akinnugba, Mr Joseph Adim, Mr Nnamdi Adim and Mrs Iheoma Unufe. She died at the age of 74.

Karis Band storms Egbeda for Joshua’s Weekend

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opular gospel group, the Karis Band, tonight will be on parade at the Praise and Worship Night of the men’s fellowship (The Joshua), of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Victory Chapel, Aderibigbe Shokunbi Street, Egbeda, Lagos.

The event which is part of activities commemorating the yearly Joshua’s Weekend with the theme, A Time to go Forward, is billed for the church auditorium. The anniversary which kicked off yesterday with a prayer session, continues in the evening tomorrow, when residents in the area will be offered free medical check alongside a couple’s dinner at the church auditorium. On Sunday, the anniversary will climax in a thanksgiving service with Pastor Kayode Emmanuel from Kaduna Province, RCCG, ministering.

Christian Bookfair holds in Lagos

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hristian Booksellers Association of Nigeria (CBAN) will holds its annual book fair national convention at the Shepherdhill Baptist Church Hall, Ikorodu Road, Obanikoro Bus stop, Palmgroove, Lagos on Tuesday, October 30 to Saturday, November 3.

According to Mr. Daniel Badru, Media Consultant to C.B.A.N, the weeklong fair, will have eminent Bible scholars and authors grace the occasion. There will be exhibitions on business and leadership, Bibles, Christian gifts, Christian music, message on CDs, DVDs among others.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Moses Akaigwe mosesaki@hotmail.com 08072100049

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Motoring

Coscharis, Ford Go Further with new showroom in Lagos C

oscharis Motors Limited has reiterated its commitment to providing vehicles and services that will be the benchmark for measuring performance standards in the country’s auto sector.

Recently, as the new ultra-modern Ford showroom and service centre was officially opened at its new corporate head office in Lekki, Lagos, Coscharis President, Dr. Cosmas Maduka, recalled that part of the company’s mission when it went into auto business was to leave landmarks that would be timeless in their relevance to the sector.

He said his company, like Ford, was focus on being the best in terms of quality of vehicles made available in the market and the standards of after-sales service the vehicles are backed up with.

Echoing Maduka’s views on the commitment to the market, Ford Motor Company’s Director, Export Operations And Global Growth Initiatives, Hal Feder, who led a delegation to the event, commended Coscharis Motors for the huge investments it had made and for being a worthy representative of the brand (along with another marketer) in Nigeria.

The new showroom and service centre, which has already earned the reputation of being the largest facility of its type in subSahara Africa, will display the Ford range of vehicles being distributed by Coscharis Motors.

DAILY SUN

Ford Motor Company’s Director, Export Operations And Global Growth Initiatives, Hal Feder, presenting an award to the Chairman of Coscharis Group, Dr. Cosmas Maduka, at the new Ford showroom in Lekki, Lagos.

They include sedans like Figo, Focus, Fusion and Taurus, as well as the 4x4 offerings, namely Escape, Everest, Edge, Explorer and Expedition, which is currently the flagship of the Ford brand. The showroom will also display the Ford Transit, which includes an ambulance.

Present at the epoch-making occasion were top officials of the American auto manufacturer who flew into the country to grace the event.

Director of Operations, Ford Export & Growth , Mr. Hal Feder, who led the team from Ford’s Dearborn, Michigan headquarters, said “We see a bright future for Ford in Nigeria as we

roll out an all-new series of smart, fuel-efficient products.

According to Feder, “This has always been an important market for us and now that we have a great vehicle line-up and a new worldclass partner in Coscharis, we feel poised for a strong comeback in Nigeria.” He later presented the Golden Shovel Award to Coscharis Motors as a recognition of its dedication to customer service.

The Regional Manager, Sub-Sahara Africa, Ford Export & Growth, Mr. Ezio Tuniz, said “These vehicles-passenger and commercialall embody our ONE Ford Plan in which we source from our global network of suppliers to guarantee our Nigerian customers the high quality they expect from their cars.”

The President/CEO, Coscharis Group, Dr. Cosmas Maduka, in his speech at the occasion, said his company came up with the mission to deliver excellent products and services to its customers thereby giving them the highest value for their money.

“This magnificent edifice is one of the steps to realise our vision and as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility, it will plough back resources into the immediate and larger society, while ensuring that the employees have a sense of pride and fulfilment,” he said. “Coscharis Motors has diversified into auto sales and service, with state-ofthe-art, ultra-modern showrooms and workshops nationwide. The auto sales and service facilities are the best in the auto industry in Nigeria and Sub-Sahara-Africa with a complementary efficient and effective staff force.”

The Group Managing Director, Coscharis Group, Mr. Josiah Samuel, assured that the company will continue to work hard to satisfy its customers, stressing that “We recognise that to be the best, we must work on customer satisfaction.”

New Chrysler Jeep, Dodge, RAM cars impress fair visitors

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ne of the stands with long-lasting memorable exhibition at the 14th edition of the Abuja International Motor Show (which ended yesterday) is Weststar Associates where the Chrysler Jeep, Dodge and RAM brands were presented to the public.

Basking in the spotlight in Weststar’s stand were the new Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT. This vehicle is the high-performance version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee and boasts a distinctive look with blacked-out details and the powerful 6.4-liter HEMI engine producing 468 horsepower. The new SRT pays tribute to extreme sports-car enthusiasts who want to stand out from the crowd, even on high-adrenaline race tracks.

Beside the new Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT, the Jeep brand presented the new Jeep Wrangler, as well as the 4x2 and 4x4 versions of the Compass.

Showcased already at the Paris Motor Show (that ended some days ago) for its European premiere, the new Jeep Compass brings new ele-

gance and premium appointments to the urban compact SUV of the Jeep family.

Other Chrysler vehicles displayed at the Abuja Motor Show by Weststar include the Dodge Durango Crewlux and Citadel, the flagships of the brand’s 4x4 vehicles; the Dodge Caliber, with the best execution available in its class for a special motor fair price and the Dodge RAM 1500 pickup crew cabin.

Built on 70 years of legendary heritage, Jeep is the authentic SUV with class-leading capability, craftsmanship and versatility for people who seek extraordinary journeys. The Jeep brand delivers an open invitation to live life to the fullest by offering a full line of vehicles that continue to provide owners with a sense of security to handle any journey with confidence.

The Jeep vehicle lineup consists of the Cherokee (Liberty), Compass, Grand Cherokee, Patriot, Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited. To meet consumer demand, all six Jeep models are available with petrol and diesel powertrain options. Chrysler Group LLC sells and services Jeep brand vehicles in approxiJeep attracted visitors to Weststar’s stand mately 120 countries around the world.

CFAO Intermotors wins converts for Chevrolet with incentives

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CFAO displayed new Sonic and other Chevrolet cars at Abuja auto fair

isitors to the pavilion of CFAO Intermotors at the Abuja Motor Fair received generous discounts and special gifts for purchases made on Chevrolet cars while the exhibition lasted (October 16 to 24).

The offer provided opportunity for lovers of Chevrolet to own and drive brand new cars at reduced prices.

It was gathered that some fair visitors took advantage of the opportunity to place orders for the Chevrolet Aveo, sold at N1.85 million (plus a throwin of one year fuel subsidy or comprehensive insurance cover or N80,000 instant cash back, depending on the buyer’s choice). The showroom price of Aveo is N2.2 million.

According to Mrs. Francesca Fabunmi, Head of CFAO Intermotors, every visitor to the CFAO pavilion got a free gift;

whilst the buyers of any of Chevrolet Captiva, Cruze, Sonic, Aveo and Spark, got more branded gift items.

She added that visitors also had the opportunity to feel the presence of the all-new (2013) Sonic being introduced to the public for the first time in Nigeria.

The Sonic ranks high among the world’s most affordable cars and is available as a hatchback and sedan with 1.4 litre fourcylinder engine.

The interior of the Sonic is classy with competitive comfort and safety features.

Captiva, the flagship model, expectedly captivated visitors with good value for money, large space, standard equipment, smart interior packaging and clever fold-flat seat display.

The special offers and discounts ended with the auto show yesterday.

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DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

TRANSPORT Aviation, Maritime

ICAO, Eurocontrol introduce new international flight plan

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he International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and Eurocontrol have effected changes in the international flight plan for airlines flying into Europe.

Tagged- Flight Plan 2012 project, pilots are therefore bound to start using the new flight plan format.

The changes are focused on reflecting the advances in the communication and navigation equipment on board aircraft and to assist air traffic management measures for commercial traffic.

From 15 November, flight plans and associated messages will be standardised for universal application and readability.

Whilst this change will mainly impact commercial aviation, as all pilots use the same format, it will impact anyone who has to file a plan.

The 6,000 users of the National Air Traffic Service (NATS), in the United Kingdom hosted flight plan submission tool, will henceforth notice that the system will be updated with a new

user interface reflecting the new format plans.

This was deployed at 00:01 on 15 October (yesterday) to allow a transition period, although the new flight plan rules will only be ‘switched on’ in line with the Eurocontrol timeline.

Dan Lewis, Watch Manager at NATS’ Civil Aviation Communication Centre, said: “The updated version of AFPEx will take care of most of the changes introduced by Flight Plan 2012. However, we would still encourage users to make themselves familiar with the changes and the new flight planning requirements ahead of them coming into effect on 15 November.

“By deploying the new build early our customers will have a chance to get used to the new interface before the changes come into force.”

NATS will be providing updates and amending its supporting documentation and website for AFPEx in time for when the changes come into force.

Delta 360˚ Lounge opens at Chelsea Football Club

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elta Air Lines, the official airline partner of Chelsea Football Club, today cross checks and opens the doors of its new Delta 360˚ Lounge at Stamford Bridge.

Located within the Millennium & Copthorne Hotel at Chelsea FC, the lounge will host Delta’s VIP guests on match days and provide a new venue for hotel guests and visitors for breakfast and refreshments.

The 360° Lounge uses Delta and Chelsea FC branding to create a distinct atmosphere. Guests attending games will receive airline-style tickets inviting them to ‘check-in’ for the match at the lounge. An LED-lit ‘runway’ leads guests to a dedicated entrance where inside they can enjoy topflight hospitality, see Chelsea players past and present on Chelsea TV and watch the game screened live. Inside they will also learn more about the partnership between the US airline and the Champions of Europe.

Perry Cantarutti, Delta’s senior vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa said: “We are delighted to open the new 360°Lounge at Chelsea FC. The lounge is an important feature of our sponsorship deal and enables us to bring a taste of Delta’s service from the sky to the stadium, adding another exciting element to the Chelsea FC experience for our customers and partners.”

Ron Gourlay, Chelsea Football Club’s Chief Executive said: “The Delta 360˚ Lounge showcases our innovative and creative approach towards our commercial partnerships. It allows Delta to have a year-round connection with Chelsea Football Club at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea FC is now a real focal point in London for Delta customers, staff and partners and will offer B2B opportunities for both the club and the airline.”

The lounge is Delta’s first outside the United States and joins a number of similar dedicated venues that the airline has opened at the home of U.S. sports teams it sponsors.

These include baseball’s New York Yankees, Hockey’s Los Angeles Kings and American football’s Minnesota Vikings.

Cpmprising 108 square metres, the new Delta 360 Lounge includes a full service bar and dining area. Outside of match days it is open daily between 7am and 10pm and is expected to attract up to 250,000 visitors a year.

Wife of Cross River Governor, Mrs Obioma Imoke (m) presenting ‘The Best Airline of the Year’ award to Ethiopian Airline official during Akwaaba African Travel Market in Lagos on Monday.

African airlines need massive investment – Boyo Stories by UCHE USIM

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hief Executive Officer of Overland Airways and Landover Aviation, Capt Edward Boyo has listed massive investment in the aviation

sector, cooperation among African airlines and strong regulatory framework as path the continent must toe if it is to enjoy the multim-billion dollar juicy market.

Speaking at the recent

Aviation and Allied Business Leadership Conference in Windhoek, Namibia, Capt Boyo said the willingness to do the aforementioned must be burning in the minds of African leaders, operators and

NAMA boss defends revenue automation

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anaging director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Engr. Mazi Nnamdi Udoh, has defended the new policy on the automation of revenue collection in the aviation industry, describing it as a strategic drive in revenue generation.

The NAMA boss, addressing trade union leaders of the agency in Lagos on Wednesday, explained that the introduction of the automation would among other things; block revenue leakages, allow for proper billing of aviation service users and prepare agencies for self sustenance.

According to Engr. Udoh, the antagonists of the new policy should ponder on the ben-

efits of the automation which he highlighted as; transparency, accountability and probity, saying, that “we obviously cannot boldly say we have met the criteria above without automation.”

He emphasized that contrary to the widely held opinion by the union leaders, no NAMA worker would lose job following the introduction of the automation system.

The automation, he stressed, would not drain NAMA’s purse, just as he likened the automation system to the use of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), where one could collect money from the automated machine of any bank by paying mere token for the services rendered.

The coordinating chairman

of National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), NAMA branch, Comrade Ade Adekoya, in his welcome address, commended the Managing Director for his expeditious action in releasing the promotion exercise for the year 2011/2012 to deserving staff, the regularization of casual staff, and training among other achievements.

Comrade Adekoya, while appreciating the management over prompt payment of retirees, called for quick implementation of the newly submitted actuarial valuation report, and make funds available for immediate transfer into the retirees’ respective Retirement Saving Accounts (RSA).

Why Aviation Minister is under attack – Dati

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eneral Manager, C o r p o r a t e Communications of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Yakubu Dati has adduced reasons why the Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah has come under severe attacks in the media in recent times.

In an exclusive interview with Daily Sun, Dati said the Minister, while revamping the hitherto prostrate aviation sector has stepped on the toes of very influential Nigerians who feel they are to call the shots in the industry.

The FAAN spokesman said there are those who have stunted the growth of the industry

by milking it dry via illegal means due to several loopholes inherent in the system.

“Most of the airports in the country have been left in the poor state of disrepair for about 30-35 years. There are people who will prefer the old order because it benefited them in one way or the other. More so, the fact that things are being done is exposing the inabilities of other people who all came and ended up with all words and no action. So, that in itself make such category of people uncomfortable,” Dati said.

Continuing, he said: “The soothing news is that most Nigerians have realized the impressive strides the Minister is taking in revamping the industry and they’re telling her

to move on. You must also understand that in the process of transforming the industry, the Minister has stepped on toes and I tell you, they’re powerful toes. The questionable concessions that were entered into whereby few individuals pocket our commonwealth as Nigerians has been stopped and those feeding fat from those are not happy.

They’re fighting back. Also, there is another set of people who believe that when it is aviation business in Nigeria, they’re the owners. So, anything you cannot do without them, cannot work. But she has come to prove them wrong and not only just to prove them wrong, there are visible things happening on the ground.

private sector investors, if the market is to be wrest from foreigners.

“Africa has a robust air transport sector but not fully harnessing it. The time for cooperation is now. We have been at the forefront of this meeting to seek ways of improving air transport in Africa. It requires a collective decision and action. We need to ensure we employ the right strategies to achieve the right results. Our problems are peculiar and we can solve them if we work together.

More so, aviation is capital intensive. Airlines and airports need government assistance in one way or the other. The private sector should come in under a well guided, transparent and equity deal. The gains of aviation cannot be overemphasized”, he stated.

Capt Boyo also urged various countries to support the candidacy of Dr O.A Aliyu, a Nigerian aviator, who is seeking to be elected the next President of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), stressing that such a person will take care of the interest of Africa politically and otherwise in world’s aviation governing body.

On the recent removal of tariffs on imported airplanes and spares, the Overland Airways extolled President Jonathan for the initiative, describing it as a big relief.

“We thank His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for considering the recommendation of the forum of domestic airlines in the past years and removing this impediment to the growth of domestic airlines in Nigeria. This new government policy will breathe life into the operations of domestic airlines in Nigeria. It is a welcome development,” he said.

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Aviation TRANSPORT FG urged to enforce financial discipline in aviation sector

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ollowing allegations that about N87.6 billion accessed from the N300 Aviation Intervention Fund by domestic airlines was largely mismanaged, Chairman, Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI), Capt Dung Pam, has urged the federal government to enforce financial discipline among domestic operators to ensure they play by the rules.

He said the carriers, should first and foremost, be compelled to open up their books for regular financial auditing by the regulatory agency, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to determine their financial sustainability.

Pam stated this in an analysis report made available to Daily Sun on the state of the nation’s ailing aviation sector.

According to him, what they (operators) really need is the managerial expertise to navigate safely into a sustainable and profitable operating zone.

“The current structure accommodating operators without clearly defined models and target market segments creates a foray that results in a battle of attrition. A quarterly analysis of the economic regulatory team of the available seat

kilometre (ASK), the revenue passenger kilometre (RPK), the break even load factors (BELF) for the various routes and the overall yield versus the total operating cost will give a good indication of the how sustainable the business models are. Sometimes there’s need to re-evaluate strategies based on the volatility of the operating environment. Other factors that are outside the purview of the operators, which can be addressed by policy are effects of inflation and fluctuating values of foreign exchange.

Healthy competition could drive down prices but that can translate into safety risk where unbridled cost cutting takes place. Internal and external synergies are what truly translates into efficiency that creates both profits and sustainability.

We want to see responsible airlines before we put pressure on government to provide incentives that’ll facilitate profitability”, he explained.

The NASI chairman also assessed the recent decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to blacklist a number of airlines in Nigeria from accessing loans from commercial banks and described it as a catalyst that will hasten their extinction and reduce the final losses and liabilities.

FG tasked on levies, infrastructural development in aviation sector

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he federal government has been charged to improve on the level of infrastructure in the nation’s airport and step up the pace of work on the current remodelling exercise embarked upon by the Ministry of Aviation.

The charge as was given by the Managing Director, West Africa, Lufthansa German Airlines and Swiss International, Claus Becker, on Thursday in Lagos .

Speaking at a press briefing to mark the airline’s 50 years of operating into the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, he said the government should immediately slash the charges airlines pay if it is interested in making the aviation industry a viable one and growing the economy through it.

Such reduction, he said will aid improvement of infrastructure in the sector, creating wealth and bringing prosperity to the country.

He stated that the airline declared a profit of over 30 billion Euros in its group network and about 60 million Euros in the Nigerian aviation sector pointing out the firm could have made more profit but for the number of levies imposed by regulatory authorities in the sector.

“We all know that an efficient airport structure determines the success and the economical prosperity of the country. I think you are also committed as a country in putting this in place. And the minister of aviation, she is doing a great job of really supporting whatever is needed in order to implement these infrastructures in this country.

“But I can only say follow

that part, continue to really support it because lowering taxes, lowering regulation, is key to international airline market, and is key to supporting and strengthening infrastructure and finally brining wealth and prosperity to the country. And I believe that is something which is well under way in the country. Building infrastructure and airlines being part of that is something very critical for the economic development of the country.”

He said the airline is committed to deploring its best personnel to the Nigerian market and delivering quality services to its customers in the country adding that the country is a strategy market for the Lufthansa group.

He said the passenger traffic of airline's network has increased from 1.5 million passengers annually when it operated two services weekly from Nigerian affirming that the group now transports over hundred million passengers annually.

“Nigeria for us is an incredibly important market, not because it has the biggest population in the continent, but I think the vibrant level of your country is coming through youth degree of very young people. I think 70 percent of your people are under the age of 35, it shows the potential of this country and as I said we are very, very committed to Nigeria and to the Nigerian market. We are seeing very, very positive results and for our services, we fly our newest airplanes to the market, the A330. We believe that the Nigerian customers are very good customers and we see also the local scene picking up very, very strongly.

• L-R: Managing Director, Med-View Airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole and Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah at the commissioning of remodeled General Aviation Terminal (GAT), Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

Sallah: Airlines smile to bank as passengers besiege airports Stories by UCHE USIM

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undreds of passengers yesterday stormed the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos, to board flights to various destinations to enjoy the 2-day public holidays declared by the Federal Government as Muslim faithful celebrate Sallah.

When Daily Sun got to the

General Aviation Terminal Thursday afternoon where Arik Air dominates, scores of passengers, especially those heading to northern destinations were seen making franctic efforts to travel as many were at work on Wednesday and could not travel aferwards.

Flights to Yola, Maiduguri, Kano, Kaduna and Jos were fully booked.

Moreover, flights arriving Lagos from Abuja were also

fully booked, keeping the airline’s staff very busy.

An Arik Air official at the counter said “this is a good day. We expected to see the rush. It’s usual and we are serving the customers well.

After the Sallah, we also expect rush into Lagos”, he said.

At the MMA 2, the same scenario was observed as passengers were seen rushing to board various flights so as to celebrate the main

Sallah today.

At the international terminal, hundreds of passengers from overseas hurried out of the terminal to either connect local flights or head home to enjoy the holidays.

A passenger, Ibrahim Manta from France said: “I’m heading to Niger State.

So, I’ve to hurry to catch the Arik 7.15 flight to Abuja.

From there, I’ll hit Niger first thing in the morning”, he said.

GAT does not belong to Bi-Courtney – Ministry

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he Federal Government has reiterated that the revamped portion of the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) was not part of the airport leased to Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL).

Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah stated this through her spokesman, Joe Obi. According to her, BASL’s media campaign to blur the efforts of the minister was unnecessary as Nigerians deserve the best of terminals.?”The area where GAT is located has never been part of the area concessioned to BiCourtney Ltd. The agreement with Bi-courtney has a survey plan clearly marked in square metres and the area of the GAT was never contemplated to be part of the area leased to BiCourtney.

Nigerians can vividly recall the dilapidated and decrepit state of the nation’s airports, including GAT prior to the assumption of office of the current minister. Today 11 airports, including the GAT are an elegant testimony of the desire and determination of the current minister to give Nigerians what they truly deserve-airports of their dreams that compare to any such facility anywhere around the world”, he said.

Regarding allegations that there are subsisting court orders restraining anybody,

including FAAN which is the Landlord of all Federal airports in Nigeria from further development of the GAT, he stressed that the cases are still ongoing.?”In fact, our case is currently before the Supreme Court, challenging the orders being referred rincipal interested party was never fully repre-

sented. Most of the cases and attempts at arbitration were conducted without the full incorporation and participation of FAAN. Those behind BiCourtney, relying on their privileged positions and closeness to the corridors of power at the time conspired to leave out FAAN in most of the adjudica-

tion and arbitration processes.?Perhaps it is pertinent to emphasise the point that most of the concession and lease agreements in the aviation sector prior to the coming on board of the present Minister were heavily skewed against the national and public interest”, he added.

NIMET adopts QMS to improve service delivery

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he Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) has expressed its willingness to improve on its service delivery level by adopting a Quality Management System (QMS) in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommendations.

At a meeting with stakeholders on ways to improve the agency’s service on Tuesday in Lagos, Director General, NIMET, Dr Anthony Anuforom, said the agency would ensure that its products and services to the aviation industry and other relevant agencies in the country met the International Standard Organisation 9001: 2008.

The ISO 9001:2008, he revealed, specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customers and applicable statutory and regulatory require-

ments and aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer.

Anuforom, who was represented by the Director of Weather Forecasting Service, Mr. Ifeanyi Nnodu said NIMET would embrace the concept of continual improvement which was key to its `Quality Management System` (QMS) as a fundamental business strategy.

“The Quality Management System is all about customer satisfaction through continual improvement in service delivery. We will work with the various agencies at the airport to make sure that the Nigerian airspace is in good condition in accordance to fly operation, particularly on the international realm”, he said.

Nnodu urged the agency’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts to work with the

Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), to improve close all gaps currently existing in the agency’s operations.

On the lateness and poor accessibility of the agency’ s delivered messages , he said the agency would collaborate with NAMA to ensure that consumers of its services, which include airlines and other aviation agencies, get needed information as at and when due.

“We are aware of the importance of power; we are working closely with FAAN to improve our power generation. ``Some of our light equipment runs on solar power and we also have generation sets as an alternative power supply to minimise the down time of our services, `` he said.

Anuforom said that the agency’s major challenge was transmitting its data on the internet to enable the public have information on weather situation.

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DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

Maritime TRANSPORT Apapa Customs nets N19.6bn in Septi

By ALEX AKAO

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he Apapa Area One Command of the Nigeria Customs Service generated about N19.6 billion into government coffers last month.

Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller M. D. Umar who disclosed this in his office during the week, said but for several other militating factors including as low level of economic activities, the Command would have generated more.

Umar stated this when President of the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN), Mr. Bolaji Akinola, led other executive members of the association on a courtesy call to the Command.

Umar told the MARAN executives that he welcomes constructive criticisms that will make the command perform its duty better in the overall interest of Nigeria and the growth of the nation’s economy.

Comptroller Umar said that security and flood challenges impacted negatively on import and thus on the Command’s September 2012 revenue.

He challenged the media to educate Nigerians particularly importers to make honest declaration of their imports.

Earlier in his speech, the President of MARAN, Mr. Bolaji Akinola, told Umar that MARAN was in the forefront of promoting developmental journalism. He said the association takes its contribution to the development of the maritime industry seriously.

FOU ‘A’ Customs impounds goods worth N11.8m

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he Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), recently impounded goods worth11.8 million. The seized goods include 1,800 cartons of imported Corona beer valued at N6 million.

The goods were taken from a private warehouse in Oshodi Industrial area of Lagos. The other seizure involves 1,386 cartons of assorted frozen products with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N5.8million which has been destroyed by the command.

FOU Customs Area Controller (CAC), Comptroller, Mr Dan Ugo said that such imported beer, branded Corona, contravened Schedule 3, paragraph 9 of the Common External Tariff. He also noted that command was all out to enforce zero tolerance for importation of all contraband poultry products as required by the law.

He said it was his officers whose intelligence gathering style boosted the effort of the command to make such impressive seizures in the past months.

He noted that the effort of the officers and support of the Customs high command led by the Comptroller General of Customs, Abdullahi Inde Dikko, through area motivation and logistics helped the Command to be on top of its assignment.

Ugo praised the commitment and dedication to duty demonstrated by officers in their official assignment and promised to improve on their achievement so far.

Recently also, the Customs Officers’Wives Association (COWA) FOU ‘A’ Chapter recently visited and made donations to the Modupe Cole Memorial Child Care and Treatment Centre in Yaba Lagos, as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.

How shipping firms, terminal operators frustrate moves to appoint regulator Stories by FOSTER OBI

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hipping firms and terminal operators are not happy with sustained calls for the appointment of commercial regulator for the ports industry.

Investigations by Daily Sun show that the appointment of a commercial regulator may not be in their interest as the firms are currently having a field day fleecing importers and the

Nigerian shipping public.

Close sources say that these firms prefer a loose situation so they could make arbitrary charges, subdue importers unnecessarily and delay refund for container deposits for as long as they want even when the container has been returned.

“It is better things remain the way they are. Nobody controls anybody and this is better. If a regulator is appointed, these people will no longer

make that kind of money. As I am talking to you, they are pulling all strings to make sure that no regulator is appointed”, the source said.

Although some shipping firms and terminal operators out rightly denied this, the source said that top management of some of the firms have met severally to frustrate every move to appoint a regulator because appointing one will work against their sustained game plan to rip-off importers

• Association of Nigerian Lucensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), recently paid a courtesy call to the NPA Headquarters in Lagos.

Pix shows the NPA team and ANLCA in a group photograph. 4th from left is Mallam Habib Abdullahi, NPA MD, while ANLCA President, Olayiwola Shittu, 5th from left.

Chamber of shipping boss bemoans fate of indigenous ship owners

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he Director General of Nigeria Chamber of Shipping (NCS), Mrs. Ify Anazonwu Akerele has underlined the challenges facing indigenous operators in the downstream oil and gas sector, maintaining that foreign operators were better favoured by the prevailing import duties on vessels.

According to her, foreign operators are allowed under the import laws to bring vessels in on a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) at a negligible sum annually, when compared with the volume of business they engaged in.

She said an indigenous operator brings in his vessels and pays importation duty of up to 13percent there-

by increasing the cost of the indigenous operators and places him at a competitive financial disadvantage with the foreign operator who pays only five percent as import duties.

Akerele explained that for the foreign operator, the vessel could be reexported after two years as required by the guidelines and reimported three months after with no import duties paid.

She suggested that Value Added Tax (VAT) should be zero rated on the vessels adding that this would drop the import cost incurred by the indigenous operators to seven percent from 13percent currently applicable.

She noted that this will bridge the

gap between indigenous companies and the foreign companies who use the temporary import permit. The NCS DG also said the rate of company income tax and the various taxes, which indigenous ship owners paid, were very high.

“It is there therefore no wonder that the foreign operators can afford to underbid the Nigerian companies in any commercial bid as they carry overall a lower cost structure in loans and import duties”, she said, adding that shipping was a longterm business and so longer term contract should be awarded by the NAPIMS, NNPC, and the international Oil Companies (IOC) to indigenous operators.

Cargo dwell time has improved – Anakabe

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anaging Director of Goldlink Investments, Tony Anakabe has said that despite increase in the number of vessels visiting Nigeria Ports in recent times, the cargo dwell time has improved considerably.

Anakabe also a freightforwarder said that kudos should be given to the government to that extent although he said that some stakeholders should be called to order for sabotaging these noble efforts.

Anakabe told Daily Sun, “There has been much improvement in cargo dwell-time at ports although the number of vessels visiting Nigerian ports has also increased by almost 70 percent more than what it used to be.

“Some terminal operators like APM Terminals have adjusted their clearance procedure to electronic method to facilitate movement of cargo, given the increasing cargo volume at the ports and they have helped to reduce the days it takes to clear goods at the port.

“Currently, the few delays that we have are mostly associated with the terminals that are yet to improve on their equipment and facilities, including those that are compromising the effort of the government to achieve 48-hour cargo clearance. It does not take more than seven to 12 days to clear containers, if the importer’s documents are in order and there is honest declaration.

“However, we need to ensure that all the terminals and shipping companies are electronically connected to customs. This means having a central data where customs, terminal operators and shipping companies will share information about a container that is berthing at any point in time at the port. We also need to make sure that all the terminal operators have the needed equipment to do their job effectively.

Also speaking on the need for weekend banking to facilitate port activities, the Goldlink Investments MD said “there is need for banks

within the port environment to work on weekends in order to complement and ensure 24-hour port operation.

This is the way it is done in other parts of the world. But in all, government needs to provide security for them, because banks located close to the port environs face a lot security challenges during the weekdays, not to talk of weekends. This will go a long way because in every part of the world, ports operate 24 hours/seven days a week. So, why can’t it work here in Nigeria?

On high port charges, he told Daily Sun that Nigeria businessmen spend a lot to take their goods out of the ports due to high cost of duty paid on containers. He said that import duties are on the high side, fueled by bureaucratic bottlenecks as well as corruption.

He noted that shipping companies are milking Nigerian importers and agents through demurrage and container deposit charges.

and the Nigerian shipping public.

To ensure this plan survives, the source said that these firms which are mainly foreign plans to infiltrate the national assembly through any means to make sure that the Ports and Harbour bill is not passed and that that the statusquo is maintained.

“The shipping firms and terminal operators are making a lot of money the way things are. If you appoint a regulator to regulate them, you will cage them and you know what that means, so they don’t want that to happen. So they are going the whole hog to make sure nobody upsets the apple cart.”

Checks by Daily Sun shows that foreign shipping companies and terminal operators now cash in on the absence of a commercial regulator and the attendant loose regulatory frameworks, to fleece the Nigerian shipping public of hundreds of millions of naira.

According to reports “apart from carrying Nigeria’s exports including her wet cargo on the basis of Cost Insurance and Freight, which makes the importing nations determine both insurance and freight rate and her export on the basis of Free –On –Board, these shipping companies and terminal operators have devised unregulated means of defrauding Nigerian shippers (importers and exporters) through imposition of illegal charges.”

Osy Ezenweiniynya, Public Relations Officer, International Freight Forwarders Association of Nigeria (IFFA) and Osita Chukwu, National Coordinator, Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Importers and Exporters Coalition (SNFFIEC) put the losses to these firms at 6billion dollars annually.

The two said that the rip off game by these firms is a big web designed by these firms to enrich themselves while pretending to offer services.

“You cannot find a thing like this in the countries where these firms are coming from except in Nigeria. But they are cashing in on our unregulated arrangement to rip off port users.”

The Nigerian Shippers Council, the government agency charged with the function of protecting the Nigerian shippers had in 2010 published a list of unapproved port charges comprising shipping company charges, terminal handling charges, container deposit, container cleaning charges, demurrage charges, Cost –onTurnover charges, transfer and tally clerk charges, among several others.

It was based on this that former minister of transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman ordered the Council to cancel about 10 of such illegal charges imposed by foreign shipping companies and terminal concessionaires.

Terminal and shipping charges analysis for a 20-foot container compiled by the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders for 2011, shows that Tin Can Island Container Terminal, an Israeli concessionaire and APM Terminals, a Danish concessionaire charge N45, 500 as terminal handling charge on each 20-foot container and another N5,516 and N5,515 respectively as import delivery charge, which the association sees as double charging.

The Association said that before the concession of the seaports, which bought about private terminal operators to takeover cargo handling from the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA used to charge only import delivery charge on containerized cargo.

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Maritime TRANSPORT Shippers’ Council boss seeks regulatory role for agency

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xecutive Secretary Nigeria Shipper’s Council (NSC) Captain Adamu Biu is making case for the appointment of the agency as the Economic Regulator in the maritime industry to regulate the activities of terminal operators and shipping companies.

The NSC Boss made the presentations to the Senate Committee on Marine Transport, when they visited the agency recently. Biu told the Legislators that on the morning of the day they visted, his office was picketed by clearing agents who were protesting the recent increase in port charges by Terminal operators and Shipping companies. He said that the way the economy is right now such arbitrary charges are uncalled for but noted that nobody could stop it since no agency has been officially appointed to play the role of the regulator.

He said that most of the Concessionares and Shipping companies are foreigners and all they do is come here to make money sometimes without recourse to sanity. He therfore noted that the industry needs a regulator that could protect the interest of the country while also creating a semblance of sanity within the maritime industry adding that the Shippers Council by its nature is better poised to play this role. The visiting team led by Senator Zainab Kure promised to look into this.

However while the debate over who is better qualified to be the Economic regulator for the industry continues, the Factional National President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Mr. Lucky Amiwero, has said that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is best qualified.

Expert canvasses intermodal transportation

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ational Executive Director of Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Nigeria has said that there is no way proper logistic of transport, cargo or passenger movement will be effected in the country when there is no linkage between the different modes of transportation. He said that the civilized nations of the world have made success of transportation because of intermodalism which they have combined effectively to gain man-hours and improve their economy.

Contributing to the call by stakeholders for intermodal system of transportation, especially as it has become problematic moving containers by road, the CILT Director said that intermodal transport is the way out, whether for container movement or movement of persons. “In other parts of the world that I have visited, we use one ticket to travel by road, rail and sea. It is actually more of road-rail, you can buy a ticket for one month or so depending on your frequency of use; in Nigeria, it is once; I see the Lagos Transport Management Authority, that is the LAG Bus people trying to practice this duration ticket system but it is still limited to the bus only.It could be applied to connect other means of transportation.

He said that the transport situation in the country has made it imperative that we rejig our transport policy if we must compete effectively among the comity of nations.

On creating the right environment for logistic transport to flourish, he said “I was discussing with some people some time ago on how to identify the skill gaps in the logistics, transport or supply chain industry and it became obvious that in Nigeria we have a lot of problems in these areas.

‘Customs ready for end of year high volume imports’ Stories by FOSTER OBI

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he Nigeria Customs Service has expressed its readiness to contain upsurge in imports between now and December ending.

Chris Osunkwo, Public Relations Officer of the Command said that the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller T.O. Aremu is in complete control and has taken charge of this effectively.

He said that the readiness of the

Command to work round the clock to ensure that consignments are properly cleared and on time is powered by the motivation given to officers by the Comptroller-General of the Customs, Abdullahi Dikko Inde who has taken proper care to guarantee that custom officers are well remunerated and encouraged.

He said that the officers are in high spirits and well prepared to see that no congestion is witnessed at the Tincan port from now till the end of the year.

He however advised importers to

come forward and clear their consignments as they arrive so that other cargoes coming will have space because when importers refuse to come forward to clear their goods, it will send wrong signals about looming congestion when there is nothing like that.

Osunkwo said that although there is this believe that cargo throughput has increased in the port it does not translate to increased revenue in the command because of the unseriousness with which importers approach delivery of their consignments adding that

although the imported cargoes may have increased, importers do not come on time to clear their goods.

Advising importers and freightforwarders on the need to be honest with their declarations, he said that CGC has an arrangement in place where importers who make honest declaration of five different imported consignments at a stretch will be given fastracked clearance without having to go through the rigours of clearing.

He noted that the CGC introduced this policy as a way of encouraging importers to be genuine and honest each time they bring in cargoes for clearing at the ports, adding that honest declaration will not only reward the importer but will also affect the consumer positively.

ANCLA elections: Ezenweinyinya joins race

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L-R: CEO, Sifax Group, Barr. Taiwo Afolabi being presented with the Exequator as the Hon. Consul, Republic of Djibouti by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru recently.

Nigerian ports to become maritime hub – NPA MD

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he Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Mallam Habib Abdulahi has reiterated the determination of the Authority to make some of the nation’s sea ports the hub of maritime activities not only in the sub-region but for the entire African continent.

With the tremendous potentials of some of the nation’s seaports, improved infrastructural development in the nation’s port sector and the huge market, the Managing Director said that the nation’s seaports can conveniently serve as hub for the continent.

Mallam Habib was speaking in respect of opinion expressed in the papers titled “Lagos, Cape Town

ranked as most innovative cities” credited to two international bodies, Citigroup and Urban Land Institute of the United States of America.

The opinion said that, “in terms of economic potentials, Lagos Ports were ranked as accounting for about 80% of Nigeria’s seaport activities”.

Mallam Habib affirmed that he was not surprised by such positive comment of the publication as the Management is consistently making efforts to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the nation’s seaports.

He explained that not only are the channels of the seaports navigable with regular maintenance dredging, all wrecks along the

channels have all been removed to facilitate smooth navigation in and out of the channels.

He cited a number of project embarked upon or completed by the Management to enhance improved port operations generally in the nation’s seaports. One of such projects he pointed out is the rehabilitation of the 1.6km common user access road in Lagos Port Complex (LPC).

In the same vein, Mallam Habib said the Management is working relentlessly on the development of the two deep seaports in the country, situated in Lekki and Badagry, both in Lagos State, while Ibaka deep sea port project in Akwa Ibom State is in active attention of the Federal government.

Ibaka Deep Seaport to be ready in 2015

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he Ibaka Deep Seaport is to be completed and become fully operational by the first quater of 2015.

Akwa Ibom State Deputy Governor, Mr Nsima Ekere, who announced this on during the Government House monthly prayer meeting at the New Banquet Hall, Uyo, said the target date was set by the Federal Government which recently established a committee to actualize the project.

Ekere, who stood in for Governor Godswill Akpabio, said the seaport, on completion, will boost the economy of the state with multiplier effect on job creation.

On industrialization, he explained that the Akpabio administration took a deliberate and systematic approach by investing heavily in critical infra-

structure and power as the enablers.

The Deputy Governor urged indigenes of the state to key into the industrialization policy, a cardinal objective of the administration, by coming up with sound business proposals to access funds set aside by the administration for the industrialization of the state.

He assured the people of the state that inadequate power supply will soon be a thing of the past following the success of the bid by the Akwa Ibom State Government, together with its Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers State counterparts, under the aegis of 4Power Company Limited, for the purchase of the Port Harcourt Distribution Zone of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) His words: “Very soon, the days of

electricity outage will come to an end in this state. The major problem we had in giving uninterrupted power supply was the fact that the distribution of power was controlled solely by the Federal Government.

Even when the Ibom Power Plant had the capacity to generate all the power needed in the state, we could not enjoy uniterrupted power supply because we could not distribute the power generated. So, Akwa Ibom State Government jointly put a bid with Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers State Governments to acquire the Port Harcourt Distribution Zone of the PHCN so that we could take our destiny in our hands. We succeeded in the bid.

That is why I can say confidently that the days of power outages are numbered in this state.”

s preparations for elections into management positions of the Association Nigeria Licensed Custom Agents (ANLCA) Apapa chapter hots up, Osy Ezenweinyinya, a frontline member of ANLCA National has joined the fray. Ezenweinyinya is currently the Public Relations Officer of the International Freight forwarders Association (IFFA) one of the Associations pushing for best practices in the maritime industry.

He told Daily Sun that Apapa Chapter of ANLCAis a microcosm of the national chapter and so provides a better platform for reform in the industry. He said that Apapa chapter elections is largely felt and keenly contested because of the strategic place Apapa occupies in the maritime industry in Nigeria. He noted that he decided to vie for the chairmanship as a stepping stone to correcting many ills experienced in the maritime industry in Nigeria.

According to him, there are many things that are not right in the industry.

“Clearing agents are suffering a lot of oppression in the hands of shipping companies, terminal operators, Customs, importers, amongst others.

CRFFN defends tenure elongation allegation

A

s freight forwarders, activists and various associations in the maritime industry protest tenure elongation by the leadership of the Council for the Regulation of Freightforwading in Nigeria (CRFFN), the body has come out to defend the position.

Alhaji Hakeem Olanrewaju, Chairman Governing Council said that the present Council was inaugurated on the 24th of November 2010 by the Minister of Transport for a period of two years as provided in the act establishing the body.

He said that contrary to what people bandy about the Council was not sworn in until seven months after the elections. He noted in line with the act that established it, the tenure takes effect from the day the board was inaugurated and not otherwise.

Also, a member of the board, Chief Peter Obi, said that there is a subsisting court order filed by Dr. Boniface Aniebonam,the Founder of National Association Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) requiring the court to establish whether the number of elective positions in the council should be 8 or 15.

58

DAILY SUN

Friday October 26, 2012

49 BUSINESS NEWS

DAILY SUN Monday, August 1, 2011

Daily Domestic Flight Schedule

ARIK AIR Lag-Abj: 07.15, 09.15, 10.20, 15.20, 16.20, 16.50, 18.45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun).

Abj-Lag: 07:15, 09.40,10.20, 12.15, 15.15, 16.15, 17:10, (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun); 12.15, 15.15, 16.15 (Sun) Lag-PH: 07:15, 11.40, 14.00, 16.10, 17.15 (Mon-Fri) 07.30, 11.40, 15.50 (Sat) 11.50, 3.50, 17.05 (Sun) Abj-PH: 07.15, 11.20, 15.30 (Mon-Fri) 07.15, 16.00 (Sat) 13.10, 16.00 (Sun) PH-Abj: 08.45, 12.50, 17.00 (Mon-Fri) 08.45, 17.30 (Sat) 14.40, 17.30 (Sun) Abv-Beni:08.00, 12.10 (Mon-Fri/Sat) 08.56, 12.10(Sun) Benin-Abj:09.55,13.30, (Mon-Fri/Sat) 10.50, 13.30(Sun)

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (PMA) TENOR

AMOUNT

RATES% ISSUE DATE

91 Day

30,159.21

13.00

10 Oct. 2012

182 Day 73,490.87

13.34

10 Oct. 2012

1 Year

13.39

10 Oct. 2012

68,184.89

MAJOR EXCHANGE RATES – PARALLEL MKT (AIRPORT AS AT 15/10/12) CURRENCY

BUYING (N)

USD 158 POUND ST. 243 EURO 191.50 Source: FMDA

SELLING(N) 159.50 247 198

Dangote Sugar posts N15.36bn profit

By BLAISE UDUNZE

D

angote Sugar Refinery has reported a gross profit of N15.56 billion for the nine months (third quarter) ended September 30, 2012 indicating an increase of N5.19 billion posted at the corresponding period in 2011.

According to the financial statements released on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), all performance parameters were on the upswing with profit before tax (PBT) soaring by N5.53 billion, from N6.49 billion to N12.01 billion.

Profit after tax (PAT) surged from N4.41 billion to N8.17 billion representing a growth of N3.76 billion.

Within the period under review, the foremost sugar refinery recorded improvements in efficiencies as cost of sales dipped from N69.44 billion to N65.96, depicting a N3.48 billion gains.

It should be recalled that Dangote Sugar Refinery recorded a profit after tax of N5.728 bil-

lion in the second quarter ended June 30, 2012, showing an increase of 91 per cent above N2.999 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2011.

The company ended the period with a turnover of N53.698 billion, up by 10 per cent from the N48.597 billion posted in 2011. However, profit before tax rose from N4.41 billion to N8.493 billion, while profit after tax went up by 91 per cent to hit N5.728 billion in 2012.

The Sugar Refinery in the first quarter ended March 31, 2012 reported a profit before tax (PBT) of N4.12 billion compared to N2.05 billion in the corresponding period in 2011.

Gross profit rose to N5.34 billion in the period in contrast to gross profit of N3.24 billion at the preceding year while profit after tax rose to N2.80 billion from N1.39billion and revenue grew from N21.54 billion to N26.73 billion.

DSR performance was buoyed by the introduction of the Company’s new retail Dangote Vitamin A fortified sugar packages in one kilogram, 500 grams and 250 grams packs.

Los-Abv: 09.55, 13.30(Mon-Fri/Sat) 10.50, 13.30(Sun) Lag-Enugu: 07.10, 13.45, 18.30(Mon-Fri) 07.10, 14.00(Sat) 10.20, 13.45, 18.30(Sun) Enugu-Lag: 08.30, 12.00, 18.25 (Mon-Fri) 08.30, 12.00, 15.40(Sat) 12,00, 18.25(Sun) Abj-Enugu: 08.30, 12.00, 18.25, (Mon-Fri) 08.30, 12.00, 15.40 (Sat)12.00, 18.25 (Sun) Abj-Enugu: 10.30, 17.05(Mon-Fri) 10.30(Sat) 17.05(Sun) Enugu-Abj: 08.50, 15.25 (Mon-Fri) 08.50 (Sat) 15.25(Sun) AERO CONTRACTORS Lag-Abj: 06.50, 13.30, 16.30, 19.45 (MonFri/Sat/Sun), 12.30(Sun) 16.45(Sat) Abj-Los: 07.30, 13.00, 19.00 (Mon-Fri/-Sat, 10.30, 14.30, 19.30 (Sun, 18.30 Sat) Lag-Benin: 07.45, 11.00, 15.30 (MonFri/Sat/Sun) 12.30 (Sun 15.30 (Sat) Ben-Lag: 09.15, 12.30, 17.00 (MonFri/Sat/Sun) 17.00 (Sat) 14.00 (Sun) CHANCHANGI AIRLINES Los-Abj: 7.15, 10.00, 13.30, 15.30, 17.30 Abj-Lag: 08.00, 11.45, 13.40, 15.30, 17.30 Lag-Kad: 10.45 (on Fri), 17.00 (MonFri/Sat/Sun) Kad-Lag: 7.30 (Mon-Fri), 08.00 (Sat/Sun IRS AIRLINES Lag-Abj: 9.45, 11.45, 2.45 (Mon-Fri), 9.30, 12.45 (Sat & Sun) Lag-Kano: 6.15 (Mon-Fri), 16.30 Sat&Sun Kano-Lag: 07.30 (Mon-Fri), 10.30 (Sat & Sun) OVERLAND AIRWAYS LAGOS LOS - ILR Mon - Fri 0715hrs LOS - MNA Mon, Wed & Fri 0715hrs LOS - IBA Mon - Fri 0715hrs

IBADAN IBA - ABV Mon - Fri IBA - LOS Mon - Fri

0800hrs 1700hrs

ILORIN ILR - ABV Mon - Fri 0900hrs ILR - LOS Mon - Fri 1630hrs ILR - MNA Mon, Wed & Fri 0900hrs MINNA MNA - ABV Mon, Wed & Fri MNA - ILR Mon, Wed & Fri MNA - LOS Mon, Wed & Fri ABUJA ABV - ILR Mon - Fri ABV - IBA Mon - Fri

0920hrs 1520hrs 1520hrs

1500hrs 1500hrs

• L-R: General Manager, Nokia West-Africa, Mr Chris Brown; Chief Marketing Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr Olu Akanmu and Head, Sales Operations, Nokia West Africa, Mr Ladi Oyatayo, at the promotional launch of Airtel special consumer promo on the Nokia Lumia 900,710 & 610 Smartphone, held at Nokia office, Victoria Island, Lagos, recently.

Capital budget: FG releases N300bn for 4th quarter FROM ISAAC ANUMIHE,Abuja

F

ederal Government yesterday released another N300 billion of the capital budget for the fourth quarter of 2012 thus bringing the total releases of the budget to N1.01 trillion out of a capital budget of N1.3 trillion for the year.

In a statement in Abuja, Federal Ministry of Finance said this was to ensure that the momentum on capital budget implementation is maintained as the year comes to a close.

“The amount released so far represents 75 per cent of the capital budget for 2012.

The impact of budget implementation can be seen in various sectors of the economy” it said, cit-

ing improvements in the power sector as example.

“Power supply in many parts of the country has improved to a consistent level of 15 hours per day. Rehabilitation of existing power infrastructure has yielded up to 1000 megawatts of additional electricity.

NIPP projects are being fast tracked which will lead to an additional 1055 megawatts by end 2012. Power supply have increased significantly with the imminent conclusion of the privatisation programme” the Ministry pointed out.

In agriculture, it said 13 new private sector rice mills have been established and this is aimed at achieving the 3.5 million job target. “ In pursuit of the 3.5 million jobs target by

2015, 13 new private sector rice mills with capacity of 240,000 metric tonnes have been established. One million metric tonnes of dried cassava chips exported to China.

Also in the transport sector, it noted that the government’s policy on railway is ongoing.

“Railway modernisation programme is progressing with the Abuja-Kaduna line now at 46 per cent. Rehabilitation of Lagos-Kano and Lagos-Ibadan lines has opened up new platforms for passenger traffic.

Abuja Light rail project is equally making progress” it asserted.

The government also flaunted its foray in job creation, saying that the Community Services, Women and Youth Employment Programme of SURE-P was launched in February 2012 and already working in 14 states.

Stakeholders advocate public-private partnership on Greenfield ports

By STEVE AGBOTA

I

n order to decongest the over stretched ports in the country, stakeholders in the Nigerian ports industry have advocated for public-private sector partnership in the area of green field ports development.

To this end, container at the Lagos ports is expected to but 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2018.

This motion was carried during a summit jointly organised by Golden Edge Consult Limited and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in Lagos.

Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar told the gathering of the stakeholders that government had recognised partnering with the private sector was a certain way of developing the maritime sector.

Umar who was represented by the Deputy

… As container traffic may hit 2m TEUs in 2018 Director, Maritime services in the ministry, Mr David Kumuyi said that NPA had been partnering with other stakeholders in the industry to develop green field deep seaports at Lekki in Lagos, Ibaka in Akwa Ibom State, Olokola in Ogun/Ondo states and Badagry in Lagos State.

Said he: “Apart from generating jobs for thousands of our young compatriots, the multiplier effects will be very visible on the economy.”

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of Golden Edge Consult Limited, Mr Samuel Egbewole hinted that the country must harness all her potentials to grow the port sectors. Adding that it has been realised that the country is losing as much as N1.5 billion to activities of foreign ports and shipping operations due to various fac-

tors.

Meanwhile, former Managing Director of NPA, Chief Adebayo Sarumi, has bemoaned the state of the existing ports, saying they are not sufficient enough to hold the volume of cargo coming into the country.

According to him: “Our ports are over stretched, If we must attain the expected goals, the country must shift from brown port development to green field port development. Nigeria has not utilised 10 percent of its water front.”

Also, the Managing the Director of APM Terminals Apapa Limited, Mr. Dallas Hampton said that container throughput at the ports in Lagos is expected to hit 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the next six years.

DAILY SUN DAILY SUN NAME OF CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL US DOLLAR 154.76 155.26 POUNDS STERLING 248.2969 249.0991 EURO 201.8225 202.4746 SWISS FRANC 166.9652 167.5046 YEN 1.9531 1.9594 CFA 0.2905 0.3005 WAUA 238.5634 239.3341 YUAN/RENMINBI 24.7437 24.8241 RIYAL 41.2671 41.1405 DANISH KRONA 27.0531 27.1405 SDR 238.7947 239.5662 Official exchange rates as at 19/10/2012

SELLING 155.76 249.9013 203.1266 168.044 1.9657 0.3105 240.1049 24.9045 41.5338 27.2279 240.3377

NIBOR TENOR Call 7 Day 30 Day 60 Day 90 Day Source: FMDA

RATE 10.3750 11.0417 12.3333 13.7917 14.3750

CHANGE 0.12 -0.08 0.17 0.96 1.00

DATE 19 Oct, 2012 19 Oct, 2012 19 Oct, 2012 19 Oct, 2012 19 Oct, 2012

Sterling, ETI, Fidelity, record N41.63bn in PAT

By BLAISE UDUNZE

T

hree financial institutions, Sterling Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), posted N41.63billion in their profits after tax (PAT) for the third quarter report for the period ended September 30 2012.

The detail of their performance was contained in the released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday.

A breakdown of these showed that Ecobank, ETI increased its profit after tax (PAT) for the period from N19.109 billion in its third quarter 2011 report to N24.087 billion in the same period of year 2012; indicating an increase in PAT of 26.1 percent.

Profit Before Tax (PBT) also grew by 10.9per cent in the review period as the bank recorded N30.483 billion in the period under review of 2012

compared to N27.478 billion in the corresponding period of year 2011.

Gross Earnings for the period also increased from N155.895 billion in 2011 to N254.384 billion in the review period; representing an increase of 63.2per cent.

Also, dividend income grew from N185.731 billion in the corresponding period of 2011 to N351.735 billion showing an appreciation of 89.4per cent On its part, Fidelity Bank made a total profit for the period of N13.050 billion compared to N6.009 billion in previous year representing an increase in total profit of 117.2per cent.

PBT also increased to N16.319 billion in 2012 from N7.309 billion in the same period of 2011; indicating an increase of N123.3per cent.

Total gross Income grew by 74.5per cent in the review period as Fidelity bank recorded N80.370 billion compared to N46.058 billion in the third quarter of 2011.

International Flight Schedule

CROSS RATES

59 Monday, BUSINESS August 1, 2011 49 NEWS

Friday October 26, 2012

Ethiopian Airlines Lagos-Addis Ababa (daily) Departure time: 12:15 pm, Arrival time: 1:15 pm Contact no: 014611869/029

AFRIQIYAH AIRWAYS Lagos-Tripoli Tue, Wed, Thur and Sat Departure time: 01:30am, Arrival time: 22:25 pm Contact no: 012711506 BRITISH AIRWAYS Lagos-London Heathrow (daily) Departure time: 11 pm, Arrival time: 5: 50 pm Contact no: 012792690 0r 014615870-5 TURKISH AIRLINES Lagos-Istanbul Mon, Tue, Thur Sat Departure time: 10: 10 pm, Arrival time: 8: 10 pm Customer care no: Not available DELTA AIR Lagos-Atlanta (daily) Departure time: Btw 3pm and 5pm, Arrival time: 10:30 am Contact no: 014483111 EMIRATES Lagos-Dubai Daily (2 flights) Departure time: 3pm, 8.50pm, Arrival time:1pm, 6pm Contact no :01-2717600 LUFTHANSA Lagos-Frankfurt (daily) Departure time: 10:05 pm, Arrival time: 19:08 Contact no: 014612222, 0414480963 AIR FRANCE Lagos-Paris (daily) Departure time: 11 pm, Arrival time: 14:14 pm Customer care no: 01-4610777, 012617959 SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS Lagos-Johannesburg (daily) Departure time: 10:30 pm, Arrival time: 8 or 9 am Customer care no: 2702681-5

Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission, Mr Fola Daniel (L) with the Chief Technical Adviser, Micro-Insurance Ilo/UNCDF, Mr Joseph Aseffa, at a Stakeholders’ Workshop on Micro-Insurance in Abuja on Wednesday.

Nigeria records $5bn annual maritime freight income

By CHIMA TITUS NWOKOJI

N

igerian Export and Import Bank (NEXIM), has put maritime freight payments of at an average of $5 billion (about N775 billion) annually from import/export tonnages. This was contained in a feasibility study commissioned by NEXIM and conducted by African Investors Management Services Ltd (AIMS), on intra-regional trade flows and the viability of establishing a dedicated sea link within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region.

According to documents made available to Daily Sun, some of this amount could be local-

ized through the establishment of regional shipping line that will also unlock other opportunities in the maritime sector through effective indigenous participation, thereby stimulating maritime-related employment.

The bank had commissioned a feasibility study to be conducted on intra-regional trade flows and the viability of establishing a dedicated sea link within the ECOWAS region, against the backdrop of partial realization of its intraregional trade facilitation and operational objectives. It also considered logistic issues of high intra-regional freight costs and shipment delays arising from trans-shipment arrangements that are largely through Europe, which makes cargo delivery within the region an average of 45 - 60 days.

Among other benefits derivable from establishment of the regional sea link project include: Stimulating / attracting private sector funding

for the development of key maritime infrastructure with the national benefit of improving the level of intra-regional formal trade, thereby enhancing contribution of trade/exports to Gross Domestic Product (GDP); assist in solving road/rail infrastructural deficit challenges that affects regional integration and a major cause of the muted growth witnessed over the years in intra African and ECOWAS trade levels of about 12 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

The bank said the planed regional sea link will “enhance competitiveness of Nigerian exports, thereby improving the contribution of manufactured exports from the current level of under 6per cent, thereby enhancing local industrial capacity utilisation and attracting new investments; enable NEXIM achieve its projected credit growth towards improving intra-regional trade from current intra-regional trade levels to a minimum of 15 per cent annually in the short / medium term.”

Marketers attribute fuel scarcity to logistic constraints

By LOUIS IBA

T

here seems to be no end in sight to Nigeria’s fuel supply crisis as long queues continued at most retail outlets across the country, with the pump price of petrol ‘stabilizing’ at N105 per litre in Lagos State.

A top official of one of the oil marketing company told Daily Sun yesterday that the scarcity was necessitated by two factors namely the refusal of most marketers to join the importation business, and a crisis in logistics, which had hampered movement of petroleum products to endusers.

“The current supply of petrol is not matching demand for the product and that can only be resolved if more marketers resume importation of

products to augment what the NNPC is importing,” said the official.

He described the volumes imported by the NNPC as too infinitesimal to contain consumption, and obviously cannot go round all nooks and crannies of the country to close the demand and supply gap. But he noted that, “even with the limited volume brought in by the NNPC, the industry was experiencing another problem with logistics moving the product from the depots in Lagos to filling station in Lagos and other states.”

“The depots in Ilorin, Ore, and Ibadan have not been functioning for some time now no products are pumped to them from the Atlas Cove and Mosimi depots in Lagos from the NNPC imported petrol and that I tell you is a big problem for the industry. And it has even been worsened by the Arepo fire outbreak, which had forced the shutdown of that facility that aided movement of

products out of Lagos.

“All trucks now queue to take products directly from the Apapa depot; each truck can take up to three or four days queuing along the Oshodi-Apapa expressway before gaining access to the depot to buy fuel even when they have a ticket. So we have a problem of matching demand and supply, as well as a logistic problem moving the products to retail outlets from Lagos and that explains why the scarcity is still persisting and you find long queues everywhere,” he added.

But with the commencement of the Muslim festival of Eid-el Kabir yesterday the burden was not just limited to motorists spending hours awaiting their turn to be served fuel at filling stations, as other road users had a hell of time accessing those roads where such traffic situation stretched to cover more than 80 per cent of the road with no law enforcement agent at hand to control the situation.

QATAR AIRWAYS Lagos-Doha Daily Departure time: 9:45 am, Arrival time: 7:55am Contact: 012798888/014633333 KENYA AIRWAYS Lagos-Nairobi (daily) Departure time: 11:05 am, Arrival time: 10:42am Contact: 012719433 CHINA SOUTHERN Lagos-Beijing via Dubai Tuesdays, Thursdays Departure time: 12:15pm, Arrival time: 10:30 am Tuesdays, Thursdays.

Contact: 01-4610777 or 01-2617959 EGYPT AIR Lagos-Cairo Mon, Wed, Thur, Fri & Sun Departure time: 2pm, Arrival time: 1pm KLM Lagos-Amsterdam (daily) Departure time: 11pm, Arrival time: 8:30pm Contact: 01-4610777, 01-2617959 VIRGIN ATLANTIC Lagos-London Heathrow (daily) Departure time: 10:20 am daily, Arrival time: 5:30 am Contact: 01-4612750, 01-4612747 ARIK AIR Lagos-London Heathrow (daily) Departure time: 10:05pm Arrival 7.00pm Lagos-New York Tuesdays and Thursdays Departure time: 11:20pm Arrival 6pm Lagos-Johannesburg (daily) Departure 11.15pm Arrival 4.15pm Lagos-West Coast (Freetown, Banjul & Dakar) Mon, Wed & Fri Departure 8:00am Arrival 6.45pm Lagos-Accra (daily) Departure 8.00am, 5pm 8.45pm, 5.45pm Contact: 01-2799999.

60

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

BUSINESS NEWS NIPOST training school rots away

By BISI OLALEYE

T

he multi –billion naira Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) structures in Benin is in a parlous state, having failed to serve its purpose but has become an abandoned projects.

The structures, which are located within the Egor Local Government Area, of Edo State is in a sorry state. But stakeholders in the courier sector in the country are greatly disturbed by the neglect.

Daily Sun’s sources, say that hostels and training classes have been overtaken by mice and scorpions. The school is supposed to be a training hub for West African post masters and other professionals in the business of courier operation across the continent.

Meanwhile, according to checks , another Nipost structure situated in Ikoyi has also been abandoned by the relevant authorities, including the ComTech ministry.

Industry stakeholders have begun to wonder why the government has neglected and allowed the training centre to be in its current dilapidated state. They explained that the structures can also be tagged uncompleted projects given that NIPOST got the lion's share of the Ministry of Communication Technology's recent annual budget.

It would be recalled that the Ministry of Communication Technology(ComTech) was

created and became operational last year with about N18 billion budgetary allocation. Over 40 per cent of the total budget was allocated to NIPOST. Also in the proposed 2013 budget, of the over N14bn allocated to the ComTech ministry, NIPOST clinched 47 per cent of the total, while the Ministry itself and other agencies under it such as the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, Galaxy Backbone Limited and others are to share the rest of the budget among themselves.

The Ministry of ComTech has N3,602,301,518 from the recent budget, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) got N344,527,274, while the Nigerian Communication Satellite Ltd(NigComSat) has N3,431,127,753 and Nipost got N6,994,421,696.

Stakeholders in the Nigerian courier sector, also expressed their regrets saying, “It was unacceptable for such training edifice to rot away without necessary attention from Nipost and committing sizeable percentage of its annual lion's share allocation of the CommTech budget towards reviving the training centre.

They argued that almost every government owned training schools are fast disappearing through sales to private owners,agencies as in the case of Nitel training school sold to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Offor bankrolls Rotary International Fellowship with N40m grant

By LOUIS IBA

C

hairman of Chrome Group, Sir Emeka Offor, has contributed $250,000 (about N40million) to Rotary International fellowship in support of the humanitarian group’s global programme in peace studies and conflict resolution.

The cash donation will endow fellowships to the Rotary Peace Center at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand where preference will be given to qualified applicants from Nigeria in such related fields as public health, education, international law, economic development, journalism, and social justice to participate in the three-month professional development certificate in peace and conflict studies offered at the university.

“My hope is that the fellows who benefit from this gift will not only use it to sharpen and enhance their academic and professional skills in peace studies, but also use what they learn and internalize to become practitioners – drum majors – for peace, reconciliation, and development,” said Offor, who also heads the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, which focuses on poverty alleviation through literacy and education programs in West Africa’s poorest com-

munities.

“In West Africa we have witnessed the destructive, heart-wrenching, and deadly affects that communal, sectarian, and political conflict and violence have on innocent people,” added Offor, a member of the Rotary Club of Awka G.R. A. “We should never give in to the notion that world peace is unattainable.”

Said Rotary Foundation Chair Wilfrid Wilkinson, “we are extremely grateful for Sir Emeka Offor’s generous gift recognizing our commitment to equip a network of world leaders with the skills to resolve and prevent conflict and bring about sustainable peace. Thanks to such strong support, nearly 700 Peace Center alumni are currently applying lessons learned and best practices in key decisionmaking positions across the globe.”

Rotary clubs have long embraced the call for peace at the grassroots level by addressing the underlying causes of conflict and violence, such as hunger, poverty, disease, and illiteracy. Ten years ago, the international humanitarian organization of service clubs decided to take a direct approach to world understanding by providing future leaders with the tools they need to “wage peace” on the global stage.

From left: Secretary to Lagos State Government, Mrs Oluranti Adesola, Chairman of the occasion, Dr Christopher Kolade and Guest Lecturer, Prof Pat Utomi, at the Vitafoam 50th anniversary lecture in Lagos on Thursday.

Lack of moveable asset frustrating financial inclusion – Princess Maxima From ISAAC ANUMIHE, Abuja

P

rincess Maxima of N e t h e r l a n d s Wednesday listed challenges militating against the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, which was launched on Tuesday by President Goodluck Jonathan saying that movable assets infrastructure is non-existent in Nigeria.

In an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja, Her Royal Highness disclosed that there is high cost of credit his-

tory in Nigeria and lack of mobile money.

“We are also talking about possibilities of having mobile money and other technicalities that can weave it. We don’t have interoperability that can send money. So, we don’t have the inter-operability. So, these are technical issues that are mixed with regulation issues” she said.

To address these challenges, the princess called on all stakeholders to join forces with the financial sector to address the issues as only the sector cannot solve the prob-

lem.

“So, these are the challenges that must be addressed and by addressing them it is not the financial sector that will be able to solve these issues but in co-operation with many other sectors.” she advised.

As to whether women’s interest was captured in the strategy document, the princess called on all gender institutions to be part of the implementation phase of the document so as to ensure that women’s interest was protected.

She advocated a saving

Real sector has failed to unlock economic prosperity – UNIDO

By ADEWALE SANYAOLU

U

nited Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), has stated that the nation’s manufacturing sector has failed to be a catalyst for economic prosperity 52 years after independence.

The gloomy picture of the sector which used to be one of the highest employers of labour was disclosed by the UNIDO representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS and Director, Regional Office, Abuja, Mr. Patrick Kormawa at a forum in Lagos.

As a result of the setback, Kormawa disclosed that the development has led to a significant widening of the gap between the expected and the reality concerning manufacturing growth and economic diversification.

He maintained that the failure of the real sector to provide the needed boost for the economy has not only given much room for concern and doubt as to the capability of the sector to lead the drive in solving the problem of poverty, significant improvement in the living standards and overall economic and social empowerment of the people.

The UNIDO boss maintained that the economic success story of emerging economies of South East Asia, India, China and Brazil, evident in their upscale of global

economic ranking, was essentially driven by their manufacturing success.

“If it happened in these countries, we at UNIDO fully subscribe to the view that the same success is also possible in Nigeria. Therefore, we will fully support all effort of the government, the industry and other stakeholders to achieve the much desired goal of making Nigeria one of the world’s major manufacturing centers in the ultimate quest to achieve

sustainable industrial development,” he explained.

Kormawa lamented that the structure of the Nigerian manufacturing sector is in sharp contrast to the experience of the emerging economies of Asia and Latin America, adding that exploitation of natural resources based on agriculture, oil and gas and services dominate the structure of national output in Nigeria, a reflection of the lack of industrial diversification in the economy.

mechanism for women noting that in the e-wallet project of the Ministry of Finance, it is expected that women would be given seeds and two bags of fertilizers through their mobile phones but the challenge is that the women in the rural areas do not have mobile phones.

To this extent, she said, the Ministry of Finance is considering giving mobile phones to rural women farmers so that they will have access to e-wallet mechanism.

But the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, noted that there are other people that are equally excluded by virtue of their income level and cultural inhibitions as well as their locations.

“I will just add that if you look at the strategy we have been very careful in terms of recognizing that they are different categories of people. The people that are excluded by virtue of their income levels.

For example, some are excluded because of where they live; like those in the rural areas.

Lawmaker plans mass action against budget abuse From WALTER UKAEGBU, Abuja

C

hief Fort Ifeanyi Dike, a member of the Federal House of Representatives has announced plans to float a mass movement across the country to champion a more people oriented budget.

The movement to be known as the 50-50 Movement would push for a more realistic budget where at least recurrent and capital components of the annual federal budgets would be at par.

Dike frowned at the current trend in which annual budgets in Nigeria have consistently been about recurrent expenditure rather than capital items.

He argued that it was only through increased capital expenditure that jobs could be

created and thus improve the living standard of the people.

Dike who represents Ihiala Federal Constituency dropped that hint last week in Abuja at the public presentation of three books written by him.

He also canvassed for a consultative forum with all stakeholders at both local, state and federal levels of government before and after each budget year.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal was guest of honour at the presentation of the three books namely Nigerian Annual Budgets, Not Yet for the People, Political Party System in Nigeria: Issues and Perspectives and Nigeria: Enhancing Women Participation in Politics & Governance.

The lawmaker noted that

such consultations have become very imperative in order to arrive at a more people oriented budget. Dike also made a strong case for a detailed breakdown of the budget and proper reporting of budget performance by ministries, agencies and departments of government at all tiers.

Giving further insight into the books, Dike, an engineer by training explained that what motivated him to write the books were his strong argument in the chambers of the House of Representatives.

He regretted that while recurrent component of the budget are executed 100 per cent, the implementation of the capital component of the budget are not implemented to the full.

DAILY SUN

Friday, October 26, 2012

61

BUSINESS NEWS

By STEVE AGBOTA

F

oreign Direct Investments (FDI) into Nigeria declined in the second quarter of 2012 by more than 53 per cent, according to the figures released by the Economic Policy Directorate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In recently published monthly economic report for August, 2012 the CBN hinted that FDI inflows crashed from $1.72 billion in the first quarter to $0.80 billion in the second quarter of the year.

According to the report, the aggregate foreign capital inflows slumped by 37.79 per cent and 13.78 per cent to $3.44 billion when compared

CBN blames 53% decline in FDI to insecurity with the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2011.

Of the total capital inflows, FDI accounted for 23.22 per cent, while portfolio investment accounted for 76.78 per cent. The CBN noted that the “decline in FDI inflows was traced to the security challenges and slow pace of global economic recovery.”

However, the continued dominance of portfolio investment in the aggregate capital flows reflected the attractiveness of the domestic financial assets. Also, portfolio investment

inflows dropped from $3.82 billion recorded in the preceding quarter to $2.64 billion.

Available data indicated that foreign exchange inflows to the economy dropped by 2.44 per cent from $28.19 billion in Q1 2012 to $27.50 billion in Q2 2012. Though, total outflows increased marginally by 0.32 per cent from $10. 09 billion in Q1 2012 to $10.11 billion. Consequently, a net inflow of US$17.38 billion was recorded in Q2, 2012 as against US$18.10 billion in Q1.

Further analysis revealed that the inflow

through the CBN declined by 17.07 per cent from $12.11 billion in the preceding quarter to US$10.05 billion in the review period.

Similarly, outflow through the bank declined marginally, by 1.70 per cent, from $9.76 billion in Q1, 2012 to $9.59 billion in Q2, 2012.

Total foreign exchange transactions through the bank therefore resulted in a substantially lower net inflow of $0.46 billion in the review period. This was reflected in the marginal accretion to the stock of external reserves registered in the review period.

THE DAILY STOCK SUMMARY AS AT 24/10/2012 1st Tier Securities

1st Tier Securities Sector Company name

No of Deals

Main Board AGRICULTURE Crop Production FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC 1 OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. 6 PRESCO PLC 14 Sub Sector Totals 21 Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. 10 Sub Sector Totals 10 Sector Totals 31 CONGLOMERATES Diversified Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. 3 TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC 52 U A C N PLC. 44 Sub Sector Totals 99 Sector Totals 99 CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Building Construction ARBICO PLC. 2 Sub Sector Totals 2 Infrastructure/Heavy Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. 6 Sub Sector Totals 6 Real Estate Development UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED 13 Sub Sector Totals 13 Sector Totals 21 CONSUMER GOODS Beverages--Brewers/Distillers GUINNESS NIG PLC 67 INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. 11 NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. 152 Sub Sector Totals 230 Beverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. 3 Sub Sector Totals 3 Food Products DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC 48 DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC 119 FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. 62 HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC 26 NATIONAL SALT CO. NIG. PLC 52 U T C NIG. PLC. 4 Sub Sector Totals 311 Food Products--Diversified Main Board CONSUMER GOODS Food Products--Diversified CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. 41 NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. 72 Sub Sector Totals 113 Household Durables VITAFOAM NIG PLC. 33 VONO PRODUCTS PLC. 1 Sub Sector Totals 34 Personal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. 69 UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. 34 Sub Sector Totals 103 Sector Totals 794 FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. 231 DIAMOND BANK PLC 115 ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED 87 FIDELITY BANK PLC 170 FIRST BANK OF NIG. PLC 412 FIRST CITY MONUMENT BANK PLC. 76 GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 282 SKYE BANK PLC 138 STANBIC IBTC BANK PLC 27 STERLING BANK PLC. 64 U B A PLC 249 UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 58 UNITY BANK PLC 58 WEMA BANK PLC. 34 ZENITH BANK PLC 204 Sub Sector Totals 2,205 Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services AIICO INSURANCE PLC. 100 CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC 6 CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED INSURANCE PLC 20 EQUITY ASSURANCE PLC. 1 GOLDLINK INSURANCE PLC 2 LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. 3 LAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. 1 LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC 7 MANSARD INSURANCE PLC 5 N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. 34 NIGER INSURANCE CO. PLC. 2 PRESTIGE ASSURANCE CO. PLC. 4 SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC 3 STANDARD ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC. 15 WAPIC INSURANCE PLC 2 Sub Sector Totals 205 Main Board FINANCIAL SERVICES Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Services RESORT SAVINGS & LOANS PLC 1

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded Value of Shares(N)

0.50 34.01 14.90

100,000 46,497 319,330 465,827

50,000.00 1,603,736.07 4,769,929.00 6,424,000

1.58

191,217 191,217 657,044

299,298.52 299,000 6,722,963.59

1.50 1.09 40.00

36,314 6,562,100 319,387 6,917,801 6,917,801

54,671.00 7,169,647.00 12,752,269.35 19,977,000 19,976,587.35

7.65

51,000 51,000

390,150.00 390,000

31.00

36,250 36,250

1,092,378.50 1,092,000

11.41

76,225 76,225 163,475

870,969.25 871,000 2,353,497.75

263.00 12.83 135.00

1,251,125 224,500 828,235 2,303,860

329,031,316.37 2,869,050.00 113,681,632.53 445,582,000

40.95

5,715 5,715

228,341.40 228,000

8.07 5.75 66.50 2.50 6.00 0.70

799,054 11,737,356 564,689 526,790 1,879,607 100,876 15,608,372

6,448,932.46 66,479,280.40 37,495,277.05 1,319,407.00 11,132,624.51 70,613.20 122,946,000

29.35 695.50

193,332 100,327 293,659

5,397,973.46 69,239,923.50 74,638,000

3.91 2.88

929,909 154 930,063

3,557,217.90 443.52 3,558,000

26.57 41.52

975,288 386,960 1,362,248 20,503,917

26,561,251.34 16,093,648.18 42,655,000 689,606,932.82

9.00 4.25 12.10 2.19 16.21 3.42 20.00 3.90 7.30 1.60 4.80 7.73 0.65 0.64 17.50

22,395,163 7,789,765 12,721,399 15,875,033 28,719,151 7,875,641 11,766,745 11,740,667 10,850,758 5,785,859 21,999,596 1,053,718 5,125,385 1,667,402 49,151,720 214,518,002

202,523,231.86 33,420,822.60 150,410,628.85 35,125,050.51 478,947,458.63 26,785,348.35 234,719,632.98 46,340,265.12 79,741,453.34 9,880,796.32 107,715,432.80 8,116,646.62 3,306,152.25 1,066,964.78 874,309,991.38 2,292,410,000

0.66 0.81 1.46 0.50 0.54 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.72 0.53 0.50 0.54 0.50 0.50 0.54

4,680,459 175,000 735,000 500 62,500 2,000 1,000 589,400 508,250 1,715,278 128,612 498,812 41,000 211,500 12,696 9,362,007

2,949,807.34 141,888.00 1,050,410.00 250.00 33,700.00 1,000.00 500.00 294,700.00 876,490.00 897,999.56 64,306.00 264,270.36 20,500.00 105,750.00 6,855.84 6,708,000

0.50

500

250.00

Sector Company name

No of Deals Quotation(N) Quantity Traded

Sub Sector Totals 1 Other Financial Institutions ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. 2 Sub Sector Totals 2 Sector Totals 2,413 HEALTHCARE Healthcare Providers UNION DIAGNOSTIC & CLINICAL SERVICES PLC 1 Sub Sector Totals 1 Pharmaceuticals EVANS MEDICAL PLC. 2 FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC 52 GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. 3 MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. 6 NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PL C 14 Sub Sector Totals 77 Sector Totals 78 ICT Computer Based Systems COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS PLC 2 Sub Sector Totals 2 Sector Totals 2 INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials ASHAKA CEM PLC 52 BERGER PAINTS PLC 7 CAP PLC 29 CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC 31 DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 16 DN MEYER PLC. 27 LAFARGE WAPCO PLC. 32 PAINTS AND COATINGS MANUFACTURES PLC 1 Sub Sector Totals 195 Electronic and Electrical Products CUTIX PLC. 5 Sub Sector Totals 5 Packaging/Containers BETA GLASS CO PLC. 6 GREIF NIGERIA PLC 3 NIGERIAN BAGS MANUFACTURING COMPANY PLC 61 Sub Sector Totals 70 Sector Totals 270 NATURAL RESOURCES Chemicals B.O.C. GASES PLC. 3 Main Board NATURAL RESOURCES Sub Sector Totals 3 Non-Metallic Mineral Mining MULTIVERSE PLC 1 Sub Sector Totals 1 Sector Totals 4 OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC 35 Sub Sector Totals 35 Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC 188 Sub Sector Totals 188 Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors BECO PETROLEUM PRODUCT PLC 1 CONOIL PLC 13 ETERNA PLC. 8 FORTE OIL PLC. 20 MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. 13 MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. 4 TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. 9 Sub Sector Totals 68 Sector Totals 291 SERVICES Automobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. 14 Sub Sector Totals 14 Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC 10 Sub Sector Totals 10 Employment Solutions C & I LEASING PLC. 6 Sub Sector Totals 6 Hotels/Lodging IKEJA HOTEL PLC 14 TOURIST COMPANY OF NIGERIA PLC. 1 Sub Sector Totals 15 Media/Entertainment DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC 4 Sub Sector Totals 4 Printing/Publishing ACADEMY PRESS PLC. 8 LEARN AFRICA PLC 5 STUDIO PRESS (NIG) PLC. 2 UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. 1 Sub Sector Totals 16 Transport-Related Services AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC 3 NIGERIAN AVIATION HANDLING COMPANY PLC 163 Main Board SERVICES Sub Sector Totals 166 Sector Totals 231 Type Totals 4,234 Grand Totals 4,234

Value of Shares(N)

500

0

0.50

165,000 165,000 224,045,509

82,500.00 83,000 2,299,201,053.49

0.50

100 100

50.00 0

1.32 1.12 39.00 1.60 1.13

14,955 2,912,889 17,467 430,200 437,760 3,813,271 3,813,371

19,430.85 3,295,030.79 684,907.01 691,153.00 494,668.80 5,185,000 5,185,240.45

0.50

500,000 500,000 500,000

250,000.00 250,000 250,000.00

17.06 8.01 33.09 6.00 120.00 3.23 56.50 1.98

523,629 10,008 228,669 787,974 66,325 330,382 155,121 2,750 2,104,858

9,266,935.33 81,453.10 7,521,564.97 4,734,579.27 7,959,657.75 1,135,831.28 8,730,612.60 5,197.50 39,436,000

1.55

155,396 155,396

240,863.80 241,000

10.50 12.98 1.88

152,812 11,087 2,126,177 2,290,076 4,550,330

1,604,526.00 136,813.58 3,754,947.31 5,496,000 45,172,982.49

5.69

8,776

49,715.44

8,776

50,000

0.50

500 500 9,276

250.00 0 49,965.44

0.58

1,674,570 1,674,570

980,434.80 980,000

11.00

2,306,097 2,306,097

25,511,176.04 25,511,000

0.50 20.79 2.10 10.00 115.00 30.68 125.00

1,289 11,578 88,245 61,240 17,884 3,000 52,982 236,218 4,216,885

644.50 231,733.40 188,536.05 606,843.80 2,098,421.20 87,450.00 6,474,000.00 9,688,000 36,179,239.79

1.85

285,863 285,863

516,491.12 516,000

3.10

716,481 716,481

2,189,467.05 2,189,000

0.50

87,362 87,362

43,918.42 44,000

1.09 4.53

582,250 35 582,285

639,157.50 158.55 639,000

0.50

21,000 21,000

10,500.00 11,000

4.10 2.01 2.78 4.83

83,662 26,958 5,958 5,000 121,578

320,988.46 54,091.92 15,788.70 22,950.00 414,000

2.46 5.72

37,600 152,371

92,234.00 878,829.01

189,971 2,004,540 267,382,148 267,382,148

971,000 4,784,574.73 3,109,483,037.90 3,109,483,037.90

62

DAILY SUN Friday, October 26, 2012

DAILY SUN

Friday, October 26, 2012

63

ONUOHA UKEH

PUBLIC SPHERE

ooukeh@yahoo.com

08056180077

M

y last week’s article, Achebe’s book Vs Awo’s defence, appeared to have stirred the hornet’s nest, going by the avalanche of reactions. Today, I am happy to publish some of the comments from readers.

Re: Achebe’s book Vs Awo’s defence Other columnists were Igbocentric Of all columnists, who have written on the Achebe book and the attendant diatribe, yours is the most dispassionate and balanced. The others, in my view, sounded unduly Igbocentric. I thought you would gloss over how Eyo Ita lost out in South East, but you had the courage to mention it.

I appreciate. Amodu 08023252354.

Igbo deserve apology They should not crucify Chinua Achebe for saying the truth, about the role Chief Obafemi Awolowo played to stopped Igbo from getting to the promised land. The Yoruba should apologise to Igbo on behalf of the respected Awolowo.

Prof Achebe knew inside out of the civil war activities. He is part and parcel of the war. Whatever that comes out of his mouth is nothing but the truth. Our people say that truth is always bitter. Prof. Achebe’s revelation should not cause problem between Igbo and Yoruba. Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State. 08062887535.

Sins against the Igbo Femi Fani-Kayode, as a historian, should remember that Awolowo (his demigod) introduced tribalism and ethnicity, while northern elements introduced quota system into our body politics years before the civil war. This country is in shambles today because of these two dastardly acts. They have prosecuted the war and won with the aid of British government, but at least they should allow us to express our feelings after 42 years. If not for Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, there should have been no Nigeria. They are reaping where they did not sow. Let the sleeping dog lie. 07068733223.

Achebe’s ethnic jingoist Did Achebe write in his book about the dominant Igbo leading Nigeria out of darkness? If yes, then he is an ethnic jingoist, who has only contempt for people outside his tribe.

Your silence on this aspect of his treatise is worrisome.

08059069652.

I commend your neutrality Your article on Achebe and Awo defenders is an awardwinning one. Your clinical detachment and uncommon neutrality should put an end to the rancorous exchange from both sides. Kola-Dara, 08029439896.

Thanks indeed As an Igboman, I cannot but thank you for both the ‘letters and spirit’ of “Achebe’s book Vs Awo’s defence.” Hope you get me clearly. Barr.Fabian. 08033175402 Yes, Igbo need apology I acknowledged your position on Prof. Achebe’s observation. I agreed with Ikedife’s stands in which he said that

Achebe Nigeria should apologies to Igbo. Kalu Chukwu.

08054473580.

What great writers do Great writers do not write to please people but to state facts as they are. That is what makes them great.

07032861980.

Igbo have suffered Igbo have suffered and are still suffering a great deal in Nigeria. They should know that today is not yesterday and yesterday is not today. I just pray that the actors will never try what happened before. If they do, the reverse must be the case. 08055713317.

Kudos to you I have read your article on Achebe’s book Vs Awo’s defence.’ You have my best regards, as one of our rare and courageous columnists. 08033252457.

Thank you I am happy that you guys rose up to the occasion and called these attackers to order. 08126090786.

You analysis is great Your article is enriched with the kind of analyses Nigerians ought to arm themselves with and forge this country ahead.

Defending the undependable, ethnocentrically, should be rested. Let the truth heal the wound in our conscience. Rev. Uleh, 08182910674.

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Blame book reviewers for controversy In spite of all your efforts to stay-mid- stream in Achebe/Baba Awolowo’s sage, your sympathy was unveiled in your outright condemnation of the Yoruba elders, who reacted against Achebe. Those elders are respectable people who would, under normal circumstances, consider issue properly before reacting to it. I figure that the reviewer of Achebe’s book must have misrepresented Achebe’s views in the course of the exercise. And since those elders had not read the book, they took the reviewer’s interpretation as holistic, hence their reaction. Pa Awolowo to Yorubas is a father, even in death: just like Papa Zik, I believe, is to Igbo. So, the fault lies with the reviewer who misrepresented Achebe’s views in the book. Period. Lai Ashadele. Lagos. 08023632992.

Onuoha, when heart is loaded with guilt, it reacts quickly to any slight, an intellectual work of a person like “Achebe” will only attract criticism from ignorant and people who never see anything good in an Igbo man, even though they are loaded with craftiness that has thrown Nigeria into accursed trap. Brother, may God grant you more wisdom and inspiration to write on any topic you wish to write. Uche.

08026325875.

We should dump ethnocentrism You are the true son of your father. Achebe was only stating his own side of what happened during the dark days of the avoidable civil war. We all should endeavour to avoid this thing called ethnocentrism and work as a team and be our brother’s keeper and not claiming superiority over others.

Lastly, we should always remember to be quick to hear and slow to speak. Olanrewaju. 0818361101.

Our leaders don’t learn from history Those who loathe history and its useful lessons are likely to improve upon the ills and misadventures of the past. Our present leaders learnt nothing from history. That informs why Nigeria staggers from one crisis to another. And, if Achebe’s traducers stumble into leadership positions, they will fumble too, because they ignore the lessons of history. That is the bane of our political development. Achebe, the literary sage, didn’t speak the language of violence in his book. Rather, his submission on the role Awo played was a harmless view, which ought to guide the actions of present and future leaders. His critics who may not have been born before the civil war, deserve our sympathy, because they are swimming in ignorance. Some of them are so young that I doubt if they ever saw Awo, the man they pretend to defend, alive. The war wasn’t fought on their soil. There are no war relics in their neighbourhood to serve as sad reminder. Above all, they suffered no human casualty. There is no family in Igboland who is not nursing deep scars of that war. So, if such person speaks from the depth of melancholy or mental torture he is left with, it should be respected. Iyke Austin Mbodo, Owerri.

08134784212.

People’s thinking of Awo There was a country. Mr. Onuoha, your article on the above is devoid of ethnicism, bias and fanaticism. By your reach, you have proved that the Awoists against Achebe’s book lacked history. Every well-meaning Nigerian has deduced that the Awoists and their like, whose fanaticism had removed their sense of reasons, are the problems of Nigeria.

R. C.Eze, 08059830035.

I’m worried about Awo defenders I am worried. Worried that those people rationalising and defending Awo’s role in the Biafran war, if given the chance, will do it all over again. But this time, they won’t go free.

The civilised world will squeeze their necks at the Hague.

Ibecheozor. 08033357399.

Why Awo couldn’t be president Yoruba are always very fanatical with anything Awo. They are blind to see Awo’s fault. Who did not see Awo’s actions against Igbo during and after? This is despite the fact that Ojukwu released him from Calabar prison. His ingratitude to Ojukwu and Igbo robbed him of his life ambition of being president of Nigeria. If those fanatics like it or not, there was a country and Awo played a bad role in killing that country.

Nwaokorobia. 08037554730.

N150

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012 VOL.7 NO. 2482

Lessons from Mimiko’s victory T he pulsating race to the Ondo State Government House ended last weekend, when the incumbent governor breasted the tape ahead of the other contenders. Of the 18 local government councils in the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko won in 13, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) won in three, while Chief Olusola Oke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won in two. Oke, however, beat Akeredolu to the third position, polling a total of 155,961 votes to the ACN candidate’s 143,512. Mimiko garnered 260,199 votes.

The way my phone was bombarded with congratulatory messages after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the results on Sunday, you would think I was one of the candidates. Well, in a way, I was. Aweek earlier, I had stuck out my neck in this column, saying no man, but only God could cut the Iroko (as Mimiko is popularly called). I had said the incumbent Ondo State governor could only lose his seat, if God decided to hack him down, if people of the state deserted him at the last minute, or if both unlikely situations occurred. But I added that I didn’t see it happening.

And it didn’t happen. God stood by Mimiko, the people in Ondo State formed a bulwark round him, so they re-elected him for a second term in office. But did the opposition rattle the governor while the race lasted? Did the storm ruffle the leaves and branches of the Iroko, even if its roots stood steady and sturdy? It was no picnic, no tea party, as the Labour Party candidate slugged it out with the rampaging forces of the PDP and the ACN. With the PDP, the onslaught against Mimiko was understandable. He had dislodged the party from power in 2009, when the judiciary gave the left leg of fellowship to Olusegun Agagu, declaring him a usurper. So, PDP understandably had an axe to grind.

But the ACN? It was an ego battle. A revenge battle. The National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, claimed he had supported Mimiko to win back his mandate in 2009 through the courts, spending “millions of pounds” in the process, with the understanding that the Ondo State governor would then join the ACN. Mimiko reneged, allegedly. So, for Tinubu, the aim was to run the man out of town, and show who was the boss. It was a contest between the Iroko and the Lion of Bourdillon (as Tinubu is called). You now know who got worsted between the two.

What are the lessons from the Ondo elections, for both the victor and the vanquished?

Many.

When you have been elected into office to serve the people, please serve them with all your might. Work while it is still day, for the night cometh when no man can work. The night is the time for re-election. If you spend all the day carousing, gallivanting round the world, and serving yourself, and you want to start working at night, because re-election draws near, it is too late in the day. The people will simply do you in. Mimiko served Ondo people, and in my reckoning, he served well. I’ve been to the state a number of times, and I’m a witness to the good works in education, healthcare, urban renewal, preservation

FEMI ADESINA

08055001928 kulikulii@yahoo.com

of the environment, agriculture, and many more.

He hit the ground running after his inauguration in 2009, and acquitted himself quite well.

Naturally, no drummer can please all dancers, so there will be areas the governor has not touched, or done enough. But by and large, he did well, quite well. But imagine if he had not worked, and just jerked out of stupor few months to election? He would be a sitting duck before the opposition forces. The electorate would simply have him for dinner, and clean mouth thereafter.

The lesson? Serve, and serve well. Make hay while the sun shines. Be faithful to the people, and they will be faithful to you in return. It is an eternal lesson for all public office holders, whether they desire re-election or not. Use the opportunity you have to serve the people well, and they will never be ungrateful. They will never forsake or forget you. And when political enemies come like a flood, the people will raise up a standard against them.

Another lesson. When you have the people with you, you can sleep through the storm.

However boisterous or tempestuous the waves may be, you sleep merrily on, and even snore if you like. With the armada unleashed on Ondo State by both the ACN and the PDP, tell me how any incumbent governor could survive, unless he had the people with him. PDP came for a pound of flesh. The ACN came with vengeance, waving the flag of economic integration of the South-west. And Ondo is the only state outside the bag in the region. It was truly do or die. The fact that Mimiko survived exemplifies the Yoruba saying that: “people are the cloth we wear.” Without the people, you were lonely, “alone and palely loitering,” to use the words of

John Keats, the British poet. Are you a politician? Never joke with the people. Never ever treat them with disdain, flippancy or levity. And they will be there for you in your hour of need.

When the coyotes come, and even tear your dress, they will be your covering.

Yet another lesson. Never ever pigeonhole the electorate. Don’t think because they did your bidding in five other South-west states, they will do it again and again. Each state has its peculiarities. Because Bola Tinubu and the ACN wanted Ondo so desperately, it was easy to cast them in the mould of a conquering army, actuated by anything else except altruism. They were after Ondo’s oil money. They wanted Ondo to be a vassal of Lagos State. Your treasury will be at their mercy. And of course, Ondo State people resisted the incursion. Mimiko and Labour Party succeeded in building an army of opposition to the take-over bid, telling the people that their resources would be carted away to Bourdillon in Lagos, where Tinubu lives. All is fair in love and war. The electorate, therefore, resisted the invasion by ‘foreign troops.’

If you ask me, Tinubu and the ACN have done a lot for the South-west, liberating the people from the slave camp of the PDP. But ironically, the loss of Ondo is being seen as another kind of liberation, this time, from the ACN. That tells you that a liberator can turn into a captor or slave master very easily. And that is why Tinubu should have chosen his battles very carefully.

Yes, the ACN has every democratic right to have contested for the governorship of Ondo State against Labour Party, but must it be a case of ‘the

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Re: The question that rattled Fayemi’s wife I salute the Fayemis I wish Gov Fayemi of Ekiti State more grace to bring joy, and fulfillment to the good people of Ekiti State. I salute the first lady also for the peace at home. The governor should please avoid distractions. Dr Olayinka Oladosu, yinkalola85@yahoo.com Itching to hear the answer I enjoyed this piece but why did you choose an unholy hour to ask Gov. Fayemi a private question, which my ears are itching to hear the answer?

The question actually rattled both the governor and his wife though they expressed it in different ways.

Udeh Chiagozie, Awka, zenithofzest@gmail.com On the Fayemis Your write up was wonderful as always. Every handsome man in position of authority attracts women like maggots attract lizards; also, every beautiful woman with the three weapons of femininity: (face, body, heat) attracts a complete man.

But every wise man must keep tab on his money because that’s the rallying point while every married woman must keep tab on her home and her children because that also is the rallying point in marriage. Rev. Monye J Gold, The Mass Movement for Responsible Leadership Fayemi is the man Just like Jesus Christ in Mark 6:30-42, Fayemi as a selfless and compassionate leader is showing love, compassion, selfless and quality leadership to people of Ekiti State, by remaining focused and keeping to his promise of giving them their much desired good governance that hitherto eluded them. He’s not telling cock and bull stories to his people, but keeping his words. That’s the man in him.

Abuchi Anueyiagu, buchisbuchis@yahoo.com, 08033205799 You are an ‘Amebo’ Femi, Femi, Femi, what question will you not ask Fayemi and his wife in your ‘Amebo’ search on their possibly engaging in extra-marital relations? But seriously, there are men and women too who hold their own in temptations of that magnitude. It takes the engraving in one’s mind of a simple dictum: ‘Do not unto others what you don’t want done to you.’ Lai Ashadele, Lagos A pride Fayemi isn’t only a gentleman, but also very refined and decent. He rarely uses foul language.

He’s a pride to Yoruba race. Omo Oba Kolade Roberts My heart bleeds Whenever I read of performing governors like Fayemi, my heart bleeds for my dear state, Abia, God’s own state. May God send us a helper.

Chief J. J. Ibeka, Lagos Good marriage The Fayemis have a good marriage, no doubt.

And I love good marriages, as I’m in one for 34 years and counting. God bless the governor for his care for the aged. That really got to me. His children will remember him in his old age.

Pastor Frank Oputa, Lagos Why Ekiti is working Behind every successful man is a woman. Ekiti is working because Fayemi is working in good spirit with his wife. Engineer Enn. Anolue, Aguata Aguluezechukwu

•Jubilant Mimiko

Away games Na wah for you sef. It takes only a partaker in ‘away games’ to ask that kind of question Chris Punuka, Lagos

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