SATURDAY 5TH FEBRUARY 2022

Power Generation Crashes By Alarming 630MW as Fire Outbreak Forces Lagos Egbin Plant to Suspend Operation Peter Uzoho Nigeria's daily power generation has fallen by an alarming 630 megawatts (MW) since Wednesday following a fire outbreak at Egbin Power

Plant in Ikorodu, Lagos State and the resultant shut down of generation by the company.

This development, coupled with the load reduction mechanism adopted by the Transmission Company of

Nigeria (TCN) to prevent system collapse, has worsened the power supply situation in Lagos State. Electricity consumers in the state and its environs have been witnessing constant power outages for several weeks.

Egbin Power had, in a statement issued to its stakeholders and the general public yesterday, reported the fire incident at its power plant on Wednesday, February 2, 2022, at about 4.20pm, leading to

blackout in Lagos State.

The thermal plant has an installed capacity of 1,320MW consisting of six turbines of 220MW each, while its actual average generating capacity is about 800MW.

Egbin said the fire outbreak was successfully contained by a team of its firefighters in collaboration with firefighters from the Nigeria Gas Company Continued on page 5

Buhari at AU Summit, Reiterates Commitment to Poverty Alleviation, Access to Education… Page 5 Saturday 5 February, 2022 Vol 27. No 9797

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Osinbajo: Shonekan Was a Man of Destiny Chosen for His Time Gowon, Jonathan, Boss Mustapha also present as former Head of ING is buried in Lagos Our Correspondents Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday described the former

Head of Interim Government (ING) the late Ernest Shonekan as a man of destiny who was chosen for his time.

Speaking at the State funeral service, organised in honour of the departed national leader, held at the Cathedral Church of

Christ, Marina, Lagos, Osinbajo said Shonekan proved by his life “that destiny for one or for a nation is the manifest result of

small choices made every day by ordinary people doing the best they can and persevering in goodness.”

The Vice President said Shonekan lived an extraordinary Continued on page 5

SHONEKAN GOES HOME IN BLAZE OF GLORY… L-R: Former President Goodluck Jonathan; widow of the departed, Margaret; former Head of State, retired General Yakubu Gowon; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, during the State Funeral for the former Head of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan at the All Saints Cathedral, Marina, Lagos…yesterday GODWIN OMOIGUI

Zamfara Lawmakers Move to Impeach Deputy Governor… Page 14

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T H I S D AY, T H E S AT U R D AY N E W S PA P E R • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2022

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Buhari at AU Summit, Reiterates Commitment to Poverty Alleviation, Access to Education Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has given an assurance that his administration remains committed to lifting the poor and vulnerable Nigerians from poverty.

According to him, the poor and vulnerable in Nigeria remain top priority for protection and deserve lifting from the poverty cycle, noting that social safety nets would be further sustained, while access to education and opportunities would be expanded.

Speaking yesterday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian, at the virtual official presentation of the Country Review Report of Nigeria to the 31st Africa Peer Review Forum of the African Union, President Buhari said his government would also take advantage of Information, Communication and Technology to ensure inclusiveness, access and create more opportunities.

He said: “Nigeria’s strategic focus, as we set out to achieve the objectives of the African Union Agenda 2063, has been around the following: Building a thriving and sustainable economy; Enhancing social inclusion and alleviating poverty; enlarging agricultural output for food security and sufficiency; attaining energy sufficiency in power and petroleum products.

“Expanding transport and other infrastructural development, business growth, entrepreneurship

and industrialisation; access to quality education, affordable healthcare and productivity, social cohesion and security; and, building a system that fights corruption and improves governance.

“Nigeria remains resolutely committed to achieving these set goals despite the challenges that the report highlighted, including the COVID 19 pandemic.”

The President reiterated that Nigeria had remained a committed and dedicated member of the African Peer Review family, after acceding to the Mechanism in 2003.

“Today, the forum has presented its second peer review report on Nigeria. This Second Peer Review of Nigeria came at a critical time in the history of the country. From the report just presented, there is no doubt that the exercise was far-reaching, as it touched the various segments of Nigeria’s political-economy and highlighted the progress recorded since the first peer review.

“The report also highlighted some challenges and as a country, we are prepared to review those challenges in the context of our internal dynamics in Nigeria, ultimately with the determination of achieving Agenda 2063 goals of the African Union,’’ he said.

According to him, Nigeria remains grateful to be at the esteemed Forum of the Heads of State and Government, which

provides a unique opportunity to present the Country Review Reports of some countries, including Nigeria’s.

He said: “Let me use this opportunity to commend the President of South Africa for his dedication to the Forum since his election as the Chairperson of the African Peer Review Forum.

“I also recognise the distinguished Panel of Eminent Persons for their continued good work in steering the African Peer Review Mechanism process in all member countries. I recognise specifically, Dr. Abdoulie Janneh who led the Review Mission to Nigeria."

President Buhari congratulated

the other three countries (Namibia, Niger and South Africa) that were reviewed alongside Nigeria, commending the boldness and courage to present their countries for the comprehensive exercise.

The Nigerian leader called on other member states to join and present themselves for review

as well.

"There are so many lessons that we can all learn together.

It is from learning these lessons and recommitting ourselves as a continent that we all can contribute to our collective efforts to achieve the objectives of the “Africa We Want”, he further said.

US Identifies Bad Governance, Corruption as Motivations for Coups in Africa Ahamefula Ogbu The United States of America has condemned as unacceptable and out of vogue, any change of government in Africa except as constitutionally enshrined through elections and popular ballot as coups undermine democracy and development.

The US, apparently responding to the four recent coups in the continent, assured therefore that any regime which gains power through coups would not enjoy the support and recognition of the United States seen as the bastion of democracy.

This was disclosed by the Commander of the United States Africa Command, AFRICOM, General Stephen Townsend who while expressing surprise at the recent upsurge in spate of military coups in Africa, opined that bad governance and corruption may have been responsible for the putsches.

In the last 18 months, the military has seized power in Mali, Chad, Sudan and Burkina Faso.

Townsend had in a virtual briefing on Thursday, where he took questions from journalists, explained that the United States frowns at irregular or unconstitutional change in government as they do not agree with their understanding of governance which has to be democratic and the free choice of the people.

He added that it was difficult to state emphatically why nearly after 20 years of democratic governance with low military interventions, there suddenly has been an upsurge.

“So I don’t know why all that is, but my guess is that it has to do with insufficient governance, a lack of good governance, and corruption. I think that’s probably the most of it. And so as you know, as I

said in my opening statement, the U.S. does not support or condone these unconstitutional changes of government and the broader effect they have on democracy and the progress of democracy. But I think that corruption and a lack of good governance is probably behind much of that,” he explained.

The AFRICOM Commander deflected insinuations that a contest of super powers for influence in Africa was responsible for the coups and insisted that neither China nor Russia was largely responsible for the coups except where Russia was mentioned in Sudan.

Russia and China appear to be contending for influences in the continent.

He said, “You asked about the involvement of the Russians and the Chinese in these coups generally. We have not seen that – have not seen any involvement by the Chinese in

any of these coups. I don’t think they’re doing that, furthering that or promoting those. With Russia, I think it’s a little less clear. I think I have received reports of Russian involvement at least in Sudan in the not too distant past.”

On the rising cases of violent crimes mostly tagged banditry by some governments, the AFRICOM boss said: “So I would use a different term. I think the term ‘bandits’ is the wrong term. That makes it sound like a criminal problem. And my assessment is what’s expanding and causing the majority of the problem are terrorists. So I use a different term than bandits.

Terrorists are expanding. We’ve seen ISIS and al-Qaida affiliates expanding in West Africa from Mali into Burkina Faso, and now we’re starting to see attacks in the neighbours of Ghana, Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire. So, I’m very concerned about that.”

POWER GENERATION CRASHES BY ALARMING 630MW AS FIRE OUTBREAK FORCES LAGOS EGBIN PLANT TO SUSPEND OPERATION (NGC) in Egbin.

The company said it had set out a process to determine the cause of the fire incident as it had temporarily suspended its operations in line with the plant’s safety procedures.

“Egbin has since activated its emergency response mechanism to determine the cause of the incident, while operations at the plant have been temporarily suspended in line with the plant’s safety procedures. Egbin is also working with the Federal Fire Service, the Federal Ministry of Power and other stakeholders to review the incident," the management of the power plant said in the statement.

Confirming the fire incident and its technical implications, TCN's spokesperson, Mrs. Ndidi Mba, told THISDAY yesterday that it had led to the removal of a total of 630MW from the national grid.

Mba said, "We know that there was a fire outbreak and the total generation of 630MW was removed from the grid because of that.

"You know, when a fire outbreak happens, even if it doesn't affect the entire units, the tendency is that, to protect the other ones, you shut them down."

"So, as I said, 630mw was removed from the grid on that day (Wednesday)."

Nigeria generates an average of 8,000mw of electricity daily, out of the installed 13,800mw capacity, transmits an average of 5,000mw, while distribution hovers between 3,000 and 2,500mw.

Meanwhile, electricity consumers in Lagos and its environs have recently been witnessing constant power outages.

The two distribution companies serving Lagos - Ikeja Electric (IE) and Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) -attributed the outages under their networks to a drop in power generation in the country.

In a recent statement for its customers, IE blamed the

power outage experienced in certain parts of its network on load shedding by the TCN as a result of a drop in power generation.

EKEDC had also attributed the reduction in supply to the drop in power generation from an average of 3,700MW to

2,000MW. The Disco said this was caused by gas limitations arising from vandalism and more recently an issue affecting the TCN line from the Egbin Power Plant.

Explaining the constant power outages in Lagos State in recent

times, the TCN spokesperson stated that the state was a high consumption area and that the agency had to reduce the load to avoid overloading 330kv lines within the state and to achieve load balance.

Meanwhile, Egbin has assured the public that its technical team

is working assiduously to restore operations.

“As the foremost power plant in the nation, Egbin remains committed to providing power innovatively and responsibly in compliance with good health, safety and environmental standards," she added.

to November 17, 1993.

boardroom guru. He was in his early 40s when he rose to become the Chairman of UAC. By this single deed, he became a role model to many Nigerians.

He laid the foundation of many things we enjoy today.

“After reaching the zenith of his private sector life, faith made him the Head of the ING. It was a turbulent time in the life of our country. He led the country with all sense of courage and sacrifice.

“Nigeria has indeed lost a true leader; he was a kind human being and his wealth of experience will be sorely missed. We will continue to cherish his memory.”

Also, the Ogun State Governor, Mr. Dapo Abiodun, said Shonekan lived a life of humility.

“Baba’s life and time are inspiring narratives of events and achievements. His transition has left a void and it is the end of an era. He was a colossus whose feat will be difficult to replicate.

“Beyond business, our nation remains grateful to him for his role during the trying periods.

He was a loving husband, an embodiment of humility. His selfless service will be sorely missed,” Abiodun said.

His brother, Chief Tunji Shonekan, described the deceased as a peacemaker, a family man and a core Egba man.

OSINBAJO: SHONEKAN WAS A MAN OF DESTINY CHOSEN FOR HIS TIME and selfless life while on earth and left a lesson behind for all Nigerians to follow.

“That Chief Shonekan lived an extraordinary life is selfevident. His accomplishments as a businessman, political figure, and bridge builder are already the stuff of legend and will be talked about for generations. But perhaps what deserves greater attention is the way he carried himself through life and the high values he exemplified, that genuine respect he had for people of all classes, religion, tribe or gender.

“His unflinching belief in the inherent goodness of everyone; his love and generosity not just to his family, but to all, the knowledge and experience driven leadership and counsel he provided, always with unfailing humility and courteousness, were all the unique virtues that underpinned his extraordinary achievements.

“Ernest Shonekan leaves a life lesson for the nation he leaves behind. What might that be? We would be right to think of Ernest Shonekan as a man of destiny, a man chosen for his time.”

Osinbajo said what deserved great attention was the way Shonekan carried himself through life and the high values he exemplified during his time on earth.

He said that Shonekan had a genuine respect for all and would not be forgotten in the

sands of time and history.

“His love and generosity, not just to his family but to all, was felt by all. His counsels are always with unfailing humility and courteousness. These are unique virtues that underpinned his selflessness.

“Chief Shonekan lived his life always conscious of, and motivated by a burden of duty, as a citizen of considerable privilege, to give back, either in his many philanthropic and civic pursuits or in public service.

“Today, we stand in the light of this great man. The inevitable transition of the people that we love gives us a sombre opportunity to look into the life that they led, and in that light, checkmate our own lives,” Osinbajo said.

Speaking on his tenure as Head of ING, Osinbajo said: “Shonekan had a position in Nigeria that few had before him or have now. But none could have written the script of the dramatic series of occurrences that thrust upon him the role of the Head of State and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, in one of the most turbulent chapters of our nation’s history and it became his lot to steer the ship of state in those extremely stormy waters.

“He was in his own words compelled by a sense of duty and responsibility to accept

the role and to give his best in shepherding his country through an experience unknown and unprecedented in our history.

“He once said in an interview shortly after he was named Chairman of the Transitional Council and Head of Government, “If your country needs you, leave everything that you are doing to go and help.”

Speaking of Shonekan’s last days, the VP said: “In the last chapter of his life, Chief Shonekan assumed the mantle of an elder statesman. He was supportive of all governments and gave his advice far above the trenches of partisanship.

He was consistently calm and dignified. He was a steady voice of national counsel to all who sought him out.”

Dignitaries at the event include former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd.); former President Goodluck Jonathan; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun; and Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.

At the Ebony Vaults and Garden, Ikoyi, Lagos State, where Shonekan was interred, the Nigerian Army, 81 Division, honoured him with a 21-artillery-gun salute.

Shonekan died on January 11, aged 85. He served as Head of the ING from August 26, 1993

Night of Tribute Earlier on Thursday night, President Muhammadu Buhari and other dignitaries paid tributes to Shonekan during A Night of Tributes in Lagos.

Boss Mustapha represented the President at the event.

Buhari said: “Chief Shonekan was a man I respect so much because of his passion for the development of Nigeria. He was a patriot and a father of the nation. I knew that at the time he was beckoned to lead the country, no faint-hearted man would do that. No man will offer himself as a sacrificial lamb in the manner of Chief Shonekan.

“As a member of the Council of State, Chief Shonekan attended all meetings until his demise because of his passion to see Nigeria grow.

In the last four years, there was hardly any state event that he was invited to that he ever missed.

“He was a successful lawyer and businessman who rose through the ranks of UAC before he became the Head of Interim Government.”

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said Shonekan demonstrated leadership in every facet of life.

He said, “He was a respected industrialist, a first class

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ FEBRUARY 5, 2022

NEWS

News Editor Charles Ajunwa 09157401421 (sms only) Email charles.ajunwa@thisdaylive.com

Terrorists Kill 11, Injure Others in Kaduna John Shiklam in Kaduna

Eleven people have been killed by terrorists in Kagoro, Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Several other people were also

said to have sustained serious injuries from gunshots and were taken to the hospital in Kafanchan.

Sources said the incident occurred on Thursday evening around the area near the Govern-

Diri: Police Recruitment Policy Negates Federal Character Principle Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has faulted the recruitment procedure into the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), saying it negated the federal character principle.

Governor Diri said recruitment into federal agencies that is based on the number of local government areas in a state was unjustifiable and lacked merit.

He stated this yesterday at a town hall meeting organised by the state government in collaboration with the Police Service Commission in Yenagoa.

A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, quoted the governor as saying that equitable recruitment could only be achieved if the process was in tandem with the federal character principle as enshrined in Nigeria’s constitution.

While calling for a review of the anomaly, Diri said no state was superior to another irrespective of size and population.

His words: “I have one concern and that is on recruitments done in this country based on local governments.

“As you can see, Bayelsa has only eight local governments.

So how do you justify equitable recruitment based on federal character principle as provided in our constitution when you recruit from 40 local government areas in a state like Kano and here you are recruiting from only eight local government areas?

“There is no justice and equity in that. As representative of the Police Service Commission chairman, please take this back to your commission that the recruitment process in our country is not justifiable, is not fair and there is no equity in it.

“It is only at a forum like this we can tell ourselves the truth. As a federation, every state government, no matter how small, should be considered by virtue of the federal character principle in our constitution.”

The governor restated his position on state police, saying that the federal police was now over-burdened by the country’s growing population.

He also called on Nigerians to disabuse their minds from the notion that state police would be hijacked by governors, stressing that the underlying issue was more on the protection of lives and property.

Loggers Protest Close Down of Edo Forests By Obaseki Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

Vehicular movements on roads in Benin City were disrupted yesterday for several hours following a protest by loggers in Edo State, who accused the state government of closing down the forests in the last seven months which has subjected over 8,000 of their members involved in timber operations and their dependants to hardship.

The protesters who carried placards with several inscriptions against the state government alleged that whereas indigenes of the state were not allowed into the forests, some Chinese who are also into logging were being given access.

Speaking to journalists at the Edo State Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Secretary of Edo Sawmillers Association, Dr. Nosa Abosanmwan, said “Our workforce is over 8,000 and all of them are at home. You can imagine the number of people depending on them, many of these workers have families and you can imagine the ripple effects this is having on us.

“We supported the governor when he was contesting but we didn’t know he would put us into suffering this way.”

Abosanmwan, who noted that the painful aspect was

that all the forests were closed to indigenes but opened to the Chinese to pick woods anyway they like, pointed out that their protest was based on the fact that they did not want to take laws into their hands.

He said the governor made series of promises to them during the election but none was kept, adding that the association would continue the protest until the governor listens to them and meet their demand.

Also, the Chairman Edo State Timber Lorry Owners, Walter Osadolor, said there were about 2,000 trucks in the state and each has three to four workers, and appealed to the public to prevail on the state government to allow them to go back to the forest.

Reacting to the development, the Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Mr. Adaze Emwanta, said the state was carrying out reforestation and that many of the loggers were carrying out illegal operations in the forests.

Emwanta, who denied the allegation that Chinese operators access the forests more than indigenes, added that the government had commenced a meeting with the leadership of the unions to carry them along in the new regulations in Edo forests.

ment Secondary School, Kagoro.

According to one of the sources, “the bandits were many and they took over the road and were shooting indiscriminately at passers-by in the area.

“Six people were killed on the spot during the attack. Several people sustained serious injuries from gunshots.

“There was palpable fear and apprehension among residents of the area as many of them fled their homes to the neighbouring Kafanchan and other safer places.

“This morning (Friday), five more corpses were recovered, bringing the total number of those killed to 11.”

Spokesman of the Kaduna

State Police Command, Mohammad Jalige, could not be reached when contacted as his mobile telephone was not connecting.

Kaduna is among the states in the North-west that have been under consistent attacks and kidnappings by bandits.

Rarely a day passes without people being killed or abducted

in their homes or on the highways.

On Tuesday, Samuel Aruwan, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, disclosed that a total of 1,192 were killed while 3,348 others were abducted across the state in 2021.

YOU ARE DOING WELL… L-R: The newly elected President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo United Kingdom (UK)/Ireland, Mrs. Aqueen Ibeto (Adabuzo) and Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State when a delegation from the UK chapter of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation visited him at the Government House, Enugu... yesterday.

Osun 2022: PDP No Threat to My Re-election, Says Oyetola Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was no threat to his re-election bid.

Governor Oyetola stated this in Abuja yesterday after submitting his form at the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said some of the promises he made to the people had been fulfilled to a very large extent in spite of the paucity of funds after being in power for about three years and three months as governor.

The governor said he didn’t

see the main opposition party having an extraordinary chance of doing what APC had done in the state.

When asked about the chances of PDP in the forthcoming governorship election in the state, Oyetola insisted that the ruling APC remained the party to beat.

He said: “Well, I can talk about my party the APC, it remains the party to beat anytime, any day. I don’t see them having any extraordinary chance of doing what we are doing. The work and infrastructure that we have done are there for everyone to see. We have also received so many ratings from

the people who are to decide in terms of what we have been able to do.”

Oyetola explained that in terms of welfare, his government has been paying the salaries and pensions of the people on a monthly basis since the inception of his administration.

“We have actually supported our people in the areas of agriculture and health schemes for the less privileged and vulnerable.

Taking care of the vulnerable using the social register,” he explained.

The governor added that his government had revitalised 320 primary healthcare centres

across the state, stressing that the intention was to ensure that the people have access to healthcare by having at least a healthcare centre per ward.

Aside from this, Oyetola noted that all the general hospitals in the state had been fixed, while health insurance schemes to take care of the vulnerable had been set up to ensure no one in the state was denied access to quality health services because he or she does not have money.

Oyetola said his background in the private sector prepared him very well for the job, stressing that rather than lamenting about the paucity of funds, he had to think outside the box.

Amaechi: Turbaning as Dan Amana, An Appreciation of Hard Work Kasim Sumaina in Kano

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has hinted the significance of the title, Dan Amana of the Daura Emirate which is to be bestowed on him today by the Emir of Daura in Katsina State as an appreciation of hard work.

This is even as he expressed confidence that the Kaduna-Kano railway project under construction would be completed before the end of President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Amaechi who made this known yesterday during the inspection tour of the project in Kano State, however, hinged his confidence on funding.

The minister, who will be turbaned as Dan Amana of Daura today, said the motivation behind the work he is putting in to ensure modernisation of rail infrastructure in the country is national interest.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the inspection, he said: “We agree that if we fund them, they must complete the work. They must do what they agree that they will do. The conversation we had with them is that they must break this work into parts so that everybody will be working at the same time.

If they do that I am sure that before May, 2023 we will have commercial activity on the track.”

He stated that the route will be

used to convey both passengers and cargo, stating: “One of the most economic nerve centres in the country is Kano and Lagos, the reason why this track is the most economically viable track.”

He further added that the economic activities that take place in Kano can be conveyed to Lagos viz a viz those who produce in Lagos can have their products conveyed to Kano.

“This will create jobs and the cost of land here will not be the same.”

On intra-city rail transportation, Amaechi explained that the two states likely to benefit from intra-city rail transport are Rivers and Lagos states. The Lagos route he said terminates in Calabar,

while the Port Harcourt rail will terminate in Maiduguri because the rail will take part of the city, “this way and part of the city that way same way with Rivers State. You see, that at a point Lagos Calabar will have to meet with Port Harcourt Railway and run side by side inside some part of these major cities.

Speaking on funding, he disclosed that he had never denied that the country and the ministry were having financial challenges and that is because of economic downturn, noting: “The Chinese are not finding things the way they used to do, till now we are yet to conclude on loans for this project, so we are funding it from the budget.

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Airtel Africa Records $3,492m Revenue Growth, 125.8m Customer Base in Nine Months As Nigeria leads in revenue generation Emma Okonji Airtel Africa, which offers telecoms services in 14 African countries, Nigeria inclusive, yesterday, released its nine months financial statement for the year ended December 31, 2021, where it recorded $3,492 million revenue growth and an expanded customer base growth of 125.8 million within the same period.

According to the financial statement, Airtel Africa recorded constant currency underlying revenue growth across all regions, with Nigeria topping the regions in revenue generation.

In Nigeria, the telecoms company recorded up 29.0 per cent; East Africa up 24.4 per cent and Francophone Africa up 19.0 per cent. Its revenue across all key services in voice is up 16.1 per cent, and in data

and mobile money both up 37.2 per cent.

The statement said it recorded strong growth across all key metrics, and would unlock further mobile money opportunity, given the Payment Service Bank (PSB) approval in principle that it got from Nigeria.

According to the statement, underlying EBITDA was $1,703m, growing by 31.3 per cent in reported currency with an EBITDA margin of 48.8 per cent, an increase of 326 basis points led by both revenue growth and improved operational efficiencies.

Operating profit grew by 43.1 per cent to $1,146 million in reported currency.

Profit after tax almost doubled to $514 million as higher profit before tax more than offset associated tax charges.

Basic EPS was 11.7 cents, an increase of 113.8 per cent,

Identify 96 Terrorists’ Sponsors: Afenifere Challenges FG Emameh Gabriel in Abuja The Pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has challenged the federal government to take prompt action against identified sponsors of terrorism as alleged by the government rather than making periodic announcements for optics.

The body was reacting to the announcement by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that the federal government had identified 96 sponsors of terror groups in Nigeria.

The National Publicity Secretary of the body, Jare Ajayi, in his reaction, said various officials of the federal government had, at different times, talked about the government’s efforts at curtailing the menace of terrorism that is gradually enveloping the country.

He said: “But other than occasional reports of bombardments of terrorists’ camps by the military, no concrete steps are seen to be taken by the government to tackle

the roots of the problem. Indeed, the failure of the government to act decisively in this respect has emboldened the terrorists to be more daring - leading to the death of thousands of people and capturing of many communities particularly in the northern part of the country by the terror groups.”

Ajayi warned that the recent disclosure by Borno State Governor Babangana Zulum that the Islamic West African Province (ISWAP) was about taking over Nigeria not only attests to the above claim, it should be a serious reason for concern warranting decisive actions on the part of the government and its agencies.

“It would be recalled that the minister on Thursday informed the public that 123 companies and 33 Bureau de change were linked to terrorists in addition to 26 suspected bandits/kidnappers and seven co-conspirators have been identified. He added that 45 suspects of the identified 96 sponsors of the terror groups will soon face prosecution.

Nigeria Governors’ Wives Back NDLEA, Seek Partnership on Drug War Michael Olugbode in Abuja The Nigeria Governors’ Wives Forum has declared total support for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and its ongoing war against abuse and trafficking of illicit drugs, while seeking a formidable partnership that will secure the country from the menace of drug subculture.

This was the highlight of a meeting between the leadership of the forum and the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) at the agency’s National Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday when Ekiti State First Lady and Chairperson of NGWF, Erelu Bisi Fayemi led the delegation, which includes First Lady of Kwara, Mrs. Olufolake Abdulrasaq; Imo, Mrs. Chioma Uzodinma and Yobe, Hajiya Hafsat Kollere

Buni.

Marwa, while welcoming the governors’ wives, expressed appreciation for the visit, adding that the interest shown by them in the country’s drug problem shows their humanity and commitment to support their husbands to engender a better society devoid of drug-induced criminalities He said: “Let me put it on record that President Muhammadu Buhari is the number one drug fighter in Nigeria today because of all he has done to ensure the country wins the war against abuse and trafficking of illicit drugs. As such, we count on the states, especially the governors’ wives as the pillars and partners through which citizens across the states, local councils and communities are mobilised to reject this ravaging sub-culture.”

largely as a result of higher profit. EPS before exceptional items increased to 11.5 cents, up from 5.0 cents in the previous period.

Operating free cash flow grew by 42.2 per cent to $1,271 million and net cash generated

from operating activities was up 23.1per cent to $1,499 million.

The customer base expanded to 125.8 million, growing by 5.8 per cent, with increased penetration across mobile data and mobile money services.

The statement however said

that customer base growth was affected by the NIN/ SIM regulations in Nigeria but returned to growth in the region in the third quarter, excluding Nigeria where the customer base grew by 12.0 per cent.

Giving details of the trade update within the period, the Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, Segun Ogunsanya, said: “A strong third quarter has contributed to a pleasing nine-month financial performance across all key metrics.

FOR SOLID EDUCATION. . .

L-R: Executive Director, Maple Leaf Early Years Foundation (MLEYF), Mrs. Ifedinma Nwigwe; Business Manager, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Abuja, Mrs. Iniobong Chuku; and Programme Officer, MLEYF, Mrs. Sekinat Onilenla, during the donation of books and educational materials to MLEYF in Abuja by the UBA Foundation for use by Internally Displaced Children in Abuja in further commemoration of the Int’l Day for Education.

Hijab Crisis: Kwara Muslims Ask Govt to Set Up Commission of Inquiry Hammed Shittu in Ilorin After Thursday’s violent attacks at Oyun Baptist High School, Ijagbo in Kwara State over the wearing of Hijab, the Muslim Stakeholders Forum in the state, yesterday urged the government to set up a commission of inquiry to unravel the brains behind the killings and maiming of innocent Muslim parents in Ijagbo.

The Muslim group also called on the government to

enforce its policy on wearing of Hijab by Muslim school girls in all government grant-aided secondary schools During the violence on Thursday, one person was feared killed at the Oyun Baptist High School, Ijagbo.

Speaking at a press conference in Ilorin, the state chairman of the forum, Alhaji Isiaq Albdulkareem alleged that one of the parents of the Muslim students of the school, Habeeb Idris, was killed during the fracas that also left

11 parents injured.

He also alleged that the refusal of the school management to allow Muslim girls who wore Hijab into the school led to the violence at the school.

He called for immediate closure of the school and relocation of the students to other schools pending the resolution of the crisis.

The group also called on the police to investigate the circumstances surrounding the crisis with a view to bringing

the perpetrators to book.

In his contribution, the legal adviser of the forum, Mr. Ibrahim Agbaje, said that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) lost the two cases it instituted at both the lower and appellate courts on the issue of Hijab wearing by Muslim school girls in the state.

He said that as at Thursday, there was no case instituted at the Supreme Court by CAN on the earlier judgements delivered by a Kwara State High Court and the Court of Appeal.

BPE to Execute 42 Transactions in 2022 Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The National Council on Privatisation (NCP), chaired by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has approved the 2022 work plan for the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) with 42 transactions slated for execution in fiscal year.

The transactions are 11 in the

energy Sector,10 in the industries and services sector, eight in the agriculture and natural services sector and 13 in the infrastructure and public private partnership (IPPP) sector.

A statement issued by BPE’s Head, Public Communications, Ibeh Uzoma Chidi at its maiden meeting for 2022 at the Presidential Villa, Abuja

after its inauguration last week, the NCP also approved BPE’s 2022 revenue and expenditure, including the 2022 work plan risks and mitigation plans.

At the end of every year, the BPE carries out a post-mortem review of its activities and achievements via-a-vis the current year’s work plan and prepares a detailed

work plan containing the deliverables as well as the cost and revenue estimates for the incoming year for consideration and approval by the NCP. The work plan provides the framework for tracking the implementation and realisation of the approved projects contained therein.

2023: Jos Catholic Archbishop Cautions Politicians against Engaging Thugs

Ondo Varsity Students Protest Incessant Road Accidents

Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia

Fidelis David in Akure

The Catholic Archbishop of Jos Archdiocese, Dr. Matthew Ishaya Audu, yesterday cautioned politicians against engaging youths as thugs during the 2023 electioneering activities.

Archbishop Audu gave the caution in Garaku, the headquarters of Kokona Local Government Area of Nasarawa State during the 10th year marriage anniversary of Hon. Daniel Ogah Ogazi, member representing Kokona East constituency in the Nasarawa State House of Assembly.

The Archbishop envisaged that using youths as thugs is going to be more dangerous in the near future as it would continue to threaten the peaceful co-existence in the country.

He said: “The thugs you are using today may turn up against you tomorrow and it will be detrimental to peace and societal development. I advise you all, especially the political class, to play the game by its rules as the 2023 general election is gaining momentum.

“Do not add to the numbers of thugs on ground, as it is easy to create thugs but difficult to maintain them,” he warned.

Students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba- Akoko, in Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo yesterday protested against incessant fatal road accidents near their campus, mostly caused by articulated trucks plying the university community.

The latest protest was fuelled by an accident that claimed the life of a former student of the institution simply identified as Michael, on Thursday in one of the trouble spots in Akungba.

Also, on Tuesday five persons died instantly after

a truck carrying spaghetti crashed. Akungba Akoko, is gradually becoming a town of horror with repeated news of truck crashes occurring every week.

THISDAY gathered that the accident which triggered the protest was caused by a hit-and-run truck driver who killed the youngman and was subsequently trailed to neighboring town of Oba-Akoko, where he was arrested around 10p.m. on Thursday.

The angry protesters converged on the main gate of the school holding placards with ‘save our souls’ inscriptions and chanting solidarity songs.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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FEBRUARY 5, 2022 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

COMMENTARY

HAIL TO THE GREAT WHITE SHARK Steve Nwosu pays tribute to Seriake Dickson, former governor of Bayelsa State

W

hen, in 2017, graduands of the 2016/2017 set of the famous Lincoln University, the alma mater of both Kwame Nkrumah and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, filed out to receive their degrees, in faraway United States of America, the valedictorian and best graduating student, was a certain Victor Perewari Pere, a Bayelsan and Dickson scholar.

Pere, who dusted the pack from his field of Mathematics and Computer Science, was one of the thousands of beneficiaries of the aggressive scholarship programme of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson’s Restoration Government in Bayelsa.

It was a policy that not only made primary and secondary education free and compulsory, but also insisted on mandatory boarding. In a state that hitherto had no boarding schools, Dickson established 13 model boarding schools, including the peerless Ijaw National Academy that drew enrolment from Ijaws in no fewer than four other states.

Dickson would follow up with the establishment of a plethora of tertiary institutions, upgrading facilities in existing schools, and even setting up a dedicated fund for education.

And those are just a tip of the iceberg of what this proud son of Toru-Orua has squeezed into some two score and sixteen odd years, as he turned 56, January 28th.

His people celebrate him as Ofurumapepe - the Great White Shark that dominates its environment.

But if Henry Seriake Dickson is a Shark in the waters, he is an elephant on land; imposing, strong, tough, rugged, magnanimous, intelligent, never forgetting a favour, slow to anger, and decisive in action.

Like the elephant too, which could mean different things to as many people, depending on the part of the body one touches, one could almost write a whole book on whatever aspect of the Dickson phenomenon one picks interest in.

Put simply, Henry Seriake Dickson belongs to an elite club of Nigerian politicians and public officers who have traversed the judiciary, legislature and executive arms of government, and left an enduring legacy in each of them.

He has been attorney-general, member of the House of Representatives, Governor and now, Senator.

And to crown it all, he is also a grounded political gladiator, with a strong grip of, and total acceptance in, his political base.

That base has since transcended Bayelsa West to the entire South South zone, the Ijaw nation and, I dare say, the Nigerian political landscape.

Dickson it was, who planted a near-alien political party (the Alliance for Democracy, AD) in a Bayelsa (nay South South zone) that was either PDP or APP. Yes, as the pioneer state chairman of the AD, at the outset of the current democratic dispensation, Dickson delivered his constituency - a senator, a member of the House of Representatives and a handful of other state assembly members to AD. He has basically remained his own godfather.

As governor, while his colleagues in other states were busy devising ways to cage their state judiciary, Dickson was the one who actually sponsored the financial autonomy law in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly. It was one of the over 50 bills he sent to the assembly. The Thanksgiving law and the financial transpar-

AS GOVERNOR, WHILE HIS COLLEAGUES IN OTHER STATES WERE BUSY DEVISING WAYS TO CAGE THEIR STATE JUDICIARY, DICKSON WAS THE ONE WHO ACTUALLY SPONSORED THE FINANCIAL AUTONOMY LAW IN THE BAYELSA STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. IT WAS ONE OF THE OVER 50 BILLS HE SENT TO THE ASSEMBLY. THE THANKSGIVING LAW AND THE FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY LAW ALSO CAME FROM HIM

ency law also came from him.

The legislative activism was merely a continuation of the crusade he began during his days at the House of Representatives.

There, he either sponsored or co-sponsored, among many other bills, the EFCC Bill, the ICPC Bill, the FOI Bill, the Evidence Bill, which culminated in the current Evidence Act, the Party Internal democracy Bill, electoral reform Bills, the prevention of terrorism Bill, as well as the kidnapping and hostage taking Bill.

One would suspect that, of the three arms of government, Dickson has served in, he seems to have a silent bias for lawmaking - which explains why he was nearly pained at leaving the National Assembly in 2012 to go serve Bayelsa as governor. But he expressed a wish to return to the National Assembly someday.

That wish came to fruition in December 2020 by-election, when he was overwhelmingly elected senator to represent Bayelsa West at Ninth Senate.

Incidentally, his two terms as governor (the first in Bayelsa’s history) unleashed another positive side of Dickson. He went bullish with education, health, infrastructure development, civil service reform, security, economy, the environment, women development as well as cultural and value revival.

But Dickson has always insisted that politicking should never be at the expense of development, whether of Bayelsa or Nigeria. For, according to him, the advancement of society should transcend partisan politics. Understandably, therefore, when, at the onset of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, Chief Timipre Sylva, Dickson’s well known political adversary, was nominated for ministerial appointment, HSD, as the sitting governor in his Bayelsa home state, was among the first to congratulate Sylva. He did not stop at that: he mobilised the senators from Bayelsa, who were all of the PDP, to pull all the stops to ensure Sylva, himself a former governor of the state, scaled through the senate screening.

And now that he is back to the National Assembly and the business of lawmaking, Dickson has not hidden his bias for judiciary, electoral and constitutional reforms, women and gender issues, the environment, Niger Delta, security, terrorism, and a whole gamut of legislations to help engender national unity.

He also makes it his duty to ensure that no Bayelsan, irrespective of political affiliations, is unjustly treated or maligned at the National Assembly - especially those in strategic federal appointments.

Outside of all these, he remains a party man, standing out as one of the few voices of reason, and a rallying point, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He remains outspoken, strategic and deliberate in his actions and contributions to national debate. Of course that has earned him a few ‘enemies’, but then, nobody goes to war ruling out a few stray bullets.

So, the PDP continues its search for formidable candidates to lead it into the 2023 presidential battle, it might not be such a bad idea to look in the direction of Seriake Dickson, depending on where the zoning pendulum swings to.

Happy 56th birthday to the Dr. Henry Seriake Dickson. Happy birthday to the Oyi Ihotu k’Idoma. Happy birthday, Ofurumapepe!!!

MATAWALLE’S VISIT TO NIGER

The visit is for the good of the country, writes Kamaruddeen Kabiru

T

oday, there is no doubt that religious pulpits have been taken over by political commentary, as religious leaders are becoming even more vociferous in their attacks of political leaders.

Ordinarily, this should be a welcome development because in the end, religious sermons are usually authored to reflect the position of the scriptures on trending issues.

However, such issues must be seen to be based on facts not concocted imaginations.

Unfortunately, Nigerian clerics, especially some Ulamas of the North appear to be no longer interested in operating within the boundaries of their calling. This appears to be the case when a popular cleric recently mounted the pulpit to sell to his followers what could only have emanated from his fertile imaginations. According to the cleric, Governor Bello Matawalle recently left Zamfara ungoverned, in these times of banditry to travel all the way to Niger Republic just to watch the traditional Hausa boxing, popularly referred to as Dambe.

It is disappointing that even the clergy can stoop so low as to start meddling in the bitter political game of unconscionable lies and deliberate deflection. This is even more painful when one considers that everything about the reasons behind the trip to Niamey, from the meeting with President Bizoum to Governor Matawalle’s debriefing of President Buhari was reported in the news. However, since some people have decided to bury their heads in the sand to play the ostrich, I have taken it

upon myself to set the records straight. I want to start by confirming that there was indeed some boxing in the theme of the trip, but never of the fist kind. It was purely diplomatic boxing and here’s how the bout was fought.

On 2nd January, 2022 Governor Bello Mohammed, along with his Jigawa and Kebbi State counterparts, Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar and a representative of Governor Atiku Bagudu, arrived the Nigerien Capital, Niamey. The purpose of the visit was to enter into a cross-border collaboration with the government and people of Niger Republic in the fight against bandit terrorists and other state actors who operate in the Nigerian side bordering Maradi, but not only secure their supplies of dangerous weapons and other logistics through the Maradi channel, but also escape across the border to Niger when under offensive from Nigerian security operatives.

On arrival at Niamey, it was revealed that the Nigerian delegation immediately went into a high level meeting with top security and administrative officials of Niger Republic. The Nigerian delegation met President Bazoum of Niger Republic the next day for upwards of four hours where issues central to the policing of the Nigerian-Niger border were further discussed and at length.

Top on the agenda was the need to shut down any and all supply routes to the bandits whom it is believed source logistics and other services denied them in Nigeria from unsuspecting Nigeriens. So many other issues of mutual concern were also thrashed at the

meeting. It was at this meeting that Governor Matawalle presented the document for action which details the intervention that the states bordering Niger Republic expect from the pact.

A special meeting was later organised for the visiting governors with all the Chancellors and Security Chiefs of that country where the challenges that need to be addressed were divulged. The target of this meeting which lasted several hours is to enrich the blue-print for the comprehensive fight against the syndicate of arms trafficking and other supplies to bandits.

One of the biggest takeaways from that journey is that, the Nigeriens, with support from their Nigerian counterparts have agreed to scale up border patrols in the affected areas.

This joint operation is aimed at ensuring that bandit terrorists and other criminals are blocked from escaping Nigeria through Niger, but most especially, to shut down their supply routes for both weapons and supplies. With Niger no longer accessible to bandits, the Nigerian side can increase its offensive against the criminals safe in the knowledge that they won’t find sanctuary through the Maradi channel.

In his remarks which was widely publicised, President Mohamed Bozoum, assured the Nigerian governors of his country’s concern over Nigeria’s plight and that he is aware of the role his country can and will play in the fight against these terrorists, especially with respect to the transit of illegal weapons into Nigeria. He said that his country will continue

to support Nigeria in its effort to find lasting peace especially from the menace of banditry and insurgency.

It is therefore shocking that people, no less clerics will seek to deflect from the real importance of that strategic visit which had Presidential blessings, as a sightseeing venture.

President Buhari has since debriefed Governor Bello Matawalle in his capacity as a special envoy to Niger and the diplomatic gains of that visit have been recorded for all time.

Let it be known that the people of Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina and Jigawa all bordering the Maradi channel will soon begin to reap the fruits of that visit. What is most surprising to some of us is that it took this long for the governors to take this step.

A model of such engagements is already in force. The Multinational Joint Task Force in Ndjamena, for instance, is the result of such bilateral arrangements. Many other crossborder collaborations have been entered into

by Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram and there’s no gainsaying how important such game changing engagements could be to the fight against bandits.

This is why instead of politicising that visit with the sole aim of downplaying its importance, the people of Zamfara should appreciate the foresight of Governor Matawalle. It is my belief that this arrangement has the potential to contribute immensely to the war against banditry/terrorism in Zamfara and adjoining states.

Kamariddeen wrote from Gusau

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FEBRUARY 5, 2022 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

INSIGHT

Farewell...

Nigeria and the Pikes of Poverty

Rape, Rapists and the Society

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t the launch of the 2022 Macroeconomic Outlook Report in Abuja on January 25, 2022 by the Nigerian Economic deola had gone to see her childhood friend, Dan. They had been friends for over 15 Summit Group (NESG), an alarming figure broke loose to years. They used to regularly study together. On one of those days when Dan came to send alarm bells chiming across the country. her house to study, he began making unsolicited compliments on her body. Sensing According to Asue Ighodalo, Chiarman of NESG, estimates by danger, Adeola swiftly cautioned him. Offended by her audacity to dismiss his the World Bank show that between June and November 2021, compliments, Dan decided to teach her a lesson by beating and forcing himself on her. And an additional one million Nigerians were pushed into poverty she told no one. She has been living with the scar ever since. to bring Nigeria`s poverty headcount to a staggering 91 million Dele’s case is a bit different. His mother, as usual, dropped him at her sister’s place and left home for the East for 3-day training. Alone with Dele, her sister started to perform sexual people. When the grim calculus is done, the figures would roughly be broken down to a jaw-dropping 91 million poor acts on him. And that has been the trend for the past four years.

Nigerians out of a population of about 214 million. To be poor Now that Dele is 18, he has grown accustomed to it and is often eager to spend time with in Nigeria is almost akin to a death sentence. That is because, his aunty. This soon became detrimental to his education as he couldn’t concentrate on his poverty in Nigeria does not just bring on a debilitating material studies again. All he now desires is the erotic moments he spends alone with his aunty. lack but a lack of access as well: access to quality education, A couple of years back, a popular musician’s wife spoke extensively about how she was healthcare, justice and so many other things which go into the raped by someone whom her family had trusted. In the end, she was blamed. However, making of a content citizenry. It is not for nothing that many of her courage marked the birth of people who began to find their voices whether they were Nigeria`s young people will do anything to escape the strangulabelieved or not.

In 2021, the case of popular actor, James Olanrewaju Omiyinka, aka Baba Ijesha, hit the tion of poverty and despair here. In a country where the only media space and it further revealed the existence of several rape apologists. It, however, thing that works is corruption, to be found without the funds equally showed that a lot of other people are willing to go to any extent to support rape necessary to oil the wheels of corruption is to risk a living death. victims. More worrying is that a good number of suspected rapists move freely on the streets In Nigeria, so many young people graduate from schools after committing the heinous act. Also worrisome is the fact that not much is being done in respect of strengthening our weak laws to incisively deal with perpetrators of T H E SAT U R DAY N E W S PA P E R rape. Most experts believe that the primary cause of rape EDITOR YEMI ADEBOWALE is an aggressive desire to dominate the victim rather than DEPUTY EDITOR AHAMEFULA OGBU an attempt to achieve sexual fulfillment. They consider MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU rape an act of violence rather than principally a sexual CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI encounter. This is the opinion of experts. But one is of the EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN opinion that besides the desire to dominate, rape, can also MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI be situated in the perpetrator’s state of minds.

THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE The brazen manner rape is often committed indicates that the perpetrators still have a stone-age mentality of women as chattels who are to be used without independent thoughts. It also portrays some as pure lunatics.

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D Or what do we think of such recent reported case of EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA a 14-year-old, who was gang-raped to death by some GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI miscreants in Lagos?

DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS SHAKA MOMODU, PETER IWEGBU, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE The Junior Secondary School three student on holiday DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI was said to be alone at home when the mad hoodlums SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH fiercely gained entry into her parent’s apartment and ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PATRICK EIMIUHI took turn to rape her. The miscreants, according to report, CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI usually hang out in a smoking joint in Abule-Ado area of DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO Lagos State.

TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

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Omolara Otuyemi, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Lagos

only to find themselves on a gradual but grueling descent down the slopes of poverty. So many young people who cannot even go to school because of the forbidding costs of education find themselves on these slopes much earlier. Many of those who try their hands on their own businesses soon find themselves out in the cold, run aground by one of the world`s harshest business climates.

Many Nigerians are faced with a system that sows and sustains poverty, one that seeks to widen even further the yawning gulf between the rich and those who are inexcusably poor. This dilemma throws up a load of questions.

But why is it that that number of Nigerians are poor? Why should millions of citizens of the most populous black country on earth and Africa`s largest oil producer wallow in such abject poverty? Has the Giant of Africa also become a giant spinning wheel for poverty? These questions beg yet more questions even as it beggars belief that a princely country that once held so much promise has now been reduced to a flailing pauper.

Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@gmail.com

Pizza to Go …

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n American space company, Northrop Grumman, has moved into the food delivery service with seven pizzas heading to the International Space Station or at least the kit and food to make them. Most food delivery companies have a delivery time or it’s free offer so this will probably be free.

This might seem a silly use of resources but it does demonstrate how far the science programs have progressed and yet we can’t deliver food to hungry people in our local areas much less to countries where many people are suffering famines. The volcanic explosion near Tonga has shown how difficult the process can be under difficult circumstances.

Despite being a fan of local pizza deliveries I am hoping that Science can come up with a way of getting food to everyone or help them to produce the food locally.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

NEWS

Zamfara Lawmakers Move to Impeach Deputy Governor Over Alleged Corruption

Air Peace Launches Flights to Niger, DR Congo, Resumes Operations to Dubai

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Nigeria’s major carrier, Air Peace has announced that it would start flights to Niamey, capital of Niger Republic, February 25, Kinshasa, capital of Democratic Republic of Congo and Malabo, Equatorial Guinea capital in the first quarter of 2022, just as it confirmed it would resume flight service to Dubai on March 1 2022.

The management of the airline made this known in a statement made available to THISDAY yesterday and said that LagosDubai-Lagos flights would operate three days weekly from any of its domestic routes through its Lagos hub.

“We are happy to inform the flying public that in tandem with our commitment to providing more flight connectivity and meeting the air travel needs of Nigerians, we are restarting our UAE operations, but with Dubai as the destination,

Lawmakers in the Zamfara State House of Assembly yesterday commenced the process to impeach the deputy governor of the state, Mr. Mahdi Gusau.

This is despite a Federal High Court in Abuja that restrained the Zamfara State House of Assembly from impeaching the deputy governor.

The deputy governor is the son of the former National Security Adviser, Aliyu Gusau.

It was gathered that the notice

of impeachment against the deputy governor was submitted by the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Musa Bawa, to the Speaker, Nasiru Mu’azu, at the Assembly Complex in Gusau, the state capital.

THISDAY gathered that members of the Assembly have accused the deputy governor of breach of the constitution, abuse of o΀ce, and Ànancial fraud.

While submitting the impeachment notice, the Deputy Speaker said, “I am presenting these documents to the speaker,

Right Honourable Nasiru Mua’zu Magarya for the impeachment of the deputy governor of Zamfara State.”

The Speaker after receiving the evidence of impeachment promised to study them after which the content would be made public.

He gave the assurance that the documents would be treated in accordance with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.

“You are here in my o΀ce, Deputy Speaker and Chairman, House Committee on Public Ac-

count, and you have forwarded to me, the notice of impeachment of the deputy governor of Zamfara State, Barrister Mahdi Aliyu Gusau,” said Mu’azu.

“I have received it and I am assuring you that I will treat it according to the provision of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.”

The deputy governor and Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, have continually disagreed over several issues since the former switched political party.

Chinedu Eze

and not Sharjah. We abundantly appreciate the vital role played by the Nigerian Government in making this possible”, Air Peace said.

The airline also said, “Before first quarter of 2022 runs out we shall commence scheduled flights to Kinshasha in DR Congo and Malabo in Equatorial Guinea, to enlarge our footprints in West and Central Africa and offer the flying public more network options”, adding that Niamey flights would operate from Abuja and Kano on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays with the Hopper jets.

Air Peace explained that it had been operating scheduled commercial flights into the UAE since July 2019, and added that it would continue to scale up its service delivery to surpass the expectations of air travelers, especially with the activation of its ambitious fleet modernisation scheme and a renewed commitment to unequalled customer experience.

Release VON DG or Take Him to Court, HURIWA Tasks EFCC

PARTNERING FOR PROGRESS… L-R: The GMD/CEO Flour Mills Nigeria Plc, Omoboyede Olusanya and the Chairman, Apapa Local Government, Mrs. Idowu Adejumoke Senbanjo, at Flour Mills Glass House, Apapa, Lagos during a courtesy visit by Senbanjo...yesterday

Court Strikes out AMCON’s N8.2bn Suit against Zenith Bank Alex Enumah in Abuja Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a suit Àled by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) against Zenith Bank Plc and two others.

Justice Ekwo struck out the suit on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction as it is already a subject of appeal at the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

AMCON in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/343/2020, had

sued Zenith Bank seeking an order of speciÀc performance in favour of the asset management corporation on the transfer of 278,072,587 units of shares used as collateral for loans granted

by Zenith Bank to one of its customers, Rockson Engineering Limited.

In the suit Àled by its counsel, J.Y Pam, AMCON further claimed an alternative relief of the sum of N8,233,729,301.07.

However, in a counter a΀davit Àled by its lawyer, Professor

Fabian Ajogwu, SAN, the defendants argued that certain conditions precedent had not been fulÀlled by AMCON and that the said shares were indeed collateral for loans that Zenith Bank granted to its customer, Rockson Engineering Limited and which were unpaid.

The defendants also challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter on grounds amongst others, that same was an abuse of court process, given the pendency

of two other appeals before the Court of Appeal, on the same subject matter as the instant suit.

Delivering his ruling, Justice Ekwo agreed with the submissions of counsel to the defendants and held that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter as it amounted to an abuse of court process.

The court accordingly struck out the suit for want of jurisdiction.

Gunmen Sack another Senbanjo Calls for CSR Security Camp in Niger to Reposition Apapa Laleye Dipo in Minna Barely two days after gunmen sacked a police outpost in Ishau town in Ka΀nkoro district of Paikoro Local Government Area of Niger State killing three policemen, another security camp, this time in Allawa town of Shiroro Local Government of the state was sacked by gunmen.

The invasion of the camp reportedly took place at about 10p.m. on Thursday.

According to reports, the gunmen numbering about 200 stormed the camp during which the operational vehicles,

food items and some arms were reportedly carted away.

It was not immediately known which of the security outÀts in the area managed the sacked camp.

It was gathered that there was an exchange of gun Àre between the gunmen and the security operatives resulting in casualties on both sides but the actual number of people that died was not known.

Following the incident, the Allawa community has now been deserted as the villagers have moved to neighboring communities.

The Chairman of Apapa Local Government, Hon. Idowu Adejumoke Senbanjo has called on corporate bodies in her domain to support her rebuilding vision for a new Apapa -The Port City- through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

She made the appeal while on a courtesy visit to Flour Mills Nigeria (FMN) Wharf Road, Apapa.

The Council boss intimated the Áour and pastry giant of her administration’s vision to transform the local government to a modern port city, safer, cleaner and conducive for business to

thrive.

She called for partnership with FMN in the area of environmental aesthetics.

The Group Managing Director (GMD) of FMN, Mr. Omoboyede Olusanya said his Àrm had never joked with its CSR functions and had always ensured a sustainable environment wherever they operate with focus of education, health and power.

Mr. Olusanya explained that FMN had helped in rehabilitation of roads, clearing of drains and rebuilding of school in the past.

He promised FMN’s support to the local government.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to be law abiding and civil by releasing immediately the director general of the Voice of Nigeria, Mr. Osita okechukwu.

In a statement signed by the group’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA accused the EFCC of selective treatment.

“It is unfortunate that the EFCC is carving a niche for itself as an agency of government that picks and chooses who to arbitrarily detain for a long period of time and who to release as soon as possible.

This arbitrariness is illegal and unconstitutional and must be stopped forthwith.

“The EFCC has become notorious for detaining alleged oͿenders from the Southern part of the country longer than necessary but easily releases accused persons from the Muslim North.

“These discriminatory practice contravene Section 42 (1) of the

constitution. That section states thus: “ 42. (1) A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person:- (a) be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, to disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions are not made subject; or (b) be accorded either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any such executive or administrative action, any privilege or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religious or political opinions.

(2) No citizen of Nigeria shall be subjected to any disability or deprivation merely by reason of the circumstances of his birth.”

Anyim Consults with Gani Adams, Bode George, Ayo Adebanjo Chuks Okocha in Abuja As the race for the 2023 presidential election gathers momentum, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, frontline aspirant, yesterday took his consultations to the South-west.

Anyim, who is aspiring on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), kicked oͿ his consultations with the leader of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), Iba Gani Adams, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba, at his Lagos home.

Anyim also visited Chief Olabode George, former PDP Deputy National Chairman (South) and Chief Ayo Adebanjo, leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere.

The visits to the three leaders were the commencement of his wider consultations with South-west leaders.

Anyim, former Senate

President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), told Aare Adams that he had come to consult with him on his aspiration to lead the country after President Muhammadu Buhari and to seek his blessing.

Adams, who was happy at the visit, prayed for Anyim and wished him well in his political aspirations.

Chief Bode George said Anyim has the requisite character and competence to lead the country.

“You are a highly responsible character. You became the Senate President, the country’s number three citizen. You were in the federal civil service.

You were Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

So you have gathered experience, capacity, character, and knowledge. I have no doubt in my mind that you will be a good leader.”

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ FEBRUARY 5, 2022

08054699539

Ahmad Lawan is Right, Military Must Wake Up

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or once, the leadership of the Nigerian Senate was able to put aside its rubber stamp mentality and was truthful to military on its counter-terrorism performance. In this sliding war against terrorists, “the military must wake up” was the blunt message to the Nigerian Army. I don’t know how and where the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawal picked up this courage, but it was a good one. It all started during plenary last Tuesday, following a point of order raised by Bello Mandiya (Katsina South) on the urgent need for the federal government to take drastic actions that will end killings and kidnappings in Faskari Local Government Area of his state.

Mandiya noted that the killings and abductions had become a daily matter in Katsina with many communities displaced.

He recalled that last Monday, terrorists struck in Ruwan Godiya, a community in Faskari LG, where 38 people were kidnapped.

The President of the Senate, at least on this historic Tuesday in the Senate, spoke the truth to the military. He declared that the repeated cases of kidnappings and killings make it imperative for the military to “wake up” and protect Nigerians. Lawan wondered why full scale action had not been carried out by the military in spite of increased funding for security in the 2022 budget.

He said: “The expectation of the Senate is that there is supposed to be a remarkable difference in success in terms of the fight against insurgence, banditry and militancy in Nigeria. The military is getting better funding from the government and what we expect is to see improvement in output.

I know the resources are not enough, but recently for one and a half years, government has up-scaled the level of funding for our military.

“When we declared bandits as terrorists, my understanding was that they are going to be dealt with ruthlessly. Now, I wonder whether that is the case. The military, like some of our colleagues have said, need to wake up. We want to see a difference because we have made a difference in terms of funding…funding can make a difference and we expect a difference in outcome.”

The contribution of Senator Kabir Abdullahi Barkiya (Katsina Central), lamenting the military’s inability to contain terrorism, despite several calls for it to act, is also instructive.

I often wonder how security agencies, struggling to defend their facilities and personnel against terrorists, will protect Nigerians. Many of the attacks on the military are difficult to comprehend. How do you explain terrorists snatching a military outpost with ease? A military outpost in Marina, Safana LG of Katsina State came under attack in March last year and the soldiers were dislodged.

It is shocking to see terrorists move in convoys for several kilometres unchallenged in our towns and villages. So, what has

Lawan

happened to the Directorate of Military Intelligence? Is the Department of State Security dead? What about the intelligence departments in the various police commands?

It is obvious that intelligence gathering has also collapsed in all security agencies.

It is instructive to note that from 2006 to 2020, Boko Haram attacked and sacked 22 military posts, killing hundreds of Nigerian soldiers. The sacked military posts were in Gajiram, Mainok, Rann, Geidam, Sasawa, Magumeri, Malam Fatori, Gashigha, Kanama, Gamboru-Ngala, Mafa, Damasak,Gudumbali, Garunda, Kunduga, Kareto, Jilli, Arge, Zari, Arege, Metele, Jili (Geidam) and Buni Gari.

Likewise, one of the deadliest massacres of Nigerian soldiers by Boko Haram was in Metele, Borno State, in November 2018.

Scores of soldiers were killed at 157 Task Force Battalion in Metele. The exact casualty figure is still a closely-guided secret. The commander of the battalion, Lt. Col. Ibrahim Sakaba was also killed during the attack.

In this country, a serving Major General Husseini Ahmed was in July 2021 killed along Lokoja-Abuja Road on his way to Abuja and there were no consequences.

There are hardly consequences for attacks on military facilities and personnel.

Months after terrorists downed Nigeria’s fighter jet in the Zamfara State forest, thus, threatening the sovereignty of this nation, there are still no consequences for the guerrillas. It’s also so difficult to comprehend that several months after a Nigerian Air

Force fighter jet was downed in Borno State, the military is still struggling to locate the crash spot.

The military can’t even account for the pilot and co-pilot on that crashed Alpha jet. The failure of the military to locate the so-called true crash site reflects the level of decay in Nigeria’s security. Modern search and rescue is about technology, equipment and quality manpower. This country lacks capacity for these and unwilling to seek help from abroad.

How come terrorists are able to monitor the movement of our soldiers and our military can’t effectively monitor theirs?

With technology, Nigerian soldiers should be the ones ambushing and killing these bastards. Unfortunately, the terrorists are the ones persistently ambushing and killing our gallant soldiers. That was what happened to General Dzarma Zirkusu, the late Commanding Officer of the 28 Task Force Brigade (Chibok) and his boys, while in Askira Uba. I will also never forget how our gallant soldiers were ambushed by Boko Haram in Gorgi, Borno State in March 2020, and scores killed. Unofficial sources said the figure could be above 70.

These ambushes indicate that the Nigerian military is deficient in the needed technology for efficient monitoring of opponents. The terrorists have been emboldened because of this. It also means that the leadership of the military has been economical with the truth in terms of the technological capacity of the Army and Air Force. It means the intelligence arm of the military needs external support.

In a very recent embarrassing attack on a military facility, fighters of the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) confidently raided the Tukur Yusufu Buratai Institute for War and Peace, in Biu LG of Borno State, backed with cameramen to record the attack. I find this effrontery extremely humiliating. In the audiovisual, the insurgents were seen firing in different directions with RPGs and anti-aircraft guns. They pulled down flags on the campus and torched some military vehicles. The terrorists were in the Army facility for over two hours without resistance from troops. How can the military allow this to happen?

On the other hand, after a very deep thinking, I will rather have Lawan’s wake-up call amended and specifically directed at President Muhammadu Buhari, the leadership of the military and other security agencies. These people have failed our gallant soldiers who are poorly-motivated and poorly-equipped on the war front.

Our fighters are tired because they have over-stayed on the frontline. Replacements hardly come. This means Nigeria lacks enough men for this war. But commanders persistently give the impression that all is well on the war zone. Those in charge of this war must admit that this country has challenges with field manpower and

Winds against Amended Electoral Bill Members of the National Assembly are doing everything possible to ensure that the amended Electoral Bill does not see the light of day. The ultimate motive of these law breakers is to suffocate the electronic transmission of election results, the much-loved clause in the bill.

That was why they inserted two quarrelsome sections into the amended bill sent to President Buhari for assent. Of course, they know the President will not sign it; these legislators care less about the consequence on E- transmission of election results.

The contentious clauses are resignation by appointed political office holders, including ministers, commissioners and others before the primaries of the office they are interested in; and definite obligation for consensus option in picking candidates.

According to the bill, before a consensus

candidate can emerge, all contestants must sign a written agreement that they had consented to the adoption of such an aspirant; that if one of the contestants is dissenting, no one can become a consensus candidate. Instead, all the contestants will either go for direct or indirect primary election.

Yes, Section 228 of the 1999 Constitution Powers of the National Assembly with Respect to Political Parties (Amended by Section 22 (First Alteration) Act, 2010), empowers the National Assembly to provide guidelines and rules to ensure internal democracy within political parties, including making laws for the conduct of party primaries, party congresses and party conventions. Nonetheless, such laws should not be for selfish reasons as seen in these two combative clauses.

The plot to stop governors from imposing candidates at primaries with these clauses is outrageous. Federal lawmakers should find a better way of tackling dictatorial governors.

Telling political appointees (who are aspirants) to resign before primaries, is also targeted at some people. These two prickly clauses were inserted for selfish reasons. It was all about selfish interest and not that of the country.

Our law makers should, in the interest of Nigeria, swiftly withdraw and remove the two useless clauses, so that E-transmission of election results can be actualised. No doubt, this will end ballot box snatching and reduce rigging. The approved Electronic Voting System (EVS) will be useless without E-transmission of results. Our lawmakers are largely products of election rigging and want the revelry to continue.

seek help abroad.

Soldiers are struggling to be at their best on the war front. Videos of our soldiers lamenting about lack of basic things abound.

Commanders who complain about the poor working condition of our troops are usually dealt a solid blow by the leadership of the military. That was what happened to the former Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. General Olusegun Adeniyi.

As for Buhari, he goes about showboating while the country burns. For example, Buhari returned to Abuja from Turkey last December to the news of the killings in Kaduna, saying the last vestiges of terrorists were the ones soft-targeting innocent citizens, “looting their assets and burning houses, because they were already frustrated as a result of the heat turned on them by the nation’s troop.” Haba! This is preposterous. In beloved Nigeria, terrorists regularly attack military formations. This is the truth that can’t be hidden.

What about the lies by our political leaders that Nigerian troops alone can do the job of eliminating the terrorists? That help from abroad would not be needed?

President Buhari is in the forefront of this submission. This is a flawed position. To end the killings in beloved Nigeria, our President has to wake up and hire the best brains from anywhere in the world to assist our military to end this war against terrorists. The ultimate aim is to decapitate them and bring peace to our country.

Obaseki

Obaseki, Please Don’t Kill Ambrose Ali University I have spent quality time reading the SOS message of the National Association of Nigerian Students’ Joint Campus Committee, Edo State axis, on the trauma at Ambrose Ali University (AAU) Ekpoma. I sincerely hope Governor Godwin Obaseki is not out to destroy this historic university.

The governor owes lecturers and non-academic staff 16 months salaries. “Yet, the governor expects hungry and angry lecturers to teach frustrated and depressed students, who have suddenly become victims of circumstances resulting from bad government policies and failures,” declares NANS. The list of suffering at AAU is so long. It is battling crumbling infrastructure and underfunding; Obaseki has drastically reduced its monthly subvention; AAU’s College of Medicine is on the verge of total collapse due to limited infrastructure and accreditation issues; Obaseki is yet to release AAU’s visitation panel’s report; Obaseki has not completed a single project at AAU since he became governor and AAU’s Cooperative Society crippled due to unpaid salaries.

NANS says the Obaseki administration brought pain on tertiary institutions in Edo State. My dear Obaseki, you have to change this narrative. Your government is at the lowest ebb in this state.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

NEWS Cycology Cycling Club Donates Food to Lagos Street Sweepers Funmi Ogundare

LAST RESPECTS… L-R: His Grace, Archbishop of Onitsha Archdioceses, Dr. Valerian Okeke; Senator Annie Clement Okonkwo; his wife, Lady Chinyere Okonkwo after the funeral service of late Caroline Nwakaego Okonkwo at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Ojoto, Anambra State... yesterday

Cycology Cycling Club, a not-for-proÀt organisation, yesterday, donated food items and money to street sweepers in Lagos, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility ( CSR) to impact society.

Members of the club cycled from Oworoshoki axis through Awolowo Road, Alexander, Gerald and Dolphin Estate, all within Ikoyi.

The Captain of the Club, Mr. Tunde Laoye who spoke to THISDAY shortly after their exercise, described the sweepers as very important component saying that for them to get up early everyday to do their duties of keeping the streets clean, is very commendable.

“We all know the dangers of being hit by vehicles or being attacked by hoodlums. For these men and women to come out by 5 a.m everyday and ensure

that the roads are clean, we really need to appreciate them.”

He said they met them at Oworoshoki in their large numbers and distributed over 200 packs containing food items and water, adding that with the smiles on their faces, they are motivated.

Asked how the club intends to sustain the eͿort, Laoye said, “ we have been doing this for the past 10 years. “Before now, we used to do it on every sanitation day and we go round to give them water to keep them refreshed, but now, we have gone a step higher by giving them food items and money.”

He advised the government to make the environment safer for them saying that some of them get hit by cars, and they should be properly compensated through salary increase because they are on essential duty.

The nine-man Kogi State Advisory Intervention Committee on Culture and Tourism set up by Governor Yahaya Bello to develop the Àrst ever Holiday Village in Africa to be cited in Lokoja has come up with an eight-point agenda on how to actualise their mandate.

The Kogi State Advisory Intervention Committee on Culture and Tourism was inaugurated last year by Governor Bello.

The committee’s Chairman Otunba Segun Runsewe, who is the Director General of National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), said members of the Kogi State Advisory Intervention Committee on Culture and Tourism met and ratiÀed the 8-point agenda.

According to him, the 8-points agenda includes

visits to all historical and heritage sites in Kogi State; hosting the very important national stakeholders’ meeting in Kogi State; trips to farm and national sites; interface with brand names in the country; setting up of media players, building a brand identity for the Holiday Village, develop feedback mechanism with the Kogi State Government House and host physical meeting when necessary.

Runsewe, who thanked Governor Bello for his vision in setting up the Kogi State Advisory Intervention Committee on Culture and Tourism, said the committee members are poised to fast track all the numerous tourism potentialities in Kogi State, adding that the state boasts of so many historic, cultural and tourism potentials.

Abia Govt Shuts Markets as Bello to Build First Truck Crushes 6 People in Aba Gov Holiday Village in Africa

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

The Abia State Government has shut down the Abattoir and the Ahia Udele Market located at the Waterside area of Ogbor Hill, Aba, following the death of six people crushed by a truck that crashed into the market.

The state Commissioner for Trade and Investments, Mr. John Okiyi, announced

that the market closure was prompted by the fatal accident which occurred on Thursday after a truck bearing a container lost control and crashed into a market and killed six people, mostly tricycle operators.

He said that the state Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu “has directed the immediate closure of the abattoir/cattle market and the proximal Ahia Udele Market.”

To this end, the commissioner said that all those currently doing business at the abattoir “should immediately relocate” to the new Omuma Uzor Abattoir in Ukwa West while those in Ahia Udele were directed to shift to the Good Morning Market, Aba. Okiyi further stated that the governor “also directed the Ministry of Homeland Security to work with relevant

security agencies in ensuring compliance” to the directive.

“While we mourn with those who lost loved ones in the unfortunate incident it is important to state that the ministry of trade and Investment had long commenced processes to relocate the markets in line with public health advice received from the Ministry of Environment and other relevant agencies,” he said.

Anambra State Sues AGF, Minister, FIRS over Finance Act 2021 The Anambra State Board of Internal Revenue has sued the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed and the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mohammed Name, over the provision of Section 27 of the Finance Act, 2021.

The Act amended Section 89A of the Stamp Duties Act and subscribed to the Minister of Finance, enlarged powers to regulate, subject to the approval of the National Assembly, the imposition, administration, auditing, accounting, collection

and remittance of Stamp Duties on electronic receipts in respect of instruments initiated and executed or transaction initiated and carried out between persons or individuals, “which by Law, is accruable to the different States of the Federation, pursuant to Section 4 (2) of the Stamp Duties Act, 2004, as amended.”

The suit is before a Federal High Court in Awka, the Anambra State capital, Counsel to the plaintiff, David C. Onyilofor, brought the application in an originating summons in the matter which has been assigned to Justice H.A. Nganjiwa.

A copy of the suit with reference No. FHC/AWK/CS/03/2022, supported by an affidavit by the plaintiff’s consultant, Francis Uzoma Ubani, was made available to journalists last Thursday.

The plaintiff asked the court to determine if the above provision is not in conflict with the provisions of Sections 3(3), 111, 115 and 11 (2) of the Stamp Duties Act, 2004, as amended; and whether it is not inconsistent with the provisions of Section 1 3 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, and therefore is null, void and of no effect whatsover, to the extent of

the inconsistency.

Among other reliefs, it prayed the court for an order directing the defendants to forthwith, instruct all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and Financial Institutions to start henceforth, to remit to the plaintiff all Stamp Duties and Electronic Money Transfer Levies ( EMTL) to be collected in respect of instruments initiated and executed or transactions initiated and carried out between persons or individuals (whether electronically done or otherwise) within the territory of Anambra State, pursuant to Section 4 (2)of the Stamp Duties Act, 2004, as amended.

Ex-governor Oni Dumps PDP for APGA, Picks Governorship Ticket

Wike Urges Traditional Rulers to Tackle Artisanal Refinery Activities in Communities

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Former governor of Ekiti State and one of the governorship aspirants in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Segun Oni, has dumped the party for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Oni who lost out in the recently conducted PDP Governorship Primary election to the winner, Bisi Kolawole, was said to have reached out to APGA for an opportunity to contest the governorship election using their platform.

THISDAY gathered that after some exploratory meetings between Oni’s associates and the leadership of APGA, a deal was struck to admit the ex-governor into the party’s fold and subsequently grant him a waiver to enable him to Áy the Áag of APGA. APGA’s Vice Chairman (South

West), Samson Seun Olalere led Oni’s associates to a meeting with the national leadership of APGA on Tuesday.

The meeting which was held behind closed doors had the national chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Ike Oye and National Secretary of the party and former Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku in attendance.

THISDAY gathered from a source privy to discussions at the meeting that the team came to APGA at the instance of the ex-governor who has concluded arrangements to dump the PDP for APGA. According to the source, “Oni has already registered with APGA and purchased its nomination form, having secured Àrm assurances that he will be substituted as the party’s Áag-bearer for the Ekiti State Governorship election.”

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has urged traditional rulers in the state to join in the Àght against illegal oil bunkering and artisanal reÀnery activities in their various communities.

The governor said the state government would not hesitate to depose any king who failed to discourage such illicit activities from happening in their domain.

Governor Wike reiterated his resolve to sustain the war against illegal oil bunkering and artisanal reÀning activities.

He warned the First Class King of Akpor in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area and the King of Omerelu in Ikwerre council not to allow such activities to thrive anymore in their respective domains.

Wike gave the charge yesterday,

when he presented staͿ of o΀ce and certiÀcate of recognition to His Royal Majesty, Nne-Nwe-Eli Emohua ;III (OLO IV), Ohna Sergeant Chidi Awuse and His Royal Majesty, Nye Nwe Ali Akpor, Eze Ozuowuowu Levi Amos Orlu Oriebe at Government House, Port Harcourt.

He speciÀcally warned the King of Akpor kingdom to discourage the continuous illegal oil bunkering in Rumuokparali He also frowned at the king of Omerelu community in Ikwerre Local Government Area where he said illegal oil bunkering activities were thriving.

According to the governor, aside from the soot problem and economic sabotage associated with the criminal activities, the internal roads being reconstructed by his administration in Omerelu are damaged.

Why We Specially Celebrate Feb 14 in Bayelsa, Says Gov’s Aide, Timi Zoufa Mary Nnah A Nollywood star and Technical Assistant on Culture to Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, Timi Hadiza Zuofa, has explained why February 14th is celebrated specially in the state and the magic wand being deployed by the governor to ensure that there is love among the people of the state.

She said the governor’s resolve to run an all-inclusive government, which does not discriminate against political interests or affiliations, has ensured tremendous development, unity, love, peace, and understanding among the people and promoted progress.

Speaking about the forthcoming celebration of two years in the office of the governor which is scheduled for February 14, Zuofa, a Theatre artiste and Television personality, said: “February 14 is not just unique on the calendar but also a day that the Bayelsans would look back and continue to thank God Almighty for being God.” Speaking further on how significant February 14th is to

the governor and the state, Zuofa recalled that when the gubernatorial poll between Governor Diri of PDP and Mr. David Lyon of APC took place, a lot of disagreements and misgivings came up and the case was taken to court.

“The parties went back and forth and in fact, it was almost like PDP had lost the case but as God would have it, at the last minute when some of us had lost hope, the outcome was announced by the Supreme Court on February 13, 2020, and Senator Diri was declared the winner and the governor of Bayelsa State and on February 14 our dear governor was sworn-in, signaling the beginning of prosperous years ahead for our dear state,” she added.

She said further, “Senator Diri is a lover of peace and this declaration came up on the eve of February 14. We all know what the date stands for, worldwide, it is set aside in most parts of the world to celebrate valentine; it is a day set aside to show love to all, irrespective of who they are. It is a day everyone shares gifts to affirm their love for one another.

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

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Ferdinand Ekechukwu 08035011394 Email: ferdi_adthisday@yahoo.com

SHOWBIZFLAIR

Buju is Working on New Project Ferdinand Ekechukwu

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eeing as rave of the moment, Buju, real name Daniel Benson has lived up to expectation and shown that he’s no fluke.

The music star had on the heels of his highly acclaimed debut EP ‘Sorry I’m Late’ in 2021, followed with ‘massively successful single concert of the same title last December. Buju’s story and impact on the mainstream soundscape presents him as Nigeria’s MVP of 2021.

The aptly-titled 7-track EP, was described as another reflection of his unorthodox journey and path.

‘Sorry I’m Late’ charts the high level of Buju’s current confidence.

At this moment, the singer took to social media on Sunday to announce that he will drop another project this year, precisely on his birthday on May 19, 2022. By then he would be 25.

While 2020 was a slow year, owing in part to his affiliation with Burna Boy and the pandemic which ravaged the world, he took on 2021 with a vengeance delivering a scene stealing performance on Ladipoe’s Feeling. Ever since his breakout in 2019, Buju has found himself playing an increasingly crucial role in mainstream Nigerian music.

His early singles, like 2018’s “Catch a Vibe” and 2019’s “Energy”, grew his audience and led to appearances alongside heavy hitters like Zlatan (Spiritual), Wizkid (Mood), and 2021 collaborations with Blaqbonez and Amaarae (Bling), and Savage (“Confident”) helped burnish his run as potentially the hottest feature artiste around.

Though his musical ability was a constant presence in his early years, from singing in school choirs and developing a teenage rap career under the moniker Drizzle, to writing songs while studying IT, the story of this Afro-fusion singer, songwriter and producer, is one of an artiste gradually coming to terms with his own talent. “There was always something there—this talent that

Buju

people described as beautiful, but I didn’t really understand what it was about, or how I could use it,” he told Apple Music when featured as “Africa Rising” artiste in November 2021.

Buju adds: “So I had to explain

the whole journey of me going from not making music, to making it, and building a following off of it. I had written out a poem, and had the line ‘Beauty Under Just Understood’. I tried to look up the acronym, B-U-J-U.

‘Breaking-In’ Begins Airing on StarTimes

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he audition of first season of new reality show, Breaking-In, airs every weekend on StarTimes. The show creates a platform for youths to gain insights as well as meaningful career jobs on a TV show. A StarTimes original, Breaking-In held its maiden audition last December.

The audition brings the glitz and razzmatazz of selecting participants for the show, and their wits and idiosyncrasies. The highlights of the audition will premiere on Friday, January 28 on ST Nollywood Plus channel. It will air Fridays to Sundays at 6pm, with a repeat broadcast on Tuesdays to Thursdays at 7pm.

The audition highlight is packaged in

an electrifying way with different stages of hurdles to qualify for the main show. Breaking-In is designed to bring unending suspense, comic relief while educating the viewers.

StarTimes partnered with top companies and government organisations to give immediate job opportunities to over eighty successful candidates. While runners-up will win gifts worth millions of naira.The high point of the main show will be the negotiation and fate box segment where a tempting offer, as well as three boxes, is thrown at the successful candidates to choose one.

The fate box has options that outweigh the tempting offer, equals

the tempting offer, or less than the tempting offer. The candidate is then left to either accept the offer or dip their hands into the fate box to decide their fate.

Speaking about the audition, Alex Jian, CEO of StarTimes Nigeria said: ‘StarTimes is poised to create more job opportunities for youths using the form of communication most appealing to them – entertainment.

“With this kind of show, people can find jobs while customers can get entertained with the razzmatazz of the show. Having partnered with top companies, about eighty to a hundred candidates are guaranteed jobs with good remunerations.”

I found that it means ‘breadfruits’; it’s also a nickname given to chubby kids.

That time, I was also really hooked on to Jamaican artiste, Buju Banton, who’s a legend. It relates to me as a nickname, and everything.”

Zee One Shows Perfect Ways to Speak Love Fluently This Valentine

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f all the things in the air, love is the best! Zee One is so excited to celebrate the most romantic day of the year, Valentine’s Day, with Bollywood fans by dedicating the entire month to thematic movies and drama series.

Everyone has a different love language.

Whether they prefer acts of service, quality time, physical touch, words of affirmation or receiving gifts – Zee One has the perfect way to win over their hearts.

Zee One, a sister channel of Zee World, is on affordable pay-TV platform, StarTimes.

“With romantic dramas, romantic series and romantic comedies, we will be speaking the language of love fluently this February!

If your love language is quality time, then there is no better time and place to plan a date night right in front of your screen with Zee One any day this month,” Ejiro Okene, CEO, DeepVision, the media buying representatives of Zee One in Nigeria said.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

SHOWBIZFLAIR

Omotola Ekeinde, Toke Makinwa Star in ‘Singing Sin’

ifan, Omotola, and Toke Makinwa

Ferdinand Ekechukwu

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rincipal photography is set to kick off for Ifan Michael’s latest project, ‘Singing Sin’, a feature film set in the 70s. Set in a time of people coming out of colonisation and finding their

own style and voice. The Michael directed period piece follows the intriguing tale of two fierce female characters, their journey towards self-discovery and the conflicts in their personal lives.

Confirming the new project in a GQ South Africa exclusive, the award-winning director revealed that the story would center on the lives of some strong inde-

pendent women who risk it all for their dreams.

Michael said: “I’ve always been intrigued by the lives of women in the 70’s, what it felt like at that time. I wanted to approach the subject matter musically, but also to explore some really important themes like self-image, ambition and the complexities of relationships.

Nikky Ufondu: I’m Still Very Much into Acting Tosin Clegg

H

aving made a name for herself in Nollywood, with exceptional role interpretation in blockbuster movies like ‘Excess Luggage’ and ‘Banana Island Ghost’, actress/producer, Nikky Ufondu decided to test the real estate waters with the establishment of Gemini Luxury Homes. Since then, the business woman has stopped at nothing in adding laudable feathers to her cap.

Speaking on her foray into the real estate enterprise while still in the make-belief craft, she said: “It all started when I was working on a talk show titled ‘24/7 with the stars,’ it only survived a few episodes. I had a lot of challenges and was ready to quit filming the show when I met Saheed Apampa, a Nollywood director. He spoke to me about making movies and my Nollywood journey began. I made my first movie, ‘What if’ in 2015 and then my journey as a movie producer and actor began. I acted in quite a few productions before I executively produced ‘Excess Luggage’ in 2017, then made a couple of movies like, ‘Lurk’, ‘Shower Games’, ‘A ll For The Money’ and others. While at it, I thought of a side hustle, then the real estate idea kicked in, but I wanted to learn the business

properly, so I started first as an agent.

“Seeing that the returns from movie making takes a while I wanted multiple streams of income and giving that I have always had a passion for real estate, I said to myself, ‘go into the business, learn all about it’ and the rest like they say is history.”

Asked which is more lucrative of movie production and real estate business, she was quick to note that the real estate business pays more. “Every business has its ups and downs but in real estate, it’s more like a win-win, because your investments tend to appreciate, though, it is capital intensive, you can never go wrong.”

She corrected the impression that she had quit acting/movie production for real estate. “You sound like I left one industry for another. I’m still very involved in both industries. As a matter of fact, I’m working on releasing two amazing films this year; and as for real estate, more projects are coming up in different locations in Lagos, bigger and better. Real estate is the real deal for me though, because as a Nigerian lady, I love making lots of profits.”

Niikky Ufondu

“I want them to recognise the morals and the story of the film. It is a film about survival. It is a film about the sacrifice that people make for the things that they love. It is about the prize people have to pay so can be heard.”

The forthcoming film will see superstar actress, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde star in the lead role alongside On-Air-Personality and social media influencer, Toke Makinwa, with the announcement of other cast members to follow in the coming months.

Speaking on her role, Ekeinde siad: “I am always happy to see projects that are women inclusive, both in front and behind the camera and that keeps pushing the envelope with the stories they tell.

“These are the stories that I have always championed and will continue to champion.

And with ‘Singing Sin’, we have an opportunity to dive into that world, a world controlled by women, each with their different jjourneys.”

On her part, Toke Makinwa said this about the Cheta Chukwu scripted: “When I got the Singing Sin script, I was very intrigued by the character. I am a women’s woman.

“I love women empowerment. I love seeing women flourish, shine, beat odds and surpass the limit that’s been placed on them. I love the era Singing Sin is set in and the themes it explores. I’m excited about the entire project and I can’t wait for the world to see the magic that we are going to create.”

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2022 • T H I S D AY

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ FEBRUARY 5, 2022

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POLITY

Chinese Hail Nigerian Owner of Thriving Cosmetic Factory in Zhejiang Bennett Oghifo

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zochukwu Bobby Marcy is a Nigerian business man from Ngor Okpala Local Government Area in Imo State. He is married to a Chinese and they jointly opened a cosmetic factory near Jinhua in Zhejiang Province - China. Their cosmetics products, such as face powder, eye shadow, soaps and lip glosses have gained international recognition, and are sold in West Africa and Central America.

During the COVID-19 outbreak in China, Uzo’s company, Aibaoni Cosmetics, experienced a huge staff turnover necessitated by lockdown in that country. This measure by the Chinese Government seriously affected foreign trade and impeded the operations of the factory. In order to turn the tables, Bobby and his Chinese wife sacrificed time and money to inject life into the factory. Their resilience and hard work yielded results as they were recognised

by Sino African cross-cultural documentary house to promote the factory, which made the Chinese government to give the factory an award for resilience, integrity and promotion of Nigeria-China bilateral relationship.

The short film, titled “Bobby’s factory”, is aimed at showcasing the indomitable spirit of this young Nigerian to African audience in Africa and to Asian audience during Chinese Lunar New year 2022.

The documentaries are on cultural exchanges between China and Africa. Bobby’s factory has novel themes, the growth version and drama version. The versions show the audiences a Nigerian who has worked hard in China for many years through three parts, China-Africa trade under the epidemic, African bosses and Chinese employees and the impact of home values.

“Some people will experience personal and economic growth in this pandemic, and many others will struggle and become

impoverished. I think with resilience spirit, we can make it through,” Bobby said.

The outbreak of the pandemic has brought adverse impacts to all countries in the world. Bilateral trade and personnel exchanges have been badly affected to varying degrees. Bobby’s factory in Zhejiang- China has become a microcosm of numerous transnational trade enterprises under the epidemic. In order to ensure the normal operation of the factory, Bobby had to face the difficulties and make new attempts and adjustments in products design and employee structure. In this small factory, despite different nationalities, Bobby led the workers to work together to resist the cold winter and harsh conditions. It is both a challenge and an opportunity.

Zhang Yong, the Director of the film, said he hopes that the story of Bobby’s factory, will impact the African audience and the world could see the experience of ordinary people and Africans in China during this era of pandemic, and cause watchers to reflect on the diversity and richness of cultural communication, and showcase the most real appearance of the deep communication between the Chinese and African people.

In November 2021, “Bobby’s factory” won the first prize in the second national film and television anthropology collection.

In the future, China-Africa cooperation will expand to a wider range of fields, including people to people and cultural exchanges.

Bobby said, “Whether you are an African, Chinese or an American, I think the love for our families and countries are the same.”

As an African who grew up with his grandfather in the East and aunt in the Northern part of Nigeria, Bobby speaks Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and Chinese fluently. Living in China, his love for Africans and food has never changed. Often times, he will bring seeds from his hometown to China to sow, and will share the delicious food with his wife and in-laws.

Despite the differences in skin colour and race, Bobby is just

Bobby an ordinary father and husband, who understands the wisdom of seeking common ground while reserving differences in his life.

The ‘Bobby’s factory’ documentary is showing on STARTIMES television at 11:30GMT beginning 1st February, 2020.

Bobby has a warehouse and cosmetics shop in Lagos.

Bringing the Community Together Via Familheey App Uzor Maxim Uzoatu It’s mid-morning in Awka, Anambra State as my old buddy Tony Akudinobi of Hammerhead Ltd gets me introduced to the Co-Founder Ken Chinweze who had come in from Houston, Texas with news of the irresistible App named Familheey.

It took me fast seconds to log in to the Familheey app, and it was a discovery of a vast new world that I instantly made. The inviting words stood out: “Connect, Engage and Grow with Familheey mobile app. The three focus areas of Familheey, notably, Connection, Engagement and Growth, are akin to articles of faith and commitment tailored to fulfill its mission to uplift the lives of people.

In the “Connect” mode, “Familheey brings individuals, families and communities together on a digital platform to fulfill our higher purpose of a common good for society. In the Connect stage, we focus on compelling content to inform, involve and inspire our people.”

In its “Engage” dimension, “Familheey helps our people to engage members, manage needs and offers, and conduct events on our digital platform. In the Engage state, we focus on growing Communities through our seven collaboration features.”

Finally, in the “Grow” model, “Familheey is committed to assisting our community based organizations by offering them a safe and secure digital community experience. In the Grow stage, we enable our Communities to grow with a focus on Commerce and Revenue Generation. With its innovative structured communication approach, Familheey is transforming the way communities communicate, collaborate, learn, and socialize in the future.” Familheey is indeed a preferred platform for communities, and a great alternative to WhatsApp. It serves to bring the family closer with an exquisite and exclusive family group. It creates a space for professional work teams to bond and achieve together. It then builds a space where the community members can stand together to share videos, photos and posts with the family groups and get instant access to all the posts shared across various family groups.

Through Familheey, one can easily engage with all of one’s family members and keep all conversations on track, thus bringing everyone together. Familheey offers the advantage of you making your important announcements stand out from the others. It ensures that everyone gets the important messages on time, every time. Through the medium you can publish your requests so that everyone can contribute to support the cause of your family, company or community at the time of need.

It’s cool to upload your favourite pictures and videos in the album for a lifetime of sharing. Eventually you can store all your important documents in the cloud and share it with everyone. Familheey helps you to become the perfect planner, and it creates memories by inviting your family members to online events. You can use the calendar and third-party applications to fill your

Chinweze calendar with memories across the world. In the crucial field of Education, “Familheey brings students, teachers and learning communities on a single platform to enable online learning.”

In the furtherance of the educational goals, “Familheey enables students to learn and collaborate effectively through online classes, academic projects, and class assessments.” It enables the creation of learning spaces where the academic curriculum can be stored and shared in a secure environment. This way, Familheey has become the go-to online learning platform for many educational institutions across the globe and has a structured communication that helps both teachers and students to communicate with each other in a systematic and effective way. Ken Chinweze reiterates that “Familheey is a purpose-built app that enhances communication within a community of people where they are communicating for a common purpose. All the features are created based on the user experience surveys received from users and communities across the globe.”

The FamilheeyLearn highlights are rendered thus: Track every class activity: All sessions or activities are delivered as unique posts and response from the students and feedback from the teachers are captured within that post as conversation “Conversations in all formats: Conversations are possible in various formats such as text, pictures, audio and video. Security and privacy: Security and privacy are top priority at Familheey. The latest cybersecurity standards

have been applied at various levels such as data encryption, system security and user preferred settings on their groups (families) and profiles. “Personalization: Personalization helps students and teachers to feel a classroom virtually. This creates an emotional acquaintance within the group. Better classification of information. Different sections for announcements, documents and gallery helps students and learners to manage their learning goals and create a great learning environment.

“Manage events: Well-structured events module helps to plan and organize any online or offline meeting/ events in a very structured and organized manner.

“Managing members: Take informed decisions and better classroom management with the proper visibility of the members in a group (family) with custom roles such as ‘Student’, ‘Class Teacher’, ‘Science Teacher’ etc.

“Onboarding: Your students and teachers in your classroom can join very easily by sharing a unique link for your group (family) on the Familheey app.

“Social/collaborative learning: Students learn from other sources also such as student collaboration, expert communities through social learning etc.

“Extracurricular activities: Familheey enables students to participate in larger forums such as virtual school assemblies, virtual libraries, science and arts clubs etc.”

Chinweze reveals that acclamatory testimonials for Familheey from all over the world have been overwhelming. According to C. Chris Ulasi, Ph.D., Writer, Producer, Director at Diaspora Media Network, Inc., “This incredible platform will transform the way we communicate, collaborate, learn, and socialize in the future.”

Father Willy Raymond C.S.C., President of the USA based Holy Cross Family Ministries, whose organization uses the Familheey app across 17 countries in 4 continents, shared this view about the Familiheey app: “Familheey is an all-in-one app combining today’s social media features in a systematic and user-friendly manner.”

Dr Tanya Unni, Director at the Australia -based Amtan Medical Group and Skin Lab & Beauty, offers the following testimony: “The structured communication within Familheey enables physicians to communicate with their clients and colleagues in a much better way than any other applications out there.”

The Familheey app is currently hosting the second edition of its Familheey Mobile Phone Contest featuring the grand prize of US $2000, drawing thousands of people worldwide to participate by uploading their best mobile photograph of life in their country with the theme: My Beautiful Country. This is a global photo contest that should find wide appeal in our beautiful country of Nigeria.

Familheey mobile app is a grand idea whose time has come. Chief Ken Chinweze and his partners in India deserve celebration.

To Join the Familheey App takes 5 simple steps: Click to download the Familheey app from the Google Android Store & the Apple Store; Join the app to discover and join over 900 communities across 50+ countries.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ FEBRUARY 5, 2022

POLITY/RIGHT OF REPLY

2023: It’s the Power of Ideas, Stupid!

Isa Odidi

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iven the continuous pattern to the argument concerning whether age is a determinant in leadership, especially as it relates to the upcoming 2023 election and the desired new president for Nigeria, it has become compelling to evaluate the merits in the argument and find the right conclusions.

For some reasons, obviously owing to the poor performance of the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, which many people around the president find convenient to blame on his bad health at the inception of his administration, there have been clamour for a younger new president in 2023.

While it is easy for the promoters of this argument to stay put on it for the benefit of some shadowy politicians, it is not so easy, on the other hand, to resist the urge to examine the facts behind the argument.

In the 62 years of Nigeria’s leadership, with the exception of President Buhari and former President Olusegun Obasanjo who became a civilian president at about 72 and 62 years respectively, all other leaders that Nigeria has had (civilian and military) have been people who came to leadership at between 31 and 57 years of age. In between these personalities, we have seen leaders who had a terrific record of performance and as well as people who were terrible on the performance chart.

When, at first, the governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, made a remark warning Nigerians not to vote older people into the position of president in 2023, I thought he was probably speaking in generic terms. But when Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi reinforced the same argument with an admonition to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar not to contest for president in 2023, it became clear that some governors within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were already taking positions ahead of 2023 election and, in that wise, it appears that the principal fears about Atiku is his age.

The two governors who bell the cat are, surprisingly, well performing individuals in their respective states. These two gentlemen governors will as well agree with the axiom that ideas rule the world. For, it is the power of idea, for example,

that has enabled Governor Makinde undertake a very revolutionary investment in public education in Oyo State within the first 100 days in the helm of affairs in Oyo State. Such an idea did not have anything to do with his age. Ditto for Governor Bala Mohammed who has turned around the face of public infrastructure in Bauchi State. These governors will agree with me that there have been governors who, like them also, are young people but lacked the power of ideas to uplift their states in the ways that they have done within a short period of time. Truth be told, it’s the power of ideas, stupid (to borrow from the phrase made popular by James Carville, a strategist for Bill Clinton during his 1992 presidential run).

What I am saying in other words, is that age - either old or young - is not a prerequisite for good leadership. Rather, it is the power of ideas and creative thinking that each individual possesses to varying degrees that determines the quantum of how effective each person would be at a leadership position.

In considering the kind of president that Nigeria will require in 2023, we should not bother ourselves with trivialities of age or any primordial issue, but begin to interrogate ideas that respective prospective aspirants come to the table with.

In the case of Atiku Abubakar, what we should be interrogating about his candidature is whether the values that he represents are ideal for the contemporary time that the country passes through. Majority of Nigerians, from the South to the North; East and West agree about the need to restructure Nigeria. What we probably disagree about are the terms and conditions of such restructuring. And, amongst all those currently jostling for the position of president in 2023, no one has enunciated restructuring in a way that Atiku has done. Why do we have to bother ourselves with Atiku’s age, instead of asking him about the terms and conditions of the restructuring that he talks about.

Again, Atiku is renowned for his advocacy for creating jobs for the youth and stopping the misfortune of unemployment in the country. Why are we not interested in asking him what magic he has in his kitty to disarm the monster. Likewise, he is an advocate of increased budgetary allocation to education and has indeed advertised himself to the world as an education enthusiast. Why do we fail to ask him relevant questions about the current state of our education and what plans he has to make our education become more competitive and relevant

Atiku to our development needs.

As of today, Nigeria is at a threshold where her unity is threatened and her peace has been variously violated. Our concern moving forward should not be about the age of the new president that we want to recruit, but instead on the experiences and competencies of the new president. Atiku is a unifier and mixes freely with all ethnic blocs in the country.

Nobody has ever accused him of religious bigotry and his track record in the establishment of the virile democratic ethos spotlight him as a credible statesman.

It is not as though I am against the advocacy of a youthful president, but my admonition is to the effect that we should not sacrifice experience for youthfulness. The fragile peace and unity of the country requires the calmness of mind of a master craftsman more than the untested energies of an unknown hand.

Odidi, a Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology, industrialist, technocrat and entrepreneur writes from Canada.

Akintunde-Johnson and the Trouble with Perception Sulaimon Bala Idris

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n The Art of Political Lying, the 17th century British satirist, Jonathan Swift contemplated the maxim that ‘truth will always prevail’. He argued that while this might be true, so much damage would have been done by the triumph of falsehood such that truth’s victory, when it eventually gained, is rendered worthless: “If a lie be believed only for one hour, it has done its work, and there is no farther occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when we come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale has had its effect…”

Writing in THISDAY newspaper of January 15, 2022, in an article titled, “2023 Gladiators: My Perceptions”, Femi Akintunde-Johnson, a well-known ex-muckraker, announced that he was embarking on a self-appointed task of profiling some presidential aspirants ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Although he did not state it, one would be safe to assume that in embarking on this task, AkintundeJohnson’s motive was to carry out objective assessment of the presidential aspirants and by so doing give Nigerians the opportunity to make informed choices as we head into the elections. After all, this is what journalism is about.

Unfortunately, Akintunde-Johnson made it clear from the onset that in writing his assessments of the aspirants, he was not going to be bothered with facts or evidence, but would instead rely solely on his perception. “My perceptions are simply self-designed criteria to which we intend to sieve the aspirants through…we will hover across the names of random aspirants in no particular order, and make our perceptions known,” he declared.

Perception is a way of knowing. However, the trouble with perception, as some philosophers have argued, is that like murky water, it could easily disguise all manner of impurity and rot. Perception, no matter how strong it is, cannot take the place of verifiable truth because it gives too much room for cognitive distortion.

In the hands of a practiced muckraker, perception becomes an even more dangerous weapon for accessing reality.

By opting to rely only on his perception, AkintundeJohnson, quite understandably, wants to free himself from the burden of facts and even truth, making it easy for his subjective senses to be substituted for even common sense.

The first victim of Akintunde-Johnson’s perception was Owelle Rochas Okorocha, whom he appeared to

have used merely as target practice. On January 15, it was Dr. Bukola Saraki’s turn to be picked off. The article on Saraki was vintage Femi Akintunde-Johnson of the FAME magazine. He made no room for decency or common sense. He separated no facts from fiction.

Half-truth were mixed with bare-faced lies. Conspiracies met with conjectures, and matters that had long been dismissed by competent courts were exhumed and given a new breath of life. But that is the way of rumour mongers and charlatans, not of a professional journalist.

THISDAY is a respectable newspaper. And one can understand why Akintunde-Johnson would require such a credible platform to launder a journalism career defined by a lifetime of scandal mongering. But he needs to be made to understand that the rules are different. Fairness and objective are hallmarks of real journalism that has made THISDAY the newspaper that it is. Career refugees like Akintunde-Johnson must not be allowed to do dirt on the hard-earned reputation of that newspaper.

After reading the article on Saraki, one is forced to reassess Akintunde-Johnson’s real motives in assigning himself the task of reviewing presidential aspirants ahead of 2023, because it was quite clear that his intention was not to help his readers to gain a rounded and robust understanding of each of the aspirants as we originally assumed.

Concluding his introductory article of January 15, he wrote: “We will also appreciate your feedback afterwards, with equal openness and fairness.” This writer must be very bold indeed; to demand fairness when he was willing to give none. If you rely solely on your perception to profile an individual, why shouldn’t the same gestures be extended to you ? Why should you expect fairness?

His article on Saraki drips of bias, of prejudice, of conspiracy and of crass hatred. Based on this article, and what we have heard people say about him, our perception is that Akintunde-Johnson is only out to do someone’s hatchet job, that he is a hired character assassin on a mission to clear the political field for his master. Like he wrote himself, it does not matter if this is “half-truth or holy grail”, it is our perception. And if we must accept his characterization of Dr. Saraki based on his “perception”, he also should be willing to accept this perception of himself as a journalistic scoundrel.

That is the definition of fairness, isn’t it?

How can anyone who understands fairness accuse Dr. Saraki of nepotism on one hand, because he was Governor when his sister was a Senator and on the

other hand accuse him of treachery because he stood against his sister succeeding him as Governor? If Bukola Saraki had supported his family to make his sister succeed him as governor in 2011, certainly this same writer would have deployed the same as evidence of nepotism and why he is not fit to be president.

To take that kind of principled opposition against your own family; to stand for what is right; to say “No, it is morally indefensible for my own sister to take over from me after eight years in government”; to refuse to yield in the face of pressure; this requires absolute courage, the kind of courage of conviction that is required to lead a country.

Perhaps, more than ever before, the President that Nigeria needs in 2023 is a president who believes in Nigeria and who has the political and social capacity to rally the citizens to believe in Nigeria again. This is what Dr. Saraki represents. His presidential aspiration is based on an instinctive conviction that Nigeria has a huge potential for greatness. He believes that more than even our much celebrated natural endowments, our greatest asset is the people of Nigeria, especially the youths. He believes that the greatest investments any nation can make is in its youth population.

One thing that even his worst detractors cannot deny is Dr. Saraki’s technical capacity and political competence. But beyond this, he is one of the few political leaders in this country who is at home in all parts of the country. In our quest to build a truly unified nation where everyone has a sense of belonging, this is one great attribute that cannot be overlooked.

Dr. Saraki wants to be president because he understands the logic and language of the private sector and what is required to grow the economy. Moreover, his track records as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and the National Assembly would readily attest to his capacity to rally the political elite and achieve a consensus around a political agenda for the development of the country.

One would expect that anyone interested in profiling a presidential aspirant at this moment of great economic and political crisis in the country would focus on these issues rather than gossips, hearsay and conspiracies. Is Dr. Saraki perfect? Of course not! But who is? However, what he cannot be faulted for is his great capacity and his unwavering belief in Nigeria. Certainly, these attributes cannot be interrogated through a writer’s distorted perception.

– Sulaimon Bala Idris works with the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Media Office, Abuja.

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ FEBRUARY 5, 2022

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POLITY

National Assembly and Endless Amendments Eddie Mbadiwe

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ince democratic government was restored in 1999, anchored on a constitution put together by the military and top civil servants that swore in Olusegun Obasanjo as President, every elected National Assembly has had as one of its core Committees as Constitution Review. This is one of the so called juicy committees whose membership is a privilege. It is ‘juicy’ in the sense that members of this committee usually go on a ‘retreat’ which can last for 3 to 5 days in a posh hotel invariably out of Abuja with all expenses paid and generous allowances. The whole idea is that during the refresher course, the members will be flooded with innovative ideas to fashion a more functional constitution for Nigeria. Whether this has ever been achieved or can’t be achieved is another matter. The jury which is the Nigerian public has not come to a verdict and is still out.

The whole point that needs forensic and critical analysis is whether the 1999 constitution as amended is really a genuine legal document. It is predicated and hinged in a declaration which is not true to wit – “we the people.” The first page of the 1999 constitution as amended starts with: “We the people of the federal republic of Nigeria do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves the following Constitution.”

It then goes on to enumerate the various provisions.

That opening statement is false as it did not happen. If the foundation is faulty as this one obviously was, it follows that any structure built on it will eventually collapse. That is why we have to be panel beating the 1999 constitution with each parliament. A number of buildings erected on structurally defective foundations have collapsed all over Nigeria. The examples are legion one of the notable ones been T.B. Joshua’s synagogue of all Nations.

For the nation to survive, grow and thrive, the foundation must be totally re-engineered and the only way is to involve The People, set up a Constituent Assembly to formulate a constitution, debate it, put it through a referendum for adoption or rejection by the Nigeria people. It is only then that we can enact A Peoples Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

This cannot be done in a hurry but the process must start now. The current parliament must do its duty and set up

the constitutional body so that the next parliament can finish up the job. Any constitution that is not production led and fashioned by the Nigerian people working as the committed proletariat will not fly.

The argument has been made in some quarters that the body set up under President Jonathan’s administration had done this job. That argument can be punctured up front because in spite of all the billions of naira spent on accommodation, allowances and administrative expenses, that exercise has no legal authority or backing. At best it is a document that can assist discussions of the constitution body.

During the course of that conference, there was a meeting at Hotel Barcelona in Abuja which Gen. Buhari (not yet President) attended. I was at that meeting.

General Buhari in reference to the ongoing conference said the exercise was a waste of public funds having been generated by a knee-jerk reaction to defuse the heated polity. The temperature of the nation at that time was almost at boiling point. It is therefore not surprising that its recommendations have been deliberately left to gather dust on bookshelves.

The kind of body that is envisaged for this new constitution must have only two (2) representatives per state. Trade Unions and Student bodies must be represented if they show genuine seriousness. I say genuine seriousness because a situation where the President of NANS comes late to functions in a convoy of Range-Rover does not speak well for students’ seriousness and commitment. Who is buying the Range-Rover? Some of us also served NUNS as under graduates at the National Level and we did not carry on in that fashion. Only when the constitution has been approved can we start talking about “We The People”.

There has been so much public discussion as to whether Nigeria is getting value from the work of the National and State Assemblies. This constitution body will also address and recommend to the nation, the duties and responsibilities of the National Assembly. There will be need to enforce attendance requirements failing which the members will automatically forfeit their seats. It may also be empowered to examine critically whether Nigeria can afford a bicameral legislature with all its burgeoning running costs and whether one chamber will not function adequately.

It is only when these institutions are firmly entrenched and functional that plans for a unified nation will thrive and grow. Our years of paper independence have unfortunately

been wasted by a parasitic-slave bourgeois class that has continued to function as commission agents for our former colonial masters. The colonial masters continue to have a field day of exploitation knowing we cannot make any progress with the current status quos. This class of rulers is more interested in growing their bank accounts and siphoning money to foreign banks. Corruption is their advance weapon of attack so corruption will never die. Neo colonialism is much alive in most of Africa and the so called third world. Have we ever bothered to find out why serious world leaders like Joe Biden, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have never bothered to visit Africa? They are so busy improving the living standards of their peoples and only the crumps from their food baskets are sent to Africa.

This perhaps explains why a city like Lagos which has all the reserves to be a world-city continues to be an un-coordinated concrete maze enveloped in smelly slums. Can one compare Lagos with Dubai which is a virgin city forged from an arid desert? What of the narrow strip along the coast called Singapore built more or less by Lee Kuan Yew. Singapore has been transformed into a haven on earth.

A respected Nigerian Lawyer Afe Babalola SAN is reported to have said recently that Nigeria will collapse if the nation is not restructured before the 2023 general election.

With due respect Sir, the election of 2023 will hold with the 1999 constitution and Nigeria will not collapse by then. This nation has that resilience. However there is a basic but major scientific law we cannot ignore. Every metal has its elastic limit which if exceeded, the metal will snap. So it is with countries. The kind of constitution that is envisaged will recognize and accommodate all divergent nationalities and cultures.

All the ingredients for a really great nation including the human component have been placed by a benevolent creator in this land. Why then this lack of meaningful progress? Could it be the laziness and slovenes of the human workforce. If these are identified as the retarding factors, then let us address them by fire and force and get that attitude buried permanently. Until all these things are in place, all the talk of Nigeria being the Giant of Africa is nothing but a pipe dream or at best discharge of hot air amounting to nothing.

– Hon. Dr. Eddie Mbadiwe writes from Abuja.

PHOTO NEWS

L-R: National Marketing Manager, Below the Line, Good life Magik, Mr. Isaac Egbe; Head –Activation, Ojuwoye Market, Mushin, Alhaja Dupe Akanbi; Marketer, Ojuwoye Market, Mushin, Mistura Adedeji; and Nollywood Actress, Ronke Ojo; a.k.a, Ronke Oshodi-Oke, during Good Life Magik drink market activation in Ojuwoye market, Mushin in Lagos…. yesterday SUNDAY ADIGUN

L-R: District Governor-Elect, Rotary International District 9110, Rotarian Omotunde Lawson; Chief Financial Officer, FBN Holdings Plc, Oyewale Ariyibi; Commissioner for Education, Lagos State, Hon. Folasade Adefisayo; President, Rotary Club of Lagos, Rotarian Babawale Agbeyangi; and Head Digital Marketing, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Chinwe Bode-Akinwande during the inauguration and handover ceremony of a block of four classrooms, a library, and a borehole donated to Lafiaji Senior High School, Lagos State by the Rotary Club of Lagos

L-R: National Co-coordinator, Rose of Sharon Foundation, Mrs. Oluwatosin Taiwo; Psychologist, Grace Foundation Lagos, Ms. Ajani Raliat; a beneficiary of the program, Mrs. Mkpa Iyamam; Chief Medical Director, CHECK L-R: Former Director-General, NIMASA, Dr. Ferdinand Agu; former Senate President, Anyim Pius Medical Missions, Dr. Babarinsa Adeleye and Country Manager Rose of Sharon Foundation, Dr. Ndudi Bowei Anyim; and Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba Land, Chief Gani Adams during Anyim visit to Gani Adams during the Rose of Sharon Foundation’s Healthcare Program held in Lagos…. recently in Lagos…. yesterday

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SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2022 • T H I S D AY

3

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ APRIL 24, 2011

GLOBAL SOCCER A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

05.2.2022

Josh Maja Takes Redemption to The Potters

NEWS

SALAH, MANE GO FOR BROKE PAGE. 29

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ FEBRUARY 5, 2022

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GLOBAL SOCCER

Josh Maja sends an opponent reeling on the turf

Josh Maja Takes Redemption to The Potters

With just 45 minutes of football across four appearances, Josh Maja’s time during his return to Bordeaux after a loan spell at Fulham was everything but a success. After moves from Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Serie A clubVenezia and Alaves of La Liga as well as two MLS clubs, Super Eagles striker all fell through. Championship side, Stoke City won over the Nigerian just six months after leaving England for France

J

osh Maja’s departure from Wearside mid-way through Sunderland’s first season in the third tier was a controversial episode with the player and his agent often portrayed as the villain.

But it hasn’t worked out for the striker in France though there were some flashes of quality during the loan move to Fulham.

Having scored 11 goals in 48 games for Bordeaux after joining from Sunderland in January 2019, Maja spent the second half of last season on loan with Fulham, where he was unable to prevent them suffering relegation from the Premier League.

Maja then returned to France in the summer, but struggles for fitness and game time saw him feature on just four more occasions for Bordeaux, all of which were late appearances

from the bench.

As a result, Maja secured a return to England in the final hours of the January transfer window, completing a move to Stoke on a loan deal until the end of the season.

Nottingham Forest were said to have agreed a deal to pay Bordeaux a fee of €4.5m for Maja last summer but the move fell through due to an issue with Maja’s medical.

Maja took to Twitter to reveal his satisfaction at joining Stoke City on loan from Bordeaux for the rest of the season.

Maja wrote: “Delighted to be a part of @ stokecity for the rest of the season. Let’s work.”

Stoke are currently 12th in the Championship table, six points off the play-offs, and are next in action when they host Wigan in the FA Cup today, a game in which Maja

could make his debut.

The 23-year-old Super Eagles player signed for the Potters on loan from the French side but with an option to make deal permanent in the summer after Stoke City completed the signing of the striker on deadline day from French Ligue 1 club Bordeaux.

The EFL Championship side has revealed the arrival of the 23-year-old Nigerian player on a loan deal and he will spend the remainder of the season at the bet365 Stadium, after receiving his international clearance.

Maja becomes the fifth signing for the Potters after Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Phil Jagielka, Lewis Baker, and Jaden PhilogeneBidace.

Revealing why he signed Maja, Stoke coach

Michael O’Neill said: “Josh will bring a different dimension to our attacking options and I’m really pleased that we’ve held off competition from a number of other clubs to secure him,” O’Neill told the club’s official website.

Meanwhile, Maja, who has an option to make the transfer permanent in the summer, has explained why he decided to sign for the Potters.

“It was the ambition and admiration that the coaching staff have for me here,” Maja said. “They showed a big interest in me and did a very good job convincing me to take the opportunity to come here.

“Also, the long-term mindset. Obviously, it’s a loan deal with an option so if all things go well, I could be here longer than this season, so we will see how it goes, but I’m excited.

“It didn’t really take too much selling, it was more that the staff had a lot of admiration for me, and I knew that Stoke City was a big club with a lot of history in the Premier League.

That is where I want to be, and hopefully, I can take the club to where it should be.”

On having an option to make the move permanent, Maja said: “It was very important.

Obviously, my time at Bordeaux hasn’t been easy this season. I was injured at the start and haven’t had the game time.

“To come here, play a number of games, and hopefully score a lot of goals, it’s obviously going to have a big impact on the club.

“Hopefully I can do the job and help this club back to where it belongs, which is the Premier League.”

Maja started his first-team career with Sunderland, where he managed to score 16 goals in 41 league appearances and his display attracted Bordeaux, whom he signed for in January 2019 and went ahead to score 12 goals in 52 appearances.

In August 2019, the then Nigeria manager Gernot Rohr said he wanted Maja to represent the Super Eagles and he finally made his international debut on September 10 in a 2-2 friendly against Ukraine, replacing Victor Osimhen in added time.

Maja could make his debut when Stoke host Wigan Athletic in the fifth round of the FA Cup at bet365 Stadium today or in their next league fixture against Swansea City at the same venue on Tuesday.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ FEBRUARY 5, 2022

GLOBAL SOCCER AFCON 2021

Egypt, Cameroon Go for Broke in Tomorrow’s Final After four weeks of raw but intriguing football actions, the curtains would be drawn on the African Cup of Nations on Sunday at the Olembe Stadium inYaounde, Cameroon

Sadio Mane targets first AFCON title with Senegal

ROAD TO FINAL EGYPT GROUP STAGE

Mo Salah-led Egypt will have Senegal to contend with in the AFCON finals on Sunday

T

hemostsuccessfulteaminAfrica Cup of Nations history meet a team that have, somewhat surprisingly, never won it as Egypt take on Senegal at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon in Sunday’s final.

Egypt have lifted the trophy on seven occasions and will be looking to make it eight after knocking hosts Cameroon out on penalties in Thursday’s semi-final.

Senegal, meanwhile, have benefited from a fairly kind route to the final and overcame Burkina Faso 3-1 on Wednesday night.

Intriguingly, the two nations have also been drawn against each other in next month’s World Cup qualifying playoffs, so this match represents the start of what could be an enthralling trilogy. And, of course, it pits Liverpool teammates Sadio Mane and Mo Salah in direct opposition.

Egypt have been to extra-time in all three of their knockout stage matches so far and have had 24 hours less than their opponents to prepare for Sunday’s final.

That could see Carlos Queiroz forced to freshen things up, though he will himself be missing from the touchline after being sent off during the semi-final win over Cameroon.

Neither side have lit up the tournament with amazing football but both have shown plenty of nous to get this far.

Egypt’s exertions to get this far may finally catch up with them, however, Senegal is highly fancied to carry the day.

Fresh off the back of a gruesome semifinal defeat at the hands of Egypt, Africa Cup of Nations hosts Cameroon lock horns with Burkina Faso at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in the third-place playoff today.

The Stallions, on the other hand, fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Senegal in Wednesday’s last-four clash and will head into this game desperate to get one over Cameroon having failed to taste victory in any of the last five meetings between the sides.

After a sloppy start to the Africa Cup of Nations, Burkina Faso will feel satisfied with their performance at the tournament as they could walk away with the Bronze medal today. Kamou Malo’s side were denied a dream start to the tournament

in their opening game, when they fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Cameroon when Vincent Aboubakar struck twice to cancel out Gustavo Sangare’s 24th-minute opener and hand the host nation all three points.

However, Burkina Faso bounced back to winning ways four days later when they edged out Cape Verde 1-0 in a nervy contest before wrapping things up in the group stages with a 1-1 draw with Ethiopia.

With four points from three games, the Stallions finished as runners-up in Group A, three points off group winners Cameroon and level on points with Cape Verde, who also progressed as one of the four best third-placed sides.

Heading into the knockout stages as one of the underdogs, the West Africans were then held to a 1-1 draw by a resilient Gabon side in their round-of-16 clash before going on to win the game 7-6 on penalties.

Burkina Faso continued their fairytale run at the tournament as they claimed a surprise 1-0 victory over Tunisia in the quarter-finals last Saturday courtesy of Dango Ouattara’s solitary strike on the stroke of half time.

However, Malo’s side were denied a second final appearance since 2013, when they were beaten 1-0 by Nigeria, as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Senegal in in their semi-finals four days later.

Following a drab first-half, the game was sparked to life after the interval as Abdou Diallo and Ahmadou Bamba Dieng scored in a six-minute spell to put the Senegalese two goals up, and after Ibrahim Blati Toure pulled one back in the 82nd minute, Sadio Mane scored his third goal of the tournament to restore the Lions of Teranga’s two-goal advantage.

Burkina Faso head into Wednesday’s game unbeaten in 10 of their last 12 games across all competitions, scoring 18 goals and keeping five clean sheets in that time.

On the other hand, for all the promise shown throughout the course of the tournament, Cameroon will feel somewhat disappointed all the same as they will now have to settle for a third-placed finish at best.

Following a fine run in the qualifiers, where they finished top of Group F after claiming 11 points from six games, the Indomitable Lions secured smooth passage to the Africa Cup of Nations proper.

Riding on the wave of support from the home crowd, the Central Africans got the tournament underway in style when they came from behind to claim a 2-1 win over today’s opponents when they met in Group A. Toni Conceicao’s men turned in another fine show of class four days later when they came from behind to secure a comprehensive 4-1 win over Ethiopia, before holding out for a 1-1 draw in their group finale against Cape Verde.

Finishing top of Group A with seven points from three games, Cameroon got the ball rolling in the knockout stages on January 24 when they saw off a dogged Comoros side 2-1 courtesy of goals in either half from Vincent Aboubakar and Karl Toko Ekambi.

The Olympique Lyon forward was at it again in the quarter-finals as he struck twice in the second half against Gambia five days later to hand his side a second last-four appearance in five years.

However, Cameroon’s charge for a sixth Africa Cup of Nations title came to an end on Thursday when they were beaten on penalties by Egypt following a goalless 120 minutes at the Paul Biya Stadium.

In a cagey affair between the two most decorated sides in the history of the competition, Conceicao’s side were guilty of wasteful finishing as they failed to tuck away their chances and with nothing separating the sides after extra time, the Pharaohs claimed a 3-1 win on penalties.

This fine run has been in no small part owing to their impressive display at the attacking end of the pitch, where they have scored 20 goals in that time, while managing four clean sheets at the opposite end of the pitch.

Next up for Cameroon is an opposing side who they are unbeaten against in each of the last five encounters between the sides since 2015, claiming three draws and two wins, including a 2-1 win in the group stages, and they will feel confident of coming away with the desired result today.

Nigeria G’Bissau Egypt

1-0 Egypt 0-1 Egypt 1-0 Sudan

ROUND OF

16

I’Coast

4-5 Egypt (Penalties)

Q’FINALS EGYPT SEMIFINALS

2-1 Morocco

Cameroon

1-3 Egypt (Penalties)

SENEGAL GROUP STAGE

Senegal Senegal Malawi

1-0 Zimbabwe 0-0 Guinea 0-0 Senegal

ROUND OF

16

Senegal

2-0 Cape Verde

Q’FINALS SENEGAL SEMIFINALS

3-1

E’Guinea

Burkina Faso 1-3 Senegal

Head-to-Head SUNDAY

Egypt wins: Senegal wins: Draws:

6 4 2

PAST WINNERS

1957: Egypt 1959: Egypt 1962: Ethiopia 1963: Ghana 1965: Ghana 1968: Zaire (now DRC) 1970: Sudan 1972: Congo Brazzaville 1974: Zaire 1976: Morocco 1978: Ghana 1980: Nigeria 1982: Ghana 1984: Cameroon 1986: Egypt 1988: Cameroon 1990: Algeria 1992: Ivory Coast 1994: Nigeria 1996: South Africa 1998: Egypt 2000: Cameroon 2002: Cameroon 2004: Tunisia 2006: Egypt 2008: Egypt 2010: Egypt 2012: Zambia 2013: Nigeria 2015: Ivory Coast 2017: Cameroon 2019: Algeria

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ FEBRUARY 5, 2022

GLOBAL SOCCER

Nigeria’s femela U20 team pose for a photograph

Heartland of Owerri

Falconets Battle Cameroon for Costa Rica 2022 Final Qualifying Ticket Coach Chris Danjuma and his Nigeria U20 girls will pull no punches when they take on their Cameroonian counterparts in the second leg of their fourth-round fixture, as the race for this year ’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finals hots up.

The venue is the refurbished MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja and kick-off time is 4pm today.

Both teams battled to a scoreless draw in a tough and gritty encounter at the Stade Reunification in Douala on Saturday, 22nd January.

Danjuma told

thenff.com: “We have no choice but to go all out for goals. The Cameroonian team is a strong one but we have worked hard since returning from the first leg in Douala and I believe my girls will get the job done.”

Today’s encounter will be the first international match at the MKO Abiola National Stadium since the venue hosted a 2016 Women Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match between the Super Falcons and the Senior Women Team of Senegal in April 2016.

It is also the first of a number of crucial matches for Nigeria at the arena in the next

few months, including the first leg of the 2022 Women AFCON final qualifying fixture between the Super Falcons and the Lady Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire and the return leg of the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoff round between the Super Eagles and the Black Stars of Ghana The Falconets require only the minimum win to reach the final qualifying round, where they will square up with the winner between Morocco and Senegal for a place in the finals in Costa Rica in August this year.

Togolese official Vincentia Amedome has been appointed by CAF as the referee.

India 2022: Olowookere Invites 35 Players to Camp for DR Congo Head Coach Bankole Olowookere has called 35 players to the camp of the U17 Girls’ National Team, Flamingos to begin preparations for next month’s 2022 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifying fixture against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Flamingos actually started a qualifying campaign for the championship two years ago, defeating their Guinean counterparts

home and away, before the global coronavirus pandemic compelled world football –governing body, FIFA to jettison the process and forget the 2020 competition altogether.

However, just like it has done with the U20 Women’s World Cup, FIFA has retained the designated host nation for the 2020 event, India as host for the 2022 finals.

The championship will

hold 11th-30th October.

The Flamingos will start their campaign for this year’s finals when they play away to the U17 girls of DR Congo in Kinshasa on March 6. The return leg is scheduled for the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, March 19.

All invited players have been advised to report to the Chida Hotel, Abuja on Monday, February 7.

StarTimes Announces Pay-per-day for AFCON Final Liverpool teammates, Mohamed Salah of Egypt and Sadio Mane of Senegal will come up against each other in the Africa Cup of Nations final on Sunday at 8 pm, as 2017 runners-up Egypt take on 2019 runners-up Senegal.

With a pay-per-day option, football fans can see all the best action of the match live and in HD on StarTimes’ World Football channel.

The Egyptian Pharaohs are chasing a recordextending eighth African crown while Senegal’s Teranga Lions anticipate their first title.

Egypt defeated hosts Cameroon 3-1 on penalties at the end of a goalless 120 minutes in

Yaounde on Thursday.

This was Egypt’s third extra time in the tournament, after defeating Ivory Coast in the last 16 and Morocco in the quarter-finals.

Senegal overcame Burkina Faso 3-1 in normal time in their semifinal match.

Among European-based stars at AFCON, Mane’s big influence in matches involving Senegal is only comparable to Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah’s influence on Egypt.

Neither player has had the honour of lifting the trophy so far in their illustrious careers.

StarTimes Nigeria PR Manager, Lazarus

Ibeabuchi, said: “Football lovers in Nigeria can look forward to this exciting showpiece on StarTimes at the most affordable rate in the market with an option to pay-per-day which is N320 for classic subscribers and N400 for subscribers on super bouquet.

“Active subscribers can watch on the go by downloading StarTimes ON mobile app and linking it to their decoders, at no extra cost, to access the same content on up to three mobile devices.

Also, non StarTimes users can also watch live on the StarTimes-ON app at N400 weekly, with an option to subscribe with their MTN airtime.”

Heartland Risk Expulsion from NPFL Following representations by the Management of Heartland FC providing proof of approval of payment of salaries of the players and other staff by the Imo State government, the club has been granted a further extension of deadline to comply with the decision of the League Management Company (LMC).

In a letter dated 28th January, the club requested additional 10 working days to enable it perfect the payment of salaries overdue.

Consequently, the LMC ruled that Heartland FC has been giving up to close of business of February 18th, 2022 to complete all the processes and clear all the outstanding overdue payables to the players and officials and submit evidence to the LMC. LMC warned the club that a breach of this condition will result in six points being automatically deducted from points already earned by the Club and matches of Heartland FC will be automatically suspended within the framework of the NPFL. The club was further told that it would be automatically relegated to the Nigeria National League (NNL) should it miss three consecutive matches

and all the players granted special authorisation to move to other Clubs. “Heartland will also not be allowed to participate in the NNL until these overdue payables are fully settled”, the LMC stated in its response.

The letter went on to say, “We have reviewed your request and subsequent events as you reported to LMC from 28th January 2022 to date. We have further noted your verbal confirmation to LMC that the Government of Imo State have approved the payment of all the outstanding overdue Payables to the players and officials of Heartland FC and you are making effort to ensure payments are effected immediately.

The LMC said it’s decision to take the punitive measures has been informed by repeated breaches by the club, noting that “the issue of overdue payables by Heartland FC has been a recurring event spanning several administrations of Imo State Government (the owners of the club), which implies repeated breach

by Heartland contrary to the NPFL Framework and Regulations”.

Heartland were also given up to March 31, 2022 to pro-

vide the LMC with credible and satisfactory evidence that it has taken all necessary steps to ensure that future salaries of the players and employees are settled as at when due.

On this second condition, the LMC demanded that “Specifically, you should move the club wage bill to be paid directly by your Government as a first line charge as agreed with the LMC prior to the commencement of 2022 NPFL Season.

Alternatively, Heartland FC must provide the LMC with a Bank guarantee of not less than N100m (One Hundred Million Naira Only) to Guarantee the payment of the players and officials’ salaries in case of any default.

“This is a condition for Heartland FC continued participation in the NPFL and failure to meet up with this condition would result to automatic suspension of all Heartland matches. Should Heartland, thereafter miss three consecutive matches, the Club will be automatically relegated to the NNL and all your players granted special authorization to move to other Clubs. Heartland will also not be allowed to participate in the NNL until all overdue payables are fully settled”

Liverpool’s Salah, Mane in AFCON Final Clash Airs on GOtv Liverpool’s duo of Mohammed Salah of Egypt and Sadio Mane of Senegal are set to challenge each other for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy on Sunday, at the Olembe Stadium, Cameroon.

Salah’s Pharaohs avenged a 2017 final loss to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon by beating the tournament host via penalty shootouts on Thursday night to book a place in the final in chase for a record eight AFCON title.

Mane’s Teranga Lions secured a consecutive AFCON final following a 3-1 victory over Burkina Faso on Wednesday night and they

will be hoping to rebound from 0-1 final loss to Algeria at the 2019 edition which was held in Egypt.

Both forwards have established a bond at the club level and have become a mainstay in Jurgen Klopp’s starting 11 and winning the Champions League, Premier League, UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA World Club Cup together with the Reds.

Mane believes that his countrymen will benefit from the 2019 experience to emerge victorious on Sunday in their bid to lift the AFCON trophy for the first time. “Experience is a good asset,” Mane said.

He added, “We played a

final last time, so we have experience and we will try to win this trophy.”

Salah has never hidden his desire to lift the AFCON trophy, he said “Of course, I want to win something with the national team. It’s my country, which I love the most. This trophy for me, would be completely different, would be the closest one to my heart.”

GOtv customers can watch all of the semi-final action from the tournament unfold live on SuperSport Select 2, GOtv Channel 34, to discover whether love will be lost between the Liverpool forwards.

Okonkwo Battles Townsend, Richarlison for Everton Goal of the Month Award

Teenage Anglo-Nigerian striker, Francis Okoronkwo has been shortlisted for Everton’s Goal of the Month award for January, informs the official website of the club.

The 17-year-old has been nominated for his effort in a 4-2 loss to Manchester United in the U18 Premier League on January 22.

Okoronkwo’s strike is one

of seven shortlisted for the Goal of the Month and in his bid to win the accolade he faces competition from first team stars Demarai Gray, Andros Townsend and Richarlison.

Other nominees are Everton Women duo Anna Anvegard and Claire Emslie, and development squad attacking midfielder Stanley Mills.

At the AON Training Complex, Okoronkwo brought the game to parity with an angled strike into the bottom corner five minutes into the second half.

Signed from Sunderland last September, he also found the net against Stoke City (U18 Premier League) and Sheffield United (FA Youth Cup) last month.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ FEBRUARY 5, 2022

GLOBAL SOCCER

Simy Nwankwo

Takes ‘Crusade’ to Parma Simy Nwankwo

In their quest to return to top flight, Parma has gone for the signature of Nigeria’s alltime top scorer in Serie A- Simy Nwankwo hoping that the Super Eagles striker can repeat his 2019/2020 feat where his 20 league goals helped Crotone gain promotion to the top-flight

P

arma last week completed the signing of Simy Nwankwo from Salernitana on a sixmonth loan deal with an option to buy.

The Crusaders are currently languishing in the bottom half of the Serie B table, but they have added more firepower to their attack as they attempt to improve on their position.

The Italian club announced the deal on their social media pages and website as they try to make a late push for promotion to the Italian top-flight.

Parma are getting a player with enough Italian football experience in Simy. The Super Eagles striker scored 20 league goals in the 2019/2020 Serie B season, which helped Crotone gain promotion to the top-flight.

Simy repeated the trick in Serie A last season to become Nigeria’s alltime top scorer in Italy’s top division.

But his goals could not save Crotone from relegation, who then loaned out the Nigerian to the newly-promoted Salernitana.

However, Simy has not been able to replicate the same form for the Garnets, with just one goal in 19 league appearances this season.

Interestingly, it was against Parma last season that Nwankwo took his goal tally to 19 – the highest that any Nigerian has ever achieved in any of the top five European leagues – La Liga, Bundesliga, EPL, Serie A, and Ligue 1.

In doing so, the 29-year-old became the Nigerian to have scored the most

goals in a single campaign in Europe’s top five leagues, overtaking Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s previous record of 17.

Simy also eclipsed former Inter Milan star Obafemi Martins as the highest scoring Nigerian in the Serie A. Martins scored 28 times in 88 matches for Inter Milan, but Simy ended with 30 goals, all in the colours of Crotone.

His 19 goals put him third on the goal scorers’ chart with only Cristiano Ronaldo 25, and Romelu Lukaku 21, ahead of the 29-year-old Nigerian forward.

Nwankwo scored 20 goals for Crotone in Serie B last season to help the team gain promotion. Before then, he had scored just 10 goals in his prior two seasons in Serie A with Crotone, in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, in which he played 44 matches. But Nwankwo’s goals last season have not helped Crotone at all as they were relegated.

Asked when was the first time he kicked a football, Simy said: “I was little, I was maybe four years old.

I started playing at home, outside, everywhere. Every time. I always wanted the ball between my feet. My father said I was sick from this game.

It didn’t take much to give birth to my passion, or rather obsession, for football.”

The gangling striker was a member of the Super Eagles team to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia though he saw only three minutes of action

throughout the three group stage matches. He won the first of his four caps for Nigeria against DR Congo in 2018 but he has not played for Nigeria since August 2018.

Last summer Tottenham Hotspur expressed their interest in Nwankwo and some in North London may have feared that history was about to repeat itself.

When it comes to signing strikers, Spurs’ track record doesn’t make for particularly comfortable reading.

Simy would have arrived after the season of his life in which scored a remarkable 20 Serie A goals for a Crotone side who finished 19th, a whopping 14 points adrift of safety.

The 6ft 6ins Nigeria international even outscored Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lorenzo Insigne and Lautaro Martinez. Dusan Vlahovic, arguably the most coveted striker in world football, netted just one more than the Crotone talisman in 2020/21.

History is littered with players who shone in their breakthrough top-flight season before failing to reach those heights again.

Simy had only ever scored 10 Serie A goals before 2020/21 begun. His most impressive displays, meanwhile, came at second-tier level, in Italy and Portugal.

Newly-promoted Salernitana jumped at the chance to bring Simy to the Stadio Arechi once Tottenham’s apparent interest died down. But if Salernitana thought the late-blooming 29-year-old could replicate his Crotone displays they were very much mis-

taken.

One goal in 19 games tells it’s own story.

And, on the final day of the January transfer window, Simy was farmed out on loan to Serie B outfit Parma.

“He didn’t have the right approach.

It’s as if he wasn’t eating at our table.

We are disappointed,” says former Salernitana CEO Ugo Marchetti.

Last month, Antonio Conte went public with his desire to bring in a new centre-forward in order to ease the goalscoring burden on Harry Kane’s shoulders. Agent thinks Conte could’ve convinced Dusan Vlahovic to choose Spurs ove...

Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici wanted Fiorentina’s Serie A striker Dusan Vlahovic to choose the Premier League...

It looks highly unlikely that Simy will be back on Spurs’ radar any time soon.

G LO B A L S O C C E R ASSISTANT EDITOR KUNLE ADEWALE THISDAY ON SATURDAY EDITOR YEMI ADEBOWALE DEPUTY EDITOR AHAMIFULA OGBU THISDAY NEWSPAPERS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

THEFRONTLINES

JOE/FAJ

Who’s Afraid of Igbo Nation?

A

s the race for the choice of a geopolitical zone that would produce the next President gathers momentum, the thrust of the debate is defined by three pillars of argument: equity, numerical strength and qualified detribaalized nationally accepted Nigerians regardless of race, religion etc.

Let me begin from the last criterion for obvious reasons. Nigeria is bedeviled almost by insurmountable problems and currently hanging on the precipice of insecurity, unemployment, high inflation, diminishing standards of living, kidnapping and banditry and other sundry criminal activities.

The thinking is that, Nigeria is passing through these harrowing experiences because of past and present bad leadership. To stop this recurring phenomena, stakeholders are beginning to discuss new ways to throw up a credible and visionary candidate that would be accepted pan-Nigeria. A candidate who would take Nigeria as his constituency regardless of where he comes from or his religion. This is the current thinking of a section of the political class.

The second consideration is to throw the race open to every qualified Nigerian. In the end, who ever can muster majority votes will carry the day.

This is essentially the beauty of democracy which is built around the ideal that it is of the people, by the people and for the people.

In Nigeria where the north alone has 19 states including the federal capital which is predominantly populated by northerners, the north alone has a commanding lead of 20 states ahead of the south which has 17 states.

This position is canvassed by a coalition of 75 northern groups under the aegis of the Northern Consensus Movement (NCM) which claimed that the north has a population of 120 million, with additional 40 million Fulani people to close at 160 million The NCM president, Awwal Abdullahi Aliyu is

confident that the next Nigerian president would be a northerner.

“We are ready for it. We believe in democracy.

We know politics is a game of numbers. We know leadership is by ballot box. Leadership is by PVC, leadership is by election and that’s why we are calling our people to come out enmasse to get their PVCs. “The 120 million northerners should get their PVC. The 40 million Fulani should get their PVC. Put together, 160 million. We will elect another fresh northern president by February 2023,” he stated.

Figures credited to the National Population Commission census of 2006 still records Nigeria’s population at 140m with the north having 75 million while the south recorded 65 million people.

Now those kicking against this approach argue that relying on the numerical strength of your bloc to win a presidential election engenders winners takes all and does not build a cohesive and united country.

This set of people arguing against the use of numerical strength by a dominant group to control power rather seeks inclusiveness built around compromise and consensus. They are the ones seeking the consideration of equity in building political alliances.

The foundation of this argument lies with the consideration that while the north has been in leadership position for decades through military and civil rule, every zone in the south except the South east is yet to lead the country. The nearest the region could boost as proximity to the corridors of power was during the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) when late Dr. Alex Ekwueme was vice to Alhaji Shehu Shagari.

According to unconfirmed sources, the military struck in 1983, when it became apparent that Ekwueme would emerge President after Shagari’s last term. So, who is afraid of the Nigerian President of South east extraction? The north unarguably has a phobia for the Igbo because of

the audacity of Chief Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu to declare a sovereign state of Biafra.

In the union that culminated to Nigeria today, it does appear the Igbo were endangered species from the get go. The Sarduana of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello speaking with a foreign journalist then accused the Igbo of inordinate ambition. According to him, “if you hire an Igbo man as a laborer, tomorrow, he would want to become head man.”

He stated then that under his reign, no Igbo would be employed in his One North enclave. To him, rather than employing an Igbo chap, he would hire a foreigner on contract and pay him to do the job. His reason was that he had to preserve those opportunities that are reserved for northerners only.

It is not surprising that that the Sardauna’s philosophy has endured to this moment and has been elevated to state policy. Today, notwithstanding the federal character policy, the north has taken over every viable parastatals, ministries unchallenged.

Again nursing the same sentiments that greeted Ojukwu’s launch of Biafra, President Muhammadu Buhari while speaking on Arise Tv interview said the group, Indigenous People of Biafra who are like a dot in a circle have continued from where Ojukwu stopped would be dealt with summarily.

“So that IPOB is just like a dot in a circle. Even if they want to exit, they’ll have no access to anywhere. And the way they are spread all over the country, having businesses and properties. I don’t think IPOB knows what they are talking about language that they understand. We’ll organise the police and the military to pursue them,” the President assured.

Given these scenarios, the Igbo feel alienated and marginalised, they do not see themselves as part of Nigeria especially several decades after the civil war where no victor and no vanquished was declared, a section of the country still would not accept them back into mainstream politics. But why?

After General Yakubu Gowon declared the end

Perceptions 2023: Nyesom Wike, Yahaya Bello

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oday, we look at the aspirations of two incumbent governors in their supposed quest to take over the seat of power in Aso Rock Villa, from 2023.

NYESOM WIKE, 58 Whatever you have against Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, CON, the current Rivers State governor (from 2015), and there could be a long list of indiscretions and malevolence, it will be difficult to lump him with the usual unprincipled posse of Nigerian drifter class of politicians. He has been, and remained, a member of PDP from the inception of the Fourth Republic, through thick and thunder.

From being the chairman of Obio Akpor LGA, for two terms (1999 - 2007); as the Chief of Staff to Gov. Rotimi Amaechi (2007-2011), Minister of State, Education (2011-2013), and substantive minister of education (2013-2014). All in PDP. He campaigned to become the sixth governor of Rivers State in the 2015 elections, to replace his former boss who had shunted to the APC, and was rooting for another candidate, Dakuku Peterside. Wike won the election in a bitter and brutal battle.

There were fervent and virulent arguments and depositions by Dakuku and his sponsors to overturn Wike’s victory at the Election Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. The Rivers election was allegedly rife with massive acts of malpractices and commission of violent atrocities. Wike allegedly scored 1,029,102 votes (a hefty 87.77%), leaving others with less than 200,000 votes! Yet, according to his opponent, the total valid accredited votes were a mere 292,878. And the tribunal and court of appeal agreed with Dakuku, and scrapped the election, calling for a rerun.

Wike battled on to the Supreme Court where his grandiloquent landslide was upheld in late January 2016.

His 2019 reelection bid was no less chaotic. In fact, the election was suspended

for days in Rivers State as a result of widespread violence and blatant electoral malfeasance. Nonetheless, Wike, the combative mobiliser of means and manpower, was returned to the governor’s office.

What would Rivers people say about the two terms of Wike, in comparison to his predecessors? Beyond executive bluster and intimidation, unbridled enthusiasm to crush any known and unknown obstacles in wellappointed glee...and his somewhat amusing disregard for ceremonial authorities cowed by contemporary disdain and disrespect… what exactly is Wike bringing to the national table?

One is his much-vaunted strides in prioritizing education in his state. He declared free education up to secondary schools, during his first term...his administration claimed to have invested billions of naira in an unprecedented manner into Rivers school system, especially at basic and intermediate levels, in the 23 LGAs; revamped school structures, and enabled access to national exams, such as NECO, JAMB, etc; and abolished all forms of fees and levies.

However, this sterling outlay has been severely dented by accusations of lack of teachers, leading to abandonment of some schools; inadequate teaching infrastructure, and failure to pay NECO fees, leading to seizure of results. Whichever is true, Wike has a big job in hand to justify any higher ambition.

There are some who posit that Nigeria is a jungle, and therefore needs a toughie, a hard-nosed, no-nonsense benevolent dictator with surplus energy to beat the nation into some semblance of progress or upward movement. Well, I disagree ‘with reasons’. Nigeria is still a member of the global community, and its leaders must not be seen as brutal, barnstorming extremists with scant regard for human dignity and integrity of institutional entities.

Even as a deputy to a genteel visionary,

Wike has the tendency to combust and scatter whatever presidential trajectory is being nurtured. Surely, a man to keep at arm’s length from the ultimate power throne.

YAHAYA BELLO, 46 Here’s the big deal: The youngest governor since the advent of the Fourth Republic now wants to be the youngest elected African president ever...sometimes wishes are horses! The young man is well educated: an accounting graduate and MBA holder from Ahmadu Bello University. He is industrious and entrepreneurial: he ran his own business, FairPlus International Ltd., fairly well, and joined politics as a conspicuous youth leader, in Kogi.

His ascendancy to power was fortuitous: he became the only governor born after the civil war when the man he came second to in the 2015 APC primaries, Abubakar Audu, died after winning the election, but before he was officially declared as the winner.

Then, the party, in its wisdom, chose not to upgrade Audu’s running mate, Abiodun Faleke to replace the stricken front-runner.

Thus emerged Yahaya Adoza Bello.

A storm erupted, but Bello surged on...to become the luckiest indweller of the historic Lugard House in Lokoja, the state capital.

On November, 16, 2019, he returned to the seat after beating PDP candidate, Musa Wada, in his first real electioneering process. His campaign activities were remarkably distasteful such that he was allegedly placed on a no-visa list by the USA government, among others fingered in benefitting from electoral rascality.

Bello was credited with precipitating a culture of violence with his “ta-ta-ta-ta” chant on campaign stump, imitating gunfire spurts that could easily be interpreted as gifts to be unleashed on his adversaries. The alleged morbid auto-suggestion was roundly condemned.

One more notoriety: his baffling wellpublicised insistence that COVID-19 was an “artificial creation”, and was non-existent

JOSEPH USHIGIALE jushigiale@yahoo.co.uk, joseph.ushigiale@thisdaylive.com 08023422660 (sms only)

of hostilities and no victor no vanquished, the Igbo had expected to be reintegrated into mainstream politics. And indication that it was not going to happen manifested immediately after the end of the war following the enactment of certain laws targeting them.

Igbo people believed as it later turned out to be that some of the laws enacted after the war were made to disenfranchise them in Nigeria. For instance, the Public Officers (Special Provisions Decree no. 46 of 1970): With the Decree many Igbo officers who participated in the civil war on the part of Biafra were summarily dismissed or compulsorily retired. This was against the earlier directive and assurance to the world by the Head of State that all officers would be reabsorbed to their former positions before the escalation of hostilities.

From the economic front, the Banking Obligation (Eastern States Decree): Banks in the Igbo region were made to pay all account owners a flat rate of 20 pounds independent of what they deposited in the banks before the war. The same with the Indigenisation Decree of 1972: With this law, Nigerians were given an opportunity to get involved in the country’s productive enterprises. Igbo people, because of their post-war situation, feel they were not ready for such exercise and were alienated from the nation’s economy.

In Rivers state, there was the Abandoned Property Policy by the Alfred Diete Spiff administration. This policy of confiscating properties in the Rivers state by the state government was seen as an economic attack on Igbo people, who fled the state during the war. Igboland, which used to be one of the three major regions of the country, became the region with the least number of states of the six geopolitical zones in the federation till this day.

Readers can read full article online www.thisdaylive.com

COUNTERPOINT

FEMI

AKINTUNDE-JOHNSON

fajalive1@gmail.com 08182223348 - (SMS Only)

in Kogi State, bringing him at loggerheads with NCDC, the managers of the anti-virus efforts in Nigeria. But that didn’t stop him from collecting the FG recovery fund to combat the effects of COVID-19 for Kogi State; nor did he persuade him not to pepper Kogi’s 2021 budget with several large expenditure heads for COVID countermeasures. It would not be strange if these measures were mostly window dressing.

Of course, he was roundly condemned for endangering the lives of Kogi people while pandering to soulless grandstanding, and misdirected activism.

Apart from snatching a professorial chair from some imagined institution, rightly lampooned in the media, there were the instances of humongous sums of vanishing state funds said to have been allegedly squirreled through his gatekeeping techniques. Allegations of multiple withdrawals of hundreds of millions of naira, approved and dispensed within 14 days of becoming the governor (from January 27 - his first day in office - to February 8, 2016).

This sorry state of affairs, Bello’s critics insist, has become the norm with sundry petitions and allegations piling up at the offices of the EFCC, awaiting the cessation of the immunity cover as incumbent governor.

Rather than pinning to be the next president of Nigeria, we advise Yahaya Bello to gird his loins and warchest for the expected multifarious battles in the courts of law and detention camps, for multiple allegations of spiraling and eye-popping heists and other abuses. Such is the breadth and stench of these allegations that it beggars belief the man’s audacity to attempt exporting his “dexterity” and prodigious acumen to the national stage. A wonder unspeakable.

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

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MARKET PLACE with Omolabake Fasogbon... 08155131874

Chief Executive Officer,Lagos Aids Control Agency, Dr. Monsurat Adeleke (left) and Iyaolaja General, Chief Folashade Tinubu- Ojo, at the flag-off of the Lagos State wide HIV testing services for market men and women in Alausa, Lagos... recently

Ana Campos, an Angolan and Nziza Ken, a Rwandan both winners of Future Face Africa model talent search comppetition held at Eko Hotels and Towers, Lagos, Nigeria....recently.

Experts Urge Effective use of Tax for Development Taxation experts have charged the Nigerian government on strategic utilisation of the tax policy to enable the actualization of the National Development Plan 2021-2025.

The experts who gathered at the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) 40th anniversary Public Lecture in Abuja recently, urged government to consider tax policy as an instrument of socio-economic change that is productive in regulating the tax system and provide basis for tax legislation and administration.

They maintained that taxation remained a vital Àscal instrument for the nation’s development.

In his lecture themed, “ Actualising Nigeria’s Development Plan 2021-2025: The Critical Roles of Taxation and Fiscal

Policies”, Chairman, Tax Appeal Tribunal, Lagos Panel 3, Prof. Abdulmumini Ahmed justiÀed the input of taxation to nation’s development.

He said, “Taxation serves as general public policy instruments, promoter of economic growth and instrument to promote social change” He opined that President of CITN should be considered a statutory board member of the Central Bank, Federal Inland Revenue Service, National Planning Commission and Joint tax board to guide policy formulation.

In his anniversary lecture, a past President of the institute, Dr. Jerome Naiyeju recounted the achievements of the institute from inception till date.

He enthused that the institute which

started with 25 members, now boasts over 25,000 in 40 years.

He said, “The journey to ensure the Institute is recognised by enabling Act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria started on Tuesday, July 31, 1990, and in December 1992 by Decree 76, the Chartered status was conferred on the Institute, and by the virtue of this decree, the former Nigerian Institute of Taxation became Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).

Earlier President of the institute, Adesina Adedayo stated that the 40th anniversary celebrations was apt given the quota of the institute to national development since inception, but more importantly, to check the shortcomings and reposition the institute for next level of greatness.

Lush Hair Unveils Academy in Asaba, Sponsors Free Training Indigenous hair attachment brand, Lush hair has sets up its academy in Asaba, Delta State , just as it announced a three-day free training for residents.

The training, according to the organization, would equip participants with knowledge and modern skills of professional braiding and bridal styling.

To deliver the exercise, Lush Hair said it was partnering with Nation Builders College of Technology (NABCOTECH) to be able to provide excellent learning

environment, while ensuring maximum training impact and quality service delivery.

NABCOTECH is a reputable college of technology popular in the Eastern part of the country and boasts expertise in rendering vocational trainings across all Àelds.

Commenting on the opportunity, Coordinator of Lush Hair Academy, Mrs. Edith Okechukwu, stated that the workshop was designed for those in Asaba who intends to sharpen their skills and

polish their creativity in professional hair making and styling, under the tutelage of experts who have paid their dues in the industry.

She said, “This is an ample opportunity which we hope that youths in Asaba would embrace, to build a sustainable career, lucrative business and most importantly, facilitate and improve their standard of living. Registration is compulsory and can be completed either online or at NABCOTECH.”

WorldRemit Seeks Expansion of Winners Emerge in Ecobank Sponsored Access to Remittance Inflows Future Face of Africa Contest Cross-border payment company, WorldRemit has stressed the need to expand access to remittance inflow to enable socio- economic growth Country Manager for Nigeria at WorldRemit, Gbenga Okejimi stated this during a media parley in Lagos recently. He also defended the role of remittance in the development of Nigerian economy post COVID-19.

He noted that the education sector in particular, stands to gain significantly from diaspora inflows, being one of the key sectors that suffered hugely from COVID-19 outbreak.

According to him, prior to COVID-19, the education sector had been constrained by factors

relating to financial, cultural, gender, health and security.

“The outbreak of COVID-19 further exacerbated these challenges, driving massive disruptions that affected 1.6 billion learners across the world, especially children in under-served communities. Data made available by UNICEF places the number of out of school children in Nigeria at about 10.5 million”, he said.

Quoting WorldRemit recent study, Okejimi said, “Our 2021 ‘Back-to-School’ study revealed that among 10 countries, Nigeria was the most impacted by the disparity between average household income, fertility rate and the cost of education.

Organisers of the Future Face Africa (FFA) model talent search competition has announced winners of the contest at an elaborate ceremony that held in Eko Hotels, Lagos recently.

The winners, Ana Campos, an Angolan and Nziza Ken, a Rwandan were declared the best among other 18 finalists after a rigorous selection process.

The selection process also included physical castings in eight African countries, as well as thousands of digital applications from all over the world.

The two winners were awarded title of “Africa’s Next Future Face”, and received a two-year international modelling

contract with a top international modelling agency.

They were also presented a $5,000 cash prize, in addition to providing a career start in modelling.

Speaking at the event, Head Marketing and Corporate Communications, Ecobank Nigeria, Babajide Sipe explained that the decision of the bank to sponsor the event was in line with its pan African vision to develop potentials and talents in the continent.

Sipe added that the initiative aligned with the bank’s commitment to provide a veritable platform for actualizing the dreams of young talents.

Kellogg’s Splashes Cash Prize onWinners of ‘Super Stars Scholarship’ Contest In fulfillment of its promise, foremost cereal brand, Kellogg Tolaram has rewarded winners of its ‘Super Stars Scholarship 3.0’ essay competition with N100, 000 each. The competition which was declared open last year September on World Breakfast Day received over 250 entries.

The entries were later assessed by independent assessors, out of which 100 outstanding essays were selected.

The contest required children between ages 5-12 to send in entries on the theme ‘My Perfect Morning’.

Speaking at the well-attended prize giving ceremony, Director, Science & Technology, Lagos Ministry of Education, Mrs. Grace Akinfoyewa commended the performance of the students.

She expressed that the initiative would prepare them ahead of their future career.

She said, “This points to the fact that we have got critical thinkers amongst us who are super determined to excel on all fronts. Most importantly, a big thanks goes to Kellogg’s for encouraging these kids in their

quests towards becoming agents of change in the society in the nearest future”.

Commenting, Special Projects, Kellogg’s, Mr. Darlington Igabali explained that the competition which kicked off in 2019 was designed to sharpen pupils creative writing skills, while also bringing out their imaginative uniqueness.

He said that the initiative was inspired by the alarming numbers of elementary school students’ drop out in Nigeria, adding that the cash prize was meant to support pupils in pursuance of their education.

“Last year, the target of sampling 6 million school children nationwide was met and exceeded, providing the opportunity to a healthy breakfast diet, which we believe supports mental alertness and in turn contribute towards better academic performance” Over 1000 consolation prizes were also given to other participants as a form of encouragement.

Also in attendance, Deputy Director, Lagos State Ministry of information, Tayo Ogunbiyi remarked thus, “I must commend Kellogg Tolaram for sustaining this life transforming project.

Chivita Active Zest Unveils Affordable 125ml & 50ml Chivita Active, one of Nigeria’s most admired fruit juice has unveiled new 125ml & 50ml pack sizes for its hugely popular sub-brand Chivita Active Zest. Offering same great taste and benefit, which the brand is renowned and cherished for, the 125ml & 50ml pack sizes are a strategic move to ensure more product affordability and accessibility to a wider spectrum of Nigerian consumers.

The new Chivita Active Zest 125ml & 50ml pack sizes join the 330ml Can on the market shelf and retail at N60 & N30 respectively. The affordability and accessibility of the brand is sure to trigger more demand, maintain market dominance, and also improve penetration in geographical markets. So be it during a long walk, exercises, on a road trip or even at work, consumers can have the drink size that best suits their lifestyle and enjoy their favourite Chivita Active Zest, in the right amount.

Chivita Active Zest is made from a mix of citrus fruits with all-natural

ingredients, no artificial preservatives, and flavors. Additionally, it is fortified with vitamin C for immunity support, and it is a good source of vitamin B1 and D3 for faster body metabolism. Chivita Active Zest also contains calcium for optimum bone health, making it a smart choice to get the right dose of essential vitamins and minerals for a healthy active life.

Toyin Nnodi, CHI Limited Marketing Director stated that the new Chivita Active Zest packs are convenient, easy to use, affordable and will attract more consumers to try out this healthy great tasting juice.

“We are pleased to launch Chivita Active Zest 125ml and 50ml packs at a very affordable price point enabling more consumers to try as well as enjoy their favourite juice. These forward-looking packs and pocket friendly pricing represent an important milestone along our journey to make Chivita Active Zest more affordable and accessible to all consumers” she said.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

AUTO WORLD

Bennett Oghifo 07052343083 Email:bennett.oghifo@thisdaylive.com

TIPS OF THE WEEK

Causes of Power Loss and How to Fix it A vehicle’s engine produces power by using a mixture of air and fuel to achieve combustion. The energy produced, as a result of the combustion, is then transferred to the wheels and the car moves.

It is the job of the engine to perform this function repeatedly with maximum efficiency. However, due to several reasons, the engine loses power and we experience a loss in performance. This is not an untreatable mechanical illness and it can be solved through proper diagnosis of the problem.

Here we will look at a few reasons for power loss and how to fix them.

Faulty Fuel Filter The fuel filter has the responsibility of filtering the fuel before it goes into the engine. If the fuel filter gets clogged and the fuel does not reach the engine chamber in the right quantity then the engine will not be able to perform at its optimum level.

You will feel a loss in power while accelerating and at times intermittent jerks. To solve this issue find the fuel filter located in the engine bay or near the fuel tank in your car’s trunk. If the fuel filter is clogged replace it if you have the skills to do so or get it changed at your local mechanic shop.

Dangote Automobile assembly plant in Kaduna

Dangote Peugeot Automobile Begins Assembly of Land Trek, 3008, 5008, New 508

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angote Automobile has begun assembly of Land Trek, 3008, 5008, and the new 508 vehicles for sale within and outside Nigeria.

According to sources close to the company, the new plant in Kaduna will operate until they are set to take over the PAN automobile plant also in Kaduna.

Dangote Industries has a joint venture with Sinotruck and set up a $100 million plant to assemble trucks and cars in

Nigeria for local use and export.

The joint venture, which is 65 per cent owned by Dangote and 35 per cent by Sinotruck, will assemble components and knock down parts imported from Sinotruck to the Nigerian plant. It aims to meet the expected increased demand for transport in the country as the government focuses on boosting agriculture and farmers need to move goods across the vast country.

The Group also has business with Transit Support Services (TSS) Limited, the assemblers of Shacman trucks in

Nigeria.

The trucks will be used for diverse onshore and oͿshore operations in the country. Dangote Industries Limited is 90 percent the principal Áeet customer for the Shacman range of trucks. The trucks are assembled inside the Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMMCO) automotive assembly plant in Emene, Enugu. The total value of the investment is worth over N60 Billion.

The sources said 120 Peugeot vehicles can be assembled daily using two shifts.

All-new 2023 Sequoia Full-Size SUV is Ready to Make its Mark

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uch like the coastal redwoods after which it is named, the all-new 2023 Sequoia makes an immediate, indelible impression. The three-row SUV is all new from the ground up, and it aims to elevate the full-size segment with luxurious comfort, impressive technology and breath-taking performance from an e΀cient new hybrid powertrain.

On the surface, the “Sequoia” name is beÀtting of this large SUV because of its size. Peeling back the symbolism a bit more, the species of tree is not only the largest in the world but it’s also one of the strongest and most stout, known for its longevity with some being nearly 2,000 years old. Seeing the forest for the trees, the “Sequoia” name for Toyota’s largest SUV represents its stature in addition to its long-lasting quality, durability and reliability.

The all-new 2023 Toyota Sequoia is projected to be available in summer of 2022.

Premium and Powerful This third-generation Sequoia is completely redesigned and worthy of the “all-new SUV” description. All 2023 Sequoias will feature the powerful twin-turbo V6 hybrid i-FORCE MAX powertrain.

First unveiled on Tundra, this exceptional hybrid produces 437 horsepower and 583 lb.-ft. of torque. i-FORCE MAX isn’t just big on power, as this cleverly engineered powertrain features a unique motor generator within the bell housing between the twin-turbo engine and the 10-speed automatic transmission. This design provides both maximum performance and amazing e΀ciency, and it is designed

Clogged Air Filter An engine needs clean air to function properly.

If dust and other particles enter the combustion chamber the engine can get damaged. Therefore, to ensure the flow of clean air to the motor, an air filter is used. This filter cleanses the air of dust and other harmful particles, which also means it goes bad after around 3000-5000 15000 to 30000 miles depending on driving conditions. You are bound to notice a loss in your car’s performance if this filter is not replaced as needed.

Clogged Exhaust System The exhaust removes all the harmful and unnecessary gases from the engine. The sooner the exhaust excretes these gases the sooner the engine can restart combustion and the more power your car’s engine can make. However, if there is any sort of obstacle in the way like a restricting cat-converter or a clogged exhaust then your engine loses power. Aftermarket cleaners can help take care of clogged catalytic converters, but if you use a quality fuel system additive every 3000 miles, it will help reduce the contaminants that clog the converter in the first place, eliminating the need to unclog it.

MAF Sensor Malfunction The Mass Airflow Sensor (MAF) measures the amount of air the car needs to accelerate. Once it gets that measurement it sends this information to the ECU which notifies the throttle to open accordingly. If the MAF is faulty and not measuring the airflow properly then you could experience a serious loss in power. Sensors can get worn out due to heat and dust.

Regularly cleaning them with a specialized product can help improve their function and in turn the efficiency of the engine.

Oxygen Sensor Malfunction The MAF senses the amount of air entering into the engine and the Oxygen sensor measures the number of gases exiting the engine. It is therefore located in the exhaust pipe. If the readings of the MAF match with the Oxygen sensor readings then this means your car is in perfect running condition.

The oxygen sensor also affects the fuel injection system, so its proper function is necessary for the smooth running of your car. A malfunctioning oxygen sensor will cause the engine to burn a rich a/f mixture hurting your fuel economy in the process. Fortunately, sensors are pretty cheap and easy to replace.

The all-new 2023 Sequoia and built with heavy-duty performance and demand in mind. Fuel economy estimates are not available at this time, but the i-FORCE MAX’s output it is expected to be extremely competitive at the top of the segment – and a huge improvement over the previous generation.

Sequoia will be oͿered in 2WD or the available part-time 4WD system on SR5, Limited, Platinum and Capstone grades. TRD Pro will be oͿered only in 4WD. The part-time 4WD system relies on a transfer case, controlled via a lever on the center console, to select between 2WD, 4WD high

or 4WD low.

Setting Sights on the Open Road As it should be, the full-size SUV segment is a demanding lot. That means the Sequoia needs to handle a multitude of tasks in stride.

Built with this in mind, the all-new SUV is rooted in a modern body-on-frame chassis with a fully boxed frame that shares architecture with the all-new Tundra and all-new global Land Cruiser (which shares its platform with the Lexus LX). The core objective of this platform is to provide excellent handling, supreme comfort and impressive capability.

Carbon Buildup on Fuel Injectors Fuel injectors introduce fuel into the combustion chamber. They do this by sending in fuel at high-pressures, much like a spray. They need to spray the precise amount of fuel into the chamber for combustion to happen. If there is even a slight miscalculation the combustion cycle can get disrupted and that can result in loss of power and the worst-case scenario broken pistons. One of the most common reasons for fuel injector’s failure is carbon buildup due to low-quality fuel. Carbon buildup can make it difficult for the injectors to spray fuel into the cylinders and that results in loss of performance. You can solve this issue by using a high-quality fuel system cleaner.

(Source: Cumout)

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

AUTO WORLD

Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Rated Most Powerful Series-Production Model

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ith a system output of 620 kW (843 hp) and a maximum system torque of more than 1400 Nm, the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E PERFORMANCE (fuel consumption weighted, combined: 7.9 l/100 km; weighted, combined CO2 emissions: 180 g/km; power consumption weighted, combined: 12.0 kWh/100 km)>1@ is a new milestone in the company’s history. The four-door coupp is the Àrst performance hybrid and at the same time the most powerful series-production model of the brand from AͿalterbach to date. The combination of 4.0-litre V8 biturbo engine and electric motor ensures superior driving performance and outstanding driving dynamics with impressive e΀ciency at the same time. The new Edition model with its AMG green hell magno paintwork and numerous design highlights on the exterior and interior ensures

an individual appearance. As of now, the E PERFORMANCE model can be ordered at a base price of 196,897.40 euros>2@, the Edition for an additional price starting at 21,777.00 euros2. The market launch will take place in Europe from April 2022.

Mercedes-AMG is forging its own technical path to transport its hallmark brand DNA into an electrified future. To achieve this, the Affalterbach-based company uses, for example, technologies from Formula 1 in its E PERFORMANCE Hybrid strategy.

The concept includes an independent drive layout with an electric motor and battery on the rear axle. In the AMG GT 63 S E PERFORMANCE, the system consists of a 4.0-litre V8 biturbo engine with a permanently excited synchronous electric motor, a high-performance battery developed by AMG and the fully variable AMG Performance 4MATIC all-wheel drive system. Mercedes-AMG special edition

BMW Group Significantly Increases Use of Low-carbon Steel

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he BMW Group continues to reduce CO2 emissions in its supplier network as part of its ambitious ongoing sustainability activities. Steel produced using natural gas or hydrogen and green power, instead of fossil resources like coal, makes a vital contribution to this. The BMW Group has now signed a corresponding agreement with Salzgitter AG for delivery of low-carbon steel. The steel will be used in standard production of cars at the BMW Group’s European plants from 2026 onwards. With this move, the BMW Group is expanding its sourcing of low-carbon steel to two suppliers. The aim is to use low-carbon steel to meet over 40% of demand at its European plants by 2030, thereby reducing CO2 emissions by up to 400,000 tonnes per year.

“This is an important step in substantially reducing CO2 emissions at source in the supplier network,” said Joachim Post, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Purchasing and Supplier Network. “Our aim is to reduce vehicles’ lifecycle carbon footprint with a holistic approach. With steel, in particular, we are leading the way by sourcing low-carbon steel for our plants in Europe in the future.”

“Salzgitter AG is putting ‘circularity’ at the centre of its new strategy,” said Gunnar Groebler, CEO of Salzgitter AG. “We firmly believe that closed loops of recoverable

2022 BMW X5

materials can only realise their full effect with strong partners. We are delighted about the circular economy cooperation with the BMW Group and the agreement to supply green steel to our long-standing customer.

Partnering for Transformation – this is how we will translate our new corporate vision into practice.”

Agreements with two suppliers on low-carbon steel will meet over 40% of steel demand at European plants The BMW Group already signed an agreement with Swedish startup H2 Green Steel in October of last year.

H2 Green Steel will supply the BMW Group’s European plants with steel produced exclusively using hydrogen and green power from renewable energies from 2025 onwards. This process will reduce CO2 emissions by around 95%.

Together, the two agreements will supply over 40% of the steel required by the company’s European plants and save around 400,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. BMW Group press plants in Europe process more than half a million tonnes of steel per year.

Gradual transition to low-carbon steel production Due to its energy-intensive manufacturing process, steel production generates high CO2 emissions. However, because of its versatility, steel is one of the most important materials for car production and will continue to account for a large proportion of the body and many components.

Is Number Plate Removal Legal About seven days ago,I was driving in Abuja when I saw an ugly scene that got me really upset.

It was the scene where a group in mufti without any visible identiÀcation were forcing a number plate oͿ a moving vehicle. Daily, I receive calls, text messages and emails from motorists seeking clariÀcation on the position of the law with respect to the indiscriminate removal of vehicle number plates by law enforcement agents. I will refrain from reprinting the comments of some of these callers who often express disgust over these actions described by some as annoying I recall vividly the most recent call from an old friend who could not hold back his frustration while narrating his experience to me. According to Yinka Jazman(not real name), he said he was driving along the Lagos Ibadan when he was pulled over by a law enforcement operatives for certain oͿences. After series of questions on certain infractions, one of the operative walked away only to appear with a screw driver which he used to unscrew the vehicle number plates and then asked me to report to the o΀ce the next day.

A second caller was not as lucky as Yinka as his rear vehicle number plate was forcefully removed with bare hands.

What really is the position of the law? First, I wish to state here that it is illegal for any law enforcement operative to engage in removal/ conÀscation of number plates from a vehicle. This how the Federal Road Safety Corps captured it in a recent clariÀcation: for appropriate guidance,

SAFE DRIVING with Jonas Agwu amnipr, mcipr,mprsa,arpa Assistant Corps Marshal Zonal Commanding Officer Federal Road Safety Corps. the following provisions of the law are instructive: Section 10(4)(h) of the FRSC (Establishment) Act, 2007 states: that its an oͿence to be on the road without a valid vehicle licence or identiÀcation mark being displayed. Similarly, Section 10(4)(s) of the Act makes failure to display number plates on vehicles an oͿence.

The National Road Tra΀c Regulations (NRTR) 2012 also provide as follows: Section 36(NRTR) 2012 makes it mandatory for all private and commercial vehicles to have number plates which shall be Àxed on them in a manner as not to be easily detachable.

Section 36 states that All private and commercial vehicles shall as from the commencement of these Regulations have on them Vehicle IdentiÀcation Number Plates which shall -Be carried by the motor vehicle on two plates which shall conform to the requirements of these regulations; and the number plate shall be Àxed-in such a manner that each is not easily detachable; and in an upright position or within 15 degrees of such position. Section 39(a):

states that “All vehicles private and commercial shall have on them vehicle identiÀcation number plates and shall be an oͿence for any vehicle not to have the said number plates”.

He concludes by stating that‘’ that apart from identiÀcation purposes, vehicle registration number plates are security items that are captured on the national security architecture and have been used to assist security operatives in tracking some serious national security issues. Removing such identiÀcation items from vehicle plying our roads will not only oͿend the law, but would further jeopardize national security.

In Section 37- (1)of the same Regulations,it states that The IdentiÀcation Number Plates carried by a motor vehicle or articulated vehicle shall be displayed on two plates for a motor vehicle and three plates for an articulated vehicle and shall conform as to lettering, numbering and otherwise with the provision set out in Àgures 1-11 of schedule 5 to these regulations. The number plates shall in respect of a motor vehicle be Àxed, one on the front of the vehicle and the other at the centre or on the oͿ side of the rear of the vehicle or as may be provided by the manufacturer. In respect of a trailer, be Àxed one on the front of the vehicle and two at the rear of the trailer in an upright position.c. A motorcycle, one plate shall be Àxed in front and one at the rear with the plate having white background but blue lettering for private green lettering for the Federal, State or Local Government, black lettering for the Armed Forces, Paramilitary Service and red lettering

for commercial, so that every letter or Àgure on the plate is up- right and easily distinguishable in the case of the front plate from behind.

In the case of the recovery of a semi-trailer, the operator of the prime mover shall be required to ensure that the entire articulated vehicle carries the same identiÀcation number in respect of the prime mover and the semi-trailer. Each IdentiÀcation Number Plate must be reÁective and so made that any letter, numeral or other identifying mark displayed on it are legible at day time and at night in clear weather and must be visible and recognizable at a distance of not less than 60 metres by the driver of the immediate following vehicle and in the case of motorcycle at a distance of 30 metres.

The Regulation further states in Section 38-(1) that a vehicle shall carry a Vehicle Tag as speciÀed in Form MVA 25 of schedule 5 to these regulations which shall be issued along with the Vehicle Number Plate and shall carry the same number with the plate and be a΀xed to the rear windscreen. Except as otherwise provided under these regulations, number plates shall be transferred from one vehicle or trailer to another; Number plates shall be attached to a person and not to a vehicle and that Number Plate shall be returned to the Motor Licensing Authority on sale of a car and the new owner shall obtain new set of number plate; while Proof of Ownership CertiÀcate is mandatory for issuance of new number plates.

All of these provisions cited explain why driving with one number plate or none at all is illegal.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

PEOPLE Olalekan Ilori

I Believe in Giving and Helping the Society The Chief Executive Officer of Throne Investment Homes, Olalekan Ilori was recently in Nigeria to inaugurate the “Estate Gate” located on Idu Train Station Road in Abuja. The event was graced by notable faces in the entertainment industry who are also brand ambassadors to the company. The likes of Richard Mofe Damijo, Sharon Ooja, Osas Ighodaro, Ayoola Ayolola, Nas Boi and Brain Jotter.The high point of the event was the issuance of land documents the brand ambassadors. In this interview with Azuka Ogujiuba, Ilori, a businessman with admiration for the entertainment industry talks about his Throne group of companies and life journey

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your parent you made more money. I went to the back yard to dig a hole and kept my money there. After that, I moved to buying cassettes which they call video clubbing and I also did cattle business. I have some Aboki who goes to the north to buy and inspect the cow. Unfortunately for me, one day they told me they robbed them on the way and all the money was gone. I also invested in the saw mill business which is the reason I know different names of wood. I bought big timber and take it to saw mill where they are fixed for different purposes. I also market cars for people and they give me commission, from there I moved to Abuja, I travelled to China to bring some goods and equipment into Nigeria, all these oven that you see around now, I was one of the first person to bring them into this country. After that, I moved to America to venture into logistics where we ship a lot of car in and goods as well.

I discovered that property is something if one knows well, can’t get wrong with it, no matter how much you invest in it. Even though you did not sell it immediately, you can only make more money than losing everything. I look at the logistics and import business, government policy and different problem all the time, so I look at what I can divert into and that why I ventured into agriculture and real estate.

So far so good, real estate has been a wonderful business which is what people pay more attention to.

hat is Throne group of companies all about?

We are involved in automobile, logistics, properties and agriculture. We have offices in Abuja and Lagos. In Abuja, we have more than a thousand houses built in different locations. Some of the locations are Idu, Apo and Lugbe. We are working in Gikwe as well. Right now, I make sure I see to the daily activities in all the offices, sometimes I have to work in two different time zone, it is a lot of work we are putting in.

You recently endorsed some influencers for your brand. What is this all about?

Yes, Idu Estate Gate House was inaugurated and we also did ground breaking in Lugbe Estate and we had a lot of celebrities as ambassadors such as Osas, Sharon Ooja, Ayoola, Last boy and we have our guest as Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD). It was a great event during which we told people what we intend to do and how we want to do it. Starting from making house affordable for people who think they can’t afford it and telling them how they can make the payment in installment. No matter what they think their income is, they can have a house or a land in our estate. We break it down to the level where anyone who is really interested in having property in our estate can afford it. The payment starts from N200,000. With that amount, they can make payment for any of our properties. There is also a raffle draw to win a car for outright payment owner.

Is there a special reason why you use influencers to promote your real estate business?

Yes, they are our ambassadors and we engaged them for our brands to be known because they have a lot of followers and you can only participate in what you know about, if you don’t know about us, how will you know what we can offer? So, we use them as a mouth piece to reach out to people so that they can understand what Throne always have for them in terms of making it easy for them to buy a land and build a house gradually. It is achievable for anyone who is really interested. Moreso, we have a track record of giving, we support our ambassadors by giving to them, we get to understand that they don’t have much to show for what they have worked for. We give them the opportunity to have a house- all the ambassadors we signed.

We gave them a plot of land in our estate to secure their future. We also gave Tajudeen Oyewole popularly known as Abija and Ogidan a car on their birthday just to support them.

Are you one of those kid who grew up being passionate about the entertainment industry or you were just doing it for commercial reasons?

Let me say both because even this Throne we are talking about today was originated or established for record label which is an entertainment industry. I have had that in me for a life time, which is to be part of the entertainment industry. Apart

When you are not busy, how do you spend your leisure time?

I like to travel and hang out with friends, to discuss business and new ideas. I pick one or two idea from the conversation and mull it. I try to create something out of it.

What your greatest fear?

Being poor.

If you are to go on a luxury vacation, what are the five thing you will likely take along with you?

I will take my family first (My wife and three kids) and friend majorly.

Ilori

from ambassadors and celebrities, I believe in giving and helping the society. In 2018, we launched a foundation in my state which we donated N5 million for commencement. We want to create a maternity home to help mother and children during child birth, we will carter for them by giving them food and clothing during that period of time they will be at the maternity.

Your area of specialization is vast, what are your plans on farming and agriculture?

We used to have poultry and maize farms but we discovered that due to the insecurity in the country, the farm was not safe, sometimes you get to your farm and find it under attack.

We had to cool down a little bit on that because we don’t want to get

ourselves involved in the attacks.

Before venturing into real estate business, what have you been doing?

I have been in business all my life.

When I was in secondary school, I had some friends who go to the campus of Obafemi Awolowo University to check the weight of student in the hostel on a scale for N1 per person. After the day’s business, they deliver the money to the owner of the scale. I told them ‘what about me getting you all scales and you deliver the money to me too’?

I followed them one day to different hostels and I made up to N100. We buy a fairly used scale then at the range of N30 and above, the only scary thing then was that no matter how much you make, you cannot come home to tell

Who influenced you most between your mum and dad?

I will say both of them, they are very hard-working, my mum does not pamper kids and takes no nonsense and my dad is encouraging and supportive in anything I want to venture into, if he has to borrow the money to support me, he will do it. I can remember when I just finished secondary school, I told him I wanted to start timber and saw mill business. He gave me the money and did not care if I was going to lose or gain in the business.

I also remember when phone was new in Nigeria, they were selling Nokia 3310 for N16,000 and SIM card for N15,000; he gave me N32,000 to buy the phone and SIM card. The price of phone and SIM rose up to N100,000. As a business man, I said this price cannot continue to rise, so I sold both the phone and the SIM at N90,000.

My mum was not happy with me but my dad said she should leave me alone. After four to six month, the price of phone came down to N4,000 and SIM card was free. My dad said he liked what I did and he doesn’t care whatever I do with the money.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

TRIBUTE Sadiat Abeke Erogbogbo, the Kind Teacher Abike Dabiri Erewa

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othing prepares you for the loss of your mother.

Even though she passed on after 90 years of a life well-lived and fulfilled, on Feb 1, last year, her death was a heavy blow to us all.

We give Allah the glory for her life , a life of impacts, and accomplishments. She was kind, caring and considerate; fondly referred to as ‘Kind Teacher’ because of her maternal, nurturing spirit. She was beautiful inside and out.

A diplomat at heart, she always made efforts to bring peace and calm to her family and friends. She would always be deliberate in keeping in touch with everyone. Her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, friends, extended family and friends of the family can all attest to this. She would always call to check up on everyone, no matter where you were in the world.

She was very intentional about having personal relationships and memories with everyone in her life, to find out how they were dong and if she could help in anyway.

Up until the very end, she remained the same very kind, generous, loving and adorable woman. I don’t know how she did it, but she never missed anyone’s birthday and trust me, we are a very large family.

She was an incredible hub of history, information and current affairs, always up to date and kept abreast with current happenings. Sometimes, she will be the one to break news or tell me important information first. We used to jokingly refer to her as our very own NTA, Radio Lagos and CNN combined.

She was generous to a fault and she raised all her children with the virtues of contentment, hard work and the fear of God. She placed a high value on the importance of good education, so much so that she was prepared to give all she had to acquire the best education for her children.

Her faith in Almighty Allah was unshakeable and she raised us all with this faith as part of our foundation. She was always quick to bless you with the kind of prayers that give you comfort and confidence that all will be alright. She was very supportive of all her children and her grandchildren and played active roles in all their lives.

She never forgot to tell us all her favourite mantras, ‘Remember the child of whom you are’ and ‘In my life, I will not do evil or practice hatred towards anyone’.

She treated all her children uniquely and

Late Sadiat Abeke Erogbogbo

was always fair with us. Her parenting adjusted to her children’s personalities, that we all felt like we were her favourites. She had a special place in her large heart for each child and she loved with all her heart.

She made our home a beautiful, peaceful and warm place; somewhere you would always love to return to no matter what.

It was not always about material wealth.

There was this air of love and contentment that filled our home, making it welcoming every time. Sometimes, we were there just to eat her food, I’ll admit. Her egusi, ewa riro and obe dindin remain all-time favourites She is someone you could completely rely on and trust with your life. She was a friend to all, most especially when you needed one. Every time I returned home to see her, I would fondly call her ‘Iyawo Alhaji’ (Alhaji’s Wife) and she will respond by calling me ‘Iyawo Erewa’ (Erewa’s Wife). Her nickname for my husband was ‘Black and Shine’. She had jokes and nicknames for every one of us; children and grandchildren alike.

Without her, there is no us. We are who

we are today because of her love, care and sacrifices. She was an inspiring soul and we miss her dearly. She was the best mother we could ask for and she gave us the best upbringing any mother could give her children.

Her eldest grandchild, Olusegun Erogbogbo in this tribute, summarises our precious and treasured Alhaja Sadiat Abeke Erogbogbo this way: “My earliest memory of Alhaja is of her taking great care of us and by us I mean her heritage - her family, her legacy. In short, all of us.

I recall a conversation we had recently; where after exchanging our usual humour filled greetings, she proceeded to inquire about my ex-university colleagues from 20 years ago. Back then my school mates and I shared an apartment and Alhaja came there to visit us numerous times. It was simply awesome that she did that for us back then but to recall and remind me of that whilst inquiring about my colleagues is testament of the fact that Alhaja not

only loved her own children but indeed all children and with great care and concern.

It was at that moment that it occurred to me it was these sort of traits that must have led to her earning the moniker ‘Kind Teacher’. As far as I am concerned Alhaja never stopped being that kind teacher, through her actions, her compassion and her perseverance. She taught us how to love, to be tolerant, to do more - to go an extra mile. Doing a little more than the best was her way.

‘Americana Alhaja’ as I always fondly referred to her. I will miss how she would respond ‘Emi na re o’ with huge smiles and elation. Alhaja, the tears have turned to joy!

You paid it forward for a great multitude; we are grateful and lucky to have been part of your journey. “ Born in Kano State on 7th of June 1930 to late Pa Sunmonu Alamutu of Mokola Abeokuta, Ogun State and late Alhaja Hawanatu Aduke Anjorin, Iyalode Adini of Ebute Metta Central Mosque, her father died when she was about one-year old and was raised by her mother. She attended Mount Carmel School Ebute Metta and later proceeded to Teachers Training College, Lagos. Her teaching career began in 1948 at Public School in Enu-Owa, Lagos and later at Edward Blyden Memorial High School, Lagos and Ansarudeen Oke-Popo, Lagos.

She met her husband Alhaji Ashafa Erogbogbo, her husband of 68years, at an Ansar-ud-Deen funfair. According to him, he couldn’t take his eyes off the beautiful Sadiat and a friend had to warn him not fall under a bus staring at a woman.

She was blessed with 7 children: Alhaja Kofowora Kassim, Mr. Abayomi Erogbogbo, Mr. Rotimi Alade Erogbogbo, Mrs. Ajoke Gbeleyi, Hon. Abike Dabiri Erewa, Mrs. Moji Williams and Mr. Olusola Erogbogbo. ,2 step children ,Yetunde and Folake Erogbogbo , 21 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.

She resigned from active service to become a full-time housewife in 1965 having travelled all around Nigeria with her husband Alhaji Ajibola Ashafa Erogbogbo, teaching in Ansar-ud-Deen Schools in whatever part of the country she found herself. Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Benin and more.

In 1967, she joined her mother in the trading business and dedicated her life to the service of Islam and humanity, positively touching lives of many.

A philanthropist, detribalized Nigerian and a dedicated, compassionate mother and wife. RIP Sweet Mother.

Tribute to ‘Mon Pere’ Moses Owoh Amaka Owoh

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t really hurts! It really, really hurts!!

The level of sadness I feel deep down in my soul remains indescribable. Please can someone wake me up from this dream especially, knowing you enjoyed reasonably good health during your life time and suddenly a brief illness that we hoped you will survive snatched you away. Unfortunately, no one can reverse the hands of time or question the unquestionable God. Daddy, you were simple minded, not without shortcomings, but you were very receptive, generous, kind, sincere, and honest, impacting lives wherever you went. Testimonies of your good works are unending. Out of the little you had, you made huge sacrifices for several persons, even those unknown to your immediate family. You were the father of the entire extended family.

Your desire and passion for academic excellence made you stand out in your high

school and university days both at Obafemi Awolowo University, and University of Lagos.

Stating that you were brainy is an understatement, because you were almost a genius. You invested, supported and sponsored not just your children in their educational pursuit, but other relatives up to tertiary level. This goes to buttress the fact that you are indeed an advocate of good and quality education. Your love for God is worthy of emulation. I have watched from my cradle days till now, the uncommon sincerity and consistency with which you dedicated your life to things of God that touches the heart.

A look at the life you lived shows that the measure of a man is not in how much material things he acquires, but his ability to impact society and leave indelible footprints in the sands of time. You

taught us that live matters and the need to invest in humans. You taught us that, “he who does what he likes, sees what he doesn’t like”. You taught us humility, kindness, patience, honesty, modesty. All these guided us through life.

I take solace in the fact that you lived a good life and you aligned with your creator till the very end. Your children will continue to uphold your distinct legacies and positive ideologies. Thank you for everything dear Dad, I know you have gone to a better place. Do say me well to my Mum in heaven. Till we meet to part no more. It’s difficult to say Good bye. I miss you, but God loves you most. May your simple, gentle and kind soul continue to rest in peace, Amen. Adieu lover of God. Adieu Great Mathematician of all times. Adieu to a Philanthropist!

Moses Owoh Adieu Mon Pere!

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SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2022 • T H I S D AY

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2022 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY, T H E S AT U R D AY N E W S PA P E R •SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2022

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BACKPAGE CONTINUATION I SAID A PRAYER FOR PRESIDENT TALON Igbo Irunmole). Without exaggerating, the Nigerian side must have had over 20 checkpoints with all of them openly extorting money from their helpless and hapless victims. This nonsense and eyesore must be scrapped urgently. And by the way, the same extortion continues in leaps and bounds at Murtala Muhammed International Airport.

President Talon became President in April 2016 when he sprung a major upset by winning election as an independent candidate, a rarity in most parts of the world. His emergence and remarkable performance confirms my long held belief and theory that it is difficult for full time career politicians to develop a nation. My thesis is simply that power should always be handed to mostly those who have had records of personal accomplishments. No leader can give what he does not have. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Dakar and barely missed attending the National School of Aviation in Paris after failing his medical test. But God must have had other fantastic plans for this wonderful child of Destiny.

Rather than allow this setback to his dream weigh him down, Talon moved on with equanimity and forayed into trading, packaging and agricultural products. He planted his Intercontinental Distribution Company, Societe Distribution Intercontinentale, suppliers of cotton products. He later established cotton

factories in Bénin. Before ascending the seat of power, he was listed as one of the top 20 richest Africans.

His audacious move into politics did not appear feasible or promising to many onlookers but he shocked the world when he came second in the first round of the elections against then Prime Minister, Lionel Zinsou but Talon miraculously won the second round with a whopping 65% of the votes cast and interestingly the Prime Minister conceded defeat. It was the beginning of a new lease of life for the people of Bénin, formerly known as Dahomey.

Talon had hit the ground running from the moment he was sworn in.

The business acumen in him was instantly on display. He announced the composition of his government same day he was sworn in, an impossibility in most governments of Africa and he did the uncommon by appointing two of the co-contestants , Pascal Koupaki and Abdulakeem Bio-Tchane, who had backed him in the second round, to key positions… This was how he succeeded a government of national unity, in principle.

After serving his first term in office, he sought re-election and won by a landslide of 86% of the votes, almost as good as unopposed.

Since no human is perfect, opposition leaders have accused him of dictatorial tendencies. His war against corruption has been smolderingly merciless. But his

supporters insist he would have failed like most African leaders if he treated issues of corruption with kids’ gloves.

They support him unconditionally and he’s reported to have built a new and expansive prison for criminals and “saboteurs.” According to my good friend Alberto Koumagnon, aka Alberto Dinero, an unrepentant fan of President Talon, “this is the best President we’ve ever had in Bénin no matter what anyone says.” We drove round the city and I could not believe my eyes, like a victim of optical illusions. I could see a palpable look of national pride in my friend who could have easily passed for the Minister of Information the way and manner he reeled out endless stories about the plans of Talon to transform Bénin into a modern wonder. For example, the national airline being contemplated and the newly expanded airport in Cotonou are just truly admirable.

Bénin is home to a huge of population with Nigerian ancestry, especially members the Yoruba race, who continue to worship their traditional religion and deity in its pristine form. There’s even a national declaration of holiday for the Orisha. Sango is one of the most popular of the deities, the reason the Grammy Awards winner, Angelique Kidjo’s popular song was dedicated to Sango. In an interview she granted me in London about 25 years ago, she

confirmed her fascination for the Yoruba gods.

I’m excited to witness and feel the progress Bénin has made under the leadership of the visionary President next door to us while we continue to wallow in primordial politics. I pray God would open our eyes to see the need for fresh leadership with great ideas and the determination to succeed where others failed…

A SEASON OF COUPS IN WEST AFRICA Only God knows what’s going on in different parts of the West African subregion but it is obvious that coup d’etats are back in vogue. While I do not want to bore you with details of countries that have recently succumbed to the jackboots of ambition solders, I must however note some of the reasons for this return to the madness of the past, POOR LEADERSHIP. African leaders have consistently punished their people out of greed and selfishness. They’ve been largely corrupt and irresponsibly reckless.

For me, it is a sad development and a potential descent into anarchism. Africa is already too far behind in the comity of nations. We may be heading towards a cataclysmic Armageddon if do not apply the brakes as soon as possible….

I SAID A PRAYER FOR PRESIDENT TALON positions of trust. They perceived nothing of the hovering stench of “unsanctity” beclouding public affairs. Things had really gone very bad indeed!

Even then, some of the aspiring leaders were still busy recruiting Alaoma youths for socially disruptive activities. These were the very youngsters who needed to be refocused for a better society, if Alaoma was to move forward. These were the very youths that the false leaders had turned into Ndi oti mkpu, or hired praise singers, who would gather and sit idly at event venues looking morose, until whoever paid them for the day turned up. Then they would then come alive and begin the job of jumping up and down and shouting all manner of praise names for their paymaster. Tufiakwa!

Imagine this: A leader would send paid youths and ‘Assistants” ahead of him during a public event. These “workers” would wait in the wings for hours. When the paymaster arrived, they would do their best to bring down the heavens with shouts of `leader, leader.’ That was the job of the new service corps of Ndi oti Nkpu, under the aberrant leadership of many who are now asking to be made King of Alaoma. To think that some of those who fueled and benefited from this ruination of Alaoma youths now want to be crowned King? Really!

For Alaoma to have Ndi oti mkpu, that is “people who shout,” as a demographic group means that the aspiring leaders are not interested in becoming part of a forward-looking world. It also means that the aspiring leaders are not asking themselves whether the respected founding fathers of Alaoma, who held sway in the past, lived thus. The lifereversing draught they are drinking, and also dispensing, had immunized them against questions like: “How will this ‘shouting profession’ affect youth development, moral values and the future of Alaoma?” None of them was asking himself this question: “Should we not be worried that our youths have learnt nothing good that could make them useful in a normal community?”

They did not ask such questions, because they did not care. The misled youths had not been trained as farmers, or craftsmen. They had not been given any skills for survival and respectable livelihood. Many of them had become thieves, wayward young ladies and sundry miscreants. And the reason is simple: they were used for nefarious

President Buhari

activities and then abandoned by masters who never thought of their future.

The youths needed to be tooled, or retooled. They needed new skills, beyond the ability to shout. They needed to be re-tooled for a new and better society. Otherwise they would all still be available for the next evil paymaster. The dumping of disoriented and misguided young men and women, partially ruined by the very elders and leaders who should mentor them for the better, had become a hydra-headed problem in Alaoma. A solid foundation had been laid for a bleak tomorrow for the youths, and for the people, by many of those now aspiring to be King.

Should it not have been the business of true leaders to equip the next generation with the right type of knowledge, values, capacities and for responsible living and livelihood? But this pristine task is precisely what they cheerfully failed to deliver on. And to think that, even as they hope to mount the throne as King, they are still assembling Alaoma youths for further praise singing, as their future journeys downhill.

Now that a new King must emerge to create new value paradigms, Okachie and a few elders have made it their bounden duty to get Alaoma people to ask themselves this question: “What type of person should be the new King

of our now fractious, traumatized and morally confounded community?”

Intimations of purposeless, blind ambition, tomfoolery and a refusal to learn from past errors were evident in the behaviour of many who wanted to be King. Tiny, but badly inflated, egos were still trying to follow their has an previous bad example. Unearned income, and a morally loose lifestyle, had given some people a false and totally laughable feeling of importance. The background of some of the self-proclaimed messiah’s promises nothing good for Alaoma. Only in one or two, still obscure, cases do we see true capacity for leadership and genuine understanding of the problems of the land. Even at that, there was still much to worry about.

But not to worry: A flying termite that mistakes itself for a bird soon learns, by its encounter with turbulent winds, that the ability to be airborne is not all that it takes to become a soaring bird. Okachie is involved! At one of the meetings called to assess those who, contrary to tradition, had announced themselves aspirants to the throne, Okachie likened them to the various types of small masquerades in Alaoma.

He urged the people to take a good look at those putting themselves forward and ask about their antecedents. The people must ascertain their means of livelihood, their source of their wealth and what they would do with, and about, the youths who have imbibed the wrong values.

These questions were made more urgent by the fact that Alaoma faced a new and strange elite culture. Many people who were totally disconnected from the people, and who had nothing of lasting value to offer, simply believed that all they should be crowned King.

Capacity for violence or conspiracy, the ability to dole out gifts, or threats to whomsoever seemed an obstacle to their ambitions were the credentials they seemed to put forward in order to take the crown! Unbelievable!

Well, well, well! Ichie Omee-Okachie, the wise, now has a say. He also has a deciding hand in the matter! Which means that Ndi Akologoli, the rough necks and layabouts of Alaoma, will not take over and continue to desecrate the land. The big and small masquerades must leave the village square, because it was time for the Ijele. But no one, not even the people, will see it coming.

Watch out!

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NEWSXTRA

GOVERNORS’ WIVES BACK MARWA… Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, retired Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (m) with L-R: Imo State First Lady, Mrs. Chioma Uzodinma; her counterparts in Kwara, Mrs. Olufolake Abdulrasaq; Ekiti, Erelu Bisi Fayemi and Yobe, Hajiya Hafsat Kollere Buni when the Ekiti State First Lady and Chairperson of Nigeria Governors’ Wives Forum led a delegation of the forum to seek partnership with the Agency on the ongoing war against drug abuse at the NDLEA National Headquarters, Abuja … Thursday.

HACEY Inaugurates 10 Boreholes Ugo Aliogo Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), HACEY Health Initiative, has inaugurated 10 electricity power boreholes in five primary healthcare centres and five public schools in Delta, Imo and Ondo states.

According to a release, HACEY Health through the Clean Water Initiative project supported by Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation carried out the inauguration in line with its bid to address the water, sanitation and hygiene challenges in primary healthcare centres and public schools.

The statement noted that the initiative inaugurated in December 2021 aims at improving access to safe water for primary school students, teaching and nonteaching staff, health workforce, pregnant women, nursing mothers and mothers who access the healthcare facilities as well as community members.

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 5, 2022

PERSPECTIVE OP-MESA Relaunch, an Elixir for Ogun’s Insecurity Kayode Adebolu

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he upsurge in kidnapping, cultism, banditry and other violent crimes in the country should be of concern to any serious government. In the lastcoupleofweeks,motoristsplying the Lagos/Ibadan, Ijebu-Ode/ Ibadan, and Lagos/Sango-Ota/ Abeokuta have been targets of kidnappers and armedrobbers.ThisiswhytheOgunStateGovernor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, deserves a pat on the back forhisadministration’sreinvigorationoftheState’s Security Trust Fund which ultimately impacted positivelyinthecreationoftheJointSpecialSquad (JSS), as well as the approval of the Chief of Army Staff for the restart of OP-MESA to checkmate the rising crime waves in the state.

In the wake of the attacks on farmers and travellers in early 2020, six southern governors came together and decided to set up Western Nigeria SecurityNetwork(WSN)code-named,“Amotekun”, an outfit designed to complement the efforts of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

When the incessant attacks were unabated in Ogun, the government thought out of the box with the establishment of the JSIS, comprising the military, the police, Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Vigilante Groups, among others as a quick response mechanism, particularly in the communities affected by the farmers-herders clash in Yewa (Ogun West) axis of the state.

As a step further, the inauguration of OP-MESA recently,precisely,onFriday,January21,2022,was a confirmation of Ogun State Government’s commitment to the protection of lives and property, culminatinginthehandingoverof15patrolvehicles, two Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) vehicles, communicationgadgetsandothercrime-fighting

Abiodun

equipment to the security operatives in the state.

Not that alone, it was heart-warming when the governorpledgedthecontinuedprovisionofthese set of crime-fighting equipment on a quarterly basistothelawenforcementagenciesforeffective policing of the state in a bid to stamp out criminal elements from making the state their safe haven.

“Itisonlyinanenvironmentguidedbylawandorder that peaceful co-existence, political stability and socio-economic development, or even leisurely activities can thrive.

“PermitmetostatethatOP-MESAisnotpeculiar to our state. OP-MESA is currently in existence in 26states.Inexplicably,ourswasallowedtoliterally become comatose. We are reactivating it through a Presidential consent sought by our Administration. This formation will benefit from the support that will be provided by the Ogun State Security Trust Fund (OGSSTF) through the donations and

contributionsfromgovernment,theprivatesector andsimilarnon-grataactors,aswellasthegoodwill of individuals.

“I, therefore, enjoin our people to take ownership of this security outfit by collaborating with it and supporting it. Together, we shall make Ogun state a most hospitable and a conducive place of our collective dreams”, averred the Governor.

ThoughsecurityisintheexclusivelistoftheNigerianConstitutionanditascribestoStateGovernors thedutyoftheChiefSecurityOfficer(CSO)oftheir respective states, and as result, they can’t shirk their basic responsibilities to be responsive and proactiveintacklinginsecurityheadlongintheface ofaresurgenceofkidnappingsoninter-stateroads.

Justinthelastcoupleofweeksago,twojuniorstaff ofaFederalGovernmentAgencywerekidnappedat OnigaariVillage,onthesameLagos-IbadanExpressway and also a popular actress narrowly escaped by a whisker from being kidnapped on the same spot.OtheridentifiednotableflashpointisFidiwo Village, same along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Governments,atalllevel,havealottodotocurtail the unwholesome activities of these marauders who have turned themselves into beasts and are feeding fat on the proceeds from ransom-taking.

Governor Abiodun is a living example and the steps he has taken so far to address the menace willgoalongwayinbringingtheuglysituationunder control. His synergy approach by contacting his colleagueinOyostate,EngrSeyiMakinde,toproffer solutions to the hydra-headed vice is a welcome development, with the Joint collaboration in the area of providing security at the border posts between the two states-Ogun and Oyo. In retrospect, and in response to the rising crime waves, the government alone can’t bear the burden alone. As a result, four months after theassumptionofofficeofthecurrentadministrationofPrinceDapoAbiodun,sometimeinOctober 2019, it underscored the importance of security

(as one of the five developmental ISEYA pillars) to the enthronement of a peaceful co-existence among different ethnic nationalities in the state and also to foster an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. Besides, shared national borders; proximity to Lagos, the fifth largest economy in Africa; Oyo state; and international borders to the neighbouring Republic of Benin; and the recent conferment status of Ogun state as an industrial hub, with flourishing economic activities has informed the need to respond to various security challenges that might arise.

The administration reviewed the enacted law that gives legal tooth to the Ogun State Security Trust Fund (OGSSTF), and passed it to the State House of Assembly for consent.

At the re-launch of the Fund the same month of October 2019, a staggering sum of N1.2 billion and logistics was realised from private donors, a developmentwhichinnosmallmeasure,helpedthe governmentintheprocurementofcrime-fighting equipment, such as communication gadgets,100 patrol vehicles, 200 powered bikes, bulletproof vests, helmets, and other accoutrements for the operatives. These equipment sourced from both individual and collaborative efforts would go a long way to tackle the shortage in tactical and communication gadgets, finances and operative motivation.

However, a good take from this administration is exemplifiedbythedemonstrationoftheGovernor who treasures human lives and he doesn’t play politics with the souls of fellow human beings as reflected in his commitment and resolve to place premium on investment in security of lives and propertyinthestatetothebenefitofallandsundry. ˾ ÎÏÌÙÖß áÜÙÞÏ ÐÜÙ× ×ÏÕÙ˜ ÓØ ×ÏÕÙ̋ ÐÙØ ÙÐ ÑßØ ÞËÞÏ˛ Read full article online - www.thisdaylive.com

Ogunbiyi: Corporate Icon as Political Avatar John Ajayi

“Being a great leader is all about having a genuine willingness and true commitment to lead others to achieve a common vision and goals through positive influence. Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts, it is about one life influencing another.’’

A

bove quote by John C. Maxwell, an American author, Speaker and well respected Pastor best defines the brand personae of Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi , a foremost entrepreneur, investor and a political icon of no mean repute. In deconstructing the brand personae of Ogunbiyi, a suave and debonair multi-talented corporate aristocrat, one cannot but be mindful of the illustrious corporate background which has prepared and launched him into the Nigerian entrepreneurship stardom. For a truth, great business owners are made, not born.

In fact, business entrepreneurs are special people who see opportunity in every slow service, poor product, and unmet needs. Put simply, great entrepreneurs that make national and global headlines put in years of hard and smart work before their businesses become “overnight successes”.

What’s more, every venture starts with a vision.

And a vision once wrapped into a tidy package, which is a plan, can achieve any lofty height.

The same can be said of Ogunbiyi, an astute business man, who started Mutual Benefits Assurance with only N5 million.

Born without the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth in the ancient town of Ile-Ogbo, Osun State to a family of peasant farmers, he had his early education at A.U.D Primary School, in Ile-Ogbo, his hometown. There, he had his first experience of life’s woes, having to cope with lack and the burden of chasing a dream.

A man with an insatiable quest for knowledge, attendedObafemiAwolowoUniversity(formerly University of Ife), Ile-Ife, Osun State, where he bagged a degree in Agricultural Economics; and then, another degree in History plus an M.Sc. in

Ogunbiyi

Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from the University of Lagos, UNILAG. He later attended the International Graduate School of Management, University of Navarra (IESE) Barcelona in Spain where he earned an Executive Masters in Business Administration.

His un-diminishing educational quest inspired him to further sharpen and expand his business acumen at the prestigious Lagos Business School.

Akin, as he is simply called, left no stone unturned in his tenacious quest for knowledge as he bagged the Global Executive Leadership Certificate from Yale School of Management; earned Certified High Potential Leadership Education from Harvard Business School and attended a Graduate Advanced Management Leadership Course at Said Business School, University of Oxford.

Ogunbiyi’s career development in insurance started during his undergraduate studies when he ventured into Agricultural Insurance as his

specialization. Soon after graduation, he was employed in 1988 by the National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria, NICON, as a Research & Planning Officer. He however, gave up an impressive and promising career at NICON Insurance to go into Insurance Consultancy, a business which was unexplored in Nigeria at the time.

This singular audacious move confirmed that he saw the future early enough.

According to the accomplished economist and management consultant, ‘’the N5 million startup capital was actually borrowed to pay the statutory deposit because the company has a written vision and a set goal which it has consistently pursued with diligence and passion.

Mutual Benefits has continued to evolve because it has a five-year plan which the company follows rigorously right from inception.’’ Today, Mutual Benefits ranks between 4th and 5th in the entire insurance industry with about 80 branches in Nigeria, which is a lot of mileage for a company that started 20 to 25 years ago.

In terms of competitive edge, Mutual Benefits under the leadership of Ogunbiyi has embarked upon series of innovations that have brought about immeasurable growth and development.

The company has moved from just being an insurance company to becoming a conglomerate with interest in real estate, oil & gas and operations in other West African countries, including Niger and Liberia.

To put the record in proper perspective, the stars didn’t grant this thoroughbred professional his lofty youthful ambition on a platter.

Unlike many young men who fiddle with a pie in the sky, he took practical steps to pursue his dreams in the world of business.

Ogunbiyi, Group Chairman of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, and a front-running aspirant for the office of the Executive Governor of Osun State on the platform of People’s Democratic Party, founded Mutual Benefits at the age of 31. He has diversified into other areas initiating development, value and creating companies that are delivering value.

The conglomerate is also into manufacturing, Agriculture and Finance, through investments, strategic alliances, and partnerships, with

over 3,000 staff and marketing executives in its employment. Specifically, Mutual Benefits currently has an Authorized Share capital of over N10 billion and transacts both Life and General Insurance business.

As a business icon and manager, he has successfully built businesses from scratch into a conglomerate that has been a beacon of hope to other aspiring entrepreneurs.

An Associate Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London and a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, Ogunbiyi is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Directors; Fellow, West Africa Insurance Institute, Banjul, Gambia and a Fellow of the Risk Managers Society of Nigeria.

A philanthropist par excellence, Ogunbiyi keeps touching and impacting lives in their millions almost on a daily basis, through his companies’ Corporate Social Responsibility CSR initiatives, the Akin Ogunbiyi Foundation and his personal philanthropic gestures, all of which know no ethnic, religious or gender boundaries.

In this regard, he has always made it clear that he is following in the footsteps of his role model, mentor and former Chairman of his company, Mutual Benefits Assurance PLC, late Chief Aret Adams, former Group Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, who once said, “I am a leader of men and women. I am not rich. My wealth is in the lives of the people that I have touched.”

Ogunbiyi declares himself as a product of Aret Adam, while, at the same time, expressing his gladness about the fact that there are a number of people that will be proud to say, too, they are products of Akin Ogunbiyi.

As a personality brand icon; and in his entire professional and entrepreneurial growth trajectory, certain qualities have defined his essence and promise. These are: value creation and delivery, rooted in distinction, humility, excellence and humanity.

Ajayi is a Lagos-based journalist and public affairs commentator.

Read full article online - www.thisdaylive.com

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Lawan to Military “When we declared bandits as terrorists, my understanding was that they are going to be dealt with ruthlessly now. I wonder whether that is the case. The military like some of our colleagues have said needs to wake up” –President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan challenging the military to tackle killings and kidnappings.

PENDULUM DELE MOMODU

dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

I Said A Prayer for President Talon

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ellow Africans, please lend me your eyes and ears. I have just experienced a pleasant surprise in a place I least expected, Bénin Republic, just a stone throw from Nigeria. Believe me, I actually said a word of prayer for President Patrice Guillaume Athanase Talon, the 63 year old President of Bénin, his wife, Madame Claudine Gbenagnon, their children, Karen and Lionel, and their unborn generations, for making Africa proud by their spectacular performance in power. I’m prouder that President Talon is a Taurean like me, also born in May and about two years older than me.

I’m sure you all know how difficult it is to find African leaders worthy of adulations talk less of prayers. The last time I found one was in 2016 when President John Dramani Mahama wowed me with his extraordinary projects in Ghana. I had screamed his names on the rooftops and many politicians got angry and jittery and jealous and envious. I didn’t mind because the color of truth is always constant. I thought it would be difficult to find another Mahama in West Africa except President Macky Sall of Senegal, a country I first discovered

President Talon

in 1992, during an unforgettable trip to Goree Island with Chief Moshood Abiola. Lately, though a Nigeria, I saw a brilliant in Port Harcourt, where Governor Nyesom Wike has scattered everywhere with monumental projects.

Let me confess that my curiosity about

President Talon had been aroused by my very dear Brother, Wole Omoboriowo, sometime last year. He had regaled me with tales of how President Talon is transforming Bénin at the speed of light.

It sounded too good to be true and I must have subconsciously felt Wole was just being hyperbolic. Where would Bénin find such resources from, I had soliloquised quietly! If Nigeria with all its natural resources and mountains of debts has nothing tangible to show, I reasoned Bénin would be the most unlikely of places to witness such sporadic developments.

What was more? I had tried to establish the French version of Ovation International magazine in Bénin in 2006 but the country became too small for our dreams. We couldn’t make money and we had to be subsidizing our operations, as if the subsidy syndrome had followed us from Nigeria. Most painfully, we had to shut down our beautiful and magnificent waterfront office at the Marina. As a pan-Africanist under the influence of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Walter Rodney, W. E. B. Du Bois, The Nwalimu Julius Nyerere, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Amilcar Cabral and others, my dream had always been about how to unite

African economies. This utopic ambition has burnt my fingers several times in different parts of Africa but I remain undaunted and unbowed.

The Cotonou I returned to was just too refreshingly different. I took extensive drive around the city and could almost not recognize most parts. My God, please, continue to imbue your son President Talon with vision and wisdom and courage to do what is needed and right for his people. I was dazed like a kindergarten baby seeing Father Christmas for the first time. I can confidently confirm that Nigerian leaders should be ashamed of the backwardness in our own country. Lest I forget, the road from Lagos to Cotonou remains under perpetual reconstruction and painfully rough, undulating and dangerous. Once we crossed the Seme border into Cotonou, it was a totally smooth ride till we came back. We did not see a single checkpoint manned by desperately greedy officers and their accomplices who looked more like ghommids out of D. O. Fagunwa’s Forest of a Thousand Daemons (Wole Soyinka’s translation of Ogboju Ode Ninu Continued on page 53

OKEYIKECHUKWU EDIFYING ELUCIDATIONS

okey.ikechukwu@thisdaylive.com

2023: Alaoma Community as Metaphor

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he frenzy is palpable. There are rumours and insinuations of subterfuge here and there.

The hysteria is picking up speed. Outright declarations of intention to contest for the office of president are pouring out of every street corner. Among the many who consider themselves fit, and who are now prancing forward to be crowned King of Nigeria you find those with unsteady gait due to age. You will also find others who have no quotable quote, or memorable achievement, after some 20 years in politics.

We say nothing about the coarse ambience, history of financial debauchery and curious political trajectory of nearly all of them. Their assumptions about themselves is, perhaps, the only explanation for has the special type of blindness, and a peculiar form resolute deafness, that is propelling them to seek the Presidency. Otherwise, many of them would have seen from the word to that their projects collapsed long before it

even took off. That little masquerades of questionable profile and laughable pedigree trying to pass themselves off as Ijele? Mbanu! Usu abughi nnunu!

(The bat is not a bird).

Which brings to mind the story of certain community known as Alaoma.

The society’s core values forbade certain types of people from aspiring to be made King. Alaoma traditions made it clear that leadership was not some sort of vain aspiration. It was no platform for self-inflation and egocentric excesses.

“Kingship is no hobby” was always the rallying cry of the wisest in the land.

And a time came when this age-old core value of Alaoma had to be affirmed on behalf of the people by an elder, known as Ichie Omee-Okachie.

His opening statement on the occasion of his fateful intervention was pithy and to the point: “No, not while I am alive!

Not while I still have a say, and a role to play, in the matter of who becomes King will a never-do-well be crowned inn this community!” This was just before

the commencement of preparations and processes for the selection of a new King. With the clamouring and noisy clattter of uncouth voices everywhere, everything seemed possible.

But not with Okachie, and not if he can help it. He rose felt beside with indignation the day one lousy fellow falsely invoked the name of the oracle before the Council of Elders, alleging that it had proclaimed him the next King of Alaoma. Bunkum! He simply told the man and his supporters, point blank, that a lizard was not a type of crocodile.

For good measure, he explained to him that no amount of feeding, and no type of special diet, can turn a domestic cat into a lion. “You might as well have told us that the gods had decreed that you would grow wings, fly into the sky and hover there forever – and probably for a few market days thereafter.”

That was when it dawned on the people of Alaoma that someone may yet claim that he had been given a spare key to the land of the ancestors; wherewith he

could always enter and consult with the gods at will when others were locked out! This, and despite the machinations, the desperation and the false ambition of several misguided individuals, they all had something else thing coming, because the people of Alaoma had woken up to the following questions: “Where is our Ijele? Who should we make our Standard Bearer at a time like this? Where is that individual, and where is that concatenation of ideas, whose presence would ring the bell for propriety and for the gathering of wits?”

As meetings were being held to determine a way forward for Alaoma, it became evident that many elders and titled men still did not quite understand the people’s need for spiritual, economic, leadership and moral rebirth. These presumed leaders did not notice the need to resolve the brewing disaster arising from the confiscation of the Commonwealth by many who were put in Continued on page 53

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