SATURDAY 1ST AUGUST 2020

External Reserves Drop By 0.8% in July Obinna Chima Nigeria’s external reserves dropped by $286 million (0.8 per cent) to $35.899 billion as at July 28, 2020, compared to the $36.185 billion it was at the end of June, 2020, data

obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) website yesterday has shown.

The development has been attributed to the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 which slowed down foreign portfolio inflows into the country, as

well as subdued oil prices.

The benchmark Brent crude closed at $43 per barrel yesterday.

The CBN recently adjusted the official exchange rate from N360 to a dollar to N380 to a dollar.

CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, recently stressed that at its current position, Nigeria’s external reserves remains strong.

“I still need to underscore the fact that Nigeria’s reserves still stand at around $36

billion which is strong.

Indeed, Nigeria has not even touched the $3.4 billion loan it took from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is a sign of prudence and being cautious to say 'let’s be prudent in spending our

money'. I can say that the market is stable,” he explained after the latest Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

Meanwhile, the Manufacturing Purchasing Continued on page 6

Encomiums as Bode Akindele is Buried in Ibadan...Page 6 Saturday 1 August, 2020 Vol 25. No 9245

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Southern Kaduna: IG Deploys More Policemen Bennett Oghifo

THE FIRST FAMILY@ SALLAH…

L-R: Son of the President, Yusuf; President Muhammadu Buhari; his wife, Aisha and his daughter, Amina, after the Eid prayers at the State House, Abuja…yesterday godwin omoigui

Apparently jolted by the unending killings in Southern Kaduna, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has approved a change of Continued on page 6

Buhari Admits Security Situation Very Disturbing, Tells Military to do Better Says some people in his government have abused trust Northern governors condemn attack on Zulum Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja, Seriki Adinoyi in Jos and Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday described the security situation in the country as “very disturbing”, and urged the military and the police to do much better, adding however, that his

administration had done its best in view of what he inherited in 2015.

He also assured Nigerians that more resources would be provided for the military, police and other security agencies to "deal with the unwanted security situation in some areas of the country.”

Continued on page 6

GOODNIGHT BODE AKINDELE… L-R: Atema and Olabisi, wives of late business mogul, Chief Bode Akindele, during the funeral service for the late industrilist, who was Parakoyi of Ibadan land, at the Methodist Church, Agbeni, Ibadan, Oyo State...yesterday

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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 ˾ ˜ ͹˜ ͺ͸ͺ͸

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Encomiums as Bode Akindele is Buried in Ibadan Makinde: He was a legend, role model for development

Kemi Olaitan, ÌËÎËØ The remains of business mogul, Chief Bode Akindele, were buried in Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday.

At the ceremony, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State described the late industrialist as a legend and role model for development.

Makinde said Akindele would live forever because of his kindheartedness, success stories as an industrialist and for his philanthropic gestures.

Chief Akindele died in Lagos on June 29 at the age of 87 years.

The governor while addressing family members and church leaders at the burial service held in honour of Chief Akindele at the Methodist Cathedral, Agbeni, Ibadan, asked the family to take solace in the fact that he left legacies of kindheartedness and success

that will never die.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted Makinde as saying that the late Chairman of Modandola Group lived a good life and left indelible marks on the sand of time, adding that the late business mogul followed the Biblical admonition in Psalm 90 verse 12, that we should number our days and incline our hearts unto wisdom.

According to him, "To Baba's family, I say this, you may not see Baba physically anymore but our loved ones never really leave us. They live forever with us. Each time we hear a voice that sounds like theirs, someone that shares a similar look or act as they do, we are reminded that a part of them always remains with us. But even more than that, we take solace in the fact that

someday, very soon, we will all meet again never to part.

"On this occasion, what came to my mind was Psalm 90 verse 12 and I was surprised that when I came in here, it was the same verse that we read: Teach us to number our days that we may apply our heart unto wisdom. So, to number our days in wisdom is to leave a mark in the sand of time. It means to ensure that when we are no more and people are to speak of us, they won't struggle to find things to say because we have left a legacy for posterity.

“The first time I met Baba physically was in this church and I said to him that I have been looking for an opportunity for us to meet face-to-face. My father did pray that when I grow up, I should be like Chief Bode Akindele, Parakoyi of Ibadanland. This means Baba numbered his days

in wisdom."

Governor Makinde recalled how Chief Akindele had wanted to volunteer his multimillion Naira medical facility to the state government as an isolation centre at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying "Baba was looking for me on how to use his medical facility as an isolation centre for Oyo State.

Not only that, but it is also on record that Baba was the largest single donor to Oyo State COVID-19 Endowment Fund. So, he was a legend and will live forever.

“He achieved success as an entrepreneur, industrialist and philanthropist. So, he remains a model for me. After I won the election, those that are familiar with my electioneering campaign will remember I promised that once we come in, I would go to Ikere Gorge Dam and ensure that, within

one year in office, Oyo State must go into freshwater stream farming. So, I came in and we started all the work. At that time, Baba invited me to his house at Alomaja and I was with him for about two hours that day. He tore all my ideas into pieces. He told me of the challenges he went through when he was into stream farming. And we have committed a lot of resources of Oyo State into that effort.

"After I left Baba, I went back home and called some of those that are close to me and told them Baba has succeeded in tearing our ideas to pieces and, as a result, we would not go ahead with it. This is because we would not commit Oyo State resources to a project that we cannot see the end from the beginning.

“So, I lost and then we went back to the drawing board. We

are doing a lot more research to see if this can still be done in a way that will be beneficial to Oyo State, because I was looking for the opportunity to win the argument with Baba, but Baba answered the call of God. So, I acknowledged that I lost that argument with Baba and there is nothing I can do anymore.

“My joy is full today because I eventually got to meet Baba. I actually wish that my father would be alive when I met him. I would have gone home to say that Daddy, I finally met the papa that you always prayed I should be like. I met him even on that trajectory to fulfilling God's plan over my life," he said.

The governor added that the Chief Akindele he knew was kindhearted and accessible, noting that he would be missed by a lot of people to whom he was a role model.

BUHARI ADMITS SECURITY SITUATION VERY DISTURBING, TELLS MILITARY TO DO BETTER The President made the remarks in an interview with State House Correspondents after observing Eid prayers with his family and aides at the State House, Abuja.

The President's declaration is coming a few weeks after he threatened heads of security agencies, including service chiefs, that their best was not enough, and two days after an attack on the convoy of Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, who was on his way to an IDP camp outside Maiduguri.

The President said much had been achieved on security and that given the situation he inherited in 2015, Nigerians ought to understand that his administration had done its best.

“Nigerians know that we have done our best. However, what is coming out of the North West and the North Central is very disturbing,” the President said.

In a press statement on the discussions, the President’s

spokesman, Garba Shehu quoted Buhari as saying that all the security agencies, including the military, and the police were working hard to tackle insecurity.

“We are making available resources to them to even do better. From the reports I am getting, they could do much better...they could do much better. But we are keeping them on the alert all the time to do their duties, said the President.

Buhari also spoke on corruption, saying an antigraft agency was set up to fight corruption, as those put in position of authority by both the past and present administrations had abused trust.

He, however, insisted that all corruption cases would be uncovered and thoroughly investigated.

“This is why we put the commission (of investigation) in place. There has been abuse of trust by people trusted by the previous administration

and this administration,” he said.

He lamented the waste of resources allocated to the development of the Niger Delta and its people, saying that corruption in the region had been unhelpful, especially “if you recall there is the 13 per cent derivation.”

Buhari warned against vandalism of oil pipelines in the oil-producing areas, which he said often resulted in environmental pollution.

According to him, those engaging in such activities are doing more harm than good to their people and communities.

“Those who are blowing pipelines and interfering with the production of petroleum products are hurting their people more than the rest of Nigerians because majority of their people are fishermen, fisherwomen and farmers.

"Now if they pollute the land and the waters, the fish goes into the deeper sea where the people cannot go and they

cannot grow anything. They are hurting their immediate communities more than any other thing,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Boko Haram insurgents have continued attacks in the North-east, while bandits have persisted in ravaging the North-west and the North-central.

On Thursday, multiple explosions from mortars fired by suspected Boko Haram members hit Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, leaving many injured.

The Borno State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Aliyu said yesterday that the death toll from the attack had risen to six, and that 27 people were injured.

Aliyu said the dead included a female at Gwange II and five others who were hit by the explosives at separate locations within the city.

He said following the incidents, the command in collaboration with other security agencies had deployed

a total of 7,000 personnel to secure the entire city for the Eid-el-Kabir celebration in order to prevent breach of peace.

The Commissioner said the personnel, comprising the Police Mobile Force (PMF), Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), and Special Protection Unit (SPU), were deployed in 31 designated mosques for the EId-EL-Kabir congregations.

In a related development, the Northern Governors Forum has condemned the recent attack on the convoy of one of its members, Governor Zulum, describing the act as callous and reprehensible.

Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, in a statement yesterday, described the attack on Zulum, who was on his way to Baga town in

Kukawa Local Government Area to personally distribute relief materials to internally displaced persons for the Sallah celebrations, as another desperate attempt by criminal elements to sabotage the efforts of the governor towards reducing the suffering of vulnerable persons that have been traumatised by terrorists.

Lalong, in the statement said: “This regrettable attack shows the desperation by enemies of peace and humanity at large to jeopardise all efforts, over the years, towards making life easier for victims of violence in the state.

“The Northern Governors Forum strongly condemns this attack and stands with Governor Zulum who has demonstrated courage in personally reaching out to people in need despite the dangers. We urge him not to be deterred as he keeps working with security agencies to protect the lives and properties of the people.”

declined in July 2020 for the third consecutive month.

One sub-sector recorded increased production level, four remained unchanged, while nine subsectors recorded declines in production in July 2020.

“At 43.1 points, the new orders index show contraction for the third consecutive

month in new orders index in July 2020. It however grew by 6.7 points above the level recorded in June 2020.

“Two sub-sectors reported expansion, three remained unchanged while nine subsectors recorded contraction in the review month. The manufacturing supplier delivery time index stood

at 56.4 points in July 2020, indicating faster supplier delivery time for the third consecutive month.

“Ten of the 14 sub-sectors recorded improved suppliers’ delivery time, two sub-sectors reported no change while the remaining two recorded slower delivery time in July 2020,” the CBN report added.

act of disturbing the relative peace enjoyed by the good people of the State.”

Members of the House of Representatives from Southern Kaduna had raised the alarm over more attacks by militias and armed herdsmen on communities during the Eid-el-Kabir celebration.

Five local government areas - Kajuru, Zango-Kataf, Kaura, Kauru and Jemaa, have been under persistent attacks recently, forcing the state government to impose a 24-hour curfew in the affected communities.

Despite the curfew, gunmen on July 24 launched fresh attacks on three communities in Jema’a and Kaura local government areas of Kaduna

State, killing at least nine people.

Eleven people were said to have been injured during the attack. Several houses were also razed during the attacks. The three communities attacked were Zikpak and Ungwan Masara (Fantsuam Chiefdom), in Jema’a Local Government Area, as well as Maraban Kagoro, in Kaura Local Government Area.

According to the spokesperson for SOKAPU, Luka Binniyat, no fewer than 50 gunmen invaded Zikpak and started shooting repeatedly.

After attacking Zikpak, the gunmen reportedly headed for Ungwan Masara and Maraban Kagoro, where they also carried out further attacks.

The July 24 attacks came barely 24 hours after those that the survivors described as Fulani militia reportedly invaded Agwala Magayaki of Doka Avong in Kajuru Local Government Area of the state, killing seven persons, including an 85-year-old man.

Earlier in July, gunmen invaded Kukum-Daji village in Kaura Local Government Area and killed no fewer than 21 people, mostly youths, at a wedding.

In another attack that took place in Gora Gan in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area, 10 people were killed, while five people were killed in an attack on Kizachi-Chawai community, Kauru Local Government Area.

Northern Governors Condemn Attack on Zulum

EXTERNAL RESERVES DROP BY 0.8% IN JULY Managers’ Index in the month of July stood at 44.9 index points, indicating contraction in the manufacturing sector for the third consecutive month.

According to the latest PMI report posted on the CBN’s website, of the 14 surveyed sub-sectors, transportation equipment sub-sector reported growth (above 50% threshold)

in the review month while non-metallic mineral products sector reported no change.

However, the remaining 12 sub-sectors reported contraction in the following order: printing and related support activities; primary metals; fabricated metal products; paper products; food, beverage and tobacco products;

chemical and pharmaceutical products; furniture and related products; electrical equipment; plastics and rubber products; petroleum and coal products; textile, apparel, leather and footwear and cement.

Furthermore, the report showed that at 44.7 points, the production level index for the manufacturing sector

SOUTHERN KADUNA: IG DEPLOYS MORE POLICEMEN tactics in the fight against the terrorists, and has ordered more men to the troubled areas.

Sources at the Police headquarters, Abuja, told THISDAY last night that the IG has instructed the Commissioner of Police, Kaduna State Police Command, Umar Muri, to ensure that the people in the state begin to see the impact of the new strategy.

In line with the directives, the Kaduna State Commissioner, yesterday confirmed the deployment of more policemen to Southern Kaduna to stop further killings in the area.

Specifically, the CP deployed more policemen to five local government areas - ZangoKataf, Kajuru, Kaura, Kauru, and Jemaa.

The commissioner said the deployment was part of efforts to restore law and order in the troubled state.

The spokesman of the Kaduna State Police Command, Mohammed Jalige, in a statement yesterday, said: “The Commissioner of Police has directed all Area Commanders and DPOs within the affected areas to make adequate use of the deployed personnel to ensure the safety of lives and properties, as well as the full enforcement of the 24-hour curfew imposed by the Kaduna State Government.

“The Commissioner of Police wishes to commiserate with the good people of Kaduna State, particularly those who have lost their loved ones

and property as a result of the crises. He further assures that the Command will do everything within its powers to ensure that peace is restored in the affected areas.

“In the same vein, the Commissioner of Police enjoins the law-abiding citizens of the state to cooperate with the Police, the Military and other law enforcement agencies as they carry out the full enforcement of the curfew amongst other measures with a view to ensuring their safety.

“He however warns troublemakers in the State to desist forthwith from acts of violence and lawlessness, as the Command will not hesitate to deal decisively with any person or persons found in the

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ AUGUST 01, 2020

NEWS

News Editor Ahamefula Ogbu 08116759810 (sms only) Email ahamefula.ogbu@thisdaylive.com

Amaechi Explains Sovereignty Clause in $500m Chinese Loan Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has explained that the clause ‘waiving sovereignty’ in the loan agreement between Nigeria and China was only a contract term, a sovereign guarantee that assures payback according to the terms and conditions of any loan.

Amaechi made the clarification while answering questions about the loan controversy on a TV programme, yesterday.

He also explained that the Ministry of Transportation was not responsible for taking loans, but to implement the project or contract for which the loans were taken.

He said, “It is a commercial agreement, it’s a trade agreement between Nigeria and China. The first issue is that Ministry of Transport does not take loan. Anything about loan, talk to Ministry of Finance. What I signed is what they call commercial contract, that is contract between the federal government and CCECC as a contractor.

“The contract between Nigeria and China is usually signed by

the Ministry of Finance on behalf of Nigeria, but that will be escaping the issue. Whether it is the Ministry of Finance that signed it or the Ministry of Transport, the issues are the issues.

There is no contract without an agreement and that agreement must contain some terms and one of the terms that this one contains, is not that you’re signing away the sovereignty of the country. What you do is, you give a sovereign guarantee; and I’m ashamed of those who interpret it the wrong way.

“Now, when you say ‘I give you a sovereign guarantee and I waive that immunity clause, the immunity clause is that, if tomorrow I’m not able to pay you and you come to collect the items that we’ve agreed upon, that these are items I have put down as guarantee, I can waive my immunity and say no, you cannot touch our assets, we are a sovereign country. They (the Chinese) are saying, if you are not able to pay, don’t stop us from taking back those items that will help us recover our funds. And it’s a standard clause, whether it’s

with America you signed it or with Britain or any country, because they want to know they can recover their money. What the clause does is to say to you, I expect you to pay according to those terms and conditions. If you don’t pay, don’t waive your immunity on me (the lender) when I come to collect back what is the guarantee you put forward.

“The waiving of immunity simply means in trade parlance that I’m not giving you this loan free of charge.

Just like if you go to take a loan from the bank, the moment you don’t pay, they go after the assets you put down. And people are politicising it.

Allaying the fear of some Nigerians asking if it’s possible to repay the loan, Amaechi stated that the loan was already being repaid.

“But we’re paying, he said. “In the same National Assembly committee sitting, they were told that out of the 500 million dollars, we’ve paid 96 million dollars already. Nigeria is already paying... So, it’s not that Nigeria doesn’t have the capacity to pay back. We’ll pay back. At 2.8 per cent, what other country would give you that loan? 2.8 per cent for 20 years with seven years moratorium, why can’t you pay back? The repayment plan is not done by us, it’s done by the Ministry of Finance, but they are meeting the requirements.”

The minister further explained that the loans were not paid to him nor the ministry, which automatically eliminates any fear of corruption or diversion of funds. They are paid directly to the contractor in China.

“I told them at that meeting, that these loans are not given to us, they are paid directly to the contractor.

Once we sign that the job has been done, they pay the contractor.

And this has never been done before. So what is critical is that the projects are being done.

“These loans are not paid here, so you can’t even steal it. What we do is ensure that the work is done. We hired an Italian company that goes with our engineers in the ministry to ensure that the Chinese meet the European standard, so that there are no fake things or poorly done work. When they check and say yes, this has been done and done to the standard of the contract approved, then they pass it on to

us, we sign and approve that the work has been done. It is then sent to the ministry of finance who also appends their signature and passes it on the Chinese Exim bank who then pays to the contractor. So how do you see the money?

“The job is development related. If you don’t do it, you don’t get paid.

So the contractor would want to do the job, he wants to satisfy his client, so that the client can sign to say that he has done the job. So what is the problem. Is this political?

Amaechi also reiterated his call to the National Assembly to put a hold on the probe as some loans were still being expected for the completion of Lagos to Ibadan and the construction of Ibadan to Kano and Port Harcourt to Maiduguri rail.

INEC Releases Names of Ondo Governorship Candidates Chuks Okocha in Abuja Contrary to reports that the incumbent deputy governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi had defected to the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) to contest the October 13 governorship election, the list of all the 17 governorship candidates and their deputies released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not include the name of Ajayi as the candidate for the ZLP. The deputy governor who defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in June this year was defeated by Eyitayo Jegede to the second position.

According to the list released by INEC yesterday, the name of the candidate of the ZLP is Benjamin Jairus Olarotimi and the deputy governorship candidate is Esho Emmanuel Olusegun.

Media report had said that Ajayi Agboola met the

former governor of the state, Olusegun Mimiko who is the national leader of ZLP to field the deputy governor to fly the ticket of the party, having lost the chance of becoming the PDP candidate Other 16 governorship candidates according to the list released by INEC are as follows.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate is Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akerodolu and the deputy governorship is Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa For Accord Party, the candidate is Rotimi Adeyeye Akindejoye and the running mate Akinyemi Bibiresanmi. For Action Alliance, Joshua Oluwafemi Adewole and the deputy governorship candidate, Ogunleye Agboola Williams. For African Action Congress the governorship is Adeyeye Adekunle Peter and the deputy governorship candidate is Samuel Tope Omotosho.

Enugu Begins Schools Decontamination Ahead of Resumption The Enugu State Government, yesterday, started comprehensive decontamination and fumigation of secondary schools in the state ahead of resumption of academic activities. The exercise is being carried out by the State Fire Service.

Enugu State Government, on March 24, 2020, closed all educational institutions in the state, as part of proactive measures to contain the spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). The state government directed all public officers/ civil servants to work from home till further notice, except those on essential services.

Briefing newsmen shortly after the flag off, which took place at Queen’s School Enugu, the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uche Eze, who monitored the exercise alongside the Chairman of Post Primary Schools Management Board (PPSMB) Mr. Nestor Ezeme, said

the governor directed that “all our schools, classrooms, dormitories and school premises should be decontaminated and fumigated in preparation for resumption.”

Prof. Eze disclosed that “this is to ensure that when the students and teachers are back to schools, they will be safe to learn in conducive environment.”

The commissioner added that the exercise would take place in all the schools and would be completed on or before the evening of Monday, August 3, 2020.

He pointed out that Governor Ugwuanyi’s administration had utilised the four months of break in academic activities “in renovation and expansion of our school facilities to ensure that we have enough space for our children to maintain social distancing when they return to schools.

REDEFINING SERVICE. . .

L-R: Executive Director, Maritime Labour & Cabotage Services, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei; President, National Association of Stevedoring Companies (NASC), Mr. Bolaji Sunmola; Director General, NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh; Executive Director, Operations, NIMASA, Mr. Shehu Ahmed; and Executive Director, Finance & Administration, NIMASA, Hon. Chudi Offodile, during a courtesy visit by NASC to the Agency in Lagos...recently

Lagos Pharmacists Demand Inclusion in Primary Healthcare Board The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Lagos State, has demanded an allinclusive Primary Healthcare Board with representatives of the PSN, Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) and Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) accommodated to strengthen the healthcare system in the state.

Chairman of Lagos Chapter of PSN, Gbolagade Iyiola, in a document presented to the Council on Health, Lagos State Government, at the

2020 Annual Summit of the Lagos chapter of PSN; advised the government to recognise Community Pharmacies as primary care centres in immunisation services, antenatal clinics, family planning, health promotion, health and wellness services and overall patient empowerment.

He said government at all levels must begin to invest significantly into Primary Healthcare with emphasis on preventive therapy through maximum engagement of environmental health officers.

“It is a statement of fact that governments at all levels must tinker with their budgets to feature preventive care therapy at the expense of curative therapy.

A renaissance/rescue team

by LASG needs to drive this agenda,” said Iyiola.

He further said, “Healthcare is a globally inclined endeavour driven by international best practice and was the reason for each health professional specialising all over the world.”

The PSN Chairman

urged Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to initiate a programme of action to avail all trainee health workers the benefit of facilities in the state.

“In the quest to open the restricted borders of progression in healthcare in Nigeria, we strongly urge His Excellency Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to direct unhindered access of training facilities to all health workers in training at undergraduate and post-graduate levels,” he said.

PDP, Northern Governors Mourn Fasanmi Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Seriki Adinoyi in Jos The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday joined in mourning the death of elder statesman and leader of the Afenifere group, Pa Ayorinde Fasanmi, describing it as a sad event as well as a huge loss to the nation and humanity at large Also, Northern Governors Forum has commiserated with Afenifere, over the death of its leader and elder statesman, Pa Ayorinde Fasanmi, which they described as a great loss

not only to Yoruba nation but to Nigeria as a whole.

In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party described Pa Fasanmi as an outstanding democrat who dedicated his life towards the stability and development of the nation, particularly in his leading roles in the entrenchment of democratic practice, equity, justice and national cohesion, especially as a member of the House of Representatives in the First Republic and a Senator in

the Second Republic.

The PDP recalled that the patriotic roles played by Pa. Fasanmi as a member of the National Constitutional Conference of 1994, which further laid the foundation for the birthing of the present democratic order, in addition to his continued leadership counsel towards the stability of Nigeria to the very end.

According to the PDP, “Our party is deeply pained that Pa Fasanmi left the stage at the time our nation needed his wealth of experience, wise counsel, prayers and

leadership direction the most” The party however said that it finds solace in the fact that Pa Fasanmi triumphed in life and left very strong legacies and leadership footprints for the younger generation of leaders to follow in the task of nation building.

The PDP condoled with the Fasanmi family, the Afenifere group, the government and people of Ekiti and Osun states respectively and pray God to grant the nation the fortitude to bear this irreplaceable loss.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͹˜ 2020

08054699539

Hadiza Bala-Usman and the Nigerian Calamity

H

adiza Bala-Usman assumed office in 2015 as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) with so much enthusiasm. She came with a reform agenda, largely, to block leakages of revenue and to stifle companies/contractors taking advantage of the NPA to line their pockets with money due to the federal government. Hadiza hit the ground running, tackling the big boys milking the country at the ports. It was as if for once, all revenues due to government at the ports would be realised and those exploiting the system would become history. But five years down the line, most of the steps taken by this young woman to block leakages have been successfully reversed by the powers that be in Abuja. Hadiza is obviously tired, but still hanging on for God knows what. Her brawls with our system present some of the contradictions that have kept our country paralysed. They exemplify the tragedy of the Nigerian nation.

Let’s look at the Secure Anchorage Area, created on the Nigerian high sea by a Nigerian private company since 2014 and provides security at a high cost in USD to vessels calling at the Lagos ports. Normally, the business of protecting ships on the sea and our territorial waters is largely that of the Nigerian Navy. This is backed by our laws. Over the years, the NPA assists the Navy with equipment to carry out this task. Unfortunately, the leadership of the Navy provides the services to the Hosa Wells Okunbo-led firm in charge of the so-called Secure Anchorage Area exploiting foreign ships heading to Lagos ports. Vessels purchased by the NPA for the Navy to secure our waterways are used to service the secure anchorage.

The SAA managers tell ship owners that they run the risk of being attacked by pirates if they don’t use the secure anchorage. Nigerian consumers are paying heavily for this. How? The cost of shipping goods to Nigeria increases with this extra security bill for ships, which is invariably passed on to the final consumers - Nigerians.

Hadiza moved against the cartel, declared the operation of the secure anchorage firm illegal and pressured the Navy to assume its responsibilities. Unfortunately, nothing happened thereafter. The Navy snubbed her and refused to kick out Hosa Wells Okunbo, while the powers that be in Abuja refused to back Hadiza. Of course, one powerful cabal is running the show at the secure anchorage.

Hosa Wells Okunbo is a key member of the ruling APC. He dines with any government in power. His conspirators, the Nigerian Navy

Usman

leadership inclusive, are Nigerians above the laws of our land. This is why a private company can slice out a portion of our territorial waters and name it, “Secure Anchorage Area”, then, charge foreign vessels in USD for protection.

It can only happen in Nigeria.

The big men in Abuja are not concerned about Nigeria’s security and the rising cost of shipping goods to Nigeria.

For obvious reasons, those with statutory responsibility for the security of the country’s waterways - Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Marine Police, and the Nigerian Navy – are unperturbed by the activities of the secure anchorage firm.

Early this year, a frustrated NPA wrote to all Mariners in the Lagos Pilotage Area, warning against patronising the Hosa Wells Okunbo’s SAA. It states: “NPA is ensuring a safe NPA Lagos Anchorage (NPA LA) in the Lagos Pilotage District (LPD). The Secured Anchorage Area (SAA) whose Centre Point Coordinates 06° 17’30N/003° 12’00E and radius of 2.5NM is discontinued with immediate effect. NPA Lagos Anchorage (NPA LA) is now the only designated anchorage in the Lagos Pilotage District (LPD). Owners, Agents and charterers should ensure that the contents of the Lagos Pilotage District notices to Mariners are made known to their Masters and persons in-charge of their vessels and marine operations whilst within the jurisdiction of this

Pilotage District.”

It is still business as usual at the SAA. As at press time, Hosa Wells Okunbo and the other schemers were still smiling to the banks with their US Dollars from the secure anchorage, while Nigerians are forced to pay more for goods shipped into the country. Vessels pay $2,500 for the first day at the anchorage and $1,500 for following days. Some stay as much as 30 days before exiting the anchorage. The talk about war against corruption does not apply here. What a country!

Hadiza’s NPA also moved to ensure that the federal government gets full value for its land at Tarkwa Bay, Lagos, by sanctioning Amy Jadesimi’s Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL) for allegedly violating the terms of the land leased to it in the area. LADOL is profiting at the expense of the federal government by sub-leasing 11.2 hectares of the total 121 hectares leased to it at huge amount without recourse to NPA. The firm is believed to have collected $45 million from Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria Limited (SHIN) for the sub-leased land for which it paid $524,105 to the NPA. The land lease was revoked by Hadiza and the firm was granted a fresh lease under new terms, excluding the 11.2 hectares that constitute the premises of the fabrication and integration yard of SHIN. The 11.2 hectares was then leased to SHIN at $219,700 annually. The powerful LADOL mounted pressure on the big boys in Abuja and Hadiza was told to step back. So, LADOL retains its deal with SHIN, and it is still beaming to the bank at the expense of Nigeria.

What about the Calabar Channel dredging contract scam? NPA paid $15 million to a company called Niger Global Ltd for the dredging of the Calabar Channel. Hadiza came in and terminated the contract for non-compliance with due process and requested for a refund of $15 million payment made to the company for lack of evidence of dredging claimed.

The firm is yet to make the refund and the promoters are walking free.

The termination of BUA Terminal lease agreement in Port Harcourt, over non-adherence to development plan, has also been tactically reversed. NPA moved against the terminal over health and safety issues. The owner of BUA pressed the Abuja button and Hadiza was asked to step back.

So, what happened to Hadiza and her reforms at NPA? What happened to all her

Tales out of Kaduna State Heart-wrenching Tales out of Kaduna State are heartwrenching. This state has become a killing field, with the el-rufai-led government and security agents hardly showing any seriousness about ending the carnages.

Photos and videos of these killings are traumatising. I could not sleep for days after being exposed to the story of how a lawyer with the state’s Ministry of Justice, Haro Gandu was slaughtered, while his wife and son were abducted from their resident in Chikun Local Government Area of the state. The gunmen broke into their home in the night and slaughtered him. It is the same narrative of ruthless killings virtually everywhere in Kaduna State, with Fulani militias invading communities, breaking into homes, killing, raping and abducting people. From Zango-Kataf to Kajuru, Kaura and Chikun local governments, the story is the same, with the killers still roaming freely.

The butcheries in Southern Kaduna are more pathetic, with so many communities flowing with blood of the innocent. The killings here have been going on for years, but were intensified under the el-rufai government. The last five years have been harrowing for the people of this area, with hundreds of their loved ones mauled to death. Women and children have not been

El-Rufai

spared. It’s a war between the natives and Fulani militias. This is the truth that must be told. Unfortunately, Governor el-rufai and security agents have compromised.

Even with the so-called curfew imposed in two of the local government areas, killers still slip in with ease and murder people.

It is so sad. This governor and security agents need to take dispassionate actions to curtail killings in Southern Kaduna in particular and the entire state in general.

It was depressing listening to the Commander of Operation Safe Haven in Kaduna, Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, admitting that he has limited manpower to tackle the Southern Kaduna killings. Security agents must be proactive. They often wait for killings to happen before rushing to the area after the damage had been done. I suspect this is deliberate.

Governor el-rufai’s response to attacks

by Fulani militias in the state is always predictable. He visits the community, laments the incessant killings and vows to tame the killers. The story ends there until there is another attack and he would repeat the same swagger. The killers are hardly apprehended. Back in March, he told a bewildered nation that the bandits had been wiped out by security agents. It was a subterfuge. It never happened. This governor has to go beyond swaggering to end the killings in his state. Above all, he has to be impartial, if he truly wants result.

moves to ensure that the federal government gets good returns from its ports and surrounding land? The NPA boss was simply swallowed by the big men in Abuja and some chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress. Hadiza was told to keep off Secure Anchorage, OMSL Limited, LADOL, Niger Global Ltd, BUA Terminal and the rest of them. At the NPA, the hypes about accountability and transparency by the Buhari government have been discarded.

This is the tragedy of the Nigerian nation I have been talking about. For Hadiza, I am shocked that she is still parading herself as the Managing Director of the NPA. She ought to have resigned to make a statement. This is the only way we can build a new Nigeria.

Dogara

Dogara’s Politics of Stomach Infrastructure The immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, never ceases to amaze me. One moment, he is in the PDP. The next moment, he defects to the APC. Before you know it, Dogara is back in the PDP. This man is a very good example of jesters masquerading as politicians in Nigeria. For the likes of Dogara, there is nothing like principle or ideology in politics. It is just about their stomach and other personal interest. After stacking heaps of rubbish on the APC, Dogara has rejoined this same “rubbish” party and he thinks they will take him seriously. Yes, the same PDP Dogara told us was the only way forward for Nigeria in 2015 is now a beast. The APC he told us was bosh few years back is now the messiah. This is the usual treachery by Nigerian politicians for personal goals. Anybody that believes Dogara would believe anything.

Dogara wants us to believe that he dumped the PDP to join the APC because the mistakes the former administration in Bauchi State made were being repeated by the present administration of Governor Bala Mohammed. He claims the Bauchi governor has been mismanaging the resources of the state.

He queries: “What has happened to LGA allocations since May 2019? What happened to our campaign promise to conduct LGA election within six months of the PDP government?

What happened to the N4.6bn loan taken from a bank and paid directly into a private company’s account? Why are we segmenting salaries and why is payment of salaries of state workers outsourced to a private firm as consultants? Why are contracts inflated, awarded and payment of mobilisation done in violation of extant rules on procurement?”

Yes, these are pertinent questions. If Dogara truly believes in the party, he would have used its machineries to get answers to these questions, and tackle the governor without defecting to APC. But there is more to Dogara’s defection than these unanswered questions. There are speculations that he is aiming to become Nigeria’s vice president in 2023. Some are even talking about Dogara contesting for President in 2023.

He is a typical Nigerian politician. Let him continue wallowing in deceit.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ AUGUST 1, 2020

NEWS Ekiti Labour Orders 3-day Warning Strike from August 3 Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

PRUNED BUDGET ...

Governor Dapo Abiodun (centre) signing the revised 2020 budget of Ogun State. Standing right, Speaker, House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Kunlè Oluomo and left, Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tokunbo Talabi...

Passenger Dies Onboard Air Peace Flight Chinedu Eze A 72-year-old male passenger on Air Peace Calabar-Abuja Flight P47182, yesterday died onboard while the flight was airborne.

Informed source from the Margret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar, disclosed that the deceased had a case of paraplegia due to spinal injury since 2019 and had been on medication and going for check-up in Abuja.

He became severely sick while

on board the flight and upon arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Port Health official checked him and confirmed that he had zero pulse, signifying he had passed on.

The deceased who was escorted to the airport by his daughter, according to information made available to THISDAY, was certified fit to fly by the Port Health at the Calabar airport but could not make the journey alive.

When the flight landed at

the Abuja airport, his remains was removed from the aircraft by officials of Port Health for other necessary protocols.

The incident was confirmed by the spokesman of Air Peace, Stanley Olise who said that the deceased was certified fit to fly before embarking on the flight.

He also said that in Calabar there was no indication that the deceased was severely sick, as he was certified fit by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigerian (FAAN) to fly.

“The passenger was certi-

fied fit to fly by Port Health officials in Calabar before boarding our aircraft; but the passenger developed a medical condition in-flight.

“On arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport Abuja, we urgently notified the Port Health officials who confirmed the death and took the remains of the passenger to the hospital for the necessary protocols.

Air Peace has thoroughly decontaminated its aircraft and Port Health is on top of the situation,” he disclosed.

Attack on Zulum: Again, House Minority Caucus Call for Sack of Service Chiefs Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja Following Thursday’s attack on the convoy of the Governor of Borno State, Baba Gana Zulum by suspected Boko Haram terrorist, the Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has again called for the sack of the Service Chiefs.

The Minority Caucus noted that the attack on the state governor and other dastardly activities of the insurgents in

various parts of the nation had further reinforced the urgent need to inject new hands with fresh ideas to handle the nation’s security architecture The Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, in a statement yesterday urged the presidency to implement the recent resolution of both chambers of the National Assembly asking president Muhammadu Buhari to sack his Service Chiefs.

He stated: “We, the opposition lawmakers hereby in the strongest terms restate the call to President Muhammadu Buhari to honour the resolution of the National Assembly and immediately remove the Service Chiefs and bring in new hands to effectively confront the security challenges confronting our nation.”

“The entire nation is distressed by the incessant mindless killing of our citizens

and pillaging of defenseless communities by insurgents, bandits and kidnappers, which have brought indescribable agony, anguish and torment to innocent Nigerians.

“This is more so with the insistence by Governor Zulum of compromising of security system in the area, allegedly creating opening to the attack; a position that validates the call for immediate reorganising of the nation’s security architecture.

Magu Questions Panel for Inviting EFCC Suspects to Testify against Him

Ethnic Groups in Taraba Give Ishaku Ultimatum to Address Alleged Injustices

Kingsley Nweze

Wole Ayodele in Jalingo

The former acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, yesterday protested the decision of the presidential panel probing his tenure to invite people being tried by the agency for corruption to testify against him, saying it was not justifiable.

In a statement issued on his behalf by his counsel, Tosin Ojaomo, Magu also accused the panel headed by Ayo Salami, a former president of the appeal court, of being hostile to him.

Magu’s nightmare started after the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, accused him of mismanaging loot recovered by the anti-graft agency.

He was arrested and taken before the Salami panel. Magu was kept in detention for 10 days before he was eventually granted bail.

In his statement yesterday, Magu’s lawyer queried: “Why is the panel inviting suspects

facing EFCC trial to testify against him? What is the basis of the panel’s invitation to a senior lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), a lawyer that is defending the looters of our common patrimony, especially those who are under EFCC’s investigations and trial?

“Is it not curious that while the lawyer to Magu, Wahab Shittu, deliberately refused to disclose what transpired before the panel, Ozekhome and Obla issued statements and made public what transpired before the panel.

“What is the propriety of the panel’s invitation to a disgruntled official of the EFCC, Nuru Buhari Dalhatu, to come and testify against Mr. Magu while the said Dalhatu is under investigation for misconduct and fraternizing with suspects?

“What is the justification for the panel’s invitation of another senior lawyer, Godwin Obla (SAN), who is currently facing EFCC’s trial with an indicted judge of the Federal High Court?

Four out of the numerous ethnic groups in Taraba have given Governor Darius Ishaku a 30- day ultimatum to address injustices being meted to them by successive administrations in the state.

The ethnic groups, comprising the Minute, Fulani, Kuteb and Tiv in a joint world press conference on Saturday in Jalingo alleged that they have been subjected to series of Injustices in the state over the years.

Spokesperson of the group, Mr Obed Ameh who read the text of the press conference stated that the Injustices were largely in the areas of chieftaincy matters and local government creation.

Citing the case of the stool of Ukwe Takum which has been vacant since 1996 after the demise of Alhaji Ali Ibrahim, Ameh noted that the refusal to appoint a new Ukwe Takum was a deliberate attempt to rob the Kuteb of the stool.

He further decried the deliberate attempt to ostracize some Kuteb from the state through the

creation of Yangtu Development Area by the Danbaba Suntai as a temporary measure to engender peace.

“This later culminated into series of crises in that area that consumed several lives and properties worth billions of naira.

And as we speak, there is an alleged plan to appoint three third class chiefs in Takum town, the gazette to this plot is being developed already” “We wish to call on the state government to as a matter of urgency, fill in the vacant stool of Ukwe from Likam ruling house within 30 days so as to avert further crisis in Takum.”

The groups equally call on the state government to create Chiefdoms for the Mumuye in Jalingo, Lau and Ardo-Kola local government areas in the interest of justice.

Amen further disclosed that the creation of Kwararafa, Chanchanji, Chonku, Kona, Bakula and BakinDutse chiefdoms was done to place minority ethnic groups ahead of the majority with the aim denying the majority groups their cultural and traditional rights of rulership.

The Ekiti State Organised Labour has maintained a hard stand over unresolved issues surrounding unpaid benefits, as it directed workers to proceed on a three-day warning strike beginning from Monday, August 3.

The strike, according to the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), was to pressure Governor Kayode Fayemi to pay outstanding salaries, allowances and pension arrears of their members.

The state government and organised labour have been embroiled in a cold war over unpaid seven months salary arrears of local government

workers and primary school teachers, as well as pensioners, three month arrears for secondary school teachers and civil servants and outstanding gratuities spanning over 10 years.

Others contentious payments include: leave bonus from 2015 till date, arrears of promotions for workers at all levels, deductions and implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage across board.

The outstanding payments, which progressively accumulated during Governor Ayodele Fayose’s regime became an albatross for Fayemi, having promised to defray the arrears totaling N57 billion within one year he assumed office for his second term.

Abia Speaker Assures on Diaspora Bill Charles Ajunwa Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji, has assured Abians in diaspora that the House will pass the Diaspora Commission Bill 2020 into law.

He gave the assurance in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Jude Chijoke Ndukwe, in commemoration of the 2020 National Diaspora Day. According to him, the Diaspora Commission Bill 2020 among others, seeks to harvest

and harness the potentials of Abians in diaspora and create a conducive environment for them to engage in the socio=political and economic development of the state The Speaker noted that the contributions of Nigerians in the diaspora the country’s cannot be overemphasised, adding the federal government has done well to recognise and set a day aside to celebrate them.

The federal government had approved July every year as National Diaspora Day.

Gunmen Attack Family of Four in Plateau, Kill one, Injure 3 Seriki Adinoyi in Jos Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herders yesterday attacked a family of four at Exland of Gashishi district of Barakin-Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, killing one and leaving the others with fatal gunshot injuries.

THISDAY gathered that the gunmen at about 4:30a.m. swooped on the house of their victims while they were asleep and shot Mr. Daniel Mwantiri and his wife, Mrs. Ladi Mwantiri, and two others. While Ladi and the other two survived the attack, Daniel was not as lucky as he succumbed to death while being treated in the hospital.

A source at Exland, who preferred anonymity, said he was surprised that the assailants singled out the family for the early morning attack, as no

other house was affected.

He said, “Suspected Fulani militia attacked a family in Exland (Gindin Akwati) of Gashish district of Barkin Ladi LGA in the early hours of today (Friday). In the attack, a man and his wife, Mr. Daniel Mwantiri and Mrs. Ladi Mwantiri, and two others were severely injured and rushed to Jos University Teaching Hospital, (JUTH).

“While Mrs. Ladi and the other two persons in their house are currently recuperating in the hospital, Mr. Daniel unfortunately passed on while still receiving treatment at the hospital.

Coordinator, Emancipation Centre for Crisis Victims in Nigeria (ECCVN), Mr. Dalyop Solomon, who also confirmed the incident, said that the three surviving victims were still receiving treatment at Jos University Teaching Hospital.

Uzodimma Signs Revised N108.3bn Budget Amby Uneze in Owerri Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma, has signed into law the 2020 revised budget of one hundred and eightbillion,threehundred and eighty five million, eight hundred and thirtysixthousand,onehundredandthirty Naira only (N108,385,836,130).

Performingthesigningceremony at the Imo State Executive Council Chambers, Government House, Owerri, the governor said that the “revised 2020 Imo State Budget of rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery heralds a fresh page, with great promise in the fiscal history of our great State, Imo.” He informed that it was the first conscious step ofthesharedProsperityGovern-

ment to begin the implementation of a fiscal road map that guarantees economic liberation for the people of Imo State.

Describing the event as “a new dawn, a new day and a great new beginning,” he enjoined the prosperity team to be “proud of the glorious new day which comes with its attendant responsibilities and challenges.”

He expressed the state gratitude to the Speaker, Hon. Chiji Collins and the members of Imo State House of Assembly for their prompt and diligent attendance to duty and sacrifice in ensuring that the 2020 revised budget is passed into law on time.

SATURDAY AUGUST 1 2020 • T H I S D AY

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͹˜ ͺ͸ͺ͸ ˾ THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

COMMENTARY

BOKO HARAM REGIME OF REPAINTED TERRORISTS The treatment meted the so-called ‘repentant’ terrorists is an admission that crime pays, writes Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

T

he powers-that-be of Boko Haram have never had it so good. It’s as though they are in power.

Who has not heard that 601 so-called repentant, sorry, I meant to write repainted, Boko Haram terrorists have been re-integrated into communities after graduating in Gombe?

And the Boko Haram blokes were each paid N20,000 to boot! There is also the concurrent news that at the last count Boko Haram has succeeded in killing 1,433 children in Nigeria.

Crime and punishment can only be witnessed in the fiction of the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky and not among the Boko Haram powers of Nigeria.

I have since thrown away all the books stating that crime does not pay. Crime pays well, that is, if you belong to the Boko Haram regime of Nigeria.

Welcome to the age of change, an era of democracy by magic.

The clear and present reality for the beloved country is that some characters are arranging by fire, by force that the Boko Haram regime must be here to stay.

The Boko Haram regime must not be bound by the niceties of Western education such as certificates and debates or rules and laws.

The Boko Haram regime can chew up like kola nuts the paper on which the Nigerian Constitution is written, and the heavens will not fall, as they say.

I do know that a critic or two may already be asking to know by what measure I came to decode that a regime has been forged in the hot smithy of Boko Haram.

Let’s just take a short trip on recent Nigerian history to find the needed answers.

According to some cynical pundits, in the light of the fact that post-1966 Nigeria has proven to be a pathetic study in unmitigated disaster and unspeakable absurdities, power grabbing in the country has become a violently volatile matter.

To the pundits, the supremacist Northern victors of the civil war operate Nigeria like the “Akpuruka” version of the so-called “Luxurious” buses in which they occupy the main seats and let out the “attachment” seats of “obere onye, obere oche”, that is, “small person, small seat”, to their Southern allies depending on how much noise each can make in the raucous motor-park called Nigeria.

In the recent scheme of things, the pundits stress, following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, the Odua People’s Congress (OPC) raised hell until Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo was arranged as the Nigerian president by the Northern potentates.

Forget all that jazz and claims that his people did not

I HAVE SINCE THROWN AWAY ALL THE BOOKS STATING THAT CRIME DOES NOT PAY. CRIME PAYS WELL, THAT IS, IF YOU BELONG TO THE BOKO HARAM REGIME OF NIGERIA

vote for Obasanjo: once the Owu man was anointed president by the powers-that-be there came about an “Aremunisation” programme, and his people pronto re-discovered and embraced the man’s local name and recondite tribal marks!

The pundits go further to cite the case of the people of the Niger Delta who went ballistic through the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), putting pipelines in flames, kidnapping white and black personages with relentless alacrity such that Nigeria’s oil exports nearly dried up.

The ill-fated President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had to perforce plead amnesty to stem the unrelenting onslaught.

Yar’Adua could not however outlive the charge; he died in office, and his Niger Delta deputy had to take over in very murky circumstances.

As a president who came to power based on the novel “Doctrine of Necessity”, Goodluck Jonathan beheld unprecedented Boko Haram bombing and was direly warned that an “attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the North!”

Poor Jonathan had to go as he did not want any blood spilt on his head.

The Joint Task Force (JTF) that used to be domiciled in the Niger Delta has been transferred to the Maiduguri axis of the Northeast where Boko Haram holds sway.

The soldiers of our dear country are firing guns while the Boko Haram goons are throwing bombs.

The militant Islamist group cannot be stopped mid-course in the task of fulfilling a lifelong ideology: the imposition of Sharia law throughout all 36 states of Nigeria and Abuja.

The Boko Haram group, founded in 2002 in Maiduguri

by Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, stands in pole position of giving Nigeria a regime that breaks all the world records such as repainting and rewarding terrorists.

The old knowledge that the world is round has to be deleted from history, as the sect founder Yusuf said in a 2009 BBC interview that such knowledge was not Islamic.

The Boko Haram regime represents the ultimate change in the march of civilization, or lack thereof.

I have already gathered up all my certificates to make a huge bonfire of them in keeping with the order of the Boko Haram regime of Nigeria.

All the characters wanting to debate with the Boko Haram regime in the name of democracy or restructuring or whatever may end up facing the firing squad – retroactively!

Welcome, fellow Nigerians, to the age of mufti change featuring the Boko Haram regime of repainted terrorists and their cabal in power.

NDDC: THE SENATE MISSES THE POINT Etim Etim argues that the interventionist agency is better managed by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs

I

n announcing the findings of its probe into the activities of the interim management of the NDDC, the Senate made a number of recommendations to the federal government. Although these are non-binding resolutions, I am sure that the Buhari administration will carefully review and consider their relevance to good governance in the commission. I have come to respect this president the more for his knack for methodical deliberations before taking important decisions. I will therefore wish to add my voice to the debate on one of the Senate’s most controversial suggestions: return the NDDC to the office of the SGF. The lawmakers believe that the Office of the SGF will supervise the agency more effectively than the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. This is not correct based on our experience since the creation of the Commission and factual evidence.

The NDDC has since inception been supervised by the Office of the SGF until late last year when the President directed that it be moved to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. This directive was further emphasized in the President’s address to the nation on October 1. Although the government did not explain the rationale for the order, it is obvious that the OSGF is too overburdened, unwieldy and unsuitable for the role. The OSGF is in control of over 30 agencies and departments, ranging from the Cabinet Office to Ecological Fund. It coordinates the work of over 46 Ministries, Ministers and the Head of Service of the Federation. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the

SGF himself is saddled with the overwhelming responsibility of driving the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. It is therefore unthinkable that the Senate would consider the OSGF capable of taking on additional workload in the name of NDDC. The fact that the commission has been underperforming on its mandate and riddled with issues of gross mismanagement and misconduct in the past is not a noble testimony to how well it was supervised by the OSGF. The forensic audit might not have been necessary if the NDDC had been well managed and supervised by the OSGF. We cannot continue to do the same thing in the same manner and expect a different outcome. This is the point the Senate has missed. Besides, the uniqueness of the agency as an interventionist agency in a troubled corner of the country presupposes that its managers and supervisors should have an acute understanding of the problems of the region. Furthermore, the functions of the ministry complement the mandate of the commission. All considered, the president was very right in sending the NDDC to the Ministry last year. I therefore respectfully request the President to leave the NDDC where it is in the Ministry. It is logical and administratively and functionally more efficient that way. The senators obviously did not think through the implications of their recommendations.

I know that some of the lawmakers have been mentioned for having partaken in the ‘NDDC feasts’ in the past. Many of

them have been contractors, consultants or sponsors of contractors of the NDDC. A few other senators are nursing governorship ambitions in 2023 and are hoping to raise campaign funding from the commission in accordance with traditions. On the other hand, the zeal with which Senator Godswill Akpabio is pursuing the forensic audit exercise has certainly unsettled those who were enmeshed in unethical practices in the commission. We can therefore deduce that the senators just want to deflect the focus of further searchlight from themselves by seeking to move the agency from the ministry.

But the forensic audit is not an initiative of Senator Akpabio. The governors of the nine NDDC states and other stakeholders recommended it to the president. The audit is therefore a federal government project.

The senate’s recommendation is therefore an unnecessary meddlesomeness, just in line with their activities. In the last few weeks, the Senate has tried to stick their nose in virtually every function of the executive, from appointment and sack of service chiefs to employment of artisans. Nigerians are therefore not totally surprised this time around.

President Buhari should reject this recommendation. I should recall that the senators have approached this NDDC matter with considerable dubiousness. First, they had announced, without any shred of evidence but with all the sensationalism available, that N40 billion was missing from the accounts of the commission. The false

allegation embarrassed the Buhari administration and shocked the nation. But after months of investigations and millions of naira spent on it, the Senate’s probe committee did not utter a word on the issue of the missing money, instead the senators chose to preoccupy themselves with administrative issues. It is obvious that these lawmakers have deeper interest in the commission; the more reason the government should not truncate the forensic audit, no matter the pressure.

I accept the argument that NDDC needs enhanced supervisory control; and good enough, its enabling law has enough provision for that. The Presidential Monitoring Committee which was inaugurated early this year is mandated by the NDDC Act to not only to monitor the management of the funds allocated to the commission and implementation of its projects, but also to access the accounts and other records of the commission. There is also the Presidential Advisory Committee made up of all the governors of the NDDC states. The act empowers them to monitor the activities of the agency. These bodies are capable of further strengthening the command over the commission. The future of the NDDC lies in a complete overhaul of its operations and processes, in addition to the retraining and reorientation of the workforce. I hope that the president will not let the people of the Niger Delta down. I commend President Buhari for his commitment to leaving an enduring legacy in our region.

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͹˜ ͺ͸ͺ͸ ˾ THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

INSIGHT

Farewell...

Look Beyond Southern Kaduna

Kaduna State: Where Good Men Do Nothing

F

lies are on the noses of the good people of Kaduna State but they never rise to the flies. They claim not to do evil but are not forces for good in Kaduna.

The Auschwitz type of deathlike exhibitions has gone on for too long in Kaduna and I am forced to conclude that there are no good people from the place where these killers of the people of Southern Kaduna are recruited from. Surely, they are recruited by people that some good people know about.

These good people must have heard something and seen something enough to report to the security agencies but they refuse to do so. Fraidy-cats!

They probably gloat in the deaths of the people of Southern Kaduna, on religious basis.

I am also forced to conclude that there are no good people in the security outfits in Kaduna. I cannot understand why these good men, if there are, have never stood up to the bad people recruiting people to kill the people of Southern Kaduna. Bad people gather together for months to plan evil, for acts of vengeance. Where then are the good people in the Directorate of State Services? Shouldn’t the NIA also help in stopping chaotic disorders? Why do security chiefs only rush service men to places only when people have died? Restoring peace should be done before and not after people have been brutally murdered.

I am forced to conclude that there are no good people in political offices in Kaduna State. How come they move about as though everything is all right? Do they know the place of resignation of political positions for gross ineptitude? Why are they so attached to governmental positions without action?

I am forced to conclude that there are many cowards in Southern Kaduna than there are heroes. Why aren’t we seeing protest movement to government house by good people, demanding the resignation of the incumbent for not being able to protect lives and property that he swore an oath to protect? Caveat: the protest movement must be in company of armed soldiers so they are not ambushed and killed the way they were killed during the peaceful protest movement over the planned introduction of the political version of Sharia in a cosmopolitan state. Recall, that these murders led to the Sharia crisis that changed Kaduna State for the worse and forever.

The people of Southern Kaduna voted overwhelmingly for the APC government but all they get is deathly racket which the government cannot help bring to an end. In government offices, majority of the people only get secondrated appointments such as cleaning services and

gardening, errand men and women, while people of other stock sit in air-conditioned offices not by competence but by accident of birth and religion.

The military government helped in cementing the problems of the people of Southern Kaduna.

The self-styled military president thought Katsina a thorn on the flesh of Kaduna and created state of Katsina instead of one for the people of Southern Kaduna. That arrangement has failed and will repeatedly fail with the absence of good people especially from the other side who have failed to report acts of malevolence against the people of Southern Kaduna. The people of Southern Kaduna need a state by special act of parliament to manage their own affairs.

Injustice the world over lies in what people are not doing, there is nothing like a passive onlooker.

Passive onlookers in German society allowed Hitler to murder Jews in droves.

Passive onlookers in Kaduna allow screwballs to the type like Hitler to put Kaduna on the map as an unfriendly state and a state where life counts for nothing and can be stolen with excitement.

I remember the old line: “all evil needs to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”

Simon Abah, Abuja

O

nce again I need to do an army barracks reference. The man I am today is a collage of the morals and the points-of-view that my army barracks upbringing exposed me to. Anyone who desires should take a trip to the MRS Quarters of the army barracks (back then it was the bivouac of the 21st Infantry Battalion subordinate to the 1 Division at Kaduna) at Minna, Niger State, and that one should pause and contemplate how 48 soldier-families bunched up as mixed-tribal lots could survive living side-by-side whilst facing off in such close confine. What should impress that observer is what sort of learning have been implanted in the minds of children who had their formative lives growing up in that environment. At the barracks in Warri back then (the former 20th Amphibious Battalion), the living quarters for other ranks were not so cramped but an army barracks was still a “barikin soja” like the Hausa would affectionately put it. I got to know a lot about the peoples of Southern Kaduna (back then it was “Southern Zaria”) whilst growing up at the barracks in Warri and at Minna; a bloke of Southern Kaduna stock will not hurt a fly. I mean it.

Weren’t our near-door neighbours at Warri the Musas (and in my childhood infatuation, wasn’t I very fond of Saratu Musa the sister of Sunday Musa? Do not

T H E SAT U R DAY N E W S PA P E R EDITOR YEMI ADEBOWALE MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR JOSEPH USHIGIALE

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS BOLAJI ADEBIYI, PETER IWEGBU, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS PATRICK EIMIUHI, SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO HEAD, COMPUTER DEPARTMENT PATRICIA UBAKA-ADEKOYA TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

mind that soldiers back then were in healthy competition to name their firstborns “Sunday”). If a people cannot “hurt a fly” then those blokes will not do tit-for-tat with respect to the killer settlers who have been menacing them for too long now. The people of Southern Kaduna desire peace and they project peace.

What is happening to them in their homestead can be best understood if one looks beyond the Southern Kaduna province to neighbouring Plateau State and the Christian-dominated parts of Nasarawa State. Look hard and you will see a pattern. There is a wellestablished 3C (command, control, communication) set-up of roving killers (let’s call them “contra-Army” because they are the terrorist counter-force that oppose our beloved regular Nigerian Army) that pillage and decimate hapless Christian communities in their paths. This is the observed pattern. This contra-Army has guts and balls because it is only fools who mess with the Nigerian Army of my father’s time, but the contra-Army is waxing and there are top honchos making excuses for them that they strike because they are miffed by “cycles of vengeance.” Effectively the peoples of Southern Kaduna have been demonised and condemned to death because of this “my hand no dey” position that the federal chief security officer (as told to us by Garba Shehu) and the state chief security officer (as we heard from Gov. Nasir El-Rufai’i) have assumed. Once again, didn’t one of the Ten Commandments admonish mankind not to kill? “Thou shall not kill!”

Sunday Adole Jonah, Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State

Do We Need The Forces?

H

ere in Melbourne we have the most troops on our streets since we were last in a war. It appears to be the same in many cities around the world but why?

Like most people I respect the military forces and the work they do to protect us but like the police I like to know they are here for me but don’t always want them around me as it suggests trouble in some form.

The use of these groups as support does suggest that society is breaking down and not just as a result of the fear of a virus. The majority of public uproar regarding COVID seems to revolve around the apparent loss of freedoms, but we should be more concerned about the loss of lives.

Let’s bunker down, at home, respect our laws and hope or pray that science can help us and soon.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia

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SUPER SATURDAY

Yvonne Orji

Uzo Aduba

The Three Nigerians on Emmys 2020 List Three Hollywood y actors of Nigerian g descent, Yvonne Orjij from “Insecure”, Uzo Aduba from “Mrs. America” and Jovan Adepo p from “Watchmen” are on the list of nominees for the Emmys 2020. Ferdinand Ekechukwu captures the celebration in the camps of the thespians

M

ost people know Yvonne Orji, the NigerianAmerican actress and comedian as Molly Carter, the driven but self-sabotaging sidekick to Issa Rae’s protagonist on “Insecure,” America’s HBO’s breakout show about black millennial friends in Los Angeles. Yvonne’s energy is contagious. The 36-year-old star possesses vibrant presence onscreen with her witty, confi n dent, and wildly unlucky in love character, Molly Carter. Yvonne is endlessly watchable. But away from the cameras, Yvonne is even funnier.

Yvonne earned her fi first-ever Emmys y Awards nomination for her role as Molly y Carter in the series “Insecure”, with her nomination in the category g y of outstanding g supporting pp g actress in a comedy y series ahead of the 72nd annual Primetime Emmy y Awards. TV’s biggest gg and most coveted nominations were announced last Tuesday y and she called her parents p to inform them of the good g news.

Elated Yvonne took to twitter to refl flect on her nomination, writing, g “I know Molly y stressed y’all y the heck out this season, but shout out to all of you y for riding g with @ insecurehbo and for voting!! g We in here! And it’s even sweeter when the whole squad q thrivin too! to @IssaRae on her Emmy nod, the entire show, and @BlackLadyS Sketch!”

She also p posted a video of herself sharing g the exciting news with her parents p on Instagram, g and they y were beaming g with p pride through g the p phone. “Mummy, y daddy, I have good news.” Yvonne began in Igbo. She

went on to tell them that she had been nominated and shared her p parents’ reaction with the world. She also happily pp y told them that her co-star, Issa Rae was nominated for outstanding g lead actress in a comedy y series. The actress/comedian became emotional when her parents p who never wanted her career choice told her that they y were proud p of her.

Interestingly, g y for the fi first time, three Hollywood y actors of Nigeria g descent were among g those nominated for the 2020 Emmys. y Apart p from Yvonne Orji, j Uzo Aduba and Jovan Adepo p were also nominated. Like Yvonne, this is also Adepo’s p fi first Emmys y nomination for best sup pporting p g actor in “Watchmen.” This is however different for Uzo Aduba as she had been nominated three other times for her role in the movie, “Orange is the New Black,” which she had won twice.

A stand-up p comedian before landing g her role on the HBO hit, Yvonne returns to her roots some weeks back with a standup p special, p “Momma, I Made It”. A compelling p g mix of travelogue g and belly y laugh-inducing g g social commentary, y the special p showcases the full range g of Orji’s j talents. Raised in a close knit Nigerian g family, y Yvonne originally g y planned p on being g a doctor and has a master’s degree g from George g Washington g University y to prove p it. Inspired p to give g comedy y a try y after entering g a beauty yp pageant g and having g to settle on a skill for the talent portion, p she incorporates p aspects p of her unique q road to the entertainment industry y into her act. While “Insecure” has become her calling card, it was comedy,

not acting, g that served as Yvonne’s entry into show business.

Born in Port Harcourt, Yvonne arrived as a young y g child with her family y to the United States in 1989, eventually settling g in Laurel, MD. She went on to earn multiple p degrees g at the George g Washington g University y before giving g g standup p a shot as a contestant in the Miss Nigeria g in America p pageant g in 2006. She went on to perform p in clubs in New York and Los Angeles g and to open p for the likes of Chris Rock. “You don’t get g to be Nigerian g and tell your y parents p you y want to do comedy y without getting g a couple p of degrees under your belt fi first,” Yvonne said recently. y For the 2020 Emmys y Award, Uzo Aduba was nominatted in the “Outstanding g Supporting pp g Actress in a Limited Series or Movie” category, g y for her standout performance p as Shirley y Chisholm, the first black woman to run for president, in the movie, “Mrs. America”. Aduba was p born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, as the daughter g of Nigerian g p parents of Igbo g origin g in Anambra State, her full name being g Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba.

Aduba g grew up p in Medfi field, Massachusetts. She graduated from Medfi g field High g School in 1999 and later attended Boston University, y where she studied classical voice and competed p in track and fi field, including g the 55-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. She describes her family y as a “sports p family”. y Her y younger g brother, Obi, played p y hockey y at the University y of Massachusetts and went on to play six seasons professionally. The acclaimed

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPA P PER ˾ AUGUST 1, 2020

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SUPER SATURDAY The Three Nigerians on Emmys 2020 List actress made her Broadway y debut in 2007 as “Toby” in Coram Boy. y She went on to join the original g revival cast of Godspell p where she performed p at Manhattan’s Circle in the Square q Theater between 2011 and 2012. Aduba’s televii sion debut came in 2012 when she played p y a nurse in the CBS drama, “Blue Bloods.”

This makes her the first actress to win fi both a drama and comedy y Emmy y for the same role. In 2013, she began g p portraying y g Suzanne Warren, also known as “Crazy y Eyes”, y in the Nettflix comedy-drama y series Orange g Is the New Black.

Aduba had won g Guest Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series at the 66th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy y Awards in 2014 as well as Best Guest Performer in a Comedy y Series at the 4th Critics’ Choice Television Awards.

She won a second Primetime Emmy y at the 67th Primetime Emmy y Awards in 2015, winning g the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. This makes her the fi first actress to win both a drama and comedy y Emmys y for the same role. After Orange g Is the New Black ended, Aduba was cast as p politician Shirley Chisholm in “Mrs. America.”

She co-starred opposite pp Lupita p Nyong’o in the HBO Max upcoming miniseries “Amerii canah” written by y Danai Gurira. She also co-starred in the upcoming p g romantic drama fi film, “Really y Love.” Aduba began earning g recognition g for her acting g in 2003, with a performance p in Translations of Xhosa at the Olney y Theatre Center for the Arts that earned her a Helen Hayes y Award nomination for Best Supporting p pp Actress in a Play. y For British-born actor of Nigerian g and African- Jovan Adepo American descent, Jovan Adepo p has had a momentous career in jjust a short period p of time. His fi first television role was in the HBO series The Leftovers, a supernatural p mystery y y drama. In 2016 he was thrust into the spotlight p g in Denzel Washington’s g Oscar nominated fi film, “Fences.”

In Fences, Adepo p p played y Cory y Maxson, the son of Washington’s g Troy y Maxson. Adepo p recently y starred in the HBO DC series Watchmen as the superhero p Hooded Justice, as well as the Facebook series, Sorry y For Your Loss, opposite pp Elizabeth Olsen, as her love interest.

He also co-starred in the second season of the Amazon series Jack Ryan, y as a series regular. g Adepo p can next be seen leading g the cast with Grace Van Patten in the independent p feature, “The Violent Heart”, which was part of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival premiere p selection.

Last y year, Jovan starred in the Facebook series Sorry For Your Loss (currently y airing g season 2) and the Paramount Pictures fi film Overlord produced by J.J. Abrams.

On his infl nfluences in fi film and his q quickly y unfolding career in Hollywood, y he once remarked: “It was a dream come true. I can imagine g any y young y g aspiring p g actor working g in this business, getting g g a job j like that is something g incredible. It was something g I knew I was going to have to work really y hard to earn.”

His fi first major j screen effort was p playing y g Michael Murphy p y in the HBO television series, The Leftovers, but his role in the Washington-directed g drama film, fi Fences, is what endeared him to the world. Adepo p is the grandson g of the late Fatai Adepo, p special p adviser to former Nigerian g President, Olusegun g Obasanjo, j on prison matters. He recently p y revealed that his grandfather g always y wanted to p pursue the arts and aspired p to have a stage g career in England. g “He never had the courage g to actually yp pursue it full-time. I think that my yg grandfather’s parents thought p g that it wasn’t a formidable jjob to have.

They y wanted him to either get g into politics p - which he ultimately ended up doing, working for the Nigerian

p president - or to be a doctor or lawyer. y Something g that could create wealth for his family for years to come,” he told Interview Magazine. g The actor thought g he would play p y professional p football when he fi first got g to college, g especially p y after playing p y g in high g school but by y his “second or third” year y in college, g he decided to change g his career after being g unable to get enough g g game time in the football team. He moved to Los Angeles, g U.S. in 2011 after g getting g his bachelors in p political science. In LA, he g got into the entertainment industry, y attended acting g workshops p and eventually y met his “mentors” who pointed p him in the right g direction and helped p fine tune his craft.

An Emmy y Award, or simply p y Emmy, y is American iconic award that recognises g excellence in the television industry. y It is p presented at numerous annual events held throughout g the calendar y year, each honouring g one of the various sectors of the television industry.

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MEDIAGAFFES

EXPRESSION

BY

EBERE WABARA

‘Extreme End’ Wrong

D

AILY INDEPENDENT of May 6 disseminated three blunders: “It was none enforcement and none implementation of these provisions‌.â€? Get it right: non-enforcement and nonimplementation. “And if you are talking about administration, it all bothers (borders) on the Office of the Secretary.â€? “Media and Communication alumni elects (elect) excoâ€?

SATURDAY TRIBUNE of May 2 circulated two errors of different hues: â€œâ€Śthe president thanked Suleiman for his services to the nation and wishes (wished) him success in his future endeavours.â€? “Ojukwu: Better sung in death than aliveâ€? No politics in grammar as illogic is disallowed: dead than alive (in another phrasal context) or death than life (life or death—not dead, by way of extrapolation), which is apposite here. “Hanging over the nation is the spectra of economic corruption and a descent into (to) chaos and anarchy.â€? And this: spectrum (singular, which applies here) and spectra or spectrums, just like forums (fora), stadiums (stadia)—all plural and interchangeable. “The political intrigues and power-play that have been associated with the preparations for the 2023 governorship race in Abia State has (have) finally led to the‌.â€? “Coup d’Êtats, juntas, military governments and transitions to civil ruleâ€? A tribute: coups d’Êtat‌. “Appointment of Joseph Yobo: The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) stand to reap.‌â€? The Nigeria Football Federation stands to reap‌.

“It is therefore most expedient for President Muhammadu Buhari to re-examine his role in government and take a honourable bow from leadership.� Remembering global patriots: an honourable bow. “Even now, no talk of regional or sub-regional integration is complete in this continent without an echo from Nigeria.�

Even in French and other languages: on the continent. “I am convinced that what held the audience spell-bounded (spellbound) and excited was the fact of an Anglophone speaker being able to fluently tell them in their own language....â€? “Instead, people compete and fall over themselves (one another) for the crumbs from the high table (dais/platform/podium‌ certainly not the Nigerian journalese “high tableâ€?) and even defend the indefensible.â€? â€œâ€Śthe two big parties whose promises of no new taxes and an increased service delivery is (are) not taken serious (seriously) by any informed observer.â€? The right thoughts are bracketed (or in parenthesis, as Americans would write). â€œâ€Śothers point out the moral ground for such action (an action), given Labour’s antecedents in the pastâ€? Gosh! What is ‘antecedents in the past’? Just antecedents, I beg you. One of these days, somebody would write ‘future antecedents’! Please gently delete ‘in the past’. “Atimes (At times), they sleep inside their ‘clients’ vehiclesâ€? “For ON television channel, the emerging identity is that of a musical and grassroot TV station. Whether as an adjective or a noun: grassroots.

Remembering g Amaka Igwe: g A Giant Without Complex

O

n April 28, about three months after her 51st birthday, that famed director and producer, Amaka Igwe, MFR left us. We remember a great spirit, a wonderful wife, a marvellous mother and a fi fiery friend. What a sensational mix of talents, goodness, humour and straightforwardness. Today, I am led to remember her illustriously gaping space... and marvel at her almost irreplaceable legacies.

Dateline: Lagos, Tuesday, April 29, 2014 – 9.36am – I got a ‘ping’ from a young friend, Akinwale Oluwaleimu: “Morn’ sir, is it true that Amaka Igwe is dead?� My wife instantly “re-pinged�: “Nooo, where did you hear that?� He pointed to a blog. But I spoke with one of her staff yesterday, and he didn’t mention anything like that – my head spoke. We called the fellow, but it merely rang on – no answer. Then, we called a friend, Lekan Onimole who runs TopRadio FM (co-owned by Amaka). After her husband, Charles Igwe, the next best person to confirm such is Lekan. The man just took the steering wheel out of my hand by his single plaintive sentence: “We lost her yesterday�. My wife screamed off Lekan’s voice as she flung the telephone across the dashboard. Thank God she wasn’t the driver.

Truly, all you’ll read from me about this “spirit� called Amaka are true only to the extent that it is impossible to write all I know about this remarkable woman of untrammelled talents and toughness, great or small details.

Clearly, a towering Igwe (would have been 57 on January 2, this year) and the creative force behind Moving Movies Ltd., with tentacles in music production, live band management, radio ownership, and TV in the offing, Amaka packed into two decades (1994 - 2014) what ordinary folks spend a life-lime salivating over. Her works are delicately scripted, professionally produced and enthusiastically received. Which of her works has not been critically applauded? Rattle Snake, Violated, To Live Again and Forever. And who can forget Fuji House of Commotion? Or Checkmate?

With two degrees from two of Nigeria’s best universities (in Ibadan and Ife) Amaka Igwe knocked on the door of moviemaking and broadcast communication with a knuckle clothed in professional fulfilment and even greater accomplishments. And she was still a ‘kid’!�

Amaka Igwe - I often called her “MFR� (to remind her that she was one of the few that truly deserve the national honour).

She would always switch on that small smile and wry bemused looks: “Yes FAJ, what is it?� She never wasted word or space in “moving things forward�. I have known and grown fond of Amaka since her Checkmate days. In all these 20 years of professional relationship, the last 14 months (before her demise)

ewabara@yahoo.com, 08055001948

“As at 1985 there are (were) over 36,000 dams in the world with about 18,000 in China alone.� “Dams construction have (has) generated problems across the world that....� “The accused policeman was said to have actually demanded for N10,000 before he was arrested.� ‘Demand’ does not admit any inflection. “Are you therefore surprised to find mediocres promoted beyond their highest level of competency?� The noun form of ‘mediocre’ (an adjective) is ‘mediocrity’ (personally preferred) or ‘mediocrist’ “His two fundamental actions on assuming the reigns of government in Kinshasa smack of acts of a dictator.� No lexical autocracy: reins of government.

In defence of correct spelling: Again: harasss ment (not harrasment or harrassment—and is non-count), but embarrassment(s). “Statistics of African debt profile shows (show) that Nigeria is holding about 15 per cent of the continent’s debt.� “But none of these leaders coming with large (a large) retinue of people (would it have been of dogs?) will agree that it is important to back-up (back up) their good wishes with concrete policy (policies/a concrete policy) in the area of debt management for sustainable growth.� “Within the 15 years of the four military regimes under review, Nigeria moved twice from one extreme end of the scale to the other in her (its) relation with other nations.�

Either ‘extreme’ or ‘end’. Both words cannot co-function in any new school environment. “General Babangida’s emergence on the scene brought an initial soothing balm in

had been specially glorious. These last months exploded my admiration and intrigued my imagination about the person, passion and power of Amaka Igwe.

In January of 2013 (her birth month) I intimated her about our dreams for a truly national and professionally grounded gospel music award concept in Nigeria. We had not seen each other for few years before then. She not only warmly cottoned onto the idea, she repeatedly challenged me on ways to improve and expand the solidifying scaffolds that would sustain and project the award beyond the capacity of the promoters in areas of financing, logistics, production finessing and other technical issues. Ever the humanist, she would always remind me to stop thanking her for one act of goodwill or strategic support or the other: “FAJ, why? I have told you this project is OUR own, stop thanking me‌â€?. Oh, Amaka Igwe!

Amaka, who had been directing affairs from her home - she could not physically attend any of our several meetings on acc count of several competing interests - would demand and receive, and make comments on minutes and reports of many of the meetings. On few other occasions, we would have mop-up meets in her house. Ten days to the awards, she caused several technii cally gifted people to buy into the production of the awards... linking up with her colleagues who had studio or television equipment/facility; she gave contacts of others that were not too chummy with her‌ �FAJ, go and meet them‌they will give you what they can‌ at least, the equipment are just lying there, if they are not in use‌ Look, no one will refuse to support what you are doing, and they can afford it‌�. I always marvel at the uncanny mix of an uncomplicated heart, and the fecundity of her mind.

On the day of the awards, Friday, November 8, 2013, I stood at the podium that evening to say something about three women who impacted significantly on the success of the awards (my wife, Iretunde; Gloria Rhodes and Amaka Igwe)‌ while Amaka sat across the hall, behind the “consoleâ€?, like the fairy godmother of the night, dishing out instructions on how to get the best shots of the night’s spectacle – perhaps her last major production on earth.

I said then, and I am unabashed repeating it: “And over there is the woman whose heart is much larger than her frame – an angelic substance of uncommon matter. She gave her all – her communication medium; her audio and visual studios; her musical band, back-lines, sound system and session men; her extensive production equipment; her considerable and significant directorial pedigree‌ all to MEGA‌not free o‌ but absolutely for nothing‌and very handsome “handshakeâ€? to bring us close to tears. She is not an apparition‌Help me thank God for the life of Amaka Igwe, MFR‌ and her husband, Charles; and her next-in-command, Lekan Onimole.â€? She merely shook her head indulgently at me, as if to say “This FAJ sef!â€?

Nigeria’s foreign relations because of his early release of a transition programme.� Is there any balm that hurts? This knowledge-driven columnist needs to know, please. “While the Chinese were still protesting the bombing of their embassy in Belgrade, NATO had gone ahead to bomb the Swiss embassy, causing damages (damage) to the Angolan embassy and hit (hitting) a hospital, among others.� “Our dismal performance at France ‘98 which led to our early exit from the Mundial and at the World Youth Championship hosted

by Nigeria signify (signifies) that our soccer is sick and needs a surgical operation.� “What is laying a siege on (to) public wealth and traumatizing all those who dared to point accusing fingers� Delete ‘accusing’ because of its contextual redundancy and this: point the finger. “Perhaps his recent activities might have qualified him to give the military’s transfer of power to civilians lecture in Abuja last week Monday.� Either last Monday or Monday, last week “Abubakar, who said the military should congratulate itself for (on or upon, once more) keeping faith with its promise to handover (hand over) power....� “How does the separation of powers that are (is) discernible in Government textbooks operate in real life?� “Perhaps, ladies need to think of less temptt ing recesses for hiding jewelries� ‘Jewelry’ is non-count. Note that the British spelling is ‘jewellery’, which is most preferred—the other version is American corruption of the word!

COUNTERPOINT

FEMI

AKINTUN AK NDE E-JOHNSON fajalive1@gmail.com 08182223348 - (SMS Only)

Artistically, Amaka is an intellectual giant. (Now, I elaborate in present tense which seems completely appropriate). True giants don’t harbour a perplexing complex that makes others overr whelm their subordinates, or attempt to intimidate their peers. She would open herself to professional scrutiny - she has a measure of creative ennui that makes her subject her works to severe interrogation by people she holds highly in intellect and artistic capacity. In the 90’s as Isaac-Ene (and even as a young Mrs. Igwe), Amaka would ferret out “hard-nosed� critics who could preview her works and stare her down, if it would improve the quality of her works. Very few of us (apart from me, I know of Okoh Aihe) would receive her scripts or a copy of her work after the first edit, and (sworn to confidentiality and unflinching bluntness in fair scrutiny), you would be asked to “critique� the writings/creations of one of Nigeria’s most fecund literary/directing rising stars.

In surreal eagerness, she would await your comments, arguments or denunciation. And your knowledge and concluu sions would, of course, be challenged and contested in pleasant camaraderie‌ Amaka would never assume she was better; or you were God’s gift to the Muse. Hardworking as nail, she licked her lips in anticipation of healthy wholesome contestations of ideas and passions. An incredible conversationalist!

Of course, Amaka would not suffer fools gladly: incompetent government officials, corrupt civil servants, unserious yet vociferr ous colleagues; people who cut corners in the art of creation; business people bent on bending the rules to beat the system‌ and the list goes on. All met a razor of censure in her dialogues.

Of course, Amaka is passionately obsessed about developing Nollywood vertically and horizontally; she cried for long about the spreading decay that unprincipled charlatanism and disregard for genuine capacity building would inflict on her beloved movie industry. Few weeks to the end of 2013, even as she had to repeatedly postpone a major remedial surgical operation in the USA, she held us hostage in her cute home in Ikeja, lamenting and railing against government duplicity, across the board; the spiralling disregard for integrity in the creative and marketing processes. Amaka holds surprisingly strong Christian views, especially as they concern the true meaning of pastorial care and our shambolic lack of understanding of the Love concept as espoused by the Lord.

A truly illuminating mind in our galloping dark landscape.

A commanding voice of correction and rectitude in a flush of corruption. A massive loss to the African pantheon of artistic talents and charismatic leadership. Indeed, we have lost an uncomplicated gem.

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˜ ˞ AUGUST 1, 2020

MEDIAGAFFES

EXPRESSION

BY

EBERE WABARA

‘Extreme End’ Wrong

D

AILY INDEPENDENT of May 6 disseminated three blunders: “It was none enforcement and none implementation of these provisions‌.â€? Get it right: non-enforcement and nonimplementation. “And if you are talking about administration, it all bothers (borders) on the Office of the Secretary.â€? “Media and Communication alumni elects (elect) excoâ€?

SATURDAY TRIBUNE of May 2 circulated two errors of different hues: â€œâ€Śthe president thanked Suleiman for his services to the nation and wishes (wished) him success in his future endeavours.â€? “Ojukwu: Better sung in death than aliveâ€? No politics in grammar as illogic is disallowed: dead than alive (in another phrasal context) or death than life (life or death—not dead, by way of extrapolation), which is apposite here. “Hanging over the nation is the spectra of economic corruption and a descent into (to) chaos and anarchy.â€? And this: spectrum (singular, which applies here) and spectra or spectrums, just like forums (fora), stadiums (stadia)—all plural and interchangeable. “The political intrigues and power-play that have been associated with the preparations for the 2023 governorship race in Abia State has (have) finally led to the‌.â€? “Coup d’Êtats, juntas, military governments and transitions to civil ruleâ€? A tribute: coups d’Êtat‌. “Appointment of Joseph Yobo: The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) stand to reap.‌â€? The Nigeria Football Federation stands to reap‌.

“It is therefore most expedient for President Muhammadu Buhari to re-examine his role in government and take a honourable bow from leadership.� Remembering global patriots: an honourable bow. “Even now, no talk of regional or sub-regional integration is complete in this continent without an echo from Nigeria.�

Even in French and other languages: on the continent. “I am convinced that what held the audience spell-bounded (spellbound) and excited was the fact of an Anglophone speaker being able to fluently tell them in their own language....â€? “Instead, people compete and fall over themselves (one another) for the crumbs from the high table (dais/platform/podium‌ certainly not the Nigerian journalese “high tableâ€?) and even defend the indefensible.â€? â€œâ€Śthe two big parties whose promises of no new taxes and an increased service delivery is (are) not taken serious (seriously) by any informed observer.â€? The right thoughts are bracketed (or in parenthesis, as Americans would write). â€œâ€Śothers point out the moral ground for such action (an action), given Labour’s antecedents in the pastâ€? Gosh! What is ‘antecedents in the past’? Just antecedents, I beg you. One of these days, somebody would write ‘future antecedents’! Please gently delete ‘in the past’. “Atimes (At times), they sleep inside their ‘clients’ vehiclesâ€? “For ON television channel, the emerging identity is that of a musical and grassroot TV station. Whether as an adjective or a noun: grassroots.

Remembering g Amaka Igwe: g A Giant Without Complex

O

n April 28, about three months after her 51st birthday, that famed director and producer, Amaka Igwe, MFR left us. We remember a great spirit, a wonderful wife, a marvellous mother and a fi fiery friend. What a sensational mix of talents, goodness, humour and straightforwardness. Today, I am led to remember her illustriously gaping space... and marvel at her almost irreplaceable legacies.

Dateline: Lagos, Tuesday, April 29, 2014 – 9.36am – I got a ‘ping’ from a young friend, Akinwale Oluwaleimu: “Morn’ sir, is it true that Amaka Igwe is dead?� My wife instantly “re-pinged�: “Nooo, where did you hear that?� He pointed to a blog. But I spoke with one of her staff yesterday, and he didn’t mention anything like that – my head spoke. We called the fellow, but it merely rang on – no answer. Then, we called a friend, Lekan Onimole who runs TopRadio FM (co-owned by Amaka). After her husband, Charles Igwe, the next best person to confirm such is Lekan. The man just took the steering wheel out of my hand by his single plaintive sentence: “We lost her yesterday�. My wife screamed off Lekan’s voice as she flung the telephone across the dashboard. Thank God she wasn’t the driver.

Truly, all you’ll read from me about this “spirit� called Amaka are true only to the extent that it is impossible to write all I know about this remarkable woman of untrammelled talents and toughness, great or small details.

Clearly, a towering Igwe (would have been 57 on January 2, this year) and the creative force behind Moving Movies Ltd., with tentacles in music production, live band management, radio ownership, and TV in the offing, Amaka packed into two decades (1994 - 2014) what ordinary folks spend a life-lime salivating over. Her works are delicately scripted, professionally produced and enthusiastically received. Which of her works has not been critically applauded? Rattle Snake, Violated, To Live Again and Forever. And who can forget Fuji House of Commotion? Or Checkmate?

With two degrees from two of Nigeria’s best universities (in Ibadan and Ife) Amaka Igwe knocked on the door of moviemaking and broadcast communication with a knuckle clothed in professional fulfilment and even greater accomplishments. And she was still a ‘kid’!�

Amaka Igwe - I often called her “MFR� (to remind her that she was one of the few that truly deserve the national honour).

She would always switch on that small smile and wry bemused looks: “Yes FAJ, what is it?� She never wasted word or space in “moving things forward�. I have known and grown fond of Amaka since her Checkmate days. In all these 20 years of professional relationship, the last 14 months (before her demise)

ewabara@yahoo.com, 08055001948

“As at 1985 there are (were) over 36,000 dams in the world with about 18,000 in China alone.� “Dams construction have (has) generated problems across the world that....� “The accused policeman was said to have actually demanded for N10,000 before he was arrested.� ‘Demand’ does not admit any inflection. “Are you therefore surprised to find mediocres promoted beyond their highest level of competency?� The noun form of ‘mediocre’ (an adjective) is ‘mediocrity’ (personally preferred) or ‘mediocrist’ “His two fundamental actions on assuming the reigns of government in Kinshasa smack of acts of a dictator.� No lexical autocracy: reins of government.

In defence of correct spelling: Again: harasss ment (not harrasment or harrassment—and is non-count), but embarrassment(s). “Statistics of African debt profile shows (show) that Nigeria is holding about 15 per cent of the continent’s debt.� “But none of these leaders coming with large (a large) retinue of people (would it have been of dogs?) will agree that it is important to back-up (back up) their good wishes with concrete policy (policies/a concrete policy) in the area of debt management for sustainable growth.� “Within the 15 years of the four military regimes under review, Nigeria moved twice from one extreme end of the scale to the other in her (its) relation with other nations.�

Either ‘extreme’ or ‘end’. Both words cannot co-function in any new school environment. “General Babangida’s emergence on the scene brought an initial soothing balm in

had been specially glorious. These last months exploded my admiration and intrigued my imagination about the person, passion and power of Amaka Igwe.

In January of 2013 (her birth month) I intimated her about our dreams for a truly national and professionally grounded gospel music award concept in Nigeria. We had not seen each other for few years before then. She not only warmly cottoned onto the idea, she repeatedly challenged me on ways to improve and expand the solidifying scaffolds that would sustain and project the award beyond the capacity of the promoters in areas of financing, logistics, production finessing and other technical issues. Ever the humanist, she would always remind me to stop thanking her for one act of goodwill or strategic support or the other: “FAJ, why? I have told you this project is OUR own, stop thanking me‌â€?. Oh, Amaka Igwe!

Amaka, who had been directing affairs from her home - she could not physically attend any of our several meetings on acc count of several competing interests - would demand and receive, and make comments on minutes and reports of many of the meetings. On few other occasions, we would have mop-up meets in her house. Ten days to the awards, she caused several technii cally gifted people to buy into the production of the awards... linking up with her colleagues who had studio or television equipment/facility; she gave contacts of others that were not too chummy with her‌ �FAJ, go and meet them‌they will give you what they can‌ at least, the equipment are just lying there, if they are not in use‌ Look, no one will refuse to support what you are doing, and they can afford it‌�. I always marvel at the uncanny mix of an uncomplicated heart, and the fecundity of her mind.

On the day of the awards, Friday, November 8, 2013, I stood at the podium that evening to say something about three women who impacted significantly on the success of the awards (my wife, Iretunde; Gloria Rhodes and Amaka Igwe)‌ while Amaka sat across the hall, behind the “consoleâ€?, like the fairy godmother of the night, dishing out instructions on how to get the best shots of the night’s spectacle – perhaps her last major production on earth.

I said then, and I am unabashed repeating it: “And over there is the woman whose heart is much larger than her frame – an angelic substance of uncommon matter. She gave her all – her communication medium; her audio and visual studios; her musical band, back-lines, sound system and session men; her extensive production equipment; her considerable and significant directorial pedigree‌ all to MEGA‌not free o‌ but absolutely for nothing‌and very handsome “handshakeâ€? to bring us close to tears. She is not an apparition‌Help me thank God for the life of Amaka Igwe, MFR‌ and her husband, Charles; and her next-in-command, Lekan Onimole.â€? She merely shook her head indulgently at me, as if to say “This FAJ sef!â€?

Nigeria’s foreign relations because of his early release of a transition programme.� Is there any balm that hurts? This knowledge-driven columnist needs to know, please. “While the Chinese were still protesting the bombing of their embassy in Belgrade, NATO had gone ahead to bomb the Swiss embassy, causing damages (damage) to the Angolan embassy and hit (hitting) a hospital, among others.� “Our dismal performance at France ‘98 which led to our early exit from the Mundial and at the World Youth Championship hosted

by Nigeria signify (signifies) that our soccer is sick and needs a surgical operation.� “What is laying a siege on (to) public wealth and traumatizing all those who dared to point accusing fingers� Delete ‘accusing’ because of its contextual redundancy and this: point the finger. “Perhaps his recent activities might have qualified him to give the military’s transfer of power to civilians lecture in Abuja last week Monday.� Either last Monday or Monday, last week “Abubakar, who said the military should congratulate itself for (on or upon, once more) keeping faith with its promise to handover (hand over) power....� “How does the separation of powers that are (is) discernible in Government textbooks operate in real life?� “Perhaps, ladies need to think of less temptt ing recesses for hiding jewelries� ‘Jewelry’ is non-count. Note that the British spelling is ‘jewellery’, which is most preferred—the other version is American corruption of the word!

COUNTERPOINT

FEMI

AKINTUN AK NDE E-JOHNSON fajalive1@gmail.com 08182223348 - (SMS Only)

Artistically, Amaka is an intellectual giant. (Now, I elaborate in present tense which seems completely appropriate). True giants don’t harbour a perplexing complex that makes others overr whelm their subordinates, or attempt to intimidate their peers. She would open herself to professional scrutiny - she has a measure of creative ennui that makes her subject her works to severe interrogation by people she holds highly in intellect and artistic capacity. In the 90’s as Isaac-Ene (and even as a young Mrs. Igwe), Amaka would ferret out “hard-nosed� critics who could preview her works and stare her down, if it would improve the quality of her works. Very few of us (apart from me, I know of Okoh Aihe) would receive her scripts or a copy of her work after the first edit, and (sworn to confidentiality and unflinching bluntness in fair scrutiny), you would be asked to “critique� the writings/creations of one of Nigeria’s most fecund literary/directing rising stars.

In surreal eagerness, she would await your comments, arguments or denunciation. And your knowledge and concluu sions would, of course, be challenged and contested in pleasant camaraderie‌ Amaka would never assume she was better; or you were God’s gift to the Muse. Hardworking as nail, she licked her lips in anticipation of healthy wholesome contestations of ideas and passions. An incredible conversationalist!

Of course, Amaka would not suffer fools gladly: incompetent government officials, corrupt civil servants, unserious yet vociferr ous colleagues; people who cut corners in the art of creation; business people bent on bending the rules to beat the system‌ and the list goes on. All met a razor of censure in her dialogues.

Of course, Amaka is passionately obsessed about developing Nollywood vertically and horizontally; she cried for long about the spreading decay that unprincipled charlatanism and disregard for genuine capacity building would inflict on her beloved movie industry. Few weeks to the end of 2013, even as she had to repeatedly postpone a major remedial surgical operation in the USA, she held us hostage in her cute home in Ikeja, lamenting and railing against government duplicity, across the board; the spiralling disregard for integrity in the creative and marketing processes. Amaka holds surprisingly strong Christian views, especially as they concern the true meaning of pastorial care and our shambolic lack of understanding of the Love concept as espoused by the Lord.

A truly illuminating mind in our galloping dark landscape.

A commanding voice of correction and rectitude in a flush of corruption. A massive loss to the African pantheon of artistic talents and charismatic leadership. Indeed, we have lost an uncomplicated gem.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͹˜ 2020

SHOWBIZFLAIR

Tolani, DJ Cuppy Buzz with Two New Songs Olamide is Cooking Something pg. 25

Ini Edo Flaunts Her Curves pg. 26

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͹˜ 2020

SHOWBIZFLAIR

Tolani, DJ Cuppy Buzz withTwo New Songs Ferdinand Ekechukwu

F

ollowing the success of ‘Maybe Baby’, her last single in 2019, Tolani Otedola (Tolani) is here with a new record titled ‘Badman’. It is a song that explores the habit of getting entangled with the ‘bad boys’ stereotype. In “Badman”, the fast rising UK-based Nigerian recording artiste, and daughter of billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, gives summer vibes with her effervescent afro-pop single.

Released last Thursday, Tolani looks set to bring her enriching afro-pop offering to the UK and beyond with this single.

Tolani’s new song, her first in 2020 highlights her distinctive, honeyed vocal that effortlessly flows on the mellow R&B, afrobeat production – a sound that’s also distinguished as altè amongst Nigerian natives. The three minutes fifteen seconds Big Fish-produced song consists of smooth RnB chord progressions with afro-pop percussions that give the song a groovy rhythm. The self-written track highlights the talented artiste’s almost flawless vocals.

She sings smoothly weaving through the verses and chorus with her nice intonation and cultivated RnB style. Speaking on the inspiration behind the song, Tolani said: “I wrote this song exploring the habit of getting caught up with the ‘bad boys’ so to speak. I feel like it’s been ingrained in us that love isn’t love unless it’s turbulent in some way… and so you get caught up in a cycle of looking for the wrong things in potential lovers. This song is an observation of that and hopefully a step in awareness of breaking that cycle.”

In “Badman”, Tolani openly presents her vulnerable side on the song and encourages women to know their worth: “That entire experience was so possessing; it leaked into every day and every thought”.

The track’s conceptual video, which finds the young artiste entering and exiting a series of doors and relationships, only to be locked into another situation with a disrespectful man.

“I feel like there’s this subliminal message that love isn’t love unless it’s turbulent in some way… and so you get caught up in a cycle of looking for the wrong things in potential lovers. The video mirrors the story of that cycle, it’s one-take style and shows me walking into and out of bad relationships and still giving the next bad guy the benefit of the doubt.”

After a number of years honing her skills via a variety of projects, from providing vocals on Afrobeats tracks to fronting a soft rock band, Tolani has found a sound that truly complements her voice. Tracks like last year’s ‘Ba Mi Lo’ and the brilliant ‘Liar’ see her drawing on her many influences – including 90s R&B, Afrobeat, perhaps even a little of that soft rock – to create a diverse pop sound that instantly stands out. While building her musical profile, Tolani has earned great remarks with her craft. Her music is different and she’s solemn with it. She’s not an everyday artiste; she’s very intentional with her art.

Meanwhile, fans of Nigerian female disc jockey and sister to Tolani, DJ Cuppy are buzzing with the “Jollof On The Jet” social media challenge following the release of her latest single which goes with the same title. DJ Cuppy created the ‘Jollof’ inspired challenge to go with the song which the winner will get a prize of N1 million cash.

The two minutes fifty four seconds ‘Jollof On The Jet’ track, which is available for streaming on all platforms, has hit over two million streams and still trending.

The Apple music radio host had announced the new single as the lead song to her much anticipated debut album tagged ‘Original Copy’. The ‘Original Copy’ project is said to feature 14 artistes among which is Nigerian music sensation, Rema and Tanzanian recording artiste, Rayvanny who were featured in the single.

Since she released her first single back in 2017, she’s been building her catalogue as

Tolani

an Afropop curator with singles featuring artists like Zlatan, Tekno and many more.

Now, starting the rollout for her upcoming EP, ‘Original Copy’, Cuppy, born Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola has started on a strong note, taps Nigerian and Tanzanian artistes, Rema and Rayvanny for a celebration of the African partying experience; great music, dance floor romance and the delicious Jollof dish. “Jollof On The Jet” pairs Rema’s endearing Afropop vocals with Rayvanny’s bongo vibe while Cuppy produced the lightweight beat with catchy percussions that move listeners to dance.

While Rema and Rayvanny’s lyrics are addressed to their love interests, Cuppy is more concerned with getting the Jollof meal as she drops a line in the song.

“Oya pass the Jollof, I can’t get enough”, she says, blurring the lines between the undeniable appeal of romance, music and Jollof. Cuppy had earlier asked her fans and followers via her social media platforms to guess the artistes on the new song. Many of the fans guessed the Rema’s part right after listening to the earlier released snippet; many couldn’t name the other artiste on the song.

Rayvanny was popular with his 2019 hit ‘Tetema’ and has also delivered on this one alongside Rema. This is Rema’s first major collaboration with a Nigerian artiste and it is the first single of DJ Cuppy’s forthcoming album ‘Original Cuppy’. The ‘Jollof On The Jet’ afro-pop tune followed weeks after Cuppy signed recording deal to release ‘Original Copy’ through UK-based music company, Platoon. This project has been teased by Cuppy in the past months on her social media platforms, and the Cupcakes are definitely ready!

DJ Cuppy’s ‘Jollof on the Jet’

25

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͹˜ 2020

SHOWBIZFLAIR

Olamide is Cooking Something Rapper, Olamide is working on a new album, his first since signing a deal with Empire, an American distribution and records publishing company. Ferdinand Ekechukwu reports

Olamide

I

ndigenous rapper, Olamide Adedeji, (Olamide) is working on a new album. The album will be his first project since his exhilarating deal with American distribution and records publishing company, Empire and his first since ‘Lagos Nawa’ album. In a recent post by the singer last Sunday, the ‘Eyan Mayweather’ announced that he is set for the release a new album. While posting a picture of himself with fast rising act, Omah Lay, Olamide wrote, “Album 100% ready...are you?”

Some weeks back, the YBNL honcho had hinted of a new album that was almost ready. He stated this while responding to his fans that the new project was keeping him busy and off social media for some time now. Although the Coronavirus has somewhat pushed most entertainers into their corners, Olamide has now joined the long list of artistes like

Davido, Burna Boy, Korede Bello among others who are most likely dropping new projects soon.

Olamide who did not specify the date of the album then yet tweeted that he had been working tirelessly and the album is 95% ready. Olamide wrote, “I didn’t forget my password lol. I’ve been in the kitchen ema foh, eshima gbor mi si. Album 95% ready #YBNLMafia”.

The ‘Wo’ hit-maker had earlier dropped a nine-track EP titled “999” in February 2020, which was his latest since the collaborative album, ‘YBNL Mafia Family’ released in December 2018. With 9 songs on it, the “EP” as he called it, technically surpassed the normal track list of a standard E P. Olamide had earlier stated that any artiste he signs, including FireboyDML, will reap from the resources, relationships and benefits tied to the joint venture deal he signed with EMPIRE. The upcoming album

follows after two new singles from YBNL artiste, Fireboy DML. Likely he may be featured in Olamide’s latest album.

Ever since the release of his debut album “Rapsodi” in 2011, hardly has a year gone without a full body of work from the famous rapper who has got the pulse of the street. It will be the first time he records such feat with two albums in a year when the album drops.

Although a lot has argued that Naira Marley has taken a large chunk of Olamide’s space, his Marlian stun across a wide spectrum of the pop culture scene proves to that. Olamide has blessed Nigerian mainstream with some immense talents while showcasing others who need a spotlight. Over the past nine years, Olamide has endorsed certain acts and at other times, he had signed them. While a few have since left him in acrimony, most retain respect for

him.

Since he burst onto the Nigeria music scene with his monster hit single, “Eni Eduro,”…. Olamide never remained the same.

The song received critical acclaim nationwide and instantly shot Olamide to limelight. At the time, he was signed to ID Cabasa’s record label, Coded Tunes alongside Seriki and Kayefi. Under the label, he released his first album, Rapsodi.

The terms of his exit were amicable.

Olamide then branched out and founded his own record label, YBNL (an acronym for Yahoo Boy No Laptop, a tribute to how much money he makes without being involved in internet scam) under which he released his subsequent albums, including an album of same title (YBNL) in 2012. His 2014 album Street OT, The Baddest Guy Ever Liveth (2013), Eyan Mayweather (2015), and The Glory (2016) were other albums he released.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͹˜ 2020

SHOWBIZFLAIR

Ini Edo Flaunts Her Curves Ferdinand Ekechukwu

N

ollywood celebrity, Ini Edo is one actress who sure knows what she does best and how to put her best foot forward. When she’s not on set, it’s like a routine to see the fashionista post pictures of her stunning curvy postures to the delight of her colleagues and fans, aside spending her off acting periods watching movies and listening to music.

“Brown Sugar”, as she is fondly called by friends has really upped her style and fashion stake.

A current post by the actress elicited comments from other celebrities like Mercy Aigbe, Annie Idibia who gushed about the new set of pictures shared on her Instagram page.

The actress of vast credit who was recently reappointed as Special Assistant on Tourism Development by the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, decided to flaunt her curves in the stunning pictures.

Reacting to the adorable pictures the 38 year old shared, actress, Mercy Aigbe wrote “Absolutely stunning”. Annie Idibia wrote “But sis…omg tooooooooooooo beautiful”, Dakore wrote “Brown Sugar”.

Oge Okoye wrote, “Stunning”.

The talented Efik lady was a year older in April.

Ini recently released her latest movie titled ‘Trouble in High Heel’ which featured other actors like Federick Leonard, Lilian Esoro, Tana Egbo-Adelana and Emem D. Ufot.

‘Trouble in High Heel’ is currently being aired on Ibakatv.

A lead actress in so many hit movies, Ini has featured in countless movie productions including Face of Beauty, and Eyes of the God. Among her other movies are Last Game, Desperate Billionaire, Casandra, World War, Knocking on Heavens Door, Millionaires Daughter and I Will Take My Chances, Uyai, World Apart, Weekend Getaway, and Heaven on My Mind.

Away from her acting turf, the brand influencer is on the move to reach a hundred thousand young women with digital skills across Africa in a programme initiated by the actress. The empowerment programme was designed to assist leading female entrepreneurs in advancing economic empowerment in today’s evolving digital space. The maiden edition of the programme where she addressed the beneficiaries of her largess in Akwa Ibom kicked-off in June 2020.

Ini Edo

3

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ APRIL 24, 2011

GLOBAL SOCCER A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

NEWS

IN SEARCH OF MANAGERIAL FIRST TROPHY

01. 08.2020

Josh Maja Torn between West Ham and Rangers

PAGE. 29

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ AUGUST 1, 2020

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GLOBAL SOCCER

Josh Maja

Torn between West Ham and Rangers

After a splendid first season with Bordeaux, Josh Maja may be on the move again ahead of next season and he will be at crossroads between a move to London Stadium or Ibrox Stadium. While Rangers Manager Steven Gerrard is hoping to make Josh Maja the third Nigerian at his disposal, West Ham David Moyes wants a reunion with the Super Eagles player after he once worked with him at Sunderland. It however, remains to be seen which club colours Maja would don next season as Manager Paulo Sousa is not ready to easily let go

W

est Ham United are set to rival Ranger for Bordeaux’s clinical young striker Josh Maja as David Moyes is eyeing a reunion with the striker.

Maja made his breakthrough at Sunderland under Moyes, making his debut in September 2016 and went on to score 17 goals in 49 senior appearances for Sunderland, having come through their academy before leaving the Stadium of Light in January 2019 to join French side Bordeaux.

Rangers have Maja on their radar of strikers to replace their star frontman Alfredo Morelos who is wanted by Lille, while Moyes is also weighing up a move for 21-year-old Maja as he aims to add firepower to his squad after keeping West Ham up.

Maja was Bordeaux’s joint-top scorer, netting eight times in just eight starts, with a further 16 appearances coming as a substitute, before the French season came to a premature end in March.

Maja is not pushing for a move but the financial impact of the Coronavirus pandemic may force Bordeaux to sell in order to raise funds.

Moyes is hoping to bring in some young homegrown talent to improve his squad this

summer. Along with Maja and QPR’s Eberechi Eze, West Ham are also interested in Wolves midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White.

However, Rangers are reportedly interested in signing Maja. According to the Scottish Sun, the Scottish Premiership giants are set to open talks with Bordeaux over the potential transfer of the Nigerian international.

Rangers already have two Nigerians on their books with Leon Balogun having recently joined Joe Aribo at Ibrox Stadium from Brighton & Hove Albion.

Meanwhile, Maja is determined to show at French Ligue 1 club Bordeaux that he fully deserves to play internationally for Nigeria.

There was an element of luck to the 21-yearold’s first Super Eagles call-up to play Ukraine in September 2019 after several first-team players could not get a visa to enter Ukraine and Maja was a late replacement.

One of those who did not have such an issue was London-born Maja, who qualified for Nigeria through his parents.

He made his debut as a substitute in that game and is now determined to show he has the talent to play for the Super Eagles.

“Of course, playing in one of Europe’s top five leagues and performing well will improve my chances of international selection,” Maja

told BBC Sport Africa.

“I’ve settled in well since I joined from English club Sunderland in January 2019.

“I’ve adapted to the playing style and culture of the league and I’m hoping to play more games in the future. It’s a great experience in a top league.

“The Nigerian team has always had quality, but now there are a lot of young talents playing, so the future is very bright for us.

“Hopefully the opportunity comes to play and help them make history.” The choice to play for Nigeria rather than try to represent England, the country of his birth, seems to have been an easy one.

“Playing on an international stage was a dream of mine. To represent my country and make my family proud,” he insisted.

“I’m familiar with my roots. I went to Nigeria a few times when I was young, and in the next few years I’ll be going again.”

The promising young striker mentions that Nigeria legend Jay-Jay Okocha was one of his idols growing up. “Okocha was a big icon and an example to many players, even outside of Nigeria,” says Maja.

“He had lots of qualities and performed well in the Premier League.”

Indeed, there seem to be some hints of

this influence in Maja’s game.

He often drops from his position as a striker into the attacking midfield positions where Okocha once wowed fans, linking up play before getting on the end of moves to score.

Maja can also finish with either foot as well as his head and has the ability to pass accurately over any distance. He was philosophical about the cancellation of the French Ligue 1 due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

“The most important thing is everyone’s health so if that is the decision they make then we must understand,” he added.

“It affects everyone. We would love to have continued the season and push for the top places, but if everyone’s health is at risk then it is not necessary.

“I think everyone would love to finish the season but it’s not in our hands. The health and safety of everyone is the most important thing.”

Maja was born in Lewisham back in 1998 when Gus Poyet, Gianluca Vialli and Roberto di Matteo were still wearing the famous blue shirt, certainly ticks a lot of boxes for this newlook Chelsea side.

He is young, home-grown, and prodigiously talented.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ AUGUST 1, 2020

GLOBAL SOCCER

Again,Arsenal, Chelsea Lock Horns in FA Cup Final Derby As Arteta, Lampard crave for first managerial trophy

English football’s longest-ever campaign comes to a conclusion this evening when Arsenal and Chelsea face off at Wembley in the 139th FA Cup final. The Gunners knocked out holders, Manchester City in the semis and are seeking a consolidation record of 14th triumph in the competition, three years on from their most recent success. Chelsea, who have secured a top-four finish in the Premier League and could make this an exceptional first campaign for frank Lampard

Head to Head 20/ 21/01 Chelsea 2 - 2 Arsenal 19/ 29/12 Arsenal 1 - 2 Chelsea 19/29/05 Chelsea 4 - 1 Arsenal 19/19/01 Arsenal 2 - 0 Chelsea 18/18/08 Chelsea 3 - 2 Arsenal 18/ 24/01 Arsenal 2 - 1 Chelsea 18/10/01 Chelsea 0 - 0 Arsenal 18/0 3/01 Arsenal 2 - 2 Chelsea 17/17/09 Chelsea 0 - 0 Arsenal 17/06/08 Arsenal 1 - 1 Chelsea 17/ 27/05 Arsenal 2 - 1 Chelsea 17/04/02 Chelsea 3 - 1 Arsenal 16/24/09 Arsenal 3 - 0 Chelsea 16/24/01 Arsenal 0 - 1 Chelsea 15/19/09 Chelsea 2 - 0 Arsenal 15/02/08 Arsenal 1 - 0 Chelsea 15/26/04 Arsenal 0 - 0 Chelsea 14/0 5/10 Chelsea 2 - 0 Arsenal 14/22/03 Chelsea 6 - 0 Arsenal 13/23/12 Arsenal 0 - 0 Chelsea 13/29/10 Arsenal 0 - 2 Chelsea 13/ 20/01 Chelsea 2 - 1 Arsenal 12/29/09 Arsenal 1 - 2 Chelsea 12/21/04 Arsenal 0 - 0 Chelsea 11/29/10 Chelsea 3 - 5 Arsenal 10/27/12 Arsenal 3 - 1 Chelsea 10/03/10 Chelsea 2 - 0 Arsenal 10/07/02 Chelsea 2 - 0 Arsenal

ARSENAL, CHELSEA FA CUP FACT SHEET

Arsenal midfilder Ozil sandwiched between Chelsea duo of Zouma and Kovacic

N

o two teams have had more success in the FA Cup since the turn of the century than Arsenal and Chelsea, lifting the famous trophy a combined 11 times

since 2001.

The Gunners have so often relied on the oldest domestic cup competition of them all to salvage their campaign in recent times, and that is very much the case this time around.

Improvements have been made since succeeded Unai Emery in December, but results have been mixed and the Gunners finished a lowly eighth in the Premier League.

That makes 2019-20 Arsenal’s worst league season in 25 years, having also crashed out of the other two cup competitions they entered relatively early.

It all comes down to one game for the North London outfit, then, with victory today worth up to £30m for the club given it means automatic qualification to the Europa League.

That could be the difference between keeping orsellingskipperPierre-EmerickAubameyang;

the difference between retaining Dani Ceballos or being made to promote from within.

Indeed, they have triumphed in eight of their last nine FACup finals, including each of the last six - only Tottenham Hotspur (seven between 1901 and 1982) have won more in a row.

The worry for Arsenal, however, is that Chelsea are equally as prolific when it comes to getting the job done - even more so, perhaps.

After seeing off Manchester United in the semis, this will be the Blues’ ninth appearance in the showpiece fixture since 1997 and they have won seven of those.

There is less pressure on Chelsea than their capital rivals heading into this latest tussle, it is fair to say, with the Blues enjoying a successful debut campaign under Lampard.

The club legend, in only his second campaign as a boss, has navigated a transfer ban and the exit of Eden Hazard to guide his side into fourth and back into the Champions League.

Assuming there is no upset in next week’s Champions League last-16 second leg with Bayern Munich, which they trail 3-0, this is

Lampard’s only chance to win silverware this term.

In many ways, though, finishing fourth in the Premier League is deserving of a trophy in the current climate, ensuring that the Blues can push ahead with ambitious transfer plans.

The arrival of Hakim Ziveck and Timo Werner will take Chelsea to another level in 2020-21, but right now, it is all about overcoming Arsenal to lift a first trophy in 15 months.

That most recent piece of silverware was the 2019 Europa League, secured with victory over today’s opponents in the Baku final.

Incredibly, this will therefore be the third time in the last four seasons that Arsenal will end their campaign against Chelsea.

The sides have had a mixed time of things in those previous two finals. Now another chapter is set to be written in a battle between two managerial rookies.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have been handed both good and bad news on the injury front ahead of today’s FA Cup final at Wembley.

In the run-up to the game, Chelsea have had a couple of injury problems, most notably N’Golo

For third time in the last four seasons, Chelsea and Arsenal end the season playing each other in a cup final.

Chelsea and Arsenal have won a combined 12 of the past 20 FA Cup finals (six each).

Chelsea are unbeaten in three games against Arsenal since the Gunners’ 2-0 home Premier League win in January 2019.

This is the 15th time Chelsea and Arsenal have been drawn together in the FA Cup. The Blues have won five and Arsenal nine of the meetings so far.

Chelsea play Arsenal for the 201st occasion in all competitions, more times than the Blues have played against any other club.

This will be the first FA Cup final managed by two men who both also played for their teams in an FA Cup final since 2012 (Roberto Di Matteo and Kenny Dalglish).

Kante, who has missed the last six games in all competitions due to a hamstring injury.

Winger Willian also missed the last Premier League game of the season due to injury. But, speaking in his pre-match press conference, Lampard confirmed that both would be available for the trip to Wembley.

“N’Golo Kante and Willian are in the squad,” he said.

There was however some less cherry news about midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

“Loftus-Cheek has a small problem and is out of the game,” Lampard added.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ AUGUST 1, 2020

GLOBAL SOCCER

Victor-Osimhen

Dennis

Napoli Seal Record €50m Deal for Osimhen Barcelona Escola’s Nigerian Winger Italian Serie A side Napoli have confirmed the signing of young Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen from French club Lille.

According to French sports newspaper L’Equipe the deal is worth more than $96 million (81.3m Euros) making him the most expensive African player of all time.

Napoli have now paid more than English side Arsenal paid Lille for Ivory Coast’s Nicolas Pepe a year ago.

Osimhen had joined Lille from Belgium’s Charleroi as a replacement for Pepe.

After scoring 18 goals in all competi-

tions for Lille last season the 21-year-old hade been linked for several weeks with Napoli.

In June he was named as Lille’s player of the season in what was his first campaign in France, the Nigerian was also named in Ligue 1’s team of the season.

Osimhen burst into the spotlight at the 2015 Under-17 World Chile as he clinched the Golden Boot and Silver Ball awards while steering the Golden Eaglets to the title.

The 16-year-old scored a tournament record 10 goals, netting in every one of Nigeria’s games, in a performance

that helped earn him Africa’s Youth Player of the Year for 2015.

His displays at the World Cup in Chile also earned him a move to Wolfsburg but Osimhen, who turned down Arsenal to play in Germany’s Bundesliga, admits to struggling as he slowly adapted to both the league and European football.

After a barren season in which the striker, affected by injury, returned no goals from 16 games, he moved to Belgium where the goals soon flowed - 19 in his first campaign at Charleroi, where he was originally on loan before making the move permanent.

Leeds Utd Turn Searchlight on Nigeria Striker Dennis According to French journalist Manu Lonjon, Leeds United are interested in the services of Club Brugge striker Emmanuel Dennis, but they face stiff competition from Serie A giants Inter Milan.

The Elland Road outfit are looking to strengthen their attack after earning promotion to the English top-flight following a 16-year absence, and a striker is a priority for head coach Marcelo Bielsa.

The 22-year-old has scored eight goals and assisted once

in 29 games across all competitions thus far this term, with his brace against Real Madrid in his side’s 2-2 draw with the Spanish giants during the Champions League group stages one of the highlights of his career.

Leeds need a quality striker capable of giving Patrick Bamford a run for his money, and Dennis could be the man.

The Nigeria international isn’t short of options in the Premier League and has already

Sheffield Given 12-point Deduction for Breaching EFL Rules Sheffield Wednesday have been handed a 12-point deduction for breaking the EFL’s profitability and sustainability rules The sanction, given out by an independent disciplinary commission, will be applied to next season’s Championship table.

The EFL statement said Sheffield Wednesday “should not have included profits from the sale of Hillsborough Stadium in the club’s financial statements for the period ending July 2018”.

The commission did, however, clear Wednesday of acting in bad faith with the EFL. The EFL statement read: “An independent disciplinary commission, appointed under EFL Regulations, has ruled that Sheffield Wednesday will receive a 12-point deduction for breaching the League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules for the three season reporting

period ending with Season 2017/18.

“The sporting sanction will take effect in season 2020/21.

“The club was charged in November 2019 and referred to an independent disciplinary commission, which conducted a full hearing at the end of June 2020, before finding the club guilty based on the fact that the club should not have included profits from the sale of Hillsborough Stadium in the club’s financial statements for the period ending July 2018.

“The club was found not guilty of a further charge of breaching its duty of utmost good faith to the EFL by deliberately concealing information from the League in respect of filings made in respect of the Profitability and Sustainability Rules.”

Wednesday finished 16th in this season’s Championship table, eight points above the relegation zone.

been linked with the likes of Brighton & HoveAlbion and Sheffield United.

Borussia Dortmund,AS Monaco and Sampdoria were also linked with the

Club Brugge star, with HLN claiming back in February that suitors will have to part with £21 million to have a chance of landing him.

Cameroon’s Italia ‘90 Captain Stephen Tataw Dies FormerCamerooncaptain StephenTatawdiedyesterday at his home inYaounde at the age of 57.

The right-back was most famousforplayingeveryminute as he led the Indomitable Lions to the quarter-finals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

That run included wins over Argentina, Romania and Colombia as Cameroon became the first African side to reach the last eight.

Cameroon were eventually beaten 3-2 in extra-time

by England.

FouryearslaterintheUnited Statesitwasnotsuchafairytale astheywereknockedoutinthe first round.

ThatcampaignintheUSA included a 6-1 thrashing by Russiaafteralsobeingbeaten

by Brazil 3-0.

His club career saw him play for Cameroonian sides TonnerreYaoundeandOlympicMvolyebeforeendinghis playing days in Japan with Tosu Futures.

Afterthe1990WorldCuphe hadtrialswithQueensParkRangersinthe(then)FirstDivision,later recallinghewastoldbymanager DonHowe“Iwasgood-excellent -buthewasfullup.”

He passed away on Friday afterwhatarelativedescribedas a “protracted illness” but did not give any more details at this stage.

Basketball Stars Go Frenzy on StarTimes as NBA Returns Live basketball is finally set to return on StarTimes, after a hiatus of nearly five months.

The NBA 2019/20 season restarted on July 30 with the ESPN channel broadcasting the games in Africa.

After the Coronavirus postponed the NBA season, these NBA games will be unlike any previous year. Social distancing requirements means that fans will not be in attendance and all the games would be played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, inside Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Only the best 22 of the

league’s 30 teams will participate. Each team will play eight games to finish the regular season.

From these, the top seven teams in each conference will advance, with the final eighth seed in each conference being determined by a potential play-in tournament before the traditional 16-team playoffs.

Speaking on the resumption of the NBA season, StarTimes PR Manager, Lazarus Ibeabuchi, said: “We are excited to bring more sports offering to our subscribers. Basketball lovers in Nigeria can now look forward to action coming back on their screens through the ESPN channel.

Joins Polish Club LKS Lodz Polish I Liga club LSK have officially announced the signing of promising Nigerian-born winger Kelechukwu Ebenezer Ibe-Torti.

The 2002-born Ebenezer, who trained with the Golden Eaglets in 2019 before their trip to Brazil for the World Cup, has inked a three-year contract with LKS Lodz.

A Chelsea fan, he tested with Lechia Gdask last December and has cited PSG’s Brazil superstar Neymar as his role model.

“I’ve heard a lot about ŁKS, so I liked this direction before. I wanted to come here. Łód is a large city in the center of Poland, and close to the Warsaw I know,” Ebenezer told LKS Lodz’s official website. “ŁKS is a big club, which is also very well organized. Everything looks promising here. The stadium is now being expanded. Of course, it is also important that I know the coaches Wojciecha Stawowego and Rolanda Thomasa, under whose supervision I developed at Escola.

“There will be no reduced fare, but thanks to them it will certainly be a bit easier for me to join the team, because I probably know more or less what to expect.”

A left-footed player, Ebenezer can be deployed in several offensive positions, including attack and left wing.

Joshua Backs Tyson’s Ring Return Anthony Joshua says that Mike Tyson’s comeback can “add value” to boxing and has backed the heavyweight legend’s plan to get in the ring again.

Tyson, 54, will meet fellow icon Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition bout in Los Angeles on September 12 after posting impressive videos of his preparation over the past few months.

Joshua said at a Sky VIP event: “You see a clip on social media and you think: ‘He’s back in action, he’s fighting fit’.

“But it’s like an old-time footballer doing a crossbar challenge!

“Tyson hitting pads with ferocious behaviour is second nature to him. But to someone watching from home? It’s like he’s going to rule the heavyweight division.

“It’s a passion they both love, it’s what they know. Tyson has been fighting since he was 13. Jones’ dad pushed him to be a great.

“It’s all they know. They haven’t got to compete with the young lions of the division. We’re bigger, stronger, science has improved so we have more technology.

“If Tyson wants to come back and fight someone from his era, for the love of the sport? Crack on.

“I hope it adds value to the sport we love.”

Arsenal, Chelsea FA Cup Final Battle Live on StarTimes StarTimes will air live the Heads Up FA Cup Final between London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea, today, on its World Football Channel, at 5:30pm.

Arsenal stunned holders Manchester City 2-0 in the semi-finals, while Chelsea saw off Manchester United 3-1 to leave Mikel Arteta and Frank Lampard within one game of glory in their first season in charge.

The mah is scheduled for 5:30 pm and will be played behind closed doors at Wembley Stadium with no fans due to government guidelines regarding coronavirus.

Arsenal and Chelsea contested the 2017 FA Cup Final, with the Gunners winning 2-1.

The Football Association, FA announced in June that this season’s Emirates FA Cup Final would be dedicated to Heads Up, with lead partner Emirates donating their title to the campaign.

Heads Up is a partnership between Heads Together and The FA that harnesses the influence and popularity of football to change the conversation on mental health.

StarTimes 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. 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 they subscribe for on their decoders. Also, non-subscribers can also watch live sports, sought-after TV channels and over 2000 video-on-demand content for as low as N400 weekly, with an option to subscribe with their MTN airtime, via our StarTimes ON mobile app.”

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ AUGUST 1, 2020

31

GLOBAL SOCCER

Kadiri Attah

New Kid on the Block

B

elgian First Division B side Lommel SK is on the verge of completing a move for Nigerian striker Kadiri Attah from Swedish side, Ostersund, for a reported fee of €1.3m.

Attah has been impressive for Ostersund this season scoring six goals and providing three assists in 11 appearances so far.

Media reports had earlier suggested that Swedish club Ostersund FK are ready to sell Kadiri for SEK 10 million (more than a million dollars) to Belgium.

Belgian champions Club Brugge was then mentioned in connection with the striker.

Footbalnieuws.be said Kadiri was closer to a transfer to Club Brugge, who have offered him a four-year contract.

Kadiri’s agent, Atta Aneke, is believed to be studying several offers.

OFK coach admitted the club was desperate for some cash as the Coronavirus pandemic had hit their finances very hard.

According to Belgian website, www. voetbalnieuws.be via Expressesabout, the attacker played his last game with Östersund against Helsingborg on Monday, before proceeding to Belgium to have his medicals.

Attah last played for Nigeria Professional Football League side, Nasarawa United, before making the switch to Ostersund in the summer of 2019.

However, Kadiri has revealed his dream was to play in the Premier League in England with Arsenal his

favourite club just as he has been lifted by his idol Odion Ighalo.

“I love the Premier League and I hope I will get to play there,” he said in an interview on the Ostersunds TV. “Arsenal are my favourite team because they encourage a lot of young players.”

Former Sunsel FC star, Kadiri, has already received a huge boost from the English top flight from no other person than his boyhood hero Ighalo, who is on loan at Manchester United.

“I have followed Ighalo since he moved to Europe and it was great when he called and advised me to work hard in Europe,” Kadiri said.

“I celebrate my goals just like he does. Incidentally, we share the same agent (Atta Aneke).”

The boy from a family of 11 also revealed he has always loved to score goals.

“I love scoring goals, I am happy when I score goals because it is my job to score goals,” he said.

“I remember when I was younger I would be crazy if I didn’t score a goal within the first 15 minutes.”

Kadiri was initially bound for Norwegian club Lillestrom before he landed in Sweden, where he has defied the cold and snow to fire goals for OFK. Meanwhile, Ostersund FK had earlier rejected a bid by Premier League giants Manchester City for Kadiri. A top source said City wanted to sign the striker and then loan him to a club in Belgium.

City have already bought Belgian second division Lommel and have

Attah

understanding with some other clubs in Belgium.

It was further gathered that The Citizens will most likely come up with an improved offer for Kadiri.

Belgian champions Club Brugge, as well as Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel, are among the clubs reported being interested in Kadiri.

Ostersund coach Ian Burchnall has admitted interest by other clubs.

“I get many phone calls from many who are interested. I’m not surprised by it and think it will be so this summer,” he told Ostersund Post.

“The fact that top clubs in Europe look at our talents is proof of our work. But obviously it must be a very good offer for us to lose him. We wait for it.”

G LO B A L S O C C E R ASSISTANT EDITOR KUNLE ADEWALE THISDAY ON SATURDAY EDITOR YEMI ADEBOWALE

THISDAY NEWSPAPERS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͹˜ 2020

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MARKET PLACE with Omolabake Fasogbon... 08155131874

New Molfix Air Dry Diaper Hits the Shelves Hayat Kimya, manufacturer of Nigeria’s number one choice diaper, Molfix has introduced their newest product, the Molfix Air Dry Baby Diaper which is unarguably their best diaper yet in the Nigerian market. The Air Dry Baby Diaper is a new and improved addition to the Molfix collection, showcasing the brand’s continued efforts to provide babies with skin-friendly, ultra-breathable, and ultra-absorbent diapers. To further ascertain this postulation, the Managing Director of Hayat Kimya Nigeria, Mr. Doruk Emiroglu states: “We are proud to be producing high-quality baby diapers that are made right here on Nigerian soil. The current climate is testing businesses and individuals across the world, however, we trust in the viability of the Nigerian market and we will continue to seek additional avenues to innovate, create value and invest in the Nigerian economy.”

Roseline Abaraonye, Marketing Manager, Hayat Kimya Nigeria added: “Molfix is a brand that cares about a mothers’ convenience and the baby’s freedom and comfort. With the Air Dry Diaper, we’ve produced not just a product that provides maximum comfort to babies but also provides peace of mind to multitasking mothers. It is paramount that we help our mothers and babies live our motto, “For the Number 1 mums of Nigeria.

“The following are true about Molfix Air Dry Diaper: Its Skin Friendly, It’s Ultra-Breathable, It ensures High Absorption and It has Anti-leakage elastic barriers. The product employs a holistic approach and this is evident in the innovation and production that has led to the Air Dry Diaper. Providing happiness and comfort for both mother and child is the ultimate goal. The future is not left out as we have sought ways to look at both mothers’ Convenience and babies’ Freedom and Comfort.”

L-R: Motayo Latunji, Sales Director; Doruk Emiroglu, Managing Director and Roseline Abaraonye, Marketing Manager at the internal launch of Molfix Air Dry Hayat Kimya Nigeria successfully launched its flagship diaper brand in May 2015, into the Nigerian market. Five years later, it still poses a verifiable success. Despite the tightly-contested market space, it rapidly attained the position of the number 1 brand within the diaper category such as “Best Baby Diaper of the Year’’ at the African Product Awards 2016, awarded by the Institute

for Government Research Leadership Technology. In 2018, the brand emerged as the Global Most Leading Premium Quality Baby Diaper Brand of the Year, awarded by Global Quality Awards.

It was also awarded the “Brand of the Year’’ by ADVAN in 2018. The brand further garnered mind-blowing awards to its name as follows: “Brand of the Year” awarded by Brandcom 2019, 1st

positions in Experiential Marketing, and in Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) awards, to mention but a few.

Indeed, the brand has made both consumers and customers happy and satisfied with its consistently high-quality product and availability in the market.

For Molfix, it is “For the Number 1 mums of Nigeria”, and the brand relentlessly endeavors to make it a reality.

FoodCo Expands Clothing, Personal Care Business Consumer goods company, Foodco Nigeria Limited, has taken its clothing and personal care business up a notch by partnering with more local and international brands in the sectors.

Senior Manager, Business Development, FoodCo Nigeria Limited, Ayotunde Azeez Ositunga stated that the expansion move was in line with the firm’s vision to be a retailer of choice in Nigeria and to offer top quality products across categories.

These are in addition to its objectives to

support local industry such as manufacturing and the small business community.

He said: “We are happy to announce the expansion of our apparel and personal care lines with over 500 exciting new products from leading Nigerian and global brands. This is in line with our vision to become the preferred retailer for Nigerians, offering a diverse range of top-quality products at affordable prices, as well as forging impactful partnerships that grow our communities.

“As a proudly Nigerian brand, the company

has always pursued initiatives that add value to stakeholder communities in Nigeria. The expansion will deepen our investments within the small and medium-scale enterprise sector to increase access-to-market opportunities for a talented pool of businesses in the clothing, fashion design and personal care space.

“Furthermore, FoodCo will be stocking a select line of notable global brands, such as Swedish clothing-retail giant, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), to expand the options available to our customers. The stock line covers a wide

range of items, including casuals, corporate clothing for both men and women which will be available across our outlets in Lagos, Ibadan and the online store.

FoodCo latest move is coming on the heels of its expansion into the online space and home delivery service.

“The upgrade to our apparel division with an expanded line of top-quality local and international labels underlie our focus to continually set standards for retail excellence in Nigeria,” Osintuga added.

NNPC, FIRST E&P’s ‘Abigail- Group Supports COVID-19 Joseph FPSO’ Arrives Nigeria Fight in Makoko Community The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in collaboration with FIRST Exploration & Petroleum Development Company Limited (FIRST E&P) has announced the arrival of the Abigail-Joseph Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit to the shores of Nigeria.

Prior to her sail-away, the FPSO underwent upgrade, refurbishment and life extension works in Keppel Shipyard, Singapore, to meet specified standards and specifications.

A statement by First E&P revealed that the partnership between NNPC, Nigeria’s Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), FIRST E&P, YINSON and Keppel Shipyard has aided the critical pre-deployment activities for the FPSO to be completed in record time.

The statement attributed the successful execution works in Keppel Shipyard to a team of young Nigerian professionals who will form an integral part of the FPSO operations team in the production phase.

The statement reads further, “The FPSO is a 274 meters long converted Suezmax trading

tanker. It is self-propelled with 11 cargo storage tanks, 2 slop tanks and 6 dedicated water ballast tanks including fore and aft peak tanks.

“The FPSO will be deployed in the Anyala and Madu fields, offshore Nigeria as part of OMLs 83 & 85 field development, Nigeria’s first wholly indigenously executed integrated Oil and Gas project in the shallow offshore.

“The processing system on the FPSO includes facilities for oil separation, stabilization, produced water treatment, gas treatment and compression.

The processing and storage capacities include oil processing of 50,000 barrels of oil per day, produced water treatment of 20,000 barrels of water per day, gas handling of 39 million standard cubic feet per day and cargo storage capacity of 700,000 barrels. The FPSO will be operated on behalf of FIRST E&P by YINSON. “The ongoing development drilling campaign in the Anyala field is focused on drilling and proving expected Oil reserves for development. A total of seven development wells have been planned and approved by DPR.

A group , Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace, IDFP, has advised Makoko residents in Lagos to ignore the popular saying that COVID-19 is elitist.

The group gave the advice at a sensitisation programme organised for Makoko community members as part of efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Lagos and Nigeria.

Addressing community members, a member of IDFP, Prof. Fatimo Abdulkareem, urged residents to disabuse their mind that COVID-19 is a fantasy or elitist.

She said, “As a medical practitioner, I have seen cases where some have died and some are still battling the disease. Let’s accept the reality of COVID-19 and learn to live with it by taking to necessary precautions.

“Wash your hands regularly, wear a Facemask in the public and remember, it is not a chin mask. Facemask is meant to cover the nose and the mouth . Also remember to practice physical distancing.

“While we cannot advice family members

to practice physical distancing at home, it is advisable that we watch our partners and children. The assumption is that we are only safe at home but still, we have to be vigilant because once one member contracts the disease, every other person in the family is not safe.

Speaking on behalf of the residents, Baale of Makoko Community, Chief Raymond Akinsemoyin, noted that the initiative is apt and commendable.

He noted that government and private organisations must take responsibility by going into communities to sensitive citizens.

He stated that this is particularly necessary now that COVID-19 has entered community transmission stage in Nigeria.

“A stitch in time saves nine,” he said.

Earlier, the Publicity Secretary of IDFP, Elder( Mrs) Uzoaku Juliana, explained that the programme was thought of to further remind Nigerians on the need to keep safe and support them with safety items.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͹˜ ͰͮͰͮ

Double Celebration for Rear Admiral Joe Aikhomu Demola Ojo

W

hile many citizens and households in Nigeria are celebrating the Eid-el-Kabir festival this weekend, Rear Admiral Joseph Omozuwa Aikhomu (rtd), is in an especially celebratory mood, but for different reasons.

The highly-accomplished naval officer with years of meritorious service to his fatherland, is thankful to be of good health and sound mind as he turns 65 today. While this in itself calls for celebration, he will also be honoured with a traditional title by the Okaijesan of Esanland and Ojirrua of Irrua, HRH Ahlaji W.O. Momodu JP. In his special invitation to close friends AIkhomu said, “It has been a wonderful and exciting journey through life and I give thanks to the Almighty God for all he has done for me. He has granted more years to my life and life to my years. It is now a blissful time for reflection, gratitude and praise.”

In consideration of current realities, the invitation states boldly that NCDC safety protocols regarding COVID-!9 “will be enforced strictly.”

Festivities will kick-off with a thanksgiving at St Johns Catholic Church, Irrua, before the conferment of traditional title at the palace of the Ojirrua. A reception will then be held at Aikhomu’s residence.

Today’s celebration of Aikhomu is in recognition of his contribution to the development of Irrua, where he is without doubt, one of its most illustrious citizens. However, the high esteem in which he is held goes beyond Irrua, Esanland and his home state of Edo. His exploits as a well-respected member of the Nigerian Navy, after years of service to his fatherland, are well-documented.

A serially-decorated Admiral well-versed in maritime operations and logistics, with special refer-

ence to the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, Aikhomu’s wealth of experience traverses all facets of military and maritime services.

He is an expert in his chosen profession, after a career that has seen him serve as the Flag Officer Commanding the Eastern Naval Command, and as Chief of Administration at the Naval Headquarters, among many other responsibilities.

From coordinating naval ceremonies and parades to implementation of operations policies enacted by the Naval Headquarters, Aikhomu has not only seen it all, he has also discharged his responsibilities to the highest standards.

Very notable was his role in ensuring the conduct of patrols and operations in support of the peacetime and wartime roles of the Nigerian Navy, which led to a significant reduction in illegal bunkering, piracy and smuggling in the Gulf of Guinea.

The Edo-born Admiral successfully controlled the once crime-ridden Calabar waters which hitherto, were unsafe for trans-border trade between Nigeria and some Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), especially Cameroon.

With multiple professional training from the Command and Staff College, Jaji, Nigeria to leadership programmes at the Harvard Business School in Massachusetts, USA, Aikhomu has constantly sought for personal and professional improvement. He has been awarded numerous honours by the Nigerian Navy.

Beyond the shores of Nigeria, the stellar Admiral has distinguished himself as an achiever of note, from participating in the ECOMOG West Africa peacekeeping operation, to the United Nations Iraq–Kuwait Observation Mission.

Currently a consultant in maritime security and logistics support, Rear Admiral Aikhomu is passionate about community development and mentoring tomorrow’s leaders. It would be accurate to say then, that he fully deserves the honour being bestowed on him today.

Aikhomu

VCO at 50: Seeking Power to do Good in Anambra Sunny Igboanugo

O

ne question Valentine Chineto Ozigbo, is made to answer at every turn in the run to the governorship election in Anambra State is why he had to quit one of the best jobs in Nigeria to wade into the crocodileinfested waters of Nigerian politics – to boot – Anambra politics for that matter.

Anambra of all places!

I have heard him answering this particular question on countless occasions in his various interviews and personal interactions. Why? Many see his decision as too risky if not reckless, and some outright madness.

The more surprising and even intriguing is that he took this astounding decision before his 50th birthday. What could be crazier, than the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Transcorp Group, one of the most influential conglomerates in Nigeria with tentacles across the world to climb down from the pinnacle without being pushed and attempt to navigate through clearly uncharted waters that is Nigerian, nay, Anambra politics?

But he seems to have a ready explanation – passion! The passion is fired by the will and zeal to give back and to see the transformation of his society using his youthful energy and wide range of experience and massive local and international connections.

He captured this raison d’etre more succinctly on Monday, July 20, 2020 when he marked his 50th birthday.

In the virtual party to mark the event, he told his audience: “I count my life’s testimony, I count my life a blessing.

God has endowed me with the choicest blessing of life.

And the only thing I owe him is to be a blessing unto others. And that’s what I’m pledging to become continually all the days of my life.”

Obviously, the message has begun to resonate beyond the proverbial seven forests and seven rivers and gathering storm on its way.

While many stakeholders are upping the ante, VCO, has almost become a household name in the state, winning new converts steadily. On Sunday, July 5, Rebuild Nigeria Initiative (RNI), one of the most influential political blocs in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), known for its massive grassroots structure in all 21 local government areas of the state signed in, after a meeting held in the home of its leader and former Anambra Chairman of the PDP, Chief Frank Oramulu, in Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State, where speakers after the other poured encomiums.

Watching speakers after the other lavishing their accolades and standing up to egg him on, in his new project, introduced a new perspective on why Ozigbo would dare make the plunge from the velvet comfort of life at the top to the dangerous jagged ground below.

Ozigbo It sent a clear message that true success is not only about an individual making it to the top, but looking down to see a blanket of support base at the foot of the ladder and being reassured that the peace at the top is same at the base.

Could any human be completely flawless? Well, that was what those at the birthday event tried to make him. And they were not just ordinary people their words could be discountenanced lightly.

From the Obi of Onitsha, Nnaemeka Achebe to the celebrant’s immediate family, tributes showered like a fountain through some of Nigeria’s best in businesses,

politics, the professions and religion.

Among them were Chairman of the Heirs Holdings, Elumelu, banking magnets, Oba Otudeko and Mohammed Hayatudeen, Chairman of Zinox Group, Leo Stan Eke and former Director General of the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) Arunma Oteh.

The political side paraded, former Governor of Anambra State and vice presidential candidate in the 2019 election, Peter Obi, first civilian Governor of the state, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former presidential adviser on Inter Political Affairs, Ben Obi, two-term Senator, Joy Emordi and leader of the minority caucus in the current Senate, Eyinnaya Abaribe.

Religious leaders included, retired Arch Bishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, his Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Kukah, Arch Bishop Emmanuel Olisa Chukwuma, of Enugu Anglican Archdiocese.

There were also, Parish priest of Church of Divine Mercy, Pascal Nwezeatu, his counterpart at the Catholic Church of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Tony Mario Mathew Ozele, popular Anambra evangelical Catholic priest, Emmanuel Obinma, otherwise known as Ebubemuonso, Anene Nwahcukwu of the Rhema Deliverance Ministry International.

The role call also included notable names in the Nollywood and entertainment industry. It was as if they were trying to make up for their physical absence through spoken words.

Indeed the past 50 years, the VCO brand has witnessed a unique and galloping growth. First Class in Accounting from the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN); best in the 1994 set in the department; and the faculty of business; MBA in Banking and Finance from the same university in 2000 and an MSc in Finance with distinction from Lancaster University, the United Kingdom in 2004 and beneficiary of the prestigious Chevening Scholarship programme.

His career progression also saw him soar through highflying banking positions, zapping to the very top of the industry. Apart from returning the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, to its old glory, as the most prestigious hotel in Nigeria, he also made it the number one choice in Africa, while winning some of the highest global awards in the industry.

Through his Chineto Ozigbo Foundation, he has touched so many lives in various ways, as a philanthropist while in sports, he is the co-founder of the Feet-n-Tricks, the sole organiser of free style football in Africa.

So far, the last 50 years has witnessed a streak of successes, where everything he touches transforms to gold.

In the words of father Ozele, “Your 50th birthday will be the beginning of the blossoming of that tree that you have nurtured over the years. Let it begin to bear fruits for you, for your family, for your community, for your state and especially for the body of Christ that you love so much.” I concur. Happy birthday, VCO! Igboanugo, a journalist, wrote from Abuja.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPA P PER ˾ ͹˜ ͰͮͰͮ

TRIBUTE

Tribute to My Mother Victor Vi Ndoma-Egba Nd E b

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here do I start about my mother, my friend, my confi n dante, my playmate, my soulmate, my pillar, my teacher, my everything? Start however I must.

Mama was my very first teacher in every sense. She trained as a teacher and was one of the first four Ikom ( now Ikom, Boki and Etung ) women to receive western education. I started following her to St. Martins Primary School, Ikom where she then taught long before I was eligible to start school. In my days your right hand had to touch your left ear over your head before you could qualify to be registered in school. By the time I could achieve this I already could read and write so I had a head start.

When I eventually could touch my left ear with my right hand I started school in January 1962. Mama took Ndifon Nkom Nku ( now Dr. Victor Nkom), late Richard Eno, late Aroma Brown and I to school to school on our first day and she was our first teacher. The others were children of her friends. I remember her holding a pair of tiny hands in each of her hands.

It was a remarkable day. Being the son of the class teacher naturally drew attention to me. This was in addition to my young age and physical size. The bell had announced break time and as usual with children our excitement was noisy as we ran out of the tedious classroom to the brief respite outside. I joined a group of my new classmates at play. Promptly an older boy from a senior class singled me out and hit me without reaa son. I cried to my mother who was at her desk in the classroom and reported what happened. She came out and mock smacked the boy after hearing him out. This gave me satisfaction which was short-lived as almost as soon as my mother left the scene another boy hit me. I immediately ran to her again. This time she studiously ignored me and my complaint. I left to rejoin the group at play deflated and disappointed. Not long the bell announced the end of the break. As I made my way back to the classroom yet another boy, this time one of my new classmates, hit me. I again went to my mother. This time she waited for the class to settle down before calling me out to the front and gave me six strokes of the cane on my buttocks. It was the first time my mother would use the cane on me, and also the last time.

She told me in front of the class that if in thirty short minutes three different people hit me, all three of them could not be the problem but me and warned that should that happen again my

Late Madam Regina Achi Nentui

punishment would be more severe. It never happened again.

I learnt never to be the odd one out, to fight my causes and take responsibility for myself and actions. I thenceforth avoided confrontations but did not run away from them. I was never again bullied. I sharpened my tongue as weapon in case physical strength failed me.

She was strict but fair, a disciplinarian who at the same time allowed children to express themselves within clearly defined moral boundaries.

She bore her pains with equanimity. She concealed her tears but shared her smiles. She trusted God absolutely, sacrificed and exerted herself to the very limits of her every endowment for her three sons, Kenneth, Victor and Roy. She was broken each time a relation’s child failed to choose education first as she was worried that her children could only be secure if those around

them were also educated. She harangued and pushed, she argued and cried, begged and harassed for children, especially the girl-child to go to school. She was an activist for girl child education but lacked today’s tools for mass mobilization for her cause but deployed every available weapon in her time.

She badly wanted daughters through her sons to replace the one she lost whom she had already named Constance. She wanted to see her lost daughter in her son’s wives, grandchill dren and other relatives, and looked for her in all of them. She saw her in some and did not in others.

Her beauty, poise and carriage were acknowledged everyy where. She was famously known as “ Miss” as female teachers were known and remained “ Ma Miss” until her death.

She was a torchbearer, a trailblazer who set the standards for her generation. She was as gorgeous as she was bold. She dared where her peers demurred. In 1960 she contested elections into the office of Chairman of Ikom County Council (now Ikom, Boki and Etung Local Governments) on the platform of the defunct NCNC. She won and became the first female chairman of a County Council ( now Local Government) in the then Eastern Region of Nigeria, and indeed the entire country from 1960 to 1963. She was only thirty years old but left towering and indelible legacies (see her biography).

Her faith in God was strong and because of her belief in the Almighty she was able to face her trials and tribulations with fortitude. I recall when Amaka and I were waiting for a child, we waited eleven years, she came into my room in my house in Ikom one early morning. She asked me if I was troubled by the situation. I said Amaka and I were not troubled as we believed that God would give us children in His due time. Her answer which did not surprise me was “stay with your wife, God gave her to you”. When she lost her daughter in 1963; an eye after an eye surgery in the 1990s, and Roy’s son, she took all in stride, traumatic as they were.

She brought us up in the Roman Catholic faith. She ensured that I was active in the choir and as a mass server. I recall when we Kenneth and I were much younger how she prepared us for Sunday Mass. After our bath we would still wash our feet before wearing our socks and shoes which were worn only on Sundays. We also wore our best clothes. We going to be before God so we had to be clean in body and spirit. Till date, I cannot enter a church without having a bath, not even my chapel at home. Upon her retirement she attended Mass every day until her ill health a few months ago.

Read full article online - www.thisdaylive.com

Fr. Joe: The Gift ft of Lightheartedness Sonnie Ekwowusi

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he death of Fr. Joe Guzman aged 62 saddened me. “We have just got the news this morning that Fr. Joe died in Chile of a sudden heart attack. He was taken to the LosAndes Teaching Hospital but it was already too late”. When this text message came to my phone it knocked me below the belt.

Fr. Joe was priest of Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church. He died in the morning of July 8 2020. He had lived in Nigeria since 2000. He ate Nigerian food especially roasted yam and roasted plantain. He cracked Nigerian jokes. Simply put, Fr. Joe fell in love with Nigeria.About early last year he fell ill.As a result, he was placed on medical treatment in Nigeria.

He was responding very well.At a time he was advised to travel to his home country Chile for further medical follow up. He did. But unfortunately on July 8 2020 he succumbed to a heart attack and died in Chile.

I have a very fond memory of Fr. Joe because I taught him a bit how to be a true Nigerian. One day I received phone call from Fr. Joe. At that time he was still carrying out his pastoral work in Ibadan. He was actually in need of a legal advice from a lawyer. Knowing I was a lawyer, he placed a telephoned call that reached me. What was amiss? .He had had a car accident with his car.Apparently his car collided with a car coming from the wrong direction. He narrated how despite obeying all the traffic rules including putting on his car trafficator lights yet the vehicle coming nowhere still rammed into his car and damaged it.After listening to him and consoling him a bit, I then gave him a small lesson on how to be a true Nigerian. I told him that beyond obeying the traffic rules any person driving on Nigerian roads must constantly be on the watch out for recklessness from reckless and inconsiderate drivers who do not have regard for other road users. I also told him that to successfully drive on Nigerian roads one must assume that all motorists around one are mad drivers and treat them as such. I am sure my lesson sunk deep.

While alive, Fr. Joe was many things to many people. He had a contagious and inviting smile. He was optimism personified: he always looked at the optimistic side of life no matter how difficult things may be; he a former chaplain of Whitesands School, Lekki, Lagos; outstanding orthodox Catholic priest; a promoter of the sacredness of human life; a dedicated promoter of perennial values that give authentic meaning to life; a peace maker and a cultivator of

true friendship. Fr. Joe had rare gift for friendship. He loved being in company of his friends especially his priest and seminarian friends.

Like a garden, friendship needs to be nurtured and cultivated. In order to cultivate a deeper friendship among his friends, Fr. Joe organized a series of excursions for his friends especially for those of them training to become priests. Convinced that his friends needed to rest their tired bones from the hustle and bustle of city life, Fr. Joe organized excurr sions for his friends. He took them to quiet country homes and villages where they could play some sports, games and have nice meal in order to regain their lost energies. In the course of these excursions, Fr. Joe spent time giving spiritual direction to those who demanded for it.

I think Fr. Joe will be most remembered for promoting the culture of life in contrast to the culture of death. His value for the sacredness of human life knew no bound. Over the twenty-five years that I knew Fr. Joe there was no subject matter under the sun pertaining to the sacredness of human life that we couldn’t talk or discuss freely and honestly.And no matter the topic both of us ended up agreeing that life begins at conception and must not, under any circumstances, be terminated in the womb. Each human life is unique.Abortion is the greatest violence to women. There is something special about human beings-you cannot treat them as objects. Every human being matters. So we must respect every human life. Everyone is entitled to equal freedom. The foundation of this is dominion. Everyone is a dominion of his or her life. Inanimate objects are not responsible but human beings are responsible. Everybody is equal before God. Every Fr. Joe Guzman unborn child should be given a chance to live because God is the one confidence about man and his pilgrimage on earth. If you ran into bringing the child to the world. Human rights without respect for Fr. Joe even for a second all your sorrows would have disappeared. right of the unborn who is completely defenseless mean nothing. Fr. How? Fr. Joe would have beamed his contagious smile to your face, Joe was convinced that the gospel of life would not be embraced in its tapped your shoulders and beckoned on you to conquer the world fullness if it had not been reduced into simple Question-and-Answer with hope. catechism. This was why he co-edited two books with the following In an overwhelmingly secular world, Fr. Joe’s friendship with his titles- On Marriage and Family: The Teaching of the Catholic Church friends simply demonstrates that ordinary friendship with one’s and On Human Life: From conception to natural death. friends that is built on the very foundation of culture can keep the Fr. Joe was a man of astonishing energy. It was rare to see a stationn society together.As Lord Devlin puts it: “If men and women try to ary Fr. Joe. Like a locomotive combustible engine, he was always create a society in which there is no fundamental agreement about moving and moving. He had the ability to organize and marshal out good and evil, they will fail: if having based it on common agreement, diverse activities in a common cause to the benefit of all. Simply put, the agreement goes, the society will disintegrate. For society is not he was ever willing to render selfless services to others. I later came something that is kept together physically: it is held by invisible bonds to understand that it was precisely in selflessly serving others that Fr. of common thought. If the bonds were too far relaxed the members Joe derived his joy and contentment. Call it a deepening serenity or would drift apart.Acommon morality is the part of the bondage. The whatever, beneath the tireless energy for rendering service to others, bondage is part of the price of society; and mankind which needs Fr. Joe always acquired a new inner peace. He exuded overweening society, must pay its price”

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPA P PER ˾

AUGUST 1, 2020

35

POLITY

Mamman Daura and Southern Presidency Ndubuisi Nwigwe

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he Nigerian g media space p has been agog g g with a cacophony p y of opinions p over the recent exclusive interview by y a chieftain of the All Progressive g Congress g (APC), ( ) and President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew, p Mamman Daura, on the British broadcasting g Service (BBC) Hausa Service. It is doubtful that the elder statesman, who is hardly y heard from, expected p the torrents of interests and reactions by y Nige g rians all over the world to what he might g have adjudged as innocuous remarks in the brief interview.

Yet, if the reactions came, as a total surprise to the octogenarian, then not so to many observers who have always seen the man in the eye of storms of sensational accusations and criticisms since his uncle mounted the saddle of leadership of the country in 2015. Tagged the head of a cabal that supposedly runs the Buhari government, Mamman Daura and his family have lived with all manners of obnoxious profiling. The public is almost daily regaled with stories, both fables and real, that literarily dresses the man in the garbs of omnipotence as far as the administration is concerned. It just remains to hear that he had turned a man into a woman. The prevailing impression out there is that Mamman Duara is Mohammadu Buhari and Buhari is Mamman Daura.

It was therefore not surprising that many see the reverberating interview as many see his remarks as reflective of the thoughts of the President and the “cabal” or at least a kite flying. As far as many Nigerians, including many statesmen and socio-cultural groups like Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afanifere, etc. are concerned, the oracle has spoken. It was like the voices of the people shouting “The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!” in the days of Blatus as Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great, addressed the visiting and conciliatory delegation of Tyre and Sidon. So, to these observers, there is an imminent plot to retain power in the North post Buhari, thereby denying the South their turn at the Nigerian seat of power come 2023.

But in the midst of the rash reactions, it doesn’t appear to me that many people have taken their time to actually seat back to dispassionately think through Mamman Daura’s postulations. If they did, allowing reason to rule over raw emotions, they could have possibly observed, as I did, that Daura, did not in any way oppose or rule out a Nigerian president of Southern, especially Southeastern extraction.

Now, what did he say that has caused the rumpus?

His exact words: “Rotation has been done once, twice and three times; it is important that this nation should be united as one. The most qualified, competent should be elected and not someone who comes from a particular zone”.

While conceding to those who hold contrary views, their rights so to do, I do not think the elder statesman has ruled out the South by any stretch of imagination. At eighty years of age, I should think Mamman Daura owes it to the nation the best of his thoughts on how to move

Daura

the country forward. He is practically talking from experience of the big disappointment that Nigeria has become compared to the promises it held at independence. Thus, beyond where a President comes from, a president’s competence and leadership qualities should even count more, he seemed to say. And I can’t agree more.

As someone from the North, Daura should be in a better position to know. The mistake, which the North and even the people of the South have made over and over again, is to think that their lives would be better with a person of their region or religion at the helms of affairs.

Unfortunately, they have learned the hard way that a townsman as President may never make any difference in their socio-economic wellbeing, as a capable hand imbued with the requisite qualities to drive prosperity and progress for the entire nation could have done.

Take the North, for instance, which has ruled Nigeria far more number of years than the South. If power truly works in the true sense of it for those that wielded it, not just for a few close allies and elite circles, the North should have been a land flowing with milk and gold today. The North should have been the most progressive, the most educated, and the most economically buoyant with the state of the art infrastructure. The North should have been enjoying the best infant and maternal mortality rating, the best poverty index rating, the best school enrolment rating, the best performance in Federal Common Entrance, Senior School Certificate Examination, and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

It should be the most secure. In fact, it should have been the best in Human Development index. But as we know,

the reverse is the glaring case as the region, with all its years in power, is first from the rear. With due respect, if Nigeria has become the poverty capital of the world as the global rating shows, Northern Nigeria is the hometown of the said poverty and now the bedroom and hotbed of insecurity.

Now, turn the torchlight on the South East, which suffered the brunt and devastation of civil war and has not held power for one day, except General Aguiyi Ironsi’s short and checkered stint. Yet with little or no support at all from the Federal Government, the Igbo, with due respect, are dwarfing the North on all the aforementioned fronts. All they have got are their ingenuity, doggedness, highly competitive and daring spirit.

So, talking about competent people to lead Nigeria, when did the Igbo begin to run short of competent leaders in every sphere of human endeavour? Talking about competition, when did Ndigbo become scared of competition? When did we begin to fret and shake at competitions? Never! Not in this life. On the contrary, Ndigbo have never begged to be pitied or unduly favoured. No! All we have ever yearned for is a competitive environment and a level playing ground. Therein lies the raison d’état for the quest for restructuring. Once the ground is level, trust the Igbo man never to “carry last”. He excels.

This spirit we can also enact in our quest for political power and a Nigerian President of South East extraction.

Rather than spend time repudiating Mamman Duara, Igbo political leaders should begin to work harder, organising within, and building political alliances across the nation to make our good case for the Nigerian presidency, which we deserve and need to taste come 2023 in the interest of peace and unity of the nation. If we are waiting until the whole of Nigeria meets and spoon-feeds us with it, then we may have to wait forever, Mamman Duara or no mamman Daura. The reason is simple: Power is never given, but is taken.

By the way, as I alluded to earlier, I think many Nigerians of Southern and South East extraction in particular have reacted to Mamman Daura’s interview from the prism of what they read in the social media. Yet things are not always what they appear on the surface, for ironically, several persons, who are near the corridors of power, avow that if things were to be done just the Mamman Duara way, as many think, Ndigbo could have enjoyed greater inclusiveness in the Buhari administration.

That being the case, I should think in all honesty that the man Mamman Daura could become a strategic partner of Ndigbo. Can we as Ndigbo, look beyond the façade and see an urbane, exposed, and cosmopolitan, and patriotic statesman they needed to successfully push and make a case for the presidency. For emphasis, presidency will never be served on a platter to any section of the country. Not even to Ndigbo.

Ndigbo are not known for many words. Can we then stop talking and start working.

–––Nwigwe lives in Abuja ndubuisi_nwigwe@ yahoo.com

Isma’ila Isa Funtua: A Bridge Builder Gone Ali M. Ali

“Every soul will taste death” Quran (3:185)

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was looking forward to late Isma’ila Isa Funtua turning 80 to pen a tribute. It’s surreal that now, I am writing a posthumous one. He looked set for another decade or more but alas, the appointed hour had come! Certainly passing at an over ripe age of 78 meant he had lived life to the hilt. He had passed the proverbial three scores and ten by eight. It’s hard to imagine that his lanky and zestful figure always bubbling with life is no more. Alive, he neither looked his age nor acted ‘’obsolete’’. He was effervescent with boundd less energy. It was exacting keeping pace with him. Like every dominant figure, everyone recollect their interactions and memories with the late patriarch differently.

In the last decade, he had related to me more like a son.

He used to advise me as such. Not too long ago, he chided me for not keeping him in the loop about a career changing decision. About a year ago, he intervened on my behalf, unsolicited. All the while I was kept in the dark. I only got to know much later. I know his oldest, Abubakar, just like I know his nephew, Muhammad Isa, who was both a colleague and a friend at the Peoples Dailywhere I headed management for years. The late funtua was a key figure in the establishment of the newspaper twelve years ago.

But that has not in any way dissuaded him from relating to me as a reporter. Either by phone or face-to-face contact, he expressed his views forthrightly. You know exactly where you stood with him. He called a spade by its name.

He never sat on the fence. No tongue-in-cheek statements.

He never sugar coated his views, some of which may be unpleasing. Still, he was a bridge builder, at least in the media world where he was a colossus. He interacted freely with publishers, managers, editors and reporters.

He was at home with the old, the middle age and the upcoming.

In my presence he had, once bantered with abandon, with the octogenarian, Uncle Sam Amuka, Publisher of Vanguard .The two had a verbal code of camaraderie exclusive only to them. He was at home with the maverick publisher of ThisDay,Nduka Obaigbena just like he was with the upcoming media managers and editors like me.

His influence extended beyond media circles.

Politically and socially, he was the sort you would love to have in your corner in the walk of life. He will run from pillar to post for an ally or for a cause.

His sudden death a week ago therefore, was shocking. I didn’t see it coming! Only three days earlier, I had sent him a text. It was uncharacteristically unanswered. I didn’t think much of it because sometimes the response used to come a day or so late. This was understandable. The few occasions we had sat down to discuss, I have witnessed how he answered calls ceaselessly from people across social strata.

I knew this from his responses. He would signal I remained seated if I made the move to give him some privacy.

His exit has created a huge vacuum. A titan is gone. He had bestridden his times like the giant he was. His shoes may be a little diffi f cult to fill right away but like the late Yusuf Maitama Sule, Dan Masanin Kano repeatedly used to say “the joy of a dying father is the presence of a worthy successor. He has successors. Adieu!

May Allah grant him eternal rest.May Aljannah Fiddausi be his fi final abode.

Funtua

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͹˜ 2020

AUTO Corps Marshal Appreciates Gov Matawalle’s Ford Rangers Donation

Rolls-Royce Ghost

Rolls-Royce Reveals Super-Luxury Consumer InsightsThat Informed New Ghost Stories by Bennett Oghifo

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olls-Royce has revealed the super-luxury consumer insights that inspired the New Ghost.

More than six years ago, a team of luxury intelligence specialists, designers, engineers and craftspeople assembled to begin development of the new Rolls-Royce Ghost.

As with the first Goodwood Ghost, launched in 2009, this collective would work obsessively to ensure that New Ghost would hold its own place in the Rolls-Royce portfolio and represent a unique set of client values.

The new development is contained in a statement released in Nigeria by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Lagos, owned by Coscharis Motors Plc., the exclusive franchise owner for Rolls-Royce vehicles sales and services in Nigeria. It currently has showrooms and workshops located both in Lagos and Abuja.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BMW Group and is a completely separate company from Rolls-Royce plc, the manufacturer of aircraft engines and propulsion systems. Over 2,000 skilled men and women are employed at the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ head office and manufacturing plant at Goodwood, West Sussex, the only place in the world where the company’s super-luxury motor cars are hand-built.

According to the statement, since the introduction of Ghost, which became the most successful Rolls-Royce in history, the marque’s unique proximity its clients afforded the team access to a large body of information.

It revealed the divergent interests, opinions and changing taste patterns within Ghost clients’ appreciation of luxury. This primary research allowed them to create a product myopically focused on the requirements of these remarkable men and women. These insights informed the designers, engineers

and craftspeople at Rolls-Royce as they moved into the development phase of the highly progressive new Ghost.

As with all primary research conducted by the marque’s specialists, these experts were asked to present their findings. In this short film, Rolls-Royce shares some of these insights to demonstrate the underlying substance of the highly progressive new Ghost ahead of its official unveiling in autumn this year.

The series begins with Rolls-Royce Designer Henry Cloke, who identified an emerging aesthetic defined by purity and minimalism, internally named Post Opulence. Cloke says, “We found that Ghost clients sought objects that are effortlessly, almost instinctively exceptional. They rejected busy details and flash gimmicks, instead seeking extremely high quality, thoughtfully designed pieces that stand up to the most intense scrutiny. This philosophy defined new Ghost’s minimalist design treatment.”

Kingsley Holgate Foundation Reunites with Land Rover Defender

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fter three years and more than 250,000km combined, humanitarian adventurers Kingsley and Ross Holgate have retired the world’s most traveled Land Rover Discoveries and moved into two New Defenders.

Since early 1990s the father and son duo have used various Land Rover vehicles, including 15 previous generation Defenders, to deliver aid to those in need in every country on the African continent and beyond, said a statement by the automaker that is represented in Nigeria by Coscharis Motors Plc. Land Rover’s off road expertise has helped the Holgate Foundation conquer Africa’s most grueling geographies in efforts to improve lives in some extremely hard to reach places, and now a new chapter begins with the most capable and durable Land Rovers ever made.

The two new expedition vehicles are based on Defender P400 S models, which use 3.0-litre straight six-cylinder turbocharged petrol engines and efficient Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle (MHEV) technology to provide maximum outputs of 294kW and 550Nm. A Belt-Integrated Starter Generator (BiSG) harvests energy while driving and sends it to a 48V battery, which can be redeployed as torque (up to 142.5Nm) under the load of acceleration. The system also makes use of a 7kW electric supercharger – also powered by the 48V battery storage – to increase air pressure within the turbocharger in order to reduce turbo lag at engine speeds up to 2,000rpm.

The P400’s MHEV system helps to achieve an average fuel consumption as low as 9.9l/100km, which will be especially valuable as the Holgates who often need to cover extremely long distances between refuelling stops while on expeditions. As a rule of thumb, Kingsley and Ross like to have enough fuel

Kingsley and Ross Holgate by their new Land Rover Defender

within their convoys to cover at least 1,000km between stops. The efficiency offered by the Defender P400 will help to reduce the amount of externally stored petrol on journeys.

Land Rover South Africa’s technical team have created the two most capable expeditions vehicles ever available to the Holgate Foundation by adding on a number of Land Rover-approved accessories – which are all available to South African customers.

The team started with the fitment of Explorer Packs – one of four Accessory Packs available for customisation – which transforms the Defender into an even more capable overland vehicle suited to crossing Africa’s harshest landscapes.

The Explorer Pack includes wheel arch protec-

tion, a raised air-intake, front and rear mud flaps, a spare wheel cover, expedition roof rack, Matte Black bonnet decal, and a waterproof and lockable side-mounted gear carrier.

Expedition Leader Ross Holgate said: “The development phase of our new expedition vehicles was very exciting. We were like kids in a candy store, and it’s been fun being able to choose from a catalogue of vital parts offered directly from Land Rover.

“A sturdy roof rack is extremely valuable when it comes to hauling the extra gear we need for safe travel in some seriously inhospitable places. Spare wheels, fuel, food, sand ladders and even some of our humanitarian aid such as mosquito nets, water-purifying LifeStraws and much needed spectacles can all go up top.

The Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi has commended the Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Muhammad Matawalle for donating two Ford Rangers to the Zamfara State Sector Command of the Corps.

According to the Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, the Corps Marshal who expressed his warmest appreciation said that the donation was a demonstration of the governor’s love and passion for the safety of all road users, not only in the state, but also in the country at large and that the donation would definitely motivate the Corps Personnel to put in their very best in saving lives on the road.

While thanking the governor for his unending support to the Corps, Oyeyemi enjoined him not to relent in availing the Corps any necessary assistance whenever the need arises.

Expectedly, he assured him that the Corps would put the vehicles to the best of use as he called on the Corps Personnel to reciprocate the governor’s kind gesture with adequate maintenance of the vehicles and effective utilisation in the area of patrol operations and rescue services.

Thierry Bolloré Announced as CEO of JLR Chairman of Tata Sons, Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover Plc., Mr. Chandrasekaran, has announced the appointment of Mr. Thierry Bolloré to the role of Chief Executive Officer of Jaguar Land Rover, effective 10 September 2020.

Chandrasekaran said: “I am delighted to welcome Thierry to Jaguar Land Rover. An established global business leader with a proven track record of implementing complex transformations, Thierry will bring a wealth of experience to one of the most revered positions in the industry.”

Mr Bolloré has extensive expertise in the automotive business, most recently as CEO of Groupe Renault and previously in senior positions at global automotive supplier Faurecia.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Bolloré said: “Jaguar Land Rover is known around the world for its peerless brand heritage, exquisite design and deep engineering integrity. It will be my privilege to lead this fantastic company through what continues to be the most testing time of our generation.

“Renowned for their passion and spirit, the people of Jaguar Land Rover are the driving force behind its success. I couldn’t be more excited to join the team continuing to shape the future of this iconic company.”

Mr Bolloré succeeds Prof Sir Ralf Speth, who will take up the previously announced position of NonExecutive Vice Chairman of Jaguar Land Rover plc.

Chandrasekaran added: “I want to thank Ralf for a decade of outstanding vision and leadership for Jaguar Land Rover and welcome him to his new Non-Executive position in addition to his existing role on the board of Tata Sons.”

Jaguar Land Rover is a global automotive manufacturer and leading technology company, proudly built around two iconic British car brands: Jaguar and Land Rover.

The business is dedicated to providing experiences people love, for life, with a mission of shaping the future of mobility towards Destination Zero; a world of zero emissions, zero accidents and zero congestion.

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾AUGUST 1, 2020

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NEWS

FG Receives N26bn Medical Supplies from EU Cases hit 43,151 with 19,565 discharged and 879 deaths Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Federal government yesterday said it had formally received the 2nd Batch of Medical Supplies purchased with UN Basket Fund for COVID-19 Response.

Meanwhile, the 462 new cases of COVID-19 recorded in Nigeria yesterday, took the number of confirmed cases to 43,151 with 19,565 discharged and 879 deaths.

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said the ministry joined the National Coordinator of Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr. Sani Aliyu, at the Cargo Section of Nnamdi Azikwe International

Airport, Abuja, to receive medical supplies from EU contributions worth N26 billion.

The Charge D’affairs of the European Union mission to Nigeria, Mr. Alexander Borges -Gomes, who coordinated the handing over of the Medical Supplies, said that the items were procured through the “One United Nations COVID-19 Basket Fund from a significant contribution from the European Union of €50 Million (N26 billion).”

The medical supplies include 500,000 face shields; 200,000 goggles; 100 oro-pharyngeal airways; 10,000 bio-hazard bags; and 14,000 safety boxes.

A statement signed by the Director, Information, Media and Public Relations, Olujimi Oyetomi quoted Borges-Gomes as having explained that the consignment is the 2nd Batch Medical Supplies by Team Europe - the EU and its MSs after the arrival of the 1st batch in mid-June, adding that “Team Europe operates globally and here is the effort on behalf of Nigeria.” He expatiated that the idea of Team Europe is to counter the world wide ravages of COVID-19. He expressed the expectation that the equipment will boost the Nigerian Government’s response efforts as a whole but in particular, they will

protect the heroic frontline health workers, who care for the sick at great risk to themselves.

In his remark, Ehanire said this 2nd Batch of medical supplies will allay the fears of the health workers and especially the frontline health workers who thought that Nigeria may be running short of supplies and are threatening strike action. He said, there is arrangement in place through institutions and international friends like the EU and the UN to have replenishment. He assured the EU and the UN of judicious distribution of the medical supplies to needed areas.

Obaseki Alleges Abuja Police are in Edo to Arrest PDP Members Bennett Oghifo The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has alleged that a crack team of policemen from Abuja have been drafted to the state and paid by an Edo billionaire to intimidate and arrest members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The governor, who defected recently from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the PDP to run for governor on their platform, stated this when the state’s Muslim community paid him the traditional Salah visit in Benin City yesterday.

Obaseki accussed the leadership of the APC of deliberately causing trouble in the state to provoke him and his supporters to violence, adding that, as the Chief Security Officer, he would do all that was necessary to keep the peace.

“I am not afraid of any man but God. I know the gang up is to provoke me and my supporters but we will not fall for their tricks as God will help us.

“As I speak to you now, you can’t imagine that Police from Abuja are already in the state and have been

paid to arrest our supporters. They have been paid by a billionaire to arrest Peoples Democratic Party supporters in the state. This billionaire sponsored the attacks on me and other PDP governors at the Palace. This is to tell you the level of corruption and impunity we face.

“They are planning violence, bringing arms, intimidating our supporters as part of their strategy.

They know that if we have a free and fair election, they stand no chance.

Their strategy is to continue with their propaganda and lies. They know they don’t have a record of performance; their plan is just to intimidate our supporters and ensure they stay off the polling booth.

“They attacked my supporters and wanted me to react to the attacks. I will not attack them back because as the Chief Security Officer of the state, my responsibility is to maintain peace. We would continue to do that at all costs,” the governor said.

The Chairman, Edo State APC Campaign Council, Mr John Mayaki, however, denied these allegations, stating that the governor was confused.

SSVP Distributes N68m Food in Lagos During Lockdown Bennett Oghifo

READYING FOR SCHOOL ...

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State (2nd right) with his deputy, Hon. Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo (right), the State Chief Fire Officer, Engr. Okwudiri Ohaa (2nd left), others, when the State Fire Service displayed samples of the newly procured Automated Motorised Fumigators, Mini-Buses and customised decontamination machines, for use in public places, yesterday

Banks Squeezed as CBN Shores up Naira

Dignity Finance Records 150 Per cent Profit Increase

Obinna Chima withagency report

Tobi Soniyi

Nigeria’s banks are expected to take a big hit to revenues and face rising borrowing costs this year as the central bank measures to support the Naira.

Lenders are already hit by the fallout from coronavirus and the oil price shock, analysts say.

Banks in Africa’s largest economy - a mainstay for equity and fixed income frontier market investors have learned to navigate challenges in a country that has long struggled with dollar shortages and multiple exchange rates.

But the prospect of anaemic growth, dwindling oil revenues, declining remittances and dollar shortages exacerbated by the central bank’s latest action aimed at curbing naira liquidity and currency speculation are putting pressure on lending by banks and the quality of existing assets.

Reuters reports that the central bank has sucked as much as N900 billion out of the local banking system since raising the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 5% to 27.5% in January, according to analysts’ calculations.

“General sentiment in the markets is that CRR debits are carried out quite close to FX auctions to prevent the banks from presenting large ticket FX demands at auctions,” said Nkemdilim Nwadialor at Tellimer Capital.

Those debits also hamper wider lending, going against central bank

measures of lowering banks’ loan to deposit ratios, she said. Central bank data showed credit to the private sector in April dropped by nearly two-thirds from end-2019.

“Banks are dealing with slow growth, fall in lending, a lack of forex in the market and asset quality issues,” said Mahin Dissanayake, senior director EMEA bank ratings at Fitch.

He expects banks’ revenues to drop at least 20% this year, though he did not expect any to make a loss.

Some banks have already indicated they expect a hit. In April, mid-tier lender Fidelity Bank warned 2020 profits would drop by 15%.

Bankers said lenders were relying on existing customers to weather the storm as new lending looked risky with the economy expected to tip back into recession.

Fitch predicts impaired loan ratios will rise sharply in 2020 with Nigerian banks the most exposed to stress in the oil sector compared to their peers in emerging markets elsewhere.

Nwadialor at Tellimer expected a “significant pick-up” of non-performing loan ratios from 6.6% in the first quarter to an average of 10% for the full year - double the central bank’s benchmark.

Some banks have already announced plans to tackle this. Mid-tier lender FCMB plans to complete a restructuring of half its loan book at the end of April. A central bank policy maker predicted last month that banks would restructure over a third of loans.

Financial services provider, Dignity Finance and Investment Ltd, (DFIL), has declared a profit after tax of N84.45 million for the year ended December 31, 2019.

This was even as the company has approved the payment of N50 million dividend to its shareholders.

The profit, which was made by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ahmed Ibrahim, at its 10th annual general meeting, AGM, represents a 150 per cent growth from the previous year’s figure of N33.84 million.

Ibrahim also announced that the company’s gross earnings in the year under review hit N539 million up

by N98 million from the N341 it recorded in 2018.

The meeting, which was attended by the directors, shareholders, custom-

ers and staff of the company, was held physically and virtually - in line with COVID-19 response protocols.

In his opening remarks, Ibrahim thanked the shareholders, staff, customers and directors for their trust, hard work, commitments and resilience in the last 10 years, and for sustaining and growing the institution to its enviable position.

He particularly thanked the Managing Director, Mallam Yahaya Yusuf, for the growth trajectory which has placed the company as one of the biggest and strongest finance companies in Nigeria.

Ibrahim also announced the board’s approval of the appointment of Dr. Chijioke Ekechukwu as the incoming MD/CEO, subject to CBN’s approval. Before his appointment, Ekechukwu was a director of the company.

StarTimes Partners Brands to Reward Customers As Salah celebration rents the air in various homes across the nation, StarTimes has partnered with Indomie, Power Oil, Dano Milk and Kellogg’s Cornflakes to share the joyous moment with her loyal subscribers.

Select subscribers would be paid a surprise visit during Salah holidays with hampers containing Indomie Noodles, Power Oil’s vegetable oil, Kellogg’s corn flakes, Dano Milk and other family essentials.

Speaking on the initiative, Ali

Auta, Content Marketing Manager, StarTimes Nigeria, said that the essence of the feast, which is selfless sacrifice, needs to be observed even though this year’s Eid-el-Kabir comes at a time that an unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic engulfs the world.

“Despite the effect of COVID-19 on family spending, many of our subscribers have kept on sacrificing other costs to keep enjoying the exciting entertainment that StarTimes brings to their homes.

The Lagos Central Council of the International Confederation of the Society of St. Vincent De Paul (SSVP), has said it distributed food items worth about N68m to various households in Lagos during the lockdown called to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The President of the Lagos Central Council of the charity Society, Mr. Jude Ohaeri stated this, adding, “This excludes medical bills paid on behalf of some venerable people within the same timeline of March - April, 2020.”

On the areas covered by the society during these trying times, he said, “We covered the entire Lagos, reaching out to over 23,800 households and 1,000 inmates of correctional centres.

We used about 130 conferences in the parishes of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos.

“Before the challenges posed by

COVID-19, our normal work as a society in the church is to provide interventions to help the poor and the needy in the various jurisdictions our conferences are located. ‘ “These interventions include payment of medical bills, school fees, empowerment through skills acquisition, Prison Apostolate, provision of food ration, accommodation for the homeless, etc. Post COVID-19, we shall continue with these interventions because it is our vocation.

“The spirituality of church and rules put in place by our local ordinary, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos guide our operations. We also belong to the laity council in our archdiocese.”

On how the SSVP gets its funding, he stated that “We get our funding from our benefactors, contribution of our members and donations from various parishes in the Archdiocese of Lagos.”

Runsewe Commends Kogi, Plateau, Abia, for Donating Offices to NCAC Charles Ajunwa

The Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, has commended the governments of Kogi, Plateau, Gombe and Abia states for donating office accommodations to the Council.

Runsewe who made this commendation in Abuja, stated that the donation of office accommodations is an indication of commitment of the state governments to the development of the culture sector in Nigeria.

He said that with the presence of the Council’s offices in these states, the opportunity has been opened for the NCAC to directly network with the state governments and drive the process of development of Arts and Culture in the states.

He stressed the need for the National Council for Arts and Culture to work with the state governments for the exploration

and development of the vast potentials in the culture sector.

The NCAC boss cited the case of Kogi State, the confluence of River Niger and Benue and the state with the first prison, first primary school, first capital of Nigeria from where Lord Lugard amalgamated the North and Southern Nigeria to illustrate the rich cultural history of tourism potentials of Nigeria.

Runsewe said that if fully developed, the potentials in Kogi State could make it become the tourism nerve-centre of Nigeria.

On Plateau State, the NCAC DG pointed out that the temperate climate of the area has continued to be a source of attraction to tourists, especially foreigners for a long time.

“Other notable attractions in Plateau State include the various rock formations, Kurra-falls, Sherri-hills, the serenity of the state and the rich cultural festivals and dances of the people.” he said.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͹˜ ͰͮͰͮ

NEWS Eid-el-Kabir… Eid-el-Kabir… Eid-el-Kabir… Eid-el-Kabir…

Masari Calls for Prayers over Worsening Insecurity Francis Sardauna in Katsina The Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, has called on Muslims in the state to use the period of the El-el-Kabir celebration to pray fervently for the

restoration of peace and stability in communities facing security challenges in the state.

He said that the banditry and other nefarious activities bedeviling the state required sustained prayers to seek

God's intervention to ease off the impediment people are facing in the state.

Masari, who was speaking shortly after Eid prayer at Danfodio Mosque, in Katsina, the state capital, also called for unity and tolerance

among residents of the state.

He said: "I appeal to residents to pray for Allah’s intervention to enable the state overcome banditry and kidnapping. We should also try and prepare ourselves, because when we pray to

Be not Demoralised by Coronavirus, Lalong Admonishes Muslims Seriki Adinoyi in Jos Plateau State Governor and Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Simon Lalong, has rejoiced with Nigerian Muslims on the occasion of another Eid-el-Kabir, urging them not to allow the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic to demoralise their faith.

The governor, who felicitated with the Muslims in a statement, said this year's celebration comes at a peculiar time when the world is working hard to

tame the Coronavirus pandemic which has altered the way of life of people across the globe.

He said, “Although the Muslim faithful is marking this year's Salah in unusual circumstances of restrictions, the essence of this spiritual event cannot be neglected. This is the time to demonstrate the virtues of peace, love, sacrifice and tolerance that are taught by the Prophet Mohammed.”

Lalong urged the Muslim ummah to exercise patience with restrictions that have been

imposed to curtail COVID-19 as the guidelines issued are meant to prevent the spread of the disease and protect lives.

He also reassured the people of Plateau State that his administration is taking proactive measures to ensure that the economy is boosted despite the setbacks occasioned by the pandemic.

He urged the entire people of the state to “continue to live in peace with one another, and consolidate on the tranquility currently pervading the state,”

calling on them to report all suspicious activities to security agencies who have made elaborate plans to tackle crime and criminality during the festive period.

Recall that the governor had banned all gatherings at any prayer ground across the state, placed restriction on gathering recreation centres across the state, and banned operations of tricycles during the festive period. All these were deliberate efforts by his government to tackle the spread of Coronavirus.

AbdulRazaq, Bolarinwa, Mustapha, Atunwa, PDP Fecilitate with Muslims Hammed Shittu in Ilorin Kwara State Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has fecilitated with the people of the state on the occasion of Eidul-Kabir celebration in the state.

He however prayed to the Almighty God to ease the current global pandemic and insure humanity against recurrence.

In a statement issued in Ilorin yesterday by the governor's Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Rafiu Ajakaye, AbdulRazaq specifically also felicitated with and commended the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari and the various religious establishments for their support for the government’s preventive measures ahead of the festivities.

The statement read, “His

Excellency urges every citizen to see this pandemic as a test from God which requires a combination of faith in the Almighty, collective discipline, and a determination to defeat the common enemy by everyone adhering to the protocols that would lead to the flattening of the curve.

"Even, I request that everyone celebrate Eid in their homes and in strict adherence to safety rules.

On his part, he will celebrate Eid privately with his family.

“As a Government, one of the key takeaways from the COVID-19 pandemic is the need to be proactive and inventive in filling the socioeconomic and infrastructural gaps that would make life easier for our people.

Also, the state chairman of APC, Hon. Bashr Bolarinwa has enjoined

Muslims in the state to continue to pray for the unity and oneness of the country.

In a statement issued in Ilorin to mark Eid-el- Kabri celebration, Bolarinwa said that, "it is in the atmosphere of peace that the development would come to our doorsteps."

Bolarinwa also called on the people of the state to continue to support government at all levels so as to move the nation forward.

A stalwart of the ruling APC, Mallam Saliu Mustapha, has implored Nigerian citizens not to lose hope in the face of multidimensional challenges confronting the world.

He also emphasised the need to constitute themselves into vanguards of peace, tolerance and be charitable to one another.

Mustapha, in his message to Muslim community on the occasion commemorating Eid-elKabir, admonished them to exhibit lifestyles reflective of the purpose of the Islamic festivity, which revolves around brotherhood, piety, sacrifice and resilience.

In his own message, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state during the last general elections, Hon. Razak Atunwa, has urged Muslim faithful to allow the lesson of the Eid el Kabir to reflect on their day to day contributions to the well-being of the populace.

Atunwa in a statement issued in Ilorin yesterday by his Media Office also enjoined the people of the state irrespective of their religion beliefs continue to pray for the peace and unity of the country.

Ex-governor Aliyu, Senator Musa Others Want Action against Bandits Laleye Dipo in Minna Former Niger State governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, the Senator representing Niger East senatorial zone of Niger State Alhaji Sani Musa and the Peoples Democratic Party chairmanship aspirant,

Alhaji Tanko Beji, are unanimous that more concerted efforts are required to surmount insecurity that has plagued parts of Niger State especially the Niger East senatorial zone in recent times.

The frontline politicians made the observations in separate felicitation messages to Muslims on the occasion of this year’s eid el Kabir festival.

They were concerned that insecurity had rendered many people in the state homeless and the youths jobless therefore " more efforts should be made to check the dangerous trend."

Ex-governor Aliyu said without security there can never be development and progress, adding that it will be difficult for people to go about their normal lawful businesses.

Aliyu charged Nigerians to

remain prayerful and steadfast and pursue the ideals of a one and indivisible Nigeria On his part, Senator Sani Musa noted that the issue of banditry, kidnapping "especially in my senatorial zone has lingered for too long, my people can no longer go to their farms whereas we are in the farming season."

In the message signed by his Senior Legislative Aide, Sagir Tafida, Senator Musa opined that "all hands must be on deck to ensure security of Niger East and the state in general, particularly by supporting the security agencies in the discharge of their responsibilities.

"Let's seek the face of Allah for peace, unity and progress of our land. Eid-El Kabir should not just be a time to eat and drink but also a time to intercede for others just as

Prophet Muhammad (SWA) did during his sojourning here on earth," he said.

Alhaji Tanko Beji in a similar message challenged the people to put the interest of the state and the country in their minds by joining in the battle to surmount all forms of Insecurity in the state.

Beji who is seeking a second term as Peoples Democratic Party chairman in next week’s state congress admonished both Christians and Muslims to continue to live in peace with one another for the peace and development of the state.

In line with government directive the prayers to mark this year’s eid el kabir was said at the Minna central mosques and other designated mosques instead of the traditional eid prayer ground.

Allah, Allah will always listen to us."

The governor explained that his administration would continue to support security operatives in theatre of operations in order to tackle the wave of insecurity confronting the state.

He, therefore, urged residents, particularly those living in frontline local government areas to give security agencies the needed support by providing relevant information that would tackle the security challenges.

Oyetola Observes Prayers with Family, Aides at Home Governor of Osun State, Mr. AdegboyegaOyetola,hascalled on citizens of the state to renew their belief in God by being faithful to promises whenever they were made.

He advocated for unity, togetherness, and good neighbourliness among the citizens.

This was just as he called on Muslims to celebrate the festival with the fear of God, caution and in accordance with the purpose that occasioned the celebration.

The governor also implored the citizens to seek God's intervention in the fight against the deadly effects of the Coronavirus pandemic that have been ravaging the entire world.

Governor Oyetola stated these yesterday while addressing journalists shortly after he observed the Eid-el-Kabir prayers with his family members at his Iragbiji residence.

He was joined by his wife, Mrs. Kafayat, his first son, Femi Oyetola and Amotekun' s Field Commander, Comrade Amitolu Shittu among other aides.

The governor, who extolled the commitment of the people of the State, particularly the health workers in the fight against COVID-19, said the festive period must be used to seek God's face in putting an end to the pandemic.

"First of all, I thank Almighty

God that has given us the grace to witness today's celebration. I rejoice with the people of the state as I enjoin the Muslim community to continue to maintain peace.

"I want us to learn the lessons of today's celebration. It is a question of absolute faith in God. Whenever we make a promise, we must fulfill the promise. " Let us also remember those who are not privileged to celebrate today. We must be generous in almsgiving to the less-privileged in the society.

"We need to pray to God to help us on the issue of the pandemic that has been ravaging the entire world because God's intervention is needed in rescuing our country from this challenging situation.

"We must commend our health officers for doing wonderful job. Though, what we are experiencing today is community transmission, we must keep to the precautionary measures ranging from the use of hand sanitisers and face masks, among other safety protocols put in place to ensure that we overcome the menace.

"I want our people to celebrate, but this is not the time to throw parties. Let us celebrate moderately at our various homes", Oyetola said.

Gov Yahaya , Emir of Gombe, Others Observe Eid Prayers Segun Awofadeji ÓØ Ù×ÌÏ Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, yesterday joined other Muslims in the state to observe the Eid prayer with strict adherence to COVID-19 safety protocol.

The Eid prayer, which took place at the Central Jumma'at Mosque, Emir's Palace, Gombe, was led by the Deputy Chief Imam of Gombe, Ustaz Aliyu Hammari and was also attended by the Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu Abubakar lll, top government functionaries and other faithfuls.

Governor Yahaya had earlier in a goodwill message, enjoined the people of the state to imbibe the lessons of Eid el-Kabir which connote sacrifice, love, unity and obedience and demonstrate same in their daily lives for the good of the society and humanity at large.

Fielding questions after the two raka'at prayer, Governor Yahaya said Eid el-Kabir was a period of sharing and caring and therefore enjoined the citizenry to continue to show love, compassion and

support to those in need, especially at this trying period of COVID-19 pandemic.

He also called on the people of the state to continue to live in peace with one another regardless of the differences, just he called for sustained prayers for peace, security and an end to the global pandemic of covid-19.

The governor wished the Muslim Ummah a peaceful and blessed Eid celebration.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as IBRAHIM MOHAMMED, now wish to be known and addressed as IBRAHIM MOHAMMED KATSINA. All former documents remain valid. Institutions and Authorities Concerned and the general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as OMONIYI OMOWUNMI RUKAYAT, now wish to be known and addressed as BALOGUN OMOWUNMI RUKAYAT. All former documents remain valid.

Institutions and Authorities Concerned and the general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as OBAZU AUGUSTINA EGBEZIEMI, now wish to be known and addressed as BELLO AUGUSTINA EGBEZIEMI. All former documents remain valid.

Institutions and Authorities Concerned and the general public should take note.

SATURDAY AUGUST 1 2020 • T H I S D AY

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Nwodo to Mamman Daura “The truth is that Mamman Daura is not being a fair judge. Then, he didn’t believe rotation should end. Now that he has tasted power through Buhari, rotation can end and the most qualified/competent can be voted in” – The President-General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Nnia Nwodo, chiding Mamman Daura for saying Nigeria’s President in 2023 should be picked based on competence.

PENDULUM DELE MOMODU

dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

Tribute to the Parakoyi of Ibadanland, Bode Akindele

F

ellow Nigerians, one of Africa’s greatest business icons, Sir Chief Labode Oladimeji Akindele (OFR, KJW, JP), was buried in his hometown of Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday. In a country where history is no longer a priority, many Nigerians may not readily remember the name and the man as he died at the ripe age of 87, though he never retired from not his business and the limelight that he hugged so tenaciously in his heyday. But, trust me, if you’re talking of old money, good business and good character, here was a colossus, a giant amongst men physically and literally, who was committed to mother earth in a classy but understated ceremony, engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the physical and social distancing guidelines that it has spawned all over the world.

But for the unfortunate pandemic ravaging the world, Sir Chief Bode Akindele’s funeral obsequies would have been a global affair starting from the Commendation Service held in Lagos on Tuesday till the funeral itself on Friday in Ibadan. He deserved it because he worked assiduously for it. You will see the justification for my assertion in the course of my story about this enigmatic Yoruba chieftain and national and international business mogul and monumental philanthropist. During normal times, this would have been a burial of a titan, a farewell of monumental proportions that would have had the movers and shakers of Nigerian society in full attendance. The earth would have moved and trembled at the might of those who had come to pay their last respects to this great elephant that had fallen. It was not to be, but nevertheless, as was befitting of such a great man Chief Akindele still went out with a bang notwithstanding the prevailing conditions.

I was proud and delighted to be invited to join his close family members, associates and friends at the popular Methodist Church, Agbeni. It was for good reason. I have been a chronicler of the great man for a couple of decades.

I have known Sir Chief Bode Akindele for close to 20 years. I was honoured to have been welcomed into his inner circle so warmly and was privileged to have had unrestricted access to his homes and offices in Nigeria and England. We enjoyed good food and exotic wines every time we had the opportunity of meeting. Our favourite at his home in London was always a sumptuous meal of Amala accompanied by Gbegiri and Ewedu otherwise known as Abula (an Ibadan all-time favourite and delicacy), with an array of rich assortment of meat and fish dishes as supporting cast. What do you expect from a proud Ibadan man, one of its wealthiest sons ever? I have never met such a man who loved his background and upbringing and glorious heritage so passionately. Despite being surrounded by a motley crowd of expatriate staff, everyone knew him and referred to him as an Ibadan son of the soil. You could

Akindele

see the glint in his eyes whenever he spoke, so copiously and eloquently, about his town, one of Africa’s biggest cities.

He was innately still that Ibadan boy and was acutely aware of it and happy about his rich culture.

The first comprehensive glimpse of his life as a global player in the world of business was the launch of his autobiography, I DID IT GOD’S WAY, on his 70th birthday some 17 odd years ago, as well as his first major interview which he granted the Ovation International magazine.

During the session he had with me and the Editor of Ovation International, Mike Effiong James, we met an accomplished man in all its ramifications, a humble and God-fearing gentleman, a man at peace with everyone and his Creator. Due to space constraints, it may be difficult to encapsulate all of Chief’s adventures in a life spanning 87 years plus in one article. I believe a compendium of books would not do him justice. He is a veritable resource material for historians, social commentators, welfarists and economists alike.

He was no doubt a silver-spoon kid with his father, Pa Laniyan Akindele, being the Chief Tax Officer of the Ibadan Native Authority, the equivalent of the Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue today. His mother, Alhaja Rabiatu Adedigba Akindele, was a wealthy textile dealer and was the first woman to travel to Mecca in the whole of Ibadan. According to Chief, the journey took two and half years to complete and she returned in 1953. In those days “the only means of transportation to Mecca was first by train from Ibadan to Kano and then from Kano on camels through the Sahara Desert to Mecca...” What a scenic journey and vibrant experience that would have been for a young woman.

Despite his pedigree as a member of the privilegentsia, he attended primary and secondary schools in Ibadan and Abeokuta,

before taking overseas courses by tuition in Secretarial skills, Accountancy and Business Management. He was determined to build his own career rather than rely on family fortunes. In those days, children of rich men and women were immediately co-opted into the family business rather than be encouraged to get an education.

Akindele was fortunate that his father was a top civil servant who knew the value of education.

Once he completed his education Akindele took to business like a fish to water. His business acumen was phenomenal. He knew it was better for him to gain experience in the unfolding business world that the British and Europeans were introducing to Nigeria.

The years 1952 to 1956 saw him navigating and meandering his ways through the labyrinth of commercial enterprises including U.A.C Limited, as a Trainee Manager, Ibadan Traders Association Limited as Personal Assistant to the Managing Director, Ibadan Bus Services Limited as Assistant Accountant and as Under-Secretary of the Western Nigeria Union of Importers and Exporters (Inc.).

However, it was right from school that his entrepreneurial spirits and skills first germinated and flourished. According to Chief Akindele: “When I was in primary school, I used to do a little trading... Whenever I was going to school, I would just throw a packet of sugar or something in my bag. I would sell it to my school mates and teachers.

So, I was making a little money. Later on, as I advanced, I would buy business journals, and write to merchants, who would send me things like shoes and so on and I would sell to both school children and teachers. When I got to secondary school, I decided to upgrade it. I made a deal with my mother, who was a trader in dried meat, called Kundi, from the North, to send me quantities of Kundi instead of my school fees and allowances.

So, I would resell the meat and make extra money. Later on, we agreed that ten packets of Kundi would cover all my fees, so I asked her to send twenty to sell for her. She agreed to send me the meat, but I had to return the entire principal to her and keep only the profit to myself. I had to comply strictly with the conditions of the contract in order to keep that business going. You can’t do otherwise with my mother.

“Later on, after leaving school, I started importing sewing machines. At that time, the Japanese were very unpopular. It was long after the end of the second world war and their goods were regarded as second class. What the Japanese did was that they copied Western technology. At that time, Singer sewing machines were being sold for 32 Pounds. The Japanese wanted to penetrate the African market because they knew that Africa was where people could afford highly priced high-quality goods. I wrote them that we had a company that could help them popularise their goods in Nigeria. So, they wrote back to me. I asked them to send a sample for me to

show to people. They replied that they would be delighted to do that if I could pay half the price of the machine. They would take care of the freight. I saw that as a good opportunity.

“The school I attended trained us very well in commercial subjects. I calculated that I would sell the machine for about 21 Pounds. So, I sent them 7 Pounds 10 Shillings and they sent a brand new sewing machine. Though it was assembled in Japan, there was no difference at all with the Singer sewing machine. I invited the big tailors to see the machine; I sold the machine for 14 Pounds. I sent the 14 Pounds to two other companies who wanted to send me samples. When the time came that I figured that the machine was getting popular, I raised the price to 21 Pounds each. So, the two that came were sold for a total of 42 Pounds.

“In those days, 42 Pounds was a lot of money. I put the whole 42 Pounds back into the business. I was the first person to introduce Japanese sewing machines here...”

Chief Akindele did not rest on his oars and rely solely on selling sewing machines. He realised at an early stage that diversification was necessary for any successful entrepreneur. He therefore decided to also go into the business of electrical fittings like fans and so on.

At this time Chief Akindele had also established the Oke’Badan Brothers & Company (Produce Merchants) in Ibadan but later moved its headquarters to Lagos sometime around 1961 to 1962 because he felt Ibadan had become too small for the massive dreams brewing in his fertile and fecund mind. In Lagos. It was in Lagos that he founded his flagship company, the Modandola Group with a beautiful office at one of the choicest locations in Lagos at the time, 27-29 Martins Street, at the top of the African Continental Bank one of the prime Nigerian Banks of the 1960’s.

The business of produce merchandising was big but delicate. Many of the big names in it ended up incurring huge debts which sent them into liquidation and bankruptcy. Chief Akindele decided very early that this would not be his portion. He embarked on a lot of research and discovered the loopholes. For example, “the controlled produce included palm kernel, cocoa, palm oil, and some others.

It was in these areas that big money was being made, but also, businesses were failing. However, there were more than two dozen other uncontrolled produce like gum Arabic, coffee, chilli, shea nuts, and so on. In his own words, “I decided that there must be somewhere out there in the world where these things are needed.

I began to write. The first deal I got was for shea nuts. It was needed in Japan and Denmark and they said they wanted some...

Then, I added chilli. I sold it all over England. Also Gum Arabic... Just before the civil war (1967-1970), I had grown relatively big. I had sixteen branches in the North, where I collected produce...”

To be continued...

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