30,000 Polling Units: Plan to rig 2015 Presidential poll exposed

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Engr. Beks Dagogo-Jack, former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power Reform, and PDP governorship aspirant in Rivers State, arriving for the PDP mega rally in Port Harcourt.

Presentation of Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) Industrial Award (Innovative Fabricator) to Idowu Adeoya, Managing Director Nobex Tech Ltd (right), by NIFST National President, Prof Lateef Sani, at the 2014 NIFST 38th Conference and Annual General Meeting in Lagos.

Crises mar PDP Ward Congress z16 guber aspirants stay away in Rivers zFour die in Bayelsa zGov Suswam, Senator Gemade battle in Benue zControversy in Ogun, Kwara zConfusion in Imo

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risis trailed the ward congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held, yesterday, in many states across the country.

The exercise was, however, peaceful in some states.

In Rivers State, the congress was boycotted by 16 gubernatorial aspirants on the grounds that the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, was interfering in the affairs of the PDP in the state.

Reports from Benue State said Governor Gabriel Suswan and Senator Barnabas Gemade were battling for the soul of the PDP in the state.

There was controversy in Ogun as party chieftains accused each other of plans to hijack the exercise.

In Bayelsa State, four persons were reported dead on their way to the venue of the congress.

Rivers boycott In Rivers State, 16 governorship aspirants on the platform of the party boycotted the ward congress with their supporters, accusing Mrs Patience Jonathan of unwholesome interference in the affairs of the party in the state.

The aspirants, who spoke through Mr Sotonye Ijuye-Dagogo, called for the postponement of the congress, saying Mrs Jonathan had endorsed one of the aspirants.

“We want to put it on record that the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has publicity (not in her house but in the house of one of the aspirants) endorsed an aspirant.

The First Lady has also approached some of the aspirants to step down and even invited them to a dinner/meeting in the Presidential Villa,” IjayeDagogo said.

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leadership of the party in the state had failed to exhaust the processes that should lead to a credible ward congress, adding that they include “open registration of members, authentication of the party registers at ward levels and display of party register as enshrined in the party’s constitution.” “ We note that the process leading up to the ward delegate elections, which is the foundation of all subsequent primaries, is clearly convoluted and flawed and cannot therefore produce an acceptable outcome.”

Battle for Benue In Benue, the face off between Governor Suswam and Senator Gemade got to a head when the governor alleged that Gemade had procured fake delegates forms which he distributed to his candidates for the delegates’ election.

On his part, Gemade, in a Radio Nigeria Makurdi live phone-in programme, “Democracy and the People”, accused Suswam of purchasing all the Benue PDP delegates forms for his personal advantage.

In a statement on behalf of the gover nor, his Director of Media Affairs, Mr. James Uloko, described Gemade’s allegation as baseless and unfounded.

Large turnout in Ondo Reports from Ondo State said members of the PDP turned out in large numbers for the congress.

The exercise was supervised by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and national officers of the party including Senator Lekan

Mustapha who described it as peaceful and a clear departure from the past editions of the exercise.

Speaking in the same vein, the Ondo Caretaker Chairman, Hon. Dare Adeleke, expressed happiness at what he called the open display of understanding and love among members of the party.

Controversy in Ogun In Ogun State, there was controversy following the alleged plan to hijack the ward congress by some party chieftains.

The PDP Chairman in the state, Bayo Dayo, raised the alarm that some chieftains who just returned to the PDP wanted to hijack the party.

Dayo raised the alarm while speaking with journalists to review the congress across the state’s 236 wards.

But the Jubril MartinsKuye group, led by Chief Kola Bajomo, alleged deliberate refusal by the party leadership to collect delegate forms,as a ploy to deny them relevance in the scheme of things.

The group, which protested the refusal to collect their forms, blamed the state executive of planning to manipulate the congress.

It was gathered that, following the group’s protest,the party congress c o m m i t t e e chairman,Saka Balogun, collected the forms from them, with the assurance that the committee will look into their case.

Peaceful conduct in Lagos The Lagos State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Tunji Shelle,

commended members of the party for the peaceful way they conducted themselves during the ward congress.

The congress was held in the 245 wards of the party in the state.

Shelle, who spoke with newsmen at the party ’s secretariat n Ikeja, said the party leadership was elated to have a hitch-free congress.

Manipulation allegation in Kwara Reports from Kwara State said Kwara Democratic Assembly uncovered a conspiracy to hijack the congress.

“We are worried that by this action, some people in Abuja and Ilorin have deliberately compromised the entire congress in Kwara State. It is more worrisome because this similar trend preceded the gubernatorial primaries in Osun State which laid the foundation for the failure of PDP at the polls. We reject this portion in Kwara, hence this alert,”a statement by the group said.

“It is clear to us that there is a grand plan to manipulate the outcome of the delegates’ congress in all the 193 wards in Kwara in favour of this aspirant.

“Unless the National Working Committee intervenes immediately, we are afraid that there is no way Kwarans can have a fair deal with a committee that is clearly partisan.

Confusion in Imo Confusion reigned in Imo State over the PDP ward congress.

As at 2pm when Sunday Vanguard filed the situation report from Lowa, Ihite Uboma local government area of Ihite Uboma local council area of the state, nobody could

explain why voting had not commenced.

At Amata Secondary School, Amata, Ikeduru local government area, there was nothing to show that any official of the PDP would be there to attend to the teeming party faithful.

N287m raked in, in Bayelsa In Bayelsa State, the exercise recorded large turnout for the procurement of expression of interest and nomination forms by over 175 aspirants and valued at N287million for the party.

Information from the organising secretary office of the party showed that the number of aspirants for the 24 party tickets for the state House of Assembly had increased to 144.

While the number of aspirants for the House of Representatives ticket of the party was put at 17, the number of aspirants for the senatorial ticket is now 14.

Accordingly, the party raked in over N178million from sale of forms to House Assembly aspirants, N42.5million from House of Representative aspirants and N63million from senatorial aspirants.

It was learnt that out of the 175 aspirants that procured forms, only 10 are women.

Meanwhile, the former President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and House of Assembly aspirant, Comrade Oyinfie Jonjon, dismissed the claim by some aspirants that they borrowed money and forms procured for them by supporters, declaring that it was mere campaign gimmick.

President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Seriake Dickson participated in the congress, preaching peace ahead of political activities in the state.

Enugu congress peaceful The exercise in Enugu State was hitch-free as party members trooped out en masse to elect their delegates.

Party members converged at the designated centres where they elected the

delegates who would participate in the state House of Assembly, National Assembly and governorship primaries to be held later in month.

The Acting State Chairman, Elder David Aja, told reporters after the exercise that field reports indicated that the congresses were successfully conducted across the state.

Claims, counter – claims in Oyo SOME governorship aspirants of the PDP in Oyo State who felt the results of the ward congress held across the 33 local government council areas of the state may not favour them

tried to disrupt the voting process.

Though the state Publicity Secretary of the party, Kehinde Salawu, avoided blaming any of the aspirants, he confirmed that some of the aspirants tried to create problems.

While assuring that the leadership of the party would ensure that things went well, Sunday Vanguard gathered that the ward congress was dogged by controversy with the three leading governorship aspirants claiming victory. They are Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, a former governor of the state, Senator Teslim Folarin and Seyi Makinde. The trio were accusing one another of disrupting the process.

At the time of filling this report, results of the congress from across the wards were yet to be released.

Other governorship aspirants, Prof.

Taoheed Adedoja, Azeem Gbolarumi, Prof. Soji Adejumo, Mr. Kehinde Olaosebikan, said the exercise was peaceful in their respective wards.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014 — PAGE 5

INSURGENCY

Military steps up bombardment *Says it is studying latest ‘Boko Haram video’

By Soni Daniel, Abiodun Alade, Olufemi Ajasa with agency report

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HE military, yester day, said it had stepped up “necessary deployment of troops and equipment to reverse all recent violation and breach of security by terrorists and criminals operating in parts of the country.” In a statement on DHQ website, it claimed “the highly coordinated air

bombardment is already yielding required results in the mission to repel the unwarranted attacks on citizens especially in Adamawa and Borno States as land forces are also conducting mopping up operations to apprehend retreating terrorists and facilitate restoration of normalcy in some of the affected communities”.

It explained that the content of the video released

by Boko Haram on Friday was being studied, promis-

ing to release further information on subsequent position on the issues as appropriate in due course.

“The military will continue to accord due recognition to any ongoing mediatory efforts towards bringing our girls home

and terminating the insecurity in parts of the country. Citizens are assured that the military and security agencies remain committed and optimistic for positive outcome of ongoing operations”, the DHQ said.

In a related development, Sunday Vanguard learnt, at the weekend, that disagreement in the three blocs within the Boko Haram leadership over the release of 219 Chibok girls and cooperation with the Federal

Government to end insurgency may have been responsible for the renewed attacks in parts of the North-East.

It was learnt that while two blocs-the political wing and the Jama’atul Ahlus Sunna Lid Da’awatis Jihad, JAS - had agreed to enter into peace deal with the Federal Government and free the girls, the last bloc, loyal to Shekau and Ansaru, insisted on the arrest and prosecution of a former governor, whom they committed crimes

Babangida returns,says ‘I’m hale and hearty’

By Wole Mosadomi

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ORMER military President Ibrahim B a d a m a s i Babangida, yesterday, flew into Minna, Niger State after two months medical treatment in Germany, full of appreciation to Nigerians for their concern and prayers while he was away.

He arrived the Minna airport at about 2:50pm on a chartered flight, wearing a navy blue Kaftan with golden stripes and a cap to match, looking very healthy and full of smiles.

He was received by his first son, Mohammed; daughter, Halimat; and grand child as well as some close friends and associates mostly retired military officers.

Efforts by journalists who had kept vigil at the

airport to have photo shots of his arrival were disallowed. But when pressed for an interview, Babangida simply said, “Alihamadulillahi. I am coming up well. I am grateful to all Nigerians”.

He was driven out of the airport in a black BMW car with registration number ABJ O1 RY to his Hilltop residence.

Among military associates at the airport to receive him were the Minister of Defence, General Aliyu Gusau: Air Vice Marshall Hamzat Abdullahi, a former FCT Minister; General Halilu Akilu, a former Director of Military Intelligence; Col. Habibu Shuaibu, a former Niger State military administrator; Alhaji Umar Ndanusa; and Alhaji Sani Ndanusa, a former minister of Sports.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

TOTAL SUCCESS —3

By Richard Eromonsele

***Want total success? Fine! To achieve this, there are two basic factors you must never ignore – They are God and your family. To ignore God in your drive for success is to invite the devil since nature abhors a vacuum. And to ignore your family is the akin to disaster waiting to happen. Check ,out the family of some seemingly successful people, ,you will discover that all that they laboured for in their life time have been turned apart and completely destroyed by lawsuits and rancour among family members.

L-R: Editor, Saturday Punch, Bisi Deji-Folutile; Head, Operations, Globacom, Bisi Koleosho; President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, MD, Sun, Femi Adesina; Regional Director, Marketing Communications, Globacom, Charles Jenarius; and Editor, Businessworld, Nike Ogbulie, at the Editors' Forum organised by Globacom at Villa Medici in Lagos, yesterday.

against their members.

A security expert close to the groups involved in the negotiations said that the faction, which has many commanders and fighters, are unhappy with government for not arresting and prosecuting the said top politician but treating him as if he is above the law of the country.

The source said that the Boko Haram leadership was disappointed that government was rather wining and dining with the politician, who also has close links with some Nigerian neighbours while trying to make peace with them.

“Let me tell you the truth, some of the JAS and the political wing of Boko Haram had agreed to make peace with the Federal Government and release the Chibok girls to their parents but when those opposed to them learnt of it, they threatened to execute the commanders if they enter into any negotiation with the government,” the source said.

“The renewed violence unleashed on the country today is a reaction of Boko Haram faction opposed to those trying to seal a peace deal with the government in Chad.

Consultation on to end insurgency secure Chibok girls release — Interior Minister

BY PETER DURU

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INISTER of In terior, Com rade Abba Moro, says consultation is on to end insurgency in the North-East and ensure the release of the Chibok girls.

Moro, who spoke at the weekend to journalists in Makurdi, Benue State capital, said government was working with partners to end the insurgency.

He ruled out any specific date for the release of the abducted girls but noted that their release was topmost on the card of negotiations and consultation.

He said, “The true picture in Nigeria as far as insurgency in the NorthEast is concerned is that the war on Nigeria by the terrorists is still on.

“And, of course, from on the onset of this crisis, government had indicated tackling the insurgency on three fronts: point of engagement, point of consultation and point of containment.

“And so, consultations definitely will continue: And don’t forget that because of the prolonged nature of the insurgency, a lot activities are going on, both at the level of government and the level of the insurgents. So now, the insurgents are divided into various sectors especially with the death of their leader, Shekarau.

“However, at the moment, our foreign partners and collaborators are helping and collaborating with Nigeria to arrive at a peaceful resolution of the

matter and to bring the insurgency to an end.

“And one of the issues on the table in arriving to an end to the crisis is the re-

lease of the Chibok girls. It is one issue at stake as part of the resolution of the crisis.

“But for anybody to put a

date on the release of the Chibok girls, that person is just being speculative, but we will certainly get there soon”.

Ondo oil communities protest Dayo Johnson, Akure

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UNDREDS of youths from the oil rich communities in Ondo State weekend protested alleged imposition of new executive committee of the Ilaje Regional Development Council (IRDC) by some leaders in the area.

The protesters who disrupted traffic flow in Akure, the state capital called on Governor Olusegun Mimiko to call a prominent traditional ruler in the area to order.

Led by Meduoye Godwin

from Awoye and Pastor Sunday Emoruwa from Molutehin, they said they had elected their new executive upon the expiration of the four-year tenure of the past executive.

They said their newly elected leader has Prince Patrick Ehinmola as the Chairman, and Ayesemitan Omomulere as Secretary amongst others.

The youths display placards with inscriptions such as, “No to imposition, No to government and kingdom imposition, Ilaje IRDC is not for sale, Ilaje IRDC is not a political party’.

A petition signed by some

baale and leaders of the communities to the governor alleged that a traditional ruler in the area unilaterally prepared his own list of members and forwarded same to the state Oil Producing Area Development Commission OSOPADEC. The petition was signed by the Baale of Molutehin Pa Elisery Iyinbo, Baale of Awoye Prince Oyekanmi Omomowo, Baale of Opoakaba Chief Adekanmi Aghorunse and community leaders from Mese Prince Deji Mese, Akinsol Chief Alao Ayenomoro amongst others.

Vote out any candidate or party against LG autonomy — Senator Owie

By Simon Ebegbulem

A

HEAD of the 2015 general elections, a former Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Rowland Owie, has urged Nigerians to vote out any governorship candidate or political party that campaigns against autonomy for local governments.

Owie, who stated this at the third annual award ceremony of the Association of Community Newspaper Publishers of

Nigeria (ACNPN), commended the National Assembly for granting autonomy to local governments in the ongoing constitution amendment, saying “those against LGA autonomy are greedy and anti-people”.

The Edo PDP chieftain, represented by Dr Alex Orukpe at the occasion, noted that autonomy for local governments will not only accelerate development at the grassroots but also provide employment opportunities “just like the states and

federal that have a full budget”.

He went on: “In the USA for instance, you have mayors, state governors, state Senate as well as the congress and the presidency. So it is not a new thing if we are sincere about practicing true federalism. Autonomy for local governments is overdue in this country and it will be unfair to deprive the leaders of that level the opportunity to use their God-given initiative for the benefit of their people”.

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Warri North: Ukori hails Maku, Abilo’s electoral victory

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HE executive secre tary of Egbema Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation, EGCDF, Mr. Jude Ukori, has congratulated the new-

ly elected chairman of Warri North local government, Mr. Francis Eyitoyo Maku and the vice chairman, Mr. Sunny Abilo, on their victory at the Delta State coun-

cil election.

Ukori, a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Warri North, also expressed appreciation to the people of

Warri North for voting in Maku and Abilo. He appealed to them to give the chairman, Maku, the needed support to enable him deliver to the people, adding

that sustained collaboration among the people will fasttrack both human and infrastructural development in Warri North Ukori, further commended the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission, DSIEC, for conducting a

credible election in Warri North and across the state, pleading that “losers should accept defeat while the winners should as well embrace the losers to strengthen our democracy ”

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 7

NUPENG, PENGASSAN threaten to shut down economy Nov. 14 -Gives FG 14 days ultimatum to recall sacked exco members

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU, Abuja il workers under the aegis of National O Union of Petroleum and

Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, have threatened to shut down the economy indefinitely, if the management of Total Exploration and Production, TOTAL E&P, refused to recall sacked members of the unions within 14 days.

The unions, after their joint National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in Abuja, also told the National Assembly to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, without further delay.

The two unions promised to bring all their members to the streets if nothing was done to tackle security challenges in the country as well as the poor state of roads especially at their operational base.

NUPENG National President Comrade Igwe Achese, and his PENGASSAN, counterpart

Comrade Francis Johnson, during a media briefing, frowned at what they described as an impunity by oil companies operating in the country, and waned that if after 14 days nothing was done to reverse the sack of their members as well as the transfer of some executive

members of the unions, they would be left with no option than to embark on total economic shutdown.

They said, “All these are issues we have discussed and we have said that minus the issue of PIB which we are aware that the House will be on recess till December, all these

issues we have enumerated should be addressed within 14 days, failure which, the Joint NEC of NUPENG and PENGASSAN has mandated and directed that we should go on a total shut down of the economy.

“The termination of our members and the transfer of our national officers, the key issue is the transfer and termination of the national zonal secretary of PENGASSAN, the transfer of Deputy President of NUPENG, the termination of zonal treasury, NUPENG Port Harcourt zone”.

Huawei to launch IT infrastructure

Huawei is set to launch a Service Driven-Distributed Cloud Data Center (SD-DC-) to help enterprises build service-driven IT infrastructure.

The soon to be released FusionSphere 5.0 open cloud platform and the OceanStor converged storage system are said to be key components of the SD-DC2 architecture.

“The products and solutions that Huawei is showcasing at HCC this year are all based on our commitment to provide customers with open, converged and innovative technologies that enable them to simply their traditional IT infrastructure, improve business agility and create greater value,”said Eric Xu, Rotating CEO of Huawei.

Connectivity correlates with GDP, The Global Connectivity Index (GCI) study found that country connectivity correlates with gross domestic product (GDP).

Huawei analyses 16 indexes and concluded that for each GCI percentage point increase the GDP per capital increases 1.4-1.9 percent. The GDP per capital increase was relatively higher for emerging countries and Germany ranks first amongst the countries surveyed.

Sifax bags leadership award The West African Students Union Parliament, WASUP, conferred on Sifax group the prestigious Kwame Nkurumah Exemplary Leadership Award.

The award was in recognition of the group’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Taiwo Afolabi’s contributions to youth development and human capital development in the West African sub-region. Representatives from the committee which include students from Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Burkina-faso, Togo and Cote d’ivoire honoured Afolabi for his impact on the next generation.

While receiving the award on behalf of Afolabi, the Excective Director, Human Resources/Administration of Sifax group, Dr Phil Ofulue, said the award will always be cherished and celebrated as youths of like minds put barriers aside to embrace and preach peace.

Isheri Platinum Lions Investiture

L-R: Dr Rotimi Oladele,President,NIPR/Chairman Governing Council;Engr Mansur Ahmed,Group Executive Director, Stakeholders Management and Corporate Communications; Mrs Odutola Oluranti,Permanent Secretary, Ministry Of Information and Strategy Lagos State; and Mr Joseph Okonma,President NIPR, Lagos Branch; at the 1st Lagos NIPR Stakeholders Conference held at Muson Centre Onikan Lagos. PHOTO: AKEEM SALAU

CAN condemns attacks on Christians in Adamawa

BY SAM EYOBOKA

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he Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has condemned the attacks by Boko Haram on civilians, police stations, prisons and military formations in different parts of Adamawa State.

A statement by the General Secretary of the umbrella body of Christians in the country, Rev. Musa Asake, maintained that recent happenings in the North-east confirmed CAN’s position that the Islamist group had no other mission than to annihilate Christians in the region and install an Islamist regime.

Asake stated that apart from the military infrastructures torched by the terrorist group, the Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa Nigeria, EYN, otherwise known as the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, other churches as well as individuals targeted for destruction were all Christians and their places of worship.

According to the CAN scribe, the Federal Government should do well to explain the sins committed by the former National Security Adviser, the late Gen. Owoeye Azazi, who was summarily dismissed in June 2012. “Was he sacked because of his Christian religion and to satisfy the cravings of his Muslim counterparts?,”he asked.

The International Association of Lions Club, Isheri Platinum District 404B–1, Nigeria, investiture of Lion Omoba Ademola Odunbanjo as President 2014-15 /other Club Officers and fund raising ceremony for an eye Clinic Centre/Secretariat hold on Sunday, November 9.

The event, under the Chairmanship of Comrade Babatunde Ogun, immediate past President, PENGASSAN, will have in attendance Oba Micheal Odunayo Ajayi, Arowotawaya II, the Elerinmo of Erinmo Ijesha, as the Royal Father of the day, Engr. Olumide Fatoki, Executive Director, Benchmark Projects Limited, as Chief Launcher.

Other dignitaries expected to grace the occasion include Oba Wahab Ayinde Balogun, Oba of Isheri Olofin, Grand Patron/ Host Royal Father; Mr Enitan Tunde Mabogunje, Regional Sales Director, Dangote Cement, as special guest of honour, while Lion Abiola Odeyemi, District Governor 404B1, is the Chief Host.

The ceremony hold at Isheri Platinum Lion Club Secretariat, KM 1, Isheri-LASU Road, Lagos.

Imposition: Urhobo group appeals to Clark A political group, Delta Movement for Internal Democracy, DEMID, has appealed to Chief Edwin Clark, to ensure that there is no imposition of candidate in Ughelli North constituency in the forthcoming Delta State House of Assembly election. The group in a statement by its Chairman, Comrade Collins Onokerhoraye, said what has always worked against the ruling party over the years has been imposition of candidates or a waiver for a new entrant into the party against the popular candidates that have worked tirelessly for the good of the party.

The group which made the appeal while reacting to allegation of a plot to impose a candidate on the people against their choice, posited out that their national leader had recently warned Delta State PDP against imposition and should also help to see that same applies to Patani local government area. The statement which advised PDP leaders to live above board in their politicking, said aspirants should be accessed by their contribution to their immediate constituencies, whether serving or incoming, to know their capability before selecting them to run for legislative positions.

DELTA 2015: Aginighan warns against imposition As the various political parties prepare for primary elections that will provide their respective candidates for the various elective positions in the 2015 general elections, a former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and founding secretary, Ijaw National Congress, Pastor P.Z. Aginighan, has warned against imposition. “One of the greatest obstacles to the deepening of democratic culture in our country is the morbid quest by politicians to win elections at all cost.

This has, over the years, found expression in the subversion of the popular will of the people through the imposition of cronies as candidates, snatching of ballot boxes and ballot papers for thumb printing and outright bribing of electoral umpires to obtain result sheets to record results for elections not held. This has in turn produced many elected officials who have nothing to offer the electorate for the positions they occupy but only to siphon our common wealth for the benefit of themselves and their political masters”, Aginighan said in a statement, yesterday. .

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APC. Let me assure Femi that we also have a dictionary at UniJankara, full of hotter words. So nobody should be under the impression that he owns a monopoly of such words.

First, the readers of this defence of Buhari might

Northerner, ill-educated, unemployed, lacking all the basic amenities and clinging to life made more tenuous by Boko Haram insurgency which had escalated during Jonathan’s tenure of office.

None can because none

knows where the shoe pinches; they write in the comfort of their offices and homes, proclaiming how millions, who they have not met will vote in the North especially. This is rotten scholarship. In fact, nobody among them knows how most Northerners will vote.

Among their oftenrepeated fallacies, based on prejudice, is the charge that Nigerians will not vote for Buhari because he is a “religious fanatic”. Even if true, two observations will dispel this rumour peddled as truth. One, no Muslim in the entire country had ever mentioned to me that he considers Buhari a fanatic and none will vote against him for that reason. The hang-up about Buhari’s perceived fanaticism belongs to some Christians.

Second, one person’s fanatic is another person’s staunch believer in his faith. So, “fanaticism” might actually work in his favour. Speaking strictly for myself, a Muslim fanatic is preferable to a wishy-washy Christian.

Everybody knows where the first stands on issues affecting morality; nobody can trust the second. At any rate, my own reading of the two Holy Books – Bible and Quran - has convinced me that there is very little the Bible abhors which the Quran supports; and vice versa. Our “Christian” columnists are only raising false alarm.

Having disposed of that, at least for now, let me turn, briefly, to the issues of Jonathan’s performance and corruption. Kindly let

"It's a bit of a shock to the system, coupled with this news from London," Scott, 70, said. "Everyone is getting used to calling me 'Your Excellency', and I'm getting used to it. There are truckloads of guys, police following me on motorbikes. It's very strange but I'm very proud to be entrusted with it."

Here is wishing, Zambia a smooth transition and a fine example that other African countries should emulate.

Pride goes before a fall "Wise men speak when they have something to say, fools speak because they have to say something" -Aristotle Here we go again, when you thought that sabres are silent and peace was restored then, the rhetoric starts all over to tire the senses. The fight between Amaechi and the Goodluck is hotting up. Can they just get it over and done with or better still, do not bring Nigerians into their quarrel? Their fight is personal and not in the interest of Nigerians.

This "he said and she said", is getting so tiresome and irritating. So Amaechi accused Patience Jonathan of corruption.

And he said that Patience wanted him to bring the money meant for Rivers people to Abuja. Amaechi should have let sleeping dogs lie. Amaechi spoke at a rally according to the president's men. Amaechi should not have goaded the Goodlucks and they should have shown some restraint and not respond. But of course, they did. President

Goodluck Jonathan made a statement through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, calling the allegations "baseless".

Expressing shock over the fact that Amaechi had lost the sense of responsible political behaviour adding that he was pursuing his selfish political interests.

"Governor Rotimi Amaechi took his obnoxious willingness to denigrate the highest office in the land in a reckless bid to advance his selfish political interests to a new level of irresponsible and rascally behaviour yesterday (Saturday) in

He warned Amaechi against crossing both legal and moral limits by such claims, which aim at tarnishing his wife's reputation.

"The immunity which he currently enjoys notwithstanding, Governor Amaechi should be under no illusions: A day of reckoning will surely come when he will answer for all his actions and false allegations against President Jonathan, the First Lady and the Federal Government. He should also know that Nigerians are aware of the truth and will never be fooled or swayed by his arrant

Comparing Buhari with Jonathan:

Iroko versus rotten wood --1

Exit the King Cobra "The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back."-- Abigail Van Buren resident Michael Sata, the president of Zambia died on Tuesday at a London Hospital. He was 77 years old. Nicknamed King Cobra for his abrasive and acerbic rhetoric, he was larger than life and he had a warm relations with President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and he was accused by critics of autocratic tendencies.

Sata was a man of many parts and his journey is altogether very remarkable. He is a devout Catholic; he was a former policeman, a car assembly worker, a trade unionist, taxidermist and platform sweeper at Victoria Station in London. He really cut his teeth on the shop front and he really did earn his political stripes. He was for a long time the opposition leader and he lost three presidential votes before finally becoming the Zambia's fifth president in 2011. He was brave enough to stand up to the Chinese and he was scathing, when describing their companies

P

extracting Zambia's natural resources as "infesters". The cobra did mellow in time once he got into power .But he never lost his venom ,when a BBC journalist asked if he was losing an election in 2008, he snapped: "I haven't bloody lost so don't waste my time."

And in 2012, Sata chided former US president George W. Bush for arriving 15 minutes late for meeting, he described the 66-yearold as "the young man" and berating him about colonialism! He was truly a formidable man.

He had been unwell for a while and had not been seen in public and when he was accused of taking working overseas trips, he heard the law makers at the opening of the parliament in Zambia's capital, Lusaka that ; "I am not dead yet."

The interim president, Guy, who is white Zambian, son of British immigrants will not be eligible to stand for election as leader because his parents were not born in the country. He will take charge for three months until an election is held to choose a permanent successor.

Scott said of his new role:

truths, some falsehood and some venom. The bile belongs to Femi Aribisala, the VANGUARD columnist, who, like Doyin Okupe, must be operating with a dictionary compiled by the devil – when writing about Buhari, Tinubu and

No Muslim in the entire country had ever mentioned to me that he considers Buhari a fanatic and none will vote against him for that reason. The hang-up about Buhari’s perceived fanaticism belongs to some Christians

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ENERALLY, you can assess the quality of a man, especially a politician by observing those who rise up against him. General Buhari (rtd) is a shinning example of such a person.

Expectedly, his declaration for the Presidency, more than that of any other possible opponent of President Jonathan, had thrown a lot of people into a manic frenzy. Some of them are my co-columnists in the Lagos/Ibadan axis – as papers like PUNCH, THISDAY, GUARDIAN and VANGUARD are called.

For the purpose of this series of articles, I want to single out the Professors writing for PUNCH and VANGUARD, who, are usually erudite, futuristic, well-informed and reasonably objective; but who have joined the illogical, and the illinformed in the pack attack

on Buhari.

When an Area Boy finds himself confronting several adversaries, at once, he steels himself for battle by announcing to his opponents, “Ee ti po to [you are too few for me]”. So, to Professors Abidde, Adelakun, Akinnaso, Olukotun, of the PUNCH, and our own Femi Aribisala, I declare “ you are too few” for this battle.

Comparing Buhari with Jonathan is like comparing solid “Iroko” with rotten wood. For starters, every carver knows that nobody can make a masterpiece out of rotten wood. And Jonathan’s government is rotten from the head down.

So anybody canvassing for a continuation of this government should be regarded as an accessory to the grand larceny going on now in the name of governance.

For the readers, I said they are too few because, when reading their articles, one can notice that they are virtually writing out of the same set of notes – packed full with their opinions, half

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“Every attempt to heal a sick country is an affront to those who benefit from its sickness.”

Bernard Malamud, in THE FIXER.

want to observe that all those mentioned above, pretending to reflect “the views of Nigerians” are Southerners, Christians, mostly Yoruba, employed and well-paid, well- or over-educated, and they probably have not stepped into Kano, Sokoto, Bauchi, Nassarawa or Kogi States in the last five years – if at all. Buhari who they all love to “hate” or “hate to love”, however is a Muslim, Northerner, Fulani, and has spent most of his time in the north since retirement. The ethnic and religious prejudices, obvious to me, might be a mere coincidence to them but, there is no denying the fact that none of that group can sustain the illusion that they speak for the average

The fight between Amaechi and the Goodluck is hotting up. Can they just get it over and done with or better still, do not bring Nigerians into their quarrel?

Their fight is personal and not in the interest of Nigerians

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Port Harcourt with his totally false and baseless vituperations against President Jonathan, the First Lady and the Federal Government."

Goodluck Jonathan also accused Amaechi of losing the "touch with reality". (Pot calling kettle black me thinks). And it continues "We can only assume therefore that he is deliberately spewing malicious falsehood in a desperate effort to incite the people of Rivers State and Nigeria against his assumed political foes."

opportunism and antiJonathan ranting." This is a threat and true, what they say, that when two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. I hope that they can spare ordinary people and not innocent people suffering because of their personal fights.

Amaechi got a short shift telling off via GEJ's impresario, Abati and he shot back by reminding Goodluck Jonathan that he is not his 'Prefect' and that he won't be threatened by sanctions for speaking

me quote verbatim what Adelakun and Aribisala wrote in defence of Jonathan and to run down Buhari’s bid for the Presidency.

First Adelakun, in PUNCH, October 23, 2014.

“Even though many Nigerians are probably weary of Jonathan’s government by now, they are still practical enough to understand that another four years of Jonathan’s government will not kill them. It might bring Nigeria to her knees but at the same time, it is a pain that can be endured.” [italics mine]. Despite the use of “probably”, when the word to use is “certainly ”, nobody reading that sentence can fail to shed tears for Nigeria. When the brightest and the best expect us to reelect a President who will not alleviate their suffering, but deepen them till 2019, then all is lost.

Let me close this first part by drawing attention to Aribisala’s statement, undoubtedly made proudly about “his country ”, not mine. “In Nigeria, nobody gets elected as President on the platform that he is going to be an anticorruption crusader when he gets into office.”

Apparently, Femi approves of that situation and will like it to continue – as long as Jonathan gets re-elected.

This is a Professor? I thought professors are supposed to be engaged in advancing positive original ideas, not in telling us to continue to go to hell, as we are doing now…

his mind, noting that, he cannot threaten him with sanctions for criticizing the president for not attracting developmental projects to the state.

Goodlucks' court has hit back by accusing Amaechi of "Political rascality," and Amaechi's camp has returned the Volley by reminding the Goodlucks' that the River State governor is an elected official and governor is an elected official. Semenitari said, "I would want to say that the Presidential Spokesman should be careful for the kind of threats he issues to an elected Governor. And "he should remember that the President is not a prefect of the governor. He was elected as President just as the Governor was elected as a governor, and Nigeria is a federation.

She reminded, Abati of his limits and that he should not attempt to "cross his boundaries". And that "it is a bit strange to hear the kind of comments coming out of the Presidency and this shows that the statement was already prepared before governor Amaechi spoke.

"At no point in his speech did Governor Amaechi make any references. His wife was not even discussed because she is not an official of government.

"I do not understand where or how Mr. Abati got his story, so we just take it that this is one of those clear indications of rascality within the Presidency trying to call a dog a bad name and hang it".

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 11

have been cajoled, begged, persuaded and sometimes coerced to accept to contest elections. Also, it is only in Nigeria that the poor and unemployed youths allegedly buy nomination forms for stupendously wealthy politicians. It is thus not uncharitable to credit these dimensions of democracy to Nigeria. But first we need to determine how many old school aspirants bought their own nomination forms for the

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several forms. There is parliamentary democracy just as there is presidential democracy. Democracy can also be in different forms.

Whereas the American form of democracy has no room for monarchy, British democracy on the hand accommodates the existence of a strong monarch-the Queen of England. America has only a President, Britain has only a Prime Minister but France has a combination of both. In other words, each country including Nigeria has a special type of democracy. Anyone who thinks there is nothing special about Nigeria’s because it is younger and relatively poorer is in error.

To start with, ours is shockingly more expensive and also more lucrative.

Nigerian democrats are not just the highest paid in the world, some of them are not quite sure of their exact remuneration as it comes from different sources including oversight extortions. Again, it is only

Someone who had to be pressurized to take an office could not have prepared for it. He would at best be a frequent absentee or a seat-warmer as we often saw in the performance of some members of the National Assembly

2015 general elections.

It is not easy to trace the origin of the trend whereby our people earnestly yearn to have a particular person to be our national leader.

For the 1979 presidential

PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

The contradictions of Muhammadu Buhari (2)

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evertheless, the key issue is that, as chairman of PTF, the buck stopped on his table, which means that (1) it was his duty to make sure that funds allocated to the trust fund were used judiciously, and (2) he must ensure that any of his staff and contractors guilty of financial malfeasance faced justice.

On both counts, Buhari was unsuccessful, which implies that he may not be able to fight high-octane corruption effectively if he becomes President in 2015.

As adumbrated earlier, Buhari's biggest selling point is the anti-corruption legend that has grown around him due to the uncompromising manner his regime dealt with corrupt prominent Second Republic politicians.

Moreover, according to media reports, unlike other Nigerian leaders he has no mansions, oil blocks, and costly assets and investments. But Nigerians should not allow Buhari's anti-corruption swagger becloud their critical acumen. In 1984 as military head of state, Buhari was about forty-two years old.

Therefore, he was relatively young and idealistic, with enough energy and youthful enthusiasm to prosecute the War Against Indiscipline with active support from Idiagbon and other members of the Supreme Military Council. In addition, Buhari led a military dictatorship, which

drafted to the race much against his wish. Almost 2 decades later, came the famous 2million–manmarch in which some transformers tried to cajole General Sani Abacha to transit from military head of state to a civilian president. Indeed, all the 5 political parties established by Abacha resolved one after the other in 1998 that he shall become the presidential candidate of each of them.

could promulgate decrees and implement them speedily without the cumbersome, delay-prone, processes of parliamentary debates.

If Buhari and the hypocritical politicians leading him on think he can replicate the draconian anti-corruption programme of 1984 when he becomes President in 2015, they are living in a fool's paradise. It should be clear to any reasonable person that Buhari at seventy-two cannot be exactly the same Buhari who was forty-two in 1984 - advancing age and changing circumstances engender profound changes in world outlook and behaviour.

More importantly, the 1999 constitution grants the President enormous powers that, in most cases, must be exercised lawfully in concert with the National Assembly, which exercises oversight functions on the executive arm of government.

From experience, we know that members of the federal legislature, since the return to civilian rule in 1999, have distinguished themselves as cash-and-carry or agbata ekee politicians motivated in the discharge of their functions mainly by bulimic materialism.

Thus, it is not just enough to flaunt and exaggerate Buhari's anti-corruption antecedents: it is also essential to think about the kind of National Assembly

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Now, almost 2 decades after Abacha, some activists better known as the Tr a n s f o r m a t i o n Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) have worked assiduously for the better he would work with in case he is elected President next year. If carpetbaggers who see politics as business investment for maximum returns dominate the legislative body, Buhari's diminishing reputation as tormentor-in-chief of corrupt politicians would be ineffectual. It is easy to imagine scenarios where federal legislators would employ sleight-of-hand tactics to frustrate or stall measures by President Buhari to curb corruption and indiscipline in governance, or in which corrupt prominent politicians supporting him now turn their backs against him for blocking access to lucrative contracts and easy money.

I am not surprised that APC stalwarts have continued to project Buhari as a man of his words inspite of evidence to the contrary politics in Nigeria is about lying and deception. Of course, matching action with words is very difficult for most human beings, especially among political leaders constantly challenged by the imperative of balancing conflicting interests and capacity to deliver good g o v e r n a n c e .

Trustworthiness is an important quality that Nigerians should take into consideration when choosing their leaders.

Sadly, members of the ruling elite have repeatedly betrayed the trust Nigerians reposed in them. Now, it would require voluminous textbooks to detail contradictions between the pronouncements of our leaders and their actual performance from the time of Yakubu Gowon to the incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan. Suffice it to say, however, that if our

(BYDA) pledged to provide money to purchase the senatorial nomination form for the Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam. Their Secretary General, Mr. Terkaa Jam, confirmed to the media that the decision was taken at the end of a consultative meeting of the group in Abuja.

Interestingly, those persuading the aspirants do not appear to have either the same motivation or a similar reasoning across the board. Last week, youth leaders from Ado Local Government Area of Benue State besieged Senator David Mark’s home to put pressure on him to contest the Benue South Senatorial seat because he was best positioned in their own opinion to do the Idoma people proud on the basis of familiarity with the terrain.

His Deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu did not have such a smooth sail in his State-Enugu.

While one group-Enugu Professional Forum was allegedly putting pressure on Governor Sullivan Chime to contest the same senatorial seat, a counter group - Enugu Concerned Professionals Worldwide, imagined that the current Deputy Senate President would attract a better position to the state than Chime who could be sidelined as a new comer to the Senate The frontline posture of pressure groups over and above the real contestants is no doubt worrisome

because there are many adverse implications of people dragging “unwilling” horses to the political river. First, the pressures are not appropriately rationalized.

To pressurize the return of a senator only because he is from one’s village is absurd.

Why should anyone pressurize any current senator to return when he and his colleagues year in year out overlooked delayed budgets that were hardly implemented? Second, a man who is cajoled to take an office must have been overwhelmingly outstanding as Babatunde Fashola has done in Lagos.

Even at that, where he is being asked to return to should be similar to his last job because there is no guarantee that someone who did well as Governor would be similarly good in the legislature.

We also need to realize that someone who had to be pressurized to take an office could not have prepared for it. He would at best be a frequent absentee or a seatwarmer as we often saw in the performance of some members of the National Assembly. In earnest, the public cannot morally blame a non-performer if he was cajoled to take the position. The argument that many of those who claim to be coerced induced it themselves is not tenable because such manipulators ought not to be trusted.

What Nigeria desires in her political space, is men of integrity

leaders have kept their promises with regard to pulling Nigeria away from economic black hole and fighting corruption, the country would have become a great nation and the pride of black people worldwide.

Unfortunately, Nigerian leaders oftentimes speak from both sides of the mouth making promises they cannot keep or never really intended to keep. For example, during campaigns for the 2011 presidential election, Buhari pledged not to seek the post of President in future. In the front page of the April 14, 2011 edition of Daily Trust, he was quoted as saying that "This campaign is the third and

egregious misreading of the political barometer, or patriotism? Whatever the reason might be, it seems to me that Buhari's decision to contradict his earlier solemn promise is a serious mistake which has further dented his relatively manageable but drooping reputation.

Largely, Buhari has the mentality of a soldier. In the military, loyalty is a preeminent virtue. But loyalty is scarce in the treacherous terrain of Nigerian politics, where an ally today can mutate into an arch enemy tomorrow based on Machiavellian calculations. If Buhari really believes that all the prominent APC politicians proclaiming his virtues publicly are completely loyal to his presidential ambition, he should think again. Majority of them that have held (and still hold) public office are irredeemably corrupt, notwithstanding their hypocritical lamentations about the high level of corruption in Jonathan's government. Thus, if the military coup of December 31, 1983 that brought Buhari to power happened in 2003, 2007 or 2011, most of these politicians would have been declared guilty of corruption by anticorruption tribunals. Has Buhari ever wondered how many of the APC politicians he is hobnobbing with right now would have fallen into the category of disgraced public officials if the scenario was 1984?

As a corollary, by presenting himself as a possible President under APC's platform, Buhari has compromised his capacity to deal with corrupt politicians in the party, especially if the latter are instrumental to his being elected President. Assuming

that Buhari becomes President, would he bite the corrupt APC fingers that fed him? This question leads us to the contradiction in the whopping sum of N27.5 million demanded by APC for picking its presidential nomination papers and Buhari's acquiescence to the outrageous fee without protest. To most Nigerians, including myself, N27.5 million is a gigantic amount that can transform their lives forever; but for politicians it is an investment that would yield handsome returns when they get into office either by election or through appointment.

APC chieftains constantly excoriate PDP for corruption.

Yet, the nomination fee charged by their party demonstrates that it is already wallowing in the same cesspit of financial rascality as the ruling party, that APC's promise to fight corruption if it wins in 2015 is a hoax meant to deceive Nigerians. In my opinion, APC, like the ruling PDP, is a party of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich.

To bolster his public image as a disciplined and honest leader, Buhari claimed he paid the nomination fee with a bank loan. But who is he trying to deceive, anyway?

As a politician who wants the electorate to vote for him because of his anticorruption stance, Buhari should have opposed the huge nomination fee and insisted on its drastic reduction. However, by taking a loan to pay it, he not only endorsed the questionable decision of his party leaders but also supported extreme monetisation of politics in Nigeria. Consequently, Buhari is staking a claim for the presidency again in the shadow of serious contradictions.

Concluded.

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How many political aspirants bought nomination forms themselves?

NE obvious beauty of in Nigeria that politicians elections, our first executive O democracy is its are “ reluctant” to hold president, Alhaji Shehu flexibility. It can be in office; they often purport to Shagari was allegedly

part of this year to get many people to demand that President Goodluck Jonathan should serve one more term. Their pressure was so intense that it added a new schedule of duty to the workload of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; to travel across the nation to receive millions of signatures of TAN converts. But why are Nigerians always yearning for reluctant candidates instead of those who are willing and ready to do a job?

To attribute the trend to the innumerable attractions of the Presidency appears simplistic considering that the practice of begging persons who spend a long time consulting stakeholders on whether or not to seek elective office has moved down the line to other levels. In Akwa Ibom for instance, Governor Godswill Akpabio had no business using his personal funds to buy his nomination form. Instead it was bought for him by some youths in the State.

Speaking while receiving the form from the youths, Governor Akpabio reportedly said “I have been under pressure by the people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District to represent them as a senator in 2015. I want to say that I have accepted the call to serve my people”. Earlier, another set of youths under the aegis of Benue Youth in Diaspora Association

If Buhari really believes that all the prominent APC politicians proclaiming his virtues publicly are completely loyal to his presidential ambition, he should think again

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last one for me; since after it I will not present myself again for election into the office of the President."

Buhari's statement is quite definitive and unequivocal.

Yet, less than four years later, in October 15, 2014, at the Eagle Square, Abuja, Buhari "humbly" presented himself "to all Nigerians and to God, seeking to be elected as APC's presidential candidate."

Now, the question is, why did Buhari change his mind overweening personal ambition, hyperbolic sense of self-importance,

PAGE 12 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

the act that took Jonathan, from behind the lines, and placed the laurels of power in his then uncertain and trembling hands. I say this quite clearly to specifically address the usually dumb claims or declarations by certain elements in the polity who are fond of suggesting that power belongs to God, and that only God gives power to whomsoever it pleases him or her to so give. Such a person therefore owes no

one but God, and is thus obligated to none but the said God in the rendering of political accounts. Such a mindset creates certain presumptions in power, and it makes the already powerful immune to reason. Such a talk, in a presumptively modern, secular, democratic nation such as we are attempting to build, places Nigeria in the corner of monarchies and theocracies. It is only under such aberrational constructs that insist on the “divine right of kings” that God makes rulers; under democracies, a most rational and self-interested process, even God, were he to be registered to exercise suffrage has only one vote.

But more remarkably in Nigeria is that God has no known address in Nigeria and is not registered to vote, and therefore, God cannot make anyone president or ruler of Nigeria. That power has been given, under Nigeria’s secular constitution to Nigerians registered to vote, and who out of their own rational will make the choice of who must govern them. But very often, by the partisan irrationality of the two religions currently contending for the soul of Nigerians – Christianity and Islam – it is as though Nigerian presidents govern theocracies. It is such that President Jonathan will embark on pilgrimages to Jerusalem or whatever he calls the “holy land.”

For the president of Nigeria, there should be no other holy land but the land to which he has been given guardianship. Every other expression of faith must be private, and never accomplished, particularly in a nation like Nigeria riven by religious extremism at either ends of the divide, in any public expression.

As an Evangelical

Christian, President Jonathan should never seek the office of the president of Nigeria because he would be forced by his obligation to Nigeria to swear an oath of allegiance. Submitting his spiritual life publicly to another force outside Nigeria amounts to an abdication of such an oath – it endangers in many ways the sovereignty of Nigeria.

It was on account of such a contradiction, for example, that Henry VIII founded the Church of England and disavowed the external authority of the Pope. The same goes to any Moslem who seeks to govern Nigeria: they must, because Nigeria is a secular state, disavow their religious obligation to Mecca and the Princes of the House of Saud, or keep their religion, but step away from seeking to govern Nigeria. Nigerians must be very insistent on this because the greatest divisive force today in Nigeria is the religious differences modeled by the extremes of these contending forces. But let me return to President Jonathan, our incumbent: his greatest albatross is that he arrived to power without a structure of his own.

There he was, a University Lecturer and Research Scientist, who was suddenly taken to become a bureaucrat in the EPA; from there to sudden political office at Deputy Governor, and by a twist of political fate, he became the Governor of Bayelsa.

Always in the background, Jonathan’s greatest attribute for a long time was “loyalty and humility,” not that he had original ideas. So, when Obasanjo was looking for a “spare tire” for his own dark horse, he found the humble Jonathan. Years later, Aremu discovered that

Jonathan is not quite as humble, and apparently did not stick to the original plan, which was to let Obasanjo govern Nigeria through him by proxy.

Jonathan had no program of his own coming into power: all his economic and social programs have come straight out of Obasanjo’s template.

This is Jonathan’s political albatross: he arrived government as a political butterfly – without grounding; without his own structure, or men: he did not know anyone whom he could personally call to do strategic policy; he was basically a marionette – in the hands of the puppeteers who quickly converged around him, took charge of him, and issued policies in his name.

He let them put their snouts in the national trough because he has very little control – at least so say his greatest critics. Last week, the president went to pick nomination forms to contest for the office of the president on the PDP platform. There are threats of mass desertions from his party. There are rebellious rumblings. But one point needs to be made: the last six years in office ought to have given Jonathan a more solid backbone and firmer grips on the steering; now he ought to have learnt the mysteries of power, and if he gets elected come 2015, it will be on his own terms.

Perhaps, then, we might have a different, more experienced president capable of taking decisions and stepping more firmly on the ground to resolve economic questions; national security challenges, and the rather singular question, that this president must resolve, of what to do with the various challenges to the sovereignty and future of this republic.

suspicions of his desperation was confirmed when he tried severally to charge fees that were outright illegal in cash.

He comes back to mind because he is the best illustration of miscalculated vision that comes to mind. On his way to Sixty, he is full of hair brained ideas, get rich quick schemes, fully

vision to life. I get worried when I meet people with multiple visions, all skewed, unprocessed, ill researched and vague. Its particularly irksome, when their goal is to only get rich and not succeed in anything. The truth is people whose goal is just to get rich without a clear vision will either end up disillusioned or criminals.

I almost ended up loosing a substantial amount to the said gentleman and only the threat of a lengthy stay in jail brought some clarity to his desperate mind. He had grown up with opportunities that most of us can only imagine but

the jet set life at their expense. His siblings made him a nominal caretaker for some properties but he wielded no power and had no authority despite the fact that he was the first child, he had been left nothing in the very vast estate of his parents.

We all have vision, but how clear is it? It's one thing to be consumed by passion to achieve great things, it's another to just be focussed on riches without plans to work for anything.

The reality is that most of the dreams we have need to be adapted to suit our reality, thats where careful calculations come in.

My late mother once gave what I thought was very dodgy advice to one of her friends. The woman in question was in the process of confronting her husband over an affair and was planning a major showdown. I fully expected my mother to be outraged on her friend's behalf but her counsel which was dodgy then now makes sense. She had told her friend to respect herself and choose to believe her husband is faithful if she wanted to remain happy and married. My mom made it clear that any confrontation would simply mean that her husband no longer had to pretend or sneak around and that it was possible that the confrontation would simply transform a hidden

nightmare to a day time reality! To quote my mom "people are what you want them to be, so just think they are good,and as long as you are happy any information to the contrary is not necessary.

So what is vision really?

Is it just a question of dreams fuelled by passion or could it be a God given ability to project life into dreams? I believe the latter to be true and I am of the view that information that serves no good to further the course of happiness is totally unnecessary. In the same vein a man without a vision is a disappointment both to himself and others because his lack of clarity blinds him to the singularity of purpose that can bring success and fulfilment.

When one's vision is subject to the approval of external forces then it will certainly lack clarity.

It helps to have a God given vision so that one can depend on divine help in times of trouble, to be like Job and trust God blindly when all is lost and like Joseph and remain steadfast even when the vision grows dim. Success in any manner or form will depend on a clear vision, on faith and the ability to choose the path of happiness even when we look like idiots, choosing what we see is not a dividend of ignorance its calculated clarity of vision.

Goodluck Jonathan’s Albatross education and without active civic, grassroots movements by which they could organize for power and control it, allow a more organized and sophisticated minority to continually determine the course of political power in Nigeria. Nigerians in other words want democracy, and fought for democracy, but were not prepared or organized for democracy. They left everything to God, even though by his very nature, God is not much of a democrat, nor is S/he interested in the ballot. In

For the president of Nigeria, there should be no other holy land but the land to which he has been given guardianship. Every other expression of faith must be private, and never accomplished

any case, Jonathan’s ascendancy to the presidency of Nigeria, were I inclined to believe in the horseshit called “the hand of God,” I would say, was like God himself indulging in political mischief; playing Russian roulette with Nigeria.

But much as those thus inclined might like to believe, particularly since nothing happens in the primitive mind without the force called God, but

Calculated clarity

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HE view one has of the world is most of the time determined by the information one has at any present time. So you could be living a really different reality than what really obtains all around you. I have always held the view that my acceptable reality is one that helps me live the best life I possibly can, I don't go digging for truths that sour my joy and where I am faced with ugly facets of people's character, I just look away, it's what I call calculated clarity. The older one gets the more obvious it becomes that happiness (and contentment) is a daily choice one makes. Is everything really black and white? Or are there many shades of grey in between?

Accepting my own limitations was the first step in maturity, the second was forgiving those limitations, third was accepting all that I was and was not and the greatest and most enlightening step was

President Jonathan was not elected by God to govern Nigeria. He was brought to government by a different kind of mischief: the political mischief engineered and packaged by former President Mathew Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo. Unless Nigerians think of Obasanjo as God, the intrigue that brought Jonathan to office, can be fully attributed to the very finite or limited human projection dedicated to a particular form of brinkmanship.

There was a cold, devious, human calculation behind

learning to extend the same courtesies to others.

Idealism is an admirable trait in the young, when one gets older it is foolishness, the reason being that ideas must translate into reality or give way to practicality.

Last year, I was on the lookout for what I believed was a perfect location for a new store and came across a rather charming gentleman who was one of the caretakers/owners of the building. He spoke impeccable English and was obviously very well educated and very well travelled so why were all the expected trappings of success even if modest missing? From the little information I had, he was born into a very rich family and had been educated at the best of schools in England, he also seemed to have stakes/interests in the property I was interested and that alone was worth hundreds of millions. For all of his charm, there was a desperation that could not be hidden and my

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F all those who emerged to lead the government in Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Nigeria’s current president is the darkest of its dark horses.

Nigeria’s governments have always been led by dark horses – those least expected to emerge: Balewa was sprung from the political loins of the British colonial office; Yakubu Gowon from a concert of neo-colonial and regionalist military interests that dismantled the firm hierarchies of the Nigerian Armed Forces; Obasanjo from the need to enact balance and reassure Nigeria’s “foreign partners” after the assassination of Murtala Muhammed; as a much younger politician, Shehu Shagari was the late Sarduana’s “ears and eyes” in Balewa’s cabinet, and so the Caliph’s vizier, in Nigeria’s central government. In the second republic, while those who sought power actively were busy, he was taken from his senatorial ambition and made President, and on and on.

These were dark horses given power and authority by the often invisible hands that control Nigeria’s politics. But if one were to look closely; carefully; these hands are not quite as invisible as it may seem.

They are covenanted to power by deceit and intrigue because most Nigerians, without political

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We all have vision, but how clear is it? It's one thing to be consumed by passion to achieve great things, it's another to just be focussed on riches without plans to work for anything

convinced that he is about to turn it all around and hit it big.

Faith is a wonderful thing but faith without works is a recipe for failure and it still goes back to the clarity of one's vision. Life has taught me some hard lessons, its important to put practical plans in place to bring any

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had squandered it all. His education had not been completed so he had returned to his family without any qualifications, just ideas that didn't need certificates to make him a billionaire. His parents had finally disowned him after he sold off a few choice properties and ran off to live

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 13

2015 AND 30,000 PUs

Plans to rig presidential poll exposed! *Questions Jega must answer

By JIDE AJANI

I

n what now appears to be an ego problem for Professor Atahiru Jega, National Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, his messianic pursuit of the lopsided allocation of 30,000 Polling Units, PUs, fresh strong signals suggest that his ability to deliver on successful general elections next year may be suffering a massive discount on account of the many deceptive postulations that he recently made on the matter.

This report will show clearly that but for an agenda that is at best confusing as well as suspect, it should be clear to all lovers of democracy that Jega may have concluded plans to deliver elections molded in a furnace

and shrouded in secrecy.

The inherent danger in this fools’ errand is that just as the INEC boss went into the April 2, 2011, elections with misplaced optimism, so is he going into the 2015 general elections with deceptive assurances on a grander scale based on the advantage he has already handed his northern region.

2011: AN EMBARRASSMENT FORETOLD

Just after voting on April 2, 2011, journalists asked President Goodluck Jonathan for his thoughts about the process. An anxious Jonathan expressed joy that “so far, everything is going smoothly”.

But had Jonathan chosen to crosscheck from the man in whose hands the destiny of a guesstimated 73.5million voters laid, Professor

Attahiru Jega, the INEC Chairman, Nigeria’s President would have discovered, rather embarrassingly, that Jega had failed the nation. Before that fateful day, Sunday Vanguard had made some revelations about the contract award for voting materials in context, content and volume per figures, the profits therefrom and why Nigerians needed to pay more attention to Jega’s inclination, especially in the light of the tens of billions of tax payers’ money involved – N30,000 (that figure of 30,000), for instance, was paid to each of the about 360,000 registration agents, 8,000 of whom were INEC staff.

It was a flustered Jonathan who was to hear on the airwaves like other Nigerians that Jega had canceled the elections and postponed them. Jega’s statement read in part that morning:

“As you know, the National Assembly (House of Representatives and Senate) elections are supposed to be taking place as I speak. You would also have noticed that things have not proceeded smoothly as expected with the elections.

The reason for this is the unanticipated emergency we have experienced with late arrival of result sheets in many parts of the country.

The result sheets are central to the elections and their integrity. Accordingly, in many places, our officials have not reported at the polling units, making it now difficult to implement the Modified Open Ballot Procedure that we have adopted”.

For a man who just less than 24hours earlier assured Nigerians and the international community that all materials were on ground and were ready, Jega’s trust quotient suffered a battering.

For whatever reason best known to him, the INEC boss has embarked on another voyage; but, this time, presenting Nigerians a Greek gift.

L’INEC C’EST MOI – I AM INEC

Just as Louis XIV declared that he was the state, Jega’s serial quest for total domination, as against his status as first among equals, at INEC reflects a certain desperation to achieve a goal. From his attempt to grab the powers of an Accounting Officer of INEC, to his failed attempt to carry out manual, house-to-house registration of voters, which could have again seen camels, cows, sheep and under-aged people, as well as birds and dogs populating the Voter Register, Jega’s approach to running INEC sends the wrong signal. That elections appear to be heading in the right direction is also partly a function of the elements and the growing awareness of Nigerians.

Last week, while fielding questions, the INEC Chairman elevated the art of half-truths and manipulative postulations to another height. Rather than answer the real questions thrown at him, he chose to triangulate. What he did was to present the need for credible elections as a front,

Continues on page 14

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Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

‘Questions Jega, INEC boss, must honestly answer’ Continued from page 13 ease of access to PUs, instead of providing reasons why less populated areas of the North would have more PUs than densely populated areas of the South.

Jega, it was discovered, through investigations at the INEC headquarters in Abuja, did not consult with key stakeholders like National Commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, and INEC Operation Directors in the 36 states on the allocation of the 30,000 Pus. He also flagrantly refused to appreciate security agencies’ negative report, Typical election day...will poll reflect true winners? via a letter on the potential dangers of his actions CVR, an exercise designed to regarding the allocation. There is ensure that all the cobwebs a litigation regarding the associated with AFIS are removed allocation which he has refused to and a smooth transition made to the address.

“Post-Business Rule”? The ‘’Post And to demonstrate that the AFIS Register” contains the electoral boss has a hidden electorate who do not have agenda, his refusal to honour the complete finger thumb-prints or the counsel of the Senate Committee minimum two finger print as well as on INEC, which insisted that he those with no photo or faded photo. should stop, speaks volume.

That is why the AFIS register is As if possessed by an uncommon neither used for the conduct of spirit, Jega’s manifestly warped elections nor for the printing of position that only a resolution of PVCs. But the Post Business Rule the National Assembly can stop Register is the register of the him is not, as INEC would have highest clean up stage that contains put it, cogent and verifiable names of voters with complete because when INEC wants to required minimum fingers defend its budget or submit itself thumbprints, an opposite of the to oversight, it is to the Committee it goes and not the whole house.

AFIS register that is deficient in Whereas he lied that there was integrity and completeness. nothing like the execution of the It is important to note here that, lopsided allocation, he issued a that is why INEC used it for directive to state offices to carry elections like those of Anambra, on.

Ondo, Ekiti and Osun States, and would be used for the 2015 A WEB OF elections. In fact, Jega himself, in DECEPTION: DAYLIGHT his public address at stakeholder briefings before recent elections, IN JEGA’S MAGIC had repeatedly said the ‘’PostJega was categorical in telling Business Rule Register’’ was the his audience that no “Postmost credible and was the basis for Business Rule Register” exists in the production of the distributed INEC. That was a lie! In past PVCs in over 24 states and the reports, and even admittedly by proposed PVC distribution exercise his own presentations, it had commencing in Lagos and 11 other always been the selfsame INEC states on the 7th November. boss who told Nigerians about Insisting on nationalism and ‘’Post Business Rule Register”. altruism as the basis for his Until daylight appeared in his allocation, Jega has never been able magic because of the voodoo in to address the basis for allocating to the allocation of the 30,000 PUs, 11 states in the North at over 1,000 he had never denied the PUs each while only Lagos State in existence of a ‘’Post Business Rule the South got same. Interestingly, Register”.

Jega’s allocation got to war-ravaged In any case, the question to ask him regarding this is: Which states like Yobe and Borno even in register is INEC using to print the face of fleeing residents. and distribute its Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs? CARD READERS AND If Jega insists that it is AFIS INNOVATION IN (Automated Finger Identification CROOKEDNESS System), what is the essence of Another truth that Jega is not the Continuous Voter Registration, telling Nigerians is the confusion

ZONAL ALLOCATION OF PUs North West – 7, 906 North East – 5, 291 N Central – 6,318 FCT – 1,120 South West – 4,160 South-South – 3,087 South-East – 1,167 that is about to blow up in his face. Then, should the ultimate agenda of availing the North the expected advantage from the lopsided allocation be the driving force, this would see crookedness at its best. It has to do with the card readers for the election. The card readers that INEC has opted for are going to be PU-specific (that is each card reader to each PU).

However, because of the time factor and the reality that the prospective voters whose PVC cannot be configured to these new 30,000 PUs, because they require names and codes just like the existing 120,000 PUs, INEC, Sunday Vanguard learnt, would be going for card readers that would not be PU-specific; that is, 30,000 card readers would freelance. Going by the over 21,000 PUs already allocated to the North, the dangerous reality of this is that 21,000 freelancing card readers, in a total of 150,000 PUs, constitute about 14% of the total.

This is significant. That is just one leg of Jega’s magic.

The most dangerous part of it is that of the 30,000, only one zone in the North, the North-West, got 7,906 PUs; and when you add the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja’s 1,167, you get a total of 9,073; whereas the entire southern Nigeria got just about 8,414.

At the rate of 500 voters to each PU, an allocation of extra over 1,000 to those 11 states in the North is a guarantee for no fewer than over 5,500,000 voters more than the entire southern Nigeria – mind you, the North West and the FCT match the whole of southern Nigeria in this Jega-inspired magic. By the time you add the allocation to North-East and North-Central zones, daylight

would enter the crookedness of the whole engagement. Yet, the INEC Chairman wants Nigerians to believe that he is doing all a favour by making PUs closer to the people.

Going beyond the surface, the freelancing card readers to be used for the new 30,000 PUs would have the capability to read just about any PVC, which means votes could be freeloaded, depending on the inclination that holds sway.

See box on allocation See box on the history of how PUs have been allocated by northerners since independence.

INEC’s DATA SHOWS JEGA IS WRONG

Chief among the reasons that have been given for condemning INEC’s skewed creation of new PUs, was that they were created from the whims of its regionally dominated decision-makers and their paternalistic subjectivity, without reference to actual reality from field data.

Hence it was asked how INEC arrived at its proportions while it was still collecting data in the field regarding actual figures of voters in each jurisdiction? An outcome that should inform voter logistics, one of which is the number of polling units required for each jurisdiction.

As the emergent figures from INEC’s authentication of eligible voters and the continuous registration of voters in different jurisdictions show below, INEC was only throwing bones to decide how to create its new PUs, and did worse than an Ifa priest, in its allocation. At least the Ifa priest relies on the gods, but in the case of INEC, its operatives were playing God. Like Obatala, the proverbial Yoruba deity, they Continues on page 15

SUND AY SUNDA

Continued from page 14

BRIEF HIS TOR Y HISTOR TORY OF PRESENT PU DISPOSITION

were creating PUs at the pleasure of their whim, hence they created 1,200 additional polling units in Abuja, and 1,167 new polling units for the whole of the South-East, whereas extant data, and now emergent data from INEC’s own field reports, as shown below, indicate again that not only does just four states in the South-East far exceeds the voting strength in Abuja, the number of newly registered voters in the zone is 919,097/37,235 or about 25 times more.

From the emerging data below even though the full national data has not emerged, the clear deduction can be made that INEC’s decision-makers who created the new PUs which gave 21,000 to the North and 8,000 to the South, were only playing a regional card instead of doing a professional electoral management job.

Even if the final data results in a double voter strength between the NorthWest and the South-East, which is unlikely given the estimated voting population of the states yet to be accounted for in both zones from the data above, it cannot justify the 8 to 1 disparity in the allocation of new PUs to both zones.

PU Allocation: Twice as bad (a history)

The brief history of PU allocation is necessary for the reader so as to understand the systematic approach that the North had always used to gain political power. Just as it has become near impossible except the North agrees, the 774 LGAs in the country and the 36 state-structure (with the South having five and the North-West having seven) may never be altered using the 1999 Constitution. Regarding the allocation of PUs, the only southern INEC Chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu, who attempted to alter it did the wise thing when one of his colleagues, Muhammed Jumare, objected, thereby shattering INEC’s consensus approach to tackling issues.

But in Jega’s case, despite the massive outcry of foul, he insists on going ahead.

Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PPA AGE 15

1993 – 1997 – Muhammed Alli (northerner) was in the saddle as DG, NEC, and created PUs; another northerner; Jega, another Northerner wants to add more in the most lopsided manner.

Preparation for 2015: Polls compromised?

Fear over 2015 presidential contest Sunday Vanguard learnt that during Iwu’s tenure, the Commission agreed to do an increase based on some criteria and the only states that were supposed to benefit were Ondo, Cross River and Taraba. But because of Jumare’s objection, that INEC Board dropped the idea. Dr. Lisa Handley, a renowned consultant on delimitation, advised that INEC required a minimum of three years in-between general elections to commence and conclude a review including managing the challenges and securing National Assembly’s approval. For the delimitation, whatever you do would require

Senate’s approval; just as the ward review and then the creation of Pus. Jega only abandoned the delimitation and ward review exercise two months ago. So, why prepare an answer in the mold of PUs when the delimitation and ward review exercise are yet to be done?

Sunday Vanguard has been made to understand that it is part of a grand plan to influence the coming census exercise. Jega’s planned delimitation and ward review is to be based on the unreliable 2006 census figures.

Worse still, what was his hurry when, in just under two years, fresh census would be conducted?

At an INEC retreat held at Nike Lake, Handley and some consultants from Liberia and Kenya expressed doubts about the process.

No of voters The Kenyan, not registered mindful of our under CVR sensitivity in Nigeria, noted that in the 136,156 northern part of 411,854 Kenya, they do 226,557 not have more 144,530 people unlike in 919,097 the coastal areas where the population is 37,235 more. In fact, the No of voters Kenyan poohregistered poohed Nigeria’s under CVR population configuration as 247,824 an anomaly. But 433,452 he did not know 72,416 that a chunk of his audience were 186,379 from Nigeria’s 940,071 North.

INEC EMERGENT DATA FROM CVR EXERCISE State/ Jurisdiction

Post Business Rule eligible voters figures

Abia Enugu Anambra Ebonyi Total

1,252,085 1,005,085 1,715,291 957,821 4,930,282

FCT

836,453

State/ Jurisdiction

Post Business Rule eligible voters figures

Sokoto Zamfara Jigawa Kebbi Total

1426,261 1,133,245 1,510,258 1,306,405 5,376,169

1996 – Even at that and unlike what is being forced on the nation now, the two foundational stages of delimitation of constituencies and ward review were conducted (as conditions precedent) before the PUs were created.

After Alli prepared the ground works concluded in 1997, Chief Sumner Dagogo-Jack was appointed NECON Chairman and was made to adopt the report because of the impending transition which was still a year away.

Notable features of that exercise included but were not limited to the reduction of federal constituencies from 450 to 360; electoral wards from a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 per LGA; 66 state constituencies suppressed arbitrarily as part of the cost-cutting measures 1997 – Local Govt Council elections on party basis held in March 1998 – Legislative Assembly elections (State, House of Reps, and Senate) on party basis were held. Governorship and Presidential elections scheduled next but never held following death of Abacha 1998 – INEC created, adopted the delimitation regime of NECON 2008 – The only time Pus were to be created under a southerner, Prof Maurice Iwu, only one northerner national commissioner (Jumare Mohammed) in a Board of INEC with southern commissioners in the majority (Prof. lwu (Chairman), Bar. Philip Umeadi, Victor Chukwuani and Mr. Solomon Soyebi, protested. Why is it that today on the same PUs matter, Jega has ignored the voices of five commissioners from the South, RECs, the Senate, and even political parties?

2012 – Just as Jega is pressing hard on the creation of PUs at all costs, and against all advice, so also he insisted on fresh delimitation review exercise planning to use 2006 census controversial figures when a new census is just around the corner. Again, egged on by what an insider described as a pure northern agenda, he insisted.

The Senate that has final approval advised against the move but so much money had been committed to it, an act described as a part move to access over a billion naira in INEC’s account on that exercise.

2014 – Attempts to foist on the nation a hastily contrived, ill-motivated and ill-timed delimitation review collapsed and now the INEC boss has embarked on another ill-advised PUs creation just three months to election against all advice thereby creating an unfortunate image for INEC and himself as an interested party to help politicians have unfair advantage in the 2015 elections.

NOTE: *PUs and RAs are naturally reviewed jointly just as Federal and State Constituencies flow together.

The present review is in bad taste and faith.

PAGE 16, SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

70TH BIRTHDAY OF CHIEF (MRS) NIKE AKANDE The 70th birthday of Chief (Mrs) Nike Akande, a former Minister of Industry and wife of Chief Adebayo Akande, was held at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. Eminent personalities from all walks graced the ceremony. Photos by Joe Akintola, Photo Editor

From left: Chief Mrs Nike Akande; Mrs Florence Ajumobi, First Lady of Oyo State; Governor Abiola Ajumobi; and Chief Adebayo Akande, husband of the celebrant.

From left: Oba H.Olaoye Abass, the Beje Roku of Oke -Agbo, Ijebu Igbo;Otunba Micheal Olasunbomi Balogun, founder, FCMB, and Olori Abimbola Balogun.

From right: A former governor Of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba; Governor Ibikunle Amosun, and Chief Mrs Derinsola Osoba.

From left: Chief (Mrs.) Maagaret Shonekan, Chief Ernest Shonekan, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Hajia Abba Folawiyo.

RFrom right: Chief Rasaq Okoya, Chairman, Eleganza, his wife and Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas.

Chief (Mrs) Margaret Shonekan (left)n and with Oba Micheal Adedotun Gbadebo, the Alake of Egbaland.

Erelu Abiola Dosumu (left) and Chief (Mrs) Iyabo Ajibola.

Justice Fati Abubakar (left) and Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory.

Chief Dipo Bailey (left) and Chief (Mrs )Folake Solanke, SAN.

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 17

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I am in pursuit of greatness

— Akin Tofomowo, Shuga Band

T

he Music Technology Students Association of Nigeria (MUTSAN) of The Polytechnic Ibadan recently honoured Shuga (Akin Tofowomo), the leader of Shuga Band with the “Top Hero Award”. The award is in recognition of his efforts “toward the development of classical old school music”. The singer who has led Shuga Band to become unarguably, the most popular musical band in Nigeria, said music is a platform that life has given him to enrich lives and the award has spurred him to do much more. Speaking further on his award, Shuga said “I feel honoured to have been given this award out of countless accomplished musicians; it

shows that people appreciate what we do. Life is all about making impact. The most important part of life is looking back and knowing that you did your best, I am in pursuit of greatness and this award is a challenge to do more and by God’s grace, the best is yet to come.” Shuga is believed to be one of the best musicians to have come out of this part of the world. He is the founder and leader of the popular Shuga Band. The band is unarguably one of the most popular musical bands in Africa. It has also been touted to be one of the most successful also.

Akin Tofowomo, popularly called Shuga, the son of Late Justice S. A. Tofowomo has been described by many as friendly, large-hearted and reserved. He has a foundation called the Shuga Limb Foundation which aims to help those who are physically challenged. His foundation is inspired by his Polio experience as a child. ‘Every physically-challenged person deserves a better shot at life, that’s what our foundation is into’ he said. His musical influences are King Sunny Ade, Ayinde Bakare, Frank Sinatra, Hubert Ogunde and the likes.

•KSB

Kenny Saint Brown unveils her political manifesto F

Wh ar d means so Whyy m myy American aw awar ard much to me — Chiamaka Nwokeuku •Chiamaka Nwokeuku

C M Y K

B

eautiful Chiamaka Nwokeuku wouldn’t start off any alarm even when her name hits any form of chord in Nollywood because she is not a household name yet. But there are few actors who could stand where she is, pound for pound, mile for mile, and maybe substance for substance.

She has only been in the industry two years and already her profile parades The best Actress award 2014, the award she won at the AFRIFIMO Awards in the United States of America, ahead the likes of Tonto Dikeh, Halima Abubakar, Yvonne Okoro and Ruth Kadiri for her awesome role as Chinelo in ‘Chinelo, the Shy Virgin’. For a girl who is just beginning to see beyond the gates of the movie world, it was a big feat too sweet to be true. “ I never won any Nollywood award and this came as a big surprise. In fact I never even dreamnt of going to America let alone going there as a star to receive an award. The whole experience was like

a dream” she gushed in a chat with Potpourri.

“I didn’t even know of the award, I never knew I was nominated either. It was my director who told me about it and when he told me, he didn’t tell me I was nominated. All he said was that we should support Ebube Nwagbo who was nominated in one of the categories. It was while I was voting Ebube that I noticed other nominees and found my name amongst them” she said. But is ‘Chinelo, the Shy Virgin’ the most challenging film Chiamaka has ever done in her career? “ No, not at all, though I worked very hard on that film, the film is hardly my most challenging one. I have done better movies than that.

There is ‘Unthinkable’ where I played the daughter of Monalisa Chinda, also there is ‘Wanted Girl’ I did with Annie Idibia and the current one I am shooting right now ‘Tears in the Sun’ where I play the younger sister to Mike Ezuruonye” she added.

oremost gospel songstress and Vice President of Kennis Music, Kenny St Best, simply known as KSB, doesn’t appear to be in politics just to fill the numbers. The ‘Turn Me Around’ crooner got newsmen together on Tuesday to unveil what she calls her ‘KSB Transformation Galore’ which gives in clear terms what her political values and manifesto is all about.

Her four-point agenda, according to the singer, involves youth empowerment, women participation in national development and woman in business support funds, entertainment development, and accountability and probity in government.

On youth empowerment, the singer turned politician says she believes the youth remains the “catalyst for transformational change in any country/state or community, and youths must be empowered for a sustainable socio-economic development” and observed that the case in Nigeria is far from what it should be.

KSB also pledged to champion the cause of women, every step of the way. According to her, “I’m a woman so why wouldn’t I fight for women.

Women are very good managers; we go through a lot of things to make the home stand. As a matter of fact, many women even do demeaning jobs just so that they can help their husbands to shoulder responsibilities when things get too tough,” she said.

Promising to give the entertainment industry pride of place in her political pursuit, KSB wonders why successive governments have not recognized entertainment as a unique tool that can transform not just the image of the country, but also as a means of giving the GDP revenue a base beyond the nation’s sole reliance on oil. KSB also stated her commitment to accountability and probity as hallmarks of good governance as she believes that not only those who serve in government are accountable in government but should also be accountable to the people they serve.

PAGE 18 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014 Onikoyi68@gmail.com

BBA Hotshots: I have no regrets —Lilian M

ultiChoice Nigeria last weekend threw a homecoming party for one of Nigeria’s representatives at the ongoing Big Brother Africa-Hotshots, Lilian Afrgbai who was evicted from the house last week.

The all-night party took place at the prestigious Fuse Bar and Lounge, in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Speaking shortly before the commencement of her homecoming party, an excited Lilian said, she was in shock when she heard that she had been evicted from the Big Brother Africa reality show.

However, Lilian explained that the socio-cultural experience she was exposed to, during her two weeks stay in the house has adequately fortified her to pursue her career in acting, modeling and television production.

“I was shocked when IK announced that I have been evicted from the house. I didn’t see it coming because I was just my real self in the house.

But I have no regrets. I represented my country Nigeria as much as I could. People have to leave and it doesn’t matter whose turn it is. Tayo, another representative from Nigerian is still in the house. I have come to accept that my awesome experience in the BBA house forms the bedrock for my talent and career development in showbiz, not only in Nigeria but across the continent. The five ladies so far evicted from the Big Brother

YUZOS set to host Wizkid, MI, others I

t’s no longer news that residents of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory will as from Nov. 1 have their favorite artistes on tour of the capital city in an event tagged Tripple Threat Tour. However, the news is that a new improved online store, www.yuzos.com will host the artistes at its head office located in Abuja. According to YUZOS’ management, the takeoff of the esupermarket cannot be complete without celebrities’ endorsement.

Announcing the development, Akin Alayoku, Managing partner of YUZOS said: “We value Nigerian artistes as much as we respect them. Nigerian artists are part of the consumers we target, hence the need to show them love at every point we come across them. Though, our unique selling proposition is the fact that our strong partnerships across the consumer goods spectrum enable customers to grab their favourite stores through a web portal, our direct interaction and appreciation of these stars will be of benefit to both the artists, our organization and consumers.

Particularly, the November 1 2face Idibia’s Tripple Threat Tour will draw

Ini Edo moves on after split from ex-hubby ..buys N70m mansion in Lekki

S

Hotshots house are Resa from Zambia, Mira from Mozambique, Lilian from Nigeria, Esther from Uganda and Sabina from Kenya.

D’banj , Don Jazzy

back again?

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T

here are strong indications that D’banj and Don Jazzy, co-owners of the defunct Mo’hit Records are planning to come together again. The duo broke up in 2012.

WG gathered that the former partners are poised to hook up again in a music capacity.

According to D’Banj, Don Jazzy’s production will feature on his ten year anniversary album. Eja Nla which will be coming up later in the year. “Don Jazzy worked with me from the beginning, and I can tell you for sure that my 10th anniversary album will drop soon, and there are many producers on it including Don Jazzy.” D’Banj and Don Jazzy were co-owners of the record label Mo’ Hits. The imprint existed for 8 years and produced several chart topping singles and award winning albums including No Long Thing in 2005, and The Entertainer in 2008.

ince her marriage to her exhusband, Philip Ehiagwina crashed last month, Ini Edo has been on top of the world. Those who are close to her said, the sexy actress has moved on with her life, as she has nothing to regret.

In fact, she’s said to be giving herself a treat at random.

Recently, she bought a N38 •Ini Edo million brand new G-Wagon, which is using to paint the town red. Apart from that, Ini also, reportedly purchased a N70 million house in a choice area in Lekki. Last week, she was in Houston, United States, where she attended this year’s Giama Awards alongside Stella Damasus, Daniel Adenimokun, Emem Isong, Belinda Effa among others.

LUZOL sets art and fashion alight

By ANOZIE EGOLE

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us closer to our invaluable patronizes that include Nigerian artistes.

2face Tripple Threat Tour features Wizkid, MI, Naeto C, Dammy Krane, Joe L, Niyola, Tony-one-week, Lk Kuddy, Gandoki, Chuks D General, Mc Amana, and others. The Tour begins at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja on November 1.

Abuja top event and show expert, Mallam Yankee, who is the organizer of the Tripple Threat Tour said ‘’ We hope to do this together. We welcome YUZOS if they are willing to show some love to the legendary 2face and his colleagues in the industry.

•D’banj and Don Jazzy

ome 2ndof November Luzol and Edirin Okumagba shall be presenting the entertainment world with a fusion of exceptional artistic works, runway delights and loads and loads of entertainment, art and fashion packages at the Sailors Lounge in Lagos. The event, tagged ‘Fashion Art Fusion’ will be hosted by Miss MBGN and Tope Sadiq of Freedom hall. Artistic performance from Donna, Ivorin, T-acoustic, Ayola Mabiaku and music by Tonie, Aremu and Tari.

Attendees would include the hottest entertainment celebrities; amongst who are Fred Amata, J’odieMiss Kuchi, Mai Atafo, Sylvia Nduka (Miss MBGN 2011) and Omoni Oboli. Also a slice of Lagos creme de la creme, cooperate personalities and Fashion A-Listers, will be seen at the scene.

Our multicultural art promotion, ethnic diversity, and positive image remain intact, as the focus would be ART and FASHION. And then a fuse of past Miss MBGN on the runway.

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014PAGE — 19 Onikoyi68@gmail.com

Sammie Okposo bags South-Africa’s biggest gospel awards nomination M ultitalented gospel artiste and Glo ambassador Sammie Okposo has been nominated in this year ’s Best of Africa category at the biggest SouthAfrica gospel music awards, SABC Crown Music Awards. Okposo is the only Nigerian artiste nominated for the awards and in same category with four other revered African gospel artistes, Frank Chimpazi, Shongwe & Khuphuka, Saved Group and Seapour N. The awards which is in its seventh year will be held at ICC Arena, Durban on 23 November 2014.

Speaking concerning his nomination, Sammie said the nomination came as a shock because he was not expecting it.

“Firstly, all thanks to God for his grace and excellent spirit. He is the only one that blesses a man and lifts him up. I’m grateful for the nomination but for me it means more hard work.

Many years after I won the Kora Awards Best Gospel Artiste in Africa, my works are still much in demand and here is another nomination as the Best of Africa Gospel Artiste. It’s an honour ”.

The organisers also announced that Sammie Okposo will be performing at the event scheduled for November 23, 2014 Durban ICC Arena in SouthAfrica.

Ogbeiwi, D’ Nightingale, Dakolo at Catholic musical fiesta

•Benneth Ogbeiwi

P

roject Fame music director, Benneth Ogbeiwi; first Idols West Africa winner, Timi Dakolo; and award-winning soprano singer, Prisca Enyi (D’ Nightingale) were among stars that featured in the Catholic music festival tagged, The Fest.

Other artistes at the event include Rosemary Chukwu, The Fest

Choir (a selection of the best choristers in Lagos) and The Orji Family (of which every member is a chorister in the Church.

The Fest, organised by the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, in collaboration with Lagos Catholic Music Commission and Mystical Rose Media, to promote family values within the Church and in the larger society, is free and open to all in Lagos and environs.There wasl also an education court for Catholic schools to interact with enquirers, a vocation court for a similar reason, food court, vendor tents, games, activities, and the holy Mass (All Saints), as the event coincided with the feast of All Saints.

At the event that which took place at the Catholic Church of The Ascension, Airport Road, Ikeja, Lagos, from 9am to 4pm,yesterday, performances by Christian music artistes and Church choirs took centre stage. According to the organisers, the event was meant to create an avenue for Catholics talented in music to expose and harness their endowments.

Emma Nyra Unveils her Jamaican side

S

ultry singer and Iyanya’s protégé Emma Nyra who is currently on tour with the rest of her label mates is back with a Jamaican kind of song titled For My Matter.

Produced by Dj Coublon, Emma Nyra isn’t shy to proclaim in the song her love interest ‘Don die for her matter’ She puts it this way in the song:”He said he likes the way I go low, he said he likes the way I run the show.”

The song not only shows her as a much more matured singer but also unveils her Jamaican side. With the release of this melodious song showbiz pundits are anticipating the song will catapult her to the zenith of her career.

Lamboginny, Clayy cry for help in Broken S

urge Entertainment’s Lamboginny and Clayy recently released the visuals of their song titled “Broken”. Directed

by Clarence Peters, the duo ride on a catchy beat to deliver a melodious tune. Infusing dancehall with rap, Lamboginny and Clayy brings to fore a cry for help themed tune.

Since the beginning of the year, the talented musicians have embraced the humanitarian aspect of life, and have made it a major aspect of their music. The Broken Project is the start of a series of humanitarian project “This project is one that is very close to my heart, I feel that the younger generation needs a voice” said Lamboghinny.

As part of the Broken project, the Lamboginny and Clay team will be organizing school visits, inter school competitions and scholarships. Their passion for humanitarian works continues to inspire and motivate them to reach out to the unreached and broken ones in the society.

C M Y K

PAGE 20 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014 Onikoyi68@gmail.com

Marrying more than one wife is no big deal — KWAM 1 V

eteran Fuji musician, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as KWAM 1, has shown times without number that he is a dynamic force to reckon with. Just when people are set to put lid on Fuji music as a dead genre, the king is ever in the horizon to fuse some sort of concoction with his Fuji music to produce something new, yet appealing to both the old and the new generation.

The next big thing on the table of the maestro is the K 1 Live Music concert featuring 2Face, Ali Baba, Olamide and others. In this short chat with Potpourri, KWAM 1 talks about the concert, politics, matrimony, Fuji music and his Collabo with Olamide:

•kwam1

BY ADERONKE ADEYERI

Y

ou are always on the road for one show or the other; can we say this has been the reason for your inability to produce an album until recently when you came up with ‘State of the Nation’?

The opportunity to travel with my band to many countries has given me the chance to interact with international musicians and also to tap from their experiences. Music is a global phenomenon just like football that brings everyone together. I have performed and attended many world class musical concerts and seminars in Nigeria and even outside the shores of Africa in a spectacular way but this has not affected me from producing good albums. It has only opened my understanding and I also have to stress that I do not need to produce albums at this level of my music career every year to remain relevant in the Nigeria and global music industry. I am a brand to reckon with.

Your latest single ‘State of the Nation’ celebrated the Awujale of Ijebu’s 80th birthday; was this because you are from Ijebu Ode in Ogun state or does it have a political undertone?

‘State of the Nation’ is the xray of the situation of the country,Nigeria.

Our economy is poor, many things seem to be wrong in the country and I felt it was high time I talked about it and I C M Y K

implored other musicians to preach it too through their music. I am not a politician, which means I am not contesting for any political position.

Why did you feature Olamide in the song?

I have a good relationship with my colleagues in the industry and Olamide would not be the first musician I have featured or done a collabo with. The reason I featured Olamide this time was just to bridge the gap between the older and younger generation. Music is meant to break barriers and that is what I have done.

Over the years, there have always been one rift or the other among the Fuji musicians. As an ambassador of Fuji music, what would you say the situation is at present?

I am not bothered about conflicts among Fuji artists because conflict is an inevitable thing among human beings. I am more concerned with how to promote Nigeria music I have a good industry, especially relationship Fuji music globally. with my I have been in the colleagues in industry for the industry 43years, so things and Olamide of little relevance would not be do not bother me. the first musician I Why is it that have featured Fuji musicians or done a tend to prefer collabo with marrying many

wives?

Marrying more than one wife in this part of the world is no big deal. And I must tell you that it is not peculiar to Fuji musicians alone. Late Fela Anikulapo Kuti was not a Fuji artist and yet he had 27 wives. It is an issue that has to do with the individual, it has

nothing to do with a career or a set of people. Aren’t there Fuji musicians with one wife? Don’t judge people in generic terms, judge them on individual terms.

Can we link your relocating to Ijebu to any political ambition?

•KWAM 1 with Olamide

Relocating to Ijebu does not connote I have a political ambition there. I also have a house in Ibadan, does that mean if I relocate to Ibadan I also have a political ambition there ? I am at liberty to move to wherever I want at whenever I want.

How would compare the messages in today’s music to when you started?

What we have now is quite different and this is as a result of change. The world itself changes and that is what our musicians are trying to achieve.

Musicians have to move with the trend but I will only implore my colleagues to work on the messages of their songs because every meaningful song must have a clear message. We should not be carried away with just making music to get people dancing alone, we should pay attention to messages we pass to the society.

Can you talk about your forthcoming concert, “K1 Live Unusual’ concert”? (smiles) the concert will be something unusual and if we really want to achieve that, I think it has to be a surprise. I can only assure my fans that the concert will be music at its best.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 21

Giving up on love

BY ONOZURE DANIA

A

RE you starting to feel like real love is just not going to “happen for you?”

That you are not meant to have the kind of relationship other women seem to enjoy effortlessly? You feel hurt and hopeless that you will never experience the love you crave and deserve. You have been disappointed again and again, and you don’t know if you have the strength to keep trying.

Maybe you have had too many bad dates, so you are taking yourself off the market entirely.

Or you have stopped trying to “talk things through” in your relationship and have resigned yourself to be without pleasure and affection. Why bother trying when it never works out anyway?

When we have been disappointed by love and relationships, it seems impossible to believe that everything will work out. But it is this belief itself that actually prevents us from getting what we want and what is right. We are, and do,

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what we believe. Your negative internal beliefs come across to a man as defensiveness, controlling coldness, neediness, or “drama.” They eat away at your confidence, your self-esteem, so that you become either closed off or desperate.

her self-esteem sunk somewhere below floor level.

She did a lot of therapy and “self-help” but nothing worked because she was not changing her core beliefs about who she was and how she felt about herself. Deep

When we have been disappointed by love and relationships, it seems impossible to believe that everything will work out. But it is this belief itself that actually prevents us from getting what we want and what is right Every man feels “lackluster” or worse, you believe that no man will stick around, so you cling desperately to any crumb of affection and attention you get. This is exactly what happened to a friend before she met and married her husband. She went through one dead-end relationship after another and

down, she did not believe she deserved the kind of love she wanted. So she allowed men to walk all over her and with every heartache she proved to herself that she was really unlovable and incapable of a real relationship.

Is it possible, that you too without even being aware of

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it are actually pushing a man away and allowing your internal beliefs to become selffulfilling prophecies? Like you, she wondered why there were no good men around. She wondered why she could not be comfortable around a man. She walked around pretending everything was okay. But it was not. That was when she decided she needed to do something to turn things around and she did it.

Do you know how it feels like to almost give up on love? That was the question a friend of mine asked me recently before she narrated her story to me on how she perceived love. Here is the story she shared with me.

She said there was a time in her life when she thought she would never find a good man who would love her unconditionally and completely, whom she will also love in return. Every time she met an interesting or attractive new man, she would feel hopeful that this would finally be it. But then, he would tell her that she was only really "a friend" to him or he would start flirting with another woman, or he would start to be less and less affectionate until one day he would just walk out of her

life. She said that she knows that her bad experiences in love weren't making things any easier for her, as she was probably settling for a lot of bad behavior from men because she so much wanted to be loved, get married and have a family of her own. And by accepting the bad behavior and over functioning and treating the man as if he mattered more than her feelings, she wasn't very attractive to the men she was dating.

In hindsight “I can see that I appeared needy and clingy, maybe a little too "forgiving" of things even they knew weren't right. Like when the man she was flirted with his female "friends" right in front of her while she sat there feeling completely mortified and numb with jealousy and shame.

Adding that she has been through all the bad feelings that come from getting hurt over and over and she has learnt since that unless you can stop the negativity and hopelessness somehow, it only gets worse as time passes.

It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy; the more you believe bad things will happen, the more bad things happen.

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Searching Male •Akin, 5.7ft tall, dark in complexion, needs a sugar mummy who resides in Lagos, and who will take care of him, for marriage.08094490385 •Onyi, a trader, resides in Lagos, needs a tall and busty sugar mummy.08182671812 •Joe, 33, slim, average height, Dear readers, please note that we neither operate, nor are we an affiliate of any match–making agency in employed and resides in Enugu, or outside the country. Any reader who transacts business with any one claiming to be our agent does needs a sugar mummy, who is a so at his/her own risk. Our mission is only to provide a platform for social networking. divorcee or a widow, aged 29Also note that neither Vanguard, nor Yetunde Arebi will be liable for any error in the publication of 35. 08169877422,0 8108937936, requests which may result in any form of embarrassment to any member of the public. We therefore 07038585282 request that text must be sent through at least one of the numbers for contact. This notice is necessary to •Biola, 30, needs a mature enable us serve you better in our refreshingly different style. You can send your requests to 33055. For sugar mummy, for a relationship. enquiries, text or call 08026651636 07068894507

DISCLAIMER!

C M Y K

PAGE 22—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

Brand Jonathan 3

Nigeria: The LOVEMARKS

I

sumer is served beyond a doubt, in definite terms. In return, the happy consumer grow to see own-purpose in such a brand and falls in love with it for the primary purpose of self-service or own interest.

Such attainment benefits much more than mere competitive advantage among brands. LOVEMARKS is said to be the future beyond brands. We must of essence extend such aspiration for nation-state(s) as brands. How much can a brand achieve at the market place when its internal market is left unattended? I am yet to see that brand that does not engage its target market from the ‘inside’.

That also engages our consideration of the theory of Brand Equity. As we noted in an earlier piece, the BE is the sum total of a given brand’s assets or value. This asset or value start from a careful development of its inner self -before considering the gains it targets at the market place.

Working from the ‘inside’ requires the brand’s engagement of its own resources in building or developing the intended offer for the market (outside). How much can a brand like Coca-Cola achieve outside if its formulation is faulty? What will enable a perfect formulation without the conviction of the system managers and administrators?

We talk about Brand Acculturation for this purpose, because the inner public of any given brand must as of a rule be in

understanding and agreement with the culture and philosophy of such brand, to support its market presence and competition.

What is Brand Nigeria known for? How much is its internal public (its citizenry) in appreciation and alignment with its belief/philosophy/offer, to assists its presence in the international community or the

Further down in that same article, Mr. Akingbade listed what he called the 5 pillars on which Brand Nigeria must stand: (1) Culture and National Heritage (2) Governance dimension (3) The Opportunities dimension (4) The People dimension and (5) The Production dimension.

I once listened to Mr. George Umunna, in one of our peri-

,

N the last two editions of our series BRAND JONATHAN, we have taken time to drive the essentials for brand management and its relativity to marketing a nation-state as a brand, the strategic consideration in brands management, from the perspective of competitive advantages/brand offer and brand performance prospecting. In the last edition, also, we made a distant connect between a given brand’s success and its value system. The key point in that piece was the value Brand Nigeria places on equity, justice and fair play, as a nation and as a brand.

As a nation, what is Nigeria known for?

That takes us to the focal point of this edition of the series: SELLING THE BRAND ON ITS LOVEMARK. Still in our quest for a tradable offer, it is fundamental to appreciate the characteristics of a brand with prospect for competitive advantages; it must offer appreciable value.

The sum total of such a value includes selflessness, care and concern for the emotional considerations and expectations of the target market. An ideal brand is selfless.

In its selflessness, the ideal brand creates opportunities. As a measure of concern, a given brand enables a form of opportunity either manifestly or latently, depending on its offer.

For instance, there are some brands in our local market that have helped certain stakeholders at certain points of its supply and distribution chain to massive opportunities – because by reason of their core offer value, they have expanded the opportunities of some others. Such extended benefits come as fall-outs of their primary offer. When such happens, the totality of such a brand’s value is expanded beyond its core promise.

The list of brands offer and benefits is long. However, brand architects have captured all of those value considerations under LOVEMARKS. A brand’s LOVEMARKS is that point of target market engagement that leaves an impression or experience of CARE and selflessness on the part of the brand, with the consumer.

It is a point of consumer experience where the brand is perceived to exist, not for itself, in obvious terms (even though its benefits are well served at the end). According to Kevin Roberts of Saatchi & Saatchi who popularised the idea in his book …LOVEMARKS INSPIRE LOYALTY BEYOND REASON. At that point of brand/consumer relationship, the purpose the con-

How can we say we are competing with other nations when our human capital is zero in value (WAEC would have banned us from the exam by now if they do ranking like FIFA does)?

committee of nations, in global competition?

I particularly like the submission of Mr. Bola Akingbade in his article titled ‘New Perspective In Nation Branding’ (published in issue 41 of the Marketingedge magazine) where he wrote “…a Nation Brandmust represent a ‘concrete promise’ for its target audience. This is usually a strong mixture of the Nationals/Citizens of the country as well as foreigners (be they individuals and/or institutions)”

,

odic but long telephone conversation, in reaction to my write-ups, when he talked on the same areas Mr. Akingbade listed in his article. I was challenged to drive a public discuss on the Brand aspect of Nigeria just so that we influence an exercise that was then being hijacked by non-professional brand managers, in the guise of rebranding Nigeria.

But my challenge was same with The Late FelaAnikulapoKuti’s when he sang the song “LOOK & LAFF”; where

would one start from to say anything new about the failings of Nigeria in meeting any of the dimensions for an ideal nation brand? I dare note here, that the failing of Nigeria as a brand is an extension of its failure to deliver on the dimensions of a nation brand?

It beats me, therefore, when people talk of re-branding Nigeria. As a practicing brand manager, I submit that Nigeria is not ranking as a brand in the first place. What we should concern with ourselves with, in my opinion, is building a brand of Nigeria…and the work should start now. It will start with all those in places of power and authority who influence our resource allocation, for investment and human resource development. If we must be taken seriously at the global market place, we must be known for something, eg., education, manufacturing, entertainment/tourism, etc.

After identifying our potentials in any of these known areas of engagement, we must be seen to be totally agreed on that area of particular engagement as a nation, and package same as our offer to the world: then we can be said to be ready as a brand, to compete globally.

Presently we hunt ourselves for personal gains. Resources are allocated to ‘self ’. How can the teachers in Benue State Nigeria ever be part of a Nation-brand building team when they are not paid their salaries, and cannot feed? But as an example, such will not happen in nation that is a brand. Again, how can we say we are competing with other nations when our human capital is zero in value (WAEC would have banned us from the exam by now if they do ranking like FIFA does)?

The question, therefore, is, what does Nigeria stand for (or represent) as a nation? As a brand, WHAT IS NIGERIA’S POSITIONING STATEMENT? My advice is that we identify our target markets, starting with our internal audience, deliver on certain promise, deliver on those promise and build a brand upon such derivatives. And to stretch the aspiration further, build LOVEMARKS to enable us compete profitably at those markets. I know that the most enduring and rewarding investment currency is LOVE. To sell a brand profitably in any market today, it must be laced with LOVE. Nigeria must love her citizen/foreign nationals and institutions, to be taken seriously. Our political leadership and resource managers should please take note.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 23

08112662589

‘Cunning man die cunning man bury ‘am’ marriage

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YLVIA admitted that her parents marriage and the stoic way her mum yielded her position as the first wife to a much younger and ambitious woman prepared her for the way she handled her relationship with men.

Her story: “When a man suddenly discovers he’s scaled the ladder of success faster than he’d envisaged, what does he do when he gets on the top? Chuck his frumpy wife for a more sophisticated model that’s what! And it happened to my mother – a stark illiterate my father too couldn’t read or write, but he was a fairly successful cocoa farmer and although we weren’t exactly rolling in the lap of luxury, we were the envy of our small town – talk about big fish in a small pond indeed!

“My dad had been on the war-path with the leadership of the Pentecostal Church we attended. Things finally got to a head, and he broke away to found his own church. A chunk of the congregation from the former church went with him and in a couple of years, his church had ballooned into something he himself never envisaged.

As donations kept on pouring in from far and wide, he built a mini estate, installed my mother and her children (four of us) in one of the chalets, then got married to a school certificate holder and made

her his main wife. His excuse was that he needed an educated ally to go through the books of the church and welcome visitors in a presentable way.

“I don’t want to go through the rage and resentment we from my mother ’s side felt as we witnessed this imposter parade herself as an intellectual. My poor father didn’t know that he was the laughing stock of the congregation who sniggered at the clumsy speeches his `educated’ wife always made, riddled with mistakes.

“I was lucky to have a sharp brain and qualified as a lawyer. But I wasn’t lucky in my choice of a husband.. Eventually my marriage hit the rocks after five years and two children. The man I had my third child for wasn’t much better, but I was lucky to meet this influential projects director of a parastatal and my life changed for the better. He took care of all my financial needs and was almost twenty years older than I was.

“It is amazing what some women put up with for money. This man was fat and flabby. Whenever he slept over and I watched him asleep with his mouth so wide open I could see his missing teeth and the fillings in some of the rest snoring away without a

care in the world. I felt really repulsed. He was definitely not a sight to light the fire in any virile woman’s loins, but he was kind and generous. Let’s face it, he was in his late fifties after all and it must be quite exhausting making love to his wife and God knows who else all the time!

“When he was retired and went into politics, I was often with him and through his contacts, I was able to land into one midst of the heavies. I was eventually appointed a special adviser to a top politician – my first class ticket to the gravy train.

“I’d reverted to my maiden name by this time and my ex-husband had remarried twice! But now that I was an important government official, I quickly changed back to

my married name. He had by now burnt his finger in his business and was always broke, so when I sold him the idea of our coming together because of the kids, he jumped at the change! His greedy eyes swept over my tastefully furnished quarters ass he pretended to give our reunion a thought. He is no fool and his calculating brain must have told him that if he played his cards right, his poverty days were over!

“He moved into my official quarters at Abuja and my lover was livid. I re-assured him that my husband was the least of his problems and there was nothing stopping us from carrying on as before. It was an added bonus that he not only knew my husband, Ike, he’d given him a

couple of contracts when he was in paid employment, just to shut him up. Not that he suspected anything anyway.

“Now my husband is a happy man. He drives new cars, wears designer clothes and shoes – and has his share of female admirers. That never bothers me – lie and let live is my motto.

Just a couple of months ago, he had to travel to the Far East on one of our projects. When he phoned, Lekan, my `benefactor ’ was around and actually in bed with me. I told my husband he was around on a visit to Abuja and would be leaving soon, did he want to have a word with him? It gives you a sort of power getting away with a murder like that!

My husband had no way of guessing that whenever he was out of town Lekan always sleeps over. I never bother to ask him what he took is up to on his frequent jaunts!

“I don’t have any idea of when this `second chance’

marriage would last, but Ike is the least of my problems. He was a very violent and abusive man when we first got married.

Now, with so much affluence around him he’s become a gentleman. I know he’s as calculating as I am and we know we’re both using each other, what we have, really is an open marriage and as long as both of us don’t rock the boat …

“Once in a while, I remember my poor mum and how she suffered the humiliation of being relegated to the background because she didn’t have the financial clout to leave. Yet, her courage encouraged me to seize happiness whenever I could – using what I have – money, power and position – to get what I want ...”

Hugh Grant, the famous British international film star was once asked why he was so sure that women were attracted to money.

His reply: “Be honest.

Suppose you were unattached and some guy you adored were to walk through the door right now. If he could be cloned into one inch guy and one poor guy, who were otherwise exactly the same and were able to choose between the two, which one would you go for?”

The same question should be put to men too, don’t you think?!

08052201867(Text Only)

Yoga and sports

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was watching television one e v e n i n g , the programme was a sports one, there was a coach and his athletes and he had been taking them through some exercises.

At one point in time the sportsmen had to sit down and touch their toes with their finger tips. There must have been about fifteen men, hefty, in the region of 2001bs and a bit over. None of these men was capable of executing the exercise. And I thought, “these are people who make a living from sports - applying their bodies! What unfit bodies they had. The thought crossed my mind, “these men would have to shape up well and truly well to make the team if I were the coach”. Their stiffness made a mockery of the men as professionals.

Their size and musculature meant they had the power for their game but their lack of flexibility also spelt that they became susceptible to pulls, tears and strains.

Now, I think the idea of an athlete training for his event C M Y K

or game by exercising set muscles to the neglect of others must be looked into by both trainer and athletes.

Take running for instance. The long distance runner has stronger, shorter, hamstrings (rear thigh muscles) and on that account tends to pull his weaker quadriceps (from thigh muscles), To explode out of the blocks the sprinter who employs his quadriceps has weaker hamstrings and “the back of his thigh is where he grabs when he gets that tearing sensation midway in the 100 yard dash”.

The physiotherapist Joseph Zohar states, “the balanced conditioning of individual muscle groups not only protects the body against injury but also improves its performance to unprecedented levels.

Dr. George Sheehan who is also a distance runner warns that “structural imbalance of even minor degrees can result n incapacitating injuries and persistent disability.

He continues: “prevention and treatment of mus-

The Spread Eagle posture cular skeletal problems in the athlete rests on the establishment of structural balance and architectural integrity of the body and its re-establishment should injury occur”. Sheehan believes “there is very little place in the treatment of these diseases for injections, medications and manipulations”. Treatment rests almost completely on the following: * Biomechanical treatment of the foot. This means providing a foot support or othortic which keeps the foot in proper balance. Ordinarily this entails the preservation of the neutral position of the foot. What we do is bring up the ground to meet the foot thus preventing it from flattening or coming over on the inside, (prompting). * Flexibility and strengthening of the muscles ordinary training involves the

continual repetition of one motion and the use of one main axis of muscles. This results in two unwanted effects (a) shortening and less of flexibility in the exercised muscle, the prime mover and (b) weakness in the antagonist which opposes it.

Additional exercises are needed to prevent this”.

Dr. Sheehan also states that “when faced with an injury not due to a fall or collusion the runner must assume that he is out of the structural balance. No medication is going to restore that balance. He must get down to basics, diagnose where he is out of line and correct it. He will get temporary relief with whatever the doctor recommends, i.e. rest, cortisone shots or whatever. But as soon as he resumes running he will quickly get into trouble again”.

Below are some of the

most frequent running ail- muscles, the short leg synments and proposed treat- drome and biomechanical ment as found in Sheehan’s difficulties in the foot. book. On running: Treatment advise * Achiles tendenitis: cause flexibility exercises along - short Achiles, gastroe, with exercises drawing leg hamstring axis; unstable toward the mid-line, attenheel; inverted heel; weak tion to any biomechanic arch; excessive use of toe problems of the foot howflexors.

Treatment - ever mild”. stretching of achilles heel All this points to one lifts, arch supports, anterior thing: namely - the prevencrests. tion of injury in sports. A * Numbness of the feet (dis- lot can be achieved in cortance runner’s newropathy) recting the imbalance in cause - sciatic revenue pres- muscle strength because as sure. Treatment - stretching one expert puts it, “When of hamstrings along with one muscle group is excesabdominal sit ups (bent sively stronger than the oplegs) and isometric tummy posing muscle group the backing. odds of injury in the weaker *Other sciatic syndromes, muscles are greatly pain in the thigh and but- increased” Strengthening tock cause right hamstrings, and endurance exercises weak abdominal treatment act to shorten muscles and - use flexibility and minimise flexibility and it strengthening exercise, use is this lack of flexibility a sacrogard belt. that many observers be* Shin Splints Cause - lieve is a major cause in weakness of the anterior pulls, tears and strains. chamber muscles.

Treatment strengthen muscles by flexing foot with weight over toes, anterior crest to lessen STARTED use of flex or, stretching Physical Therapy Centre for the opposing muscles, the achilles, @ 32 Adetokumbo Ademola, gastroe and hamVictoria Island Lagos. strings.

9.00am — 10.00am Groin pain cause - unknown but probably a on Saturdays mixture of the abductor

Yoga Classes

P AGE 24—SUND AY Vanguard , NO VEMBER 2 , 2014 SUNDA NOVEMBER

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

08056180152,

SMS only

No maternal instinct? It’s not such a big deal!

W

OMEN who h a v e consciously decided not to have children still have to justify that decision in the face of their hostile friends, disappointed relatives and expectant grandmums. They have to alleviate even the ever present feeling of guilt that this is something they should be doing.

Out there, there are outraged group of people determined to take the pressure off contented couples who feel quite complete, thank you very much, without the requisite replacement children.

“Would somebody please tell me about this maternal instinct I’m supposed to have”, asked Anita jokingly, but with a hint of seriousness when the topic of procreation recently reared its interesting head. In her early 30s, a thorough professional with a bachelorette pad to die for, she continued: “Is it a throbbing primal urge that makes you want to yank babies: from prams and cover them with kisses? Just what is this deep-rooted biological inclination that’s meant to be ingrained like a giant rock though my very being? To me, the maternal instinct is something dark and brooding that most other women have and I don’t - like at boarding school when everyone except me had periods.

“All I know is that the maternal instinct makes you long for children from the very depths of your soul regardless of whether or not you have

a partner who’s committed. For example, I have friends who are on their own and are trying their darndest to get pregnant by whatever means they can, no matter what the cost. I find that a lot bewildering. Why bring up a child on your own?

Why put a child through life not having or knowing a father? Is it worth the self-sacrifice?

Or are these women just being selfish?

“Being single, as well as fulfilled and contented, might have something to do with my own complete and utter lack of maternal instinct.

I am so busy that I couldn’t commit to a once-weekly gym treat, let alone a full-time infant. But perhaps when/if I meet a man and fall madly in love, my absent maternal instinct will appear from

Y

OUR column to express your loving thoughts in words to your sweetheart. Don’t be shy. Let it flow and let him or her know how dearly you feel.

Write now in not more than 75 words to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, P.M.B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E.mail: sunlovenotes@yahoo.com Please mark your envelope: “LOVE NOTES"

DON'T MARRY.......

Don't marry for sex; Don't marry because you are of age,

nowhere to catch me totally unaware and hit me in the face! I’ll want him to be the father of my child and then go into full motherhood mode ...

“Somehow, I doubt if this will happen. A friend of mine recently said wistfully that her maternal instinct was forever ebbing and flowing. “When I’m with a partner, it’s definitely flowing,” she admitted, Frankly, mine isn’t there to ebb, flow or trickle in the first place. I do know, however, that the maternal instinct is a strong and mysterious force which should not be dismissed lightly.”

“You cannot understand the dictates of the womb,” said Priscilla, who at age 34, didn’t consciously want a child, yet underwent many of the symptoms of early pregnancy swollen breasts, morning

sickness and so on - only to be told by her doctor that she was suffering a phantom pregnancy. “I loved my partner, but all I could feel was absolute relief that I wasn’t pregnant,” she admitted.

She confessed she’d never felt one spark of maternal instinct. “I’d have to surrender the rest of my life for a baby, and I’ve got too much life to give up. For me, sex is recreational, not procreationa1. I had always regarded my sexual bits as pleasure zones. Then came the dawning realisation that God had put them there for reproduction.”

In Anita’s view, “The all-pervasive maternal instinct also veils persistent reasons for not having a baby. None of the heavyweight rational arguments such as having no money or no partner ring true when

Don't marry because you are getting old, Don't marry because you are lonely, Don't marry because you need someone to support you financially, Don't marry because you mistakenly got pregnant for him, Don't marry because you don't want to lose the person, Don't marry because of family pressure, Don't marry because you like the idea of marriage and admire every wedding gown you see, Don't marry because all your friends are getting married.

Don't marry for compensation of all he/she has done for you;

the maternal instinct is raging in one’s wouldbe-lactating breast. If you want a baby, who thinks of the cash? If there’s no partner, you will be mother and father. You’ll cuddle and protect your baby from all of life’s nasties in the nursery world.

“One thing is quite certain though. Women who don’t have a maternal instinct are able to be crystal clear about their reasons for not wanting children the urge to procreate does not get in the way of their ability to reason.”

Peju, in her late thirties and with a long-term partner knows she’ll never have children because her reasons for wanting them are intellectual and not biological. “They’re not reasons to be proud of,” she said. “I’d want to mould the little brat into what I think would be the ideal person. That’s self-aggrandisement on a major scale and, to my mind, that’s not grounds for getting pregnant. . “My partner and I have discussed it and I feel comfortable with my decision.

Thank goodness he has a couple of kids from a previous relationship, so there’s no pressure for me to give him a child.

Holding any of my friends’ babies’ is a damned sight different from having the child for life. Why should I be made to feel so bad just because I don’t want to jump on the baby merrygo-round?!

All You Need To Know About Various STDs Chlamydia is the most common sexual infection

among young people. It is caused by an organism passed during sex and is treated with antibiotics.

Genital Herpes is a painful condition which involves blisters forming on the vulva. When they burst, they become raw, shallow sores. Fifty per cent of people who suffer from this will experience recurring attacks.

Although there is no cure, outbreaks can be helped by aspirins and antibiotics.

Genital warts are small warts inside the vagina which can be caught from other people or even spread from warts on the hand. They are easily treated by a doctor who will cover them with antiwart paint.

Gonorrhea, also known as the clap, is caused by bacteria passed during penetrative or oral sex.

It’s treated with antibiotics and often no symptoms occur In women.

HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, can be passed through unprotected vaginal or anal sex. If you’re sleeping with more than one partner, you should always use a condom to protect yourself. NSU or urethritis is an infection of the urethra - the tube urine passes through.

Eighty per cent of sufferers are men, so unprotected sex carries a risk of infection. It’s treated with antibiotics.

Trichomonas vaginalis is a bit like thrush.

However, the discharge is usually heavier, will smell unpleasant and may be a greenish/yellow colour. It’s treated with tablets.

But get married because you want to fulfill destiny.

Get married because you want to be a suitable HELPMATE to an imperfect person who loves and accepts you for who you are, not who you pretend to be!

Get married because you want to fulfill your purpose.

I PRAY FOR YOU: May God help you in choosing the RIGHT person meant for You and may the Wrong Persons be disconnected from your life in JESUS NAME! Chris Onunaku 08032988826/08184844015.

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 25

Email: vanguardwoman@gmail.com

I’m not too lousy with men — Doyin Ogunbiyi, three-time Ogun Commissioner

* Reveals why she left broadcasting

BY JOSEPHINE AGBONKHESE

T

hree-time Commissioner for Women Affairs in Ogun State, Doyin Ogunbiyi is the first and current Chairman of the state’s Technical and Vocational Board. In this interview, Doyin who is proudly of Egba origin talks about her broken marriage, life as a politician and her helpless dislike for fame which she says has been synonymous with her life ever since her days at the Nigerian Television Authority. Enjoy!

People assume highlyplaced women like you lord over their husbands. Was this the case with your marriage?

I don’t do such because I believe that we jointly own things. If by God’s grace I am a bit successful than him, I will not even bluff over it.

My husband won’t say he left me because of that. Some women do that but I don’t see any reason a woman should do such if she has an understanding husband. My husband was very understanding when I was a commissioner, he encouraged me and he was my teacher on the job. He was very supportive and he pushed me to greener pastures. I am sure some other factors were responsible for the break-up, which is best known to him. I don’t get swollen-headed with position or with anything I have. There is nothing I cannot let go. My husband was not working when I was a commissioner and everything I had was at his disposal because I am not materialistic. Nothing material can get into my head. I am not arrogant and

if anybody perceives me otherwise, definitely that person has a problem.

So, tell us about family life presently...

My home is beautiful and I have four lovely children doing well in life. I am happy with my children and my children are my best friends. I hold my children in trust and confidence. We love God and this gives us the confidence to move on in life. I take care of my children’s needs in all ways and if you call me the breadwinner, you are very right. God has positioned me and blessed me more to be the breadwinner and I carry that responsibility by his grace. I am happy doing it especially for my children.

As far as my home is concerned, my children come first because the environment we live in makes children very vulnerable to crime and vices. I therefore do not joke with nurturing of my children.

I wasn’t a public figure when my children were toddlers; I was a mere civil service worker then. They were grown up when I became a public figure. I dedicated my time for the children when they needed me most.

I sure wouldn’t have accepted such challenging appointment if my children were too young when I was appointed. I believe in total upbringing of a child. I can’t leave my children with house helps who themselves need training.

At what point did you become a politician?

I became a politician when I started serving in the

I wasn’t a public figure when my children were toddlers; I was a mere civil service worker then. They were grown up when I became a public figure.

I dedicated my time for the children when they needed me most civilian government, because you need to belong in order to serve freely. I became a partisan politician in 2003 when I had my first appointment.

Aside the luxury that comes with the offices you have occupied, what was the attraction?

No attractions except for wanting to show loyalty to the government I am serving. What is the attraction in politics? When

you talk of fame, I became famous when I was a broadcaster. I was in NTA for 12 years. Fame means nothing to me and I don’t enjoy fame. I left broadcasting for Public Relations because I don’t like fame; because I am a very private person but very dynamic as far as my career is involved. I am very noticeable on my job but I am a different person when I get into my home. I am a firebrand.

But is there truly any broadcaster that doesn’t like fame?

I didn’t enter broadcasting because of fame; I entered because I was destined to become a broadcaster. I started back at home, a bit after my secondary education; because I didn’t want to follow the family tradition of becoming an educationist. My aunty, the first female announcer on Television in Africa, Anike Agbaje-Willams, discovered me from the way I speak.

She invited me for an audition and that was how I started. I would have been an architect or something very masculine because I grew up with boys. I was committed to the work and I didn’t even see the fame.

We enjoyed the job then because of the family spirit that operated in the broadcasting house and nobody cared about the fame

in those days. I had a very humble upbringing and we don’t like noise in my family.

What was growing up like?

I had memorable experiences while growing up. I was in a convent planning to become a nun before I went to higher institution. It was a very angelic, saintly and naïve background. I couldn’t talk to a man then.

Women in politics often complain of sexual harassment...

I don’t carry myself loosely so it is impossible for you to harass me sexually. I have been in politics for years and I can boldly tell you that I stand out among women. I am of a value and I know my worth. I am not too lousy with men in other not to send wrong signal to them. I don’t even open my door for anybody to come in. Women should not allow men to mess them around.

So, do you also go for late nights meetings?

I do go for late night meetings because I am free and that doesn’t mean that I am loose. I won’t go for such meetings if my children were toddlers. I do whatever I want to do as long as I am happy doing it.

PAGE 26 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

DEATH AFTER BREAKFAST

Man dies drinking acid served as water * Two sons among suspects * We are under pressure to withdraw case — Family

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE, WARRI

,

On May 23, 2014, when Mr. Sunday Obi, a retired staff of Chevron Company Ltd, Warri was served breakfast by his wife, Dora, little did he knew that that was going to be his last meal on earth. The late Obi was alleged to have been served acid instead of water to go along with the food. Two of his sons are fingered as among the three suspects.

Narrating the incident to Sunday Vanguard in the family’s No.2 Okumagba Street residence, Warri, the bereaved wife said, “We woke up that morning; and i made his (husband) breakfast before I left for church. While in church, I received an urgent call from his last son, Ikechukwu, that I should come home, that my husband had been rushed to hospital.

“When I tried to find out what actually happened to him, Ikechukwu said he drank acid. At the General Hospital Warri where he was rushed to, we were referred to Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DSTH), Oghara where the doctors said the case was beyond them.

We were again referred to University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) when they could not handle the case. He died four days later at the UBTH and has not been buried.

“Ikechukwu was the only one at home with him when the incident occurred. I was told that when my husband was eating, he asked for a cup of water and he was served with acid instead of water. I was told that Ikechukwu allegedly confessed that it was one of his siblings who brought the acid, claiming it was drug and that he did

Ikechukwu was the only one at home with him when the incident occurred.

I was told that when my husband was eating, he asked for a cup of water and he was served with acid instead of water

, *Sunday Obi, retiree...murdered by own sons?

not know that it was acid before giving it to his father as water. The motive of the action was probably as a result of his wealth. He did not offend them in any way; they wanted him to die so that they will inherit his wealth” She disclosed that her husband was hale and

healthy before the incident.

“I have no say on what should be done; it is only his family that can decide that.

They are not my children; if they are my children, I would have known what to do.

Since his death, we have been surviving through the grace of God”, she added.

Corroborating her

mother’s story, Miss Esther Obi, a hairstylist, who lives with her fiancée at Okumagba Layout, Warri, said she was informed on that fateful day that her father was hospitalized although she was not told immediately what happened to him. “I hurriedly dressed up and, on getting to the

hospital; I was dumbfounded on what I saw.

Already, my mother and brothers were there and, when I asked what happened to him, Anayo said that it was Ikechukwu that gave him acid to drink and that he had reported the incident to the police at A Division who later came to the hospital to interrogate my father”, the daughter said.

“When the policemen left, I asked my father why he should drink acid, and he said that he asked for water and he was served with acid; he said that he did not know it was acid and that it was Ikechukwu who gave him. I observed that the mouth and chest were burnt. We were later referred to Oghara by doctors in the General Hospital, Warri at about 5pm after battling to save his life for several hours.

Again, at Oghara, we were referred to UBTH where he was admitted and died four days later”.

Esther, who claimed that her father has four children, two males and two females, said that she did not know the motive for the killing, saying her brothers were the ones in the position to do so.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that three suspects: an automobile mechanic and the two siblings, Ikechukwu, 30, and Anayo Obi, 36, were arrested by the police and interrogated in connection with case.

A relative of the late Sunday Obi, who did not want his name in print, however, claimed that the family was pressurized by a top government official to withdraw the case just as he appealed to relevant authorities to ensure that justice was done on the issue.

The deceased, from Umukwata in Ukwuani local government area of Delta State, retired from Chevron Oil Company Ltd in 2009.

Attempts made to reach Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Celestina Kalu, for her reaction, failed as she was said to be on annual leave.

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 27

ENEMY AT THE DOOR

I watched in horror as cultists killed my six-yearold boy — Bereaved mother

L

ittle Samson Bernard had his life cut down by bullets from suspected cultists in the North Bank area of Makurdi, Benue State capital.

The six-year-old met his death in a rather bizarre and painful manner in the hands of armed gang of young Nigerians parading the streets of major towns of Benue. The gang sometimes engage in bloody conflicts to gain supremacy.

Their last exchange was at Udei Street, North Bank, and, instead of killing their kind in their demented gun duel, they snuffed life out of the kid while eating breakfast of bean cake, in front of number 13, the only home he knew.

Samsom was the fourth child in a family of seven.

His mother, a bean cake hawker, Mrs. Deborah Bernard , fought back tears as she narrated how her little boy was gunned down in her presence.

According to her, she had just prepared bean cake, that morning, and served her seven children. They had barely started eating when she heard sound of gun shots.

“Samson was sitting and eating his own share of the food at the entrance of our home while I continued to attend to customers who came to buy ‘moin moin’, bean cake, from me”, the bereaved mother narrated.

“My son and the other children were yet to finished eating the breakfast when I heard the sound of gun shots from across our street, directly opposite our house.

“People started running. I immediately jumped up from where I was sitting and shouted to my children to move into the room. I was also trying to run into the house for safety.

“Seconds later, my son (Samson) started calling me, saying ‘mama’ with blood dripping from his mouth. It

was then I realized that he had been hit by bullet and was bleeding profusely from the mouth.

“At that point, I looked across the road at one of the boys who was involved in the incident that led to the shooting, and who is also our neighbour. I started wailing, ‘Emma, you have killed my son, you have killed by son’; he then fled.

“Neigbours who saw what happened ran to my help.

My son was already soaked in his own blood. They took him from me and tried to stop him from bleeding further.

“They invited the police and we rushed him to the General Hospital in North Bank. On reaching there, with the help of the police, doctors on duty tried to save him but later certified that he was dead.”

Corroborating the story of his wife, the father of the boy, Mr. Bernard Akpa, a carpenter in the area, said he was at his work place when he received a call from his wife that their son had been shot by some cult boys in the area.

“When I received the call that my son has been shot by cult boys, that is what they call themselves in this area, I was confused and couldn’t put myself together. I left what I was doing and dashed back home,” he said.

“On reaching the house, they had already taken Samson to hospital. I rushed to the hospital where i was told the boy was dead. The police wanted us to keep his remains but I refused because doing so would further aggravate my pains.

So I asked that the boy be buried.

“My pain is that the life of my innocent son was cut short by a gang of trigger happy boys who boast around that they are cult boys and seem to be above the law.

“I’m only asking for justice.

My son cannot be murdered in cold blood and government will not take

*Deborah Bernard...Emma, you have killed my son

,

BY PETER DURU, MAKURDI

His mother, a bean cake hawker, Mrs. Deborah Bernard , fought back tears as she narrated how her little boy was gunned down in her presence

,

steps to make his murderers pay for their heinous action.

“We are helpless; we cannot take the law into our hands despite the anguish this unfortunate incident has brought on my entire family.

“The blood of that small innocent boy will certainly cry for justice.

Security agencies and government must ensure that he did not die in vain.”

An eyewitness, who craved anonymity, also gave account of what happened. He said, “The unfortunate incident happened at about 10am. We were trying to settle down for the day’s business when we heard sound of gunshots from within Udei Street.

“Initially, nobody understood what was happening; there was so much confusion in the street and the adjoining neighbourhood. Everyone scampered to safety.

“Amid the confusion, we noticed that some young men were running from the area where the gunshots were fired while another group zoomed away on motorbike.

“They were said to be cult members: what we heard later was that two suspected cult members on motorbike had stormed the area and opened fire on members of a rival cult group.

“But moments after the shooting, there were shouts from Mrs. Deborah Bernard, the woman who sells ‘moin moin’ in the neighbourhood and whose husband, Bernard Akpa, is a carpenter.

“She was carrying her blood soaked five-year-old son who had been sitting in front of their house when he was hit by stray bullet from the feuding cultists.”

He also revealed how residents of the area had lived in fear as if they were in a lawless society due to the activities of cult groups that freely operate in the area.

“We are always terrorized in this niegbourhood, almost on a daily basis. Arms wielding cult youngsters subject us to living in fear as if they run the entire state; that is the helpless condition we have found ourselves”, the eye witness said.

When contacted, the Benue State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Superintendent ( SP) Daniel Ezeala, confirmed the killing.

Ezeala said the command had commenced investigations into the matter, assuring that all those involved would not escape the long arms of the law.

PAGE 28 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

ALAAFIN’S THOUGHTS ON GOVERNANCE

‘Of what use is a government that cannot provide basic services for the citizens?’

T

he palace of the Alaafin and paramount ruler of Oyo Kingdom, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi II, always comes alive whenever it plays host to occasions involving the revered monarch.

The latest of the events concerns the 76th birthday of the king which involved the dedication of some projects completed by the administration of his son, Adeniyi Adeyemi, popularly called Ogo Atiba, as the Chairman of Atiba Local Government Area of Oyo State. The Alaafin also commissioned school projects, boreholes and had gatherings where he interacted with his people.

Adeyemi remains in the hearts of his people and it showed in the way they relate with him. One fascinating thing about the Yoruba traditional ruler is his magical dance. “His dance is magical because, at his age, little can one expect him to be able to carry himself the way he does,” one of his subjects said. When it comes to the time for the monarch to do the dance, there is need to give space enough for an eleti-aja cap wearer to mesmerise or influence the direction of the eyes of the onlookers. Relating the relationship of the Alaafin with his people and other people in form of written report will not do justice to the real Adeyemi.

As the interaction ended, it was time for another leg of events; this time homage by politicians and residents from the four local government areas under the jurisdiction of the king. The

visitors informed the king they were in the palace to register their loyalty, saying as he had been leading them to victory, they were strongly behind him.

Characteristic of politicians, they seized the opportunity of the visit to get Adeyemi to endorse their desire for his son and current Caretaker Chairman of Atiba Local Government Area, Adeniyi, to move a step further by representing them at the House of Representatives, Abuja.

Father of politicians Responding to the call, the Alaafin, clad in white agbada and eleti-aja cap with a pair of white halfshoes to match, spoke about what the people should look for in anybody they wanted as their representative in government. He granted their request as expressed in his decision not only to foot the N2.2 million Adeniyi would require to purchase the expression of interest form for the House of Representatives contest, but also gave N500, 000 to Honourable Waliu Adekunle Alagbom, a serving member of the Oyo State House of Assembly representing Atiba State Constituency, to purchase his own form from the APC to contest the coming election. Adeniyi, by the royal blessing, will be contesting for the House of Representatives seat in Oyo Federal Constituency, while Waliu seeks second term ticket for the state legislature.

Thoughts And the Alaafin began his thought-provoking speech saying, for political parties to live up to their

,

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

Adeyemi remains in the hearts of his people and it showed in the way they relate with him

,

responsibilities and for players in the parties to be reckoned with as a responsible set of people, certain rules must be enforced, which, if strictly adhered to, would aid governance. Adeyemi said political parties should be able to organise debate for incumbents who intend to run for second term in office and new aspirants, in order to ensure that credible and dedicated candidates, who are really determined to serve the people are given the mandate.

His words: “During the debate, the incumbents must tell the public what projects they have been able to do for the well-being of their constituents while a committee of formidable characters should be set up to ascertain where those projects are located. And if it

is otherwise, those serving political office holders have no right to represent the people again. Also, those aspiring to serve must tell the public how they intend to impact positively on the lives of their people. This is the reality of modern politics and pragmatic governance,” the Alaafin said, adding that such steps, if adhered to by political parties, will prevent aspirants who have no clearcut and result-oriented programmes of action for the people but ulterior intention of treasury looting and amassing of ill-gotten wealth from getting to office.

“If a serving political office holder of less than 30 years of age can boast of N300 million mansion in different locations when his total pay package for the whole of four years in office is not up to half of the amount, is that not disturbing and worrisome?

How did the serving office holder come about such whopping amount of money?” Such ill-gotten wealth, without regard and concern for the well-being of the constituents, Adeyemi asserted, is being used to blow sirens all over the place to intimidate the people and insult their sensibilities.

“These unaccounted wealth are also being used to procure arms and ammunition for the youths who are supposed to be economically empowered with the money, to cause mayhem during elections so as to perpetuate themselves in power against the wishes of the people”.

The traditional ruler warned that unless political parties braced up and refocused their operational modes, there might not be end to brazen impunity, monumental corruption, alarming poverty as well as unemployment rates characterized by irresponsible leadership in the country. He implored the people to refrain from campaign of calumny, derogatory utterances and untoward acts during political rallies, “but exhibit the concept of omoluabi, that is, responsibility, which is an integral part of Yoruba culture and traditions.”

In his address, Prince Adeniyi, who thanked the villagers for their cooperation, announced what he called “royal incentives” for them.

These include establishment of fertilizer and other agro-chemical centres in all the villages for sale at subsidized prices, disbursement of substantial amount of money to farmers free of charge to boost food production and construction of culverts and drainage system to prevent erosion surge which has been threatening most of their communities and ventilated his displeasure over high rate of poverty and neglect in the rural areas by elected representatives and warned politicians against betrayal of trust to the people who elected them into offices.

In an exclusive interview, the prince said Nigeria is the Continues on page 30

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 29

FALLOUT OF NATIVE AND VOGUE

Rivers of creative economy O

VER time the face of governance has changed in Nigeria.

The philosophy of arm chair governance seems to have given way to pragmatic approach to governance. Gone are the days of waiting for allocation from the federation account. The drive to deliver on election promises in the face of dwindling income has made government to begin to think out of the box on how to increase their income base.

Equally, strategists and technocrats in government have also birthed the idea of creating and expanding opportunities for the populace.

Rivers State Government is not left out of this movement. Brand Port Harcourt was created for this purpose.

The idea to make provision for youths in government’s programme is understandable. They represent tomorrow; they have the drive and are adventurous.

They are at their best when brought into contact with that which resonates with them.

Port Harcourt has indeed undergone a thorough positioning and transformation as a brand. It is now a brand that commands attention from the target audience. What makes the Port Harcourt brand thick? It is the conception of solid ideas and laudable feats that have helped in shaping the image of the brand. Port Harcourt has thus become an alluring destination of choice through several platforms that have differentiated its brand identity. It is also known as Rivers of Opportunities Now. One of the laudable platforms that have portrayed Port Harcourt as a distinct brand is the International Fashion Week. The fashion event is a concrete platform to make Port Harcourt a destination brand and showcase the numerous possibilities that exist in Rivers State.

The repositioning drive of t h e Rotimi Amaechi - led government has yielded enormous benefits with the fashion fiesta which kicked off last year. The government dabbled into creative economy not only to exemplify the values of the Port Harcourt brand but also to empower the youthful segment. To further buttress this, the face of the Native and Vogue competition is organised to equip and empower students. The students will also serve as Rivers State youth ambassadors for a year in addition to N500, 000 prize money. The Native and Vogue C M Y K

One of the runway shows event has indeed redefined the image of the Port Harcourt while also leveraging its positive values. Fashion is being utilized not only to develop the potentials of the state but also a capacity building and empowerment platform for youths. The annual fashion event rivals South Africa and Paris in terms of planning, grandeur and glitz. It has remained a veritable avenue to develop the potentials of youths and also provide avenue for them to showcase their innate talents and endowments. This aligns with the aspirations of the youthful audience to showcase their innate capabilities and talents.

Fashion is an appealing platform that aligns with the aspiration of the youth. Rivers State government embraces this opportunity to further empower the youths and engage them positively.

The Native & Vogue project was conceived by Neo Mantra and the Rivers State Government which serves as a platform for aspiring designers to showcase the great wealth of local talent that abound in Nigeria and also the rest of Africa.

Essentially, this is an exclusive platform for high and global designers and models across Africa to celebrate the totality of African Fashion where Port Harcourt would be hosting some of the world’s biggest names in both the modeling and designing.

The annual native and vogue event is designed not only to explore the potentials of the youthful populace but it is also to develop the creative economy and project the huge potentials of the fashion industry. The annual event

parades the finest and best in international and local fashion. Several local fashion designers made huge revenue selling all their designs at the event.

Native and Vogue International Fashion Week has become bigger than ever; putting into perspective the dreams and aspirations of the youth of Rivers State, thus giving them a chance to jump start their budding careers. A fashion event with a difference, the Native and Vogue Port Harcourt

Another collection . further elevated the status of the Port Harcourt brand beyond the mundane.

Through its avowed interest to promote literacy and literary knowledge, the Port Harcourt brand has attracted best writers such as Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi, Kaine Agary and several others. It was also a resounding applause for the Port Harcourt brand when the Rivers State Government hosted Professor

The essence of the Port Harcourt brand has been redefined with its unique attributes of safety, security and peaceful ambience being exemplified. The personality of the brand resonates more with the target audience as serene atmosphere for living, pleasure and business International Fashion week goes way beyond the glitz and glamour. It is a veritable platform that is able to throw up many young business entrepreneurs, thus decongesting the labour market. The benefit of the week is myriad.

Beyond fashion and the creative economy, Port Harcourt has remained the book capital. It has opened its doors to renowned authors in order to drive its brand essence. Port Harcourt has embraced literature and positioned as a brand developing the knowledge economy. The annual literary festival and book fair has

Wole Soyinka on its 80th birthday.

The essence of the Port Harcourt brand has been redefined with its unique attributes of safety, security and peaceful ambience being exemplified. The personality of the brand resonates more with the target audience as serene atmosphere for living, pleasure and business. This new identity restores the originality of the Port Harcourt brand as one with enormous socio-economic potentials.

The Rivers of possibilities campaign also set a new agenda for public discourse on the positioning for Port Harcourt as a forward looking

brand where several positive things take the front burner of life and business.

The state has expanded its scope in terms of its efforts to advance brand Port Harcourt essence. Some of projects conceived and executed by the government are in tandem with the cosmopolitan nature of the city and being the oil capital of Nigeria. It is therefore safe to say it’s firstever monorail to ferry 40,000 passengers daily is tangential and well situated. After all, the strength of any viable economy can be measured in terms of the efficacy of its transportation system.

The massive Greater Port Harcourt City project is another business opportunity the state has opened. Of course, massive and large construction works are expected in this project. But before then, one need to consider the business opportunities the project has thrown up in the areas of surveying, architecture, engineering, plumbing, carpentry, wielding, interior decors, and massive employment opportunities for artisans and skilled labours that would drive this project to fruition.

Further to reinforce the brand massage, the state government has built and equipped 180 primary healthcare centres, two tertiary health institutions across the state; built 500 out of the planned 750 world-class primary schools; built two additional power stations in Afam and completed three inherited ones and invested over N100bn per annum on roads, bridges and social infrastructures.

PAGE 30—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

‘How to grow non-oil economy’

BY UDEME CLEMENT

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HE sudden decline in the price of crude oil at the international marketer from over $100 to about $78 per barrel is unsettling for Nigeria’s economy, which depends largely on revenue from crude oil to run the economy. This is happening at the same time Ghana is planning to cut the volume of gas import from Nigeria.

Currently, Nigeria’s economy is about 90 per cent dependent on income from crude oil, even as the nation’s fiscal budget is often planned based on revenue from oil. While some economic experts expressed fears that the nation’s economy may suffer cash crunch as a result of the dwindling price of crude oil, others advised the Federal Government to invest more in non-oil export sectors and entrepreneurial development

Mr. Bassey James to boost productivity.

In a chat with Sunday Vanguard in Lagos, an experienced entrepreneur and the Chancellor, Akpabio Centre for Leadership Development, a NonGovernmental Organisation (NGO), established over seven years ago for entrepreneurial development and capacity building, Mr. Bassey James, advised President Goodluck Jonathan, to invest heavily in

manufacturing and humancapital development in order to build a strong economy that is not dependent on oil.

He said, “We must build an economy that is technology driven like what obtains in advanced countries. The only way we can achieve this is to develop the industrial sector, which is capable of generating revenue and creating jobs at the same time. It is imperative for government to invest massively in infrastructure, agriculture, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and man-power development in order to encourage entrepreneurship across Nigeria.

Training is important because we need the skills, modern technology and the technical-know-how to refine crude oil in the country, rather than spending so much money to import refined petroleum products from other countries”.

On Ghana’s plan to cut gas

importation from Nigeria, he explained, “Ghana’s move to significantly reduce the quantity of gas importation from Nigeria will not affect our economy in any way. Every country is looking inward to build capacity locally, which is exactly what we need in Nigeria. This is the time for the citizens to support the efforts of government in growing the economy. For example, the governors in other States should look at what is happening in Akwa Ibom, in terms of infrastructure and human capital development and replicate the same across the country. If you visit the State, you will see that the current government has turn around the whole place by building good roads and other infrastructure needed to open up the State for Foreign Director Investments (FDIs).

This is what we need for national development. The

three tiers of government should key into economic concept of Akpabioism on capacity building. We need to train the mechanics, vulcanizers, hair dressers, barbers and other artisans to create wealth and employment in the economy”.

On the way out of the declining crude price, he stressed. “The way out is for government to take from what we have in the Excess Crude Account (ECA), which is estimated at about $4billion now. Also, we need functional plants to refine crude oil locally because we have a lot to benefit from it. At the moment, we spend about $60billion to import refined petroleum products, which can be channelled into other projects if we have local refineries. For instance, there are over 200 by-products in crude oil but we are only maximising fuel, diesel and kerosene.”

Seplat to pay US$0.06 per share as gas revenue rises by 24%

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EPL AT Petroleum Development Company Plc, Nigeria’s leading Nigerian indigenous oil and gas company, listed on both the Nigerian Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange, announced its Q3 results on October 30, 2014.

The company said average working interest production for the first nine months of 29,014 boepd, went up 8% from the same period last year, and maintains average working interest guidance of 29,000 to 33,000 boepd for the full year.

Crude revenue was US$576 million, falling 8% lower than in 2013 after lifting adjustments, while gas

revenue increased by 24% year-on-year to US$17 million.

The company’s net profit stood at US$228 million following one-off costs of US$54 million as reported in H1 2014.

Absent these charges, net profit would have totalled US$282 million.

The board of Seplat has agreed an interim dividend ofUS$0.06 per share. The Company has maintained a strong financial position with cash at bank of US$435 million at period end.

“We have continued to move the business forward in the third quarter. Production performance is strong and we

are well capitalised to take advantage of the current and new growth opportunities available to us,” said Austin Avuru, Seplat’s Chief Executive Officer. “However, like all producers, we are closely monitoring the oil price environment and have challenged ourselves to respond by redoubling efforts to improve efficiency and maximise profitability,” he added.

The growth in SEPLAT’s gas revenue is not unexpected as the company has always targeted an aggressive gas domestication strategy.

Underlining the key role gas

domestication would play, the Managing Director and CEO, Austin Avuru noted earlier this year that despite a slight shortfall in the gas revenue for the 2013 period, growth was on the horizon. ”Our gas production in 2013, however, fell marginally by 0.03 per cent year-on-year due to challenges in gathering associated gas within our major operating field but we remain focused in becoming one of the first four major players in Nigeria’s gas market. We are pursuing our gas domestication project in this regard. Already, we have signed a major gas contract

designed to deliver 322bcf of gas by 2017. We have improved our prices of gas sales contracts as we deploy resources to meet our domestic supply obligations to Sapele power plant and Geregu power plant and others as well as foreign buyers.”

With gas revenue rising by 24% year-on-year to US$17 million as reported in its Q3 results, SEPL AT’s gas domestication process seems to be yielding results with the company on course to become as Avuru said “becoming one of the first four major players in Nigeria’s gas market.”

‘Of what use is a government that cannot provide basic services for the citizens?’

Continued from page 28 most densely inhabited country in Africa with a population of 162 million people and growing rapidly. As the population increases, remote communities are further cut off and urban facilities become overstretched.

Recent global statistics, he stated, revealed that 63.2 million people in Nigeria don’t have access to safe water. ‘’Similarly, over 97,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. The pertinent question is, how does government implement a uniform drinking water policy in a society where majority of the population depend on contaminated rainwater, pond water, and water from streams/ rivers, for domestic use? But because water infrastructures are capital intensive, many of the poor communities do not have the resources to construct durable infrastructure, thus making water availability to the localities unreliable.”

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Intervention Meanwhile, the Alaafin has established a non-governmental organisation known as Oba Adeyemi/Skimeh Foundation.

The foundation, comprising of professionals, is to do an inventory of communities, especially rural areas in dire need of infrastructures and human development. The organization is wholly funded by the monarch.

The foundation’s first assignment was the borehole projects which were recently commissioned.

Commissioning the boreholes located at Ilora, Araromi, Akeetan Titun and Molaba respectfully at a colourful ceremony, Adeyemi said that in some communities across the country, waste-water and human waste are discharged into local rivers and streams and the teeming impoverished citizens depend on these sources for domestic use because they lack the funds to build wastewater treatment plants and modern water distribution infrastructures. He said under this

condition only those with financial wherewithal could afford to buy water daily from private water vendors that haul water in rusty tanks that contaminate the water.

“History shows that water resources development and basic water service has generally been handled by governments. And because a certain amount of water is needed for drinking and domestic use, water is considered a basic need and as a human right. Thus, governments are required to make basic water available to the citizens; also investment in water development requires large financial resources, which are often beyond the reach of private individuals and poor communities. As the nation’s population grows (currently, over 140 million) demand for water and other resources will also increase. What is the Federal Government doing to meet the challenges? Of what use is a government that cannot provide basic services to the citizens?”, the monarch said.

To expand access to clean water supply, the paramount ruler advised both the state and federal governments to invest copiously on rural and urban water scheme.

This, Alaafin asserted, should be part of the NEEDS and poverty alleviation programmes.

While eulogizing Governor

Abiola Ajimobi for his visionary administration and unprecedented devotion to the well-being of the people of the state, Adeyemi pledged to use his resources to complement the administration’s transformation agenda, especially on rural development.

2015 NASS: lgbuya, Amori, others back ldisi

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HE Political Adviser to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Chief Ighoyota Amori, the Majority Leader, Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Monday Igbuya, former PDP State youth leader, Mr. Arthur Akpowowo and Ethiope East Council boss, Mr. Sunday Onoriode have backed Mr Lovette Idisi’s bid to represent Ethiope federal constituency at the National Assembly.

Mr. Idisi who got the backing of the PDP leaders during his

consultation visit to Ethiope West local government area, promised not to disappoint them if he is given the opportunity to represent his constituency.

Speaking at the country home of Chief Ighoyota Amori, the majority leader of the Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Monday Igbuya said he has the mandate of his leader, Chief Ighoyota Amori to ask Idisi to go ahead, saying he has no rival in Ethiope West, urging them to allow who the cap fits to wear it.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 31

FALLOUT OF JET IN $9.3M ARMS DEAL

Oritsejafor not as close to Jonathan as many people think – Helen, wife •Says southerners don’t value husband

BY SAM EYOBOKA Another Jubilee Word Festival is around the corner.

What shape will this year’s event look like? ith eminent speakers like Rev. Felix Omobude, Bishop Mike Okonkwo, Pastor Philip Thomas, Bishop John Francis (UK), Pastor Jonathan Miller (USA), and Bishop Wayne Malcolm (UK), this year ’s event, billed for November 916, is loaded. We also have guest artistes like Frank Edwards (Nigeria), Lara Geaorge (Nigeria), VaShawn Mitchell (USA) and SONNIE BADU (UK) who will be ministering alongside our Milk and Honey Choir.

Theme of this year ’s programme holding at the Word of Life Bible Church, Ajamimogha, Warri is; ‘Talitha Cumi Arise 2015’. It’s really going to be awesome. At every Jubilee we always have a segment that excites delegates from all parts of the country and several nations of the world: last year for instance, we decided to reach out to the blind in the society. We bought a bus and provided a lot of aids to them. I’m not going to give you what is happening this Jubilee. Every time Jubilee is around the corner, I know it is another forum whereby God is going to use it to elevate certain people by the special grace of God.

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Your husband, the CAN president, has received a lot of bashing lately. How do you react?

For us southerners, we might not really appreciate what Papa Ayo Oritsejafor is doing and the role he is playing in Christianity in Nigeria because we are not directly affected by the activities of the terrorist group, Boko Haram. Christians in the North are the ones experiencing it, they are the ones losing fathers and C M Y K

tional ife of the Na stian Chri President of Nigeria, CAN, f o n o Associati tsejafor, is ri O n Hele .) rs ize (M r o st a P orts to organ ff e g in k a m ’s annual currently Bible Church duled for e if L f o rd o W Festival sche Jubilee Word 6. Last week, she found -1 November 9 on preparations for the k a e cluding time to sp onal issues in rms ti a n r e th o d ney for a event an .3 million mo the recent $9 : ts saga. Excerp

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•Pastor (Mrs) Oritsejafor

mothers, children; being dislocated. They are the ones who see people’s throats being cut off as chickens; their houses being burnt by petrol bombs and their young ones both boys and girls being abducted on daily basis. They value him so much. They know that whatever he is going through today is because of them. It was actually them who came to persuade him to run for CAN presidency. The first time they came, he used wisdom for them and said he would think about it. They came back again and kept coming because they know who he is. He is a good man. If there is anything I know my husband to be is that he is a good man to a fault, and sometimes I really feel for him.

Unfortunately, the society of nowadays does not value a man like this especially those of us in the South. He is much respected in the North.

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ow did the news of his jet’s involvement in the $9.3m money for arms saga hit you?

I was really surprised. I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know our plane was out of the country because we leased it out to a company in Abuja so that we will be able to utilize whatever comes out of the deal for the maintenance of the plane because it is quite

expensive. So we didn’t know. was it that it was Papa’s plane We read and heard comments that would be hired? How some people made concerning would it be that it would be his it, unknown to us that our plane plane of all planes in Nigeria was actually involved. We were that they needed for that really surprised just like many mission? It’s still very baffling. other people. In all honesty, by Number two, it became obvious the time we got that it was to know that it orchestrated was Papa’s and the whole plane, we knew essence of it is that enemies to see how were trying to they can give I didn’t know play some him a name prank. It is God has not our plane was natural because given to him, out of the he is a symbol of and all country Christianity in because he has Nigeria.

If been a very because we anyone wants to utspoken leased it out to oman. move against I know a company in Christianity in him too well, Nigeria, it he is a very Abuja so that would be easier down to earth we will be able for the one to go person, and he to utilize after the symbol. doesn’t know The only thing is how to hide his whatever I wasn’t feelings. He is comes out of expecting a very quiet the deal for the and reserved people to get really dirty as person. But maintenance they did. then when of the plane there is a need because it is The whole for him to e p i s o d e speak about quite appeared as if anything, he expensive somebody was would rather out for some confront things sinister joke... the way they It’s quite are rather than obvious. Take for to hide behind instance, why his fingers.

That is not him. I know quite a number of people have been very uncomfortable with that especially with the Boko Haram situation.

Let’s be frank, who would not be affected? You are leading a body and gradually, there seems to be an elimination of this same group of people. You would be a wicked leader not to react. I wouldn’t even call you one not to have reacted towards what was really going on in Nigeria and is still going on by the way. So he made every effort. He noticed that our government wasn’t really upcoming with a lot of things; we seem to try to politicize a lot of things in Nigeria which is quite troubling.

He went out of his way to go address the US Congress. It was quite obvious that terrorism was being financed not just from within but from outside as well, whether to destabilize or in a way, indirectly force on Nigeria a particular religion which is quite shameful. And he was not comfortable with that. If you would know, this was injustice.

So he is now paying the price for being an outspoken man, defending his people, defending Christianity in Nigeria, and do not want Nigerians having to hide their

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Continued from page 31

There is no iota of truth in it. He has a lot of them as friends. Papa Ayo’s relationship with Sultan of Sokoto is still strong as ever.

When Islamic fundamentalists were killing his Christian brothers and sisters in the North, he was forced to urge their leaders to speak against the killings. Let us find solution to this, you have a right to practice your religion, I have equal right as well to do same and we must not be at each other’s throats; and somebody being at the receiving end and having to keep quiet, I must speak out because I am the leader. That’s who we are talking about here.

heads later on in life because whichever way we look at it, history will tell.

Why do you think that some people would politicise a purely security issue like that?

Well it’s natural. Number one, it is the perception. By the special grace of God, a man who has lived a life that is worthy of note, a man with an integrity that is without blemish, who will never compromise his stand whichever way it is; automatically, that man has added so much value to Christianity and of course the umbrella of Christianity in Nigeria which is Christian Association of Nigeria. So a personality like Papa Ayo Oritsejafor, is a threat to anyone who sees him as one because they believe he has a voice, he has a clout, coupled with the fact that the present president of Nigeria happens to be a Christian who is also from the South-South. So they believe that this man is definitely going to support his brother, he would want him to come back being a Christian as well.

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ithout having to say too much, if I could say this, it is quite shameful. At a point, I was going to actually call some of the wives of these so-called people who were going outside saying a lot of things about my husband, having to engage them as well and see how it looks like, telling them to come out and look at the issue, how would they feel, how would people condescend so low? A lot of things I read in the newspapers, sometimes they amuse me, sometimes I’m a little bit surprised. But when people begin to fabricate stories and they are doing everything in their power to hang a man. It’s quite surprising to me because I would think that what we should be talking about should be the dividends of democracy.

We don’t even have what they call political surgery. In developed countries, they have surgery where there’s what we call town house where it is expected at the local government level, state level and at whatever level, where people would be able to ask certain questions to the leadership, and challenge them on how they are piloting the affairs of the nation. With what I have seen, Nigeria is yet to get to that level and that is why we look for every necessary means to pull down people instead of fixing the issues on ground.

At least now we all know that it is the National Security Adviser who hired that plane out, who happens to be a relation of the Defence minister and who happens to be an inlaw to the Sultan of Sokoto. I had a lot of respect for the Sultan of C M Y K

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Oritsejafor’s wife: My husband’s ties with Jonathan Sokoto. Before this issue of Boko Haram and so on, himself and my husband used to be very close. I could remember every now and then when he wanted to talk to my husband; he would often ask how is mama? If there were issues in the newspapers and all that, he would call in to find out things and so on and so forth. I so much cherished his relationship with my husband.

But I’m a little bit surprised because no matter how it is, you know your friend. We must not allow bigotry to take away our innocence, our integrity, our corner in the name of what we are trying to get. We must not allow that to happen. We must always remember posterity because one way or the other, posterity will always judge.

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nd we must not throw caution to the wind because of whatever we are trying to achieve. We must also remember that Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor is a husband of a woman who has children as well; regardless of whatever we are trying to do. This is a man that I know, and some Nigerians also know that this is a man who is so loving and caring. If there’s anything this man can do to alleviate the downtrodden ones in the society, he would do.

He’s done many. Many times

over and over again, he goes out of his way to buy brand new cars, tricycles, grinding machines and so on to alleviate poverty in this country.

He is a person who decided to start a micro finance bank, not necessarily to make money, but to see how he can help l i f t someone’s head up; in bridging gap between the poor and the rich.

H e believes the poor in our midst deserves every right to be somebody in life. This is a man who has sent thousands of people to universities through his Indigent Scholarship Scheme that he has in place over the

years. This is a man who a c t i v e l y participated in the peace initiative of Delta State that we are enjoying today.

As a matter of fact, but for a man such as this, I do not think that Delta State would have been what it is today.

There was nothing he didn’t do. He went out of his way to the creeks to speak to the militants, confronted situations headlong just to make sure he brings about peace.

What some people don’t know is that we love the Muslims. We do not have anything against Muslims.

A lot of people are sending wrong signals to a lot of people, particularly Muslims, thinking that Pastor Ayo is an enemy of Muslims. It is totally untrue.

Yes, there’s a relationship that has to do with being in his position as the President of CAN and President Jonathan as the President of Nigeria

hen the Niger Delta crisis was so heavy, a lot of Warri were closed down. They took off when the gunshots and so on were such a very messy situation. But he stood his ground. We have all kinds of tribes in Word of Life Bible Church today; there are people from the North, people from all parts of Delta State even at the time of the crisis. During the crisis, the church was functioning normally because he has always been a detribalized man. He is man that deals with people based on who they are, not according to tribe or religion.

He engages people based on who they are. He went out of his way to spend tens of million for internally displaced Ijaws at Ogbe Ijoh, shipping bags of rice, bags of clothes and all sorts of things just to bring succor.

And naturally, many Itsekiris grumbled saying he did not extend the same gesture to them and he asked them if the Ijaws were not our people too?

Whatever is happening, peace will definitely reign, we must not go back at each other. It was later he had to balance the whole thing so that they won’t think he’s one sided.

When you look at all these, when you look at a man who can do anything just to make sure that another man is comfortable, why should any man, all because of his disposition towards his people, go after him in this manner? It’s amazing.

What that goes to tell you is that they have looked for everything.

And I’m so proud of him. I’m proud of my husband. They have looked for every avenue.

We have heard of one or two people caught in some unholy alliance and so on, thank God my husband was not involved.

They have done everything they could do to try and pull him down. What they finally did was to use a gift that was given to him; he didn’t use his money to buy it.

Some people said President Jonathan bought it for him. I wish he did. I have the list of the names of people who masterminded this thing on our

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 33

Continued from page 32 record.

Hundreds and thousands of people, church folks who said this man served us with every vigor in him, we could see in him a great man and he’s not getting younger anymore. He is ever on the road constantly doing everything he can for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; let us try as much as possible in elongating his life by blessing him with this gift.

He didn’t buy it or put down money to say this is what he wants. He didn’t even know anything about it. I was aware of it. What I would have loved for them to tell me is to show me the receipt of the plane that was bought by President Jonathan and the person who said he bought the plane. I have heard all sorts of lies that maybe somebody did it on behalf of somebody. There’s no human being that can stand up to say I bought this plane. It’s a complete lie from the pit of hell. Because of his person, realizing the fact that what should he do with this plane knowing the amount of money that it’s going to cost to maintain it; if he was using church money to maintain it, they would have cried out to say he is using church money. You can see how foolish people can be. If President Jonathan bought him a plane, can’t the same President Jonathan maintain the plane? Why must it be hired out so as to sustain the maintenance of the same plane if indeed it was the president that bought this plane? They politicize a lot of things. It’s really annoying.

Is Pastor Ayo really that close to President Jonathan as his accusers allege? t is so amazing. I do not want to be rude or saucy so I’m trying as much as possible to hold my peace. Let me say this, I would love it if people can help me define that word ‘close’.

Yes there’s a relationship that has to do with being in his position as the President of CAN and President Jonathan as the President of Nigeria.

Automatically, whether he likes it or not, there will be some level of interaction and that is what Nigerians are calling closeness.

Maybe they should tell us how President Jonathan gave him one naira to buy a plane.

I don’t really think that Pastor Ayo is closer to the president than the Sultan of Sokoto, the co-chair of NIREC. This is not to say that Papa hates Jonathan, no he does not. He is a Christian and so as a Christian father to the nation, he tries his best to provide a guard. He speaks out whenever necessary. He goes in to offer his own advice or suggestion as the case maybe whenever he is asked to. When he wants to see the president, he makes request just like everyone else. And mostly, it is to discuss the issue of the nation. Many times, he

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$9.3m arms deal: `There was a sinister motive against Oritsejafor’

even the crew. The next thing he said was ‘Oh my God’. He said these people are after something.

I actually thought it was a joke because I wasn’t expecting anyone to condescend. I expect someone to be able to see between the lines. Please let us not belittle our government. Are you telling me that a whole Federal Government of Nigeria would need a pastor to help him move money to a location to buy arms?

That is an insult on this nation.

For anyone to even phantom it, it shows how small minded we are really, and that we don’t look at things wholistically. It just does not make any sense at all other than the fact that certain people just said since it is his plane, let us just see how we can rope him with it so that we can malign him at the end of the day since we have been unable to hook him to anything.

We were also told that the same people leaked the transaction to the media... hat’s the truth. They did.

They leaked it. When we now did our own investigation, we discovered that by the time the plane touched ground in South Africa, the picture was already taken. And some people were already having a meeting in London, and coming up with all sorts of stories and so on and so forth about him even before everything finally blew open. So it was all orchestrated right from Nigeria. Whoever such people are, they are not true Muslims or Christians. These are enemies of progress. These are people who are doing their very best in causing unnecessary discord between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria which is very sad. To use an innocent man to throw this sling is very sad.

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•Pastor (Mrs) Oritsejafor .. They wanted to malign my husband goes with his CAN executive council members to sit down with the president and confront him on certain issues all to see how the nation can be well piloted. What I have noticed is that whichever way you see it; if I say this man is not close to the president, they will say it’s because of what happened, if I say he’s close, they will say that is what we are talking about. I don’t even care what people might say concerning that because you can never please human beings. What I am saying is that please before you start giving this man a bad name, find out the true position of things.

Do not go out there forgetting that he is a husband to a woman and he is a father as well. Besides that, he is a man who has sacrificed himself. I think Nigerians even have him more than I do.

He is a very passionate person.

When he believes in something, he’s driven by it. He goes all out to see how he can really push across whatever he is trying to bring in. That’s who he is. When he got the leadership, when he was elected to lead Christians in Nigeria, he made up his mind that he was going to do everything and anything possible to propagate what he has been given. And he sees it as an assignment. Many times, people see leadership just to bear a name and enjoy it. I think if this man had wanted to enjoy the leadership as it were, maybe by now his relationship with the Sultan of Sokoto would be waxing stronger. And maybe he would have been enjoying more from the government as well. But he has decided to sacrifice all

that just like Moses. Moses sacrificed and said he was not going to allow the booting in Pharaoh’s house to override his judgment and so he shut himself out completely from the judgment at the palace and made himself a sacrifice for the liberty and freedom of the Israelites. That is what we are seeing now with our father as well. He has truly given himself out to the nation and then of course to the people who we call his constituents.

How did he receive the news of the plane saga? e didn’t a l s o know. When everything happened, according to what we heard, the plane was r e l e a s e d immediately and it came back to Nigeria. They didn’t even bother to contact us to tell us what happened. No one said anything.

Someone called him and asked ‘where is your plane?’ And he said he didn’t know but he

H

would find out from his wife. I have been the one managing it.

When everything happened, they put it on him, but I have actually been the one running it. So he called me and asked where the plane was, I said I didn’t know promising to call him back.

The person who called him told him the plane was impounded in South Africa.

So the gentleman said something happened. It was at that point he said one John came to hire the plane to fly South Africa.

The next they heard was they discovered this and that.

However, since they knew that the plane and the crew members had nothing to do with the transaction, they let the plane go which is the normal practice.

The only thing they do is that once that occurs, the next thing they do is to search whoever that is involved, pick the person and that’s it. No one is now going to start putting it on the plane or the owners or

Are you telling me that a whole Federal Government of Nigeria would need a pastor to help him move money to a location to buy arms?

Why is it that Christian leaders did not even see between the lines?

I think the greatest challenge in Christianity is that unlike our other side; they have a leader and regardless of how they feel, when that leader speaks, it is final. But in Christianity, everyone is a leader. The unnecessary rancor that actually takes place in our fold is quite sad and shameful. So it’s always very easy for these people to pounce on them and manipulate them against themselves. What they don’t even know is that they are the target.

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor is not the target; it’s every Christian in Nigeria. We are all the target. We are the ones they have targeted but of course they can’t get to everyone so they have to look for the person who represents Christianity in Nigeria and that is what we are experiencing.

It’s sad to see Christian leaders calling for the resignation of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and so on when some of them don’t even know the details of what happened.

It’s manipulation. And some C M Y K

PAGE 34 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

CASE FOR LEGALISATION OF ILLEGAL REFINERIES

We can mak ol sell below N9 7 per litre – TTiti iti Go vernor makee petr petrol N97 Governor *Begs FG for licence, lists the gains *’How I invented electric refining oven’

We can stop importation of refined products

“We can meet the regulatory standard if our operation is licenced. And if government approves our operation, we can stop importation of refined products, grow the economy as we will have all the required professionals too. It is a win-win situation, the standard will even be higher because we will have power and encouragement to improve on the refining method we have adopted. We assure the price of petrol will be reduced from the present N97 per litre and there will never be fuel scarcity in the country. We will even grow the economy faster as we will begin to export refined products.

We can build modular refineries

One of the illegal refineries uncovered by the JTF in Niger Delta

BY AKPOKONA OMAFUAIRE

A

CTIVITIES of operators of illegal refineries have been blamed for the drastic drop in crude oil production.

Illegal refining and crude theft have grown beyond the Niger Delta. To stop the trend, several billions of Naira has been expended to secure pipelines and fight oil bunkerers.

There are various schools of thought on how to curb the problem. While some opt for use of military might, others call for legalizing the process with licences given to operators. One of the illegal refinery operators, Chief Titi Governor, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, called for the legalizing of the operation, insisting that this will end oil theft, generate employment and boost the economy.

Governor, who invented the electric refining oven with the capacity to refine over 50, 000 litres of products in one trip, insisted that illegal refining cannot be stopped by the destruction of illegal refineries but the process can be improved upon.

“This is electric method of refining introduced by me; it works using high electrical heating procedure. God gave me this revelation after the militancy crisis; you know that necessity is the mother of invention. A thought came one day that if I could construct a refinery using electric heaters, it will work and refine better than the fire wood heating employed by others. That was how I started the process. Refining has semblance to alcohol refining whereby palm wine is heated to become local gin (Ogogoro). That is the experiment and it works for me,” he C M Y K

stated. He continued:

How I came about the technology

“I am a seaman who had travelled far and wide. While travelling round the world, I studied the white man refining over there. I adopted his method because it does not flare gas to pollute the environment. It has a method of harnessing the gas during the refining process through a special pipe provision and conversion method. Unlike our local refiners who pollute the environment, my method is sophisticated and efficient. I use 350KVA heater in the oven. I installed two of such powered by two big plants, each for one heater.

My refining capacity

“I can produce 50,000 litres per trip while my oven can produce about four trips in 24 hours, which is about 200, 000 litres in a day. I started with two heaters because the system requires a lot of voltage. I intended to install eight heaters before the military Joint Task Force came to destroy the place.

I had a gigantic crude storage tank which I constructed with about N8million; it has the capacity to store eight trucks, which is about 264,000 litres. The idea was conceived after discovering that Geepee tanks usually catch fire and, because we are safety conscious and don’t want any form of industrial accident, we opted for steel plate tanks. When crude boat comes, we offload them into the storage tank from where we start operation- so that the boat can go and bring another consignment of crude.

My method is unique

“My method refines quality

The business is a very profitable one; I can pay staff even better than Chevron and Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, if given licence to operate. We will create jobs and can stop sea pirates as a lot of youths will be gainfully engaged in the refining business petrol, kerosene, diesel and gas.

The quality of my product is better than what they produce in government refineries because we took samples of the products to laboratory for test. We actually did the sample test before we started mass production, though production never lasted for over two weeks before the military came to destroy all my efforts.

How we get crude “We have many sources where we get crude. We get from anywhere. Getting the crude is not difficult. We know that it is from illegal source but it is our area where the crude is being extracted and we know the method of getting it.

Cost of oven

“I spent a lot of money to construct the electric oven (kiln). I bought the plates in Warri, transported them to the location. I paid tips along the water ways before the welder’s charges. The oven cost over N11million to construct.

Government needs to

licence our operation

“The business is a very profitable one; I can pay staff even better than Chevron and Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, if given licence to operate. We will create jobs and can stop sea pirates as a lot of youths will be gainfully engaged in the refining business. I believe strongly that kidnapping, prostitution and armed robbery will also become a thing of the past.

Our business has the ability to engage both skilled and unskilled persons, no one will risk his life when there is genuine means of livelihood. We pay per drum refined and it is daily payment. Before the destruction, we made good money.

Business feasible not because crude is free

“The business is very profitable.

We pay for the crude. But if government gives us licence, the cost of crude will be a bit higher but this also means our price for finished products will increase a little. So anyhow it goes, it is a very lucrative business.

“For now we can’t build modular refineries, but if government assists us we can do it. The important issue is that our operation be legalized by giving us licence.

My decision to speak out is borne out of the fact that the daily destruction of these local refineries is not the solution; so doing can only push the operators into stealing. Since we have the ability to refine and build the national economy and create jobs, we have to cry out . This is brain development by the Ijaw people, it cannot die, it should be developed. Destruction of illegal refineries does more harm and pollution than the refiners, the Federal Government has to do something about it.

I had over 25 workers. But since the destruction of my camp, they have all been thrown into hunger. Government should look into this issue. I feed and accommodate my staff and they are happy.

I pay N1, 000 to the workers per drum; if two workers produce 40 drums over night, they have N40, 000. So you can imagine if they produce 100 drums for 24 hours.

No accident

“We have safety personnel in our operation I worked as a safety officer at sea, so we don’t compromise safety. We didn’t recorded any accident during our brief operation. We regulate our oven fire very well since it is electrical; we ensure every standard of safety is maintained.

I have three years experience

“I started refining business three years ago using the local technique. So the money I made I used it to improve the method.

But just after investing heavily in this new method, my camp was destroyed and I lost everything.

We don’t collaborate with the military in our activities, they obstruct our operation. We are fishermen and God gave us this technology, so government should see reason and support us; it is like our own way of farming.

SUNDAY, Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 35

The Do yles, Allisons se Doyles, sett Lagos alight with blissful union

T .

he families of Mr. & Mrs. Patrick Doyle, and that of the late Samuel Allison and Mrs Nyingi Allison set Lagos alight in pomp and pageantry when their children; Kaka Aderemi and Fred Boma tied the nuptial knots last weekend in Lagos. The traditional marriage was witnessed by the crème de la crème of the society at the Orchid Hotel, Lekki, Lagos. Photos by Shola Oyelese

Mr and Mrs Patrick Doyle, bride’s parents

L-R: Mr G. Sodienye Allison, Mrs Nyingi Allison, groom's motherand Chief Temple Benson.

The happy couple; Mr and Mrs Fred Allison

Barr Oti Edukugho (left) with Prince Yemi Emiko

Amina and Sagir L-R:Mrs Ronke Onayemi, Lady Maiden Ibru with Chief and Mrs Tokunboh Thomas

L-R: Chief Felix Esisi, Chief Temisan Grant and Chief K.E. Kartey.

L-R: Prof Egerton , Mrs Rita Omatseye, Mrs F. Samuel and Chief Felix Esisi.

F

ormer Miss Amina Giade has signed off her maiden name to become Mrs Mohammed Sagir. Families and friends graced the occasion.

L-R:Mr Kelly Arawore, with Dr and Mrs Chris Uwaje.

Edo State Commissioner for Sports Swearing-in ceremony of Dr Otaniyen declares to vie for the Oredo West Obasogie as a member of the Medical House of Assembly seat under the APC and Dental Council of Nigeria

The groom, Barrister Mohammad Sagir and bride, former Miss Amina Giade.

L-R: Sir David Osunde, Dr Otaniyen Ekhator Obasogie, Chief Eduwu Ekhator Obasogie (father of the celebrant) & Mrs (Eson) Sandra Ekhator Obasogie

From left;Barrister Mohammad Sagir and wife Amina, with bride's parents; Mr & Mrs Hauwa Giade

Hon Chris Okaeben (center) Edo State Commissioner for Sports declaring to vie for the Oredo West House of Assembly seat under the APC in Benin City.

PAGE 36 — SUNDAY Vanguard,

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

BOKO HARAM SURVIVORS

‘How we outwitted insurgents to escape’

*Cecilia Sumaila...They tied my hands and legs behind and said they will take me to Sambisa forest and slaughter me since I refused to convert to Islam

BY EBELE ORAKPO

S

uffering, indeed, is an equalizer in the human experience. It knows neither rich nor poor, religion nor ethnicity.

It was tears, sadness and gratitude to God, all at once as some victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria’s North-East recounted their experiences to Sunday Vanguard in Adamawa State recently. Some of the experiences were reminiscent of experiences of non-Nazis in Nazi Germany.

At St. Theresa’s Cathedral, Yola where some displaced persons had gone to get foodstuffs and receive medical care courtesy of the Catholic Diocese of Yola in conjunction with the American University of Nigeria, individuals, organisations and societies within the church, Sunday Vanguard spoke with some of the displaced persons who told their story of torture in the hands of the insurgents and eventual escape.

Cecilia Sumaila from Madagali said:

“When the Boko Haram insurgents came to my house, they met me and said they have been looking for me and I asked them why?

They said they want me to convert to Islam and I told them I could never do that.

They said ok, if they cannot

*Elizabeth Chutsi ...They gave me two turkeys and two chickens to kill and cook for them

convert me to Islam, then they would kill me. They tied my hands and legs behind and said they will take me to Sambisa forest and slaughter me and my children will never see me again. So everyone at home was kneeling and crying, including my mother in-law who held my feet and said they will not take me anywhere.

They were crying and begging that I should not be taken away but they insisted, saying I am very stubborn because I refused to convert to Islam.

They placed me on their motorcycle and for about two hours, they were threatening to take me to Sambisa and slaughter me but I insisted I was not going to convert. In the end, they said if not for my mother-in-law, they would have slaughtered me. They released me and I ran away and eventually came to Yola.”

Were they from Madagali?

“We see them in their long attires and guns going around town.”

Martina Ibrahim from Gulak: “When they came to my house, they met four of us, so they asked if we are Christians or Moslems and we said we are Christians so they said we should follow them so they could convert us to Islam. They took four of us to a big house still in Gulak. Fortunately, one of the women being held there helped me escape. She helped me to climb the wall and I scaled the wall to freedom.

When the insurgents came, they were searching houses, looking for men

Sadly, I don’t know whether the woman eventually escaped or she is still there in captivity. I don’t know where my husband and children are, whether they are alive or dead, I can’t say.”

Elizabeth Chutsi from Bazza: “It was on a

Sunday and some soldiers told us to leave because Boko Haram insurgents were coming. I just came back from the stream and entered a neighbour’s house to say hello.

There was an aluminium pot on the fire but she was not around, so I was asking where she could have gone leaving her pot on fire. As I was coming out of the kitchen, two members of the

*Kiviana John...We ran into a tomb and stayed for some time until the insurgents lost track of us

Boko Hara sect came in with two turkeys and two chickens.

They asked why I did not run and I said I was having stomach ache. They said I should not be afraid, that I should stay there and kill the turkeys and chickens and cook for them. So I asked them to allow me go and get my children so we could all do the job and they said I should go. I was walking as if I was going to drop dead at any moment.

They had guns and cutlasses.

As I opened the door, I saw some youths firing shots at some rocks. Those two were still in the house waiting for me to return. I went behind the hill and ran away.”

Mary from Michika:

“When the insurgents came, they were searching houses, looking for men. They would enter a house, ask for the men and if they found none, they would leave and enter the next house. After I locked my house, I came back to see that they had broken down the door and entered to search again. They found nothing. We became afraid and I told some of my neighbours (women) that there was no point staying there, that it was better for us to run. So we left for Michika.

Two days after we arrived in Michika, the insurgents started coming that way.

We were afraid and I told the women that we should go back to Gulak. We all went to Gulak

and spent one night. By 10 am the following day, some insurgents came and took us away. We were 10 women.

They took us to a big house.

They were speaking Kanuri language and, fortunately, I understand the language. They were saying they needed to carry us to Sambisa as quickly as possible because another set was coming.

I was in the midst of about 40 other women and I was the only Christian. I knelt down and was praying to God to intervene.

They were speaking Kanuri language and laughing. So I stood up to speak to them. My neighbour asked if I was not afraid of them and I said no, that I wanted to speak to them, after all, our staying there was death already because, at the end of the day, they would take us to Sambisa. I raised my hand and they asked if I had something to say and I said yes.

I spoke to them in Kanuri, telling them that I left my young children at home and no one was looking after them and since they said they were going to take care of us, they should allow me to go and get them so we could all be together. They asked where my husband was and I told them he was on admission in a Kano hospital.

They allowed me to go and get the children. That was how I escaped to Yola through Kamale. My children were already in Yola at this time.

Continues on page 37

SUNDAY Vanguard,

NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 37

BOKO HARAM SURVIVORS RELIVE ‘ESCAPE FROM HELL!’

‘Insurgents were obsessed with capturing men’ said: “We cannot say they are sympathisers but some of the commanders have already sold out the soldiers. That is what is happening. So when they attack, the commanders will not command the troops to attack them. They just keep withdrawing instead of attacking. But I think some of the soldiers are members of Boko Haram; in fact, many are sympathetic to the sect because some of the soldiers don’t shoot at the insurgents, they just shoot into the air to exhaust their bullets. Some have been known to shoot at fellow soldiers instead of the insurgents.”

Continued from page 36 Kiviana John from Gulak.

“When this crisis happened in Madagali, we were deceived into believing that it will never get to Gulak. But as days went by, people began to pack foodstuff to hide in the forest. As a widow, I had no one to help me, so a kind-hearted neighbour helped me to take two bags of guinea corn. Shortly after, the insurgents entered Gulak and people began to flee into the bush.

We were in the bush for one week without food. One day, my sister said we should go and look for food as others were doing since the children were hungry and sick. She insisted we go and look for food. We decided to go to Gulak because my children were really hungry and sick.

We went in the night and got the food quite alright but on our way back to the bush, some insurgents sighted us, arrested us and were forcing us to go with them to their camp. By this time, my mother-in-law had taken my children away from me so I didn’t even know where they were. The insurgents asked one of them on motorcycle to lead us to their camp.

As he rode slowly and we followed behind, he was cursing us, calling us heathens whom Allah had sent them to save but we prefer darkness to light. ‘You heathens, we want to make you clean and show you the light so that you will follow the way of truth but you prefer darkness, we will deal with you.’

I said no problem, if death comes while following Christ, no problem but I will not abandon my faith for Islam.

The other women with me could not utter a word. I told them to say something, that even if we are to face death, we should die in Christ. He went ahead of us on his bike as we followed behind.

Whenever he look back, we would hasten our steps and whenever he turned his face away from us, we would slow down. At a point, he turned into a corner and could not see us. We quickly dropped the foodstuff to save our lives. We ran into a tomb and stayed for some time.

They were looking for us all over the place and when they could not find us, they left, that was how God saved us and we escaped being taken to their camp.”

*The survivors waiting to receive relief materials at St. Theresa’s Cathedral, Jimeta, Yola.

the gate and leave because if they met me there, they will kill me.

They then escaped in their armoured. They had weapons but they all escaped. I refused to leave. I went into the church and told my parish priest what the soldiers said. The priest said we should leave because Boko Haram had already entered Gulak. He came out and saw the soldiers escaping. He asked if I was going home and I assured him I was not going to leave him there all alone for the love of Christ. Within 30 minutes, we started hearing gunshots and bombs exploding at Gulak. We spent the night in the church. On Saturday, some people came to the church and asked me to leave because the insurgents were looking for us. I told them I was going nowhere. I told my priest and he left for Michika saying if I hear gunshots, I should escape.

After he left, I was all alone in the parish. I spent the night there.

The following day being Sunday, by 7.30am, the priest called me and said he was on his way back to the church; so I went to dress the altar for service. When he came and started the mass, I told him to continue, that I was going to stay outside to keep watch and if I see the insurgents coming or hear gunshots, I’d let him know. Within 30 minutes, the mass, attended by 15 people, was over and the priest told me he was going to outstaYohanna Haman tion. I was once again alone works as the chief security in the church. Within 30 officer of St Pius Catholic Church, Shuwa in Madagali minutes, the insurgents Local Government Area. His came. They blocked the story was like a scene from a whole road and nobody could go out.

James Bond movie.

As soon as I sighted them, His words: “This happened God helped me to quickly in September. I was at the lock the gate and stayed gate when some Muslim within the parish until brothers came to us and 6.30pm when I scaled the asked us to leave the compound and run away. We did wall to escape, I found out they had taken over the road not listen to them because so there was no way I could they were military people cross to my house without and they came in their armoured car. They told us to being seen. I went to the bush behind my house leave because insurgents where I stayed till 2.30am were on their way to the area. They said I should lock and then scaled the fence

I saw one of them outside the gate, so I took the opposite direction and jumped into the convent.

Some of them saw me and pursued me. I scaled the fence. They began following on motorcycle and shooting at me. It was a miracle that I was not hit by bullets. I fell on the ground and they felt I was dead, so they left me.

Later, I found my way out of Shuwa.

You heathens, we want to make you clean and show you the light so that you will follow the way of truth but you prefer darkness, we will deal with you

into a neighbour ’s compound and stayed. At about 5.25am, I went back into the bush and, from there, climbed back into the church premises. I went into the priest’s sitting room and locked myself inside.

Within a short time, the insurgents came through St. Joseph’s Minor Seminary, Shuwa, and surrounded the seminary and came to our parish and surrounded it also. I heard gunshots, they were shooting the padlock, trying to enter the church premises but they could not.

They decided to find another means of breaking the gate to gain entrance into the church. At this point, I opened the sitting room door and came out.

Barnabas Paul Mbiya from Michika: “When the insurgents attacked Gulak, we were not aware they were coming to Michika but people were running up and down. I even took my family to the mountainous area and left them there and came back home to sleep. We were only three in the whole area.

I saw soldiers arriving that evening and that boosted my confidence to stay. On Sunday, we went to church; after service, my sister called me from Shuwa to say insurgents were in Shuwa and that I should find my way out; so I told some of my friends that we should leave the town. I went home and packed a few things and my documents and tied on my motorcycle. I left every other thing in the house including my animals and about 60 chickens. As I coming out, the insurgents entered Michika, they were pursuing soldiers because at that point, they were not concerned about civilians, only security agents. The soldiers asked me to go back but I refused because if I went back, the insurgents would attack me. I decided to climb the mountain. We spent three days on the mountain with no food. On the third day, I decided to go down and find my way to Yola. People were telling me not to go down but I had made up my mind. I took my family and went down and, from there, we paid N2,000 to Mubi Road on motorcycle and boarded a bus to Yola.

Mbiya believes that some of the soldiers are sympathetic to the insurgents. He

Regina Bitrus:

“We were working on the farm on the fateful day when around 3.00pm I decided to go home. But when we got to the stream, my son said he wanted to bathe. I was carrying one of the children on my back; suddenly, a man came out of nowhere, all covered up; only his eyes were visible. When I turned and saw him, I ran. He caught me by the hand and we began to struggle and I was able to push him down. If not that I held his hand, he would have slaughtered me and my children. I ran home and told my people that I was leaving the village. They said they were going to look for the man but that I should leave everything to God. I had four new wrappers worth N8,000 which someone bought for N1,000. I used the money to transport myself and children to Kamale to Sina-gali then to Mubi and Yola.

Naomi Zira from Michika: The insurgents

met us at home. All our neighbours had left town, including my father and siblings.

My daughter saw one of them coming from behind our house and alerted me. But I couldn’t run. I was pregnant.

My daughter fled into the bush and they entered and met me. They asked what I was doing and I said I could not run. They asked if I had food and I said even if I had nothing to eat, I would still not run. They asked where my husband was and I said they should go in and search because my husband had left three days earlier.

They said they would be back in the evening to convert me to Islam and I said I should convert to Islam at this age? I said even if they decide to kill me, I will not convert. They said they will leave but if they came back and still met me there, they would slaughter me. As they drove off, I took the bush path taken by my daughter. I got to a rice farm and met other members of my family there.

We spent two nights there. I didn’t have money to travel, we were helped by some people to get here.”

PAGE 38 — SUNDAY Vanguard,

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

Situation of Boko Haram survivors critical —Bishop Mamza and now he has more than 50 people in his house, he cannot ask them to go and he has his own family to cater for. Some of them live in one room and parlour apartment with more than 30 people living there. I have gone round and seen some of these places. These are the ones that are badly in need.

BY EBELE ORAKPO Boko Haram insurgency in parts of the North-East has seen many people killed and those who survived managed to escape after losing all their possessions to the insurgents. Sunday Vanguard visited the Most Rev. Stephen Dami Mamza, Catholic Bishop of Yola Diocese who, in conjunction with other organisations, is seeing to the welfare of thousands of internally displaced persons taking refuge in the homes of friends and relations in and around Yola. In this chat, Mamza speaks on the enormity of the situation faced by victims of Boko Haram and how the church and other organisations have tried to help. He calls on public-spirited individuals and organisations to come to their aid to alleviate the victims’ sufferings.

Excerpts: What is the situation on ground now?

The situation of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Adamawa State has been very critical since the people of Madagali, Michika and part of Southern Borno were displaced over two months ago. The situation is getting worse. We have thousands of displaced people in Yola now. (Since this interview, more towns and villages have been sacked by Boko Haram, rendering thousands more homeless.)

Three groups of displaced people: There are three categories of displaced people –first are those that ran to the mountains around Michika and Madagali and to other bushes. These people are still living there and they have no food. As a matter of fact, some of those that left the mountains and came to Yola about two weeks ago told me that if you go to the mountain now, you will not find any edible green leaves because foodstuff completely got exhausted, so all the edible green leaves have been consumed by people as there is nothing else to eat.

Now, there is no food there and you cannot even carry relief materials to the place.

People trekked more than three, four days to reach Mubi before coming to Yola.

One of my relations actually had her daughter strapped at her back as they moved and she didn’t know when the daughter died on her back. So the situation is really very critical.

The second group of

Bishop Mamza...all the edible green leaves on the mountains have been consumed by people because there is nothing else to eat

One of my relations actually had her daughter strapped to her back as they moved and she didn’t know when the daughter died

displaced people are those that have come into Yola and other places and they are at the NYSC camp and few schools in Jimeta metropolis.

These people’s situation, I can say, is not too bad in the sense that they have enough foodstuff and enough relief materials; the only thing is that they are not in their homes and so, they can never be comfortable but at least, they are being taken care of.

The third group is the one I feel their situation is actually very critical. These are the ones that live with family members and friends.

You hardly see somebody that comes from either Madagali, Shuwa, Baza or southern Borno who does not have a relative in Yola and our people are not used to living in camps so unless the situation is so difficult that there is just no option, if not, people will not go to the camp as a good option. Most of them will live with their relations. Even in my house, the first two weeks after it happened, I had over 100 people in my house and right now, my domestic quarter is full. Some of these family members and friends are low income earners; one of them may be the only person from a particular village living in Yola and everybody from that village will come to him and he has no option than to accommodate them. He cannot ask them to leave. He may probably be earning N10,000 – N15,000 a month

Fending for the displaced: Our people are not used to begging so they would prefer to manage and even die in silence than to go and beg. We have so many of them now. In fact, those living in camp are less than two per cent of the whole population of displaced persons. In St. Theresa’s Cathedral, we have had three major food distributions and what we did was to start by registering people.

I decided to ignore those living in the camp because they have enough food and relief materials. People from Abuja and other places, NGOs, both federal and state governments send things to them but those that are neglected are those living with families so I decided to register only those living with their families. We decided, under Justice and Peace, to register one person representing the whole family so we are not registering every member of the family. We took an average of five persons per family and the first distribution we had, we prepared packages for 1,500 families because we registered about 1,500 at that time but when we started distribution, those that came were getting to 2,000. Then the second distribution was meant for 2,000, but then again, more came. Today (October 22, 2014), we actually prepared for about 3,000 families and we started last week but unfortunately, the number became so large, they were more than 5,000 so we had to stop distribution when it started getting rowdy. I discovered that those that are more critical are the women – they do the cooking and take care of the children so the message I sent out was that we would concentrate on women and it is easier to control women and to take care of them so today, we shall be expecting between 2,500 and 3,000 women at St. Theresa’s Cathedral and it is hoped that the distribution will be very successful. (It was indeed very sucessful as witnessed

by Sunday Vanguard.

Nobody left the church empty-handed.)

How do you get relief materials?

The materials come from different individuals and also from some organisations and societies within the church. As a matter of fact, what I am getting as donation is not only from the Catholic Diocese of Yola, there are some that sent relief materials even from Port Harcourt; the Daughters of Charity came here about three weeks ago, they were here for 10 days giving free medical treatment to all the displaced people living with family and friends. After they left, we had to continue with what they started so we had to buy medications and engage some of our medical personnel from St. Francis Hospital and also some displaced medical doctors and nurses who assist in taking care of them medically. Even Bishops Conference from different dioceses in Nigeria sending their own contributions and that is what we have been using to assist the displaced people.

Situation getting worse: It’s even getting worse because we discovered that the number of the displaced people is increasing and the simple reason for the increase is that those on the mountain are coming down because of lack of food. One of the problems that I feel is there now is that some of the family members are getting tired of taking care of their relations. I heard that some of them had to leave for the camp because there is no food. Most of those that were trapped in their houses must have died due to hunger.

Either they are killed by the insurgents or they die of hunger.

When they took over Madagali, they proceeded to Michika and Bazza so the military had to go there and when the military saw the pressure, the Airforce had to destroy the bridge that links Bazza with Mubi side so that the insurgents could not cross and that was why they stopped there. Michika and Mubi are Christian-dominated areas. In fact, when the Catholic Church came to Adamawa State, they started from these areas.

More than 85 per cent of the population is Christian.

They are called Nyamirin Arewa, (Igbos of the North) because they are mostly into business and also mostly Christians. In my home town, Baza, 90 per cent of the population is Catholics and in Michika, EYN (Church of the Brethren Mission) dominates.

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 39

.....CRIME AND NATIONAL SECURITY

violence, trouble.

We are talking about Boko Haram of now, what of the Boko Haram that is coming. Shekau, I can spiritually confirm to you, is dead. Nobody is lying about whether or not he is dead. He is dead. But somebody will take over from him, the group will divide into two, some will cease fire, some will not cease fire and they will now operate under a new name.

Jonathan needs serious prayer, fasting

So government can prepare against that...

Those people are already recruiting and training. This is talking from spiritual realm.

— Primate Ayodele ’We warned against dialogue with Boko Haram’ •

N

igeria-based global-view prophet, Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele, is not comfortable with the administration’s disobedience to the words of God. The IkereEkiti State-born man of God feels bad that the people surrounding our leaders oftentimes do not allow them access to the truth, that is, the word of God, which should have led them aright in the administration of the country and the states, adding that President Jonathan’s needs fasting and prayers if he really means to contest the 2015 election. In this interview, the founder and Head of Inri Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos says prophecy is not about doom but guidance which, if obeyed, has ways of linking Nigeria to solution to its problems. Excerpts: have been reactions There to the state of the nation from virtually all the sectors.

As a man of God in the God’s vineyard, what is your own attitude to the way the nation is going?

Everything is well documented. There is nothing that is going on now that has not been documented in my book titled, “Warnings to the Nation”. So the issue of this country going the way it is had been foretold years back, which must come to pass and the reason is government ignores God. They do not take God’s words seriously. Maybe they are doing that because those words are coming from us who do not belong to CAN, Christian Association of Nigeria, or PFN, Pentecostal Federation of Nigeria. That may be one of their reasons they ignore warnings of the Lord. That is number one.

Number two about the state of the nation is that if a prophet speaks, he finds solution. We said APC, All Progressives Congress, should fast 27, 28, 29 (of October). The question should be, for what? Did they

really take the fast serious? Why are they not taking it serious?

What is the problem? Now, if anything happens, who do you want to blame?

They are three reasons. One, if they really want to control the central government as a ruling party (in 2015), then they must fast. When they refused the word of God and did not fast, if they now fail, who do you want to blame? That fast can take them to the next level. Then two is for them not to lose any of their leaders and three for the avoidance of wrangling among themselves. But they did not take it serious! That is part of the state of the nation.

Again, we specifically said that there would be problem in the NFF, Nigerian Football Federation. When they picked Amaju Pinnick, we insisted that there was still going to be

problem even before they removed Keshi. Did they really take those words serious?

We said Federal Government should not dialogue with Boko Haram because if they dialogue with some, some will still be in existence. Did they take that serious? Now we read that they dialogued with fake Boko Haram group. Is it not an insult to the Federal Republic of Nigeria?

Okay, what is it that God has not said? Every country has its own national prophet and, if you are a national prophet, forget about may be you talk about government or not. If God could send Samuel to anoint Saul as the king of Israel and that same prophet was also used to anoint David, was Samuel not a national prophet? People like Isaiah and Elijah were famous prophets. God would send them anywhere.

So many things have been predicted and said but they ignored them and so we are where we are.

But Mr. President has just travelled to Israel. Is it not because of his

government’s recognition of the words of God? Are you talking about President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan? What has he got to do in Israel? He is just there wasting time. I had said that Jonathan should go into 14

,

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

post-election trouble is what I want to beseech Nigeria to curtail with prayers and our doings. First to seventh of January 2015, let us pray on our own for peaceful elections.

Churches, mosques should commit the 2015 elections in the hands of God because the

The current situation in the country is what it is because our leaders berate God. They are not ruling with the fear of God

days fasting and praying if he really wanted to contest the 2015 presidential election. He must go to this fasting and prayer because that is what will help him. We had said it that some people will gang up against him. Is that not what we are seeing now? And more gang-up is to come. As far back as 2013, we said Aminu Tambuwal will defect from the PDP. Has it not happened?

Political troubles in some states which we predicted, have they not happened? Then what were those people concerned looking that they did not seek the face of the Lord as directed by God in order to spare us all of these troubles? And we still have political crisis coming up in Ekiti, Rivers, Lagos, Oyo, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Taraba and Gombe. How are we going to manage it?

And everybody talks about peaceful 2015.

Yes, in 2015, we all want peace but has the government taken the step to peace?

There will be trouble before the elections and there will be trouble after the elections. The

,

polls are a serious matter!

Serious, not because it will be the end or mark the collapse of Nigeria. No. Nigeria will not collapse in 2015 but, in the next 30 years, we may not have Nigeria anymore because I see republics coming of this country, but it will not start in 2015. The current situation in the country is what it is because our leaders berate God. They are not ruling with the fear of God. They go to Mecca only for fancy prayers and go to Jerusalem for relaxing prayers.

But Jonathan must take this observation of 14-day fasting and prayers serious beginning from the first of December.

As for those talking of Buhari as the messiah, picking Buhari is not the issue. The issue is what can he do? Even among the governors, so many things are coming up. The country is shaking. There is danger ahead of the country and Nigeria is sitting on a time-bomb. We should not allow the ship to sink because allowing it to sink will cause a lot of problems. We have just started, but Nigeria needs a lot of prayers to survive the moments. The country will not break yet but I can see

Since the men of God are actually the ones God has placed in charge of the world and people that are thought to know what to do, don’t take heed, what are you doing to help get the operators of the society to come to their senses?

I am not a minister in Jonathan’s cabinet. I am only fit to put things right in God’s kingdom, not of Jonathan, not of any government in the world.

The only way I know that I am fit is passing the message through your medium.

How do you appraise the media in collaborating to amplifying the message?

I do not read papers all the time but I think the media have done their own best in passing the message across. My advice is that the media should not tamper with prophecies. They should deliver prophecy the way it is and not to interpret in their own way.

It is believed that because the Church has mingled too much with government, it is no longer playing its precise role in the society. How can the Church be made better?

The Church is also in government. Government is the Church of bringing people together to formulate policies to move a nation forward. That is my own definition of government. You may have your own definition of what government is all about, where it comprises the Obas, the Church and Mosque leaders, the politicians and so on. It comprises of so many bodies coming together to decide the fate of a given society. You cannot separate, therefore, the Church or the mosque from the government. The role of the Church and Islamic body in government is to tell them what the Lord says. But how many prophets are there to say ‘this is what the Lord says’ and stand by it?

Finally, I have said that in Lagos, APC needs to pray hard if they really want to win. And once they pick an aspirant linked to a monarch and a top party leader as their candidate, the PDP should just be celebrating because, that will be the beginning of the end of APC in Lagos and other states of the South-west. All these should guide the society to get its acts together to do the right things all the time because does not leave anybody unguided.

PAGE 40 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

The Bumper-to-Bumper VIO who entertains Abuja road users

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

W

HEN people love the work they do, work becomes more than a job to them; it becomes a unique calling, a life’s mission.

People with passion for their work do not only carry out their duties, but also brush off stress, anger and tiredness.

Though such passion is all too rare in the workplace because organizations like the Directorate of Road Traffic Services, DRTS, popularly known as Vehicle Inspectorate Office, VIO, do not even know how to cultivate it.

But a VIO official, Gbenga Titus Oladimeji, in Abuja, changed the axiom of ‘let my people go’ kind of commitment to work with his enthusiasm to duty. Oladimeji redefined dedication to work in traffic control that endeared him to thousands of road users, even little children in the nation’s capital.

He gets to his duty post, opposite Bick City Estate, near Kagini Bus Stop, along Dei Dei Expressway, Kubwa, as early as 5a.m to ease traffic.

Whether rain or sunshine, he joyfully controls traffic with all the zest his 50-year-old body can muster.

In high spirit, Oladimeji, popularly known as “Bumper-toBumper, Keep on Moving”, hails from Ilesa, Osun. He told Sunday Vanguard, in an interview, that he loves what he does and enjoys easing traffic in the metropolis and that, he has been doing for the past 14years.

He passes and stops vehicles by hand, head, hips and, sometimes, suspends one of his legs where possible, in the air to dictate the flow of traffic.

In recognition of his commitment to work, the VIO man received awards from the National Productivity Order of of Merit; Covenant Ministerial Chaplaincy, CMC, and Rotary Club of Abuja, Maitama.

Motorists and passengers look forward to seeing this officer everyday following his entertaining display while carrying out his duty of vehicular control. Without a shred of doubt, the uncommon display of Oladimeji thrills motorists and passers by who cheer him as he controls traffic. “I do the job with much enthusiasm because I am always happy,” he said.

“With or without being promoted, l will always be happy with my job. Promotion will come when it is God’s time. When God decides to promote me, I will

*Oladimeji ... unusual traffic controller! be happy for it, but without promotion, I am still dedicated to my duty” .

Asked about his immediate family, he said he has a family of five, a wife and four children.

His first son is in the university, the second one, a printer, while the last two are in secondary school..

People call him ‘Bumper-toBumper’ because of the way he acts on the road. A blend of seriousness and friendly gestures made him popular amongst the residents including children.

“They call me Bumper-toBumper because of the way I act. Even small children know me. When they close from school, they will be shouting from their school bus, “Bumper-toBumper...Keep on Moving”, he said.

“Once I am doing my work, I don’t know anybody. Even my wife was greeting me one day, I did not see her. I live in Niger State and come to work everyday, resuming by 5am. Even when I was working in Kwali, I never went late to work and, since 2000 when I started work, I have never missed work or even fallen sick. Surely, it is God. What will I be doing in the house, will I give children food or breast?”

Oladimeji’s entertaining display does not make him lose focus by not arresting vehicles that are not road worthy. “Once

I see any vehicle that is not roadworthy, I get it arrested,” even as he pleaded that ‘motorists should make our job easier by simply complying with traffic rules”.

He encourages his colleagues to go about their duties dedicatedly. “My advice to the uniformed people is to always be at their duty post always. I will always advise my children not just for today but for the

“You see, it is interesting that this man is taking traffic control to a high level; you don’t see such displays in other parts of the world; this guy is very innovative and must be encouraged”, Adejo said.

“Most times, when I am provoked at work or at home, I drive with aggression but once I sight this innovative traffic warden, my mood swings to a positive note”.

People call him ‘Bumper-toBumper’ because of the way he acts on the road. A blend of seriousness and friendly gestures made him popular amongst the residents including children future as well, and to be always hard working and God will elevate them”, he posited.

Mr Bolatito Adeniyi, a motorist, who claimed that he had been driving in the FCT for more than eight years, says Oladimeji brightens his day as he drives past with his smiles and dedication to work.

According to him, such moments provide a comic relief for him especially when he is sober because of hassles at home or at work.

Another motorist, Mr Stanley Okenwa, said the innovative display of the warden was the best approach to traffic control, particularly in a society such as Nigeria, where many road users are habitually impatient.

“To me, the officer is very productive because he works in tune with what the society needs. Most drivers are always in haste and they hardly obey traffic regulations but when they get to points where ‘Bumper-toBumper’ is working, they pause

and watch and joyfully they fall in line with his directions”.

Sharing similar sentiments, Innocent Ikwebe, a hotelier, said lively traffic wardens were making the best out of a stressful occupation. He noted that Oladimeji stands in the sun or heavy rain from morning till the traffic dies down in the evening controlling vehicles, adding, however, that if such duty was combined with fun, it would become somewhat enjoyable.

Sunday Vanguard interviewed one of Oladimeji’s colleagues, Friday Adejo, who said he learnt a lot from the VIO official who, he claimed, is a father figure to him. “He is my dad and he is my boss. I love working with him because he is a very nice man”, Adejo said “Before, l used to frown and vent my anger on motorists, but he cautioned me to do my duties with utmost joy “He taught me to be very humble. When I first came here, I was angry with people unnecessarily, but when he talked to me, I calmed down and I realised that humility works out. He is like a father to me.

“We have a very good relationship. He is easy going. He is a very good man; that is why I love working with him, he controls traffic well. I am always happy any time they assign me to come and assist him”.

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 41 japhdave@yahoo.com 08066625505

Lagos identity question solved at Shasore’s book launch PRESENTATION

T

HE venue was the City Hall Lagos and the atmosphere both in and outside the hall was turned to a sort of political fanfare as many Lagos city dwellers adorned in black T-shirts designed in Sasore’s name with musical instruments drumming and dancing. While top dignitaries gorgeously dressed moved in circles, ordinarily, one would have expected that it was a political rally where one of the governorship candidates was set for his declaration, but rather, it was the presentation of a book with a difference tagged Possessed: A history of Law and Justice in the Crown Colony of Lagos 1861 – 1906

by Olasupo Shasore SAN, former attorney general of Lagos State.

The event which had Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola as the special guest, with other eminent personalities include the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu 1 with his white cap Chiefs, former Federal Commissioner for Work, Alhaji Femi Okunnu, Alhaji Hassan Babatunde Fashinro, Senator Mamora representing Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Foreign Affairs Minister Odein Ajumogobia, legal luminaries, top Government Officials and others.

In his remarks, the Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) who wrote the forward described Supo as “another historian in our midst. A great lawyer who tremendously worked hard supporting every position he made in the book, with evidence, documents, facts and judicially satisfied findings that can only be

debated and not whether it has been used.” He emphasized on the relevance of Lagos as a state to reckon with in terms of economic, social and political importance. Quoting from the book, “There was no cession of Lagos; instead there was a possession of Lagos by British Government in 1861. Lagos was a sovereign entity before the British came and the sovereign was the ancestors of the current King of Lagos.”

While shedding more light on thought provoking information concerning Lagos on the current Eko Atlantic

,

By CHRIS ONUOHA

Another historian in our midst, a great lawyer who tremendously worked hard supporting every position he made in the book

,

project and flood issue, he stated that Lagos is taking back from the Atlantic Ocean what the sea took from her and anybody who refutes that do not know the history of Lagos and should go to archives to find out the position of Bar Beach landscape then.

Secondly, he said, he was amused when people say Tafawa Balewa Square in Onikan has been sold by Federal Government as their property saying it was done in absolute ignorance of history.

“It belongs to the Oba of Lagos as a crown land but was possessed by the British government, named as Race Course but later metamorphosed to Tafawa Balewa Square, passed on to Federal government of Nigeria as caretaker under TBS Management Act.”

From left: Author of Possessed, Olasupo Shasore , Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola Alhaji Hassan Babatunde Fashinro , and Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, during the presentation Although, Gov. Fashola Reacting to the review, happened in the past I felt raised optimism concerning Oba Rilwan Akiolu who troubled in heart because there’s the spirit of Lagos when he spoke both in vernacular need for our children coming described himself as a typical and English took time to after us to be enriched with our Lagosian from Isale Gungun lecture the audience some history.” From the audience, Jide village, a highly urbanized of the untold stories about Martin, Kudirat Karimu Ikotun commercial and multi ethnic Lagos and the royal and others extolled the giant center that has accommodated connection of Sasore family efforts of Supo in reliving history. both indigenes and migrants signifying the kingship Olasupo Shasore in his speech that have come to be known as lineage to Supo Sasore. narrated his challenges while Lagosians. For him, “there’s The Oba who was writing the book saying it is a nothing wrong with the authoritative in his work of research that he accelerated development statement revealed Supo as conducted sadly mostly outside because in another 500 years, his choice candidate for the Nigeria, from United Kingdom the place will not remain the next State’s Governorship for the past three years. He same.” to Fashola, it is election. disclosed that minimal important that Lagos should Senator Mamora while information was gotten locally have a record and archives commending Supo for his because our National Archives is bureau centre where if you painstaking approach in in a total mess, pointing out have any memorabilia, any educating the public about thatthe intention of writing the document, we would gladly Lagos through the book book is not to preach ethnicity. receive it acknowledge it and said, “there is a need for us He also revealed that keep it for posterity,” hence; to be conscious of history, POSSESED is a word in the the creation of the Lagos State a people without history is cablegram sent by Earl John Residence Registration doomed, and when the Russell in June 1861 giving Agency (LASRRA). author himself told the order to British Naval Command The five man panelist who audience that most of the to go ahead and posses Lagos reviewed the book said it is a materials came from as a possession of British Empire special historic book that foreign land and actually that lasted for a period of 1861 – everyone passionate about telling us things that 1906.

Lagos should read.

Amidst... visualises Nigeria’s resilence spirit on canvass

By JAPHET ALAKAM VISUAL

W

hen a research conducted by some groups revealed that Nigeria was one of the most happiest people on earth, many Nigerians questioned that. Their reaction was based on the fact that the country was faced with a lot of problems that subjects them to much suffering, but another look at the finding proves that it is real, as despite the sufferings they still forge ahead.

This is true of Nigeria as despite that avalanche of problems that average Nigeria face on daily basis, they still find time to work and do other things, these fact are what the Delta state and Auchi trained painter, Jonathan Mavua Lessor shares his experience in his latest exhibition titled Amidst the Mire.

The exhibition which opened at Alexis Galleries,Victoria Island,

Lagos on the October 25th and ended yesterday was another way of showing in visual expression, Nigerian people’s resilience to the increasing state of socio-economic decline in the land. It featured about 40 pieces of paintings, mixed media, that was done in the last two years.

Speaking about the theme, Lessor said that it is the theme he chose because of the circumstances he passed while producing the works from 20122014. If you look around the world, a lot has happened within this period, tension here and there, ironically, those things spurred him into strong creative realm. “there was the fuel subsidy crisis of 2012, Boko Haram, kidnap of the Chibok girls, political issues, Ebola etc tension around the country and if you go beyond the country, the Middle East crisis, Ukraine, Egypt, so much depressions have been around us,” He stated. So it could be said that it was in the midst of all these unfriendly

Cans of life by Lessoe circumstances that led to the making of the works, the theme to him is the umbrella that covers all the works he did within this period.

When I look at these things I ask myself, what do I do, and I concluded that, there is no need to surrender to the problems, rather Nigerians need to look at it from the positive angle that in the midst of these we still have to work; life must go on and it was in such situation that I

rediscovered a n d strengthened my mixed media technique .He also disclosed that he focusing on new materials; using fabrics. For the Auchi trained artist who has been a consistent impressionist in his over two decades studio career, the exhibition featured some of the works that may redefine his art in the future.

In all, the body of works displayed showed very rich images that address some of the issues that have happened within this period in Nigeria and the world at large. Some of the works include Crown 1&2, a series that celebrate woman and their hair. The work looks at the women and the hairs they do, the attachment they put on,

which most African cultures regard as their crown. Here the artists celebrates the elegance of feminine posture of the women hair, but noted that the African native hair style is missing. In another work titled Cans of life, a painting that depicts a man with a barrow filled with cans of water. Here the artists draws the attention of the government to the shortage of portable waters in most cities. A situation that has forced many to patronise water vendors who supply water to them, no matter how safe the water is.

The exhibition had George Edozie and a director at Alexis Galleries, Patty Chidiac as curators.

Speaking about the show, Chidiac noted that Lessor has the style, form and technique that fits into the contemporary time. As usual, the exhibition which is promoted by Alexis Galleries’ sponsors, has the backing of the following: Leventis, Litho-Chrome The Homestores , Art Café, Veuve Clicquot, wazobia FM, Nigeria info and cool Fm, Wazobia TV, Cool TV, The Avenue Suites, arra vineyards and ISN Internet Solutions Nigeria Limited.

PAGE 42—SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014 japhdave@yahoo.com 08066625505

Olawunmi Banjo opens the mind at Nike gallery

Clash of faith, emotions in Jamiu’s new book

By JAPHET ALAKAM REVIEW

By JAPHET ALAKAM VISUAL

R

A

fter over a decade of building her career through several group art exhibitions and full time studio practice, Olawunmi Banjo takes a step further to consolidate on her achievement with her first solo art exhibition titled Mind Revolution.

The exhibition which is scheduled to open at Nike Art Gallery, Lekki from November 1st to 7th, 2014, according to artists is tailored towards reorientating the mindsets of people towards progressiveness, and how creative minds and ideas in Nigeria and Africa at large can be empowered. She said: “If people start to develop the initiative of thought to invest adequately in creative mind resources and ideas, then attention will be a bit deviated from focusing mainly on natural resources.

“From my observation as an artist, I have discovered that many creative talents are discouraged and frustrated in attaining their creative potential due to the lack of adequate structures and sufficient support. Our best export is human resources and capital.

On a daily basis, we export our best and finest minds that we sorely need for our overall development.”

The works depict a child in a failed system but looking beyond the failed system and reaching towards achieving his potential.

Regardless of the societal depravity, he still makes conscious efforts to have a positive mindset, which will enable him to make his environs relevant, and eventually to have a ripple effect. The exhibition, Mind Revolution, is to make us see that we are more than a consuming continent, particularly when we stop focusing mainly on natural resources and channel our mental productivity towards creative ideas and innovations that are globally relevant,which is very possible to achieve.

Conscious break, one of the works displayed Our minds are the creative centre of our country and continent. We need a positive, progressive mind revolution to enable us to have a collective perception and reasoning to help rise above the tribal mentality, so that we can stop being a selfenslaving entity. !

In her artist statement, Olawunmi Banjo disclosed that “art is my passion and is the medium that I use to create my ideas, add value, and convey messages to the people. I am very optimistic about the development of Africa; in my works, I infuse the mindset needed to achieve this. I have found surrealism and realism useful in depicting my ideas.

This enables people who view my works to grasp the embedded message in each piece.

“I am influenced mostly by things I see, experience, and feel. Most of my new body of artwork takes a mental depiction globe. Seeing that, the first thing that can be changed in the world is the mindset of an

individual and how he perceives himself and his environment, then the next person, abilities due to some circumstances. They feel limited by their environs and do not bother to explore their inner potential and abilities.

Conscious Break, speaks about a world where conforming to a range of societal ideologies and structures keeps people bound in most of their thoughts and decisions, living a re-cycled life in order to secure complacency appears to be the norm. This to her may bring comfort but not fulfillment.

While Consciously Thriving says that only visionaries and conscious mind survives and thrives in seemingly hopeless situations.

Macmillan holds literary night of national rebirth

By PRISCA SAM-DURU LITERARY

F

OR a company which turns out to be the singular corporate organisation in Nigeria that has consistently and solely sponsored a literary event for fifteen years, purposely to create an awareness of the nation’s socio-economic realities, Thursday 6th November, 2014 marks yet another opportunity to evoke the requisite positive attitudinal change of the people for development.

It is the 12th edition of the prestigious literary event, The Macmillan Literary Night, the 2014 edition. It comes up at the Agip Recital Hall of the Muson Centre, Lagos.

As it is customary, the choice of theme is usually based on how important and relevant it is to the point in time, hence “The Rebirth”, turns out the best

choice for the prevailing circumstance in Nigeria.

The Rebirth reflects the characteristic responsiveness of the organiser, Macmillan Nigeria Publishers Limited, to the promotion of ennobling and productive values, essential to national development.

The Chairman of the Macmillan Literary events Committee, Mrs. Francesca Emmanuel (CON) who spoke ahead of the event, said, having critically dealt with themes such as “Break ItStumbling Blocks to National Development” (2012), “Fix It- The Nigerian Character ” (2013), the organisation decided to work on rebuilding the polity as well as individuals with particular focus on the political class, now that the 2015 elections are close.

She stressed the need for change of attitude, a reinstating of societal norms,

values and tenets, which can positively impact on thesociety.

The managing Director, Macmillan Publishers, Dr. Iyiola Adelekan disclosed that the literary event was initiated due to Macmillan’s quest to change the reading culture of Nigerians and also, address issues of national interest which goes a long way to reaching out to millions of Nigeria on the need for change.

This year ’s event promises to be refreshingly entertaining as various genres of arts would be utilised to sensitise the audience.

Expected as features of The Rebirth are some of Nigeria’s finest performers in the likes of Joke Silva, Ihria Enakimio, and Taiwo Ajai-Lycett as well as Crown Troupe of Africa directed by Segun Adefila.

eligion has been a galvanizing force in most of the crisis in the world. In fact it is seen as the biggest obstacle to marriage. Though, both Christians and Muslims belief in one God, but when it comes to marriage, the way and manner they attack each other calls for a retreat.

In real sense, matters of the heart, they say, do not involve social and religious issues. What really matters in marriage is that two people come together as one, doing every thing in common in love and understanding. In the case of Isaac and Mary, it was not so, as their desire to spend their live as husband and wife led them into series of problems that affected them and their families. This and other issues that made them prisoners of their own conscience are what Jamiu Abiola, a good muslim tries to unravel in his latest book entitled The Prisoner of Conscience.

The author who is not comfortable with the animosity between growing number of people from both religion especially in the third world countries, believed that there is the urgent need for muslims and Christians to live in peace so as to avoid the unnecessary problems which the two religions have caused.

The 318 pages book published

by Arab Scientific Publishers and divided into three parts, apart The

offers a plea for religious tolerance and forgiveness.

As the stories goes,their plan met the brick wall after its inception, as they were arrested by the immigration officers, an action that led to the death of Mary ’s father. This made the would be couple to split, Mary immigrates to the United States with her mother and Isaac still engrossed with love for Mary decides to study a new path in Lebanon. It was not easy for both of them as they struggled to find their places in the world, thereby encountering losses and successes in very different environments. Mary struggled with her father ’s death, her internal battle with her conscience, her sojourn in the US; the eventual and painful death of her mother and grandmother, her groaning over the reality of love, the trappings of fulfilling her mother ’s marital wishes, strength and finding fulfillment are some of the several interesting interplays in this beautiful narrative. Meanwhile, Isaac studies English in Lebanon and obsessively plans for a future in which he can beg Mary ’s forgiveness and win her back. As events unfolds, he finally had his way to US where he met Mary and the rest was history as they finally married.

The prisoner of conscience can best be described as fiction full of facts. The author creatively infuses certain important details into this narrative, which one encounters as one read through the 65 chapters book.

For example, a revelation of the Arab culture and temperaments, values that are of

i m m e n s e Prisoner of from addressing Conscience; Jamiu Abiola; importance in the sociothe major issue Arab Scientific Publishers, Arab economic system, which is clash of Inc.; 2014;PP. 318 the similarity in a faiths, also showcases a bit of emotions, number of human actions and in the unrest of civil troubles and actions, and expectations by parents the resolution of marital from their children when it relates to aspirations and its attendant certain critical decisions in their lives.

Although the story is fascinating, the problems.

Set in Lebanon at the period love story is familiar but predictable. which slightly precedes the Despite what they encountered, their Lebanese civil war, which was young love withstands the test of time, due largely to the tension although Isaac’s passion is disturbing between Lebanon’s Christians in its ferocity and feels vaguely and Muslims, the two major threatening. It is a well-executed characters- Isaac, a Muslim narrative as the author tries to make and Mary, his Maronite up for every loose end, but one thing Christian got a feel of love at he failed to do was how it ended. The first sight and agreed to marry author made it in a such a way that but their fear that their plan even from the beginning one knows will not receive the blessings how it will end which it actually did. of their parents forced them Why was it that a young man left all into taking a decision that other things in life only in pursuit of landed into serious problems. love even when he has nothing. Such First, as a good story teller, is not healthy and need not be Jamiu introduced the supported.

Another shortfall noticed is in his use intrigues of love at the outset, employing elements of of words, there were some loose ends flashback that reveals his that have to be put in order, but despite narrative technique as seen these, just like in his first outing, the in the lives of the major style of the book is excellent and the characters.The novel also presentation very good. I recommend provides a window into it.

Middle Eastern history and

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 43

2015: Why it will be difficult to stop Jonathan – Ex presidential adviser Monye •‘I registered NADECO Abroad to confront Abacha’

P

rofessor Sylvester Monye, in line with the guidelines of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, resigned, last week, as Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation to enable him contest the 2015 gubernatorial election in Delta State.

In this interview, Monye bares his mind on the achievements of the Jonathan administration and the president’s endorsement for reelection, among other issues. Excerpts:

BY UMORU HENRY

Y

OU just resigned as the Special Adviser to the President on Per for mance Monitoring and Evaluation.

How was the office while your tenure lasted?

I had a very good run. I enjoyed every single day of my assignment. The job of Special Adviser to the President on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation is a particularly exciting one, it gives you a helicopter view of how this country has evolved over the last few years.

It gave me the opportunity to put substance to some of the plans government has developed over the years and track the processes as well as the outcomes. And I am very delighted that the president gave me the opportunity to play this very important role to the extent that, today, one is able to tell you what is happening across the length and breadth of the country. So it has been excellent.

Where are you going from here?

I am going to Asaba in Delta State having picked my form.

What form?

The governorship form.

You have worked closely with Mr President. How do you describe his kind of person? And the three organs of the PDP; the National Caucus, the BOT and the

• Sylvester Monye NEC, plus the together, it was governors at the only a matter of 66th NEC time that you endorsed him as begin to see the sole the results of candidate of that decision. the party ahead Today, Nigeria of the December You cannot ranks as the 6 national 26th largest have a happy convention. economy in the What is your population if whole world. It take on the is the number they are endorsement? one economy in First of all Africa. It is one hungry and when the of the best the President P r e s i d e n t m a n a g e d started, he took economies in said that, in his time to make the world. In the right a few years fact, it is the decisions. If you third fastest time, we will start from the g r o w i n g quality of his no longer economy in the cabinet and the world after import food, capacity therein, India and you will see that China. So we we will have this cabinet have a must rank as surplus; in formidable one of the best team that has fact, Nigeria ever put delivered on together by a will export that. Now you N i g e r i a n can say that I and we are president. What would probably that tells is that very close to give you this for you to a n s w e r achieving a c h i e v e because I work anything, you for Mr that must have the President. But right people. He the truth of the matter is that started by putting the right everything that I said has people in place, there has been validated by credible never been any question international institutions like whatsoever as to his decisions the World Bank, the IMF, vis-à-vis the quality of his cabinet. Now, where you have Standard and Poor’s and Fitch that caliber of cabinet that has Rating agencies. So it is not a been painstakingly put case of whether it is correct or

it is not correct. It is correct, it

is undisputed.

T

wo, agriculture. You cannot have a happy population if they are hungry and the President said that, in

a few years time, we will no longer import food, we will have surplus; in fact, Nigeria will export and we are very close to achieving that, particularly in rice production and cassava and the processing of the whole agricultural produce. As a matter of fact, one of the major things that have been introduced by this administration through the effective work of the Minister of Agriculture is the value chain concept.

So we no longer talk about agriculture from the point of view of producing cassava or producing rice, but the processing and the packaging to the consumer along the line.

So that is being achieved and the result is being acknowledged to the extent that recently the Minister of Agriculture was acknowledged as the best performing public servant by Leadership Newspaper. In the area of education, the president has done exceptionally well in establishing about 11 or so new universities across the country because part of our challenge is illiteracy and ignorance. And for us in PDP, education is crucial and therefore the president has

done very well. For the first time, he has gone out of his way to address the issue of Almajiri education.

If you come to our road infrastructure, this is the first time that people are having visible evidence of serious works going on our roads. If you permit me, I will highlight possibly five areas that are outstanding; Abuja-Lokoja road which is almost completed; Lokoja-Okene, Okene-Auchi, up to Benin City, are all on-going at different stages of completion.

We have Benin-Ofuso road which has been completed. We have Ofuso-Ore road which has been completed. We have Ore-Shagamu road which is under serious attention. You have Benin-Ibadan road, it is receiving serious attention. We have Kano-Maiduguri dualisation, which has achieved over 55% completion rate. We have Onitsha-AkwaEnugu road that is under construction. We have EnuguUmuahia-Port Harcourt road which is also under serious attention. We have road interventions in almost every corner of this country. This is t\ change a winning team.

P

DP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, recently set up the zonal integration committee and your state was part of the states that met with the Senator

Continues on page 45

PAGE 44 — SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

By Olayinka Ajayi

O

F recent, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has been beset by defections, the latest of which was that of former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State. The National Chairman of the party, which takes the South-east as its stronghold, Chief Victor Umeh, in this interview, speaks on the fate of the party as well as that of the Igbo in the 2015 general elections, among other issues.

What do you make of the former Minister of Interior, Captain Emanuel Iheanacho, vying for the office of the governor in Imo State on the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and being the first to obtain nomination form?

It is a welcome development because Captain Emanuel Iheanacho is somebody that has distinguished himself in the private sector before serving as Minister of Interior with good records.

Anambra State is under APGA, under the tutelage of Dr. Willy Obiano, who recorded a landslide victory in the governorship election in 2013 in the state. He will be in the office till 2018. The only election we have in Anambra come 2015 is basically for the National and State Assemblies.

Iheanacho is a trail blazer who had opened the doors for candidates to come on board. His coming to pick his form amply demonstrates his confidence in the party as a platform that will secure him victory in the governorship election in Imo. Do you foresee Captain Iheanacho unseating incumbent Governor Rochas Okorocha in 2015?

His chances are bright. In fact, he is going to be the front runner for Okorocha’s seat in 2015, because Imo State has been the traditional strong hold of APGA since 2003. The people of Imo State, by nature, accepted APGA since 2003 and they have been voting for the party continually. Due to poor management of elections in the past, our mandates were stolen until 2011 when there was improved election management in Nigeria under Prof. Attahiru Jega. Despite minor hitches, we were able to unseat the PDP in Imo. Tragically the beneficiary of the struggle, Okorocha, left APGA after two years. The people of Imo State are not happy with him. In 2011, they voted APGA because they were confident that APGA remained the only party to guarantee their hope of enjoying good governance and ascertain their identity as Igbo people. When Okorocha left, the people of Imo recoiled and are waiting for an opportunity to vote him out. That opportunity is by the corner. With strong candidacy of Captain Iheanacho, we are certain that Imo will come out strong under APGA again.

It is speculated that APGA winning elections in the Southeast states was at the instance of late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Chukwuemeke Odumegwu Ojukwu. What do you say?

The late Ikemba was our pillar when he was alive, but in 2011, he was bedridden and our people were still committed to his legacies. He admonished our people clearly that APGA should be the party they must preserve for themselves and fol-

How Igbo will vote in 2015 – Umeh

•’We are waiting for those who defected from APGA at the polls’

•Victor Umeh low it, until they get to the promised land. Its like an induction given to our people and they have been doing that. In 2013, Anambra went for governorship election. Ikemba had died years earlier and APGA still won.

Each time we remind our people the purpose of APGA in Nigeria, Igbo people worldwide will continue to follow it. The message APGA carries can never be destroyed. APGA is likened to a spirit that cannot be destroyed. Even Governor Okorocha, in his euphoria of victory on the platform of APGA, described our amiable party as the religion of the Igbo people.

One of my observations in life

is that nobody conquers a religion. Adherents of religious beliefs are, in many cases, ready to die for their religion.

Okorocha, in his wisdom, summarised the follower-ship of APGA by the Igbo people as a religion. I am surprised that he thinks the Igbo people can abandon their religion. Any race or group of persons that abandon their religion will have no faith any more. When he made that statement, he never knew he would leave APGA one day.

So it became immortal words coming through him. Since he had lost faith in that religion, the Igbo faithful will vote him out in 2015. He cannot come back to ask for supports outside the party that brought him to glory.

W

Okorocha, in his wisdom, summarised the followership of APGA by the Igbo people as a religion. I am surprised that he thinks the Igbo people can abandon their religion

hat do you make of sev eral defections from APGA which Igbo believed will take them to the promised land?

It’s like a journey of faith, some people lose their faith along the way. Their loss of faith in the religion does not mean that the religion cannot carry those who believe to the end.

People in pursuit of selfish interests can jump out of the ship.

In the holy Bible there are so many people that lost faith. For instance, because of stormy weather, the wife of Lot, looked back and she turned into a pillar of salt. There are several instances in the scriptures that show it is not everybody that set out to get to the promised land that would get there. Some fell by the wayside because of hunger, some left in pursuit of material gains and could not continue with the journey and they decamped. But those that persevered would get to the promised land. Some of those who left APGA for other parties believe they had gotten to the top of their career in politics. They decided to use APGA as springboard to launch into other political parties they think APGA cannot offer. It would have been honourable for them to speak out on why they left, rather than

cast aspersions on the platform that brought them to limelight.

Because they have reached the zenith of their career in the party and instead of staying back to work for others, they moved on. Nobody would be happy having in the fold people that come pretending. When you give them opportunity with the party’s objective, they turn against the party. We gave them the opportunity in 2011 and they rolled on the sentiment of our people to get elected. Somebody like Senator Uche Chukwumerije crossed from PDP to APGA to be re-elected back to the National Assembly, Chris Anyawu also crossed from PDP to APGA for her to be elected back to the National Assembly. After achieving their purposes, they went back to where they came from.

They used the party to fill the gap in their political journeys.

They did not come to APGA based on their ideological conviction. It is not everybody that is mature enough to appreciate the demands of an office.

They perceive politics as a game, play it recklessly and they may get hurt along the way.

The annoying thing is that those of them that were unknown to our people, we dusted them up and gave them our platform, they contested and won. Suddenly they think of achieving another position using another platform while not appreciating the purpose of APGA. I have been a member of the party from inception till date. Contrary to side talks, I have not left, I will never leave and nothing will make me leave APGA. Those that won elections through our party and defected, I will see if they can win again come 2015! In Anambra State where so much noise was made about the defection of APGA National Assembly members, we lost only two seats in the House of Representatives.

How do you react to Gov. Peter Obi’s defection from APGA to the PDP? Peter Obi’s defection did not come to me as a surprise. From his actions I knew he never had any strong attachments to APGA. The only thing was that he could not leave until after eight years of his governorship.

He never saw APGA as the religion of the Igbo people. He is a businessman. He had said several times, even as a governor, that political parties are like vehicles. When a vehicle takes you to your destination, you disembark. Obi saw APGA as a vehicle that took him to his destination and he disembarked, he showed it in every way in his dealings with the party, that you can only come to APGA when you want to win elections. He did it at his first term in office.

When the second term was approaching, he summoned party members to beg on his behalf. Even the late Ikemba didn’t want him. In 2009, the late Ikemba went to Awka with his wife, Bianca, while Obi was in the State House working to raise Mr. Emeka Etiaba’s hand and promised to march him to the State House as the next gov-

ernor of Anambra State come 2010. That was a clear indication of loss of confidence in a man who was on seat as governor under APGA at the time.

I was the person who saved the situation. I went back to plead with the Ikemba to temper justice with mercy. I asked the Ikemba to forgive him and he agreed with me. That was why Obi was able to run for second term through APGA. When he was sworn-in for the second term, he knew at that point that he had finished with the party because there would be no third term as governor. It was at that time that he started sponsoring crisis in the party. I advised him to conduct local government elections so that our party members could become chairmen and councillors. He refused.

Some people told him that I was dictating to him and that he should ignore me. So they plotted how they would distance themselves from me. He sponsored the crisis to get rid of me for four years and lost. I am still the Chairman. My tenure as National Chairman of APGA after eight years, as approved in the party’s Constitution, will end in February 2015. So contrary to the speculation that I am leaving the party, I will be contesting for the Senate on the platform of APGA in Anambra. I cannot understand why a political party will be running the state as governor, without winning its senatorial positions.

So there is need for me to break the jinx for the party. Knowing that its going to be a big contest, we concluded there is need to field somebody that can absorb the shocks and sail the party through. I believe I can do that.

With Peter Obi’s defection, what will be the fate of APGA? Without being equivocal, I was the one that started Peter Obi’s political journey on no party basis. At that time, he was looking at ANPP and APP. I dragged him into APGA to contest for election, because I knew his career in politics depended on APGA. We made him governor through APGA, we defended him and kept him for his second term in office. Leaving APGA will diminish his political status. Because he has nothing to achieve beyond what he has already achieved. He governed Anambra for eight years.

Is he aiming at ministerial or presidential nomination?. He left APGA because he is not somebody that can work for others to enjoy. Having attained two terms as governor in Anambra, under APGA, he was waiting to handover and go away because staying a day longer would mean helping APGA to be a strong party for others to enjoy.

We are rebuilding the party following his exit. If you look at the reason he left, you will see conflicting statements. The first week after leaving, he said he left to have his two legs in the PDP in order to support President Jonathan’s re-election.

The next time he said he had a

Continues on page 45

SUND AY SUNDA

breadth of the state. At the end of that process which is long and tedious, I came to one exciting conclusion that my acceptability as a candidate for governorship of Delta, is not in doubt whatsoever. I also came to the conclusion that my electability as the governor of Delta is actually quite good.

And it is against that background that I have decided to offer myself to the good people of Delta to be considered for election to the office of governor come 2015.

Continued from page 43 Iya Abubakar-led committee for South-south. Do you believe that Muazu is doing well and the committee will address the problems especially before and after the primaries.

First of all, the party has done very well under the leadership of Alhaji Adamu Muazu. He came in at a very difficult time for the party; when the party was drifting and he has since arrested that drift; he has been generally acknowledged as a game changer. His emergence has changed the course of events for the PDP; the fortune of PDP is on the ascendency.

But as successful as he may be as Chairman, he is not resting on his back side. What he has done is to say as we go into this election season, let us do selfassessment, let us have platforms to talk to ourselves, to begin the process of healing the wounds so that people will have the opportunity to ventilate themselves and express their disquiet or frustration if there is any. Now if there are challenges, it is better these committees come up with their report. The mandate of the committees is not for them to solve problems or deal with issues. It is to collate views and challenges state by state, region by region.

So when all that is done, the party will now synthesize the information, identify the problem areas and address them before the elections. And that is the only way to ensure peace and harmony within the party. Because sometimes you may think there is peace when

*Monye

‘I registered NADECO Abroad to confront Abacha’ in fact something may be simmering underneath. In order to bring whatsoever that is underneath up to the surface, he needed to do this. So it is a brilliant initiative and I believe ultimately the party will have the opportunity to address any challenge that may be simmering before the next elections.

O

First of all, the party has done very well under the leadership of Alhaji Adamu Muazu. He came in at a very difficult time for the party; when the party was drifting and he has since arrested that drift; he has been generally acknowledged as a game changer

Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 45

n your gubernatorial bid, how has it been in the area of consultation with the stakeholders and the people of Delta?

First, let me tell you how we have come to where we are today. Over the last two years, people have come to me from the length and breadth of the state, encouraging me to consider and run for the office of the governor of Delta. I have had representations from all manners of people, traditional rulers, businessmen, civil servants, trade unionists, interest groups of different tribes, they all came to me, encouraging me, based on my work record in this country. As you well know, I was a Director of Marketing and Promotion for the Nigerian Tourism and Development Corporation for a period of four years. I was the Director of International Economic Relations at the Federal Ministry of Finance for two years.

And I was the Executive Secretary for National Planning Commission for five years. And of course I have been Special Adviser to the President on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation for the past three and a half years. Based on my antecedent and my record and in particular record of accomplishments, people considered it important for me

to come to Delta and do some work for the good people of that state. It is a state that we are all very proud of. Of course it is exciting and humbling when people come to you to ask you to consider the governorship of a state as important as Delta.

After a series of these invitations, I decided to go round the state in subtle consultation to different segments of the state to actually ascertain whether the feeling of that is being expressed by those who come to me, represent the feelings of the generality of the people. So I began the process of private consultations to traditional rulers, businessmen, government officials, students, trade unionists and all manner of people across the length and

You are a technocrat and going into an environment that could be described as new and that is politics. What magic do you have to wrest power with the established politicians?

First of all, I am a technopolitician. What that means is that a lot of people don’t appreciate my background in politics. I was president, Nigeria National Union in the UK, so I have been in politics for as long as I can remember.

I was the first Chairman, UK branch of National Conscience Party; I was secretary of NADECO Abroad for three years. As a matter of fact, I registered NADECO Abroad at the time it became necessary to confront Abacha and I still have the certificate of incorporation up to today. I have been a very active member of PDP since 1999.

Therefore I am not new to politics. In addition to being part of the PDP since 1999, during the presidential election in 2011, I was a key member of Neigbhour- toNeighbour campaign. As a matter of fact, I was the head of the economic team of Neighbour - to- Neighbour campaign that played a crucial role in the election of Mr President. So, I have been active in politics for a very long time. This is the first time that I am going for an elective position, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that I am new to politics. Well, yes I have done the work of technocrat because of my training and experience, I have also been engaged in partisan politics for a long time.

During the consultation, did you meet with your governor, some political gladiators in your state to intimate them of your intention to contest and especially wooing those from Delta central and Delta south?

Actually I started my consultation with the governor of Delta State. I can tell you that I am one of the few aspirants that have gone to the governor to say this is what we would like to do and I did this in January 2013; that was the first meeting I had with the governor on this project.

Secondly, I have met with also every interest group in Delta. I have met with UPU, I have met with Delta elders Forum, I have met with traditional rulers across the three senatorial districts, I have met with religious leaders, I have met with trade unionists, I have met with the women groups, I have met with all the groups. I have met with party officials; I have met with PDP establishments from federal, state, local government, even the ward level.

I have even consulted with non-PDP stakeholders. I have even consulted with some stakeholders who belong to other political parties because when you become the governor, you are not going to be governor of PDP members only.

So I have done extensive consultation in and outside the party.

The position is zoned to Delta north and you have an array of aspirants coming from the zone. And because of this array of aspirants, the Asagba of Asaba set up a committee and marshalled out some criteria. Did you agree with that?

I agree with that and it was a very bold attempt to do a very difficult job. The difficulty in the job is not only getting it right, but sticking to the criteria and achieving the results that you require. The intentions were completely honourable.

And I must tell you that in August last year, when the committee was set up, I was at the meeting and I totally endorsed that initiative because we thought it would be a good idea and so I endorsed.

How Igbo will vote in 2015 – Umeh Continued from page 44 long standing agreement with Mimiko to join PDP. Four days later, he said he defected in order not to be a spectator on national affairs. So if he had remained in APGA without being a governor, he would be a spectator on national affairs. When Bianca accused him of betraying the late Ikemba, he said APGA had derailed from its objectives. Which one should we believe? All these excuses show his defection was self centred.

His exit will never diminish our great party. That was the reason I said metaphorically that PDP came and took empty bags and some people started insulting me that Obi was the face of APGA. He has nothing left in his bag because he has no political weight. In 2015 we are go-

ing to prove that he is not the one that was making APGA strong but rather depended on APGA to win elections and we were the instrument God used to keep him politically relevant in Nigeria.

What do you make of APGA endorsing President Jonathan’s re-election in 2015?

We did so in 2011 and we did not lose our identity. We are supporting him this time because we know he is the best person to heal Nigeria of its present wounds. We gave several reasons for endorsing him.

The most important one was his boldness to convene the National Conference. Nigeria was standing on a postponed doomsday and needed to come on a round table dialogue to remove everything that made it a dis-functional state both in social- economic policies and

political structure. Some of the people vying for the office of the presidency do not believe in the National Conference. There is no way I can support other presidential candidates that do not believe in the imperatives of the National Conference which is unavoidable. Nigeria as a nation has been bedeviled by disaffection and feelings of marginalisation, perceived injustice. So the national dialogue was required to address the issue in order to restore faith in the federating units. We need President Jonathan in the next four years to implement the recommendations reports of the conference. On October 1st, he assured Nigerians in a national broadcast that he will implement the report of the conference. This is the reason behind APGA endorsing his re-run in 2015.

PAGE 46 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 47

PAGE 48 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

Analysis

SPEAKER TAMBUWAL’S DEFECTION

Again, President Jonathan, PDP, IGP miss it zWhen leaders act indecorously

BY JIDE AJANI

W

ho is the Speaker, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria?

Were this question posed to a student of politics, even for POLITICS 101, the straight answer would be AMINU WAZIRI TAMBUWAL.

The next question then within the context of the serial folly going on around the Speaker would be: On what spirit was the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mr. Abba Suleiman, running when he ordered the withdrawal of the security details of Speaker Tambuwal?

Or better still, why has President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan not ordered the IGP to behave like an intelligent individual befitting of that office?

Well, the answer can be located in the long held belief that leaders are not immune from reckless behaviour. It is the citizenry that must rise to avert the odium and stench which such acts release into the atmosphere.

For Christians, the book of Proverbs admonishes that “answer not a fool according to his folly lest you be like him (a fool)”; but the same book of Proverbs, in the next verse, quickly counsels that “answer a fool according to his folly, so that he would not think he is wise”.

The question is: When is it right to answer a fool at all.

Judging from the response of the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, since Speaker Tambuwal defected to the All Progressive Congress, APC, it is obvious that good sense and wisdom has taken flight and deserted them all. The leadership of the PDP, along with the IGP, has chosen to answer a fool according to his folly and now they are both seen as total fools.

The reason for this conclusion is simple and straight forward.

Firstly, having dribbled his party and gotten elected as Speaker, Tambuwal moved against the grain of party decision. But the question you

zJonathan zTambuwal

Did Tambuwal tell the IGP or those who gave the instruction that he has resigned as Speaker? Did he announce that he was stepping down until December 3, 2014? may also need to ask is, was the party’s position sensible in the first instance? In a House of 360 members, insisting on zoning the Speakership to the South-west, which had only six members – leaving the members to choose from among just six persons in a plural House - smacks of folly.

But last week, when Tambuwal, expectedly, at least based on his romance with members of APC,

zIGP Suleiman

defected from PDP, the panic response from the IGP, ostensibly the Presidency and the leadership of PDP, has only served to make Tambuwal the victim of a band of buccaneers.

Rather than allow Nigerians and observers to be divided in the public sphere in judging whether Tambuwal is a saint, victim, usurper or aggressor, the tactless action of redeploying his security details has only served to give fillip to and buoy the image of Tambuwal.

Glibly quoting from the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Nigeria’s IGP said, “Having regard to the clear provision of Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has redeployed its personnel attached to his office”.

The affront was signed by one Emmanuel Ojukwu, Force PRO. Whatever interpretation he was referring to of that Section, only he knows.

But had he taken his time, pain and due diligence to carefully study the Constitution vis-à-vis what Tambuwal did, he would have saved himself and President Jonathan the embarrassment of this clear act in foolishness. Are Nigerian leaders no longer intelligent or they just like to act silly?

Did Tambuwal tell the IGP or those who gave the instruction that he has resigned as Speaker?

Did he announce that he was stepping down until December 3, 2014?

Was there any private communication between Tambuwal and the IGP to suggest that he did not need the security details?

What Tambuwal has done is to simply, in Lagos parlance, swindle the IGP, the PDP leadership, the Presidency which has not responded appropriately by reversing the order, into boarding a ‘ONE CHANCE’ bus. A ‘ONE CHANCE’ bus in Lagos is a commuter vehicle used to ferry and dispossess unsuspecting commuters of their belongings, and thereafter pushing them off.

To understand Tambuwal’s game, which should be the concern of the PDP leadership and not this petty dramatization of folly, this is the game plan: If he picks the ticket of the APC as guber candidate in Sokoto State, he can choose to resign as Speaker but it all still depends on some factors too.

If he doesn’t get the ticket of his party, he naturally is qualified under the Constitution, to stay in office as Speaker.

Even if he wins the ticket of his party, he can remain Speaker without resigning – the law guarantees that for him. For the avoidance of doubt, Tambuwal remains the Speaker until the House resumes on December 3, 2014.

With due respects to Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, where was Abba when he decamped to the PDP? Was Abba out of the country or was he inebriated as to spontaneously issue an oder for the redeployment of his men from Mimiko’s office? If Abba could do this to Tambuwal, after just a few months in office in an acting capacity - just to obey, rather unintelligibly, in order to please those who would confirm him - what should Nigerians expect from this man.

To remove Tambuwal as Speaker, the PDP would need 240 members of the House. Getting that number would be difficult but not impossible.

But unfortunately, with this shambling and shambolic response from otherwise responsible people, getting that number, especially with the public angst against this affront, would be impossible.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 49

The negative way we talk affects Nigeria

By Nurrudeen Mohammed

T

HE atmosphere in Nigeria today is such that any Minister of Information, even if a supervising one, must start with some bush clearing. The crisis in Nigeria has assumed a discourse dimension such that our sense of our situation has obviously constrained our sense of things generally.

And our sense of things generally as they manifest in social and traditional media and everyday analysis certainly lacks the vigour and forward-looking attitude that we associate with Nigeria or MUST associate with Nigeria, no matter how bad things might appear to be.

We must never tire in recognising that Nigeria is not just another country on earth. It is that single country with the highest concentration of black people under one government in human history. There can be no higher uniqueness.

Nothing can be more than that.

Unfortunately, the totality of our engagement with our situation is not sufficiently mindful of this. Rather, our perspectives, for most of the time, are not only aimed at destroying but lacking in transformative vigour. Yet, the way we think and talk about the country, its leaders, its institutions and so on determines, to a great extent, the possibilities we open up or block. Far from suggesting that the government, the leaders and our institutions should not be criticised, I am only saying that doing so does not contradict the need for the culture of more critical, informed and elevated perspectives on what we see as the problems. In other words, criticising the president or the party or any institutions and practices does not amount to the perspectives or the big dreams that can ferry a country to greater heights.

Where are the big dreams then?

Or the ideas encompassing such dreams.

I cannot see them. And I don’t believe they are there and I am blinded by any things as not to see them.

For those who might think that I am reasoning like someone in government, let me say that this government does not actually take criticisms as something negative. To the contrary, the analysis is that the citizens would not even bother to criticise a government or its leader if they have reasons to believe that the government

is of no use. The more criticisms, therefore, the better in the sense that the criticisms reify and legitimise the government. Whether the best way to do this is by hurling invectives on the person of the president is a different matter. The great thing is that President Jonathan has borne all such invectives with considerable equanimity. And some of us in this government are proud that the president does not take attacks personal. And as he himself once said in an interview, Nigeria is that unique African country you can hurl every invective on the president without having to sleep with eyes half open.

But national debates that overlook the responsibilities of individuals, families, and communities in nurturing the minds of its youngsters into proud citizens are philosophically sterile. So also any such debate that minimizes the roles of subnational governments. And equally flawed is the type that seeks comforts in the simplicity of wild conspiracy theories. The most superficial and intellectually stale of all, however, is the one that offers a cause hypothesis of corruption in Nigeria to a lack of the somewhat ‘strong’ leader, the daily unintended invitation to the president to attempt to be a dictator. God forbid!

There is so much oversimplification of the roles

The long and short of this piece is that it is about time we took Nigeria from the mud. In other words, the negative ways we think and talk about the country, its leaders and institutions have implications for the well-being of the country

•Mohammed, Supervising Minister for Information Ministry of rather complex social, cultural and ideological dynamics in our contemporary discourse to the point of such becoming the contradiction itself in the wheel of Nigeria’s march to greatness. And this is at its highest in the last five years of our history. Yes, there has been a lot of tension, anxiety, inadequacies and a number of things which are absolutely regrettable, for example the Boko Haram crisis. We don’t deserve it. The fact that it preceded this regime is a different matter. But even in the midst of the horrors inflicted on this country by Boko Haram, Nigeria is still able to make a global statement by overwhelming Ebola at a time more advanced countries are still battling it.

Additionally, we have climbed to become the biggest economy in Africa and the most preferred destination for investors on the continent.

The Agricultural Transformation Agenda has moved Nigeria close to food sufficiency while rice importation is expected to stop by 2015. A competitive and deregulated power sector which is attracting foreign and local investment has been put in place in accordance with the power road map.

This same Nigeria is estimated by the Chatham Instituite to surpass Germany economically in the very near future and subsequently Japan. What these examples show is that there is a bigger picture out there which we might be allowing today’s pains and understandable bitterness to blind us to.

By all means, we must bicker, quarrel and abuse each other. It will not be the Nigeria we grew up to know if anyone removes these elements from our national life. But these harmless attributes of our national life should not become a license for wide deviations from the decency required to sustain the democratic project.

Already, our politics as designed and guaranteed, first by the 1979 and later 1999 constitutions, has contrary to the intentions of the authors turned too big and unwieldy, chaotic and noisy.

And this deviation is being noticed outside, not just by other countries inside and outside Africa or formal international institutions but also by folks. A chance encounter with a young Sierra Leonean, who walked up to me at the margins of a multilateral meeting in New York and copiously shared his

view about Nigeria had affected me in a very profound way. He introduced himself as an Intern with the UN System and generously thanked Nigeria for its role in ending the protracted civil war that tore his country apart for most of the 90s. He declared his immense admiration for Nigeria’s role and sacrifices in the sub region and the African continent. He concluded by describing Nigeria as a humanistic African power that could be the pride of the black race anywhere in the world.

But that wasn’t without a caveat. To my surprise, his caveat is that we must fix our politics.

Whatever may be the cause of this political dysfunction, it can only be unearthed and mitigated by the culture of conscious, systematic, deeply reflective and thorough interrogation. Unfortunately, as at today, our politicians, media practitioners, public intellectuals, civil society and youth groups have not been living up on this. Instead, much of what we do is sowing rancour or throwing mud at people in government. And when that government goes, we jubiliate for a few weeks before the new government we thought was worth sending away the previous one becomes the new devil on the cross. And yet, we don’t ask questions about the system, its cultural, economic, historical and global foundations. This is what my Sierra Leonean friend was talking about in the logic of fixing our politics!

The long and short of this piece is that it is about time we took Nigeria from the mud. In other words, the negative ways we think and talk about the country, its leaders and institutions have implications for the wellbeing of the country. I have argued in this piece that no privations, no anger, no sense of disappointment can excuse the culture of consciously or unconsciously dragging the country down. Since the end of the Second Republic, there must be very few individuals in Nigeria who have not had one personal, communal, ethnic, religious, political, business or group plan shattered by Nigeria.

For some individuals that I happen to know personally, the suffering is almost unbearable. But the great thing in all this is the way such great privations bring out the best of the Nigerian people towards the victims. At the end of the day, these are the things to take away. As a Supervising Minister for Information, those are the kinds of values I would like to celebrate over and above those of discord and acrimony.

•Mohammed is the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Supervising Minister for Information Ministry.

PAGE 50—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

EDO ATTACKS My case against PDP — Oshiomhole Following the political violence that enveloped Edo State in the past one month, Governor Adams Oshiomhole held a town hall meeting last Tuesday which was attended by traditional rulers across the three senatorial districts of the state, students, civil society groups, youth organizations and many others. He briefed the gathering about the political situation in the state, just as he used the opportunity to respond to the allegations by two chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and Prince Frank Erewele, who accused him of masterminding attacks on Ize-Iyamu’s wife’s clinic and Erewele’s home.

Oshiomhole also reacted to the mayhem in the state House of Assembly quarters. Excerpts:

By Simon Ebegbulem, Benin-City

E

DO Assembly quarters attack Before the incident happened, I drew the attention of the police commissioner so that he could provide police and secure the premises. I have since confirmed with the Commissioner of Police that indeed my Chief Security Officer called him and asked him to deploy police to the House of Assembly quarters to protect the quarters from being attacked. From all I learnt from the Speaker who is the head of the House of Assembly, a honourable member went to the quarters at about 11pm that day. Seeing him along with some people suspected things, the security people refused him entry into the quarters. The lawmakers decided to scale the wall with the help of those who came with him and jumped into the Assembly quarters. Even in your private residence, if your security men see someone scaling the wall, jumping into your premises, will they give him executive escort? So the lawmaker became a victim of his own devices. But, as they say, those who live on violence may end up being consumed by violence. And I am not about to suggest that two wrongs make a right but it is difficult for me to endorse that the lawmaker has a right to mobilize people to attack and force his way into the House of Assembly including having to scale the Assembly quarters wall fence.

That cannot be tolerated in any civilized country.

How I was abused by PDP supporters during Mr President’s visit A couple of days after this incident, the President was visiting Edo to perform a ground breaking ceremony of a private power plant being built by some private investors in which the state government has minimal shareholding. I went to the airport to receive the President as I have always done even when he was here to campaign against me. The President of the Federal Republic is the President of every one and he deserves the respect of every one including state governors.

I am convinced about this and that is why each time he has had cause to visit Edo, I have never hesitated to accord all courtesy including to mobilize people to the airport. That day I did same. I encouraged the APC Chairman in the state, the Chief of Staff, the SSG and a number of commissioners. I actually asked our Women Wing to mobilize women to the airport to give the President a rousing welcome. Because, to me, the fact that the President is of the PDP and the governor is APC is not important. What is important is that we

are all stewards to the Nigerian project and I expect that the way I respect the President, despite the fact that he was elected under the platform of the PDP, PDP elements in Edo ought to respect me as the governor of this state irrespective of the fact that we don’t belong to the same political party.

However, I recognize that they have a right to choose not to. I also insist that their failure to do so cannot be a reason for me to copy what does not work. So I went to the airport and, to my surprise, a pastor turned politician had mobilized people. I have been to that airport to receive the President with Dan Orbih (PDP Chairman), Chief Anenih and several other PDP leaders and there was no incident. In fact, the last time the President came, Chief Anenih was cracking joke with me. He even put a PDP cap on my head and I quietly put APC cap on top of the PDP cap. And he asked me why I was doing that. ‘I said, ‘Leader, you know in this state PDP is under the APC’. And we all joked and laughed about it. And that is how it should be. So what has changed, why is it that we are no longer able to conduct ourselves in a civilized manner? The only thing that has changed is that there is somebody who has been a perpetual gubernatorial aspirant and he believes that if he does not get it, the state must go under. He mobilized those people and they were shouting my name, Oshiomhole ole! (thief). And I went to the pastor and greeted him. I had to call him pastor because he insisted he is a pastor. Some of the APC youths around me were angry as they were singing Oshiomhole ole, and wanted to react. But I said no, the purpose of this is all clear to me. The pastor wanted to create a scene at the airport. I had a duty as governor to ensure that the President arrived to meet cheering faces.. Not to allow police to throw tear gas dispersing people fighting. So if there was an incident at the airport, it will be seen as my own failure. I told our people that they should leave them alone, let them call me any thing they liked. They can call me Oshiomhole He-goat, it will not change the truth. And happily they listened. I told them people have crisis of identity, they want to be governor by all means, they are struggling to be what God has already given me. If he is desperate I am not.

How we informed Edo police on the plot to attack Assembly quarters/ bomb attack on Ize-Iyamu wife’s clinic That was how we managed that incident at the airport and, in fairness, I exchanged pleasantries with Dan Orbih and several PDP leaders, there was no

Governor Adams Oshiomhole problem. The President came and I had about 25 minutes conversation with him inside the plane, where we shared concerns about security issues and he left. Later that night, a meeting was (allegedly) held between this pastor and some youths where they decided to go and attack the legislative quarters and possibly kill at least two of the members.

When we received this information, the Commissioner of Police was duly informed about 10:30pm that Friday; these people have mobilized to attack the House of Assembly and we called the CP to provide full security. We even told the CP where they were going to assemble because we had the intelligence that they were going to assemble at George Idah Primary school.

Again, the CP was informed. They took off from the primary school, they went to the quarters with AK47, pump action guns and other offensive weapons. The amount of bullets they expended on the doors, windows and cars of our lawmakers was baffling. They operated for almost 30minutes and left. Even the minimal presence of the police that is usually at the quarters left in order to allow the people have a free reign of terror. I went to the place and I was shocked at the level of violence that I saw. In a civilized society, a country that

When we received this information, the Commissioner of Police was duly informed about 10:30pm that Friday; these people have mobilized to attack the House of Assembly and we called the CP to provide full security

is governed by rule of law, official quarters of the House of Assembly came under attack by criminals and none of them was arrested. I said to them we will bring up some of these facts to the attention of Mr President and the IG. But because we are the ones in government, we must bear the burden of peace. So today in Edo, we have chased the PDP out of power not by the force of fire arms but by the votes of out people who are unanimous that they will never again be governed by a bunch of people whose only purpose in government is selfish. Some desperate elements have chosen to resort to the use of fire arms and to create maximum destruction hoping in the process that they will distract me from focusing on governance. However, I believe Nigerians were unanimous in the condemnation of this violence by the PDP. I have since submitted a petition to the IG supported with some evidence.

And it is very clear that the police at the highest level is very embarrassed by this violent act. Therefore the PDP has to find a away to divert attention and give the impression that there was a counter attack. I was in Abuja the previous week, when some body told me that one Mr Erewele was on TV saying I ordered thugs to vandalize his vehicles. I said ‘who is Erewele?’ I know he exists, but what is the value of a man who cannot and who has never delivered his polling booth to ACN or APC? We have never won election in his ward. I was then happy to offload this liability to the PDP. Erewele has no political value, but once any body wants to draw attention to himself, he will say Comrade said he should be attacked. I have records either as a steward in the NLC or since I assumed office as governor of this state, I have never asked anybody to beat somebody. The election that renewed my mandate, not one gun was fired anywhere. So what are my stakes now, what am I looking for? But you also know that before my assumption of office as governor of this state, every election was characterised by violence. Indeed in 2007, they killed three young men at Oba Primary School. And I am proud to state that since we chased them out and I assumed office, we have witnessed no violence in this state. So they are trying Continues on page 51 C M Y K

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 51

By Lekan Ilesanmi

W

HEN last year Chief Anthony Anenih came to town with his declaration that the best thing to do in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, regarding its choice of a presidential candidate for the 2015 presidential election would be to grant incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan the Right of First Refusal, many frowned at the thought.

However, after just about a year since he made the statement, the party, rightly in its wisdom, has finally granted Jonathan the Right of First Refusal. But what does this all mean?

Common sense dictates that you do not change a winning team or a replace a winner.

The story of Jonathan’s final emergence as the sole candidate for the PDP needs telling here.

The caucus of the party met and decided without much fuss that its best option was to re-present the man who has transformed Nigeria beyond what people thought was possible when he mounted the saddle. Indeed, from the transport sector, to power, healthcare delivery, foreign relations, macro and micro economic development, Jonathan has almost always proved his critics wrong.

Therefore, at the caucus level, it was an easy deal relating with the postulations of the man that is known as the Leader. And because he is the Board of Trustee, BoT, Chairman, discussing the issue at that level did not also present any serious challenge.

Therefore, when at the National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting of the party, the unanimity of opinion was that President Jonathan should be granted the Right of First Refusal, it was more like a prophecy by the leader coming to pass.

But the party went a useful step fur-

•Chief Anenih

•President Jonathan

RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL Manifestation of Anenih's declaration ther. The party also granted its state governors who were entitled to a second term of office the same Right.

Putting these in context, it would be appreciated that what an elder sees while sitting, a young person would not see even when standing on a tree top.

This would not be the first time that Anenih’s persona would dominate.

During the battle to secure the PDP presidential ticket in 1999, Anenih it was who played the role of a workman at the convention ground in Jos, Plateau State.

At the height of the Obasanjo/Atiku face off between 2002 and 2003 preceding the presidential primary, it was Anenih who played the role of a stabilizing figure in the pursuit of Obasan-

jo’s ticket for a second term.

Even last in 2010/2011 when the debate raged as to the appropriateness of Jonathan’s candidacy for the presidential election of the latter year, it was Anenih who brought out documenta-

Therefore, when at the National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting of the party, the unanimity of opinion was that President Jonathan should be granted the Right of First Refusal, it was more like a prophecy by the leader coming to pass

EDO ATTACKS: My case against PDP — Oshiomhole Continued from page 54

to create confusion and divert public attention. Once Erewele was done, the next thing I heard was that Pastor IzeIyamu’s clinic was attacked with bomb.

I called the police and the SSS to brief me on their findings, and they told a device was laid out into the gate house of the clinic. Now the question is, who is responsible for this? Ize-Iyamu was quick to make a libellous statement that I was responsible for the attack on his wife’s clinic and that we are after his life. The simple question is, does it mean we don’t know where he lives, does he live in the gate house of his wife’s clinic? If there are people who want to assassinate Ize-Iyamu, will they leave his house and go to the gate house of the wife’s clinic that is located several kilometres away from his wife’s residence? However, if the idea was to destroy his property, Iyamu has more then fifteen houses in Benin City. So is the destruction of a gate house meant to inflict damage on property, what sense does it make? I am told that there were three people in the house including the gate man. Where was the gateman when the gate house came under bomb attack. The CP told me that the gate man was having his bath. I now asked where other occupants of the house were at the time of the bombing.

So I want the public to look at all these

•Muazu

posers and find out whether the story of bombing as told by Ize-Iyamu made sense.

Am happy to offload them And if anyone was to be a problem, we have fought political battles in this state. My dear friend and brother, Dan Orbih, no matter what you want to say, no body has abused or attacked me more than he has done. Because once they cannot dispute my performance they will attack my person. There is nothing they have not done trying to attack my person.

But let me ask, have we thrown knockout in the residence of Chief

If the authentic owners of the party are not my headache, why will a migrant become my headache so much that I will waste my time planning to attack a gate house of his wife’s clinic?

Anenih, Dan Orbih or any PDP leader?

So why Ize-Iyamu, what is the relevance of a frustrated man? A migrant politician, can he really be my headache? If the authentic owners of the party are not my headache, why will a migrant become my headache so much that I will waste my time planning to attack a gate house of his wife’s clinic? So I need you to understand that there are people who are so desperate that they think they can mislead Nigerians that Comrade is a violent man. I have a duty to protect the lives and property of the people of this state including my political opponents.

How plot to ground Edo failed But let me assure the people of Edo that there is no cause for alarm. It is true that some people plotted, believing that they can impeach me and short circuit the political process. They voted huge sums of money to procure lawmakers.

They were on the verge of procuring more hoping that they will gain at least 13 and if they have 13 out of 24, then they would have simple majority. With simple majority they cannot impeach but with simple majority they will block the budget. And once they block the budget, they would have paralysed government.

And the calculation was clear, for these forces of darkness to have an inch towards Osadebey Avenue, they need to create maximum distraction. How will they win election without record of performance? So they reasoned that if

tion as to who did what, when, where and how.

While some people argued that the ticket should be reserved for the North based on a zoning arrangement in the PDP, Anenih let it be known that since 1999 when the party once allegedly reserved the spot for the South, some people from the North paid for the presidential form and went ahead to contest against Obasanjo both in 1999 and 2003.

And in 2007, when power was expected to revert to the North, some people from the South contested against Umar Musa Yar’Adua too.

Now that Jonathan has picked his expression of interest form and the form for the presidential ticket, Nigerians await what next would come from the oracle of Uromi. they block the budget, by February, when we will be going for the next election, Edo State government would have been grounded because I would not have a budget to work with. And once we no longer can work, people will begin to ask questions. Now this plan has been aborted. As you know, we are today on record as the first state government to pass the Appropriation Act for 2015. And the benchmark which the Federal Government is working on as published is the benchmark that we had assumed for formulating this budget. Every toll gate they created God has taken us over it. And this explains the deepening frustration and the resort to violence believing that if they make the state ungovernable, then one thing might lead to another. But I want to assure that I will remain focused on my primary mandate which is to provide good governance in our state, to harness our resources and manage them in such a way as to continue to deliver on development agenda. Many state governments have been defaulting in the payment of salaries but, in Edo, I am proud to say that we are up to date in the payment of salaries. And now that the dry season is here, our tractors will return to work, things are tough but we need tough men when things gets tough. So I assure you that we will remain focused on our job, our selling point is performance and we will not deviate from that. When the campaigns start, we will return to the politics of eye mark. Show me what you did in ten years and I will show you what I did in six years. And Edo people will decide.

C M Y K

PAGE 52—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

2015: PDP endorsement hangover

By Henry Umoru How it started

T

*Akpabio

*Dakingari

*Suswam

*Orji

*Chime

*Yuguda

After these speakers, a, former Acting National Chairman of the PDP and past Minister of Defence, Dr. Haliru Mohammed Bello, moved the motion to give the endorsement constitutional backing.

A former governor of old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo, seconded the motion.

PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, than the motion into vote and the NEC unanimously adopted it.

When it was his turn to speak, the elated Jonathan, who accepted the endorsement, said that he was humbled, overwhelmed and promised not to disappoint the PDP governors, the leaders, stakeholders and members of the party.

Implication The party took a decision it has never taken thus shutting out other prospective presidential aspirants, using the platform of the PDP for the 2015 polls. In this case, the party will raise only N22 million from the sale of forms from one person – Jonathan - unlike in the past where many aspirants came up inspite of the zoning arrangement of the party.

Buttressing the decision to endorse the President as the PDP’s sole presidential candidate, Governor of Akwa Ibom State and Chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum, Godswill Akpabio, declared that the governors took the decision to enable him address the problem of insurgency in some parts of the country, food insufficiency and other issues.

Akpabio, who described the action as a well calculated exercise and democracy in action, stressed that the decision became imperative to save the President of distraction with the primary election, just as he said that the opposition was rattled by the action of the PDP governors, the National

Caucus, the Board of Trustees, BoT and the National Assembly “to sacrifice their individual ambitions and rally behind the President who has “ performed exceedingly well.

Governors fight back Meanwhile, indications have emerged that the governors may not be comfortable with the decision they jointly took on the President’s endorsement for re-election as those serving second term had hoped they will also have automatic approval to get in their godsons as successors and automatic ticket to go to the Senate.

Another issue is whether other PDP governors and members of the National Assembly seeking re-election are entitled to automatic tickets, in line with the continuity principle extended to Jonathan. Little surprise, a crisis has erupted between the PDP National

Working Committee (NWC) and the PDP governors who want something from the pact that led to the Jonathan endorsement.

Reacting to the development, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, ruled out automatic reelection tickets for first term governors and National Assembly members, arguing that the NEC decision was limited to the president.

Corroborating Metuh, the NWC rose from its meeting, penultimate Thursday, warning the governors, zonal and state Chairmen to jettison such idea of having any anointed candidate ahead of the November 29 primary election where the PDP gubernatorial candidates would emerge.

This provoked outrage amongst the governors who endorsed Jonathan on the understanding that out-going governors would be allowed to nominate their successors, while those seeking re-election would get automatic tickets. As is always the case with all houses of cards, the PDP now has to face its own internal contradictions.

Of the 19 PDP governors, those who are not rounding off their various tenure in office and want to come back for second term are Murktar Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State; the Acting Governor of Taraba State, Garba Umar; Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe; Henry Seriake-Dickson of Bayelsa; Capt.

Idris Wada; Adamawa State governor, Bala James Ngilari, among others.

Besides Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa, other governors of the PDP who will be leaving office in 2015 have got the machinery of the party and some persons in their states to anoint them for the Senate. They are Akpabio; Gabriel Suswam of Benue; Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi; Theodore Orji of Abia; Sullivan Chime of Enugu; Ibrahim Shema of Katsina; Isa Yuguda of

,

HE National Executive Commit tee, NEC, of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at the end of its 66 th meeting held on September 18,at the NEC hall of the party’s national secretariat, endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan as the sole candidate of the party for the February 2015 presidential election. The endorsement came ahead of the national convention fixed for December6 where it would be ratified at Eagle Square, Abuja.

NEC is the party ’s highest body, explained that the move became imperative because no serious party would change a winning team like President Jonathan, whose cabinet, it claimed has performed with its transformation agenda that helped to change the face of Nigeria.

At the meeting, the governor of Niger State and Chairman, Northern States Governors’ Forum, NSGF, Muazu Babangida Aliyu, spoke on behalf of all PDP governors of their decision to endorse the President as PDP’s sole candidate.

There was, however, a mild drama when Aliyu, in his attempt to convince NEC that the decision was unanimous, asked Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State to bear witness. Lamido, who sat directly opposite the President, stood up, looked directly at Jonathan, smiled and did a thumbsup without uttering a word. The hall burst into a thunderous ovation in celebration of Lamido’s seeming acceptance of Jonathan’s candidature with shouts of ‘PDP, PDP’. The Niger governor boasted that Rivers, Nasarawa, Kwara, Sokoto and Adamawa States would be brought back to the party in next year ’s election.

The governors’ position received the stamp of approval of party stakeholders because as leaders of the PDP in their respective states, with the power to influence delegates, the governors remain the most potent caucus in the PDP. Even judging from the past and their actions, governors decide who becomes the presidential candidate or the National Chairman of the PDP. So, it was not surprising to everyone that organs of the ruling party like the BoT; National Caucus and NEC had to adopt the decision to give Jonathan automatic ticket.

Immediately after Aliyu, a former Deputy National Chairman of the ruling party and a member of its Board of Trustees, Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun, who spoke for the BoT, said members unanimously voted for Jonathan’s continuity and as the party ’s sole candidate because of the need for him to further consolidate on his achievements.

President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, who doubles as the Chairman of the National Assembly, then took the microphone and told the meeting members that, as an advocate of continuity especially for a performing sitting President, the National Assembly PDP Caucus, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, agreed that Jonathan should not only continue, but should be the only candidate to be presented at the convention by the party for the 2015 presidential election.

For the PDP women, Ambassador Justina Eze, who presented the resolution of PDP women that the President should continue and be the party’s candidate because of his concern for women, said there was no vacancy in Aso Rock.

Another issue is whether other PDP governors and members of the National Assembly seeking re-election are entitled to automatic tickets, in line with the continuity principle extended to Jonathan

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Continues on page 53

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 53

Continued from page 52

Bauchi; Jonah Jang of Plateau and Aliyu.

The governors aiming for the Senate are at war with their serving senators. In Enugu, Governor Chime is at war with Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Governor Theodore Orji of Abia wants to replace Senator Nkechi Nwaogu; Suswam wants to block Senator Barnabas Gemade from coming back; Akpabio at war with Senator Aloysius Etok; Aliyu wants to remove Senator Nuhu Zagbayi who was elected August 30 during a byelection to replace the late Senator Awaisu Kuta; Governor Jonah Jang is coming and, once he comes, Senator Gyang Pwajok would go.

As these governors plan to move from their various Government Houses to the Senate, they have their anointed sons to take over from them. Like in Enugu State, member, representing Udenu/ Igboeze- North in the House of Representatives and Chairman, House Committee on Marine Transport, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has been endorsed by Chime as his possible successor.

In Akwa Ibom, Akpabio is said to have settled for the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, while Martins Elechi of Ebonyi State has endorsed the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, in Delta State, and in Bauchi, Governor Yuguda may not have made up his mind on who should succeed him between the former PDP Acting National Secretary and Chairman, Governing Board of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Dr. Musa Babayo, and former Minister of State, Health, Dr. Muhammed Ali Pate.

Deadlocked meeting

2015: PDP endorsement hangover

*Jang

*Babangida

Not happy with the development, the governors called for a meeting with the PDP National Chairman, Muazu, to confront him with their displeasure over the stoppage of the endorsement of their candidates ahead of the general elections and their own candidature for the Senate by the NWC. The meeting held at the Asokoro residence of Muazu. The governors told the party leader, a former governor who understands the politics about the forthcoming primary elections for aspirants of the party, that they were not happy with the decision of the NWC to announce the cancellation of all endorsements.

The Wednesday meeting between the

governors and the PDP National Chairman ended in deadlock. It was gathered that the governors and Muazu could not reach a consensus on the issue of endorsement, automatic tickets for the governors who were rounding off and warming up to go to the Senate, their preferred successors as well as automatic tickets for first term governors.

Following the deadlock, the governors and Muazu are expected to meet again.

“While we believe that the governors are our field commanders, we cannot say in the same breath that our senators are no more useful and should be discarded; so we have outlined some acceptable conditions that will guide

both the governors and the senators, because especially the governors, they cannot have everything to themselves without consideration for others”, a top PDP official told Sunday Vanguard.

“We are going to tell them politely that if a governor wishes to go to the senate, fine, but such cannot be the one to anoint a successor ”.

Knowing the implication of a meeting of this nature ending in deadlock, it is hoped that the President and Muazu would find a way of arriving at a compromise. The party knows the power it has given to the governors by making them leaders of the PDP in their states ; it is also hoped that the governors will realise that they cannot have it all. Yes, the governors should have a say on who succeeds them, but that should not be done in a dictatorial manner, also knowing fully well that politicians from their states have sacrificed for the party, and taking anyone outside them, the governors must carry them along.

There is nothing wrong about aspiring to move from the Government House to the Senate, but the national leadership of the party must be seen to be firm, serious with what it says at all times, not saying this today and doing another thing tomorrow. The NWC must listen to all, but this must not be under duress or be coerced by a powerful bloc within the party especially now that the PDP has not fully recovered from its past and now that it wants complete a genuine reconciliation with the inauguration of the National Zonal Integration Committee.

Ihedioha and Imo 2015

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

F

ROM the day he debuted in politics from a background so low, the story has not been anything short of success.

This is the story of Chief Chukwuemeka Nkemakolam Ihedioha, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

How it started Ihedioha kicked off his political career in 1992 when he was appointed Press Officer to the then Senate President ,, Chief Iyorchia Ayu. Shortly afterwards, he was also appointed as Chief Press Secretary to the then Deputy Senate President, the late Senator Albert Legogie.

But the Nigerian military cut short the life of that democratic process which affected Ihedioha’s appointment. When the ban for partisan politics was lifted, Ihedioha pitched tent with the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM), which was one of the groups which formed the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998 as the Director of Publicity.

In that capacity, he played very crucial and prominent roles in the emergence of the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration at the dawn of the present democratic experiment in 1999.

At the formation of that government, Ihedioha was appointed, first, as Special Assistant to the Presidential Adviser on Utilities (July 1999); later, as

Special Assistant Media and Publicity to the President of Senate (November 1999); and eventually Special Assistant on Political Matters to the Vice President (September 2001).

To other politicians craving for a place in the 360-member House of Representatives, it may be a struggle to get there but for Ihedioha, it was a call from his people of AbohMbasie-Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency. And so, in 2003, he answered the call and got elected to represent the people.

Finding expression in what is fast becoming an aphorism that one good turn deserves another, Ihedioma got re-elected in 2007.

A first timer, he was made Chairman, House Committee on Marine Transport. He activities gave birth to Cabotage Law which drives the maritime industry today. In 2007, he headed yet another important Committee: Cooperation an Integration in Africa.

The lawmaker was to be elevated later to the post of Chief Whip.

The Imo State born politician got re-elected the third time in an unbroken stance from 2003.

It was at this time that he emerged the Deputy Speaker of the House.

Ihedioha has won election to represent Aboh Mbaise /Ngor Okpala federal constituency in the House of Representatives three times since 2003. In all of

those times, he was never a bench warmer as he was very visible. In fact, to most people, this was the credential that qualified him for the current office he is holding as the Deputy Speaker of the House. But having seen it all at the green chamber, Ihedioha has said he would not seek the office for the fourth time to enable the youth have a shot at the parliament.

Instead of returning to parliament, the people of Imo, his home, want him to come home and render the same, wonderful service he has given the country at large. To answer the call, the federal lawmaker, on Wednesday October 15, stormed the national secretariat of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to obtain the Expression of Interest Form.

Ihedioha’s aspiration is supported by his fellow lawmakers who accompanied him to pick the form. They included Hon. Jerry Alagbaso, Chairman of the Imo Caucus in the House; Hon. Jones Onyereri; Hon. Alphonsus Irona and Hon. Chudi Uwazurike.

The Deputy Speaker recently toured 24 of the 27 LGAs in the Imo State amassing support and goodwill of the people for his cause.

Interestingly, Ihedioha’s quest to succeed Governor Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has the nod of key party leaders in the state. They included Chief

*Hon. Ihedioha Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, leader of South Caucus of PDP and member, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party; two-time former governor of Imo, Chief Achike Udenwa and Chief Francis Nzeribe, both of whom are key leaders of the PDP in Orlu Zone and the state; and Chief Fidelis Izuchukwu, a former PDP National Vice Chairman (South-East) of the party, and leader of Okigwe Zone.

Apart from the support of these eminent sons of the state,

the zoning principle in the state is also in the favour of the lawmaker.

Reports say that of the three zones of Imo- Owerri, Orlu and Okigwe- Owerri zone is the most marginalized. And little wonder why the people are clamoring very strongly for power shift.

Bottom line Though the odds favour Ihedioha, it is left to be seen whether the APC elements led by Okorocha would budge as the clock ticks towards 2015.

PAGE 54—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

Consensus is not antithetical to democracy

C

onsensus, according to the Merriam-Webmas ter, the web dictionary, isa general agreement about something; an idea or opinion that is shared by all the people in a group. It also defines the word as group solidarity in sentiment and belief.

Last Sunday, one of the national papers ran a report on the recent adoption of Hon. IfeanyiUgwuanyi by the Enugu Chapter of the ruling PDP as the party’s consensus candidate for next year ’s governorship election in the state. Apart from the hear-say reference to ships and all that, the story read quite well, indeed. But, according to a local wisecrack, once there is a BUT in a narrative, it cannot be wholesome again.

For the purpose of this writeup, the BUT in the story is the claim by a group, the League of Enugu Voters for Good Governance(LEVGG) that the September 26 adoption of Hon. Ugwuanyiby the Enugu-North PDP and his subsequent validation by Enugu East and West zonal chapters as the party’s consensus candidate for next year’s governorship election, was undemocratic. In a statement signed by its chairman, Robinson Chukwuemeka and secretary Manifest Obioma, the group declared that the “so-called consensus option has forced other well- meaning aspirants on the party platform to shut up their mouth and resign to fate, albeit man-made.

The result is that the larger people of Enugu State are forced with a choice made by one of three senatorial zones. While there is no question as to the right of Nsukka Zone to produce the next governor of Enugu State in

2015, that right does not extend to imposing an aspirant on the other two zones. The presentation to Enugu East Zonal Caucus on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 and Enugu West Zonal Caucus for Friday, October 1, do not (sic) and cannot validate the otherwise undemocratic methodology already adopted by the PDP.” While LEVGG’s argument may be eloquent, it unfortunately proceeds from some false premises.

One, the claim that consensus as a ‘methodology’ for selecting a candidate for election by a political party is undemocratic is wrong. By its very definition, consensus is a very valid tool for democratic decision-making. If consensus means an idea or opinion that is shared by all the people in a group, then it stands to reason that that opinion would be shared only after members of the group must have weighed the pros and cons of an issue and come to the conclusion that an agreement on such an issue serves their collective interest better. So, reaching a consensus on who is to bear its flag in an election does not in any way detract from the principles of internal democracy in a political party.

Two, LEVGG argues that to allow Enugu North to produce a consensus candidate is to let the zone impose its candidate on the rest of the state and that it does not even matter that Enugu East and Enugu West have validated that choice. This is wrong-headed, in my view. Would the cause of democracy be better served in Enugu State, in LEVGG’s estimation, if the state were to organize an inevitably raucous, costly primary, with chaos and mayhem possibly in tow, just for the world to see and say, ‘yes the candidate

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By JohnPaulEzeaku

Hon. IfeanyiUgwuanyi is the product of a primary election?’ Or would it better served if stakeholders came together and unanimously agreed to present a consensus candidate, to save the state the bitterness and acrimony that that often come with primary elections in these parts?

In any case, going by media reports, what happened in Enugu on September 26 cannot be reasonably equated to an imposition. According to the reports, all 14 governorship aspirants from Enugu North were invited to a meeting at the Governor’s Lodge, Enugu, with Governor Chime and all the party stakeholders from the zone. At the meeting, the issue of choosing a consensus candidate so as to make the up-coming primaries less rancorous was broached.

Some of the aspirants initially objected to the idea and said so.

But, after listening to contributions from other stakeholders, they became sold on the idea.

One of the aspirants, Chief Fidel Ayogu, former Nigerian Ambassador to Uganda,reportedly nominated Hon. Ugwuanyi and then moved a motion for his adoption as the consensus candidate of the Enugu North chap-

Those who criticize the democratic process in Enugu fail to see the larger picture in what has taken place, namely, that through deft party organisation and management, the PDP leadership in the coalcity state has managed to put in place a sustainable party structure

,

ter of the party, who would be presented to the state PDP Exco for ratification as the candidate to be supported by delegates to win the party primary slated for November 29 this year. The ayes had it. What could be more democratic than this?

To be sure, the Enugu PDP only took a pre-primary action designed principally to prune down the number of governorship aspirants from Enugu North to which it has zoned the 2015 governorship. This is with a view to reducing the chances of acrimony and bitterness down the party line that could result from a laissez faire primary election featuring all 14 aspirants and their supporters. As Governor Chime clarified in an interview published in several newspapers last week, the adoption of Hon. Ugwuanyi has not at all violated the PDP Constitution because it has not come as a substitute for party primary.

When the primary election holds on November 29, Ugwuanyi will still be slugging it out with Senator AyoguEze, Hon. Eugene Odo and ChineduOnuh, the three as-

pirants who didn’t step or haven’t stepped down for him, for the party’s ticket for the governorship election Enugu State in February next year.

Those who criticize the democratic process in Enugu fail to see the larger picture in what has taken place, namely, that through deft party organisation and management, the PDP leadership in the coal-city state has managed to put in place a sustainable party structure that has made the chapter probably the strongest and most peaceful of all the state chapters. The party is so well organized in the state—from the ward, local government, zonal to the state level—that Enugu is easily the only state in the country where no opposition party has had any strong footing, especially since 2007. This is because every decision taken by the party, every favour dispensed by it through the government machinery, every membership obligation discharged by stakeholders, is almost always just, equitable and fair. Isn’t it cause for applause that while the party in other states of the South East and parts of the South South are in crisis, that of Enugu is 99.9 per cent intact and at peace with itself? What is better in political calculations—in these parts—than a ruling party without an iota of crisis, which inspires a sense of belonging in every segment of the society and which gives practical expression to the vision of its founding fathers through its accent on justice, equity and fair play as the cardinal principles of governance?

The disavowal of consensus candidacy by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP is a mere academic exercise and, indeed, senseless and hypocritical. It is akin to shooting oneself in the foot. Let’s face it, every can-

Continues from page 57

Protect Buhari with army helicopter, Evah tells FG

BY TONY NWANKWO Comrade Joseph Evah is national coordinator, Ijaw Monitoring Group, and former Publicity Secretary, Ijaw National Congress. In this interview, he says the Federal Government should spare no costs in protecting retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as he joins the presidential race.

Excerpts:

T

he President was recently adopted by PDP organs for 2015 contest. How do you read this?

It is an internal PDP affair and the party’s Constitution allows it.

I see nothing wrong there. But I don’t think President Goodluck Jonathan will be afraid of any party primary to re-contest. But politicians, they hate crisis, they don’t take themselves for granted.

They want to know there are no dissidents. There could be the fear of a period of reconciliation after a crisis, which could affect the INEC’s time table for the elections. So, they take no chances. Of course, if there are people who don’t accept the adoption they could come out to protest but we have not seen anybody protesting. And you cannot force people to protest. It was not done in hiding, there was no secrecy involved, it was done in the open and Nigerians including the media were present. So, if there were people who were not comfortable with it, they could complain and get the issues resolved. Yet, I don’t think this adoption is final. It is

the convention that will decide the issues for the party.

Recently, everyone was saying crucify Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, on the South Africa $9.3m arms deal, but you said let’s await the outcome of investigations. Do you feel vindicated?

You know we have this bandwagon mentality in this country. Nobody supports evil, but this is a man who during the crisis in the Niger Delta, he made himself available to pacify frayed nerves., asking militants to hold their fire and allow peace to reign. He was always for peace even when peace seemed elusive.

To now be the champion of violence? That was a bitter pill for some of us to swallow. Today, everyone now knows he was not personally involved in money laundering or in arms deal.

Infact, he had nothing to do on who leased his aircraft and for what purpose. However, if you look deeply, you can see the hand of fifth columnists in the saga. If the Presidency could conduct investigations on how this happened, they can find those who blew the whistle, primarily to embarrass the government and checkmate the good works of the Pastor. He has been in the forefront of asking Northern political leaders to own up to the intrigues of Boko Haram insurgency. He would want Northern political leaders to talk to these terrorists, the same way they themselves talked with Niger Delta militants in the past. If we

Comrade Joseph Evah want to look deeply, the National Security Adviser ’s office has to come out clearly on certain things. I have been following Nigeria’s pattern from the time of June 12 struggle. It will be important to know, for instance, why, out of the 500 private planes in the country, Ayo Oritsejafor ’s plane became the one to be used for this assignment. There seems a set up, a trap, saying, ‘let us use Oritsejafor plane, as we use the plane, you people will raise an alarm, contact the Press, contact South African government, that this is what is coming”. Within the National Security hierarchy, either the Ministry of Defence, or the NSA office, some people felt that with the coming elections, use Oritsejafor plane in order to rubbish him so that he will no longer be bold enough to speak.

But that is what is lacking in our own Niger Delta leaders. They don’t calculate, they don’t strategize. Its like the INEC matter. When INEC came up with extra Polling Units, Niger Delta leaders started shouting against

it. When the strategy to create these Polling Units and to give the North countless number of Polling Units, were our people not in the system? Why did they not give information to our people in government? We need a think-tank, and we don’t have any. Since, we have been asking our people to create a thinktank, nobody wants to listen. The Northerners have networks and they have strategies, so they coordinate their strategies.

INEC chairman comes up with something and our Southern leaders oppose it. It is a shame that in the whole of INEC structures, we don’t have people.

We don’t even have civil society people who are in touch, who should shout, complain, even before INEC makes its publications.

Now the publications are out from INEC, now we are saying that they want to cheat Southern Nigeria.

INEC is not trying to cheat Southern Nigeria, it is because they have focus and sincere leaders.

But after the first $9.3 million, there is another $5,7+-million on the same project in South Africa. Is government not acting with impunity?

Government sought and got approval from the Nigerian Senate to procure arms to fight insurgency. They all know that.

What we are saying is that there are people within the system who want to embarrass this government, and they are succeeding. So, it is painful to

us who are activists and who are from Southern Nigeria. Our son is President of Nigeria, the people who are using sirens, who are wearing fine coats, they have money so they don’t want to listen to anybody who has no money in his pocket. If not, the people who are exposing these things and embarrassing Nigeria and embarrassing government would not be doing it. Another thing is the survival of Muhammadu Buhari. I am very happy that after the survival of Buhari in the last attack, the Federal Government has provided enough security for Buhari’s life. They should double the security. If there is even need for them to use helicopter, even military chopper to follow his vehicle, when he is moving, they should use it. Because it is his own people who want to kill him and use it to burn Nigeria to ashes. It is his own people who want to use the blood of Buhari to destroy Nigeria. That is their calculation. So, we have to make sure that we don’t allow them.

God will not allow them as God has already performed the miracle. I said it then that the survival of Buhari was the greatest miracle that Jehovah God performed in this country, because the worst genocide would have happened. And it would have happened from the barracks. The northern officers like what happened in 1966, they made sure that no officers from Abeokuta Barracks of Igbo origin, none of them survived the attacks. They were killed by their friends.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 55

2015: Orji, Ikpeazu and the succession battle in Abia

BY OLAYINKA AJAYI

T

HE entry of the immedi ate past Deputy General Manager of the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) in charge of Aba and environs, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, into the governorship race in Abia State has altered the permutations on who succeeds Governor Theodore Orji next year.

Before now, many names, including those of Senator Enyeinnaya Abaribe, Senator Nkechi Nwaorgu, Barrister Friday Nwosu, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, Chief Emeka Wogu, Chief Marc Wabara, Dr. Uche Ogah, Chief Alex Oti, Elder Acho Nwakamma, have featured prominently in the race.

The decision of the state Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Orji, the elders, among other stakeholders, to zone the governorship to Abia South next year has, to a large extent, helped to narrow the race.

Despite negligible agitations, majority of Abians support the decision of the PDP to zone the governorship slot to Abia South which has not occupied the position for the past 22 years when the state was created. It is almost the consensus in the state that any other political party expecting to make any impact in the governorship race to toe the line of the PDP. With the adoption of the zoning formula by the PDP, some of the gubernatorial aspirants have been put at a disadvantage in the contest.

They include Ogah and Otti, both from Abia North and Nwaogu currently representing Abia Central in the Senate.

Whether viewed as a party position or from any other angle, the zoning arrangement of the PDP is a welcomed development that would assuage the marginalization of the Ukwa Ngwa peo-

Governor Theodore Orji ple of the Abia South as well as enthrone equity, fairness and justice in the polity of the God’s Own State.

For the people of the Ukwa Ngwa, the opportunity beckons on them to fine-tune their political arts, put their house in order to accept a candidate amongst themselves as this contest is meant to produce only one governor for the state.

This brings to the fore the personality, capacity, and credibility of these aspirants jostling to govern the State from Abia South senatorial zone.

At press time, Nwosu, Ikpeazu, Wogu, Abaribe, are said to have collected their nomination forms on the platform of the PDP. The PDP holds sway in Abia and it is doubtful if any other political party has the ability to make impact in the 2015 elections in the state.

In the case of Ikpeazu, there is an overwhelming support and acceptability of this renowned biochemist, teacher and highly accomplished public servant from Umuobiakwa village, Isialaukwu, Mbato Autonomous Community in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State.

To analysts, he represents a paradigm shift in two dimensions.

He is young, vibrant; enthusias-

Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu tic and has the energy to pursue the dream of the founding fathers and aspiration of the people of the state.

He also has the experience in governance and track record of bridge-building and cementing relationships; this he has exhibited in all the positions he held in Abia.

He is loved by many Abians because he is not controversial, a devout Christian with sound moral integrity. Ikpeazu served as the transition committee (TC) chairman of Obingwa local government area of Abia State in 2002 and later became the special adviser to the governor on the environment.

He was subsequently appointed the General Manager, Abia State Passengers Integrated Manifest and Safety Scheme (ASPIMSS) from 2007 to 2009.

Within the period, he turned around the fortunes of ASPIMSS and made it a revenue yielding agency of government. It’s also on record that over 1,000 Abians were employed in ASPIMSS. In 2010, he was appointed Chairman, Governing Council of Abia State College of Health Technology, Aba. During his tenure, he facilitated the accreditation of three critical courses in the institution by the NBTE.

In 2011, he was reappointed General Manager of ASPIMSS, a position he held till 2013.

In June, 2013, he was appointed the first Deputy General Manager, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), Aba and environs.

While holding that office, his competence, managerial efficiency and vision played out in such a way that the testimonies of his performance changed the commercial nerve city of Aba from the dirtiest to one of the cleanest cities in the country.

He set up the ASEPA structure from the scratch in Aba to what his Successor is consolidating today.

Everybody in Aba, including those in opposition to the present government, attest to the fact that he discharged his duties to the admiration of not only the Aba people but also the entire Abia State and beyond interpreting the vision of the state government on the environment and waste management till October this year when he resigned to join the gubernatorial race.

In his service philosophy, Ikpeazu, during a recent ceremony in Aba, said, “My commitment is to serve God and humanity.

Therefore I am driven by a strong determination to achieve results.

In this regard, I am propelled by the fundamental needs of our people. I believe that to successfully achieve this, there is need to consult and involve a wide spectrum of our society.

“I think through issues and consult appropriately before arriving at decision. I appreciate intellectual discussions and contributions. I encourage people to express themselves, share their opinions and ideas on issues of interest to our society. Most importantly I take responsibility for every action and inaction under my watch”.

Without mincing word, he is

seen by many Abians as the best candidate capable of consolidating on the legacy projects of the Orji government.

He has been on ground and has exhibited expertise and competence in all the positions he held.

It is the firm belief of Aba residents and Abians that if given the mandate, he will turn around the infrastructure in Aba and consolidate on the performance of the present government.

Other aspirants jostling for the Abia governorship slot from Abia South can also be assessed based on their performance especially those who have held positions both in the state and the federal level.

For Abaribe, this is his second attempt in the governorship race.

He contested against Governor Orji Uzor Kalu on the platform of the defunct ANPP in 2003 and lost before returning to the PDP from where he was voted into the Senate where he will be competing his second term next year. He has been tested and would be judged by his people based on his performance as a former deputy governor and senator who represented them for two terms.

Like Abaribe, Wogu, the immediate past Minister of Labour and Productivity, is regarded as a “big boy” who grew up at home but has lost the touch with the grassroots.

For Emuchay and Wabara both from Ukwa East local government area of the state, it is widely believed that the Ugwa man would take the governorship slot of Abia while their Ukwa brother goes to the Senate.

Another aspirant that is said to have possessed strong political will to assume the plum job of the state is Nwosu but unfortunately he has not been tested with any political position in the state.

20 15: W hange —Votu Obada 201 Wee need results that will inspire cchange

By Chris Onuoha Votu Obada hails from Ukwuegu Local Government in Ugheli North Local Government Area of Delta State. A business man and widely travelled with vast experience in oil and gas business and human resources management, he obtained his master’s degree from University of Covetry, UK. Votu is the son of General Orho Esio Obada (rtd), ADC to the late Dr Nnamdi Azikwe when he was Nigeria’s ceremonial and a former Federal Commissioner for Works.

Votu’s interest to govern Delta State is borne out of the quest for a change in the way the polity and well-being of people is handled in the state. In this chat, he speaks on why he wants to govern the state.

Let me begin by stating that one of the penalties our youths pay for refusing to participate in politics is that they end up being governed by people who pay little attention to the basics. My desire to be governor of Delta is well thought out after due and thorough consultations with my elders, leaders and political stakeholders in the state and Deltans in Diaspora.

I feel it is time we brought about in Delta the long awaited change; change is what I represent, and part of my plan is to inspire that change in Delta State. If you watch carefully, you see that those aspiring to be governor in the

state had at one time or the other in government. If they truly have solution to the problems of Deltans, by now we should have entered our promised land. It is high time we stopped recycling leaders, otherwise we will continue to get same result. I want to inspire that change. We need a different result that will address the sufferings and aspirations of our people, and that is what I represent. We cannot fold our hands and watch our people wallow in abject poverty in the midst of abundance.

How to address challenges To be able to address these challenges, you must have understanding of what these challenges are and how they affect our people. In the first place, you cannot rule out the fact the unemployment exists and that is the reason some youths take to arms to reflect their agitation and grievance for better life. This can be tackled by creating jobs through public private partnership initiatives.

Secondly, lack of quality education is a challenge to our state. As a result, we have poorly educated graduates looking for job at wrong places. The situation can be addressed through integration of entrepreneurship development programmes from secondary to tertiary level, to equip our

and it entails these: A Teacher - a leader is to be reproductive, A Soldier - a leader is to be loyal, An Athlete - a leader is to be disciplined, A Farmer - a leader is to be a hard worker, A Worker -

a leader is to be diligent, A Vessel - a leader is to be pure, A Servant - a leader is to be submissive.

Together we can inspire ourselves to achieve our desired future/ change. I am here to serve.

Consensus is not antithetical to democracy Continued from page 56

•Votu Obada graduates to be independent and creative.

Also, full scale industrialisation is necessary.

My international exposure will help in this regard. I will bring my foreign business partners to invest in Delta and that again will create employment. We also need to build a new Delta through urban-rural remodernisation to get our state to compete with what is obtainable in the western world.

In the area of security, there will be rule of law. You know when the people are happy with your administration; peace and adherence to rule of law will exist.

Leadership is a call to serve and not to be served. This change is what I dare to inspire in Delta

didate selection process that the PDP has undergone since its founding has been defined by consensus arrangement one way or the other. Right from Obasanjo’s candidacy, through Yar’Adua to Jonathan, party stakeholders had practically settled the matter of who would fly the party flag for the presidential election before television beamed the charade called party primary taking place in Eagle Square live to our homes. And, pray, what manner of primaries and subsequent elections brought some of the governors to power? Truth is that the only difference between what Enugu has done and what the NWC of the PDP often does is that the former is more sincere and less costly while the latter is largely hypocritical and outlandishly wasteful.

But no matter. Suffice it, however, is to say that National Secretary, Professor Wale Oladipo’s preachment about the sanctity of

the party’s nomination process is a mere academic exercise. He should stop wasting his time because even ifhis NWC manages to force party stakeholders in Enugu to verbally recant their adoption of HonourableUgwuanyi, their hearts sure will not recant it. From the language of Oladipo’s press release, especially the aspect about not hesitating “to protect any of our members who in anyway stands to be short-changed, cheated or victimized…,”it is obvious where all this is coming from. But, he should beware of allowing himself to be usedby frustrated pretenders to the throne who can’t live down the fact that they have been beaten by more popular, widely acceptable contestants, to cause crisis in an otherwise peaceful and progressive chapter.

After all, consensus, especially the Enugu variant, is not antithetical to democracy!

Ezeaku, a public affairs commentator sent this piece from Enugu-Ezike, Enugu State.

PAGE 56—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014 sameyoboka@yahoo.com

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Assemblies of God 'war' gets messier *Ex-leader excommunicated

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*Redeemed Christian Church of God, Glory Chapel, Agbelekale, Abule Egba, Lagos after a church service.

MUBI: Boko Haram kills pastor while family watches....Bishop laments plight of North East Christians By

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SAM

EYOBOKA

OGGED by the ease with which the terrorist group, Boko Haram is prosecuting its conquest of the North East Region of the nation, Christians in the area have expressed disgust at the purported cease fire agreement signed by the Federal Government and the insurgents.

Expressing the concerns of the Christians in the North East yesterday in a telephone interview, Adamawa State chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Bishop Mike Moses appealed to the Federal Government to make haste to save Christians in the state before things get out of hand.

The CAN chairman told our reporter that the insurgents in their latest campaign to overrun the area, yesterday morning killed a pastor, an Assistant General Overseer of Triumph of Faith Church in Mubi, Rev. Isaac Innua, who was attempting to evacuate his family to safety.

Bishop Moses narrated how the insurgents entered Mubi, the economic hub of Adamawa State which is close to the Cameroun border, sacking the Police stations, setting all prisoners free and chasing the military who were on patrol of the town. Confirming earlier reports that the insurgents were seen advancing towards Mararranban and Vintim, the home town of the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, the bishop appealed to the Government to deploy troops in defence of innocent Christian civilians in that

axis because if these people get hold of Yola, it will not be long before they advance to Abuja.

According to him, the Boko Haram insurgents were chanting war songs threatening to move to other major towns even as they have blocked all access roads to Mubi, stressing that the state capital, Yola had been filled to capacity by displaced persons from the theatre of battle.

"The suffering is too much.

Men, children and women, some of them with babies strapped on their backs, are trekking long distances through the bush to get to Yola where there is relative peace at the moment," he said in resignation, saying that the only weapon available to the Christian folk, at the moment is prayer.

He therefore, while calling on the Federal Government to come to their aid, urged Christendom as a whole join them in prayer to avert the surging inferno, stating "if these people are allowed to "overrun Yola, then it is only a matter of time before they enter Abuja and all arrangements for a general elections next year will be a waste effort."

Bishop Moses further warned that the nation security forces must brace up to their challenges, stressing that the purported ceasefire agreement has actually enboldened and created a window for the insurgents to invade other territories and established emirates even in Christian domains.

Speaking in the same vein, the General Secretary of CAN, Rev. Musa Asake expressed disgust at the developments in Adamawa State especially because the

Defence chief is from that area.

"Some people are still talking about a ceasefire agreement. Who is talking about ceasefire agreement when people are being slaughtered in their hundreds and being chased out of their homes. It appears the security forces have just turned their attention the other way while the insurgents are having a field day," he stated.

"The thing that borders me most is that the people that danced and rejoiced when the Chief of Defence Staff was appointed are now being killed and driven into the bush and everybody is keeping quiet. We are told that certain military officers are sabotaging government efforts at arresting terrorism in the country. To me, if there is any person to be court marshaled is the saboteurs in the army rather than the innocent men who had left their families without any means of livelihood," the CAN scribe lamented.

Another Christian leader in Jimeta, also in Adamawa State expressed disappointment with the way these insurgents are outwitting a formidable army of the biggest economy in the African continent, adding that reports indicate that the Defence chief had deployed almost a battalion to defend his house in Vintim.

The female pastor who frowned at the purported ceasefire agreement, also stated that the whole episode is targeted towards the Christians in the North, pointing out that the leaders in the North are doing everything to islamise the nation.

HE battle for the soul of Assemblies of God Church Nigeria got messier at the weekend with the ex-communication of the embattled former General Superintendent, Rev. Paul Emeka, reports SAM EYOBOKA. He was also dismissed from ministry with his pastoral certificate withdrawn.

These were part of the farreaching resolutions reached by over 7,000 delegates of the church at the General Council--the highest decision-making organ of the church---meeting in Evangel Camp, Okpoko in Ebonyi State at the weekend.

The delegates agreed that Rev. Emeka had dragged the name of the church in the mud by instituting legal suits and using law enforcement agents to witch hunt some church leaders.

When the church Legal Adv-iser, Barrister P.C. Abuka, subjected the proposal to excommunicate Emeka to a voice vote, delegates replied with a resounding yes.

Abuka explained that the proposal was necessary to institute litigations against Emeka, who he alleged has been making moves in colla-boration with some members to appropriate church po-ssessions.

“You have armed us with this resolution and now we can move against Emeka to protect the church and her property across the nation,” Abuka stated.

The announcement of the dismissal of Emeka and other alleged collaborators believed to be working at cross-purposes with the church’s leadership, was received with a rousing applause by the delegates.

Delegates also danced in excitement when Council unanimously elected Rev. Chidi

Okoroafor as the new General Superintendent alongside three other prin-cipal officials and 15 zonal representatives to form the new Executive Council of the church for the next four years.

The former General Superintendent of the church, Rev. Charles Osueke, canvassed support for the new council members, saying the crisis in the church was precipitated by attempts by a few forces to hijack constitutional pro-visions.

Osueke, who led the church for 27 years, said it was either the church conformed to their destructive demands or face up to confront them.

“If we want automatic peace, we would hand over the church to them. Once we do that, the church and its vision is gone. But we cannot allow that because this church does not belong to anyone,” he stressed.

Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Okoroafor said the measures were necessary to weed out those who he described as dissidents bent on frustrating progress in the church.

He confirmed that legal actions will be taken against Emeka and others seeking to take over the church through suits.

Justifying the reasons for this, Okoroafor said: “We cannot spiritualise legal issues. You can’t just be praying when somebody is taking you to courts.

“We would no long keep quiet and allow our property taken over or our accounts fraudulently run by them.”

He pointed out that the church has identified constitutional loopholes that Emeka and others capitalised on, stating such sections will be massively overhauled when an emergency council meeting holds before the end of second quarter of 2015.

2015: Osu urges Nigerians to resist tyrants

By OLAYINKA LATONA

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HEAD o f the 2015 general elections, the parish priest of Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Northern Foreshore Estate, Lekki, L agos, Rev. Monsignor Gabriel Osu has urged Nigerians to resist all forms of tyranny and dictatorship currently manifesting in the polity.

Monsignor Osu specifically enjoined Nigerians to take advantage of next year's general elections to vote against bad le aders at all levels in the country, stressing that unless Nigerians rise against bad leadership and install leadership that was passionate about the country, the country would not make headway.

Speaking at this year's harvest service at the church, the priest who is also the archdiocesan director of Social Communications, declared that Harvest was always an

opportunity for Christians to show gratitude to God for His mercies and also to appreciate Him for what He will do for in the coming year.

Osu made this assertion last Sunday during the parish annual harvest service with a theme: “Harvest of Gratitude”, explaining that mankind cannot thank God enough for His mercy, divine provision and fruit of the labour.

Enumerating the importance of heart of gratitude to God, the assistant priest in charge of the parish, Fr. Julian Egwuatu, in his homily explained that thanksgiving should be a constant act in any man’s life notwithstanding the circumstances or challenges of life.

The priest noted that man ought not to take God’s grace and divine provision for granted but rather give thanks to God at all times, stressing that thanksgiving should be a daily routine and not only when God blesses one materially.

Fr. Egwuatu further urged the parishioners to imbibe the culture of showing gratitude to God.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 57

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ESUS says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6). He says to Pilate: “For this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.” (John 18:37). Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit he bequeaths to us as: “The Spirit of truth.” (John 14:17).

However, many Christians are not committed to truth. Indeed, truth endangers the faith of most Christians.

THE VALUE OF THE BIBLE

Nowhere is this more evident than in the dogmatic Christian defence of the errors, contradictions and falsehoods in the bible; in spite of the fact that the bible is no less an invaluable book for these. The fear is that if anything in the bible is not true, then the Christian faith is diminished. But nothing could be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, what this fear shows is that the faith of most Christians has shaky foundations.

The Christian faith cannot be based on the infallibility of the bible. It is based on the infallibility of God. People in the bible did not base their faith on a book.

Instead, they based their faith on what God told them personally.

Jesus does not tell us to have faith in the bible. He says: “Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:22).

The evidence indicates that those who don’t have a personal relationship with God are those who insist everything in the bible must be true. Jesus says to his Jewish opponents: “You diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40).

The bible only points to Jesus.

However, we cannot know a place by merely reading the road-signs telling us how to get there. We know a place by going there.

Therefore, Christians should not just read the bible. We must go to the Jesus of the bible in order to receive and live the life he gives.

Knowing God True Christianity is not a religion: it is a relationship. We cannot have a relationship with an inanimate book. We must have a relationship with a living God. What the bible does is to tell us about people who had intimate relationships with God in the past, and it shows how they were mightily blessed by them. This shows it is also possible for us to have similar relationships with God today.

Indeed, Jesus invites us to this.

He says: “This is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3).

There is a limit to what we can know about God by reading about him in a book. To really know God, we have to interact with him on a personal one-on-one basis; the same way some people did in the bible. God expects us to draw near to him and to enter into fellowship with him. John says: “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3).

Living a lie Therefore, beware of dogmatic Christians whose faith is based solely on the bible. There are many human errors and contradictions in the bible. But the God we serve never makes a mistake and he never contradicts himself.

When these “sola scriptura” Chris-

PFN moves against sharp practices on the pulpit

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HAIRMAN of P e n t e c o s t a l

Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Lagos chapter, Bishop Sola Ore has warned that the Fellowship will not hesitate to dissociate itself from any church leader involved in extra-biblical practices for pecuniary gains, reports OLAYINKA LATONA. Ore gave the warning recently at the inauguration of the Badagry Province of the PFN at the Provincial head-quarters of

the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Badagry.

While cautioning pastors against using psychology and human wisdom to extort money from their members, he said the time had come for the Fellowship to move against any pastor that indulges in unholy practices.

Specifically, he warned pastors against employing unbiblical means to raise funds in their churches such as collecting consultation fees and making bogus promises to members.

Alimosho PFN inaugurates new exco

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HE new executives of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Alimosho province has been inaugurated.

The inauguration, with the theme: UNDERSTANDING THE BODY took place at Faith Revival Apostolic Church, Idimu, Lagos State, on Friday.

Some of the newly inaugurated officers are Rev David Ikhielea, Chairman; Apostle Raphael Olorunmaiye, vice chairman; Rev Dr James Olulaja Iyanda, Secretary; Pastor Adebowale Ojo , Publicity Secretary; Rev (Dr) Olabisi Odunmbaku Maxwel, Treasurer and Pastor Dare Asehon, Financial secretary.

Others are Pastor (Mrs) Victo-

ria Ikhielea, Women Co-Ordinator; Apostle Eberechukwu Grace, Director of Protocol; Pastor (Mrs) Mercy Chukwunyere, Director of Music; Pastor Awojumobi Olugbenga, Director of Training and others.

Inaugurating the new executives, Lagos State Chairman of PFN, Bishop Sola Are charged them to shun worldly things and devote their lives to preaching the coming back of JESUS CHRIST. The bishop decried a situation where pastors value properties and worldly possessions more than saving souls, saying laying too much emphasis on it is not right.

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Bible worshippers

The bible tells us about people who had intimate relationships with God in the past, and it shows how they were mightily blessed by them

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tians discover errors and contradictions in the bible, their faith is shipwrecked. To avoid this, they end up living a lie; pretending an error is not an error, and a contradiction is not a contradiction.

When you insist on the truth, their Christian facade disappears to reveal the demons beneath.

They will curse you in the name of their idol gods. They will call you all sorts of unprintable names.

Some even tell you to: “Go to hell!” And then there is the classic. They will say you don’t have the Holy Spirit. They will tell you that: “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

But when did the precious Holy Spirit become a spirit of error?

When did the Spirit of wisdom become the spirit of ignorance?

Indeed, if the natural man cannot

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ARTICIPANTS at this year's Word of Life Bible Church, Warri annual convention tagged Jubilee Word Festival are in for a pleasant surprise as the Ajamimogha Road church is wearing a new look in preparation for the yearly spiritual fiesta. For the past few weeks attention is being given to the physical renewal of the church to make the premises much more attractive while prayer warriors are said to have intensified prayers for the success of the programme.

In an interview during the week, the matriarch of the church, Pastor (Mrs.) Helen Oritsejafor told our reporter that this year's edition of Jubilee Word Festival would be something to remember for a long while not just in terms of the quality speakers that will grace the occasion, but also in the juicy surprises that normally attend the annual event.

"I am excited because this year's Jubilee is loaded. We have an array of speakers from different parts of the world including; Bishop Wayne Malcolm (UK), Pastor Jonathan Miller (USA), Bishop John Francis (UK), Pastor Phillip Thomad (USA), Bishop Mike Okonkwo (Lagos), Rev. Felix Omobude

receive the things of the Spirit, then no man can receive it. All men start out as natural men before becoming spiritual. Paul himself acknowledges this: “The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.” (1 Corinthians 15:46).

Knowing God’s voice Moreover, God’s works cannot be limited to what is in the bible.

John says: “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.” (John 20:30). God declares: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”

(Isaiah 43:19). We cannot perceive it if we limit God to what he did over 2000 years ago.

We must know what God is doing now. We must be able to ask him questions and receive answers. Jesus promises that: “everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

(Matthew 7:8).

Reading the bible is like reading letters addressed to others.

The fact that God said something to Abraham in the past does not mean he is saying the exact same thing to everybody else today. He can fulfil a scripture in our hearing, but we must also be able to receive the specific word that God is speaking to us personally and individually today; even if this will never contradict what he has said or revealed in the scriptures.

Jesus says: “My sheep hear my

voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27). He does not say: “My sheep only read a bible.” As we fellowship with Jesus, we come to recognise his voice.

Once we do so, we can no longer be misled or deceived by the voice of strangers. (John 10:5).

Therefore, we must not only read the scriptures; we must also experience the power of God. We must not only know the psalm about the Good Shepherd; we must know the Good Shepherd. However, most Christians only read the bible.

They don’t walk with Jesus and cannot hear his voice.

Ask to receive Ask for the Holy Spirit. Ask for him and keep on asking. Ask, and don’t give up until you definitely receive him. Ask, so that you can enter now into an intimate personal relationship with God that is real and tangible. “Today, if you will hear (God’s) voice: do not harden your heart.” (Psalm 95:78).

The errors in the bible have nothing to do with God. They have everything to do with men. No human error ever diminishes the truth of God. Therefore, Christians must know whom we believe. He is the one who leads and guides us. His name is Jesus. He died and rose from the dead 2000 years ago.

He is with us always, even to the end of the age. Amen! Ask for the Holy Spirit. Ask for him and keep on asking. Ask, and don’t give up until you definitely receive him.

Ask, so that you can enter now into an intimate personal relationship with God that is real and tangible.

“Today, if you will hear (God’s) voice: do not harden your heart.”

(Psalm 95:7-8).

The errors in the bible have nothing to do with God. They have everything to do with men. No human error ever diminishes the truth of God. Therefore, Christians must know whom we believe. He is the one who leads and guides us. His name is Jesus. He died and rose from the dead 2000 years ago.

He is with us always, even to the end of the age. Amen!

Word of Life wears new look for Jubilee (Benin-City).

We also have incredible performers like Frank Edwards (Nigeria), Lara George (Nigeria), VaShawn Mitchell (USA) and SONNIE BADU (UK). They will be joined by our Milk and Honey Choir. It’s really going to be awesome," she noted.

"Last year, for instance, we decided to reach out to the blind in the society. We bought a bus for them. We provided a lot of aids for them. I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag what we will do this Jubilee. Every time Jubilee is around the corner, I know it is another forum whereby God is going to use it to elevate certain people by the special grace of God," she stated, adding there will be healing, deliverance and all manners of things will happen.

According to her, the theme of this year's event is: ‘Talitha Cumi’ Arise 2014.

"It was Jesus that made that profound statement to a situation that was dead, to a situation that was totally written off, to a situation that

lacked evidence of a turn around, a situation that did not have remedy. And He said to the young girl 'Talitha cumi', meaning arise. And the child arose, ate and danced with the people. Those who thought that it was a forgone situation later saw this child through which they came to the realization that there is nothing God cannot do.

"What I see here with this year's Jubilee is to again demonstrate that God is in the affairs of this nation, and that although the situation might look dead, it will come back to life again.

"Nigerians who have been laboring under poverty, all manner of difficulties will experience their lifting by the special grace of God. And we will all match unto glory. The year 2015 is our year because; to start with the number 5 speaks of grace. So there will be a multiplication of grace that will cause businesses once dead to come back to life.

And all sorts of things will experience a turn around to the glory of God," she said.

Page 58 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

Edo people must act now VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF The time for reconciliation

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HE political theater in Edo State is gripped by sanguin activities: An intrusive legislator was alleged to have been beaten to pulp by opponents, the legislators quarters was said to have been invaded and mayhem was let loose, party chieftains allege gun attack and counter attack on their properties and explosive devices are feared to have been introduced as political weapon.

Earlier, the state watched with amazement the parody of parliamentary theatrics: Some legislators defected from APC to PDP in a manner that was alleged to have offended the law; the defecting members rushed to court to seek protection for their seats, the court granted part of their prayer and rejected a part, the legislators capitalized on the part rejected to slam suspension on them, they rejected the suspension and continued to attend sittings of the House, the House leadership approached the court to make pronouncement on the suspension, the court upheld the suspension

BY ABIODUN ALADE

Dr. Gabriel Ajibola Aina is a preacher, a teacher and ordained minister with the Gospel Faith Mission International (GOFAMINT), where he has served in various capacities. In this interview with Abiodun Alade, the former District Pastor of Akowonjo who was last week installed as the new District Pastor of Amuwo, speaks on his journey, the Christian faith, President Jonathan’s re-election bid and insurgency in the country among others.

Excerpts: Journey HE summary of the jour ney is that God has been faithful. When God calls a man, there are promises and expectations. There are also challenges that will make it seem that the promises and expectations will not come to pass, but in the end, there are always reasons to say God you are faithful.

There were mixed feelings from my family about my intention to be a gospel minister. It was a welcome idea by my mother who said God had told her earlier that I will be His prophet but some other members were not comfortable, especially my siblings, there was one of them who said I should not allow the devil to deceive me; to him, the call to the ministry was a deception.

Challenges There is the challenge of meeting people with different background, culture and ideology.

These are people ready to do anything for you but when you tell them the truth of the gospel, the counsel of God, some of them feel offended. I have met a number of people like that but I find comfort in the word of God that says “have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16) There are also financial chal-

Edo State citizens must, therefore, not allow the present drift towards anarchy to continue

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and matters degenerated as federal might was alleged to have been deployed for the protection of the errant legislators. As the live drama unfolded at Oba Ovonranmwen Square, the public watched agents of one of the parties breaking the doors of the House, they watched court bailiff assaulted, they watched the arrogant disobedience to court orders, they watched legislators engaged in fisticuffs and watched their legislators loafing away daily in front of the hallowed chambers.

Indeed, the state Assembly was dishonored and desecrated! And finally, the House began to sit separately. The legitimate House, with 15 members, had been muscled by federal instruments of coercion to relocate to the old

parliamentary facilities while the other party, nine in number, four of which were under suspension and whose cases are pending in the courts, retained the Kings Square chambers.

A new twist was introduced to the entire episode recently with the arrest of the Speaker and two other principal officers of the legitimate Assembly by a federal security agency whose statutory powers have nothing to do with the conflict. This seems to suggest that the opposition politicians in Edo are at their wits end devising new ways of using the much taunted federal might to cow, intimidate and subdue the ruling party in the state. This may have escalated the imbroglio. In the streets of Benin City, it is the consensus that peace and tranquility reigned in the state until recently when the chances of the neurotically ambitious elements in the opposition seemed clearly endangered. Today, the game is not for the lilly hearted!

Whether legislators are locked out of the chamber and allowed to waste precious time quarrelling, whether legislative rules and court orders are disobeyed, whether properties and even human lives perish, whether the unbridled struggles are simply to take control of state resources, who suffers the brunt? The answer is

simple: Edo people!

It is interesting that the people are also the spectators. They may have remained passive on the drama and political actors may not have factored in, their sensibilities or may have taken them for granted. In reality, the people have the power in their hands to determine the political direction of the state. They represent the safety valve that checks and balances the excesses of political actors. In the final analysis they will be the arbiters of the squabbles. But they cannot watch and allow the destruction of the basic structures and ideals of democracy to degenerate to irretrievable levels before intervention. Therefore, the time to act is now! They can proceed under a framework of citizens’ movement that is patently neutral and driven by men of impeccable integrity. I humbly propose a body of retired justices and top private and public sector icons that have never had business in partisan politics and nominated by the traditional and religious authorities in the state. Their duty shall be to engage the feuding parties in negotiation, conciliation and arbitration. Their decisions may not have a mandatory binding force but it will have a moral binding force with dire political

consequences for non-compliance with decisions and code of conduct that may be imposed. The third party framework here conceived will have the capacity to put the political credibility of any body at stake. This has become a desideratum because pre-election violence is the greatest threat to free and fair election which could further pave way to disturbances and bloodletting of even greater proportion. God forbid!

Edo State citizens must, therefore, not allow the present drift towards anarchy to continue. The people must take firm and decisive steps to dismiss the bellicosity and intransigence of the political warlords. They are sordid political prostitutes who parade factious mercenary wretches. They have betrayed their constituencies, betrayed their God and there is no single integrity or virtue left in them. By turning the streets of Benin City into a theater of war, they have grown intolerably odious and diminished their humanity irrespective of the titles they ascribed to themselves and, unworthy of public office. It is high time the people woke up from slumber and identify their authentic partners in the quest for development of the state.

•Osakue, a political strategist, lives in Benin City, Edo State.

2015: The problem with do-or-die politics — Pastor Aina

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By Aiyevekpen Osakue

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VIEWPOINT

People aspiring for elective offices must do away with the do or die mentality because if they do not have it this time around, they can have it in another time

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Dr. Gabriel Ajibola Aina lenges which sometimes hinder meeting the expectations set. There were also time of spiritual attack but God has always proven himself to be forever faithful.

Christian Faith We have many people who profess to be Christians, by that they attend churches, they engage in activities in the church such as singing, praying, holding convention, giving among others but when it comes to embracing the requirements of discipleship-who are actually the real followers of Jesus Christ, learners at His feet with the intention of becoming like the Master, we have very few. That is the major challenge of the church of today.

Let us live by what we profess, act out what we read, teach and preach because the Christian message is becoming ineffective as unbelievers are becoming more

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sceptical, even, as some of them are keeping records of the ills of those who profess the Christian faith. Recently, I had an encounter with a person who told me that his boss at his place of work will be friendly with you until you mention anything about Christianity or the church. He told me that the man has a record where he is filing the errors of the church as reported in the dailies. He has records of errors such as the Christian broken homes, pastors who stole, ritual killings in the church etc. If we live by our message, God will support the church and the unbelievers will bow to the gospel of God. Family and the youth There will be priority for family in my message and activities as the district pastor f Amuwo. I have discovered that many activities in the church that fail to carry the family along do not have lasting impact.

For instance, there are couples

who come to church, praying and singing together but at home, they are at war - not praying, eating together, and thus becoming a spiritual stumbling block to the church because on the account of such family, prayers will not be answered.

It is my intention to be involved in aggressive evangelism and soul-winning, especially now that an area has been carved out from the old Amuwo district.

There will be attention to the youths as the leaders of tomorrow. The issue of the youth been unprepared or unfit for leadership is not the fault of the youth themselves in most cases but the

parents.If what ought to be done by the family has been done, we will have qualified youths to take over. I must point out that we have a number of well prepared and qualified youths but the number is not enough. I hope by doing this, we can increase the population of members in the district, raise men and women to become active in the work of God. Religious leaders and political leaders’ relationship Religious leaders are expected to be fathers and prophets to the political leaders, declaring to them the mind of God, giving them direction and rebuking them when they err, doing it fearlessly. It should be the duty of the religious leaders to lead the church to pray earnestly for the peace and prosperity of the nation that the rule and reign of Christ will be realised through those that govern the state.

Prophesy of bloodbath during

2015 elections There might have been prophesy of bloodbath in the country during the election but I know that it is not the purpose of God to have bloody election or violence in Nigeria. To have a bloody election in the country means there are people who have the mind of do or die politics, such people should take caution because it is only those who God wills to be there that will be there. If someone runs for an election and loses, he still has the chance of another time. In history there have been people who contested and failed but later on in life, they became what they aspired to be. People aspiring for elective offices must do away with the do or die mentality because if they do not have it this time around, they can have it in another time.

Boko Haram Insurgency In my opinion, the government should exercise caution in the dealing with the issue of Boko Haram. It should not be treated in isolation; the government must look towards the future. We have experienced the issue of militants in this nation before, the administration of late President Umar Musa Yar ’Adua granted them amnesty but today, we have boko haram. If boko haram should have amnesty now, will it put an end to the issue of insurgency in Nigeria or will it give birth to other insurgents? The government should be careful in dealing with boko haram.

Jonathan’s re-election bid In my opinion, he should check his heart, what is the purpose of seeking re-election? If the purpose is to make Nigeria better, that God has sent him to make Nigeria better, he may go but if there are people who can give what is better than what Jonathan has offered us, he may shelf his ambition for others to contribute their quota because God has been kind to him.

SUNDAY Vanguard Vanguard,, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PAGE 59

DIASPORA

Demystifying the embassy citizen relationship

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•Ebola epidemic being tracked with new mobile-based mapping service

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HE recent call by the Africa Emergency Technology Response Forum (AETRF),for more concerted efforts to bring robust technological responses to Ebola crisis has started yielding the expected results with the latest IBM intervention.

AETRF, led by Chris Uwaje, promoter of Malaria Destro Game and other African techies is an informal network of African technology professionals engaged in Ebola response on the continent and in the Diaspora Just last week, IBM has deployed its advanced super computing assets and capabilities in the cloud, mobile, data and analytics space to fight the spread of the epidemic, especially in the worst hit nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

How it works B y t a p p i n g supercomputing power and analytics capabilities via the cloud, according to IBM, the system is able to rapidly identify correlations and highlight emerging issues across the entire data set of messages.

With the humanitarian initiatives to curb spread of the disease in West Africa, IBM is currently looking to extend the work to analyze mobile phone signal data in order to monitor and track population movement enabling scientists to map and predict the spread of the disease.

The system, a collaboration between IBM, mobile telephone companies, governments and academics, allows people in affected areas to send free text messages about Ebola to track problems and trends, with the program mapping the exact location from where it is sent.

Accordingly, IBM’s

Connections technology provides health workers and administrators with a reliable and secure digital platform to work together virtually and in person, enabling them to securely share documents, identify experts, exchange video, chat and audio messages, provide updates, tap into information via mobile devices and hold virtual meetings.

Partners The work benefits from contributions from a number of partners including Federal Government of Nigeria, and Lagos State authorities, Sierra Leone’s Open Government Initiative, Cambridge

,

BY EMEKA AGINAM

The technology allows people in affected areas to send free text messages about Ebola to track problems

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University’s Africa’s Voices project, Airtel and Kenya’s Echo Mobile.

Connections technology to Nigeria While Nigeria maintains a leadership position in the fight against Ebola with the recent declaration by the World Health Organization that the country is Ebola free, IBM has donated its Connections technology to Lagos State Government to prevent future outbreak.

The donation is expected to strengthen the coordination of public health emergency response teams and ensure that the Lagos State Government is able to manage and respond to any new reported cases of Ebola or future epidemics.

“Governments should constantly aim for proactive delivery of social services to citizens and by leveraging on technology, improved governance and better management of resources and assets can be achieved.”

Adebiyi Mabadeje, Honourable Commissioner for Science and Technology in Lagos State, said.

According to the Commissioner, “IBM’s SmartCloud grant to the Lagos State Government is a unique contribution that would enhance our capacity to respond to and better manage emergencies with deeper insights and knowhow.”

Open dialogue needed “For us to tackle Ebola, it is crucial to maintain an open dialogue between the government and the people of Sierra Leone,” Khadija Sesay Director of Sierra Leone’s Open Government Initiative, said, adding that, “IBM has enhanced our work on citizen engagement through the use of innovative technology and opened up an effective communication channel with the general public so that we can learn from their input and create actionable policies in the fight against Ebola.”

Explaining further on how the technology could curb EVD, Dr. Uyi Stewart, Chief Scientist, IBM Research Africa, said that, “As Africa’s first technology research lab, we are uniquely positioned to use innovation to help tackle some of the continent’s biggest challenges.

“We saw the need to quickly develop a system to enable communities directly affected by Ebola to provide valuable insight about how to fight it. Using mobile technology, we have given them a voice and a channel to communicate their experiences directly to the government.”.

lot has been writ ten about the rela tionship of Nigerians in Diaspora with their home embassies and high commissions. The thorny issue most times is the fact that Nigerian embassies’ officials have little or no regards for its citizens. While it is a known fact that Nigerians generally are maltreated by foreign countries embassies in their own domain, it is double jeopardy for the Diasporans. Because the home embassies abroad do not fare any better.

Many times Nigerian embassy staff are accused of imposing ‘systematic’ hardships on citizens. Some of the staff have been reported to have deliberately made things difficult for fellow countrymen. No individual or personality is singled out among the officials as the ambassadors and high commissioners. It is common knowledge that some of these ambassadors act in their posts as lords in their own rights.

Most detach themselves from the citizens they are supposed to represent. They live in their own world, enjoying the diplomatic status without responsibilities.

These claims are not farfetched or made up stories.

Majority of Nigerians in Diaspora have one or two stories about these embassies and high commissions.

If they have not had a negative experience directly, they know scores of people who had. And trust Nigerians in passing stories around.

We cannot blame anybody for this. These high commissions and embassies are mostly operated as replica of the Nigeria civil service. The only difference is the setting. Stories are not short of how Nigerians in Diaspora have to “pull and push” before they can get anything out of the embassies. To some, it is the inconvenience of time wasting, bureaucratic processes and sheer disregard for best practices that keep them away from these embassies.

This is understandable for a Diasporan who sees how government agencies are run in his country of residence. But to his disappointment at the Nigerian corner of the city capital, it is still a hard job getting anything done.

Before the introduction of the digital passport, diasporans were most disposed towards sending their Nigerian passports to Lagos, Sokoto or Enugu for renewal instead of facing the ordeal at the embassies or high commissions. They would rather obtain a proxy passport in Nigeria than spend days waiting on the bureaucratic embassy officials.

This is further extended to the plight of Nigerians in jail houses abroad with no consular support? The view is Nigerians in Diaspora are better off accepting their fate and live their pains se-

cretly than try to access consular services. You cannot blame the diasporans for demanding “so much”. They see what is obtainable in other countries’ embassies. We see how British and American embassies respond to the needs of their citizens in or out of trouble in foreign countries. Do we not see how they offer consular and legal services, even to convicted drug dealers traffickers?

Majority of Nigerians in Diaspora do not know the names of their Ambassadors or High Commissioners. You cannot blame them. The apathy is so much that most do not care to even know where the embassies or high commissions are located. With this display of non-challance,

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IBM deploys technology-based solutions to track EVD in W/A

One vital success of this town hall was the ability of the High Commission to tell Nigerians what they do and how these services can be accessed

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one tends to wonder who these embassies do serve.

In the first eight years of living in the United Kingdom, I had no contact with the commission. When I had my daughter in 2005, there was a conscious effort on my part not to apply for a Nigerian passport for her. This decision was taken for so many reasons, principal among which was that I lived in Edinburgh, which is quite a distance from London. For anything to be done I had to go to London, and going by the stories I had heard, I concluded I would not only incur costs on travel and accommodation, I had to make provisions for a few “side orders”. Probably I should have gone to confirm or otherwise the negative stories about getting anything from the High Commission.

But true to the saying “no condition is permanent”, good news are coming from some of these embassies. For a fact is the Nigerian High Commission in London.

Sometimes last month I heard the news that the Nigerian High Commissioner to UK, His Excellency, Dr Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, OFR, CFR, would be “moving office” to Glasgow for a Town Hall Meeting with Nigerians. I muttered under my breath “that’s a good development.” Not everyday do you get the news that your high commissioner would be

putting himself up for questioning and “familiarisation”. In the Nigerian parlance, ambassadors or high commissioners are not expected to move from their comfort zone to see their “subjects”. It is meant to be the other way round.

This Town Hall meeting, an initiative of the Central Association of Nigerians in UK and the Nigerian Community Scotland, was a brilliant idea of bringing the activities of the High Commission to the doorsteps of Nigerians in Scotland. The Secretary General of the Nigerian Community Scotland, Mr Ayodeji Soboyede, like many Nigerians, could not hide his excitement about the programme.

He said the Town Hall meeting gave the opportunity “to network, add value to our community in Scotland, allow us interact with the High Commissioner and his team that run the Commission, ask questions and also get updates about the activities of the High Commission.”

It was therefore no surprise that the venue of the Town Hall meeting was packed with Nigerians from as all corners of UK. An event that was primarily organised for Nigerians in Scotland took a national turn as participants travelled from Wales, England and Northern Ireland.

It was a great opportunity to engage the High Commissioner. He and members of his delegation did not disappoint the audience as they answered topical questions ranging from the Chibok girls to accessibility to consular services in Scotland.

One vital success of this town hall was the ability of the High Commission to tell Nigerians what they do and how these services can be accessed. It was as if Nigerians had no idea of what benefits the high commission could be to them.

The meeting also afforded the high commission the opportunity to solicit the support of the community in Scotland.

While they may be far away from London, they were assured they are always on the minds of the High Commissioner and his team. The event was a commendable one. A deviation from the norm that should be recommended to other Nigerian embassies and high commissions that have not yet imbibed this. It will make a difference in the citizengovernment relationship.

PAGE 60 — SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, Page 61

Danagogo: Nigeria football is bigger than personal interests

BY BEN EFE

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PORTS Minister and chairman of the National Sports Commission, Tammy Danagogo was a major factor in the succession drama at the Nigeria Football Federation.

The ripple effect of the bombshell he dropped in the pool of the NFF has caused the nation and its teeming football followers some anxious moments.

But Dr. Danagogo after the Falcons had won the African Women Championship in Windhoek, Namibia explained his role in the saga, stating that he acted in the best interest of the country. He also spoke on the other issues including controversial Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi.

The youthful Danagogo traced the crisis that left the NFF and its benefactors breathless to the last World Cup. According to the Minister, before Brazil 2014 World Cup, he was a great fan of Aminu Maigari and had dreamt of a second tenure for the former president of the NFF who was harassed and detained by the ever over jealous state security outfit, just to get him out of the equation.

“I never had any problem with Maigari. Under his tenure he did well. I believe in a winning team and I wanted him to continue.

“But it was in Brazil 2014 that that I realized that there was no accountability at the NFF. In the run up to the World Cup the government was giving the NFF N250m monthly to aid their preparations. Beside this, they got N800m from other sources including top Nigerian company executives,

By Ben Efe

photo saved as Gogo 31/10/14

Tour of Football... Sports Minister Tammy Danagogo (left) and Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick right) talking football matters.

They actually confirmed to me how much they gave the NFF. “However, at the World Cup, they failed to pay the players their entitlements and the President had to send money to solve the problem.

So I raised the question of accountability with Maigari, but he and others like Chris Green decided to ignore me.

I was told that they are not accountable to the government of Nigeria, but to the world soccer governing body, FIFA. I was very upset

and that was why when we returned from the world cup I insisted that Maigari must go.

“I acted in the best interest of the country. Nigeria football is bigger than our own personal interests,” said Dr. Danagogo.

And that was the beginning of the cat and mouse game, which eventually produced two factions of the NFF. Chris Giwa had emerged in congress, which was not recognized By FIFA, while Mr. Amaju Pinnick was

widely accepted. The minister from his body language seems to have embraced the board of Mr. Pinnick, leaving Mr. Giwa to his own device.

“From what I have seen of Pinnick he will take the NFF to the desired heights. He has contracted professional audit and financial consultancy firms to handle the finances of the NFF and we at the Sports ministry are abreast with developments,” He hinted that once the storm at the NFF blows away, the next action will be to review the administrative

AWC: Why I was super charged against Cameroon — Ordega

F

RANCISCA Ordega was almost unanimous in the first games of the Super Falcons’ campaign at the African Women Championship, which ended last Saturday in Windhoek Namibia.

But in the semi-final and final matches, she was more noticeable. It was her constant runs at the Cameroon defence that produced the two goals, which earned the Super Falcons their seventh AWC

title. “I was forced to raise my game after my coach challenged me. He said, Ordega this is not the real you, go out there and show everybody what you have,” “He was my coach at the 2011 FIFA women world cup in Japan. In the final game against Cameroon I really had to wake up and show my stuff. I am glad that my contributions earned us the trophy, “said Ordega. She was one of the three professional players invited by coach Edwin

Pure Joy... Francisca Ordega enjoying the moment at the AWC.

Okon for the AWC. She stated that the Falcons will be aiming to do well at the FIFA Women World Cup in Canada next year.

She called on the Nigeria Football Federation to keep the team busy by organizing quality friendly games for the African champions if they are to make the country proud at the world level.”

staff, some of whom their contracts have expired but they are staying on.

“We know that some people have outlived their usefulness at the NFF. There would have been a movement of administrative staff, but the long drawn crisis put that to a stop.

“But once the board of Mr. Pinnick settles down, they will look into it.”

On the issue of controversial Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, Danagogo expressed anger at how the coach was shoved aside, but at the same time he resigned to fate.

However, Dr. Danagogo should have a last laugh after Keshi was returned to his post on Thursday.

“Like I said I have always loved to keep a winning team.

Keshi was winning and so why sack him?

“When he was sacked after the game against Congo I was not happy. This was because Pinnick did not carry me along.

“But after his explanations and reasons behind the action I decided to hands off the case.

I realised there are so many forces at play. Even in my own ministry, the NFF and the playing staff, they wanted Keshi to fail. It was so bad to the extent that our qualification matches were been sabotaged.”

Page 62, SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

There will be no gang-up against Keshi—Pinnick

By Ben Efe

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IGERIA Football Federation president, Amaju Pinnick has assured that returning coach Stephen Keshi will not suffer any form of puncture in his handling of the national team.

Keshi was reinstated to his post after he was recommended by NFF technical director Shuaibu Amodu. Keshi had attracted disdain from within the NFF with his romance with key government officials, some who did not take kindly to his removal.

In the game away to Sudan, Keshi had alleged that he was sabotaged by certain individuals who wanted him to fail. This was a fact, which was confirmed by a highly placed sports ministry official. However, Mr. Pinnick dismissed such fears.

“Nobody will work against Keshi. He will be given the entire assistant that he needs to succeed,” said the NFF president.

He dismissed claims in the media that it was President Goodluck Jonathan that ordered the recall of Keshi.

“The truth was that it was Amodu who recommended that Keshi be brought back. He decided to step back and allow Keshi continue. As technical director of the NFF, he will be there to give Keshi support.”

Amoduwasnamedinterimcoach on October 16. But in a letter dated October 27, He claimed that the time was too short for him to make any impact.

“As Technical Director of the NFF, I am ready and willing to help build a better relationship among Keshi (with whom I have enjoyed good working relationship in the past and who is still very close to me), the players and the NFF Technical Committee,” Amodu’s letter stated.

OLLOWING the spate of protests and threats of strike by players of some Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Clubs, the League Management Company (LMC) has warned that clubs found to be in breach of financial obligations to players will not be registered for the 2014/15 Glo Premier League season in an apparent reaction to the recent developments.

Chairman of LMC, Nduka Irabor has emphasized that ‘a no pay, no play’ policy will be adopted in the registration process for the coming season and noted that all clubs seeking registration must provide proof that there are no overdue payables especially to the players. He said the zero tolerance for clubs’ indebtedness to players will cover current and C M Y K

I

N the next few months politics will take the centre stage with the Presidential primaries looming. Consequently the 19th National Sports Festival originally billed for November 23- December 7, 2014 in Calabar, Cross River State is officially off the cards.

Sports ministry sources disclosed that a meeting of all stakeholders will hold early this month to fix a new date for the sports fiesta.

“There is no way we can hold the sports festival with the Presidential elections just around the corner. There will be a meeting and a new date in March 2015 will be considered,” said the source.

This development will give the hosts Cross River a breathing space as construction on some of the venues is yet to be completed.

Ghana Under-23 to face Eagles

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FANS POWER… Super Eagles fans showing their displeasure during a match, will they support Keshi’s return to the team?

Uche, Mabo urge Falcons to soar higher

BY EDDIE AKALONU

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ORMER national coaches, Eucharia Uche and Ismaila Mabo have lauded the Super Falcons for winning the African Women Championship in Namibia, just as both have also charged the team to aim higher at doing better at the FIFA World Cup in Canada next year.

Speaking to Sports vanguard, Uche, an ex-

LMC: No play no pay

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Presidential elections knock off National Sports Festival

former players of the clubs.

Irabor made this clear in a recent communication to Club Managers and Owners and reminded them that compliance to the Financial Criteria is a fundamental requirement for club registration under the Licensing Conditions.

He said the mandatory compliance with licensing regulations has been reiterated by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) which also recently warned that Clubs that are not licensed by the Federation would not be registered to compete in CAF Inter-Club competitions.

Irabor described as embarrassing to the nation’s football reports of street protests by players of these clubs for non-payment of their salaries and other accruable.

Falcon who has the record as first Nigeria female coach to win the Championship, said she was particularly happy at the way the players carried their game high during the championship such that ‘ab initio’ they were they were out to reclaim the cup lost in 2012 to Equatorial Guinea.

Falcons’ victory gave Nigeria a seventh title.

“Well, I’m glad at the outcome.”I think they were focused, had high expectations and I think they can now put a ceiling of where to go and that to me is at the world cup next year.

They should aim for the stars.

We should not shy away from challenging for a top place in the world, she stated.. I think we should aim at going far in the finals of the world cup.

“My commendation to the coach and players not just for winning, but particularly for holding their heads high throughout the competition, I saw a team that played with determination and courage” There was no doubt they were out to do it,” she said.

Speaking in the same vein, Mabo, who had the privilege of handling the team in to a World Cup and Olympic games, praised the team for a job well done, saying :”I would praise the coach for doing a right mix of old and new, senior and junior players.

“However, I think we are now at an age to leave Africa and seek greater opportunity on the world stage. “If we set our mind to it, sustain the tempo of churning out new players who team up with the

more experienced players and with good planning, I believe we are up to setting higher target of performance in the world stage,” he stated.

Meanwhile, both Uche and Mabo have also expressed full support for rewards to the team by the government; in the same manner they are calling on the NFF set the ball rolling now for the Falcons to have an outstanding World Cup next year in Canada, “This is just the beginning. We should regard our victory in Namibia as dress rehearsal for Canada. “First players owe themselves a duty to aim higher and get themselves ready because out there it is going to be tougher. That means there must be conscious effort to surpass our performance in past world Cup outings.” Mabo stated.

HANA have decided to use the country’s strong U23 side the Black Meteors to face the Super Eagles in an international friendly on November 7 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom.

The Ghana FA has decided that with several of the players of the U23 side forming the nucleus of the home-based national team the Local Black Stars it is prudent to use the players for the assignment.

The Black Meteors who are currently in camp at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence, will use the match as part of their preparations for the upcoming qualifiers for the All–Africa games.

President Goodluck Jonathan is scheduled to attend the grand opening of the stadium with many international football icons such as Brazil’s Pele also invited for the occasion.

Meanwhile coach Stephen Keshi has named a squad for the match. The 24-man list also has Christian Pyagbara who has been in impressive form in the Glo Nigeria Professional Football League as well as Dolphin’s Emem Uduok who recently bagged a double hattrick and has a goal tally of 20 in the league.

Surging Ahead… Super Falcons’ striker Desire Oparanozie pressure Cameroon’s Cathy Bou Jouh during the final of the AWC in Windhoek, Namibia.

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, PPA AGE 63

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SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 2, 2014

CAF denies Nations Cup postponement reports

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Nations Cup qualifier:

You will lose in Congo, Le Roy tells Keshi

ONFEDERATION of African Football have denied reports that they have agreed in principle with Morocco to the postponement of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, scheduled to be held between January 17 and February 8.

“False! Totally false!” CAF Media Relations Department told AFP on Friday.

The statement was made following reports by Moroccan media that both

parties had agreed to postpone the continental event to June 2015 or January 2016 due to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in a meeting held in Yaoundé between CAF President, Issa Hayatou and a delegation from Morocco on Wednesday.

CAF are expected to issue a final statement on the matter following the meeting of their Executive Committee in Algiers today.

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ONGO Brazzaville coach, Claude Le Roy has boasted that the Super Eagles will not smell victory when Stephen Keshi leads his team out to rescue their 2015 Nations Cup qualification November 15 in Brazzaville.

The French-born Le Roy, a veteran of the Nations Cup stated that there was no way his wards will lose at home to the African champions who were snapped back to reality by the Congolese with a 3-2 win in Calabar. That match was in the middle of the crisis that engulfed Nigerian Football Federation, but the dust seem to have settled and all hands are on deck for the possible mission of beating Congo at home and also taking all points when South Africa come visiting for the last qualification game.

Le Roy who was speaking on RFI was optimistic that Congo will beat Nigeria like they did in Calabar and it will guarantee their qualification for the Morocco 2015 tournament.

“I’m sure that we shall qualify for next year’s Nations Cup because we are not going to lose at home to Nigeria.

“I’m confident that we shall beat Nigeria, which will guarantee our place in next year’s tournament.

“The magic for us was beating Nigeria in Calabar, that result was so crucial for us and we are not going to let our effort go in vain when Nigeria comes to Congo”, Le Roy declared South Africa top the group with eight points.

Congo has garnered seven points, while Nigeria has 4 points.

SQUEEZING … Arsenal’s English striker Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (C) vies with Burnley’s Republic of Ireland defender Stephen Ward and Jason Shackell during their premier league match. Arsenal won 3-1.

Uche happy to be back with Eagles E

STRANGED Super Eagles striker, Ikechukwu Uche took to twitter to express his delight at being recalled to the nation’s team from where he was banished due to reasons he and coach Stephen Keshi alone could

reveal.

Keshi who was reinstated to his job by Nigeria Football Federation became public enemy, when he axed Uche claiming that the player refused to answer the national call. But the Villarreal of Spain forward

CROSS WORD PUZZLE ACROSS DOWN 1.Nobel-winning Archbishop (7-4) 1.Sleeping vision (5) 5.Sailor (3) 2.Possessor (5) 7.Consumed (5) 3.Tax (4) 8.Domesticates (5) 4.Depressing (9) 9.Ovum (3) 5.Argentinian dance (5) 10.Electricity counting gadgets (6) 6.Wash lightly (5) 13.Highlander (4) 11.Greek letter (3) 15.Poem (3) 12.Distress call (1-1-1) 17.One that contests (9) 14.English boy’s name (5) 20.Nigerian tribe (5) 16.Obstacle (3) 22.Cereal (5) 17.Bovine animal (3) 24.Demoted (9) 18.Mindfulness (9) 27.Pig’s pen (3) 19.Alarm (5) 29.No one (4) 21.Help (3) 30.Sulks (6) 23.Village house (3) 33.Away (3) 25.Gnome (3) 35.Presses (5) 26.Vast age (3) 36.Till (5) 27.Condescend (5) 37. Swine (3) 28.Youthful (5) 38. “The Man Who Saw Tomorrow” (11) 31.Circular (5) 32.Trades (5) 34.Old Russian King (4)

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denied ever snubbing Nigeria.

Keshi subsequently vowed never to call the player, while he is still coach of the Eagles. “(I am) Happy to be among those selected to play CONGO and S.A (South Africa) God bless Nigeria @NGSuperEagles #qualifiers #AFCON2015,” Uche twitted.

The 30-year-old striker’s last appearance was in the final of last year’s Afcon final in South Africa when Nigeria defeated

Burkina Faso to be crowned African champions.

The striker returns to international football at a time the Eagles are struggling to qualify for the 2015 Afcon following a poor start to the qualification. It has left them in third place in Group A behind leaders, South Africa and second-placed Congo.

Uche has netted 18 goals in more than 40 international matches for the Super Eagles.

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RESULTS

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Newcastle Arsenal Everton Hull City Chelsea Leicester Stoke Granada SSC Napoli Bayern Man City Aston Villa

1 Liverpool 2 Burnley 0 Swansea 0 Southampton 2 QPR 0 West Brom 2 West Ham 0 Real Madrid 2 Roma 2 Dortmund Today’s Matches v Man Utd v Tottenham

0 0 0 1 1 1 2 3 0 1 1.30pm 4pm

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