$3m Subsidy bribe scandal: won't talk in secret, Otedola tells Reps

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 61658

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N150

WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

Ghanaian govt chasing us out, Nigerian bizmen lament •P.5

•P.6

$3M SUBSIDY BRIBE SCANDAL:

I won't talk in secret, Otedola tells Reps •Wants open hearing; new audio tape released •Lawan dares him to provide video recording

BY OKEY NDIRIBE, UDUMA KALU, EMMAN OVUAKPORIE & IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

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BUJA—OIL mag nate Femi Otedola, yesterday, appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics investigating the $3 million cash for clearance scandal but refused to speak in protest against the committee’s decision to hear him in secret.

Otedola’s appearance came as more audio recordings of the alleged bribe negotiations be Continues on page 4

Mr & Mrs

Odetola appearing before the House of Reps yesterday. Photo: Gbenga Olamikan.

CBN owner of secret •P.7 foreign account — NNPC C M Y

Full •P.17 closure

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POCKET CARTOON

I won't talk in secret, Otedola tells Reps Continues from Page 1 tween him and Rep. Farouk Lawan emerged with Lawan allegedly promising to spring a surprise on his colleagues in his bid to exonerate Otedola from culpability in the fuel subsidy scam.

Unbowed by the revelations, Lawan yesterday approached an Abuja High Court and dared Otedola to release the video recording of him stuffing the bribe money in his cap.

Otedola’s appearance before the House Committee on Ethics followed a summon on him by the committee to appear yesterday. Otedola who appeared at the House Hearing Room at about 1.45 p.m. well before the scheduled 2.00 p.m insisted that he would not speak unless the session was open to the public and the press.

Otedola spoke through his lawyer Mr Babajide Koku (SAN) immediately after he left the House Committee conducting an investigative hearing into the allegation he levelled against Lawan.

Giving further reasons why his client won’t speak to the Committee in camera, Koku said Farouk Lawan had exhibited a high degree of

inconsistency in his responses to the allegations against him.

According to Koku: “ Lawan has lied four times. He initially denied collecting any money from Otedola and later admitted”.

He continued: “ Again he said he handed over the money to the Chairman of the House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes Hon Adams Jagaba, but Jagaba has denied collecting any money from him.

“Therefore my client insisted before the Committee that he couldn’t say anything concerning Lawan in camera”.

Otedola’s refusal to give evidence before the Committee was in line with a statement he issued earlier and circulated among newsmen.

According to the statement which was addressed to the Chairman and members of the Committee: “This is a matter that has generated a lot of public interest and controversy. The House of Representatives Committee on the Management of Fuel Subsidy headed by Hon. Farouk Lawan held all its sittings in public. When this issue arose, the House of Rep-

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

DO all the good you can By all the means you can In all the ways you can In all the places you can At all the times you can To all the people you can As long as ever you can.

—John Wesley.

Doing good to all at all times in all places makes the world a better place. The good you do today are seeds of goodness for your harvest tomorrow.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that is trying to make you like everyone else. Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.

—Ralph Emerson

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HERE is an ancient saying that, if you are the world’s finest apple, and someone you love does not like apples, you still have the choice of becoming a banana, but be warned: If you choose to become a banana, you will be a second rate banana.

You must also realize that if you choose to be a second rate banana, there will be people who do not like bananas, so you can spend your life trying to be the best banana – which is impossible if you are an apple – or you can seek again to be the finest apple.

resentatives Committee on Ethics and privileges publicly stated that its investigations would be held in public. It is therefore surprising and curious that this Committee has made a uturn to hold its investigative sittings in-camera. I have nothing to hide and will only speak on this issue when this investigation is conducted in a very transparent manner and the press and the general public are allowed to be present at the sittings of this Committee from the beginning of its investigation to its conclusion.”

However, Chairman of the Committee, Gambo Musa described Otedola’s decision not to speak before the Committee in camera as misguided.

Commenting further, Musa reminded newsmen that when the Committee summoned Lawan last week, he appeared in camera, adding that the decision of the Committee to carry out its assignment in secret was derived from the Constitution and Rules of the House.

He said: “Our decision is in line with the convention of the House”.

He further stated that members of the Committee pleaded with Otedola to change his position and explained the powers of the House to him but he still refused to speak.

“It is one thing to appear before the Committee and another thing to speak. Otedola refused to speak and insulted us ”.

He further stated that members of the Committee told Otedola that he could not dictate what procedure and rules the House could take in carrying out its assignment.

He continued: “We told Otedola about the consequences of his action but he still refused to speak.

“We told him he was not accused person before the House but only a witness” He maintained that the oil magnate refused to answer all the questions put to him by the committee members.

He asked: “How do you investigate such a matter if he refuses to speak in camera?”

“He was just laughing at us. He told us he was a businessman who wasn’t hungry”

“Are we honourable members hungry people? Are you press men hungry people?”

He maintained that despite Otedola’s refusal to give evidence before the Committee, members would continue with their assignment and go ahead to invite other persons who might be required to appear before them.

Otedola appeared before the committee with his Lawyer and eight other aides. Members of the Committee arrived a short while later.

The venue of the investigative hearing was jam-packed by newsmen who were once again ordered out of the venue before the Committee commenced sitting.

The Chairman of the Committee Hon. Gambo Dan-Musa cited the crowded room as excuse for asking the journalists to leave despite their protests.

The committee was several weeks ago directed by the House to investigate the $620,000 bribe allegedly given by Otedola to Lawan to clear his company from the list of those that got foreign exchange allocation from the Central Bank of Nigeria for the purpose of importing petroleum products but failed to do so. Lawan was the chairman of the ad hoc committee that probed the petroleum subsidy payments scam.

The Committee had last week grilled Lawan for four hours. It ordered Otedola to appear before it yesterday.

Otedola’s appearance caught many observers by surprise as the oil magnate had last Monday dragged the House Leadership before an Abuja Federal High Court to ask for N250 billion as damages for relisting Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd among companies that were indicted by the report of the Adhoc Committee on Petroleum Subsidy.

Already, the Police Special Task Force (STF) is investigating the bribe allegation which Lawan admitted collecting but which he said was meant to be used as an exhibit against Otedola.

Another audio tape indicts Lawan

Yesterday, another audio report of the conversation between Otedola and Lawan on how to handle the bribery was broadcast by Channels Television. The station said the broadcast was part two of the purported discussion between Lawan and Otedola over the $3million bribery allegation scandal.

In the 112-second audio tape, two men said to be Lawan and Otedola are heard clearly discussing how the contents of a report should be watered down. The transcribed version of the audio indicates that the person tagged as Lawan is telling the other of the need to keep their discussions secret, as any leak could cause untold embarrassment. The first part of the audio was released on Monday.

Here is the transcript of the latest audio recording Lawan: It wasn’t like my brother talking.

That’s one. Secondly, please this thing that we are doing, keep it to yourself otherwise you will make it difficult for us …

Otedola: Okay, okay. I am now...

Lawan: Because somebody called me now and said that we said we are going to address it.

Otedola: Address what?

Lawan: Yea. Because if it is already out that we are going to do something, when we do it, people will think that we are doing it because we have been compromised. And you know that is something that errrrr… And if my colleagues get to hear about it, I wouldn’t be able to convince them.

So keep it to yourself.

Otedola: Okay Lawan: Let it not be like anybody is aware of what is happening. If

anybody asks you, simply explain that this thing, you know from your records. You have all records and you have made a case to the committee. You have sent your documents to the committee Otedola: Yea, Yea Lawan: Yea. It’s left for the committee… It’s left for the committee to decide what to do. Please keep it that way.

Otedola: Yea. God bless you. God bless you Lawan: Yea. Because the moment it gets out now we are going to correct it. Then it means we have already Haaa… so let it be …

Otedola: Okay, okay Lawan: I want to spring a surprise on the floor and only that is the only credible way I can do this. So please, please.

Otedola: God bless you. God bless you my brother. I have been crying. Anytime I hear your voice Lawan: Yes. You know your sector is small. Everybody knows… and people are already saying … Somebody just called now and said Femi has gotten his way around you guys and he has already succeeded.

Otedola: That is not true. But let me also tell you one thing ….

Lawan: No, no, no, no.

I am saying it because this is what I heard.

Otedola: But my brother, let me also tell you one thing. You know me as a person...

Lawan: It doesn’t have… I know… I don’t want...

Otedola: People just get up...

Lawan: I know. That makes it difficult. Just, just whoever… you know… no. I didn’t do this. I’m sure it must have been a mistake from the committee but I have sent a letter to set the record right Otedola: Okay Lawan: That’s all Continues on page 5

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 —5

I won't talk in secret, Otedola tells Reps Continues from Page 4 Otedola: Okay my brother Lawan: Yea. Yea Otedola: Okay. Great, okay Lawan: Yea Otedola: Thank you.

Lawan dares Otedola to produce video tape Apparently rattled by the audio tape that sought to establish his complicity in the $3 million cash-for-clearance scandal, Lawan, yesterday, dared Otedola, to go ahead and expose the video recordings where he was allegedly stuffing money into his cap.

Farouk, who spoke through his lawyers yesterday, said he was surprised that Mr. Otedola could blackmail him to the extent of releasing a “highly doctored and fabricated” audio tape to media houses.

While refuting the allegation that he traveled to Lagos to collect the alleged bribe money, Lawan, yesterday, told newsmen that he only received money from Otedola on two separate occasions at his room at Protea Hotel at Apo Abuja and at Otedola’s house at Aso Drive Asokoro also in Abuja.

Describing the released audio tape as “a devilish caricature”, Lawan urged Nigerians to give him the benefit of doubts, saying he would not rest until he proves that the primary intention why he collected the money was to uncover the level of corruption within the oil sector of the Nigerian economy.

Besides, Lawan said though Otedola has continued to tarnish his hard earned public image, he would not approach the court for redress pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation into the bribery saga.

Tracing the uncanny events that led to his travails, Lawan, through his lead counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, recalled that he had on April 28, 2012, “shouted to the world with an alarm that some oil marketers were trying to bring a train load of dollars to bribe the commit-

tee and legislators so as to write a good report on them.”

He maintained that sequel to his complaint to the police, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, on May 9, instructed a commissioner of police, one Amodu Ali, to investigate the matter, saying the police boss equally wrote him a letter, urging him to cooperate with the investigating team.

According to him: “CP Ali followed this up on 16th of May and it was then that Farouk Lawan wrote a letter to the police saying he has submitted the money and complaint to relevant committee on drugs, narcotics and financial crimes of the House of Reps, as the rules required him to do.

“He therefore urged Police authorities to liaise with the leadership of the House over the matter. After then, Police wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal on June 6, 2012, seeking his co-oporation towards investigating the statement Lawan made before it.

“During the whole of this period, Farouk was already interacting with the police having laid his complain. Is it not remarkable that it was only on the 11th of June that Otedola first told the world through Thisday newspaper that he carried out a “sting-operation"?

“Let us ask some questions because Nigerians are not fools. A sting operation is an operation in which a suspect is caught in the act by swooping in on the suspect as he is committing that crime. Otedola claimed he carried out the sting operation on April 22 and 23 but he did not say anything until June 11, almost 2 months later.

“No security agent came out to handcuff Farouk Lawan on money allegedly given on four successive occasions.

“The sum of $250, 000 was given to Lawan, another $250, 000 also to him, another $100, 000 to Emanalo, the secretary of the committee, another $20, 000 to Emenalo, yet, in none of these transactions did security agents come out and swoop on the alleged operators.

“It is clear that even if there was any video at all, it was something done personally by Otedola which he cannot show and that is why the SSS, till now, has never owned up that they carried out any sting operation; there was none.

“It is necessary for Nigerians to compare Otedola’s claims with Lawan’s statement that he collected the money quite alright, but as an agent provocateur.

“An agent provocateur provokes you to play along so as to commit an offence in order to use the proceeds of the crime as evidence against you.

Which is why he could collect $250, 000 in his hotel room, go to his house and collect another $250,000 and at 3:47am of that June 24, he wrote a letter to chairman of the House Committee on Narcotics, saying this is the $500, 000 dollars that was given to us as a bribe, we have collected it to show as

exhibit, that story is more credible and believable.

“It goes along with the alarm which he raised on the 28th of April; it also goes along with the police that stepped into the matter on the 9th of May. “Mr Otedola has said that this money was collected from him in his house in Lagos, that was the dummy he sold to the whole world, and that after collecting the money, it could not enter Farouk Lawan’s pockets so he had to put some under his cap.

“Farouk Lawan came to my chambers and debunked it and challenged them to produce the video. That said he never even wore a cap on the two occasions he saw this man.

“He said that Otedola actually gave him the first tranche of $250, 000 with some documents in his hotel room at Protea Hotel at Apo Abuja, he never stepped into Lagos.

“The last tranche of

$250, 000 he collected as exhibit was at Otedola’s house at Aso drive in Asokoro Abuja.

“He said he never met Otedola in Lagos. The evidence has not been refuted by his accusers, yet, what did we see yesterday (Monday) on Channels TV, a caricature of a statement.

“Two voices were heard purportedly belonging to Otedola and Lawan.

Even in the statement, Otedola was saying the money is too bulky, I cannot bring it to the airport, it’s at home, another voice purportedly being that of Farouk said, ok, so where do you want it to be collected, is it the airport? and Otedola said no, don’t you have a trusted person?

"It was obvious that Otedola was the one always putting the question. That audio started from the middle, we didn’t know the beginning. There must have been pleasantries exchanged before it got to

the transaction stage.

“We didn’t hear the beginning; the tape was doctored, manipulated, engineered, surgeoned.

Now, we did not get to the end, it terminated abruptly with ellipsis.

“What is it that was contained at the beginning and the end? If you take the statement itself for whatever it is worth, Mr Otedola is the one offering bribe, he is yet to tell the world if the $2.5m is a balance of an amount or the whole of an amount that was to be paid. What was the $2.5m for?

“Neither Zenon nor AP petroleum was mentioned in that tape. He is yet to answer so many questions and more importantly, Otedola had already said he gave $620, 000 to Lawan, (500,000 to him and 120, 000 to the secretary of the committee) he is the same person suggesting that the balance was $2.5m.

“If you add $2.5m to $620, 000, that becomes $3.420, 000 whereas he had maintained that it was $3m that they agreed on."

Ghanaian govt chasing us out, lament Nigerian Bizmen

BY KAYODE MATTHEW & HUGO ODIOGOR AGOS—NIGERIAN businessmen operating in Ghana yesterday cried out to the Nigerian government to come to their rescue as Ghanaian authorities have commenced closing their shops for allegedly operating illegally.

The Nigerian traders said their shops were closed because they were said not to comply with the government policy which requires them to have an initial capital of $300,000 and employ 10 Ghanaians before they can start any business in Ghana regardless of the size of the business.

One of the affected Nigerians, Mr Ndukaku Mbanefo, who spoke to Vanguard on phone from Ghana said the Ghanaian authorities started closing shops belonging to Nigerians yesterday in Accra, the Ghanaian capital and vowed that the operation will be nationwide.

According to him, “the authorities in Ghana yesterday closed more than 40 shops belonging to Nigerians and they are still closing more. They closed our shops because

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they said we did not comply with the government policy that requires every foreigner who wants to start business in Ghana to have an initial capital of $300, 000 and must employ 10 Ghanaians to work with him regardless of the size of the business. Even if it is just a small restaurant or a barber shop you must employ 10 Ghanaians and show evidence that you have $300,000 before you can start.

“There are nationals of other West African countries like Mali, Cote D’Ivoire, Niger, Cameroon who operate shops in Ghana like us but the Ghanaian authorities would not touch them. They target only Nigerians and I don’t know why. In spite of all we do to boost their economy and contribute to raise their standard of living, they don’t care, they just hate Nigerians and discriminate against us”.

He explained that “some Nigerian traders had to run away and locked up their shops when they saw the Ghanaian law enforcement agents coming but when the law enforcement agents got to the shops, they would relock the

shops with their security padlocks. Their plan was to give out these shops abandoned by Nigerian businessmen to the Ghanaians”.

He therefore appealed to the Nigerian government to intervene and protect their businesses saying Nigerians who operate businesses in Ghana are law abiding and hard working, arguing that “ we should be allowed to operate under the ECOWAS trade treaty.

When the Foreign Affairs Ministry was contacted yesterday on the plight of Nigerian businessmen in Ghana, a source told Vanguard that the Ministry is aware of it and that the Federal Government has stepped into the matter.

He said the Federal Government has reached out to its Ghanaian counterpart and that those affected should not rush to the ECOWAS court as they have threatened.

Ghanaian authorities have been embarking on hostile business practices against Nigerians who are predominantly in real estate, textile and garments, electronics, banking and telecommunication and tourism.

The Ghanaian government had imposed high tariff on Nigerian movies and restricted Nigerian

actors from shooting films in Ghana. Nigeria’s telecommunication giant, Globacom was caught up with the high cost of doing business which caused it to delay some crucial aspects of its operations last year.

The presidential candidate of Labour Party Otunba Dele Momodu, said the attitude of Ghanaian government is a flagrant violation of the ECOWAS protocol and that the Nigerians who are doing business in Ghana hold the key to Ghana’s economic revival. He said Nigeria must stand up to the maltreatment of Nigerian in Ghana because Nigeria has been too good to their West African neighbour.

Lagos state Government had said yesterday that Nigerians should stop empowering Ghanaians and other West Africa countries by taking businesses to those countries at the detriment of Nigeria. Sources said Ghanaians are very jittery about Nigerians especially those who are in real estate business who are buying out their Ghanaian counterparts. Nigeria supplies electricity to Ghana and under the Obasanjo administration Ghana got over One hundred million dollar loans from Nigeria.

6—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

Reps dare Jonathan over 90 days expiration on debt ceiling

BY OKEY NDIRIBE & EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

BUJA — THE House of Representatives, yesterday, threatened the Federal Government that until it places a ceiling on all debts and borrowing, it would no longer treat executive bills from the Federal Government.

A 90-day ultimatum given to President Goodluck Jonathan by the House of

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Put Representatives to fix a debt ceiling for the country elapsed yesterday with the president failing to comply with the ultimatum.

Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila (Lagos/ACN) while briefing the lawmakers on the 90 days expiration, insisted that henceforth, executive Bills from the president be put on hold until Jonathan announces a debt ceiling for

all executive bills on hold

the country in compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Gbajabiamila last April led lawmakers to issue a 90day ultimatum to Jonathan to implement the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which makes provisions for a national debt ceiling amid concerns over rising foreign debt.

He stated: “It is not a resolution (referring to the

debt ceiling directive), it is an Act of parliament that is being flagrantly abused.

The 90 days has elapsed and the president is yet to comply. If we pass a resolution and it is not implemented, but what about Acts that are passed by the House?”

Gbajabiamila called for retaliatory actions for Jonathan’s non compliance with the Green House

directive, noting: “It is time we do something about it.

Any Bill brought by the president should be put on hold until he implements the Fiscal Responsibility Act. It is a legislative tool we can employ.”

Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, who presided over the plenary, referred the matter to the House Committee on Legislative Compliance for further

action.

As at December 31, 2011, Nigeria’s external debt stood at $5.7 billion, from $4.5 billion in 2010 and $ 3.9 billion in 2009, according to the Debt Management Office, DMO. A recent request by the president for $8 billion in four years raises Nigeria’s total debt accumulation to $14 billion, a new high since the country exited the Paris Club debt in 2004.

REPS TO NYSC:

Cancel postings of corps members to North-East

BY OKEY NDIRIBE & EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

BUJA — THE House of Representatives, yesterday, directed the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, to cancel all postings of corps members to states in the North East which are faced with security challenges.

This was sequel to the controversy that emanated from the posting of Batch B corps members, last Monday which resulted in a protest by the corpers at

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From left, Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Court, ICC, Mrs. Fatou Bensounda; Mr. Emeric Rogier, Head of Situation Analysis Section, ICC; President Goodluck Jonathan and Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Muhammed Adoke during a courtesy visit by ICC delegation to the State House, Abuja, yesterday.

BOKO HARAM SPONSORSHIP:

How we nailed Ndume, SSS tells court Says it is yet to probe Sambo’s alleged involvement As Ndume begs for leave to travel abroad

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

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BUJA — DETERMINED to prove its allegation that Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume had a convivial relationship with the Boko Haram Islamic sect before he was apprehended by security agents on November 21, 2011, the Federal Government, yesterday, called a witness that testified against him before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.

The witness, Mr Abdulkareem Farouk Dauda, who is a lead investigative officer with the State Security Service, SSS, yesterday, gave graphic account of the processes that culminated in the arrest and subsequent detention of the embattled lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District.

Dauda, who is the first prosecution witness, PW-1,

told the court that Ndume was hulled in for interrogation, after the convicted self-confessed spokesman of the sect, Ali Umar Konduga, insisted that he was one of their sponsors.

Led into evidence by the prosecuting counsel, Mrs I.I Idevba, the witness told the court that he was part of the team that on November 23, 2011, searched the house of the accused person at 30, Moses Adasun Close, Apo legislative quarters, where he said some indicting documents were secured by the SSS. He further told the court that upon his arrest, Ndume made four separate statements, where he allegedly explained how he was contacted by members of the sect.

The said statements were, yesterday, admitted into evidence and marked as exhibits B1 to B4, by trial

Justice Gabriel Kolawole.

SSS yet to probe Sambo’s involvement Nevertheless, the witness told the court that the SSS was yet to investigate Ndume’s allegation that the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, was aware of his involvement with members of the Jammatul Sunnah Walid Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram.

Specifically, Ndume who is answering to a fourcount criminal charge, had in his statements, maintained that the reason the sect approached him was as a result of his being a member of the Presidential Committee that was inaugurated on August 2, 2011, with a view to addressing the security challenges in the North Eastern part of the nation.

He said the first telephone exchange between him and the sect was on October 4, 2011, two months into the committee’s work.

In a 24-paragraph affidavit he deposed before the court, Ndume said after the sect approached him, “he promptly informed one Usman, who represented the SSS before the Presidential Committee of his contact with the said Jammatul Sunnah Walid Jihad (otherwise known as ‘Boko Haram’ sect) and also other members of the committee.

“He also informed the Director of State Security Service of his interaction with the said “Boko Haram” sect and forwarded a copy of the DVD he obtained from the sect to the Director of SSS for review.

“The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Namadi Sambo, is also aware that he was in contact with the Jammatul Sunnah Walid Jihad (otherwise known as ‘Boko Haram’).”

When the defence counsel, Chief Ricky Tafa, SAN, asked why the allegation made against the Vice President Sambo was

not given any consideration, the witness said his team was not mandated to delve into that aspect of the matter.

He said: “The accused was assigned to my team by extension after he had a discussion with our superior officer who was the chairman of the investigative panel. I was instructed as a member of that team to take him to the interview room where I provided him with stationery he used to write his statement."

Ndume begs for leave to travel abroad Meanwhile, the court, yesterday, adjourned till July 10 to hear a fresh motion filed before it by the embattled lawmaker who is begging the court to allow him to travel abroad for the lesser Hajj.

Sequel to objection raised against the motion by the prosecuting counsel, Justice Kolawole gave the Federal Government 72 hours to file a formal opposition to the application.

the headquarters of the NYSC in Abuja. The affected corps members insisted that the authorities should redeploy them to safer areas in the country.

In its resolution on a motion moved by a member, Mr Peter Edeh, under matters of urgent public importance, the House also directed the NYSC to maintain the same such stance until the security threats in the affected states had been satisfactorily addressed.

The House, however, asked corps members who opted to serve in the troubled states, to be allowed to do so.

Edeh, while moving the motion, had expressed concerns that it was on record that several corps members had lost their lives in these crisis-prone states in the past, adding that it would be unreasonable, therefore, to post members to the troubled states.

He further explained that the call for the cancellation of all corps members’ postings to the troubled states was further necessitated by the fact that corps members were illequipped and ill-trained to defend themselves in the face of unprovoked attack.

His contributions were supported by Minority Leader of the House, Femi Gabjabiamila, who argued that the notion that corps members must serve outside their states of origin was wrong, as according to him, framers of the NYSC Act did not envisage such threats to lives of innocent Nigerian youths.

He said where there was obvious security threat, there was nothing wrong to temporarily leave out crisisprone areas in the posting of corps members.

However, Ahmed Kaita and Kyari Gujbawu who opposed the motion argued that it was not in tandem with the philosophy of the NYSC scheme.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012—7

States lose Nbillions to fake accounts As Jigawa, Kano, Enugu recover N8bn

BY HENRY UMORU

BUJA — STRONG indications emerged, yesterday, that some state governments in the country lose money amounting to billions of naira as a result of fake accounts being operated, just as efforts to block leakages have yielded results in some states.

Speaking, yesterday, at the State Peer Review Mechanism, SPRM, organised by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, National Programme Manager of the State Partnership for A c c o u n t a b i l i t y, Responsiveness and Capability, SPARC, Dr. Joe Abah, said this blockage led to Jigawa, Kano and Enugu State governments recovering over N8.1 billion lodged in some secret bank accounts.

He, however, said despite the challenges facing the country, the state governors were making silent progress in addressing issues confronting their states.

Abah who noted that one of the measures adopted by these governors was to close down dozens of bank

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From left: Mrs. Josephen Oluseyi Wiliams, Acting Head of Service; Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and Mr. Toba Otusanya, Director-General, Office of Transformation, Governor's Office, during the launch of State Service Charter, held at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

Controversy as NNPC fingers CBN as owner of secret foreign account Says CBN is sole signatory As Senate orders NNPC, CBN to close all foreign accounts

BY HENRY UMORU

BUJA — AT yesterday’s resumed hearing of the Senate Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Appropriation and Finance investigating government’s fuel subsidy scheme, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, disassociated itself from ownership of the secret foreign account with American banker, JP Morgan.

This development at the Senate, yesterday, has brought another dimension and controversy as to the true owners of the account, just as the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and the NNPC both denied ownership of the account especially the one with JP Morgan.

Following the drama, Chairman of the Joint Committees, Senator Magnus Abe, immediately ordered that the NNPC and CBN should go and reconcile, work out a formula for the closure of all foreign accounts into which proceeds of the sale of the nation’s crude oil were paid.

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CBN opened account in 2002 Appearing before the committee, yesterday, Group Executive Director, Finance of the NNPC, Mr. Bernard Oti, who told the Committee that the corporation had no relationship with JP Morgan, but the CBN, stressed that the NNPC only operated a domiciliary account with the CBN. C M Y K

Oti who told the Senate Committee that the Morgan account was opened by the CBN on its behalf in 2002, said the CBN was the sole signatory to the account, adding that the bank could operate such account with its corresponding bank off shore.

It would be recalled that the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had on Monday distanced the ministry of having knowledge of the account.

According to Oti, “going by the records, the account was opened by the CBN in the last quarter of 2002. All correspondents and mandates relate only to the CBN. But the NNPC operates a dollar denominated account with the CBN and have no relationship with JP Morgan.”

When asked to be specific whether the NNPC or the CBN operates the account and whose money was paid into the account, the NNPC Executive Director told the Senators: "The money paid into the account is crude (oil) money of Nigeria. We are not party to that transaction.

Our relationship with the CBN accounts begins and terminates with that account.

Also in his remarks, the NNPC Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu, reiterated also that the CBN was the owner of the account.

Not satisfied with the issues raised, the joint committee then told them that the Senate would

design ways to ensure that accounts not known to the Constitution were legalised and thereby make it mandatory that all monies are paid directly into the Federation Account.

According to Abe, “NNPC and CBN should come up with a position on

what we should do with the JP Morgan account and other foreign accounts used to receive payments for crude oil sales in compliance with the Constitution, because we must bring all practices in the sector in line with the Constitution.”

accounts which were conduit pipes used to siphon revenue belonging to the states to private pockets, added: "By reducing the number of bank accounts in Jigawa from 615 to 105, the Jigawa State government recovered N2 billion which it was able to put back into its budget.

“Kano reduced its own accounts from 756 to 92 and thus recovered N4.5 billion; Enugu reduced its number of accounts from 100 to 10 and was able to put back N1.6 billion into its treasury.”

Abah, who explained further that the return of unspent funds in Jigawa at the end of 2009 yielded N9.3billion which went into the state 2010 budget, said: “These are in addition to savings from removing ghost workers, improving due process in procurement, reducing the size of state debts and ensuring that gains from the debt relief granted Nigeria in 2005 by the Paris Club of Creditors are used to improve maternal and child health, fight malaria and improve water supply in various parts of the country.”

Insecurity: Jonathan pledges protection for all residents

BY KINGSLEY OMONOBI

BUJA — PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, said the Federal Government has stepped up efforts at ensuring the safety of Nigerians and foreigners alike in response to the current security challenge facing the country.

The President stated this at the launch of a book entitled, “Overcoming Security Challenges,” written by former Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro.

He said to ensure the safety of all Nigerians and non Nigerians alike, government was already collaborating with the international community to overcome the new trend of terrorism in the country.

Represented by the Special Adviser on Project Monitoring, Mr. Sylvester Monye, at the occasion, Jonathan noted that the issue of security had taken the front stage in recent time, adding: “Apart from internal measures being taken to overcome the new

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trend of terrorism, we are also cooperating with the international community to put an end to the mindless recourse to violence embarked upon by a misguided few.

“I assure that government will not rest until the negative elements are defeated. What binds us together is our destiny as nationals of one indivisible country.”

Jonathan recommended the book to all, saying no responsible government would disregard sound advice on security most especially when such advice was coming from a former security chiefs.

National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamaga Tukur, who chaired the occasion, urged Nigerians to support government’s efforts at finding lasting solution to the current challenge.

According to him, government alone cannot fight terrorism as security is a collaborative responsibility.

Sir Mike Okiro had earlier noted that the present security situation in the country whereby innocent

people were hacked down at the snap of a finger prompted him to write the book.

Okiro also said as former crime officer, he wrote the

book to bequeath some of his experiences to the society as his contribution to the efforts to save life and property.

Vanguard columnist, Animasaun's books for launch tomorrow AGOS — A VETERAN journalist and columnist with Vanguard Newspapers, Alhaji Kola Animasaun, will be celebrated tomorrow in an epoch making event where his book, ‘Voice of Reason Vol. 2’ and his autobiography, ‘One Thousand Nine Hundred & Thirty Nine’ will be presented to the public.

The programme is scheduled for Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, Victoria Island at noon.

Expected to chair the book launch is the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, while the President of

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Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, will be the chief launcher.

Other prominent Nigerians expected at the occasion are the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III and state governors.

Former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba will give a keynote address while Chairman, Vanguard Media Limited, Mr. Sam Amuka, is the chief host.

The books will be reviewed by the chairman, Editorial Board of The Nation newspapers, Mr. Sam Omatseye and Managing Director, National Mirror, Mr. Steve Ayorinde.

8—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

Achebe bags two awards

BY JAPHET ALAKAM, with Agency Reports WANDO AchebeOgundimu, historian and daughter of Prof.

Chinua Achebe, has won the Barbara “Penny” Kanner Prize and the Gita Chaudhuri Prize of the Western Association of Women Historians for her book, The Female King of Colonial Nigeria: Ahebi Ugbabe.

The Barbara “Penny” Kanner Award is an annual award given to honour a book, book chapter, article, or electronic media that has been verifiably published or posted in the two years prior to the award year and

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COMMONWEALTH: From left— Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Mr. Sam Ikon, Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, and Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President, at the opening session of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, CPA, Africa Region in Guateng, South Africa, yesterday.

which illustrates the use of a specific set of primary sources (diaries, letters, interviews).

The Gita Chaudhuri Prize is an annual prize that recognises the best monograph about women in rural environments, from any era and any place in the world, published by a WAWH member.

The award-winning book is a full length critical biography on the only female warrant chief and king in all of colonial Nigeria, and arguably British Africa.

The writing was funded by a grant from the WennerGren Foundation.

Dana crash: 9 victims' families get $30,000 each

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI, LAWANI MIKAIRU & DANIEL ETEGHE ORE than one month after a Dana aircraft crashed at IjuIshaga in Ifako-Ijaye Local Government Area of Lagos State, the airline’s management confirmed, yesterday, that nine people, who are next of kin to some of the crash victims, have received their interim benefits.

The airline is mandated to pay 30 percent benefits of the $100,000 insurance cover to victims’ next of kin within 30 days of crash.

Head of Corporate Communication for Dana, Mr. Tony Usidamen, yesterday, told Vanguard on phone: “As of July 2, the airline had received completed insurance forms for 64 of the victims, four of which are our staff members.

“We are aware that most of the next of kin or legal representatives, who submitted documents, are yet to visit the Crisis Management Centre, CMC, and submit documentations to us.

Nine claimants have received interim benefits.”

The airline is, however, not blaming the victims’ families as “we believe the families are still observing the customary mourning period. Insurance funds are already in place.”

The airline further said that members of the families who have submitted relevant documents to the CMC in Lagos and Abuja have been contacted. It advised the families of victims to visit the Chambers of Dana Air’s Solicitors in Nigeria for legal verification of documentation and

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next of kin status to conclude advance payment formalities.

The House of Representatives, had last Thursday, directed the management of Dana Airline to pay compensation on or before July 3, to families of the passengers of its illfated aircraft.

IDPs reject cheques Usidamen said: “Dana Air appreciates that the statutory payments cannot compensate for any of the precious lives lost in the accident, but we hope that it will lessen the pains of the families.”

He reiterated the company’s readiness to make interim payment of benefits to families of those who lost their lives in the crash, in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organisation and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority regulations.

However, attempt by management of Dana to distribute cheques as interim compensation to the affected Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, was frustrated yesterday, following rejection of the cheques by the victims over what they called “procedural matter”.

It was learnt that Dana management had prepared N500,000 for Mr. Daniel Omowunmi, N100,000 each to two occupants of the boys’ quarters and N200,000 each to six families in the block of flats.

38 IDPs, whose property were destroyed in the incident, were identified and listed for rehabilitation and compensation by Lagos State Emergency Management Authority, LASEMA, in conjunction with the members of Com-

munity Development Association, CDA, of the area.

At the Ipaja relief camp, venue of the event, confusion, however, set in after LASEMA General Manager, Dr. Femi OkeOsanyintolu, delivered a brief address on the essence of the meeting, which also had in attendance Director of Flight Operations, Dana Air, Captain Oscar Watson.

What was supposed to be a peaceful meeting turned out otherwise as some victims, through their lawyer, bluntly rejected the interim compensation offered by the management.

The management had, at a day-long meeting, offered what it termed ‘interim’ compensation to take care of their temporary abode pending the full payment of the compensation by their insurance company, saying the company was already working out comprehensive packages to adequately take care of them.

Four out of the nine victims, including Mr. Daniel Omowunmi, a pastor and owner of the destroyed warehouse, rejected the cheques through their lawyers, while two other persons later rescinded their decision and collected cheques of N100,000 each. They are Mr. Sapaye Ezekiah, student of Osun State Polytechnic and Miss Bidemi Adebayo, who claimed she had relocated to Cross River State.

A lawyer’s argument The lawyer, Mr. Gbenga Oguntade, an aviation consultant and solicitor to four of the victims classi-

fied as severely affected, rejected the cheques on behalf of his clients, faulting the procedure employed. He argued that the enumeration did not capture some of the victims and property destroyed by the air mishap.

He said one of the victims, who went to the house at 7 Olaniyi Street to watch a football match on television on that Sunday, was not included in the list of the dead victims.

Oguntade said: “As I’m speaking with you, I have about 10 clients that have no roofs over their heads.

If they decamp them now, where will they go? Are they sending them to go and be sleeping under the bridges?

“So, insurance package covers all that. We are not saying that they are responsible to the whole world. In the immediate vicinity where the incident happened, so many roofs were destroyed; the roofs caved in and their property were vandalised or stolen by hoodlums who invaded the area.

“As the rain is falling, it damages the remaining property. So Dana cannot deny the responsibility of these inconveniences and consequential liabilities.

This is nothing but a jamboree.”

Oguntade expressed fear that going by experience, his clients may be denied their full compensation should they take the cheques, adding that he expected Dana management to respond to the demands of his over 21 clients, who are suffering from the trauma, agony and psychological effect caused by the air disaster.

He argued that the relief compensation should

be done without prejudice to the main claim by his clients, which had not been replied to by Dana management after the initial letter written to them on the matter.

Also, some of the affected persons, who were excluded in the compensation list, had a hot argument with representatives of the Iju-Ishaga CDA, led by its Chairman, Mr. Adewale Oriowo.

They demanded for immediate inclusion.

Dana speaks Usidemen told newsmen: “We are here at the Lagos relief camp on an exercise as part of effort to rehabilitate the displaced Iju-Ishaga residents.

“Since the incident, Dana has been in touch with the affected families.

We had earlier given them relief materials. We have also been on the lookout for proper accommodation for the severely affected people who lost their houses.

“Last week, we held a meeting with affected families and briefed them on the accommodation arrangement. All of them decided that instead of giving them accommodation, they would rather accept payment. So we are here in honour of that decision taken and we have just presented cheques for accommodation to them.

“This is by no means the compensation in a situation like this. Our insurance firms are working out the extent of damage and adequate insurance would be paid. This is just an effort to give interim relief before the actual comprehensive compensation. A temporary relief

effort we have been working on in conjunction with LASEMA and the families. We will continue to be with them and assist them.

“On the rejection, some of them raised concern over the way and manner in which the cheques have been prepared.

They would rather have a formal letter to them on what the payment would be like. We appreciate their concern and we are going to do that.

“I wish to stress that this is by no means compensation. We are aware that many people were affected in various manners, but surely they would be compensated adequately.”

LASEMA’s classification Osanyintolu said LASEMA based its enumeration on its finding at the crash site.

He added that the classification of the victims was on severely affected, moderately affected and mildly affected that involved the local government representatives, Community Development Association, representatives of Dana Airline and all other stakeholders.

On June 3, a Boeing McDonnell Douglas (MD-83) with registration number 5N-RAM, operated by Dana Airlines Limited, crashed into five houses on Akande, Poopola streets, Iju-Ishaga in Ifako-Ijaye Local Government Area of the state, leaving three houses severely damaged and over 153 people killed in the process.

The aircraft was en route Lagos from Abuja.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 —9

Briefly

10 rescued in Lagos building collapse

BY MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

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AGOS—NO fewer than 10 persons narrowly escaped death, yesterday evening, when parts of a two-storey building at 49, Freeman Street, Ebute-Meta, Lagos, collapsed on the occupants after a downpour.

An eyewitness, who identified himself as Mr. Chuks, said, “Sections of the building which was constructed less than 10 years ago caved in at about 5:45 pm.”

One of the occupants of the building, Mr. Olayemi Owoyemi, explained: “I arrived home from work at 5 p.m. and immediately I came back, I went into my apartment with my children because Power Holding Company Nigeria, had just switched on power supply.”

“While resting in my apartment, I heard a loud bang outside and immediately I rushed out to see what was happening, I discovered that the front part of the building had collapsed on the occupants, however, none of the occupants sustained injury.”

Vanguard gathered that the building was constructed by one Baba Kofo, who along with his son, allegedly absconded immediately the building caved in.

Docked

BY BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

AGOS—AN EbuteMeta Magistrate's Court in Lagos remanded a 40-year-old man, Uche, in police custody, after he was arraigned for alleged murder of one Mrs Edith Nwokolo, during an argument.

Magistrate T. O. Abolarinwa noted that the Directorate of Public Prosecution's, DPP, advice on the matter will be needed by the court, saying “it is a case of murder, the DPP’s advice will provide the proper direction that this court must follow to give substantial justice to all the parties.'' The court ordered that Uche be remanded in police custody, pending the advice of DPP, adding, “Uche was standing trial on a one-count charge of alleged murder. It is left for this court to determine if it has jurisdiction to hear the allegations against the accused.”

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BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI & EBUN SESSOU KEJA—THE Lagos State House of Assembly has rejected posting of batch B of the National Youth service Corps, NYSC, members from the state to the northern part of the country for their service.

Chairman, House Committee on Education, Science and Technology,

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Lagos Assembly rejects NYSC's posting of Lagosians to North Wahab Alawiye-King, said this while receiving corps members from Lagos State University, LASU, who staged a demonstration to the Assembly yesterday.

According to Alawiye-

King, the House at its plenary on Monday, passed a resolution to the Director General of NYSC, Brigadier-General Nnamdi Okorie-Affiah, urging him not to post graduates from Lagos

State to unsafe Northern states where security of lifes and properyt cannot be guaranteed.

He said: “Lagos State House of Assembly is a proactive lawmaking body which put the wel-

WELCOME: Vice President N a m a d i Sambo; President Pierren Kkurunziza of Burundi and his wife, while welcoming the Vice-President to their country's 50th independence anniversary celebration on Monday.

Baba Suwe vs NDLEA: Court adjourns case till Oct 18

BY INNOCENT ANABA

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AGOS—THE Court of Appeal, Lagos, yesterday, adjourned till October 18, hearing in the appeal by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, against the decision of a Lagos High Court which awarded N25 million as damages in favour of ace comedian, Mr. Babatunde Omidina, a.k.a. Baba Suwe.

The appellate court directed that rather than hear the application for

stay of execution by NDLEA, it was better to grant accelerated hearing of the appeal and consequently adjourned till October 18, for hearing of the substantive appeal.

The court also granted Baba Suwe extension of time within which he can file his brief.

After granting the application, the court ordered NDLEA to file its reply within 14 days from yesterday, if it had any reply on points of law.

It will be recalled that Baba Suwe was arrested by operatives of NDLEA

Dana crash Coroner: Lagos to try those indicted

BY ABDUWAHAB ABDULAH

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AGOS—LAGOS State Attorney-General, Mr. Ade Ipaye, has vowed to institute criminal action against anyone found to have committed any criminal offence regarding Dana air crash that claimed the lives of 153 people on June 3, in Lagos.

Ipaye, who disclosed this in a response to a letter from a Lagos lawyer, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, asking the former to “lead inquest on deaths caused by crash of Dana airline,” said he would not shy away from his responsibility to institute criminal action against anybody or institutions indicted

after the outcome of “investigations by the police into the remote cause of the accident.”

The law firm of Agbakoba & Co. had asked the Attorney-General to lead the inquest at the on-going coroner instituted by his chambers in conjunction with others to unravel the causes of the Dana ill-fated air accident.

The Attorney-General said his office had referred the matter to the office of the state Commissioner of Police for further investigation, couple with the outcome of the forensic from pathologists at the State University Teaching Hospital trying to determine the manner in which each of the victims died following the accident.

at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, last October 12, on the suspicion that he ingested hard drug.

He was confined for 23 days without any evidence that he ingested any narcotic or banned substance as he did not excrete any such. Based on this, he approached

the lower court for the enforcement of his fundamental rights, claiming that his arrest and detention on suspicion of drug trafficking without trial were unlawful and unconstitutional.

He had also asked the court to order NDLEA to apologise to him in three national newspapers.

fare of the residents first before any other thing.”

The lawmaker said the Assembly would resist any attempt by the NYSC directorate to post students from Lagos to troubled states in the North for the service year.

The students who thronged the Assembly with placards with inscriptions such as; ‘LASU says no to posting to the North, Katsina State, State of mass killing’, ‘No service in Boko Haram states, like Kano, Borno, Bauchi and Kaduna etc’.

According to the spokesperson of the students, Mrs. Funmi Sessi, the rate of killings and bombings in the northern part of the country is unbearable.”

She said: “We have come to meet our lawmakers to please help our students from positing them to Boko Haram states because from all indications the security of lives of our people cannot be guaranteed.”

A letter signed by the union states that; “We write to protest the posting to the Northern states' crisis-ridden areas and Boko Haram-prone states of the presently mobilised graduates from LASU and other universities from the Southern regions of the country.''

3rd Mainland Bridge: Lagos Assembly summons Works Controller, Contractor

BY EBUN SESSOU KEJA—THE Lagos State House of Assembly has invited the management of Julius Berger and the Federal Controller of Works for Lagos State to appear before it and explain the true state of the Third Mainland Bridge. They are expected to appear before the House on Monday.

While Julius Berger, the construction giant which built the bridge is to come and explain the current state of the bridge, the Federal Controller of Works is to explain why the rehabilitation of the road was postponed indefinitely.

Lagosians were bracing up for the challenges that would result from the partial closure of the bridge for repairs when the government again postponed it.

Though it was not clear

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why the government took the decision, sources said it was as a result of improper planning of what to do by the Federal Government.

The motion to invite the contractor and the controller to the House was moved by the Chief Whip, Razak Balogun, who drew

the attention of his colleagues to the danger posed by the bridge.

Balogun, who raised the issue under Matter of Urgent Public Importance, expressed worries that the bridge may have been facing serious pressures that may lead to disaster if not quickly addressed.

Driver remanded for alleged murder

BY ONOZURE DANIA KEJA—A truck driver, Sunday Ephraim, was remanded in prison custody, yesterday, by an Ikeja Magistrate's Court for reckless driving which resulted in the death of one Senam Essien.

Essien, 29-year-old, was docked before Magistrate T. Akanni on a one count charge of reckless driving.

Meantime,two unemployed men, Wale

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Ogunmolu and Samuel Kayode were also yesterday, docked before an Ikeja Magistrate's Court, for impersonation and stealing.

According to the prosecutor, Inspector Samson Ekikere,the defendants who are aged 33 and 45 respectively, had on June 28 impersonated as police officers on patrol at Shoprite car park in Ikeja, area of Lagos.

10—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

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BEOKUTA—PEO PLES Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday, alleged that Justice Charles Archibong of Federal High Court in Lagos planned to issue what it considered “f a r- r e a c h i n g orders” against it in today's ruling over a contempt case.

PDP said Justice Archibong should be stopped from sitting “to ensure that justice is done transparently.”

The party alleged that the suit before Justice Archibong had been settled against it and the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission, OGSIEC. In a petition by its National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, PDP called for intervention “to ensure that justice is done transparently to prevent Justice Archibong from sitting at the Federal High Court, Lagos and carrying out his threat of vendetta and “far-reaching orders.”

The party said: “With due respect, this development, if unchecked, would amount to a flagrant abuse of court process as Prince Kashamu’s surrogates

PDP wants Archibong to disqualify self from contempt case have caused a fresh action to be instituted against OGSIEC and our party before the same Justice Archibong.

Oyinlola, in the petition dated July 3, claimed that Kashamu had urged “His Lordship, Justice Archibong to act promptly in this matter involving OGSIEC, our party and the Bayo Dayo faction with all supporters of Kasahmu now celebrating

the envisaged “far- reaching orders” of July 4, 2012 (today).

Corroborating Oyinlola's allegations, at a briefing, in Abeokuta, yesterday, the former President Olusegun Obasanjo-led faction of PDP in the state alleged that it had it on good authority of the alleged resolve of Justice Archibong to go ahead with the case today despite an alleged petition and query issued to him by

the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

The state Caretaker Committee Chairman, Ireti Oniyide, said: “This morning (yesterday), we had to report Justice Archibong to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, when we reliably discovered that the same Justice Archibong, despite our petition to him and the query issued to him by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, has assured Prince

Buruji Kashamu that he will “issue far- reaching orders” against PDP and OGSIEC by tomorrow (today), July 4, 2012. We want to add that we have also filed motion before the same judge to disqualify himself in cases involving our party and interests.”

The address, entitled: “You can’t put something on nothing,” was read on behalf of Oniyide by Mr. Tunde Oladunjoye.

From left, Ms. Nonny Ugboma, Executive Secretary, MTN-Foundation; Basorun J.K. Randle, Chairman, MUSON and Ambassador Hamzat Ahmadu, Chairman, MTNFoundation, at the 5th MTN Foundation- MUSON Music Scholars graduation at MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, yesterday.

Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

LG poll: 17 ACN chairmanship aspirants sue OGSIEC, others

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

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BEOKUTA—SEV ENTEEN chairmanship aspirants of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Ogun State, whose names were allegedly substituted, yesterday, dragged the party's leadership and Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission, OGSIEC, before an Abeokuta High Court .

The candidates, who claimed their names were originally submitted to the electoral body by ACN leadership, filed the suit seeking an injunction restraining OGSIEC from recognising any other persons other than them as candidates for chairmanship positions in the forth-

coming election in their respective local governments.

In the suit filed by their counsel, Isaiah Okoigi, they sought for such further orders the court may deem fit to make in the circumstance.

The claimants include Abiodun Ogunremi Oluwaseun (Obafemi Owode), Moshood Okanlawon Akinyele (Abeokuta South), Musiliu Akindele (Odeda), Folorunso Sotubo (Sagamu), Samuel Olusegun Idowu (Remo North), Isiaka Oluwole Ojuroye (Ikenne), Wale Balogun (Ijebu North), Nathaniel Adewale Sodipo (Ewekoro), Soliu Ayinde Falade (Ipokia).

PHCN workers threaten strike

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

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DO-EKITI—WORK ERS of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN , Ado-Ekiti Business Unit, have threatened to down tools over alleged brutalisation of some of their colleagues by aides to Governor Kayode Fayemi.

PHCN Marketing Manager, Mr. Julius Ige, and the Public Relations Manager, Mr. Ilori C M Y K

Brown, respectively, were allegedly abducted and taken to Government House where they were said to have been beaten for allegedly disconnecting power supply to Government House.

They were allegedly abducted from their houses last Friday evening and kept at the Government House until 1.15 a.m. on Saturday. The state government is allegedly owing PHCN N15 million, debt for four months.

Briefly

Babatope supports Mimiko

BY DAYO JOHNSON

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KURE—FORMER Minister of Transport and chieftain of the Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, yesterday, drummed support for the second term ambition of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State.

This came on the heels of the endorsement by Akoko Youth Development Group youths in the Northern Senatorial District of Mimiko for a second term in office.

Babatope said the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, should forget about winning the forthcoming election in the state because of what he described as the excellent performance of the governor.

He spoke in Akure after a service at the Cathedral Church of St. David to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of the Majority Leader of the old Ondo State House of Assembly, Mr. Alex Adedipe.

Babatope said: ”With what I have seen as Mimiko's achievements in Ondo State, if my party will allow me, I will vote for him. Under no circumstance should the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, be allowed to rule the state.

The South-West should be governed by people who respect them, people who have respect for the contribution of our people to the Nigerian nation.''

Passage ADAM Elizabeth Orisawuyi, 76, of Ile Alagba Oke Compound, Oyan, Osun State, is dead.

There will be a Christian wake-keep at her family compound on July 7.

Thanksgiving service holds at The Power of God Witness Church, Oyan, on Saturday.

She is survived by children, grandchildren and relations, among whom are Mr. and Mrs. Orisawuyi, son and daughter-in-law.

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Late Mrs E. Orisawuyi

Vanguard,WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012—11

Flood: Sapele residents relocate

Police, kidnappers in gun duel over pect, Nelson, was already in po As mounting refuse dumps worry residents woman's kidnap lice custody and was helping the

BY EMMAAMAIZE

BYGODWIN OGHRE

APELE—RESI DENTS of Sapele in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State, who were trapped in their houses as a result of flood occasioned by the downpour in the last few days, have been relocating to neighbouring villages, for safety.

The mounting refuse dumps across major streets in the town is another source of worry to the residents.

Among areas, from where residents have started relocating are, Dure Numa Street, Water Street, Palmer Road, Boyo Road, Adidi Road, Owumi Road, Okpe Road and Mcpherson Road.

Most of the residents, relocating also attributed their movement to the stench emitting from soaring refuse dumps scattered all over the town.

The hips of refuse dumps are increasing, despite a directive by the state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, that the streets and gutters in major towns be cleared of refuse dumps.

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Head of Personnel Management of Sapele Local Government Area, Mr. Olumami Oyibo, has blamed the increasing rise of refuse dumps on the contractor handling the waste disposal project in the area.

He said the contractor had failed to do his job, despite repeated reminders.

But the contractor, Cypress Point Engineering Ltd, in response, blamed his poor performance on Delta State

Oil Producing Area Development Commission, DESOPADEC, with office in Warri, which he said awarded the Sapele Waste Disposal contract to him but had refused to pay him for over seven months.

It was alleged that following non-payment, the contractor had not been able to fix his machine and trucks, which it was gathered, had broken down and needed urgent repairs.

ARRI—THERE was panic in Effurun, Delta State, when men of Anti-Terrorism Squad, ATS, Delta State Police Command, Asaba, engaged kidnappers in a gun duel in their bid to rescue a 40-year-old woman, Mrs. Helen Olori, who was kidnapped on June 22.

Residents fled the area to avoid being hit by stray bullet. During the gun battle, two of the kidnappers,

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GHELLI—ONE time Delta State Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Development and House of Assembly candidate of Fresh Democratic Party, FDP, for Patani state constituency, Mr Raymus Guanah, yesterday, returned to Peoples Democratic Party, PDP with over 16,000 of his followers.

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Guanah, who was a major contender in the 2011 House of Assembly election, left the PDP in expression of his dissatisfaction with the party primary election for FDP, where he ran against the Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr Basil Ganagana in the general elections. He lost the said election with 800 votes.

Addressing his follow-

ers at Patani Central Motorpark, Guanah, said as pioneer chairman of PDP in the area, he could not afford to leave the party.

He said it took him and his supporters time to take the decision to return “to the House we built and we will continue to build the party.”

He noted that for the first time, PDP won election with less than 1000

Ugborodo Trust chair urges leaders to shun corruption

BY DANIELGUMM

ARRI — MEMBERS of the current Ugborodo Trust have been called upon to know that corruption, embezzlement and misapplication of money accruing to Ugborodo community which was one of the characteristics of the past leadership would no longer be tolerated as all indices of probity, integrity and accountability would be espoused.

This view was expressed by the current chairman of Ugborodo Trust, Mr. David Tonwe, while receiving

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LASE ENIN—EDO State chapter of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has denied media reports that it had gone into alliance with Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, for the July 14, governorship election in the state.

The party also denied insinuations that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) was invited for the July 7, rally in Benin.

Edo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Loius Odion, in

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From left: Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State; Justice Peter Isibor and his wife after the swearing in of the new President, Customary Court of Appeal, Edo State in Benin City, yesterday.

members of Movement for Equity, Peace and Justice in Ugborodo, yesterday. Addressing the group, Tonwe lamented the grossly underdeveloped state of all the communities that constitute Ugborodo, which according to him was as a result of massive corruption and misapplication of the communities’ money by those entrusted with leadership positions in recent past.

He said: “A situation whereby a sum of N38 million was allegedly spent for the burial of an individual killed in the community remained most disheartening

and repulsive to any conscience, except those made of stones."

Tonwe noted that “most time we blame governments for the abject poverty of our people, including the almost non-existence of any index of modernism in our community, but we forget how certain individuals of Ugborodo past leadership for example withdrew about N90 million from the Trust account and same vanished into the pockets of these individuals to the detriment of the communities, our destiny and generation yet unborn.”

votes, adding that their return was to further strengthen PDP in the council and the state in general.

Receiving Guanah and his supporters, state PDP Chairman, Mr Peter Nwaoboshi said the leadership of the party and the state Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan were happy with their return.

police to track down the two persons,whofledwithbulletwounds.

It was gathered that the police arranged the ransom and trailed the kidnappers to Emeburen in order to capture the kidnappers, but because they were armed, a gun battle.

Mukacalledforinformationfrom membersofthepubliconthefleeing suspects, saying, the police were prepared to combat crime andconfrontcriminalsinthestate aslongasinformationwaspassed to the force.

Guber poll: Edo ACN debunks alliance with CPC

BY GABRIEL ENOGHO-

Guanah, 16,000 supporters return to PDP

BY FESTUS AHON

who sustained bullet wounds managed to escape, while the police rescued the abducted woman from a house in Ogbefo Street, Emerburen, Effurun.

The victim was kidnapped at Odogwu Avenue, Effurun and a demandofN50millionransomfor her freedom was made, but the kidnapers, it was gathered, later agreed to collect N1.2 million.

Delta State police spokesman, Mr.CharlesMuka,whoconfirmed the gun battle, added that a sus-

a statement in Benin, yesterday, said: “We wish to deny media report of the purported alliance between Edo ACN and Edo CPC for the purpose of the July 14 election, and that General Buhari was being expected at the July 7 rally.

“It is only a figment of the writer’s imagination. Neither had an invitation been sent to the CPC leader nor was he being expected at the rally. Much as we are not averse to collaboration as true democrat, the truth is no such had been entered into in that regard."

One injured as bomb explodes in Abuja BOMB exploded treatment.

A in front of the Policemen who rushed popular Park & Shop to the scene cordoned off mall at Wuse II, Abuja , last night.

Eye witnesses said the bomb was thrown under a car and it injured one person after it exploded.

The identity of the injured person could not be immediately confirmed but he was said to have been rushed to a hospital for

the area as they tried to collect materials for investigation.

The explosion which occurred at about 9 pm was the second in the Wuse II area of Abuja in the last two weeks. An explosive was thrown from a moving vehicle at a night club in the same District on June 23.

12—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

Delta govt to demolish houses in Warri, Effurun over flood menace

BY EMMAAMAIZE

A R R I — D E LTA State Government has said it will demolish houses in the cities of Warri and Effurun, allegedly obstructing water channels to avert flood disaster in the state.

State Commissioner for Environment, Chief Frank Omare, who spoke, weekend, while inspecting the buildings already marked for demolition by government, said the houses were blocking water channels and causing flood whenever there was heavy downpour.

He noted that in order to avoid death and submerging of houses, government had to take the hard decision.

Omare said his ministry would be firm and decisive in carrying out the exercise.

It emerged, yesterday, that some landlords, whose houses were located on the said channels, have started mounting pressure for their houses to be removed from the demolition list.

Vanguard gathered that the state government had a report, long ago, indicat-

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Rivers State Governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi (middle) with the 2011 Rivers State governorship aspirants after a courtesy visit to the governor at Government House, Port Harcourt, Tuesday.

Auto crash claims 6 in Delta

BY FESTUS AHON

GHELLI—NO fewer than six persons, were, yesterday, feared dead in a fatal accident in Evrweni, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State on the East/West Road.

The accident, which occurred at 4pm involved two vehicles, one Volkswagen Audi 80 with number plate UGH 870 AA, Delta and

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Toyota Hiace bus with number plate LND 870 XA, belonging to a transportation company.

Ourcorrespondent, who arrived the scene few minutes after the accident, noted that six out of seven occupants of the Audi 80, including the driver, died on the spot.

Men of the Federal Road Safety Corps, who also arrived the scene moments

later, assisted in removing the six corps from the Audi 80 that was damaged beyond repairs to the Ughelli central hospital mortuary.

The surviving occupants of the Audi 80, a lady, according to an eye witness account and six passengers in the bus, which was heading to Warri from PortHarcourt, were rushed to Ughelli Central Hospital for medical attention.

ing that there would be torrential rain and flooding in Warri, Effurun and to avoid the ugly situation in Lagos

Edo youths canvass violence-free poll

BY ALBERT AKPOR

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AGOS—POLITICAL office seekers and stakeholders in Edo State, have been urged to eschew violence and embrace democratic tenets in the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

Operating under the aegis of Edo Youth United Against Election Violence, the group said elections were constitutional matter, adding that there were laid down rules for conducting

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ENIN CITY—THE Federal Government, yesterday, flagged-off the construction of the N2.22billion 18-kilometre Ada-Okere-UkoniAendokhian Road in Uromi, Esan North-East Local Government Area of Edo State.

Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolomemen, who commissioned the project in company of his Minister of State for Works, Bashir Yuguda, Chairman Senate Committee for Works, commendedPresidentGoodluck Jonathan and members of the federalexecutivecouncilforwhat he described as his “foresight in approvingthecontract,”whichhe

same.

Mr. Larry Aghedo, a youth leader and former House of Assembly aspirant in the state, said that election should not be seen as a do and die affair; adding that the only constitutional way to winning electoral posts was through the ballot.

He spoke on the heels of recent political killings in the state, saying “Edo people are peace loving and with the recent happenings in the state; I mean political assassinations, it is alien to us."

Rotimi Babatunde wins Caine Prize for African Writing

BY JAPHET ALAKAM, WITH AGENCY REPORTS

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AGOS—NIGERIAN author, Rotimi

FG flags off N2bn road project in Uromi

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

State, it had to demolish houses built on water channels, than allow them to dislocate the entire citizenry.

put at N2.22 billion.

Onolememen, said flag-off of the 18-km road was indicative of President Jonathan’s commitment to fulfilling his promises to improve on the socio-economic condition of Nigerians.

He said: “It will help to oil the wheels of the nation’s economy as part of the on-going transformation of the road sector in Nigeria. For the records and response to the allegation by mischief makers who said this road was smuggled into the 2012 budget of the Federal Government, I wish to state that this project was first introduced into the federal government's budget in 2009 after series of site inspections by officials of the federal ministry of works.”

Babatunde has won the 2012 Caine prize for African writing with his book titled Bombay Republic.

Babatunde’s winning book is a tale of a Nigerian soldier fighting the Bombay campaign during World War II. It exposes the exploitative nature of colonialism and the psychology behind the fight for independence With this feat, Rotimi Babatunde joins the league of young Nigerian writers who have won the coveted prize in recent years. They include, Helon Habila, who won the prize in 2001 and E.C. Osondu in 2009.

The Caine prize which is the 13th in the series and is one of Africa’s prestigious awards for literary excellence.

The Chair of Judges for the prize, Bernardine Evaristo MBE, announced Rotimi as the winner of the £10,000 prize at a dinner held Monday evening at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, United Kingdom.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012—13

Enugu govt bans Okada

BY TONY EDIKE

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NUGU—GOVERNOR Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, yesterday, signed into law, a bill banning operations of motorcycles otherwise known as Okada in Enugu metropolis.

While signing the law in the presence of the House Speaker, Mr Eugene Odo, House Leader, Udo Okoye

and other principal officers of government, Chime noted that the law aims to checkmate the activities of men of the underworld and ultimately protect lives and property of the people. The law prescribes one year imprisonment without any option of fine for violators.

According to the governor, “the House of Assembly today (yesterday)

passed the bill and we have enacted the law which primary goal is the protection of lives and property of our people. This exercise, effectively, bans the use of motorcycles, otherwise known as Okada in Enugu metropolis.

“As a government, we made efforts to streamline the operations of the genuine operators but these ef-

BAN ON OKADA—From left: Enugu State Governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime, signing the law banning operation of motorcycles, known as Okada in Enugu metropolis, while the Clerk of the State House of Assembly, Christopher Chukwura, Speaker, Eugene Odo and Leader, Udeh-Okoye look on, yesterday.

forts, unfortunately, had not been fruitful because crime rate rose and most of the crimes were facilitated by the use of motorcycles by evil-minded persons.

“It got so bad that the law enforcement agencies officially requested the ban of motorcycles because of the menace of the men of the underworld who have been using them to perpetrate crimes. As a responsive and responsible government, we have enacted this law in the best interest of all of us.”

Chime however, enjoined the people to embrace other means of transport available in the city. “In the past few years, government injected over 700 taxi cabs in the metropolis in addition to tens of hundreds by the private sector as well as the Coal City Shuttle and other buses.

“We regret any inconveniences this ban may cause the commuters but it had to be taken in the best interest of all of us. So, we plead with our people to obey the law as we also urge the law enforcement agents to, please, ensure strict enforcement of the law in our overall interest".

Don blames falling standard of education on teachers

BY ANAYO OKOLI

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WKA—A university don, Prof Theresa Kanno of Abia State University, Uturu, has blamed the seeming falling standard of education in the country on teachers at all levels, noting that teachers were no longer as dedicated as their contemporaries during the colonial days.

Delivering a paper titled, ‘The image of an effective teacher in the contemporary Nigerian society’ at the Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze in Anambra State, the profes-

sor of education also attributed the problem to what she described as the frequent changes in the system by various administrations, as well as poor attitude to work by the teachers.

She described the teacher as a pivot, upon which the successes of educational practices that metamorphose to national development revolve which, she stated, was why the National Policy on Education affirmed that no nation could rise above the quality of her teachers.

Monarch assures on devt

BY CHINENYEH OZOR SUKKA—THE newly elected traditional ruler of Eziani, Nsukka in Enugu State, Tony Ezema has pledged to ensure infrastructural development of the area. Ezema spoke in an interview with Vanguard, saying that the community needed to be repositioned in the scheme of things in the state.

The Igwe-elect who had been presented to the Nsukka Local Government as

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required by the law, also said his community has been peaceful, explaining that his election was the will of God as elders, women organisations and youths among others approved his candidature.

Speaking on project developments, he said for several years, he had singlehandedly maintained the community road, as well as endowed scholarship with over 500 beneficiaries at tertiary institutions, while widows receive stipends for their up keep from him.

2 feared dead as robbers attack pharmaceutical shop in Abia

BY ANAYO OKOLI

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MUAHIA—TWO per sons have been confirmed dead following a robbery attack on a popular pharmaceutical shop located along Lagos Street of Umuahia metropolis, in the Abia State capital.

The robbers were said to have attacked the shop, usually filled with customers, at about 8-9 pm. Although details of the attack were still sketchy, the state Police command confirmed the death of two persons.

The Assistant Police Commissioner in-charge of Criminal Investigations Department, CID, Joseph Micloth who confirmed the incident, said the command had already commenced investigation into the matt e r .

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He said: “Yes, we have the report. We are investigating the matter. The incident took place around 8-9 pm”, adding that, “two persons were shot;

one died yesterday, the other one died today. We are already questioning some people, not suspects but people around during the i n c i d e n t .

Rights group dissociates self from tenure elongation

BY TONY EDIKE

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NUGU—THE Coali tion of Human Right and Pro-democracy Activists in the South East geopolitical zone, yesterday, dissociated itself from what it described as the “unpopular campaign” by the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo for tenure elongation.

The group said Ohanaeze’s endorsement of a single term of six years for

the president and governors, coming in the face of the current instability in the country, was diversionary and insincere.

Ohanaeze had in a memorandum dated June 28, 2012 which it submitted to the National Assembly Committee on Constitutional Review on behalf of the Igbo Speaking people of Nigeria, called for the adoption of a six-year single tenure for the president and governors.

14—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

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Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012—15

COMED seeks partnership on child devt XECUTIVE Director of Community Child Education and Development, COMED, Mrs. Lara Otujo, has said the only strategy required to meet the needs and rights of children is through integrated community-based programmes and women empowerment.

She said this at COMED’s training the trainers programme, tagged Enhancing Quality of Education Through Harmonisation in the Interaction Among

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GOVERNORS' WIVES FORUM: From left— Hajiya Adama Dankwambo, Vice Chairperson, and wife of Gombe State Governor; Mrs. Yemini Suswam, Chairperson, and wife of Benue State Governor; and Hajiya Fatima Shema, Secretary, and wife of Kastina State Governor, all of Northern Governors' Wives Forum, at a meeting in Makurdi, Benue State.

Teacher, Caregivers and Parents.

She said such programmes would ensure optimum development of the child towards the realisation of Education For All, EFA, goals, harmonisation in the interaction among teachers, caregivers and parents.

She observed that these key factors were not given the required attention, thereby giving room for children to capitalise on the gap.

Airlines owe N135bn, says AMCON boss

BY HENRY UMORU BUJA—THE National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation Investigating the Dana and Allied Air Crashes was told, yesterday, that a total of N135 billion was inherited as non-performing loans of eight airlines in the country.

Speaking, yesterday, when he appeared before the Senator Hope Uzodinma-led committee, Managing Director of As-

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set Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, Mustapha Chike-Obi disclosed that the money was sunk into reviving ailing airlines in Nigeria.

Chike-Obi, who told members of the committee that airlines should be supported with low interest guarantees over a long tenure, explained that this will enable the industry function effectively without hitches, adding that modalities must be

put in place to ease financial burdens on operators.

The AMCON boss, who emphasised that for improved service in the aviation sector there was the need to set up monitoring systems to ensure that operators use allotted funds appropriately, explained that the company had so far spent N2 trillion in buying non-performing loans of both banks, airlines and toxic assets of many other companies.

He added that the only

money being expended by his company was the N10 billion appropriated to it by the National Assembly, just as he stressed that AMCON has made progress in recovering bad loans.

According to him, the move became imperative against the backdrop of the need to uplift the financial burden on the airlines, adding, “ we feel that airlines need help and we have stood ready to assist any airline.”

Chike-Obi, who told the committee that the money spent in the acquisition process was not government money, said: “All the airlines put together are owing AMCON N135 billion. Government must make it a priority to make sure that airlines are well funded.

“There is a challenge that when you free airlines of debt by giving them fund, they would be using the new funds for the airlines or other interests.”

Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Women Affair and Poverty Alleviation, who was represented by Mrs. Alaba Fadairo, Director, Child Development of the Ministry, said it was imperative that any child of school age be in school.

Burial A Solomon Oneyesangbe of Daleketa town in Warri North Local Government Area, Delta State; and Ajatiton, Aja-Oki and Soboginda Ora towns in Edo State, aged 85, is dead.

Burial rites and entertainment of guests is scheduled for Friday, July 6 at Old Ogorode Road, before Navy Base, Sapele, Delta State, at 9.00 am prompt.

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Pa Oneyesangbe

16—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012— 17

“If you don’t like my opinion of you, you can always improve.”Ashleigh Brilliant MONG the many vital require ments for good governance, the existence of openness and transparency in the manner Nigerian leaders manage our affairs is the most visible by its absence. An accountable leadership with a capacity to submit to the highest moral standards is absolutely essential as a requirement for the growth and development of our democratic system. In the last two weeks, those among us who had hoped that the massive shocks from revelations of the existence of unprecedented levels of corruption will nudge our leaders towards improving the manner they manage our affairs will be bitterly disappointed by insistence from both the legislature and the President that what they earn or own is none of our business as citizens.

President Jonathan stepped up first and told a national audience that it is no one’s business what he owns or owes, since he has satisfied the law in declaring his assets. He was responding to questions over why he has not declared his assets publicly, as he did when he was deputy to President Musa Yar’Adua. Using un-presidential words, he said even when he made a public declaration as Vice President, his reason was that Yar ’Adua himself had done it. Even then, he said, it was not proper, because it is not public declaration of assets by the President that will change the country. After all, he can always be investigated when he leaves office.

Really, Mr President? Should we assume then that you operate on two different moral standards? One, when you publicly declared your assets because Yar ’Adua did so, even though it was improper and not a legal requirement.

And the other, when you are fully in charge of the affairs of the nation, and choose not to declare publicly. Were you wrong then, or wrong now?

The issue has little to do with the law, and everything to do with the moral standards by which our President chooses to be judged. The inconsis-

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Federal High Court in Abuja dealt another serious blow to efforts to keep

Full closure tency between his position as Vice President and now as President is damaging to his standing, and the President should have realised that backtracking from his earlier declaration will do him serious damage. Even if he could have gotten away with this damaging inconsistency, his corruption-ravaged watch should have been a major motive for sustaining a largely symbolic but profoundly moral gesture of making his assets declaration public.

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nd he is wrong in assuming that the public declaration of his assets will not change the country. Ev-

Nigerians do not want to wait until President Jonathan leaves office before he is investigated; nor are they particularly concerned with his wealth, unless he has something to hide

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erything presidents do, or fail to do, or refuse to do can and do change the

a sealed lid on the income of our legislators. Justice Bilkisu Bello Aliyu ordered the Clerk of the National Assembly to disclose details of the salary, emoluments and allowances collected by members of the Senate and House of Representatives between 2007 and last year. A non-governmental organisation, Legal Defence and Assistance Project had gone to court, using provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2011 to demand the details of the fabulous take-home-pay of our legislators, saying that the issue affects public interest, since payments to the legislators are made from public funds.

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President Goodluck Jonathan

country. Nigerians do not want to wait until President Jonathan leaves office before he is investigated. Nor are they particularly concerned with his wealth, unless he has something to hide. But they do want to know that he is insulated from some of the earth-shaking scandals around the fuel-subsidy scam, the pension scam, the Malabu Oil scandal and the serious damage which the absence of openness and transparency can cause to the integrity of leaders. Simply put, President Jonathan, under the circumstances, can only be accountable to Nigerians if he makes his assets public. If he does not give a damn over their feelings over the matter, he needs to know that they give a damn.

But even before President Jonathan assesses the full impact of his unfortunate outing on national television, a

he National Assembly had object ed to an earlier request for the details from the NGO. The law makers who passed the F.O.I Act after massive pressure had, even more amazingly, hired a Senior Advocate to argue before the judge that the NGO had no locus standi to make such a request.

The technicality involved in the matter is not the issue. The real issue is that people elected to represent our interests do not want us to know how much we pay them or if they pay themselves more than they should.

The assault on open government which President Jonathan and the National Assembly are leading will encourage the damaging perception that our leaders are dipping their hands in the till. This resistance against openness and accountability will fail, because more and more Nigerians will demand that our leaders live above board, and that we see them do so.

Perhaps it is time to amend the law, and compel presidents and at least governors and legislators to declare their assets and liabilities publicly. All good friends of our legislature should also advise it to resist the temptation to appeal the ruling of the Abuja High Court on their emoluments. Its image right now can do without further damage.

Oops!

Last week I referred to N. Machiavelli as a Greek philosopher. A few readers such as Ayo and Vita drew my attention to my error. He was Italian.

OPINION

BY OKHAKUMHE IJEBOR

N Thursday, June 14, 2012, the In dependent Television, ITV, Benin aired two interactive political discussion segments on its flagship breakfast programme, “This Morning on ITV”. The two sections had the same focus of the definition of true governance and people-oriented development of Edo State.

The first session was anchored by the cool and calculated Sonny Duke Okosun and the discussion panel was made up of Mr. Tony Alile, a key member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Publicity Team; Omo Irabor, a Warri-based legal practitioner and civic rights activist, and Mr. Kassim Afegbua, the Director of Media Affairs of Oshiomhole Campaign Organisation.

The second session featured Matthew Urhoghide, the Publicity Secretary of the state’s PDP chapter and Mr. Kassim Afegbua of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. This segment was also compered by Duke-Okosun of the Independent Television. Apart from the number and disparity in the composition of the two panels, the bile, acrimony, allegations and bare-faced insults that riled the air waves portend the vehemence with which the incumbent ACN wants to vilify and demonise the opposition –especially the PDP.

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Edo ACN and the phantom of sustainable development The two mid-morning interactive sessions were turned into platforms of stark abuse of Chief Anthony Anenih and other PDP members by the loquacious Afegbua who has a dislike for decorum and respect for elders, not to mention his peers. While bandying and parodying the time-worn “monumental achievements” and “giant strides” sing-song, he consciously tried to skew verifiable facts and figures that are already in the public domain, to “authenticate” his spurious claims that Edo State was in “safe hands”. One of the major faux pas he committed was his unsuccessful attempt to distance his ACN (as presently constituted) from the Years of the Locusts that attended the state from 1999 to 2007. For record purposes, Kassim Afegbua, the self-acclaimed former “National Chairman” of the National Democratic Party, NDP, selfstyled media spokesman for General Ibrahim Babangida, was a six-month Chief Press Secretary to Governor Oshiomhole in the nascent days of his governorship after the death, in a motor accident, of Chris Nwachukwu, the pioneer CPS.

It is general knowledge that Oshiomhole found Afegbua hyperactive, meddlesome and uncontrollable. He (Oshiomhole) wanted to declare Afegbua as “excess baggage” before he left office in very dramatic, cloudy and negative circumstances. It surprised Edo watchers how the duo, who are on the same wavelength of rabble-rousing, grandstanding, grandiloquence, wild and spurious allegations were able to click for a six-month period.

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t is vital to note that during the fuel subsidy debate, the selfsame Kassim took Oshiomhole to the cleaners in his “Stomach Democracy” column in Saturday Vanguard by employing weighty and denigrating adjectives and expletives to denounce the anti-people stance that a branded “Peoples General” like Oshiomhole took and propagated shamelessly. In the said article, Afegbu clinically deconstructed the Oshiomhole persona as a fake and over-hyped creation due to his wholesale and selfish support for the removal of fuel subsidy – a policy

majority of Nigerians railed against.

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e will go back to the grain of the two interactive sessions that featured Afegbua and three other gentlemen and showcased his predilection for the obverse, ridiculous, insolent and skewing of information. Among other mindbinding assertions he made in the course of the live telecasts under considerations, Kassim accused the Edo PDP of non-performance for a decade and touted the “giant strides” of Governor Oshiomhole.

The nexus between Edo PDP and Edo ACN It is no gainsaying the fact that over 98 per cent of the membership profile of the ACN in Edo State were former members of the PDP at one time or the other. It is also common knowledge that the leadership strata and top hierarchy of Edo ACN were also the principal initiators and executors of the ruddlerless eight-year incubus that instituted development inertia, graft, pillage and asset-stripping in the governance of Edo State between 1999 and 2007.

To be continued •Dr Ijebor a political analyst, wrote from Abuja.

18 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY JULY 4, 2012 ON 10 May 2011, Nigeria was drenched in emotion as President Goodluck Jonathan paid compensation of N5 million each to families of 10 members of the National Youth Service Corps killed in electionrelated incidents.

More importantly the President promised to end the growing culture of impunity. “I want to assure you that those found culpable will be brought to justice,” he told the gathering where he said he was setting up a 22-man fact-finding committee on the deaths.

The dead corps members were Okpokiri Obinna (Abia), Adewunmi Seun Paul (Ekiti), Ukeoma Ikechukwu Chibuzor, Ukazeoma Anslem Chukwu, Anyanwu Agnes (Imo); Dedi Olawale Tosin, Akuyi Ibrahim Sule (Kogi); Gbenjo Ebenezer Ayotunde, Adeyi Kehinde Jelil (Osun); and Adowe Elliot (Bayelsa).

Protests about deploying NYSC members to States where killings seem to target them have continued, especially with the current postings that seemed not to have considered the safety of NYSC members.

The authorities should redeploy those who

NYSC’s Poor Assurances can be at risk.

The report of the 22-man committee, as it affects the NYSC members, is not public.

Nobody has been punished for the death of the 10. Other deaths during the 2008 Jos riots and the 2009 murder of Miss Grace Ushang in Borno State preceded the 2011 killings. Again nobody was punished.

Former Director-General of NYSC, Brigadier-General Maharazu Ismaila Tsiga had hinted in 2010 that corps members would not be posted to States with poor security. The following year 10 of them lost their lives in States notorious for security lapses.

We support the NYSC scheme for the

potentials it still holds for applying the zeal and commitment of the youth to the development of the country. However, these cannot be at the risk of participants’ lives.

NYSC members are usually new to their environment. They are more prone to danger in riot situations where they depend on others – some of who become their killers – for safety.

While it is impossible to establish special protection for NYSC members, the least the authorities can do is to keep them out of harm’s way by not posting them to States with standing records of riots. Some States are already outstanding in this regard.

Options are available to the NYSC and it is not late for it to explore them. Participants could be allowed to choose States for their service, as long as it is not their State of origin. Participants who decide to serve in the risky States should be encouraged, but they would have made the choice.

Compulsory deployment of NYSC members to States where they are not safe does not make sense. The President admitted N5 million could not pay for life in 2011 and definitely not in 2012.

OPINION

BY PETER AFUBA HAD the opportunity to read the piece titled, “Anambra: The limits of propaganda”, written by Mr. Chudi Offodile, a politician of the PDP stock, though a legal practitioner by training, from Anambra State. I feel constrained, having been involved in the government of His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi, Governor of Anambra State, from its inception, to correct some of the fallacies contained in the write-up of Mr. Offodile.

I must concede to Mr. Offodile the right to assess and even criticize the performance of Mr. Obi as Governor of Anambra State. However, for such assessment or criticism to be constructive, it must be based on verifiable facts or data and not on rumours and speculations. I shall address a few of the issues raised and canvassed by Mr. Offodile in his piece from my personal knowledge, as someone who has been involved, in order to show that his conclusions are unfounded.

On the issue of SABMiller Brewery at Onitsha, Mr. Offodile did not in fact refute the claim that this facility was attracted to Anambra State by Mr. Obi. His quarrel, however, seems to be centered on “the rumour making rounds in the State concerning the ownership of 22% of SABMiller shares,” which rumour, he expects the Governor to address. With due respect to Mr. Offodile, who incidentally is a lawyer, it is not the business of the Governor of Anambra State to address rumours on a matter which is in the public domain. It is elementary that the share ownership of every company is public information domiciled with the Corporate Affairs Commission, which can be obtained by any person on request. The ownership structure of any company should not therefore be the subject of rumours. I am aware, however, that due process and utmost transparency was observed in setting up the ownership structure of the company. All the

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Re: Anambra: The limits of propaganda share holders are known corporate entities and no shares are held in an assumed name. If Mr. Offodile made the effort to conduct a search at the Corporate Affairs Commission, I have no doubt that the result will dissipate his concerns regarding the alleged rumours.

Further on this point, the SABMiller Brewery which undoubtedly was attracted to the State by Mr. Obi is a facility of $100 million which will create thousands of direct and indirect employment and whose business activities will impact positively on the economy of the State. Quite honestly, I think Mr. Offodile ought to have found space in his writeup to commend Mr. Obi for this outstanding feat.

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n Orient Petroleum Plc, again Mr. Offodile did not dispute the fact that the government of Mr. Obi has invested heavily in the company. His grouse, most strangely, seems to be that it was not Governor Obi that conceptualized the setting up of the company, but Dr. Mbadinuju. I agree that Dr. Mbadinuju conceptualized the setting up of the company when as governor of Anambra State, he constituted an Oil and Gas Committee for the State. For that foresight, I commend Dr. Mbadinuju. I am, however, baffled as to the crime Mr. Obi committed on seeing a good concept of a previous administration and building on it. I was privileged to have served as the Company Secretary to Orient Petroleum Plc and I have no doubt that the heavy investment of Anambra State Government under Mr. Obi contributed in no small measure to the successes which this company has recorded so far. By God’s grace, Anambra State will soon

join the league of oil producing states, thanks to the undaunting efforts of the company and the unflinching support of Mr. Obi. I would not want to believe that Mr. Offodile is advocating that Governor Obi should have turned his back on Orient Petroleum Plc because it was not conceptualized by him. It is to me a mark of good governance for an administration to continue with worthwhile and beneficial projects inherited from previous administrations.

From Mr. Offodile’s showing, that is what Gov. Obi has done with projects like Orient Petroleum, Anambra State University, Women Development Centre, etc.

Mr. Offodile raised the issue of transparency and due process in the award of contracts, using the Onitsha Hotel and Convention Centre as a case in point. As the former Chairman of the State Tenders Board, I can, with due modesty vouch that due process has always been observed in the award of contracts in the State. The State Tenders Board was also made up of persons of integrity, such as the former Commissioners for Justice, Works, Public Utilities, Science and Technology as well as Youth and Sports. I must make the point that due process in the award of contracts include open, selective and negotiated tender processes.

Government employed any of these tender processes depending on the nature of the contract and other relevant considerations of particular projects. Government also availed the Board a team of consultants made up of quantity surveyors and civil engineers who made needed technical inputs to guide and assist the Board. Again, in compliance with due process, all contracts which required Executive Council approval were religiously presented to the Council for its consideration.

Continues tomorrow *Mr. Afuba is a former Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Town Planning in Anambra State.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012—19

, OLITICAL leaders are by their very status newsmakers; none more so than the president of a country. But there are times when such leaders seem to enjoy more media attention than they normally do in the ordinary run of things. This appears so for President Goodluck Jonathan who seems to have run into pretty bad weather, thereby courting avoidable bad press, with his last ‘media chat’. As president, Goodluck Jonathan tends to be in the news but most times not always for the best reasons. Not even on occasions when the President actually sets out to do the right thing. He ends up making a hash of everything, bungling it all up, as he did his decision to honour MKO Abiola by renaming the University of Lagos after him. It was as if the President thrust his face down a steaming broth and is rewarded with scalded cheeks. The last chat the President had with some media personalities was another occasion when he opened up his soft underbelly for the sharpened dagger points of angry Nigerians, not all of them his

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political opponents. In the first place, I had no idea the President had had a presidential chat. The chat had become so irregular and had, perhaps for that reason, attracted far less attention than it had under the initiator of the parley, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Thus was I to learn of the meeting but only after I had heard it on news reports on television well after the event. These reports were accompanied with clips of some of the highlights of the interviewfull of bland and dry responses, as uninspiring as they could possibly be. But I would later read texts of the interview in newspapers, not any better than the clips I had seen on television.

The part that interests me and which is of relevance to what I’ll be saying next is the President’s response to question concerning the declaration or nondeclaration of his assets, statutory demand imposed on public officers.

Asked why he was yet to declare his assets publicly, the President’s response was revealing- says quite a bit about his true person,

F you ever wonder what goes on in the heads of our rulers, then you must be “grateful” for the answer you got on Sunday, June 12, 2012, from the President himself, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. I say grateful hesitantly because if you are like me, then you must have been saddened beyond words by the President’s response to the simple question of moral obligation raised by his refusal to declare his assets publicly. Still, grateful because you no longer have to speculate about the moral bankruptcy of those that claim to be our leaders. The world will remember his answer for as long as corruption and the crafty ways of the corrupt remain a major cause of the poverty and misery that stalk the land. And if you are one of the few optimists who had been waiting for the day the President would discover his spine and take a stand, then that Sunday of his instantly famous media chat was the day.

Asked why he was yet to declare his assets publicly, the President made a public declaration of a different sort: A defence of secrecy laced with utter contempt for the people and the spirit (morality) of the Constitution he swore to uphold. He said: “I don’t give a damn about that. The law is clear about it and so making it public is no issue and I will not play into the hands of people. I have nothing to hide. I declared assets publicly under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua because he did it, but it is not proper. ... You don’t need to publicly declare it and it is a matter of principle.” None of the reports of this media chat says the President had just

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a foxy mind very much at odds to the cultivated image of a quiet, innocent and unambitious politician that he maintained right to the eve of his ascension to the Aso Villa throne and, thereafter, one full year into his own presidency. "I don’t give a damn about that," the President said. "The law is clear about it and so, making it public is no issue and I will not play into the hands of the people. I have nothing to hide." And he goes on to conclude that: "I declared under the late President Musa Yar ’Adua because he did, but it is not proper. I could be investigated when I leave office...You don’t need to publicly declare it and it is a matter of principle". And which principle is the President talking about here- the one that makes him keep up his guard against the Nigerian people who voted for him but whose hands he is careful not to play into now? What principle, I ask, is the President talking about here? Is it the principle that allows him to claim to be honest and true to his oath of office without being seen

President Jonathan’s principled defence of corruption

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to be honest?

come from worshipping the Lord and rededicating himself to the truth in church, but how his words remind of that well-known Biblical saying: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!” No man is freer than he who not only knows but tells the truth and damns the consequences. Jonathan has set himself free of the monstrous burden imposed on him by the late Yar ’Adua. He is free, at last, of all that stupidity of “servant leaders” and “leading by example” that only lead to public assets declarations and “playing into the hands” of enemies.

But I wish the President had been content to defend corruption through secret assets declarations and not gone into all that laughable talk of principle and “nothing to hide.” I can understand how a man who sold himself to the electorate as a poor, barefoot and humble fisherman’s son can say to that same electorate “I don’t give a damn” after a few years of billion-naira food budgets, billions more in security votes and control of the treasury. What I am not as quick to understand is how a purported doctor of philosophy could ever confuse self-serving deviousness with principle. “I declared assets publicly under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua because he did it, but it is not proper,” he fumed, too angry to recognise his selfindictment. Pray, where is the principle in this?

I see no principle, neither does anyone else criticising the President “from heaven” or hell or the country falling apart under his watch here on earth. What I see

t is true the code guiding the conduct of public officers demands that they declare their assets: but it does not require them to do so publicly. Yet, should someone choose to declare their asset publicly, what is not proper in it? What is not proper in anyone, especially, the President choosing to demonstrate his compliance with this basic moral demand in a country where everyone knows public office holders, including respected politicians, have no more respect for declarations made on oath any more than they respect the paper on which such declarations are made? Of course, one does remember that a few eyebrows were raised when, then, Vice President Jonathan declared his assets way back in 2007. Not a few thought the VP couldn’t have acquired all he claimed on a lecturer’s salary. Yet, the heavens did not fall then. If anything, many praised the courage behind the decision of both the president and his deputy to declare their assets publicly. The President would be very naive to imagine Nigerians believed all he put down then on paper as being all he owned on God’s earth even when they praised him. Now, though, we know that Jonathan never liked what had happened then. And we can only wonder how many such things Jonathan never liked about his late principal that he never mentioned, to say nothing of now that he is the President and Commander-in-Chief. Since the President likes to maintain a placid countenance that reveals next to nothing, would he oblige us with an explanation of his likes and dislikes? In declaring his assets publicly, President

Jonathan would not only be saying that he is morally clean but he would also be showing that he is transparent in deed and utterance.

But to go back to the President’s use of language in that interviewa lot of it could be overlooked because it boils down to our generally poor or inadequate grasp of English. Our poor knowledge of this language many times leads the best of us into saying what we don’t mean or want to say. Many times we say the very opposite of what we mean as in the case of many of us who call a trouble making, cantankerous fellow a ‘trouble shooter ’ in direct opposition to what we mean- a trouble maker!

So when the President says it’s not proper to declare his assets publicly if only to show that he truly has nothing to hide and in recognition of what damage he knows corruption has done to our country- when he talks about what is not proper like this, some of us can only understand him to mean that it is not proper from the perspective of someone who thinks he might be revealing what could be potentially dangerous to his claim of transparency, and not that it’s not proper for everyone. It’s also in that context I would put his use of the word ‘damn’. Not in any way for its four-letter status but that it, along with the entire sentence, shows a lack of respect for Nigerians- a careless dismissal of their wish. As we cannot know yet what the President considers right or proper because he leaves too much to the imagination while putting up the right attitude, we cannot conclude he truly does have no respect for Nigerians.

Shall we wait for another media chat to know this?

is a man still furious with his dead boss for compelling him to reveal his transformation into a multi-millionaire at the expense of the people.

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hen that happened, we learned that between the time he was a lecturer and when he became Vice President,

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Jonathan doesn’t give a d- - n!

In declaring his assets publicly, President Jonathan would not only be saying that he is morally clean, but transparent in deed and utterance

Never has a man with nothing to hide fought so ferociously to keep his hands in his pockets when he should turn them out and hang the trousers in the public square for all to see

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he had acquired properties and moneys to the tune of N295million. Much of that while he was deputy governor and vice president, and so not the man holding the purse-strings. How much more can he be worth now? In Jonathan’s new and expensive shoes, I would want to hide my riches from public scrutiny. Knowing that no explanation other than a lucky day playing the lottery (and Jonathan is the luckiest man alive), a family inheritance (but not with that barefoot boy biography) or a mysterious benefactor as in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, would explain my new-found wealth, I would

fulfil the letter of the law and rejoice that it does not enjoin public declaration. And then I would say that my furtiveness is a matter of principle; you see, “I have nothing to hide!” For why “play into the hands” of my enemies?

And for sure, Jonathan’s enemies are many, among whom I must be one. If you think that public assets declaration is a moral imperative superior to laws and edicts; if you think that his strange principle of secrecy over transparency is compelling evidence of just how unfit he is for high office, you are his enemy. Never has a man with nothing to hide fought so ferociously to keep his hands in his pockets when he should turn them out and hang the trousers in the public square for all to see. But Jonathan is right. His assets declarations may be locked in the dark rooms of the Code of Conduct Bureau but they remain public documents. Which means that they belong to the people. By all means necessary, we must assert our citizenship right to the nothing-to-hide assets declarations of our don’t-give-adamn president. *Ifowodo, who begins with this essay a fortnightly column for Vanguard under the caption, For Crying Out Loud, teaches poetry and literature at Texas State University-San Marcos.

20—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, ,2012

Debate of the masses

Underage cyclists on Lagos roads

BY EBELE ORAKPO

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*The dangerously dangling wreckage of the collapsed building.

Building collapse: How 21 persons narrowly escaped death

BY PETER OKUTU, Abakaliki ESPITE repeated warnings by the Federal Government that construction of buildings in the country should be done according to standard, records of building collapse have remained on the increase. In Ebonyi State, no fewer than 21 persons last week escaped death by whiskers when a two-storey building under construction collapsed. The ugly incident which occurred in Mater Misericordae Hospital, Afikpo, according to reports made available to Vanguard Metro,VM, was due to the substandard materials used in the construction of the building allegedly owned by the Catholic Church in the area. VM gathered that no life was lost as a result of the collapse but some workers, including labourers and masons sustained various degrees of injuries and are now receiving treatment in the hospital. Recounting his ordeal, Mr. Francis Eluu said: “I was in the building with the concrete I was carrying on my head when I started hearing sounds from the building. I ran for my dear life but as I was trying to escape, one of the rubbles fell on my back and I was seriously injured. So, out

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21 of us working at the site, seven sustained serious injuries while others escaped”.

Another eyewitness (name withheld) told VM that the cause of the building collapse was yet to be determined but pointed out that the type of building materials used were not of high quality.

“If you look at the building, you will know that sand was more than the cement and the irons are small for this type of building,” he said. When VM visited the scene, an excavator was seen remov-

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I ran for my dear life but as I was trying to escape, one of the rubbles fell on my back and I was seriously injured; seven (others also) sustained serious injuries

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ing the debris of the collapsed building from the site. Some residents of the neighbourhood expressed

fears that another two-storey building being erected by the same contractor, might also collapse because, according to them, the contractor might have also used similar substandard materials in the construction.

All efforts to speak with the Rev. Father in-charge of the hospital, Fr. Charles Otu proved abortive.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, NSE, Ebonyi State chapter, Mr. Nwali Etche had threatened to drag the contractors and engineers that handled the construction of the collapsed building at Mater Miserecondia Hospital in Afikpo to court.

He said if found guilty, they would be jailed.

Mr. Etche stated this after inspecting the site of the collapsed building.

According to him, preliminary reports by the NSE suggest that the collpase occurred due to poor quality work executed by the contractors.

He said: “We didn’t see anybody when we got there except the patients.

Both the hospital administrator and contractor bolted away. We only saw a few patients when we got there. We gave the administrator up till close of work today to report to our office. We also asked him to bring along certain things like the design of the building, approval of work

certificate and the contractor’s identity. “If he fails to do so at the end of work today, then we shall report him to the appropriate authorities. “The NSE cannot blame anybody for the collapse until it has got all the necessary data in line with our procedure.

If the collapse is due to natural disaster, then we can’t blame anybody but if it is mechanical, then we will find out if it is the engineer’s fault or that of the contractor, supervisor or designer,” he said.

On the likely punishment, he said: “The punishment varies: If you are an engineer, you will be banned from practicing and go in for seven years imprisonment. If it is the contractor’s fault, we will take him to court and if someone dies, it is life imprisonment”.

In his reaction, the Commissioner for Information in the state, Mr. Chike Onwe, called on landowners, builders, engineers and contractors to ensure that buildings under their care were constructed according to modern standards. He charged them to avoid the purchase of low quality and substandard building materials both in and outside the state, adding that what should reside in the minds of any builder was the safety and longevity of a building during and after construction.

HIS is absolute madness,” shouted a commuter by name Tim as the passenger bus made its way through the Thursday evening traffic along Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. The object of his ire was a young motorcyclist, popularly called Okada, who suddenly dashed across the busy road and missed death by the skin of his teeth, as he would have been crushed by an oncoming trailer.

“You haven’t seen anything yet. If he had been hit, before you say Jack Robinson, his comrades will be crawling all over the place, beating the driver of the vehicle,” commented Obi. “And look at the boy, I doubt if he is more than 15 years old. He is obviously under-aged,” said Chinny. Said Rose: “I thought it is illegal for underaged children to get license…”

“Illegal? In Nigeria?

Pleeeease! Here, anything goes. A colleague of mine obtained his death certificate by himself in this country. If you have the money, you get anything you want,” stated Nike.

Said Tobi: “It’s like they have all moved down to Lagos from the North.

Little, little boys who don’t know anything about traffic rules. They can neither read nor write. They break traffic rules with reckless abandon, killing and maiming people. I cannot count the number of people they have killed on this road alone. Mostly, they take one way and on high speed”.

“So what are the authorities doing about them?” asked Tim to which Obi replied: “Authorities like Police, Vehicle Inspection Officers, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Federal Road Safety

Corps and others? Well, you may continue waiting for ever because I don’t see any of them willing to risk his life.”

Asked Tim: “What do you mean?”

“I think they are trying to be on the safe side.

Many people believe that some of these boys are agents of Boko Haram and one has to be extremely careful in dealing with them,” said Obi. “And so what? So they should be allowed to go on killing and maiming people because they are sacred cows? Are they more powerful than the government?” asked Rose angrily.

“If they must be allowed to operate, they should be at least 18 years, learn the trade properly, get a license and only then will they be allowed to operate,” counseled Chinny.

“Almost all these boys came in as night watchmen and then along the line, they learnt to start and move a motorcycle from one point to another and that’s it, they become Okada riders,” said Obi. “I think government should ban them and then all those who are interested in the business should be made to go through the basic training before being released to operate, otherwise, they will kill more people,” said Nike.

Narrated Rose: “I called one of these cyclists and gave him the address of the place I was going in Anthony. I asked if he knew the place and he said yes. We started the journey and after sometime, I asked if the place was still far, he said no.

Suddenly, he stopped in front of a hospital and said I should pay. I said but that wasn’t the place, he said did I not say hospital? And I said yes, and he said, ‘this one na hospital nah.’ You can imaging how I felt.”

“Yes now, hospital na hospital,” joked Obi.

CONTACT: mykeboh@yahoo.co.uk

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 — 21

FG, American consortium to build six new refineries HE Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with an American and Nigerian Joint Venture Group, Vulcan Petroleum Resources Limited and Petroleum Refining and Strategic Reserve Limited, respectively, for the construction of six modular refineries with combined capacity of 180,000 barrels per day.

The project is estimated to gulp N697.5bn ($4.5b), while two of the refineries are expected to be completed within the next 12 months.

The refineries are to be located in areas where there are crude oil pipelines in collaboration with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Each modular refinery, when completed, will refine up to 30, 000 barrels of crude oil per day and produce up to five million litres of petrol, diesel kerosene and LPFO. The Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, signed on behalf of the Federal Government, while Vice-President/ Director , Vulcan Petroluem Resources Limited, Jim Mansfield, and the Chairman, Petroleum Refining and Strategic Reserve Limited, Mr. Chief Edozie Njoku, singed of behalf of their companies respectively. Also present, was the former Governor of Anambra state, Chef Chukwuemeka Ezeife.

Speaking during signing ceremony, the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said the event represented a major milestone and paradigm shift in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration plan towards Industrial Revolution, job creation , wealth generation .

Aganga said, “This is a historic moment and a big step for us as a country .Apart from power, one of the critical areas which President Goodluck Jonathan has made a priority is to have functional refineries.

My understanding is that by the time the whole project is completed, the

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174.65

+3.95

2,290.00

-1.00

21.41

+0.40

97.20 83.61

-0.60 -1.35

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING CFA KRONER EURO POUNDS RIYAL SDR FRANC DOLLAR WAUA RENMINBI

0.2758 26.0161 193.4361 241.9849 41.3049 234.5802 161.0124 154.91 233.4871 24.343

0.2858 26.1001 194.0605 242.766 41.4383 235.3374 161.5321 155.41 234.2407 24.4221

0.2958 26.184 194.6848 243.547 41.5716 236.0945 162.0518 155.91 234.9943 24.5011

CBN Exchange rate as at 03/07/2012 C M Y K

cost is estimated at about $4.5bn.

“This is the beginning of changing our old paradigm from exporting just raw materials and exporting jobs to the Western countries. This is something that we have done as a country for so long time. There is no

nation that has moved from being a poor nation to a rich one by exporting raw materials without having a vibrant industrial base. That is what we have to change for us to be a rich nation, and that is what of National Industrial Revolution Plan is based on.

Aganga stressed that the Ministry of Trade and Investment would work together with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to ensure the actualisation of the projects.

From left: Regional Executive, South West, Wema Bank Plc, Mr. Dele Olaolu; Executive Director, Wema Bank, Mr. Nurudeen Fagbenro; Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; and MD/CEO, Wema Bank, Mr. Segun Oloketuyi, during a courtesy visit by the bank's management team to the Governor, in Ado-Ekiti..

Deloitte tax survey shows variation across EMEA countries

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ELOITTE has released the results of the first EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa), edition of, “Tax Certainty”, a survey about the relationship between companies and the Tax authorities in 24 countries in EMEA - add. The survey shows a wide variation in tax certainty across various EMEA countries, including Nigeria.

The objective of the survey is to provide a picture of the relationship that companies have with the tax authorities in their own country as well as with foreign tax authorities within EMEA. The survey also aimed to identify the factors that influence the relationships between companies and tax authorities. The results of the survey show that while most countries have a good relationship with their local tax authorities, the overall tax uncertainty is a concern with 1 out of 2 respondents feeling that the tax uncertainty in their country impacts or even damages their business operations.

The survey also investigated the extent to which Tax authorities are implementing digital information in their operations, how respondents in the different countries look at disagreements with Tax authorities and how they evaluate their local ruling practices.

In Nigeria, the survey found that results show that more than 15 percent of the respondents consider their relationship with their local tax authorities to be bad or very bad.

This compares with the overall average of the survey that showed companies or organizations have a good relationship with their local tax authorities, with 65 percent of the respondents describing this relationship as good and 27 percent rating it as being very good. The main reason for uncertainty in Nigeria is the frequently changing legislation, which was indicated by almost one third of respondents. Next in line is the excessive length of tax disputes

at 12.4 percent followed by the weaknesses and reversals in the tax authorities’ doctrine and in publicly available guidance at 12.1 percent.

The survey also found that an advanced ruling system could partially mitigate perception on tax certainty, while disputes with local tax authorities are generally settled through administrative recourse.

In Switzerland, the Netherlands, Nigeria and Sweden, a large majority (greater than 70 percent in each country) is confident that an administrative recourse with the local authorities will lead to an acceptable solution of tax disputes. The vast majority of the companies surveyed (83 percent) indicated they can provide information to their local tax office via digital communication channels, with a majority of the participating countries (56 percent), local tax authorities providing taxpayers with a public information website enabling them to verify the tax authorities’ position on a certain topic.

22 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

GroFin commits $323m in 350 investment outlets

By PETER EGWUATU ROFIN, the multinational pioneer of finance for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) has announced that it has committed $323 million in over 350 businesses across Africa and the Middle East to date.

Guido Boysen, Chief Executive Officer of GroFin Africa states,

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said, “We are thrilled to reach this significant milestone, which illustrates the sheer volume of SMEs we have been able to support through our pioneering model with risk capital and business development assistance.

“These businesses span a wide range of sectors, business stages and countries. Our continuous increase in operational capacity and

coverage makes us the largest multi country investor.

Despite difficult economic times we have increased our annual investment pace well beyond a hundred transactions a year.”

GroFin’s funding of up to $1.5 million per transaction is invested in s u p p o r t i n g entrepreneurs and business owners to start or grow a business. With an increase in funds

under management, the GroFin Group is poised to open several new offices in 2012 and 2013.

GroFin Africa will soon have an additional office in Zambia in addition to its existing nine offices , whilst GroFin MENA (Middle East and North Africa) opened their regional office in the UAE in May, Jordan will open in September with a further three country offices opening in the

next two years in addition to the existing Oman office.

GroFin has established a reputation of being a leading provider of start-up and growth investment and business support to entrepreneurs and business owners in Africa and the MENA region.

GroFin’s choice to invest in entrepreneurs and businesses that are locally owned and managed in the markets in which it operates, is rooted in the vision that these businesses hold the potential to create sustainable economic and social impact.

However while this sector of the market is theoretically best able to empower and mobilise societies, the majority of these businesses fail to survive past their early years of operation if they cannot access finance and business support.

GroFin’s unique viability based model is

recognised as a pioneering model globally in the provision of an integrated solution of risk finance and business d e v e l o p m e n t assistance. The success of the GroFin business model has been recognised by the UN D e v e l o p m e n t Programme, who recognised GroFin for its contribution to developing local businesses, and in so doing promoting the M i l l e n n i u m Development Goals. The business also won the Africa Investor Awards consecutively for two years. The GroFin model is furthermore widely used as a benchmark and role model for growth finance to SMEs. Guido concludes “We have a strong foundation in place, a proven and scalable model and a firm commitment to make a lasting impact in the growth of the SME sector.

UAC to invest in Livestock Feeds From left: Olukayode Adeoluwa, Company Secretary; Clement Olowokande, Chairman, and Oluseyi Onajide, Managing Director, all of R.T. Briscoe (Nigeria) Plc, at the company’s annual general meeting, in Lagos.

IHMS records N974m gross premium, declares 5 kobo dividend

BY CHINEDU IBEABUCHI

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NTERNATIONAL H e a l t h Management Services Ltd, IHMS has reported a N12 million profit after tax for its 2011 financial year.

The company is also rewarding its shareholders with a dividend of five kobo for every 50 kobo ordinary share.

Speaking at the company ’s Annual General Meeting, AGM in Lagos, its chairman, Professor Theophilus Ogunbiyi said the company ’s gross premium income grew from N974 million in 2010 to N991 million in 2011, a marginal increase of 1.7 per cent.

He said operating expenses increased from N952 million in 2010 to N970 million C M Y K

in 2011 due to i n c r e a s e d cost of medical services.

Prof. Ogunbiyi said the company ’s profit after tax of N12 million is a positive reflection of sustained efficiency of the company ’s core HMO business.

He said the operating results reflected the high medical loss ratios that are typical of the health insurance industr y, the impairments suffered from the residual impact of the global economic meltdown and the tough challenges that the company went through between 2007 and 2009.

He assured the shareholders of continued growth and profitability of the company in the years ahead.

On the future of the company, he said, “the year under review posed

formidable challenges for most health insurance operators, and indeed, the entire financial sector of the Nigerian economy.

However, in terms of know-how and delivery capacity, the company has continued to maintain its position as one of the emerging leaders of the evolving Nigerian Health Insurance Industry. We shall continue to explore opportunities to diversify our operations by developing new products and improve our cost management.

“We look forward to a rewarding future as our company has put in place cutting-edge market expansion and product innovation initiatives, to take optimum advantage of the various macroeconomic policies designed to broaden health insurance penetration.”

The shareholders during the AGM approved that the share capital of the company be increased from N250 million to N500 million by the creation of additional N250 million ordinary shares of N1 each dividend into two hundred fifty thousand ordinary shares of N1 each, with such new shares ranking pari passu in all respect with the existing shares in the company.

Also, the s h a r e h o l d e r s approved that 253,643,336 units of ordinary shares of N1 each from the authorised share capital of the company be offered for cash at par to shareholders registered in the books of the company as at 31st December 2011 by way of Rights in the ratio of their respective holdings.

BY MICHAEL EBOH AC Nigeria Plc said it plans to acquire a significant stake in Livestock Feeds Plc, LSF, through an equity investment in the company.

According to a statement signed by Mike Asuquo, Public Relations Manager, UACN, the decision to invest was after both companies signed a memorandum of understanding.

According to him, the proposed investment is driven by potential synergies between the two companies in the animal feeds industry and is in accordance with UACN’s strategy which envisages the building of a portfolio and partnerships that deliver long-term growth and value to the company and its stakeholders.

He expressed optimism that the investment will provide the company with new growth vector leveraging on Livestock Feeds’ manufacturing platform to penetrate new market geographies as well as deepening presence in existing markets.

He further disclosed that the investment will

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enhance and consolidate market power, achieve scope and scale economies in procurement, production and optimise manufacturing configuration that mitigates concentration risks.

He said, “On the other hand, LSF will have the opportunity to realise its full potential under good corporate parent and aggressive manager of performance. LSF will leverage UACN’s superior technical capabilities and complementary resources to deliver value.

“In a formal notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, UAC stated that the proposed transaction will lead to significant development of the agro-allied business industry, a key pivot of Nigeria’s drive for enhanced agricultural sector contribution to the national economy.”

However, Asuquo advised shareholders to exercise caution when dealing in the company ’s securities until a final announcement is made, adding that the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 — 23

EDITED by Adekunle Adekoya

DIARY Select ICT events VAS Africa. Holds 34 July, 2012 at Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Future Network and Mobile Summit 2012.

Holds 4 - 6 July 2012 in Berlin, Germany.

Broadcast & Film Africa. Holds 10-11 July 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya.

International Conference on Computing and Information Technology. Holds 13 - 14 July 2012 in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India.

2012 International Conference on Engineering and Applied Science. Holds 24 - 27 July 2012 in Beijing, China.

Preview New inventions shaping life and living

VISIT: President of the Nigeria Computer Society, Mr Demola Aladekomo (third left) and Group Managing Director of FirstBank, Mr Bisi Onasanya (second right), and others when executives of the the Nigeria Computer Society visited the bank.

Cashless society: Hurdles we must clear, by NCS, FirstBank

BY EMEKA AGINAM

Injectable oxygen A new method of injecting oxygen into the bloodstream could help save the lives of people with incapacitated lungs or blocked airways.

Dr. John Khier of Boston Children's Hospital created the gas-filled microparticles using a sonicator, which uses high-frequency sound waves to mix fatty molecules and oxygen gas together.

The microparticles are then combined with a liquid carrier, with the mixture carrying three to four times the usual amount of oxygen.

This means that relatively small doses are required to boost oxygen flow.

The method is intended as a short-term oxygen substitute during critical minutes, and could be stored in syringes as an emergency procedure.

A

LTHOUGH the cashless society initiative of the apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria appears to be gaining the attention of the industry, stakeholders have said that unless many challenges including infrastructure, right policies, more POS terminals deployed, among others were surmounted, the policy said to be tickling Nigerians may be derailed.

It would be recalled that the CBN in its efforts to drastically reduce money laundering, terrorist financing and other economic and financial crimes in Nigeria, pegged daily cash withdrawals by individual and corporate respectively.

Last week, a major stakeholder, the Nigerian Computer Society, (NCS)

I SIM card N S registration: I The unending D controversy E C M Y K

Major issue militating against issuance of credit cards in Nigeria is lack of effective means of identification.

while unfolding agenda for its 2012 Annual General Meeting, AGM with the theme, 'Towards a Cashless Nigeria: Tools and Strategies” told IT journalists that professionals at the conference will evaluate the roles and strategies the information technology industry plays in the reforms and changes in the financial, economic and social sectors in Nigeria.

Challenges According to the NCS President, for the policy to work, a lot of work needed to be done in the area of infrastructure particularly electricity and connectivity. “CBN alone cannot solve these problems but a push from CBN can go a long way” he added.

More POS terminals, he noted needed to be de-

Job hunting? Send your CV by SMS using Glo Job Express app

ployed. “100,000 is a good number comparing the number of POS terminals in the country by this period last year. But the country need about 450,000 POS terminals for it to become pervasive.

CBN projection for 2012 is 220,000 POS terminals.

The banks need to buy and deploy more terminals” he explained.

Ignorance Besides infrastructure, he further said that Ignorance. A lot of awareness and education needed to be created around the policy. Merchant awareness, he said has been low. “Many of them don’t yet realize the many benefits the policy can bring to their businesses” he added. Penalties imposed by the policy on cash transactions, he said must be implemented by banks

to discourage cash transaction across the counter.

The objective of any terminal accepting all bank issued cards, according to the NCS President need to be pursued.

Solution “CBN must compel banks and card associations to ensure that this objective is achieved. In most part of the developed economies, e-payment is driven by credit cards. In Nigeria , most of the cards are debit cards. “ Major issue militating against issuance of credit cards in Nigeria is lack of effective means of identification. CBN can work with NIMC on the NatID to ensure effective KYC by banks using biometric.

Once the banks are comfortable to issue credit card, this will in turn drive

the cashless policy. CBN must ensure the buy in of government ministries and parastatals by conducting their payment transactions electronically” he added.

FirstBank ecards for cashless society unfolded While unveiling innovative e-payment products including FirstBank verve card, Visa debit, (dual currency) Visa prepaid, domestic only prepaid card, standard master card, FirstGold Visa card, First Bank Naira Credit card among others for the cashless Nigeria by the FirstBank, the Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications of the bank, Mrs. Folake AniContinues on Page 27

Imagine Cup 2012: Public voting Facebook quietly attracts hits in releases, withdraws FFN Facebook

24 —Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 HERE are a lot of ap plication on the mobile phone that makes life easy for common man.

Fortunately still, the android platform has also made it possible for innovators to think out more ways of making life more meaningful.

Otherwise it would have been unthinkable to see a job seeker compressing his at least, three page Curriculum Vitae, CV into an SMS and send to the place he is wishing to be engaged.

But today, technology is doing wonders. Last week, Nigeria’s second national operator Globacom developed a new application which helps job seekers send their documents by text.

Tagged job express app, the innovation allows subscribers, especially job seekers on the Glo network to send their CVs or resumes to prospective employers through short message service SMS. The service is a new feature of Glo Messenger and it allows subscribers to send their CVs from any type of phone, using regular sms. The service will be most useful to job seekers who have no internet access but need to send their CVs on the go

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SIM card registration: The unending controversy

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T seems that the is sue of SIM Card reg istration and the attendant controversies since the project was mooted and executed last year is not about to recede from the front-burner status it somehow acquired.

That in itself is not surprising because as Nigerians, we all know ourselves, and we have peculiar ways of doing things in such a way that what is routine in other climes becomes herculean here, and if I may say so, vice-versa, given the seriousness we attach to certain issues and the cavalier manner we treat others.

Looked at properly, SIM card registration, as conceptualised and executed was a necessary thing; there just had to be a database for all active lines in the country, along with the owners. With the benefit of hindsight, it is now clear that if SIM cards were registered as they were bought when the GSM firms rolled out in 2001, the story would have been different, and perhaps, the present controversy might not have arisen at all.

It is almost easy to forget that once upon a time there was a telephone monopoly in this country called NITEL. NITEL was both an operator and a regulator, at least in so far as the military conquistadores let it run. If we have not totally forgotten NITEL, then we would remember that it published telephone directories in which all operational lines were listed; it was easy to link up anybody who had a telephone line; all you needed do is look up his/her name in the directory. In many countries of the world today, the telephone directory is still in use, and remains a good tool for tracing people.

Where things stand today, the NITEL telephone directory is the equivalent of the national SIM card database.

Since we did not make people register lines at the point of purchase in 2001 because we were too eager to talk and shout at the highest pitches of our voices, we then had to do SIM card registration.

Everyday people are being born and people are dying, so there is registration of births and deaths; birth and death certificates are written nationwide virtually everyday. Similarly, phones will get lost and SIM cards will be corrupted.

On the flip side, owners of registered lines will die and new users of (mobile) phones will come of age. As such, SIM card registration WILL be a continuous, unending exercise.

One of the things I t h i n k should engage the minds of those who are interested in SIM card registration is what becomes of a line whose o w n e r dies. What should the regulator do about that?

What should the networks do about that? If my grandma dies, should her line become mine, when it was registered in her name with her biometrics?

Is it not possible for me to do funny things with my late grandma’s phones, knowfully well that if a trace is mounted, all they’ll get are the wrinkled face of an old woman and fingerprints whose owners have left the terrestrial for the celestial?

Finally, if we were to print telephone directories for the over 90 million lines in use now, how much would it cost us as a nation? Would N6.1 billion be sufficient? How much did we spend to print ballot papers for less than 70 million voters?

Don’t forget that NITEL could easily print its directories; it had only a little more than 400,000 lines to bother with.

Owners of registered lines will die and new users of (mobile) phones will come of age.

As such, SIM card registration WILL be a continuous, unending exercise

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,

Job hunting? Send your CV by SMS using Glo Job Express app as well as those who need to respond instantly to job openings without the hassle of always typing applications and editing their CVs before sending.

Speaking about the new service, Globacom’s Head of Value Added Services, Samson Isa said that Glo Job Express, which will revolutionize the manner in which applicants apply for positions as they can now send their resumes instantly from any location with the greatest of ease.

Isa explained that when the subscriber uses Glo Job Express, the CV sent via sms is delivered to the recipient such as the employer, recruitment agent or Human Resources Department as a regular mail with pre–composed job application or cover letter in the body of the email with the sender’s CV as an attachment.

“The most exciting part

of Glo Job Express, however, is that it allows the subscriber to upload a maximum of 4 resumes or CVs on the online portal www.glomessenger.com.

The subscriber can then decide which of the CVs he wants to send out and the selected CV can then be sent instantly to the

prospective employer using sms”, he said.

To subscribe, the customer is required to text the keyword CV or REG to 2034 and follow the instructions. Registered users will automatically be assigned an email address unique to their Glo phone numbers.

— By Prince Osuagwu

Imagine Cup 2012: Public voting attracts hits in Facebook

BY EMEKA AGINAM

S talented students around the globe gather in Sydney, Australia this Friday for the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup , the world's premier student technology competition, public voting for the Imagine Cup 2012 People's Choice Award sponsored by Bing has began.

People are expected to vote at http://bit.ly/ IC12PCA until 9 July at 13: 59 GMT for their favorite solution, as the winning team will receive $10,000 USD. Already, the social network, facebook has been attracting visitors globally for the people's choice award with respect to voting.

Accordingly, people are expected to vote for their favorite videos before July 9, 2012 at 13:59 GMT as the winning team will receive $10,000.

The People’s Choice Award sponsored by Bing provides people the opportunity to vote for their favorite Imagine Cup Worldwide Finalist team.

Teams were given the opportunity to submit a video to show you their project. People's votes will determine which team takes home the $10,000 USD prize.

Over 60 teams including Team Nigeria -Gravity had already submitted

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videos packed with their innovative ideas that will make the world a better place. The winning team will be announced onstage at the Worldwide Finals in Sydney, Australia on 10 July.

Team GRAVITY comprises of Alli Oludayo of Psychology department and Okoya Timileyin of Elect/Elect Engineering of Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU-Ile Ife respectively.

Meanwhile, reacting to current ranking of Team Nigeria, Shina Oyetosho, Developer & Platform Evangelism Lead , Microsoft Anglophone West Africa with optimism said that Team which is cur-

rently ranked 44th position in the people's choice award will get to top position at the end of the voting because of the team's innovative software product already making in-roads in the Nigeria market.

Although their current position is far cry from 5th position that the team that represented Nigeria last year climbed to, Oyetosho believed the software will attract more votes as a result of its content. I urge every Nigerian to vote for the Nigerian Team in the people's choice award.

The team this year has had Presentation skills training from Fate Foundation

and a mock follow-up presentation to critique their work by the fate Foundation team.They have phones from Nokia.

They also have laptop that are high end. So that there will be no issues.. We will represent Nigeria well in the global contest. Iam proud of them. They will do us proud in Sydney. I have no doubt about that.

We are ready for the global contest”he assured.

It would be recalled that 106 teams who will have the honor of representing their countries in Sydney, Australia this week to present their technology solutions and compete for cash and prizes.

PRESENTATION: Mr. Austin Iyashere, MTN's Senior Manager, Government Relations(right) presenting educational materials to Mr. Mohammed Idris Ondeku, Principal of Government Science and Technical College (left) with some students of the school during the MTN 21 Days of Y’ello Care.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 — 25

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26—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

‘Airtel's committed to being inovative’

BY PRINCE OSUAGWU

BY EMMA ELEBEKE

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IDING ON the eu phoria of recently launched 2Good Time by Airtel Nigeria, the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer, Mr Olu Akanmu has said that after going through the several enriching packages Airtel has introduced to its subscribers, the company could be described as a leader in creating innovative value-added offerings for best telecommunications experience.

Akanmu said that “Airtel is committed to being the innovation leader in this market, and more of this kind of products is coming from Airtel. This is the first choose-yourown-affordable time belt telecom product in Nigeria. I have not seen any other network that offers subscribers an affordable call rate of 10k per second between 5 and 7 am or between 1 and 3.59 pm.”

He called on families and friends to maximize the opportunities affordable on the 2Good Times platforms to bridge and strengthen relationship ties which he said often come under severe strain due to certain compelling economic and environmental factors.

For him, “Airtel is committed to making that difference in the life of every Nigerian. What we have seen is that a lot of people wake up very early in the morning without being able to see their families and talk with them.

But with Airtel 2Good Times, they can do that now. If you choose a traffic time, for instance 5-7 am as the time you consider your affordable time, ACEBOOK seemed to be taking a step in the location-based app direction with the launch of Find Friends Nearby. But only hours after releasing the new — yet very unofficial — feature, the company reeled it back in, pulling it from its iOS and Android apps, and disabling the mobile page.

The new feature initially gave Facebook users a landing page on which to find other users who were within a certain vicinity. It was yet another move indicating Facebook’s commitment to broadening its mobile experience.

In the middle of testing out the Find Friends Nearby feature, however, it was noticed that the mobile page no longer worked. It only loaded to a blank page. Going back to access the feature within the app, the Find Friends Nearby option mysteriously disappeared.

Find Friends Nearby was born out of a hackathon, the all-night cod-

PPARENTLY in a bid to lower energy costs, global alcoholic beverages company, Diageo Plc, has tapped Clarke Energy, a distributor of GE’s Jenbacher gas engines, to install turnkey combined heat and power (CHP) plants at its Guinness breweries in Ogba and Benin City, Nigeria.

GE announced the projects last week in conjunction with the Africa Energy Forum 2012 in Berlin, Germany.

The Jenbacher product line supports GE’s CHP applications designed specifically for GE Food & Beverage Solutions, an organization dedicated to bringing energy management, CHP and other waste-to-value solutions to the global food and beverage industry.

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TALENT HUNT: From left, Chief Marketing Officer, Airtel , Olu Akanmu; CEO Optima Media Group, Rotimi Pedro and Marketing Director, OMG, Adeoye Roluga. you can call them at 10k per second and be able to talk much more with them. This is one more reason to be on the Airtel network.”

Meanwhile, Airtel Nigeria has assured of its readiness to lead the pack in providing top quality telecoms experience to the Nigerian public.

The executive director of the company, Deepak Srivastava recounted some of the initiatives undertaken by the telecoms giant, saying that it had made substantial investment in capacity building, covering network capacity expansion, quality of service and visible broadband access among others.

He said that “we have recently set up a state-of –the-art data centre in Lagos which is the biggest across our African markets; it is the most modern data centre, and it indeed replaces most of the legacy equipment that this company had. More importantly, we have increased the capacity of

our network; we have actually more than doubled the capacity of our network, and this means we can still have more subscribers and not face congestion. So, we will al-

ways invest ahead of time, we will always invest ahead of what the market needs to make sure that we give good quality experience to our customers.”

ITU urges collaboration on cybersecurity threats

BY EMMA ELEBEKE

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S Cyber security threats continues to assume a new dimension, the International Telecommunications Union, ITU says greater international co-operation between governments and the ICT industry would necessary to stem the tide.

The global union said that the recent discovery of the highly complex Flame malware by Kaspersky Lab underscors the need for such a co-ordinated response by stakeholders.Flame was discovered by Kaspersky Lab experts following a technical analysis requested by the ITU into an unknown piece of malware which was deleting sensitive information.

For the ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré, Flame is a prime example of why governments and industry must work together to tackle cybersecurity at the global level. He said that early warning of new threats is vital and that it is critical that best practice on required corrective steps is shared in order to best protect the global information society.

Cybersecurity will be a major agenda theme at ITU Telecom World 2012 (Dubai, 14-18 October 2012).

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Diageo opts for GE's gas engines system for power “GE’s Jenbacher gas engines are supporting our efforts to incorporate energy efficiency technologies to increase productivity. The performance of our previously installed Jenbacher gas engines, in terms of reliability, productivity and efficiency, has been tremendous,” said electrical/automation manager-Benin, Guinness Nigeria plc, Mr. Henry Ohenhen.The Ogba and Benin City breweries are said to be expanding their existing CHP plants to generate more reliable electricity and steam while using cleaner-burning, less-expensive natural gas as the primary fuel. The new, Jenbacher J620 CHP units are scheduled to be fully installed, tested and in operation by the first quarter of 2013.

Samsung out with wireless printing solutions

BY EMEKA AGINAM

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OMMITTED to sup porting the Nigerian market with innovative products, Samsung Electronics West Africa, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, has introduced the ML-2165W, the wireless version and ML-2160 series, the USB version to the Nigerian market The product is a wireless model of the Samsung range of printers which enables users access and print documents from a mobile device installed with Samsung’s MobilePrint applications.

While conventional

methods require a 10step set up procedure on a wireless network, Samsung’s one touch wireless feature enables users to be connected with the printer through an access point/router in just 2 minutes.

The WiFi Direct feature also makes it possible to connect WiFi Direct enabled mobile to the printer directly without any access point/router, leaving out complicated start-up processes and device.

The product, according to Samsung, is suitable for cost conscious users to lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of printers.

Glo launches Gista package

BY PRINCE OSUAGWU LOBACOM last week, leveraged talk for its numerous customers when it launched a new tariff plan, Glo Gista. The new platform enables the network’s subscribers all over the country to talk more and spend less on calls whenever and wherever they want.

Announcing the new tariff plan in Lagos, Globacom’s Director of Marketing, Mr Adeniyi Olukoya described the product as having the powers to radically change the way Nigerians use telephones and generally add value to life.

He declared that “with Glo Gista, Nigerians can now gist with loved ones and business associateswithout limit at fifteen kobo per second.

This is the most compet-

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Facebook quietly releases, withdraws FFN ing events championed by the company. Facebook software engineer Ryan Patterson created the feature and initially launched it as Friendshake, according to a comment Patterson wrote on a TechCrunch story.

Patterson said that the feature was meant to help you connect with people you’ve just met while you’re out at an event, not necessarily find new people, as you would in an app like Highlight.

Instead of having to perform a Facebook search for your new

friends’ names — and going through the hassle of asking “Is this John Smith you? What about this one?” — you could all just open up the Find Friends Nearby page and quickly add everyone. The app used your phone’s GPS coordinates to determine your location, and would turn off as soon as you left the Find Friends Nearby page. It didn’t do much else. Unlike beefier location-based apps, Find Friends Nearby didn’t try to help you discover new people with shared interests,

common ties, or mutual friends.

When the feature was live, you could access it by going to the iOS or Android Facebook app’s menu bar. Under the Apps section you’d tap Find Friends, then Other Tools. At the bottom you saw an option to Find Friends Nearby; tap that that it would open a page that showed you a list of users who are close by. You could also get to Find Friends Nearby through a mobile browser by logging into Facebook and going to the feature’s URL

itive tariff plan without barrier in the Nigerian telecom industry”. .

According to him, GloGista is for new and existing prepaid subscribers on the Glo network, but anybody who purchased a new prepaid Glo line would also automatically be connected to the package.

Meanwhile, he also said that existing subscribers needed to dial a short code of *100*15*1 to migrate to the Glo Gista platform. He further disclosed that subscribers on the new tariff plan could also call five international destinations at seven naira eighty kobo after the first minute at fifteen naira.

Olukoyasaid subscribers on Glo Gista will also enjoy other benefits including the current 200 per cent bonus recharge promo.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 — 27

Cashless society: Hurdles we must clear, Continues from Page 23

by NCS, First Bank

DEVELOPERS: From left, Head, Smart Phones, Mr. Olumide Ojo; Head, Content and Services, Mr. Thabiet Allie; Head, Product Marketing, Mr. Jude Omozege, all of Samsung; and CEO, Co-Creation Hub Nigeria, Mr. Bosun Tijani at the Developers Parapo sponsored by Samsung in Lagos at the weekend.

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Mumuney, at a product fair held last week in Lagos to drive patronage for FirstBank's products and services said that the bank has developed suitable products and services for the ever growing financial services market.

Believing that right policies would drive cashless Nigeria, she said that First Bank was committed to promoting cutting edge technology to serve the diverse needs of the entire populace. "We are also in sync with the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria and are presently driving this policy in Lagos, and Nigeria at large, and this certainly makes our bank very fundamental to the nation’s goal of becoming one of the top 20 largest econo-

mies in the world by the year 2020.”

With about 18,000 POS already deployed by FirstBank, she added that FirstBnak had taken some proactive measures by rolling out various etransaction services and products including even before the new CBN policy came on stream. She explained that FirstBank’s online-real time banking services have been in place for almost a decade in addition to massive deployment of alternative delivery channels like POS, ATMs, Internet banking, etc, among others adding that part of the challenge is deployment of POS to supermarkets and filling stations.

“We were able to recog-

nize on time that in the increasingly dynamic and sophisticated business environment, the future of banking will be driven by e-banking, hence we established a dedicated ebanking department many years ago. FirstBank has always been at the forefront of innovative financial services solutions and will continue to lead the innovation drive with the mobile banking services through progressive and robust upgrade of the application to perform optimum services.

“In addition to the mobile money services, the Bank has in place a world-class IT infrastructure to drive its e-payment services across transaction touch points” she further added.

28 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2012

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l Ain chief executive officer Carlo Nohra expects to announce the signing of Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan in the near future.

The Ghanaian is still officially a Sunderland player

Gyan deal looms after being on loan at Al Ain for the past season but they are keen to make the deal a permanent one and the Black

•Gyan

Cats will definitely not stand in their way.

Nohra has claimed the deal is 95% done and it is now expected that he will sign a three-year deal after undergoing a medical at the club this coming weekend.

He told reporters: “Regarding Gyan there’s nothing yet, but we are positive about him staying with us for a few more years.

Things will become clear soon.”

Sunderland banked around £6million in a loan fee when they negotiated Gyan’s temporary move to the Middle East in September last year, and are understood to be in line to receive a similar fee if and when the frontman finally severs his ties with the club.

Zidane dreams of coaching France

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rance Football Federation (FFF) president Noel Le Graet has claimed that retired midfielder Zinedine Zidane “dreams” of coaching the country ’s national team.

Zidane registered for a twoyear university diploma at the Centre of Law and Sports Finances In Limoges in October and recently admitted he would like to move into coaching after a successful playing career.

Le Graet is currently trying to find a replacement for Laurent Blanc, who left Les Bleus after Euro 2012, but the FFF official stated that Zidane is not an option in the near f u t u r e .

”I find it very charming that he has expressed a desire to be close to France’s team,” he told reporters at a press conference. ”He dreams of coaching France within a decade. It is very gratifying.”

La Graet confirmed that he is interested in former O l y m p i q u e Marseille coach Didier Deschamps, and also ruled out the possibility of appointing a foreigner as Blanc’s s u c c e s s o r.

Torres: Spain’s reign cures pain •Zidane

Duff not done with Ireland

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•Duff C M Y K

epublic of Ireland winger Damien Duff has insisted he wants to continue playing international football, refuting claims he would retire.

And Fulham winger Duff, who has been tipped with taking over the vice-captaincy at Craven Cottage following former skipper Danny Murphy’s departure, refuses to be relegated to Irish footballing history, saying he still has plenty of gas left in the tank.

“There’s speculation just because of my age. I’m 33

years old, but I feel as good as ever. I feel 23,” said the former Chelsea and Blackburn man.

“Listen, I’m going to play until I drop. I don’t think I’m interested in anything else.

Fulham, Ireland, if I end up in the Airtricty League, the Leinster Senior League. I’m going to do all that.

“At the minute I’m still an Ireland player. I never brought it up that I was thinking about retirement.

“I’ve spoken to Giovanni Trapattoni and Marco Tardelli, and at the moment I’m still available.”

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ernando Torres says the experience of celebrating Spain’s Euro 2012 triumph with his children has allowed him to “leave behind” a season of frustration and suffering at Chelsea.

Torres was joined by his two young children on the pitch in Kiev after scoring Spain’s third goal against Italy and setting up the fourth.

He said it was the ideal tonic after a season in which he struggled for goals and was left out of the Chelsea team for the Champions League Final.

Torres said: “I will leave this (season with Chelsea) behind, I will remember the three titles, with this final which was so beautiful for the team, the whole country and everyone

who follows Spain and I am sure the fans of Chelsea who will be happy.

“Now I have to rest and enjoy this and be ready for the next season which I am sure will be full of great moments. I have to think like that.

“It was a complicated season for me. It doesn’t mean it was bad, far from it, but it was complicated with very difficult moments for me. And to see my family happy after the match at the end, you see that whatever happened during the season is worth it.

“To see my son enjoy it and be happy was the most beautiful moment of the day for me. After a year which was so tough and complicated and during which we suffered so much it made it all worth it.”

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2012 — 29

Villas-Boas lands Spurs job

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ndre-Villas Boas has been confirmed as Tottenham’s new head

coach.

The 34-year-old’s appointment marks his return to the Barclays Premier League just four months after his departure from Chelsea, where he was sacked eight months into a three-year contract.

Villas-Boas will be hoping to rebuild his reputation at Spurs after succeeding Harry Redknapp, who left the post last month after four years at the helm.

A post on the club’s official Twitter account read: “The club is delighted to announce Andre Villas-Boas as head coach.”

•Andre-Villas

Ferguson plots two more signings

Countdown to Olympics....

Countdown to Olympics

I have a lot to prove at Olympics—Bolt

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French quartet in hot water

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he French Football Federation has opened disciplinary proceedings against Samir Nasri, Hatem Ben Arfa, Jeremy Menez and Yann M’Vila.

The quartet are all being investigated for separate Euro 2012 incidents, with Manchester City star Nasri in hot water for verbally abusing a French journalist following their 2-0 quarter-final defeat to Spain.

Paris Saint-Germain winger Menez is believed to have insulted his captain Hugo Lloris after the same game.

Ben Arfa and M’Vila, meanwhile, are both in trouble following bust-ups with coach Laurent Blanc.

Newcastle star Ben Arfa was involved in a dressing room spat with Blanc while M’Vila refused to shake his hand when he was substituted.

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ir Alex Ferguson has admitted there could yet be “one or two” more signings at Manchester United in this transfer window.

Ferguson yesterday told MUTV that Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell may not be the only arrivals this summer, although he would not comment on specific names in the press - Leighton Baines and Luka Modric.

When asked if he is hoping to make further additions, he replied: “Yes, there’s a possibility. We’re working on one or two things but there’s nothing really to tell you to be honest.

“We always try to get our work done at the end of the season we spent a good deal of time sorting the deal with Shinji and we’d agreed a deal with Nick Powell before the play-offs which was a good move by us because the boy had an outstanding final at Wembley.

“When you don’t get deals done immediately and you’re negotiating with a club over a long period, then you can’t expect to just snap your fingers and get it done.”

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SAIN BOLT admits he will have plenty to prove at the London Olympics in five weeks after suffering a second defeat in the space of three days to his training partner Yohan Blake.

Forty-eight hours after losing for only the second time in four years in the 100 metres at the Jamaican National Championships and Olympic trials, Bolt had to settle for second place again in the 200m at the National Stadium in Kingston. Blake chased down his friend and rival in the home straight, usually the part when Bolt pulls clear, to

Gay, Powell clash in London T yson Gay and Asafa Powell will step up their preparations for the Olympics with a showdown at the London Grand Prix Diamond League meeting later this month, it was confirmed yesterday.

The second and third fastest men of all time will take to the track at Crystal Palace on July 13-14 less than one month before a potential meeting in the 100m final at the Olympics.

American star Gay won the US trials last week in a respectable 9.86 seconds,

claim the 200m crown in 19.80 seconds, Bolt coming home in 19.83secs. Warren Weir was third in 20.03s.

The 22-year-old now leads this year’s world rankings over both distances after clocking 9.75 to win the 100m ahead of a slowstarting Bolt on Saturday.

No longer the best sprinter in his own country, the Olympic champion and world record holder suddenly looks vulnerable just 32 days before the athletics gets under way in London.

Asked if he now has something to prove, he said: “I would say definitely.

I am an Olympic champion so I have to show the world I am the best. Next week I come back".

while Powell, the former world record holder finished third behind Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt in the Jamaican trials.

•Gay While Blake and Bolt look to be in a league shown over the of their own Ä years that clocking through all of the 9.75secs and injuries, I’m a 9.76secs this fighter, and I year Ä Gay hope to be and Powell are fighting for that determined to •Powell Olympic gold in lay down London later this markers of summer.” their own in Powell, 29, London. added: “This is a big year “I haven’t raced much this for me. I’m not getting any year and I’m feeling better younger but there’s a lot each time out there on the more to come from me. I’ve track,” said Gay. learned a lot from past “My body is getting closer to major championships. where I want it to be. I’ve

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012—30

Resourcery to boost Nigerian businesses with Cisco partnership on video solutions STORIES BY PRINCE OSUAGWU RONTLINE Nigerian system integrators, Resourcery Plc has annpunced partnership with Cisco Systems International in organising a one day business seminar tagged “Video as tool for corporate communication and productivity”. The event is aimed at showcasing development in both one-way and twoway video solution and how well this can be employed within the corporate arena for improved business benefits.

The event is targeted at key decision makers in Marketing, Corporate Communication and Human Resource departments of medium to large organizations in Nigeria.

Ahead of the seminar, Resourcery unveiled the solution to select ICT media practitioners, last week in Lagos, at its Victoria Island corporate head office.

Speaking from Abuja via video, Mr Olugbenga Adanlawo, Business Solution Manager (Voice and Video Solution) for Resourcery said that the reason for the seminar was to ensure that Nigeria does not play catch up in the global use of video to aid productivity and communication. He noted that using video to boost productivity has been on the ascendancy within the corporate environment for some time now and the Nigeria business environment is beginning to enter that developmental phase as well. For him this was enough reason to bring together the people who may be the biggest users of the video solution in large to medium scale organizations in Nigeria.

According to Adanlawo, “business session provides an important opportunity for our invited guest to see the practical demonstration of howVideo solution can be deployed as an effective Corporate Communications and Human Resource management tool.

It would also provide a real life in-sight into how video can be a cost saving innovation as well as an efficient in-person experience for face-to-face

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•From left: Mrs Eniola Odukale, Senior Account Manager; Onome Okwah, Public Relations Specialist and Mrs Tayo Adigun, Business Video Specialist all of Resourcery Plc at the press conference to unveil the upcoming Video Collaboration in Lagos. meetings.”

He also noted that the real benefit of using video was to enhance staff productivity . “For instance, instead of an employee spending an entire work day travelling to and from Abuja/Port Harcourt for a two-hour meeting, the employee can have a productive ‘face to face’ meetings with the person

in Abuja or Port-Harcourt within the confines of the office in Lagos”.

Also speaking on the importance of the event to invited guest, Senior Manager, Business Development, of the company, Mrs Angela ChikeDike, noted that hiring processes can be very lengthy and costly, especially when candidates

are located in other cities or when multiple people are involved in the interview process. But organizations with video conferencing systems in their offices can reduce expenses and time by bringing candidates into the nearest facility and allowing interviews to be conducted both in person and over video.

Visafone launches free Wi-Fi hotspot for subscribers NE of Nigeria’s top Code Division and Multiple Access (CDMA) operators, Visafone, has announced introduction of wifi hotspots for free browsing Managing Director of Visafone Mr. Sailesh Iyer, said the initiative will once more provide an opportunity for Visafone customers to enjoy unbeatable and superfast Visa internet free browsing on their diverse devices.

According to him, “Visafone customers can walk into any of the 18 designated Visafone Ma-

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jor shops Pan Nigeria between 8.00am to 6.00pm; Mondays- Fridays with their laptops, ipads, iphones, tablets and other WiFi enabled devices to enjoy a superb browsing experience.”

Head, Customer Care of Visafone, Mrs. Lynda Amechi also added that“this is another initiative designed to give our customers greater joy in choosing to partner with us,” urging, Visafone customers to take advantage of this offering and maximize the joy of communication.

...Rewards customers with free airtime N a related develop ment, the company is also rewarding its teeming subscribers who buy the new Huawei 2857 data enabled handset, free N500 recharge card voucher at any Visafone Shops, Kiosks, Dealers and other Contact Centers nationwide.

The Huawei 2857 phone is user friendly data enabled mid end phone which comes with exciting features like FM radio,

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UCweb Browser, Torch light and large memory to store text messages as well as contacts and is priced very aggressively for a mass market.

Speaking on the launch of the initiative in Lagos recently, Managing Director of Visafone, Mr. Sailesh Iyer said that Visafone embarked on free airtime reward to connect with customers and position as a brand that is concerned about their welfare and aspirations.

GOTv adds competition to Nigerian DTH market G

RASSROOTS pay TV market experienced massive competition last week when a Nigerian company, DETAILS Nigeria officially launched a new and innovative pay television service, tagged GOtv. The new pay television rides on the back of the latest Digital Video Broadcast (DVB-T2) technology.

The DVB-T2 technology standard deployed by GOtv allows for up to 20 channels per frequency, this is different from DVB-T1 technology which only allows for 12 channels per frequency.

This means that with GOtv, there is a dramatic improvement on the dividend of terrestrial frequencies available to Nigeria. GOtv is delivered via two bouquets: GOtv Plus, which contains a total of 33 World Class Channels and GOtv, which contains 22 channels.

All along, platforms like Star Times, MyTv among others have dominated the market due to their

affordability and rich contents for women and children.

But at launch, owners of GOtv revealed that the system represented one of the most advanced digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcast system in Africa and yet was very affordable. They argued that the technology used to deliver GOtv services in Nigeria was the most advanced in Africa and even the rest of the world.

They also said that GOtv technology leapfrogs the outdated system which the system of most payTv operators in Nigeria has been operating on.

The Chairman of Details , Adewunmi Ogunsanya, said, “We are very excited about the launch of GOtv, a true testament of our vision to democratize the pay television landscape in the country and make digital television services a must - have ‘for all Nigerians. This launch forms part of our broad based strategy to contribute to Nigeria’s digital migration to sensible infrastructure investments

•From left: Ms. Joke Coker of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC); Mr. John Ugbe, Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria and Mr. Mayo Okunola, General Manager, GOtv, during the launch of GOtv in Lagos. and competitive service delivery.

Corroborating him was the company’s General Manager Mr Mayo Okunola, who declared that GOtv was driven by a sense of patriotism to redefine the pay television landscape and change the consumption of high quality digital

television content.

He said: “The GOtv brand was specially created to make available an digital television services for all. We realized that when people think of digital television they immediately imagine it has to be expensive, but this is not the case with GOtv which offers great

family entertainment at affordable prices”.

Okunola added that the beauty of using DVB-T2 to back up GOtv was to free up more spectrum to allow for other services which could be used for delivery of government programs such as education, health and other public services in future.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 — 31

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32 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2012

From left: Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo; Ogun State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru and Executive Chairman/CEO, BG Premium Still Water and Flavoured Drinks, Mr. Adebisi Oderinde during the commissioning of Bengrace factory in Arepo, Ogun State.

57 families of Dana plane crash victims to get initial payments soon STORIES BY ROSEMARY ONUOHA HE management of Dana Air has said that initial payments will soon be made to about 57 families of the victims of the Dana plane crash which occurred on June 3, 2012 by the insurers that insured the flight.

In a statement by the company, only 57 families out of the 120 of the victims involved in the accident have

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sent in completed forms for compensation.

The company said “As of the Close of business on Friday, June 29, the company had received completed insurance forms for 57 of the victims, 4 of which are our staff members.

These forms have been forwarded to our insurers for processing, and initial payments should be made to as many families shortly.”

“The airline is also calling on all families who are yet to

come forward with the necessary documentation to please do so, in order for us to promptly fulfill our obligation to them,” the statement said.

The statement also said “Dana Air has now made direct contact with 119 of the 120 families who lost loved ones in the accident and have also made contact with the 9 embassies managing communications with the families of foreign nationals

involved.”

It will be recalled that the House of Representatives issued an ultimatum for payment of benefits to be made to all the families who lost loved ones in the ill-fated flight by July 3, 2012.

Dana Air said that it is fully aware of the mandatory requirement by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), for interim benefits to be paid to the families of the victims within 30 days of the accident.

“The airline has since set machinery in motion to ensure that compensation is fully and duly paid. Teams comprising staff of Dana Air, counsellors and clergy have been visiting the affected families to condole with them and also to provide information on claims administration and payment.

To facilitate the payment process, Dana Air had deployed 3 dedicated toll-free lines, manned by trained personnel, to a Crisis Management Centre in Lagos and Abuja, and public announcements were made in the national dailies and local radio requesting affected families to come forward with details of the Next-Of-Kin, especially those whom the company had difficulty reaching. The airline will continue to provide these services until all claims have been addressed and settled,” the statement said.

According to the company, “Dana Air appreciates that the statutory payments cannot compensate for any of the precious lives lost in the accident but we hope that it will lessen the pains of the families knowing that they are not alone in these extremely difficult times.

Dana Air is maintaining contact with all the families, and will continue to offer all necessary assistance to them.”

‘IFRS 'll boost foreign investors' confidence’ A

LTHOUGH there are complaints from insurers that conversion to the International Financial Reporting Standard, IFRS, is highly capital intensive, some operators still believe that it will grant comfort and confidence to foreign investors to come into the insurance sector for business.

Managing Director of CrystaLife Assurance Plc, Mrs. Oluseyi Ifaturoti in an interview with Vanguard in her office in Lagos recently said that IFRS is tending towards best practice.

Ifaturoti said, “Conversion to IFRS may be expensive but it is good because it is tending towards best practice, towards good exposure, towards a lot of integrity and transparency.

And it will grant comfort and confident to foreign investors or anybody. Any nation will be happy to have direct foreign investment here.”

Ifaturoti said that conversion to IFRS is necessary because

one of the things that will stand in the way of foreign investors is interpretation of financial results, stating “What IFRS does is to put every financial result on the same page anywhere you go in this world. This is a standard, if for any reason you are saying this is this, you will explain and give the reason why it is that.

So it leaves nothing to imagination. And for us, yes it may be a bitter pill to swallow but it is good. The public will be confident, your shareholders, policyholders are comfortable because they can read and know that it is the truth and the issue of creative accounting is gone for good with that.”

Since IFRS ensures that everything is brought to book, Ifaturoti said “You have to give explanations for the whole load of things and those standards are there to ensure transparency and full disclosure of the issue as they

are. So Nigeria has done well to fall in into the list.”

On the extent her company has gone in the conversion to IFRS, Ifaturoti said “For us at CrystaLife, we have finished our conversion; we have started sending our report to NIACOM. Our first quarter report was sent in line with IFRS. So we are at home.

A regulator will not just come out with anything, they have seen that it is the best for the market and those that embrace it will enjoy. All of the things that we are enjoying in Crystalife today are because we have done things well. When they said raise capital, we raised real capital and we are happy for it.

When the capital market came and swallowed people up we still had things to fall back on and by the special grace of God, we are still running our business. We have written off some

diminution because of the loss in the market but we are still over and above the minimum capital and we are better and stronger. Everything we say we are is what we are. We are comfortable and confident.”

Ifaturoti however said that there is need for the reviewing of rates in the insurance sector due to the huge claims experience so far, stating: “The only thing we need to do now, from experience is to review the rates that we are charging on some of the policies because the claims have been immense.

"If we do not review and charge according to the risk in Nigeria because everywhere has suddenly gone riskier, the life has suddenly gone riskier, property everything has suddenly become riskier so the rates we charge have got to be reviewed according to our experience on all of the risk that we are writing.”

BRIEFS

CIIN educational confab to commence tomorrow T

HE 2012 International Education Conference of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria will commence tomorrow in the nations capital, Abuja.

In a statement to Vanguard, The confab, a major platform for exchange of views amongst insurance practitioners, will feature discussions on key issues emanating from the theme “New Tunes for Lean Times”. Dr. Christopher Kolade is leading other eminent speakers in addressing delegates on the theme and sub-theme topics.

Director, Corporate Affairs, Mr. Joseph Obah, stated that the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama, will declare the conference open on Thursday 5th July. The statement also stated that the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, will deliver an address on the Industry ’s scorecard, with CEO’S and other stakeholders in attendance.

Govt announces flood cover initiatives T

HE Federal Government of Australia has revealed more measures aimed at making flood insurance simpler and more effective following last year’s floods.

From September the Government will publish quarterly data on the uptake of flood insurance, with the aim of increasing flood cover in the community.

The new statistics will be based on Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) data and will give a state-by-state breakdown of the number of policies that include flood cover, as well as those that provide flood cover on an opt-out basis.

“The data will be published as it is one of the many ways of reminding and prompting households to assess their risk and take appropriate action such as taking out flood insurance,” Federal Treasury said in a statement.

Financial Services Minister Bill Shorten announced the initiatives when tabling the Government’s response to the House of Representatives Standing Committee investigation into the operation of the insurance industry during disaster events and recent increases in residential strata title insurance premiums in north Queensland.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 — 33

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34 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

Amnesty over for now—Tompolo •Oil mafia steal crude day and night; oil companies involved •Terms of the security contract The “generalissimo,” in this second part of the interview opens up on his controversial contract with the Federal Government; why the nation’s oil cabal is after him, and how he plans to stop them from looting the country’s resources and lots more. Excerpts. and that we should start with that one. It was there that he gave me 40 mobile policemen and four SSS operatives. I told him that I have no place to stay and that I am okay with 10 policemen and 1 SSS. So, the security people I am using today were givHigh Chief Government Ekpemupolo...no to third phase of amnesty en to me by Yar’Adua, but some people said that it is because Jonathan is told him that when people pray, president today. Let me tell you, I EXCLUSIVE they say in the name of the Fa- cannot even make demands for

By EMMA AMAIZE, Regional ther, the Son and Holy Spirit and certain things because Jonathan Editor, South-South that what this means is that you is president because if I do, peocannot do without the Holy Spir- ple will say it is because he is the Continues from yesterday it. Thus when we are discussing president. From what I discussed HE commander then, Ma Nigeria, we are the Holy Spirit and agreed with Yar’Adua, he said jor-General Sarkin-Bello and there is nothing good he can if people have 10 oil blocs in othdid say when the hunt for you achieve without taking us along. er places, he would give 15 oil was on that he would like to see Who are you talking about blocs to my people, the people of you eventually to know who you here? the Niger-Delta. are and what gave you the guts Ijaw people, I mean Niger-Delto do what you were doing then. ta people, which he totally agreed Promise to the When both of you finally met, with. He told me, my brother, Tom- late president what was it like? polo, I will work with you, you are I think we met at Oporoza and the leader of your people, I am That is what the man said and embraced. He apologized to me, not saying that you are the Presi- I agreed with him that I will do saying that he was sorry for all dent, but I will tell my ADC, my everything to make peace reign. that happened. As I am here, I CSO, whatever place you want to He asked me to promise him that am a Christian, Muslim and a go, I will provide security. You can after this one, I will not do anyTraditionalist, three in one, yes. I fly with my private jet because I thing to hurt the country. I gave a told him that people misled him, told him that I know the in and promise to the late President. If which he realized and apologized out of this country. not, if anybody is doing anything to me. I said no problem. Till to my people, I know that the God date, we are very close friends and Pipeline of yesterday is still the God of tohe is now saying a lot of good protection day. So, I know that I can protect things about Tompolo. the interest of our people.

Who arranged this meeting beI know how people are looting You accepted amnesty and Hentween the late President Yar’Adua this country. If we want to work ry Okah, who was being held and you? What did he say to you together and my people are part then in Nigeria after his deporat that meeting and what did you of the government, then I will do tation was released by the Fedtell him? everything to assist him. It was eral Government after he signed You know, I will not go into de- there and then I even told him undertaking for amnesty. He tails, but when I met the late Pres- that the first thing to do is to en- met you before he went back to ident and he asked me what I gage up to 30,000 youths for this South-Africa, where he was arwanted for the government to pipeline protection job. It was rested again over a similar ofsolve the problem once and for all, Yar’Adua who asked me in the fence. What did you and Okah I told him that what I wanted was presence of the governor of Delta discuss during his visit to you befor government to develop the state, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, cause he fell into the same amNiger-Delta. At the same time, I that I should go and arrange for a bush afresh? asked that he should make us feel company. He said that even if I You know, the reasoning of evthat we are part of this country be- don’t have money, he would pro- erybody is not the same, people cause we are producing the re- vide money, that I should go and reason in different ways. Some sources that sustain the country. I partner with Israelis or anybody people, till now, are thinking that

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we will not achieve anything reasonable with the amnesty, though Jonathan is the president today.

And if he does anything for Niger-Delta, they will say because he is the president, a lot of people were of the opinion that since we accepted amnesty, the N1.5 billion that was to be paid to the people of Bayelsa State has not been paid, so we should continue with the struggle. As we speak, the Supreme Court had since ruled in favour of Shell on the matter and the money is not forthcoming. So, he (Okah) was of the opinion that if we fall back, we will not get anything reasonable in the end. He thinks there is need for our people to continue flying the flag.

But in the process, a lot of people said no, let us give them one to two years first and he left. You know, there are a lot of hungry people who if given two, three, four guns, can go and do anything in the name of MEND. Just like if we were not careful, criminals almost hijacked the struggle, it was my efforts and few others, during the time of Zamani as JTF commander that the late John Togo was arrested. The judiciary got him released after he had killed more than 50 people. He said it openly, but later, because they wanted to use him for something, they released him.

What is your relationship today with other ex-militant generals

like Alhaji Dokubo-Asari, Ateke Tom, Boyloaf, etc. I ask this because I learnt that a number of them are not happy with the way the peace process is going. Do you interact with them? Do you think they are happy?

You know, from what is going on with Jonathan as president of this country, it does not mean that we have got everything. But even at that, we still need to give them some time, but for people to actually develop the Niger-Delta, it will take some time.

Looking at the environment Before investors will come in, they will still look at the environment, how peace is reigning. So, I am talking to them to give Jonathan some time, manage whatever that we have today and to wait for when good things will come. Well, even if they are not happy, everybody is saying: let us try to wait for some time.

What led to the bombardment of Camp 5 and invasion of Gbaramatu kingdom was the killing of some soldiers by your boys, but you were said to have had a cordial working accord with soldiers before that time, what really went wrong?

The truth is just like I said earlier, I know a lot of people, both in the Christian and Muslim world and everybody that I happened to have sat with or discussed with, I explained what we are passing through.

I also tried to invite some of them to see what we were actually passing through.

And a lot of these people sympathized with us. Like in Oporoza, our traditional headquarters, we have about eight flow stations, but there was not water to drink in Oporoza or any part of the Gbaramatu kingdom. So any person that could not afford to buy bottled water, I would fetch water from the well for him to drink, which they would not drink. Ev-

For now, I will not support third phase in this amnesty programme. This is because this thing has turned to business and by the time we start a third phase, demand will also come for a fourth phase

Continues on page 35

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012—35

Amnesty over for now—Tompolo Continues from page 34

erybody, therefore, sympathized with us.

Even Sarkin-Bello, after destroying the palace of our monarch, when he went to that place, he said what had government done for these people? He was just telling us live stories. He said it, so that was the thing. Soldiers are human beings too, they come from somewhere, so by the time we talk, I explain to them, I am not here to kill anybody.

Why it escalated to the extent it did, the JTF was still looking for bunkering barges and they went to one of my camps. My boys were playing ball because a festival was going on at Oporoza, but before they knew it, two or three gunboats were shooting at them.

They injured one of my boys. It was then they said if these people take over this place, we would be finished, so let us fight back. They mounted pressure on the JTF, moved their boats and followed the soldiers. I think it was there that two of the boats escaped and they got one.

Camp 5 was like an operational and tactical headquarters at a period and the former vice president, now President, Dr. Jonathan, Governor Uduaghan, former governor of Bayelsa State, Alamieyeseigha; Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, among others, came calling at different occasions. What is your memory of their visits?

Yes, even the JTF commander at that period, General Lawrence Ngubane was also here. While they came, E.K. Clark knows me very well that I am not into criminal activities and they knew the genuineness of the cause that I and my people were pursuing then.

Selecting the team We were reaching out to people, explaining and calling people to come to our rescue, both at home and abroad. So when Goodluck was the vice president, they now said let us go and meet this young man and tell him that the late Yar’Adua means well for our people, let him give some time to the Nigerian government, that they will develop the Niger-Delta, that was the discussion. When they came, I told them that they should go and that I will reach out to all my people.

Then, I would select my team, the government would select its team and we would meet and discuss the issues affecting the Niger-Delta. They went to set up their team and I set up mine. They were meeting regularly. The process, you know, amnesty was part of our own demand too before all of a sudden; they came to bomb Camp 5.

What special time do you have with Governor Uduaghan in this struggle because it is said that both of you are good friends?

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High Chief Government Ekpemupolo...people are carrying crude oil out of the country everyday I think everybody is my friend, it is when I know that this is my right and you are trying to stop me from getting it that I will disagree with you. Uduaghan as a person knows that our first struggle here was between Ijaw and Itsekiri people, but all of us came to realize that our problem is not even the Itsekiri people, because the Itsekiri people, who are trying to oppress us, are still suffering the same way we are suffering.

No problem with Uduaghan Uduaghan was SSG when we were doing this struggle. He knows how to manage Ijaws and Itsekiris on his own side, so I feel that I have no business with him.

My focus is Nigerian government, it is only when he stands on my way that I will have issues with him. I have no problem with Uduaghan. When I went to meet the late Yar’Adua, he was there and I spoke the way I had been speaking with him here to the President.

Some ex-militants are still clamouring for inclusion in the amnesty programme, though government said its disarmament and demobilization had ended.

What is your honest opinion in view of the threat the fresh agitation for inclusion poses to peace in the region?

If I want to say something on that, the list that I submitted through Paul to the late President, had over 10, 000 persons and he gave us only 2,000. For now, I will not support third phase in this amnesty programme. This is because this thing has turned to business and by the time we start a third phase, demand will also come for a fourth phase. The fifth phase will come. We have other things to do.

Don’t you worry that these people may obstruct the existing peace in the region if they are not included?

You know if you are doing anything out of fear today, then, tomorrow you will still do another one. So, for now, amnesty is over.

For those that were already registered for the programme and have not been trained, I am not talking about those ones. I am about these new ones that everybody would go and arrange this and that to organize; I can stand in any place to defend it.

There is this big contract you secured in the eyes of many Nigerians for provision of security on Nigeria’s territorial waters.

It has generated quite some controversy, to the extent that national security has been breached by it, what is the contract exactly and what is your take on this matter?

You know that there is no way that I can breach national security. Why people are saying all sorts of rubbish on that contract is because they know that I know the in and out of the sea as far as Nigeria’s territorial waters is concerned. And they know that once a contract like that is given to me or to my people, criminal activities in the country will stop.

Because I still know very well that if Chevron is producing about 4,000 barrels of crude oil, what they are reporting to Nigerian government is maybe 1,500 barrels, the same thing with Shell and same with Agip. People are carrying crude oil out of this country every day and night. Our duty is just to provide platform, which my people are doing, I am not even directly involved. But in a contract like that everybody knows my capability when it comes to security matters. If not

that people are afraid of me, if Nigeria has difficulties in some security issues, they know that they can call on me and I can assist them. That is the fear of these people who are saying all these and paying people to write against me.

What is the financial outlay of this contract and have you been able to stop the movement of oil out of the country since you started the contract?

I am not in the position to explain all that to you, but maybe when you get to the operational people, they will say that we have done a lot. Like when the President of Benin Republic came to our President, complaining about sea piracy, I was quickly called upon to intervene. That was about 10 months ago, and since then, from 36 sea piracy attacks, we have reduced them to zero. No attack till now in Benin Republic. Everybody knows that whatever you are doing, you will always step on toes, like the cabal in this country that is collecting all the money at the detriment of the masses. They know that the looting is inside the sea and I will go a very long way to stop them from looting Nigeria’s resources. We have actually intercepted a lot of persons, some members of the cabal.

If you get to my operational people, they will give you the details.

What are the terms of payment for this contract?

The contract is on the basis of no cure, no pay.

If we happen to recover maybe N10, 000, out of the N10, 000, they will pay us, if we fail to recover anything for the 10 years, we will not be paid anything, so as at now, government has not paid us anything.

Earlier, you talked about former President Yar’Adua asking you to partner with Israelis to handle the contract, who are you working with now?

Actually, I was working based on his instructions, so before we came to apply, I reached out to Israelis and they came as our technical partners, after which we put the papers together and submitted our proposal to NNPC. It was based on that this contract was approved, but it was supposed to be approved for six states, but they said Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa, we should take these states as pilot project, which was how this contract came up. Now, people are saying this and that, everybody knows how this thing came up. I

People are carrying crude oil out of this country every day and night

don’t want to join issues with them, but it is my duty to fight for my people to survive.

What is the connection between this project and the pipeline surveillance job that is generating another furore in Delta State?

No, the contracts are two different contracts; the one they are writing all sorts of rubbish is the one covering the whole of Nigeria’s territorial waters. The pipeline one that you just asked, my duty is to provide surveillance for oil and gas facilities in Delta State, so we have some of our people in Bayelsa and Rivers.

Providing surveillance They are even saying that Tompolo has collected all the contracts, that the President has given everything to Tompolo, because they don’t know and they don’t even care to ask.

Despite all the nice things you believe you are doing, many still think the government was wrong to give you a contract to safeguard the nation’s territorial waters because you are an ex-militant leader, don’t you see some sense in their worry?

A lot of people will feel that way, but the truth is that if today I am not pleased with the way Nigeria is going, I will come out clearly to say my position. But now that I have accepted amnesty and agreed to work with the government, I will do everything within my power to see that Nigerians live together as one and same people.

For the people that are having that fear, it is because they don’t know me.

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ou see, before now, people were just hearing of Tompolo killing people every day, but by the time they get closer to know who I am, they will come to know that I am not somebody who is after money and material things. My Muslim brothers understand me that I am an easy-going man. My Christian brothers and traditional brothers also know me, mine is that everyone should live and get what is due for everybody.

Oil cabal Let me tell you, if people are saying that I am not supposed to handle this project, my position is that I can handle the project. I am saying that a lot of frauds are happening in this country. If any vessel is trying to load crude oil from Forcados for instance, we need to see the bill of lading to know if it is authorized by NNPC and if everybody is aware, we allow it to leave.

If it is illegal, we will arrest it, because we are working in conjunction with Nigeria Navy.

From what I knew before now, if people happen to load 10 vessels out of Nigeria, it is only four that are officially reported and that is what we want to stop and we will stop it. No amount of threat from any quarters will deter us; we will stop it to save this country because what we have is enough to take care of anybody. We will even break the oil cabal and I want to assure you that in no distant time, Nigerians will see the benefits of this contract.

To be concluded

36 — Vanguard, WEDNSDAY,

JUNE 4, 2012

L A M E N TAT I O N S O F A W I D O W

Police in Kogi killed my husband and tagged him a robber

By EVELYN USMAN

E

VERYONE who knew Mrs. Munirat Ojo Ismail, would observe that she is currently a shadow of her old vibrant self. The reason is not far fetched as she has been turned into a young widow at 24, following the alleged killing of her husband under questionable manner by policemen attached to Kogi State command .

The incident which has not only shattered Mrs. Ojo but also saddled her with the responsibility of catering for her two children Mubarak (3) and Mufidat (6 months old), alone, is to say the least, unbearable for the lactating mother.

Her 25-year-old husband, Ojo Ismail Usman, a Diploma certificate holder from the Kaduna State Polytechnic, was reportedly arrested by policemen attached to Kogi State on February 5, 2012, in Lokoja and detained, only to be reported dead 18 days later.

Robbery suspect Although Police sources in Kogi alleged that the late Ismail, who hailed from Ahache in Okene Local government area of the state was a robbery suspect, the widow denied the claim, calling on the police to show proof. After waiting for four months without any reasonable explanation over the death of her husband, the widow has consequently petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to investigate the matter with a view to ensuring that justice was done.

In the petition titled, ‘Arrest, Detention and Extra-Judicial Killing of my husband, Ojo Ismail Usman, dated June 1, 2012, the widow stated that her husband was in a commercial bus alongside other commuters on his way from Abuja when, mid way into the journey, precisely in Kogi, the bus was flagged down by some policemen for search and in the process, an argument en-

sued.

“When my husband called me on phone to inform me about the delay, he said the police did not search any of the passengers but kept delaying them.

He then asked them why they were delaying the vehicle, only for one of the policemen to flare up and ordered that he be arrested.”

She said when she later called to find out the latest development, “someone picked my husband’s phone, saying he was a policeman. He informed me to come to ‘A’ Division, in Lokoja, that my husband was in their custody. I hurriedly rushed to the police station in company of my husband’s elder brother, only for our effort to effect his release to meet a brick wall.

“While at the police station,

•Mrs Munirat Ojo with her six months old baby • IGP MD Abubakar

I saw my husband with a swollen face and various injuries on his body which he said was as a result of the beating and torture he received from the police. To my shock he said he was threatened to confess to the commission of the offence of armed robbery. We left without effecting his release that day. I returned to the station on February 7, 2012 and was

informed that my husband had been moved to the state CID, Lokoja. But I was not allowed to see him.”

Following the refusal to release her husband, the widow further stated that she took a step further by contacting a lawyer with the assistance of her relatives, demanding for her husband’s bail, which un-

fortunately, did not yield the desired result. Rather, she said the Police filed a counter affidavit with annexures.

In the petition to the IG, she said: “The annexures which the police used in their counter affidavit contained a purported confessional statement which was signed by the police and filed in court as the

Cruelty: Court dissolves 17-yr-old marriage

By BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

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N Oshodi Customary Court in Lagos State has dissolved the 17 years old marriage between Afusat Ogunrinde and Ibraheem Ogunrinde, noting that the couple can no longer stay together because the marriage has broken down totally after the husband’s alleged threat to life.

Delivering the judgment, the Acting President of the Court, Mrs. R.I. Adetola, said that evidence before the court showed that Ogunrinde was a cruel husband and a threat to his family and ordered that Afusat should have the custody of the three children as requested by the children and their

mother.

“This marriage between Afusat and Ogunrinde is hereby dissolved. The parties are free to go their separate ways” Adetola said, warning the husband to visit his children peacefully without any form of harassment or trouble.

Adetola also ordered Ogunrinde to pay N6, 000 monthly to the Court Registrar for the children’s upkeep, while stressing that their father should have unrestrained access to the children.

Afusat, 40, a trader, had on April 30, filed a divorce petition urging the court to dissolve her 17 year-old marriage, claiming that Ogunrinde, 52, a driver, beat her constantly because of her relationship with neighbors.

Afusat had said: “My husband hates to see me make friends or relate with neighbours in our compound or around the area.

Attendance at functions All he wants is to see me stay indoors without going out, attending functions or even doing my little trading. The last time I attended a function with friends, my husband beat me and attempted to stab me with a knife before I ran out of the house to my family house.”

She noted that she reported the matter to her in-laws, but they did nothing to settle the matter until her husband sent for her to come and pack her

things out of his house. She noted: “I went with my family members to pack my things.

Three days after, he came looking for me with acid, but people tipped me and I ran away.

It is better we go our separate ways now before he kills me and my daughter from my first marriage.”

However, Ogunrinde, who denied allegations that he threatened his wife with an acid or knife and did not he try to sleep with his step daughter, said “I warned my wife not to relate with neighbours or keep friends in the environment but she would not listen. It is so annoying that I hear about our family matters and secrets outside our home.”

Vanguard, WEDNSDAY, JUNE 4, 2012—37

Harvest of arrests in Benue ...Police nab 45 suspected criminals, recover arms, ammunition

By PETER DURU, Makurdi T was a day of reckoning for suspected criminals and cultists in Benue state as police detectives recently went all out for them and arrested no fewer that 45 of the suspects. Assorted arms and ammunition of various calibre were also recovered from the suspects’ hideouts.

It was said that most of the suspects, however, pleaded that they were not robbers but cultists though they refused to mention secret cults’ names.

Also recovered from the suspects were military camouflage and charms allegedly being used by to perpetrate heinous crimes in the state and environs.

Deputy Police Public Relations Officer for Benue State, Mr. Ejike Alaribe, who disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Makurdi, said the suspects were apprehended in parts of Makurdi town and some parts of the state. Alaribe said the arrest of the suspects was in line with the directive of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Katso, to all commands to beef up security and comb the nooks and crannies of the state to fish out those perpetrating criminality across the state.

He said the crack down would persist in the days ahead assuring that the Police in Benue State would not relent until “those engaged in

I

•Late Ojo Ismail

criminality in the state are all apprehended”.

Continuing, the police image maker said, “The Commissioner of Police has given express directive to all officers at the various commands and he has warned that the renewed onslaught must be total and not compromised.” It was also revealed that the state police boss has directed an intensified motorized patrol of the entire state by officers of the command adding that men

and officers have also been detailed to embark on foot and motobike patrols.

He urged parents to keep a close tab on the type of friends their children and wards keep stressing, “We discovered that so many innocent children and youths are lured into cultism and other forms of crimes by their bad and evil minded friends and unless we keep tab of the kid of friends our children keep, we may giving express approval to criminality”

•Weapons recovered from the alleged cultists

Lamentations of a widow purported statement of my husband. The police went ahead, snapped and photocopied arms and ammunition numbering 14, alleging that the victim was carrying them inside the commercial vehicle he boarded from Abuja which was deposed to by one Inspector Ejeh Yakubu of the State CID, Kogi, under the consent and authority of one T. E. Oteme, who is the Officer in charge, legal and prosecution, Kogi State.”

Great expectation The matter, as gathered, was charged to a high court in Lokoja. But on the day of the hearing, the widow and her relatives including her in-law, went with great expectation of securing the release of Ojo, only to receive the rudest shock of their lives.

“At the court, the police again filed a counter affidavit with annexures stating that Ojo, the victim, is dead. Inspector Ejeh Yakubu who deposed in his affidavit, said that detectives left the state CID with Mr Ojo, the victim, on February 23, 2012 for enqui-

ry to effect arrest of other suspects/gang members when they ran into a roadblock and that they exchanged gunfire with robbers. He claimed in his affidavit that the victims took advantage of the shootout and escaped before he was apprehended with bullet wounds and later died as he was being taken to the hospital.”

The counter affidavit reportedly deposed to by Inspector Ejeh Yakubu with reference FHC/LIg/CS/15/12 reads: “based on the confessional statement made by Ojo Usman (aka Ojo Vice), detectives left state CID Lokoja on February 23, 2012 for enquiry to effect the arrest of other suspects/ gang members; that along Okene-Auchi road, the detectives ran into armed robbery blockage on the highway in a black spot and exchanged gunfire with the robbers; that I know that during the shootout, the suspect, Ojo Usman (aka Ojo Vice), took advantage to escape before he was re-apprehended with bullet wounds; that the bullet wounds sustained by Ojo Usman (aka Ojo Vice) was as a result of shooting by the armed

robbery gang that blocked the highway; that the said Ojo Usman (aka Ojo Vice) was being taken to the hospital for treatment while he gave up the ghost.”

The distraught mother of two

who wondered how her husband of barely four years was sent to an unprepared grave, therefore, appealed to the Police boss to wade into the matter Concerted efforts to get the reaction of the Kogi state Po-

lice Public Relations Officer, Mr Ile Simon,. failed as his phone rang once and later said it was switched off. A text message which was also sent through his phone was also not replied.

Student, 24, in court for allegedly raping teenager on campus

By BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

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24-YEAR-old student of Yaba College of Technology, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos State, Adegoke Kehinde, has been arraigned before the Yaba Magistrate court for allegedly raping a teenager on campus, after offering her a drugged soft drink.

Kehinde was said to have lured the teenager, who also is a student, to a spot within the school dormitory at about 10 p.m. on the day he allegedly committed the act after offering her the alleged doped soft drink.

The defendant, in his con-

fessional statement to the police, reportedly said he had tried to have sex with the teenager but did not succeed prior to that day and for the teenager to allow him have sex with her, he added drug on her drink to get her intoxicated.

It was gathered that the teenager slept off immediately after taking the drugged drink, which allegedly enabled the defendant to rape her.

When the teenager became conscious the next day, she saw herself naked on bed with sperm dripping from her private part. She felt humiliated and reported the matter to the

police at Sabo, Yaba Division.

The police later arrested Kehinde and he was later charged to court on a twocount charge of rape and assault, an offence punishable under Sections 237 and 266 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.

When the plea of the defendant was taken before the presiding Magistrate, Mrs. S. K. Matepo, he pleaded not guilty and was granted bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.

However, Kehinde was remanded in prison custody at Ikoyi as he could not meet the bail condition.

40 —

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

I caught mum and dad!

She resorted to prostitution Dear Bunmi, When my husband lost his job a few years ago, we were afraid it would affect the education of our eldest child, who was at the university. But she told us not to worry— that we should give her what we could afford and she would resort to

some petty trading, among the undergraduates, to make ends meet.

We were so proud of her resourcefulness— she’s worked hard to even have good grades. But last month, I ran into a friend of hers who confessed a few of them had

He refuses to have sex with me Dear Bunmi, I’m 23 and have had a boyfriend for nine months. But he refuses for us to have sex. I don’t know if it is me that’s the problem or if he has someone else. His ex rings him all of the time, but he never tells me what they talk about. He refuses to let me touch him sexually, although it’s OK for him to touch me. What do you think is going on?

Blessing.

Dear Blessing, Unless he’s impotent or has a horrible disease, if a man refuses to have sex with his new girlfriend, it’s because he’s afraid of risking commitment to her. This in no way reflects how

desirable you are to him. He might like you as a girlfriend but it looks as if he’s afraid of repeating past hurt and hurting you. He’s still emotionally entangled with his last girlfriend and this prevents him from allowing him to love you.

But what is this unfinished business with his ex that he keeps private? Does she want him back, or is he running after her? Do they still have sex?

Love-making is enriching only when openness and trust are in place.

You seem to have established none of these. You need to press your reluctant, no-sex-please boyfriend for answers. Nine months without love-making is unromantic at the very least!

sought the services of some Aristos a.k.a. Sugar-daddies, to make ends meet. I was shocked to say the least.

When I asked my daughter on her next visit to the house, she told me she’d fallen out with this friend and that was why she let the cat out of the bag. She didn’t deny what was alleged, however, but begged me not to tell her dad.

I know if I did, the information would break his heart.

So, how do I keep this awful secret?

Mutiat, by e-mail.

Dear Mutiat, That your daughter admitted the truth of her indiscretion could be a cry for help— she probably wants you to find her a way out of the situation. This should remain a secret between two adults, but you need to help her work out a better way to make ends meet.

If your husband now has a job, this might help. If not, you might need to give her a helping hand by obtaining a soft loan that could help her out of this nightmarish situation she’s found herself. Whatever you do, don’t judge her. What’s done is best left in the past.

Dad’s ultimate betrayal Dear Bunmi, Towards the end of last year, I picked up the phone in my parents’ home only for a doctor in a private hospital to inform the family that our dad was seriously ill in the hospital. Instinctively, I told him I would be over without telling my mum. She was the perfect wife and mother and I was sure there was more to what the doctor told me as dad left home hale and hearty that fateful day.

The doctor told me that my dad was brought in by a lady in an ambulance— dead!

He’d had a heart attack in her home, while they were in bed together. I was shocked— I’d never felt such pain in my life before.

How could dad do this to our mother who’d spent the best part of her life building an enviable home? Every time I think of my dad, all I picture in my mind is him in bed with this woman— holding her, sharing moments with her when he should have been with mum. How many times

had he deceived the family that loved him so much?

I had to tell the hospital that on no account must mum be told the truth, that we didn’t know anything about this other woman until that night.

The hospital then arranged for a nurse to be with mum when she eventually saw his corpse. My dad had called earlier to say he’d be working late at the office on a major project for a client. We had to lie to mum that he was brought in from the office.

I later knew who the mistress was and was shocked to see her at the funeral. She’d slipped into the back of the church like a thief and I asked for her to be bundled out.

Since the incident, all the love I felt for my dad had turned into hatred. I hope he rots in hell!

Beatrice, by e-mail.

Dear Beatrice, In spite of what happened, you handled the incident like the matured woman you are.

Of course, you are terribly

hurt by what happened to your family. But as you well must have found out, married men have affairs all of the time. An affair is usually a hush-hush relationship until if and when it is blown into the open— which is seldom.

Your dad obviously loved his family and sheltered you from his act of indiscretion. You’ll never know if this affair was a one-off, or if he’d been having affairs as he went along.

What is important is that he was a very loving husband, hence your mother’s devotion to him, and a father who’d brought you and your siblings up to be what you are today.

Of course, you’re hurt as you were obviously close to your dad. With time though, your grief would subside and memories of the good times you had with him will come back to make your hurt easier.

In the meantime, banish all negative thoughts about him and concentrate on living your life the best way you could. Your dad had already lived his.

Dear Bunmi, I’m an undergraduate in the university and still live with my parents, which has been great up till now, as I don’t fancy living on campus. They also encourage male friends to visit me.

Some weeks ago, I came back from school and peeped in to say hello only to find them on the couch having hot sex! They didn’t even notice I saw them and I was really embarrassed. I mean, shouldn’t things like that be confined to the privacy of the bedroom among older people? How can I get our parents-daughter relationship back?

Thelma, by e-mail.

Dear Thelma, The short answer to your question is, you can’t. Gone are the days when you were a little girl and your parents were the grown-ups. They’ve known for a while that now you’re an undergraduate, you must be having sex. So, what’s your problem with your parents having sex?

You should be happy for your parents that they are still so much in love to make love on the couch whilst you were away. They treat you as an adult, so give them the freedom to be sexual— just like you.

You need to press your reluctant, no-sex-please boyfriend far answers. Nine months without love-making is unromantic at the very least!

I’m turning into an alcoholic Dear Bunmi, I’m 30 and socialise a lot. Lately, I’ve woken up in the morning after a rave party and couldn’t remember what had happened. I’ve finally faced the fact that I have a drinking problem. How do I sort it out before it ruins my health?

Susan, by e-mail.

Dear Susan, Realising you have a drink problem and that you need to face the issue is a major breakthrough. So, what next? Here’s an expert’s fivepoint action plan: 1) To motivate yourself, write down all the reasons why you want to stop drinking— such as better health, more fulfilling relationships, extra cash.

2) Give yourself a realistic goal.

Aim not to drink alcohol for at

least 30 days, then set aside a date on which you’ll stop. Tell your friends what you’re doing and arrange to discuss progress with supportive friends. 3) Decide what you’ll do if you’re tempted to drink and what you’ll say to people who offer you one. If you’ve got an event like a party during your non-booze period, cancel it in case you’re tempted to stray.

4) Each evening, during your abstinence, review how you’re doing. Remind yourself of the benefits of not drinking. If you’ve slipped, simply begin again. 5) After the first 30 days, try for another 30.

The longer you abstain, the easier it will be not to drink again, or not to consume too much when you do.

My son behaves like a thug!

Dear Bunmi, I know a mother is supposed to love her children. But if I were to be honest, I can’t stand my 28-year-old son. He’s always been an aggressive person. It’s not just youthful problems. He hangs around with a bad crowd, steals from me from time to time and beats up his girlfriends. No girl ever stays for too long.

Whenever he shows up, I feel resentful. Thank God he’s not an only child. But once in a while, I feel guilty about not liking him.

Dora, by e-mail.

Dear Dora, You need not feel guilty. True,

parents often stand up for their children simply because they’re their parents. But there’s no rule that says you have to. It sounds as if your son has turned out badly through no fault of yours and it’s impossible to ignore this fact. So, don’t be hard on yourself because of this.

Your best bet is to give your son a clear message that you don’t approve of what he’s doing. He may not like what you’re saying, but at least you’ll be true to yourself and your feelings. Your son is a full adult and needs to look out for himself. If the stealing continues, then discourage him from visiting so often.

Share your problems and release your burden.

Write now to Dear Bunmi, Vanguard Newspapers, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos. or bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

Vanguard,

WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 — 39

LEISURE

YOUR LUCK TODAY

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

By Richard Eromosele

TAURUS: EVEN, if friends and others are helpful and pledging loyalty today, they may be forced and get on your nerve tomorrow when effects of fullmoon’ll come to play.

GEMINI: WHATEVER can lead to avoidable trouble tomorrow, either at home or along your career/business lines, should be well taken care of today. Be very open.

CANCER: YOUR best bet today is to seek important co-operation of influential people and that of your spouse/partner. The more legal conscious you are, the better for you.

LEO: IF others want you to conclude an important financial transactions that can possibly be done today, you’ll need to say no and go ahead as tomorrow may not be as conducive as today.

The thirsty man

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VERYMAN or woman is thirsty for one thing in the life - we all want to be appreciated. The desire to be appreciated is innate in every human being.

No matter what you give a man, if you don’t appreciate him, he is like the thirsty man given a bottle of mineral instead of glass or

TERROR MUDA

water, he can’t be satisfied. Appeciate a man for the little thing he has done for you and he will go out of his way to do greater

in “Never say goodbye”

things for you.

Whether a small man, whether a big man, whether a little child, a big girl, big woman, etc, we are all thirsty for appeciation.

Think about it!

By Kola Fayemi

VIRGO: IT’S important you don’t take things and people for granted now because they may not be as co-operative tomorrow as they are now. Be more loving.

LIBRA: ALTHOUGH there seem to be an air of understanding within your working arena today, tomorrow’s full-moon may turn the whole thing the other way.

SCORPIO: HERE is an exciting day that will climax tomorrow. After a long time, others will see how passionate you can be even in love. Don’t gamble, please.

SAGITTARIUS: IF your desire is to make money today, you will need to be less emotional and prepare for domestic challenges tomorrow. Enjoy your love life.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Princess Shii’

By Andy Akman

CAPRICORN: GOOD relationship between the moon in Capricorn and lucky Jupiter in your star sign will bring you good opportunities. Be less argumentative.

AQUARIUS: THIS is your day when things will go according to your plans. Financial success indicated but if you wait till tomorrow, opposition’ll bring disappointment.

PISCES: THE moon in your star sign that encourages you to be as assertive are likely to oppose you tomorrow. Try to be more friendly.

ARIES: HAPPENINGS within your working arena should be taken more seriously now or else, avoidable trouble would start tomorrow. Again, it’s important you are more practical about your health.

Be more loving.

VIRGINIA

dadadekola@yahoo.com

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING Send your date and place of birth to the Astrological Counselling, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos

What,s my immediate future?

Dear Joshua, I am interested in what you are doing. Please tell me what I should expect concerning my immediate future. Would I succeed travelling abroad for business ?

Korede. Epe. Dear Korede, Few years back you have started a very longer (years) great cycle of success and happiness, and this year you will be moving closer to the peak of the said cycle; meaning that your 42nd year on earth will be much more better than all your previous ones on earth.

Then because of transiting lucky Jupiter in Sagittarius – your Solar 9th house of travelling and distant affairs you can be successful at acquiring visa and have a fruitful foreign travels.

However that is not to say that there will not be any challenge during the year. Actually like it happened about six/seven months ago when work and accident related issues were the major challenges.

C M Y K

Commen3

by Lawrence Akapa

40—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

Ukrainian govt to resuscitate Ajaokuta steel

BY JOSEPH ERUNKE

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INDUCTION—From left: Mr. Adedoyin Owolabi, President, ICAN; Sir Emmanuel Abiodun Adeniji, Special Guest Speaker and Alhaji Kabir Alkali Mohammed, Vice President, ICAN, during the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, 36th induction for members of the Association of Accounting Technicians in Lagos. Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

Tsav to FG: Discountenance calls for state police Says it 'll worsen security challenges

BY PETER DURU AKURDI— FORMER Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, yesterday, urged the Federal Government to discountenance suggestions for the creation of state police in the country, warning that such a venture would worsen the security challenges facing the country.

Tsav who spoke to Vanguard against the backdrop of recent calls by governors of the 36 states for the creation of state police to enhance security in the country, warned that a police force under the control of state governors would become instrument of intimidation and harassment of perceived opponents.

He warned that politicians who were "power drunk" would put such a force into personal use and pursue personal agendas that could lead to unending insecurity in the country.

He said: “I do not agree with the governors on the creation of state police as a solution to the insecurity situation in the country, because it will rather worsen the already bad insecurity created by some power drunk politicians.”

According to him, the creation of state police would also destroy professionalism and unleash job insecurity at the top echelon of the Nigeria Police Force, NPF.

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"My experience in the police force, coupled with the behaviour of politicians and some state governors show that the creation of state police will destroy professionalism in the police, breed job insecurity of seniour police officers, encourage and protect political thuggery in the states.

"Worst still, it will be used as instrument of intimidation and harassment against the opposition. This is just as state police will be used for election manipulation and rigging,” he added.

Tsav, however, noted that the suggestion could be put to use in the future when

Nigerians learn to live with one another in peace and harmony.

"Perhaps if we overcome our teething problems and we are tolerant of one another, state police may be desirable in future. For now we are not matured and civilized enough for state police,” Tsav said.

Benue: Idoma political heavyweights at loggerheads over 2015 guber race

BY PETER DURU AKURDI—AS the race for the 2015 elections continues to generate heated debates, indications have emerged that the Benue State Deputy Governor, Chief Steven Lawani and notable leaders of the Benue South Senatori-

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Unilag inaugural lecture N inaugural lecture e n t i t l e d : ‘Counselling Is For All! Behold, The Counsellor Is Here!’ by the newly elected Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Lagos, Prof.

(Mrs.) Mopelola Omoegun, will take place on Wednesday, July 11, 2012, at the University of Lagos Main Auditorium.

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al district are neck deep in a battle for supremacy with the Senate President, Senator David Mark in the district.

Vanguard investigations revealed that the deputy governor’s interest in the 2015 senatorial race, where Mark and Minister of Interior, Abba Moro hail from, was threatening to tear Idoma land into different political camps.

The development has gone beyond pretenses with the major players now poised for a political showdown that could make or mar the political relevance of gladiators in the struggle for power.

The simmering dispute blew open few weeks before the last ward, local government and state congresses of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the state when it became obvious that deliberate attempts were being made to

frustrate any effort by the David Mark/Abba Moro’s camp to have their supporters installed at the ward and local government levels in the district.

BUJA—UKRAINIAN Government, yesterday, indicated interest in resuscitating the moribund Ajaokuta Steel factory under the Federal Government’s privatization programme.

This development came as the government said it was doing everything possible to tackle issues impeding the successful privatization of the nation’s steel industry.

Ukranian Ambassador to Nigeria, Serhii Khanenko, made this known when he

led a delegation of investors from his country on a visit to Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in Abuja.

It was learnt that the Ukrainian firm, Reprom Company Limited, which indicated interest in reviving the Ajaokuta Steel firm would inject about $2.65 billion into the project which is estimated to produce about 3.9 metric tones of steel per annum even as Khanenko said his country was interested in exploring other areas of partnership with the Nigerian government in the development of its solid minerals.

Orji, Ekiyo okay PHCN new tariff

BY PROVIDENCE OBUH HE Multi Year Tariff Or der, MYTO, introduced by the Federal Government in the electricity sector has received the endorsement of Abia State Governor, Chief Theodore Orji and Commissioner for Power in Bayelsa State, Mr Isaac Ekiyo, pledging support for the new price regime.

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Both gave their endorsements when the Director General of the National Orientation Agency, NOA, Mr Mike Omeri met with stakeholders at the Community Dialogue Fora organised by the agency to explain the new policy to Nigerians.

The Chief Press Secretary to the NOA, Mr Paul Odenyi made this known in a statement in Abuja.

Delta govt sets up alternative dispute resolution agency

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA SABA—MOVED by its desire to ensure speedy decongestion of prison, Delta State Chief Judge, Justice Abiodun Smith has assured Deltans that the law establishing the multi-door court would soon be gazetted while highlighting the immense benefits of such alternative dispute resolution mecha-

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nism.

He stated this at a sensitization organised by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, CIA, Asaba branch.

Chairman of the Asaba District of CIA, Mr. Arthur Okafor, SAN, said the resolution “will help decongest the conventional courts, offer express proceedings with less expenses and undue delays associated with the conventional courts.”

DONATION—From left: CEO, Zinox Computers Ltd, Lagos, Mr. Emomime Mukoro, 9110 Governor, Rotary International, Rotn Kenny Ejakpomewhe; President, Ikoyi Metro Lagos Rotary Club, Rotn Ify Ejezie; Lagos State Chief Education Officer representing Commissioner for Education, Mr. Orunsolu Adekoya; Head Teacher, Aunty Ayo Girls Junior High School, Keffi, Mrs. Modinat Animashaun; Rotn Emeka Onohwakpor, at the commissioning of the electronic library/learning centre donated by the Ikoyi Metro Rotary Club to the school.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012—41

C M Y K

42—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

THE CANDIDATES THE July 14 gubernatorial election will be a landmark. The incumbent governor, Adams Oshiomhole, who is seeking re-election is being challenged by six other candidates who are trumpeting different advantages they claim will put the state on a higher footing than it is now. Vanguard presents underneath, brief profiles of the seven candidates registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC for the polls:

*Airhiavbere

CHARLES AIRHIAVBERE (PDP)

G

ENERAL Charles E. Airhiavbere (rtd.) was born on 11th October, 1954, at Ekiadolor, near Benin to late Chief Peter E. Airhiavbere and Mrs. Mary Orhue Airhiavbere (Nee Uzamere). He joined the Nigerian Army as a cadet in the Nigerian Military School and thereafter read Accountancy at Auchi Polytechnic obtaining a Higher National Diploma (Upper Class) in 1981.

He thereafter enlisted into the Nigeria Defence Academy for the Direct Short Service Course in 1981 and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Nigeria Army Finance Corps in June 1981 before proceeding to do a Masters Degree programme in Business Administration at Nigeria’s Premier University, the University of Ibadan (1987) with specialization in finance.

Airhiavbere rose through the ranks to a Major-General and Commander, Corps of Army Finance and Accounts at the Army Headquarters. In 2010 he he was posted to his Alma Mater, the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies Kuru as a faculty member before his retirement in 2011.

FRANK UKOGA (SMDP)

B

ORN on July 21, 1969 at Igarra, Akoko Edo Local Government Council of Edo state. He started his Primary Education at St James Anglican Primary School Igarra, before proceeding to Fatima College, Ikire Ibadan.

In 1977 he commenced his higher education at Ibadan Polytechnic and proceeded to UNILAG in 1978 where he read System Analysis through government scholarship.

He proceeded to Russia where he obtained his Masters in Highway and Strategic Engineering. He joined politics in 1990 and participated actively during the June 12 1993 election under the SDP. He is a business man and married with a son.

ANDREW AYEMERE IGWEMOH: Labour

B

ORN on June 12 1962 in Auchi, Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State, he attended Ozolua Grammar School, Ologbo and proceeded to the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), where he obtained his Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Electrical Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administration.

C M Y K

*Oshiomhole

*Edebiri

*Ukoga

*ORUMWENSE

SOLOMON IYOBOSA EDEBIRI ADAMS ALIYU OSHIOMHOLE (ANPP) (ACN)

S

OLOMON Edebiri (Jp) was born in April 22nd 1962 to late David Eiremwanarue and Christiana Omosukpon Edebiri from Iguogbe in Isi Community of Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of Edo State.

He obtained several educational certificates, including Diploma in Welding and Fabrication from PTI, Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from the university of Leicester in the UK,MBA from European American University and currently a PHD student of the same University.

He is the Managing Director /Chairman of Typha Cenia Nigeria Ltd and boasts of having over 500 employees spread all over the globe. Edebiri is currently the President of the West Africa Welding Federation and also the President of the Nigerian Institute of Welding.

Edebiri a keen sports lover solely financed the Bendel United Football Club for four years and sponsored the Edo State Football Association League for four years. He was adopted by the Coalition of Progressive Political Parties, CNPP as its candidate.

PAUL IMAGUOMWANRHUO ORUMWENSE (NCP)

B

ORN on the 14th of February 1950 at Ugbogiobo in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State. he had his primary Education at Catholic Primary School Ugbogiobo, between 1955 and 1961, attended St Anthony Modern School between 1962 and 1964 respectively. Between 1967-1971, he attended Eghosa Grammar School and had a brief stay as a teacher at St Angela’s Primary School Benin City between 1972 and 1975. In 1975 he was admitted into the University of Alabama USA, to study Business Administration. He graduated in 1978 and was awarded Masters Degree in Public Administration. Orumwense retired as a public servant from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital February 2010 and is married with five children.

IZEVBUWA ROLAND (CPC)

H

E was born March 18, 1963 in Benin City, he obtained his Bachelor of Sciences in Accounting from the University of Benin in 1990.

He later obtained his M.Sc in Financial Management. He has worked in several Accounting firms both within and outside the

A

DAMS Aliyu Oshiomhole was born on April 4, 1953 in Iyamoh, near Auchi to Alhaji Aliyu Oshiomhole of blessed memory and Alhaji Aishetu Oshiomhole.

After his secondary education, Oshiomhole proceeded to the Ruskin College, Oxford, where he majored in economics and industrial relations. He is also an alumnus of the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, and had received extensive training in industrial relations, trade unionism and management locally and internationally.

In 1969 before his tertiary education, he had taken up appointment with the Arewa Textiles Company, Kaduna.

This was after the young Adams Oshiomhole had successfully persuaded the Personnel Manager of that company that he was fit to work despite his rather short height and small frame.

Adams Oshiomhole began his trade union career in 1971 in the Arewa Textiles Company. He was inspired to play an active role in the union because he was not satisfied with the quality of the union’s leadership.

Oshiomhole’s other colleagues in the textile factory elected him as the union secretary after a shop-floor revolution, which he helped to organize. His tenure led to a more militant response to the challenges of defending the workers of Arewa textile Company.

Adams Oshiomhole became a full time trade organizer in 1975. As an organizer, he introduced the trade union in several industries in the northern part of Nigeria and became a terror to local and foreign employers.

His expertise in industrial negotiations made his service to be of high demand even beyond the textile industry to other sectors including the Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited and manufacturing companies throughout the North.

Oshiomhole rose through the ranks of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria to become the General Secretary of the union.

country. He was the State Secretary of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2006-2009, State Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) 2009 before his emergence as the gubernatorial candidate of the party following the decision of the mainstream of the CPC to dissociate from the Progressive Political Parties, CPPP this year.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012—43

Christians 'll vote for Oshiomhole — CAN

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR ON the last worship day for Christians before the election this Sunday, Christians will be told to vote for Adams Oshiomhole going by the endorsement of the incumbent governor by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN. Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Edo State, Bishop Peter Imasuen yesterday promised to impress it on Christian leaders in the state to mobilize their people for the re-election of Governor Oshiomhole the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN candidate in the forthcoming election.

“It is not enough to verbalise support without going out to vote for him,” Imasuen who is also the Bishop of Benin Diocese of the

Anglican Communion said during an interactive session between Oshiomhole and clergy of the Anglican Communion at St Peter’s Anglican Church, Benin City.

The endorsement is a big boost for Oshiomhole especially coming from CAN presently led by an Anglican bishop.

Oshiomhole’s main contender, Gen. Charles Ahiavbere of the PDP is remarkably, an Anglican.

“We can now boast that we are Edolites because of the development everywhere.

During the time of Ogbemudia, we were proud to say we were Bendelites and it started from the time of Mid West. But everything was left to rot until Oshiomhole came.

“This is the man God is using today. He is not asking us to bring

*Imasuen (r) praying for Oshiomhole yesterday

money; what he desires from us is encouragement. When fathers say ‘go it is well’, then it is well.

We must back him up spiritually, he is going on campaign physically, so we must back him

JONATHAN’S VISIT:

PDP hails Omo N’Oba, slams political chiefs

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR

T

HE PDP in Edo State has hailed the Benin Monarch praising his sagacity in delinking the palace from political imputations arising from his inability to publicly receive President Goodluck Jonathan and his campaign team in his palace last weekend.

The party in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Pharm.

Matthew Urhoghide also slammed some chiefs who it alleged were seeking to make political and other gains through their relationship with the revered Benin Monarch.

Praising the clarification issued on the authority of the Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba of Benin on the reports that he snubbed President Jonathan, the PDP said yesterday: “Edo PDP was never in doubt that the revered Palace of the Oba of Benin will debunk the very wicked, malicious, scandalous and politically-motivated publications. The damage the publications have done to the image of the revered Benin Monarchy can only be imagined.”

“The perpetrators of the lies must be sanctioned for demeaning the good image of the Benin Monarchy built over several centuries. In the selfish and twisted calculation of the mischief-makers, the lies will win C M Y K

them great political fortunes without a thought for the damage that it was likely to occasion the image of the Royal Palace.”

Regretting what it described as the desperation of some politicians who were bent on flouting the instruction of the Oba not to use the palace for political

considerations, the PDP and the partisanship of some chiefs, the PDP said: “Edo PDP frowns at this blatant disregard for the instruction of the Oba of Benin by some chiefs, their agents and their political associations. We have repeatedly denounced the deliberate action of these chiefs to detract from the

up with prayers.

“Prayer without work is dead, so we must mobilize our people to vote.”

“Mount the pulpits yourselves and preach. I will get the vaunted influence, dignity and reverence of the Palace of the Oba of Benin through unhealthy association of that institution with partisan politics.”

“The actions of these chiefs and politicians have caused the Palace some embarrassment lately and we hope that stern measures will be taken to eternally prevent this from happening again.

“Once again, we salute Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa, Oba of Benin for his wisdom in putting the minds of Benins at rest regarding the publications.”

feedback. Sensitise our people for the election, tell them we don’t want to go back to Egypt, we want to remain in the Promised Land.

We don’t want to go back to what we used to be, we want to remain and continue from where our Comrade Governor has built.

I want almost 99 per cent, if not 100 per cent votes for him, especially from Edo South which we control. Whether you have done your work, I will know when the result is out.”

Oshiomhole was humble in his response promising to use his second term to put the state in a position that succeeding administrations would not be able to reverse the gains achieved.

“In Edo State, I believe we need special prayers especially in the light of the forthcoming elections. Of course, people will plan either for good or bad, but only the plan endorsed by God will prevail.”

Lagos friends raise funds for Edebiri

BY GBENGA OKE

F

RIENDS and associates of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP candidate Chief Solomon Edebiri gathered last weekend at the upscale Eko Hotel, Lagos to raise funds for their man.

The event organised by Friends of Solomon Edebiri in Lagos was also another opportunity for Edebiri to give reasons for his aspiration.

Speaking to the gathering comprising mainly indigenes of the State in between mouthfuls,

Face Boko Haram, forget Edo, Okeleme tells PDP

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

T

HE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, should focus itself on the insecurity threats against the country in the North and not dissipate its energies on its threat to capture the Edo State government, Special Adviser to the State Governor on Mobilisation Mr. Robert Okeleme, has said.

He has also argued that the PDP has no presence in the state,

hence should not dream of making a meaningful impact in the forthcoming polls.

Okeleme, who disclosed this to Vanguard, dismissed claims that Edo politics has ethnic colouration, insisting that Adams Oshiomhole represents all the tribes in the state.

According to him, “I have read in the papers that the new national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said that they must capture Edo State."

Edebiri lamented that Edo State faces a bleak future unless an urgent intervention is made to arrest the degenerating and worsening socio-economic situation. Remarkably, he stated that the present administration in the state has not helped matters as according to him it has served as an undertaker in the burial of some of the legacies inherited from previous administrations.

“I have an agenda to transform our state and its people into an enviable status and setting a shining example for other states to follow. I also want to bring back its past glories that we have lost over the years like our exploit in sports, growth in human capital and abundance in food, blossoming tourism, transportation, culture and agriculture”.

One strategy he said he hopes to adopt in ensuring quality education is to provide loans to indigent tertiary students while at the same time making

education free at the primary and secondary levels.

On wealth creation, he said: “Our wealth creation strategy will include encouragement of small scale businesses, provision of access to short and medium term loan for investment.”

Edebiri further maintained that security of lives and property is key for sustainable development and to tackle insecurity, his administration will develop community help programmes for the youths, establish of community security surveillance systems among others.

Speaking on the role of leadership in government, he said “I see leadership as a vocation and we have to elect those with rich experimental pedigree to government as I believe nobody can manage wealth if one hasn’t created wealth himself’,” Edibiri, himself a multimillionaire with interests in various sectors of the economy said.

44— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

PROBE PANELS:

As by-products defeat essence of probe Stakeholders lament absence of accountability

T

HE Yar ’Adua alarm: THE year was 2007, while the setting was the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. And the event of the day, was a courtesy visit by World Bank Vice President for Africa, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili. On hand to host the visiting World Bank Chief, was President Umar Musa Yar’Adua.

For a president, who was eager to get foreign support on the actualisation of his 7-point agenda, the visit was an avenue for Yar’dua to explain C M Y K

Nigeria’s pressing need to Ezekwesili.

Consequently,he revealed that $10 bn (N 1.2 tn) invested in the power sector between 2000 to 2007 had not translated into power generation, transmission and distribution.

With this revelation, the House of Representatives on January 31 during a plenary session, mandated its committee on Power and Steel to embark on a thorough investigation and conduct a public hearing on how the huge sums of money was

expended.

This was done after the Minority Leader Mohammed Ali Ndume and 103 other members brought a motion urging the House of Representatives to review the Power Reform Programme Performance.

This, however, set the ball rolling for what has come to be known today as the Elumelu Power Sector Probe.

The committee went into action and opened investigation into the matter with a public hearing in March 2008.

For a lot of people, the idea was not misplaced, given that the nation had been in total darkness as a result of the inability of the Federal Government to provide stable electricity.

,

LEGISLATIVE investigative panels which were supposed to unearth the facts behind the failures of public office holders, have become meaningless in Nigeria. And the reason for this is not far fetched;midway or at the end of the exercise, allegations of graft are always levelled against the investigating lawmakers. What does this portend for the nation's quest for good governance? CHARLES KUMOLU reports.

concluded its job that allegations of financial impropriety emerged against its members.

In fact, this happened a few days to the day the report was to be presented, as there were claims that some members of the panel collected N100m bribe from a contractor in Port Harcourt.

From this point on, VanguardFeatures,VF, can authoritatively say, that the fate of the report which was eventually submitted before the House, became uncertain, as attention was shifted to the allegations against members of the Elumelu panel.

Following the allegations, which diminished public interest about the probe, the Ethics Committee which was dissolved along with 68 other standing committees of the House was reconstituted to

The lawmakers are always cut in this web, because they are not honourable and distinguished as they claim

At the end of its investigations, which included fact-finding tours across various parts of the country, the committee submitted its report.

The Elumelu 100m bribe: And it consequently recommended the prosecution of several firms and individuals found wanting in the alleged shady contracts.

But hardly had the committee

,

look into the issue.

The nation was dejected with the news of the claims against the lawmakers, Elumelu‘s team, because they became the people being investigated for alleged gratification.

In fact, the bribery claims, ultimately watered down the findings of the committee, Continues on page 45

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 — 45

*Hembe

*Elumelu

*Farouk

As by-products defeat essence of probe hence the recommendations of the panel seems to have been confined to the dust bin of history.

The Otteh/Hembe drama: While the nation was still reeling over and yet to recover from the shock of the Elumelu saga, downplayed the power sector probe, a similar development emerged.

Like the others before it, this one also bothered on allegations of graft against the House Committee Chairman on Capital Market, Mr. Herman Hembe, who was saddled with the responsibility of investigating the Capital Market collapse.

The capital market probe, which attracted public enthusiasm, was initiated to look into the collapse of the stock market.

However, VF findings indicated that this general sympathy for the exercise was abruptly subdued, by allegations by the Head of the Security and Exchange Commission EC, Arunmah Otteh against Hembe.

Collapse of capital market She had accused Hembe of demanding N39m from SEC and another N5m cash request to support the investigation into the collapse of the Nigerian Capital Market, totalling N44m.

She also claimed that Hembe and the committee’s Deputy Chairman, Mr. Chris Azubogu, took first class tickets and estacode from SEC to attend a capital market conference in the Dominican Republic but did not use the money as planned.

Oteh added that the two politicians did not return the estacode to SEC. She further alleged that her refusal to part with the said sums appeared to have angered members of the panel and resulted in their seeming bias against her when she appeared before the panel.

The emergence of the claims

and counter claims, however, frustrated the probe, as attention was diverted to the Hembe/Otteh allegations. And it consequently, signalled the death of the capital market probe, as not a few were eager to know what the truth in the Otteh/Hembe saga was.

In its usual style the House referred the matter to its Ethics and Privileges Committee. At the moment, VF can reveal that many are of the opinion that the committee might sweep the matter under the carpet.

Farouk/Otedola movie: As ‘hot1 as the Hembe/Otteh saga wasthen,it however relegated the Capital Market probe to the background ,inspite of the fact that it was still fresh on many minds. But, the nation was yet confronted with a similar kind of graft allegations against lawmakers.

Chairman of Integrity group The scandal revolved around one man - Lawan, who ironically had all this while donned the cap of integrity.

Lawan it would be remembered was the chairman of the Integrity Group, a group of legislators that famously claimed to be purists during the Patricia Etteh affair.

Lawan, it is alleged, had in his capacity as the Chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on fuel subsidy, demanded and received $620, 000, as part payment of a $3million bribe to exonerate Femi Otedola and his companies from indictment in the investigations into the subsidy scam perpetrated by oil importers.

Otedola, claimed that Lawan, and the Secretary of the committee, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, collected $620,000 from him in a sting operation masterminded by the security agencies. “When he (Lawan) demanded the bribe, I called the agencies. That is because I had nothing to hide. When the bribe was paid, why did he not call and report it to the agencies

if he had nothing to,” the Zenon boss claimed.

The surprise/confusion However, for a people, who before now believed in Lawan’s integrity exaltations having same man at the centre of this controversy, has remained a shocking development.

Besides the public mood, this development has reportedly upset the leadership of the House, given that the man in the eye of the storm, had always been relied upon each time the integrity of the House is being Questioned in the court of public opinion.

W

ith this currentallegation, VF investigations revealed that there are fears that the report of the fuel subsidy probe, has been ultimately submerged by the Farouk/Otedola issue.

Presently, the matter has been referred to the ethics committee to investigate the involvement of Lawan in the $3 million bribery scandal.

Public anger/nagging questions: Against the backdrop of this development, which has become a recurring decimal, further checks revealed that the major question on the lips of many is: Why are those saddled with handling probe panels, always fingered by those they are investigating? Why does this development usually consume ongoing probes?

Interest in justice Providing answer to this, President of Coalition Against Corrupt People, COACP,Mr. Debo Adebowale observed that, “the major factor here is greed, the person that dispenses justice is not interested in real justice.”

For him, “the lawmakers are always cut in this web, because they are not honourable and distinguished as they claim.

This is what you get when people of questionable charcater are elected or rigged into the hallowed chambers. I mean we are tired of talking

because, we have not had any result. I can tell you that inspite of the number of probe panels that we have had since 1999, but who has been brought to book?.”

Continuing, Adebowale added thus: “It is for this reason that people are no longer interested in their probes that lead to no where.

We are are not fools neither are we living in the animal farm.

We are civilised people, who deserve the best from our leaders. The problem is an institutional crisis that needs to be tackled from the grassroots to the top.”

Adebowale’s position also found strength in a paper presented by a Senator, Prof Sola Adeyeye.

The report titled Probes to Nowhere: Getting the Dividends, which frowned at

,

Continues from page 44

public money spent by parliament on probes upon probes that end up in the executive waste basket! As a citizen sitting through these and watching on TV, I’m worried stiff that the politicians of my generation are missing the opportunity to make a positive change in my nation.

The consequence of such inaction can only be imagined.”

Calculated actions: But the Executive Director of Federation of Responsive Governance, Dr. Balonye Odiaka disagreed that the executive is generally responsible for the fruitless probes.

Odiaka, who agreed that it is about time Nigerians rose in unison against endless investigative probe panels, disclosed that the executive could be held responsible to some extent for the distractions that arises during probes.

Citing the Elumelu and Lawan’s case as an example, he said: “Yesterday, we talked about Elumelu, and Otteh, today it is Farouk Lawan. When you look closely into the Farouk and Elumelu issue, you discover that the issue is beyond what we are seeing and being told. The case of the duo frustrated the outcome of the reports, instead of talking about implementing the reports, we are now faced with weighty allegations against those who investigated. We should be wise and demand for a fair deal from our leaders.”

For secretary of the National Summit Group, NSG.Mr. Tony Uranta, “I think the fact that we have not fully evolved the culture of checks and balances and the culture of self

I'm now strongly of the view that we have to begin to think of how to make these probes productive for the ordinary people

consistent legislative probe that had yielded nothing.

Accordingly Adeyeye said, “I’m now strongly of the view that we have to begin to think of how to make these probes productive for the ordinary people. I mean, Mohammed Adoke, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in a preemptory strike against implementation of the subsidy Report is already declaring it only as a “fact-finding exercise”, but I wonder whether it is wise to spend such colossal sums as we have on these factfinding exercises without doing anything about their findings. How long would this continue before the bottom drops off the bucket?

“But as I stated at the beginning, I am sick and tired of public money being siphoned by unscrupulous public officials and tons of

,

accountability, especially the increasing falling standard of our value system has brought about this recurring loss of accountability in the national assembly.”

Uranta also added thus: “You know that some people, who have been found wanting by the National Assembly and have been prosecuted, have never been convicted. This might be a calculated inaction and action by the anti-graft agencies. There may be a calculated reluctance not to prosecute. I believe that government itself may not be able to do more than it is doing because it is presently fallible and riddled with corruption. It is therefore the duty of the electorate to hold all elected public officers accountable, it should not be limited to the National Assembly.”

46—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

MIDWEEK SERMON

with SAMEYOBOKA sameyoboka@yahoo.com

BRIEFLY...BRIEFLY...

Bible Society honours Danjuma, Amu, others

Masturbation is a sin, says GKS •It's not harmful—Survey

By SAM EYOBOKA, SOLA OGUNDIPE & OLAYINKA LATONA

HE God’s Kingdom Society, GKS, has condemned the assertion by a prominent Nigerian Pentecostal pastor that masturbation is not a sin but merely a habit one could cultivate and do away with. The flambouyant pastor (names withheld) was reported to have restated his position following the barrage of criticisms that trailed his assertion.

According to a press statement at the end of GKS Ministers Conference 2012, signed by the Publicity Secretary, Brother Benedict Hart, the church stated that “any means of achieving sexual pleasure that involves the waste of semen is contrary to the will of God,” even as they recalled the instance of Onan whom God killed for spilling his own semen rather than using it for the divine purpose of procre-ation, as stated in Genesis 38:8-10.

T

The ministers quoted the words of Apostle Paul who stated that those who cannot contain their sex-ual impulses should marry, “for it is better to marry than to burn” as stated in I Corinthians 7:36,9. The GKS ministers also believed that it is not the outward act of fornication and adultery that are sinful before God “but that the earnest desire or wish for it or lustfulness is counted as sinful,” as Jesus Christ made clear in Matthew 5:2730.

On the medical implications of masturbation, the statement noted that “though not much research is said to have been carried out on the subject of masturbation by medic-al scientists, yet there are medical practitioners who are convinced that mastur-bation has serious consequences on physical and mental health and that it may even lead to impotency!”

The GKS ministers’ conference is an annual gath-

ering of ministers where issues of doctrine are discussed and major decis-ions on church policies are taken. In February this year a video of a popular Nigerian faith healer surfaced on the web, where he said masturbation is not a sin. So for the people worried about offending God while doing it, according to the pastor, you have no-thing to worry about.

There's no harm in masturbation - Survey: Strictly from a medical point of view, this is something people don't talk about, yet fact is that al-most everyone does it - masturbation.

A research conducted by our Health Editor among eight men and nine women suggests that they masturbate or had masturbated at one time or the other. Of these persons are five married men, eight marr-ied women, others are unmarried and above 18 years old.

Three married men said rather than pat-ronise harlots or keep girlfriends, they

mastur-bate occasionally if their wives are not around and they feel the urge for sex. They say it is safer and there is zero possibility of getting an STI. Five married women said they are forced to masturbate so as to experience orgasm after intercourse with their husbands who do not make them to orgasm. One married woman said she has suffered many miscarriages beca-use of a weak cervix and so when she feels the urge for sex and she is pregnant, she enjoys masturbating because the doctor advised her not to have penetrative sex to avoid miscarriage. An unmarried lady said she suffers from severe painful menstruation but masturbation helps reduce the terrible pain.

Others gave different reasons According to a scientist, humans are programmed, as best we know, to need orgasms. A clinical sexologist describes orgasms as a fundamental aspect of men's health, right up there with brushing your teeth. And the more you know about what satisfies you solo, the more pleasure you get from sex.

In fact, research says a little time alone is perfect-ly healthy for you. It relie-ves stress and keeps everything about your body - your heart rate, blood pressure, reprodu-ctive system, brain chemistry - in very good shape.

An Australian study found that men who ejaculated more than five times a week were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer.

Regularly flush-ing your system, so to speak, keeps your semen healthy and prevents the build up of cancer-caus-ing chemicals.

Men are doing themselves a favour with regular ejaculation. It cleans out the plumbing. The researchers say sexual inter-course doesn't provide the same benefit because it puts you at risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection.

FORMER Minister of Defence, Lt. General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd) and Secretary of Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) Lagos State chapter, Archbishop George Amu are among the personalities to be honoured by the Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) with the Prestigious Bible awards on Thursday.

Other awardees include the managing director of Traven Limited, Mrs. Ifie Ezenwa-Ugwoke; founder of Mount Zion Faith Ministries, Evangelist Mike Bamiloye and managing director of Jawa International Limited, Mr. Verkey Verghese. The award ceremony with a theme; “Value Reorien-tation: A Panacea for National Transformation,” is scheduled for Shell Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, is part of event marking the eighth annual luncheon of the Special Members Forum of BSN. The guest speaker is Rev. Moses Iloh, presiding steward of Soul Winning Chapel and be chaired by the Senate President; Senator David Mark while former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) is father of the day.

Foursquare charges Christians on integrity NATIONAL president, Council of Foursquare Men, (CFM), Deacon Churchill Peters-Ayerume, has called on Nigerian Christian men to retrace their steps, imbibe integrity and live to the expectation of God for their lives, reports OLAYINKA LATONA. He also called on Christians to wake up to their responsibilities in reshaping the country, adding that Christians are supposed to be different from others in their daily conduct.

CFM helmsman made this statement while addressing journalists on the forthcoming annual convention with a theme; “Set on a hill” scheduled for July 12-14, at Foursquare Camp, Ajebo, Ogun State.

Peter-Ayerume said this year's theme focuses on the urgent need "for Christian men to live true to the expectation of God for our lives and set a godly standard for all men in the world." The CFM president blamed the various challenges confronting the country on corruption in high places, unemployment, decline in the economy and social injustices, believing that prayer has a place in solving the challenges. He said there will be a session of intercession for the country and its leaders.

Avwomakpa extols Waive’s virtues ARCHBISHOP God-Do-Well Avwomakpa has extolled the virtues of Rev. Ejiroghene Waive, describing him as a man who had a great zeal for the Lord at a very tender age and has stood by it till date.

Avwomakpa who made this known, yesterday, said Waive is one who has interest in education, adding that he was able combine education with ministry and has functioned well in every area he finds himself. The archbishop said: “At the higher institution, he became a figure that people relied on. Students saw him as a father and mentor, as a co-ordinator and I am not surprised to see him progressing. One spectacular thing about him is that his salvation message has not changed. He’s not lost focus. There are many preachers today who do not preach the salvation message any more. They only preach prosperity.”

Prayer festival THE Faithfuls Church holds prayer festival from July 122 at 291/293 Ikorodu Road, Maryland, Lagos. The theme: “The shadows of his wings”. According to Pastor Israel Olufemi Ibironke, the programme commences at 6.00 p.m. daily.

Boko Haram: Women urge decisive action

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GROUP of Christian women has condemned the continued attack on Christians in the north, urging the Federal Government to identify pepertrators and their sponsors and bring to justice without any further delay, reports CHRIS OCHAYI. The Diocesan Mothers’ Union/Women’s Guild of the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Diocese of Abuja,

Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Life Camp, Gwarimpa, Abuja, which made the call at its three-day conference in Abuja, regretted that the devilish activities of the sect against Christians have turned many women into premature widows and children into orphans. The theme of the conference was "They that know their God shall be strong and do ex-

ploit."

According to a communiqué signed by the vice president, Mrs. Grace Oluwaronhunbi, the women observed that the incessant bombings, particularly of churches, are a negation of the constitutional provision for freedom of worship. The conference, therefore, urged the government to take immediate steps to stop the killing and maiming of Christians.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012—47

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48 — Vanguard,

WEDNESDAY , JULY 4, 2012

Mali’s military junta powerless against rebels — UNESCO M

ALI’s embattled in terim government has ramped up diplomatic efforts to save the north from rebel fighters who have destroyed World Heritage shrines in Timbuktu and have reportedly rigged another city with mines.

The interim government in the capital Bamako, set up after the March 22 coup which led to a takeover in the north as armed groups exploited the resulting chaos, has been scrambling for assistance to regain its territory.

“We will do everything to recover our territory,” Sadio Lamine Sow, Mali’s foreign minister, told the AFP news agency, speaking at the end of a two-day visit to Algeria, where he held talks with authorities in Algiers.

The post-coup transition government has struggled to assert its authority in the face of

armed al-Qaeda-allied groups occupying the north, and Mali’s neighbours in west Africa have proposed a stronger unity government be

formed. West African leaders will meet in Burkina Faso’s capital on Saturday to discuss this option with senior Malian political figures, as the

Islamist rebels escalate efforts to exert their control in the country’s north.

In Timbuktu, where Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) have

Assad regrets downing Turkey warplane

S

YRIAN President Bashar al-Assad regrets that Syrian forces shot down a Turkish jet last month and said he would not allow the tensions between the two countries to turn into open combat, according to an interview with a Turkish newspaper.

“We learned that it belonged to Turkey after shooting it down. I say 100 per cent: ‘If only we had not shot it down’,” Assad told Cumhuriyet, a daily newspaper, in an interview published yesterday.

His comments emerged as fighting raged throughout the country.

On Monday, Syrian heli-

copters bombarded a Damascus suburb, and Turkey again scrambled warplanes near the border in the north.

Asked whether the tensions between Syria and Turkey could lead to war, Assad said: “We will not allow (the tensions) to turn into open combat between the two countries, which

enforced sharia law for the past three months, the Islamist group has smashed seven tombs of

French police raid Sarkozy’s home, office

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•President Bashar alAssad would harm them both.”

OLICE raided the home and offices of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday as part of a judicial inquiry into financial relations between his political camp and the richest woman in France, L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

It was Sarkozy’s first legal tangle since he was unseated in a May 6 elec-

Probe links Arafat’s death to poisoning IGHT years after his death, it remains a mystery exactly what killed the longtime Palestinian leader. Tests conducted in Paris found no obvious traces of poison in Arafat’s

E

system. Rumors abound about what might have killed him – cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, even allegations that he was infected with HIV. A nine-

ancient Muslim saints as well as the ‘sacred door’ to a 15th-century mosque.

month investigation by Al Jazeera has revealed that none of those rumors were true: Arafat was in good health until he suddenly fell ill on October 12, 2004.

tion after five years in office, during which he enjoyed presidential immunity from legal pursuit.

That cover expired in midJune. Sarkozy’s lawyer, Thierry Herzog, said the raids a day after his client had left for Canada on holiday would show nothing and that he had already supplied information to investigators that debunked suspicions of secret meetings with Bettencourt.

These raids ... will as expected prove futile,” Herzog said in a statement.

The Bettencourt probe centers on financial relations between Sarkozy’s centreright UMP party and the billionaire heiress of the L’Oreal cosmetics empire.

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50—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

THE AIG-IMOUKHUEDE-LED COMMITTEE REPORT ed at maturity The inclusion by PPPRA of oil marketing and trading companies that did not meet the eligibility criteria set in the guidelines for the administration of the Petroleum Support Fund in import allocations created opportunities for abuse of the process. This was also in conflict with the mandate of the PPPRA to prevent collusion and restrictive trade practices.

While the Committee notes that PPPRA was empowered to review the PSF guidelines from time to time, the revision of the eligibility criteria dropped the requirement for proof of ownership of retail outlets.

Critical determinant of capacity This was a critical determinant of the capacity of the oil marketing and trading company to distribute the products locally within Nigeria and the removal of this requirement opened up participation in the scheme to entities who were clearly incapable of fulfilling the requirements of imporProtesters daring securitymen in Lagos during the peaceful protests against increase in fuel prices by the Federal Government in tation, supply and distribution January.

Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi and whose practices were clearly not consistent with the spirit and intent of the PSF scheme.

The current PSF guidelines do not make adequate provisions for dealing with criminal activities. In quantity of the cargo •Certificates of quantity and addition, key participants in the quality are issued and signed by scheme have no personal responall the parties involved in the in- sibility for criminal actions - this is true for both importers and regspection •Documentation is forwarded ulators despite the fact that abuse of the scheme clearly amounts to The process flow for subsidy to PPPRA for subsidy claim Retail joined in the retailing of peContinues from yesterday crimes against the Fedverification and claims for oil troleum products but neither PPPRA comeral Republic of NigeIVEN the huge sums in NNPC nor the oil marketing and marketing and trading companies putes applicable ria (please see the volved, it is expedient that trading companies could meet the (as presented by a representative subsidy in line Olaniwun Ajayi & The incluPPPRA should make payments nation’s demand. IPMAN mem- of MOMAN) is as follows: with their temCo.’s legal opinion in •PPPRA provides quarterly im- plate and de- sion by PPonly on the basis of original or bers import and retail petroleum appendix 10). There authenticated documents to min- products. They have 23,026 re- port allocations to oil marketing ducts the appli- PRA of oil was no provision in the imise losses due to operational tail outlets or about 85 per cent of and trading companies cable PEF and current PSF guidelines •The oil marketing and trading PPPRA adminis- marketing and fraud risks. •The Committee the total retail outlets nationwide, for oil marketing and recommends that PPPRA should located mostly in the rural areas company applies for and obtains trative charges trading companies to and trading issue certificates of discharge to and less in the cities. Their share import permit from DPR PPPRA issues a guarantee the validity •The oil marketing and trading Sovereign Debt companies oil marketing and trading com- of storage infrastructure is insigof their subsidy claims panies as controlled forms with nificant and they import minimal- company approaches a bank to Statement to the that did not to the Federal Governapprove form M and issue an LC oil marketing and serial reference numbers gener- ly. ment of Nigeria. This •The cargo is booked with the trading company meet the ated by PPPRA. This will be a MOMAN members also import meant that there was mitigant to forgery. and retail petroleum products. supplier (attaching PP- eligibility no deterrent to prevent Notice of arrival of the vessel is PRA and PEF •The Committee recommends They own 2,453 retail outlets or oil marketing and tradthat going forward, PPPRA about nine per cent of the retail declared to DPR, PPPRA, Feder- charges payable) criteria set ing companies from should compare the volume of outlets nationwide, located most- al Ministry of Finance, Nigerian The oil market- in the guidemaking false subsidy products discharged as stated on ly in the cities. They have a rea- Navy, Nigerian Customs Service, ing and trading claims. lines for the the shore tank certificates with the sonable market share of importa- e.t.c. company prostated volume on the DPR prod- tion and own about nine per cent vides evidence of administrahe revision of the REPORT OF THE TECHNI- payment of PPuct certificates and payment of of the country’s storage capacity eligibility criteria tion of the CAL COMMITTEE ON PAY- PRA and PEF subsidy should be restricted to for petroleum products. for oil marketing and MENT OF FUEL SUBSIDIES only instances where there is corcharges to DMO Petroleum trading companies in Ship-to-ship transfer (STS) relation between the discharged Storage of petroleum PPPRA trans- Support the PSF guidelines by takes place if the vessel is bigger mits verified docvolumes of products on both cer- products PPPRA removed the than the draft of the jetty (only uments to Feder- Fund in tificates. The Federal Government requirement for the cashould establish a regulation proDAPPMA/JEFTON members two private sector jetties in Nige- al Ministry of Fi- import allopacity to finance a mincess for the industry that must in- own depots and jetties mostly in ria have the capacity to discharge nance and advicimum cargo size of clude the documentation require- the coastal areas of the country a vessel of 30,000MT). The car- es the Federal cations cre5,OOOMT. This was ments at each stage of the vari- and their sole role is supposed to go is inspected by PPPRA, DPR, Ministry of Fi- ated opporan indication of the caous processes. be the storage of petroleum prod- independent marine inspector, nance to deduct tunities for pacity of the oil marketOIL MARKETING & TRAD- ucts from which they earn Federal Ministry of Finance applicable PEF ing and trading comING COMPANIES’ VALUE throughput fees. They own 1,200 (through Budget Office of the and PPPRA ad- abuse of the pany to deliver the alCHAIN (IMPORT, SUPPLY retail outlets or about four per cent Federation) appointed auditors, m i n i s t r a t i v e located quantity of process AND DISTRIBUTION OF PE- of the retail outlets in the country Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Cus- charges products and the reTROLEUM PRODUCTS) ‘Federal Minisand about 74 per cent of the coun- toms Service, e.t.c. moval of this require•Storage tanks are fiscalised try of Finance The oil marketing and trading try’s storage capacity for petroment indirectly created companies are principally in- leum products (NNPC owns 403 before discharge (through Budget Office of the the potential opportunity for com•Vessel discharges cargo into Federation) appointed auditors panies without capital adequacy volved in importation, storage retail outlets or about two per cent and retailing of petroleum prod- of the retail outlets and about 17 storage tanks verify the documentation to be granted allocations to im•Storage tanks are fiscalised afucts (e.g. PMS, DPK, AGO and per cent of the country’s storage •DMO issues SON port products. others). A few years ago NNPC capacity for petroleum products). ter discharge to determine the •SON discounted or liquidatTo be continued

How they shared subsidy money (3) G

T

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012—51

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52—

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

Serena storms into semifinals S

erena Williams’s bid for a fifth Wimbledon singles championship gained momentum yesterday, when she stifled the defending champion, Petra Kvitova, 6-2, 7-5, to advance to the semifinals. Much to her consternation, Williams has not captured a Grand Slam title since winning Wimbledon in 2010, and her suspect baseline play and sloppy footwork have fueled skepticism that this would be the tournament to snap that streak.

But unlike in her previous two matches — both struggles, both tense three-set duels —

Williams often dictated points against Kvitova, often on the strength of her serve and service return. Williams ripped 13 aces against Kvitova, running her total to a tournament-leading 61.

Williams’s early dominance in the first set, in which she recorded 17 winners and only four unforced errors, gave way to a taut second set featuring the best of grass-court tennis — aggressive play, big serves and brief, but intense, rallies.

Serving at 5-5, 30-0, Kvitova committed four consecutive mistakes to cede the break to Williams. Serving for the match, Williams blasted

three aces and on match point clobbered a 116miles-per-hour serve out wide that grazed Kvitova’s racket frame.

There were no leaps of celebration from Williams

after this victory, no exultations of joy. It was a much more subdued reaction, perhaps in part because Williams did not fight herself as much Tuesday. She

seemed in control from the outset, even as she traded service games with Kvitova in the second set.

Four Germans in quarter finals

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hilipp Kohlschreiber advanced to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon on Tuesday, making it the first time that four Germans have made it through to the quarterfinals of the world’s most prestigious tennis event.

Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Brian Baker of the United States 6-1, 7-6, 63 on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

Kohlschreiber is to face the winner of the match between Jo -Wilfried Tsonga of France and the American, Mardy Fish, in the quarters.

The victory was significant in a couple of ways; not only was it the first time that Kohlschreiber, who is 28, has advanced to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event, but it also means that for the first time, four Germans will be represented in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

Kohlschreiber joined his Davis Cup teammate Florian Mayer in the next round, after Mayer defeated Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-3, 61, 3-6, 6-2 to advance.

This is the second time that the 29-year-old Mayer has advanced the quarterfinals of the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament, having done so once previously in 2004.

“It’s a wonderful dream for me. Eight years ago I already got to the quarterfinals here, and now it’s happened again,” said Mayer.

Murray: I don’t want preferential treatment

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ndy Murray says he is happy to play on Court One after he dodged the showers to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon with victory over Marin Cilic.

“I honestly don’t care which court I play on. It makes no difference but obviously every player would rather be on

Murray

Centre Court because you know you are going to get your match in regardless of the weather. I don’t think I deserve to play every match on Centre Court.

It’s just annoying when the weather is bad. I haven’t always dealt with rain delays that well in the past, so it’s good experience for me.

Probably from now on I will play on Centre so it won’t be a problem.

“We stopped obviously a lot. You’re always a little bit edgy when you come out after a rain delay when you have the momentum with you. You stop, and then you come back out, and it feels a bit like you start from scratch again.

Tsonga floors Fish

F

renchman JoWilfried Tsonga beat American Mardy Fish to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon for the third year running yesterday, finally prevailing after countless rain delays.

Fifth seed Tsonga lost the opening set on Monday before play was abandoned but returned at lunchtime on Tuesday to gradually reel in Fish and claim a 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-4 victory.

The match hinged on the second set tiebreak when Tsonga warmed up the crowd with some inspired tennis to level on a cool and drizzly Court Two. Tsonga saved break points before serving out the third set and then forged 4-2 ahead in the fourth before rain returned to halt his progress.

When the skies eventually lightened Tsonga knocked off the two games he needed to set up a quarter-final against Germany ’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.

•Serena

•Kohlschreiber

•Tsonga

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54—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 — 55

Don’t panic over Nations Cup draws — Kanu HEAD of tomor row’s 2013 Africa Cup of Nation’s draw in South Africa, former Nigeria captain Nwankwo Kanu yesterday boasted that the Super Eagles were still a force to be reckoned with in African football.

Speaking after the official opening ceremony of the 1st Greensprings/ Kanu Football camp in Lagos yesterday, the former Arsenal star said, “nobody should panic over who the Super Eagles opponents will be because Nigeria is a big name and we have a good team. It is our opponents that should panic; not us.”

The Atlanta ’96 gold medalist reckoned that Coach Stephen Keshi was doing a “great job” and “should be encouraged.” Continuing,

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Kanu who had just arrived from London where he took part in Olympic Torch Tour said Nigerians should be patient with Keshi’s rebuilding process.

“The word rebuilding entails patience. I believe Keshi is on the right track. We have to give him all the support to succeed.”

Kanu posited that with programmes like the Greensprings/KANU Football camp in place, Nigeria’s glory days in football would return soon.

“That’s why I did not think twice before saying yes when they called.”

Over 300 kids attending the camp were on hand to cheer the former Nigeria international at the Lekki Campus of Greensprings schools.

PRESS conference to herald an annual Football Awards to honour deserving individuals, teams and corporate bodies over a whole football season will come up on Tuesday in Lagos.

The Nigeria Football Federation, in conjunction with Matchmakers Consult International Limited, will reveal plans and modus operandi for what has been dubbed ‘Nigeria Pitch Awards’ and which inaugural edition is slated for December this year, at a world press conference inside the

A

TANGLE . . . Super Eagles match maker, Ike Uche duels on ball possession against a Namibian opponent during their match in Calabar. Photo: Sylva Eleanya

Villas-Boas is Spurs head coach NDRE-Villas Boas has been confirmed as Tottenham Hotspur’s new head coach. The 34-year-old’s appointment marks his return to the Premier League just four months after his departure from Chelsea, where he was sacked eight months into a three-year contract.

Villas-Boas will be hoping to rebuild his

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reputation at Spurs after succeeding Harry Redknapp, who left the post last month after four years at the helm. A post on the club’s official Twitter account read: “The club is delighted to announce Andre VillasBoas as head coach.”

Villas-Boas has penned a three-year deal at White Hart Lane and brings with him two

Nigeria withdraws Men’s 4x400m Continues from B/Page leased yesterday by the IAAF, we are therefore withdrawing the 4x400m from our original team to the London Games,” observed the statement from the AFN president.

At the briefing on Monday at Sports City, AFN listed Saul Weigopwa, Abiola Onakoya, Isah Saliu, Tobi Ogunmola, Segun Ogunkole and Godday James as members of the 4x400m team to the Games.

The relay quartet of Isah Saliu, Abiola Onakoya, Amaechi Morton and Saul Weigopwa ran the race of their lives on the final day of the African Championships in Port Novo to claim the

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men’s 4x400m gold. Nigerian captain, Weigopwa out ran Botswana’s last leg on the curve of the home stretch to hit the finish line in 3.02: 39 secs. Botswana got disqualified for South Africa (3.04.12secs) to profit while the bronze went to Kenya (3.04.21).

“We were hoping that the 3.02 was good enough to see Nigeria in the last 16 position. We knew that IAAF uses the aggregate margin of each countries two best times to correlate those to make the final cut of 16 team but it is quite unfortunate that we could not pull through,” stressed Chief Ogba who remains positive of Team Nigeria’s good outing at the London Games.

NFF, Matchmakers hold press parley for Football Awards

members of his coaching staff in the form of firstteam fitness coach Jose Mario Rocha and Daniel Sousa, head of opposition scouting. ”Tottenham Hotspur is a great club with a strong tradition and fantastic support, both at home and throughout the world,” Villas-Boas told the club’s official website, www.tottenhamhotspur.com.

“I feel privileged to be its coach. For me, this is one of the most exciting coaching positions in the Premier League. ”I have had several discussions with the chairman and the board and I share their vision for the future progress of the

NNOCENT Egbunike, Head Coach of Nigeria’s Athletic team to the upcoming 2012 London Olympic Games, has assured Nige-

•Egbunike,

Women’s football league crisis deepens HE crisis rocking the leadership of the Nigeria Women’s League took a dive for the worst on Tuesday with three more members of the league body calling for a meeting to once and for all end the sordid state of affairs.

Comrade Grace Iyorhe, from Benue state, who at various times played, referred and was a match commissioner of several years standing, said she was

T

saddened by the manner Onyedinma, has led the body and can longer wait for change to be effected. “As I speak with you, I have withdrawn from activities of the women’s league body, because of lack of direction and I have told those who care to listen that we must be prepared to rescue the game from those who are only interested in positions but not working for the position attained.

President Jonathan hands over Team Nigeria to NOC •Villas Boas club. This is a squad any coach would love to work with and together I believe we can bring success in the seasons ahead.”

Egbunike vows to ensure best Olympic outing in London

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Lagos Airport Ibis Hotel, Ajao Estate starting from noon.

NFF President Aminu Maigari, 1st Vice President Mike Umeh, Chairman of Technical SubCommittee Chris Green, General Secretary Musa Amadu and Director of Marketing Idris Adama are among dignitaries expected at the occasion.

On the margin of the Football Awards will be a seminar and an international charity football match on ‘Kick Human Trafficking Out of Football’.

rians of a memorable Olympic outing.

Egbunike, who gave the assurance on Tuesday, said: “We are aiming to have the best outing for the country”.

He said the 31 athletes selected for the games were the best, having met the‘ A standard’ qualification for the games.

According to him, some of them have participated in many international meets to reach the standard.

Continues from B/Page Team Nigeria to be officially handed over to the Olympic body before their departure to Surrey Camp in London on Sunday where they are expected to put finishing touches to their preparations before storming the Olympic Village.

“Invitations have been given out and we expect a grand send-forth and handing over of Team Nigeria to the Nigeria Olympic Committee. We have enjoyed a siamese relelationshipe with the National Sports Commission and we expect this relationship to translate into good medals at the Olympics”, Popoola said.

Director General of the NSC, Dr Patrick Ekeji who will serve as Chef de Mission of Team Nigeria with his deputy

chef de Mission, Yakumut Alhassan would add colour to the event. Presidents of Sports Federations, Acting British High Commissioner, Mike Purves, Political and Press Secretary Hooman Nouruzi and Communication Manager, Wale Adebajo would be there to wish Team Nigeria well.

Chief Solomon Ogba who led Team Nigeria to win the African Athletic championships in Porto Novo would also add colour to the event.

President Ndanusa said that the compact nature of Team Nigeria would send shock waves as Government has done so much more to place them in the front burner for the Olympics.

“We’re going to compete with other countries. We are not going to participate. And with God, all things will be well”, he said.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

President Jonathan hands over Team Nigeria to NOC P

RESIDENT Good luck Ebele Jonathan will tomorrow perform the traditional handing over of Team Nigerian athletes to the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, in a grand reception billed for Sheraton Hotels, Lagos.

Sports Minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi lead the who is who in Nigerian Sports in presenting Team Nigeria to the President who in turn will handover the team to the President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Engr Sani M. Ndanusa.

NOC Scribe, Honourable Tunde Popoola confirmed yesterday that the stage was set for

•Ndanusa

•President Jonathan

Don’t panic over Nations Cup draws — Kanu — Pg 55

Continues on Page 55

Olympics: Nigeria withdraws Men’s 4x400m T HISTORIC ••• Nigeria's 4x100 Women relay celebrate their bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics. Team Nigeria will be handed over to NOC tomorrow for London 2012 Olympics.

TODAY'S

PUZZLES

YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

HE Athletic Federa tion of Nigeria (AFN) has withdrawn Team Nigeria’s men’s 4x400m squad from this year’s Olympiad in London.

President of the AFN,

Chief Solomon Ogba said yesterday in a statement that the withdrawal followed the none qualification of Nigeria for the event.

“When we listed our team for the Games on

Monday afternoon, we were hoping that our men’s 4x400m relay squad will be among the final 16 countries. But following the list re Continues on Page 55

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Obeisance (6) 5 Boil (6) 9 Correct (5) 10 Drink in (6) 11 Skilful (6) 12 Gay (5) 14 Plant (4) 17 Fish eggs (3) 18 Thaw (4) 20 Loathed (5) 22 Skirmish (5) 23 Cooked (7) 24 Afresh (5) 26 Linger (5) 29 Pool (4) 30 Permit (3) 32 Row (14) 33 Trimmed (5) 35 Wanted (6) 36 Chatter (6) 37 Vote (5) 38 Subside (6) 39 Barely (6)

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YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Step 4, Raw 6, Luck 8, Second 9, Legend 10, Eat 12, Below 14, Flood 15, Tamed 18, Recede 20, Ironed 24, Rapir 26, Scent 28, Might 30, Tea 32, Tuxedo 33, Client 34, Rely 35,Bad 36, Edenn.

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

DOWN: 2, Theme 3, Promote 4, Rude 5, Wilt 6, Legend 7, Condone 11, Ape 12, Bar 13, Wad 16, Met 17, Dip 19, Exclude 21, Orifice 23, Dot 25, Ale 27, Needy 29, Hinge 30, Tomb 31, Acid.

e-mail: rowolove@yahoo.co.uk

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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