AS PDP CRISIS DEPENS: Jonathan begs Govs Aliyu, Lamido by Vanguard Media Limited

C M Y K

PAGE 2 —SUNDAY V anguard Vanguard anguard,, JANUARY 5, 2014

C M Y K

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014,

PAGE 3

PAGE 4 —SUNDAY V anguard Vanguard anguard,, JANUARY 5, 2014

Last week in brief

By Mariam Eko

Rivers House Majority Leader arrested for murder

IVERS State House of Assembly Majority Leader, Hon. Chidi Lloyd, was arrested for alleged murder of a police man, Sergeant Urang Obediah, and one Mr

Kingsley Ejeu, said to be a political opponent. Lloyd was said to have been arrested while trying to escape in a private jet parked at the airforce base, Port -Harcourt.

He was alleged to be pursuing Ejeu who was driving a Passat car, and in the process, knocked down Obediah and moved over to attack Ejeu who died on the spot.

New year tragedy as gunmen attack church

USPECTED Fulani herdsmen attacked a church during the New Year cross-over service at

Maikatako village in Bokkos local government council of Plateau State. The gunmen stormed the

church and opened fire, killing three people on the spot while 16 others sustained severe injuries.

Suspected ritualist arrested in Enugu Barely 100 Christian widows from Maiduguri and Jere received food items, wrappers and money from the wife of Borno State Governor for the yuletide season. From Right: Wife of Borno State Governor Her Excellency Hajia Nana Kashim-Shettima, wife of the Deputy Governor Her Excellency Hajia Hansatu Zannah and one of the beneficiaries.

NUGU State police command arrested three suspected ritualists in Oji River.

A statement by the spokesperson of the command, Mr Ebere Amaraizu, said the suspects

were arrested following complaints that they were fake gynecologists; money ritualists and extorting money from people under false pretence. Amaraizu added that another suspected kidnapper/murderer, who had been on the run, was also nabbed.

Kaduna PDP moves to stop defection

HE People’s Demo cratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State commenced a membership drive to replace those who defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC). It denied there was mass defection from PDP to APC, saying that there will soon be a large number of members of other political parties that will join PDP as the party remains the strongest, most popular and stable political entity in Kaduna and Nigeria.

Rep. Bamidele’s aides remanded over alleged murder

WO aides of the House of Representatives member, Mr Opeyemi Bamidele, were accused of planning to murder Senior Special Assistant on Internal Security to Ekiti State governor, Mr Deji Adesokan. The accused were allegedly arrested at Adesokan’s premises with a Baretta pistol loaded with eight rounds of ammunition. They pleaded not guilty to the charge after their arraignment. The presiding magistrate, Simon Ojo, who ordered the accused to be detained in prison, refused their application for bail, adding that the offence committed posed security threat to the state. C M Y K

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014 — PAGE 5

Chime endorses Jonathan for re-election BY TONY EDIKE

OVERNOR Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, yesterday, threw his weight behind President Goodluck Jonathan, saying the people of the state would give him total support if and when he decides to seek re-election in 2015. Chime declared that Enugu would not welcome any opposition party as it remains a PDP state. He spoke during the inauguration of the 17 newly elected local government chairmen and their deputies in Enugu. Chime asked Jonathan not to bother coming to Enugu to campaign for re-election as no opposition exists in the state. ”We pledge our total support and loyalty to the PDP and President Jonathan. We support him and his programmes. We wish to assure him that so long as he is in the race for 2015 presidency, he should not bother to come to Enugu State to campaign. When and if he decides to run, he should count on our total support. We don’t need APC here, so he is sure of our support,” the governor said. He told Enugu politicians serving at the National Assembly to start early to attune themselves to the political realities in the state as they affect 2014, saying it was time for

them to start “oiling the machines” in preparation for future elections. “This is election year eve. Very soon, we will be nominating our candidates for various offices in the state and at the national levels. This is the time for us to start coming together. We know how to do it but this is the time for our

people outside to start relating with the people at home. ”Our brothers in Abuja should start coming home to interact with our people and not remain in Abuja to play politics. We won’t allow them to move away, we have all worked well, so we must all come home and continue to work together,” Chime said.

Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State (left), in a handshake with the former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, at the inauguration ceremony of the 17 Council Chairmen of the State, at the Michael Okpara Square, Enugu.

Ooni, Alaafin supremacy tussle ends soon – Yoruba monarchs •’Ego is a problem’ BY OLA AJAYI, Ibadan

RADITIONAL rulers in the South-west have restated their resolve to end the rivalry between the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, and Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi. This came just as the monarchs said they would likely mediate in the feud between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and her daughter, Mrs. Iyabo Obasanjo. This was disclosed at a meeting held by the Yoruba Obas Conflict Resolution Committee at the Premier Hotel in Ibadan yesterday. The Ooni and Alaafin have for many years been embroiled in a supremacy tussle among

SOLUTION

Yoruba monarchs. While noting that the cause of enmity among monarchs in the zone was ego, the committee assured that it would not be distracted from its mandate. The Olugbo of Ugboland, Oba Fredrick Obateru Akinruntan, the chairman of the

committee, said, “ We have achieved a lot after setting up this committee. We discovered that the genesis of rivalry among Yoruba obas was nothing but ego. We have succeeded in that we have been able to make our traditional rulers speak with one voice”.

On the Alaafin and Ooni feud, he said, “They are our senior obas. We are not competent to judge them. We are their children. They have been our rulers for many years. But we are sure they would come together very soon”. Akinruntan added,”

“On the feud between Obasanjo and Iyabo, it is a family matter and it is also a political matter. “We don’t want to make comments on it. We will see what we can do about it. We will settle it in a matter of time. When we leave here, we will meet Obasanjo to know what actually happened.”

Jonathan begs Aliyu, Lamido Continued from page 1 time to persuade warring Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and his Jigawa State counterpart, Alhaji Sule Lamido, to return fully to the PDP before the NEC meeting.

he NEC meeting, earlier fixed for Wednesday, January 8, will now hold on January 16, with the BoT meeting scheduled for January 15 and the National Caucus meeting slated for January 14. It was gathered that the Presidency got strong evidence that the anti-Tukur forces, led by a South-south governor and a minister, who is also from the Southsouth, compelled the party hierarchy to postpone the meetings. A party leader told Sunday Vanguard, last night, that the governor, who has the ears of many other PDP

governors, was frontally opposed to the continued retention of Tukur and had successfully mobilised for the removal of the party chairman during the NEC meeting.

he governor was said to have met and agreed with the South-south minister, who is also close to Jonathan, to impress upon other governors to do all that was necessary to remove Tukur at the meeting. However, Jonathan, who is opposed to disgracing the party boss out of office, reportedly asked for the postponement of the two meetings to allow for peace to reign. The argument of the governor and the minister is that apart from being loyal to Jonathan, Tukur has allowed the party to be factionalised to a point that five governors left. But the pro-Jonathan camp within the party

allegedly argued for the retention of Tukur because of his exceptional loyalty to the p r e s i d e n t .

he meeting was also said to have been postponed at the instance of the president to give the party leadership more time to persuade Governors Aliyu and Lamido to forget the past and fully return to the party ahead of the 2015 elections. Jonathan was alleged to have expressed worry that the true position of the two governors on the party remained unknown even though they did not defect along with their five colleagues in the G7 last December to the opposition All Progressive Congress, APC. But the Secretary of the PDP BoT, Senator Walid Jibrin, explained that the meetings were postponed for logistics reason and to enable

members return from their Christmas and New Year break. ”We actually want to have a full house during the meetings so that all party issues could be effectively discussed,” Jibrin said.

t will be recalled that prior to the defection of Governors Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara; Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto; Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano; Murtala Nyako of Adamawa and Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers to APC, there was pressure on Tukur to convene the NEC meeting where the problems of the PDP would be addressed against the backdrop that the last NEC was held before the August 31, 2013 Special National Convention. The NEC meeting ought to have taken place in the third week of December last year, but was shelved for inexplicable reasons.

PAGE 6 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014

Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire; flanked by the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba (left); and Special Adviser to the State Governor on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello, during a media briefing on the battering of one Mrs. Ossai Alexandra by her Lebanese boss, at Alausa Ikeja Lagos. PHOTO: Bunmi Azeez

Vice President Namadi Sambo, (sitting), in a handshake with Rt Hon Victor OcheiSpeaker, Delta State House of Assembly during Chief Tony Anenih’s 80th birthday thanksgiving service in Uromi, Edo State.

APC MOVES TO DOUSE TENSION Commences members’ registration mid-January BY JIDE AJANI

HE opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, has set a machinery in motion to douse the over-swirling lava of acrimony in some state chapters of the party over power sharing. A high powered committee led by a former governor of Edo State, John Oyegun, and onetime Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, national chairman, Kawu Baraje, is already on tour of the troubled states. The power sharing crisis, sources in APC told Sunday Vanguard, has been limited to the three states of Adamawa, Kano and Sokoto states. Talks are on-going with leaders of the party in those states.

One of the leaders of APC said “the so-called crisis in our party is being exaggerated. ”He continued, what Nigerians must understand about the defection of the five governors to our party is that conditions were given and met

before they moved. ”The demand they made was that as state governors, special treatment being enjoyed by sitting APC state governors had to be extended to them too. ”And this special treatment was simply that

they would be allowed like their APC governorcounterparts - to nominate chapter chairmen of the party in their states. ”We agreed to that demand and it was only sensible to so agree because a state governor can not join the party in

HE Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta, last night, confirmed the arrest of six persons in Ogu Bolo local government area of Rivers State over illegal

It’s a must win war – Jonathan BY ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has assured of the determination of his administration to tackle terrorism. Addressing graduands of Police Academy, Wudil, Kano State, yesterday,

possession of fire arms. Spokesman of the JTF, Lt Col Nwachukwu, who confirmed the development, said the suspects were handed over to the police. Fielding questions from Sunday Vanguard on the political status of the suspects, Nwachukwu insist-

Atiku, Okorocha for Chosen Crusade BY SAM EYOBOKA

ORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Gov. Rochas Okoricha of Imo State among other eminent Nigerians are expected to grace the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries crusade which commenced yesterday. Two persons, Mr. Sunday Igwebuike and Mrs. Ikwunze Nma, who claimed to have had Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), yesterday, gave testimonies before

exercise which commences mid-January to be followed by our congresses”. Sunday Vanguard was made to understand that the congresses of the party would hold at the end of the first quarter of this year.

AS ARMY BOOSTS STRENGTH WITH 9,000 SOLDIERS TO TACKLE TERROR AS Jonathan, who was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo, stated: “It is extremely imperative that all efforts and resources be deployed towards the achievement of the primary constitutional mandate of provision of security of lives and property.”

He added, “In so doing, it is necessary that while we procure the necessary technology and infrastructures, we must not lose sight of the fact that the most viable asset available is human resources”. The president stressed that it is in line with this that the Federal Govern-

ARMS POSSESSION 6 suspected aides of Rivers lawmaker arrested BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

the state and you now relegate him. ”But the in-coming governors were also made to understand that the arrangement was interim. ”Whatever arrangement on ground now in all the states would give way after our registration

thousands of worshippers that they were healed of the disease after prayer sessions during a recent service of the church in Lagos. The self-confessed former AIDS victims’ faces shone with rapturous joy while giving testimonies about God’s healing power through Pastor Lazarus Muoka during the first phase of the church’s yearly January crusade held at Mgbidi community in Oru West Local Government Area of Imo State.

ed they were only arrested for illegal possession of fire arms. ” I don’t know their political status. All I can say is that they were arrested for illegal possession of arms. We don’t know about their political status. We have handed them over to the police.” A text message he later sent read: “As at January 3, 2014, six suspected hoodlums with arms were arrested during a routine patrol at Ogu community in Ogubolo local government area. Items recovered were 7 x AK7, 164 rounds of ammunition and six locally made canon launchers. Suspects were handed over to the Nigeria Police yesterday. They were arrested for illegal possession of fire arms and not for any reason of political or social affiliation as being wrongly insinuated. Spokesman of the JTF in Rivers State and 2 Bri-

gade, Port Harcourt, Major Michael Etete, also confirmed the arrest when called last night. Meantime, a report said the six youths were loyalists of a member of the state House of Assembly. The source said the suspects were driving in a Land Rover jeep when they were arrested; adding that one of them is a security adviser to the lawmaker When contacted to know if any of his aides was arrested by the JTF, the lawmaker, however, said there was nothing like that, saying it was a ploy to divert attention from the arrest of the Leader of the House of Assembly, Hon Chidi Lloyd. Hon Lloyd was picked by the police days ago over alleged murder of a sergeant and a civilian described as a political rival from Emohua local government area.

ment recruited 9,000 soldiers into Nigerian Army recently to boost man power. Jonathan charged the graduating cadet officers to use the skill acquired during the 19 months course to boost the fight against crime and terrorism. Speaking also at the occasion, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, tasked the graduands to translate into action the skill acquired while the training lasted, just as he charged them to reposition for effective service delivery.

‘’Our mission and vision is to promote a combat ready police force that will tackle the daunting security challenges confronting the nation.” The Chairman, House of Reps Committee, Police Affairs, Usman Bello Kumo, who also spoke at the event, called for increase in the funding of the police to assist them live upto their responsibility. Kumo assured that the National Assembly will provide the legal frame work to fast rack the reformation of the police, adding that policing is a collective responsibility.

Fashola appoints 7 new Perm Secs, Tutors General BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

OVERNOR Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has approved the appointment of seven new Permanent Secretaries including three Tutors-General in the state public service. The appointment takes effect from Tuesday, December 31, 2013. A statement by the Head of Service, Mrs. Josephine Oluseyi Williams, stated that the new Per-

manent Secretaries are Engr. Olujimi Nunayon Hotonu; Mrs. Oluwatoyin Adepeju Adegbuji-Onikoyi; Mrs. Jokotola Ojosipe-Ogundimu and Mr. Micheal Olajuwon Dawodu. The Tutors-General are: Mrs. Florence Adebola Ogunfidodo, Mr. Yinka Gbemi Olaniyi and Mrs. Margaret Titilayo Solarin. The new Permanent Secretaries will be sworn-in tomorrow at Lagos House, Ikeja.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 7

We need political soldiers in S/West to challenge Tinubu — Kashamu BY OLA AJAYI, Ibadan

s the country prepares for the 2015 elections, a Peoples Democratic Party leader in the South-west, Prince Buruji Kashamu, has said the party needed “political soldiers that can mobilize and organize in order to challenge our enemy”. Buruji, who attended a congress held at the Le Chateau Hall, Bodija, Ibadan, yesterday, said the number one enemy the party has in the zone is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. According to him, for the party to reclaim the South-west states from the opposition, it must be

ready to face its enemies. He said, “As the chairman of the organization and mobilization committee, I believe in myself that if we are to win the Southwest, we need strong people, political soldiers that can mobilize and organize in order to challenge our enemy. And who are our enemies? We all know that our number one enemy in the Southwest is Bola Tinubu. ”And when you are not strong, tough and sure of yourself, you don’t have anywhere to go if you have to contend with people like him. If we are ready to work, I am ready to go if you will stand by me. If you are ready, let us start with EKITI

governorship election and make it a sample to them”. Also speaking at the congress, the chairman of the PDP in Ogun State, Mr. Bayo Dayo, reaffirmed the support of the zone for the National Secretary of the party, Professor Olawale Oladipo, National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and President Goodluck Jonathan. All the PDP chairmen in the zone called on the national leadership of the party to approve a date in January to organize their zonal congress. The National Internal Auditor of the PDP, Mr. Adewole Adeyanju, said the party would overcome the current challenges.

2015: Ango Abdullahi's war drums won't stop Jonathan— Onuesoke BY EPHRAIM OSEJI

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in 2007 general elections and currently Special Project Director in the office of Delta State Governor, Chief Sunny Onuesoke, says Professor Ango Abdullahi and his northern associates threat of war should President Goodluck Jonathan contest in 2015 will not stop the

president from contesting. Onuesoke, in a press statement, said rather than the threat of war deterring the president from contesting in 2015, it would encourage him to test his popularity. “Even if Goodluck Jonathan does want to run before, for the fact that the northerners are making it to look as if they are the owner of this country by their utterances, the president must run whether he

likes it or not. We southerners are waiting for the war drums the northerners are beating. “They are surprised by Jonathan’s achievements and know that majority of Nigerians would want Goodluck to remain till 2019. That is why the are beating the drums of war to destabilize the election. I have always told them to wait for their turn because after South- south, Southeast, it will be the turn

From left: Oba Raphael Olatunde; Oniwere of Iwere-Oke;Oba Saliu Oyemonla Sabigana of Igana, Secreatary; Oba Frederick Akinruntan, Olugbo of Ugbo, Chairman, Yoruba Obas Conflict Resolution Committee; Oba Sikiru Obatula, Olojodu of Ojodu, Treasurer; Oba Victor Adetona Ologbagi of Ogbagi, at the meeting of the Yoruba Obas Conflict Resolution Committee, held at the Premier Hotel, Ibadan yesterday. Pix by Dare Fasube

L - R, Deputy Speaker, House of Reps. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, his wife, Lady Ebere, and General Secretary, Progressive Association of Nigerians in Diaspora, Dr Charlie Nzeakor, during a grand reception in honour of the Deputy Speaker by the Association held at Disney Hotel Owerri, Imo State

of Middle-Belt before it will gets to the North,” Onuesoke disclosed. Maintaining that Jonathan has the constitutional right to contest and cannot be stopped by any threat of war or ethnic gang up, the PDP stalwart argued that Ango Abdullahi and his associates ought to be in the vanguard of the unity of our country rather tearing the country apart because the country is led by a person from the minority.

Envoy to US, Adefuye, bags Best Performing Diplomat Award BY ADEOLA ADENUGA

he Nigerian Ambassador to the United States (US), H.E. Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye, will, on January 19, receive the King Legacy Award for International Service in Washington DC. The award is usually for the person considered to be the best performing diplomat from the black

world. Minister of Culture, Mr Edem Duke, is expected to witness the presentation of the award. A letter to Adefuye by the Chair of the International Salute Committee of An International Salute To The Life And Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., A Man For All Nations, Madeline Y. Lawson, reads, inter alia,

“In a tribute to the legacy of Dr King, each year the committee recognizes the distinguished leadership of individuals who have positively impacted the global community with the King Legacy Award on Height Leadership Award. For 2014, the committee has selected you to receive the King Legacy Award for International Service. “The International

Kogi constituency passes vote of no abysmal performance of confidence on Rep Mohammed Idris as a BY BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO

he people of Ankpa/ Omala/Olamaboro Federal Constituency, Kogi State have passed a vote of no confidence on the member representing their constituency at the House of Representatives, Muhammed Idris, describing his election as a “ wasted mandate”.

The President of Kogi East Concerned Forum, Edibo Adejoh Musa, who spoke on behalf of the constituency, lamented “the non-performance of the lawmaker” who is the son of former Governor Ibrahim Idris. Edibo labelled M u h a m m e d ’ s constituency projects as window dressing. “The

representative has only confirmed the initial fear of the people of his constituency that he is a stranger.” The constituency spokesperson said Muhammed is an Abuja politician, pointing out that the lawmaker last visited his constituency in May, 2011 when he won election.

Salute has been held annually since 1992 as a way of sharing Dr. King’s historical work home and abroad. In so doing, it brings together a broad segment of the global community to reinforce the importance of continuing the work begun by Dr. King.”

Delta PDP sues for peace ahead of 2015 general was put in place following elections past acrimonies that had BY VICTOR AHUIMAYOUNG

EOPLES Democratic Party, PDP, in Delta State has stressed the importance of peaceful coexistence among members of the party ahead of 2015 general elections. Chairman of the party in Delta State, Chief Peter Nwaoboshi, who spoke on new year day at the peace party for PDP members in Ika South Local Government Area of the state at Agbor, said the people should be committed to the peace agenda of the state government, which has helped in the transformation of the state. The event, sponsored by the PDP leader in Ika South, Dr. Cairo Ojougbo,

dwarfed the fortunes of the party in the area. The chairman reaffirmed his belief in the peace agenda and oneness of Delta, noting that anything that would scuttle the relative peace in the area should be d i s c a r d e d . E a r l i e r, Ojougbo, a former member of the House of Representatives and leader of the party in Ika South, had charged the people to remain resolute, focused and united ahead of 2015. A friend of the party and Permanent Secretary, Government House, Asaba, Mr. Tony Obuh, commended Ojougbo for hosting the party men and women which he said came at a time the people should identify themselves as one family.

New Year: Interior Minister preaches national unity Media, George Udoh, He added that BY ADEOLA ADENUGA

he Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, has congratulated Nigerians as we entered a new year, even as he urged them to place national unity, tolerance, peace, stability and progress above all other considerations Moro, in his new year message, signed by his Special Assistant on

thanked God for Nigerians and the nation at large, noting that inspite of the security challenges afflicting a section of the country, it has remained strong and united under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan The Minister further appealed to Nigerians to resolve in the new year to contribute more significantly to the attainment of our collective aspirations.

the leaders and followers have their different roles to play to take Nigeria to greater height, stressing that the current administration under the headship of President Jonathan is committed to the transformation agenda.Moro therefore called for prayers of Nigerians for Jonathan and for the progress and well-being of the nation in the face of the security challenges bedeviling a section of the country .

PAGE 8— SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

TELEMEDICINE We are interfacing with doctors abroad to treat patients in Nigeria — Dr Giyan, FMC Keffi CMD Dr Joshua Giyan, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) at the Federal Medical Center, Keffi, Nasarawa State, in this interview with Favour Nnabugwu, says the facilities available in the FMC are second to none in the country. Excerpts:

hat he met on ground? So you can see that I had good grip of the problems. The infrastructure was very poor like the Accident/Emergency Unit which had only seven couches in a single room. And you know that in this axis, there are a lot of accidents, this is like a funnel for the North- east, some parts of the Middle-Belt and some parts of the East. We have built a new Accident/ Emergency Unit equipped with 30 beds. It has the state-of-theart theatre, we can do full operation there and can house 30 patients. It is almost a whole hospital of its own. The wards were not well positioned for the present services we are rendering, so we had to renovate all the wards.

Transformation

The Outpatient Department, as a matter of fact, that is where the pilot project on Servicom was perfected and now FMC Keffi is a model for tertiary health institutions in the country. That is a department I was heading and I was the Chairman of the pilot project; we had some funds resulting from goodwill, we were able to renovate that department, built offices, seminal room, and improved on the waiting area. In 2009, the administrative block was burnt down together with all the records kept by the hospital. But now if you go to FMC Keffi, you will see a two-storey building ongoing in place of the former block and we hope to complete it this year or next. We also expanded our Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department initially donated by the state government reaching lintel level and we completed it through our budgetary provisions. We have since moved into it. We have built a Family Planning Unit and a National Health Insurance Scheme Complex. We also put in place a Central Information Technology Unit, a one-storey building to be equipped to help the hospital communicate with the outside world and conduct telemedicine, teleconferencing and even communicate with our outstations. Presently, we are working with the Nasarawa government to have three outstations in Wamba, Toto and Doma, so that our doctors can

go out and see people in the communities. We have all the teleconferencing equipment on ground ready to be installed. I had to create a workshop to repair our vehicles within and so on and so forth. There are so many other developments that came in terms of infrastructure. The Golden Hand, a fountain, was put in place to show that with our hands, we are going to do excellent things as well as a sign of life. Of course, we have also extended our Radiology Department to house our new equipment.

Medical equipment

We have a C-T scan machine, previously only found in the

h a v e cardiothopographic machines that can monitor babies in the womb. We have equipment that can scan the anus, the private part of women, puncture and see the inside of the abdomen through the mouth. We hope to commission our teleconferencing equipment soon to enable us join hands with doctors internationally to treat our patients.

Manpower development

•Dr. Giyan

We hope to commission our teleconferencing equipment soon to enable us join hands with doctors internationally to treat our patients

University of Jos and Gwagwalada. If you want to scan the brain, even if there is bleeding somewhere, it will be able to show, giving you a threedimensional view of the brain. It is a costly machine, over a hundred million Naira, we had to go into partnership with the supplier. Ours is the only place where you have the equipment in Nasarawa State. We also have a digital x-ray machine. Hitherto, you take the x-ray and then give the patient a packet, but this one is not like that. After taking the x-ray, you can even send it abroad by email, because it is digital. If you want to print it, you can save it in a disc, flash or any saving device. We have stateof-the-art equipment in the Ophthalmology Department comparable only to the National Eye Center in Kaduna. We have similar equipment in our Physiotherapy Department, in our laboratory, in our Accident/ Emergency Department, with defibrillators, to revive the heartbeat of dying patients. We have equipment capable of monitoring the body system. We

When I took over, there was only internship in Laboratory and Pharmacy Departments. We now have more graduates in laboratory science and pharmacy coming to do internship before they go for NYSC. As soon as I came in, I ensured the immediate take-off of the housemanship for doctors. We also have residency programme where doctors are being trained to become consultants. We have accreditation from postgraduate medical colleges and to train doctors at consultant level in family medicine, obstetrics and genecology and are about to receive accreditation visit from the National College in Pediatrics. We are making efforts to also start residency programme in surgery, internal medicine and radiology. By this, FMC Keffi is a teaching hospital. Though, we do not train undergraduates but postgraduates.

On-the-job-training

The trend was doctors come in and go because they are not

being trained, with a very high turnover but with this development we now have doctors that would stay and work up to the time they become consultants. We have also done a lot of in-house training for others. We have sent many nurses to one-year course, and we have sent others for workshops and courses. The staff is happy because of the level of manpower development; and but for budgetary limitations, we will continue to train and retrain our staff for maximum utilization.

Ambulances in place

When I came, I met two socalled ambulances but they were only carrying dead bodies. So we had to buy two more ambulances with equipment to revive patients. So I can say we have two ambulances and two carriers. We still need more state-of-the-art ambulances. One of the ambulances had a problem sometime back but we restored the problem. Ambulances are for carrying live patients to another centre and while on transit you are able to provide necessary care for the survival of the patient. We are poised to handle life to the best of our abilities.

Relationship with host community

We have fared very well; the Emir of Keffi, Alhaji Chindo Yamusa, has been playing a fatherly role in the affairs of the center. He always encouraged us since inception. Many other politicians and elders

committee have also continued to encourage us. In fact, people like Hon. Aliyu Wadada have been in the fore front of donating even buildings to us. He donated a public toilet, a patients’ relations block, and some seats and presently he is digging a bore hole for us. Without a cordial relationship you will not see such collaboration. Senator Abdullahi Adamu also promised us a ward and an electrocardiographic (ECG) machine. He came and saw what we are doing and was amazed, and he wants to be our partner. The Obstetrics and Gynecology Block was started by the state government while the Federal Government completed it. But within the community you will not lack people who rise up against us, just because of some dissatisfaction, most of such bordering on maybe wanting employment and if they don’t get it, or maybe wanting some funds or contracts and when they don’t get such, they shout or write petitions.

Conflicting interest

Everybody cannot be employed, not everybody can have contract, even the health care, you may come and find the beds are full; you have to go somewhere else. If you look at it that way, then somehow you will find some dissatisfaction in some quarters. But what we have done was to form an FMC Keffi/Community Interactive Forum where we can discuss issues affecting the community and the center.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 9

All letters bearing writers' names and full addresses should be typed and forwarded to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, Kirikiri Canal, P. M. B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E-mail: sunvanguardmail@yahoo.com

Reducing the burden of unemployed Nigerian youths Dear Sir,

T is no longer news that unemployment is one of the challenges facing Nigeria as a nation, though other climes have their own unemployment issues. Government has some programmes to curb unemployment in the country, but their efforts are hardly felt, though the recent Youwin programme has created some jobs which is infinitesimal compared to the large army of teeming unemployed youths in the country. Annually, different government agencies and parastatals brandish advertisement for job which exists or does not because last year exercise by Nigeria Immigration Service still cast doubt to the sincerity of government in creating jobs. Other agencies annually defraud innocent and unsuspecting unemployed youths of their hard earned money with the protocol of online registration, bank payment (which usually involves slip and the banks collect commission-after all they are in business). In some jobs advertisement, one sees things like, with many years of cognate experience. Where and how did an unemployed candidate get years of experience? In his/her father ’s house? Or along the ‘beautiful’ streets of Nigeria? Employment in current disposition has nothing to do with academic excellence or merit because merit is constantly sacrificed on the altar of mediocrity in the name of he/she is from my side (ethnicity). Personally, I am a victim of this, and was warned not to talk. Reason for my silence is because I have nobody or the ‘connection’ to fight for my right. Till date I have not raised alarm about this. But my concern is, is this how we will move this country forward? Or will this be one of the achievements to be celebrated in this our

centenary? Creating of jobs in government parastatals and establishments should not be done in a kangaroo way. If we are interested in developing this country let's shun ethnicity and tribalism. Excellence and merit should be the watchword when it comes to employment, otherwise, if we continue to fix round pegs in square holes,

the nation can not move forward as expected. Creating a medium for submitting CVs electronically is a better option and should be advocated for and made to be free of charge. If our leaders are really bordered about the welfare of the common man, the educated unemployed street urchins,

whose parents atimes regret sending to school, they should act fast and revisit the mode of employment and application for jobs in the country. Odum C-J Department of Geography University of Calabar, 0dumcj18@yahoo.co.uk

Save our young democracy Dear Sir,

OME of us who attach high esteem to the tenets of democracy since it gained prominence in the ancient Greek-City state, might be wondering whether what we were taught in secondary schools about the concept does not hold water in Nigeria. The recent Anambra State Governoship election that witnessed mass protest from women, civil society groups, local and foreign observers, and other political parties for alleged violation of electoral process by INEC, leaves no one in doubt that democracy in Nigeria is far from what is practised in other climes. Instances abound of the absurdity going on in the country, all in the name of democracy. The protracted controversies in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, involving its Chairman, Bamanga Tukur and some members of the party which led to the defection of five Governors to All Progressive Congress, APC, clearly shows that we,

in Nigeria are beginning to make a mockery of what democracy demands. As the people were still pondering what the defection portend for the country, former President Olusegun Obasanjo dropped a 18- page letter accusing President Goodluck Jonathan of decimating the Peoples Democratic Party, through the president’s determination to run for a second term. In addition he accused President Jonathan of spawning a support base of ethnic militants, corrupt politicians and armed militia, for personal agenda. But Jonathan in swift reaction through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, described the letter as baseless, selfserving and highly provocative. ‘’We find it highly unbecoming, mischievous and provocative that a letter written by a former head of state and respected elder statesman to President Jonathan has been deliberately leaked to the mass media in a deplorable effort to impugn the integrity of the president and

denigrate his commitment to giving Nigerians the best possible leadership…” In another instance, the failure (or permit me to call it refusal) of some state governors to conduct local government elections years after their victory at the polls, does not speak well of our nascent democracy. Some of them prefer to appoint what they call caretaker committees, transition committee chairmen as the case may be, against the wishes and aspirations of the people. But in a situation where they have been denied the right to elect their chairmen and councilors, what becomes of our democracy at the grassroots? Why can't our leaders emulate late Nelson Mandela of South Africa and the late Chief Solomon Lar of Plateau State and forget about their selfish interest.Our leaders should stop making fools of us and the tenets of democracy. Lucas is a 400 level Mass Communication student of Solomon Lar University, Bokkos, Plateau State.

PAGE 10 —SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

Thoughts on the National Conference – 5 attend universities in America. It is quite possible we also share in common taking a course in Speed Reading, which enables the individual to read lots of text materials at five to ten times that of an average person and still get the facts right. That speed reading ability paid off for me four years ago when I was engaged by clients to go through the PIB which the Federal Government was trying to force through the National Assembly and stop its passage. I must be one of very few Nigerians who read the 892 page document page by page, word for word. But, even for me a 4,000-page behemoth will constitute a great challenge. Is President Jonathan supposed to read that stuff? I hope not. Meanwhile, the President of Nigeria, acting with good intentions, might discover that early next year, for the Conference, might not be realistic and finance might not be the major constraint facing us in this venture. In the previous two articles, I had pointed to the problems Yoruba and Igbo might face in the event of a break-up as some are advocating. Let me once again reiterate that I stand for unity – it is easier than anything else we can contemplate. Now, we move to the South South and we are immediately confronted with the same complexities

Put your money where your mouth is "How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because, someday in your life you will have been all of these. " -- George Washington Carver

AY I take this oppor tunity to wish you and yours a brighter and purposeful 2014! On January 1st,Bill de Blasio was sworn in as the 109th New York Mayor, I do not know much about him but, much have been said about his predecessor, Michael R. Bloomberg . Bloomberg had made his fortune before he became Mayor of New York. What made him outstanding was he rejected the $US2.7 million worth of salary to which he was entitled. He instead accepted just $US1 a year, yes,a paltry $1. When he was elected Mayor of the NY over a decade ago,, he used his

personal fortune to bankroll various projects around the city. One of the first things he did was to install two giant aquariums inside City Hall. Ok, that is a bit grandeur but it's his money .The cost to him for having the tanks cleaned out every week for the past 12 years-about $US62, 400 ($70,100). He had his own private plane at no costs to the tax payer; I do hope the Nigerian kleptomaniacs are listening. I repeat, Bloomberg spent his own money to travel at a cost of $US6 million. It is reported that Bloomberg had spent $730 million on a wide variety of perks and bonuses, political campaigns and advocacy work; he gave to the arts,charitable and social causes. He donated at least another $US263 million to New York arts, civic, health and cultural groups through his personal company, Bloomberg LP. Hope our vice president

as we find in Nigeria as a whole. Read below what we have discovered in just three weeks. “0803-344-1684 I think the correct list of ethnic na-

“While receiving the 4000-page report of the committee from [Senator] Okuroumu, President Goodluck ….said the national conference would hold early next year…The Presiden then added that he had already directed the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to make adequate financial provisions for the smooth take-off of the conference”. SUNDAY PUNCH, December 22, 2013. Our collective tendency to think of Nigeria in terms of WA-ZO-BIA (Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo) is probably responsible for the enthusiasm with which some of us embrace break-up of Nigeria or even confederation. Some might even think that the British met us neatly divided into East, West and Northern regions. So why not simply return to those enclaves. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not even the Yorubas and Igbos formed one nation before 1914. However, one thing is clear: breaking up along regional lines will leave the nation emerging from the “North” totally landlocked. That unfortunately will be the least of its problems. Dr Okurounmu and I share at least one thing in common. We were both recipients of American government scholarship in the 1960s which enabled us to

Belinge, Becheve. At the last count, those “ethnic” groups have been discovered. I put the word ethnic in inverted comas because of the legitimate question raised by the first text message above. I do not pretend to be an authority on the subject. I am only, for now, pointing at the complexities involved in selecting candidates to the conference based on ethnicity. The SS ethnic nationalities list includes, but is not limited to: Afenmai, Ishan, Bini, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Ijaw, Isoko, Efik, Anang, Oron, Ibibio, Ika, Kalabari, Okrika, Ibilo, Aniocha, Ukwani, Ogba, Egbema, Ndokwa,

President Jonathan, it was disclosed, had budgeted N1.2 billion to purchase another aircraft which is destined to be used for ferry service by his family and close associates.... it was reported that Fashola had procured 140 vehicles for Lagos State traditional rulers.... visit Massey Children Hospital in Lagos Island and look at the surroundings and tell us if 140 vehicles for traditional “ruiners” takes precedence over removing that sqalour

tionalities should be based & guided by a reference definition of what constitutes an ethnic nationality..Sunday 0803-429-7372 Takad or Attakar people ..in Kaduna and Plateau States should not be forgotten. 0706-365-4503 Kindly include the Ukelle in CRS in Yala LG..The people speak Kukelle. From my own research my readers should please add the following. Adamawa State: Bachama, Bata, Mbulai-Fulani, Nuigudo?, Kilba, Mumuye; Bayelsa State: Okoroma, Nembe, Ogbia; Cross River State: Utempa, Kunov, Bebi, Obudu, Beleteku, Amana,

Yakurr, Okoroma, Nembe, Ogbia, Utempa, Kunov, Bebi, Obudu, Beleteku, Amana, Belinge, Becheve etc etc, I expect more nationalities to be brought to my attention soon. But, already we have over two dozen ethnic nationalities in the zone. Lacking a census figure, but based on my travels through the zone, I would imagine that the three largest ethnic groups in that zone are: Ijaw, Urhobo and Ibibio in that order. To say that Ijaw, Urhobo and Itsekiri, in Delta State, barely tolerate each other is to be economical with the truth; the mutual hostility is legendary. A zonal confederating unit

is taking note; Bloomberg contributed from his pockets $US5 million to renovate an official mayoral residence that he never inhabited. The man preferred the privacy of his own mansion ! They say what goes around comes around and so it seems as his magnanimity attracted financial progress, opportunities and investments to the city. During his tenure there has been an outstanding progress in terms of crime

He wrote a $US30 million cheque to create a city programme to improve the lives of disadvantaged black and Latino men he knows that there is great disparity and inequality amongst these groups, therefore,improving their lives would improve their lot. New Yorkers have their opinions on Bloomberg: 30 per cent said Bloomberg's wealth had made him a better mayor; 27 per cent said it had made him a worse mayor; and 35 per cent said it had made no difference. I suppose you can not satisfy everyone! One aide said of him;"We've never had anybody like him before. "If only we can have men of Bloomberg calibre maybe, just maybe, we can change our collective mindset of giving.

It seems that we rather stick our heads in the sand rather than deal with the alarming deprivation and inequalities that pervade our religion, tribes and society in general

reduction, transport safety and he paid for free lunch for all city workers. Of course, he is not a saint and New York is by no means cleared of its problems, but no one can deny that he saved the city money, transformed every corner as well as he was a great benefactor to many worthwhile and social causes.

Be the change you want to see

In the spirit of the Year, I will begin as I left off. I have been piqued by the daily diet of stories in the Nigerian and overseas media and as well as first hand discussions I have with my fellow Nigerians. There is no doubt that we need to do better. I have also experienced the wall of silence both from men and women alike when I broach the subject matter. I was heartened to hear that the wife of a former House of Representatives,plucked up the courage to seek for divorce after many years

including those three ethnic groups will hardly be peaceful. The first battle will be over the capital. In fact, only the Federal might holds all the ethnic nationalities in the zone together – and that barely. In the end, the questions which must be urgently answered before Okonjo-Iweala opens the money spigot remain: what would be the basis for representation by the various ethnic nationalities? Will the Ijaws, Urhobos and Ibibio be regarded as equal to the Ibilo, Yakurr and Ika? If not what will be the formula for representation? It goes without saying that no independent nation can emerge from that assemblage of ethnic groups different from the Nigeria we are all kicking against. Large nationalities will still dominate the smaller ones and God forbid the oil deposits should straddle territories occupied by large and tiny ethnic groups. War starts. If the South South already frightens you, then follow me to the real “Tower of Babel” – the North Central where almost forty percent of our ethnic nationalities make their homes. AKWA IBOM 2015: JONATHAN VERSUS AKPABIO –2 “And remember that the best of friends must part.” Anonymous. Last week, the first part of this series started by pointing out why the strongest political alliance in the country today – Jonathan and Akpabio – is headed for a clash which none of them desires and might not be able to prevent. As long as Jonathan seeks a second term and Akpabio wants to head for the Senate, the clash is inevitable. Ibibios hold the key to success in Akwa Ibom politics in 2015 and Akpabio is not one of

them. As a lame duck governor he will be fighting for his own survival and Jonathan might be forced to scramble for his own votes without much help from the governor. Indeed, support for the President from Akpabio is guaranteed to split the votes in the state where Ibibio form the absolute majority. And, they know their leader – even if Jonathan does not…. JONATHAN AND FASHOLA: SPOT THE DIFFERENCE “Here gifts are made only to the rich.” Balzac, 17991850 in LOST ILLUSIONS. Last week there were two revelations about how our leaders decide on priorities. President Jonathan, it was disclosed, had budgeted N1.2 billion to purchase another aircraft which is destined to be used for ferry service by his family and close associates. Goodluck was deservingly shellacked by those who felt the outrage. A lot of poor people could be helped with N1.2 billion – it was asserted. On Sunday, December 30, 2013, in the NATION, it was reported that Fashola had procured 140 vehicles for Lagos State traditional rulers. No amount was given. Many of us are surprised that there are up to 140 traditional rulers in Lagos State to begin with. Some of them are receiving their fourth or sixth car from the State Government since 1999. Meanwhile, I invite anybody to visit Massey Children Hospital in Lagos Island and look at the surroundings and tell us if 140 vehicles for traditional “ruiners” takes precedence over removing that sqalour. Hypocrites!!!

of violent abuse. Mostly,it seems that we rather stick our heads in the sand rather than deal with the alarming deprivation and inequalities that pervade our religion, tribes and society in general. We do what we do best,we shift uncomfortably, doggedly determined that we will not discuss it and so we shift the blame on the girl/woman for being in such situations. I was shocked when I heard that a governor's wife who was locked up in her home against her will; the comments I read was that "she deserved it or at least she is rich, some say she was mad, so deserved to be treated that way". Some people blamed her for allowing the abuse to happen and the same patterns played out against young girls and women up and down the country who mostly have been physically and sexually abused, some people simply recoil when they are confronted but shrug it off as one of those things. No,it is not one of those things and it should not be happening in a civilised society. Many of us have become voyeurs, often revelling in other peoples' misery and humiliation. It is high time we took a look at our society and deal with these malaise once and for all. I accept it can be uncomfortable and most people are indifferent to it all as

long as it does not affect them. Collectively,this has a gargantuan impact on us all. We all have female relatives and in as much as we protect their interests,we should extend our support to the voiceless and dispossess in our society and country. The young people are watching and experiencing this maltreatment and in turn, we are breeding future generations of abusers and the abused.

V i s i t : www.Delesobowale.com

What do first ladies have to say?

As you may have heard, Senator Ahmed Yarima is up to his old tricks again. He has recently divorced his 17- year old after two years of marriage. He has to divorce the teenager, mother of one so as to allow him to marry another! What planet is this man from? Why are people like him fond of hiding behind religion to practise their perverse behaviour. It is very disappointing not to hear from the first ladies nor any social group speaking out against this man's depravity. So,off he goes to shop for another 15-year old in Egypt to marry. In the meantime, what happens to his discarded former wife, she is only 17 and with a child? Where does she go and who is responsible for her upkeep, her emotional state and her sense of rejection? This is very immoral and the first ladies are watching not saying anything.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 11

Wanted in Nigeria: More hours for Governance HE last general elec tions in Nigeria took place in 2011. Since then till date, it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate the pre-election atmosphere from that of national development for which governments were instituted. This is because campaigning for candidates into offices that have already been occupied is still very much on-a dangerous trend which no doubt hinders improvement in the welfare and living standard of the people. In other parts of the world, the situation is different. At the end of an election, the victorious party forms a government to implement its manifesto and election promises. In Nigeria, the victorious party merely transforms into a strong cabal whose main goal is to control the nation’s material resources. On their part, the opposition groups focus on two options. The first is for some of them to negotiate a piece of the materialism of the ruling party by either decamping or arranging a partnership with it to form

what is known as government of national unity (GNU) – a purely Nigerian terminology. A good example being what happened to the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) after the 2003 elections. While their Presidential candidate, General Buhari was at the election tribunal to protest his loss, his party executives according to Buhari himself, withdrew

Thus the posture of the political class has successfully converted Nigeria into a country with no little or no time for governance but plenty of politics. Politicians cannot but accept blame for the incalculable damage done by the riots which followed the conduct of the 2011 elections. Labaran Maku, a politician and Minister of Information admitted this

It is not uncharitable to imagine that the disposition of the political class is generally injurious to the health of the nation

from the case, joined the GNU and nominated themselves for cabinet positions. The second is for those who are unable to get into GNU to design a framework by which they disagree with every government action. The absence of GNU since 2011 explains the unending opposition to government.

much a few days ago. It is indeed a notorious fact that the perpetrators of the anarchy are largely political bodyguards who have since over-reached their sponsors. However, Yobe State, one the most badly hit claims to have successfully held a local government election in the state last

PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

08116759758

How religion underdeveloped Nigeria (3) supported the odious regimes of military dictators, just as President Jonathan is receiving unalloyed backing from prominent pastors. Considering the closeness of our failed leaders to sycophantic pastors and imams, the latter appear to have connived with the former to impoverish the people more and more since they do not want to lose the benefits and privileges they enjoy being close to the corridors of power. Ideally, religious leaders should be bold in speaking out against injustice, corruption, and impunity in government. In our own case, fawning members of the clergy are pusillanimous; they pretend that “it is well,” and continuously ask Nigerians to pray for their leaders. The only prayer our leaders deserve, if indeed there is a God that answers prayers, is the request that those guilty of corruption and incompetent leadership should be afflicted with protracted terrible and incurable diseases that will prevent them from enjoying their illgotten wealth. Looking at the main theme from a different angle, on the strength of Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution which prohibits adoption of a state religion, Nigeria is often referred to as a secular state. But it is more accurate to describe the coun-

try as a multi religious society, judging by the overarching influence of religion in all aspects of our national life. People hardly realise that the billions of naira flowing out of the country for government-sponsored pilgrimages and religious tourism could have been put to better use in education, health and general infrastructural development. If Nigeria were indeed a

N fact, despite the hys terical shibboleths of sycophants, broad sections of Nigerians believe, correctly, I am afraid, that President Jonathan’s administration is among the most corrupt since independence. If religion were a force in fostering good leadership, Nigeria would have been the greatest country in the world, even surpassing the United States, given her incredible human and material resources and clement weather conditions. Accordingly, outward show of religiosity by our leaders does not have appreciable positive impact probably they are pretending in order to deceive gullible Nigerians. I am not surprised that President Jonathan’s religious devotedness has not really helped him fight corruption and indiscipline effectively, because reliance on supernatural assistance for exemplary leadership tends to discourage critical and creative thinking that can generate valid solutions to the problem of haphazard development. That said, the Islamic and Christian clergy currently hobnobbing with Mr. President, governors and so on are mostly cash-and-carry “men of God” only interested in boosting their bank accounts and prestige. Prominent imams and pastors

week. Does that mean that much is happening there? Well, the Minister of State (Finance), Yerima Ibrahim Ngama who hails from there has already punctured claims of viability of Yobe. According to the Minister, the State Governor, Ibrahim Geidam, his wife, children, and some commissioners do not live in the state. They merely run the government by remote control from Abuja. If the allegation is correct, what level of development can the state achieve? If the Minister was lying, does it mean he was playing politics which again shows that the only preoccupation of our leaders is politics? Evidence that politics is all we have in Nigeria is also shown by the activities of leaders of the main opposition group -the All Progressive Congress. For the better part of 2013, members of the party elected into public offices continually spent more time than makes sense on electioneering in breach of the electoral law. Their Governors were always part of delegations travelling across the nation supposedly on consultations with different leaders concerning the nation’s future- another word for the 2015 elections. This was obviously to the detriment of governance in their states. Their colleagues in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, were no less guilty as they were always in Abuja to meet over their unending self-inflicted intra-party squabbles making the running of their

state governments to play a second fiddle to partisan politics. At local government level governance has also been a non-issue. Some states refused to conduct local government election and merely appointed caretaker committees that only do their governors’ bidding. Those that allowed local government elections constituted electoral commissions which made Jega’s officials who registered people in the forest of Anambra instead of in the cities to look like saints. Above all, those who were ‘elected’ as chairmen and councillors were and are still deprived of using local government allocations for the purpose of governance. Some 2 years back, Governor Aregbesola of Osun State condemned the practice and urged his colleagues in vain to let local government councils be. It is not uncharitable to imagine that the disposition of the political class is generally injurious to the health of the nation. One painful but common feature is where an elected office holder begins in earnest to secure another term even before he begins an earlier one. The case of President Jonathan is particularly interesting as different groups have continued to campaign for his re-election despite his plea not to be distracted. The situation is more intense in the states. In Imo for example, it is not only those in support of a second term for Rochas Okorocha that are busy,

other interests are even more determined. The elders and prominent people of Mbaise zone for example, have reportedly given their nod for the ambition of one of their sons, Senator Bright Nwanne, to contest the governorship of the state. In Cross River, Governor Liyel Imoke says he has been under pressure to anoint a successor among some political jobbers to succeed him in 2015. In Kwara, many people are not thinking about the fate of governance under the incumbent Governor. Instead they are bothered about which of the SarakisBukuola or Gbemi they should stand behind. Who even understands Taraba’s politics? Again, the time our leaders spend on medical tourism is virtually unquantifiable not to talk about those who govern by publicity Incidentally, elections will hold this year only in Ekiti and Osun States and nowhere else; yet electioneering is more intense in locations where contests will hold in 2015 that is, a year later. Even in Edo whose governorship election is not due until 2016, the battle for the soul of the state has since begun. To redress our political dilemma it is time for civil society groups to aggressively condemn those who play politics after electioneering periods and enlighten the people not to support such gladiators; otherwise Nigeria will never grow

omnipresent as the faithful claim, what is the point in spending vast sums of money in holy pilgrimages, with the risks associated with air travel, since the supreme being can be worshipped anywhere? If God can answer a sincere believer in my village, Ishi-Owerri, what is the need for travelling to the Middle East? Another issue to consider is the debilitating effects of Christian and Islamic doctrines on the intellect, especially on children and the youth generally. The scriptures of both religions contain numerous absurd propositions that can only be accepted with blind faith. Unquestioned belief in virgin birth, resurrection, existence of angels, hell fire and paradise, for example, is based solely on

The best one gets from most religious devotees is the sanctimonious fallacious argument that one ought to believe everything in The Holy Bible or The Holy Koran because doing so is socially useful or encourages ethical conduct. It must be remarked that oftentimes people have already accepted the fundamental principles of morality on purely mundane grounds before citing relevant religious texts as justification. That is to say, they have a theology based on their conception of what is right and what is wrong, and not the other way round. Dogmatic assurance of the truth of Christianity and Islam has done incalculable harm to the cognitive and affective faculties of Nigerian youths. Think of all the hocus pocus about sin, miracles and supernatural interventions preached several days in a week from different pulpits in all the churches nationwide; consider the fiery admonitions of fanatic imams to the faithful on the need for martyrdom in the cause of Allah. It is almost impossible to discuss rationally the difficult challenges of contemporary Nigeria with the average Nigerian without the latter expressing total reliance on the inexorability of divine intervention in the fullness of time. A generation fed continuously with the diet of religious superstition, as is the case presently, can hardly incubate the critical mass of creative and bold minds capable of generating imaginative ideas and implementing them for positive social transformation. Devotion to the teachings of Islam and Christianity,

usually distorted by powerhungry, sexually perverted materialistic preachers and evangelists, leads to cognitive dissonance and all sorts of mental disorientation. Pentecostal churches are the biggest culprits in this respect, because the general overseers, by relentlessly regurgitating falsehoods and uncorroborated accounts of miracles that never took place, disconnect millions of their followers from the real world, many of whom suffer severe mental torture bordering on insanity as a result. Moreover, there is compelling evidence that many pastors and imams use diabolical means to strengthen and consolidate their entrapment of prominent church members. Thousands of gullible Nigerians have given away billions in cash and property to wily demagogues and criminals masquerading as men and women of God. Countless others have been rendered useless by greedy and wicked religious preachers who readily exploit the existential fears and gullibility of people to extort money and property from them. It is impossible to forget those that lost their means of livelihood and whose families are destroyed simply because they succumbed completely to the sugary banalities of lunatic demagogues in religious garments. What about sincere worshippers who died while under the illusion that they are doing God’s work, and believers that refused to seek medical help on time or take their medication due to unshakable trust in God’s alleged miraculous healing powers?

Outward show of religiosity by our leaders does not have appreciable positive impact probably they are pretending in order to deceive gullible Nigerians

secular society, why should the federal and state governments be involved in financing and organising pilgrimages to purported holy lands outside Nigeria? What is the benefit of wasting public resources in a matter that should be more appropriately handled by the intending pilgrims and private organisations? The way I see it, going to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Mecca for religious purposes is a waste of energy and resources. For, assuming that Jehovah or Allah is

faith, not on scientific evidence. Thus, it is regarded as a sign of piety for believers to be indifferent to the question of truth concerning these articles of faith. The negative consequence of this attitude is that believers hardly try to justify their religious doctrines with sound argument; the more violent ones among them readily resort to violence against those who refuse to believe what believers believe dogmatically.

To be continued

PAGE 12—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

century leadership to the state. It is shocking to me that such a state with its wide array of intellectual and professional talent, would continue to allow a political bantam weight to preside over its affairs, and stymie its potential, and much less, try to bamboozle the people with what are largely paperweight claims to public service. Now, three situations in the past month have

HE Lepata Mambu – common ly known now as “Vuvuzela” – is a noisemaking plastic horn which football fans now use to cheer on their team. It is South Africa’s contribution to the world of sports, and in many ways is an appropriate metaphor for the self-involved crass called governance in Imo state today under Governor Anayo “Rochas” Okorocha. One of the effects of the vuvuzela, aside from making loud noises, is that it can also cause a loss of hearing. Rochas Okorocha’s use of the political vuvuzela – what the Igbo would call “ndi Otimkpu” – paid, professional noisemakers - has probably caused him loss both of insight and hearing. Imo State is plodding along listlessly under misgovernance. At the crucial moment during the election that brought in Governor Okorocha, I warned about the man. He was a flash-in-the pan – with his empty and gratuitous populism which had little substance. He came on the guise of “philanthropist,” and I warned that enlightened societies do value equality over charity. We did not need the charity of philanthropy in Imo State, what is clearly needed is the spade work that would use the power of the state to stanch poverty, disease, unemployment, and provide equal access to efficient healthcare, well-designed public transportation, well-built and provisioned cities, quality education, and security. Okorocha had no ideas, and rode on a profound level of disenchantment with the Ohakim administration, using the APGA platform, to arrive to power. It is clear now that Imo electorates have seen evidence of his inabilities to govern and provide 21st-

No governor thus far has measured up to Mbakwe’s effective and forward looking administration. I think it had more to do with Mbakwe’s distinct fiber and background: he was established professionally as a successful Lawyer in Aba, and was therefore grounded with the facts of the people’s life and aspiration

raised more questions about Rochas Okorocha’s government in Imo State: one, the contract scandal involving a Lebanese contractor now haunts Okorocha with the EFCC clearing his former Deputy, Jude Agbaso of the malfeasance. EFCC basically throws back the question to Okorocha about the contract, and it is now imperative that the Imo State House of Assembly revisit the premise of its erstwhile action. The Imo State House of Assembly which

Ancient of tales T

HE world is a story, interwoven, inter connected, the tale of one; the story of all. The scientists have their explanations and so do all the religions but whatever tale or theory it still follows the evolution or should I say the story of man. The stories are similar and even when locations are vastly different; the heartache of the rich is eerily similar to that of the poor. The common thread of all our stories combined is the search of fulfilment; that search defines all our lives and is the collective tale of all. A couple of years ago, a young reader of the column got in touch and sought out a mentoring relationship. She seemed very impressionable and full of life. I was flattered by the request though I respectfully declined; life has taught me that only fools claim to be wise and knowledge can only be gleaned through experience. The longer I live the more convinced I am that the scripts of our lives are already written and what will be will eventually be. I believe being mentored is actually delegating the responsibility of choice to others and no good should be expected from it. I should clarify that seeking counsel and getting advice on the other hand is priceless. Seeking counsel is wise, it is asking to hear and learn from other people’s experience while mentoring is asking to

avoid the heat of light by living in other people’s shadows!

The greatest disservice any supposedly successful person does is to perpetuate an “all glory” myth. The truth for everyone without exception is the reality of continuous struggle on every level. Sharing the struggle is where the value is; that is the place of preparation. The fame, the houses, the cars and whatever trappings of life we acquire over time are barely punctuations in the story that is life; so choosing to be mentored by anyone because of those trappings is foolishness and, if truth be told, greed. I don’t despise any program that motivates or builds up but I have been disappointed countless times by people who claim to want mentoring but are not willing to pay their dues in sweat and perseverance. The greatest motivator is lack and wanting to go from foundation to penthouse is no way to achieve wealth; even if by chance you achieve it; the challenge is sustaining it. A very successful person I know is fond of saying the following: “Any fool can get rich; success however is for the wise”. In the search for fulfilment most of us get lost in the acquisition of things and it is easy to get stuck in unnecessary competition. Success is achievement fuelled by the satisfaction of ac-

and aspiration. He was not a Helicopter politician who lived in Abuja, Lagos, Jos or New York and just flew to run as governor. He was a product of the internal negotiations that threw up his candidacy, and he surrounded himself with quality men – the likes of Willie Onyejiaka, Ray Ofoegbu, Alex Emeziem, Dr. Aguocha, and such other sterling characters who could stand shoulder-to- shoulder with him. Okorocha acts more like a proconsul rather than a servant of the people. I was in Owerri for three months last summer, and it was clear that Okorocha’s government was fundamentally out of touch with the aspiration of the Imo people. True, there were some cosmetic touch-ups on the City of Owerri, but they were of poor quality of work. The street lights on Whethral for instance were cheap garden variety lights that had been put there without the level of professional intricacy that attends such public investments. There was the new Civic Center now being built where once was the Imo Motels, and it is of a disgraceful quality of architectural design and construction. By the Assumpta/Okigwe/ Orlu Road roundabout, an ecumenical center with a very byzantine/Islamic wall design that basically oppressed and offended the sensibility of the Owerri population, and it was all cheap. The most telling of Okorocha’s heresies is the destruction and removal of the Owerri City Library, and its replacement with some other structure. This of course is the height of Okorocha’s philistinism; his lack of intellectual pedigree, and his inability to understand the significance of City libraries as both cultural markers and abodes of city memory. Generations of the users of that library built under the Eastern Nigerian Library system were the beneficiaries of an enlightened age now darkened by the likes of Rochas Okorocha. He promised free education, and it is all a mirage. His school building constructions are like the rest of his work in Imo State, cheap, paperweight projects. It is important for the Imo State House therefore to move against Governor Okorocha, and compel him to fully account for the use of the Imo public fund, or shut off any further access by this administration to any further use of Imo State’s accounts until Imo people vote this governor out of that office. Enough is enough.

complishment. At this moment in the history of the world no one defines success more than Nelson Mandela, an icon of freedom and justice who sought the end of apartheid and was willing to pay for his quest with his life. A peculiar trait of successful people is the admission that they are still seeking success. Mandela always felt he was always trying to be better and was uncomfortable being boxed into a straitjacket of greatness. He admitted his flaws and showed true remorse for his mistakes. Many people in the world

She was now a young mother, abandoned by the father of her child and seeking to build from the ground she found herself. She felt damaged and hopeless and I knew she was ready for counsel. Only idealists seek mentorship; realists seek counsel; they seek encouragement. Her story is a human one, told in many lives, and will be told in time to come. So many of us are discouraged and disillusioned; it’s not an exclusive club; it’s one open for all.

Rochas Okorocha and his Vuvuzela admnistration in Imo

has thus far failed the people of Imo State in this dispensation by its frequent complicity with the Executive Arm did act with unusual decisiveness recently when its members refused to listen or debate the budget presentation by Governor Okorocha. As required by law, to give backing to the Appropriation Act or the spending warrant to the government under a democracy, the legislature must pass that Act into law. Imo legislators have backed away from giving Governor Okorocha any further authority to spend Imo State’s money until he accounts for money approved for last year’s budget. That is a good thing. Never mind that some of the proposed plans in that budget – things like the billions of Naira budgeted to build a “City Gate” for Owerri – were totally uncalled for, yet the legislators have demanded that the governor show proof of expenditure as approved by the parliament of the state. Governor Rochas Okorocha has yet to account for the monies nor has he yet presented his budget for the current fiscal year. Last week, Dr. Viola Onwuliri, the Minister of Foreign Affairs basically accused Governor Okorocha of misappropriating Imo State’s share of Federal appropriations, particularly the Federal grants to the Local government Authorities which the state government manages under a joint account; the Disaster Relief Fund, and the SURE-P allocations: “What we have on ground in the local government areas of the state is not commensurate with the huge funds so far collected from the federation account for nearly three years,” Mrs. Onwuliri said quite pointedly. As at writing this column, neither Governor Okorocha nor his office has responded to these assertions. Even the likes of the outspoken Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, Dr. Anthony Obinna, who had been an early supporter of Okorocha began quite early to distance himself from the administration when it emerged not too long after the elections that Okorocha had very little sustainable ideas about taking Imo State to the next level, or even any close to the level that the legendary Sam Mbakwe left off. No governor thus far has measured up to Mbakwe’s effective and forward looking administration. I think it had more to do with Mbakwe’s distinct fiber and background: he was established professionally as a successful Lawyer in Aba, and was therefore grounded with the facts of the people’s life

want to be as great as Mandela but few are willing to pay the price. A few weeks ago I got a text from the same reader I mentioned earlier and this time I purposed to call. She sounded like she was now in the process of living and needed to unload. I found out the rose coloured glasses she once wore with pride had been shattered.

At this time of the year, most people make resolutions; we aspire to lofty goals, some realistic others borderline ludicrous! There is absolutely nothing wrong with resolutions but the end of one year or beginning of another has no bearing on the reality of who we are and the challenges we face. What you owe on the 31st December 2013 you still owe 1st of January 2014. What we need for the year is not a mentor but hope; we need to believe that if we keep trying, we can turn it around. That is the human tale! The human story will be told and it will feature a beginning and an end; the in-between is where we strive to find fulfilment and achieve success. From the Biblical Adam to modern day you and I, we all face the same issues. You are born, you hopefully find yourself a wife/husband, like Adam and Eve; you have children. Hopefully your children won’t kill one another but through life you will laugh, you will cry and strive to achieve what you perceive to be success by whatever means. It’s the same story being told in different languages and locations around the world. This year I wish you hope, the grace to try, to strive; like my young friend I wish you the energy to pick yourself up from every disappointment and keep trying. Not trying is death, and that’s where the story may end but trying again and again keeps the story going; it’s the human story; a tale that is as ancient as it is new.

SUNDAY

Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 13

PROLOGUE

2014: Year of the Locusts “If the President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria insists he wants something and you say you will not allow him to have it, what do you think will happen?” Beyond the mantra of nonperformance that the opposition continues to chant is the real issue of loss of political power and control by a section of the country. This has been further accentuated by the role fate played in the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in May 2010, paving the way for President Jonathan’s emergence. Worse still for them, Jonathan contested and won a supposed four-year tenure meant for the North and is now in the process of seeking a constitutionally

even around Mr. President there are dangerous locusts. Take, for instance, one Asari Dokubo who is allowed by the authorities to insult other Nigerians because the presidency of Nigeria has become commoditized in his view and, therefore, is a property owned by a kinsman. Then there is the Information Minister and supervising Minister of Defense, Labaran Maku, who said publicly that government is no longer bothered about criticism because “we are used to it; Mr. President is used to it”. That statement means Nigerians can go to hell. That is a wrong approach. Might Maku be reminded, the selfsame thing he is today criticizing about the media was a shade of what he did and which made him hit limelight while he was a journalist. Somebody once described him as a minister who speaks before he thinks. That may not be true and it is uncharitable. But Maku and a few around Jonathan should strive genuinely to provide wise counsel and not the counsel of the locusts the likes of which had led past leaders nowhere because there shall be 10 kings for 10 seasons nothing lasts forever. Opportunities still abound. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) made us understand that “A prudent ruler cannot and must not honour his words”. The context of this statement fits perfectly the Olusegun Obasanjo-inspired PDP zoning arrangement of eight years South and eight years North which he tried to torpedo in 2006 with his Third Term agenda. For him to now attempt to pull wool and counsel Jonathan not to do that which is constitutionally guaranteed is not only wicked but ungodly. To follow the counsel of Machiavelli comes with consequences. In being prudent, the retention and stability of sovereignty constitute the principal reason why a ruler exists. Whichever way it is achieved becomes secondary and of less or no consequence. So, is the President prudent enough not to honor his words? He should be prudent and, therefore, cannot and must not honor his words. Prudence in this context relates to him using the instrumentality of the constitutionally guaranteed window to seek re-election while prudently managing the affairs of state for the masses. That is what he has been promising. That is what he promised ag ain during his latest broadcast. But has he delivered? As 2014 rolls on, the locusts will invade, especially with the plethora of politico-economic activities that are likely to test the will, developments that would require prudence just so the locusts can be avoided.

There is an Arab saying that a pack of sheep led by a lion is more likely to defeat a pack of lions led by a sheep. We have consistently written about the problem of a gentleman president. What makes it more pitiable is that even around Mr. President there are dangerous locusts

he above was the question asked by a former state governor in Nigeria’s Southwest.He answered the question himse l f : “ War ” Now, for war to be just, there is required a just cause. That is according to Thomas Aquinas. A scholastic appreciation of Aquinas’ position, without prejudice to the pacifism that Christianity preaches, posits that it is sometimes necessary to “preserve or restore peace in the face of aggression; and there must be conditions precedent”. Aquinas called these conditions jus ad bellum (right to war) which were different from the jus in bello (the rules of just conduct in war). For a just war

to be hinged on a just cause, it must have rightful intention, authority of the sovereign and the raison d’etre. In simple, plain language, all these relate to the need to preserve or restore a status quo that has peace or the wellbeing of the state and sovereign as it’s central objective. Now, Nigeria’s 2014 will witness some war - in a manner of speaking. It would be a war of many sides; a war possibly of ideas, of intentions (seen and unseen), and of ego. But it would also be a war of stupidity in which all sides would attempt to outdo one another in a show of shame. But at the front of this war

would be some actors: President Goodluck Jonathan, Bola Tinubu, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Bamangar Tukur, Senate President David Mark, Speaker Aminu Wa z i r i Tambuwal, Pa E K Clark, Chief Tony Anenih, PDP and APC governors and legislators, INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega. The list is endless. It would be a war of the locusts. For the average Nigerian who is not directly involved in this war, he could as well go to hell. Whereas the warring parties make unbridled pretense to fighting for the masses, daylight is easily brought into the pretense as the masses are almost always left for dead.

guaranteed second term of office. And that is where the war starts and ends. Unfortunately for Jonathan, through a shambling mix of myopic advisers, associates, friends and family members,what ought to follow a Nigerian pattern of easily retaining power is now in danger of crumbling; it is for this same reason that some have poked fun at both Mr. President and his office. For the first time in Nigeria’s history, a sitting President is daily buffeted by confetti of insults and abuses. There is an Arab saying that a pack of sheep led by a lion is more likely to defeat a pack of lions led by a sheep. We have consistently written about the problem of a gentleman president. What makes it more pitiable is that

PAGE 14 — SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

Holding Company of Nigeria and it’s subsequent sale to private investors in a manner that was adjudged both locally and internationally as transparent. The year 2014 is very critical not only for the political environment in Nigeria but also in the political life of President Goodluck Jonathan. Apart from being the year when the presidential candidates of the political parties in the country would emerge, 2014 is the year Jonathan has appointed for himself to formally declare whether or not he would be stand election for the presidency in 2015. Being the year preceding the generally elections, most of the decisions that would shape the 2015 elections as well as the factors that would largely influence the decisions by Nigerians on whether or not to stake their votes for the president in 2015, if he decides to contest, would be taken. Ultimately, the chain of events that would unfold this year would largely be determined by the decision of Jonathan on his next political moves. In an interview with a team of editors on Presidential Media Chat, the president, while responding to a question on whether he would contest election in 2015, said it was difficult for a sitting president to open up on whether he would run for a second term or not, especially when his first tenure is still young. ‘Wait till 2014’ our years is a very short time for someone to make an impact. Immediately you start talking about elections, you will actually be heating up the polity. Before you ask whether Mr. President will contest for a second term or not, wait till 2014. Give me some time to make sure that myself and my cabinet work to satisfy Nigerians. This is not the time to talk about whether the president will recontest election or not. I do not want that to distract my government,” he said. Jonathan said the danger in revealing his intention then would be that the polity would not only be over heated, but governance might be negatively affected as cabinet members may be pushed to abandon their roles to playing politics. Even though the president has not formally declared his intention to contest or not, the political temperature has almost reached a boiling point as contending forces

BY BEN AGANDE, ABUJA

013 was one year Nigerians will not forget in a hurry. Though Nigeria recorded positive developments in some sectors, it was also a hell of a year in so many aspects. The country performed creditably well in sports as it hauled in medals in various sporting events. It was a year that also witnessed the greatest challenge to security agencies especially in Borno and Yobe states which are the epicentre of the bloody insurgency by the Boko Haram sect. Apart from the scores of civilians massacred by the bIslamist group, military formations and barracks were

Four years is a very short time for someone to make an impact, immediately you start talking about elections, you will actually be heating up the polity

repeatedly targeted by the insurgents, culminating late last year in the daring raids on the air force facilities in Maiduguri, where scores of fighter aircraft were reportedly destroyed, and the army barracks in Bama. Scores of

military personnel were not only murdered their family members, mostly wives and children, were also kidnapped. It was a year that witnessed the achievement of a giant feat: the unbundling of the Power

Continues on page 17

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 15

BY SONI DANIEL, Regional Editor, North Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako can be described as a war hero. He fought in the civil war and still carries the scars to show for it. The retired naval officer and President of Nigerian Farmers Association, who has been having a running battle with the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, last month, defected to the All Progressive Congress, APC, putting himself in direct collision course with the Presidency and the PDP. In this interview, Nyako, popularly referred to as Babamaimangoro, apparently because he produces more mango for export than any other African farmer, gives reasons why he fell out with President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

2015: Niger Gov in custody of single term pact — Gov. Nyako

•Says emergency rule is hurting Adamawa

Governor Murtala Nyako...Adamawa replete with poor infrastructure

hat have you been able to do for your people as a long standing farmer with experience in food production? Well, as a long standing and successful farmer in Nigeria, I would say that I have done a lot to improve the lot of Adamawa people and empower them so that they can stand on their own. I have trained them on how to run a successful agricultural business and become self-sustaining. When I came in, I promised to unite the state and work for the overall interest of the people. I can say we have achieved the set goal of unity, peace and progress. One of the dictionary meanings of politics tells me that ‘politics is the art and science of judicious use of resources for the attainment of public good’. We have concentrated our development programme bearing in mind this definition. We are happy with what we have done to develop our state and people. Our target is pan-agriculture and our people are already into it. But what have you done to replicate the knowledge you have as a farmer? We have established five centres dealing with vocational training. You go there for one and graduate to another centre, which is technical training centre to specialise. Once you are trained, you don’t need to worry. Those trained by us are a hot cake to multinational companies and we are happy about that. This is the only place where people call for investors but don’t have the basic skills and manpower. The so-called investors can rip you off or sabotage you. We are doing our best to train and educate our youths to ensure that they can take part in agriculture as an investment and reap immensely from the sector. We have trained many youths that many of the multinational companies can recruit and use for their own agricultural

The first thing I did when I became governor was to write to the late President Umaru Yar’ Adua on the security situation of Adamawa State, which had been described by the World Bank as being situated in one of the poorest regions of the world

production. We have established schools for all vocational trades and it is serving our people in many ways. We are providing agriculture for food security and economic empowerment.

It is still unclear to Nigerians why you don’t seem to appreciate the imposition of a state of emergency on your state by the president. The first thing I did when I became governor was to write to the late President Umaru Yar ’ Adua on the security situation of Adamawa State, which had been described by the World Bank as being situated in one of the poorest regions of the worldthe North-east of Nigeria bordering with Cameroon, Chad, Niger and the Darfur region. The report said Adamawa was replete with poor infrastructure, wide ranging health problems, poor educational facilities, unemployment and frustrated elements. The bank also described the region as a dangerous zone in Nigeria because of these problems. So, when I became governor, I wrote to the president to give us a special attention to be able to tackle the precarious situation in the state. We pleaded with the president to approve a standing operation task force for us so that if there is any

threat to lives and property, the standing force could be mobilised to deal with the situation. I also made a case for a standing batallion here so that they could do what we call in the army ‘cordon and search’, which is best done everywhere in the world. They could search and destroy suspected bad elements and recover arms and ammunition. That would have solved the proliferation of arms. After reading my letter, the late Yar ’Adua approved a standing battallion for Adamawa. A base was set up in the state. But as soon as Yar ’Adua died and Jonathan took over, he wrote us a letter that the army should not be used by any state for any type of operations. We wrote him back and pleaded with the president to give us a special consideration because of the bad situation in Adamawa. I pointed out the World Bank report classifying the state as one of the world’s worst spots and the need to retain the task

Continues on page 16

PAGE 16—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014

force already working in the state. I drew his attention to the approval given by the late president. But he refused to listen to me. But now, he introduced a state of emergency in the state and he does not pay them their allowances as and when due. I told our people when they declared a state of emergency that we were in trouble because our situation was already dire. We have to find a way of interfacing with the soldiers so that they don’t cause any havoc. We have been working closely with them at all levels and I am happy that since the soldiers arrived here, they have not killed any innocent citizen. No single Adamawa man has been caught as a Boko Haram suspect. We are using what we call Special Assistance Programme to checkmate unemployment and crimes in the state. In fact, I can say that Mr. President copied my Special Assistance Programme and called it SURE-P. We are using the programme to pay and train people on gaining a means of livelihood. We had put things right only for the president to slam a state of emergency on us? How do the people earn a living? There are some totally innocent people who sell food and run their private lives separate from government and you want them to go home and die? There are others who ride Okada and they earn a living from that. How do they survive? So are you saying that the state of emergency has destroyed the economy of the state? Certainly, and in no small measure. For the poor man, it has adversely affected them, but the evil few in Abuja don’t care about it. There is no excuse for the hardship imposed on the people of the state. I wrote to the president on the role of the task force and he did not even acknowledge receipt. We even wrote as governors and advised him on the way to go about the security situation and he has not given me audience till today. I was a naval officer and the one who established the security branch of the Nigerian Navy and I have been the longest serving Chief of Naval Operations and Plans in the Nigerian Navy and we know about security. When we advise the president on what to do about security, we speak from a position of knowledge. The president was not trained as a soldier and we don’t expect him to know all about security awareness but he has advisers who are bringing hardship to the people of my state? Adamawa was not even on the list of the three states that were slated for emergency. It was meant for BOYONA- Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa where over 100 security men had just been killed by a cult group. Adamawa was never listed for emergency rule. The president just removed Nasarawa and put Adamawa thereby bringing untold hardship on the people of the state. It is pure politics, pure double-mindedness and wickedness and nothing more. He wants to ill-treat us who had given

‘Emergency rule is hurting Adamawa’

Gov Nyako...Not going for election in 2015

Continued from page 15

The Niger State governor has the agreement. He is the one who handled it the PDP three senators, 21 LG chairmen out of 21 LGAs, six House of Representatives members out of eight and 22 out of 25 House of Assembly members in the last elections. At Eagle Square during the primary election, we gave the president 80 percent and 20 percent to (former VP) Atiku, our own son. Ahmed Gulak, who is now confusing the president, did not get up to five votes in his unit and this is the man convincing Mr. President that he was responsible for his victory in Adamawa. We gave 60 percent of the votes to Jonathan during the presidential election and the remaining 40 was shared by Buhari, whose wife is from Yola, and Nuhu Ribadu, whose father and mother are from Adamawa. Yet, we are the ones the president is penalising. Sadly, the state executive of the PDP that worked so hard to

bring about the president’s electoral victory at the polls was also inexplicably dissolved on the advice of evil men in Abuja instead of recognising and rewarding such an exco. Is that why you decamped to the APC? That is a stupid thinking. What am I looking for again? I told off David Mark the other day when he wanted to insinuate that I would one day come to the Senate. I told him the president could not to talk to me anyhow because I am not going for any political office in 2015. I am not also supporting my son or wife to succeed me as some elements are alleging. What we are kicking against is the high level of impunity, which has been enshrined in the polity at all levels. We cannot allow it to continue so that this country is not plunged into avoidable crisis. If the philosophy of political parties is not followed and protected, we may regret our action. We should not allow disaster to strike before we wake up to protect the system that brought us to power. Democratic culture must be developed and protected from the top to the bottom. We must start to copy the South-west and do what is right. This nonsense has substantially gone down in the South-west because the people are aware of their rights. Let me tell you that we had a primary election here in the state on a Saturday and on Monday morning, Bamanga Tukur sat down in Abuja and sent

the name of his cousin who never contested in the by-election primary and INEC, which witnessed the exercise did not say it did not witness the process. The PDP hierarchy is corrupting our security and judiciary institutions. They can corrupt INEC, police and the judges, otherwise how can a DPO come to disrupt a meeting being held by governors trying to see how to resolve the crisis in the party? We cannot wait for anarchy to take over Nigeria again. We will not accept impunity again, not even in Adamawa but in Nigeria as a whole. They want to draw us back to a civil war again? I am a victim of the civil war and I still have a scar on my leg till today. Was there any agreement between the northern governors and President Jonathan that he will serve for only one term? Yes, there was an agreement. In the first place, when they brought that agreement for me to sign ahead of the 2011 primaries, I was told that the 2007 and 2011 presidency belonged to the North. They had all agreed under President Obasanjo that the entire 2007 and 2011 belonged to the north. Jonathan was a signatory to that document as the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa. So when they came and asked me to sign and I objected saying that I did not believe that Jonathan would honour the agreement because Jonathan did not give his pledge in the 2003 document, they said, ‘Ha Babamaimangoro, please sign,’ and I did. Who brought the agreement? The governors of Niger State, Katsina and the rest were there. All of them were trying to get our support for Jonathan to become president in 2011. So, was it the northern governors who brought the agreement to Jonathan to sign? Yes. It was the northern governors who signed the agreement with Jonathan. Of course, it was the Niger State governor who took the document to Jonathan and he signed. Obasanjo would tell you that he came to me with Jonathan and pleaded with me to support him in 2011 to become the president and I did. There he sat. Jonathan told me he was going to run for only one term in 2011. Jonathan virtually took an oath to run for only one term. So when he went back to Obasanjo that he was going to run in 2015, Obasanjo asked him why he was doing so after he had made the governors to support him in the 2011 poll. Who has that agreement? The Niger State governor has the agreement. He is the one who handled it. We want to deal with people of honour and integrity and not those who dribble others and treat others with no sense of respect and not respecting their vows. Leaders must be honest with their colleagues and the larger society. Without that, we would run into serious crisis in this country.

SUND AY SUNDA

Continued from page 14 have already assembled their political armament to fight their various battles. From 2011 to 2013, Jonathan could afford the luxury of keeping Nigerians guessing on whether he would contest in 2015 or not. Withthe cacophony of voices that have continued to push for and against his eligibility to contest or not, the president can no longer afford the indulgence of keeping his decision on the next political moves to his chest. Whether for or against, he must make his intention known to Nigerians, and the sooner he does that the better for not just himself but also the country. But even before he takes that decision on whether he will contest or not, there are several issues that Jonathan must tackle and urgently too. Shortly before the end of last year, the president, in one fell swoop, sacked nine members of his cabinet. This is in addition to two ministers who earlier resigned their positions. Currently, the cabinet does not have substantive ministers for the Ministries of Defense, Education, Environment, Science and Technology, Ministers of State for Power and Agriculture, Minister of State for Health and Minister of Youth Development. As the appointing authority, Jonathan has the power to fire. But to have left several ministerial positions to be overseen by other ministers with the attendant distraction that this entails and for so long a time does not speak well of a president who is committed to transforming the nation. More poignantly, to have allowed the defense portfolio, which is overseeing the prosecution of the fight against insurgents in the north-eastern part of the country be without a substantive head, cannot be justified for whatever reason. This is a decision that the president must tackle with all swiftness that he can muster at his command. Liability ven before Jonathan replaces members of his cabinet that he sacked, some pundits believe that there are ministers or senior aides of the president that have become political liability to him. For instance, some of the ministers have gained notoriety because of the controversy that their names evoke. Their continued stay in government is a major drawback to the president. In this year of critical decision taking, Jonathan cannot afford to retain them because they constituted themselves as liability and not assets as they ought to be to the president. One of the key responsibilities of government is to guarantee peace and security of life and property. In the last six years, security challenge in the country has assumed a frightening dimension so much so that insecurity appears to be the norm rather than the exception. From the militancy in the Niger Delta region, to kidnapping in the South-east, insecurity in the country is further exacerbated by the blistering attack by the Boko Haram group in the north-

Jonathan in 2014

David Mark

Bamanga Tukur

Aminu Tambuwal well he succeeds in guaranteeing steady power supply in the country. The onus is therefore on the president to ensure that the modest progress his administration has recorded is sustained. This will go a long way in determining whether his name will be recorded on the debit or credit side of history when the story of power supply in Nigeria is told. Fatal blow hile the president concentrates on tackling issues of governance in 2014, the best way for him to remain focused in doing this is to put his house in order. Since the election of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as the National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, neither the president; the party nor Tukur has known peace. The climax of this crisis is the defection of five governors elected under the platform of the party as well as scores of members of the state and National Assembly to the opposition All Progressive Congress. This is a fatal political blow that the president cannot afford to dismiss with a wave of the hand. Though the best option would have been to to prevent the degeneration of the crisis to the extent that it has gone, what is left now for Jonathan, is continue with the peace move he initiated last year is to bring back some of the governors to the fold of the party. He cannot afford to go to battle when some of his key commanders are not on the same page with him. To lose key states like Kano, Sokoto and Rivers is not only a huge blow to the PDP but a personal minus for the president. This is a time for pragmatic appraisal of the situation and not haughty dismissal of the stark reality. For Jonathan, personal self-appraisal is not optional. It is a necessity that he must take seriously if he intends to make meaningful impact on the country and especially his own political development. Unfortunately, he does not have the luxury of time to ponder for too long before taking such decisions.

Bola Tinubu eastern a states of Borno and Yobe. Though the declaration of state of emergency by the president in May 2013 has significantly curtailed the excesses of the insurgents, a lot needs to be done to bring normalcy to the worst affected states. What Jonathan needs to do is to consolidate on the progress achieved by the security services by ensuring that the insurgents are routed out and the people enjoy normal lives. The president must ensure that the security

Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 17

Muhammadu Buhari Impunity n some parts of the country, people get kidnapped for as low as N50,000. As the chief security officer of the country, the president cannot continue to preside over a country where peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s freedom can be punctuated by miscreants with impunity. Jonathan must send a strong message to the heads of security services that such misdemeanor can no longer be accepted.

Though the declaration of state of emergency by the president in May 2013 has significantly curtailed the excesses of the insurgents, a lot needs to be done to bring normalcy to the worst affected states

services are not only adequately trained to confront the emerging challenge but are also sufficiently equipped to face the enemy. While the challenge posed by the Boko Haram sect has taken much attention of the public, equally menacing is the widespread incidence of kidnap for ransom that is gradually assuming notoriety in the country.

Although there was a lot of chest thumbing on the successful privatization of the unbundled Power Holding Company of Nigeria last year, this has not transferred to concrete achievements in terms of steady power supply. What most Nigerians will use as a benchmark to determine the success or otherwise of the Jonathan administration is how

PAGE 18 —SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

BY EMEKA MAMAH

oes this government or indeed the Super visory Minister of Education, Mr Nyeson Wike, take delight in allowing things to get out of hand before paying attention to it. This question is pertinent because similar bungling on the part of government was witnessed during the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and it seems to be happening now in University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). During the ASUU strike Wike talked down on the teachers and even threatened to sack all of them. President Goodluck Jonathan was said to have apologised to ASUU officials at a meeting, leading to the end of the strike. There are numerous other instances. Yet the wisest thing to do for anyone in a public office is to nip a trouble in the bud. The reason you spend so much on this branch of mass communication is because it serves as a barometer that monitors public opinion. Public opinion is an indicator of how the people being served feel about the service they are getting. It does not matter whether you have all the instruments of coercion to whip everyone to fall in line. Instruments of coercion really do not work in the long run, unless the use is based on justice and fairplay. A day or so after ASUU suspended its half a year strike, Nigeria’s first indigenous university, UNN, was plunged into a different cataclysm of its own, for a different reason but not without warning. Unions representing the lecturers and non-academic workers in the institution had called a press conference about two months previously asking the Federal Government, owners of the university, to call its Vice Chancellor, Professor Bartho Okolo, to order. They alleged numerous administrative wrongdoings in the institution and deC M Y K

Okolo, Enejere and Wike:

War in UNN manded an enquiry. They complaints centred around the university’s internally generated funds, funds received from government, handling of admission processes, NUGA Games, and so on. Quite weighty, by the standards of university administration! My position is not that the professor is guilty as charged. No. My position is that if all the workers of the university feel that things were not going on well, what did government do? Did it try to hear both sides? Or was it contented, as the unions said, following the events that happened afterwards, at taking sides with the Vice Chancellor? It was reported that when the new Governing Council of the university under one of the most illustrious alumni of the university, Professor Emeka Enejere, came in, they too raised questions over certain things that they saw in Okolo’s administration. In one of their sittings, the account that was presented to them was allegedly rejected. The Council allegedly demanded that the account be broken down into receipts and expenditure, including the sources of such receipts and what the money went into. Issues involving that account are yet to be fully resolved, Sunday Vanguard was told. Enejere earned for himself the image of a liberator, without meaning to do so. “We had been suffering in silence before the Enejere Council came,” a lecturer in the Faculty of Education who asked that her name should not appear in print said. “The new Council Chairman, Professor Enejere, came to our rescue.”

Next was the provincial press. The newspapers based in Enugu State devoted special editions articulating the issues that Okolo’s administration had with members of the university staff, the host community, and in some cases with donors sponsoring projects in the university. The Starlite based in Nsukka went

number of the university community, the supervising Minister of Education reportedly suspended Professor Enejere as Chairman of Council and did not say a word on the allegations against Okolo. Worse still, he told the public nothing about whatever Enejere did wrong. Nobody knows what made the Minister to suspend or sack the Governing Council Chair.

In a move that surprised a large number of the university community, the supervising Minister of Education reportedly suspended Professor Enejere as Chairman of Council and did not say a word on the allegations against Okolo

as far as publishing photocopies of some of the documents. In one case the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, allegedly, suspended funding of the University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and Development Research due to what it reportedly considered unsatisfactory handling of the funds it had released. The previous Council was said to have been ineffective in checking the alleged excesses of the Okolo administration. In an advertorial, the Alumni Association of the university described the administration: “We are deeply worried considering our knowledge of how the Vice Chancellor, Professor Bartho Okolo, overwhelmed and subdued the immediate past Governing Council and ran the university as an ‘emperor’ administering his personal estate.” In a move that surprised a large

The result was a spontaneous massive demonstration by the entire workforce of the UNN led by the Joint Action Committee on Trade Unions, JAC, of the university. Anchored on a three-point demand, the demonstrators held out for three days despite heavy police presence in at least three truck-loads of their anti-riot men. The demonstrators have promised to regroup. Their three demands contained in a statement that was circulated to the press and signed by leaders of the various unions in the university are: ·Immediate and unconditional reinstatement of Enejere as Chairman, UNN Governing Council. ·Apology from the Federal Government to him (Enejere) for the alleged embarrassment of suspending him without valid reason; and the

Professor Bartho Okolo · Setting up of a judicial commission of enquiry to probe the tenure of Okolo as Vice Chancellor of the UNN. The demonstrations or prayer rallies have paralyzed activities in the university. Students who returned following the suspension of the ASUU nation-wide strike had to go back frustrated. But government thought differently. Rather than yield, it was alleged that Wike had appointed one of his former Chamber mates, Mr Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, to replace Enejere as the Chairman of the UNN Governing Council. The present demonstration by the university workers is coming on the heels of a different one on December 1 by members of the host community alleging unfair treatment by the Okolo administration. It took the intervention of Chairmen of two neighbouring local government councils who raced to the university to end the siege. The protestors refused to listen to officials of the UNN including the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Malachy Okwueze. Government’s action on the Enejere matter raises some crucial questions. Does this government or the Supervisory Minister, Wike, in particular, gain anything in courting avoidable troubles? Why must Okolo be treated as a sacred cow? What has Enejere done that he must be removed peremptorily and unceremoniously? I think Wike can do better than he has managed to do in this matter.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014,

PAGE19

Email: vanguardwoman@gmail.com

Meet Bisi Bright, the benevolent pharmacist T

Bisi

Tell us about yourself… had my first degree in Clinical Pharmacy from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, and did a Fellowship Programme at the West African Post Graduate College of Pharmacy. I, thereafter, did a Masters in Public Health at the University of Zimbabwe. I also did a Diploma in Psychology. So, it’s really easy for me to understand the psyche of people when I’m on community work. I’m able to identify distressed persons and give them counselling in addition to the services we render, which includes comprehensive health screening such as body mass index, high-blood pressure, blood sugar, stress level, breast and cervical cancer amongst other. After my first degree, I worked for many years with the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, until I retired voluntarily as Head of Pharmacy in 2006. I thereafter set up LiveWell Initiative in 2007. Now, I combine my public health experience with my experience in pharmacy and that’s why you see us give drugs where necessary each time we go out. I always tell people I’m a missionary. I believe I was destined to do this because it came out of the blues; unplanned.

At what point was LiveWell Initiative conceived? I was a lecturer at the West African Post Graduate College of Pharmacy and I was their Secretary-General.

So, when I went for the 2004 Washington Health Congress, I met, Professor Yunus, the man delivering healthcare to the poor in Bangladesh, who started a world-wide micro-credit initiative. He said who would like me to help them set up a branch in Nigeria. So, I began the processing and also designed a project called ‘The Illness Poverty Alleviation Programme’ when I returned, for them. This was targeted at people in the bottom of the pyramid, who are prone to losing their lives or becoming permanently disabled due to certain illnesses which they are unable to tackle because of poverty. I had designed this programme for them and was ready to get an office for its take-off when my son inspired me to set up my own organisation since I designed the programme, instead of leaving it for another organisation to run. That was how LiveWell came about. Anyway, I had made it clear to Prof from the onset that the Illness Poverty Alleviation Programme would remain my intellectual property. We were in the process of ironing that out when my son inspired me. That was how I started LiveWell with five programmes: Executive Health Enlightenment Programme, Malaria Eradication, Hiv/Aids Enlightenment, Drug Use and Abuse Scheme and then the Illness Poverty Alleviation Programme.

BY JOSEPHINE IGBINOVIA

As I grew however, I knew I would venture into humanitarianism; though I wasn’t sure of the scope or magnitude

Apart from your son’s inspiration, didn’t you nurse passion for it? Yes I’ve had passion for humanity, and I’ve therefore always wanted to do something for the poorer population. In the past, I usually carry-out health outreaches in my church. Even while doing my Masters in Public Health, I did engage in a few health missions. I also worked voluntarily for the Diabetic Association of Zimbabwe. I really saw how desperate the people were and that gave me the motivation. I never thought it would culminate in a non-profit organisation, anyway. How many lives would you say you’ve touched? We go to Togo and Ghana also. We reached out to over 3,000 people in the one week we worked in Ghana. We have over 30 medical

HE myriad of issues besetting healthcare delivery and accessibility in Nigeria have become hymns, particularly on the lips of medical practitioners themselves, with unaffordability topping the list. Sudden and avoidable deaths have consequently turned normal while everyone waits for a messiah even as life expectancy wavers at 47. But like Mahatma Gandhi once said, you must be the change you wish to see in the world. That’s why one Nigerian, Mrs.Bisi Bright, Executive Director of LiveWell Initiative, has taken on herself the responsibility of delivering pro bono healthcare services, especially to the poor majority, since her retirement from the Nigerian Ports Authority in 2006, where she was Head of Pharmacy. doctors in our service, and a good number of nurses. From our records, we’ve reached out to over 1.5 million lives. Now, we have doctors who are specialists because we are particular about not breaching ethical boundaries.

What was your ambition as a child? I never really had a particular profession in mind. However, my mum always said I would end up being a humanitarian because I had this habit of going to carry little kids. I actually got infected with primary tuberculosis because I had a very privileged childhood in which we always had cooks, stewards, and all. So, our cook had a baby that was infected with tuberculosis, and because I was always going to carry the baby whenever she was busy, I got infected and could not go to school for

three months. As I grew up, however, I knew I would venture into humanitarianism; though I wasn’t sure of the scope or magnitude. When it was time to go to university, I opted to study either medicine or pharmacy. But my father’s bias towards medicine made me settle for dentistry or pharmacy. I was in my preliminary year in dentistry at the University of Ibadan when I got my admission letter to study pharmacy in Ife. I actually resumed a day to their matriculation. My friends and course mates mocked me for leaving dentistry to read pharmacy, calling me a fool. But I’ve never regretted my decision for half a day! I believe that’s what I was cut out to do. I also think I was cut out for humanitarian work, because even my husband complains that I could give him out.

Bisi at work during a screening exercise organised in collaboration with Soroptimist International of Lagos Mainland recently in Lagos.

PAGE 20 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

By SAM EYOBOKA and GLADYS ABUGOH

rchbishop Christian Aggrey Ovwoma Apena of Bethseda Church International, close to tears, tells the story of how he parted ways with the late Archbishop of Church of God Mission, Benson Idahosa, and the Anglican Church. Apena’s father was the first pastor in Isoko land, having been ordained on December 31, 1931. Following in his father’s footsteps, he was close to being ordained an Anglican Church pastor before he was enmeshed in a crisis that led to his exit from the church. “I left the Anglican Church because I had the Pentecostal spirit that they didn’t have. I don’t blame them. I was the first Pentecostal reverend in Delta Province, I was the first Pentecostal bishop in Delta and I’m the first Pentecostal archbishop. I’m the one making bishops now,” said the retired school principal.

ow old are you? I was born May 16, 1931. That makes me 82 years. How did you come about the name Bethesda Gospel Mission? In the late 60s, when I returned from the university, full of the grace of God, this place you are seeing, we used to pray here, it was from here that we moved out. As we were praying, the power of God was working mysteriously in this house. When you come, whether you are prayed for or not, you will get well. So people now said this was our Bethesda. We prayed night and day. We had vigils. I was a teacher then, teaching at St. Michael’s College, Oleh. People will come here to wait for me. Those who were sick, before I returned, they would get well. Isoko was essentially Anglican. Why did you leave the church? It’s not that I was rebellious, but my activities went against their own doctrines. You may be religiously rebellious. I told them they should pray and fast and they said there should be no fasting; that I was misleading the people to fast. They said I was bringing a new doctrine to the church. Another point of disagreement was the way of giving. We were not giving well. The Lord made me to look round and I discovered

that the Isoko man was the poorest among all the communities around. He said they should pay tithe; so I was introducing tithe in different ways, and they said that was not their way of life. Thirdly, they prayed the same prayer from their prayer book in the morning and in the evening; whether it’s ordinary morning service, evening service; Sunday service, the same prayers will be read. I told them people should be allowed to say prayers from their mind as the Lord leads them to, especially according to the needs of the people and of the area. Some of the pastors were annoyed with me, asking: ‘Have we prayed all the prayers in the prayer book, why are we going to

un-Anglican. Then I went to do revival, because I was in charge of Sunday school in the whole of Benin Diocese then, which covers Delta and Edo states. I was establishing Sunday school in all the churches, because I discovered that the children come to church and just play around. I didn’t know it was annoying some people. If you look round today, the children ministry is strongly established; people don’t even know who started it. I had a group that was helping me to go round to

When I gave my report, somebody got up and asked a question. He said ‘who gave you authority to preach outside; who licensed you other things?’ Then I told them that the English people who brought this religion to us had a lot of prayer books now with different types of prayers. So they said I am not an Anglican. So, I started organizing prayers, having vigils on Fridays for miracles, and Sunday nights for praises unto God. They said all those things were

establish the children ministry in different places. I remember in August 1968, we had 320 people baptized in Aboh and Ukwani. I sent them to my father, who was the archdeacon, for baptism. gave the report to the bishop, he was excited. Before this time, in 1968, when Bishop Agori Iwe went to Lambert Conference in

London, he said God told him to come back home to ordain me as a priest. When he returned on August 26 of that year, he asked me to come and I went to Benin to see him. He told me all that God spoke to him concerning me, saying I should be ordained and he asked me to write an application for ordination. At that time, I was a student at the University of Ife and, had my reservations, arguing that I was satisfied with what God was using me to do, but, for fear, I agreed to write, but I didn’t write. He himself sent a notice to parishes to ask them whether they’ll like this person to be ordained as a priest or not. After 21 days, the parishes sent him good reports concerning me. So I was being made ready for ordination on December 20, 1968, but a week to the time, a few members of Adam Preaching Society came forward to oppose my ordination, threatening to

pull out of the church if I was ordained. The bishop called me and said I should be patient, that at God’s own time, he would ordain me. When I gave my report, somebody got up and asked a question. He said ‘ who gave you authority to preach outside; who licensed you?’ I expected Bishop Agori Iwe to say something; but he did not. The attacks were so many! Archdeacon Adam Igbudu said I was disturbing his ministry, that he was the only one licensed to preach the gospel outside. At the end of the meeting, Urhobo and Isoko people agreed to work closely with Adam and Apena; but the Isoko people, because they felt that I was going against Adam, came back and held a meeting in early June 1972 and said I should leave the church. Did they give any specific reasons for their action? No real charge; that we Continues on page 21

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 21

‘Why I fought Idahosa, Anglicans’ Continued from page 20 were doing things they weren’t doing. So we left the church. After six months, there was a British missionary, Rev. S.G. Elton, who was living in Ilesha. He was organizing all those who had problems with their various churches. He invited us to a meeting at Benson Idahosa’s church in Benin City. He talked to us and showed us what to do; asking us not be annoyed because they pushed us out of the church. As he was talking, he looked at me and asked me rise up. I stood up, and he said God has asked him to ordain me as pastor for the work of God in Delta Province of then Mid West State. Benson Idahosa had just been ordained then. So that brought me and Idahosa fairly close. On January 5, 1973, I was ordained a pastor by Rev. Elton. So you can now see how we started the ministry. This was how dogged I was, or rebellious to the church. But my joy is that I have never been angry with them. Under what platform did Elton ordain you? Was Church of God Mission already in existence? We were already having services here since 1969. From that time, every weekend, we will have vigils on Fridays and Sundays as I said before. Friday was for healing, Sunday was for thanksgiving and praying to God. I

• Apena.. I helped Idahosa during crisis

was running that without a name. The Church of God Mission had already started in a way; but it was not registered. It was just like a fellowship. Idahosa and Ekhubor were the leaders. I was ordained, not for Church of God Mission. I was ordained for the ministry of God, without a name. I had been in Delta, I was asked to continue working there. This is my house; I have never left here since that time. So how did the Church of God Mission thing start? hat’s another thing, it’s controversial. From their own story, Reuben Ekubor plus a few others were having a fellowship. Benson Idahosa was a member of Assemblies of God Church. When Idahosa was about to marry, Assemblies of God didn’t want him to marry Margaret, but he had to marry her. So, he left Assemblies and joined this fellowship which was later called Church of God Mission. Later, we joined them, not as members per se, but joint fellowship. The whole thing was a little clumsy; but I have to say it for the benefit of doubts. Ekubor was not a viral person; he was a little bit elderly. Idahosa was full of life and young. When Idahosa joined them; they were all running this thing together. When we came to meet them, because of the problem they had, Elton advised that they should have a structure in the form of a Mission. So they decided to have The Church of

God Mission. We prepared a constitution for them, and made Benson Idahosa President and Ekubor Secretary. In 1979/80, I had some people from Evangels Temple, Washington DC, they wanted the upliftment of members of this Mission. They gave us lectures for one week about Christian offices and they said it was needful for us to have a bishop or an archbishop. I rose up and nominated Idahosa to be our bishop. It was accepted by all. Before then, Bishop Idahosa was called General Superintendent. He went to America for a meeting, when he returned in September 1979, he said he would like to be the President and that presidency should be revolving on a yearly basis. Every year there should be an election and that the General Superintendent should be Reuben Ekubor. We all agreed. Later, I told him it was not a healthy thing for us to be having election for church offices because it would generate bad blood and quarrel. He agreed, but that did not go down well with Ekubor because Idahosa was getting more evangelistic day in day

had invited people from all parts of the world to come for his consecration, and Ekubor was unhappy and turned round to say it could not happen. He approached a lawyer to stay the action and the court granted his prayer. People had come from all over the world, how could we allow these people go like that? It would be a big shame. Some of the invitees calmed us down, saying that church work is not like that. We went ahead with the consecration and, thereafter, Ekubor took us to court for contempt which was the first case against Idahosa. The old constitution was all we had, and Ekubor was the General Superintendent of the church. So, we constituted small committee, with me as the chairman, to draw up another constitution. We drew up a new constitution which made the church head to be a bishop or an archbishop. We didn’t mention General Superintendent. Everything was drawn up in the new constitution and, when we went to court, we presented the new one. The judge adjourned for two weeks and, after studying the new constitution, compared it with the old, he came back

He invited us to a meeting at Benson Idahosa’s church in Benin City. He talked to us and showed us what to do; asking us not be annoyed because they pushed us out of the church out. He said Ekubor should be the General Superintendent and he himself would have no name. Later, when he came back from another travel, he put the name President on his door. This did not go down well with Ekubor. So we sought the advice of lawyers who told him as General Superintendent, he was the owner of the church, stressing that the name Idahosa was carrying was unconstitutional. While this was going on, the church leadership seminar which appointed Idahosa as bishop was on. And before we knew it, he

and said there was nothing wrong with the new constitution and he upheld it. That is the story of Church of God Mission. You now became part of Church of God Mission. You were in charge of the Delta area. At what point did you leave and why? ometimes some of these things I don’t want to talk about…I don’t want to show that I quarreled with this person because of this or that. I don’t want to prove myself to be a saint and the other a bad person. Frankly speaking, as Idahosa was growing in greatness, he

began to do things which I didn’t like. When I discovered these things, I wrote a letter, I also went ton radio in Delta to say I was no longer in the church, but I still love the man. But as a member of the Church of God Mission, I cut off. I also published it in Port Harcourt. So he came after me. But we didn’t meet again till he died. Can you recount what happened, what did he accuse you of? He didn’t accuse me of anything. They came to take a car from me. Which car? He said it was an official car. When I was in Church of God Mission, at that time, I was also a principal and a government worker. I was able to stand on my own. I was not taking any kobo from the church, rather I gave. I had voluntary retirement on February 1, 1983. I still had seven years more, but I decided to retire. The Lord said I should come out and do His work. When I came out of retirement and they paid me, I used part of it to buy a car, a fairly expensive Peagout 504 SR. I drove it just for one week, and when I went to Umunede for a meeting, I slept in the pastor’s house. I parked this car inside the compound. At 1.00 a.m., they woke me up to say my car has been stolen. Imagine a poor teacher, who had just retired. We spent up to four months looking for this car, no way! I decided not to worry about it. I complained to the police commissioner. He said I should not worry. Later at the convention of 1985 when T.L. Osborne was invited to preach, he told Osborne about my predicament. Osborne and his wife were seriously touched and they called me and my wife and gave us the key of the car they bought for their son whom they sent to Calabar to minister. This car was kept in the custody of Idahosa. Then Osborne told Idahosa to release the car to me. In 1988, Idahosa was now saying that that car was on official car (laughs). Is that not funny? And that is what he sent four people to come and claim. When will you retire? Who will retire me? (laughs). When you retire me, I won’t preach or pray again? I’m just asking. In Anglican, they retire at 70, Catholic too. I’m still strong. You saw people who came in your presence. If I was not still doing what I should do, they won’t come.

P AGE 22—SUNDAY Vanguard , JANUARY 5 , 2014

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

08056180152,

SMS only

Some people actually find intimacy dislusting!

OW would you feel if you couldn’t have sex? At all? As absurd and far-fetched that question is, all over the world, there is a small percentage of men and women who actually find having sex disgusting! Lisa Smith, a 29 year-old professional and a confessed anti-sex recently recounted her battle with sex in a newspaper interview. She said in part? that: “My strategies for avoiding sex had run out, so, as the inevitable happened, I simply hoped my boyfriend could not tell that I was enduring, rather than enjoying our encounter. James was a virgin when we met, so I assume he did not realise how strange and dysfunctional our perfunctory couplings were. “We’d abstain for months until, finally, he’d started bribing me with gifts to go to bed with him. But I loathed it. I dreaded the foreplay, and the act itself repulsed me. I could only bear it by focusing my mind on something else. It’s not that James was a particularly inept lover he wanted very much to please me - nor was this a terminal case of bedroom boredom. The problem is that I have always detested sex: the idea of it, the fact of it, and the repellent notion that society seems to revolve around it. I am 29 and I have had three lovers, two of whom I lived with. I have tried to quell the disgust I feel at the prospect of sex, ‘but have failed repeatedly to do so. “There is nothing physically wrong with me. Doctors have confirmed this - and I am not afflicted by guilt. My parents had a healthy and open attitude to sex.

There is no dark incident lurking in my past that would explain my abhorrence, and I have never been coerced into having sex against my will. I am not gay, and I feel no physical attraction towards women. I do not think anything ‘ wrong’ with me, although perhaps my attitude would have been considered less freakish if I had been born in Victorian era. I just hate sex, and have decided I will never put myself through the torture of it again. I am in my physical prime, but my sex life is over. I wish it were not so. My tragedy is that I want to be ‘ normal’. I crave the companionship of a man. I would love to be married; to build a home, to enjoy the comfort and domesticity of a life-long relafionsmp with a partner I could cherish. I want to love and be loved. I do not find men themselves abhorrent on the contrary. I appreciate their looks and enjoy their company. I like cuddles, I don’t mind kissing and I yearn for affection, but nothing more than that. “I have researched internet sites and discovered that only one per cent of the population is, like me, asexual. Of these, half are men and a smaller proportion is gay. So I have resigned myself to the fact that there is scant chance of my finding a man I love who, like me, wants a celibate relationship. I have not discussed my lack of libido with my parents, but I know it saddens them that the wedding and grandchildren they yearn for have not been forthcoming. Perhaps they believe I just haven’t met the right man yet. I can assure them, however, that I have persevered with sex

for long enough to know that for me it is a misery and a penance. Why should I endure it, just to make other people happy? “I have known since my teenage years that I am different from my peers. While my friends were devouring teen fiction and sniggering over the sa lacious nuances in it, I was immersed in animal stories. I found sex-education lessons alien and embarrassing: I could not see how they could ever apply to me. One by one, they lost their virginity and described the fact to me in dreadful details. I couldn’t see how any of it applied to me, but reassured myself that once I had a boyfriend, everything would fall into place. “When in 1999 my best friend introduced me to Andy, I decided I was going to lose my virginity to him as quickly as possible, to silence my friends- who considered me abnormally prudish - and so be like everyone else. So, three months after we started going out, I slept with him for the first time on his rumpled bed at his parents’ house one afternoon when they were at work.: There was no romance, but I didn’t want that. I wanted to get it over and done with, as you would some tedious chores. Andy, who’d had

two previous relationships, knew it was my first time. He was kind and patient, but he hadn’t bargained for the level of fear and panic I felt. Afterwards, I felt only revulsion, but I was determined to persevere. “Only other encounters with men confirmed that sex really repelled me. I learnt to fake pleasure but afterwards, I stared at the ceiling and silently cried. My doctor gave me a check-up when I complained I was convinced something must be wrong with me. He did several tests all of which confirmed my hormone levels were normal and that there was nothing physically untoward. Still, I continued to feel like a freak, an outsider ... “ After a few failed relationships, Lisa met John. “Meeting him ignited a spark of optimism in me,” she said. “He was so attractive, I even nurtured a hope that if I had sex with him, revulsion might finally evaporate. I dared to believe he might change me, that all I needed was to be with someone like him and I would become a normal, functioning

Holding each other in our arms- we learned of our deep affection. Holding each other tightly- we learned to survive the bad times. In caring for one another- we learned of love

Emma Mine, 07051037749 Delta State

OUR column to express your loving thoughts in words to your sweetheart. Don’t be shy. Let it flow and let him or her know how dearly you feel. Write now in not more than 75 words to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, P.M.B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E.mail: sunlovenotes@yahoo.com Please mark your envelope: “LOVE NOTES"

My Dearest Blessing

Holding hands in the park- we learned of the secrets of friendship.

It's all about us!

Some became dearests, Some became Special, Some we fell in love with, Some went abroad, or to the village, Some changed their cities, Some left us, We left some,

partner. When we started dating, I felt happy and full of hope. And when, after just two weeks it became obvious we would have sex, I was neither fearful nor tense. Actually, I was looking forward to it. But as things progressed, the old dread and revulsion consumed me. I felt confused and angry: why was I such a freak? But I’d become such a proficient actress that he didn’t suspect my true feelings. We moved in together two months later and I was prepared to play at happy families.But it was all a sham and we broke up after eight months together. So, once again, I am back living with my parents. Loneliness haunts me. You may wonder how I can be so sure at 29, that I will not change. My response is: would you ask a gay person the same question? I make the parallel because it used to be thought that gay people could be treated or have therapy to make them heterosexual. It didn’t work any more than it would ‘cure’ me of my asexuality. But there aren’t many of us, and I know my chances of finding an asexual

partner- a man I love but who never wants to have a physical relationship are remote. Still, I hope that one day I may discover him and marry. I do not want children of my own. The idea of carrying a baby repulses me as much as the act of procreation itself. I feel it is unnatural. . People say that, as I get older, I may change my mind. I wish I could say there was a glimmer of hope that I would, but I have absolutely no sense of a biological clock ticking. If ever I do want children, I will adopt. My mind is made up: I will not have sex again. This may consign me to a lonely life, but it is better than deceiving a loved one. A relationship based on such a sham is the ultimate lie ... “

Can This Wife Be Replaced? (Humour)

A woman is concerned that her husband is lonely, so she decides to buy him a pet. The pet shop owner shows her a frog. Not only will this frog be a good companion, it also gives a great blowjob” said the man. The woman buys the frog thinking that if the frog is as good as he says, then her husband will be less demanding in bed. That night, the wife goes to bed, happy in the knowledge that the frog will give her husband what he wants and so she will be left alone. However, about 3 o’clock in the morning she is woken by the clattering of pans in the kitchen. She goes downstairs to discover her husband and the frog busy cooking. What’s going on?” She asks. Well, if I can teach this frog to cook, then you can start parking your bags,” he replies.

Some are in contact, Some are not in contact, Some don't contact because of their ego, We don't contact some because of our ego, Some left us alone in dis world:' Wherever they are, However they are, We still remember, Love, Miss & Care about them because of the part they played. They made MEMORIES in our lives and therefore are part of it! So if you get this, then know I haven't forgotten you & I want to say, thank you for being part of my 2013... "Let's toast to friendship & to 2014" *wine* Cheers...Happy New Year. Be blessed!!!

Chris Onunaku 08032988826/08184844015.Chris Onunaku

dekris4real@gmail.com 08032988826/08184844015.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 23

08112662589

'The cougar who got her claws into my man!'

ELE thought she was sec ured in the love she shared with her boyfriend Douglas. A mother of a seven-year-old son, she’d clicked straightaway with Douglas as soon as they were introduced by a mutual friend at a party. We were both in our 30s, though he was a couple of years older,” Rele said. He was married but now divorced and his ex lived with her parents - along with the two children of the union. 'Within months of our falling in love, we were living together and even though money was tight, we were happy. I ran a hair dressing salon and Doug worked as an insurance agent. His income depended on the commissions he earned, but we scrapped by - even managing to have nights out once in a while. On top of which our sex life was amazing and we were even thinking of having a child together. Then after we’d been together for almost two years, Doug came home one evening with a brand new state-of the earth phone. I was a bit annoyed with him because we were supposed to be saving for a new freezer to replace the old one. “‘Where did that come from?’ I asked him. ‘One of my clients sold it to me

too old to be his girlfriend ... ‘ She was enraged. ‘Don’t you dare call me-old,’ she fumed. ‘1’m 52 and it’s true he is seeing me. Who do you think buys him all those lovely presents and the money you’ve been spending?’ My mouth gaped open. She was 17 years older than Doug. I felt sick and disgusted. ‘We’ve been seeing each other for ages; she conttnued. ‘I prefer younger men. He told me he finished with you months ago. He’d obviously lied to both of us and I think you’re better off without him. The cheek of that man.

at next to nothing,’ he expJained. I didn’t believe him. Most of his clients were working class people who barely made their premium payments. How on earth could any of them be this generous? And it seemed selfish of him to be splashing on a fancy iPhone when we could use his money towards buying a freezer - he alreaqy had a good phone. ‘

n the following months, Doug bought more designer clothes, an expensive wrist watch and aftershave. We had an almighty argument about his splashing out on himself - especially as he never bought me anything. Grudgingly, he bought me some inexpensive gifts and t ook me for a meal at a fast-food joint. Then I became incensed when he came home with an expensive hair cut and a manicure. I could spot all these subtle changes as I ran a salon of my own - treatmens like that don’t come cheap. When he mentioned the salon he used, I couldn’t believe how reckless he’d been with money. I could easily do all he did for next to nothing! “When I confided in my best friend, she asked me one simple quest!on, ‘Do you think he’s having an

affair?’ An affair? Why would she think that? ‘Well, where do you think he’s getting the money from - his commission?’ Call me naive, but I'd never even considered it. But the more I thought about it, the more it added up. I asked him outright if he was having an affair and he scoffed I was being ridiculous. But lately, he’d been going out without me and our sex life had nose-dived. We used to have it four or five times a week but now I was lucky if it was once. I was determine to get to the truth and watched his phone like a hawk. Most often, it was locked and I didn’t know the password but this fateful day when he was having a bath, he forgot to lock his phone. Most of his messages were

wipe out except for the last two which was obviously from a woman named Lynda. “The next day, I called her number pretending I was from a delivery firm and we had a parcel to deliver. I told her the label had been ripped and I only have her phone number. She fell for my story and gave me her full address. Bingo. After I left work, I drove straight to the address she gave me and a woman answered the door, she was at least 50 years old. Attractive but obviously a lot older than Doug. This was obviously a mistake. ‘I’m sorry,’ I stammered. ‘I’m Doug’s girlfriend and there were these suggestive messages from your phone. It must have been a mix up as you’re far

would get rid of him if I I were you and he’s obviously no longer wel-

come here!’ With that she slammed the door in my face. “When I got home, he was already at the flat. I went ballistic, smashing up the new stuffs his couger bought him and stamping on his clothes. He tried to calm me down and I wouldn’t let him. He went out and when he came back hours later, he looked as if the world had fallen on top of him. ‘How could you go to her h¢use to confront her,’ he cried. ‘She’s finished with me and it’s all your fault’. He’d lost two women in one day and I told him he was paying for his greed. I was heartbroken and I needed to move. We both

contributed towards the rent and I made a decision to stay until the rent ran out and I was able to find alternate living arrangements. “I’ve since found out that Lynda runs a fairly successful business and lives in her own house. She bragged she liked younger men because they made her feel good. Some weeks after Doug got busted, he came home with more new clothes and a brand new iPhone to replace the one I smashed. ‘Did you get those from your fancy woman?’ I sheered. ‘It’s none of your business,’ he snapped, and if you must know, we’re now back together - you and I are finished. As a matter of fact, I’m hoping to move in with her soon. She wants to take things a bit more slowly. So until she makes up her mind, we’re stuck with each other!’ How could a strapping man prefer a woman old enough to be his mother over me? I was hurt and bewildered that a cougar got her claws into my man a gold-digger who gave up on love for a fancy phone and designer clothes - I’m well rid of him. And men blame women all the time for going after sugar daddies!

08052201867(Text Only)

Therapeutic benefits of exercise

C M Y K

muscle tone will not wait till you have attained the same age as Methuselah. This means that we owe it to ourselves to

Y yoga teacher was of the opinion that old age sets in when one throws away good posture to the winds. He would say “do your exercise regularly to avoid that sort of stiftness which starts from the nape to the neck down to the heels of the feet.’‘ I, myself, have found out through the years of teaching Yoga to others that even a little boy of less than six years could be incapable of doing the head-to-knee posture, whereas, someone of 30 who exercises regularly has no problem with the same posture. That fact drives home the point that the deteriorating of the tone of the muscles can occur even while a child is growing up. Loss of

This exercise will strengthen the spine and expel fatigue in the small of the back

world to delight their days on earth! Parents do not have to breathe down the necks of their children to get them to exercise. Children almost always learn by example. Seeing their parents exercise will in most cases

start to keep the body healthy very early in life. Parents should, therefore, realise the importance of fitness not only for themselves but also for those that they bring into the

Leg Raise

inspire them to follow the lead. Typical of this situation was what existed between my own Yoga teacher and his children. He would tell me that because his children thought most of the exercises were funny,

they would want to join in the fun by doing them too. The end result being that his children of both genders became very good at doing the exercises, enjoying all the therapeutic benefits of the practices. He would tell me, for instance, that none of his daughters suffered from period pains or had problems at child delivery. And, he would put all that down to their practice of Yoga. After a few weeks of Yoga classes, I once told a group of ladies that one of the benefits of the head-to-knee posture was that of painless periods and one of them said, ‘’no wonder, I have not had to take pain relievers for some time now during my periods. I see,’ I want the reader to know that this was an honest-to-God inci-

dence. For a good posture, which means an absence of a round back, the following exercise is to be practised. Lie flat on the back raising the legs vertically and making sure the small of the back remains on the ground. Now, while you breathe in, bring down the right leg to the right side of the body to touch the floor. Exhale and raise again upwards. Thrice in all. Repeat with the left leg to the left side of the body. For the stronger individuals doing the exercise with both legs at the same time is encouraged. This exercise will strengthen the spine and expel fatigue in the small of the back.

Yoga classes STARTED at 32 Adetokunbo Ademola, Victoria Island, Lagos, 9.10am on Saturdays

PAGE 24 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5 , 2014

Undiplomatic handling of President Banda’s visit Adewunmi Adesina, the current Minister of Agriculture, is reputed to be among the brains that piloted the success story of Malawi’s food security programme.

Betrayal of Reciprocity

•President Goodluck Jonathan welcoming Malawi's President, Mrs. Joyce Banda to Abuja, in July 2013 BY HUGO ODIOGOR & CHARLES KUMOLU

HAT manner of diplomatic practice would make foreign policy administrators abandon a visiting head of state as recognised by the Westphalia peace treaty and the diplomatic protocols and conventions that were established at Vienna and Geneva? Only officials of Nigeria’s Foreign Policy managers would have the explanation on what happened in the manner that the State President of Malawi, Mrs. Joyce Banda when she came to Nigeria on November 28, 2013. Accompanied by her husband, Mr. Richard Banda, retired Chief Justice of Malawi, President Banda was in Nigeria to attend the 14th annual lecture of Osigwe Anyiam Osigwe Foundation at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos. President Joyce Banda, 63, was invited to deliver a keynote address on “Genuine Democracy: The Price and the Prize”. She made the dividends of democratic governance, the cardinal point of her speech, but only Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative at the United Nations, was present as he was the chairman of the occasion. The Secretary to Federal Government Senator Anyim Pius Anyim who was billed to represent President Goodluck Jonathan did not show up. Similarly, the Lagos Sate Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola was also absent. There was visible absence of Minister of Foreign Affairs Prof. Viola Onwuliri, the Presidency, the Federal and State governments. For purposes of updating our readers, the Republic of Malawi, is a land locked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It shares border with Zambia, to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique, on the east, south and west. Nicknamed “The Warm Heart of Africa,” Malawi is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi which is inhabited by an estimated population of over 16million

people. In 1953 Malawi, then known as Nyasaland, became part of the semiindependent Central African Federation (CAF). The Federation was dissolved between in 1963 and 1964, which enabled Nyasaland to gain full independence and became known as Malawi.

Joyce Banda’s Path to the Presidency President Joyce Banda, was the country’s President until April 2012 when former president Bingu Wa Mutharika died in office. She is the second woman to be elected president in Africa, the first being Mrs. Sirleaf Ellen Johnson of Liberia. Like President Goodluck Jonthan, Mrs. Joyce Banda. As the Vice President of Malawi, she was shut out of government for three years and at a point she was denied the use of any official car by the president. On the death of her principal, Malawi stayed for two days without a leader as her opponents did not want her to become the substantive president as stipulated by the constitution. Those familiar with the history of Malawi and the scourge of single party rule, would recall that Malawi had President Kamuzu Banda as one of the dinosaurs of Africa’s political trajectory. At the age of 90, Sir Kamuzu Banda was still in power. It is important to note that the prodemocracy struggles of the 1990s gave Malawi one of the most progressive constitutions in the world. It was the defenders of this constitution that insisted that the rule of law must be upheld and that Malawi should not slid back to the dark days of dictatorship. This was the background to her emergence as the interim president and she went ahead to contest for the office in an open election where she became victorious. Both Nigeria and Malawi are members of the African Union and Commonwealth. They are members of many other organisations. The relationship between Nigeria and Malawi has always been in fact, cordial

Diplomatic World learnt that the treatment given to President Joyce Banda at the dinner was even more humiliating as the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan sent somebody to represent her while Lagos State government sent the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Women Affairs to represent the Governor. According to informed sources, “the evening session was even more humiliating, we reduced a state President to the status of a First Lady . This is most embarrassing is the fact that when President Jonathan visited Malawi, Madam Banda rolled out drums and even gave our President the highest national honour of Malawi’’. Apart from being the president of Malawi, Mrs. Banda is the chairman of South Africa Development Co-operation Council (SADCC), she is qualified in all respect.’’ Not even Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, a one time Foreign Affairs Minister and Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, could feel comfortable on his seat at the treatment meted out to the Malawian president.

Double speak Not wanting to be dragged into diplomatic quagmire, the Coordinator General of the foundation, Mr. Michael

A former Director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Diplomatic World that what happened to President Joyce Banda is undiplomatic and indefensible Anyiam-Osigwe dismissed public persception that the Malawian leader was snubbed by the Federal Government. ‘’It is not correct and it will be unfair to say the Federal government shunned our lecture this year by not having representation”. According to him: “We invited the President which is our usual practice as Special Guest of

Honour. The president couldn’t attend in person because he had a burial of a family member on the same day of the lecture, so custom demands that he must be at the funeral. He could not send the Vice President to represent him because he was in Brazilon a state function.’’ he noted. Still making apologies, Anyim-Osigwe said, ‘’We received a letter from the office of the Chief of Staff to the President that President Jonathan has directed Pius Anyim to represent him. On the day of the lecture the state house protocol officials and the security agencies received signal that Pius Anyim was coming, why he didn’t show up eventually should be an issue he will explain to his boss, the President. But in terms of according President Banda all the state protocol and honour a visiting and sitting Head of State, should have President Jonathan and Nigeria government did very well and we are grateful and honoured as a family. President Banda was given full presidential protocol and movement.

Presidential telephone calls with Banda ‘’The president sent his own presidential vehicles from the State House for the use of the Malawian president for the period of her stay in Nigeria even though she came to Nigeria on a private visit. There can’t be a better way to honour a fellow Head of State than what President Jonathan did. He also had telephone conversations with his Malawian counterpart whilst she was in Lagos. Top officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were sent from Abuja to receive her. The security agencies and presidential security personnel were deployed ahead of her visit and during her visit in Lagos. What more can we ask for.’’ On the absence of Fashola, he added thus: ‘’As per the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Raji Fashola’s attendance or nonappearance and non-representation, he should be in a position to explain why. We duely invited him and his wife to both the lecture and the dinner in honour of President Banda. I am aware the wife sent a permanent secretary from the government house to the dinner. We have always invited Governor of Lagos State as Host Governor for the lecture but Governor Fashola in his six years in office has not personally attended our lecture unlike his predecessor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who attended almost all the lectures we had during his time. He sent representative in previous editions but he didn’t come nor sent anybody last year and this year when a sitting President came to Lagos. It is important to say that our lecture and foundation activities are not government dependent in any way and we don’t wait for any government official before we start our event. We start when it is time to start and anybody who comes in afterwards is recognized where and when necessary.” A former Director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Diplomatic World that what happened to President Joyce Banda is undiplomatic and indefensible. She may be on a private visit to Nigeria, but as the head of state of a sovereign nation, she cannot stay without visible presence of government official. Not even the Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was present talkless of the minister. This is very undiplomatic, “ he said.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 25

AHEAD OF GENERAL ELECTIONS

Tough times await reckless radio, television stations — NBC DG, Emeka Mba In this interview, the new Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Emeka Mba, outlines his agenda, saying radio and television stations that violate the NBC Code, whether privately or government owned, will have their licenses w i t h d r a w n . Excerpts:

OU just came into NBC as Director General. What agenda are bringing on board? The number one task of the commission at this time is the digital switch over. All over the world, because of the ITU’s regulation, digital switch over is not only important because it helps to optimize the use of the spectrum which is a scarce commodity, it also offers opportunities for the television to be redefined. It makes the television more interactive and more socially valuable. Interestingly, the switch over is happening around the same time we are going to have the general elections and our elections as any elections anywhere in the world are driven largely by the media, especially the electronic media. So we are not unmindful of the difficulties that are going to come up in the next one year as we face the digital switch over as well ahead of the general elections. People have argued that the NBC has not done well especially in the enforcement of the code despite the fact that the code regulating the conduct of business in the electronic broadcasting prescribes sanctions. Let me say that over the years, it appears that the sentiment within the NBC has been to nurture the broadcast industry. As a young industry, there is nothing wrong with that. But I think at 20, the industry has reached its early adult stages; so we are beginning the concept of enforcement. No one can say now that he is not aware of the code; no one can say that broadcasting is a new thing that we are learning. It’s been there, at least commercial private broadcasting has been there for 20 years plus and so the NBC has taken a different turn. I think what has happened in the past is that because the NBC does not communicate its sanction process, people were unaware of what was happening but, I can tell you, recently, AIT went against the code and we fined them 500,000 naira. If they continue, it will come to a point where we will have to seize their license. We also, recently, had a popular radio show, done by Love FM,

• Emeka Mba

Any station that violates the law, we will simply take away its license. The license doesn’t belong to the stations actually, it belongs to the people of Nigeria, it belongs to our common wealth, it’s just given to you in trust and, if you abuse that trust, it will be taken away the one that is almost like an ombudsman, Ahmed Isah’s show, where the anchor was a little unprofessional. We had cause to sanction the station and demand he be taken off air and sent to broadcast school which he has just completed. But sometimes it appears because these processes are not made public, it is as if nothing is happening to people that violate the code, but that is the way the NBC has positioned itself; it is going to change. I believe that it’s also part of what we need to do to make sure that members of the public can become

an integral part of the monitoring system. The monitoring doesn’t just happen from the NBC, the monitoring also happens from members of the public. When they view something and they don’t like it or they feel it is offensive, they have a method of complaining to the NBC and then our process with dealing with that issue is made public so that they feel there’s faith in the process. Let us go back to the television sector. You know Nigerians have the penchant for doing things at the last minute. The campaign

for the switch over started a very long time ago while the policy frame work came out sometime last year, what is the level of awareness especially in the industry? There are two levels of awareness; one is to the industry, the other one is to the general public because, at the end of the day, what is more important is the general public; people are going to watch television or listen to radio. But general awareness is slow because we haven’t had the funds to commence a sustainable media publicity campaign. The truth of the matter is that everywhere in the world that digitalization has occurred successfully, it has happened with the inputs of the entire industry, it’s not simply a position that is taken by the regulator. The industry people bring in their money, government also brings money, there is always a special dedicated fund for digitalization; we have requested for money from government and we are hopeful that the request will be accommodated to make this transition successful. Usually, a large chunk of the budget goes to two basic items. The first is publicity. The other one is usually to rebate the system for vulnerable members of the society in terms of having a set up box. The rest is administrative and technical. We have made a lot of progress, we have worked out a specification for a set up box; we are working on a census of transmitter infrastructure in Nigeria. We have worked out the licensing frame work for digital operation that has already been concluded; we are just waiting for our next board to approve that process. From this month- January - you will begin to see a lot of these processes becoming more public and we will begin to have impact that will be beneficial to the industry. Critics of NBC have argued that though there is obvious violation of the code by government owned radio and television stations, especially in the area of campaign during elections and muzzling of the opposition, are you going to do things differently as we go towards 2015? The only thing I will do differently, if there will be any difference, is following what the code says. There’s no separate law for state owned or government owned and private owned stations. If you break the code, appropriate sanction as stipulated in the code will be meted out to you.

Anyone who has any doubt as to whether I will enforce the code should break it and see what happens. We are going into a very highly charged political season. I am not going to sit here and allow the broadcast media to be used as a vehicle to cause trouble. Any station that violates the law, we will simply take away its license. The license doesn’t belong to the stations actually, it belongs to the people of Nigeria, it belongs to our common wealth, it’s just given to you in trust and, if you abuse that trust, it will be taken away. The radio is a very strong medium, yet what we have on air these days , people who don’t seem to have the knowledge not to talk about the competence of delivering news are everywhere on air. is there anything NBC can do to ensure that on-air personalities are better trained so that they don’t impact negatively on our young ones? One of the things I’ve done since coming to this position is to undertake an audit of the manpower of all radio television stations in the country. My research department is just about concluding that assignment; so I can sit here and tell you that any time anybody makes any recruitment into radio or television, I need to know the person’s background, his qualification, etc. So we have that data and we are accessing it; so we have an idea of all the radio programs, who runs the radio stations, who owns them, who are the staff, what’s the staffing level, what are their qualifications? It is worrisome when people just get on air without requisite training or qualification or experience and they say whatever comes to their mouth. There is power but if that power is abused, you are bound to be sanctioned. We saw what happened in Rwanda, how radio helped to promote violence and genocide; we saw what happened in Kenya after the elections and see how radio helped to promote violence. But the other thing radio can also help to do is heal. We see what community radio is doing in Sierra Leone, Liberia, other parts of Africa and South America; how radio is helping to heal wounds of violence, how it is helping to empower people on agriculture, health, election issues, voter participation, freeing people from the bondage of economic slavery. We believe that radio is extremely powerful and therefore NBC will do whatever is necessary to promote the responsible use of the air waves.

PAGE 26—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

08116759757

‘I forgive you’ Oshiomhole tells driver of vehicle that nearly killed him The Comrade Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, survived yet another motor accident on December 28 along the notorious Benin-Auchi Road. He had been holidaying in his village, Iyamho, and returning to Benin- City when a Peugeot J5 bus, with registration number, XB 355 Fugar, loaded with tomatoes and plantains, lost control while trying to overtake a trailer and rammed directly into the governor’s Flag Car, a BMW bullet proof car, from the opposite direction before ending in a ditch. Inside the car with the governor were his aide-de-camp (ADC) and the driver. The incident occurred around Ewu village at about 9.45am and, if not for God, as the governor later explained, it would have been another sad story for the nation because the bullet proof car was damaged beyond repairs but no injuries were sustained by the victims. Sunday Vanguard learnt the accident caused panic in Oshiomhole’s village as youths of the community rushed out of their homes to assist the governor’s convoy. The security operatives attached to the convoy were on red alert fearing that it could be a deliberate attempt on Oshiomhole’s life. Their fear was prompted by the way the accident occurred. The bus ran directly into the governor’s car and the impact forced all the air bags in the car out. The four rims of the car and tyres were destroyed and the car may have somersaulted if the convoy had been on speed. While the villagers and passengers stopped to assist the Comrade Governor, his security aides took him away in one of the backup vehicles in case the accident was an attempt on his life. Sunday Vanguard gathered that after Oshiomhole, who was visibly shocked, was rescued by security operatives, he made a sign of the cross and made sure that nobody was hurt including the driver of the J5 who rammed into his car before he agreed to leave the scene. The driver of the J5 bus was taken away by security operatives probably for further investigations. Though it was learnt that the driver of the bus was at fault, Sunday Vanguard gathered that Oshiomhole left instruction that the man must not be tortured and advised that he should be allowed to go home since God has saved them from the accident.

SIMON EBEGBULEM, BENIN-CITY

The bus ran directly into the governor’s car and the impact forced all the air bags in the car out. The four rims of the car and tyres were destroyed and the car may have somersaulted if the convoy had been on high speed Panic However, there was panic in Edo State when the news spread to Benin- City that the Comrade Governor was involved in a ‘serious accident’. Tongues started wagging as to the state of the governor and what could have led to the accident. It would be recalled that prior to the 2012 governorship election in the state,

while party members and leaders were waiting for Oshiomhole in Benin -City to address a rally, news came that his convoy was involved in a motor accident where three journalists attached to Government House lost their lives. The crash led to an exchange of words between the state Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the then ACN leaders, after the ACN accused the PDP of a plot to assassinate the governor. That was in the heat of the governorship campaign. In that accident, the governor was not riding in his Flag Car and that was the car the tipper rammed into in that accident. Fear gripped APC leaders when it was learnt that the governor was involved in another accident and it was rumoured that he was flown abroad for treatment despite the statement from the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Prince Kassim Afegbua, that the governor was hale and hearty. According to the statement, “the Peugeot J5 bus was following a truck that was descending the Ewu slope when it suddenly veered off into the governor’s lane from the opposite direction and directly impacted on the governor’s vehicle, apparently because of brake failure. The

good story is that nobody sustained injuries in both vehicles. The Comrade Governor is hale and hearty, his ADC and other occupants of the Peugeot J5 are also in good condition. The incident has been reported to the Divisional Police Station at Ewu for further investigation. This is to assure all good people of Edo State that there is no cause for alarm. Their loving Comrade Governor is fine, hale and hearty as well as other occupants of the other affected vehicle. The Comrade Governor is wishing everyone a prosperous new year ahead”. And contrary to the reports in the social media that Oshiomhole was flown abroad, Sunday Vanguard learnt that the governor had earlier planned a trip abroad that same day and not as if he travelled out due to injuries from the accident. Sunday Vanguard spoke with the governor shortly after the accident and he was full of praises to God for saving his life.

Killer axis Reacting to the accident, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and Chairman of Forum of Former

Continues on page 27

SUNDAY

Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 27

08116759757

‘I lost two sons in mysterious night fire’ T

he popular saying that man proposes but God disposes cannot be truer when the heart rendering story of Mr. Etukpere Lucky Emumejakpor, the 36- year-old graduate of School of Health Technology, Ofuoma, who lost his two sons in a night fire at Oroke Estate, Ovwian in Udud Council Area of Delta State, in a mysterious way comes to mind. Monday, December 30, 2013 will remain forever in the memory of the family of the graduate of public health seeking employment with Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSU), Oghara. The day began with the Yuletide bubble as the family of seven drove in their family Audi 80 car to UrhodoIdjerhe in Ethiope West Area to buy garri, which Mrs. Etukpere trades in. Mr. Etukpere narrated his sad story to Sunday Vanguard at Eku where he is taking refuge with his undergraduate younger brother. He started: “We happily celebrated Christmas together. We bought

clothes for the kids, we were in high spirit. My wife requested that I drive her to the market that fateful day, so we went with the kids. ”On returning from the garri market at about 6pm, we had little food left in the house, so I gave my wife money to go to Jigbale market in Ovwian to buy items to prepare soup. That was after she had prepared the last soup for me and the kids. ”My wife went to the market with my small daughter, my elder daughter went to play with our neighbours kids. At about to 8pm, there was electricity as we ate, but, moments later, there was blackout, so I put on my phone torch. ”After we finished eating, two of the kids went to sleep while the other of my sons sat on the chair. I decided to go and sit outside because of the heat inside leaving the phone with them. The door was opened, I only shut the door of the extension. I was pressed to go to the toilet, so i walk over to our toilet which is few metres away. ”To my greatest surprise, what I saw on my return was a big fire in the house. I rushed inside the fire

‘I forgive you’ Continued from page 26 of Councils in Edo South, Mr. Crosby Eribo, lamented that despite the fact that the state has produced Minister of Works and other influential individuals at the federal level, government is yet to fix the ever busy Auchi-Abuja road which has led to the death of many Nigerians, particularly Edo indigenes. Eribo, who lamented the delay to dualize

the Auchi-Abuja Road, noted, “The Ewu axis has killed many of our sons and daughters including a former chairman of the PDP in Edo State, Barr.Samson Ekhabafe, and a former CPS to the Governor. So it is sad that these avoidable accidents kept reoccurring yet Edo sons have held positions as Minister of Works. We thank God for our Comrade Governor ’s life because he is doing exceedingly well for our people in Edo State

and carried my daughter, Blessing (8), and threw her outside. As I made to go inside again, i collapsed and fainted due to the heat. I was rescued by my neighbours.” Mr. Etukpere paused as he sobbed. He continued: “I lost everything in that fire: My two sons, my certificates, my money, my wife’s savings, everything except my car which i usually parked at the Mobil filling station.” Etukpere appealed to Delta State government to consider his application for employment at DELSU to ease the disaster. ”I am looking up to the state government to consider my employment at the teaching hospital in Oghara. I need help after this disaster. ”I am putting up with my younger brother, Dockson Etukpere, an undergraduate at the Delta State University. I came from a poor background, I have struggled all my life, i need help to overcome this calamity.” His wife, Mrs. Finegirl Etukpere, a native of BoborokuIdjerhe, also told her story. ”We returned from Idjerhe that fateful day. So, after preparing little food for the family, I dashed to nearby Jigbale market. I was still at

and God will continue to spare his life because Nigeria needs him”.

Godfathers

Also speaking on the issue, a founding member of the PDP in Edo State, Elder Sunny Uyigue, attributed the accident to “evil plots of the enemies of our governor.” He went on, “Since he came into power, god fathers have been crying because they now know it is no longer business

BY AKPOKONA OMAFUAIRE

I lost everything in that fire: My two sons, my certificates, my money, my wife’s savings, everything except my car which i usually parked at the Mobil filling station

the market, when a neighbour came to tell me that our home was on fire,”she said. ”What I saw I could not explain. I saw people trying to revive my husband and a huge fire had taken over the whole place. I started shouting, ‘my children, my children’. I attempted to jump inside the fire but I was restrained. I am devasted. I don’t know what to do, where to start. My sons are gone, I cannot believe it.” Mr. Etukpere Lucky Emumejakpor can be reached on his mobile phone:08133045665.

as usual. Those who don’t like development in their lives, enemies of progress have been going to one native doctor to the other trying to use voodoo on the man but God Almighty who brought Oshiomhole to Edo people will always see him through. Because the man is doing the right thing, the super -rich in our state are no longer being allowed to continue to steal and milk our people, they now want to kill

him. The first accident was when a truck ran directly rammed into his car in Edo North and they did not know he was driving another car and that was how he was saved. The second one, a bus loaded with plantain ran straight into his car. Haba! Why can’t they run into any other car in the convoy; why must it always be the governor ’s car? These things are voodoo and no body except God can take the man’s life and the evil people must know. We thank God for his life”.

PAGE 28â&#x20AC;&#x201D;SUNDAY, Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

Lo or Ope A dediji and A dele anmi Lovve song ffor Adediji Adele deleyye Ogunk Ogunkanmi

peoluwa Anuoluwa Adediji, daughter of Bode Adediji, and Adeleye Oluyomi Ogunkanmi were joined together as husband and wife at a wedding ceremony held at Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos recently. Many dignitaries graced the occasion.Photos by Diran Oshe

L- R: Ven. Ladipo Eso,and Mr Bode & Mrs Lara Adediji, parents of the bride.

Blissful union

L- R: Mr Bode &Mrs Lara Adediji, parents of the bride, the couple, Mr and Mrs Adeleye Ogunkanmi, and Mr Kola & Mrs Lola Ogunkanmi, parents of the groom

L- R: Senator Bode Olajumoke and Chief Ade Ojo, Chairman, Toyota Nigeria Limited

he holy matrimony between former Miss Olufunmilayo Mariam Yusuf, daughter of Barrister Fassy Yussuf, Baagbimo of Ijebuland, and Mrs Rahmath Yusuf-Adeyemi, Branch Controller, Central Bank of Nigeria, and Mr Nelson Onovochakpo Stanley, son of Mr Oghome Stanley and Mrs Eunice Ozeghe, was held at RCCG, Jesus Embassy Lekki, Lagos and followed by a reception at Events Place, Graceland Estate, Lekki-Epe Expressway. Photos by Lamidi Bamidele

The couple, Mr and Mrs Nelson Stanley, flanked by Dr and Dr (Mrs) Deji Bello.

Chief & Mrs Rasaq Okoya.

OBULE GIVES OUT DAUGHTER IN GRAND ST YLE STYLE Former governorship aspirant in Delta State, Chief Charles Obule gave out his daughter â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Miss Jennifer Obule in marriage to Mr. Harris Akhile at a well attended ceremony in Sapele. Amongst guests at the event include Prof. Amos Utuama, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki, Dr Steve Oru, Gen. Patrick Aziza (rtd) Sen. Emmanuel Aghwariavwado, Chief Fred Majemite,Chief Oma-Djebah and a host of others.

The couple, Mr and Mrs Harris Akhile

L-R:Alhaji & Mrs Lateef Jakande with the father of the bride, Mr Bode Adediji

Gen. Alani Akinrinade (left) with Chief Samuel Adedoyin.

Otunba Clement Adeyemi (left), with Princess Ojuolape Yusuf.

Mr Oghome Stanley and Ozegbe, groom's parents

Mrs

Eunice

SUNDAY, Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 29

St. A gnes Catholic’s send-of Agnes send-offf St. Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland held a send-off ceremony for their Parish Priest and his assistant recently as well as their Festival of Nine Lessons and Xmas Carol. The event as captured by Akeem Salau:

L-R: Very Rev Father Raphael Adebayo,Outgoing Parish Priest,Rev Father Anthony Nworuh,Rev Father Anthony Adebambo and Rev Father Mark Omene.

Hill Ezeugwu laid tto o rest

illary Ezeugwu, Vanguard’s photojournalist who passed on recently, has been buried. An order of mass for peaceful repose of his soul was held at Ibegama in Idi-Ipi Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. Many of his colleagues from far and wide graced the occasion. Photos by Lamidi Bamidele

A cross section of the Church Choir.

Mrs Scholarstic Ezeugwu, widow (3rd left); Mrs Chioma Iziguso (4th left) with children of the late Ezeugwu

L-R: Mrs Folakemi Adu, Mr Olu Adegoke and Mrs Bridget Unegbu.

L-R: Ogie Eboigbe,Vice Chairman, St. Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland, Rev. Father John Mireku and Monsignor Patrick Shomide.

Conjugal bliss for Bose and Gbenga

t was a mixture of joy and love as the families of Pastor & the late Mrs. Orogun ( n e e Ajileye) from Idogun, Ondo State - parents of the groom, Olugbenga, combined with those of Elder & Deaconess Otunla from Igboho, Oyo State parents of the bride, Bosede, to host friends and well wishers at their children’s wedding.The traditional marriage took place at the bride’s parents’ residence, First Gate, Festac, Lagos.

L-R: Mr Jude Ezeugwu; younger brother of the deceased; Mr Ani Christopher and Dr Dan Shere, former Secretary to Enugu State Govt.

Members, Enugu State Chapter of Nigerian Union of Journalists led by Comrade James Okparaekocha (middle)

The couple: Bosede and Olugbenga

The couple with the Best Man, Chief Bride's Maid and Groom's Men.

Parents of the bride and groom

L-R: Alero Atsiemene, Folorunsho Alex, Dolapo Majekodunmi and Charity Eziegbo

L-R: Mr Anayo Okoli, Abia State correspondent, Vanguard ; Mr Alozie Benjamin, Enugu circulation of Vanguard; Pastor Innocent Nwanekwu, Assistant Admin Manager; Mr Emeka Mamah, Dep. News Editor; Mr Tony Nkwopara, Imo State correspondent and Mr Tony Edike, Enugu State correspondent.

PAGE 30 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014 — PAGE 31

C M Y K

PAGE 32—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

Why we tinkered with National Education Policy in Osun, by Gov Aregbesola • Says New Policy Focuses on Complete Child, Complete Youth, Complete Citizen

therefore inspired counter strategies, starting with a complete restructuring of educational administration, to turn around the rot.

In this piece, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State dismisses the criticism of the education policy of his administration. On Haphazard Claim

he Osun State Education Policy our administration is currently implementing is not a haphazard, impressionistic voyage. It is rather a comprehensive and holistic response to a scandalous educational rot, which we found, at the inception of our government, unbefitting of a state and people that were part of the first revolutionary educational policy in Nigeria; by which I mean Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his Action Group (AG) party’s free primary education policy, which started in the old Western Region in 1955. Our policy therefore seeks an integrative approach to the education of our children and youth. This spans: Education Infrastructure in O’Schools: massive building of new school structures to replace the present dilapidated ones, within the framework of our schools reclassification system; standardised school uniforms in O’Uniform: to rebrand Osun public schools as well as create employment for design*Gov Aregbesola ers, tailors and allied artisans, as employed by Omoluabi Garments Factory, the biggest of its type in the whole of West Africa; Innovative teaching materials and learning aids, which clear showpiece is the award-winning Opon Imo, the computer tablet that captures all the textbooks in the school curriculum for high schools; good nutrition to fully develop the physical and mental readiness of our children for life-long learning: in O’Meals, the schools feeding system for the elementary cadre, in the first four years of school life, with a possible extension to the higher cadres of schooling when resources allow; co-curricular activities as integral parts of the school curriculum: in O’Calisthenics, physical education drills, since a sound mind sits pretty well in a sound body; and educational competitions in quiz and debates; games and sports; and subject cocurricular societies like the Literary and Debating Societies, Science Clubs, Geography Societies, the Omoluabi Boys and Girls Clubs, etc; technical school period, from birth to age and vocational education: in the 6, comes with a strong stress on implementation of the Osun Life parent-government cooperation Academy Programme, which and collaboration. For starters, caters for training and the policy does not invest in retraining, particularly outside nursery and other pre-school formal school walls, for Osun activities because government citizens not so academically expects parents and guardians to gifted but that can acquire tech- contribute their own rich quotas nical and vocational skills, with to preparing their children for no age barriers, who can then set school readiness. We therefore up their own micro-businesses to expect parents to nurture their earn a living; entrepreneurial children in the pre-school years. education: in the curriculum im- The children and wards need the plementation for functional and strong emotional platform that entrepreneurial education, a caring parents and guardians crucial missing link in the provide to be well and truly ready Nigerian educational system as for school. Therefore, our education policy presently designed. These are the major pillars of is tailored towards making the our education policy. But these Osun public schools system cover the formal education produce the complete child, to school years from age 6. The pre- become the complete youth and

Our reforms make a slight reclassification in the national 6-3-3-4 system, with no fundamental alteration of the scheme. What we have done is tinker with the 6-3-3 grouping — the 12 years of primary and secondary education before the four years of tertiary education

grow up to become the complete citizen, empowered in learning and in character, in the best tradition of the Yoruba Omoluabi. That way, they would be equipped, culturally and academically, anywhere they find themselves in the world, aside from becoming patriots, to take care of their state and country that had earlier taken care of them. The Genesis The Osun Education Policy was brewed at the Osun Education Summit, held February 7-8, 2011, at the University Auditorium, Osun State University, Osogbo. The summit, chaired by Prof. Wole Soyinka, had the theme: “Resolving the Education Crisis in Osun State: Bridging Analysis and Implementation Gaps”. It also had sub-themes, viz: “Resolving the Education Crisis in Osun State”, “Quality Assurance and Capacity Building”, “Role of Stakeholders”, “Early Childhood and Basic Education”, “Funding Approaches”, “Curriculum Implementation for Functional and Entrepreneurial Education” and “Special Education and Language in Education”. The policy was forged from the summit’s communiqué and observations. The summit established the following challenges as fuelling the crisis in education that necessitated the present reforms: infrastructure neglect- basically in collapsed school structures; crowded classrooms; poor funding; teachers’ low morale; lack of instructional materials; high fees in tertiary institutions; low bursary rate and poor performances of Osun students in both internal and external examinations, among others. These serious challenges

On Restructuring Since the critical success factor for any reform is sound management and welfare, at the heart of the new education reforms is a restructured Education Administration Modality. This involves creating specialised agencies to address key components in public schools management. To this end, the old Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) has been decentralised into three Education Districts, with territorial jurisdictions covering the three senatorial districts in the State of Osun. These three Educational Districts are headed by a Tutor-General, an equivalent of a Permanent Secretary in the Osun Civil Service. These Districts are the primary drivers of the new policy, with TESCOM serving as a central clearing house, and TESCOM itself acting in concert with the Osun Ministry of Education. The new reforms have also addressed teachers’ welfare and that of other non-teaching staff. To this end, the Teachers Establishment and Pension Office (TEPO) was set up. As the name clearly implies, aside from teacher recruitment, TEPO takes charge of human capacity development in Osun public schools: teachers’ career advancement, training and retraining, teaching incentives, promotion, prompt payment of salaries and allowances. TEPO not only tackles teachers’ welfare while they are in active service; it also looks after their pension after retirement. The third leg of the Education management and welfare reforms is the strengthening of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB). SUBEB is the agency that collaborates with the Federal Government on the national policy of free and compulsory education for every Nigerian child in the first nine years of formal education, now captured in the national scheme of Primary (six years) and Junior Secondary (three years). Although, the national scheme has been slightly adjusted under our own School Reclassification System, the adjustment, I must say, is just administrative regrouping which by no means contrasts with the national 6-33-4 system. Needless to say, the reforms have led to a radical increase in grants and subventions for the administration of public primary and secondary schools. Indeed, total grant for the 1378 pubic primary schools in Osun jumped from N7.4 million a year to N424 million a year, a quantum leap by any account. On Reclassification Our reforms make a slight

reclassification in the national 63-3-4 system, with no fundamental alteration of the scheme. What we have done is tinker with the 6-3-3 grouping — the 12 years of primary and secondary education before the four years of tertiary education. In that regrouping, the last two years of the three years of junior secondary has been extracted to form a middle school cadre. We therefore came up with the following reclassification and their age brackets: elementary School: Ages 6-9 (Grades 1-4); middle School: Ages 10-14 (Grades 5-9); and high School: Ages 15-17 (Grades 10-12) These classifications are not arbitrary. They come with plausible and logical sociocultural reasons. To start with, the Elementary School is conceived as a neighbourhood school, a walking distance from the pupils’ homes. Again, the Elementary School concept comes with high parental input, since the children, in their formative stages, are still under close watch by their parents and guardians. The Middle School, though meant for older children, would be cited no more than two to three kilometres from where the pupils live. The High School is sited further away, since the children, now in high school, have become young adults, able to cope with public transport from their homes to school and back. However, there are plans on the way to provide school buses, which fares would be discounted to make commuting to and from school even easier. On Feeding The school feeding scheme, branded O’Meal and currently being implemented in the Elementary School, with possible extension to higher cadres when resources allow, is founded on the principle of good nutrition as incentive for learning readiness. Right now, over 254, 000 school children enjoy highly nutritive daily lunch under a scheme that has been lauded home and abroad. This scheme has also greatly boosted enrolment in elementary schools by no less than 25 per cent. But an added economic advantage is the boon to farmers as the scheme greatly aids poultry, food crops and animal husbandry, by working with farmers who have served as vendors supplying the foods. O’Meal is conceived as backward integration for a renewed Osun agricultural programme, to partly serve as ready market for farmers’ produce and boost their income. On Infrastructure Development Branded O’School, the Osun School Infrastructure Development Programme is a logical extension from the Osun Schools Reclassification Programme. Under O’School, there are ongoing plans to build 100 elementary school, 50 middle school and 26 high school models. But the building is not haphazard. Since many of the old schools are aged and dilapidated and the state does not have the funding to replace each and every of the run-down school buildings, the reclassification policy is structured on maximising resources. This means in the new school models, communities would have to share

Continues on page 34

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 33

No way for 6-year single term for president — Arewa chief, Ringim Alhaji Sagir Muhammad, Wazirin Ringim, was an intelligence officer in the Nigerian Army. He was also a commissioner in Kano and Jigawa states as well as Chairman, Arewa Peoples Congress. He spoke with AbdulSalam Muhammad in his country home, Ringim, on some national issues.

•President Goodluck Jonathan

E rarely hear your voice these days. Are you frustrated with the polity? It is not a matter of frustration; it is purely a matter of taking recess to look at the dire situation in the country to see where we are and where we are going and to see how much we are progressing or retrogressing, that is why I have decided to have recess. What is your assessment of the polity? Honestly, if you look inward, you will discover that instead of progressing, we are retrogressing How ? For now, socio-economic indices are so damning that you continue to ask what the fundamental role of government is. Everywhere you go, you notice palpable evidence of frustration, everybody has been turned to a time-bomb and,any slight scratch, he will explode; you talk of unemployment, sociopolitical problems, lack of security, that’s why the situation is like this. Where do we place the blame? Well , there are expectations in any given society from government and government has expectations from the citizenry, and everybody has to play his own part; but the problem is that there is failure of leadership in the country; that is why you have the citizenry feeling completely neglected and isolated as he is deprived of healthcare, good education, good roads, etc. Look at electricity, we keep on spending billions of naira, but nothing to show for it. There is inextricable inertia particularly in the management of electricity in this country. During Obasanjo’s time, N16billion was spent, during the late Yar’Adua tenure, huge sums were spent, and now we are spending money every day. Yet rather than remain where we were during Obasanjo regime, we have regressed. The result of those huge spending is epileptic power supply across the country. How can you say government programme is impacting on the people? Can we still afford to have Jonathan in 2015? I cannot say whether he should come or not. If i say he should come, my voice alone cannot make it happen, and if I say no to his ambition, it is almost the same because the power lies with the people, it is up to them to decide whether he should return or not. If I tell you yes, I won’t be fair to the people of the country, if I tell you no, I will still not be fair; in other words, I want Nigerians to decide. We are in a country of over 140 million people, my opinion does not not count in this regard. But the elite decide who gets what. No, it’s the masses. Are you saying now that votes count in Nigeria? Votes? If you are to judge from the rigmarole and from what we heard that happened during the just concluded Anambra election, I am sorry, in 2015, it is going to be anihilistic anarchy. What does that mean? I am making some inferences that if we are to judge by what happened in Anambra, then 2015 is going to be total anarchy. Why? Because people like Asari Dokubo and Dr Junaid Muhammad are threatening bloodshed. We don’t want bloodshed, yet these people walk Nigerian streets as

The bottom line is that the National Dialogue will achieve nothing. It does not have constitutional backing because the president does not make laws. Like what happened to the OBJ dialogue, he submitted it to the National Assembly and they killed it

freemen. Honestly, this is not good for the state and her stability. If there are laws regarding inflammatory statements , and if there are laws on incitement to anarchy, and people are not punished, it means you are condoning lawlessness. Are you satisfied with the way GEJ has handled the security situation in Nigeria? I will insulate the president not because I like what he is doing, but my position is that the military has failed this nation. The top hierachy ought to have resigned long ago because Boko Haram keeps attacking military formations like we saw recently in Borno and Yobe states where you have the so-called trained professionals fighting insurgency. The military appears to have run out of ideas, this is an embarrassment to Nigerian. The president is giving all the necessary finances and support to fight insurgency, yet the strategy, the deployment of logistics, the morale of the troops is zero and there are so many factors that affect the morale. It is left to the COAS

and other service chiefs to sit down and conduct military appreciation and look at how best to tackle the security problem in the North-east. From the body language of northern politicians, it seems the North is jittery over National Dialogue? Jittery over what ? Afterall, Obasanjo convoked a similar dialogue, the North participated , various dialogues have taken place in this country and the North participated. The only problem now is the timing of the dialogue and what it is intended to achieve is counter productive. What does Jonathan intend to achieve? Well, he knows, i don’t know. Do you subscribe to the idea that the National Dialogue is a subtle move to elongate GEJ’s tenure through constitutional means? I don’t think so; if that’s what he has in mind, that is not my own thinking. My fear is that there is tension in the land; probably it’s a way of diverting the attention of the people so that he can have a reprieve. The bottom line is that the National Dialogue will achieve nothing. It does not have constitutional backing because the president does not make laws. Like what happened to the OBJ dialogue, he submitted it to the National Assembly and they killed it. The National Assembly has never been so polarized as it is now, so whatever is going to be the product of the National Dialogue will pass through the same route and I doubt whether it will see the light of day. The National Dialogue is all about resource control, the process will only take us back to confederation. The National Dialogue is certainly going to be a waste of time. The Deputy Senate President was quoted recently as canvassing for a single tenure of six years. Do you think he was speaking for himself? No, Ike Ekweremadu was not only speaking the mind of Mr. President , what he has done is jumping the gun; he has successfully pre-empted what he is going to submit to the National Assembly as Chairman of Constitution Amendment Committee. So he has wittingly leaked out a major part of what is contained in the constitutional amendment to give to the National Assembly. Is it a hopeless situation? Well, like we killed elongation tenure of Obasanjo, so shall we kill this one too because there is more opposition now in the National Assembly than even during the tenure of Obasanjo. PDP is fragmented and the situation is that there is too much nepotism. One particular tribe is dominating the country structures. Is it the ministries or the NNPC or aviation? Most of these parastatals are peopled and controlled by a particular ethnic group forgetting the fact that the country is for everybody. There has to be fairness, there has to be justice and that should be the fundamental principle that guides state policy. Unfortunately the ministry of finance is dominated by a particular tribe, appointment is hijacked by a particular tribe, it is unfortunate, the Federal Government is held in proxy for a particular tribe. Does Jonathan stand to win a second term in office? I am a Muslim, I don’t believe in forecast, it is against my religion.

PAGE 34—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

South-south not afraid of the North – Hon Owhefere *Says Uduaghan has done well for Delta

BY EMMAN OVUAKPORIE Hon.Tim K. Owhefere is a twoterm member of Delta State House of Assembly where he chairs the House Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. The journalist- turned- politician is also a Knight of the Anglican Communion. He speaks, in this interview, on some national issues. Excerpts:

If the need arises, we shall defend our own, that is Jonathan, and our region to the very last man

OW do you assess the wisdom or otherwise of the recent letter from former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan? First, General Obasanjo is a person I respect so much for his courage and posture on so many national issues but this letter has torn him to shreds. Let us assume that the issues canvassed by Obasanjo are genuine, what moral platform does he want us to see him standing in making these assertions.Obasanjo as president never tolerated any dissenting view or opposition.. He was a maximum ruler with no regard for the rule of law. We thank God that he said Jonathan is raising a killer squad, which implies that the said squad is still at the formative stage, but can he explain to Nigerians what happened to Chief Bola Ige, Harry Marshall etc? Does it mean the letter lacks wisdom? Whatever wisdom that was supposed to be contained therein had been rubbished by Obasanjo’s very track record of brute. My take on it is that Obasanjo is serving a selfish interest. He is trying to take Nigerians for a ride because, in his wishful thinking, he is the most intelligent person alive in Nigeria. This is absolute rubbish. What we are seeing today is a collapsed Obasanjo political game plan of ruling Nigeria forever either directly or by proxy. He had reasoned that he

•Hon.Tim K. Owhefere will be able to control President Jonathan from his Ota farmhouse. Since this is not possible, he started grooming Governor Sule Lamido pretending to be a friend of the North. Obasanjo and his cotravellers are the real problems of this country, they hate to learn from history. Do you agree with those who say Jonathan is being attacked because he comes from the minority Niger Delta? I do not quite agree with this thinking because I believe there are people from the North, the South-west and South-east who genuinely support Jonathan and the need for us to live together as one united country. It is only the cabal led by the likes of Obasanjo who cannot survive outside government that want to lead this country into chaos. Let me point out however that the Niger Delta is never afraid of any other region, what we want is mutual respect by all other regions and this should never be mistaken for

weakness. If the need arises, we shall defend our own, that is Jonathan, and our region to the very last man. We want our brothers and sisters outside our region to know that President Jonathan represents the very self- identity of the people of the Niger Delta. Forget the antics of some traitors from the Niger Delta who found their way into government under questionable circumstances. They are enemies of our region. Mark my word, in the defence of this self- identity, they will be the first casualty. This leads us to the issue between Governor Amaechi and Jonathan and the lingering PDP crisis. What is your position? I like Governor Amaechi, I met him once in Ghana at the Holiday Inn and he cut the picture of a young man, simple and accessible. To me, he is a man who God personally buttered his bread. However, on the issue with the president, he goofed. He was

blinded by the ambition to become the vice president, and therefore the whole of the Niger Delta can go to hell, he wants to throw away o u r presidency and pick up the VP slot. I only hope he realizes early enough his folly and return home. He is one of our first eleven. On the PDP crisis, it is normal with every

large party that has been in government for this long. It is a struggle for power, this struggle has always been there and I believe this will soon be over. How do you assess the impact of the defection of those governors from the PDP to the APC? In politics, no one is indispensable. Sometimes, we as politicians overestimate our popularity. Some of those governors who left, deep in their hearts, know that they became governors and therefore assume popularity through the muscling of all their opponents using government security agencies. In most cases, they were never the preferred candidates of the masses but got there by government magic. They know this, why are they playing God. How do you see the National Dialogue? I think there comes a time when we need to talk and agree on how we want to live together. We keep pretending that Nigeria is united,

we are not. We need to work things out and the time is now. You are from Delta State. How do you assess the performance of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan? First, I hate to hold brief for the Executive but I think Governor Udughan is a man highly misunderstood by people. This could be due to how he emerged as governor. The problem of Nigeria is also replicated in Delta State where certain persons believe that only them can determine who governs the state. In Delta State, you will come across those who say Governor Uduaghan has done nothing. These are persons who are enemies of progress, The same people fly through the airport built from the scratch by Uduaghan, drive on the federal and state roads reconstructed by Uduaghan, send their children to schools built by Uduaghan, visit the hospitals built by the same governor, enjoy both local and foreign scholarships awarded to their kids by Uduaghan. The list is endless. Across Delta State, there is no community that has not witnessed the presence of government in terms of development. I stand to be challenged. Governor Uduaghan has surpassed our expectations and this is the truth. Uduaghan has done very well for Delta. Reasonable people like us give him all the support irrespective of personal relationship. As a legislator, I might not have made money from government but that does not blind me from the developments going on around me. 2015, what is your projection? God willing, I will run for election again into the House of Assembly, support Goodluck Jonathan Election with all seriousness and work for whoever will emerge as the PDP candidate for the 2015 governorship election in Delta State.

Why we tinkered with National Education Policy in Osun, by Gov Aregbesola Continued from page 32 school facilities in consolidated schools, against the old practice of each community insisting on its own schools, even if the pupil population is sparse and there are hardly enough teachers to go round. This therefore explains the merger of schools which some critics may have clearly misunderstood. The motive is not to inconvenience communities or missions. It is rather to maximise Osun education resources, in such a way, as Jeremy Bentham said, to ensure the greatest happiness of the greatest number. That, I believe, our O’School reforms are achieving. The concept of standard uniforms for Osun public schools, branded O’Uniform, was conceived with an eye to rebrand public schools in the state as well as reflate the Osun economy to employ as many designers, tailors, local textile workers and allied artisans as possible, in the

production of school uniforms. This culture-fired indigenous and standardised uniform for 750, 000 public school pupils, which the Omoluabi Garments Factory is currently implementing, has received international commendations from UNESCO. The first sets of the uniforms, I must also mention, were provided free to the pupils.

On Opon Imo Clearly, the most revolutionary element of the education reforms is the Opon Imo, the customised computer tablet that contains 63 textbooks covering 16 subjects, 800 minutes of virtual class lessons, and 40, 000 past questions for WAEC and tertiary education matriculation examinations, conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board. These have been provided free for all the 150, 000 high school pupils in Osun. Aside from the curriculum textbooks, Opon Imo also contains copies of the Bible, the Quran and the

Ifa Divinity, to underscore the place of Osun as epicentre of Yoruba culture, as well as the multi-religious reality of the state, in the best tradition of equal opportunities. The Opon Imo initiative has proved a masterstroke, both to save costs and provide qualitative learning aids by the instrumentality of ICT. Though the Education Summit recommended approaching publishers for mass production of texts in the school curriculum to lower costs, the Opon Imo initiative has proved even better than the summit’s suggestion. It has rightly been hailed by the United Nations as a revolutionary learning innovation to help Africa and the rest of the Third World improve its educational capacity. On Co-curricular Activities Co-curricular activities in schools are not new. They were an integral part of schools till the 1970s and 1980s when they

somewhat declined. The reforms have therefore succeeded in bringing them back to the education front-burner: schools sports, literary and debating societies, as well as subject clubs and societies. But the clear star of the reforms, in this sector, is calisthenics, under the O’Calisthenics programme, that stresses physical fitness as a prelude to mental fitness. On Other Aspects of Reforms Other aspects of the Osun Education reforms include the downward review of school fees in all Osun tertiary institutions; non-discriminatory school fees regime - Osun indigenes and non-indigenes pay the same fees in Osun tertiary institutions; upward review of bursary and scholarships; promotion of technical and vocational education, through the implementation of the Osun Life Academy Programme; payment of external examination fees of final year students in public high

schools and the sponsorship of 92 UNIOSUN medical students to complete their clinical studies in Ukraine. On Gains The reforms have had tremendous impacts on the Osun educational competitiveness. To start with, Osun, from a 34th placing among Nigeria’s 36 states in 2010, moved to 18th position in 2011 and 8th position in 2012, in performance rankings in the West African School Certificate Examinations (WASCE). Pupils from the state have also chalked up improved performances in national and international competitions, according to compilations by the Osun Ministry of Education. Also, the reforms have earned a partnership with UNESCO to build a regional teacher training institute in the state, and a fresh programme in the area of adult education.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 35

Ex-PDP governors’ defection will not affect Jonathan’s re-election— Omo-Agege •Delta 2015: ‘Urhobos will take their rightful place’ Recent activities of a former Secretary to Delta State Government (SSG) and incumbent Chairman of Urhobo Political Congress (UPC), Chief Obarisi Ovie Omo-Agege, has placed him in the forefront of the struggle for Urhobo unity and eradication of the wrong notion of betrayal of the Urhobo cause. In this interview, the legal luminary bares his mind on several issues which include the last Delta Central Senatorial election, his role in Delta State politics and the chances of President Goodluck in 2015. Excerpts: BY EPHRAIM OSEJI

ntil you withdrew from the last Delta Central senatorial election, you were considered the front runner. How is it like to withdraw from the race you were well positioned to win? It was not an easy decision for me and my supporters but it was one we had to make when we realized that I will not be the candidate of the party. We ran a good campaign that was focused on issues that are important to the people. I am proud of what we did. Once again I want to thank the team that worked with me and our supporters for their understanding of the circumstances that led to my withdrawal and their continued support. Why was the election so important to you that even after you withdrew from the race, you worked so hard to ensure that your party’s nominee wins? You will recall that beginning from the 2007 elections, Delta Central shifted their support from the PDP to the opposition Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and we were left out of the coalition that elected Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in 2007, 2010 and 2011 and became isolated in the politics of our state. As the majority ethnic group, this was not acceptable. We cannot afford to let others continue to decide who governs the state without Urhobos having a say. So it was very important that we end this isolation and reclaim the leadership role which our demography bestows on us. That was what my campaign for the Senate was all about. I truly believe that the Urhobo nation will not have a strong voice in the politics of our state and country if we remained in opposition. I saw the senatorial bye election as an opportunity to end the isolation. The campaign was not about me. It was about ending our isolation in affairs of our state by repositioning my senatorial district in the PDP for the challenges ahead. So it was easy for me to continue with the same drive after my withdrawal from the race. And I am very glad that the people of Delta Central responded positively to our message by voting overwhelmingly for the candidate of People’s Democratic Party, Senator Emmanuel Agwariavwodo. PDP won the election with a very wide margin. How was this achieved by the party given that a few years ago PDP lost the senatorial seat to DPP with a wide margin? We won because we were better organized and united. We must commend Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan for his strong leadership in making this possible in the election and a solid record to run on. On the other hand, the opposition was fragmented. The major opposition party, DPP, was split into two factions with one faction moving to the new All Peoples Congress which had no unified structure to pose any serious threat to the PDP. Our formidable structure across the length and breadth of the Delta Central senatorial district was superior. More importantly however we also had a simple but effective message which the voters understood and believed. And the message was that the isolation and marginalization of the Urhobo nation was not acceptable and the PDP is the party that can pull us out of political wilderness. The opposition had the same message but

fortunately for us the electorate did not believe the opposition candidates that they can end the marginalization. And they were right because the opposition does not have what it takes to give the Urhobo a strong voice in the affairs of the state and country because they are not in power at both levels of government. It was dishonest for the opposition to say they could wield such political influence. Thus, with unity, better organization, superior and believable message on our side and defections of prominent members of the opposition parties to the PDP, there could be only one outcome, victory for the PDP. As the National Chairman of UPC, what challenges do the defection of Chief Amori from UPC to form UPF pose to Urhobo unity and interest in 2015 and how do you intend to manage this unwelcome development? I do not think the split in the UPC will affect the unity of the party in any way. We are all committed to the party even though we may belong to different groups. We are united by a common purpose of ensuring that the PDP retains power in 2015 at state and national levels. We also have the common desire that Urhobo assumes its proper role in the state and country. Perhaps UPC and other groups may support different candidates in the primaries but once the party concludes its primaries we all will work for the candidates of the party at the general elections. I have no doubts that that will be the case. I also do not see how this will jeopardize Urhobo interest once it is defined in the contest of 2015 elections. However, we will try to reconcile our differences and unite both groups again to have a stronger voice in the politics of the party. What is your assessment of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration so far? Do you think he deserves to be re-elected? President Goodluck Jonathan promised us during the campaign that he will transform Nigeria. He was given the mandate to make change happen so Nigeria can fulfill its promise. So far the president has not disappointed. He has been a creative, decisive and visionary leader that has demonstrated boldness and strength of purpose in handling the problems that confront us as a nation. Nigerians voted for a transformational leader and I believe he has risen to the occasion. He has brought the Boko Haram insurgency in the North under control after showing courage in declaring state of emergency in some states. He has unbundled PHCN and privatized the power sector to make the sector more efficient. Nigeria will soon have uninterrupted power supply, so Nigerians do not have to generate their own electricity to power their homes and businesses, so foreign investors can come to Nigeria to

Omo-Agege

invest because about 40% of their operating cost on power has been eliminated. As a consequence, the manufacturing sector will soon flourish to create employment opportunities for our people and hence improve security as our youths are becoming gainfully employed. We have all seen the impact of the privatization of the telecommunication sector on the economy. The multiplier impact of the privatization of power will even be much greater. Under this administration, we have recorded consistent high economic growth. In agriculture, we are 60 percent selfsufficient in rice production and, by 2015; we hope to be fully self-sufficient. For the first time, last year, Nigeria achieved commercial scale export of chips when it began the export of cassava chips. We are the largest producers of cassava in the world. Trains are now running again between Lagos and Kano and our airports have been modernized. The National Conference, which the president has offered Nigeria, showed how determined the president is in changing Nigeria for the better because a successful National Conference will benefit our nation in every area of our national life. With all these achievements, the president deserves to be re-elected to continue the good work he has started because there is still so much to be done and I sincerely hope that he will contest the election. Any decision not to contest will be unacceptable to all of us in the Niger Delta. Five governors of PDP have joined the opposition APC. What is your take on this development? How will this affect the growth of democracy in Nigeria in general and the chances of President Jonathan in winning re-election if he chooses to contest? The changing dynamics in our political

landscape will enhance the growth of democracy because it will engender greater competition for political power. More competition will mean improved performance which will ultimately benefit the people. However, as a member of the PDP and supporter of Mr. President, I would have preferred a situation where the governors remained in the party because it is not the wish of any party to lose its members to the opposition. As I said earlier, the president deserves to be re-elected and the defection of these governors will not change that because, at the end of the day, Nigerians are seeing the difference this administration is making in their lives. We the supporters of the president just need to work harder to expand the support base of the president and assist him to build a winning coalition. What do you expect the National Conference to achieve? The National Conference is long overdue and for the president to have a change of heart on this issue is commendable. Perhaps he has come to realize that the structural defects in the system are too strong to be ignored. I believe that these structural defects that have prevented us from developing despite our huge human and natural resources must be corrected if we are to industrialize and develop. I expect that at the end of the conference substantial resources and responsibilities would have been moved from the jurisdiction of the federal government to the state and local governments. It is equally important issues of resource control and derivation are resolved once and for all so that the federating units can compete and develop at their pace as was the case during the first republic. I also expect the policing of the country to be decentralized to address the rising security challenge. We have observed that no Urhobo man has indicated interest on the governorship position of Delta State in 2015 on the platform of the PDP. Can this be interpreted to mean that Delta Central PDP accepts the arguments of Delta North that it is their turn to produce the next governor of Delta State in accordance with the PDP power rotation among the senatorial districts? The decision to run for any office is a personal decision and it is not one you take lightly. In making that decision, there are certain questions you must answer. First, what are the chances of winning? If you think you have a reasonable chance of winning, then you must ask yourself, ‘can I raise the necessary funds to prosecute the campaign? Do I have the time to campaign? Can I cope with the demands?’ And many more questions depending on your situation. It is not a decision you have to rush. I believe that if anybody in Delta Central comes to the conclusion that he can win under the platform of PDP and have the resources and time to run the race he will declare. There is still time for anyone to enter the race. You contested the PDP gubernatorial primaries in 2007 in which you came second to Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan who eventually won the election. His victory was seen by a segment of Deltans particularly the Urhobo as an imposition which they resisted for so long. You were at the forefront of this opposition to Uduaghan. It is on record that you were the only prominent politician in PDP who stepped forward in response to the wishes of your people to challenge Uduaghan yet you are being accused of betraying the Urhobo interest. What do you have to say on these allegations? It is true that I contested against Governor Uduaghan in 2010 and 2011 but thank God we have reconciled our differences and I am back to the PDP. These allegations and rumours of betrayal are lies intended to mislead the Urhobo people by my political detractors who are ready to do or say anything and everything to undermine me.

PAGE 36 — SUNDAY

Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

Issues that may hinder power in the new era, by Prof. Ezigbo BYAKOMA CHINWEOKE

T . 1 handed over the Power Holding Company

HE Federal Government on Nov

of Nigeria (PHCN) to 18 private firms. The move, which was part of the process to make the power sector vibrant, marks the beginning of Nigeria’s road to industrialization but there are lingering issues that ought to be resolved fast to ensure that there is a smooth transition Professor Joseph Chukwurah Ezigbo is the managing director of Falcon Petroleum Limited, a company which provides a range of oil and gas engineering, design and consultancy services. In this interview, he says the move is one of the best thing that ever happened to the country but warns that if the players in the gas sector don’t have the resources to supply gas for power generation at a cheaper rate, the electricity reform might turn out an exercise in futility. The country recently witnessed the handover of PHCN to private distribution companies . Would you say we are getting close to the end of power disruption era? Basically, it is a great thing that has happened to Nigeria. The government divorced itself completely from power sector just like they did in telecommunications . We have seen the effect in communication which has expanded beyond our widest dreams. In the same vein, we can say that the chances that the power sector would come into its own was very likely at one condition that the government sticks to the rules. They are divorced, they should stay divorced but we must create all the legislative paraphernalia that is required to ensure that the players involved in the power sector succeed. Also, there ought to be harmonization particularly in the pricing structure to allow this change over because you know that for the power sector to actually perform properly the gas prices must be right as most of the power distribution would be gas generated and at the moment the pricing is such that the industry pays more for gas distribution than for electricity. If the players in the gas sector don’t have the resources they require to be able to supply gas for power generation at a cheaper rate than it is, there are going to be issues. These are the issues that ought to be resolved now and fast to ensure that there

is a smooth transition and that we don’t have adverse effect or hiccups at the end of the day. Having said that, there also other things that government should look at to create enabling platform for gas distributors to have access and the distribution companies to take electricity and put it directly into distribution lines without it going to the grid. I would give you an example. We at Falcon Petroleum own the Ikorodu franchise. A couple of years back, I had discussions with Lagos State Government and we assured them that we could deliver electricity in Ikorodu 247. Having said that, the issue of distribution companies came up and we are planning to deploy gas generators in the country to generate electricity and put it directly into distribution lines in agreement with the distribution companies. What would that translate into? That means the loss of electricity in the atmosphere would be reduced. It means that electricity can be distributed to people in Ikorodu straight through the distribution lines and what it takes to repair or bring up to date the distribution lines would be less and still go directly to them. We are hoping that this would be a pilot project that would allow the world to realize that it is actually possible to deliver electricity to a small group of people 247 for the country. . That way we would fix our power supply and spread to other places particularly in the areas where we have gas. If we can deliver electricity in all the areas where gas is available, it means that whatever is being generated in our bigger stations can now go to the rest of the nation . That way we can experience less power disruption in the system. So, what I am saying is that the handing over to the distribution companies would make easier for you to discuss with a smaller group of people not PHCN as it is before that didn’t have the malleability to be able to take such smaller decisions that can be put into the hands of the distribution companies in small pockets of Nigeria. We are hoping that what they have done really would be the best step to actual industrialization of Nigeria. But you see, no nation has developed industrially without iron and steel. We can have all the power we want in this world, if we don’t have iron and steel,

Professor Joseph Chukwurah Ezigbo

If the players in the gas sector don’t have the resources they require to be able to supply gas for power generation at a cheaper rate than it is now, there are going to be issues

suitable for physical utilization. All over the world, Nigerians are thriving. So, as long as we address all the pitfalls and as long as we divorce ourselves completely from interfering with the system, to me it is the best thing that has happened to Nigeria. But again, we must also come to the fact that there are other addition that would enable us climb higher in our quest to become industrialized. So, we must resolve the lingering issues in the power sector. Once we do that this country will be fine. How in your view can we ensure quality and cost effective service for the country ’s electricity consumers? I would take you back to when GSM came out initially, people paid a lot of money to get SIM cards . It is essential for a few areas to take the brunt of the cost of electricity. If we spread electricity as it is to every nook and cranny immediately and expect the best, there must be an issue . I do know that a lot of houses in Nigeria make use of the smaller generators popularly known as I pass my neighbour but the cost of fueling these generators is very high. So, what we need to do is to ensure that there must be a national campaign and massive education of people to let them understand that the cost of electricity is far better. We just have to bear the brunt for a while but with time things would fall into shape just like we witnessed in the telecoms sector. So, if the enlightenment is done properly within the power sector, definitely we would get good results.

we are not going anywhere defiled all economic rules. because virtually everything Nigeria has defiled virtually today is steel based. Once we everything and it is always have steel, we can build ships good to do things that would and cars with steady power adapt to the people and to the supply and with the laws of that time to make it availability of iron and steel in all its form, this country Nigeria would go places. Nigeria today is the first country to have completed full privatization of its power sector in one swing. What are the implications of t h e development? There is no implication. The point is that each time I look at Nigeria, it is a country that has failed to abide by rules. From left: Mr Kazuhiko Nakamura, Director, Audio Video Network Nigeria has Business Division, AVC Network Company, Panasonc Corporation, defiled all Japan; Mr Masao Motoki, MD, Panasonic Marketing, Middle East and political rules, Africa and Mr Kota Plumaf, Panasonic, Dubai at the unveiling of Nigeria has Panasonic high definition video camera MDH2 in Lagos.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 37

PROF. BOLAJI AKINYEMI AT 72

‘Boko Haram lesson for Nigeria: Stop ignoring grievances’ *Lists challenges, gains of Presidential Committee on Islamist group *Says those calling for National Conference boycott are wrong *’Why Nigeria was snubbed at Mandela’s funeral’ It was the first day of the year, January 1, 2014 – just some four days to Professor Bolaji Akinyemi’s 72 birthday. He had invited the quintet of President of the Guild of Editors, Femi Adesina, Editors of the Sunday titles of ThisDay (Tunde Rahman), The Nation (Festus Eriye), Sun (Alhaji Abdulfatah) and I for lunch. It was there that Akinyemi bared his mind on some very important national and international events in a manner only a man with uncommon intellect and insight would. Excerpts: By JIDE AJANI

•Prof. Akinyemi

ow do you see the APC developing? I have often said and I have been on record for saying so that a two-party system is a positive development for nation-building to overcome our nativistic cleavages. It is one of the legacies of IBB that was jettisoned illadvisably. I welcome the coming of the APC. I must also say I think people who are talking about the lack of ideological orientation in the PDP or the APC completely miss the point in that political parties are there to win elections and they will configure themselves in such a way as to maximize their electoral support. You look at the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States, there is always a mixture. The southern element, for example, in the Republican Party in the United States have nothing in common with those in Montana and those from Massachusetts. The same thing with the Democratic Party. We should start to give up this missionary concept with which we the judge our politics, whether domestic politics or foreign. It must be so pure that you would think we are electing the Pope. With Snowden and Wikileaks now, we know that those who mount the pulpit at the UN or wherever and preach pure values, their agencies are busy doing the filthiest things possible against even some of their own major allies. It doesn’t bother me. It is a welcome development and then, of course, we must not forget that the Labour Party is coming up. So, if you don’t like the PDP or the APC, the Labour Party is there for you. And, remember, in the United Kingdom, you have the Labour Party, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. The Labour Party in Nigeria will always be for those of us who want to vote our conscience. The Labour Party may never win an election in the Presidency, but they will make you feel good that you still voted but not for either of those two characters. We’ve heard a lot of criticisms about APC poaching in the PDP waters... (Cuts in) In what other waters would they poach?

Is that the same way you see the APC attempt to woo Obasanjo; and Tinubu describing him as navigator and asking him to come and navigate for them? Politicians will do anything to get into power. I’m not surprised and I’m not going to lose any sleep over what any politician says or does in order to win over people. I’m not saying I support what they do. I’m just saying I’m not going to lose any sleep because it doesn’t surprise me. I have experienced a situation where you have a meeting that breaks up at 11pm and you have reached certain decisions about what to do and some of the people who were at the meeting, leaving your house, have gone on to another meeting of the other side; and in the morning you remind them, ‘don’t forget our decision’, and they reply, ‘ahh... Things have changed. There are different colours... What different colours? I had gone to sleep, believing decisions have been reached. So, I wont lose any sleep and won’t be surprised. Could we then be talking about the death of ideology? Ideology, in this country, died a long time ago. It’s just that things that we got from the Western or the Eastern countries, long after they are dead, are still wagging their tails. There are people still preaching Marxism in Nigeria. Ideology in terms of inflexible beliefs are long gone except if you are talking about North Korea. But that’s a one-party system. The death of ideology is long celebrated.

rom your observation about what is going on, do you think this is a major shift in the balance of power in Nigeria or just a cosmetic game show that, after a while, things will settle down in the same old fashion? Are we seeing a major shift? I don’t really know. And that’s the honest truth. I am old enough to have witnessed alliances between political parties always on the eve of elections or, at times, after elections. It happened in 1959, on the eve of our independence at Action Group. Half of the Action Group was negotiating with Zik. The Akintola wing was sending messages to NPC, which the Sarduana saw as duplicity and so it ended up with the NCNC. Then UPGA was also an attempt at shaking hands across the Niger. Then in 1979 between UPN and NPP, they were again negotiating, while the NPP was also negotiating with the NPN. So, I am old enough to have gone through and seen that all those alliances falter on two platforms. Disagreement over who runs for what office or if it’s after elections, who issues the best offer for post? That is why I said I don’t know how fundamental this is. Because it then takes us back to the question I addressed Continues on page 38

PAGE 38, SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014

earlier on ideological posturing. If a party is not founded on a firm set of beliefs, that it is just to get rid of the ruling power, if you don’t succeed electorally, you are going to break up. If the issue then starts about who runs for governor, president and so on, because also politics is about power and the power could be power within the party or power over the country..... But if you have fixed ideological postures, then the people you will invite to join you must be people who have the same ideological beliefs, who see things the way you see them. That is most likely to hold together. But in a multi ethnic, multi religious country like Nigeria, you’ve got to broaden your base.

hen it will mean that if APC does not get power at the centre in 2015, that coalition will not survive. Yes, but I will even modify that by saying let us watch out for when candidates start being adopted because this is Nigeria. I am a political scientist. Let us be practical. I have seen and you have seen, in the past how many years, a man is not adopted today to be a candidate for governor, tomorrow he moves to another party. Now, what was his belief in the party he is leaving and then, after some time, he comes back. We have even had it at the presidential level, so many of them. Do you really believe that this will change within one year, that, all of a sudden, people will now embrace the values that there is nothing wrong in being in the opposition. Even the way we run the National Assembly, I am quite surprised that we really haven’t had people do an analysis of that. Nigeria is the only country that I know where, without forming an alliance, members of the minority party are made chairmen or deputy chairmen of House and Senate committees. I’ve never heard of it. How can you claim that you are in opposition and yet you are the chairman of a House committee ruled by another party? Whereas, technically, they can say ‘no, we are in opposition. We accept we are in opposition and we will fight the battle of opposition.’ But when in fact you have already been sucked into what I call status politics, how can you then say you are running a viable opposition? You have applauded what looks like an emerging two-party system. But if you look at the current configuration, would you say it poses a potent threat to the PDP in 2015 the same way you would look at that time that the military thought NRC was going to beat the SDP but they were wrong? Which means that Nigerian politics makes a fool of all of us who dare prophesy. Well, I must agree with you that the configurations show that nothing must be taken for granted whether by the ruling party or the APC coming up. That’s good for our country. Politicians are likely to be more respectful of the citizens, of the people when they actually have to fight for their victory. I think that is good for us. When nothing can be taken for granted, that is good for us. We do need the politics of citizen control, the politics of citizen respect, the politics of citizen appreciation where things centre around the interest of the citizens. Whether vote is really going to count, we need that and not where, ‘What the heck... E dibo fun wa, e o dibo, a ti wole.’ (Whether you vote for us or not, we have won). You served on this Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of

‘The gains of Presidential Committee on Boko Haram’ Security Challenge in the North and the report is ready. Things are fairly better now, but do you think the worst is over? No. I don’t think the worst is over. Things are a bit better? Oh yes.

o what extent did your committee play some strategic roles in creating the kind of situation we have right now? I would rather put it this way, that the carrot and stick method adopted by the president is something that needed to be applauded. I would rather actually give more appreciation to the military intervention. I think that the symbolic value of the presidential dialogue committee was that it showed the preparedness of the federal government to negotiate if the other party is willing to negotiate. It was a diplomatic gesture. Right now, the President of the Southern Sudan and his former Vice agreed to go to Ethiopia to talk, even though the official army of the Southern Sudanese is actually giving the rebels a bloody nose. It’s like if you want to talk, I am ready to talk. But if you want to fight, I am ready to continue fighting. A government should never be afraid to negotiate. But like Kennedy said, you should never negotiate out of fear. At the time we were set up, the Boko Haram had already overrun most of Borno and Yobe states. There were some people who were beginning to feel that our committee was set up as a kind o f appeasement. Therefore, it w a s necessary for the president to let

these people know that I can use the military just as well. I think that things are better now. I would give the appreciation to the military intervention. The reason I said no to the president is because we tend in this country to think that because things have gotten better, maybe Boko Haram is finished. But Boko Haram has become an affiliate of an international movement that is not finished. If the major tree trunk is not finished, how can you say that the branch is finished? I just don’t want Nigerians to relapse into a state of complacency, where they will later turn around tomorrow and say, ‘we thought this thing was finished’. No. Number two, the factors that led to the emergence of Boko Haram are still there: Massive youth unemployment, disillusionment with the system, loss of values, loss of faith in the judicial system. These issues were raised with us by the Boko Haram members we spoke to. These were their grievances. They are all still there. You must address the issues of massive youth unemployment. It is a time bomb. You must address the issue of caring for the widows, the fatherless, orphans. You must address those issues. You must curb corruption. These people can see. Even the blind who stumbles into a pothole on a road that was constructed three months ago knows why. He walks confidently because the road is only three months old but, all of a sudden, he falls into a pothole. He then knows why that pothole was there. We must address all these issues. They are beyond partisan politics. That is why I said Boko Haram would continue. Boko Haram will continue to afflict us. In any case, mention to me one country in the world where you had religious-based insurgency and it has been defeated. I was very critical of the committee for a couple of reasons. Number one, the example you gave about what is happening in Southern Sudan. You are talking about two reasonable people who probably are people you could deal with. But here you have a bunch of people who are not doing anything that you can describe by any means as reasonable, slaughtering people. You don’t even know what their demands are. I don’t think the leadership of Boko Haram has ever come out to say that they are fighting for economic emancipation. It has always been religion-based. How do you begin to negotiate with such people who have demands that are not negotiable? They want to install theocracy in the North. How do you negotiate with that bunch of people.

And then the people that your committee was meeting were hired hands. There was no evidence that your committee met with the members that mattered. If you really met with the leadership, perhaps you would have seen something more substantial? My reaction to your point is, look at where the demand for negotiation was coming from -the northern elite. The Sultan and Western countries -The United States and Britain. What do you lose by saying, ‘ fine. I’m ready to negotiate’. You’re right, the pressure didn’t come from Boko Haram members. But it came from prominent and eminent Nigerians. What do you lose by saying, ‘alright, I am ready to negotiate’. If I should turn the question around, what do you gain by saying, ‘I am not ready to negotiate’. Then they turn around and say it is because you are refusing… My point is, if people are saying negotiate, then the government should have had discussion with the northern elite and ask them to provide credible people to negotiate with. Your committee met with some of the prisoners. We still have Shekau in the bush somewhere slaughtering people. Then, what did we lose by setting up

Continued from page 37

But Boko Haram has become an affiliate of an international movement that is not finished. If the major tree trunk is not finished, how can you say that the branch is finished?

that committee and saying we are prepared to negotiate. What did we lose?

rankly, I thought the government was just embarking on a wild goose chase? We didn’t lose. A government must always…In fact, this is a classic management technique. You want us to talk, ‘I am ready to talk’. And then you fold your hands. You didn’t lose anything. You have allocated manpower resources for this, but then, that’s part of management. You have lost nothing. It would be different if the president has taken up the position, ‘because I have set up this committee, I will order the military to stop action’ and then Boko Haram had continued to gain ground. Then you will have a point. On the other hand, rather than have to confront a situation where the president will be accused of showing lack of respect for the northern elite, showing insensitivity to the people who are actually suffering and who have come up with a solution package.... And also, the Americans and the British saying you are just using iron

Continues on page 39

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 39

hat lessons have you learnt from the exercise? Dealing with Boko Haram has alerted me, and this is the message I would like to give to Nigerians. Usually, we think every man has his price. Therefore, don’t worry. How much? But I met a group that couldn’t be bought and they may not be the only group. If you push people to the wall, whether in the Niger-Delta, or in any part of Nigeria, you may never know when they cross that boundary. And then you know you really have trouble on your hands. Up till now, we always believed that money could solve all the problems. ‘Throw money at them’. But these ones couldn’t be bought. There was a guy, when he was arrested, his wife was pregnant and he had a little baby and they were separated. He was imprisoned somewhere. The wife and the kid in another prison. He was aware of where they were. So it was like, ‘look, cooperate with us, and, incidentally, your wife had a baby boy’. He said he knew. Don’t think because you separated them he didn’t know. Of course, prison is porous. Then we said to him, ‘don’t you want to go and visit your wife and new baby?’ And he said, ‘What for?’ He said where

can mention about six. These are difficult people to deal with and you now put them into a committee to come up with modalities. It takes courage. Normally, government will say ‘we are looking for our own people. ‘That one is on the same page with us, put him there. That one is not our friend. No, no, no remove him from the list.’ That is how government operates, frankly, whether here, in America or Britain. They will say ‘don’t put him on the committee, he is a troublemaker’. These are the people the president looked for. I admire Mr President for that, it shows courage. I am not even sure I have that kind of courage.

•Prof. Akinyemi

Akinyemi: Those in opposition to National

Conference have no case he was, that was the way Allah want it and where his wife and baby were, that was the way Allah wanted them to be. It is a struggle that does not allow for family sensitivity. That one, are you now going to say we’ll give him money? So, that is a lesson that was imprinted on my mind, which I would like Nigerians to pay serious attention to. Let us stop doing things as business as usual. Things are not business as usual in this country. There are the aggrieved and you are right that in the case of these people, they found a religion on which to hook on their grievances. There may be other groups. It could be ideology that they would hook their grievances on. Let us stop ignoring grievances.

his could tie to the issue of National Dialogue, National Conference that the president is calling.

Continued from page 38 fist, which is not working, according to them. The president said, ‘Okay, here is a committee headed by a minister in my government’. He gained because he was prepared to negotiate. Apart from those prisoners, we did meet important leaders of the sect, not Shekau. Last week, somebody still came up to say he was Shekau. The CIA confirmed that those tapes are fake. I had come to the conclusion that actually what Boko Haram has decided to do is that every leader of the sect would be called Shekau. There was another spokesperson for Boko Haram that they kept using his name – Abu Qaqa. There is no way to find out the real fact. Except if you conduct DNA and even at that, do you know who Shekau’s father was, because you have to get a relative of his? What happened with Boko Haram is that they have been trained by the Al-Qaeda international network. It is not true that it was just the foot soldiers that we met. Even with the foot soldiers, meeting them served a very good purpose. For the first time in my life, I met Nigerians who could not be bribed. Money was nothing to them. Just as they were prepared to kill, killing them also was nothing to them because they believed in a cause. So, it was that cause that you needed to attack. And that was where some eminent Sheiks who were on our panel took them on, based on the issues of the Quran. At the end, those Sheiks were able to persuade them that the interpretation by Yusuf and Shekau of the Quran was wrong. That was why they were able to go on tape and they did. And the advantage of it was that when this tape was then played, there were other foot soldiers who then said, ‘Wait a minute...if our commanders are saying this’...all these efforts were to make them understand that their cause and their interpretation of the Quran given to them by Shekau was faulty. They were not offered anything, not even their freedom. As far as I know, they are still in the prisons. There are some of them who didn’t give us the light of the day. You could tell from their body language. But there were others who listened, who were persuaded and were convinced.

never worked in Nigeria, we have boycotted, boycotted and the country continues. And, unfortunately, you can’t reverse it. When you then decide to join, maybe whatever system they put in place, you can’t say let us go and revisit...I am not a believer in boycott anymore. Elections were boycotted in 1960. Whatever it was, the elections were held. Government was still formed and, until the military came in, that government was ruling. General Abubakar offered to meet NADECO. We are on record. I know the messages sent to me: ‘Don’t take part in the transition. The transition is not going to last. It’s a contraption’. The contraption is in place since 1999. If somebody like Tinubu had decided to obey NADECO and not take part, what would have happened today? Number two, the outcome will depend

I am a firm believer in National Conference. People have been demanding it. People had thought this would be a solution, a platform that will address grievances, fears and come up with a solution

From your experience, would you say that the engagement would yield something profound to address this type of challenge? I am a firm believer in National Conference. People have been demanding it. People had thought this would be a solution, a platform that will address grievances, fears and come up with a solution. Somewhere along the line, the president seemed to have become persuaded that he could pull it off, that the situation is ripe enough for him to attempt this. Would he succeed? I don’t know because the conference is not by the president for the president. It is for you and I and the kind of people we elect that will go there. It’s going to depend on the seriousness of the delegates you send. It is unfortunate that the APC has decided to boycott it. I think it is gravely unfortunate. Another lesson I have learnt in life, don’t boycott things. Life goes on. We have suffered. It has

on the discussion there. The success will depend on the attitude of the National Assembly because, frankly, the Constitution did not make any provision for National Conference. But this is a country where we came up with the Doctrine of Necessity when we were confronted with a problem. I’m sure we have enough SANs, who can come up with how to get the National Assembly and the president to read from the same page so that the outcome of the National Conference can become law. But I must say this. I admire the president. If not for anything for one thing. I may be wrong, I don’t believe I know of any government in the world that would decide to embark on a major programme and put critics of the government on the advisory committee to come up with modalities. If you know Femi Okurounmu, Professor Nwabueze was there to start with, he (Nwabueze) dropped because of old age. Asemota. I

want to ask two questions. Please encapsulate the gains of that committee. What would you say the committee achieved? Two, from what you said earlier, it’s like you more or less canvassed compensation for victims of Boko Haram. And I know the president had said there wouldn’t be compensation. Did the committee recommend that? Is the committee in disagreement with the president on that? Let me take the last question first. No, we didn’t canvass compensation. We canvassed victims’ support. What’s the difference between the two? A man, a driver loses his left eye in the bombing. If he goes to court, the judge can award N2m to N3 million compensation. We said no. Instead, look at the man. He lost one eye and can’t drive again. What does he want to do? What do we suggest to him to help him maintain his family, educate his children and put food on the table and have another life? He might decide to become a carpenter. In this case, government pays for the man to be trained to be a carpenter. You set up a workshop for him after he graduates. You give him the running capital, so that from the proceeds of that workshop, he can now maintain his family. That is victims’ support. All the money you are going to put into it may not be more than N5m. You don’t even know the figure. We are not concentrating on the figure. We are concentrating on giving the man an alternative life. Take a woman who lost her husband. Maybe, she has run away from Maiduguri to settle in Opebi, Ikeja. Resettlement. Is it a small shop that will set up this woman who lost her husband, the breadwinner, and left to cater for the children? How much will it be to set up a shop for her and give her running capital? That is victims’ support. But the moment you talk about compensation, it is a legal term. Then, you have to start setting up a committee to decide how much you compensate the woman for the loss of her husband. We didn’t want to go down that road. We were reading on the same page with the president. I was the Chairman of the Victims’ Support Committee. We wrote the draft for a Victim Support Agency that would handle this matter. Did the president accept that? Yes, he did. Now the first part of the question, what were the gains. The committee took a holistic look at the problems facing Nigeria that encourages insurgency all over the country. We came up with a recommendation for a Marshal Plan for the whole country. Not just the North-Eeast but for the whole country. Manifestations of i nsurgency are

kidnapping, blowing up of oil wells, armed

Continues on page 40

PAGE 40, SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014

robbery. We didn’t put a figure on it but we suggested a Marshal Plan that would rescue Nigeria. Recall that in the new budget, the president said N2 billion intervention fund for the North-east and, when they complained that it was too small, the Minister of State for Finance said that was just the first tranche for this year out of the total amount. I am not privy to what the president is going to do with our report. And I am not privy to what he has decided to do, but, obviously, he has accepted the concept of an intervention fund. The other gain, as far as I am concerned, is the way we reached out to the victims. We had a meeting with the surviving victims of the Madalla bombing as well as the surviving victims of the NYSC office that was blown up. I remember one of the priests who still had shrapnel wounds and lost one of his children. He brought another son who had metal plate...Frankly, there was no dry eye. Everybody was moved to tears. But the man said the ‘healing has just started by the fact that the government sent you people’. He said apart from the government delegation that came the day after the bombing, they had seen nobody, such that they thought they had been forgotten. So, you have that psychological reaching out to them. And it happened to me also in Kano when I went to the hospital. There was a man on bed who, first of all, told me off. He asked, what did I come to the hospital to do? Have I come to say sorry? Is that what he needed? I asked, did he mind if I sat on his bed? He told me to sit wherever I wanted to sit. I sat next to him on his bed and we just allowed him to talk. And it turned out that he lost his three children and when he removed the clothes covering him, he had tubes coming out of...I saw he had lost his vital organ. He said even if he wanted to start all over again, he could not start. After he had talked, I started calming him down. I said I was not even going to say sorry, because I didn’t do it. I told him

the president sent us to let him know that he knew they exist. I spoke to him and gave him a little package. He calmed down and gave us advice on what to do for the victims. We went around the country, reaching out. This is a remarkable difference from what used to happen in this country where no one remembers such victims. I remember when Yar’Adua became president, I called one of his aides to tell the president to write a letter to victims of a major accident that happened at that time somewhere in Delta and a lot of people died. Let us try to show that government can be compassionate. This is what I expect First Ladies to be doing, frankly. When there are disasters, I expect the First Lady to go to the hospital. Obviously, she can’t go to every home. This is the compassionate face of government. We did that. We showed the compassionate face of government. To me, those are what we count as gains. Obviously, we didn’t persuade Boko Haram to give up but we came up with what I would regard as an exhaustive report on what causes insurgency. If you go to government archives, there are up to 50 of such reports that had been written. I cannot claim that to be our own success. But those two, victims’ support and proposing a Marshal Plan to actually pull Nigerians out of the gutters of misery, I would regard those as having been worth the time spent on it. As a fallout of the work of your committee, you have said that things have improved. Maybe you have Boko

‘Wh ew ere snubbed at Mandela’s burial’ ‘Whyy w we were doing, even before it has solved its poverty problem. Other countries have done so. Give us something to make us proud. I’m 72 now. I want this country to do something so that on my death bed, I can smile and say yes, my country made it. Right now, there is nothing to make me say my country made it. I believe in celebrating 100 years. I am not looking down on that. It has been a difficult existence for us. But whether we become so pessimistic or so depressed about the performance of our leaders, that even things we should celebrate, we don’t want to celebrate them. But a hundred years of our existence, not so peaceful, can’t be peaceful. It cannot. We are human beings, we are not robots. Human beings with fears, with misunderstandings. No, it can’t be peaceful. That we are still together after 100 years is worth celebrating. But I want something more than that to celebrate on my death bed.

•Prof. Akinyemi

Haram boxed into the corner, but you have also seen them grow in terms of their capability. Before, you didn’t have columns of pick-up vans. Now they have all that. They have more ordnance. They even attacked military bases. They never had that kind of capability. So when we say things have improved.... (Cuts in) When the president asked me, I said, no. He asked me, do I think...

ow what I’m getting at is, how do you rate the capability of the

Continued from page 39

of all, what other brain waves have you got? This is how to make a breakthrough. Obviously, the guy has the technological skills. This thing flew out of his compound and crashed into another place. That is the way to develop Nigeria, not through PhD. Yes, you need PhDs, but research and development. Go back through history and see. There was this man, during the Italian renaissance, he’s noted now more for sculpture. They came up with files of his drawings. He was able to

That we are still together after 100 years is worth celebrating. But I want something more than that to celebrate on my death bed

military to deal with this problem? I am not in a position to answer that question on the military tactics being adopted. But this has to do with the fact that I am not the Minister of Defence, a service chief, not the National Security Adviser; so I don’t really know. Do we have operational drones? I know the president went to inaugurate one, but is it operational? If those drones are operational, you will be able to pick up. Although they are expensive to run, you need drones. You have to pick up the columns and before it gets there, you can send bombers after them or you set an ambush for them. I, myself, have questions to ask. Let me use this opportunity to say this. There was a front page story in one of the newspapers last time. Somebody designed toys for his child. And he has designed this thing that can actually fly. I looked at that thing. Believe me, if I were the president of the country, my National Security Adviser would have gone to pick up that man. So, you’ve got brains to do this. How can we make this thing operational? First

dissect the human body, that showed where muscles are. He did designs for submarines at a time nobody even heard of ships apart from wooden canoes. He designed space ships. He never went to school. Americans spent $300billion on their space programme. India spent $1.65billion on their own. You want to tell me that Nigeria cannot afford $1.65billion? I am sure, in one month, we steal more than 1.65billion in Nigeria. That’s how much Indian space programme cost. The Chinese did the same thing. Simply because while America will spend $50 million trying to develop a pen that would not drip in space, the Chinese would just take a pencil along into space. It doesn’t cost them anything, the pencil is already there. So, the Chinese spent $1.6 billion. And they have put an explorer on the moon now. Nigeria can afford this. I know I have been preaching this since my days at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs about what Nigeria can be

hat is your comment on Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan? All that needs to be say has been said by the exchange of those letters. I shy away from getting myself involved in a situation where the whole purpose is to say, ‘Hey, I’m still alive. I’m still relevant’. I shy away from that. Enough have been said about those letters. Some of the comments have been useful, some to add fuel to the fire. The other comments not useful at all. They were just drawing attention to themselves. This is a New Year. I prefer to just watch and see things unfolding. Even though, I am a professor of political science, I am not a prophet. So, I will join all of you in folding my hands and watching events unfold and let the waves carry us to where the waves are going.

as Nigeria snubbed by South Africa at the funeral of Nelson Mandela? Yes we were snubbed. There is no other answer to that question. But the Jonathan administration is not to blame for that. If the snub had been directed at the president, then why were other Nigerians who are prominent internationally not invited and given a prominent mention? The root cause lies in the propensity of so-called eminent Nigerians going round backstabbing other Nigerians, running them down internationally, all in an attempt to give the impression that nobody else counts except themselves. Since 1979, we have always had two presidents on each occasion, one located at the capital and the other self-styled located elsewhere, entertaining and gossiping with members of the diplomatic corps and running down state functionaries. There were others who also indulged in these disgraceful and shameful practices. However in the process, the international community saw through the despicable characters and adjudge them worthless. The end result is that it is the whole of Nigeria that suffers as the international community decides to give Nigeria a wide berth and not get involved in the Nigerian wahala. That explains why those who trumpeted their relationship with Nelson Mandela were nowhere to be seen at the funeral.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 41

We empower widows in Cross River with Forever —Mrs. Liyel Imoke BY TONY NWANKWO

ross River State First Lady, Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke, says widows in the state are now empowered to be selfreliant by making adequate income for their families through the distribution and marketing of FLP range of health enhancing products. According to Mrs. Imoke, FLP is a source of empowerment for those who are seeking employment and a guaranteed source of income, even when it is time for them to retire. “Forever products are not sold in pharmacies, chemists or department stores; therefore these widows are registered into the FLP network and have become effective distributors and marketers of the products in the state,”Mrs Liyel-Imoke said.. “There are no limitations or barriers for anyone who wants to succeed in the business of Forever Living Products distributorship; the network stands out among other marketing networks in the world and I recommend it to everyone”. She was speaking at the serene Monty Suites, Calabar, as thousands of distributors gathered in a splendid end-ofyear celebration of FLP family, to review their performance for the year and strategise for 2014. FLP management had listened to Mrs. Glory Cobham, wife of Cross River State Deputy Governor, who, in Enugu, recently, solicited that her state hosts another FLP Success Showcase this year. Everyone in the distribution and marketing chain from across the country had come for the occasion, from fresh distributors to diamond managers, all mixing freely with the governor and deputy governor’s wives,

C M Y K

because, according to a source, “everyone is somebody in the FLP Family”. FLP Managing Director, Nigeria/Benin Republic, Mr. Cornelius Tay, in a tone of fulfillment, took distributors through the path under which they could build a profitable career in the marketing of what he called Aloe powered products. “We have established a leadership position in natural health products marketing and our responsibility is to retain our market leadership”, he said, adding that the only way to retain the leadership position attained by Forever in Nigeria was to become more aggressive in reaching more people. “We have to continue the good work of growing the multi-level marketing business in Nigeria and when we do that, we are sure our market share will increase and our distributors will benefit from more bonus incomes and more incentives”.

The MD of Forever Living Products, Mr Cornelius Tay, with two top FLP distributors together with wife of Cross River State Governor, Mrs Obioma Liyel-Imoke; (3rd from left); wife of Cross River State Dep Gov, Mrs. Glory Efiok Cobham (2nd right); and wife of Dep Gov, Rivers State, Mrs. Mina Tele Ikuru, (extreme right), at the FLP Aloe Power’d event in Calabar.

2014: Nigeria will be good for faithful believers – Pastor Akinola By ADEOLA ADENUGA

igeria will be good for faithful believers this year, according to

Pastor Damilare Akinola, Senior Pastor of Appealing Grace Assembly International (APGA), Lagos. In his new year message entitled, 2014: Year of Karis Jubilee, Akinola said: “The Church will arise in relevance and influence if they will pursue righteousness and truth.” He added that the light of the church will shine as lone star, by the word of God. According to him, Boko Haram will give up upon scattering. “They will give one by one account for the blood of the priests of Christ which they have shed. “Their financiers will be visited

through their children and generations, but they have grace for repentance, upon which the lord will show mercy,” he stated. The youths of the nation, the Senior Pastor said, will pick up the pieces of their destiny if they will embrace the gospel. Akinola said fake pastors will begin to receive early judgment, for the Lord is angry over the pollution which they have made of his divine agenda and reckoning for the Church in Nigeria, which He has mandated as the springboard for the latter day global revival. He stated that Lagos should get ready for “a performing genuine christian governor”who will enjoy an across the board favor and massive support to excel than his brilliant predecessors. The pastor went on: “The nature will be clement on mankind this year..

farming will be more attractive in Nigeria and globally.. natural disasters will abate, for the sake of the righteous. “There will be massive surrender of souls unto Christ, as a signal to his second coming.. though no one knows the hour and the time.. but the peace being enjoyed by genuine saints will become such an attraction to massive soul surrender. “It will be very hard for men who are stubborn unto wickedness.. God will prove himself as the only source of power, glory and splendor. “The Church is enjoined to raise more armies of disciples, for the purpose of retraining of the mass of incoming converts.. the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are quite few. “We call for steadfastness in fasting and prayer as we enter the new year of grace

and celebration.”

PAGE 42 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

fter spending most of the day dancing round the carnival routes in Calabar at the weekend with band members, Governor of Cross Rivers State, Senator Liyel Imoke, did not show sign of fatigue as he took time out at about 2 am to chat with journalists on the Calabar Festival. He shared the vision of his administration for tourism, adding that he has come to terms with the fact the state cannot possibly survive depending on oil revenues. BY JIMOH BABATUNDE n the absence of Brazilians at this year’s carnival we wanted a different band, not the same that came last year, but there was an issue of numbers. That band that was to come was supposed to be 50 people and we did not want to accommodate 50 people. We did not think it was necessary to have 50 people. We think we are more technical now, we think we have delivered a brand that is like no other brand. Brazilians will come from time to time and they will just be an addition; we could bring troupes from Trinidad and people from other carnivals. Yesterday, we had an excellent performance from Rwanda National Troupe. So, we are going to bring in different partners, carnival bands from different part of the world to experience our carnival. There are different bands in different countries and we are looking forward to partnering with them. Our carnival has gone international very easily and we are very excited about it. On marketing the brand internationally will be honest with you; we have been at this for long enough to understand and appreciate that when you have a good product people will come. What we try to do now is to produce an excellent product; we also understand that, sometimes, no matter how good your product is, for the fact that it is Nigerian, unfortunately for us, does not attract the type of attention that it might otherwise attract in other climes. So, our focus is basically the domestic market. We think we have enough expatriates in Nigeria that want to enjoy this experience; we think we have enough West Africans that want to experience it and upper most is Nigerians. We have more than enough Nigerians that want to enjoy this experience and, if you can get your own people to appreciate it, the rest of the world will follow suit. That is why we think that our emphasis should not be on not just the domestic market, but the sub regional market in terms of attendance. When I say domestic, I am looking at the domestic expatriate community as well as our own people who want to have a good

C M Y K

Governor Liyel Imoke ,his wife and Minister of Tourism, Edem Duke, during the occasion to flag off Calabar Carnival

CALABAR CARNIVAL We are creating an alternative economy that is not oil-based — Gov. Imoke We have more than enough Nigerians that want to enjoy this experience and, if you can get your own people to appreciate it, the rest of the world will follow suit

time and they all come to Calabar for that. On having more international hotel chains in the state he key thing is that we are trying to build not just a one- event or one- month- event calendar, we are introducing a lot of things into our calendar. We have the Jazz Festival. You are familiar with the mountain race and we are trying to introduce one or two other events into our calendar. But, beyond what we are introducing into the calendar, we are also focused on our domestic market. We know that one of the things that drive traffic in Nigeria is workshops, conferences and meetings. Today, Calabar is the third largest destination for MICE in Nigeria after Lagos and Abuja. We think we can overtake Abuja very quickly once our international conference centre is completed. With the international conference centre comes also two new hotels. One is a resort hotel while the other is a business hotel. We are working with the owners of Four-Point Sheraton to develop the hotel at the international conference centre, the Calabar convention centre. At the risk of sounding immodest, it will be the first completely

standard international conference centre built from the scratch to meet global competitive standards. It is not going to be a re-modelling, it is not going to be something that we adapt. It is something that is under construction now and designed to make sure that next time we say we are hosting a big conference in the sub region, we have the facility that can accommodate that with everything that goes with it. On the costumes being made outside the country few bands had technical advisers, but most of the costumes were made in Calabar and we are excited about that; that was not the case a few years ago. It is difficult to make the kings and queens outside of calabash. So there is a lot of creativity, lot of industry, even for the state, our locally generated revenue almost doubled in December. For us, it is also an amazing employment opportunities, we are now having things like theatre, academies that are training these kids. The bands are registered companies, they are not showpieces, the bands run the carnival and that is where we want to carry this carnival to, so it is not a government thing that the bands and the people of the state have

taken ownership of the carnival; that basically is something that will continue. We believe in perpetuity, and that is what we want to achieve. You discover that a lot more sponsorship is coming because of the value of the product. We try to package the product to create value for it, we don’t joke with the brand, we don’t joke with what this represents for us here in Cross River and Nigeria. It has to be televised round Africa today and those who came here for the first time can’t believe this production. Our people worked hard all year round. By next month we will have our post mortem meeting and from there we start planning for 2014 and that is how it works and why others can compete because of what goes into it.

On the key elements brought into the carnival his particular outing is better than the last one. It is what I demand of the bands and that is why I make it so competitive; these bands compete, they are not there just to play, they compete because they win awards. It is not so much the award, but the prestige of being the Band of the Year, once the winner is announced, the other bands want to know what made the band to win and they now strive to improve on it. So, you see the standard of the carnival continue to improve every year. Because we have this post mortem event, we can deal with issues and challenges we face with each carnival and our greatest challenge remains crowd control. Every year we underestimate the crowd, it is very hard to estimate the crowd and the great challenge is the amazing number of people

that come into Calabar for this event and each year it keeps increasing. It is a wonderful crowd; it is a peaceful, responsive crowd. All they are doing is just excitement; it is not a hostile crowd, they are just happy to be part of the fun. In terms of the vision, we have really come to terms with the fact that we cannot possibly survive as a country or as a state depending on oil revenues that are shared from Abuja; our focus is, can we can create an alternative economy that is not oil based? And can we create an economy that is driven by services? So, you heard one band talking about fibrotic wiring of Calabar being the only city in Nigeria that will have total coverage, because we think that we are well positioned and there is a lot of new investments coming into Calabar because the city is peaceful. Where else in Nigeria that you have an event like this run into the morning and everybody is in town having fun? The governor is not running around with mobile policemen. It is peaceful, it is something we can build on and that is what we are trying to do. Because of what we have here, we think we can grow key things in our economy by positioning ourselves as that place where you can get a number of things less stressfully. Whether it is social services, basic infrastructure, entertainment, hospitality, we want Calabar to be top of MICE for Nigeria as a place you can go to. For some strange reason, it has been Accra, and i have been focusing on getting that Accra crowd to start looking in this direction. Because, every time I land in Accra, I look for what it has that Calabar does not have, and i can’t find it. So, I think there is lot of opportunity. We also understand that there is new emerging middle class in Nigeria and that middle class does not go to the village any more for Christmas. When i was growing up, it was an abomination not to think of going to the village for Christmas. But the new middle class does not go to the village for a number of reasons. Largely security issue, so that middle class is looking for where to spend the holiday and if we can position ourselves adequately, we become that destination. Our vision for this destination that we keep talking about is that there is somewhere in Nigeria that things reasonably work, where there is security and portrays our country in good light. Every time people come in here, they say to me, ‘why is the rest of Nigeria not like this?’ So, we are striving very hard, we are not yet there, but we are striving to create that destination you have talked about. On the old costumes used during past carnival hat we are trying to do now is to create a carnival village and it is on the same side as the convention centre.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 43 sameyoboka@yahoo.com

08023145567 (sms only)

For Oritsejafor, giving is living By SAM EYOBOKA

HIRTY-NINE year old Friday Emufou Ororumen, father of two, had an accident a couple of years ago resulting in the amputation of one of his legs and today he walks with the aid of an artificial limb. He has been feeding his family with whatever he earns from a barbing salon in the NPA area of Warri in Delta State. He almost missed a tremendous opportunity on Boxing Day when his application form number 6718 became one of the six that won a brand new car at the just concluded 2013 edition of Word of Life Bible Church/Eagle Flight Micro-Finance Bank’s empowerment scheme/poverty alleviation programme. Pastor Aje, who anchored the raffle draw, was already shouting “Going, Going, Go….”, when after a long while, another voice (that of Bridget Appiah) appealed to him to tarry for a while, adding, “He is physically challenged….” It took him a great deal of effort to meander through the sea of persons who had gathered in the arena as early as 6.00 a.m. for the programme. Ororumen, a native of Agbarho in Ughelli North Local Government area of the state who fellowships with God Grace Ministry, sauntered down the road with a walking stick and took quite an effort to make it to the centre where his entry was verified. Courtesy of the church, the man is now an owner of a Hyundai Verna which he would use as a taxi cab in Warri. He also got a total of N500,000 for fuel from the two state governors that were present. At the programme, six brand new Hyundai Verna cars, 12 tricycles completely registered, 100 grinding machines, generating sets, refrigerators, flat screen televisions, 100 bags of rice among other consolation gifts were dolled out to lucky winners as part of the celebration of Boxing Day as well as the 8th anniversary of the microfinance bank. Other winners of the six cars include, 57 year old trader, Ibikun Esther Agweho, Anthony Ogori, 36, Isaac Onorhode Edjeba, 61, Oumagbo Peter Orogun, 62, and 29-year old Efe Jerry Ikpen. Twelve others including Amaka Queen Bayen, Abayomi Sunday Adeyemi, Isaac Akpodenden Benin, Abiodun John Amune, Cordelia Onome Oyibode, Attachegbe Ojoneogecha Henry, Edwin Oteghekpen, Ruth Smart, Promise Amos, Peter Chukwudum Ojeh, Ufuoma Loveth Ufot, Rita Igho Onomuorhoya went home with a C M Y K

tricycle each. One hundred persons also benefited from the largesse carting away one grinding machine each. Impressed by the kind gesture of the National President of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, governors of Delta and Akwa Ibom states, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and Godswill Akpabio, commended the founder of the church for the yearly hospitality to the people of Niger Delta region. Akpabio said it is imperative of other wealthy and well positioned Nigerians to give back to the society part of what they have achieved, just as the twosome cautioned the Niger Delta youths against criminal activities, urging them to rather avail themselves of various empowerment opportunities provided by the government and some individuals. Akpabio noted that while it is the responsibility of government to eradicate poverty, “Government alone cannot do it, there is the need for Public Private Partnership (PPP) like what Pastor Oritsejafor has been doing over the years.” He described the eight year-old poverty reduction programme as not only assisting the needy, but also a form of relief to the government “a gesture I would urge other Nigerians to emulate.” In his submission, Delta State governor, Dr. Uduaghan said what the Word of Life Bible Church in collaboration with the micro-finance bank have been doing over the years is not only alleviating poverty but has also helped in no small dimension in reducing crime among the people of Delta State. According to him; “Before now, we are all aware the rate at which crime rate, armed robbery, kidnapping and other vices were rampant but all these have reduced to a considerable extent.” The governor lamented that gone were the days when mothers encouraged their children to engage in kidnapping to make money due to endemic poverty but that trend has reduced drastically as a result of similar poverty alleviation programme like this plus the one the government is doing. To support the yearly programme, Gov. Akpabio gave the sum of N10 million to the church and gave N250,000 each to the first four winners of the car while his host, Dr. Uduagan pledged the sum of N15 million for the church and gave N250,000 each to the six lucky winners of the cars. In similar vein, Mr. Erhuani Godbless also donated N5 million to support the programme. The governors further warned that

*Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan (l) giving out the keys of one of the cars to Friday Emufou Ororumen.

*Akwa Ibom State governor, Obong Godswill Akpabio giving out keys to one of the six cars to Isaac Onorhode Edjeba (l) while others watch with keen interest. nobody should take poverty as an excuse to engage in criminal activities, saying: “while we are doing our best to ensure that poverty is reduced to the barest minimum, the government would not hesitate to take drastic measures against any act that is inimical to the peace of the society.” Oritsejafor, on his part, urged all public officers, who were better positioned to set aside half of their salaries at least for some months and put it together to assist the poor in the country. He maintained that the essence of the Christmas season can be derived from John 3:16 of the Holy Bible which says: "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shoul not perish, but have everlasting life." According to him, giving is living and he would not be tired of giving because God gave His very best for humanity. His wife, Pastor Helen Oritsejafor who expressed gratitude to the two governors and other dignitaries who graced the occasion also urged the recepients of the various items to judiciously usd same to better the lot of their families and as many members of the society they can help.

On follow programme, Mama Helen, as she is fondly called, narrated the tremedous business acumen displayed by a blind man who won a motorcycle a couple of years back and his testimony neccesitated the state governor, Dr. Uduaghan to give him a car the following year. "Papa was sharing with us this morning the testimony of a woman who was the first female to win a car in the eight history of the programme. He said she cornered him in appreciation of what the ministry had done for her because through the car, she had married and things have started looking up for her nad family. She presented a Christmas gift to Papa in appreciation. How else can one be happy? The fact that we literarily see people smiling home and being able to make judicious use of the items to benefit themselves and humanity. It gives us excitement," she stated. Dignitaries at the empowerment programme included the Deputy Majority leader in the House of Representatives, Hon. Leo Ogor, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, another member of the House Daniel Reneiju, Archbishop Michael Okah, Mr. Paul Odili and others.

PAGE 44â&#x20AC;&#x201D;SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014

Royal Thanksgiving By SAM EYOBOKA and GLADYS ABUGOH, Warri MINENT sons and daughters of Itsekiri nation under the auspices of Iwere Kingdom last Sunday gathered at the Olu Palace for an annual thanksgiving service. The 26th annual Iwere thanksgiving service which took place at the Erejuwa Church Hall inside the Olu Palace has His Royal Majesty Ogiame Atuwase II, the Olu of Warri and the current president of the Fellowship of Christian Traditional Rulers of Nigeria, FECTRON, in attendance with his family. It also attracted several heavyweights including the state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and his wife, his deputy, Prof. Amos Utuama and his wife, the three senators representing the state as well as several members of the House of Representatives. The crowd of worshippers also included other governmental personalities as well as eminent Christian clerics including the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the national presbyter of Church of God Mission, Warri, Rev. Eruebi Itse Lucky who preached the only sermon of the day. While extolling the virtues of thanksgiving, Eruebi noted that for thsnksgiving to be meaningful we must present ourselves as leaving sacrifice, urging the rich to always help the poor and needy in the society because "the people are praying for you and it therefore imperative to give them the dividends of democracy." They sang, danced and rejoiced while thanking the Almighty God for being merciful to the Iwere Kingdom. In an interview, the chaplain of Warri Kingdom, Dr. Mark Erumi explained the essence of the annual thanksgiving service, saying that it is something the current Olu, (Atuwase II) instituted in recognition of the role of God in his life. According to him, the Olu said God is always doing good things for us, "it is only wise for us to come before Him on the last Sunday of every year to give thanks so that as a people we can have our focus on Him because without Him we cannot go forward. That's the essence." Asked what the Olu's message is to members of the kingdom, the Iwere nation, for this year for them, the chaplain said: "His message for them this year; if you follow things that happened some months ago around here, many people thought they could overthrow the prominence of God in the kingdom and they did a lot of things to give the impression that we are a heathen

C M Y K

nation, and the Olu disagreed. Before he was crowned he had told them that he would lead this kingdom to God because he is a Christian and that's what he has done. So what has happened now is that this year particularly is to tell people again that we are serving the living God, Him and Him alone," he explained. What of the event of the immediate past? "That was an introduction into a desire to serve God, so this one is to counteract it and to announce to the world again that we are not selfish, we love God, the creator of the earth and we want to follow Him and serve Him," Dr. Erumi said. Has the Olu forgiven his detractors, he said: "Of course. As you can see, this place was overflowing with

people, even outside. The capacity here and outside shows that the Itsekiri people are really standing behind him. What happened was just a group of small miscreants who thought they could gain some political advantage but they failed. "Those who live around here are here, but some who live far couldn't come. Our people say your tongue and your set of teeth may quarrel even though they live in the same mouth, but when they have quarreled, they want to find a way to reconcile so that they can live in that house peacefully. I think that is what has happened. There was a time there was quarrel, but today, many of those who spare headed what happened before, many of them came here today to give thanks to God. God has been good to us," he stated.

*Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan in a handshake with the CAN president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

*Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa, Sen. Emmanuel Aguariavwodo and Sen. James Manager.

*From Left: Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan, Prince Tsola Emiko Atuwatse, His Majesty, Atuwatse II, Olu of Warri and Her Majesty Olori Atuwatse, Queen of Warri Kingdom. PHOTOS: AKPOKONA OMAFUAIRE.

*Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa (r) and Chief Ayiri Emami.

*Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama and his wife, Dr. Nelly Utuama. *CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and Dr. Mark Erumi, Chaplain of Warri Kingdom.

*L-R: Elder Godsday Orubebe, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Olivia Agbajoh, Chairman DBS and Chief Terry Noah, former Commissioner for Land and Survey.

*Mr. Basil Ganagana, Deputy Speaker DTHA and Chief Tom Amioku, Delta State NDDC Commissioner.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 45

HIS is the season when the merchants of God tell tall tales about him. They tell us to trust God for all kinds of things this New Year. They tell us God will buy us cars; he will build us houses; he will even buy our pastors jets so they can evangelise and save the world. But these motivational preachers, who often require downpayments for God’s promises in their bank accounts, are snake-oil salesmen and women. What they conveniently fail to tell us is the truth that God cannot be trusted to fulfil our vanities. Be careful what you trust God for. Otherwise, you will conclude that God is not trustworthy. God is often not inclined to do what we want. His thoughts are not amenable to our vainglories. His ways are not conducive to our pride of life. Don’t buy the lie. God was not in Christ reconciling the world to himself. (II Corinthians 5:19). It is the world that must be reconciled to God. God says to man: “Not your will but mine be done.” He says: “Not your method but mine. Not your timing but mine.” Can we trust God enough to accept this? God will only act when he chooses to act. He will only do things his way. That makes him untrustworthy to the Frank Sinatras who want things their way. “As for me,” says the psalmist, “I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God. My times are in

CAN GOD BE TRUSTED? your hand.” (Psalm 31: 14-15).

Commanding God As a new believer, I was misled by a King James Bible translation that reads: “Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his maker, ‘Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.’” (Isaiah 45:11). I went round barking commands at God in the altar of prayer. It took me a while to realise that the correct translation means the exact oppose of that KJV version: “The LORD, the holy God of Israel, the one who shapes the future, says: ‘You have no right to question me about my children or to tell me what I ought to do!’” God cannot be trusted to fulfil our dreams. He cannot be trusted to fulfil our purposes. The fact that you want a car does not mean you can trust God to get one for you. God can only be trusted to fulfil his promises. He cannot be trusted to fulfil our agendas. That is why it is important to have a relationship with God. That way, we can hold God to the promises he makes to us and not even assume

Oyakhilome urges govts to focus on education By BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

RESIDENT of Be lievers' LoveWorld Incorporated also known as "Christ Embassy", Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has called on governments to focus on education. Speaking during the crossover service in Christ Embassy Church, Oregun, Ikeja area of Lagos, Oyakhilome pointed out that the need to equip and empower youths is to make them ready for the future. He said: "If we are going to build a more prosperous and successful continent, we must focus on education. We must review the present inad-

equate, ineffective curriculum in our schools. "We have to create a new qualitative curriculum that can actually lead people to successful future," the pastor said, explaining that no matter how successful one is, there is no success when the environment is not successful, adding that true success is not about one's self. "On our part as a ministry, we participated in several projects to help build a better society. No matter how successful you are, until you do something about your environment, your city, your country, that is where you work; until it becomes part of your success, your success will be in danger or failure.

Be careful what you trust God for. Otherwise, you will conclude that God is not trustworthy the promises he made to others in biblical days automatically apply to us. When we read the bible without understanding, we conclude foolishly that letters addressed to others are actually meant for us.

Trust without understanding Think this through with me. Can you really trust someone who kills off Ezekiel’s wife just in order to make a point to Israel? Can you trust someone who did nothing to prevent Herod from chopping off John the Baptist’s head? Can you trust a doctor who stays back when told his friend is sick and finally arrives four days’ late after the man had died? Can you trust a physician who could heal you immediately but decides instead to nurse you back to health? Can you trust someone who would shut his face from his son when he is dying on the cross? Can you trust the bosom friend who invited the

HE presiding bishop of TREM, Dr. Mike Okonkwo has called on every Nigerian not to lose hope, but rather to continue to pray for the country especially now when there is so much hopelessness around the world. He explained that the call for prayers of hope became necessary as it is the primary condition that God will use in answering our collective prayers for the nation and that there were performance indicators that in the new year things will improve with tangible developments. According to Bishop Okonkwo; “we cannot afford to lose hope in this nation now because there is no doubt that God has kept us together as a people for a definite purpose.” He urged all Nigerians to always go to God in

devil into Job’s situation and allowed him to kill his children, destroy his business and affect his health? Job himself provides the implausible answer. He persists in trusting God in spite of his ordeal. He did not succumb to the entreaties of his wife to curse God. Instead, he declares: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15). Trusting God does not always mean we will understand what he is doing or why he is doing it. The wise man counsels: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes.” (Proverbs 3:57).

Work of faith What we are called to do is to stand on the word of God, irrespective of whatever situation we find ourselves. We are not to trust God for things.

We are to trust God in all things. God is not only good when the going is good. He is the same yesterday and today and forever when the going is bad. We mouth vain platitudes that “God is good all the time.” But then we nevertheless feel betrayed when times are bad. Peter trusted Jesus to walk on water. But when the waves turned, he doubted and began to sink. The disciples trusted Jesus to cross over to the other side. But when the storm arose, they doubted and complained that he did not care if they perished. Trust in God is not inherited: it is learnt. It does not come as a result of a fictitious “completed work of Christ on the cross.” We learn to trust God by trusting him. For us to learn to trust God, he has to put us through some hair-raising situations. If God did everything when we want the way and when we want them; we would never develop real trust in him. How much work do we have to do when we are trusting God? James says: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:26). What then is the nature of the

work of faith? Sometimes it is not doing what we would normally do. When we put our trust in the Lord, we don’t have to scheme to get a husband. We don’t have to backstab to get promoted. We don’t need to be evil to get ahead. We don’t need to hoard in order to keep. God gives his beloved sleep.

God is trustworthy Don’t believe the lie: Jesus did not become poor that we, through his poverty, might become rich. (II Corinthians 8:9). We don’t need Jesus to become rich: we need him to become poor. God cannot be trusted to make us rich. He can be trusted to meet our needs. He will, indeed, give us the desires of our hearts. (Psalm 37:4). But that means he will determine what those desires should be. God cannot be trusted to give us another man’s husband. He can be trusted to give us ours. He cannot be trusted to give us the world. He can be trusted to give us his kingdom. God can be trusted to meet and exceed only our righteous expectations. As long as our prayer this year is “Father, thy will be done,” we will not be disappointed. As we carry our crosses in 2014, we should be mindful of Jesus’ example at Gethsemane where he prayed: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42).

Things will improve with tangible evidence, says Okonkwo prayers and not to lose hope, stressing that the worst thing that can happen to any people or nation is not to have hope. He further stressed that, “if you lose hope, then there is no point living at all, but since there is hope and much more that you can run to God, then, it is best we seek refuge in God and be sure of a tomorrow”. Okonkwo, who described 2014 as “a year of greater glory” also called on all Nigerians to be filled with expectation knowing that God will visit us in an unusual way because there is no doubt that the hand of God is upon this nation. Therefore no matter the challenges we have gone through in the past years, in 2014 we would rise up

again to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives”. He also urged every Nigerian to see themselves as an agent of change, explaining that as we all begin to do things right in our various areas of callings and endeavours, it will have a snow balling effect on the entire nation.

Okonkwo appealed to members of the state and National Assemblies and all those in positions of authority to ensure that in 2014, they do not pass laws that will further add to the suffering of the generality of Nigerians but rather laws that would better the lot of every Nigerian.

Apostolic Faith sues for peace

HE District Superintendent, West and Cen tral Africa, Apostolic Faith Church, Rev. ‘Bayo Adeniran has urged Nigerians to live in peace, love one another and turn to God, stressing that the country will surmount its current challenges as long as Nigerians embrace righteous-ness, reports OLAYINKA LATONA. Speaking during the church annual Christmas Concert at Campground Road, Anthony Village, Lagos, Adeniran advised Nigerians to eschew violence, dishonesty and corruption which he pointed out, are the bane of the country’s development.

PAGE 46

— SUND AY V ANGU ARD , JANU ARY 5, 2014 JANUARY SUNDA VANGU ANGUARD

Love

People no longer believe in the idea of soul mates, or love at first sight. They are beginning to believe that a very few times in your life if you were lucky, you might meet someone who was exactly right for you. Not because he was perfect, or because you were, but because your combined flaws were arranged in a way that allowed two separate beings to hinge together. Cheers! i,

Networking/ Sponsorship

•Loretto, needs a well meaning Nigerians, to help in sponsoring her education. 0 8 1 6 2 6 3 4 5 0 3 •Peter, 24, needs, well meaning Nigerians, to help in sponsoring his education. 07067446977 •Prodigy, an upcoming artist, needs a sponsor who will help to finance his music. 08066104065 •Imuetinyan, from Edo state, needs kind hearted Nigerians to help him actualise her dreams of owning a private Nursery and Primary School in Benin. 08075565368

Links

•Rose, resides in Benin, wants to link up with Titilayo Dumonye formerly at Ikorodu road Fadeyi, ex student of Penny Wise, and Illa grammar School, in Ogun state. 08033923736 •Samuel Ogunyebo, resides in Lagos, wants to link up with Felicia Okundia, who hails from Ogwa Ebele in Edo State and also Inifieyanakumah Okardie a native of Nembe Brass South South Nigeria who served with him in the Army between, 19701974 at Ugboha, Ebele, and IWO in the then Midwest and Western Regions respectively. 08036967538 •Ify, wants to link up with an old friend, Williams 17, who resides in Benin Edo state. 08163570938

Friends Searching Female

•Ify, needs friends that are intelligent and sensitive. 08163570938

Searching Males

•Max, needs mature male friends.08138873390 •Kes, 25, from Delta state, needs female friends. 08036326230, 07031651786 •Tare, 22, cool, needs a nice guy, aged 30 and above for friendship.08169784013 •Theophilus, 23, resides in Lagos, needs female friends. 08098739295 •Morris, 24, needs a guy, aged 35-50, for friendship. 07065079726 •Emaka, nice and gentle, needs a nice, hard working and decent male friend, aged

28-50. 08143287018 •Eric, from Delta state, fresh and energetic, needs female friends.07068794227 •Osifo, 27, needs a female friend, aged 18-24, for a seri-

ous relationship.07062250345. •Jacob, 25, needs an intimate female friend.08031844706, 08189068554 •Maxwell, 20, good, matured and ok, needs male and female friends, aged 23 and above in Lagos.08103094315 •Edirin, 21, needs an employed lady, aged 20-30, that will show him true love, in Warri. 07067489372 •Donald, 37, physically challenged, needs a beautiful, educated and employed lady within Lagos, aged 25-34, for friendship.08055813620 •Eddy, dark in complexion with red lips and brown eyeballs, needs friends, aged 19 andabove.267AD053, 08066653217

Lovers Searching Female

•Naomi,26, sexy and busty, needs a man who is very active, for a relationship. 08066396534 •Princess, 24, sexy, bursty pretty, tall, undergraduate needs a kind and generous sugar daddy for a sexual relationship. 08102362446 •Sharon, 24, bursty, very sexy and chocolate colour needs a sugar daddy that loves sex and can take care of her. 08107413814 •Onyi, 25, student, sweet, average height, ebony black, beautiful, big ebony boobs with succulent nipples, curvy behind needs a man aged 40 and above for a sexual relationship. 08113331982 •Chy, 24, classy, sweet, undergraduate, smart, pretty, heavily endowed, sexually active needs older men aged 45 and above for long term relationship. 07036799623 •Nelly, 20, resides in Lagos,

needs a God fearing man, who has a good job and Christian,aged 25-30, for a serious relationship that can take care of her.08169389736 •Chinwe, 32, a single mother needs a God fearing man who is either a single father or single.08094261648, 08169211679 •Stella, 25, sexy and busty, needs a God fearing man, for a relationship.08068684663 •Ugochi, 22, slim and fair in complexion, needs a responsible, mature, and independent, guy who is a descent member of Jehovahs witness, for a serious relationship. 08067386983

•Tricia, tall, busty, pretty and creamy, needs a matured man for a relationship.08162074543 •Becky, 22, tall, sexy, beautiful and dark in complexion, needs a nice and caring matured man, that can take good care of her, aged 35 and above. 07014499697, 07069177924 •Choice, 25, busty and sexy from Delta state, needs a caring man that is active for a serious relationship. 08130277633 •Titilope, 42, resides in Lagos, wants to link up with a responsible and God fearing man, aged 42-47, for an intimate relationship.08134586330 •Princess, 24, busty and sexy, from Delta state, needs a caring man, who is active for a seriousrelationship. 08130277873,BBPIN 27E54553 •Blessing, 23, busty and sexy with round hips from Delta state, needs a caring man, aged 27-30, who is active for a very serious relationship. 07062735989, 08037899801 •Gift, 34, needs a serious man that is ready for marriage. 07037217584 •Jacinta, resides in Onitsha, needs a guy, that will take care of her.08168550584 •A lady, needs a guy, who is tall, dark in complexion, employed and a good Christian, aged 21-27, for a serious relationship, that will lead to marriage.08161704103 •Annabel, 24, a student, sexy and needs a sexy, strong and fun loving young man, for a relationship.08107310599 •Mimi, 22, a student, slim and average height, needs a guy, aged 23-26, fair in complexion, slim, caring, average height and financially ok, for a seri-

DISCLAIMER! Dear readers, please note that we neither operate, nor are we an affiliate of any match–making agency in or outside the country. Any reader who transacts business with any one claiming to be our agent does so at his/her own risk. Our mission is only to provide a platform for social networking. Also note that neither Vanguard, nor Yetunde Arebi will be liable for any error in the publication of requests which may result in any form of embarrassment to any member of the public. We therefore request that text must be sent through at least one of the numbers for contact. This notice is necessary to enable us serve you better in our refreshingly different style. You can send your requests to 33055. For enquiries, text or call 08026651636

ous relationship. 07010980924 •Joy, 22, slim, tall and dark in complexion, needs a God fearing and a caring man, who can take good care of her for a relationship.07036026027 •Mercy, 29, humble, kind, beautiful and a single mother from Edo state, needs a responsible and God fearing man, for marriage, aged 33-40. 08182197855 •Abisola, 20, a student, fair in complexion, jovial, lovely and romantic, needs a man who is financially upright to love and take care of her. 08106176197

Searching Male

•Nedum, 38, resides in Benin, needs a fair in complexion, slim and busty Ibo catholic lady, without tattoo, for marriage this year.07035749992 •Chuks, 50, nice, good looking and employed, needs a good looking, slim lady, who is either a doctor or nurse, for serious affair.07064571155, 08052801662 •Justin, 28, tall, handsome, slim and resides in Lagos, needs a busty, slim, tall, dark in complexion and attractive lady, aged 20-32, for a relationship.08182212930 •Nna, 38, from Ibo speaking part of Delta state, needs an employed or business lady, for marriage.08035157209 •Ken, 55, from Rivers but resides in Asaba, needs a pretty lady, aged 20-25, for a romantic relationship.08035013807 •Tuoyo, 43, fair in complexion, handsome, employed and resides in Warri Delta state, needs a fair in complexion, beautiful and presentable lady, preferably half cast, not slim, for a wife. 07034895258, 08084717504 •Chikwado, 33, resides in Lagos, needs a decent Igbo lady, for marriage, aged 20-25. 0803924904 •Henry, 26, resides in Warri Delta state, needs a decent lady, from a wealthy home, to settle down with.08034848594, 08052290211 •Gordon, 29, needs a lady, for a relationship, that can lead to marriage.07036209032 •A guy, tall, dark in complexion, handsome, simple and resides in Lagos needs an educated, God fearing and employed lady for a serious relationship.08035778844 pin 286D1D79 •Alex, 26, active, tall, needs a lady, aged 33.08160020129 •Ololade, 28, single and self employed, needs a lady, who is ready to settle down, for a serious relationship, aged 2530. 08105943546 •Goodluck, needs a lady, aged 30-49, who is loving, for a relationship, in Delta state. 08089543803 •Goshen, 30, needs a rich and beautiful romantic lady, who can take care of his financial needs within Bayelsa and Port Harcourt age, size ,height and colour is not a barrier. 08169174684 •A guy, 40, married, resides in Warri, needs a lady, aged 24-27, who is tall, homely, ready to learn and who also knows the value of marriage.08189992949 •Bethrand, 31, resides in Lagos, tall and fair in complexion, needs a lady, aged 25-31, for a relationship, that will lead to marriage.08037038763, 07087522057 •Gbenga, 35, resides in Lagos, needs a pretty, caring, employed and educated lady that

will love him, for whom he is, aged 25-45, for a serious relationship, that will lead to marriage.08055143946, 08023258766, 07063647124. •Franklyn, 24, 5.7ft tall, dark in complexion, handsome, sexy, nice romantic and resides in Lagos, needs a woman, a lady, for a relationship. 08141206818, 08025300875 •Obinna , resides in Lagos, needs a girl for a serious relationship, aged 20-27. 08162502818 •Kelvin, resides in Warri, needs a girl, for a serious relationship.07037674777 •Maro, 23, a student ,tall, light in complexion needs a female, for a serious relationship, aged 19-23 on 08068773705 •Olisa, graduate, from Anambra state, needs a caring lady, who is a graduate, for marriage.08163792549 •John, 28, resides in Lagos, average height, easy going and nice, needs a God fearing and beautiful lady, for a serious relationship.08163732418 •Romeo, 27, 6.4ft tall, resides in Asaba, needs a busty and sexy looking lady, for a relationship.07033933097 •Adebayo, 35, tall, slim, gainfully employed, needs a Muslim lady, for a serious relationship that will lead to marriage.07057846991 •Olumide, 29, resides in Lagos, needs a humble and sexy lady, for a serious relationship that will lead to marriage. 07037180766 •Blessed, needs a lady, from any part of Delta or River state, for a relationship. 08165803454 •Anifowose, 30, 6.5ft tall, from Ogun state, needs a caring and God fearing lady, for a serious relationship, aged 29 and above.08167942214 •Francis, resides in Sapele, Delta state, needs a lady, who is fair in complexion, aged 33, as second wife. 08063534323, 0807784577 •Rommy, 23,handsome, caring and cool, needs a fair in complexion, pretty, sexy, assy and endowed lady, who resides in Warri, aged 20-22, f or a serious relationship. 08136432007 •A Guy, 30, from Delta state, needs a sexy, slim and active girl for a relationship. 08027735256 •Bright, 33, tall handsome and resides in Abuja, needs a matured lady, for a romantic affair.07038601386 •Daniel, 48, needs a pretty lady, who is either dark or chocolate, in complexion, with fine legs, either a nurse or a business lady, that can pamper and take good care of him for marriage.08142372211 •John, resides in Lagos, needs a lady, for a serious relationship.08087178787, 08066309770 •Hope, 24, resides in Delta state, needs a pretty and rich lady, aged 18-35, for a relationships.08060949132 •Chris from Anambra 24 yrs old needs a lady from Edo state age 20-30 for a serious relationship cal 08182307694 •Henry, 24, tall, chocolate in complexion, handsome, needs a mature lady, aged 30 and above who is capable for a romantic relationship. 08163135460 •Desmond, 21, tall, dark in complexion, handsome, needs a slim and adventurous lady, who is wealthy, for a relationship.08162698911

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014,PAGE 47

•George, 45, needs a, beautiful, busty lady of average height, aged 35 - 45 for a relationrship.07081106582 •Phillip, 23, tall, good looking, a graduate and resides in PH, needs a lady for a serious relationship.08069353341 •Ologbo, 31, employed and resides in Edo state, needs an easy going and very responsible lady that is fat for a serious relationship that could lead to marriage.08168866524 •Charles, 25, a graduate and resides in PH, needs an employed lady, aged 30 and above, for a relation ship. 08035503484 •Tim, from Asaba Delta state, needs a caring lady, aged 18-25, for a serious r e l a t i o n s h i p . 08108249871,BBPIN 2844A059 •Kelvin, 33, 6ft tall, handsome, fun to be with, caring and very energetic, needs a caring and a beautiful woman for a relationship. 07036312260 •Charles, 25, a graduate and resides in PH, needs an employed lady, aged 30 and above. 08035503484 •Morgan, 32, gentle, and a businessman, needs a lady, for a relationship.08064379060 •Chiboy, 20, needs a lady who resides in Onitsha, for a hot relationship and romance. 07034810797 •Emma, 23, from Delta state, needs a matured and employed lady, aged 26, for a relationship. 08164772599 •Chris, from Imo state, needs an employed and beautiful lady, who is employed and can take good care of his education. 08066416054 •Olisa, a graduate, resides in Awka in Anambra State, needs a matured, employed graduate, for marriage. 08163792549 Jude, 26, needs a lady, for a serious relationship.08066047925 •Prince, needs a God fearing lady, who is, t all, good and has a nice shape, for a relationship.08032490308 •Promise, 38, cute and eloquent needs a beautiful and well mannered Christian lady, for marriage, who is either a business lady, or employed.08165139338 •Obi, 26, from Anambra, needs a beautiful lady, who is a graduate and employed, for marriage. 08036212189 •Emmanuel,36, from Akwa Ibom state, but resides in Lagos, needs a humble Christian, for a wife.08174420843 •Julius, 33, needs a serious lady for marriage a g e d 2 5 - 3 0 . 0 8 0 5 2 8 2 0 9 3 0 , 07035508945 •Uc, 33, employed and resides in Abuja, needs

a lady, for a serious relationship, that will lead to marriage, aged, 3040. 08180286910

Sugar Cares Searching Female

•Reena, 23, fair in complexion, beautiful, endowed and resides in Delta, needs a rich and influential sugar dad-

dy.08165027238 •Princess, 24, sexy, bursty and pretty tall undergraduate needs a kind and generous sugar daddy for a sexual r e l a t i o n s h i p . 08102362446 •Sharon, 24, bursty, very sexy and chocolate colour needs a sugar daddy that loves sex and can take care of her. 08107413814 •Juliet, 24, chocolate, bursty and pretty tall undergraduate needs a kind and generous sugar daddy that can take care of her. 08107413814 •Cindy, needs a sugar daddy, who resides in Abuja.08167758217, 07038982372 •Eunice, needs a nice and caring sugar daddy, aged 50 and above.080 92087950 •Sandra, 23, sexy, slim, tall and down to earth, needs a financially buoyant, God fearing and caring sugar daddy, who can take care of her needs. 07059418076 •Ada, 22, pretty, busty, cute, loving, average height and a student, needs a sugar daddy who is caring and can sponsor her education, for a romantic relationship.08132671332 •Nancy, 21, needs a caring sugar daddy, for a discrete affair. 08166245147 •Immabong, 20, needs a wealthy sugar daddy, who can take care of her education, aged 38 and above.07089152404, 08169123408 •Best, 26, chocolate in complexion and an undergraduate, needs a kind and generous sugar daddy. 08168363o89 •Princess, 22, pretty with nice body and resides in Delta st ate, needs a wealthy sugar daddy, aged 50 and above. 08161240062 •Jenny, 20, average height, sexy, busty and beautiful, needs a rich sugar daddy, that c an take care of her financial

needs either in Lagos, Anambra or Abuja. 08168044402 •A lady, 23, dark in complexion and pretty, needs a nice and caring sugar daddy that is financially ok. 07067820640

Searching Male

•Olusegun, 48, good

looking, dark in complexion, tall and resides in Warri, needs a decent, rich or comfortable, loving, caring and good looking sugar mummy, aged 40- 50, who can take care of him, for a relationship. 07033325414 •Tila, 26, a student, needs a caring sugar mummy, aged 30-45, who resides in Delta, Lagos, Ph or Abuja. 0 8 0 6 4 3 1 1 5 4 3 , 08087035900 •Richard, 29, a graduate, from Delta state, needs a sexy, loving and caring sugar mummy, for a serious relationship. 07036712224,BB Pin 24B1E3CF •Donald, 31, from Benin, needs a sugar mumm y. 0 8 1 7 9 4 3 5 5 8 8 , 07054652958 •Gbenga, needs a sugar mummy, aged 35, who resides in Ibadan. 07038744520 •A guy, 31, resides in Ughelle Delta state, needs a sugar mummy in Warri and Ughelle. 07059075792.07060618152 or email. centosventures @gmail.com •Kc, 22, chocolate in complexion, needs a sugar mummy, who is fair in complexion, beautiful, caring, honest and simple.08104122943 •Fred, 30, resides in Delta state needs a sexy sugar mummy, for a serious r e l a t i o n s h i p . 08157487880 •Kenny, fair in complexion and handsome, needs a rich sugar mummy. 07035767013 •Emmy, 25, needs a sugar mummy, aged 30-45 in Warri for a relationship.08115954901, 08061288946 •A guy, needs a sugar mummy, aged 45-55. 07034725645 •Stanley, 43, employed, from Edo state and resides in PH, needs a comfortable sugar mummy, aged 40-45 that can lift him up for a good relationship.08056724341, 080345624341

•David, 27, needs a sugar mummy, aged 40-50. 08054768076 •Leoson, 35, a driver, from Edo state, needs a sexy and caring sugar mummy for a relationship. 08164234504 •Michael, 22, needs a beautiful sugar mummy to have fun with. 08133006618 •James, 29, a graduate and very attractive, needs a sugar mummy, for a serious relationship.08060139812. •Ramsey, 26, a graduate, handsome, chocolate in complexion and from Delta, state, needs a wealthy sugar mummy of any age.07030910104, 07086897698 •Kelly, needs a sugar mummy.08144628919 •Mike, 30, handsome and employed, needs a sugar mummy for a relationship .08161854273 •Ronk, 25, needs a sugar mummy for a romantic affair.07062472811 •Oke, 30, tall, fair in complexion, from Delta state, needs a romantic, kind, caring and loving sugar mummy, for a relationship, aged 35-47. 07017189350 •Philip, 28, tall, slim and energetic, needs a sugar mummy, aged 26-65, who can take care of him financially.08030550904, 07068969659 •Manuel, 30, resides in Abuja, needs a sugar mummy for mutual relationship.08035530134 •A guy, from Delta state, needs a sugar mummy, aged 25-75.08168782601 •Alex, 27, a student, dark in complexion and resides in Lagos, needs a rich sugar mummy in Lagos that can take of him.08132402736 •Ben,34,dark in complexion good looking and resides in Lagos, needs a sugar mummy that will help move his business forward, either in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja. 08171599512 •A guy, needs a sugar mummy, in Lagos. 0 8 1 3 4 8 6 8 3 2 9 , 08098821223 •Henry, 26, tall, handsome, dark in complexion and from Ebonyi state, needs a sugar mummy.08096303751 •Laurence, 23, needs a sugar mummy, aged 3045. 08120964065 •Christian, 22, from Enugu, needs a sugar mummy, who is active and resides in Enugu, for a relationship, aged 25- 45. 08163646109 •Samuel, 23, from Delta state, needs a sugar mummy, aged 25-30, that is wealthy to assist him financially in his football career.08130903891 •Prince, handsome, tall, fair in complexion an d an undergraduate, needs a sugar mummy. 08173235258 •James, 21, resides in

Benin, needs a sugar mummy who is open minded, for fun. 07036597055 •Courage, 25, resides in Delta state Warri, needs a sugar mummy. 07053355027 •Shadrack, 32, from Benin, needs a sugar mummy, who will take of him financially. 07067140396 •Chukwuebuka a students needs a beautiful sugar mummy, aged 3545. 08037452814 •A man, needs a busty s u g a r m u m m y . 08092244450 •Ikechukwu, tall and dark in complexion, needs a rich and kind sugar mummy. 08031903750 •Daniel, 21, resides in Delta state, needs a sugar mummy, aged 30-40 that is wealth, good, caring, romantic and petty, that can take care of him.08167679163 •Sunny,28, 5.8ft tall, fair in complexion, an undergraduate and resides in Lagos, needs a caring and loving sugar mummy that can take ca re of him, aged 30-70,either in Lagos, Ph, Enugu, Onisha, Delta, Benin or Abuja. 08096818263, 08140106391 •Akin, 5.7ft tall and dark in complexion, needs a sugar mummy, in Lagos, who will take care of him for relationship.08094490385 •Julius, 22, needs a sugar mummy.08188879876 •Bright,24, a student, from ph, needs a sugar mummy.08134365736 •Cletus, 29, handsome, intelligent, young and energetic, needs a loving and caring sugar mumm y. 0 7 0 3 0 5 3 5 8 6 4 , 07066030447 T•emi, 42, active and energetic, needs a loving and caring sugar mummy, for a relationship. 07067003745 •Gift, 25, handsome and romantic, needs a sugar mummy, aged 29 and above. 08037926780 •Maurice, 33, resides in Lagos, needs a sugar mummy that can take good care of him. 07060754008 .•Godday, 34,a graduate, employed and from Delta State, needs a sugar mummy, aged 35 and above.08053076457,08038572770 •Charles, 33, a graduate, needs a sexy and caring sugar mummy within Lagos. 08037340017 •Stanly,34 handsome, active and romantic, needs a sugar mummy within Delta and Edo state. 08158027983 07044396066 •Kelly, 26, fair in complexion, tall, sexy and intelligent, needs a rich sugar mummy, aged 3550, for a serious relationship. 07044396066 •Jonathan, 30, resides in Lagos, needs a sugar mummy, aged 35-45 for fun fulfilled relationship.08155050220, 08032257057 •Ola, 50, resides in Lagos, needs a pretty and rich sugar mummy, aged

30-45 who can take good care of him. 08068965632 •Kelvin, 26, a graduate, needs a sugar mummy, aged 30-45.08069065971 •Ben, from Enugu state, needs a financially stable, caring and loving sugar mummy, who can help him to complete his education. 07065080190, 08090715306 •Andy, 26, tall, handsome and a graduate, resides in Warri, needs a loving, sugar mummy, aged 3040 for a serious relationship. 08151844188 •William, needs a rich sugar mummy that is sexy and financially buoyant, for a serious relationship. pin 22578cbf, 08102609396 •Joseph, 34, facilitator, handsome, resides in Asaba, needs a caring and understanding, sugar mummy within Agbor, Benin and Asaba. 07060565257 •Derick, from Delta state, needs a lovely sugar mummy, aged 35-40, who is caring and understanding.07069659856 •Williams from Enugu, base in Lagos, 35years, a businessman, needs a working class lady for a serious relationship. 08136034820 •Sam resides in Lagos, needs a sugar mummy, aged 45-60, who resides in Lagos. 07042692768, 08068553322 •Elijah, 30, needs a sugar mummy who is caring, aged 30-70, for a serious relationship. 07065827729 •Blessing needs a rich sugar mummy, who is active and God fearing. 0 7 0 1 7 5 2 5 0 8 4 , 08099641076 •Peter, 29, from Anambra needs a sugar mummy that can help him financially. 07065612936 •Jerry, tall, dark in complexion, a student and good looking, needs a sugar mummy that can take care of his financial needs.08179680571 •Wizz, 20, resides in Delta state, needs a rich sugar mummy that can provide for his needs. 08148088148 •Dan, 49, from Warri Delta state, needs a beautiful sugar mummy, aged 5055, for friendship.07063715571, 08085026571 •Andy, 26, tall, handsome and a graduate, resides in Warri, needs a loving and sweet sugar mummy, aged 30-40 for a serious relationship. 08151844188 •Desmond, 22, a student, funny, dark in complexion and tall, needs a rich sugar mummy for a relationship. 07010659006 •Elvis, 25, light in complexion 6ft tall and from Delta state, but resides in Lagos, needs a sugar mummy.08088961328 •Olawale,35, tall, light in complexion, handsome, romantic and from Osun state, needs a rich, loving, caring and romantic sugar mummy, who can take good care of him, aged. 08031161373

PAGE 48â&#x20AC;&#x201D;SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014 japhdave@yahoo.com 08056402376

Adetayo, Ademofe, others dazzle fans at NAIJAZZ festival

he recently held NAIJAZZ FESTIVAL 2013 fielded a fabulous feast of the best Nigerian Jazz and Jazz related musicians home and abroad who for two days serenaded many to various styles in the genre. There was jazz, highlife, agidigbo, afrobeat and lots more all mixed with a hint of original Nigerian flavor. The event which happened on the heels of the highly successful Bayelsa International Jazz festival held in Yenagoa organized by the Bayelsa State Tourism Development Agency and powered by Inspiro productions/NAIJAZZ music brought out the best of the artistes. At the Bayelsa festival, many of the acts performed collectively as the NAIJAZZ Allstars band but the NAIJAZZ festival held at Lagosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cultural hotspot Freedom Park was the perfect opportunity each musician and their band had to perform unfettered to their satisfaction and this they certainly did. The festival planned to be an annual year end event that climaxes all NAIJAZZ activities during the year attracted a diverse audience who come from near and far to partake of the musical feast by an all Nigerian group of musicians who play the genre in various forms. The first day of the NAIJAZZ festival tied in perfectly with

BY JAPHET ALAKAM

REVIEW

n this fast changing and competitive world, there is every need for individuals and organisations to package themselves or products very well so that they can be able to make it. But one thing that is very clear is the fact that no matter the department you find yourself in your private life/organisation, you need customers to buy your products or ideas as failure to do that is an invitation to crisis. Another important point is the discovery of technological innovations which have rendered previously cherished selling methods obsolete hence the need to have a salesperson that will remain relevant in the new order It is on the realisation of the above basic facts that Ehioroba Abraham, a management consultant with many years of experience came out with a new book titled ,The Compass of Professional Sell-

Samson Iroko on percussion performing at the NAIJAZZ festival

It was a perfect opportunity each musician and their band had to perform unfettered to their satisfaction

4 Jazz ensemble fame, Master bassist and director of the SPAN academy of Jazz and contemporary music-Bright Gain who guested veteran flautist-Tee Mac Omatshola, Highlife Crooner - Daniel Bankole, two time Grammy award co-winner Lekan Babalola and the Eko Brass band and the Yoruba boys band - Imole Taiwo Clegg on Trumpet performing at the NAIJAZZ festival Afrika amongst others. he NAIJAZZ festival was produced by event and entertainment production commusic through the identification, development, production and promotion of pany Inspiro Productions and is part of THE exportable distinct and indigenous Nigerian Jazz and Jazz related music in NIGERIAN JAZZ PROJECT whose objective a contemporary format. NAIJAZZ also conducts workshops, seminars, capacis the redefination and restoration of Nigerian ity building programmes and more as part of their activities.

Business of selling made easy ing. In the 133 page book published by New Dawn Consult Ltd, Lagos, the author attempts to provide a series of ideas, methods and strategies that will bring out the best in the salesperson while equipping him/her with some of

MUSIC

the Lagos Tribute to Mandela event hosted by Professor Wole Soyinka. The segment had Greece based guitarist Adedeji Adetayo who thrilled a crowd that included Governors, members of the diplomatic community and other dignitaries. He performed right before Afrobeat King Femi Kuti who incidentally was also a headliner at the Bayelsa International Jazz festival and has just been nominated for the 4th time for a Grammy award. Other artistes on parade at the first day of the festival included trumpeter/percussionist Victor Ademofe, fast rising guitarist Adeh and the gentle saxophonist Dotun Bankole. The second day of the NAIJAZZ festival packed more punch sound and performance wise as over 10 bands performed. Some of these bands included UK based saxophonistAyo Odia, Master percussionist-Samson Iroko, US based lead guitarist-Agboola Shadare, SA based tungba Jazz exponent -Ayodel, Bassist - Tosin Alao, SA Based drummer and producer - Daniel Isele (DI), Award winning producer and pianist Wole Oni of the former Spectrum

By JAPHET ALAKAM & IYABO AINA

the difference is how one goes about it. Divided into 11 chapters, the author in each chapter attempts to demystify such previously dreaded aspects of selling like prospecting and handling customer complaints and objections. Chapter one, takes the reader on how to prepare for the sales job, how to acquire the sales skills, develop it and put it into practice believing that you can do it. Other topics handled includes prospecting and qualifying, how to segment your customers, types of prospecting and others. He also talked about goal setting and planning the sales work, here he highlights the different steps to take in order to achieve your goals.

The book brings to the fore, the key to a better life in your quest to be a good sales person these modern tools that will minimize expenditure in money, time and effort while achieving maximum results. Starting with the meaning of professional selling, the author observed that Success is a result of handwork and to achieve that one must apply the principles of success. Success he also noted is a thing of the mind, everybody has the potentials but

The say customers are always right, in the light of the above, the author addresses In another section, he also the best way to handle customanswers the important ques- ers objections and complaints. In this age of Information tion, why do people buy some products and leave others, technology, he equally exhere he highlights the real plains vividly how you can needs and how to create sales employ technological tools like the telephone, internet strategies. and the social media to facilitate the selling effort and achieve result. As an experienced teacher and administrator, Ehioroba illustrates the basic principles with both local and foreign examples. Written in very simple English for easy reading, the author through the well structured book brings to fore the key to a better life in your quest to be a good sales person. hough the book is struc tured to suit students of marketing in the tertiary institutions, it is a book that eveThe Compass of Professional rybody needs to excel in the business of selling whether it Selling; Ehioroba Abraham ; New Dawn Consult Ltd, Lagos, is products or ideas especially people in the marketing de2013, PP.133. partments.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 49 japhdave@yahoo.com 08056402376

Chimamanda’s Americanah tops New York Times Best Book list

Ojelabi’s Eagle personality reveals the winning way By ESTHER ONYEGBULA

PRESENTATION

BY CALEB ANYANSINA

CULTURE

Frm left, Tonye Cole, Femi Pedro, former Deputy Governor of Lagos state, Kayode Sofola SAN, and Adetutu and Dotun Ojelabi

God has created them. It aims at igniting the fire in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges in life. Quoting extensively from the Holy Scriptures, as well as other formidable voices of our time, the Eagle’s personality, emphasis the

flavour to it as he made the most of the situation, supplying ice breakers that cooled the nerves of many at the launch. Also Femi Micah, Tayo Wamilele, Shola Allyson, Wole Oni and

t was a day of double hon our for the founder of Covenant Harvester Christian International Ministry, Dotun Ojelabi, as his latest offering to the world of literature, titled the Eagle personality, which lays bare the intricacies of the characteristics of an Eagle, focusing on how to win in life with positive attitude was presented to the public. At a colourful celebration held at the Agip hall, Muson centre, Lagos, the well documented masterpiece which was described as an instrument for a global change was presented to the public. The well attended event also doubled as the album launch of his musical career. Describing “the Eagle’s personality” as indispensable, the special guest of honour, Former Deputy Governor of Lagos state, Femi Pedro, emphasized the need for the book to be made available to youths to enable them imbibe the personality of an Eagle. The First Lady of Lagos State who was represented by Gbemi Sasore, commended Dotun Ojelabi for writing such an interesting inspirational book to empower the youth and urged all to try and get it to the population so that a knowledge like this can be passed down to the next generation”. Reviewing the book, the CEO of Lanterna books, said that Dotun has done well by drawing from his wealth of experiences over the years. According to him, “the book encourages individuals to rise to their potentials which

The book lays bare the intricacies of the characteristics of an Eagle, focusing on how to win in life with positive attitude

necessary quality individual should possess. The book is relevant to people everywhere in the world today both in the secular and spiritual realms and particularly for the ones that want to be the best that almighty |God created them to be. lso John Mason, author of ‘Don’t die a copy, you are made an original’, Brian Tracy a world leader and motivational speaker and Sam Adeyemi also endorsed the book. It is not a local book it is Compeering the event was Joshua Awesome, who added

Ebenezer Obey vibrated the event with their voices. Roll call at the well attended event include Tonye Cole, CEO Sahara group, Pastor and Mrs Itua Ighodalo, Femi Pedro, former deputy governor of Lagos state, Pastor Remi Ceo of Latena books, Mrs. Kali Alahaja Brown, Femi Adefarasin, first lady of Lagos State, Dame Ambibola Fashola represented by Gbemi Shasore, Dele Momodu, Publisher, Ovation magazine, Kayode Sofola SAN, and a host of others.

himamanda Ngozi Adichie’s third novel, Americanah, has just been named one of the Top 10 Best Books of 2013 by the New York Times. The list of the 10 best books is chosen by a team of editors at the New York Times, a newspaper widely regarded as the most prestigious in the world. The list, selected from thousands of books published each year, is eagerly awaited by the literary world and the wider public. AMERICANAH, which is published in Nigeria by FARAFINA, is described as a “tender and trenchant” novel that “takes on the comedy and tragedy of American race relations.” The New York Times describes Adichie as ‘fearless,’ noting that Americanah proves that “there’s nothing too humble or daunting for this fearless writer, who is so attuned to the various worlds and shifting selves we inhabit — in life and online, in love, as agents and victims of history and the heroes of our own stories.” mericanah is also number one on the BBC’s list of the top 10 books of 2013. The BBC writes, “Chimamanda Adichie is supremely smart. With Americanah …she proves she is also supremely funny.” Americanah has also featured in other ‘best of 2013’ lists including the Seattle Times and The Guardian (UK). It was also chosen as the ‘best book of the year’ by Apple’s electronic publishing outlet iBooks. Since she emerged on the global literary scene with her riveting debut, Purple Hibiscus, Adichie has consistently

garnered the respect and attention of both the literary world and the wider global public. Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, also earned prestigious prizes around the world and has been made into a motion picture, which has been premiering globally. With Americanah, Adichie has continued to break new ground as a writer and build upon her already stellar literary reputation. mericanah tells the story of Ifemelu, who leaves her boyfriend behind in Nigeria to study in the US. After her initial disorienting days as an immigrant and a string of humiliating jobs, she finds an outlet in a satiric blog. “Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, you become black,” she writes. She becomes a Princeton fellow and dates a Yale professor. After 13 years her heart brings her back to Lagos, where she is not ‘black’. She’s Igbo. And Americanah. Americanah is Adichie’s third novel, after Purple Hibiscus and Half Of A Yellow Sun. • Culled from BBC

• Chimamanda Adichie

Reps take step to review NICO’s mandate

he House Committee on Culture, Tourism has said that it would review the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO)’s mandate in line with the enabling law. NICO, a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation is still operating with decree 93 of 1993, which ought to have been reviewed Prof Soyinka, reading a tribute to Mandela, while members into the Act of Parliament in of Lagos Choral group watch behind at Freedom Park, line with the democratic disLagos pensation. try. The Chairman of the Com- propriations with a view to preowever, he expressed mittee, Hon. Hakeem Muniru pare grounds for the next fisdispleasure with the cal year. stated this during the commitinability of the Director of Having listened to NICO tee’s oversight visit to the ExFinance & Accounts, Mr. ecutive Secretary of NICO, Dr. Boss, who took time to intimate Godson Ordu, to submit the Barclays Ayakoroma, in Abuja. the committee on the activities report earlier to the commitof the Institute, Muniru He said they were in the intee, to give members ample commended NICO for champistitute to ascertain the level of time to peruse the documenimplementation of their man- oning the course of promoting tation. date, especially the 2013 ap- culture and values in the coun-

Earlier, Ayakoroma explained that NICO had organised Children’s Cultural Extravaganza, which attracted schools from the Federal Capital Territory, adding that the programme, which was aimed at, “catching them young,” was a veritable platform of NICO Cultural Clubs in Schools, to encourage children to identify with our rich cultural endowments. He maintained that the institute had been organising workshop for cultural workers in line with its mandate, but expressed displeasure over the lack of cooperation from state government in the area of capacity building at the state and local levels. Ayakoroma also decried inadequate funding, describing it as major challenge that

hampers the institute’s activities. Ayakoroma appealed to the committee to use their good offices to work for the progress and development of the culture sector, insisting that their cooperation is germane to the success of the NICO amendment bill that would soon be brought to the National Assembly. ccording to him, “To gether we can take the culture sector to a higher heights and we believe that culture can indeed be a revenue earner comparable to oil in the next few years because what constitutes our cultures

are things that are with us; we are not going to import them from anywhere. So, the way we use them to sell ourselves will determine how we can make an impact.”

PAGE 50 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014

Open letter to a new generation VIEWPOINT BY FUNMI IYANDA VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF We can build a nation based on values and institutions to protect the weak

Mrs Okoro made letters become words, words which became stories, stories which became my life. I loved her dearly, perhaps it was transference as l’d recently lost my mother but at nine, l started going to school because she was there. One day walking out the gates after school, l saw Mrs Okoro getting into a bus ahead of me so l ran across the road to get into the same bus. I didn’t bother checking for traffic. The next thing l remember is thinking heaven looked rather like Akoka Road. I had been hit by a car and was staring up at the concerned faces of Mrs Okoro and others. The driver was distraught; he was a student at Unilag and in the moment before pain cut through my adrenalin, l remembe r being happy l had been hit by a grand university student not some infernal danfo bus driver. He took to the university health centre where the nurses gave me a large cone of ice cream to comfort me before treating me and putting me in the big university bus home. My heart was swollen with pride as the shiny big bus drove down our dirt street in Bariga. Not a dime was exchanged, no one called my father at work, there were no mobile phones and we had no phone at home. There was no need; the system took care of me. It was Nigeria 1980. Recently on my way out of Nigeria, the Murtala Mohammed Airport was thrown into chaos, people were sweating and swearing, passengers stranded as all electronic equipment had stopped working. The place stank because there was no water to clean the toilets. I watched the white airline crew walk by with barely contained derision as they gingerly sidestepped the mess. The problem wasn’t that there was no electricity at the airport, that’s normal; it was that someone had not supplied the diesel to run one of the generators. I sat in a corner, observing people; those who fascinated me most were the band of men, mid thirties to late forties, Nigeria’s emerging business and political elite. I recognised them by their Louis Vuitton luggage, logo jacket and velvet slippers, disguising their social anxiety with an desire for the pointless. Seemingly oblivious to their environment, they strutted about backslapping and rolling their r’s, being cocky, rude and dismissive to everyone. What stuck me most about these preening peacocks though, was their total lack of shame at the state of

•Funmi Iyanda things. They are the band of new-Africa-rising, proudly Nigerian jingoists, living in a glass bubble as far removed from the Nigerian reality as you can get. For them patriotism is not a recognition of failure and a determination to redress it, but a slogan to be worn, tweeted or liked. Later on, crammed into a rather unsanitary first class lounge, I watched them posturing for furtive young female travelling companions, clearly under instructions to pretend not to know them. The odd thing is that these are no corn farmers made good from my native Ida ogun, these lounge dwellers are very well educated and uncommonly well travelled Nigerians. A defective fraction of the immense amount of brainpower and knowledge Nigeria

HE thing about age is, it is catching. It’s like a hysterical jester lying in wait for the fool. I want to tell you about Mrs Okoro. Before l turned nine, school was a vaguely irritating distraction from the pursuit of happiness in play and adventure. Every school day, I’d wear my red checked dress and burgundy beret uniform and passively submit to school. l was not a rebellious child. I was a bored child who daydreamed through classes until lunch when the school served asaro and chicken with bananas and ground nuts as snacks. That was until l got to Mrs Okoro’s class.

distinct cultural differences but common goal of avarice became the new imperialists. Imbued with a servitude underpinned by self-loathing and a voracious appetite to mimic their former bosses, they confused westernisation for civilisation and like all counterfeiters concentrated on the surface of things. Thus, to their thinking, the more resources of the land they could coral, the more trappings of the west they could possess and the more civilised they could become. That unwelcome process continues today. For this elite, the rest of their kith and kin fill them with unease and even disgust and they condemn them to poverty and a passive consumption of other people’s science, innovations, religions , art and technology as though such achievements are beyond us. They also condemn their own children to future poverty not just material but emotional and cultural. Notably the stolen wealth hardly outlives the first generation. Each time the elite is replaced, it is by a new generation similarly afflicted and culturally insecure with the same desire to fraudulently acquire a large share of the common wealth themselves. This is self-loathing in action. It is a terminal disease. Our common humanity and civilisation should be guaranteed by carefully protected, ever evolving structures, systems and processes, which reflect all our highest values and aspirations.

What is it about the country that makes it impossible for its bright, hard working, resource rich population to organise itself into collective prosperity? What is it that turns some of Nigeria’s brightest technocrats into hand wringing, head-scratching incompetents when they achieve power?

has produced. They help prevent their peers fulfilling their potential and a pool of brilliant thinkers, explorers, scientists, innovators and artists is lost, squandered by a nation that strangulates its best. I often hear foreigners perplexedly comment that Nigerians are some of the best educated, urbane and confident black people they have ever met, so how come the country is so, well, Shit? One reason staring them in the face is that, the best-educated, urbane and confident elite they delight in meeting has failed us. The question therefore should be, what is it about the country that makes it impossible for its bright, hard working, resource rich population to organise itself into collective prosperity? What is it that turns some of Nigeria’s brightest technocrats into hand wringing, head-scratching incompetents when they achieve power? You see, Nigeria was founded as an economic proposition to collect and remit resources to the empire, with the British government entrenching a feudal, centralized, western-educationphobic elite in the North and a westernized, Judeo-Christian, anglicised elite in the south. On departure, these elites with their

Kajola ni Yoruba nwi. The system designed by the British was to serve the big empire. It was not designed to work for us and never will. We all know this and every so often the government of the day will propose a state sponsored jamboree to endlessly chew the curd of that vexatious issue of reform, only to artfully spit it out when the people are sufficiently distracted by the increasingly circus-like, mad-max dystopia we are living through. The dysfunction at Nigeria’s heart remains because it serves the interests of whichever big man muscles or cheats his way into power. (Note; I said man, the system will never allow for a woman, at least not a woman who won’t do the needful.) But what about the people? What about the youth? The subtext of Obasanjo’s recent letter to Jonathan is what they used to call two fighting boy and boy in the streets of Shomolu. The people can sense this it is not their fight; they are as disconnected from the elite as the elite are from them. They know their place is to submit and dream. They want to be the next big cat. They have no real distaste for those who have stolen their future; often they just want to replace them. The

grudging admiration seeping through their envy fuelled whimpers of protest reveals fragile egos easily stroked by association with those who have raped them, then thrown them a bit o f Vaseline and warm towels. They desire to be the ones at the airport with the designer bags and unplaceable accent. The one’s who are gearing up to follow the path of those before them. To flaunt luxuries but live in situations so far removed from the vision of life those luxuries where designed for. When Karl Lagerfeld designs each Chanel bag he cannot possibly envisage it may end up in a place where the carrier can be dragged out of a car and raped in daylight with witnesses and no repercussions. Yes that happened. The baubles do not make us civilised, a country built on a political structure that allows the creativity, innovation, and talent of all to thrive does. Nigeria in 1980 was by no means a perfect place but would my counterpart in Shomolu today have a Mrs Okoro or such access to public health care? Let us sound a warning to our “betters,” as they push and pull the country one way and another in their hustle; it is untenable, there will be a snapping, one, which no one can predict. So what shall we do? What will the young intellectual elite of today do differently? A youth cultural revolution of ideology and values perhaps? Jettison the hypocrisy, the pseudo religious, anti women, anti children, anti poor patriarchy. Turn away from the bigotry, the megalomania, and the cultural bravado. Free yourselves and your future. Speak the truth to power and each other, not just on twitter, to face. Refuse to participate in the racket, the hustle, and the lie. Be better than that which is on offer. Thatcher, a deeply polarising figure, but outstanding leader once said; “Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become habits. Watch your habits for they become your character. And watch your character for it becomes your destiny. What we think, we become. ” Start now before you become the company CEO, the minister, the commissioner, the senator. Lead from within and without. Abraham Lincoln once said of citizens desiring change; make me. Make your elders and leaders take you seriously. Help the few good men and women in power by showing there is a generation who can and will stand with them. Insist on the structural and constitutional changes that which will free our collective creativity, innovation, science, ideas and culture. Civilisation is neither westernisation nor exclusive to other climes. It is building a society on values and institutions designed to protect not the strongest but the weakest as we are only as strong, as honourable, as respected and valued as the sum of our weakest parts. Now what? My job is to tell stories with context, sometimes l don’t know the end. Write your own ending. Shape history.

*Iyanda delivered this address at ThinkOyo 30under30 Awards

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 51

Schumacher fans hold birthday vigil for injured driver

•Schumacher

ANS of Michael Schu macher at the weekend held a vigil outside his hospital to mark the injured F1 legend’s 45th birthday. Schumacher’s family said in a statement they had been moved to tears by the “incredible sympathies” shown by the Ferrari fans who gathered outside the clinic in the French city of Grenoble. They said they were “utterly overwhelmed” and

“deeply grateful”. The driver is in a medically induced coma after suffering head injuries while skiing in the French Alps. He remains in a stable but critical condition, his manager has said. The German champion, who retired in 2012, had been skiing off-piste when he fell and hit his head on Sunday. His helmet cracked on impact after hitting a

Fans keeping vigil at the hospital where Schumacher is receiving treatment.

rock. Supporters held a one-minute silence outside the hospital on Friday afternoon. Ferrari - the racing team with which Schumacher had 72 of his 91 F1 wins - said in a statement that it wanted to send him very special wishes for his birthday as he tackled “the most important fight of his life”. Members of Ferrari clubs in France and Italy travelled to Grenoble to mark the birthday of the most successful driver in Formula 1 history. Doctors confirmed on Tuesday that Schumacher had shown signs of improvement, but was still “not out of danger”.They ruled out giving a prognosis for his condition in the coming days and months. But it is medically possible for someone to spend several weeks in an induced coma and make a full recovery. Ferrari said buses had been organised to transport the

David Cacciatore and his 12-year-old son Samuel brought a birthday card for Schumacher Italian and French fans to Grenoble for the tribute. Spokesman Renato Bisignani said people were encouraged to dress in red and bring flags, as “a sign of closeness to Michael Schumacher, done in a very respectful way”. A large Ferrari banner was unveiled. Michael Schumacher retired from F1 for a second time in 2012. He won seven world championships and secured

91 race victories during his 19-year career. The driver won two titles with Benetton, in 1994 and 1995, before switching to Ferrari in 1996 and going on to win five straight titles from 2000. He retired in 2006 but made a comeback in F1 with Mercedes in 2010. After three seasons which yielded just one podium finish, he quit the sport at the end of last year.

PAGE 52, SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014

Golf: It’s win or burst for Tiger Woods at Augusta T

HIS year’s Masters could make the difference between Tiger Woods winning several more major titles or perhaps ending his career stuck on his current tally of 14, according to Hall of Fame golfer Johnny Miller. Woods, comfortably the greatest player of his generation and possibly of all time, is ideally suited to Augusta National where he has piled up four Masters victories in the past. However, his barren title run in the majors is now fast approaching six years and the aura of dominance he once enjoyed in golf ’s five star events is a fading memory. “What he does at Augusta is really important,” twice major winner Miller, 66, said on a Golf Channel conference call. “If he were to win at Augusta, I’d almost bet you he’d win another major this year. “He’d win two majors. But if he doesn’t win at Augusta, I think the odds of him winning another one are not that great. “I wouldn’t bet against him, but he’s just a different player than he was when he was younger, even though he won five times (on the PGA Tour) last year.” Woods has not clinched a major title since his remarkable playoff victory in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, often losing momentum over the weekend after playing his way into contention. His most recent Masters win came in 2005. “In the majors, he seems to be a little bit prone to getting nervous,” he said. Miller was the first player to shoot below 64 in a major championship when he closed with a 63 to win the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont. “You never would say that (before) about Tiger ... he wanted it so badly, he had that desire and dream when he was young, and he looked like he was a shoo-in because he would get 18, 19, 20 majors. “And now after five years, he’s like, ‘Dang, those are hard to get.’ It’s almost a second career he’s going after now. He had

Tiger Woods. this unbelievable first career when it comes to the majors.” Woods has posted nine top-10s in the majors since the 2008 U.S. Open, including a runner-up spot at the 2009 PGA Championship where he was overhauled by South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun

in the final round. In Miller’s opinion, Woods has suffered in part because of his own poor record over the weekend at the majors and also because of the greater confidence now shown by his challengers down the stretch. “The stuff he’s

doing on the weekend, I’m sure he’s very concerned,” said Miller. “Last year, he was so great on Thursday and Friday with a 68.97 (average) in the first two rounds, and then on the weekend he’s 70.80.

Mata not going anywhere, Mourinho declares

OSE Mourinho has insisted that he does not want to sell Juan Mata – and that Chelsea have had no offers for the Spanish international midfielder. Mata stormed off the pitch during the New Years Day win at Southampton after being taken off by Mourinho, and his agents immediately demanded clarification of his situation at the club. Mourinho, whose side are in Derby County today for the FA

Cup third round, said: “Juan has not been in to see us – and he trained on Friday in a fantastic way. “He focused more on what I said after the game, when I said ‘I don’t want him to leave’ – more than when I said that ‘the door is always open’. “When he focuses on me not wanting him to leave, he moves on. He was happy with the victory on Wednesday, and he trained fantastically. So there are

Portugal president honours Ronaldo

EAL Madrid star Cris tiano Ronaldo has been awarded one of Portugal’s highest honours by the country’s president. Ronaldo, 28, will receive the Order of Prince Henry from president Anibal Cavaco Silva at a ceremony on Tuesday. “He is a worldwide symbol of Portugal, making the country better known internationally and an example of perseverance for younger generations,” said a presidential statement. Ronaldo said it was an “indescribable feeling of pride and

Adebayor, AVB feud over a hat

•Cristiano Ronaldo

honour”. In November, the Portugal captain became the nation’s all-time joint record goalscorer. He scored a hat-trick in the World Cup play-off win against Sweden to move level with Pauleta on 47 goals. The former Manchester United player is also third on the nation’s all-time appearance list, winning 109 caps since his debut in August 2003. Ronaldo, who moved to Real for a then world-record fee of £80m in 2009, is one of a threeman shortlist for the 2013 Ballon d’Or.

•Juan Mata no problems. “We have had no interest from other clubs in Mata. We will not sell him to another Premier League club - I keep saying I want him to stay. And there is no other offer.” However, Napoli boss Rafael Benitez is tracking Mata, according to a report in the Daily Mirror. Mata was named Chelsea’s Player of The Year last season while playing under Benitez, who took temporary charge following Roberto Di Matteo’s departure from the club.

MMANUEL Adebayor and former Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas fell out over a beanie hat, it has been revealed. Spurs supporters were mystified by Villas-Boas’s stubborn refusal to pick the striker – despite Spurs’ lack of firepower in front of goal. At the beginning of the season, the Spurs striker walked into a team meeting wearing a hat and the Portuguese boss asked him to remove it; a request Adebayor declined. Sportsmail understands the pair exchanged heated words and during the argument Villas-Boas vowed not to play the striker. Adebayor played no part in the season as a result of that clash, except for one appearance as a half-time substitute during the 6-0 humbling by Manchester City. Since Villas-Boas was sacked, the striker has been restored by new boss Tim Sherwood, who has reaped the rewards. The striker has given Spurs a new lease of life and netted four times in five appearances. Villas-Boas relied on Adebayor last season as Tottenham beat their record Premier League points haul with 72. Defender, Danny Rose said having a rejuvenated Adebayor in top form is like a new signing for Tottenham. “He has been like a new signing,” Rose said. “Considering he didn’t play a game from preseason until a few weeks ago, his energy levels have actually been brilliant. There were no questions about his attitude during his first season under Harry Redknapp and I can’t speak for last season because I wasn’t here. “When I came back preseason, his attitude was fine. Obviously there was a bit of a disagreement between him and Andre but it is finished now and we are all grateful he is back in the team.” Rose also believes Sherwood’s decision to play two strikers will bring out the best in Roberto Soldado, who was employed as a lone frontman by VillasBoas. He added: “No disrespect to Andre but playing one up front has been a bit frustrating and hard for Soldado at times. It is nice that he has got a bit of help up there with Adebayor.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014, PAGE 53

‘Mikel Obi was Africa’s best in 2013’ BY AARON EKONG

portsGuard column for to day was about the GloCAF Award scheduled for Lagos on Thursday but a concerned Nigerian, Aaron Ekong who writes for sportsuniteni geria.blogspot.com sent in a piece on the Award. He said our mind so we decided to bring it to you readers to savour. May I continue from where we left it in 2013 and convey my sincere wishes of a happy New Year to all readers of Sports Unite Nigeria. I really wasn’t in the mood to write until the morning after New Year’s day when I turned on my TV set to watch a popular daily sports program, only to be thoroughly disappointed by what I was hearing. Inevitably, the discussion had come to the Glo-CAF African Footballer of the Year Award billed to hold here in Lagos next week, and when asked to comment, one of the (regular) panelists, presumably a fullblooded Nigerian going by his name, was to state, almost with an air of irrevocable finality, that: “… we all know that Cote D’Ivoire’s Yaya Toure will win the prize …”! And what were his reasons for reducing the continent’s most coveted individual football honour to a predictive one man race long before the contest? “… Yaya has simply been awesome this season; scoring goals and playing superbly for Manchester City, including outstanding free kicks … “ So there you have it! It is bad enough when you come out in the full glare of television cameras to run down your own kin in an open contest, but that no attempt is made whatsoever to do an objective analysis is what I will not accept, especially on a medium that is meant to inform as well as educate the audience. That notwithstanding, the point is that I completely disagree with this (in my opinion)

•Toure C M Y K

•Mikel Obi myopic opinion that had been going round since the time of the BBC Africa player award a few weeks ago. My humble position is that John Mikel Obi was clearly Africa’s best player in 2013. I will rate him, not only above Yaya Toure, but above even his compatriots, Victor Moses and Vincent Enyeama, both of who also performed marvelously in 2013. Now I know for sure that the process of selecting the CAF Player of the Year is full of in-

trigues and therefore totally unpredictable, but let me start by reminding my TV panelist that if being “awesome” and “playing marvelously” for some EPL club or even “scoring incredible free kicks” was the defining criterion, a certain Austin “Jay Jay” Okocha should have won this prize several times over, but we all know he never did. As I’ve already mentioned, this is CAF’s flagship individual award, and except it is done without any sound conceptual

Popoola thumbs up National Stadium renovation

OACH Ayoola Popoola of the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps Table Tennis Club, on Thursday lauded the ongoing renovation of the Knockup Hall at the National Stadium, Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that that the hall where players usually trained, had been locked up for almost three months now, leaving the players to train elsewhere. The renovation started last November and has renewed the hope of players to resume training at the hall. Popoola said in Lagos that the renovation was timely as the country prepared for the Commonwealth Games, later in the year in Glasgow, Scotland. “The renovation is long overdue. It will, no doubt, go a long way in preparing our players for the Commonwealth

Games,” he said. Popoola then commended the board of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), headed by Wahid Enitan-Oshodi, for the renovation. An NTTF official who sought anonymity told NAN that the renovation was necessary in order to bring back national athletes to the stadium, in preparation for the challenges ahead. “Our athletes now trained in various private clubs and mostly at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Yaba and at the Union Bank Sports Club, Surulere. But it is making the proper monitoring of the athletes difficult for the coaches and officials, especially now that we are preparing for the Commonwealth Games. I believe the renovation will be completed before the end of this month, to enhance our preparation for the Games,” he said.

logic, it cannot and should not be divorced from CAF’s flagship tournament, the Africa Nations Cup. Therefore the prime (‘though not the only) criterion for selecting the best player in Africa in 2013 must be performance at the CAF Africa Nations Cup which took place in South Africa in January 2013. Anything short of that will mean CAF themselves devaluing their own competitions and awards. Despite going into the Nations Cup almost completely written off, Nigeria won that competition and Mikel Obi was clearly Nigeria’s outstanding player, applying his wealth of experience as a proven champion in Europe to coordinate Nigeria’s defensive and offensive play en route winning the trophy. It may pay us to remember that Yaya Toure and his fellow superstars of Cote d’Ivoire were actually knocked out of that tournament in the quarterfinal stage by the Super Eagles of Nigeria in a match where John Mikel Obi completely stole the show, cutting off the Ivoriens’ attacks and propelling the Eagles’ own surge for goals. Where was Yaya Toure? It is on record that Yaya Toure has never bossed Mikel Obi in any match involving both, and that includes this season which my TV panelist thinks has been extra-ordinary for Toure. In a team (Chelsea) which arguably has the toughest competition for midfield places under

(unarguably) the most demanding and difficult to please coach in the world (Jose Mourinho), John Mikel Obi has maintained his place as the prime choice in the terribly difficult central defensive midfield role, something he has done successfully for over six years and under no less than the same number of coaches now. He deserves our respect at the very least. At the FIFA Confederations Cup where coach Stephen Keshi allowed Mikel greater freedom to roam, we saw the Nigerian score a terrific goal while teaching the Spanish world class midfielders a few new tricks to savour. In predicting beforehand that Nigeria would win the Africa Nations Cup last year, one of the factors I took into consideration was Mikel’s form and incredible record of achievement by way of trophies as a team player. We’ve had players in the past who chose to play to the gallery, amassing immense popularity for themselves but leaving the national team trophy-less. So football is primarily a team sport and the best team players must always be amply rewarded. The CAF Award I believe covers the whole year, from January to December, and I implore everyone connected with this great task to take the trouble to really analyse what each player achieved throughout the year, not just the game we saw on DSTV last week. Mikel Obi, in my opinion, was surely Africa’s proven best in 2013.

NPUGA basketball medal thrills Bamijoko ASKETBALL prodigy An match before and for us misB uoluwapo Bamijoko of Ba- takes are inevitable. We only bcock University, Illishan trained three days a week. We Remo in Ogun State has attributed the silver medal won by her school Babcock University to hard work and sheer determination by the team. Babcock finished second in the women’s Basketball event at the just concluded Nigeria Private University Games (NPUGA) held at Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji Arakeji in Osun State with Benson Idahosa University Benin City carting home the gold and Anu is excited to have helped he school win the silver medal. “It was a greet competition and nobody gave us a chance to return with medals because we started training only in October while other schools began early but we resolved to give an impressive performance and this has paid off for us. The 18 year old 300 level Computer Science student said the team has learnt from its mistakes and hope to do well in future competitions. She revealed that NPUGA 2013 was the first competitive game for the team. “We have never played a

just wanted to prove a point that we are capable of causing upset. “Again we were not under pressure. Coach Dimeji Folorunsho told us to go and have fun and that was what we did. Our fighting spirit worked well for us in all our four matches,” he said. Anu who rose to prominence during her Secondary School days at Doregos Private Academy, Ipaja where she won several MVP awards in school sports said the game against eventual winners, Benson Idahosa University, Benin city was their toughest as they lost 15 – 4. “We defeated Afe Babalola University 16 – 7 beat Redeemers University 17 – 7 then lost 11 – 4 to American University. We could have won the gold medal if we had played against fellow students in the match against Benson Idahosa University,”she said. Anu’s ultimate goal is to play in the WNBA in the United States. “I want to play in the WNBA and also do my PHD in the United States,” she stressed.

PAGE 54, SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 5, 2014

Messi is worth N86b, says marketing boss S

PORTS marketing specialist Gerardo Molina has claimed that an unnamed club is willing to pay Euro400m (about N86m) for Lionel Messi. Molina, who works for Euromericas Sport Marketing, has written a report on the market value of the player, and has revealed that there is a club willing to pay an astonishing fee for the Argentine forward. “There is a club that is practically sponsored by a government that would be prepared to pay Euro400m for Leo Messi,” he told Cadena SER. “There are three European clubs that asked us to come up with this study in order to find out how much Messi was worth. “We cannot say who the clubs are. The clubs wanted to analyse the viability of a possible transfer for Messi. “Messi is five times more marketable than Cristiano Ronaldo. According to studies, Ronaldo is worth between Euro150-160m. “Messi’s buy-out clause is Euro250m (about N56m), we believe that figure is obsolete and devalued. Right now there is no player in the world of sport that has a greater value than Leo Messi. According to market research in the last five years, Messi is worth Euro400m.”

Omeruo happy with Boro deal

UPER Eagles defender, Kenneth Omeruo has stated that his loan move to Middlesborough will give him a good chance of playing first team football and improve on his game as the 2014 world cup approaches. Omeruo will start a new lease of football life at Boro on Monday, after Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and his former number two at Real Madrid Aitor Karanka reached an agreement. “This loan move is important because I have a good chance of playing regular football. I should also be in a good situation to help the team fight for promotion, you know nothing is impossible in football. “Training with the first team at Chelsea is just not good enough for my progress and development. More significantly I was highly recommended by Jose Mourinho and that feels good. Both coaches speak to each other on a daily basis so I believe I’ll be in good hands. Apart from playing regularly and helping the team, this provides me with an opportunity to be sharp for the World Cup,” Omeruo said. C M Y K

City not good for Iheanacho, says Keshi

RICHEST... Lionel Messi sandwiched by the Super Eagles defenders during a match.He ‘s been adjudged the most valued player in the world.

Commonwealth Games: Queen’s Baton arrives Monday T

HE Queens Baton for the 2014 Commonwealth Games is scheduled to arrive Abuja tomorrow and would be received by officials of the Nigerian Olympic Committee and members of the 2014 Commonwealth Games Queens Baton Relay Committee. The Baton is usually taken across all Commonwealth Countries to signify the commencement of preparations of the Commonwealth Games. It’s last point of call before arriving Nigeria was Ghana where it was paraded in Ac-

cra and Kumasi. According to the Itinerary released by the organizing Committee, the Director General National Sports Commission Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye will receive the Baton in company of diplomats from Commonwealth countries accredited to Nigeria. Thereafter the Motorcade will proceed to the Presidential Villa where the Baton will be handed to the Hon. Minister/Chairman, National Sports Commission, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi who will then present the Baton to the Pres-

ident Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR. The event is expected to climax at State house with remarks from the President after which he will hand it over to the Hon. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT for a procession through the Federal Capital Territory. The seven member Queen Baton bearers led by Sharad Rao Commonwealth Games Federation representative is billed to depart Nigeria on Wednesday January 8, 2014.

FA Cup: Blackburn force replay with Man City M

ANCHESTER City sur vived a scare at Ewood Park as they hung on for a replay against Championship side Blackburn Rovers in a pulsating FA Cup clash. Last year’s beaten finalists looked on course to reach the fourth round when Alvaro Negredo fired them into the lead before half-time. But Scott Dann deservedly levelled for Rovers and City had to play a nervous last nine minutes, including stoppage time, with 10 men after defender Dedryck Boyata was sent off for

his second booking near the end. A replay was probably not on the wish-list before kick-off for City boss Manuel Pellegrini, who already has a crowded fixture list in January that includes both legs of his side’s Capital One Cup semi-final with West Ham. But he will be grateful to still be in the draw for the next round after seeing a spirited Blackburn side threaten what would have been a huge upset. Rovers were neat and tidy in

FA Cup results Blackburn Aston Villa Bolton Everton M’brough Newcastle Norwich S’hampton Stoke City West Brom Arsenal

1 1 2 4 0 1 1 4 2 0 2

Man City Sheff Utd Blackpool QPR Hull City Cardiff Fulham Burnley Leicester Crystal Tottenham

1 2 1 0 2 2 1 3 1 2 0

possession from the start and looked dangerous down the flanks in the early stages, but their final ball into the box did not always punish some hesitant defending. City were initially out of sorts going forward too but began to build some pressure around the half-hour mark and soon produced the game’s first real opening. Boyata did well to find David Silva with a pull-back from the right but the Spaniard made a mess of his finish, blazing his shot high over the bar. If that chance was a hint that City could create a goal out of nothing, Negredo’s opener proved it. The Spanish striker struck on the stroke of half-time, turning in Edin Dzeko’s header from Silva’s cross. Blackburn’s frustration was shown when Rovers duo Grant Hanley and Chris Taylor were involved in a shoving row as the players walked off for the break.

UPER Eagles coach Stephen Keshi said Golden Eaglets star at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in UAE, Kelechi Iheanacho has probably bitten more than he can chew by opting to start his professional career at Manchester City. The Eagles boss revealed that Iheanacho was in his plan for the CAF African Nations Championship, but for his decision to jettison camp and travel to Europe to conclude his transfer. “We need to be realistic in our dealings, Iheanacho should have been taken to a smaller team, where he can mature quickly by getting play time,” he said. “Iheanacho can’t play in Manchester City in the next one year or so, it is not good for him. “I would have loved to take him to CHAN, where he could get more exposure and experience, where he would grow more in confidence and take his game to next level, but he and his dad opted for something else,” Keshi said on a Radio Nigeria interview. The Iheanachos are still in Spain after a medical by Kelechi for City there. The youngster is set to be at the FIFA Awards in Switzerland next week.

Pardew tips Ameobi to shine in Brazil

HOLA Ameobi will be a handful at the 2014 World Cup on the back of his current form, according to Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew. Ameobi is in the frame to be in Brazil in the summer with Nigeria. And Pardew told Absolute Radio: “He is a fantastic player. I love him to bits. Again, he will be going to the World Cup, and I wouldn’t want England to play him when he is on his debut. He is a real handful, he really is. And he has got great feet. “He is an absolutely fantastic character. He just gets himself up to particular games, perhaps to a higher level, and therefore he can nab these games that are just phenomenal. “Probably his weakness is having that level every game, and that has cost him getting a regular place at times at this football club.” Pardew added: “He is six foot five, and you look at him as a big man, but he has got as good a feet as I have never seen for a big striker. He can manoeuver the ball and take it away from you when you think you have won it. And obviously he won the penalty at Palace the other day doing just that.” The Ameobi’s contract will expire in June.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014,

C M Y K

PAGE 55

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 5, 2014

ENGLAND FA CUP FIXTURES Nottingham Forest Sunderland Derby County Liverpool Port Vale Manchester United

vs vs vs vs vs vs

West Ham United 13:00 Carlisle United 15:00 Chelsea 15:15 Oldham Athletic 16:00 Plymouth Argyle 16:00 Swansea City 17:30

Eagles’ll do Nigerians proud at CHAN – Mohammed N

Keshi’s home-based Eagles shut Ethiopia up S

UPER Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi yesterday at the Abuja National Stadium had the last laugh over his Ethiopian counterpart, Bishaw Sewnet when the second string Nigerian team defeated their Ethiopian counterparts 2-1 in an international friendly used as a tune up game to prepare both sides for the African Nations Championships, CHAN which begins in South Africa next week. When both sides met in Calabar last November in the last leg of the 2014 World Cup qualifier, the Eagles were 2-0 better than the Ethiopians, but Sewnet had complained about the officiating which he said tilted in favour of the Eagles

whom he however congratulated for the victory with a warning that Keshi should prepare well for the World Cup so as to represent Africa respectably. With a much depleted Team B side, the Eagles proved too tough for the Ethiopians who had only three changes from their World Cup squad, leading the visitors 2-0 after the first half. The Sewnet-tutored side however, got a consolation goal in the second half. The Ethiopian coach had said before the match that there was no pressure on them to beat the Eagles as they were not in Abuja on revenge mission after the World Cup defeat last November.

CHECKMATE... Super Eagles defender, Azubuike Egwuekwe check-mating Andreas Iniesta of Spain during a match. He’s one of the Team B players Stephen Keshi is relying on to make an impact at the CHAN tournament in South Africa

IGERIA Football Feder ation director of competitions, Sanusi Mohammed has declared that the NFF has full confidence on the home-based Eagles to win the CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN), beginning on January 11 in South Africa. The Eagles under coach Stephen Keshi are making their debut and they are also under pressure to win the tournament just like the Super Eagles did in January 2013. “Being the first time does not matter, because, Nigeria is going there to lift the trophy (because) we have the players that can do the country proud. And we are not going there as spectators neither are we going there to give people points to assist them in winning the competition. We are going there to fight and make sure that we do the country proud,” Mohammed said. He added that the absence of some of the key players would not affect the team because the coach had got replacements for them. “I watched their training several times and some of the friendly matches they played. I saw a team that have significantly improved from the match they played in Port Harcourt and then the one they played against Kano Pillars. The team have improved significantly, (but) the only problem is that some of the key players of the Super Eagles may not take part in the competition, players like Sunday Mba who has travelled out and (Mohammed) Gambo who has sustained injury.

CROSS WORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1. House of Reps Speaker (8) 5. Assistant (4) 7. Praise (5) 8. Upright (4) 9. Lantern (4) 11. Tradition (6) 13. Lagos masquerade (3) 15. Exclamation (2) 16. Pig’s nose (5) 18. Agent (3) 20. Glitters (6) 24. Forward (5) 25. Nigerian state (6) 27. Boring tool (3) 29. Ghanaian fabric (5) 31. Perform (2) 32. Oshiomhole’s state (3) 34. U.S. currency (6) 36. Vow (4) 38. Musical quality (4) 39. Inclination (5) 40. Eager (4) 41. Damages (8)

DOWN 1. Sample (5) 2. Niger state town (4) 3. Observe (5) 4. Lecture (6) 5. Everyone (3) 6. Use (6) 10. Inquires (4) 12. Carpet (3) 14. Colour (6) 15. Resistance unit (3) 17. Coax (4) 19. Rollicked (6) 21. Hatchet (3) 22. Satisfied (4) 23. Nigerian state (3) 26. Cry of derision (3) 27 . African country (6) 28. Endure (4) 29. Child (3) 30. Spoke (6) 31. Adorn (5) 33. Baking chambers (5) 35. Asterisk (4) 37. Possessed (3)

SOLUTION on page 5

Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Advert Dept: :01- 7924470; Hotline: 01- 4707189; Abuja: 09-2341102, 09-2342704. E-mail website: sundayvanguard@yahoo.com, editor@vanguardngr.com, news@vanguardngr.com, sunvanguardmail@yahoo.com. Advert:advert@vanguardngr.com. Internet: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: JIDE AJANI 08111813023. All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos. C M Y K