Boko Haram: I won't resign- Jonathan

...towards a better life for the people

**

N150

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

VOL. 25: NO. 61681

BOKO HARAM:

I won't resign — Jonathan •Says the demand is blackmail, ridiculous •My mandate freely given by all Nigerians, he insists

BOLT STRIKES AGAIN

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE & BEN AGANDE, WITH AGENCY REPORT

A

BUJA—PRESI DENT Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, said he would neither convert to Islam nor resign his position for peace to reign in the country as demanded by the Boko Haram Sect.

The Jamaatu Ahlis Sunnah Lil Daawati wal Jihad, popular called Boko Haram, which said it was not negotiating with any government representative and had no plans to do so, had in

Continues on Page 5

Dana crash, a case of criminal •PG.28 negligence OCHEREOME NNANNA •P.41 DELE •P.35 SOBOWALE

BOLT SETS ANOTHER OLYMPIC RECORD—Jamaica's Usain Bolt celebrates

LES LEBA •P.40

after winning the Men's 100m Final at the athletics event during the London 2012 Olympic Games yesterday, in London. Photo: AFP.

Mr & Mrs

....BABANGIDA SPEAKS

Says I've no hand in Boko Haram •P.5

•Warns Clark, threatens to sue him

SUBSIDY SCAM: Labour alleges plot to cover-up some marketers •P.6

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012 — 3

4 — Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012—5

I've no hand in Boko Haram — IBB

BY HENRY UMORU

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BUJA—FORMER President Ibrahim Babangida, yesterday, slammed elder-statesman Chief Edwin Clark over his allegation that some Northern leaders including him, Babangida, were soft on the Boko Haram insurgency.

In a stout rebuttal to the assertion, Babangida alleged that sense may indeed have departed from Clark and hence his disregard for the historic role he (Babangida) played in unifying the country.

Affirming that he had no reason to play politics with the issue having left the ‘political industry ’, Babangida traced the difficulties of the Jonathan administration to divisive people he said were of the same mindset with Clark, who have prevented the present administration from seeking reasonable counsel from those that could help it. He specifically alluded to former Heads of State who he claimed were not being consulted by the present administration.

Babangida spoke in response to Clark’s claims last Wednesday that some northern leaders were behind the increasing spate of violence in the country.

Clark spoke as guest speaker at the second State of the Federation Lecture organised by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, NIALS. Clark had specifically challenged Babangida

and former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to condemn the activities of the Boko Haram group that has claimed responsibility for the insurgency campaign in many parts of the north.

Clark noting the joint declaration by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Babangida on the spate of insecurity had said at the lecture: “Boko Haram preceded Jonathan. It started in 2002 when Obasanjo was President.

It was there when Yar ’Adua was also ruling. It is not synonymous with Jonathan. I had expected that somebody like Babangida should have spoken since. I thought he would have spoken with his friend Buhari. Two of them have been meeting. So why is he now with Obasanjo?

“At 72, Babangida said he will wear uniform and fight for the unity of Nigeria, he should therefore stand up now and condemn Boko Haram from the bottom of his heart, not with Obasanjo. Obasanjo has gone to Maiduguri to meet the people, why has Babangida not gone?” he asked.

But responding yesterday, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Kassim Afegbua, Babangida said: “The statement reportedly credited to Chief Edwin Clark on Friday, August 3, 2012 in several newspapers and online media to the effect that General IBB has a hand in Boko Haram, is the subject of this response. We are ashamed to state here

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world’s happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime —Dale Carnegie

A

MAN was taking a walk along the beach.

He saw that the morning tide from the ocean brought in hundreds of starfish and when the tide receded, they were left behind and with the morning sun rays, and they would die. The tide was fresh and the starfish were alive. The man took a few steps, picked one and threw it into the water.

He did that repeatedly. Right behind him there was another person who couldn’t understand what this man was doing. He caught up with him and asked, “What are you doing? There are hundreds of starfish. How many can you help? What difference does it make?” This man did not reply, took two more steps, picked up another one, threw it into the water, and said, “It makes a difference to this one.

that rather than coming up with plausible and efficacious solution[s] to the insecurity in the country, what the selfacclaimed elder statesman came up with was buck-passing, such odium and rancid outburst, to the extent of trying to accuse General Ibrahim Babangida on the Boko Haram menace.

We view this misguided and senseless statement in very bad taste and we take very strong exceptions to his drooling and implied conclusion.

I 'll not work against Nigeria's unity, stability "For the purpose of putting the records straight, General Ibrahim Babangida, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, former President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces and civil war hero, does not and will not have a hand in anything untoward against the unity and stability of the Nigerian State. Having seen it all in life, and now enjoying his retirement in Minna, Niger State, General Ibrahim Babangida has paid his dues by serving his fatherland to the best of his ability at various times in the history of the country.

"Having invested so much in the unity and stability of the country, to the extent of fighting in the civil war to keep the country together, it is out of place for anyone, least of all an old man of Edwin Clark's nomenclature, to input directly or indirectly that the great IBB should prove his innocence on the Boko Haram menace.

"We want to believe that Chief Edwin Clark was quoted out of context, but if indeed he did say what was credited to him, we are forced to accept the conclusion that on account of his age, his senses have since departed him. He needs our empathies and not sympathies. We have since known Chief Edwin Clark to be a loose cannon in public discourse. He deserves our pity.

"We were expecting Chief Edwin Clark to use the opportunity of his forum to advance solutions to the insecurity situation in the country with particular reference to the Boko Haram crisis. General Ibrahim Babangida has offered several approaches and methodologies to addressing the precarious

situation both in public and private, and had stated without equivocation that dialogue would serve as a better tool than this militant approach which is not yielding appropriate result.

"He had also stated that President Goodluck Jonathan should use some of the respected Muslim clerics in the North as middlemen to reach members of Boko Haram and appeal for calm and understanding, in the interest of the unity and stability of the system. Needless to state that Government is a huge institution with several options open to it. And the earlier we discard this old method of reactionary approach and adopt a proactive one, in handling sensitive situations such as the one under reference, the better it will be for the country.

"With ethnic mindset of a Chief Edwin Clark, we can understand why the country appears fixated and why there has not been nationally accepted approach to combating this Boko Haram menace. Anyone who sees the Boko Haram menace as strictly a Northern affair would be exhibiting crass ignorance about leadership in a multi-ethnic configuration like Nigeria.”

Babangida who reiterated the need for a collective responsibility in

POCKET CARTOON

nipping in the bud the problem, said, "the earlier we began the patriotic process of viewing challenges as collective responsibility, the better it would be for getting solutions to the problem.

When ethnic jingoists speak and reason in the manner that Chief Edwin Clark did, then we have a huge problem on our hands.

"Former President, General Ibrahim Babangida has no hand in the present challenges facing President Goodluck Jonathan, and the insecurity in the country. In fact, it is IBB's belief that some of the problems were inherited by the present administration. IBB has since left the political turf for the younger generation of Nigerians. He has said repeatedly that he will no longer be an applicant in the political industry in

Nigeria until Allah calls him home. ‘’Rather than crucify General IBB for nothing, Chief Edwin Clark should blame the corruption in the system and the several incompetence and inadequacies of the present system. Instead of buckpassing and playing the blame game, we expect Edwin Clark to advise the government of the day to do more of consultation with former presidents, opinion moulders and leaders of thoughts across the country with the aim of getting lasting and integrated solutions to our problems. Let it be noted that further implied statements and misplaced accusations from Chief Edwin Clark would be greeted with litigation. A word is enough for the aged.”

Boko Haram: I won't resign — Jonathan THE VICTIMS: Continues from Page 1 a half-hour video made in Hausa and posted on YouTube, called on President Jonathan to resign, and also accept Islam as a pre-condition for peace.

Describing the demand as blackmail that he was not ready to succumb to, the President in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr Reuben Abati, said he would not resign because he is the custodian of a mandate given to him by Christians and Muslims a l i k e .

According to Abati, it is ridiculous for any group in the country to issue such conditions to the p r e s i d e n t .

"When Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for President Jonathan in the 2011 general election, they knew they were voting for a Chris-

tian. He continues to enjoy the goodwill and support of the good people of Nigeria. As president, Dr. Jonathan is the leader of both Muslims and Christians; in fact, he is the leader of persons of all faiths.

"So, it amounts to sheer blackmail for any individual or group to ask the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to convert to Islam. The president cannot be intimidated by any group or individual. The President will never resign.

He has the mandate of Nigerians to serve his fatherland and nobody should imagine that he will succumb to blackmail.”

However, in the video, made by the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, in the form of an Islamic lecture on Saturday, the group offered no explanation for its demands and positions. It

claimed that it doesn’t kill “ women and children,” but those “ who have offended us, arrested our people and killed them” and that some people were committing evil acts in its name and that it would go after such people.

The sect also rejected any plans by the Federal Government to legislate on the number of children Nigerians can have, describing such proposal as “blasphemy.”

The Federal Government has made dialogue with the Boko Haram sect a major way of curtailing the group’s insurgency in Northern Nigeria.

Ahmed Dasuki, the National Security Adviser, had pledged to seek ceasefire with the group before the commencement of the Islamic month of Ramadan which entered its 18th day today.

6—Vanguard , MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Lekki free trade zone attracts N170bn investment

BY OMOH GABRIEL, BUSINESS EDITOR

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EKO EXPO 2012—From left: Mr Chen Xiaoxing, Managing Director, Lekki Free Zone Development Company, LFZDC; Mr Peter Mbah, Chief Executive Officer, Pinnacle Oil & Gas Ltd, and Dr Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Trade & Investment during the opening of the Eko Expo 2012 and Lekki Free Zone Investment Forum, organised by Lagos State Govrnment at Lekki Free Zone, Akodo, Lekki, Lagos. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

Subsidy scam: Labour alleges plots to cover-up some marketers ...calls on govt to be transparent

BY VICTOR AHIUMAYOUNG

O

RGANISED Labour weekend alleged that there were plans to cover up some of the indicted oil marketers in the subsidy probe reports, vowing to resist any attempt by government to perpetrate such plans.

Speaking under the aegis of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, at briefing in Lagos, labour faulted the withdrawal of charges against some of the suspects by the government, arguing that only the court had the exclusive power to make such decisions.

Addressing newsmen, President-General of TUC, Comrade Peter Esele, demanded that government should explain to Nigerians what prompted the decision given the fact those affected were indicted by the committees’ reports.

According to him, “Congress is worried about the withdrawal of the charges against some of the oil subsidy fraud suspects by the Federal Government and would want to know what has made this action very urgent now. We feel that this would have been left for the courts to decide.”

The TUC PresidentGeneral argued that the persons currently on trial over the fuel subsidy fraud “do not represent the quantity and quality of the persons indicted by both the House of

representatives and the Aig-Imokuhuede panel”.

Comrade Esele claimed the development was another ploy by government to prosecute these persons and use it as a cover to hoodwink Nigerians into believing that it was prosecuting perpetrators of the oil subsidy scam.

He called on government to be transparent in the trial of the fuel subsidy looters so that funds looted from

the national coffers would be recovered and returned to the national treasury.

He said: “It should be noted that the amount of money involved in the subsidy fraud runs into trillions of Naira but the amount allegedly stolen by those standing trial are presently about N304 billion. We then ask what about those who have cornered the other trillions?

When will they be brought to trial to face justice? If this

is an attempt to try these persons and use it as a cover to hoodwink the people of this nation, we want to warn that we shall resist it and it must fail.”

On the implementation of the 2012 budget, Esele said the Congress was fully in support of the House of Representatives’ position on budget implementation, but noted that the threat of impeachment was another distraction from the pressing issues confronting the economy.

Air safety: ICAO rates Nigeria high

EKKI Free Trade Zone has attracted $1.1 billion (N170.5 billion) investment commitment from 48 investors, Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, has disclosed.

The minister who spoke based on briefings by the Managing Director of the zone, Mr. Chen Xiaoxing, noted that the LFTZ had all the features to make it one of the most successful Free Trade Zones in Africa. He spoke during the LFTZ Investment Forum and opening of the Eko Expo 2012, in Lagos, weekend.

According to the minister, some of the top investors in the zone include Puma Energy Free Zone Enterprise, which is investing in oil and gas terminal depo construction.

The company is investing $400 million in the zone.

Others listed by the minister are Imad Oil and Gas FZE, which is investing $200 million; China Railway Construction Corporation ($50 million); and YFK Pharmaceutical FZE ($30 million), among others.

Aganga said, “The Lekki Free Trade Zone is indeed the biggest of the 19 Free Trade zones Chinese investors have presently

100,000 workers lose jobs in construction industry — Unions zSay govts have failed to pay for contracts executed BYVICTOR AHUIMA-YOUNG

BY DANIEL ETEGHE

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NTERNATIONAL Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO, has rated Nigeria high on safety on its aviation industry and the safety oversight supervised by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA. This came barely two months after the ill-fated Dana air crash on June 3, 2012, which killed over 163 people.

A letter signed by the President of ICAO, Mr. Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez, said Nigeria was one of the 13 countries out of 54 in Africa whose Level of Effective Implementation, LEI, of the eight critical elements of ICAO safety oversight was above the world average.

He said: "ICAO maintains

that NCAA has satisfactorily established and implemented the eight critical elements in a consistent way, scoring 86 per cent in compliance during the audit exercise conducted by its officials” According to the letter, the eight critical elements are legislation, regulation, organisation, technical staff and training, technical guidance and tools, licensing, certification, approval, continuous surveillance and resolution of safety concerns.”

It will be recalled that International Air Transport Association, IATA, and ICAO in July reiterated confidence in the ability of the Director-General of NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren.

In a letter jointly signed by the President and

Secretary General of ICAO, Mr. Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez and Raymond Benjamin respectively with the reference number E1/ 1.109 E.ANB/SS145236 written to President Jonathan and copied Minister of Aviation, Princess Sella Oduah and the representatives of Nigeria on the council of ICAO, said it recognised the safety efforts of the country in recent time.

The letters made available to newsmen by a source close to the Ministry of Aviation, however expressed hope that the outcome of the investigations into the Nigerian cargo plane accident in Ghana and Dana air crash in Nigeria would be implemented by the government to serve as a guide for future accidents

outside China and it has all the features to make it one of the most successful Free Trade Zones in Africa. I have been informed by the Managing Director of the zone that about 48 investors have already committed to investing close to $1.1 billion in the zone.

“I, therefore salute the commitment of the major stakeholders in the LFTZ venture, the Lekki Worldwide Investment Limited, the China African Lekki Investment Limited, the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, and indeed, the host community.

I also commend the staff and management of LFTZ for their hard work and dedication, which has helped to shape this ongoing success story.”

The minister added that, in line with the determination of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to transform the Nigerian economy through sound and viable trade and investment policies, the Federal Government would support the Lagos State Government, the consortium of Chinese investors and other stakeholders in ensuring that the LFTZ was developed to attain its full potential.

T

HE two unions in the nation’s construction industry, National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers, NUCECFWW, and Construction and Civil Engineering Senior Staff A s s o c i a t i o n , CCESSA, weekend in Lagos, said no fewer than 100,000 workers have been sacked by Multi-National Corporations, MNCs, and indigenous contractors over government refusal to pay for completed and certified projects in the last one year.

At a joint briefing, the two unions claimed that not less than N100 billion debt remained unpaid to these contractors by both Federal and state governments, and appealed to government to release money to these

contractors to save the industry and suffering w o r k e r s .

Speaking on behalf of the two unions, President of CCESA, Dr. Augustine Etafo, said as part of the plans to attract the attention of government to the plight of the workers, the union would hold a peaceful protest rally in Abuja, where all the construction sites would be shut down for a d a y .

According to him, “governments at various levels have not been honouring the agreements on contracts by refusing to pay for contracts that had already been executed and certified complete. As we speak now, governments owe contractors over N100 billion. Consequently, capital projects are disrupted and contractors have moved out of sites for lack of funds".

Vanguard , MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012—7

Nigeria, Jamaica sign agreement on energy, trade

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AMAICAN Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller and Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan have signed a series of cooperation agreements following bilateral talks in Kingston.

The agreements covered energy, trade, culture, air services and education, along with technical scientific cooperation.

“We are looking to further cooperation through the conclusion of an air service agreement allowing for Jamaica to serve as a gateway for Africa into the wider Caribbean region, as well as, a hub for goods and services,” Simpson Miller said.

The two countries will also look to resume the Nigeria Technical Aid Corps programme, which allowed Nigerian professionals to be deployed to Jamaica to assist with training in areas

like nursing, energy, sports and education.

The Jamaican Prime Minister said: “Cultural and educational exchanges, the sharing of best practices in sport and the boosting of trade, business and investment between our two countries are also areas in which we have agreed to explore for further cooperation".

Jamaica will also participate in the First African Global Diaspora Summit, she said, as Jamaica supports the “movement towards greater cooperation, solidarity and involvement of the African Diaspora in the development of the continent.”

President Jonathan thanked Jamaica and its people for the opportunity to visit the country, saying Nigeria was committed to supporting Jamaica in any area of interest.

Govs, Tambuwal, Tinubu for book launch

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PEAKER of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, Rauf Aregbesola of Osun, Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo and Babatunde Fashola of Lagos will tomorrow grace the launch of 'The Nigerian Political Turf: Polity, Politics and Politicians', a new book by The Nation’s Group Political Editor, Bolade Omonijo.

The public presentation of the book slated for the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos is to be chaired by former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola

Tinubu.

Other governors expected at the presentation are: Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Cross River State Governor, Liyel Imoke.

Fayemi is to deliver a lecture entitled, The Nigerian Political Turf: Perspective of an Active Participant. The Chief launcher is Chairman of Board Hospitals, Dr. Paul Akintelure.

KADUNA GOV PARLEY WITH NUJ—Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State (middle); Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Kaduna State Council, Comrade Yusuf Idris (left) and Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Saidu Adamu (right) during the breaking of Ramadan fast with journalists at the NUJ secretariat in Kaduna on Saturday. Photo: Olu Ajayi.

Suicide bomber attacks military check point in Yobe ...kills 6 soldiers, 2 civilians

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A M AT U R U — A suicide car bomber yesterday attacked a military checkpoint in Damaturu, killing six soldiers and two civilians, police said.

“The lone suicide bomber detonated the bomb before the car he was in could be stopped, killing the six

soldiers and one civilian”, Patrick Egbuniwe, the police commissioner for Yobe State, told Reuters by telephone.

He added that, “another civilian died of his wounds in hospital shortly after.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Damaturu’s

CTION Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has called on the Presidency and the National Assembly to urgently investigate claims by the State Security Service, SSS, that it has arrested the suspected killers of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, a senior aide to Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it was compelled to make the call following the riddle posed by two pictures carried by a national newspaper (not Vanguard) yesterday, which seem to show that the

security agency may be recycling the same suspected criminals for different offences.

It said the three suspects in the first picture, who were paraded by the SSS on March 14th for allegedly kidnapping and murdering Briton Christopher MacManus and Italian Franco Lamolinara, in Sokoto, appear to be the same as three of the suspects in the second picture, who were recently paraded by the same SSS for allegedly killing Oyerinde. ‘’Three of the suspects paraded by the SSS for killing Oyerinde appear to wear a complete replica of

the hospital,” he said.

In a separate incident, police said suspected sect members had shot dead a former commissioner for the environment in neighbouring Borno State, the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency, in the early hours of Saturday.

Oyerinde's murder: We have reasons for detaining Ugulor — Police

BY EVELYN USMAN

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IGERIA Police Force yesterday stated that it had good ground for detaining the Director of the

African Network for Environmental and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, Revd David Ugulor, over the alleged murder of the Principal Private Secretary to Governor Adams

....As ACN asks FG, N-Assembly to probe SSS

A

Shagari housing estate. An eyewitness Abdullahi Sabo said the whole neighbourhood shook when the Damaturu bomb exploded. “The car blew up outside the front of my shop, the explosion was deadly and after the dusts settled, many security operatives were rushed to

the same shirts worn by the suspects paraded for killing the foreigners in March.

The pictures published by the newspaper is so compelling that we are forced to ask a number of questions from the SSS. Is the agency recycling suspected criminals and deceiving the people that it is indeed solving criminal cases? Does this systemic gimmick go higher than the security agency? For how long has this game been going on? What exactly does the government know about this? And is the PDP privy to this recycling? If not, why was the party so quick to ask the ACN to apologise

over the murder of Oyerinde?’’ ACN queried.

The party said the only way the riddle can be resolved is for the government to appoint a panel of respected judicial officers to investigate the SSS, while the National Assembly must conduct a public hearing at which the suspects paraded for killing the foreigners will be placed side by side with those paraded for killing Oyerinde. ‘’The reason why it is important to get to the root of the whole case is because the role of the SSS is so critical in ensuring peace and security in the country".

Oshiomole, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, three months ago.

The human rights activist was arrested last week by armed security operatives from the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, following claim by the Police that one of the suspects earlier arrested in connection with Oyerinde’s murder mentioned him as their alleged sponsor.

His continued detention sparked-off protest in Benin last week, with several calls for his release, particularly from the ANEEJ which described his arrest as a frame up.

But justifying his continued detention, the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Frank Mba, stated that the Force had a cogent reason for detaining the human rights activist, following the magnitude of the offence in question.

According to him, “the Nigeria Police Force is constitutionally and

statutorily charged with the investigation of this kind of crime we are investigating.

We have very good grounds in law for holding the suspect. At the appointed time, we will brief Nigerians.”

It would be recalled that life was snuffed out of 44year-old Olaitan Oyerinde, by four gunmen who invaded his apartment in Ugbor area of Benin city, at about 1am on May 4, 2012.

Two months later, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar announced the arrest of four persons in connection with Oyerinde’s murder.

But another dimension was introduced to the assassination saga, following the parade of six suspects by the State Security Service, SSS, different from those with the police, last week, a development that is currently generating controversy from different quarters , as to who the real killers are.

8— Vanguard , MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

MMIA not blacklisted, by Demuren

Briefly

Jonathan hails new Archbishop of Lagos

BY DANIEL ETEGHE

I

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BUJA—PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, congratulated Archbishop Adewale Martins on his formal installation as the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos.

Adewale was installed the fourth Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, weekend, following his appointment to the position by Pope Benedict XVI. A statement by Dr. Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, in Abuja, said Jonathan wished Martins continued divine guidance and blessing as he assumed the position.

Noting that the position was held for almost four decades by Anthony Cardinal Okogie, Jonathan prayed that God would grant Martins the good health, courage and wisdom required to lead the larger laity and clergy in the archdiocese.

The President gave the assurance that the Federal Government would work with Martins and other religious leaders in efforts to promote religious tolerance, interfaith harmony and peace in all parts of the country.

From left, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, Minister/Deputy Chairman, National Planning Commission; Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Chief host and Mr. Ben Akabueze, Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Lagos State, at the flag-off of state' Gross Domestic Product, organised by the Lagos State Government, 'Nigeria Governors' Forum and National Bureau of Statistics, at Lagos House, Ikeja.

Photo: Bunmi Azeez

2 die in Ibadan auto-crash z4 buildings razed in Badagry

BY OLA AJAYI & BOSE ADELAJA

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BADAN—TWO per sons were, yesterday, burnt to death in Ibadan when a vehicle crashed and caught fire.

Also property worth millions of naira were destroyed in the auto-crash at Bodija-Aduloju on Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

It was learnt that a driver and two other occupants were in a J5 bus with number-plate XA 142 CRC when the accident happened.

The bus was said to have somersaulted and

caught fire when trying to avoid an articulated lorry loaded with wood.

The lorry, was reportedly making a U-turn at the spot.

After avoiding the lorry, it hit another lorry parked by the roadside and exploded.

The worshippers at a nearby church and some security guards said two of the victims died while one was admitted in an hospital.

The Principal Fire Superintendent, Mr. Olayemi Abdul Rasak, said the accident occurred about 1.35 a.m.

The state Sector Com-

mander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Godwin Ogagaoghene, also confirmed the incident.

Fire in Badagry Meantime, disaster occurred in Badagry area of the state, weekend, when a truck loaded with diesel rammed into pillars suspending high tension cables servicing Olorunda Local Council Development Area resulting in fire.

The incident which occurred at Magbon-Obele road caused gridlock in the area.

Ashafa stresses need for ICT in national devt

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

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AGOS—SENATOR Gbenga Ashafa, representing Lagos East Senatorial District, has stressed the need for the adoption of aggressive Information Communication Technology, ICT, in the modern world in order to achieve rapid development in the country.

Ashafa made the remarks at the presentation of free computers and printers to outstanding youths who graduated from his free monthly ICT training programme.

The senator, who noted that national economies all over the world had as their engines, the relative adoptions of ICT in their operations for them to perform or otherwise, stressed that adoption of a new technology would increase a nation’s

wealth.

He said: “I have a personal conviction that to adopt a new technology does not tell the whole success story of a nation; the technology must be learnt, understood and adapted appropriately.”

The training, which was conceived to address the low level of ICT literacy in the society, Ashafa described as part of his contribution towards the development and empowerment of youths in the constituency.

He said 198 people had benefitted from the training since inception, adding that while some graduated and proceed to the university for further studies, others established their own business centres.

Lagos disburses N1bn agric fund

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

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AGOS—AS part of its continued effort towards ensuring food security and job creation, the Lagos State Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, weekend, flagged-off the Course IV Trainees of 100 Agricultural Youth-Based Empowerment Scheme AGRIC-YES. The Commissioner for Agriculture and Coopera-

tives, Mr. Gbolahan Lawal, at the ceremony, said about N1 billion had been paid to participants of courses II and III of the programme, who graduated from the training previously.

Lawal said the conceptualisation of AGRIC-YES was to create jobs, provide food security and eradicate poverty in the state, adding that the empowerment fund is to assist the participants in setting up their own farm according to their agricultural specialisations.

He said: “The programme, which started in October 2009, was initiated to make agriculture attractive and rewarding to the teeming youth population in the state.

The programme has concluded two cycles of training, internship and created farm settlement with 100 youths each. The first batch graduated in December 2010, and had been settled in Araga Farm Settlement, fashioned after the Israelitype Kibbutz.”

Eyewitnesses said the fire also affected four buildings in the area but the timely arrival of Lagos State fire fighters and Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, prevented the incident from escalating as it had caused panic among residents.

An eyewitness, Mr. Goke Amodu, told Vanguard that some road-users put a distress call across the emergency officials who responded without delay.

Eyewitnesses said the driver of the truck attempted to flee the scene but was arrested and taken to a nearby police station.

Some residents said many lives would have been lost in the disaster if it had occurred on a working day. Also, they appealed to Lagos State Government on implementation of the traffic law to avert further disaster in the city, especially on Mile 2/Badagry Expressway, Apapa/Oshodi Expressway and Lagos/ Ibadan Expressway.

Confirming the incident, LASEMA General Manager, Mr. Femi Osanyintolu, said no life was lost in the incident.

He said: ‘’About 4 p.m. on Saturday, a truck loaded with diesel rammed into the pillars of high tension cables which resulted into fire. This happened at MagbonObele road in the Olorunda Local Council Development Area, Badagry. Four houses were affected, but there was no casualty as the situation was well-managed.’’

KEJA—DIRECTORGENERAL of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren, yesterday, said that the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos, has not been blacklisted contrary to rumour making the rounds on the web.

Demuren said the report on a website that passengers were advised by the US Secretary of Transportation has determined that “Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Nigeria” has been blacklisted was a hoax and malicious falsehood.

“The report and posting on Murtala Muhammed International Airport is believed to be a replica of a belated one in 19922000 by the Department of Transportation, US. According to Demuren, a competent source from the Transportation Security Administration, TSA, of USA has denied any knowledge of the report, which its author alleged that was originated by the USA Secretary of Transportation.

Kuramo Beach re-opens

L

AGOS—THE Kuramo Beach in Lagos, shut down to allow for demolition of illegal structures and evacuation of illegitimate occupants, has been reopened.

According to reports, activities at the beach, such as picnics by tourists, had yet to pick up in earnest.

During a visit a few picnickers and tourists were seen at the beach.

Besides, operators of cabins were seen waiting eagerly for customers, apparently because many people were still unaware of the beach’s re-opening.

The Kuramo Beach was shut down on July 5, while illegal structures and hoodlums were removed by a task force that comprised police and naval personnel, as well as government and beach management officials.

Some of the cabin operators, who spoke, said that the beach was now safer and better, while commending the government for carrying out the demolition of illegal structures on the beach.

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012 — 9

Police quiz Akoko monarch over alleged rape

z Woman narrates ordeal in Kabiyesi's hand

BY DAYO JOHNSON

A BRIEFING: From left, Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa; Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba and Commissioner for Justice/ Attorney-General, Mr. Ade Ipaye, at a joint briefing on the newly-enacted traffic laws announced by the state government at Bagauda Khalto Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

KURE—POLICE in Ondo State, weekend, quizzed the traditional ruler of Supare Akoko in Akoko SouthWest Local Government Area of the state, Oba Kasali Adedeji, over alleged attempted rape.

Oba Adedeji was quizzed at the Criminal I n v e s t i g a t i o n Department,CID, of the Police over the allegation

Ex-Ogun CJ wants corrupt, lazy judges sacked

BY OLA AJAYI

I

BADAN—FORMER Chief Judge of Ogun State, Justice Isaac Babatunde Delano, has advised the National Judicial Council to dismiss corrupt and lazy judges in the system.

This, he said, weekend, in Ibadan, became expedient so that they would not infect other judges with their corrupt tendencies.

With the upward review of salaries by the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, judges no longer have excuse to display corrupt tendencies.

On alleged late arrival of some judges in court, Justice Delano said it all depended on the Chief Judge of such a state.

He said: “If as a chief judge, you sit by 9 a.m. as directed by the constitution, other judges un-

der you will find it difficult to do otherwise.

When I was the Chief Judge in Ogun State, I always sat at 9 a.m, no judges under me would sit at 10 a.m or 11 a.m.”

According to him, if any

judge gave an excuse that he wrote judgment late in the night, he would tell him that notwithstanding, he must sit by 9 a.m.

He added that family background of new judges should be considered be-

Ondo LP accuses opposition of buying voter cards

BY DAYO JOHNSON

A

KURE—AHEAD of the October 20 governorship election in Ondo State, the Olusegun Mimiko Campaign Organisation has raised the alarm over massive purchase of voter cards from unsuspecting people in the state by the opposition.

In a statement, by its Director of Publicity, Mr. Kolawole Olabisi, the organisation decried what it termed a surreptitious attempt by the opposition to

rig the election.

He said: “The Olusegun Mimiko Campaign Organisation has uncovered massive mop up of voter cards by the opposition from unsuspecting people, who are being lured with financial inducement of between N5,000 and N10,000 in their desperation to win the forthcoming election at all cost.

“This is another of their plan, part of which is to visit on the state an unprecedented level of violence as they did recently in several areas of the state.'' The organisation, therefore, called

Akeredolu is a registered voter in Ondo, by ACN

A

KURE—ONDO State Chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, says it has observed in recent time the antics of the ruling Labour Party, LP, aimed at circumventing the wish of the people in the October 20 election.

“The latest,” according to party,“ of such act is the cheap propaganda being

fore their appointment. “ NJC must make sure they scrutinize anybody that they want to appoint as a judge properly, they must ensure that such a person comes from credible family.”

spread by LP that ACN candidate, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, ,is not a registered voter in Ondo State.”

In a statement its Publicity Secretary, Rotimi

Agbede, said ”for the avoidance of doubt ,ACN wishes to assert that Rotimi Akeredolu is a registered voter in his home town,Owo, and this is verifiable.

on the electorate to be wary of this latest development,shun their entreaties and their tarnished lucre, saying that their voter cards were their power and one which they must hold unto at all cost.

levelled at him by one Mrs. Comfort Awogbami last May 4.

But police spokesman, Mr. Adeniran Aremu, said the monarch was only invited for interrogation.

Aremu said Adedeji was neither arrested nor detained as being speculated in the town.

Awogbami is standing trial at Supare Magistrate's Court alongside the monarch’s wife, Olori Sherifat Adedeji, for engaging in public brawl and conduct likely to cause breach of peace.

She has, however, petitioned the Commissioner of Police, alleging bias in the handling of the case at the Divisional Police Station level.

According to her, instead of the police charging the monarch to court for attempted rape, she was charged with affray alongside the monarch’s wife.

She thereafter wrote a letter of protest to the Commissioner of Police, asking him to intervene in the matter, alleging that the monarch attempted to rape her in his wife's apartment.

Awogbami said:

''Kabiyesi invited me to his wife’s apartment on the said date about 8 p.m. On getting there, he was alone. He asked me if I ever knew my husband was having an affair with his wife, an allegation which I had no knowledge of.

“He informed me that he would like to do same with me. Thinking he was joking, the Kabiyesi went on to hold me and assaulted me, stripped me naked until I raised alarm which drew the attention of the neighbours who trooped in to rescue me from his hands. His wife was not at home as that time.

“When I went down, I fainted and was admitted at the General Hospital, Iwaro-Oka, same night and discharged the following day.”

Awogbamila said the case was reported at the Police station but that the District Police Officer mounted pressure on her to drop the case.

However, she said she was surprised when she was arraigned before a Magistrate's Court for public fight with the monarch’s wife.

Owners to sue college over tippers' damage

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

A

BEOKUTA—FOL LOWING the alleged damage of 22 vehicles estimated at N2.750 million allegedly by students of Federal College of Education, FCE, Osiele, Abeokuta, Association of Tippers and Quarry Owners of Nigeria, ATQON, Ogun State Chapter, yesterday, threatened legal action against the management of the college

over the huge loss allegedly caused by the students.

It would be recalled that tragedy struck last Friday when no fewer than five students of the college were reportedly crushed to death by a tipper.

The incident, which led to pandemonium following the protest by the students who trooped to the road and allegedly set ablaze no fewer than four trucks and damaged 22 tippers in protest of their

colleagues' death.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, had said none of the students died, adding that they were revived at General Hospital, Ijaye, Abeokuta.

At a briefing in Obantoko, Abeokuta, the National Vice-Chairman, ATQON, Chief Fashola Ojewunmi, said , the driver of the trailer that rammed into the students was not a member of the association.

Aladura Church chides Ogun panel over varsity site

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

A

BEOKUTA—APPAR ENTLY reacting to the impending take-over of a large parcel of land owned by his church for the proposed Divine Grace University, the Primate of the Church of the Lord, Aladura, Worldwide, Dr. Rufus Ositelu, yesterday, cried out, saying that the Ogun State Governor, Mr. Ibikunle Amosun, is out to witchhunt his predecessor,

Otunba Gben ga Daniel.

The c leric whose church was indicted by Justice Abiodun Akinyemi-led Panel of Inquiry on Land Matters after investigation for alleged compromise in the acquisition of the land, said, Amosun was fed with lies.

At a briefing, yesterday, to herald this year ’s Mount Tabieorar Festival, Ositelu said he was dismayed that despite the fact that his church acquired the land 25 years

ago and even paid compensation to the affected people before it was allotted to the church, Amosun still was not satisfied.

He insisted that there were certain areas in the panel’s report that did not reflect the true account of the church position when he appeared before the panel, saying, the exercise was an attempt by the government to get back at Daniel through his church.

10 — Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Amaechi urges peaceful Christian, Muslim relations

R

IVERS State Gov ernor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, yesterday, said that as Chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, he will continue to promote and encourage peaceful co-existence among Muslims and Christians across the country.

Governor Amaechi, at a thanksgiving service of the Third Session Synod of Church of Nigeria (St. Michael’s Anglican Communion), Evo Dioceses, Province of Niger Delta, in Port Harcourt, said: “As Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, what I will preach here CONDOLENCE VISIT: Delta State Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama, and wife of the State Governor, Mrs. Roli Uduaghan, when the deputy governor paid her a condolence visit on the death of her mother, Late Madam Rebecca Ayomike, in Warri, weekend.

Don't go to tribunal, Edo CPC urges Airhiavbere

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

B

ENIN—EDO State chairman of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Mr. Godwin Erhahon, has advised Peoples Democratic Party’s, PDP, governorship candidate in the July 14, 2012 gubernatorial election, Major Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (rtd), not to allow himself to be used by political opportunists and those who want to take advantage of him to derail the gains of democracy in the state.

Speaking with Vanguard, weekend, in Benin on the decision of the state PDP to challenge the outcome of the last governorship election at the tribunal, Erhahon said, “I believe that people are trying to take advantage of him again be-

cause I am convinced that those who urged him to go to court are looking for an opportunity to be relevant before Adams Oshiomhole and Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, as they will eventually defect to ACN and abandon him in the struggle.

“My advice to Airhiavbere is that he should not allow himself to go through a second disgrace because by the time he goes to the court and loses, that defeat will be celebrated once again.

“If he allows himself to be portrayed as an ene-

Youths threaten oil operations in Delta

BY EMMA AMAIZE

U

G H E L L I — YOUTH leaders from the oil-bearing communities of Urhobo, Isoko and Ndokwa ethnic nationalities in Delta State, have given Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCo; Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and the Federal Government, a

14-day ultimatum to deal with the alleged discrimination in the sale of Oil Mining Leases, OMLs, 26, 30 and 36, in the different communities.

The youths, during a meeting at Ughelli, threatened to shut operations of the oil prospecting companies in the localities of the three ethnic groups if the matter was not satisfactorily addressed within the 14day period.

JTF destroys illegal refinery in Delta

BY FESTUS AHON

U

GHELLI—JOINT Militar y Task Force, JTF, in the Niger Delta, weekend, invaded an illegal refinery at Ovrode community, Isoko North Local Government Area, Delta State, destroying two concrete refining wells and a giant storage tank.

The soldiers stormed the refinery sited at

my of the people, he may not have the courage to come out for another election. For sure, the PDP people who urged him to go to court are doing so out of desperation, because they want to be relevant so that they can be attractive to Oshiomhole.”

Okpaide forest in the community at 10.30am in five Hilux pick-ups and also destroyed the piping system of the illegal refinery.

Commanding Officer of 222 Battalion, Lt. Col. Atahiru Rasheed, told newsmen after the operation that they embarked on the raid after they got a tip off that some persons were carrying out illegal refining of crude

oil in the area.

Rasheed said that JTF was prepared to continue to keep vigilance on the area, so as to keep those involved in the illegal operations at bay.

He added, that “JTF was leaving no stone unturned in tackling the problem of crude oil theft, illegal refining of petroleum products and reducing illegal bunkering to the barest minimum.”

In a statement read to reporters by National President of Niger Delta Youth Movement, NDYM, Mr. Godspower Odenema, the youths resolved that the $15 million allegedly given as bribe to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, by an undisclosed agent of former governor of the state, Chief James Ibori, to compromise investigation be refunded to Delta State Government.

He added that every other money recovered from Chief Ibori should be refunded to the state for the socio-economic development of the people.

On the sale of the OMLs, the youth leaders said: “It is the highest form of contempt by Shell, NNPC and the Federal Government against the Urhobo, Isoko and Ndokwa for selling the OMLs without our consent. We, therefore, condemn the sale of the OMLs.”

is that there is need for peace in the whole country. There is need for peace and how we go about that is for the government to sit with the citizens on how to go about that peace.”

He said that NGF would continue to preach peace and unity amongst Christians and Muslims, noting, “anybody who disturbs the Muslim from worshipping in his mosque here in Rivers State, I will arrest the person. Muslims should be allowed to practise their religion, just as Christians should be allowed to practise their religion anywhere."

Edo PDP sets up disciplinary c'ttee over anti-party activities

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

B

ENIN—THE crisis rocking Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State, worsened weekend, as the leadership of the party in the state summoned some of the leaders to appear before a seven-man disciplinary committee for alleged anti-party activities.

Some of the leaders summoned include the former state representative in the Board of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mathew Iduoriyekenwen, Chief Richard La-

mai and Jarret Tenebe.

But some of the summoned leaders described the decision as laughable, insisting that the Orbih-led executive “must go”.

The leaders who were summoned had demanded the resignation of the entire state Exco of the party led by Chief Dan Orbih following the failure of the party to win the just concluded July 14, governorship election in the state. They lamented that the party had lost all the elections held under the leadership of the present Exco, and therefore queried the justification for their continued stay in office.

‘Ughelli South LG boss not meddling in NULGE affairs'

A

SABA—PRESIDENT of Delta State wing of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Mr. David Ofoeyeno, has been told to face the consequences of not conducting NULGE election and swearing in someone as Ughelli South NULGE chairman in his office in Asaba, an action which is currently causing ripples and threatening the peace of the council.

Special Adviser to

Ughelli South Local Government Chairman, Chief John Onochoja, said this while reacting to recent publications credited to Mr. Ofoeyeno insinuating that the Ughelli South council boss, Chief Vincent Otidi, was behind a particular candidate for the council’s NULGE election as well as orchestrating the series of protests and eventual lockup of the council secretariat recently.

Edo Election Petition Tribunal constituted

B

ENIN—EDO State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to entertain petitions arising from the outcome of the July 14, 2012 governorship election in the state has been constituted.

A statement by Mrs. Josephine Aliyu, Secre-

tary of the tribunal, Edo State, said the venue of the tribunal is the High Court Complex in Benin City.

She also enjoined the Police, State Security Service, SSS, and the general public to take note.

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012 —11

Ignore MOSOP's declaration of self-govt—Amaechi

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

P

VISIT: Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Nsima Ekere (middle), Pastor Ita Umo-Udo, Commissioner for Youth and Sports, (left), and the Deputy Majority Leader of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, Mr. Sylvester Medekong, during an advocacy visit to the Deputy Governor by the Parliament at Government House, Uyo.

Man kills 8-day-old step daughter for rituals

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

A

SABA—AN eightday-old baby girl, was, weekend, allegedly killed by her step father for ritual purposes.

The gory incident took place in Jesse, Delta State.

Already, the suspect, who confessed that he carried out the act on the orders of a spiritualist in Ghana, is currently in

police custody.

State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Charles Muka, who confirmed the development in a statement, yesterday, in Asaba, said: “One Mrs. Gladys Emafuru, female, of Okunu village Jesse, reported that at 1510 hours, while sleeping with her eight-dayold baby girl, the child's step father (names withheld) 24 years old,

walked into the apartment and killed the baby with a cutlass, opened the stomach and collected the intestines and other vital parts.”

Muka added that “the suspect after collecting the vital parts of the baby, concealed them in a black cellophane bag and was about escaping to Ghana when he was caught. He has confessed committing the

Oil spill: Community still counting losses three months after

BY EMMA AMAIZE

S

APELE—CLOSE to three months after the oil spillage in River Ethiope, which devastated the flora and fauna of seven villages in Ovwore community in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State, the villagers are still counting their losses.

Vanguard learnt that the river, which is the main source of livelihood for the villagers, had been polluted destroying over 500 fishponds, 2,000 palm trees and an unquantifiable number of livestock in Adagbrassa, Eko, Ogegere, Ibada, Egbeku, Okuesajere and Okuenenemuru villages of Ovwore community.

President and Secretary of the community, Mr. Monday Obonofieniro and Ekeleme Harrison, in separate interviews with reporters, said the spill emanated

from a Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC/ Pipeline Product and Marketing Company, PPMC pipeline, noting: “We have no drinking water as we speak.”

They called on the Federal and Delta State gov-

ernments and Sapele Local Government Council to come to the aid of the victims with relief materials, as they could hardly survive because of the damage caused by the spill to their means of livelihood.

Nigerian Youth Parliament for A-Ibom soon

T

HE Akwa Ibom chapter of the Nigerian Youth Parliament is to be set up soon.

The State Deputy Governor, Mr. Nsima Ekere, stated this when he received a joint delegation of the state’s representatives in the Nigerian Youth Parliament and the leadership of the Akwa Ibom Graduates’ Forum in his office on Friday.

He assured them that the State Government, led by a youth-friendly governor, would assist in

the setting up of the parliament in the state following the decision of the parliament at the national level to establish state chapters.

Mr. Ekere lauded the pioneering role of Akwa Ibom-born Mr. Onofiok Luke, who served as the first Speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, reasoning that it was his credible performance at that level that led to his elevation as a member of the State House of Assembly.

act, saying that it was demanded for in Ghana.”

ORT HAR COURT— GOVERNOR Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State, has urged Nigerians to ignore the recent statement by a faction of the leadership of Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, Dr Goodluck Diigbo, declaring self-government for the Ogoni.

Fielding questions from newsmen in Port Harcourt when he visited the Federated Correspondents Chapel of the state chapter of Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, the governor said the socalled declaration of selfgovernment for the Ogoni was not an issue worth discussing.

It will be recalled that the factional president of MOSOP, Dr. Diigbo, reportedly declared selfgovernment for the Ogoni in a statement, recently.

Meantime, Prof. Ben Naanen, Chairman,

MOSOP Provisional Council, in a statement, decried the level of poverty and deprivation in Ogoni area, adding that ceding was, however, not the option to the challenges facing the people.

He said: “Ogoni people are dissatisfied with their condition in our country, Nigeria. But they do not believe the sovereign option is the answer.

They are convinced that their non-violent struggle and the support of the international community will eventually make the Nigerian government respond positively to Ogoni’s legitimate demands. One of the key demands is the creation of Bori State. Another is the effective implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme report on Ogoni.

“Mr Diigbo is able to mobilise youths from his community mainly because they are jobless, poor and unable to go to school. This is the general plight of Ogoni youths."

12—Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Enugu North restates commitment to Adada State creation

E

TRAINING: From left: Professor Raj Gill, Vice-Chancellor, Middlesex University, United Kingdom; Jogun Doseku, Executive Director,Theodore Allen Consulting (operator of Arena Multimedia franchise in Nigeria) and former Vice-Chairman, Nigeria Communication Commission, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, at the Arena Multimedia’s Camp Training in Abuja.

Security operatives arrest 4 suspected kidnappers in Anambra zAs Obi seals off hotel base

BY VINCENT UJU-

MADU

A

WKA—SECURITY operatives, yesterday, arrested four suspected kidnappers at Nkpor, a suburb of Onitsha, Anambra State and sealed Arthur Garden Hotel in the area where they were allegedly using as a base.

The arrest was said to have been made about 3.00am following a tip-off.

As news of the arrest filtered into Government House in Awka, Governor Peter Obi, personally led the security operatives to seal the hotel at Umusiome village in Nkpor.

Obi said during the operation that his government would prevent the resurgence of violent crimes in the state.

According to the governor, the hotel would remain

closed until investigations were concluded, contending that if it was proved that the hotel served as the kidnappers' den, government would not hesitate to demolish it and confiscate the land.

He explained that he de-

cided to lead security agencies to seal the hotel to drive the message home to all those engaged in, or were aiding and abetting kidnapping, that Anambra was no longer a place for them.

Chairman of Idemili North

Igbo presidency not negotiable —Achuzia A BA—RETIRED Col. Joe Achuzia, President-General of Igbozurume, an Igbo socio-political organisation, said, yesterday, that Igbo presidency after the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan was not negotiable.

Achuzie stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Aba, Abia State.

He said Igbozurume, a political, cultural and social group, was being repackaged to bring the idea into fruition, stressing that it was the same group that helped Governor Rochas Okorocha to win Imo gubernatorial election in 2011.

Achuzia said that was also the resolution at its 3rd National Executive/Steering Committee meeting in

Manufacturing sector key to employment, of creating employment, the governor for the massays Obi noting that the state had sive reconstruction of deBY VINCENT UJUMADU

A

WKA—GOVER NOR Peter Obi has said the manufacturing sector holds the key to a permanent solution to the challenges of employment in the country.

Speaking during a visit to a new multi -million factory being constructed at the famous Harbour Industrial Layout at Ogbaru near the commercial city of Onitsha, Obi said the resuscitation of industrial estates in the state remained one of the priorities of his administration.

According to the governor, Anambra State had keyed into President Goodluck Jonathan’s vision

caretaker committee, Mr. Ralph Nnabuife commended the governor for his prompt response and assured the people of the area that their security remained a priority of government.

continued to encourage and empower industrialists as a matter of deliberate policy.

He informed the people that some of the industries established in the state would be commissioned by the president during his visit to the state later this month and expressed satisfaction that small and medium scale enterprises were getting access to credit facilities at less than ten per cent interest rate which, he added, would encourage them to grow.

Chairman of the company, Chief Oranu Chidume, in his speech, expressed gratitude to

plorable roads in the industrial layout, recalling that bad roads held industrialists in the area hostage for many years.

Lagos in June that Igbo should have a shot at the presidency after Jonathan’s tenure.

He said: “It must be the turn of the Igbo to occupy Aso-Rock at the end of Jonathan’s tenure.

“Though Jonathan has the right to re-contest after 2015 by virtue of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Igbo must not allow the chance to pass us by this time round after his tenure.”

Achuzia, who is also the Ikemba Ahaba, said that Ohanaeze was formed immediately after the civil war, as cultural and social group which had made it difficult for Ndi-Igbo to come together to identify with one Igboman to capture the presidency.

NUGU—THE people of Enugu North Senatorial District of Enugu State, weekend, vowed to reinvigorate their agitation for the creation of Adada State out of the present state, the death of the leader of movement for the creation of the proposed state, HRH, Igwe Charles Abangwu, notwithstanding.

Leaders of the Enugu North Senatorial District with Senator Ayogu Eze representing the area in the senate said the creation of the state would give the people respite and assuage their longstanding desire to have a state of their own.

The senator and political leaders in the area paid

Abia distributes 250 tricycles to youths Orji said the project was part

BY ANAYO OKOLI

U

MUAHIA—ABIA State Government, weekend, distributed 250 tricycles to youths from the 17 local lovernment areas of the state as part of the youth empowerment programme of Governor Theodore Orji.

The governor said the aim was to make the youths in the state self sufficient.

Speaking at the distribution in Umuahia, Governor

B

ENIN CITY—THE Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the July 14 governorship election in Edo State, General Charles Airhiavbere, rtd, is under pressure from the top leadership of the party, to withdraw his case at the governorship election petition tribunal.

Adams Oshiomhole of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, after he polled 144,235 against Oshiomhole’s477,478,rantothe state governorship election tribunal last Thursday to file a petition against the declaration of Oshiomholeasgovernor-electby the Independent National ElectoralCommission,INEC. But the former Minister of Defence and chieftain of PDP,General Godwin Abbe (rtd), weekend, described the decision as

of efforts to better the lots of the youths and redirect their minds from social vices to gainful occupation.

Represented by the commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Chief Emma Nwabuko, said the project was a continuous one to help the youths to be gainfully employed.

He assured that those who did not benefit now would get in future.

Uzodinma: Group wants citizen prosecuted over false allegation

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

O

W E R R I — SOME concerned Imo State indigenes under the aegis of Forum for Protection of Truth and Human Dignity, FPTHD, have called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar to order the arrest and prosecution of one Mr. Ebubeagu Ekenulo, for false allegation that the Chairman Senate Committee on Aviation, Chief Hope

Uzodinma’s academic certificates were forged.

The group in a statement by its Spokesperson, Chief Donatus Maduabugichim. said it had written a petition to the IG demanding the immediate arrest and prosecution of Ekenulo.

The statement reads: “We have written a petition to the Inspector-General of Police dated Friday, August 23 2012. We are demanding that the Police fish out this false accuser from wherever he may be hiding."

Okorocha's fourth-tier govt gets support cal Government Area of Imo

P

RESIDENT-GEN ERAL of Awa Town Union, ATU, in Oguta Lo-

Airhiavbere under pressure to drop petition against Airhiavbere, who suffered de- unpopular, just as he called for a Oshiomhole feat in the hands of Governor total restructuring of the party in

BY SIMONEBEGBULEM

a condolence visit to the family of elder statesman and foremost parliamentarian during the defunct Eastern Region government, HRH, Igwe Charles Abangwu, who passed on recently.

Abangwu, who was the only lawyer in the Eastern Region Assembly during his time, was until his death the leader of Adada State Movement and actually remained a symbol of that agitation.

Senator Eze, traditional rulers in the area, political and opinion leadersreaffirmedtheirresolveand determination to appeal to those charged with the responsibility to create states to see the reason their agitation dating back to the 1950s should be allowed to come to fruition.

the state.

A chieftain of the party who pleaded anonymity told Vanguard that “a majority of PDP leaders believed that it will be a mockery for us to go to court because this is an election where no single bullet was shot and Nigerians believe that the result reflected the wish of the people.

So, a majority of us believe that we have to move on and strategise for the future”.

State, Mr. Canice Offor has urged the people of the state to support the fourth tier government of Governor Rochas Okorocha, stressing that such move would bring developments closer to the masses.

Offor, said this recently, when the people of Awa autonomous community held a thanksgiving service to appreciate God on his life as well as appreciating his leadership qualities as the first-elected President-General of the town said the governor is a grassroots man, who knew what it takes to touch the lives of the rural dwellers.

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012 — 13

14 — Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Commissioner's death spark-off protest in Kogi

BY BOLUWAJI OBAHAPO

Endeavour to be more charitable

F

L

OKOJA—YOUTHS of Ponyan community in Yagba East Local Government Area of Kogi State have protested over the death of Mr. Simon Olutimayin, Commissioner-elect cleared to oversee the Ministry of Budget and Planning in the state.

Vanguard gathered that the commissioner’s death sparked-off demonstration, when the news got to his community. Aggrieved youths came out in their hundreds, chanting war songs and rained curses on whoever was behind his death.

It was gathered that an attempt was made by the aggrieved youths to burn a particular house belonging to a politician, whom they accused of having interest in the position. Some elders intervened before security agents allegedly whisked the politician away to Lokoja for his safety.

The commissioner, who died last week in one of the hospitals in Lagos after a brief illness, could not be sworn-in as a result of his ill-health.

Although he was assigned to oversee the Ministry of Budget and Planning, he could not report to office as he was said to have collapsed during a Church service a week after he was screened and cleared by the state House of Assembly alongside 17 others.

Effort to speak with the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ile Simon, on the matter proved abortive.

ANTI-MALARIA: Dr. Rukevwe Ugwumba, Special Adviser to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State on Health Monitoring (middle), representing the Governor; members of Project Roll Back Malaria and National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, during the launch of the anti-malaria campaign in NYSC Camp, Issele-Uku, Delta State.

Abuja light rail ready in 2015

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

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BUJA—FEDERAL Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, has assured on the completion of the N22.4 billion Abuja Light Rail project by 2015.

It added that N22.4 billion for the project, to ease the problem of transportation faced by residents, had been paid.

FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, weekend, at the 2012 Senior Staff Retreat for FCT Transportation Secretariat, with the theme Transportation in the FCT: Prospects, Challenges and Solutions, noted that the light rail, which was initially slated for completed by 2013 would be completed by the 2015 baring all odds.

He said: “In order to fulfill the vision for building a capital city that will be among the top 20 capital cities in the world by year 2020, and if this goal is to be achieved, there is need to build a transporta-

tion system that is in conformity with global best practices.

“In order to arrest the declining transport fortunes of the city, this administration took up the task of building an efficient, affordable and modern transport system under our greater Abuja transportation policy to ensure effective and seamless movement of per-

Senate denies report on overseas trip

BY HENRY UMORU

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BUJA—THE Senate, yesterday, denied a report that the Aviation Ministry was sponsoring Senators on overseas trip, describing the report as blatant falsehood.

The Senate also cautioned against the damage such unsubstantiated report could cause the nation’s democracy.

A statement by Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said Senators were

Accidents: FRSC unveils new campaign strategy be made public in two safety rules.

BY CHRIS OCHAYI

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BUJA—FEDERAL Road Safety Commission, FRSC, has regretted that despite its awareness efforts aimed at drastically reducing road accidents, the rate of road crashes was on the increase.

The commission, which put the percentage of current road accident rate at 1.3 percent as against that of last year, which was 1.2 percent, attributed the development to what it called “irresponsible driving” by motorists.

It has, meanwhile, adopted a new phase of its public enlightenment measures, which it said, will

weeks time.

Mr. Jonas Agwu, Corps Public Education Officer of the commission, who spoke when he led a delegation of FRSC officers on a familiarisation visit to the Abuja Bureau Office of Vanguard Newspapers, applauded the media for what he described as “their various roles to the success of the commission.”

He said media support for the new enlightenment campaign was important.

Regretting that there was high deviation from safety driving, which the commission had always emphasised, Agwu tasked motorists to strictly adhere to road

sonnel, goods and service in the FCT. “The project is being done to fast-track development of on-going infrastructural projects and ensure their realisation within stipulated time.”

He added that government alone cannot deliver on these promises without effective private sector participation.

He said: “The roads are not that bad to cause most of the accidents being experienced. Irresponsible use of the roads is the cause.”

currently on their annual vacation, adding “the Senate is alarmed at the emerging falsehood being peddled, that the Aviation Ministry sponsored senators to overseas trip.

“The story is not true and only exists in the imagination of its authors. For the avoidance of doubt, the Senate is on vacation and as a result most of them are currently on Lesser Hajj (Umrah).

“Some are currently meeting their constituents, while others may have gone with their families on vacation.

“So, the deployment of an outright falsehood by the authors to purport that distinguished Senators were sponsored by Ministry of Aviation on overseas trip was not only denigrating, but a wicked resort to blackmail.”

ASTING for a couple of days might be all it takes to understand the suffering of those for whom going without food has become a way of life. Understanding the plight of the poor is one part of what Ramadan is ordained to achieve.

We are, therefore, reminded several times, both in the Qur’an and hadiths, that giving food to fasting Muslims is a great deed in the month. In fact, feeding of 60 people is regarded as equivalent to a day fasting.

(Remember the penalty for breaking fast?) That is to tell us how much Allah values putting food on the table of the poor.

How much better it would be if we could let others see the beauty of the message of Islam by the way of giving. We should not allow this special month to go without a good account of what we have added to somebody’s life. We need to be asking ourselves all the time how we are going to benefit maximally from the holy month. What are we going to do to make the most of Ramadan? Surely, it is a profitable venture in which there is no risk, but fat rewards.

There are rewards in this life and the hereafter for giving charity at any moment. In this world you are also rewarded by the personal satisfaction you will feel and the feeling of the receivers of your charity towards you and towards their fellow humans in general. It is the month of charity, and a month in which a believer’s sustenance is in-

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OVERNOR Idris Wada of Kogi State, yesterday, praised the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, on the professional competence of its staff following his collaboration with them in the rescue of accident victims on the Abuja-Kotonkarfe Expressway.

Three persons were feared dead in the accident that involved a trailer and two 18–seater Hiace buses, reportedly travelling from Lagos to Lafia.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Mr. Jacob Edi, said Governor Wada, who was returning to Lokoja, the state capital, stopped his convoy on

Prayer of the day

“O Allah, on this day, purify me from uncleanliness and dirt, make me patient over events that are decreed, grant me the ability to be pious, and keep company with the good, by Your help.”

Amin.

FG, Ekiti, UTC partner on cassava bread

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KITI State Government is partnering the Federal Ministry of Agri-

... as Gov Wada, FRSC rescue accident victims

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

creased.

Whoever gives food to a fasting person to break his fast shall have his sins forgiven, and he will be saved from the Fire of Hell, and he shall have the same reward as the fasting person, without his reward being diminished at all.

It is right to step up the act in this month which is a month of generosity and kindness. The Messenger of Allah said: ‘Charity reduces nothing from one’s wealth.’ He also said: ‘Protect yourselves against Hell even if it be with a slice of a date.”

Allah says: “And they give (others) preference over themselves, even though they were in need of that.

And whosoever is saved from his own covetousness, such are they who will be successful.” (Al-Hashr: 9).

We can bring light and hope into the lives of many people who have none. Islam is the natural religion.

Many in the world know nothing about Islam, except for the images of violence they see on TV. By way of giving, we can change that misconception. By our giving for Allah’s sake, we can teach the world how beautiful Islam really is. Maybe our giving could also help us to be better Muslims.

sighting the victims of the accident and ran across the road to give them a helping hand.

The governor subsequently called officials of the FRSC on phone, who promptly responded and conveyed the victims to Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja.

He said the governor promised to offset the medical bills of the victims.

culture and Rural Development and UTC to provide cassava bread baking skills for 150 bakers in Ekiti State.

The cassava bread, said to be cheaper and healthier, is 20% high quality cassava flour and 80% wheat flour.

Thetraining,organisedwith the technical support of UTC, a leading cassava bread producer, and led by its Managing Director Mrs Folusho Olaniyan, courtesy of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, will provide each of the 150 trainees with starter packs.

The packs contain cassava flour, enzymes and some baking tools, aprons, among others.

Vanguard, MONDAY MONDAY,, AUGUST 6, 2012 —15

Obama embraces health care as jobs open P

RESIDENT Barack Obama, emboldened by the Supreme Court’s affirmation of his health care overhaul, is now embracing the law while campaigning for reelection, just as Republican rival Mitt Romney steps back from it.

Obama sees a second chance to sell voters on the issue despite deep skepticism about it from many people. Romney is avoiding answering hard questions about how he would tackle health care, and thus missing the chance to energize voters who oppose the law.

Democrats say the president always planned to stress health care if the court upheld the law. A month after the ruling, he and his team are focused on promoting individual parts of the law that have proved more popular than the sum. The campaign is

targeting its efforts on important groups of voters, including women and Hispanics, who, Obama aides say, will benefit greatly once the law takes full effect.

Before the decision, Obama did mention the law in campaign events.

But the case he made to voters was hardly vigorous, especially considering the amount of time he dedicated to overhaul during his first year in year in office.

The primary focus of his campaign speeches remains the economy, the race’s dominant issue.

But the Supreme Court’s favorable ruling appears to have freed Obama to speak about the health law more passionately and emphatically than before the case was decided.

His campaign also is running a television advertisement in eight of the most contested states

that criticizes Romney for opposing mandatory health insurance coverage for contraception; that provision is in Obama’s overhaul. A health carefocused Spanishlanguage ad is running in Nevada, Colorado and Florida.

“The Supreme Court has spoken,” Obama told a cheering crowd at a recent fundraiser in New Orleans. “We are going to implement this law.”

right thing to do” and he highlighted specific parts of the overhaul that his

Syrian rebels link Iranians to Revolutionary Guards

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•Obama During an event near Seattle, Obama said passing the law was “the

brigade of the Syrian rebel army has posted an online video claiming that the 48 Iranians it kidnapped were members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, and has warned

Testy time for US courts over Arizona, Colorado shootings

J

ARED Loughner, the man accused of killing six people and wounding then-U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords in 2011, is set to plead guilty in a Tucson court on Tuesday, a person familiar with the case said.

This came as the

campaign believes resonate well with voters.

proceedings against accused Colorado shooter James Holmes are expected to l run into tough legal questions this week, on how to balance the defendant’s right to a fair trial with the public’s right to know?

Holmes is accused of killing 12 people and

wounding 58 others at a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” movie in a Denver suburb last month in one of the worst outbursts of U.S. gun violence in recent years. He is charged with 24 counts of first-degree murder and 116 counts of attempted murder.

Tehran of further abductions over its support for the Syrian government. Fortyeight Iranian pilgrims were kidnapped from a bus in athe Syrian capital on Saturday, the Iranian embassy consular chief in Damascus, told Iran’s state television. “Armed terrorist groups kidnapped 48 Iranian pilgrims on their way to the airport,” Majid Kamjou told the IRIB network, which gave the report on its website.

In the video released on Sunday, fighters of the alBaraa Brigade of the Free Syrian Army said that they had “captured 48 of the shabiha [militiamen] of Iran who were on a reconnaissance mission in Damascus”.

16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012 IN April 2010, French Customs officials stumbled upon a suspicious shipment of statues headed for the JFK Airport, New York. As they had no authority to seize the consignment they tipped off the United States Department of Homeland Security. Recently, the statues surfaced in the private gallery of a Manhattanbased collector and were confiscated by investigators.

A scientific inquiry confirmed they were genuine Nok Culture artefacts (ten statues and a carved tusk) dating back to 2,000 to 2,500 years ago. They were first dug up in 1943 in Nigeria and placed in the National Museum. Over two years ago, they went missing, but their disappearance was not officially reported. When eventually this came to light, officials of the National Museum were put under investigation.

At the handing over ceremony of the artefacts back to Nigeria in New York recently, the Nigerian Consul General, Alhaji Habib Baba Habu, overjoyed, exclaimed: “(this) is the day that America has extended a gift of friendship that we will never forget”.

The significance of this repatriation is obvious.

Return Of Our S Sttolen Ar Arttefacts Artefacts like the returned Nok Culture statues bear enduring witness to the greatness of a dim past civilisation that thrived at a time when Europe and America were far behind us in terms of socio-cultural sophistication.

The dawn of western civilisation tended to sweep our glorious past under the carpet, even though it is also due to western civilisation that archaeological forays are able to dig up and properly date the accomplishments of ancient civilisation such as the Nok Culture.

Africa’s difficulty in adjusting to post-colonial society, has often led many to wonder whether

the gene of the black person is responsible for all the chaos, wars, violence and difficulty in organising progressive socio-economic and political societies. These artefacts bespeak of the fact that gene has little to do with it.

The importance of having our improperly disposed artefacts to foreign lands returned to us cannot be over-emphasised. Where better should one go to admire these relics other than their places of origin? Egypt is a fine example of how well treasured archaeological relics can fetch a country not just a lot of foreign exchange but also international esteem due to influx of tourists.

In view of this, we join in the call for the repatriation of other stolen artefacts, particularly the thirty two relics looted after the Benin Massacre of 1897. They are right now in the Museum of Arts, Boston. The Nigerian Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) has shouted itself hoarse that it wants the artefacts back to no avail.

Let the kind gesture of US Department of Homeland Security be the beginning of more things to come.

OPINION

BY ERASMUS AKANWANNE

I

T was Franklin Benjamin who once said that those who are always disputing, contradicting and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They get victory, sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of more use to them. And this takes me to Obi Nwakanma’s postulations in his article in the Sunday Vanguard of July 29, 2012 titled "Aba or the face of degeneracy". In the article, he complained about the deplorable state of Aba as was posted on internet which he described as embarrassing. But the question is, when was such pictures taken and posted on the internet and when last did Nwakanma visit Aba to be sure that the pictures that were posted were truly that of the present Aba or Aba before now?

With current strides in information technology that had brought about social media where all sort of things are possibly placed or posted on the internet, people have learnt how not to accept all that they see or read on the internet as true, especially when the sources are not genuine and credible. But to Nwakanma, the pictures on Aba as was posted on the internet were real and true and from there judgement was quickly passed on the present government in the state.

Though it was acknowledged in the article that successive governments in the state since Independence, especially the during the years of military oligarchy, did not help matters in the development of Aba. So, it is obvious to all and sundry that the development challenges in Aba is not a thing of today or yesterday, but a protracted problem that has been there and has continued to occur since the discovery and beginning of the commercial city. It is just like the accumulated leadership challenges facing Nigeria today, with root in leadership failure since independence.

Between Nwakanma, Abia govt and Aba city So, in the same way that is it is uncharitable and unfair for anyone to attribute Nigeria’s problems to President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, so it is unjust for Nwakanma to blame Governor Theodore Orji for the challenges in the Aba, even when it is obvious that his administration has tackled and still tackling the various challenges in the city more than the previous governments in the state since its creation. Every Nigerian knows that no government in the history of the state has ever faced the kind of challenges the present administration is confronted with in Aba since 2007.

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efore now, we had always known that the major chal lenge in Aba was more of environmental, but between 2009 and 2011, the menace of orchestrated kidnapping crept into the city. A plot was hatched by some political enemies of government to destabilise the state and label Governor Orji a failure. Residents of the city fled, businesses were crippled and indigenes lived in perpetual fear, while armchair critics had a field day berating government for its alleged failure to protect its citizenry.

But with the state government’s decisive and pragmatic approach in tackling the ugly trend which gulped billions of Naira that would have been used for development purposes, the menace has become a thing of the past, with normalcy and peace being restored in the city and commercial activities booming once again.

Nwakanma in his article said: “But to be fair, T.A. Orji alone cannot be asked to take responsibility for the state of Aba. True, he has shown a terrible lack of imagination and leadership in transforming Aba, which once stood on the

same pedestal as Lagos because what was built in Lagos was built in Aba”. If truly Nwakanma meant to be fair, superior and objective in his criticism, why should he turn back to ask Governor Orji to stop being defensive about his lack of abilities to tackle the challenges in Aba? It is an irony shrouded in clear hypocrisy and malice, devoid of fair comment as expected in critical writing.

How will any person with a good knowledge of Aba place the city on the same pedestal with Lagos? The question is, on what basis or parameter did Nwakanma arrived at such conclusion? Is it in terms of size, development, economic viability, location or Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, colonial history or what? It is a known fact that the two or three most populated council areas in Lagos are bigger than the entire population of Abia State.

It is known that the monthly IGR of Lagos is almost the annual monthly allocation of Abia State from the Federation Account. What were the things that were built in Lagos that were also built in Aba as Nwakanma claimed? Why didn’t he mention them to substantiate his claim?

There is need for Nwakanma to visit Aba now and see things for himself and compare them with what were on ground before now to enable him make an unbiased judgement and not to rely on pictures posted on internet to arrive at conclusion.

Since assuming office in 2007 as governor of the state, Chief Orji has never claimed as having the magic wand to solve the multi-faceted problems or challenges in Aba in one day. And at the same time, he has not failed to confront them frontally with the little resources available to him despite other challenges his administration is facing in the state.

*Mr. Akanwanne, a medical practitioner, wrote from Faulks Road Aba, Abia State.

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012— 41

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OVERTY starts in the mind before it manifests in the pocket. A poorminded person does not know how to produce results with money. Even if you give him lots of money he simply does the easiest thing in the world: spend it.

A multi-billionaire once said even if he gives all his money to the poor he will get it all back in no time because he knows how make money and the poor only knows how to spend it.

Poverty in Northern Nigeria comes as a result of the typical poor mindset of its leaders.

The masses of the north, especially those who are of sound mind and body, are very hard working. They strive very hard as farmers, cattle rearers, artisans, traders and menial workers especially in urban areas down south. But the leadership depends on the government and the state for their upkeep. This is what some describe as “parasitism”.

Each time the Northern Elders Forum or Arewa Consultative Forum or Northern Governors Forum meets, their primary interest is not about exploring avenues to move the north and Nigeria forward. They are not looking for solution to the terrorism that has crippled the economy of the north, or to solve communal conflicts on the Plateau and other areas of the north.

Future of the South South They are not setting up strategies for regional cooperation as we see in the south, where you have the BRACED (Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta and Edo) Commission planning the future of the South-South beyond oil.

The South East Economic Summit Group (SEESG) is pressing ahead to create a viable economy to reduce the Diaspora syndrome, while the South West is focused on the regional integration efforts of its governors.

But each time northern leaders meet, it is always to (a) torpedo every effort to bring about change and progress, and (b) ask for more money from the federal

Northern governors’ poor-mind CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT (2) syndrome till.

The recent meeting of the Northern Governors’ Forum in Abuja was typical and ended with a predictable outcome.

The same governors that did not raise any objection when the Nigerian Governors Forum unanimously agreed that the constitution should be amended to provide for state police suddenly reneged. They now want the state Police Commissioners to take orders from the governors rather than the Inspector General of Police!

They were so blinded by their zest to back out of the resolution reached with their peers that they did not see the preposterousness of their new stand. When you want the Commissioners of Police to take orders from the governors rather than the IG, you are in effect, asking for state police! The governors will use the Police to do their bidding while the federal government will still foot the bill, and in the process, the orderly command structure of the Police is destroyed.

After torpedoing the agreement (what I call the Aburi syndrome) they turned their attention to their pet motive for their meetings: asking for more oil money. The northern

The North was in power for a total of 37 years and imposed poverty, not only on Nigerians but more so on the northern people

Gov. Aliyu Babangida, Chairman Northern governors forum

governors would want the onshore/ offshore to be “revisited”. They are envious of the 13 per cent derivation that goes to oil-rich Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa every month. They conveniently forget that while the military was in power, they had used states and local governments to give the north more than their share of the same oil money that basically belongs to the Niger Delta.

They gave the north enough federal constituencies to constitute stumbling blocks to any attempt to make new laws or amend the constitution for the change the country needs.

The present crop of northern leaders does not have the type of mindset that can solve the problems of the north, let alone Nigeria. Arewa political leaders squander Niger Delta’s oil money given them to improve the lives of their people.

They spend money frivolously on sponsorship of weddings, pilgrimages and religious education that does not equip its products with skills for useful self-reliance but instead breeds products

that disrupt the system. Governors appoint thousands of aides rather than focus on developments that benefit the society. They steal the people’s money and use only a small fraction of it to feed the poor during Ramadan.

But there is hope. Whenever I listen to the Arewa Consultative Youth Forum (ACYF) I am encouraged to believe that once this generation of mis-leaders phases away the future of the north is bright. I take this quote credited to the ACYF which Joe Igbokwe used to anchor an article he wrote on March 20, 2012:

Deliberate manipulation “Northerners and the world need an explanation as to what led to the rot (the North) is (in) today. It was not magic but man-made as a result of deliberate manipulation of religion, selfenrichment, and pervasive corruption our leaders adopted to the detriment of the larger peoples of the North” The North was in power for a total of 37 years and imposed poverty, not only on Nigerians but more so on the northern people. The current elite presided over several oil booms and yet left the country wretched and backward, with the north even more so. There is no justification for power to be entrusted in their hands again. And there is no ground to increase their share of federal money.

But as soon as the current Arewa youth enters the leadership plane with renewed, progressive mindset, the North and the South will come together to build a new Nigeria where all Nigerians will be happy and proud to belong. Happily, the young are already growing and the moment is not far-off.

60 cheers to Aunty Ann!

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NN Kio Briggs clocked sixty last Friday! Beautiful, elegant, authoritative, focused, dogged and eloquent, the Amazon who has dedicated her life to the Niger Delta struggles, shoving aside public office offers since the Ijaw came to power in Abuja, deserves all the accolades and I join in wishing her more of more. Don’t stop, Aunty Ann!

OPINION

BY EFOSA OMORUYI

Continued from Viewpoint page

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UST as Oshiomhole allocated Jeep cars to former governors of Edo State, he extended same to Osunbor, which the PDP structure has been bellyaching about. In sincere reciprocation Osunbor expressed what everybody knows of a truth that Oshiomhole was providing the kind of administrative competence and leadership that Edo people needed. And in the absence of an alternative why would Edo people have craved a replacement? Ainofenokhai could only rationalize this as malicious. If this was a malicious reaction to his unjust disgrace at the senseless governorship primary, what does he think of Odion Ugbesia whom he referred to and felt should have been governor instead of Osunbor in 2007, and other Anenih loyalists’ celebration of Oshiomhole’s installation by the court at the detriment of their fellow PDP governor in 2008? What does he make of Anenih’s single-handed appointment of three commissioners and other sundry appointees to Oshiomhole’s government before his god- playing emotions took the better part of him to the disgust of a

Ainofenokhai’s illogicalities on Osunbor no-nonsense Oshiomhole?

Ainofenokhai suggested that Osunbor should have swallowed shit and quietly retired in humiliation, watching his adversaries gloat over his misfortune which they orchestrated because, according to him, he is the greatest beneficiary of the party (PDP) in Edo State. I guess he does not know what he is saying. If it were a matter of staying clear in the interest of the party on the basis of greatest beneficiary, it is incontestable that Anenih whom the writer conveniently avoids mentioning his name or implicating, fits the bill more than any other.

In fact, Anenih has been the greatest beneficiary of all political arrangements in the defunct Bendel State and by extension Edo State, since he was pulled out of obscurity as a retired assistant commissioner of police managing a small guest house in the outskirts of Benin City to become the State Chairman of the NPN in 1983. And with the election of Dr. S.O. Ogbemudia, at whose insistence he got the opportunity to cut his political teeth and consolidate, Anenih appropriated the character of a king maker which to his credit he had done everything imaginable and

unimaginable to validate until he met his waterloo in Oshiomhole.

Since 1999, having succeeded in taking custody of the umbilical cord of the PDP at the national level, Anenih had been the determinant factor of who became governor until Oshiomhole. Though contestable, he is even credited with the first success of Oshiomhole in court. Of a truth, he has been the sole determinant of who becomes minister in Edo State, including himself, and whereupon he controls the minister and governor. The implication of this is obvious.

Therefore, going by his own prescription, should Ainofenokhai not have advised the godfather to have refrained from unreasonable actions in the interest of the party? I guess if he, with others, had done that, the party, as it were, may not have come to this sorry pass. Now why blame Osunbor for the tragedy of the PDP? It is said in Benin that when you beat a child you give him the freedom to cry. If you know that his crying would give you agony, why beat him?

I would want to advise Ainofenokhai to stop crying over spilt milk and to desist from his

failed attempt to denigrate Osunbor in the eyes of the people who know better. In case he is not aware, Osunbor presently is in good stead with the people and no campaign of calumny can change the admiration for him.

If Ainofenokhai truly loves the PDP and he is not just writing to impress his patron, he should begin to employ his effort to advise the party on what to do for the benefit of those that are stuck with it. The most urgent step is for the cause of the PDP’s problem, Chief Anenih, to embark on sincere reconciliation with those he has frustrated by his egocentricism, including Osunbor. In fact, he should embark on the reconciliation with a circumcised heart and a reparative disposition. Anenih needs to purge himself of the emperor-without-amandate complex for progress to look the way of the PDP again, if not to come back to power in Edo State, but perhaps to be removed from the subconscious of the people as a party and a membership deserving of nothing but hatred.

In conclusion, Ainofenokhai should advise his sponsors to accept their self inflicted defeat squarely and not find a scapegoat in Osunbor.

Concluded •Mr. Omoruyi, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Benin City, Edo State.

42—Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

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HE article by one John Ainofenokhai and published in the Vanguard newspaper of Wednesday October 26, 2011 was obviously written in appreciation of the sterling quality of Senator Oserheimen Osunbor who was an asset to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, while he was governor of Edo State between May 29, 2007 and November 11, 2008.

Interestingly, the same Ainofenokhai, in an apparent bid to now disparage Osunbor, the PDP having lost the 2012 governorship election to the ACN, wrote the following in the Vanguard newspaper of Friday, July 27, 2012: “He (Osunbor) was no doubt deluded into believing that he was popular and that his little achievements(de-siltingofdrainages and renovation of some roads) in office would speak for him”. Funny enough, the writer decided to title his article, “Oserhiemen Osunbor’s gobblegook”. By the definition of the word gobbledegook, it is obvious that Ainofenokhai is a confused person. Perhaps his confusion stems from his grossly limited knowledge of his subject matter as a result of the half-truths and misrepresentation of facts he got from his sponsors.

While trying to belittle the importance of Osunbor in the political equation of Edo State, he ends up with much of his

gobbledegook idea. For instance, while he admits, based on his belief, that Osunbor’s “grand conspiratorial alliance with Oshiomhole in the governorship poll… largely did the PDP in”, he tries to paint a picture of Osunbor’s insignificance by saying that he came last in his party’s primaries.

A critical analysis of Ainofenokhai’s article would reveal that he would have preferred Osunbor to have remained anonymous after the PDP governorship primary in which, according to him, the “structure”, the “elements” and perhaps owners of the party “who brought him from the academia”, made him a twoterm senator and governor, now felt that for his unforgivable sin he should forever remain silent.

Let us put the writer’s references in perspective. In the third paragraph, he stated that: “Rather than show gratitude to the political structure that brought him out from the academia and made him what he has become in the political ecology of politics of Edo State by doing all within his powers to sustain the structure, Osunbor has consistently played the game of treachery to undermine it”. The question is: What political structure was Osunbor supposed to show gratitude to for giving him a political life? Being conversant with the writer’s political essays one knows that the reference is to a one-man structure in the person of Chief Tony Anenih to

whom Ainofenokhai and his likes believe every other political success in Edo State should submit to because they assume he is the maker of all who himself was never made by anybody.

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t may interest the public to know that of a truth, Anenih, by virtue of his being the PDP leader of Prof. Osunbor’s Edo Central Senatorial District, and indeed Edo State, had always supervised the processes that saw Osunbor representing his constituency on his own merit since his advent in politics in 1994 when he became a member of the Constitutional Conference. But in alluding to Osunbor’s political engagement, Ainofenokhai makes it look like Osunbor was drafted by a benevolent structure, from the classroom, to assume unmerited political power. It is relevant to point out, in contradiction of the impression that the writer wanted to paint, that Osunbor’s political quest did not derive from any external magnanimity. Rather his propelling force has been the desire to serve, consequent upon his blood heritage of a political dynasty. Not many people are aware that Osunbor’s late father was an elected member

A culture of disrespect (4) Continued from Friday

BY YEMISI OGBE

T

HE statement was bottomless: What was wrong with her maid getting a manicure?

How demeaned is the role of a house maid? In comparison to that, how demeaned is that of a school teacher? How can one of the most important jobs in the world be even demeaned at all? The job of teaching in Nigeria is undeniably one of the least esteemed. That of a maid or housegirl is not even worthy of discussion.

Children are shushed if they even ‘ breathe the idea of becoming teachers when they grow up and choose a career path. The gap between the rich and poor is eroding quickly and gnawing at people’s feet, so our response is always one of desperation. I went to that part of Lagos reverentially termed “Old Ikoyi” and stood in a penthouse apartment, looking down into manicured lawns, tennis courts, shimmering swimming pools and the lagoon. I was told that I was standing in rented premises, and that the rent had just been paid for two years: N34,000,000. My mouth dropped to the floor, and I thought of our staff at home, who sometimes needed a loan to pay a yearly rent of N120,000. It was a shock to the system. How could one not help defining people by such discrepancies in rented accommodation?

There is the story of two women, friends, who would go for walks in the estate referred to as Lekki Peninsula phase I, along the Lagoon.

One woman began to excuse herself from going on those walks. The other woman was puzzled but didn’t dwell on it. She went on the walks by herself. Another friend later confided in the friend who still went on her walks, that the other lady had lost interest because she was a Northern aristocrat and did not like the way her friend greeted everyone they encountered on their walks; security guards, hawkers, building site workers, just any human being really…one had to show some restraint after all, some class consciousness, for God’s

,

sake. In Lagos especially, that model nucleus of posers, the elites are a pretty close set, and one is either in or out by virtue of such things as having a name, being a member of a family with old money, having one’s own money, having charisma and money and beautiful things, speaking well, living in the right place, owning prime property, etc. The fundamental requirement is having money and some taste and driving and dressing the part. The layers of snobbery ensure that having money alone can never be enough, one has to speak the lingo, understand the passing of the trends, learn to both wave, and backup by pretending that one is swatting a fly. In 2007, when the elite in Lagos grew tired of being robbed of their watches, they declared swatch watches of necessity, fashionable.

Elizabeth Udoudo was on her way to church on a Sunday morning. Her sons were in the back of the car. It was 9:30 a.m. and the roads were clear of traffic. The Imo State governor’s convoy came up behind her car as she drove up the Falomo Bridge. The convoy of cars might have driven behind her car for a few minutes and then deciding that she wasn’t moving fast enough, the driver of the lead car motioned for her to get off the road. In response, she said she changed lanes to make way for the cars. They were descending the bridge and coming up to the turning off Kingsway Road, known as Rumens Road. The lead car of the convoy made as if to overtake hers, drove beside her, the window came down, and a gun came out motioning for her to either stop or get off the road. By this point, the process was confused and she was sandwiched between the lead car, slightly ahead, and the rest of the convoy. The second car, an SUV was a hair breath away from her, nudging her off the road.

A third car ran into her rear passenger side.

She swerved sharply and ran clean into the side of another car in the convoy. Everyone, of necessity came to a stop. She attempted to get out her seat-belt. A man in a face cap, grey pants and a white shirt was the first to step out

of the pioneer Midwest House of Assembly and Junior Minister of Works and Transport until the military coup in 1966. Therefore, Prof. Osunbor is bearing the torch handed over by his father. Also the recognition of his remarkable scholarly pedigree influenced his acceptance by the structure, to utilize the opportunity available to him when he sought the office of a senator which he held with distinction for two consecutive terms before he became governor.

The attempt to impugn the competence of Osunbor in Ainofenokhai’s latter write-up, having in the former described him in impeccable terms, is most unfortunate and highly reprehensible. What he did not emphasize in his first treatise is that Osunbor like former American president, Bill Clinton, is a Rhodes Scholar, and like the late Ghanaian President John Atta Mills, is a professor of law. Osunbor has all it takes to be president and not just governor. He is a personality foundered in the crucible of the highest standard of competence and discipline. He proved the point in the Senate which bestowed upon him the fond epithet of “AttorneyGeneral of the Senate” for eight years; even as Ainofenokhai posited that “Osunbor did not have time (as governor) to properly unravel and therefore Edo people could not convincingly pass a verdict on his temperament in government”. So, to what intent and purpose is the writer’s effort to now portray Osunbor as an administrator that never made impact?

Using the outcome of the February 25 PDP governorship primary as his parameter, Ainofenokhai wrote that Osunbor’s “rejection by elements within his party was an indication of the greater rejection he would have suffered in the hands of the Edo

,

BY EFOSA OMORUYI

,

Ainofenokhai’s illogicalities on Osunbor

The attempt to impugn the competence of Osunbor in Ainofenokhai’s write-up is most unfortunate and highly reprehensible

The job of teaching in Nigeria is undeniably one of the least esteemed; children are shushed if they even breathe the idea of becoming teachers when they grow up

,

of one of the cars. He came out with his hand on the gun holder on his side. He drew out his pistol and came towards Elizabeth’s car.

Before he got to her, one of the other men was already by her side, and as she was stepping out of the car, and at the same time attempting to ask why she was being harassed, the man slapped her across the face.

S

he stood between her door and the driver’s seat. There was a saloon car in the convoy that had about four men in the backseat. About six to seven men in total had disembarked from the cars in the convoy. The man that slapped her, slammed her car door against her as she was attempting to step out from behind it. Her sons watched from the back of the car. One of the mobile policemen kicked in the passenger door on the other side of the car. Another mobile policeman standing behind the man who slapped her, brought down the butt of his gun on her side mirror. The governor’s car drove parallel to hers. She described it as owning tinted windows and a Nigerian flag. The back window came down momentarily, and she saw a head-rest with a cloth embroidered with the Nigerian coat of arms. She attempted to direct her protest at someone sitting with his back to that headrest, but the window went up quickly after the man addressed the men standing around. The man’s words seemed to be an order that the men return to their cars. They got back into their cars and continued their journey.

I asked Elizabeth what it felt like to be slapped

electorate”. That was standing logic on its head. Does he mean that if the PDP had fielded Osunbor instead of Gen. Charles Airhiavbere, the party would have done worse than it did?

That can never be true. It is common knowledge that the decision of the powers that be in the Edo PDP to reject their best option who was Osunbor was in direct contrast to the expectation of the Edo electorate; that Osunbor would have gathered sufficient support to have defeated Oshiomhole is not the point. There is an element of sport in politics which dictates that even if a contender would not win he should at least be adequately prepared so as not to lose woefully in a contest, an idea that may have been lost on them in their quest for unfounded vendetta against Osunbor and his loyalists. Now the structure that rejected their best option has ended in disgrace. This Tsunami-like catastrophe is one that the PDP can never recover from unless Oshiomhole changes his political party to PDP, which is the only prayer of all PDP members.

The only exception, are those who have the monopoly of sharing federal patronage among themselves. To them, it is the fewer the merrier.

Ainofenokhai, as with his fellow godfather apologists, is saddened by the fact that Prof. Osunbor disappointed them by accepting the olive branch extended to him by the Comrade-Governor who, given the opportunity, set aside political rhetoric to acknowledge the goodness in Osunbor and the fact that the good Professor had been caught in the web of bad company and disastrous influence.

Continues on Ochereome's page •Mr. Omoruyi, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Benin City, Edo State.

across the face; if she was humiliated? What was the anatomy of the slap? How much force was used? The most concrete answer I received was that she was grateful that it was just “a” slap. It is common for people to be beaten, whipped and physically injured by men protecting dignitaries riding in convoys. She felt she had got off lightly by being slapped just once. She believed that if she were a man, it would have fared much worse for her. Most people go home and nurse their bruises.

Elizabeth sent an account of her experience to the Guardian Newspaper. It was written with the help of a friend, and they both thought it judicious to write the account under the name of a “Lateef Gbadamosi”. The article was titled “Imo State convoy of death”. Then came the most interesting part of the whole affair: the Imo State Governor's Press Secretary’s response to the Guardian article.

The Press Secretary reference to the incidence began: “…We are surprised because the incident under reference which happened on the morning of Sunday February 10, 2008 along Alfred Rewane Road, Ikoyi between the convoy of His Excellency, Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State and an unknown woman is better left unrecounted and out of the public arena because it paints a shameful picture of motherhood; of womanhood.”

He described the affair as a security breach, and then went on to clarify the motives of those men who had slapped Elizabeth, and vandalized her car: “It was indeed a case of a woman feeling too big and couldn’t give a damn whether it was a governor or a god who was going in a convoy and raising all hoopla".The thing that seemed to have brought out the worst in the men against a five foot two security breach was the fact that she felt too big to get out of the way of the governor’s convoy. She didn’t know her place. This letter has become one of the most incredible admissions of guilt in recent years.

Elizabeth’s incidence as well as others, brought up the necessity of drawing up a code of conduct for “Nigerian big men’s” convoys.

Continues tomorrow pg.18 Mrs. Ogbe, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Calabar, Cross River State.

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012 — 43

44—Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

POOR REVENUE:

I doubt if some states can still pay salaries — Gov. Amaechi ESTABLISHMENT of state police and removal of the immunity clause are among key issues that are dominating discourse in the polity. In this interview at the Government House in Port Harcourt, Rivers State Governor and Chairman, Governors Forum, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, bares his mind on these and other topical issues. Excerpts:

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

W

HAT is your view on the controversy over the removal or retention of the immunity clause in the constitution?

I have always supported the retention of immunity for governors. Many people go to governors for favours, when they don’t get whatever they want, these favour seekers get very angry and begin to plot against the governors. The moment you remove immunity you remove good governance, that is when you will see the strength of these people.

Some say remove criminal immunity leave civil immunity, what is the difference? For mere mistakes people will go to court just because they want to bring you down because you refused to share public funds or share the economic benefits of government. I think that those who argue for the removal of immunity as a way of finding solution to corruption may not be completely right.

I abhor corruption. I think that it is not right that our resources are carted away everyday.

Removal of immunity However, I also think that removal of immunity will distract the President, it will not allow him confront the issues as they are because every day he will find himself in court, the same manner governors will find themselves in court. I think any governor that is corrupt should be held accountable after he leaves office but while in office he should be allowed to discharge his responsibility.

Do you support demand for state police?

I am Chairman of the Governors’ Forum my view is the view of the governors’ forum. I would not want to hold any view to the contrary.

Currently, the view of the governors’ forum is that we are in support of state police. We are going back on Tuesday, we are dealing with the issue of constitution; we will deal with these issues. The Governors’

*Amaechi: forum in their last meeting came out strongly in support of the formation of state police and there were 31 governors-23 state governors and eight deputy governors. They were 31 out of 36 and nobody opposed it.

How do you view allegations that there are cracks in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum?

There is no crack. Let us get to the meeting next week. I don’t think we should be talking about crack or no crack.

Can the political class at the moment manage state police effectively, if created?

It is not about the Governor or the political class. At the end of the day, the governor will leave office. Will he leave with the state police? So if he fought people with it, the next man will fight him with it. I don’t think that is the problem. We should talk among ourselves first.

There was a time you promised the people of the state that very soon they would have 24-hour power supply. What have been the problems and limitations?

Is there no power improvement? There is. The problem is that of distribution, let us wait and see what the Federal Government will do.

But with or without the law we are going ahead with the

distribution. That is why I ask you, are you not seeing an improvement in power? There is an improvement in power and it will continue to improve like that until we leave office.

What about the issue of Local Government Autonomy?

I am the Chairman of Governors’ Forum. Even as an individual governor, whatever I say may be misunderstood to mean the position of the governors. Let us wait and see.

Final position The governors will come up with a final position on all issues. That is what will happen and once we do that I can speak as Chairman of the Governors’ Forum. We must wait and see what the governors will say.

Could you speak on the Okogbe Community disaster that cost about 200 lives?

Where do you get your figures from? The first day when I heard this, it was 150 then 200, some said 300 and I rushed to the President, ‘I hear 150 persons have died in Rivers State, can I rush back to Rivers State,’ and he said ‘yes’ only to hear then it was 98. From 98 I heard 156 because they found

some in the bush and all that. and pay taxes to the Federal Let us go by verified statistics.

Government. There are those It was very sad. who hold the view that these At the moment, the resources are national wealth community is saying that they and should be shared don’t have power… depending on the formula that We are doing rural the National Assembly is able electrification, it will get to to come up with. them. Before we leave office You spoke on state creation we want to electrify all the rural at the last Senate Retreat in communities in Rivers State Asaba but you were not and they are between 300 and direct. Do you think we need 500. Some of them are being more states? attended to by some local The reason people ask for government chairmen, some of more states is because of the them we have already done. sharing structure that Nigeria We hope that by the time we is based upon. Nobody is leave office we would have asking for good governance. If reached all communities you treat this country well, if without power. you govern properly and run What is your view on the economy properly most clamour for re-jig of the people won’t ask for new revenue sharing formula? states.

Clearly, we think that the We can live happily. The states should be allowed to reason you are seeing this have more revenue than they agitation is that the country is currently have. The states are so poor, we are so rich in terms suffering now, I doubt if some of resources but so poor in can still pay salaries. If we terms of the human beings that continue that way I wonder inhabit the territory called what will be the expectation of Nigeria. The Bureau for the people when the states Statistics has said that 71 per cannot function. cent of Nigerians We think that the are poor and now responsibilities of the states are the Federal beginning to say Government should we are getting be reduced as well broke so it is as their revenue. worse.

The states should be Why is it allowed to have difficult for us to access to those practice true federal revenues federalism? that are Ethnic politics, unnecessarily given selfish interests, to the Federal there are those Government so that who are The they can function earnestly properly.

Governors’ benefiting from the current forum in their Generating system and you last meeting know change is plants one challenging came out thing that You are first and strongly in doesn’t come foremost a Rivers support of the easily. man before you are Let’s look at a Nigerian so where formation of the roads in you take off from is state police Rivers State; Rivers State. Who and there were some of them owns land? It is not the Federal 31 governors- are relatively bad?

Government, it is 23 state I can mention the states. What do governors and the good roads you develop, is it not we have done. the land? You want eight deputy I’m saying that to build schools; do governors, you are finding it you build it in the difficult to name they were 31 air? the ones that are You want to build out of 36 and bad but I can in generating plants nobody one full swoop for power, is it in the name for you five air? So why do you opposed it good roads we have Ministry of have done.

Agriculture or I can mention to Ministry of Land for instance, why not allow the you, Old Aba Road, states to develop by giving Ru m u o k w u t a - Ru m u o l a , them these resources?

E l e k a h i a - Ru m u o m a s i What about using the local Rumuobiakani- Oginigba, governments as a basis for Oboloma-Amadi-Ama. sharing revenue?

Peter Odili Road, Azikiwe No, that can’t be. What the Road, the whole of Old Port state governors have said is that Harcourt Township, in Diobu we need more revenue. There there is a road we are doing in are those who hold the view Diobu, Port Harcourt-Owerri that let those who produce the Road, Ada George, I have resources keep their resources called about 10.

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012 — 45

46 — Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

RCCG opens 60th Convention

By SAM EYOBOKA &

OLAYINKA LATONA

M

EMBERS of The Re deemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, have started arriving the Redemption Camp, venue of the 60th annual convention of the church which begins today with the ordination of deacons and deaconesses. Among the first arrivals, are senior members of the church who had to arrive early enough from different parts of the country for the Ministers’ Conference which started on Thursday.

The week long event which is preceded by a three-day Ministers’ Conference is designed to spiritually equip pastors, assistant pastors, deacons, deaconesses, elders, evangelists and other ministers of the church and prepare them for the different roles expected of them during the programme.

Theme of this year ’s programme is ‘Come Up Higher’ and it is expected to feature ministrations by different anointed ministers of the gospel who will support the chief host and the General Overseer of the church, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye.

All events including the ordinations and seminars will take place at the Holy Ghost Arena

of the Redemption Camp and the Camp Manager, Pastor A.F. Elufowoju has assured participants of safety of their properties throughout the duration of the programme.

He told our reporter that security personnel as well as traffic managers would be drawn from Lagos and Ogun states to ensure free-flow of traffic while advising participants to make use of the facilities in the camp including the numerous car parks.

Work on the camp Work on the Camp began in 1983 while the General Overseer was said to have moved into the place on October 1, 1985 when the entire place was still one huge forest.

Though the place was a forest, everyone hailed the choice. To begin with, it was found out to be somewhere easy to relocate to and accessible to members who would come from Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ilesa, Ilorin, Akure and other places.

Living there was initially out of mind, all that was planned was somewhere that would accommodate church members during conventions.

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS DURING THE CONVENTION Time

Monday

Tuesday

Friday

Saturday

Thursday

Ordination Ordination of Bible College Plenary

Plenary

Question &

of Deacons Assistant & Deaconess Pastors

Session 6 Answers

Sunday

EARLY MORNING WORSHIP 8.30am10.00am

Graduation

10.30am12 noon

Special 4.00pm

Special God Meet

4.30pm6.30pm 8.30pm

Session 3

Plenary Session 4

2.30pmSpecial Seminars 1-12 Seminars

Group Melody Seminars 1-5 Hour 1. House Fellowship Leaders &

Welcome Service (Plenary

Service of Songs

Ordina tion of Pastors Farewell Service

Bible Study

1.Baptismal Service 2. Elders Meeting 3. Good Women Forum LUNCH & REST Children of Seminars 1-12 Special 1-12 Seminars 1-12 Youth Children’s Hour Hour

DINNER Plenary Session 2

Deliverance Holy Ghost Holy Service Service Communion (Plenary (Plenary Service WorkersMeet Session 1) Session 5) Session (Plenary 7&8 Session9)

2. Council Meet

Welcome address by Pastor Adeboye Dear Beloved Brethren, T is with great joy and gladness of heart that we welcome you to the 60th annu-

I

FACILITIES AT THE CAMP CONGRESS ARENA The huge space measuring about 3 kilometres by 3 kilometres hosts the annual congress, the premiere event in December each year. An estimated crowd of six million people can be expected to converge on the arena during the peak celebration of the week long event.

Wednesday

of the camp with security men stationed there 24 hours. There is security all around the city at strategic places.

REDEEMER'S CLINIC The Redeemer's Clinic is situated almost to the end of Holiness Road. Staffed with a qualified doctor and nurses the clinic attends to common ELECTRICAL DEPARTMENT This department oversees all electrical installa- health issues. tions in the city. It works with The National Electric Provider, but operates independent power ACCOMMODATION supplies to critical locations within the city. Dur- The camp accommodation has been divided into ing major services at the City, power supply be- three for easy administration. They are as follows: comes paramount and the Electrical Department International Guest House. The international rises up to the task and provides adequate pow- guest house has three buildings labelled Block A, Block B, Block C. er for the City.

Executive Chalets: The executive chalets are stylishly furnished and a bungalow made up of a parELECTRONICS DEPARTMENT This department is charged with the responsibil- lour and room with two beds in the room. ity of recording all events taking place in the city Chalets: The chalets are furnished and well spaced where Pastor Enoch Adeboye is ministering in bungalow houses constructed with your comfort addition to providing language translation of ser- in mind. mons into many African languages such as Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and European languages such SUPERMARKETS Christ Redeemers Ministry, CRM, operates a well as Portuguese, French and others. stocked supermarket at various locations within the city. You can find a well stocked bookstore, WATER DEPARTMENT The water department operates water distribu- common provisions and other household items at tion throughout the city. The department has a the supermarket. CRM also operates public marplant that processes pure water and purified bot- ket during major events. You can rent a tent to tled table water for residents of the city and be- display your goods and sell freely within the pubyond. It makes sure there is adequate water sup- lic market area. People can find all sorts of materials in this public market typical of African Comply throughout the City. mon Markets.

POST OFFICE The Post Office is situated close to the main en- CONVENIENCES There are about 400 public toilets all around the trance to the Redemption City.

Congress Arena for the use of participants in addition to mobile toilets stragically located close to SECURITY POST The Security Post is located right at the entrance the Arena.

al convention of this glorious mission. The Lord has indeed been very gracious to us, showing us great mercies, miracles, deliverance, victories, provision. We also bless the name of the Lord for keeping you alive in His mercy, since last time we gathered here.

This convention is an invitation of our heavenly Father to behold the *Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye holding a copy of VANGUARD Newspaper King, His power and His greatness. He is asking us to ‘Come receive LIFE in its fullness!

Up Higher ’ through the highWe encourage you to personway of holiness, increased faith ally and passion-ately see Him and purity, enlarged vision, by availing yourself of the varand an ever increasing great- ious seminars,and plenary sesness unto glorious expecta- sions. Prayerfully commit yourtions. self and your future to deep in“…and a highway shall be timacy with Jesus Christ. Drink there, and a way and it shall in deeply of His presence and be called the way of holiness; do not allow yourself to be disthe unclean shall not pass over tracted. it; but it shall be for those: the It is our desire that the powway faring men, though fools, er of the Holy Spirit may arise shall not err there-in.” (Isaiah within you and cause you to 35:8). long for more of Him daily from There is a place specially pre- now till you are filled to overpared for those who yield to the flowing. invitation to Come Up Higher.

There is room at the top for A position of higher level of you, see you there in Jesus power, grace, glory, mercy, joy, name. total victory, success, prosperity and deliverance. This is why PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE you have come, be prepared to (GENERAL OVERSEER)

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012—47

(iii) No requests for departures from declared and approved policies to suit individual cases; (iv) Preparedness to act ethically at all times; and (v) Clear demonstration of competence on the job On the part of the bureaucrats the following are essential: (vi) A sincere and honest attempt to find out what the political head wants and make the necessary adjustment in policies and procedures to suit his/her wishes; (vii) Readiness to fall in line with his/her political chief in all matters, unless strong grounds indicate a different course; (viii) Willingness to act professionally and ethically at all times.

Conclusion: Political executives and higher civil servants must understand that they occupy strategic positions in Government.

Relationship between higher civil servants and their political masters (4)

BY AMA PEPPLE

Continues from Friday

T

HERE are concerns that the recruitment process into the Service is highly influenced by both the political and administrative leadership. If this claim is true, the consequence is that it is not only the society that loses but also the political leaders and the administrative leaders of the Service who need the services of capable officers in order to achieve the mandate of their Ministries.

It has also been pointed out that there is a preponderance of transferees from the States at the commanding height of the Service many of whose competence may be in doubt.

When the senior management of the civil service is dominated by officers other than the brightest and the best in its system, ministers and permanent secretaries cannot function at their best as the capacity of higher civil servants to support them in carrying out their functions is largely impaired.

It becomes even more unthinkable and miserable for the system if the incompetence is led at the top by the permanent secretary. Indeed, when permanent secretaries are appointed through political considerations rather than by merit and competence, the likely result is that such officers are incapable of meeting the ‘ expectations of this high office and advising impartially without fear or favour. Their glaring

AMA PEPPLE incompetence may be a source of friction between a dynamic minister who wants the job done quickly and a top bureaucrat who is incapable of providing quality advice to achieve the goals of the organization. Regretfully, while ministers get fired for under performance, a virile performance

management system has not yet been installed in the Civil Service, hence the worst sanction that a permanent secretary gets for underperformance is for him/ her to be posted to another Ministry. This repeats the cycle of incompetence and conflicts across the public service.

Frequent transfer, postings of civil servants and cabinet changes: Frequent transfer and posting of civil servants, including permanent secretaries may also be a contributory factor to the impairment of relations between Ministers and the administrative heads of ministries.

Frequent cabinet changes results in ministers not staying long enough in their positions to fully understand the dynamics of the public service.

Resultant effect The resultant effect is that they are denied the opportunity of acquiring broader/wider experience to build enduring relationship with their Permanent Secretaries to enable them to implement the policies and programmes of the Government diligently and sustainably. These changes are, however, needed from time to time in order to revitalize the system and improve its accountability.

Other Militating Factors At the forum of Heads of African Public Services held in Tanzania in 2005 , the following were also identified as militating factors against good relationship between political masters and higher civil servants: (i) Various backgrounds and expectations of ministers, some of which are difficult to satisfy thus resulting in frustration; (ii) Overwhelming unofficial versus official demands, leading to strained relationships; (iii) Non-sharing of information and failure by accounting officers to brief the Ministers leading to speculation ; (iv) Misuse of discretionary powers and application of double standards, leading to conflict; and (v) General lack of financial resources, affecting programme implementation.

The additional factors which are also noteworthy include:

Prof. Adamolekun

(i) The personality and leadership styles of both actors, either as a team player, a commander, an ideologue, a manager and an agent; (vi) Competencies that the Minister brings on the job. The following skills have been identified for good Ministerial performance: Improving the relationship: It has been established universally that good governance begins with the establishment of quality relationship between the political and bureaucratic leaders. As stated by Richard Rose, ‘the metaphorical ship of state has one tiller but two pairs of hands that give it direction, one belonging to party politicians in elective positions or appointed political leaders (italics mine) and the other to higher civil servants, led

by Permanent Secretaries.

Compelling force for progress The combined efforts of these two parties is a compelling force for progress as exemplified in the First Republic when the political masters and the bureaucratic leaders worked collaboratively to record the milestones in the West, East, North and later Mid _West Regions . This era has often been mentioned as the golden era in our history.

The key to improved relationship may lie in the following: (i) Devising a good strategy to manage the relationship rather than living it to chance; (ii) Harmonizing the relationship between ministers and their aides in policy making as a strategic imperative for strengthening and enriching the public service with knowledge and competencies from other sources. This is in view of the need to harness the intellectual capacities and professional depth

Collaboration and partnership of highly qualified aides in the Accordingly, their collaboration delivery of government’s policies and partnership is very essential and programmes; for the proper administration of (iii) Recognising the need for the State and the achievement of permanent secretaries and strategic national priorities for indeed the body of higher civil advancing the cause of national servants (italics mine) to align development. To this end, it is themselves totally vital for them to with the agenda of maintain cordial their ministers and relations to enable other political them to continue to leaders in order to render service to the give effect to the people for the President’s effectuation and priorities as sustenance of the reflected in social contract that ministerial binds the governed responsibilities; and the governors ( i v ) together. Ministers Appreciating the must ensure that they need for have good working Collaboration permanent relationship with their secretaries to earn and higher civil servants, the respect of their partnership is personified in the ministers by: permanent secretary, “Demonstrating very essential and that they secure administrative for the proper their trust and competence; confidence in the “Speaking the administration performance of their truth to power; of the State duties at all times with “Deploying the a view to harnessing and the best talents to their collective handle emerging achievement strengths and core concerns; capacities for the of strategic “A v o i d i n g delivery of public negative gossips; national goods. As individuals and with different priorities for “A v o i d i n g backgrounds, r e i n f o r c i n g advancing the orientations and negative opinions cause of experience, they must and perceptions not allow these which may tend to national differences to damage the development undermine the need system. Other for collaboration, perspectives on complementarity and ways to improve synergy of actions the relationship on the part of the towards fulfilling a common political executive are stated purpose of adding value to the below : lives of the citizenry. It is by this (i) a proper understanding of that they can be exemplars of the administrative functions and service, excellence, probity and recognition of its professional integrity in public office which are nature; hallmarks of a worthy legacy that (ii) As little interference as they are required to bequeath in possible in service matters e. g. office.

Concluded postings, transfers, promotions;

48 — Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

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52—Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Vanguard CLASSIFIED

ARIYO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Julianah Oluwakemi Ariyo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Julianah Oluwakemi Ayodele.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that the name Ibe Augustine Chiedozie and Ibeh Augustine Chiedozie, refers to one and the same person as Ibe Augustine Chiedozie.

All former documents remain v a l i d .

General public please take note.

OKPARA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okpara Veronica Nnenna, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Nwaezeigwe Veronica Nnenna.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ASHIFFIE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oritsegbubemi Ashiffie, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oritsegbubemi Olueh. All former documents remain valid.

Federal Polytechnic, Auchi and general public please take note.

EGELE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Egele Chinyere Sandra, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Gabriel Chinyere Sandra. All former documents remain valid. Imo State University and general public please take note.

OKPAKO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Joyce Erhuvwu Okpako, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Joyce E. Solomon Akeni. All former documents remain valid. College of Education, Agbor, DELSU, Abraka and general public please take note.

AJUBE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Enaikedi Ajube, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Eneghan Enaikedi. All former documents remain valid.

University of Benin and general public please take note.

FRANKLYN—I, formerly known and addressed as Ehizojie Franklyn Ufuah, now wish to be known and addressed as Oseojie David Ufuah.

All f o r m e r documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

Correction of Names Nwankwo Blessing Onuabuchi and Mgbemele Ngozi O. belong to one person, now wish to be known and addressed as Mgbemele Blessing O.All former documents remain valid. WASSCE, School of Health Technology Okporo Orlu, Imo State, Oru West LGA and general public please take note.

ODOH —I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Odoh Charity Unekwuojo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ndidi Charity Unekwuojo. All former documents remain valid. WAEC, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and general public please take note.

JUNAID—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Shakirat Yeside Junaid, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Shakirat Yeside Abioye.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AGBAKA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Agbaka Ngozi Stephanie, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Eme Ngozi Stephanie. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

EKWERE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Inyang Uduak Ekwere, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Uduak George Amandah. All former documents remain valid. Felpet Nig. Ltd and general public please take note.

OKPE — I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Joy Okpe, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Joy Anny Nwaogaidu. All former documents remain valid.

Ecobank Plc and general public please take note.

OBIANUMBA— I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Obianumba Oluchukwu Evelyn, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Nwefo E v e l y n Oluchukwu. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that the name Eyantse William, refers to one and the same person as Lobito William, now wish to be known and addressed as Lobito William. All former documents remain valid.

AMJU Unique Bank and general public please take note.

O W H O N DA — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Confidence Afoma Owhonda, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Confidence Afoma Stephen Omagbemi.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

Confirmation of Name My correct name is Obaeluo Chijioke Benneth, but some of my documents bear Chijioke Bennetha, and Obaeluo Benneth. This is to affirm that Obaeluo Chijioke Benneth, Chijioke Bennetha, and Obaeluo Benneth is one and same person. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EDADA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Edada Anita Eloho, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Anita Eloho Nicholas – Agamugoro. All f o r m e r documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

DIWA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Diwa Helen Ejuo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Helen Ejuo Okwo Thomas. All former documents remain valid. NAPEP, NYSC and general public, please take n o t e .

AGHA OKORO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Faustina Agha Okoro, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Fausat Lawal. All former documents remain valid. Ministry of Education and Foreign Affairs and general public please take note.

BENJAMIN—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Benjamin Blessing, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Blessing Benjamin Godwin. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Police Force and general public please take note.

MMERENINI— I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Chikaodi P r i s c i l l a Mmerenini, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Chikaodi P r i s c i l l a Okonkwo. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OMOAKA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Bekisu Omoaka, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Becky Ndubisi Gad. All f o r m e r documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

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Nigerian delegation sponsored by the Tsogo Sun Hotel Group in conjunction with South Africa Airways on a facility tour of some of the Tsogo Sun properties in South Africa.

From left: Mr. Marcel Mbamalu, guest; Mr. Christopher Brown, General Manager, Sales, Nokia Nigeria and Mr. Adeniyi Adebote, Care Account Manager, West Africa, Nokia at the launch of Nokia 808 Pureview Phone in Lagos.

Photo: Lamidi Bamidele

L-r:Head, Sales Support & Operations at Etisalat Nigeria, Victor Nwaobia; Head, Lagos and South-West Region at Etisalat Nigeria, Jimmy Tella; Director, Indirect and Corporate Sales at Etisalat Nigeria, Ken Ogujiofor at Etisalat's Channel Partner Conference 2012 in Lagos

L-r: Senator Ehigie Uzamere, representing Edo South and Barr. Raymos Guanah, former commissioner for Lands and Survey, Delta State at the Western Boys High School Old Boys Association national convention taking place in California USA

Ejigbo LCDA, Lagos State, Chairman, Kehinde Bamigbetan (right) presenting sponsorship letter to Njoku Daniel, one of the 100 beneficiaries of the council's skill acquisition programme at the council secretariat

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012 — 53

54 —

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Olympics: D’Tigers score first in Africa T

HE American Bas ketball team may have run over Nigerian D’Tigers and Argentina over-powered them, but the team still have a pride to walk with their noses in front.

The Nigerian team which beat African champions, Tunisia in the opening Basketball event of the Olympics are reckoned to be the first African team to have won a game at the Olympics. ‘’It’s painful that things did not go well with us after our first game but we still have something to savour. We are the first African team to have won a game at the Olympics. That is something good in our first attempt at the Olympics. Other African countries that came to the Olympics before us never won a game”, Olumide Oyedeji explained.

He attributed their spate of defeats to the injuries in their camp. ‘’We’re struggling with injuries. Some of our fine players are down with injuries. When your points guard is

Smiling Regina promises to be back on podium

R OLYMPICSM . . . From Left Mr. Goke Dokun Managing Director IMPC ,Bukie Olugadi, Head Internal Communication First Bank, Sani Ndanusa President Nigeria Olympic Committee, Oyefeso Odusami,Head Diaspora First Bank at the IMPC and First Bank Day at the African Village during the ongoing 2012 London Olympics down, it’s like when your engine is bad. It can never work and if it does, it can never be the

same”.

Looking back at the American game, Olumide hissed and said;

Odumosu qualifies for 400m Hurdles semis secs.

N

IGERIA’s Ajoke Odumosun yesterday qualified for the semi final of the Women’s 400m Hurdles of the London Olympics in a time of 54.93

Speaking after the race Odumosun said she felt good she got out of the first round. “I am more relaxed now and better. I hope to do better in my next race.”

‘’they(USA) did everything perfect hitting countless three pointers.

We need to move ahead because the future is bright for the game in Nigeria. All we need do is to give it only 2% of what is given to football.

Rome was not built in a day. We have young players who can propel the team to greater heights.

Nigerian striker dies in Romania I

A

young Nigerian football, Henry Chinonso Ihelewere on Sunday slumped and died while playing for his club Delta Tulcea in Romania.

The 21-year-old striker suddenly collapsed with no one around him after 15 minutes of the game involving division two teams Delta and FC Balote?ti. Medics battled for an hour trying to resuscitate the player, he never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

“What can I say? We’re all shocked,” Universitatea Cluj boss Cristian Dulca, who previously coached the player, was quoted as saying. “It’s a tragic day for Romanian football.

“I trained him for a year and a half and I can tell you he was a real example in training. He could’ve become a very good player.”

Ihelewere had been playing in Romania since 2007, when he was transferred to FC Farul.

He was part of a group of Nigerian players

brought to play in Romania’s second division.

Abdul Razak Mansur is the other Nigerian player at the club.

Just few months back, Fabrice Muamba a midfielder for Bolton Wander-

ers in UK collapsed on the football pitch in a match against Tottenham. Muamba stopped breathing and many thought he death his heart ‘re-started’ again after 78 minutes at the London Chest Hospital.

F reports from En gland are anything to go by, then European champions, Chelsea may parade three Nigeria internationals next season.

London based Mailonline reports that Chelsea are closing in on Nigeria and Wigan forward Victor Moses after Roberto Martinez’s club made an enquiry for Everton’s Victor Anichebe.

With John Obi Mikel already an established first

EGINA George did not stop smiling even when she did not qualify for the 400 m final. She returned a time of 51.35 secs but took it in good strides. ‘’This is great. This is my first Olympics. I’m excited. I’ve conquered nervousness and things can only get better in my next Olympics”, beautiful Regina said with her trademark smiles. ‘’I’m going back to work harder. I promise that the next time I return, I’ll be on the podium to receive a medal”, she said still smiling.

She ran her first heat in the Olympics as a green-horn but discovered that the other girls were not made of steel. ‘’I was praying to be

•Regina among the qualifiers but I discovered that I could do better. I kicked and finished first in the race.

I have learnt well in the Olympics. I will be back with a medal”, she promised.

Moses, Anichebe also on Blues radar team player who played a prominent role in their European campaign last year, a possible signing of Moses and Anichebe would see the London side having three Super Eagles players in its payroll.

The European champions have already had cash-

plus-player offers for the former Crystal Palace player rejected as Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has held out for £10million.

Chelsea may need the lift of another signing after their third straight preseason defeat, 3-1 at Brighton Saturday.

African Club installs ultra-modern Gymnastic equipment in Calabar rister Ferdinando OtuBY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU, Calabar

A

HEAD of the 2014 National Sports Festival to be hosted

by Cross River State,

•Late Ihelewere

FIFA U-20 WOMEN W/CUP: Supporters club appeals for early issuance of visas Ladipo said, members

P

RESIDENT General of Nigeria Football and other Sports Supporters Club, Rafiu Ladipo has made a passionate appeal to the Japanese embassy not to delay the issuance of visas to members of his club

that are preparing to go to Japan and support Nigeria’s female U-20 team known as “Falconets” in this year’s FIFA women U-20 World Cup to be hosted by the country from August 19- September, 8, 2012.

of the club had in the past two weeks been appealing to the Japanese Embassy for visasand the need to issue them on time to enable the team travel to the Asian nation on August 14 and be part of the opening ceremony.

African Club has installed and commissioned an ultra-modern gymnastic equipment, a Volley Ball Court as well as planning to put in place an utra-modern Squash Court, in Calabar, the state capital.

Already, the football unit of African Club has discovered two youths and sponsored them to play professional football in Nigeria and Ghana.

Speaking at the commissioning of the gymnastic equipment, weekend, the President of the club, Bar-

dor explained that the newly installed equipment will serve not only members of the club, but also the public that will like to make use of them.

Otudor said it would help members of the club to live longer as a coach had been hired for those that would make use of facilities, adding that African Club was established out of protest in 1903 as a result of the apathy by the colonial masters against Nigerians in the European club that now metamorphosed to Calabar club Sports.