Declare your plans for 2015, Anenih tells GEJ

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 61965

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Ozekhome's release imminent — Elder Brother

N150

No Ogiame, No Atuwatse, Itsekiri Leaders of Thought insist

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Declare your plans for 2015, Anenih tells GEJ •24 state PDP chairmen endorse him for 2015 •Jonathan, Tukur, Akpabio confident on crisis resolution •nPDP dares Presidency, names more NWC members

BY SONI DANIEL, REGIONAL EDITOR, NORTH, BEN AGANDE & HENRY UMORU

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BUJA — AS elders in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, brainstorm on how to resolve the current cri-

Continues on Page 4

60-yr-old woman raped by 27-yr-old 7 son

COLUMNISTS:

•P.17

N-Delta youths commend PPMC 36 MOSOP flays Obuah's stance on Ogoni guber quest

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sis in the party in order not to lose ground to the opposition, the Chairman of the Board of

Mr & Mrs

COMMISSIONING: From left, National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (Rtd), Chief of Staff, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Ibrahim, President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major-General Sanni Audu and Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada at the inauguration of Defence Intelligence Agency headquarters complex in Abuja, yesterday. Inset: The DIA complex. Photos: State House.

2 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013—3

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

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BUJA—LAGOSbased human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, yesterday, dragged the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, before Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, praying the court to compel him to make available information on the state of health of Taraba State governor, Danbaba Suntai.

The suit came barely a week after Senator Hope Uzodinma’s committee of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, succeeded in persuading the returnee

Falana asks court to compel AGF to reveal Gov Suntai's health status governor to allow his deputy, Alhaji Umar Garba, to in the meantime, continue piloting the affairs of the state pending his full recovery.

It will be recalled that Suntai, who was absent in office for about 10 months, sequel to his involvement in a plane crash last year, recently returned from treatment abroad but was prevented by Taraba State House of Assembly from resuming duties as

governor on the premise that he was yet to regain full fitness.

Though Suntai eventually succumbed to pressure from his party, PDP, to give way for his deputy to take over as an acting governor, he, however, went before a high court sitting in Jalingo to challenge the decision of Taraba State legislature.

In a motion ex-parte filed pursuant to Order 34 Rules 1 and 3 of the Federal High Court Rules, 2009 and

Section 20 of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, Falana applied for an ‘Order of Mandamus’ to compel the AGF to make available information on Suntai’s state of mental and physical health.

He hinged his application on grounds that going by the provision of section 1 of the FOI Act, every Nigerian citizen was entitled to access information in custody or possession of any public

official, agency or institution.

He told the court that he wrote a letter to the AGF requesting him to make available the state of mental and physical health of Suntai, but without any legal justification and in flagrant disregard of the express and clear provision of the FOI Act, he (AGF) failed to accede to the request.

Falana maintained that the refusal of the AGF to

provide the information amounted to gross violation of Section 3 of the FOI act.

He also prayed the court to declare that the refusal of the AGF to accede to his request dated August 27, was illegal and unconstitutional.

In a ruling, Justice E.S Chukwu granted Falana leave to seek for an Order of Mandamus against the AGF, saying he found merit in the ex-parte application.

Consequently, the court adjourned to September 16 for hearing of the suit.

Falana had on August 27, 2013, written to the AGF requesting for information on the state of health of Suntai.

Anambra poll: Air Force jet to convey sensitive election materials — INEC

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

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BUJA—THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, said it had concluded plans to conduct a gubernatorial election in Anambra State that will be the best ever conducted in Nigeria.

To actualize the goal, the commission said it would use Nigerian Air Force jets to convey sensitive election materials to most of the local governments in the state, especially Anambra West, which it described as a very difficult and peculiar terrain similar to the Niger Delta.

In a paper he presented at the election situation room organised in Abuja by a coalition of civil society organisations, led by Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, PLAC, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Anambra State, Professor C.E Onukaogu, disclosed that INEC had extended the training period of all the ad-hoc personnel it intended to engage for the gubernatorial poll from two to five days.

He said: “We have resolved that the training would end at least 10 days before the election. This will enable us to deploy the trainees at least four days before the election."

4—Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Declare your plans for 2015, Anenih tells Jonathan Continues from Page 1

tees (BOT), Chief Tony Anenih, has challenged President Goodluck Jonathan and other party members who are interested in contesting for elective offices in 2015 general elections to declare their intentions before the end of this month.

Chief Anenih threw the challenge at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa Sunday night at a special post-

convention dinner of the party hosted by President Jonathan. This came as 20 state chairmen of the PDP endorsed President Jonathan for 2015 elections. The president on his part, assured that the party remains intact in spite of the crisis, saying that what happened was a minor disagreement that can be resolved as those who left will soon rejoin the party.

However, President

Jonathan’s assurance of a quick resolution of crisis appeared like a tall dream as the Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Barajeled faction of the party, yesterday, constituted its full National Working Committee.

Chairman of PDP's Board of Trustees (BOT), Chief Tony Anenih, while speaking at the dinner said this was the first time the party was discussing its future and admonished party faithful to remain united in

order to go into election in 2015 as a united body, appealing that “the task ahead is enormous. We must be seen as a team, not as a group”.

He then urged President Jonathan to come out and declare his presidential intentions before the end of September saying, “it is no longer right to say the time is not right. It is good that we tell our people where we are going and how the jour-

ney will be like.”

He said the call had become necessary in view of the need for the party apparatus to prepare adequately for the exercise. “We must be ready for the journey. By the end of September we would not be able to tell anybody that the time is not right”, he told the president.

To members of the PDP faction, Chief Anenih told them: “We will not fire any shot but we will win the war. We

should not recognise opposition within PDP. We will work together as a team so that by 2015 we will come here again to shake hands. We stand for unity and discipline. Nobody who is indisciplined will be spared. We will do everything to bring everybody together,” he said.

President Jonathan who received high dose of praise from party chieftains in attendance Continues on Page 5

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 —5

POCKET CARTOON

GORDON BROWN IN ASO ROCK—From left: Former British Prime Minister, Mr Gordon Brown; President Goodluck Jonathan; Vice-President Namadi Sambo and the President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, during the visit of Mr Brown to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.

Photo: State House.

Declare your plans for 2015, Anenih tells Jonathan Continues from Page 4

Trusat the dinner said the event was a partial fulfilment of the party’s decision to encourage

periodic meetings to interact with party members across states and at different cadres for them to bond with each other.

LIFEWORDS

B

BY PASTOR ITUAH

LAMING creates enemies. The person you are blaming will ignore you, compile numerous proofs of their innocence, and resent you. And their friends will defend them and become your enemies.

Even your own friends will get fed up with your complaining and distance you.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

Feelings are everywhere and the world is harsh enough. Just be gentle — J. Masai

T

HIS is an interesting story about being con siderate with the feelings of other people whose lifestyles and customs are different from ours. During a diplomatic reception for a visiting Chieftain from another continent, an etiquette rule was breached unknowingly by the guest of honour at the dinner party. All went well during the meal until, at the end, finger bowls were served. The guest of honour had never seen a British finger bowl, and no one had thought to brief him beforehand about its purpose. So not knowing what else to do, he took the bowl in his two hands, lifted it to his mouth and drank its contents down.

For an instant, there was breathless silence among the privileged guests, and then they began to whisper to one another about the breach of etiquette.

But the queen herself saved the moment when she likewise lifted her bowl to her lips and drank. The diners caught on and a moment later 500 surprised ladies and gentlemen simultaneously drank the contents of their own finger bowls. It was the queen’s tact and consideration that guarded her guest from certain embarrassment. When we are dealing with people different from us. Remember different does not mean better or superior, it is just what it is – different. And it is in our differences and diversity that we all share a common bond in tuned with our humanity.

President Jonathan said that despite the major disagreement in the PDP, which has led to the formation of a parallel body, the party remains intact.

Though the post-convention conference recorded an impressive attendance of proJonathan party chieftains including state governors, prominent stakeholders of the party including the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo and seven PDP governors who have broken ranks with the party were conspicuously absent.

Our crisis will be resolved — Jonathan While assuring elected officials of the party of his support, President Jonathan played down the crisis in the party saying: “In any human institutions there must be disagreements. What happened (the factional PDP) is a minor disagreements that can be solved.

“For those who have issues, we thank the elders and governors who have been meeting and listening to them, we are committed to resolving our differences”.

Noting the central

place of the party in the heart of Nigerians, President Jonathan said even those who are not members of the party do not want it to disintegrate.

“Even those that are aggrieved call themselves the new PDP, meaning they know without PDP they are nothing. PDP is intact, that we have some disagreements is normal.

PDP is intact and will remain intact. We will make sure that the party remains one; those who left will rejoin us. It is only PDP that has not changed name or form.

We will do our best to keep PDP one, to keep Nigeria one,” the president promised.

Vice President Namadi Sambo who spoke on the future of the party said PDP has always provided leadership for this country and cannot afford to shirk that responsibility at this critical time.

Chairman of the PDP Governors' Forum, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, dismissed insinuations that the crisis in the PDP portend danger for the country. He said that Nigeria had faced major challenges in the past and did not break up and Nigeria will not

break up under Jonathan’s watch.

He challenged members of the opposition party as well as Nigerians to put elected officials of the party to task based on their performance and “not on the pages of newspapers”.

He dismissed the crisis in the party as a misunderstanding that will be resolved soon.

“We want to assure you there is no faction in the PDP; what we are seeing today is just a storm in a tea cup. If you want to step out of the party you are free, this is the only party you can leave and return and become a national party chairman.

The Senate President, David Mark, represented by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said the Senate is undivided, united and will continue to protect the interest of Nigerians and support this administration.

“Our party seems to be challenged; we appeal that everything should be done to bring everyone back to the umbrella.

Together we are united”.

Also the Speaker of the House of Representatives represented by the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, said PDP members in the National Assembly will continue to support the party through legislative means.

Professor Jerry Gana described the faction that emerged after the convention as a pre-meditated plan, assuring however that the party remains focused and deep enough to confront it.

He said "while reconciliation is good, wonderful and is even encouraged by the Bible, we should not give room to impressions that certain people are indispensable."

Speaking on behalf of former governors Boni

Haruna of Adamawa, in company of Dipreye Alamieyeseigha (Bayelsa), Jim Nwobodo (old Anambra State), Ikedi Ohakim (Imo), Sam Egwu (Ebonyi), Abdulkadir Kure (Niger), said “ we are here to reaffirm our support for the national leadership of our party, the president and our party.

“PDP gave us a platform to serve our nation, therefore we cannot be part of any plan to dismember PDP,” he said.

Governors present were Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Benue (Deputy Governor) Cross River, Delta, Gombe, Katsina, Taraba (Acting Governor), Kebbi, Plateau, Kogi.

Others present were former national party chairmen, former members of the National Assembly and former governors.

State chairmen endorse Jonathan for 2015, back Tukur

Meanwhile, ahead of 2015 general election, Conference of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP State Chairmen from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, yesterday, stormed the Wadata Plaza, National Secretariat of the Party and endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan for the election, citing his transformation agenda as reason for the endorsement.

According to the chairmen, members and supporters of the party must remain steadfast as there was no reason or need for them to panic against the backdrop that, “ the transformation programme of the PDP-led administration will surely take us to 2015 and beyond.”

Only 20 state chairmen were at the meeting with Continues on Page 8

6—Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Police nab two for allegedly raping 4-year-old to death

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ATSINA — THE Katsina State Police Command says it has arrested two men for allegedly raping a four-year-old girl to death in Sandamu town of the state.

The state Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Bala Senchi, told newsmen, yesterday, in Katsina that the girl died few hours after the incident on September 8.

Senchi said that the deceased was allegedly lured into the act while on an errand to a relation’s home.

He said the girl had complained of headache to her parents when she returned and was directed by her mother to go to bed.

According to Senchi, the parents immediately reported the matter to the police in Sandamu when they noticed blood stain on her pant.

“The girl was taken by the police to the General Hospital Daura, where she later died.

“On investigation by the state CID, doctors at the hospital said the deceased was raped,” Senchi said.

He said that two men had been arrested in connection with the incident.

In another development, the command also confirmed the arrest of the seven men who allegedly raped and impregnated a 12-year- old girl in Malumfashi Local Government Area of the state.

Senchi said the suspects had allegedly confessed to have had carnal knowledge of the girl.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police added that the cases would soon be charged to court.

Senchi appealed to parents not to send their little children, especially girls, on errands unaccompanied.

Scene of an accident on Iwo Road at Olorunsogo in Ibadan,Monday. PHOTO: NAN.

Pastor arraigned over death of church member during spiritual bath A

BEOKUTA— A 25-YEAROLD pastor, Samson Bamgbose, was, yesterday, arraigned before an Abeokuta Chief Magistrate Court, Isabo, Ogun State for allegedly causing the death of a church member, who drowned during a spiritual bath.

Bamgbose, a pastor at the Celestial Church of Christ, Alaapa, is facing a one-count charge of negligence.

The police prosecutor, Mr Paul Etusi, told the court that the offence was committed on August 15 at 3p.m. in Ogun River, Alaapa village, Abeokuta.

He said the accused took some church members, including the deceased, Toheeb Odusanya,13, to the river for

spiritual bath.

“Bamgbose took the little boy to the river without his parent’s consent. He did not take the necessary precaution, and allowed the boy to drown,” the

prosecutor said.

Etusi said the offence contravened section 344 of the Criminal Code of Ogun, 2006.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty.

Evangelist docked for allegedly stealing 7 tokunbo refrigerators

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AGOS — A 30-year-old man, Azubuike Ogamba, was, yesterday, charged before an Ojo Chief Magistrate Court, Lagos, for allegedly stealing seven fairly-used refrigerators valued at N171,000.

The accused, an evangelist,

resident at 33, Masebinu St., Shibiri, Ojo, is standing trial on a charge of stealing.

The prosecutor, Mr Godwin Eze, told the court that the accused committed the alleged offence on February 8. He said the complainant, one Mr Stephen Agbo, a dealer in

NDLEA arrests bicycle dealer with 1.700kg of heroin at airport ...as suspect excretes 100 wraps of heroin

BY DANIEL ETEGHE

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AGOS — OPERATIVES of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, yesterday, arrested a bicycle parts dealer with 1.700 kilogrammes of heroin upon arrival on an Etihad flight from Pakistan at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos.

The suspect, Nweke Uchenna, 40, who hails from Enugu State was apprehended by officials of the anti-narcotics agency at the arrival hall during a routine check of passengers when he was found to have ingested narcotics inside his body.

Speaking on the arrest, NDLEA Airport Commander, Hamza Umar, said the suspect excreted 100 wraps of substances that

The magistrate, Mr Anthony Araba, granted the accused bail in the sum of N200,000 with one surety in like sum and adjourned the case till October 2.

tested positive for heroin weighing 1.700 kilogrammes.

Hamza said: “While he was under observation, Uchenna excreted 100 wraps of heroin. He has provided useful information that the investigation team is working on.”

Why I'm into drug business Narrating his ordeals, Uchenna said he was lured into drug trafficking because he wanted to use the proceeds to settle his debts, adding that the main reason he smuggled drug was because he was heavily indebted.

He said: “I was a successful dealer of bicycle parts until I lost N9 million to fraudsters in 2009.

That was the beginning of my problem.

"As I speak, I am heavily indebted to the extent that I am afraid to switch on my cell phones. My brother is also bedridden for three years and they look up to me for assistance.

"I feel sad that I am in this condition. Circumstances forced me to collect N450,000 to smuggle drugs from Pakistan. I pray for forgiveness.”

Meanwhile, Chairman of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, said that Nigeria-Pakistan route was gaining notoriety in drug trafficking, warning that any drug suspect who wants to smuggle drug through such route should desist from same as the agency had beamed its searchlight to frustrate the activities of drug dealers.

electronics at the Alaba International Market, Ojo, entrusted the refrigerators to the accused, to auction on his behalf.

Eze said the accused took possession of the refrigerators, but nothing was heard from him afterwards.

“He did not remit any proceeds of the sale, or give any explanation as to the whereabouts of the goods, despite repeated demands,” the prosecutor said.

Eze said that on several occasions when the complainant visited the residence of the accused, he was told by Ogamba’s wife that her husband had been in the “desert” for prayers.

The prosecutor said that when it became clear that the accused had something “fishy,” the complainant reported the matter to the police.

Eze said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 285 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The magistrate, Mrs Adenike Shonubi, granted him bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case till September 27.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013—7

Woman jailed 14 years for stealing N3.15m

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Members of Rivers State Chapter of National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, protesting the prolonged Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, strike, at the Rivers State Government House, Port Harcourt, yesterday. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke.

8-yr-old bride dies after love-making with 40-yr-old husband A

N eight year old bride identified as Rawan, died in Hardh in the governorate of Hajjah in northwestern Yemen, from internal injuries on her wedding night, bleeding to death after deep vaginal tearing caused by intercourse with her 40-year-old husband, according to a report

by UPI on Sunday Activists in the region are fighting for forced child marriage to be banned, and they have called for police to arrest the girl’s husband and family.

The issue of forced marriage of child brides is a socially accepted custom and is widespread in many rural areas in Yemen.

A February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, but it was repealed after some conservative lawmakers called it un-Islamic.

In particular, a prominent Islamic cleric, Abdulmajeed al-Zindani, issued a fatwa in support of the practice, declaring supporters of a ban on child brides to be apostates, and ultimately leading a suc-

cessful campaign against legislation that would prevent adult men from marrying children.

Legislators have been looking at ways to curb the practice and they have so far been

55-yr-old allegedly defiles 11-yr old girl

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

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SOGBO — AN Osogbo Senior Magistrate Court, Osun State has remanded a 55year-old man,Titiloye Tella, for allegedly defiling and raping an 11-year-olg girl simply identified as ‘Tapepa’ (not real name) in his (Tella) bedroom.

According to the charge, Tella, a farmer, allegedly perpetrated the act on August 31, 2013 at 9 am in Temidire area of Gbongan, Ayedaade Local Gov-

ernment Area of the state.

The charge read: “That you Titiloye Tella did unlawfully have carnal knowledge of one ‘Tapepa’, aged 11 years, by dragging her into the yard of your house and cover her mouth with clothe and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 218 of the Criminal Code Cap 34, Vol. II, Laws of Osun State of Nigeria, 2003.”

The police prosecutor, Wilson

60-yr-old woman raped by 27-yr-old son A DO-EKITI — AN AdoEkiti Magistrate Court in Ekiti State, yesterday, remanded one Akintunde Omotehinde, 27, in prison custody for allegedly raping his 60-year-old mother.

Prosecutor Ebenezer Ewuola told the court that the accused committed the offence on August 23, in Ajebamidele Area of AdoEkiti.

He claimed that the accused ‘forcefully and unlawfully’ had carnal knowledge of his mother, which led to her being hospitalised.

He added that on the same date, the accused assaulted and inflicted injuries on one, Isiaka Ojo, who attempted to separate him from his mother during the act.

He said the offence contra-

unsuccessful.

Currently the law states that parents should decide when a daughter marries. Unfortunately, reports indicate more than a quarter of Yemen’s females marry before age 15.

vened Section 358 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

The prosecutor said he had sent his case file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, for legal advice.

The accused plea was not taken.

The magistrate, Mrs Patricia Ajibade, ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody, pending the DPP’s legal advice and adjourned the case till October 16.

Lawyer remanded for allegedly duping client of N3.1m

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

O

SOGBO—AN Osogbo Chief Magistrate, Mr Olusola Aluko, had ordered a 65-year-old Ibadan-based lawyer, Mr Olakanmi Ogunyemi, to be remanded in Ilesa Prison for allegedly defrauding his client, one Ayotunde Adekilekun, of N3.1 million.

According to the charge, Mr Ogunyemi, who resides at 208,

Obafemi Awolowo Way, OkeAdo, Ibadan, Oyo State, allegedly defrauded Adekilekun to the tune of N3.1 million with false pretence sometime in April 2012.

Ogunyemi was also said to have on December 5, 2012 in Osun State High Court, Osogbo forged an affidavit of one Abiodun Kolade with intent to be used or acted upon as genuine in a suit numbered HOS/28/12.

Mireti, further informed the court that the accused at the same time and in aforementioned area did unlawfully and indecently assault the helpless young girl by having carnal knowledge of Tapepa without her consent, arguing that Tella has committed an offence contrary and punishable under section 222 of the Criminal Code of Nigeria.

It was gathered that the victim who hawks old newspapers was called by Tella to buy her ware. After Tella had bought N20 newspaper from Tapepa, he allegedly gagged and dragged her into his bedroom where he allegedly raped her.

The girl was said to have narrated her ordeal to his father who immediately reported the matter at the Family Unit of the Oja Oba Police Station in Osogbo.

But, the accused, who said that he had been living alone since his wife divorced him, pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge preffered against him.

The presiding Senior Magistrate, Mr Olusola Aluko, ruled that Tella be remanded in Ilesa Prison custody while his lawyer, Mr. S. B. Ajibade is to furnish the court with a written application for bail.

The magistrate then adjourned the case till December 11, 2013.

BUJA — AN Abuja Magistrate Court, yesterday, sentenced a 22-year-old cashier, Mariam Salifu, to 14 years in prison for stealing N3.15 million belonging to her employers.

The convict, residing at Karimo in the FCT, was arraigned on a two-count charge of criminal breach of trust and theft. She had earlier admitted to absconding with the money.

The Magistrate, Hajiya Fati Tafida, sentenced Salifu without an option to pay fine.

She ordered that the convict be imprisoned at the Federal Prisons, Suleija, for 14 years to serve as deterrent to others.

Earlier, the Police Prosecutor, Mr Phillip Appolos, had told the court that one Christopher Nwozor of Life Camp, Abuja, reported the matter at the Life Camp Police Station on August 19.

He said that the accused, who is a cashier at C.C. Royal Fishing, was told to deposit N3.15 million into the company’s account in Diamond Bank at Wuse Zone 2.

Appolos said that the accused absconded with the money on August 17, to an unknown destination, instead of depositing it.

The prosecutor said that Salifu was subsequently, arrested in Lokoja, following police investigation.

Lawyer docked for alleged house breaking, theft

A

BUJA — A lawyer, Chikezie Obieli, 38, yesterday, appeared in an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court in Karu, charged with alleged house-breaking and theft.

Obieli, of City Plaza, Garki 2, Abuja, was arraigned by the police on a three-count charge under sections 346, 288 and 254 of the Penal Code.

The prosecutor, Cpl. Francis Udofia, told the court that one Suleiman Onorvoiza of Karu Village Extension, reported the case at the Karu Police Station on September 2.

Udofia said that the accused was the caretaker of a residential building in which the complainant occupied a one-room apartment.

He said that the accused, being the caretaker of the property, had a spare key to the complainant’s apartment.

He said: “The accused gained access into the complainant’s apartment when he travelled, stole $8,500 along with land documents."

8—Vanguard , TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

INTERNET SUMMIT: From left— Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of International Telecommunication Union, ITU; President Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica; Dame Patience Jonathan, First Lady, and Shiekh Abdulla Bin Muhammed Bin Saud Al Thani, at the opening ceremony of the Global Youth Summit on Internet Security in Costa Rica.

Amaechi blasts Tukur over APC sponsorship allegation

BY SONI DANIEL, Regional Editor, North, & HENRY UMORU

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OVERNOR Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, yesterday, took up issues with the embattled National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhanji Bamanga Tukur, for accusing him of sponsoring All Progressives Con-

gress, APC. The governor, who spoke through his Information and Communications Commissioner, Ibim Semenitari, said it was unbecoming of Tukur to make such a wild allegation that was not backed by any thread of evidence.

A statement by the Commissioner read: “The attention of Rivers State Government has been drawn to comments credited to Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, alleging that Governor Rotimi

Amaechi is sponsoring All Progressives Congress, APC. “The Government of Rivers State finds this statement rather unfortunate and incongruous coming from the same person who, only in February, roundly commended Governor Amaechi, describing him as one of the brightest lights of Peoples’ Democratic Party and one of the country’s best performing governors.

“We are certain that Governor Amaechi is still a member

of Peoples’ Democratic Party and has remained so despite the shenanigans of unscrupulous persons and the humiliation meted out to his person and office by the party leadership.

“Perhaps we should remind Alhaji Tukur of his own words uttered after two days of exhaustive inspection of the projects undertaken by Amaechi’s administration.

“Tukur had declared, after the visit, that ‘God has given

us land, water and people.

‘If you take our people and give them education, a secured environment and sustainability, so that things can keep revolving and evolving, making it a continuous process, that state or nation becomes a developed nation.

‘Without mincing words, since Friday, when I arrived Port Harcourt at noon, I have been inspecting one project or the other till this morning (Saturday). It is very difficult to praise your son because he (Amaechi) is the best for me.’

“Also speaking at a dinner party held in his honour, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur declared that the ‘PDP will never lose to any party if transformational leaders like Governor Amaechi remain behind the party.

“He said ‘Believe me, PDP will never lose to any party, if people like Governor Amaechi stand boldly behind us. We will win and continue to win in any election… support your governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amae-chi; support our party, then be sure to win your elections’.

“We are happy to remind Alhaji Tukur that his comments only reiterated what other party leaders like President Goodluck Jonathan and Chief Tony Anenih have said about Governor Amaechi and his judicious use of the people’s resources.

“Governor Amaechi’s commitment to Rivers people is unambiguous and unwavering.”

Declare your plans for 2015, Anenih tells Jonathan Continues from Page 5 the PDP National Chairman as 17 of the state Chairmen boycotted the meeting, even as they admitted that the August 31 crisis, where former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and six governors stormed out of the secretariat to form a parallel executive caused their blood pressure to rise.

Addressing journalists yesterday during the visit on behalf of other chairmen, Chairman, Benue State Chapter, Dr. Emmanuel Agbo said that the chairmen were in total support of PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, just as they passed a vote of confidence on him and the entire National Working Committee, NWC of the party and their commitment to reconciliation, rebuilding and repositioning of the party.

According to him, “as the critical grassroots stakeholders with enormous responsibilities for the mobilization and unity of the party, we are concerned that some party members are expressing personal grievances without due process."

The National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, while receiving the state chairmen noted that the challenges currently confronting the party were not beyond solution, not-

ing that nobody wants to invest without profit. According to him, “ whatever disagreement that may show up in the party, is not beyond resolution.

If we bring a proposal and the majority believes that proposal should be shelved, amended or discarded, so be it."

Tukur who maintained that the PDP was the only party that could guarantee the unity of the country, said that the party believes in the freedom of expression irrespective of whatever situation it may find itself."

Baraje PDP faction dares Presidency, names more NWC members National Chairman of the new Peoples Democratic Party, nPDP, Abubakar Baraje, yesterday dared the Presidency by naming more national officers despite the threat by the Federal Government to crush any rebellion against the Bamanga Tukur-led faction.

Already, the Tukur group, which is backed by the Presidency, has hailed the sealing off of the newly-acquired National Secretariat of the Baraje faction located on Oji River Street, Maitama District of Abuja.

Beyond the siege being laid

to the building by forces loyal to the Presidency, the administration has also mobilised security agents after promoters of the faction, forcing them to go underground in the pursuit of their political agenda to upstage Tukur and possibly halt Jonathan’s re-election bid.

That notwithstanding, the faction, yesterday, released the names of more NWC members, sending more jitters into the camp of opponents in the process.

A statement by the National Secretary of the nPDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, explained that stakeholders of the party across the country at a meeting in Abuja ratified the election of members of its National Working Committee.

The NWC members according to the statement are: Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, (Chairman); Dr Sam Sam Jaja, (Deputy National Chairman); Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, (National Secretary); Maode Umar Hiliya (Deputy National Secretary).

Others are Mr. Timi Frank (National Youth Leader); Binta Koje, (National Woman Leader); Mallam Nasir Issa (National Organising Secretary); Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze (Na-

tional Publicity Secretary); Wadada (National Financial Secretary) and Mallam Tanko Isiaku Gomna (National Treasurer).

The statement said that the positions of National Auditor and that of National Legal Adviser, which were zoned to the South East and South West respectfully, would be announced soon.

It was learnt that fear had gripped major players in the faction given the resolve by the mainstream PDP to use security agencies to crush them and render the group impotent in the build up to the 2015 election.

Court declines to re-open nPDP office Meanwhile, a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, declined an oral application made by the Alhaji Kawu Baraje’s faction of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, praying the court to order the reopening of its secretariat in Abuja, which was sealed off by the Police on Saturday.

Trial judge, Justice Ganiyu Safari refused to make a definite pronouncement on the ground that there was no concrete evidence before the court linking the Alhaji Bamagar Tukur-led faction to

the action of the police.

The Baraje faction had sued the old PDP led by Tukur, praying the court to restrain Tukur and his co-defendants from parading themselves as PDP National Executive Council, NEC, members.

Counsel to Baraje’s faction, Mr. Robert Emukpaero, during hearing in the matter, accused Tukur and others of using the police to seal off the faction’s secretariat. He asked for the withdrawal of police officers and their Armoured Personnel Carrier, APC, stationed at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.

Counsel said the defendants had violated the court’s previous order to maintain the status quo, pending the determination of the suit. He urged the court to order the police to remove their APC vehicles from the secretariat and allow his clients access to their offices.

But Tukur ’s counsel, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, told the court that there was no evidence linking them to the sealing off of the secretariat.

Oluyede said it was only the police that could explain why the office was sealed off.

The vacation judge, Justice Safari in a short ruling, held that there was no evidence linking the defendants to the closure of the said secretariat.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013—9

Nigeria to access $500m for education zCan benefit from 7-yr EU grant, says Gordon Brown

the next seven years.

“Its terms will be devoted to education development in Nigeria. So, it’s up to the government to make the application.”

Jonathan makes promises

CONFAB ON EDUCATION: From left— Mr. Gordon Brown, former British Prime Minister and UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Global Education; Vice President Namadi Sambo; Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Rufa'i, during the conference on Accelerating Progress in the Attainment of Education for All in Nigeria at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. STATE HOUSE PHOTO.

BY BEN AGANDE

A

BUJA—NIGERIA is to access $500 million from international funding agencies to boost educational development and enhance access to universal basic education in the country.

Former Prime Minister of Britain, Mr. Gordon Brown, who disclosed this yesterday at the meeting of Coalition of Interventions to Support Access and Quality of Education in Nigeria, said the international agencies were from Europe and America.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who hosted the meeting at the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa yesterday, also reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to the effective implementation of policies and measures that would ensure that Nigerian youths received qualitative education that will equip them with essential skills and competencies required by employers.

Gordon Brown speaks

Speaking on efforts of the international agencies, Brown said: “Federal Government of Nigeria has made available $250 million for investment in education by the states.

“What we have managed to do by talking to the individual agencies over the last few days is to match that $250 million by the additional $250 million making possible new investment of $500 million in education in Nigeria.”

He explained that the Global Partnership for Education and the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, had agreed to contribute $100 million each for the development of universal education, while the Federal Government, in collaboration with state governments, had already provided $250 million for the development of education in the country.

“I believe that additional cash transfers for training and introduction of new technologies can now match the initia-

PUBLIC NOTICE

LIFE IN THE OCEAN OF JESUS BLOOD CHURCH

The general public is hereby notified that the above-named Church, has applied for registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Abuja, under part “C" of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Pastor Emmanuel S. Agwu Ojike 2. Pastor (Mrs.) Clementina Agwu Ojike 3. Gospel Echioma Agwu Ojike AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ 2. To help the poor Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, within 28 days from the date of this publication.

Signed: Pastor Emmanuel S. Agwu Ojike General Overseer

tives that have been taken by Mr. Dangote from the business community and other initiatives among five agencies,” he said.

7-year EU grant

He also pointed out that Nigeria stood to benefit from a seven-year term European

Union grant that would be devoted to the development of education.

He said: “I have talked to the head of the development commission for the European Union EU, and he said he will tell the government of Nigeria to submit an application from time to time for

Speaking earlier at an audience with the former British Prime Minister, President Jonathan said his administration would continue to evolve and execute programmes and actions to improve access to quality education across the country to create a highly skilled and competitive work force.

The President assured Brown, who now serves as the United Nations Special Envoy on Global Education, that in addition to providing the $250 million required to match the amount raised by international donors towards giving more Nigerian youths access to basic education, Federal Government would also provide all possible support to state governments to ensure they were able to access the new funds and put them to appropriate use.

Jonathan said: “Thank you for helping us in this area.

Education is critical to making our youths more employable.

“The Coordinating Minister of the Economy/Finance and the Minister of Education will work with the states to make sure that the programme succeeds.”

... as foreign reserves hit $46bn

BY EMMA UJAH, Abuja Bureau Chief

A

BUJA—CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has put the nation’s foreign reserves at $46 billion and said it was re-strategising on how to manage both the reserves and the foreign exchange market in the most effective way in the interest of the nation’s economy.

CBN’s Deputy Governor in charge of operations, Mr. Tunde Lemo, told journalists in Abuja, yesterday that the apex bank was working assiduously to effectively balance the risks posed by global financial meltdown in ensuring the safety of the nation’s reserves.

He said the money would be placed in instruments to earn reasonable yields in line with global realities.

Lemo said: “The Nigerian external reserve is about $46 billion. It

has been hovering around $45 and $47 billion, but is strong enough to finance, at least, 11 months of imports.

“The fundamentals of the Nigerian economy are very strong. Occasionally, there might be a bit of increase or decrease, but it is still strong.

“In Africa, it is either the second or third. I think it is the second highest only after Algeria and that is actually very remarkable.”

On the risks inherent in reserve management, Lemo said: “The issue about risks is changing because of the dynamics of the global economy.

“Currently, there are issues around the strength of the currencies all over the globe and the debate is ongoing whether or not the dollar will continue to be the reserve currency.

“That is why many countries are changing the basket of currencies, where they keep the reserves so that they can mix their risks and then they are beginning to diversify.

“Before now, people had thought that only currencies of the OECD economies were good enough: that is the Euro, the Dollar, Japa-

nese Yen, and so on.

“Today, they see emerging economies like the China’s Renminbi.”

According to Mr. Lemo, CBN took the strategic decision two years ago to diversify the reserve base by investing in the Renminbi, China’s currency.

He said it had paid off because in the last two years, Renminbi had been appreciating.

Addressing participants of a regional course on Optimising Reserve and Foreign Exchange Management for Income Generation, Mr. Lemo said that reserve yields have been driven to its lowest in history and that there was need for reserve managers to come up with ingenuous means of ensuring significant income from it.

He said: “The course theme is quite relevant in view of the recent development in the global economy that has driven yields to historical low levels.

“The major concern among central banks in recent times is how to generate income from foreign exchange reserves without compromising the reserve management objectives of safety and liquidity.”

10—Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

PROGRAMME: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN (5th right); Director, and founder of the Miss Earth South Africa and LEAD SA Executive, Catherine Constantinides (right); Co-founder and Executive Director of COBURWAS International Youth Organization to Transform Africa, CIYOTA, Mr. Benson Wereje (2nd right); member of the University of Lagos Senate, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole (3rd right); Executive Director, SmartCity Resorts Plc, Mr. Tomiwa Aladekomo (6th right); Co-founder of IC Securities in Ghana, Mr. Kwabena Osei-Boateng (left); Managing Director, Verod Capital, Mr. Danladi Verheijen (5th left), and others, during the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme 2013 organised by the African Leadership Institute, at the Rio Tinto Headquarters, London.

Police trail bank manager over N100m fraud

By EVELYN USMAN

O

PERATIVES OF the InspectorGeneral of Police monitoring team at Kam Salem, Obalende, Lagos, have launched a man-hunt for manager of the Ladipo branch of one of the first generation banks over an alleged N100million fraud.

However, the bank manager ’s lover in whose account the fleeing suspect was alleged to have lodged some of the stolen amount had been arrested.

She was, however, released four days later when the bank’s manager refused to show up.

Preliminary investigation, according to Police sources, showed that the fleeing bank manager allegedly withdrew N35 million from customers’ accounts in Ladipo Branch alone.

Police sources stated that when the illicit deed was discovered last week by the bank, the manager escaped before the arrival of the Police.

“Part of the amount was traced to his girlfriend’s account. What the suspect does is, each time he makes the illegal withdrawal from customers’ accounts, he would use his girlfriend’s Certificate of Incorporation, to open several other accounts in other banks where he would lodge the amount.

Labour condemns low implementation of Employee Compensation Scheme

BY VICTOR AHIUMAYOUNG

T

HE ORGANISED labour, yesterday, in Lagos, expressed worries over the level of implementation of the Employee Compensation Scheme, ECS, lamenting that a situation where

only 500,000 employees out of over 80 million workers in the country, had been covered by the scheme in the last three years since the ECS kicked off, was unsatisfactory.

Vice President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Issa Aremu, who spoke at an Interactive Forum and Award ceremony

Implement S/Court judgment on tourism, Fashola advises NTDC

BY MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

GOVERNOR BABATUNDE Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, urged the Nigerian Tourism Development Company, NTDC, to adhere strictly to the Supreme Court judgment on tourism, licensing and grading of hotels and other hospitality businesses in federating states.

It will be recalled that the Supreme Court two months ago ruled that the states government should be left to manage tourism in the country while the Federal Government was charged with managing tourist traffic.

Fashola who spoke when he played host to a team of executives of Heritage Bank led by its Managing Director, Mr Ifie Sekibo said “The Supreme Court judgment has made it very clear that only the states has a role to play in tourism and I would urge the NTDC not to dabble into roles that will be contemptuous.”

He insisted the court ruled that the role of NTDC was only limited to traffic in tourism.

Fashola however urged the Heritage Bank and other financial institutions to respond to the vast opportunities and needs in the housing sector by investing in the area to boost access to housing.

Speaking earlier, Sekibo said the bank was collaborating with theNTDC on the development of tourism in the country .

The managing director explained that the collaboration focused on the preservation of historical and tourism sites in the country, adding it also covered the promotion of Nigerian arts and culture.

of the NSTIF/NECA, said the level of compliance by employers was also very low given the fact that only 7,000 had keyed in.

Aremu challenged the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, to be more aggressive in ensuring that employers complied with the scheme.

According to him: “The time has come for the NSITF to be aggressive in ensuring full compliance by employers as getting employers to voluntarily comply with the law may not yield much result.

“So far, I want to commend NSITF because they started from ground zero to build some reserves.

“At least, there is now some level of compliance from employers.

Don’t forget that this law makes it mandatory for every employer to contribute one per cent of employees’ total emoluments to this pool.

“Now, as we are being told,

they have captured 7,000 employers and according to the figures they gave us, about 500,000 employees are captured in the past three years.

“For me and those of us in organised labour, that is a far cry from the ideal because Nigeria has about 80 million workers.

“Already, we have close to 4.5million workers who are members of NLC, now compare to 500,000 that has been captured within three years, that is very insignificant.

Earlier, Chairman, Board of Directors of NSITF, Dr. Ngozi Olejeme, assured all stakeholders of the Fund’s commitment in ensuring that the ECS is implemented to their satisfaction.

Represented by Mr. Aderemi Adegboyega, she appealed to employers yet to register with the scheme without further delay, stressing that the advantages of compliance far outweighs that of non-compliance.

It’s wrong to make stowaway boy a hero — NAAPE

BY LAWANI MIKAIRU

N

ATIONAL ASSOCIA TION of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, NAAPE, has criticised the award of scholarship to stowaway teenager, Daniel Oikhena, by the Governor Rauf Aregbesola Foundation.

The association contended , yesterday, that it was wrong to make hero out of the boy.

It will be recalled that on Saturday, August 24, 2013, the teenager successfully breached the security of the Benin Airport, operated by Federal Airports Authority of

Nigeria ,FAAN, and managed to stowaway at the wheel well of an Arik aircraft on a flight from Benin to Lagos.

The boy was apprehended when he came out of the wheel well on landing in Lagos.

According to Bunmi Gindeh, Public Relations Officer, NAAPE, the association “seriously frowns at the effort by some people to make a hero out of the stowaway boy by publicly giving reward to a boy that at best fell far short of acceptable behaviour.

“While NAAPE does not want to stand in the way of anyone’s fortune, we consider

that in this particular case, making such gesture public gives an erroneous impression which makes it a dis-service.

“We fear that such public gesture, even in the name of charity, will only encourage other kids, and even adults, to embark on similar misadventure.”

The association said it was also concerned that both FAAN and Arik had been publicly trading blames over the incident, when the two corporate bodies were both aware of their responsibilities to assist in the process of identification and rectification of the problem, and in a civilised manner.

Vanguard TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013—11

Osun PDP suspends chieftains for attending Oyinlola-led state nPDP meeting

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

O

SOGBO — BARELY 24 hours after factional secretary of Alhaji Kawu Baraje led new Peoples Democratic Party, nPDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola held a rally in his home-town, Okuku, attended

by PDP members from all the 30 local government areas in the state, the Osun State chapter of the PDP has suspended chieftains of the party including its former chairman, Alhaji Ademola Rasaq, for attending the rally.

This came as the party gave, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, Oluwole Oke and Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, three out of its four governorship aspirants 24 CHANG OF NAME CHANGE

K AY O D E — I , f o r m e r l y known and addressed as A j a n i K a y o d e Olusegun, now wish to be known and addressed as Ajani Micheal O l u s e g u n .

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

hours to dissociate themselves from a statement credited to Alhaji Rasaq, that they were now in the new PDP. Only Senator Iyiola Omisore was exempted from facing disciplinary action among the four aspirants.

According to a statement by the PDP executive last night, the action of the party “is coming on the heels of the warning of the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and the resolution of a general congress of the Osun PDP where it was unanimously agreed that no member of the party in the state, should attend any meeting called by the so called nPDP, either by Prince Oyinlola or his proxy.

“Attending the meeting will

be viewed as disobedience to this directive and will attract strict disciplinary measures.”

Those suspended were: Ademola Rasaq, former Osun state chairman of PDP, who resigned voluntarily after Oyinlola lost at the Court of Appeal; Mr. Yinka Adeojo, a member of a Federal Board; Mr. Soji Adagunodo Oluwatukesi, a member of a Federal Board, and Alhaji Rasaq Oyetunji, a former chief driver to Oyinlola.

Others are: Mr. Ibukun Fadipe, Ilesa West Local Government; Teslim Igbalaiye, member, federal board; Dapo Ayodele, Boluwaduro Local Government, and Princess Bowade Oyewale Afolabi, a member of Subsidy Re-invest-

ment and Empowerment Programme, SURE P, board, in Osun State.

Also suspended were three wards chairmen in Ayedaade Local Government wards 5, 6, 8 and were advised not to parade themselves as ward chairmen.

They were directed to hand over to the vice chairmen of the wards.

On the ultimatum given to three of its gubernatorial aspirants, the party said: “It was disheartening to know that with the governorship polls around the corner, those who are supposed to be working assiduously to regain Osun State are fraternising with those who do not mean well for the state.”

MOSOP flays Obuah’s stance against Ogoni guber quest President of MOSOP, Mr. Legborsi Saro

T

HE MOVEMENT for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, has faulted support given to the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, by the Obuah-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State.

MOSOP described it as a huge conspiracy against quest for the state governorship by the Ogoni people.

ORUDU LAND TUSSLE: We’re for peace, land owner, agent tell trespassers

O

WNER OF the expanse of land encompassing Orudu Village in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, Otunba Adebayo Ajao and his estate agent have said they are interested in peaceful resolution of the ownership crisis over the land.

They assured that they would rather resort to dialogue than demolishing anybody’s building on the 653 acres of land.

The assurance came on the heels of allegation that agents of the land owner invaded the area to carry out demolition exercise.

Ajao claimed that he acquired the 653 acres of land from Orudu Oyekan Family as far back as 1972 for the purpose of farming and was later surveyed and registered with conveyance in the then Western Region with registration number 40 page 40 vol. 1366 of the land registry Abeokuta (formally Ibadan.)

Farming activities were said to be carried out on the farm but suddenly stopped due to the nation’s oil boom and with long years of inactivity, a section of the Oyekan Family was said to have encroached on the land and started selling to unsuspecting members of the public.

Just recently, the Inspector General of Police, IG, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, ordered fresh investigation into the unabated crisis and incessant violence at Orudu over the ownership of the land.

The IG’s order was sequel to a petition, dated June 20, 2013 and written by solicitors to Basorun Ajao, through the chambers of Kola Awodein.

Pyagbara in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media/Public Affairs, Bari-Ara Kpalap argued that the endorsement of Chief Wike by Obuah was an appalling and shameful response to the Ogoni quest for governorship, and urged the national leadership of the PDP to call its Rivers chairman to order.

According to him: “The deed in our view, is not only a deliberate infringement on fairness, but also politically inept, insensitive and unfortunate.

“It is clear that the Ogoni governorship quest is most popular and widely and overwhelmingly supported within and outside Rivers State.

“The PDP would be losing a golden opportunity to monopolise and secure its electoral advantage with the huge Ogoni voting strength if it fails to commit her platform to any Ogoni seeking to govern Rivers State in 2015.

“The sustained, unguarded and inflammable utterances and actions of the PDP state chairman, demonstrably betrays a devious attempt at scuttling Ogoni political interest and it is unacceptable. If the untoward development is not addressed, it would require inflexible Ogoni response.”

“We are aware that Chief Obuah is acting a script as we know the forces at play.

“However, the stance reflects an implicit admission of what we have all along been suspecting.

Nonetheless, we would like to warn that Ogoni will refuse to be confined to being hewers of wood and fetchers of water in a state where we are not inferior but eminently qualified.”

“The Obuah-led PDP insistence on depriving Ogoni of her deserved berth at the office of governor of the state meant that the red line has been crossed and would no doubt provoke tough, decisive attention as we will not continue to be political passers-by in our state.

DAUD OLATUNJI “Again, is it not unfair that while Rivers West and East senatorial districts have proBEOKUTA — ONE of the duced governors of the state centenarian female twins, who celebrated under a zoning understandtheir 100 years birthday, at Abeokuta on March ing, efforts are being made to 16, 2013, Mrs. Emily Kehinde Olukoga-Ogunde deny Rivers South East senais dead. torial district of the opportuMrs. Olukoga-Ogun’s demise was confirmed nity others have enjoyed?” by her only child, Mr. Kunle Olukoga through “The Obuah/Wike’s intena statement in Abeokuta, yesterday. tion to scuttle the political unAccording to the statement, the centenarian derstanding in the state is died on Thursday, September 5, 2013 at around definitely anti-Ikwerre and his 9a.m. while having a nap, after her breakfast. party. MOSOP feels the PDP “She is survived by her son, grand children, chair’s action negates internal great grand children and her twin sister, Mrs. democracy and paints the Esther Taiwo Olukoya, who has remained inconplatform in bad light.” solable after the news was broken to her.

Centenarian twin, Olukoga-Ogunde dies

A

12—Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Ozekhome’s release imminent —Brother

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

A

UCHI—AS Iviukwe community, Agenebode, in Weppa Wano clan of Estako East Local Government Area of Edo State waits for the release of their son, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, by his abductors, his elder brother, Chief Pius Ozekhome, has denied rumours that he has been released.

He, however, expressed hope that his younger brother would soon be set free just as he added that God was on top of the situation.

He said: “I am not aware that Mike has been released, but we are working around the clock to ensure that he is released as soon as possible. I am aware that the other abductee, Athanasius Ugbome, who was kidnapped with him, has been released. So, the people now assumed that Mike was also freed.”

Meanwhile, unconfirmed report has it that his driver was released, yesterday, and was dropped at a town very close to Agbor in Delta State.

However, Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Mr. Moses Eguavoen,

when contacted, said he was not aware of the release of the driver as he was yet to be briefed.

Similarly, the Estako Citizens Club, in a resolution at the end of its emergency meeting, yesterday, appealed for Ozekhome’s uncondition-

al release.

While condemning the kidnap of the Lagos-based legal practitioner, the club, in a statement by its President Prof. Eric Omogbai, noted that Chief Ozekhome, as a legal practitioner and a human rights activist, has served this

country selflessly and does not deserve to go through his current ordeal.

“His relentless fight for the welfare of the people and the downtrodden is enough reason for his captors to release him unconditionally,” the Club said.

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

Y

FILM FESTIVAL: From left: Andrea Calderwood (Producer); Anika Noni-Rose (Actress); Chiwetel Ejiofor (Actor); Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie (Author, Half of a Yellow Sun); Biyi Bandele (Director); Thandie Newton (Actor); Yewande Sadiku (Executive Producer), during the world premiere of 'Half of a Yellow Sun: The Movie, at the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto, Canada.

Okonjo-Iweala blackmailing Nigerians on ASUU strike — Akpatason

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

B

ENIN—THE member representing Akoko-Edo federal constituency of Edo State in the House of Representatives, Mr. Peter Akpatason, weekend, accused the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, of being insensitive to the plight of Nigerian students, saying that “she has been blackmailing Nigerians that government does not have the money to meet its agreement with Academic State Union of Universities, ASUU.” The lawmaker, a former President of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, said it was irresponsible on the part of the Federal Government to renege on its agreement with ASUU, describing as regrettable, the seeming insensitivity exhibited by government since the commencement of the ASUU strike.

He spoke in Benin City, shortly after the inauguration of Uneme National Development Association’s N100 million Education fund for Uneme communities. According to him, “It is very disheartening that up till now, ASUU is still on strike but unfortunately, I

Confusion in Bayelsa as Sylva’s loyalists declare for Baraje-led PDP

am not in a position to blame ASUU because I was still fully in Labour when this agreement was negotiated between ASUU and government.

“So, it is irresponsible of anybody to enter into an agreement and then renege.

It is totally unacceptable and that is the issue. It is unfortu-

nate that a party has gone into an agreement and today, it is is saying that it has no resources to fund what it signed. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is known for coming up with statements about inadequacy of funds but yet the entire revenue gates in the country are performing above estima-

tion; customs, oil and gas industry, immigration, they are all doing well beyond what was anticipated, yet OkonjoIweala keeps deceiving Nigerians and the whole world that Nigeria does not have money. What are they doing with all our money?”

Rep sues for calm over crisis in Warri monarchy

BY DANIEL GUMM

W

ARRI—MEMBER representing Warri Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr. Daniel Reyenieju, has appealed to his kinsmen to embrace peace and engage in serious intra-Itsekiri dialogue as it was the way to resolve the current crisis plaguing the ancient Warri throne.

Reyenieju, in Washington, yesterday, on the current crisis in his homeland, said: “Itsekiri youths, irrespective of the depth of their pains and misgivings over the current happenings in Itsekiriland and particularly as it affects

the pristine Warri monarchy, which remains the ontological hub of Itsekiri at the level of the individuality and collectivity, must shun any act that has the potentials of bringing the Itsekiri nation into disrepute.”

The lawmaker, who is currently a member of delegation of Nigeria, led by the Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, to Washington, appealed to Itsekiri youths to shun all acts that could cause breach of the peace.

He appealed to the aggrieved youths to interface with the Warri Traditional Council of Chiefs for correct information on the current crisis, so that rumour-mongers

would not feast on the crisis.

ENAGOA—THE Peo-ples Democratic Party, PDP, in Bayelsa State, may be heading for a fresh crisis, following the emergence of a group, new Bayelsa PDP, led by loyalists of former Governor Timipre Sylva.

The new Bayelsa PDP is led by former Security Adviser to Sylva, Chief Richard Kpodoh.

Others include the former Publisher of Spynet Magazine and close associate of the former governor, Mr. Sidi Godwin, the former Commissioner for Water Resources, Chief Francis Itiokeife, the former Local Government Area Chairman of KolokumaOpokuma, Mr. Ineye Ingbaifegha, Sir Tonye Okio, Alabo Martins, Abel Ogboma, Timi Frank, Abule Okara and Braboke Stanley.

The new Bayelsa PDP, in an advertorial in one of the national dailies, said: “Let the old PDP impunity and injustice pass away and a new dawn break over Nigeria with the new authentic PDP.” A source, who spoke anonymously, said the “real” PDP members in Bayelsa State are regrouping and have pledged loyalty to the Alhaji Kawu Baraje and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola-led faction of PDP.

Arrival of APC marks PDP’s demise in Delta —Okotie-Eboh

BY FESTUS AHON

U

GHELLI—CHAIRMAN of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Delta State, Chief Adolo Okotie-Eboh, yesterday, said that the arrival of All Progressives Congress, APC, marked the death of the ruling Peoples Democratic, PDP, in the state.

He said APC was the party of the masses that would bring the needed change in the governance of the state.

Reacting to a media interview by the Communication Manag-

er to the state governor, Mr Paul Odili, Okotie-Eboh, in a statement, said Odili seemed to underrate the strength of APC in the state, adding that the party was poised to take over the reins of government in the state in 2015.

According to him, “the strength of defunct ACN, Congress for Progressive Change, CPC and All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, that merge to form APC in the country is certain to change the political equation in Delta State and PDP will definitely be the ultimate losers.”

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 — 13

14 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 — 15

16 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Nyako seeks Assembly’s approval for suspension of LG boss

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OLA—GOVERNOR Murtala Nyako of Adamawa has written to the state House of Assembly asking it to confirm the suspension of Guyuk Local Government Chairman, Mr. Ethan Bugie, for alleged misconduct.

The governor ’s letter, read by the Speaker, Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri, during yesterday ’s plenary, requested for the confirmation of the suspension as provided under the Adamawa Local Government System Establishment and Administration Law 2,000 (as amended).

“I hereby wish to inform and seek the confirmation of the honourable house to suspend the Chairman of Guyuk local government, Mr. Ethan Bugie, due to gross misconduct,” the letter stated.

After reading it, Fintiri referred it to the House Committee on Local Governments for further investigation, following a motion by the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Laori Kwamoti.

Naval Training Command holds shooting exercise

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HE NIGERIAN Na val Training Command will today hold its Small, Arms Firing Exercise, SAFEX, at the 192 Battalion Nigerian Army Shooting Range Owode, Ogun State.

The objective of the three-day exercise according to spokesman for the command, Lieutenant Commander Hamman Ahmed , was to test the proficiency of personnel of the Command in weapon handling with a view to selecting best marksmen and women to represent the Command at the forthcoming Nigerian Navy Small Arms Firing Competition.

Women Affairs minister tackles N-Assembly on CEDAW A

BY SUCCESS UZOKWE

BUJA—THE Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Zainab Maina, has expressed concern over the failure of the National Assembly to domesticate the United Nation, UN, report on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW. Speaking at the stakeholders consultative and pre-data collection testing workshop on the development of 7th and 8th CEDAW periodic country report, yesterday, in Abuja, she said violence against the women had been on the increase, yet nothing was being done to alleviate the challenges they face.

The minister said: “It is regrettable that with all the efforts made by stakeholders, the CEDAW or Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill is yet to be domesticated in Nigeria. We accept this set back while we continue to strive and advocate for its passage by the National Assembly hoping sooner than later they will see the sense in passing laws that will protect and empower the interests of mothers, wives, sisters and daughters in this country.”

The Minister who was represented by the Permanent Sec-

retary of the ministry, Dr. Habiba Lawal charged the stakeholders to ensure the objectives of the meeting were achieved and at the end Nigeria would come out with a report that could be reckoned with.

She stated Nigeria was among the first countries in Africa to sign and ratify the

UN Conventions on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, in 1985 and 1986 respectively, adding that the signing and ratification made it an obligation for Nigeria to implement the provisions of the convention and report back to the CEDAW committee of experts every four years.

Maina added that since the signing and ratification of the convention, Nigeria had submitted six reports to the committee, while the committee in its concluding recommendations after the defense in July, 2008 requested Nigeria to submit its seventh and eighth periodic report in a combined form by July 2014.

FORUM: From left: Mr. Segun Oshinaike, Director General, Nigerian Employers Consultative Association, NECA; Mr. Bart Verlindeu, Technical Director, Nigerite, receiving a Toyota Haice Ambulance from Umar Abubakar, Managing Director, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, during the interactive forum, at the 2013 NSITF-NECA safe workplace intervention project in Lagos. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele.

PENGASSAN petitions Jonathan on kidnap, killing of oil workers

BY VICTORAHIUMA-YOUNG

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BUJA—PETROLEUM and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association, PENGASSAN, has petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan over increasing kidnap and killing of oil workers in Niger Delta Region especially in Rivers State, threatening to withdraw members from the region should government fail to take urgent steps to protect workers.

PENGASSAN in the petition through its General Secretary, Bayo Olowoshile, claimed already the International Oil Companies, IOCs, had issued security alert and warnings to their employees over resurging threats to workers and operations in the oil and gas industry.

The petition was also sent to Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Dr. Diezani AllisonMadueke, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief EmekaWogu, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Abba Moro, Minister of Interior, Director- General Department of State Service, DSS, National Security Adviser to the President, and the Inspector-General of Police.

The petition reads in part:

“PENGASSAN is painfully constrained to draw the attention of your esteemed office to the disconcerting resurgence of kidnapping, abduction and gruesome killing of oil workers in the Niger Delta Area for which we passionately ask for your Excellency’s immediate intervention. Regrettably, we are still lamenting the seemingly uncontainable oil

theft, illegal bunkering and abysmal petroleum refining which has put the Oil and Gas revenue prospects on the alarming brink with attendant deficit impact on the committed expenditure and capital projects across the various levels of Government.

“Sir, no players and investors will be encouraged into any unpredictable or vulnerable busi-

ness environment such as our Oil and Gas Sector is once again exposed. Rather, the industry wishes to be fully reassured that the respite recorded from the reorientation from militancy to human development and empowerment which is gathering momentum in the Niger Delta has come to stay.”

Jonathan is symbol of unity, says Gov Orji

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BUJA— GOVERNOR Theodore Orji of Abia State, yesterday, described President Goodluck Jonathan as a symbol of national unity.

According to the governor, President Jonathan had done so much to foster unity among all the ethnic groups across the country, urging his political opponets to thread softly as the President meant well for the nation.

In a statement in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Public Communication, Mr. Ben Onyechere, the governor said: “With contemporary party politics in Nigeria today

and matters arising from therein, it has become obvious that the President is a man whose time has come judging from his amiable mannerism in his method of aggregation with regards to contending interests in the nation at large.

“It has become pertinent and unavoidable for every player irrespective of varying platforms to agree on one thing which is that we cannot have two Presidents at the same time for which reason we must be very cautious to preserve the entity of presidency which is the image, substance and

gateway to the nation and as such any misdemeanor against the Presidency can adversely affect the economy particularly with the drive for direct foreign investment in the country.

“It has become important to bring to the knowledge of the opposition that their methods of instigation in matters that are internal in PDP is not only nefarious but subterraneous because in politics you don’t always have to blackmail people unnecessarily in order to gain relevance.”

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013—17

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HE United States still has not got the memo: we are no longer in the “American century.” The United States is no longer what it was, if indeed it ever was what it was supposed to be: the colossus of the international system. There are now smallstate actors that exercise significant regional power without reference to American hegemonic pretensions. There is also a new pretender to the American throne in the form of the Peoples Republic of China, a country with 3.4 trillion American dollars in its reserves.

The United States is a country living on an expired credit-card.

It has a sovereign debt of $17 trillion, and continues to rack up annual deficits in excess of $1 trillion. It is simply foolhardy that a country with such debt overhang is now gearing up for another disastrous excursion into Syria.

The “American century” ended long before the end of the 20th century. In Vietnam, the Americans were confounded by a foe that refused to fight them conventionally, but appeared and disappeared like a mirage. In frustration, they decided to “kill anything that moves”, according to Nick Turse. United States dropped more bombs on Vietnam than were dropped by all countries in World War 2 put together. Nevertheless, the Vietcong David prevailed against the American Goliath. With over 58,000 dead U.S. soldiers, Yankee had to go home.

American meddlesomeness In today’s world, many of the consequences of foreign military intervention are unanticipated.

That is a bitter tonic to swallow when you call yourself a superpower. Thus, the Americans met their Waterloo in Vietnam and the Soviet Union collapsed under the

When will the Americans learn that a Super-power is no longer Super-powerful? stroyers. They have practically destroyed Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. But this destructiveness is a sign of weakness and not of strength. American bombing hardly ever guarantees American victory. All it brings is chaos and mayhem. Indeed, the United States brings disaster to its friends and cultivates breeding-grounds for its enemies.

American humiliation: Notwithstanding American support and, indeed, because of it, the Shah of Iran came to grief. He was overthrown by a popular uprising in 1979. When he was allowed to go to the United States for medical treatment, after running out of Iran into exile, a group of Iranian students retaliated by invading the American embassy in Teheran and they took 66 American diplomats hostage.

This affront to American “superpowerdom” could not be stomached. President Jimmy

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Everywhere the Americans go, they commit one blunder after the other; everywhere they go, they create more problems than they solve

weight of military incursions into Afghanistan. The Russians seem to have learnt their lesson, but the Americans are the Bourbons of the 21st century. They seem to have learnt nothing at all.

The Americans remain convinced that they can control the course of international relations.

But this is just wishful-thinking.

Everywhere they go, they commit one blunder after the other.

Everywhere they go, they create more problems than they solve.

What we have today is the unraveling of their Middle Eastern foreign-policy. With the United States now contemplating the bombing of Syria because of its alleged use of chemical weapons, it still refuses to confront the reality that this kind of interventionism is unlikely to have any significant impact on the Syrian civil war.

Nobody denies the capacity of the United States to drop bombs from high altitudes, fire cruise missiles and destroy Syria. Indeed, Americans are the great de-

Carter put together a rag-tag rescue team to invade Iran and forcibly bring the hostages back home.

The operation was a disaster. It failed pathetically as a result of logistical blunders in the desert.

The message was loud and clear: in the face of outright Iranian provocation lasting over 444 days, the United States, ostensibly the most powerful country in the world, was humiliatingly powerless yet again vis-à-vis another “insignificant” Third World country.

American mayhem: In Iraq, the Americans lied that Saddam Hussein was amassing weapons of mass destruction to justify invading the country. But after Saddam was overthrown, no such weapons were found in Iraq. In order to liberate Iraq from Saddam, the Americans destroyed Iraq. They bombed practically every major modern infrastructure of the Iraqi economy. At a certain juncture, they even ran out of targets to destroy. Iraq then became effectively an American colony.

More appropriately, it became an American albatross with a bill of over 2 trillion dollars and over 4000 dead Americans.

U.S. intervention in Iraq unleashed a civil war from which the country has yet to recover. No day passes now without hapless people being bombed and killed in the internecine sectarian and ethnic warfare that the Americans have provoked in Iraq. Having created this chaos and mayhem resulting in over 650,000 Iraqi deaths, the Americans are now taking to their heels. Yankee has decided to go home, leaving Iraq in a far worse debacle than it ever was under Saddam Hussein.

When President George Bush visited Iraq in December 2008, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, threw his shoes at him, shouting: “This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog.

This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq.”

American blunders: In order to oust the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the United States helped to install the Taliban in power. One of their major allies then was Osama Bin Laden. But with the Taliban in power, Afghanistan became the citadel of anti-Americanism. Bin Laden transformed into a sworn enemy of the United States, and the Al-Qaeda was born.

In September 11, 2001, the World Trade Centre in New York, the symbol of American prowess and economic success, was literally reduced to smithereens by suicide-bombers of the Al-Qaeda, America’s former allies. The United States declared a “war on terror” and invaded Afghanistan in order to oust the same Taliban regime it helped install, and destroy the Al-Qaeda it mid-wifed. Such are the unanticipated consequences of the United States’ convoluted meddlesomeness.

The Taliban have been more than a match for super-powerful United States. As happened with the Vietcong, they have checkmated the almighty U.S. army in Afghanistan. After fighting in Afghanistan for 12 frustrating years, the United States has finally admitted defeat. There as well, Yan-

•President Barack Obama

kee has now decided to go home.

The earlier American swagger has disappeared. The United States has now decided to engage in peace talks with Taliban “terrorists.” With the departure of the Americans, the Taliban should be back in power in a matter of months. The puppet Karzai government installed by the Americans will be easily overthrown.

Such is the absurd nature of American interventionism.

American fiasco: In Libya, the U.S. and its Western allies abused a U.N. resolution, using it as a cover for attacking the country and overthrowing Muammar Ghadaffi. In so doing, they have unleashed mayhem yet again in another country.

Divided country Libya is now a divided country ruled by gangs of regional warlords. The armoury of Western weaponry stockpiled by Ghaddafi has fallen into the hands of Islamic fundamentalists. These weapons have flowed from Libya through Algeria and even to Mali, where they are used against Western interests. The American “liberators” of Libya got their comeuppance when their consulate in Benghazi was attacked by the beneficiaries of American incursions into Libya, killing the Ambassador and three other Americans. Thus, American interventionism in Libya backfired, as it does virtually everywhere.

American hypocrisy: Nevertheless, the United States is sounding the drums of war again and is preparing for the bombardment of Syria. This time, the excuse is that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its own people. The United States, the world’s self-appointed police-

man, has declared itself the saviour of the Syrian people. This salvation is to be achieved in classically American fashion: by bombing and destroying Syria.

The Americans are hardly honest-brokers in Syria. They have been covertly supplying arms to the Syrian opposition for some time now. Assad’s overthrow has been a much sought-after American geopolitical interest in the Middle East, as a counter against the rising influence of Iran. Thus, the United States pretends to be the supporter of democratic reform in the region, while its allies include the despotic dictatorships of Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

American grandstanding about the use of chemical weapons is hypocritical.

American use of napalm in Vietnam is immortalized in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979), where Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore says: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” The most vivid picture of the Vietnamese war is of a naked little child running away from her burning body after U.S. soldiers used napalm. It is no longer contested by American sources that in 2004, the United States used chemical weapons (napalm and phosphorous bombs) against Iraqi soldiers in Falluja.

It is not inconceivable that the chemical weapons used in Damascus were fired by Americanbacked Syrian rebels in the bid to trigger U.S. intervention. Before the latest kerfuffle, Turkish media had reported that chemical weapons (specifically the nerve agent Sarin) were found in their possession in Southern Turkey.

These rebels include the Al-Qaeda and other extremists. In short, the Americans are blundering yet again; providing weapons to those who will later use them against American interests.

U.S. policy-makers argue that a strike against Syria will provide a warning to Iran that its nuclear weapons programme will not be tolerated. However, the United States is powerless to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

In any case, the United States is the only country in the world that has used nuclear power irresponsibly. The Americans dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan in 1945, resulting in 220,000 gruesome deaths. That action was not needed to defeat Japan. U.S. General Eisenhower admitted in writing that: “Japan was already defeated and dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary.”

American bombs will serve no useful purpose in Syria. There will be civilian casualties as the bombs land in unintended areas.

The Russians have already promised to replace any Syrian military assets the Americans destroy.

Stockpiles of chemical weapons are too dangerous to destroy from the air. It would appear, yet again, that the Americans are intent on embarking upon a foolhardy venture that can only lead to the escalation of the Syrian conflict.

18 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 NIGERIANS can vote electronically today if the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, wants it to work. The other side to the use of electronic voting is the National Assembly, and myriad of politicians who have interests that electronic voting would not support.

INEC has enough equipment to ensure electronic voting. The equipment bought for 2007 and more for the 2011 elections all have the capacity to support electronic voting. The registration of voters was done electronically, with all the data captured in modes that make it possible for us to vote electronically. Prof. Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman, last year, said electronic voting would happen soon.

Former INEC Chairman Prof. Maurice Iwu, before the 2007 elections, proposed electronic voting. He was dismissed. Low literacy was one of the reasons cited for the rejection. When would Nigerians be literate enough to use electronic voting? Are there no solutions to the literacy barriers?

Constitutional hurdles, according to INEC, particularly Section 52 (2) of the Electoral Law, forbid electronic voting. It may not be the main reason. We have seen the National

BY EMMANUEL ANYASI

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HE political significance of 2015 in Nigeria is increasingly snowballing into a contagious and pervasive reality whose unfolding impacts are reverberating across sectors of the economy and sections of the geopolity.

The brewing expectations towards 2015 have even been compounded with the recent registration of the All Progressives Congress, APC, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, with the expected consequent repositioning and realignment of political and ethno-regional interests across the country.

In Delta, an oil bearing state of the SouthSouth, the year 2015, beyond being an all important political dateline has elicited a weighty question that no doubt requires an urgent answer. The question on the lips of many concerned Deltans border on the character and personality of the expected successor of Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan. One who would not only sustain the developmental strides and initiatives of the current administration but re-energise and unleash the productive genius of the multi-talented people of Delta State.

Even in the face of the diverse political permutations and predictions, there appears to be a somewhat unwritten understanding and a near consensus amongst the political elites across the party divides that fielding a governorship candidate of Delta North (ANIOMA) extraction, come 2015, remains a fair, just and truly democratic option. This arises from the fact of history that in the 22 years of its existence, the other two senatorial

Electronic oting ot ng Vot l tro tr o ic ic V Possible P ss ble If… ff… …

Assembly amend the Constitution as many times as it wanted for the 2011 elections. It approved budgetary allocations with speed.

Why would it not make the laws to support electronic voting?

The answer lies on the approach to power.

Politicians utilise rigging as a strong instrument in their quest for victories. They are afraid electronic voting could create shifts in power, away from their control.

Benefits of electronic voting are numerous.

It would ensure speed in the collation of results, stop rigging and restore confidence in our elections.

Electronic voting, used in Brazil since 1996, has improved elections. From the 1989

presidential elections where the vote count lasted nine days, the 2002 general elections was counted in less than 12 hours. Even in the rural areas, results were ready within minutes of concluding voting.

The Electoral Act can be amended to accommodate this important change in our elections. What is the point of having a law that cannot fulfil the mandates it claims it has set out to address? The Electoral Act fails to punish rigging, electronic voting could stop rigging.

No proper account of the 2011 elections have been given, especially how the technological advances that cost billions of Naira did not facilitate improvements in the process. INEC can use the time left to resolve the issues with its equipment and promote electronic voting education to deal with the literacy challenge.

Management of post-election crises, from perceived rigging, leaves Nigeria with governments that lack credibility. INEC and the National Assembly should re-visit electronic voting, which the National Assembly uses well in conducting its businesses.

OPINION 2015: Political options before Deltans zones have produced governors of Delta State, in some cases more than once.

2015 is, therefore, considered in Delta State as not just a political dateline for handover of leadership baton but as a historical year of political actualisation by the Anioma people of Delta North and indeed the fair-minded and progressive forces across Delta State. It is, therefore, widely perceived as a year of democratic bridge building across the various ethno-cultural divides for the overall developmental interests of all parts of the State. It is indeed time, not for an Anioma project as widely perceived but for a pan-Deltan political project founded on equity, justice and fair political balancing.

Expectedly, there is a growing tribe of governorship aspirants whom the State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, recently referred to in a public function as a growing number of likely successors eagerly repositioning to take over the realms of power in the State from him.

Those currently being mentioned in connection with the top job include a former Commissioner for Economic Planning and ex-presidential aide, Chief Clement Ofuani, current Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Victor Ochei, Senator Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, Prince Sam Obi, current Chief of Staff to Governor Uduaghan, Dr. Festus Okubor, GodswillObielum, Dr.Ngozi Olejeme, Prof. Sylvester Monye, among others.

They all are eminently qualified Deltans whose right it is to aspire to the highest political office of the State. The political imperatives

and developmental realities, however, point towards far-reaching implications on the account of the emergence of any of the current aspirants. In very practical terms, the choices before that present themselves to Deltans range from career politicians desirous of improving on their profile and list of offices they have occupied without a clear cut vision of the onerous demands of the office. There are also aspirants who have amassed some significant level of material resources from their public offices. With the amassed resources, some of the aspirants are already on a mission of compromising identified opinion leaders within the political system and structure. There are, however, in their ranks, aspirants who are not driven by the lure and lucre of public office but by the vision of how the limited resources of the State can be equitably and judiciously applied to make Delta assume her leading role in the country through enhancing the viability of the various socio-economic sectors, wealth creation, employment generation, infrastructural development and inter- ethnic harmony amongst the cultural groupings in the State.

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he latter category appears to fit into the desires and aspirations of most Deltans today. An aspirant in that mold should therefore be a known and credible political bridge-builder who can be trusted to deliver on his promises in a manner that diminishes the State’s political and ethnic fault lines. It is indeed important for Deltans to come to the point of realisation that there is a critical job

to be done and that there is a nexus between the electoral choices that they will make and their economic well-being anchored by a focused leader. Accordingly, within the matrix of historical and political realities of the 2015 race, only the most qualified and equipped should be supported, encouraged and eventually elected into the evidently demanding office of this multi-ethnic state.

Chief Ofuani, a tested and proven technocrat, is reputed to have earned for himself a credit of nearly three decades of unblemished service in both the private and public sectors. A fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, his acceptability and political appeal go beyond his senatorial district to the other ethnic stocks of Isoko, Urhobo, Ijaw and Itsekiri.

His general acceptability across the state is said to be the product of his established service footprints and pedigree rooted in credibility, profoundly demonstrated as the pioneer Economic Planning Commissioner in the State.

From being an Economic Planning Commissioner in the State to a brief stint as Economic Adviser to the Governor before being invited by the then President Musa Yar’Adua to serve as Senior Special Assistant on Policy, Ofuani is at home with the economic blueprint of the State, the Niger Delta region and the nation and has the discipline and uncommon commitment to translate these into accelerated development of Delta State. *Mr. Anyasi, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Asaba, Delta State.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013— 19

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FTER 14 years of political quagmire, the Anambra State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been repositioned for the better, thanks to the political sagacity, administrative ingenuity and military discipline of Col Austin Akobundu (rtd), the PDP National Vice Chairman South East and his team of officials at the PDP South East zonal headquarters in Enugu. The party is now situated for the benefit of not only the generality of PDP faithful in the state but NdiAnambra as a whole whose love and acceptance of the party have grown from strength to strength since the advent of the current Fourth Republic in 1999.

That the feat of restoring order in Anambra PDP once and for all was achieved, was due to the resilience of Akobundu and the zonal officers who saw the need to fight the cankerworm of rascality and wanton hijack of party apparatus by some moneybags without compromising standard and attaching undue sentiments.

That a governorship candidate in the person of Mr. Tony Nwoye was elected in free and fair primary on August 24, at Dr Alex Ekwueme Square by genuinely elected delegates from the wards in the state without rancour and acrimony associated with such incidents in the past is a clear testimony to the fact that peace

has once again returned to the once turbulence Anambra PDP, hence its readiness to recapture the Anambra governorship seat it lost to the rival All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in 2006.

Interestingly, for the first time in Anambra State, a governorship primary election was held without imposition by the so-called godfather or godfathers, using the principle of one-man-one-vote as a platform. It will be recalled that godfatherism has been the bane of Anambra politics, a situation that led to the loss of the state by PDP to APGA. Anambra is a PDP state; one of the prime founding fathers, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, is from the state. The first governor, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, was elected under the platform of PDP in 1999, while currently it has two senators in the Senate and virtually all the House of Representatives and state assembly seats are all of the PDP stock.

This is why it was worrisome that the state which had played and continued to play a prime role in the formation and fostering of PDP at the national level was allowed to be hijacked ceaselessly by some cash-and-carry political radiators masquerading as godfathers. This scenario had factionalized the PDP, prompting the emergence of Prince Kenneth Emeakayi and Mr. Ejike Oguebego factions. These two groups and their sponsors, it should be noted, had been brandishing series of court rulings to underscore their supremos. This

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cankerworm had stalled the resolution of the crisis as the November 16, 2013 gubernatorial poll date fast approaches.

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owever, acting on a wise counsel and trying to forestall a situation where the PDP would be disqualified from fielding a governorship candidate in the November 16 election because of internal squabbles, the national leadership of the party decided to invoke chapter 8, section 50 (1) of its constitution which allows it to organize a congress/congresses or primaries for any state chapter in crisis.

Accordingly, this provision that states inter alia: “The national executive committee shall, subject to the provision of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act (as amended) and the constitution formulation guidelines and regulation for the

Oil ttheft and iimperative mper i of iimplosive mp osi osi Oil e and imper imp s r e on s o n surgeonisation eon on

BY BOBSON GBINIJE “In all economic activities, man is everything.

The supplier and demander, producer and consumer, Initiator, innovator, motivator, accelerator, Multiplier and distributor, the be-all and the End–all, the alpha and omega”-Chief Obafemi Awolowo (VOICE OF COURAGE)

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NY nation, state, collectivity or institution that is cocooned in the tenebrous oubliette and horrendous labyrinth of corruption and thievery in all things cannot walk the promenades of greatness. Hence, such moral contretemps will precipitate the mortal entropy of “venit summa dies et ineluctile tempus” (the last day has come and the evitable doom). Is this what is happening or going to happen to Nigeria and its oil industry in the light of crude oil theft?

The Nigerian mono-cultural economy that is 99.9% dependent on oil is now facing total asphyxiation because it is being hounded, hectored and hunted by crude oil and petroleum thieves. Since the discovery of crude oil at Oloibiri, Bayelsa State in 1956 and its subsequent commercialisation in 1958, the Nigerian nation has not known peace because of corruption in the oil industry, the Nigerian leadership’s skewed permutations on prices, pipeline vandalization, crude oil theft and general policy somersaults, etc.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, was establish by decree in April 1977 as successor to the Nigerian National Oil Corporation, NNOC, which was established by the Nigerian

Government in 1971 to concretize and mosomophically solidify the bases of the strategic oil industry. The NNPC has undergone rainbow and multi-dimensional restructuring to enhance its efficiency index, functionality potentials and growth quotient.

The administrative organogram is dichotomised along directorate lines, each headed by a Group Executive Director.

The directorate has the National Petroleum Investment and Management Services, NAPIMS, which is the division of the Exploration and Production Directorate which oversees the Federations nearly 60 percent Investment in joint operations and engages in direct exploration services. The upstream subsidiaries include the National Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, engaged in exploration and production, Integrated Data Services Limited, IDSL, engaged in seismic data processing and the Nigerian Gas Company, NGC, engaged in oil field gas treatment and distribution to industrial consumers.

The downstream subsidiaries include the Kaduna refinery and Petrochemicals Company, KRPC, Port Harcourt Refinery Company Limited, PHRC and Warri Refinery and Petrochemicals Company, WRPC- all engaged in processing crude oil, Gas and Refinery by-products, Eleme Petrochemical company limited, EPCL, engaged in manufacturing petrochemical products, and Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, engaged in petroleum product marketing and distribution. Others include the engineering consulting subsidiary, National Engineering and Technical Services Company, NETCO and the international marketing subsidiaries, Hydrocarbon Services of Nigeria, HYSON and independent marketers of petroleum products. And by

nomination for candidates for election into public offices at all levels and shall be the final authority for resolving all disputes relating to choice of candidates for the party for any election and for conveying to the or any other authority to whom it may, confirming the names or list of names of candidates of the party in elective public office in the federation”, was invoked to give impetus for the conduct of the congress and the guber primary by the national headquarters.

Against this backdrop, the party ’s national secretariat, assisted by the PDP South East zonal office in Enugu on Saturday, August 17, held a ward congress to select a three-man delegate for the governorship primary. The leader of the monitoring team, the Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly, Udeh Oko Chukwu, was elegant in his supervision in the wards. However, following some complaints of some inadequacies, the national secretariat set up a four-man appeal committee led by Alhaji Jubril Lawal from Katsina State.

The committee received some petitions bordering on inconclusiveness of their ward delegate conferences due to some logistics problems and bad terrain, particularly in Anambra West. It then ordered for a re-run on Tuesday, August 20. The re-run panel was led by the National Vice Chairman, South East, Col Austin Akobundu, who supervised the rerun with distinction and honour and produced the first ever free and fair congress in Anambra State after successfully superintending on the remaining 95 wards that had an inconclusive congress the previous Saturday.

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BY UCHE NWOSU

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h ttriumph riumph off Appreciating A p ecia in tthe th d emocr cy in Anambra An a b PDP democracy democr Ana P P

Kudos should go to the zonal officers of PDP in Enugu led by Col Akobundu who made up their minds to clean the Augean table by conducting for the first time a free and fair primary in a state known for its political turbulence

The audit report exposed the syndicates behind crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism in Nigeria; but it was short on figures and specificities on fraudulent manipulations in the oil and gas sector

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fiat the PPPRA and NEITE. These are the statutory bodies mandated and obligated by edicts, decrees and statutes to entrench accountability in the petroleum industry, including Shell and other oil multinationals.

Oil multinational blues: The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, SPDC, is the cardinal or arrowhead operator of a joint venture on behalf of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. Shell is by far the largest hydrocarbon exploration and production company in Nigeria. Shell operated oil fields account for more than half of Nigeria’s proven crude oil reserves.

Shell D’ Arcy Company, was in 1937 granted exclusive right to explore for oil throughout Nigeria. However, it was not until 1956 that Shell-BP made the country’s first discovery of crude oil at Oloibiri in the East Niger Delta, specifically, present day, Bayelsa State.

This kaleidoscope overview of some the companies and institutions involved in the petroleum industry has become necessary to enable us do a candid parallax snaps of those that are working in the system over the years and how they have been the be-all and end–all of what has been transpiring in the petroleum industry and how their commission and or omission has affected the petroleum industry in Nigeria vis-a-vis

Consequently, an appeal panel chaired by Senator Oyofo was constituted to receive appeal from the congress. Interestingly, there was no appeal as PDP faithful expressed their contentment on the conduct and success of the exercise. Based on this, the national leadership scheduled Saturday, August 24 as date for the governorship primary. A threeman committee chaired by Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina was inaugurated in Abuja by the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP. The committee also had Senate leader, Victor Ndoma Egba, as its member.

Meanwhile, to ensure a free, fair and smooth guber primary for a state that has witnessed rancorous primaries in the past, the national secretariat of PDP decided to select 23 statutory delegates made up of National Assembly members, state legislators as well as PDP national officers from the state as delegates outside those elected at the ward congress. This was carried out to nip in the bud any accusation of favouritism by any aspirant and forestall claims and counter claims of qualification or otherwise of certain individuals as delegates. After sorting out the basics, the committee for the Anambra governorship primary then scheduled Saturday, August 24, as date of the primary.

Indeed, kudos should go to the zonal officers of PDP in Enugu led

by Col Akobundu who made up their minds to clean the Augean table by conducting for the first time a free and fair primary in a state known for its political turbulence. *Mr. Nwosu was in the team of observers during the PDP guber primary in Anambra State

the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives, NEITI, independent report on crude oil theft, illegal oil bunkering and the vandalisation of oil pipelines, etc.

NEITI Report/scramble for oil: The recently released independent audit report of NEITI is sound and solid in structure, rich in character, treating matters of moral immaculacy, corruption in the petroleum industry, institutional inertia, administrative lapses and culpability index of partners and major players in the petroleum industry with power and purpose. Indeed, it exposed the clandestine under-belly and furtive backsides of some of the syndicates behind crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism in Nigeria. But it was short on figures and specificities on fraudulent manipulations in the oil and gas sector.

NEITI in its report demanded that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, should return N4.423 billion to the Federation Account and that the NNPC and other grotesque firms should return N 3.715 billion being “over- recovery” for the period under review (2009-2011). The report further asserts that a total sum of N273 billion accruing from crude oil sales has not been remitted to the Federation Account and that a total of 136 million barrels of crude oil estimated at $10.9 billion was lost to crude oil theft and the report went on to state that a total payment of N3 trillion was made to importers of refined petroleum products. Shell, the Royal Dutch company also claimed that it incurred losses totaling $700 million in its global earning due to Nigeria’s operational challenges.

Virtually, all crude oil and gas operators, especially oil multinationals, are all singing the same commercial of loss of revenues due to operational challenges (hostile oil communities, pipeline vandalism, illegal oil bunkering and crude oil theft).

Continues tomorrow *Mr. Gbinije, a commenator on national issues, wrote from Warri, Delta State.

20— Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

T

HE stowaway simply known as Daniel recently hit the touch button for a media frenzy when he quietly slipped into the landing gear compartment of an Arik Air aircraft on the runway of the Benin Airport on August 24, 2013. The aircraft was on its way to Lagos.

It has been a long time that the country has witnessed a stowaway incident, and it seemed almost inevitable that the media would be unable to resist the feast of sensation presented by Daniel. Yet, just as the of stealing of cars is always a risk that car owners have at the back of their minds most of the time, airline operators and pilots are also conscious that stowaways are always a possibility.

And perhaps, unsurprisingly, another stowaway attempt was made at the same airport on Tuesday, September 3, 2013 but the culprit was promptly arrested by a joint patrol of FAAN’s Aviation Security Services and the Nigerian Air Force. The trespasser, Mr Leroy Ugaga, aged about 25, wanted to gain access to the airside (runway) of the Benin Airport.

Copycat attempts are well known in such cases.

Predictably, t h e D a n i e l

escapade has generated a lot of public commentary accompanied by finger pointing and blame apportioning. Some Nigerians have put the blame at the door step of FAAN, being the managers of the airport where the incident occurred. FAAN, through one or two of its concessionaires, also provides security services at the airport terminals— although it is well understood that security is everyone’s responsibility.

Then, if that is the case, all stakeholders are and should be involved in security. These include FAAN, private airport terminal operators (for example, MMA 2), airlines, airport police, Customs, Immigration, Quarantine Section, cargo freight operators, pilots, cabin crew and even passengers!

Indeed, according to an account of the Benin incident, Daniel had been spotted by some passengers aboard the Arik aircraft who quickly alerted the cabin crew who, in turn, alerted the pilot.

Howbeit, according to that account, the pilot in his judgement decided to continue with take off without asking for a check of the aircraft undercarriage.

In December of 2010, a young Nigerian, Umaru AbdulMutallab Jnr., was a passenger on a US-bound flight from Ghana. He was duly cleared

,

at the Accra airport before boarding the aircraft which was en route Amsterdam to Detriot, US. Despite a barrage of security checks both at the terminal and at the point of boarding the aircraft, AbdulMutallab managed to evade all these checks and actually ignited a plastic bomb hidden in his “ underwear ,which luckily did not engulf the aircraft—as it was swiftly put off.

AbdulMutallab could have killed over 200 innocent passengers on the North West Airline flight 253 of Christmas Day, 2009. AbdulMutallab was not a stowaway. And he had been duly checked and passed on to board by security officials in Ghana and Amsterdam Airport, considered one of the best and

The new PDP (nPDP) and their chances

BY SUNNY IKHIOYA

T

HE breakaway of a faction has lifted the whole power play in the PDP party to a new crescendo. The stake is upped and each one is fighting for its own survival. The way the situation is now, it is either going to be a zero sum game, where the winner takes all or the loser crashes. In the alternative, a much more subdued PDP will emerge. The situation is already creating orgasmic reactions from the opposition parties.

How did things get to this sorry pass? The seed has been sown right from the time of Gen Olusegun Obasanjo as president of the country. Arbitrariness was the order of the day. People were appointed and removed at the whims of those in authority. During Obasanjo’s tenure alone, the PDP had five chairmen of the party and five Senate presidents within eight years – indeed a world record. In the process, so many members were alienated. The same methods were used to impose Yar'Adua and Jonathan as president and vice president, respectively.

Many of them, including Atiku, left for other parties. The short span of Yar'Adua’s reign did not allow us to assess the extent he would have gone in the use of presidential powers but a few people like El- Rufai and Nuhu Ribadu got a taste of it.

Jonathan came as a gentleman, ready to compromise with everybody, unfortunately, already aggrieved members, having learnt their lessons under Obasanjo, plotted to regain control of the PDP. Jonathan does not have the military background and ruthlessness of Obasanjo and in attempting to use Obasanjo’s strategies to make the party toe the line, he is finding great resistance. That is the situation of the PDP. In a very simplistic manner, the problems of the PDP can be solved if all of the participants agree to subject themselves to

a true democratic process, beginning from the state level. If the wishes of the PDP in terms of the majority are allowed to reign, then everybody can go to sleep.

Unfortunately, this has not been possible – Anambra, Rivers, Adamawa – to mention but a few states, are still deadlocked on who their true representatives should be.

Therefore, as the party cannot carry out genuine democratic elections within, the fight must go on. The battle is now between Jonathan and Atiku’s faction.

Will Atiku succeed? Why is he – Atiku- still insisting on being a member of the PDP? What does he stand to gain? Will it not be better for him and acolytes to go and form a party of their own instead of the roforofo fight they are staging? Or is the whole thing just a gimmick to gain control of the ruling party, as that is where the juice is? Time will tell.

There is no need over-flogging the issue that President Jonathan and his political strategists mismanaged the affairs of the Rivers State crises. A simple sincere faceto-face discussion with Amaechi would have put the whole thing to rest. Allowing the interest of the President’s wife to interfere with the interest of the party was a big mistake. Amaechi knows that his political survival is at stake if allowed to be bullied into submission; his political career will be over. He is, therefore, like a goat that has his back on the wall, he either wins it or lose everything. He has teamed up with the North whose politicians want the presidency to revert back to them. How will the PDP handle the issue of Amaechi? It is a sore thumb and must be delicately handled. It must be noted here that, if Amaechi is persuaded to revert back to Jonathan, the remaining governors will be from the North, it will then, become a North – South thing. Can Amaechi be prised away from the group? Amaechi, from his antecedents, is a very good political strategist. How will the Jonathan group

busiest in the world. These airport security systems were not down.

These were all in good working order.

Yet, AbdulMutallab was not caught until his ill-fated attempt to detonate the plastic bomb close to landing in Detroit in the US on Christmas Day, December 25, 2009. Who was to blame? Airport authorities, flight control officials, Homeland Security, pilot, airline operator, immigration officials? A few days later, US Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano acknowledged that the aviation security system had indeed failed, according to Wikipedia.

Indeed, the Daniel Stowaway episode would yet have been averted if the crew of the Arik Air aircraft had taken seriously the information freely offered by passengers on board the aircraft and had acted accordingly, by alerting the security agencies at the airport through the control tower.

It is well known that our various airport perimeters cover hundreds of square kilometres of land area which ordinarily, makes it difficult to police effectively. And given the country’s physical terrain, even at airports where adequate perimeter fences are in place, these have to be constantly maintained or repaired due to environmental factors such as heavy rains and erosion which impact the land area. Therefore, there is a constant need to maintain and monitor these perimeters.

Poor or broken down perimeter fences at some of our airports are

,

BY YAKUBU DATI

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Unfair FAAN bashing over Stowaway Daniel

The Daniel Stowaway episode would yet have been averted if the crew of the Arik Air aircraft had taken seriously the information freely offered by passengers on board the aircraft by alerting the security agencies

Everyone should come to the table with a sincere motive for peace; if the Atiku gang are not satisfied with the running of the PDP, they should exit the party and not heat up the polity

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appease him?

We are reading from the papers that the elders of the PDP are meeting to find a solution to the whole crises. Where were these elders all these while? Why did they allow the situation to get this far? Was it in their interest to allow the crises to degenerate to prove their importance to the party? If they have not found solutions to the party crises all these while, how can they do so now? Do they belong to factions in the PDP? The elders will have to clarify their stand and unless they tackle these issues sincerely, no headway will come out of it.

B

asically, the whole thing is a chess game. According to a Chinese proverb: “No one walks out of his home without a purpose”. What do the rebellious governors want? Sule Lamido’s ambition to be president has been in the grapevine for some time now, prodded by his principal, Olusegun Obasanjo. It got to a stage that Jonathan was addressing his state of the nation gathering at Abuja, while Lamido was organising a parallel function in his state.

Indeed, it is inferred in some quarters that the money laundering charge against his son was an attempt to rein him in and discourage his presidential ambition.

Governor Aliyu has never been tied to one position; he started this flirtation during the last presidential election. Today he is for Jonathan; tomorrow he is pursuing the interest of the opposition. What manner of man will dine with Mr President tonight and

some of the legacy issues which the current FAAN management inherited from previous ones. And I daresay that the current administration, under the supervision of the Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah, is determined to address all these issues. Nonetheless, it may appear unreasonable to expect that all these problems can all be fixed at once.

Following the Daniel incident, FAAN acted promptly to put in place fresh security measures at the various airports in the country.

These include deploying a FAAN security vehicle to a point within full view of the aircraft as it taxies out to take off and maintain visual scrutiny until every departing aircraft is safely airborne.

The arrest of another likely stowaway, Leroy Ugaga at the Benin Airport on Tuesday perhaps provides proof of the effectiveness of the new security measures put in place by FAAN. Clearly, apart from addressing the apparent infrastructural deficiencies at our airports which the Jonathan administration is already tackling, security is all about constantly adapting to current situations and trends in the society. What the AbdulMatallab case in the US clearly shows, is that no security system is foolproof the world over. And that there is the need for constant vigilance on the part of all stakeholders in order for us to achieve the goal of a more secure and safe aviation industry in the country *Mr. Dati, General Manager Corporate Communications & Information, FAAN, wrote from Lagos.

tomorrow declare for a faction opposing him. What does Aliyu want? As we know, he has never been one of the PDP governors complaining of marginalisation; whose interest is he serving? He should take a stand and remain with it.

Rabiu Kwankwaso also has not declared his grouse. Does he want to contest as a Northern presidential candidate or he is being loyal to Atiku Abubakar? The case of the Kwara State governor is understandable; anywhere Bukola Saraki pitches his tent, there will he be. The EFCC has been hounding Saraki for some time now because of his role in the demise of the defunct Societe General Bank, he is fighting through the opposition faction. All the other governors are aligned one way or the other to the Northern presidency movement.

What should Jonathan do? Is he capable of bringing discipline to the party? If he chooses to confront the opposition headlong, will such action not destroy the party? Seven state governors and a sizeable number of senators is a strong force that cannot be under-estimated.

My take is that everyone should come to the table with a sincere motive for peace in the party. From the actions of Atiku and his gang, the purpose is to regain control of the party mechanism like the PDM of yore.

Controlling the party means being in charge of deciding candidates that will stand for the elections and invariably, if they win – control the government.

If the Atiku gang are not satisfied with the running of the PDP like they claim, they should exit the party and not heat up the polity as a result. In fact, it will not be the first time that Atiku will leave the party, if he decides to do so now, he has been going and coming.

On the part of the President, he should – by all means – do everything possible to restore the confidence of the people.

Imposition of candidates and the likes should be avoided. Sort out the Amaechi issue and for once, let us see the real Commander-in-Chief in him. * Mr. Ikhioya, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 — 21

FG commences diaspora export programme

From left: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga; Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina; President Goodluck Jonathan, and Deputy President, William Ruto of Kenya, after the NigeriaKenya Business Forum in Nairobi, Kenya.

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has kicked off the implementation of the diaspora export programme, designed to improve trade between Nigeria and other countries of the world.

The President said, during a meeting

with the Nigerian community in Nairobi, Kenya, that the programme, laid down by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, would encourage the growth

Rights group tasks AU on African Mining Vision

BY JONAH NWOKPOKU

111.55

-1.0

2,540.00

-6.00

16.8

0.29

115.83

+0.57

109.94 +1.57 CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL DOLLAR POUNDS EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYA KRONA SDR

154 76 242 1684 204 407 164 8487 1 5482 0 2917 233 326 25 285 41 2616 27 3975 234 1828

155 26 242 9508 205 0674 165 3813 1 5532 0 3017 2234 0801 25 3672 41 3949 27 486 234 9394

SELLING 155 76 243 7332 205 7278 165 9139 1 5582 0 3117 234 8339 25 4493 41 5282 27 5745 235 696

CBN Exchange rate as at 09/09/2013

of Small and Medium Enterprises owned

by Nigerians at home and abroad.

He said this just as the two countries began mechanisms to double

trade between them within two years with the establishment of the NigeriaKenya Trade and Investment Council.

Already, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya has approved the issuance of five to 10 years visas to genuine Nigerian businessmen without restriction. He announced the approval while closing the Nigeriakenya Business Forum on Friday.

He said, “One of my highest priorities as President of Kenya is to break various barriers against investment and trade among African nations. There is absolutely no reason why Africa should submit to poverty amidst so many opportunities.

“People to people contact will solidify and encourage businesses, especially between our countries. To allow this to happen and ensure that people travel with ease, without restriction, I have instructed my Cabinet Secretary on Interior to give five to 10 years visas to Nigeria businessmen without any restriction.”

Jonathan urged Nigerians in Kenya to key into the DEP as a veritable means of ensuring that trade between both countries improved in favour of Nigeria, adding that Nigerian women in Kenya, who had complained of not being able to start businesses, should liaise with MITI on the steps to follow.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said the objective of the Diaspora Export Programme was to “leverage on the presence of Nigerians living abroad, using their individual and collective advantage in these countries to advance the promotion of Nigeria’s non-oil export.”

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igeria’s Environmental Rights Action, ERA, has warned that the African Mining Vision, AMV, adopted by the African Union, AU, in 2009 to provide guidance on how mining must be managed may not favour the continent.

The group said the policy will only favour foreign investors to the detriment of the African continent and will not address critical livelihood concerns of local artisans.

ERA made this position in a statement made available to Vanguard following the recently concluded 14th Annual Review and Strategy Meeting of the African Initiative of Mining, Environment and Society held in Accra Ghana.

At the meeting, participants examined the challenges and opportunities relating to the AMV and observed that while the policy remains important to re-organisation of the political economy of mining on the continent, African governments and national elites have monopolised the relatively minor profits that are left over from what foreign companies exploit,

while ordinary people remain jobless, and poor, while mining-related environmental disasters also continue to plague their communities.

According to ERA’s Executive Director, Godwin Ojo, “ while we applaud the AMV initiative of the AU for attempting to address mining

challenges on the continent, it is doubtful if the policy as currently tailored can deliver on its objective of greater benefits to the people as the status quo promotes the externalisation of production costs and the senseless plunder of the environment without adequate remedy.

Foreign investors eye Nigeria, other African countries for expansion

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

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IGERIA and other African countries are continuing to receive more interest as an investment destination from investors looking to emerging markets to access their growth potential, according a report issued by professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers,PwC, in Lagos.

The group said a significant number of corporate executives had declared their company’s intentions of growing their presence in Africa, and the number of global companies looking to establish a foothold on the continent have increased.

These were some of the findings of PwCs’ sixth edition of its biennial Valuation Methodology Survey titled ‘An African Perspective: Valuation Methodology Survey 2012’.

PwC said the survey reflected the views of 49 financial analysts and corporate financiers, saying this year the study broadened the reach of the previous Southern African surveys by including perspectives from analysts in East and West Africa.

Speaking, Farouk Gumel, Partner and Head of Deals at PwC said: “A key characteristic of the post-2008 recession period has been the increase in prominence of Africa as an investment destination.”

22— Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Wanted! An Investor Advocacy Group

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By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

n the last edition, we made a case for concerted, delib erate plan to educate investors at the retail level. Such effort will facilitate inflow of funds into the capital market from the grassroots. Most importantly, it will enhance confidence among retail investors, and help militate against many of the malpractices presently going on in the market.

This edition highlights another lesson from complaints received from investors, which is the failure of shareholder groups and absence of an effective investor advocacy group.

It is so apparent in many of the complaints received by Investors Forum.

It is easy to accuse regulators and operators in the capital market of not paying enough attention to the plight of investors, shareholder groups are much guiltier.

In Nigeria today, there are so many shareholder groups in the country, but you cannot but wonder what is their purpose and what effort they are making to mobilise investors and enlighten them.

AWARD: From left: Miss Olubukola Akanbi, Public Relations Officer, Imagepro Consulting;

Mrs Evelyn Femi-Paul, CEO, and Miss Damilola Irewole, PA to CEO, Imagepro Consulting during an award presentation to Mrs Evelyn Femi-Paul by the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria in Lagos. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele.

Most investors in the major cities have some awareness, but most outside the cities, especially the five major cities, have little awareness and understanding. If anything, they are the ones that need the help of shareholder groups. But alas, they don’t even know about the existence or awareness of these groups. In one of the previous edition, a leader of a share-

holder group boasted about the effort of its group to educate its members, and fight for them, good. But the issue is what the number of its membership is?

In fact, another revelation is that few of the people leading these shareholder groups are knowledgeable enough about the capital market. As many as they are, you cannot see any of them making conscious effort

Top 10 performing stocks

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nvestors’ preference for mid and small cap stocks saw nine of such companies emerging on the top ten performing table last week. Apart from PZ Cussons, that featured in the eight position, the rest were low priced stocks.

These include Jos International Breweries, JIB, Vono Products Plc, DN Meyer Plc, Paints and Coating Manufacturers Plc, IHS Plc and Wapic Insurance Plc. Others are Cutix Plc, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc and Learn Africa Plc. Jos Int Breweries again led the pack of other gainers in

the week, rising by 60.07 percent or N1.76 to close at N4.69 from N2.93 per share.

JIB has consistently led the gainers for the past one month. It rose by 60.11 percent or N1.10 penultimate week. Though the company has not furnished the invest-

ing public with any financial information in the last four years following inactivity since 2009, possibility is that it is about to make a big come back after Plateau State government liquidated the debt it owed a local bank. It was indebted to a local bank to the tune of N700 million. According to the company, the settlement of the debt was the first step to its revival.

Available financial statement for the year ended 2009 showed 61.07 percent decline in revenue from N524 million to N204 million. It recorded loss before tax of N431million and loss after tax of N432 million, while working capital was in negative position of N1.3 billion as at the time. So far, the stock price has risen by 485 percent from year low of N0.81 to the present market price.

Vono Products again clinched the second position just like in the previous week. The stock price rose by 43.30 percent or N0.42 from N0.97 at the beginning of the week to N1.39. It had risen to N2.88 before sliding to the present market price.

The company is presently

listed among stocks performing below the NSE’s postlisting rules requirement for its failure to render its six months financial statement for March, 2013. Vitafoam

Plc had in 2010 acquired 21.44 percent equity stake in the company through purchase of 64.32 million ordinary shares out of the 300 million total outstanding shares of Vono Nigeria. The acquisition was a long-term strategic investment meant to decide the future of the ailing Vono Nigeria. The nine months financial statement for the period ended September, 2012 showed that revenue stood at N525.88 million, while it recorded loss after tax of N4.80 million within the period.

Though it has recorded 43.3 percent price appreciation year-to-date, it still remains the least priced stock in the household durable sub-sec-

to reach out to investors across the country. None of them seem to have that vision; none of them even have visible widespread structures.

Common to the leaders of these shareholder groups is their apparent dislike for the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, and the Nigerian Stock Exchange,NSE. They are always quick to accuse these regulators of insensitivity to the

plight of investors, but they are also guilty. In as much as they are not making efforts to reach out to investors through massive drive for membership, they are also insensitive to investors.

What is needed is an investor advocacy group that will target every investor across the country, especially those outside the major cities. Such a group will make it its vision to reach everybody that has bought the shares of any company on the NSE to be its member. The group will continuously invest in publicity campaign for membership drive. It will have at least an office in every state, create simple, easily accessible means to disseminate information and receive complaints from investors. In fact, it must also have a unit or team that is dedicated to helping investors resolve challenges and complaints. The implication is that: opportunity for malpractice and exploitation of investors will be minimised; investors will have an independent platform to channel their grievances, which can advocate for them should the operators and regulators ignore their complaints.

It would be challenging to establish and operate such group, but it is needed and also doable.

By NKIRUKA NNOROM tor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, Nigerian Enamelware being the highest.

million. DN Meyer is a manufacturer of paints, tiles, adhesives, carpet tiles and allied products.

DN Meyer, an industrial good listed company, trailed behind with 31.47 percent or N0.45 price appreciation from N1.43 to N1.88 per share. Though the company has been in the woods since the last three years, posting losses consistently, the most recent financial statement for the half year ended 30th June, 2013, indicated that it has started breathing fresh air. Breakdown showed that it has risen to profit position of N83.45 million from loss position of N2.52 million in the same period of 2012. Revenue increased marginally to N396.69 million from

Paints and Coating Manufacturers plc, another industrial good listed equity, advanced by 25.29 percent or N0.43 from N1.70 to N2.13 per share at the end of the week. The half year result for the period ended June, 2013, showed that revenue stood at N1.61 billion as against N1.25 billion in the preceding year.

Profit after tax increased to N140.07 million as against N130.06 million in the same period of 2012.

N323.031 million, while gross profit also moved up slightly to N139.74 million from the previous N136.58

IHS Plc advanced by 19.15 percent or N0.45 to close at N2.80 from N2.35; Wapic Insurance went up by 14.53 percent or N0.12 to close at N0.94 from N0.82; Cutix gained 13.10 percent or N0.22 to close at N1.90 from N1.68; PZ Cussons added 11.90 percent or N4.50 from N37.80 to N42.30; Vitafoam advanced by 10.53 percent from N3.99 to N4.41, while Learn Africa’s share price appreciated by 10 percent or N0.15 from N1.50 to N1.65 percent.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 —23

INVESTORS SPEAK

Delay in delivering annual reports affects quality of contributions at AGMs

By WILLIAM JIMOH & HANNAH ISIBOR

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OSEPH OKPOYE: I want to tell you that contrary to the require ment of the Nigerian Companies and Allied Matter Act, CAMA, that financial reports of companies should be delivered to the shareholders before the day of the Annual General Meeting, most registrars and companies wait until the day of the meeting before giving the report, leaving the shareholders no room to study the report.

For instance, that I am here today is not because I got the notification of this meeting, or that I was contacted in anyway by the company to notify me of the AGM. I got the information on their website and it was when I got to this place that I was given the reports, which contain the notification of the meeting. This is very wrong, but that is what most companies do today.

Let me tell you, majority of the shareholders are not reading the newspapers; not all of us have access to using the internet, therefore not all of us can visit their website and get needed information, most especially when it has to do with knowing when the AGM is coming up. And that is why the companies must ensure that the reports get to the shareholders before the day of their annual general meetings because naturally, when the report is given to the registrars, they are supposed to deliver them to the shareholders’ residences before the date of the annual general meeting.

But like I said earlier, it is here that I got a copy.

And supposing I did not browse and get the information on the internet, how would I have found out when the AGM is taking place? The implication is that I wouldn’t have been here and that is the fact. And if I did not come, I may not have been able to contribute to the discussions in this meeting.

JOSEPH OKPOYE is a minority shareholder.

OLUGBOSUN ARIYO: There is this issue that the shareholders have always complained about and that it has to do with delay in delivering of annual reports.

Most times, we only get the financial reports at the venue of the AGM, though not all the companies do that, but I can tell you that it is applicable to majority of SEC DG, Arunma Oteh the companies.

And at the end of the day, we find it very difficult if not impossible to con- nies to rob investors their right to contribute because going through the an- tribute during the meetings. nual report of a company is not some- I think the delay is probably from the thing you can do when you are in a registrars and the kind of postal service they are using. I also think the post hurry or under pressure.

They need to work on this issue and masters need to improve their quality that’s if it is not a plan by the compa- of service delivery. If the government

postal service is not suitable for the result needed, they should seek the service of their private counterparts.

I will not want to put the blame entirely on the registrars and the type of postal services they use because these companies also normally delay in sending their reports to their registrars and some times I think there used to be communication gap between the companies and their registrars. If this must be corrected, the companies must have a time line and proper planning to ensure that the reports are made available to their registrars so that it can get to the shareholders before the day of the AGM. Sometimes, we also experience this problem because of the scrutinising of the companies’ reports by the regulators. When a company sends its report to the regulator, they will scrutinise it time without number and at the end of the day, such action will result in delay.

This is not to say that the scrutinising by the regulator is not justifiable, but time must be put into cognizance to uphold the provision of the Companies and Allied Matter Act, CAMA, which maintains that the report should be deliver to the shareholders before the day of AGM. The regulator can achieve this by giving deadline to the companies to submit their report, so that it will not result in hasty work for the registrar to collate and send to the various shareholders’ contact. Because the work is done under pressure, some shareholders will get, while others will not.

OLUGBOSUN ARIYO is the National Coordinator, Exceptional Shareholders Association of Nigeria

COMPLAINTS & INVESTIGATIONS I

need update on Spring Mortgage I bought Spring Mortgage some years back and up till now, I have not heard from them (Ejiogu Godfrey) Investors Forum Please contact the company at 16 DIYA STREET IFAKO – GBAGADA LAGOS, NIGERIA. You can also call 01-7612016 or 01-7925700

I need update on AIMS I invested in Aims Assets in 2008 and till date I have not heard any update.

(Nwarunta) Investors Forum Please contact the head office of the company at 23, Ajao Road, Off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, or 01- 2120049, 2120051, 2347029523916, 8095988382 Any dividend from Transcorp Please help me find out whether Transcorp has declared dividend or not.

If not, why and when do I expect it because I have been worried since 2007? (With God Enugu) Investors Forum Transcorp is yet to declare dividend since its IPO. Only the company’s management can explain why, and when the company would likely declare dividend.

Where is my Conoil share certificate?

I bought 200 units shares of National

Oil and Marketing Company (now Conoil Plc) but I have not received share certificate. I wrote to the registrar but no reply. I only received bonus dividends from the company. Please kindly help me to trace the share certificate.

(Mr Elobe Ndulue Fredrick)

Investors Forum If you are receiving dividend from the company, it means the share certificate had been issued, probably posted to the wrong address. In any case, the registrar should have responded to your letter. Please send a formal complaint to vanguardinvestorsforum@gmail.com.

Please if you can, attach scan copy of the letter you wrote to the registrar.

No certificate and dividend I bought 1000 units of Daar Communication at Intercontinental bank, Awka branch on 20/03/08. Since then I have not received share certificate and dividend. (Eze Philip O.) Investors Forum Please contact the company’s registrar, First Registrar. The company’s contact is: Plot 2 Abebe Village Road, Iganmu or call 08033018295, 08191410456 No dividend from Fidelity I bought shares in Fidelity Bank since 2007 and I have not received any dividend. I don’t know whether the postal box no which I corrected was not re Johnson)

Investors Forum contact is: Plot 2 Abebe Village Road, Iganmu or call 08033018295, 08191410456 Datamax Registrars, pay my GTBANK dividend!

I have been in a running battle with Datamax Registrars Ltd of 7 Anthony Village Road, Anthony, Shomolu Lagos, since last July. Datamax has refused to remit my dividend declared by GT Bank for the year ended 31/12/2012, payable 25/04/2013. Through an e-dividend payment advice sent to me, Datamax claimed to have paid the money into my GTB account, but checks at two branches of GTB in Onitsha showed that it was never credited to my account. I called Datamax on the 19th of July and an official who refused to disclose his name directed me to send them my statement of account for the period 25/04/2013 - 30/04 /2013. I sent the statement through GTB on 22nd July.

After one month of silence, I called Datamax on 21st August but they claimed they had not received my correspondence.

I had to resend it the same day through GTB, but Datamax has kept mute about it up till now. Please assist me (UDENTA CHRISTOPHER C) Investors Forum Please send a formal complaint with your name and phone number and address it to the MD/CEO of Datamax.

Send another copy to

vanguardinvestorsforum@gmail.com.

We will visit the company with the letter.

SEC release my Access Bank certificate I bought 14,000 units of Access Bank shares in 2008 and certificate was issued to me. I sent the certificate to my broker for verification, and along the problem, he had problem with SEC. As a result SEC impounded the certificate along with others. Since then I have been writing to SEC for the retrieval of the certificate so that I can sell but no response (Nwiloh Anthony) Investors Forum Please a formal complaint to vanguardinvestorsforum, and attach scanned copies of the letters you earlier send to SEC

COMPLAINTS AND INVESTIGATIONS Do you have any challenge with your investment in the stock market or with any company (stockbroker, Registrar Company etc), write to vanguardinvestorsforum @gmail.com OR send text to 07043855187. We will INVESTIGATE AND REPLY

24 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

NERC introduces N25,000 levy on generators … Sets new guidelines for importation Stories BY MICHAEL EBOH

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he Federal Government is set to reap billions of naira from the importation of generating sets, as the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has introduced a N25,000 charge per unit of 100KVA generator imported into the country.

The NERC, in its recently released, ‘Guidelines for obtaining Clearance Certificate for the importation of generating sets and related matters,’ also fixed a charge of N3,500 per unit of between 25kva and 100kva generators imported into the country, while generators between 5kva and 25kva attract a charge of N1,000 per unit.

Other charges are: N250 per unit of between 2.5kva and 5kva, while between 0.45 Kva and 2.5 Kva generators attract a charge of N150 per unit.

The NERC is also charging 10 per cent of the fee paid on the initial certificate for renewal of import licenses.

The significance of this policy becomes enormous, especially when viewed against the backdrop that a couple of years ago, Nigerian businesses spent about N1.8 billion on importation of generators within one week.

This was contained in a data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, which shows that 15 firms purchased $8.2 million from the CBN in one week to import generators alone.

Also, a couple of weeks ago, another report published by a global research firm, GBI Research, projected that the importation of generating sets in Nigeria is expected to grow to about N151.16 billion ($950.7 million) by the year 2020.

According to the research firm, Nigeria, which is the largest market for diesel and gas generating sets in Africa, is forecast to see growth rate of about 8.7 per cent to drive up market volume from N71.55 billion ($450 million) in 2011, to about N151.16 billion ($950.7 million) by 2020.

The research firm expects the growth in the Nigerian generating sets market to be driven by the epileptic power situation in the country going by the current state of generation, transmission and distribution networks, and economic growth in the country.

Importation guidelines The NERC, in the document obtained on its website, signed by the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, NERC, Dr. Sam

Amadi, said the provisions of the guidelines cover every importation into Nigeria. This includes fully assembled generators and knocked-down parts imported for domestic assembling of electric generating sets or retail as spares.

To qualify for the license to import generators into the country, the NERC said every applicant shall submit annual report of generating sets or knocked down parts imported by them in the last 12 months.

The report is expected to show

the various capacities and the number sold in each category.

The NERC further stated that the annual report of generating sets imported should be submitted before the end of the first quarter of the following year.

Incoming Managing Director of Total Plc, Alexis Vovk (left) receiving the key of office from the out-going Managing Director of the company, Mr. Francois Boussagol at the sent forth party held in Lagos.

The NERC is also seeking to regulate the noise level of generators in the country, as those with noise level above the stated minimum will not be allowed into the country.

It said: “A certificate may be issued for the importation of generating sets or knocked down parts which comply with the relevant provisions on noise level of 35 decibels, as specified under the National Environmental (Noise Standards and Control) Regulations 2009, issued by the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), and as amended from time to time.

“Every imported and locally assembled generator shall be fitted with optimizers to reduce environmental pollution arising from incomplete combustion.”

Continuing, the NERC said: “A certificate issued by the Commission under these Guidelines shall be for a period of six months only from the date of issue, provided that where a certificate is not utilized for the importation of generating sets or knocked down parts of generating sets stated therein, such certificate shall lapse.

“A certificate may be renewed for a further period of six months and no more subject to the payment of renewal fees.

A certificate issued by the Commission shall be for the purpose of importation of the generating sets and or knocked down parts listed therein and none other whatsoever.

“An application for renewal of clearance certificate shall be within 30 days after the expiration of the initial clearance Certificate issued.

Gas-flaring reduced to 20% in two years — FG … Nigeria to control 10% of global fertilizer market

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he Federal Government has disclosed that gas flaring has been reduced in the country to about 20 per cent over the last two years.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, disclosed this last week at the plenary session of the 19th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja.

She said that a further reduction is expected in the years ahead, following a series of gas projects including the upcoming petrochemical and fertilizer plants. These would take up a bulk of the gas currently flared, thereby reducing flaring and attendant harm to the environment.

She disclosed that the government is currently positioning the oil and gas sector to ensure that Nigeria controlled at least 10 per cent of the glo-

bal fertilizer market by 2017, especially as the bulk of the fertilizer companies are expected to come on stream by then.

She identified some of the proposed fertilizer plants to include; * Dangote Petrochemical and Fertilizer Plant to be built at Olokola * Indorama Fertilizer Plant at Eleme, * Brass Fertilizer Company at Brass, * Nagarjuna Fertilizer Plant at Ogidigben, and, * The International Fertilizer Association plant.

According to her, the need to get the gas sector to drive growth in all sectors of the economy, especially the agricultural sector, necessitated the excision of some key areas of the Gas Master Plan from the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB.

This is meant to accelerate their implementation under the Gas Revolution Agenda.

She noted that the programme has begun to yield dividends, with the establishment of a number of the fertilizer plants, now at advanced stages.

Alison-Madueke explained that the thrust of the twopronged policy of gas-to-power, and gas-to-industries, is to drive linkages between the power and industrial sectors.

The agricultural sector will serve as a key player in the industrial sector on account of its enormous job creation potential and multiplier effect in the economy.

She reassured that gas supply challenges are being tackled through the introduction of fair pricing similar to what obtains in major gas produc-

ing countries like Egypt, and Trinidad & Tobago. She added that there is also massive construction of gas infrastructure such as gas pipelines and gas processing plants.

Also speaking, the Managing Director, Gas Aggregator Company of Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Allen, disclosed that apart from Notore, which is already into fertilizer production, six new companies have expressed interest in fertilizer plants. He added that talks are at an advanced stage with the companies to firm up gas supply arrangements.

He further stated that gas supply challenge is being tackled through the dedication of the 10 per cent of domestic gas obligation for gas-to-industry to petrochemical and fertilizer plants.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 — 25

26—Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

& CNS Marine acquires Oil People $50m vessels for offshore operations

•FELIX AYANRUOH

felix.ayanruohlaw@gmail.com

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o strengthen local content devel opment, an indigenous company, CNS Marine Nigeria Limited, said that it has acquired three vessels worth over $50 million (N6 billion) for offshore services in Nigeria.

Speaking last week during the official commissioning of the new vessels, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of CNS Marine, Mr Barry Adedamola, disclosed that the three vessels were named, Adessa Ocean King; Adessa Legend; and Adessa Sea Protector.

Adedamola said that the new offshore dive vessel with a capacity of 50 tonnes can accommodate about 90 workers on offshore projects.

According to him: “Today, we are launching a unique product into the Nigeria market which has tremendous benefit to Nigeria’s socio-economic growth by creating lots of jobs, while hoping that more local people will be trained to work in the vessels.

“We have invested over $50 million into these vessels. We are fully committed to a hundred per cent Nigerian Content,” he said.

The CNS Marine boss however assured that adequate safety measures had been put in place to protect the crew, adding that additional security bullets proof boat had been acquired to support the operation of the vessels in offshore projects against militants.

Similarly, the Country Director, CNS Marine, Mr. Lucky Akhiwu, said that the company has some international partners, who render technical support to it.

He said that the company has worked with a number of companies including Kaztec Engineering Limited, Addax Petroleum, Saipem, Exxon Mobil, Adam Offshore.

He listed services offered by CNS Marine to include mixed gas hyperbaric diving services, air diving services, general construction, maintenance and repair and offshore pipelaying services and support. Others

are underwater remote video surveys and inspections, savage and recovery; pipeline pigging and hydrostatic test; vessel agency and dive support services; offshore quality assurance programme advisory services.

Funding Diamond Bank Plc is the sole financier for one of the vessels, and provided a facility of about $30 million (N4.8 billion) under a five year repayment plan.

The Director, Corporate Banking, Diamond Bank, Mr. Samuel Egube, said the bank’s commitment to Nigerian Content development, spurred its decision to fund indigenous companies in the oil and gas sector.

He stated: “Diamond Bank is committed to supporting the Nigerian Content Policy, and we will continue to do that. CNS Marine is an indigenous company which is also committed to Nigerian Content, and we are delighted to be supporting such an indigenous company.

“We are the lead supporters of marine logistics in Nigeria, and we are happy to help the company. It is not just a milestone for this company, but a milestone for the Nigerian content.

We believe that this is just the beginning. This support will increase employment generation in the country most especially to Nigeria divers.

“The financing of this vessel from Diamond Bank is around $30 million, and it is structured in a manner that gives them ample time to pay back. I think it requires a great amount of creativity to put this together. We have been able to put structured together to accommodate such financing and it is for five years.”

Recall that the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Mr. Ernest Nwapa, had recently said that the Nigerian economy lost over $100 billion in five decades to foreign owned vessels that have been lifting crude oil from the country.

DPR realises N470bn in Q1 2013

BY KUNLE KALEJAYE

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he Department of Petroleum Re sources, DPR said it generated over N470 billion in revenue in the first half, thereby surpassing its projected targets by over N86 billion.

This was revealed during a recent interface between the DPR and the House Committee on Upstream Petroleum, when the later visited the industry regulator, as part of its oversight functions.

The Committee led by its Chairman, Honourable Muraina Ajibola, commended the effort of the Department in its exceptional performance over the preceding six months, by surpassing its revenue target for the period.

According to Ajibola, DPR’s expected revenue target for the period, January to June 2013 was estimated at N383billion, but instead realized about N470billion.

DPR Director, Mr. George Osahon,

who led the management team, was called upon to initiate practical steps that would boost internally generated revenue to robust levels, and promised full legislative backing in support of such initiatives.

Also, the Legislators expressed deep concern in the seemingly unabated spate of oil theft, particularly in the Niger Delta, and urged the Federal Government to implement the House’s resolutions on the issue.

Ajibola recalled some of the recommendations to include, government to assign dedicated telephone lines to security agencies. Such lines should also be made available to the public in order to facilitate easy reporting of these incidents to the appropriate security outlets.

Other recommendations include proper manning of crude export terminals and the installation of electronic metering at well heads to assist stem this negative tide.

PIB’s fiscal regime: A moment of truthiness I

’m starting to have this sinking feel ing that meaningful opportunities are slipping away from the Petroleum Industry Bill’s (PIB) debate – particularly its fiscal regime. Stakeholders are threading the 2009 PIB path of selfdestruct. Although, the global debate regarding oil and gas fiscal regime is not new and will continue for ages, one wonders the motive behind the International Oil Companies, IOCs’ recent chutzpah of debagging the PIB on the pages of Newspapers instead of a constructive discourse.

Some background: Although you’d never know it from all the diatribes, with the IOCs predicting a dooms day if the PIB is passed, the PIB is based on the Report of the Oil and Gas Reform Implementation Committee (OGIC) set up by the Federal Government in year 2000, to carry out a comprehensive reform of the oil in- Oil rig dustry. The PIB is a reform legislation geared towards a robust legislation that establishes lucid rules, procedures and institutions for the administration of the petroleum industry in Nigeria.

Some of the objectives of the PIB include the following: ? Establish transparency and Accountability ? Create a robust economic environment to attract investments ? Establish flexible and competitive fiscal framework ? Promote exploration and exploitation of Petroleum Resources ? Increase gas supply for domestic utilization and industrialization ? Create efficient and effective regulatory institutions Furthermore, the PIB’s fiscal regime will increase government’s take and yet encourage investment in the petroleum industry - it allows for production based incentive system. The bill proposes the volume-based royalty – sliding scale between five percent and 22 percent depending on production volumes and location.

The OICs in their recent media blitz have alleged that the fiscal regime proposed under the new law risk cutting oil and gas output from 63 percent to about 25 percent – about 2.4 million barrels a day. Also, that this will translate to about $185 billion loss in revenue for all stakeholders as new projects will be stalled. They went on to state that this will create one of the harshest production sharing contract, PSC regime globally - governments economic rent (royalties, taxes and Na-

tional Oil Company, NOC profit oil) will be at 96 percent. The IOCs’ predictions and figures in my opinion are stochastic and should be taken as is. Do the IOCs think this tactic will stop the PIB’s passage?

It is wrong for the government and its proponents to keep on hinging on the fact that previous fiscal regimes were grave wrong meted on the country by the IOCs, as if the 2012 PIB is a reparation legislation meant to atone for past wrong or injury done. Stakeholders should not be oblivious to the fact that oil and gas exploration and development is a business and should be taken as such. It is readily apparent from heuristic analysis by expert in the field that a fiscal regime should neither deter investment which would otherwise have been made, nor should it encourage investments which would otherwise not have been made. That is, the interest of both parties – as in this case the government and the IOCs should be mutual.

It is obvious that the objective of both host government and the IOCs is maximizing the present value of revenues generated by petroleum activities. Every government in drafting a fiscal regime for its petroleum industry must ensure that the host state, as a custodian to oil and gas resources on behalf of its citizens, maximizes revenue, including tax receipts generated by the

exploration and development operations. This objective entails designing a fiscal system where exploration and development rights are acquired by companies who place the highest value on them.

On the other hand, the OICs’ objective is to build equity and maximize wealth by producing oil and gas at the lowest possible cost and the highest possible margin. The IOCs have a fiduciary duty to manage and protect their shareholders interest in its investment, including where they believe it will yield the best returns.

However, comparing fiscal regimes on the level of “state take” is an oversimplification of the issues, particularly when the calculation is of the percentage of the gross project revenues that accrue to the state as this ignores even the effect of differences in costs of development and production among others economic factors. It should be noted however, that fiscal system also includes all aspects of the contractual relationship between the host government and an IOC. Petroleum contracts or agreements require negotiation by the parties involved. It is important to state that at every contract stage which often involves the battle of the forms (exchange of contracts) end with parties adopting a contract beneficial to all parties involved – including one’s entered into in Nigeria. The OICs should also in the legislative formulation of the PIB put on its contractual negotiation armor in the drafting process of this bill.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013—27

Privatization not the answer to power problems — SSAEAC

BY SEBASTINE OBASI

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HE Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC, has maintained that privatization is not the answer to the nation’s power problems.

The position of SSAEAC was made known by its PresidentGeneral, Mr. Bede Opara, who said that the association based its position on the fact that the companies have not performed in a big network as Nigeria.

“Our position is that privati-

zation will not give us an answer to our power problems.

But we do not want to rule out that the new companies will come in and turn things around. They have that capability, if they are credible companies. I use the word ‘if ’ advisedly because we have not tested any of the companies.

And most of the companies involved, we have not seen where they have performed in the power sector. And as such, we only have to keep our fingers crossed,” he said.

According to Opara, the

companies need to prove that they can function in the Nigerian environment, “We have not seen them perform in a network that is as big as Nigeria .We may not probably look at a company that has operated in Liberia, for instance, because the country ’s entire power sector is not up to one transformer in my office.

Liberia’s total generation is about 40 megawatts. As I said earlier, we cannot use companies which operate in such environment to compare with what is happening here.

Existing PHCN workers “Let’s also say that if the new companies coming to take over PHCN apply state-ofthe-art technology in the power sector, they may do well if they have the fund. We do not know about their capability because we cannot say this is the place we have seen them perform; no pedigree we know of. Since so many of them are employing some of our people including some of our retired engineers; yes. So many of them – the major workforce they have are retired engi-

neers from PHCN and our people know what the problems are. I believe that if they have the will to perform, they can do well. It’s the feeling and that is why we are keeping our fingers crossed,” he said.

The President-General also said that out of the N400 billion expected to be paid to PHCN workers, about N120 billion has been disbursed so far.

As regards the faith of the workers after privatization, he stated that since privatization issues cropped up about 10 years, the Association made a constitution that mandated every successor company to have a branch of the Union, so as to protect the welfare of the workers effectively.

“When we started talking about privatization, in 2003, 2004 and thereabout that was when we decided to register SSAEAC, as a fullfledged trade union.

And in that registration, part of our constitution says that we should have branches in every successor Company or allied company. We had already prepared ourselves for privatization; our branch chairman and secretary respectively, will oversee what goes in these companies; visa- vis, workers’ welfare.

We have mandated the various branch executives of our union to get prepared to negotiate new packages because new companies are coming to take over.” he said.

While SSAEAC may be skeptical about the success of the privatization, President Goodluck Jonathan has assured that Nigerians will soon begin to enjoy positive benefits of the privatization of power sector with the successful conclusion of the sale of the country’s power generation and distribution companies.

In a statement issued by the presidential media aide, Dr. Reuben Abati, President Jonathan confirmed that all successful bidders for the power generation and distribution companies had completed the payments required to complete the process, which he said, was conducted in conformity with globally accepted standards and best practices.

28—Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

DPR tasks vendors on adequate seismic data

BY KUNLE KALEJAYE

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Oil vessel

signing. It added that data trade should only be done with DPR approved partners; otherwise it is likely to be illegal.

According to him, the advent of MC surveys in Nigeria with Mabon’s 1991 vintage 2D seis-

mic data coverage of parts of the deepwater, opened up this frontier and led to the discovery of world-class fields.

He added that similar services from new providers played key roles in the licensing

rounds of 2000, 2005 and 2007, stating that the interests generated in the blocks with quality seismic data on offer was overwhelming, just as the signature bonuses posted were competitive.

FG names 10-man team for electricity services company

BY CHRIS OCHAYI

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BUJA: Deter mined to reposition the nation’s power sector, and to also ensure proper sectoral coordination of the value chain, the Federal Government has created the Electricity Management Services Limited, EMS. President Goodluck Jonathan, who approved the creation of EMS, also announced a management team for the body.

Members of the management team include; Mr. Peter Ewesor as Managing Director/ CEO; Mr. Tukur M. Gidado, Executive Director, Technical Services; Ms. Ikechi Clara Nwosu, Executive Director, Human Resources and Corporate Services; Amb. Ayuba J. Ngbako, Executive Director, Commercial Services; and Ms. Funke Sam-Stanford, General Manager, Legal Services/Company Secretary.

Others are Mr. Oyinnemi Gbeworo, General Manager,

Finance & Accounts; Mr. E.O. Adeniyi, General Manager, Procurement; Mr. Aneke Uche, General Manager, Public Affairs; Mr. Tijani Baba, General Manager, Audit; and Mr. Okwudili Ezegwa, General Manager, Meter Test Station.

The new body according to a statement signed by Mr. Timothy Oyedeji, Deputy Director/Head Media, Ministry of Power, became expedient, as the power sector transits from public sector-led to a private sector-driven one.

IPMAN condemns pipeline vandalism

BY SEBASTINE OBASI

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he Independent Petro leum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has condemned the activities of the pipeline vandals and crude oil thieves, which have been a great challenge for optimal output from the refineries.

IPMAN also commended the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke for the stability and growth in the petroleum sector.

The IPMAN National Secretary, Mr Mike Osatuyi, said this at a meeting of the association’s National Executive

Seven Energy pledges commitment to gas development

BY KUNLE KALEJAYE

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he Department of Petro leum Resources, DPR, the regulator of Nigeria’s petroleum industry has tasked Multi-Client vendors to deploy state of the art technology in the design, acquisition and processing of data.

This is with a view to promoting regional studies and minimizing the need for postagestamp proprietary seismic data coverage.

The Director, DPR, Mr. George Osahon, gave the hint in a keynote address titled: Maximising the Benefit of Multi-Client Data Libraries in Nigeria,” at the 2013 DPR Multi-Client Workshop in Lagos.

He noted that as Multi-Client data services gain prominence in Nigeria, there is the need for proper definition of roles and setting of ground rules for broader coverage and inclusion of new players.

Osahon explained that Multi-Client surveys and studies have played a leading role in the discovery of hydrocarbon and resources/reserves addition in Nigeria.

DPR also stressed the need for MC data service providers and their clients to ensure ethical use of data within the industry. It added that licensees and licensors should abide by their respective terms of agreements, while service providers should ensure the protection of their intellectual property rights in the third party license agreements.

The regulatory body also advice that operators and end users, especially indigenous operators, to patronize genuine sources of data, while taking time to understand the provisions of the agreements prior to

BRIEF

Committee (NEC) in Lagos on Wednesday.

The Association sought the full cooperation of Nigerians to bring to a halt the activities of pipeline vandals and crude oil thieves. “Despite the challenge of pipeline vandals and oil thieves, Nigeria’s crude oil production has stabilized to between 2 to 2.4 million barrels per day under the Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs Alison Madueke.

“IPMAN thanks President Goodluck Jonathan for bringing Mrs Alison Madueke, one of the best hands of our time who has garnered wide experience in multinational Oil & Gas to manage the Nigeria

Petroleum Industry,” he added.

The Association listed some of the achievements in the sector to include, “Unbroken stability in the supply of petroleum products throughout the country in the last four months. There is also the signing into law of the Nigerian Content Act, by President Goodluck Jonathan, as a major enabler for building indigenous capacities for the long term survival of the oil and gas industry.”

According to IPMAN, the Minister had already superintended the signing of a gas supply and purchase agreement (GSPA) between key in-

dustry operators and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) for the supply of gas as an incentive to guarantee adequate supply of electricity in the country.

It stated, “When one looks at these achievements by the Minister, one cannot but commend President Goodluck Jonathan for his wisdom in appointing Mrs. Alison-Madueke to the position at this time in our nation’s history.

“Electronic tracking of oil vessels has made round tripping, diversion, impossible which is a good innovation to ensure accountability, probity and conserving hard earned Nigeria foreign exchange.

EVEN Energy Interna tional Limited, an oil and gas exploration, development and production company in Nigeria, and its subsidiary, Accugas Limited, have reiterated its commitment to develop the country’s gas resources.

The Managing Director, Accugas Limited, Stephen Tierney, said the company also plans to improve power supply and boost local economic growth.

Tierney in a statement said, “Accugas is committed to aiding in the development of Nigeria’s gas resource, improving power supply and supporting local economic growth.

“Through the processing and distribution infrastructure Accugas is constructing, we are capable of providing a long-term supply of gas for power generation and lower cost of fuel for local industries. This will create an attractive environment for investment for gasbased enterprises in Nigeria, particularly the Niger Delta.”

Total launches solar lamp

BY CHRIS OCHAYI

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BUJA: Determined to key into the clarion call to light up the country, the Nigerian unit of French oil giant, Total, has launched solar lamps, aimed at providing light to over 120 million Nigerians who lack access to electricity supply.

Presenting the product, tagged, ‘AWANGO’ in Abuja, the Chairman, Total Nigeria Plc, Mr. Momar Nguer, said the company resolved to become the everyday energy partner, and improve living standards of those without reliable access to energy.

According to him, “In Total, we believe that access to energy is a fundamental necessity, which greatly impacts on access to education, communication, information, and the overall development of individuals and societies.

“Today, over 120 million Nigerians lack access to electricity thereby resulting in their use of costly and sometimes dangerous sources of energy,” he said.

Nguer explained further that “In promoting the emergence of new energy solutions, Total introduced the Total to Energy programme.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013— 29

Emergency rule (for chartered accountants) (3)

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This is the concluiding part of this piece. The second part was published yesterday

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HEREFORE, the assertion of Governor Godswill Akpabio that the sacking of Umana O Umana was to protect the Constitution was a constitutional blunder.

Although his Commissioner for Information, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, avers in the said advertorial that the Governor sought advice from relevant electoral and constitutional experts and that the governor was duty bound by his Oath of Office to defend the Constitution (which include the provisions of the Electoral Act which forbid public officers from declaring for electoral offices while still in office), we have gone through the entire 158 Sections of the Electoral Act as Amended on December 29, 2010, there is no single section of the said Electoral Act (as Amended) that deals with disqualification of a candidate to the office of a Governor of a State on grounds of non-resignation from public office.

We wonder and our wonder knows no bounds what kind of constitutional and electoral experts that the governor consulted before making such a public statement which is at variance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and as interpreted by the Court.

Constitutional slip-up We do not know whether the office of the Attorney General in the Ministry of Justice had an input in this constitutional slipup by the Governor. The Governor, therefore, goofed on the reasons he advanced for the sack of Umana O. Umana.

It is pertinent that before the Governor or any other government official makes categorical statements on constitutional matters they should seek the advice of constitutional experts so as not to reduce the office of the Governor of a State and the Attorney General to the status of a mere neophyte on matters to which our Courts have judicially pronounced on.

As was stated earlier, the Governor has the power to hire and fire the SSG. However, the modus operandi through which

T VICTOR UKUT C M Y K

BY BASHORUN JK RANDLE

Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio

Umana Umana, former SSG Umana O. Umana was sacked calls for concern under the democratic ethos. The State Security Service (SSS) sealed off the office of the former SSG and locked out the permanent secretary in the office of the SSG. The question is whether it is part of the duties of the SSS to seal offices of political office holders when they are being removed or sacked by those who appointed them. Section 1(c) of the National Security Agency Act, Laws of Federation 2004 Cap N74, established the State Security Service (SSS).

Section 3 of the said Act clearly spelt out the responsibilities of the State Security Service (SSS) as follows: “Section 3 The State Security Service shall be charged with responsibility for: a.The prevention and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria b.The protection and preservation of all non-military classified matters concerning the internal security of Nigeria: and c. Such other responsibilities affecting internal security within Nigeria as the National Assembly or the President, as the case may be, may deem necessary.

From the stated responsibility of the SSS under the National Security Agency Act, it is not the responsibility or duty of the SSS to seal the offices of political office holders and prevent the appointees from entering their offices. The use of SSS in the Umana O. Umana saga was averse, arbitrary and a crass abuse of power, which is a dangerous to our democracy. If His Excellency Governor, Godswill Akpabio wanted to remove the former SSG from office, he could just serve him a notice of removal without resorting to the use of SSS and that could have sufficed.

•Ukutt practises law in Lagos

HE damage to the a c c o u n t a n c y profession in Nigeria was colossal. Subsequently, at the international level serious doubts were being raised about the quality of accounts emanating from Nigeria. To my mind, no purpose is served by being in denial, without going through the rigorous exercise of separating perception from reality.

Unfortunately, in the market for professional services perception equals reality!!

Those were indeed dark days for our beloved profession.

Let us now revert to the clamour for the declaration of State of Emergency (for the Accountancy Profession).

It would appear that the triggers are the “Fear Index” and “Uncertainty of the Future” by a crop of young (and some of them are not so young!!) Chartered Accountants who have invested their resources and skills in setting up their own firms. Over the years, they have built up their own clientele whom they have served faithfully and diligently. Now, their livelihood and the survival of their firms are under threat. According to them, the culprits are the large firms (“The Big Four”) who are alleged to be on a rampage.

I have to choose my words

J A D E J.K.. RANDLE carefully as I have been privileged to hear only the grievances of those who are enraged by the nonchalance of the Nigerian government over a matter which they consider life-threatening, literally.

The alternative is to close their firms and become taxidrivers, newspaper vendors, money-doublers, snakecharmers, drug-pushers, or political hustlers.

The litany of woes by the aggrieved parties is monumental. They are totally excluded from the banking sector. Even the few publicly quoted

companies which they audit have been “hijacked.” It is the same story regarding local companies which are sourcing funds from international agencies. The funding agencies apparently insist that only accounts audited by international firms would be acceptable!! This has led to the breakup of longstanding audit engagements with the prospect of imminent collapse of the local auditing firms. To further compound matters, the Regulating Agencies appear to have pitched their tent with the “Big Four” to the exclusion of all others. What is even more galling is that regardless of the clear prescriptions of the “Local Content Policy ” of the Federal Government which specifically obliges oil and gas companies to hire local auditors (“ownership by Nigerians”), local auditors

,

Akwa Ibom’s defence of unlawful acts (3)

This is the third and concluiding part of this piece. The second part was published yesterday

They have hired the services of an eminent firm of lawyers to champion their cause through the labyrinth of legal processes. However, they have gone further to send petitions to the President and CommanderIn-Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr Goodluck Jonathan; The VicePresident, Alhaji (Arc) Namadi Sambo; The President of the Senate, Senator David Mark; The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal; the National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr(Mrs.) Ngozi OkonjoIweala; The Minister of Justice & Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Mohammed Adoke SAN; Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; Mr

Long ago, Nigerian lawyers closed the door to “international firms” and have grown by leaps and bounds. There is a lesson for all of us there!!

are having a tough battle regarding patronage by oil and gas companies.

Even more appalling is the cavalier manner, in which at the slightest excuse, those local firms who encourage their clients to play by the rules are promptly dumped (or poached by the predators or “Ambulance Chasers”!!).

Regulatory agencies This is a highly sensitive matter and those who have been protesting are utterly devastated by the (alleged) indifference of the relevant regulatory agencies Corporate Affairs Commission; Department of Petroleum Resources; Central Bank of Nigeria; Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation; Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria; Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation; Nigerian Extractive Transparency Initiative (NEITI); Nigerian C o m m u n i c a t i o n Commission (NCC); Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); and ultimately the Ministry of Justice as well as the Ministry of Trade and Investment.

Now the die is cast. The angry (and aggrieved) chartered accountants have decided to grab the bull by the horns or at least go down fighting in a blaze of glory.

,

Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Trade & Industry; Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke; Director-General Corporate Affairs Commission, Alhaji Bello Muhmad; Director-General Financial Reporting Council, Mr Jim Obazee; and the President, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Alhaji Kabir Muhammed, The President, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; and The Chairman, Security and Exchange Commission, Dr. Suleyman Abdu Ndanusa.

Each letter/petition has been skillfully crafted by the lawyer who is handling the brief for the petitioners.

Long ago, Nigerian lawyers closed the door to “international firms” and have grown by leaps and bounds. There is a lesson for all of us there!!

In any case when you decode the petition, it is tantamount to asking for the declaration of a State of Emergency for Chartered Accountants.

Bashorun JK Randle is a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region. He is currently the Chairman, JK Randle Professional Services.

Email:jkrandleintuk@gmail.com

3 V g a , TUESDAY,, SEPTEMBER B 10,, 2013 30 —Vanguard

By Theodore Opara

All-new Ram 1500 redefines pickup segment Ram 1500

T

HE pickup vehicle segment is becoming the vogue in this part of the world.

Unlike in the past when pickups were seen as vehicle for doing dirty jobs, they have become very fashionable to the extent that people show off with them.

The credit must go to the Americans, who popularised this large size pickup segment by using them for work and leisure. One of such pickups is the Ram pickups Undeniably the most recognisable pick-up on the road, the 2013 Ram 1500 raises the bar with a truckload of pioneering, fuel-saving systems and first-in-segment technologies.

Ram engineers changed every area of the truck— from a newly designed frame, new engines and transmissions, to a new interior with the nextgeneration Uconnect® system, which ultimately offers new features without sacrificing capability.

The stop-start and active aerodynamics, Remote Keyless Entry plus grille shutters, air suspension and remarkable handling, ensure that the 2013 Ram 1500 delivers unmatched content and performance to truck owners.

Marketed in Nigeria by Weststar Associates, the new Ram 1500 has joined the likes of jeep Grand Cherokee, and Wrangler in Nigeria.

Models

Of the various unique and sophisticated models in the RAM 1500 family, the SLT Quad Cab 4x4 starts the upscale offerings with 8 speed automatic transmission, a 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 powerful engine,

bright chrome accents, a remarkable grille treatment, a Uconnect 3.0 AM/FM radio, power heated fold-away mirrors, and subtle but classy design touches for exterior glow and superb interior comfort.

The Ram 1500 Laramie Quad Cab 4x4 has an equally powerful 5.7-litre HEMI V8 engine and radiates with a sharp two-tone exterior treatment, shows off 20-inch chrome-clad aluminum wheels with plenty of exterior chrome to match, and an interior more typically associated with the distinguished class.

Features

Also notable are the Park Sense Rear Park Assist System, 8.4 Touch Screen Display, Uconnect phone with voice command and its 6-speed automatic transmission. It is simply everything you need in a truck.

The Ram 1500 runs at 305 HP and delivers a fuel economy of 18 MPG-city, a 25 MPG-highway.

In addition to boasting heavy duty engine cooling and transmission coolers, rare view auto dim mirrors,

as well as auto high beam headlamp control, the Ram 1500 is equipped with safety and security technology.

Dynamic front crumple zones and side-impact door beams help absorb impact forces from every angle. The Ram 1500 side

occupant protection system includesside-curtain airbags and side-impact door beams.

Hightech brake systems

For optimum control, Ram 1500 combines Electronic Stability Control, ESC, Trailer Sway

Control, TSC, and four-wheel Antilock Brakes, ABS. ESC senses trouble and automatically performs brake and/ or throttle corrections. TSC performs similar automatic corrections on sensing sway, while ABS helps improve braking and control on slippery surfaces.

PAN reactivates partnership with Automobile Peugeot France

P

eugeot Automobile Nigeria, PAN, Limited has reactivated its partnership with its foreign technical partner, Automobile Peugeot, AP, France.

According to the company’s new Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Ibrahim Boyi, both partners have enjoyed long term business relationship, spanning over four decades.

The partnership, Boyi

disclosed, is being rekindled for a renewed commitment to polish the technical and commercial agreement before the end of the year.

Both parties, according to him, would focus on enhancing commercial, technical and investment relationship, which components are transparent pricing negotiation for cars and spare parts, based on global pricing structure.

This development is coming at a time when the Peugeot Dealers Association of Nigeria, PDA, has assured the new PAN management of its support, as it settles down to restructure and redirect the company.

The disclosure was made at a special dealers forum held

by PAN management with all Peugeot dealers nationwide to chart a new road map for the

brand in Nigeria.

In his speech, Mr. Boyi stressed the urgent need to turn around the company, which he described as a national monument, to meet the aspiration of its founding fathers.

He said effective workforce (human resource), dealership (supply chain) were fundamental and critical to attaining the desired goals.

V g d, T ESDA SEPTEMBER SEP B Vanguard TUESDAY, 10,, 2013 — 31

By Theodore Opara

Skoda World unveils new Octavia, Rapid S

KODA World, a burgeoning subsidiary of Stallion Motors, is taking the auto market by storm just as it unveiled two of Skoda’s most technologically-imbued models— Octavia and Rapid.

While the new Octavia is reemerging as a third generation A7 family sedan, with a new design DNA, the Rapid is debuting as Skoda’s first model incorporating new design language with an embodiment of crisp lines.

The rapid became an instant hit shortly after its introduction into the international market.

Mr. Sanjay Rupani, Head, Sales and Marketing at Skoda World, Stallion Motors Limited, said the new generation Octavia stands out for its unique combination of most recent technologies and new design DNA with Skoda Autos’ harmonious lines of five-door body for those in search of dignified elegance, performance, safety and comfort.

There is also a clear emphasis on delivering the prefect experience in terms of quality, aesthetics and ergonomics, the marketing helmsman added.

Rupani explained that the new Octavia is the main pillar in the Skoda portfolio and a logical part of the automaker ’s Growth Strategy 2018.

“This will significantly strengthen the brand’s position in the A-segment around the world, including Nigeria,” he said.

A highly acclaimed brand in Western Europe, Skoda has also being a success in the markets of Eastern Europe and Asia and currently making inroads against established competition in other markets.

According to Rupani also said that the Octavia is targeted at customers, who naturally expect a spacious interior, timeless design and value for money.

He said: “It is only logical

*Skoda Octavia 2013 that most owners of previous generation Octavia (A5) will soon start to think of buying a new car.”

He added that the new generation Skoda would inspire a positive change in the way the brand is

perceived.

Mounted on Volkswagen’s MQB platform similar to VW Golf and Audi A3, the new Octavia comes with independent suspension. (Macpherson struts at the front and a multi-link setup at the rear.)

Though Skoda offers the new Octavia in a variety of eight engines, only the 1.8 TSI model generating 132kw/180 bhp turbo petrol engine will, at the moment, be available in the Nigeria market.

A lot of improvements have

Driv u h to beat be de Drive errs rush D rive b e t new driver’s er s licence i e ce deadline d e dli dli e A S the deadline for the acquisition of the new driver’s licence gets closer, Vanguard Motoring visited one of the licensing centres in Lagos and reports.

Following the plan by the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, to start enforcement of the use of the new driver’s licence

by October 1, the various licensing offices of the states/FRSC across the country have witnessed increased activities.

One of such centres is the Sura, Lagos Island centre, which is housed in a dilapidated building housing the Lagos Island Area office, behind the popular Sura Market. A recent visit to the complex reveals that as early as 8am, licence applicants were already on ground.

Though officials the Lagos State Licensing office and the FRSC declined comments, it was gathered that the centre receives an average of 200 applicants daily for physical capture— taking of their passport photographs.

Informed sources also revealed that the applicants were taken in three batches by FRSC officials to minimise lose of man-hour.

Applicants come in batches of 60 by 8am, 12 noon and 3pm.

Though the seating arrangement for applicants is orderly, it was, however, noticed that the seats provided for applicants were ordinary benches under a huge canopy.

Some applicants also complained that the local government forces them to pay N100 for parking their cars.

One of them said: “They don’t even give receipt and the environment where we park our cars is not even tidy. I expected them to use the money realised from the car park to improve the environment.”

Another said: “The pressure here is too much. I came all the way from Victoria Island, and I know all my friends from Ikoyi also come here. FRSC officials are trying, but the people are just too much.”

Nonetheless, with the number of appli-

cants who are still expecting to get their new driver’s licence nationwide, one wonders if FRSC will stick to the deadline.

Follow the steps below to renew or acquire the new driver’s licence: STEP 1: Apply online at https:// www.nigeriadriverslicence.org.

Print the form and bank teller or in person at Driver Licence Centre, DLC. Step 2: Pay the licence fee online or at designated banks Step 3: Present your form to the Board of Internal Revenue Officer or VIO at the DLC for endorsement Step 4: Proceed to the Federal Road Safety Commission Officer at the DLC for Biometric Data Capturing Step 5: You will be given a temporary driver's licence that is valid for 60 days.

For fresh applicants: Step 1: Attend training at accredited driving school Step 2: The driving school will present you to the VIO for driving test Step 3: Pass the driving test and the VIO will issue you a Certificate of Proficiemcy from road safety organisations Step 4: Apply online at htin Nigeria, such as Federal t p s : / / Road Safety Commission, www.nigeriadriverslicence.org, FRSC and the Lagos State print out the form and bank Traffic Management Agency. teller or in person at Driver Holding between Licence Centre, DLC September 16 and 26, at the Step 5: Pay the licence fee Richbon Ultra-Modern online or at designated Training Centre in Lagos, the banks training programme will also Step 6: Present your form to provide participants the the Board of Internal Reveopportunity to network. nue Officer or VIO at the Richbon was established DLC for endorsement over a decade ago as an Step 7: Proceed to the Fedindigenous incorporated eral Road Safety Commiscompany dealing on high sion Officer at the DLC for quality heavy duty trucks, Biometric Data Capturing construction equipment, traiStep 8: You will be given a lers, tankers, axles, spare parts temporary drivers licence and accessories, among others. that is valid for 60 days.

Sinotruk, Richbon organise training for stakeholders

D

ETERMINED to give their customer the best product and services, Richbon Nigeria Ltd., representative of China Heavy Duty National Truck Company, CHNTC, manufacturers of Sinotruk brand of trucks, has concluded plans to host a training course for its stakeholders such as drivers, engineers, mechanics, executives and distributors.

The programme is being organised jointly by CHNTC and RNL. Richbon Nigeria Ltd. According to a statement made available by the

taken place in the new car. For instance weight has been significantly reduced due to the adoption of higher tensile strength metals in the car’s construction with some models shedding as much as 102kg of weight.

Nigeria representative, Richbon,”the objective of the training programme is to empower Chief Executive Officers of haulage/logistics companies, construction companies, civil engineering companies and the directors, among others.”

The General Manager of the company, Mr. Edmund Okwu, stated further that the programme will also benefit all Sinotruk users and intending users delivering “more knowledge and information that would help them derive maximum value for their investment and achieve set profits targets on

their Sinotruk fleet.”

Okwu added that “the training would also empower participants to effectively service, repair and maintain their trucks fleet thereby reducing truck break down and down time to the bearest minimum.”

The training, according to him, would look into engine, transmission, axle, brake system, electrical system, drivers' skills, road accident prevention and all contemporary automobile problem.

The General Manager added that the facilitators of the training are experts from Sinotruk China and officers

32—Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

070 336 319 95 080 332 084 09

N

IGERIA’S business hub, La gos, one of Africa’s biggest cities, with an estimated population of 20 million inhabitants is famous for three distinctive features: high commercial activities, rush/congestion and its popular yellow commercial buses.

For several decades, molue,type of the yellow commercial buses had remained the major means of commercial commuting in the city. Over time, the poorly-maintained, rickety and smoky long buses started becoming an eyesore, worsening traffic congestion and accident-prone. From thence, the idea of phasing it out became a recurring one.

Last week, the moluebecame a casualty of the ongoing transformation of Lagos metropolis into a mega city when the Lagos Road Traffic Law, claimed its second victim; the first being the restriction of commercial motorcyclists, known as Okada.

Last Tuesday, the state government banned 911 commercial buses popularly called moluefrom crossing any of the link bridges to the Lagos Island and importantly, operating within the Central Business District CBD. The link bridges are Third Mainland Bridge, Carter Bridge and Eko Bridge. At different occasions, moluebuses had plunged into the lagoon, with some of the victims rescued alive and few unfortunate ones losing their lives in the process.

The popular Afro beat maestro, late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, dedicated one of his numerous albums: Suffering and Smilingto the molue. With 44 passengers sitting and 99 standing.Fela used the song to call the attention of governments then to the abysmal state of public transportation in the country. The name molue, according to an official of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, was actually coined from the English word, ‘maul’, mean-

•A typical Molue Garage in Lagos.

Lagos transport: Molue going, going, going…

•LAMATA to launch 350 buses

By OLASUNKANMI AKONI & MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO 19thof August, 2012, but Lagos State being a responsive and responsible government which believes in enlightenment before

,

The state government should have provided enough BRT buses before banning the alternative. Passengers sometimes spend three hours waiting for buses from Obalende to Oshodi due to the scarcity of the BRT

ing handle- roughly because of the way passengers scramble to board the bus.

Why the ban The General Manager of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority LASTMA, Engr. Babatunde Edu, during a meeting with chairmen of the Lagos Urban Bus Owners Association of Nigeria, LUBON, operators of molue, last Wednesday, stressed that the move, was to ensure adequate monitoring of the operations of commercial vehicles and compliance with traffic rules and regulations.

“Although the new directive should have been effective since

,

enforcement, decided to shift the enforcement to 4thof this month.

“Officials of LASTMA have been mandated to ensure strict compliance and impound any such vehicles found to have flouted the directive after expiration of the ultimatum, September 4, 2013.” he said.

However, Edu, when contacted on the compliance level by operators, expressed satisfaction so far and urged operators to sustain voluntary compliance in their best interest. He said molue can ply in any other parts of the state aside the restricted areas. He emphasized that the state government had not banned

the operations of moluein the state but rather it has restricted their operations to areas like Orile, Iyana-Ipaja, Mile 2 and Mile 12 among others.

Residents react: Mr. Anthony Ikenna, a concerned resident said: “This is another anti- poor legislation. The state government should have provided enough BRT buses before banning the alternative. Passengers sometimes spend three hours waiting for buses from Obalende to Oshodi due to the scarcity of the BRT. Very soon the Keke Marwa will also be banned, who knows what will follow next.”

Drivers’ complaint: Drivers of molueand danfo buses however, blame the manner of driving on the life style of Lagos and the people who are always in a haste to get to their destinations.

Abib Yusuf, a danfo driver, said: “In Lagos, making money is the rule of the game. If you don’t hurry up, the money will leave you behind.” Jimoh Abdullai, a molue driver for the past 15 years, said: “poverty and lack of fund lead to driving molue.”

NURTWofficials react: In response, the leader of the team Engr. Taofeek Adesina, commended the government for its

effort to restore sanity and order in the state and therefore pledged the readiness of his union to support the new cause.

State Chairman of NURTW, Tajudeen Agbede, admitted that they were duly carried along on the policy and that all members have been notified and warned to ensure total compliance.

Special taskforce He disclosed that the union had also set up a special taskforce to monitor and ensure compliance.

“We have set up our own special taskforce to go round and discipline any member found to have flouted the ban. We have advised them to form a cooperative to be able to tap into the state LAGBUS or Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, franchise.

“The state government has offered to assist us in alleviating the effect of the ban by giving us LAGBUs franchise, through cooperative union. have advised them to form cooperative union so that we could apply for state franchise. We are okay with the state government in ensuring that no one is left out of his job.”

BRT buses by LAMATA: Dr.

Dayo Mobereola, Managing Director, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, LAMATA, regulator of the Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, said the authority, in collaboration with operators is set to introduce 50 new buses and refurbish 100 serviceable vehicles by the end of September.

Mobereola, stressed that the measure was part of a holistic plan to return the BRT operations and experience to its once efficient and effective state at launch in 2008.

He said the state government was not unaware of the challenges commuters are facing, noting that serious steps are currently being taken to ensure the restoration of efficient and effective service delivery.

Mobereola said: “The operator (the 1st BRT Cooperatives) has concluded arrangements for the acquisition of 50 new buses, the refurbishment of 100 serviceable vehicles and a re-structuring of its operations management team by the end of the third quarter of 2013. The state government through LAMATA is working with the operator of the BRT System, the NURTW, 1st BRT Cooperative to ensure a full turnaround. As a regulating agency,

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

— 33

070 336 319 95 080 332 084 09 we are working behind the scene to ensure that the ideals of the BRT system at conception and launch are not lost. Very soon, the change that commuters rightly expect would be evident. The operator has placed an order for 50 new buses as part of the process of re-fleeting the system”.

Fashola meets BRT, LAGBUS, Franchise coys, others: Sequel to the ban, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, penultimate Sunday, met with the LAGBUS and BRT bus Captains/ Pilots, management and staff of the state’s mass transit bus systems, urging them to show more dedication and passion towards their jobs.

Fashola, who addressed the scores of bus pilots and captains as well as representatives of the franchise companies among others at the LASTMA Yard in Oshodi, said all the staff needed to make the business grow for their benefit and that of their employees was a change of attitude, a more businesslike approach and a deeper sense of ownership.

He listed the adverse reports from the public to include: reckless driving and rudeness to commuters among others, adding “there are endless opportunities in this business but they can only be possible if this business continues to grow”.

He recalled that he served on a committee before that tried to get some companies to come to the state and manufacture buses and vehicles. “They told us that our market demand was not enough and that they would instead supply us the vehicles from South Africa. The reason was simple.

Though we are more populous than South Africa, we do not have an organized bus system that they can measure and be certain that it can grow by X number of buses in the next 10 years and grow by Y number of buses in another 10 years so they can set up a factory here and believe that over the next 20 years the company would continue to have demand for jobs.

A prototype of old number plate

Oct 1 deadline: 63.7 % of vehicle owners yet to get new number plate •FRSC, VIS, talk tough on enforcement

By OLASUNKANMI AKONI

O

WNERS of vehicles with old number plates are in for a tough time with law enforcement agents, if the threat

by Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Lagos State Vehicle Inspection Service, VIS, and the Police is anything to go by as enforcement on new vehicle number plate commences on Tuesday, October 1, 2013. FRSC and VIS, had said that the old number plates and the old driver’s license would expire by September 31, 2013.

Like drivers’ license issuance, several complaints had followed non-availability of vehicle number plates.

In particular, shortly after the biometric driver’s licence and number plates were introduced in 2011, there were series of public complaints that the particulars were not getting to motorists as they should.

The people’s complaints were provoked by the deadline fixed for the acquisition of the new biometric driver’s licence and number plates by the issuing authorities. Although the deadline was later extended, as recommended by the National Assembly, many motorists insist that they could still not acquire the documents, citing inadequate provision of the documents as the reason.

The motorists’ complaints notwithstanding, the issuing authorities including the FRSC and VIS insist on the September 30, 2013 deadline.

The Chief Vehicle Inspection Officer, VIO, in Lagos, Engr.

Adegboyega Toriola, last weekend, said that his men had been directed to commence enforcement by October 1.

In Nigeria, vehicles are registered with number plates, therefore, when vehicles are

Road traffic law has rendered 75 % of Okada riders jobless — Union leader

By MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

B

A prototype of new number plate

ARELY a year after the Lagos State Government introduced the Road Traffic Law, the Motorcycle and Tricycle Operators Association of Nigeria MOTOAN, has lamented that over 75 percent of its members are out of business.

It will be recalled that Governor, Babatunde Fashola, while signing the state’s road traffic bill into law, said that the new law would help the state address disorderliness on the road which had led to high rate of accidents especially through commercial motorcycle popularly called Okada.

The law Okada and Tricycle popularly called “Keke Marwa” from plying major high ways in the state, which has led to

the reduction in road traffic accidents in the state. According to statistics released by the state government, 3718 Okada related accidents were recorded between January 2012 and July 2012, that is, before the law was promulgated. While 2413 Okada related accidents were recorded between August 2012 and March 2013, with the peak in August when the law was yet to be fully enforced.

National President of MOTOAN, Mr. Ibrahim Ekunola said: “I cannot say the actual number of Okada riders who are out of business now and roaming the streets.

The number is reducing daily. But at least 75 percent of our members are out of job, due to the new road traffic law which banned our activities from 475 roads in the state.”

sold to another person, the numbers are sold with the vehicles. By this structure, the new owner of the vehicle uses the same plate number on the vehicle. This implies that the vehicle retains the same number as long as it is on the road, as the number is never to be issued to any other vehicle.

It is worthy of note that Nigeria has changed number plates about six times, most of which were necessitated by adjustments in the federating structure through the creation of new states. Also, in recent times, Nigeria has changed vehicle number plates thrice without any adjustment to the state structure and without any meaningful impact on the welfare of Nigerians or security situation in Nigeria.

Security situation Sometimes ago, the Police Force, under Tafa Balogun as Inspector General, introduced the Centralized Motor Registration, CMR, with Police report. People were forced to pay for this for every car so that all vehicles will be registered in one central computerized system with their owners’ data, engine and chassis numbers.

The idea was to checkmate theft of vehicles, yet, vehicles with CMR are stolen daily.

Senate approval: The Senate, during the controversy resolved that the Biometric Central Motor Registry BCMR, system was a duplication of the ongoing vehicle owners’ biometric data scheme introduced by FRSC. However, the controversy surrounding the new number plates and vehicle registration had been put

to rest.

The cost of standard motor vehicle plate numbers was reduced from N15, 000 to N8, 400 and driver’s licence from N6, 000 to N4, 000.

Those of articulated vehicles was reduced to N11, 200 from N20, 000 as stipulated by the FRSC, while privileged numbers and fancy or personalised number plates were left as recommended by the FRSC. However, dealer number plates which cost N30, 000 before now, was slashed to N16, 800.

The Senate, therefore, lifted the suspension on the issuance of the number plates and new driver ’s licences, just as it barred the police from conducting another vehicle registration. The Senate, which adopted all the recommendations of its Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs, approved the recommendation that the deadline for compliance with the new scheme be extended from August 2012 to February 2013, which was later postponed to September, 31, 2013.

An obvious physical feature on the new number plate is the Nigerian map, centrally placed and green boarder on the lower part. Toriola, while speaking with Vanguard at the weekend, said the new number plates aimed, among others, to reduce criminal activities nationwide, adding that the new system had “an outstanding benefit over the old ones”.

Howerver, a source at the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, who preferred anonymity, disclosed that, out of about 1.1 million registered vehicles in Lagos, only 300,000 or 27.3 per cent had been issued the new number plates.

34 —Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

C M Y K

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 — 35

C M Y K

36—Vanguard , TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

N'Delta youths commend PPMC's achievements

Clerics blame Rivers crisis on Presidency

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BUJA—A youth group in the Niger Delta region, Niger Delta Youths for National Change, NDYNC, has commended the management of Pipeline and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, for rehabilitating oil depots, including the Benin Depot in Edo State.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, President of NDYNC, Mr. Sufuyanu Ikharo, said that the Managing Director of PPMC, Prince Haruna Momoh, had demonstrated commendable leadership by ensuring that oil depots in the country were repaired.

He said that some of the depots had been moribund in the last seven years, a situation that had threatened the economy and made life difficult for the populace, “especially residents of Benin and its neighbouring communities”.

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LERICS, under the aegis of Congress of International Communion of Bible Churches, have said that there were enough evidence to show that the Presidency and President Goodluck Jonathan have a hand in the lingering political crisis in Rivers State.

In a communiqué at the end of their congress at God’swill Mission, Orhuwhorun, Delta State, they said that it was not right for a President, who occupies the highest position in the land to allegedly fuel a crisis.

They urged him to reconcile with Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

In the communiqué, read by the Archbishop and Primate, International Communion of Bible Churches, Professor Simeon Onibere, the clerics frowned at the stance of the presidency on the crisis and urge the Governor Seriake Dickson’s People Democratic Party, PDP, Reconciliation Committee to begin its job in Rivers State.

They asked: “Are we not ashamed of ourselves in this country?”

Achievements

He said: “We take special notice that under the leadership of Prince Momoh, the Port Harcourt- Aba, Warri-Benin and Jos-Gombe pipeline networks had been repaired to perform the functions for which they were built.

“He has also seen to the rehabilitation of the moribund depots in Gombe, Makurdi, Enugu, Minna and the one in Aba, which had been out of service for over 10 years.

“The Warri, Aba and Calabar

Depots have all been upgraded from analogue to digital loading meters, while the Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, butanisation plants in Ibadan, Kano, Gusau, Enugu and Gombe have all been commissioned under Momoh’s watch.”

Ikharo said that there was need for Nigerians to recognise excellence and performance, noting that it was vital to criticise and condemn when people in privileged positions failed to live up to expectation in their exalted positions.

Presidential commendation

He said: “Prince Momoh has made us proud as citizens of the Niger Delta. We thank President Goodluck Jonathan for recognising competence when he

singled out the management of PPMC for commendation during his progress report at the just-concluded special Peoples Democratic Party, PDP convention in Abuja.

“We also understand that Momoh has tackled the notorious System 2b Pipeline, stretching from Atlas Cove in Lagos to Ilorin in Kwara State.

“It is only a focused leadership that can achieve these feats in so short a time.”

On criticisms

He dismissed recent attacks, made by one General Okunbiri, also known as “Forest Dog,” a self-confessed militant, who had been firing tirades of verbal attacks on the leadership of PPMC. Ikharo told the government

ATIKU: Ex-militants' threat counter-productive, says ACF

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

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REWA Consultative Forum, ACF, has urged the Niger Delta ex-militants to withdraw their threat barring former Vice President, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, from entering the Niger Delta region in the interest of peace, national cohesion and stability of the country.

Reacting to the threat by ex-

militants on the banner of Leadership Peace and Cultural Development Initiative in connection with the crisis in Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ACF, in a statement in Kaduna, weekend, by its National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani, said that the ex-militants, by their misguided action, were crossing the mark that is alien to democratic tenets.

Warri women endorse Ochei for Delta governorship

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

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ARRI Ladies Council, WLC, has said that for the developmental efforts of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State to be sustained, the

gubernatorial aspirations of the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Victor Ochei, must be supported across the state.

It also stated that all the women in the three local gov-

ernment areas of Warri would be mobilised towards Ochei’s aspirations.

Disclosing this when the group paid a courtesy visit to a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain in Warri, Mr. Micheal

Tidi, WLC’s spokesperson, Mrs Catherine Ezewu, noted that what the state needed at the moment was a detribalised leader with a good understanding of the workings of the government.

According to ACF, threats such as the one from the Niger Delta ex-militants was a negation of dialogue and the political process playing itself out on account of the breakup of PDP into factions.

Speaking on the issue, Mr. Timi Frank, a Niger Delta youth leader, dismissed the threat as empty, adding that it depicted the ignorance of the group and showed total lack of understanding of the crisis in PDP. The youth leader said it was wrong for the group to declare Atiku or indeed any northerner and Nigerian involved in the current crisis persona non grata, as the issue was purely a party matter that should be devoid of tribal, ethnic, religious or regional sentiments.

By Bartholomew Madukwe

PEOPLE SPEAK

08102479985

not to allow misguided elements to divert its attention from achieving the set goals of the transformation agenda, especially in the downstream sector.

Ikharo said: “President Jonathan recently cited PPMC for outstanding performance, saying that his administration had ensured that the downstream sub-sector witnessed stable supply of petroleum products as well as efficient administration of the subsidy programme at reduced costs.

“There are no longer unending queues and jerry-cans at the petrol stations.

“The irony of life is that Prince Momoh, the man being praised

by Mr. President is also being accused by the militant ‘general’ of working contrary to Mr. President’s transparency agenda in the oil sector.”

(nwamad@yahoo.com)

On boy found on airplane's wheel well

OW! What a story.

He should be employed by the airport management for him to have outsmarted all of the security personnel on duty. Who knows if it was not one of the security staff that helped him? You never can tell anyway.— Mrs Bukky Oluwale, Administrator.

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ANIEL is just one of thousands of Nige-rians that have the capability but lack the capacity to actualise their dreams. He deserves the highest national award and training to encourage others that there is a chance for everyone.— Mr. Kingsley Edokpa, Businessman.

HAT a stunt and high risk from such a little boy.

So for me, he should be trained and taken care of by the Federal Government. Also, Arik Airline should make use of the boy as part of its staff in the security department.— Mr. Ogunleke Piresy, Worker.

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HE stowaway boy did what he did be cause of “making it.” Our youths have lost hope in this country.

Many of them have gone into various evil works, but Daniel felt if he could make it outside Nigeria, he will “make it.”— Chief M. A. Aina, King-Maker.

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HIS is the kind of guy we need in our country for things to move forward— courage. DSS, I beg you in the name of Our Lord, don’t waste this raw material. It will be useful to our country. What he needs is more training to make out something from his little effort.— Mr. Emma Chidera, Model.

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LTHOUGH I do not support the little boy’s idea of going in the airline’s wheel well to hide, thinking the flight is going outside Nigeria, I still want to commend him for his courage. I am a retired Brigade Commandant, so I know what I am saying.— Mr. Solomon Bombata, Pensioner.

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013—37

Omo-Agege joins Delta central senatorial race

Emerhor campaign organisation denies crack in Delta APC

BY FESTUS AHON

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GHELLI—FORMER Secretary to the Delta State Government, Mr Obarisi Ovie Omo-Agege has joined the race for the Delta Central senatorial by-election with a vow to bring the Urhobo nation back to the mainstream of national politics.

Omo-Agege, who declared his intention to run on the banners of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the leadership of the party in Delta Central at Egborode, Okpe Local Government Area of the state, praised the contributions of late Pius Ewherido but insisted that it was time for the Urhobos to again be part of national decision makers.

He said “Our nation faces very serious choices, choices that cannot be put off any longer if we are to get the Nigerian project right. For too long, Nigeria has depended on crude oil as our main source of foreign exchange.

We unwisely ignored every other sector, particularly agriculture with its massive potential to generate employment for our people."

Group drums support for Jonathan's second term

BY TONY NYONG

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Y O — A K W A IBOM Peoples Forum, AKPF, has called for support for the second term project of President Goodluck Johnathan. It also passed a vote of confidence on the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The group in a statement by the International President of its Youth Wing, Mr. Nse Brownson, said: “We will leave no stone unturned in our quest to mobilise Nigerians for the second term project of President Johnathan, and also ensure the recognition of Governor Godswill Akpabio leadership mien, particularly as it relates to the zoning of the 2015 governorship position to Eket senatorial district.

“As one of the national observers at the recent PDP special convention, in Abuja, what informed the passing of the vote of confidence in the leadership of the party at the national level, was the transparent and mature manner the mini convention was conducted."

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President Goodluck Jonathan signing visitor registers at the Defence Intelligence Agency headquarters, Abuja, flanked by Chief of Defence Intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Sanni Audu (left), Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada (2nd right) and Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Ibrahim. Photo: State House.

DELTA CENTRAL SENATORIAL BY-ELECTION

Some aspirants 'unfit' to replace Ewherido — STAKEHOLDERS A

HEAD of Delta Central senatorial by-election, Association of Magazine and Newspaper Publishers of Delta State, yesterday, has described some politicians eyeing the seat created by the death of Senator Pius Ewherido’s as “unfit.”

The group which criticised some of politicians in the senatorial district, added that some of the aspirants should bury their head in shame for not contributing their quota to the development of the district in the past.

Speaking at a meeting of the group, Mr Ovie Edomi, its Coordinator said one of the aspirants was a governorship candidate under People’s Democratic Party, PDP and former gubernatorial candidate in Delta State “moved to Republican Party

of Nigeria, when he discovered that the governorship candidate had died to contest the Delta State re-run election and later moved to Action Congress of Nigeria to contest the 2011 governorship election and when he could not achieve his governorship ambition, he ran to PDP to seek ministerial position which he didn’t get either.

“Two other PDP aspirants were in the House of Representatives, and unlike most of their colleagues, they did not do anything for the Delta Central people. A fourth aspirant, who was a two time commissioner empowered mainly Oghara and Mosoga youths. Another candidate

performed woefully in Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC and yet he wants to represent us in the Senate,” Edomi said.

Edomi who noted that his group was a stakeholder in Delta State, said we “have looked at those going about aspiring to represent us in the Senate and as watchdog and gatekeepers, we must make our people know the danger of electing people, who cannot represent the interest of the Delta Central people.

Unfit representatives will spell doom for Urhobo people in the seventh National Assembly because we need a credible voice to represent us.”

HE Olorogun O’tega Emerhor Campaign Organisation, has said that there was no crack in Delta State All Progressives Congress, APC. In a statement by the Media Assistant to Emerhor Campaign Organisation, Mr Larry Umolo, frowned at a recent publication alleging a crack in the Delta APC. He said: “Our attention has been drawn to the cover story of a local tabloid, titled ‘Emerhor/Keyamo’s Senatorial ambition causes crack in Delta APC.’ It is our belief that this report was sponsored by those who are afraid of Emerhor ’s emergence as the flagbearer of APC in the forthcoming Delta Central senatorial byeelection. These persons are obviously hunted and scared of the front runner status of our principal in the current race for the vacant senatorial seat.

“It is a common knowledge that our party, APC along with our principal, Emerhor are currently the duo to beat in the race. Everywhere and at every turn in his consultations, traditional rulers, elders, leaders and youths of the Urhobo nation have been embracing APC and have been upfront in endorsement of Emerhor’s candidature.

"His antecedent in politics and doggedness in fighting for the emancipation of the Urhobo nation precede him everywhere he goes."

Court awards N9m against firm over wrongful sack of employee

BY MAGBEGOR ZINO

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HE National Industrial Court sitting in Lagos, has awarded N9.55million against Helios Towers Nigeria, a telecommunication servicing firm, in favour of Miss Jenifer Adighije, for her wrongful sack by the company.

Miss Adighije, Head of Operations and Planning of the company, who had challenged her sacked over alleged poor performance, had argued that her immediate boss, had graded her excellent in her yearly appraisal, while another body, management review team, which reviewed her appraisal, graded her below average, consequent upon which her appointment was terminated.

Meanwhile, the company denied any wrong doing in its defence, insisting that Adighije was fired

because she did not do well in the reviewed appraisal.

Justice Abaseki-Osaghae in his judgment said “The claimant stated that her performance was much appreciated by the defendant that when there was a job rotation, she was asked to take charge as Head Operation/ Planning in September 2009.

“It is the law that an employer is not bound to give reason for terminating the appointment of its employee but where the employer gives a reason, the law imposes on him a duty to establish the reason to the satisfaction of the court."

The court after reviewing the argument of parties, said “I find that the said management review team was acting out a script when spitefully, maliciously and without any

basis, wrote on the claimant’s appraisal form ‘below expectation’ and recommended that her appointment be terminated. It only stands to reason that if the review team was well intentioned, it ought to have written ‘meets expectation,’ having found that her overall score was 73 percent.

I find that the claimant was properly appraised by T Pretorius, who worked with her for the period January to September, 2009, representing nine months and that the two officers, CEO and Yemisi, who countersigned the appraisal form, were in agreement with the rating and recommendation.

"I therefore, hold that the reason adduced by the defendants for the termination of the claimant’s appointment that her performance failed to

meet acceptable standards to be false and malicious. I hold that the claimant’s employment was wrongfully terminated by the defendant. The termination is hereby set aside.”

The court also upheld the claimant’s position that she was entitled to compensation, since she signed the restrictive covenant, not to work for any other telecommunication company, until after two years of her leaving the company, saying “I note that the claimant had been tied down by this restrictive covenant for two years after her employment was wrongfully terminated on February 1, 2010. She has also kept to this covenant. I, therefore, award the sum of N9million as compensation being her salary for two years from January 2010 to January 31, 2012 pursuant to section 19 (d) of the National Industrial Act, 2006.

38—Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Prioritise education, UN Sec-Gen urges FG

BY BARTHOLOMEW

MADUKWE AGOS—SECRE TARY General of United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, has urged the Federal Government to make education and literacy national priorities and work with partners across to advance these goals.

He disclosed that more than 773 million young people and adults living in Nigeria and other parts of the world were illiterates and had yet to gain full literacy skills.

His words: “By promoting literacy, we can help millions of people write their own chapter of opportunity in their lives and our common future.”

Ki-Moon, in statement marking the World Literacy Day, an event set aside by the United Nations every September 8, pointed out that the illiterates might not be able to fill out a job application, decipher a bus timetable or read a story aloud to their children, adding that two of three are women denied this essential ingredient to full participation in society.

“When we invest in learning and literacy, we invest in human dignity, development and peace. That is why I launched the Global Education First Initiative, which focuses on ensuring that every child can go to school,” he said.

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MTN launches new mobile apps

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AGOS—MTN has launched a new service, Songstar Karaoke mobile application, which would enable customers on its network to select, listen and sing to a karaoke version of any of their favourite songs locally and internationally from any genre of music.

The service also includes features that enable users to record and share their songs on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Chief Marketing Officer, MTN, Larry Annetts, said of the service: “The music app is quite different from any other apps in its category, because it’s interactive, engaging and above all, social.”

Ebonyi govt stops payment of CONHESS to corps members

BY PETER OKUTU

Ato insinuationsCONTRARY in some quarBAKALIKI—

ters that the Ministry of Agriculture has stopped the payment of Consolidated Health Salary Structure, CONHESS, to National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, members posted to the Ministry because it wanted monetary inducements from them, the state government last weekend declared that the stoppage was done because of lack of approval.

Addressing newsmen in Abakaliki, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Steve Orogwu, said it was wrong for veterinary corps members posted to the Ministry of Agriculture to allege that they were being victimised and marginalised over the issue of non payment of CONHESS, adding that there was no state in the federation where CONHESS was being paid to corps members.

He said: “It is wrong for the vertinary corps doctors to alleged that I stopped their salaries based on CONHESS because I demanded a percentage of the money or so; first and foremost I never had any direct contact with them as to make any demand from them and the issue of CONHESS payment to doctors were never formally approved by Ebonyi State Gov-

ernment.

“But what I did was to give provisional approval until the state government comes up with a policy direction on that; but as at now, the state government policy now stands at the uniform payment of N5000 as salaries to corps members as their stipends for the month except in the Ministry of

Health where some medical doctors are being paid something above N5000.”

According to him, the initial approval given for its payment to corps members in 2012 was provisional until the state government decided recently to suspend it completely as no state in the federation is

making such payment to corps members.

His words: “We carried out investigation to know the reality of that payment. Among all the states in Nigeria, there is no state that is paying that; as rich as Lagos, Rivers, Delta and Akwa Ibom and other state in the country, non of them pays this particular package.”

DONATION: MD/CEO, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Reginald Ihejiahi((3rd left), cuts the tape to commission the industrial boreholes donated to the Nigerian Police Commission, Legico Barracks, while Mamman Ibrahim Tsafe, AIG Zone 2, Nigeria Police and respective representatives of the leadership of the Nigerian Army 81 Division and NAF Camp look on.

Imo abortion law whistle blower sues govt

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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WERRI—THE medical practitioner who alerted the public on the controversial abortion law in Imo State, Dr. Phillip Njemanze, has dragged the state government to court over plans to revoke his property.

Confirming this development to Vanguard in a telephone interview, yesterday, Dr. Njemanze said he wanted the court to redress the alleged injustice perpetrated against him by government, as well as pronounce the revocation of his property null, void and of no effect.

While saying that he had a valid certificate of occupancy, Njemanze also explained that the threatened property was validly and lawfully acquired before the present administration came on board.

The consultant neurosurgeon, who doubles as Chairman, Association of Catholic Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, ACMPN, said: “The threatened piece of land is for the construction of a multi- billion Naira state of the art medical facility.

“Construction work had started on the over N50 billion medical facility before the current threat.

“A consortium of pro-life medical doctors are part of the project and we have other institutional support.”

Njemanze said he had nothing

personal against Governor Rochas Okorocha, pointing out that he was only attacking the administration’s anti-life law.

“The governor’s apology as well as the alleged move by the legis-

lature to expunge the controversial sections of the abortion law number 12 of 2012 is not enough.

“There is an installed safeguard to perpetuate abortion in the

state, using the older law number seven, signed by Chief Achike Udenwa four days before leaving office,” Njemanze alleged.

ATM in new deals to develop tourism in W-Africa

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BY KENNETH EHIGIATOR

AGOS—LEADING tourism platform on the continent, African Travel Market, ATM, otherwise known as Akwaaba, has gone into partnership with Kwanza Trade Marketing, Dubai, New York-based African Travel Association, ATA, and African Business Travel Association, ABTA, in South Africa to further the development of the travel and tourism market in West Africa.

Akwaaba draws between 7,000 and 10,000 delegates annually from no fewer than 20 countries across the world.

While Kwanza fosters trade between the Gulf and sub-Saharan Africa, ATA promotes tourism to Africa, just as ABTA has vast experience in training and corporate travel empowerment.

The partnerships came against the backdrop of the 9th edition of African Travel Market’s exhibition which comes up in Lagos between October 27 and 29.

Organiser of Akwaaba, Mr. Ikechi Uko, said the partnerships with the three travel and tourism

agencies would help to promote the tourism industry in the region.

He said: “We have always looked forward to reaching the biggest destinations Africans travel to and get them to come to Africa. Kwanza comes in handy in meeting this need, they know the Emirates and they know Africa and so they bring together the market and the people. We look forward to a Great relationship.

“It’s wonderful to get a partner

like ABTA with their experience in training and corporate travel empowerment. For us, this is a great partnership that promises to make AFTM 2013 a must attend event for professionals in the region.”

Kwanza Trade Marketing’s Director, Nancy Karimi, said the partnership with African Travel Market, ATM, would assist the agency to promote Africa’s travel and tourism potential.

Anambra community in Lagos endorses Obiano for guber seat

BY EMEKAAGINAM AGOS—ANAMBRA State community living in Lagos has thrown its weight behind the candidacy of Willie Obiano of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, for the governorship election in the state.

The community, under the aegis of Willie Obiano Campaign Forum, at a general meeting in Lagos last weekend, urged all eligible voters

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in the state to come out enmasse to ensure the victory of Chief Obiano, the APGA flag bearer, for the November 2013 gubernatorial election.

Already, the campaign forum has begun mobilisation of the electorate for the election through practical engagement based on issues and facts.

Vanguard TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 — 39

40 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Ex-militants undergo training in FUTA

Galma dam, 95% completed — FG

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BY FUNMI OLASUPO

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BUJA—THE Federal Government has said the Galma multipurpose dam when completed will improve economic value of the people of Kaduna State, saying the project is 95 percent completed.

Vanguard gathered that the dam, when completed will generate about 2.5 megawatts, as well as provide about 150 million litres of water per day to the people of the state in addition to the irrigation of facility for farmers.

The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe spoke during an inspection tour of the Galma Multipurpose Dam in Kubau Local Government of Kaduna State with the Governor of Kaduna, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero.

Ochekpe maintained that the government would ensure the completion of ongoing projects before embarking on new ones, expressing optimism for quick completion of the project.

Lagos govt launches energy conservation competition

MEETING—From left: Former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Alwali Kazir, Governor Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, Senate President David Mark and Deputy Governor of Niger State, Ahmed Musa Ibeto when officers of Nigerian Defence Academy Course 3 held their annual general meeting in Minna.

Three suspected robbers killed in Benue

BY PETER DURU

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AKURDI—THE Police in Benue State on Sunday gunned down three robbery suspects who reportedly robbed and raped their victims at Mbakihir village in Buruku local government area of the state.

Briefing newsmen yesterday in Makurdi, State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adams Audu said “at about 1.am, the Police was alerted that robbers numbering about five had invaded the home of their victim (names withheld) at Mbakihir village in Buruku local government area. The robbers who were said to be robbing the occupants of the said house; also

went as far as raping the helpless female children of their victims. Acting on the information, our men on patrol immediately got to the scene and were greeted by gunfire from the armed suspects.

"The ensuing exchange of gunfire led to three of the suspects sustaining bullet wounds and were arrested but while being conveyed to a nearby hospital the three of them died before they could be availed medical attention.

"However, two members of the gang escaped arrest with bullet wounds, but we are on their trail and I believe that they would soon be arrested. Some of the items that were

recovered from the gang include, three assorted locally made guns and four live ammunition, two axes, three live cartridges and one expended cartridge.

"I am by this information soliciting the cooperation of members of the public to give us information that would lead to the arrest of the fleeing suspected armed robbers and other criminal elements in Benue State.”

Mr. Audu also cautioned those perpetrating crime in the state to desist or face the wrath of the law, assuring that the Police in Benue would not relent in its quest to rid the state of criminal elements.

5 detained labour leaders regain freedom

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HE Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources through its implementing agency, the Lagos State Electricity Board, LESB, in its effort to increase awareness for the energy conservation month and inspire energy conservation behaviour amongst the youth in Lagos State has launched an art competition.

The art competition dubbed the "Art of Energy Conservation” attracts fantastic prizes and is open to young people, 29 years and below who must be resident in the state. Also, interested participants must submit original artworks created specifically for this project. The artworks should include imageries representing Lagos State as they see it as well as imageries representing energy conservation.

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

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IVE leaders of the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees, NUBIFIE, arrested Friday and detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department, CID, Lagos over alleged prompting of the management of Diamond Bank Plc in connection with protracted industrial dispute between the bank and the union, were yesterday, granted bail by an Igbosere Magistrate court.

However at the time of this report, the union was making frantic efforts to meet the bail conditions which an official of the union said were on the high side.

Each of them was asked to pay N200, 000, and provide tax clearance among others.

The arrested leaders who are executive of the bank’s unit of NUBIFIE are Olalekan Adebambo (Chairman), Diamond Bank branch

of NUBIFIE), Eniola Ilesanmi (Vice Chairman), Michael Olajide (Secretary) Benjamin Onyia (Treasurer) and Onyeonoro Favour (auditor), Vanguard gathered that the bank accused them of vandalizing its property value at N200 million and assaulting its staff during picketing of the banks by the labour leaders and civil society allies on July 10, 2013.

It was gathered that efforts

by NUBIFIE to ensure their release between Friday and yesterday proved abortive.

Already the union has threatened to alongside its umbrella body, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and civil society allies shut down the operations of the banks should the five union leaders not released unconditionally.

The latest development is incomprehensible because the case is not only before the

National Industrial Court, NIC, and it is expected to come up next Tuesday.

General Secretary of NUBIFIE, Muhammed Sheikh who confirmed the arrest, said the union had petition the Deputy Superintendent of the Police, legal Department of the CID, Lagos State Police Command.

According to the petition copied the Lagos State Commissioner, the union demanded for immediate and unconditional release of its members.

The petition read in part “we write to demand immediate and unconditional release of our members who are also staff of Diamond Bank from your custody. It is important to bring your attention that Diamond Bank had earlier filed a case at industrial court against the union and its members."

X–MILITANTS from the Niger Delta have been advised to see skill acquisition and entrepreneurship training as critical to their reintegration and future aspirations.

The management of the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA, gave the advice during an induction for 50 ex-militants enrolled into the certificate course of the institution’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, CENT. The Director of the Centre, Dr. Ayo Olajuyigbe said the centre identifies with the vision of the Presidential Amnesty Office to explore opportunities available for the teeming youth to make them self reliant since capacity development is critical to the radical transformation of the Niger Delta Region.

He said FUTA, through the centre, entered into an agreement with the Presidential Amnesty Office to train 50 ex-agitators from the Niger Delta region for a period of nine months in Welding/ Metal Fabrication.

The training, according to Dr. Olajuyigbe will also involve “mindset change component and classes in entrepreneurship development” that will encourage job creation and value re-orientation."

Flood victim begs Plateau govt to pay her benefit

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VICTIM of Friday's flood in Akpata area of Jos metropolis, Mrs Mary Koshit, has appealed to the Plateau Government to pay her gratuity, to enable her to start a new life after her retirement three years ago.

Koshit made the appeal while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, yesterday, in Jos. According to her, part of her house and her poultry farm went with the flood that occurred in Akpata and Angwan Suya following a heavy rainfall that lasted several hours in Jos. She said she had been managing her life with the proceeds from house rents before the flood incident.

She said: “I retired three years ago; I have not been paid my gratuity; it is the house that I built while I was working that is sustaining me and my family.Apart from the house, I have a poultry farm with more than 150 birds; the flood swept them away."

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013— 41

Saraki: the bridge, the builder and the traducers T

HERE is no doubt that Nigeria is entering another critical stage of its evolution as the preparation for the next presidential election, scheduled for 2015, has begun albeit prematurely. The implosion of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the emergence of sundry groups from within its fold and the seeming potential of the All Progressives Congress to present a viable fighting front would all seem positive for the nation. Knowing that politics is war by other means and no prisoners are ever taken in the Nigerian context, however, no one should jubilate yet.

Already, the usual game of intimidation, coercion and blackmail may have begun. And the targets are the usual suspects: persons not only opposed to the incumbent but also with the clout and wherewithal to put up a fight. The Rivers State crisis may look like the result of a personality clash between Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the First Family, but it took on a life of its own once the idea was successfully propagated that the young governor had ambitions, alongside his colleague in Jigawa, Sule Lamido, of running against the incumbents for the Presidency and vice presidency.

Apparent influence Bukola Saraki, former governor of Kwara State, former chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum and now chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment is now under the searchlight.

Given the apparent influence he is known to have in the “New PDP”, it is expected that the parable of the endowed child always catching the eye of the devil would continue to play itself out.

While many analysts contend that his on-going questioning by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is nothing other than blackmail given that the matters for which he is being questioned have a way of being dug up only when the young politician appears to have a political ace up his sleeve, others insist that the law must be followed and anyone can be investigated.

The irony, however, is that Saraki must rank as one of the most investigated politicians in Nigeria today. His affairs, from his days in the private sector till

those as governor have been so scrutinised that it is a wonder he has neither been charged to court nor indicted of any offence. Yet, he is still answering the same questions, 13 years on! The latest twist came when the EFCC recently announced that Saraki was deliberately refusing to honour its invitation.

Promptly, his office denied knowledge of any invitation. The embarrassment to Saraki was, however, nothing compared to the one the anti-graft agency faced when it emerged that its

•Map of Nigeria invitation was sent to the National Assembly Clerk’s office and was not in the Senator’s possession while the EFCC was declaring him a dodger. Anyway, he has since gone to EFCC and the questioning, according to sources, was on the same issues that had supposedly been resolved in the past.

Saraki reportedly told the grillers that if they had fresh evidences of any misconduct by him or by anybody under him while at Societe Generale Bank, they should show him same and he would be prepared to defend himself. Suffice to say that the bank fell victim of circumstances then but all efforts were made to make sure that the depositors did not suffer.

He reportedly narrated a hilarious story to the officials of his difficulty in convincing even Kwarans to make him governor in 2003. The standard accusation against him was that he was being imposed by his highly influential father, the late Olusola Saraki even while he barely knew the state and the people!

In addition, he was accused, by a prominent indigene, a university professor who had been close to the elder Saraki of being an over-pampered rich kid who had never walked around in the ordinary man’s shoes and, therefore, would not know where those shoes pinched.

To this, Bukola was said to have retorted that he did not even see

•Bukola Saraki his people in shoes that pinch. He saw them walking barefooted, toes bleeding! And his mission was not just to get them shoes but to empower them to buy and make shoes for themselves. This was in 2003, long before some other persons made a campaign issue of not having shoes.

Education, according to him, was the ultimate leveller, the real tool for making “shoes” and if given the chance, he would want every Kwara child to have access to the same kind of education he had so they could compete with any other child! Finally, on his privileged background, he said he had only one thing to say: Would Kwarans prefer someone who had no money and who may want to first feather his own nest as governor, to him who could hit the ground running from the first day?

It was all in a jovial mood but, according to him, he threw himself and even his own personal resources into serving the state to justify the confidence reposed in him. He claimed he had no reason to do anything he would never be able to defend while in office because of the humbling circumstances of his emergence. He also said the same spirit informed his decision to waive his immunity while in office for investigations.

Of course, the EFCC officials appear hardly impressed by his life story, hence their continued grilling. It is against this background that many of his admirers now conclude that his travails can only be politically motivated. And they have reasons. As chairman of the Governors Forum, Saraki led with aplomb and turned an otherwise idle social club into a power house. His colleagues deferred to him on account of his ability to build consensus. Isa

Yuguda, governor of Bauchi once told a gathering that Saraki was such a good leader that none of his colleagues had any troubles letting him have his way. The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has gone around claiming credit, with its acclaimed doctrine of necessity, for paving the way for Goodluck jonathan to assume office as acting president, but it is on record that the Nigeria Governors Forum under Saraki did all the groundwork for crisis to be averted.

Perhaps, ironically, his current travails is said to be as a result of the clout he built for himself, the stature he successfully conferred on the NGF and his closeness to the current chairman, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, in which Saraki is said to be behind Amaechi’s continued relevance and victory in the stand-off

,

By SIYAN IKUOMOLA

builder between the north and the south, the young and the old and even the conservative and progressive tendencies in Nigeria and in PDP in particular, was not brought into the vanguard of the reconciliation efforts!

Though President Goodluck Jonathan is said to be a quiet admirer and would want Saraki on his side on any issue, many of the President’s aides are said to be the ones creating the wedge, on the suspicion that Saraki’s presidential ambition is very much alive and any rapprochement with him would only enhance him. Their fears, according to observers, may also have been fuelled by the senator ’s rising star in the National Assembly. Just in his first term, he stands out as a shining star. His first high moment came last year when, contrary to all expectations, he initiated the motion on the nation’s fuel subsidy regime and its attendant corruption.

The result of that was a national crisis that led to a probe whose findings are still reverberating till date. He has also been a champion for the environment and one of the most committed to the passage of the Petroleum Indistry Bill into law. “There are controversies over this bill but we have to pass it into law to allow transparency and accountability govern our extractive industries,” he said in the Senate. “We may not pass a perfect law but not doing something would be a crime against Nigerians and against our conscience.” Does he still have ambitions? At 50, the answer can only be yes.

And the constant questioning by the law enforcement agencies? “If the democratic process and accountability in

The irony, however, is that Saraki must rank as one of the most investigated politicians in Nigeria today

against the President and his men. This may well be true. In the days before the NGF election, the President’s men were so sure of victory having collected the signatures of supposedly consenting governors. But realpolitik took over and the signatures were made nonsense of on election day. For instance, Abdul Fatai Ahmed, governor of Kwara and Sarakis’s protégé was said to be one of those who consented earlier to the antiAmaechi plot but then voted differently on election day. This, it is said, could only have been on Saraki’s instruction.

The question being asked now is that if this was the case, in dealing with the NGF and ancillary issues, why would the President or his men not use a man who could deliver to achieve their aim? Even after the crisis exploded, it is instructive that Saraki, renowned as a bridge

,

governance would be enhanced by all investigations, I am all for it. I will answer the same questions a million times if the motive is genuine,” he told his associates who protested at the offices of the Special Fraud Unit in Lagos last year when he was called for questioning on the same issues. “Let our openness and willingness to obey the law be part of our own humble afforts at watering the seed of democracy and accountability.

We may be inconvenienced and even embarrassed, knowing that one has done no wrong, but we cannot seek to serve a state when we fail to respect its agents.”

Is he likely to be cowed into jettisoning his ambitions or change his politics in order to buy himself some peace of mind, if the allegations that this is the motive behind the constant questioning by law enforcement agencies?

42 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

No ‘Ogiame,' no Atuwatse II—Itsekiri Leaders of Thought zPalace chiefs insist on withdrawal zSychophants misled him—Rev Gbejero

BY EMMAAMAIZE, REGIONAL EDITOR, SOUTHSOUTH & EMMAARUBI

W

ARRI—THE Itsekiri Leaders of Thought, ILoT, yesterday, asked the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II, to renounce his new edict, rejecting the ‘Ogiame’ title of the Warri monarch.

The leaders in a statement by their Chairman, Pa J.O.S Ayomike and Chief Isaac Jemide, said Ogiame was synonymous with Olu (kingship) of Warri Kingdom and if wiped out, it would mean the Olu of Warri has been terminated.

Other leaders who signed the statement included the Secretary, Edward Ekpoko, A.S. Mene, O.P. Edodo, Prof. Nesin Omatseye, Julius Otiri, Tony Ede, J.E. Agbejule and Mr. D.O. Anomuogharan.

According to them, after due

consultation with relevant stakeholders in Iwereland, the Itsekiri people want this new order renounced.

The statement said, “We, therefore, advise the Olu of Warri to act accordingly.”

“Ogiame has been the unchanged name of the Warri monarch since its creation in 1480 and Atuwatse 11, the name of the reign that began in 1987. If the former is abolished, the monarchy would have been extinguished and if Atuwatse 11 ceases to be Ogiame, his reign as the Warri monarch would have expired. Neither is possible.”

The leaders said that it was well -known documented historical fact that Christianity began in Warri/Benin region in the early 16th century and about eight Olus of the 19 Olus got baptised as Christians, noting that Itsekiri as a nation cannot be said to have

The Covenant Thus today (September 4), this assembly is now convened to set a new order in place for us, Iwere people, which will supersede the old one that has been in operation since the founding of this kingdom.

I solemnly confess and testify that there is only One God. He is the Lord, Our God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the fathers of Israel, he is the Creator of all people and things (visible and invisible), all worlds and realms, kings, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, seas and abyss.

It was with the full knowledge of the Itskeiri people that I was doing so by the grace of God, for His blessings upon our people and for the glory of God. We also saw and understood it to be God’s special favour in giving us a second chance to be devoted to Him as the only God, who is worthy of all worship.

I also pledged that as signified by the cross of Jesus Christ that is at the top of our crown, the Iwere kingdom would be under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Shortly afterwards, we have series of solemn assemblies before our God at which we renounced all the ungodly acts of our ancestors, including slavery, infanticide and other forms of bloodshed, idolatry and ancestral worship.

I also repent for the name and title of ‘Ogiame’ that my ancestors and I have borne, as it connotes our allegiance to Umalokun and the other deities of the sea, all of which are false gods.

Today, I renounce our allegiance to Umalokun and other gods of the sea, land and sky.

Today, I apply the Blood of Jesus to fulfil and dissolve the ancient covenant, since all its requirements have been fully met and paid for in full by the Blood of Jesus.

On behalf of the royal bloodline, the throne, the people and kingdom of Iwere land, I publicly enter into a new covenant with God, the Creator through His Son, Jesus Christ and His Blood, the covenant of life, freedom and blessings. The sacrifice of his covenant has been provided once and for all by the Blood of Jesus Christ.

As a priest in the Order of Melchizedek, I use the authority of the name of Jesus and the power of the Blood of Jesus to destroy all ancient and new altars in Iwere land not raised up to the Lord by the laws governing the new covenant of life in Christ.

Henceforth, I submit and present the title ‘Ogiame’ to God, the Creator, who made the seas and rules over all. Therefore, no Olu or person may bear the title or name that now belongs to God. Henceforth, the present Itsekiri national anthem which had perpetuated the worship of the king has also been submitted and presented to God, the Creator. The anthem will now be sung in praise and worship of God. I nullify the tokens of libation poured on land and seas or sprinkled into the air in Iwere land.

I frustrate all sacrifices of wine, blood, food, water, kolanuts and other items (known and unknown) offered in Iwere land.

In conformity with the new covenant through the Blood of Jesus, I release the royal bloodline, the chiefs of the Iwere kingdom, the Iwere people and land, waters and atmosphere of Iwere kingdom from all ties to all other spiritual covenants and agreements,” he proclaimed.

Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor (2nd right) and other Itsekiri chiefs. She briefed the agitators on the stand of the chiefs. covenant with Umalokun, as the word Ogiame only means king or ruler of the region so founded.

They re-stated that religion was a personal matter and no one can stop the Olu from being a devout Christian, just as he too, cannot also stop or condemn others practising their religion, adding that the new order proclaimed by Atuwatse 11 was legally not binding on anybody.

They maintained that it was unfortunate that the Olu thought that his people worship or sing anthem of worship to him and his ancestors, adding that the subjects deeply respect and honour the Oluship as an institution.

The stage for an epic battle in Iwere (Warri) kingdom, Delta State, was set, yesterday, following the rebuff of the entreaties of palace chiefs by the Olu of Warri to withdraw his controversial September 4, proclamation.

The palace chiefs, led by the Igba of Warri kingdom, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, had mounted pressure on the monarch, in the last few days, to revoke his ‘New Order”, renouncing the Ogiame title, borne by past Itsekiri kings, including him, in the past 500 years.

The chiefs, acting on behalf of Itsekiri people, who were taken aback by the proclamation of their revered monarch, had also asked him to recant his rejection of the age-long custom of the people, which he (Olu) described as ungodly, among other things.

But, the Olu stuck to his guns, saying that as royal priest of God, placed by God as a king over His people, he would neither serve inferior gods nor lead God’s children to serve the gods of sea, land and sky.

His strong-willed resistance infuriated Itsekiri chiefs, who, rising from another meeting, yesterday, insisted on withdrawal of the edict, saying he could not use force to coerce the people.

With the latest development, agitators from different parts of Itsekiri land, whose siege to the palace entered the third day, yesterday, have advised the monarch to abdicate the throne in his interest if he was not prepared to abide by the customs and tradition of the people.

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan had on Sunday urged the agitators to give him two days to sort out the matter with the monarch, but at press time, yesterday, it was not sure the Olu of Warri has changed his position.

The palace chiefs, led by Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, also pleaded with the agitators on Sunday to give them 48 hours to address the monarch on the cause of disagreement and get back to them.

By Monday morning, there was no green light from the monarch and opposition against him was swelling by the day.

The 48 hours requested by the governor and chiefs respectively expires today (Tuesday), but the chiefs scheduled a meeting at 12.00 pm, yesterday, to further deliberate on the impasse.

Chief Lori-Ogbebor briefed the agitators at the end of the meeting on the stand of the chiefs. It was not clear the lastminute strategy Governor Uduaghan has adopted to persuade the Olu to listen to his subjects.

She said the Itsekiri monarch was being deceived by a few power seeking individuals with hidden agenda, who had abandoned him in the heat of the unwarranted and unacceptable declaration allegedly made by the monarch renouncing his traditional appellation of “Ogiame”, which engendered protest from the length and breadth of the Itsekiri nation.

In a statement signed by 22 of the palace chiefs present and read by her, they said they have nothing to do with any deity, noting that in Warri Kingdom, there were Christians, Muslims

and pagans to the extent that the Olu appointed an Itsekiri as a Chaplain for the Kingdom.

They stated: “The truth of the whole scenario is that a few selfish and power seeking individuals with hidden agenda masterminded the crafting of this said edict. Now that the game is up, the authors have abandoned the monarch and gone into hiding.

“The handwriting on the wall is now clear that the monarch has been deceived and consequently the Olu should follow the path of honour and withdraw the declaration. Thereafter he will settle down to reign as a dedicated missionary and whosoever may become converted.

“To use force or law or edict will be counterproductive”, they warned.

Itsekiri women protest today

Meanwhile, Itsekiri women will today troop out in their numbers to the palace to protest the alleged change of the Ogiame title by His Majesty, Atuwatse 11, the Olu of Warri to yet an unannounced name.

Youths vow to continue protest

Also, Itsekiri youths, led by Comrade Omolubi Newuwumi and Austin Oniyesan, yesterday, vowed to continue with their peaceful agitation until the revered monarch reversed his declaration made on September 4, 2013 renouncing the Ogiame title and other traditional rites practiced by the Itsekiri people.

After yesterday’s address by Chief Lori-Ogbebor, Itsekiri indigenes took over the palace grounds with their peaceful protests, while dancing and entertainment by the masquerades continued.

What we told Uduaghan, palace chiefs – Agitators A leader of the agitators told

Continues on page 43

Vanguard, TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 — 43

No ‘Ogiame,' no Atuwatse II —Itsekiri Leaders of Thought Continues from page 42 Vanguard before Chief LoriOgbebor addressed them, yesterday, “We specifically told Governor Uduaghan to tell the Olu to annul his controversial edict or abdicate the throne. What we are expecting is that he should go on exile if he is not prepared to be Ogiame. We are not begging anybody to be our king.”

The Akulagba of Warri kingdom, Chief Ayiri Emami, who was sighted among the chiefs heading for the meeting told Vanguard, “We are doing everything to resolve the problem.”

However, information reached Vanguard that six of the palace chiefs who signed the edict by the Olu of Warri, title, “The New Order of Iwere (Warri) Kingdom,” had recanted, saying they signed without knowing the implication.

Three others have reportedly gone into hiding following the mass protest by other Itsekiri indigenes against their action, while the fourth chief reportedly fled to PortHarcourt, on Sunday after he was saved from being pounded by a fellow chief.

Olu refuses Ogiame greeting An Itsekiri youth leader said, “We were surprised three days ago when we met with the monarch and greeted him in the traditional way, Ogiame, more than six times.

He refused to answer us and that is sacrilegious in our custom.”

“We have a proverb that says that if the subjects greet the king, he should embrace them and reciprocate the homage paid to him, but in this case, he did not answer us. He simply said he should not be greeted in that way, that is against our custom and tradition that he swore to uphold.”

It was observed, yesterday morning, that chief priests, princes and princesses and hundreds of Itsekiri indigenes continued with their siege, waiting anxiously at the gate to hear that the monarch has renounced his statement.

The chief priests The chief priests were led by the chief priest of Itsekiri kingdom, High Chief Edun Emmanuel, the Oyeghen of Orugbo community. With him was Bernard Gbububa of Ogiaga community, Godwin Omatsone, Ogba of Ugbegungun community, Samson Omaye, Ekuoke of

Ologbo, spokesperson of Association of Traditional Priests of Warri kingdom, Prince Esigbe Edema, princesses of Okere, Mrs. Gladys Edema and Mrs. Felicia Oki. Women were busy cooking in a nearby soup kitchen, while the men and youths gathered in different circles discussing the development.

“He should retrace his steps and those chiefs, about three of them who signed the contentious edict should come out to renounce their action or they should accept anything that happens to them. Six of them have recanted, they should follow suit,” he added.

Rev disagrees with Olu on Ogiame title In fact, an international preacher, Rev. Dr. Stephen Gbejoro, JP, of the Hour of Truth, Warri, who agreed with the Olu of Warri that Itsekiri people should serve the Almighty God through Jesus Christ, said the monarch’s rejection of Ogiame title had nothing to do with God. According to him, “The Olu of Warri is being misled by some sycophant pastors who are without the Holy Ghost because Ogiame , to the best of my knowledge does not mean god or goddess of the River but King of the riverine communities. It is Umalokun that means goddess of the River.”

He told Vanguard, “What is going on is most unfortunate and unfortunate indeed to the Itsekiri kingdom. Since I was born into this world, the Itsekiri have never challenged their monarch because of their belief in Afomasin, which means when the king gives an order, no man, woman can challenge him in Warri kingdom.”

Rev Gbejero, however, said: “There are customs and traditions the people hold sacred and much as the Olu of Warri is right in choosing to serve God through Jesus Christ, no sensible government , king or queen should tamper with the beliefs of his people because the end result is chaos.”

Joshua to Moses He said that when Joshua, the leader who took over from Moses was faced with a similar challenge, he addressed the elders and children of Israel and told them why they should serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel all the days of their lives, and not serve other gods.

He added, “In all, he said that if they choose to continue

to serve other gods, which is what the Olu of Warri is saying, he and his household will serve Jehovah. This is what the Olu ought to have done, I have heard of an unsigned edict by him making some proclamation, which is in contradiction to the customs and traditions of the people.

That is wrong, read Romans 13:7, he should respect the custom of the people.”

“I also saw in the edict that he said he made the proclamation as a royal priest in the Order of Melchizedek...this statement is unacceptable in heaven and on earth because that title belongs to Jesus, the Christ and no other person can bear it. (Genesis 14: 1820 and Psalm 110:4) Rev Gbejero traced the problem of the Olu of Warri to sycophant pastors and elders, who have no Holy Ghost and without the knowledge of God, saying, “They are the ones misleading him, we know them.”

He said: “I pray I see him (Olu) face to face so that I will be able to give him the right word of God, no human being is perfect, we make mistakes, but he must accept the fact that Itsekiri people have customs and traditions that he cannot tamper with even as their monarch.”

Olu of Warri is right — Rev Akpososo Bishop-elect and national coordinator of Niger Delta Ministers Peace Forum, NDMPF, Rev. Dr. Duke Akpososo, in his reaction said, “I want to salute the courage and might of Olu of Warri for denouncing publicly idol titles and idolatory.

“The Olu is an old believer; I met him in his palace in 1991 during the Warri crisis when I led a delegation of Niger Delta Ministers Peace Forum to him. He is fearless and forthright, I plead with him to stick to his guns and defend the gospel of Christ, which he has believed.

“I call on the national president of Christian Associaiton of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Orisejafor, to wade into this matter; we are ready to call out all the churches in Delta State and beyond to defend the Olu. For the sake of Jesus Christ, a man has the right to change his name or title. When another king emerges after he has gone to heaven, then a new king can reactivate the worship of idol in the kingdom.

“As for the present Olu, this child of God cannot be forced against his belief, the church

is standing with the Olu, Nigeria is not a lawless country and nobody is above the law.”

CAN President, Pastor Oritsejafor, was said to have travelled when Vanguard visited his church in Warri for comment yesterday.

Rev Amayo blasts Rev Gbejero But, a Christian leader in Warri, Rev John Amayo, said, “Christian leaders are certainly going to meet over this development to know how to tackle it; otherwise, we will be leaving the Olu in the hands of wolves to devour him.”

He disagreed with Rev Gbejero, saying, “God is not forcing anybody to serve Him and the Olu of Warri is not forcing Itsekiri people to serve God, if they do not want to serve God, it is their business.

What he has done is that as a king, he has chosen to lead his people to the true God and abdicate anything that does not glorify God in his life and Itsekiri nation.

“As for being a priest in the Order of Melchizedek, Rev Gbejero, as a son of God, should not misinterpret the Olu, what the monarch meant is a royal priest of Jesus Christ, he is using the authority in the name of Jesus to destroy all ancient and new altars in Iwere land not raised up to the Lord.

“Why should somebody who calls himself a pastor be challenging a proclamation that is against evil altars and asking people to give their life to Jesus Christ?”

The controversial Sept 4 edict In the contentious kingdom edict, dated September 4, the Olu said he stood as a descendant of the Prince Ginuwa of the Benin kingdom, who became the king of Iwere kingdom to testify to a new order in Iwere kingdom.

However, what the monarch described as an edict could more fittingly be described as his prayers to God for a new Iwere kingdom.

The covenant In the four-page New Order, which is a prayer addressed to God on September 4, he said, “My ancestors worshipped other gods, the gods of the sea, land and sky, with particular attention to Umalokun, the chief of the gods of the sea. We have also been worshipped as gods by the people under our rule and

in our domain. It has been well documented that during the voyage of Prince Ginuwa and his entourage to the present day Iwere land, the progenitor of the Iwere monarchy made a covenant with the god of the sea. ‘”The covenant demanded worship and annual sacrifice from the people of the kingdom he would found, in exchange of assisting Prince Ginuwa and his entourage in their fight and quest to establish a new earthly kingdom in this part of the world You created. The covenant knowingly or unknowingly, thus served as the cornerstone on which this throne was established.

“Thus today (September 4), this assembly is now convened to set a new order in place for us, Iwere people, which will supersede the old one that has been in operation since the founding of this kingdom.

“I solemnly confess and testify that there is only One God. He is the Lord, Our God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the fathers of Israel, he is the Creator of all people and things (visible and invisible), all worlds and realms, kings, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, seas and abyss,” he said.

Olu of Warri stated that when he ascended the throne, “It was with the full knowledge of the Itskeiri people that I was doing so by the grace of God, for His blessings upon our people and for the glory of God. We also saw and understood it to be God’s special favour in giving us a second chance to be devoted to Him as the only God, who is worthy of all worship.

“I also pledged that as signified by the cross of Jesus Christ that is at the top of our crown, the Iwere kingdom would be under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Shortly afterwards, we have series of solemn assemblies before our God at which we renounced all the ungodly acts of our ancestors, including slavery, infanticide and other forms of bloodshed, idolatry and ancestral worship,” he asserted.

Based on the aforesaid, he said in the new order, “I also repent for the name and title of ‘Ogiame’ that my ancestors and I have borne, as it connotes our allegiance to Umalokun and the other deities of the sea, all of which are false gods.”

44—VANGUARD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

NEDG plans debate for candidates, deputies STORIES BY VINCENT UJUMADU

T

HE Nigerian Elections Debate Group, NEDG, a coalition of broadcast organizations, civil societies and professional groups committed to deepening democracy and entrenching an enduring democratic culture through organized and televised live debates, is to organize debates for all the candidates and their running mates in the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State.

Members of NEDG include Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria, BON; Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE; Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ; Alliance for Credible Election, ACE; Nigeria Bar Association, NBA; DAAR Communications Plc and

DPP promises to lift Anambra

G

•Nwoye

•Ngige

•Obiano

National Council of Women Societies, NCWS. Also in the group are Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Electoral Reform Network, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center, Centre for Democracy and Development and Transition Monitoring Group.

A statement signed by High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, a member of Board of Trustees of NEDG said the live debate for Anambra governorship candidates and their deputies, who emerged from the recent primaries of the various political parties, will be broadcast live to

Nigerians in all BON member stations.

According to Dokpesi, the debates and associated programmes are aimed at giving Nigerians a unique opportunity to meet all the candidates and know their programmes for Anambra State.

OVERNORSHIP Candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP, Mr. Chijioke Ndubuisi, has promised to take Anambra State to the next level if elected governor.

He spoke shortly after he emerged as DPP’s standard bearer for the November 16 election.

He was returned unopposed by delegates at the party’s congress held at Choice Hotel, Awka.

Ndubuisi, who contested the governorship election in 2010 on the plank of the National Democratic Party (NDP), thanked the delegates and promised to justify the confidence reposed in him.

You’re plotting to present two candidates, KOWA accuses PDP, APGA, LP

K

OWA Party, one of the political parties that have nominated candidates for the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State, has accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA and Labour Party, LP of perfecting plans to rig the election by presenting two candidates each for the election.

State chairman of KOWA Party, Prince Isaac Onuka in an interview in Awka yesterday said his party would go to court if INEC fails to make a categorical statement on what he called the dangerous developments in the three political parties.

He said: “PDP, APGA and LP have made underground conspiracy to rig the forthcoming election as was done by PDP during the rerun senatorial election between Dr. Andy Uba and Prince Nocholas Ukachukwu. The so-called factions in the three parties were created by their leaders to present double candidates because PDP got away with it after Andy Uba and Ukachukwu told voters to vote PDP and forget candidates as they would settle after the election.

“Now, PDP is cunningly presenting Uba and Tony Nwoye, APGA is presenting Willy Obiano and Chike Obidigbo and LP is presenting Ifeanyi Ubah and Peter Nwosu. These parties are deliberately doing this to create the impression of the existence of factions in their parties and KOWA Party will not allow it.

The so-called faction is a mere ploy and the parties are doing it because they are afraid of KOWA

Party and its governorshipcandidate, Chief Denis Oguguo. “But I believe in the ability of INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega to know

that these parties are only out to deceive the people. If these parties believe they are popular in the state, they should present a candidate each and allow

Anambra people to decide who will be the next governor of the state.

“KOWA Party wants to warn that any attempt by any party to

present double candidates will be resisted as we will be forced to go to court to stop such deceit because Anambra people are tired of being taken for a ride.

Okwu’s factional candidate can't stand — Akirika MR. John Akirika, Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Planning in Anambra State and a former state secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in this interview dismissed the emergence of Dr. Chike Obidigbo as a factional candidate, saying that APGA is not threatened by the development. He also spoke on other issues.

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

W

HAT is your opinion on Chief Maxi Okwu’s presentation of Dr Chike Obidigbo which is in variance with an earlier election of Mr Willie Obiano as candidate of APGA at the November 16 governorship election?

Firstly, I am not aware of any other congress outside the congress duly convened and held at the Women Development Centre, Awka in which the leader of the party, Gov Peter Obi and other national officers of the party participated. Secondly, nobody ever raised any issue questioning the authenticity and legality of that congress. Chief Maxi Okwu never raised any molecule of protest against that congress. So it is a very great surprise for me to hear that another congress was purportedly held.

I will say that the purported congress organized by Chief Maxi Okwu that produced Dr

Chike Obidigbo did not satisfy the requirements of the law neither will it be acceptable to the leadership of the party. An APGA event in which the National Leader, Mr Peter Obi, the authentic National Chairman of the party confirmed by the judiciary, Chief Victor Umeh and other national officers were not there cannot stand the test of time.

So sounding personal and legal, I don’t think that the presentation of Chike Obidigbo will stand.

You are aware that Okwu is at the Supreme Court challenging his removal from office as national chairman of APGA? He has the right to ventilate his grievances in court, but what I am saying is that the prophecies of what the court will say are nothing but pretentious. The convention that threw up Maxi Okwu has been vitiated by implication of the Enugu Court of Appeal Judgment in favour of Chief Victor Umeh. The import of that judgement was that the

•Akirika tenure of Umeh is still in law extant. And if that position stands, it means that there is no vacuum in APGA national leadership. There is no way you can be talking of Maxi Okwu being the national chairman of the party, even though he has the right to litigate in court unless and until the court validates the case he presented, he cannot lawfully present himself as the national chairman of APGA. Taking it politically, the leader of the party, Mr Peter Obi, has not either by conduct or by express statement said that the

governorship primaries held at the Women Development Centre , Awka, that produced Mr Willie Obiano as the flag bearer of the party was not correct. It is a surprise to me that few days after somebody is now going with another congress.

I don’t know if INEC participated in supervising that congress, neither did Gov. Obi participate or send a any representative there. So wherein lies the legality of what Maxi Okwu purportedly did? APGA is not aware of any other governorship congress outside the one that produced Chief Willie Obiano.

Is APGA still one indivisible political party with the two names of Obiano and Obidigbo been fronted as flag bearers of the party for the governorship poll of the state?

Like I said before, we have a court judgement stating who the national chairman is and to that extent, I do not think there is crisis pending in the party.

Governor Peter Obi has said it in plain language that he has recognized and in actual fact, is working with Chief Victor Umeh as the national chairman of the party. To that extent, there is no crisis in APGA.

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013—45

Yes, I'm now the issue in Delta — Keyamo zSays he’ll radicalise the Senate BARRISTER Festus Keyamo, lawyer, activist and human rights crusader has come of age since 1992 when he burst into national consciousness as a baby lawyer from the tested and tried temple of the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi. Since then he has trudged on the path of legal advocacy willy-nilly turning into one of the nation’s leading references in jurisprudence. His landmark case on the capacity of the president to unilaterally appoint service chiefs is the latest in his court room victories that include the conviction of Chief Bode George, successful defence of Chief Ralph Uwazurike of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, the late Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, Chief Frank Kokori, Chief Moshood Abiola among others. Keyamo who recently ventured into the political fray in his native Delta State with an aspiration to contest the Delta Central senatorial seat made vacant by the death of Senator Pius Ewherido was in Vanguard Corporate headquarters in Lagos to ventilate his latest political notes. He spoke on issues concerning Delta and his senatorial bid to the crew of Vanguard Political Desk. Excerpts:

Y

OU were aspiring to be the next governor of Delta State.

Have you changed course?

Well, it is not true that I changed course. I was aspiring to be governor of Delta State in 2015.

We are not yet in 2015. So it is yet to be seen whether I have abandoned the project or not, it is just that this is 2013 and there is a vacancy now resulting out of the unfortunate demise of our able representative, Senator Pius Ewherido.

We all felt the loss and the pain of his passing, but there is a vacancy to be filled by that untimely death and it would afford me an opportunity to show my people my mettle in public office because one criticism against me has been perhaps I have not tried my hands in public office.

The criticism has always been that I have done so well in my private practice and private life, but I have not tried my hands in public office.

So, it will afford me an opportunity just how much I can represent my people in public office. It is at that point that they will now decide whether I should go further and run for the governorship in 2015 or not. But I can tell you that we have never thought of dropping the

•Keyamo

•Keyamo: I have what it takes ambition.

So will the people of Delta Central not be short changed by the fact that you would be using the Senate as a platform to actualise your governorship ambition?

Every public officer that does well is encouraged by the people to go further. We are saying that if you do well as a senator, people will encourage you to go further.

In fact, we are not saying that once you are a senator, you must run for governor, we are only saying that this is an examination for you to write. What presents itself now is an examination for me to write.

So why have you decided to contest for the Delta Central Senatorial seat?

You can see that of all the aspirants, I am the only one that has brought out a comprehensive seven page memo as to why I want to run. There is nobody who has sat down to write anything like that.

Others have done media interviews but nobody has sat down

to produce a memo. I have done so. In that memo, I have outlined what I can do within the shortest space of time.

If you ask anybody who is educated in Delta Central or anybody who is even half educated in Delta central, I am not saying this because I am sitting down here, they will all tell you that of all the aspirants, none of them in terms of qualification, in terms of suitability for the job of senator, comes one mile near me.

And one is saying that with a lot of respect to the other aspirants because they have done well in their various fields.

If we were not running for public office, we will all be proud of ourselves as kith and kin.

So, we have all done well, we are eminent sons of Urhobo land, we are only looking for the person who is best suited. We are not trying to denigrate other people but the problem is that in this case, they will all agree, like I told you that none of them comes one mile near my achievements.

But are you not worried that state apparatus and resources could be used to back the PDP candidate?

If you see the pattern of politics in Delta Central, you will know

that the era of money politics is gone. At the last election, even the one that Pius won, if you know the amount of money PDP deployed to Delta Central, if you are from Delta Central, you will know what I am talking about.

In Ughelli alone, they pumped so much money and the PDP did not even get one third of the votes in Ughelli North.

But the opposition in Delta Central is divided now?

Without meaning to denigrate other people, I know about the APC and I know the party is the coalition of all opposition forces in the country now. So if you are in the opposition and you want to be a serious opposition, if you are not in APC, then you are unserious because all other parties who claim to be opposition are working for the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).

That is truth of the matter.

Labour Party is working for the PDP without denigrating them and other parties. They are working for the PDP. So if you want to be serious opposition now in this country, it is either you are in APC or you are in your house.

Have you heard in recent times

,

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR, DAPO AKINREFON, CHARLES KUMOLU & GBENGA OKE

he has done in the past.

However, in the dynamics of the struggle, there are times you may have to adopt a different strategy in going forward because if you do things same way over and over again and you expect change, it will not come.

So going forward now, if you ask the views of most Deltans now, they know they have to adopt a different strategy in moving forward to fight the PDP. If you talk of Great Ogboru, he was working within the DPP as a structure but when you talk of Ogboru as a human being, it was not that people were following him blindly, he was working within the structure that most people and elders supported in Delta Central and we acknowledge that and I can tell you that most of those elders are now in APC. So I will say my brother Ogboru should re-assess his position.

Considering Senator Pius Ewherido’s blue-print, what do you think he was able to achieve and what do you think you intend to achieve as a Senator?

Well, I have a blue-print of what I intend to achieve within the

The criticism has always been that I have done so well in my private practice and private life, but I have not tried my hands in public office

that somebody from APC defected to another opposition party? But various prominent Deltans without mentioning names have been defecting from PDP and DPP to the APC, that is where everybody is coming to now.

Before the emergence of late Senator Pius Ewherido, Chief Great Ogboru was the uniting force in Delta Central and Delta State in general and he still remains in DPP, are you discounting his factor?

He is my big brother and I respect him very much. Apart from being my senior in Government College, Ughelli, he is also a big brother to me right now. So we give him all the respect and all the praise for what

,

shortest time.

First, the issue of consumer protection is very dear to my heart. We have inadequate laws to protect the consumers and I have said that is one thing I will push seriously in the Senate.

It is something that is very close to Unfair Contract Terms Act of 1977 in England. I want to bring it to this country because this happens everyday in Nigeria where people open drinks and see sediments inside, people buy products that give them runny stomach, there are all kinds of things going on now. I am very keen about the collapse of the Delta Steel Company in Aladja because the number of jobs that company can provide for the youths of Delta state is enormous.

— Vanguard, a a , TUESDA U SEP 2 Y, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 46—

Jonathan declares zero tolerance for substandard lab practices

BY CHIOMA OBINNA, KOSISO UDEMBA & MODINAT AMUSAT

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has declared zero tolerance for substandard laboratory practices, equipment, diagnostic reagents and chemicals in the country even as he commissioned the first ever In-Vitro Diagnostics, IVDs, Control Laboratory in Nigeria and West Africa.

To this end, a new comprehensive policy has been mapped out to ensure that henceforth, only IVDs – equipment, kits, reagents and consumables that meet international standards would be manufactured, imported, distributed or

used in the country.

The President who made the declaration in Lagos said health laboratories play a pivotal role in diagnostics and monitoring of diseases and doing otherwise would have a hugely negative impact on the health of Nigerians.

Diagnosis and monitoring of diseases rely on the availability of the highest possible quality of personnel, equipment, reagents and chemicals to produce consistently reliable results for the correct diagnosis and proper monitoring of many disease conditions, the President observed.

“In establishing this laboratory, the

Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria, MLSCN, has substantially carried out my directive to all our standards and regulatory agencies when they met with me early in the life of this administration to give full effect to our declared zero tolerance to the existence of substandard, fake or adulterated products in the country, be they food, drugs, laboratory reagents and chemicals or even household consumer items.”

The new facility would obviously strengthen the regulatory function of the MLSCN with respect to the verification, validation, listing and registration of in-

vitro laboratory diagnostics among others.

Further, Jonathan, who was represented by Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, directed manufacturers, producers and importers of diagnostic laboratory reagents and chemicals to submit their products to the laboratory for testing, analysis and certification. “Doing so is not only an ethical requirement but indeed compliance with extant laws.”

In a response, the Registrar, MLSCN, Professor Anthony Emeribe, said the establishment of the laboratory was Continues on page 47

NMCN: Mixed reactions trail FG-medical workers’ agreement

BY VICTORIA OJEME

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• Clockwise from left: Director General, NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii; antimalarial embedded with the Mobile Authentication System, MAS, and a consumer about to purchase a drug from a pharmacy.

Reject antimalarials, antibiotics without MAS technology — NAFDAC DG • As SFH checkmates counterfeiting of Postinor2

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

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S the SEPTEMBER 1, 2013 deadline elapsed for pharmaceutical companies to fully comply with utilisation of the Mobile Authentication Service, MAS, technology on their regulated products, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has urged Nigerians not to accept antimalarials and antibiotics without the MAS code on their packs.

Making the call in Lagos during the official launch of the MASembedded Postinor 2 - the foremost brand of Emergency Contraceptives, ECs, in Nigeria, Director General, NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, said the Agency has

commenced enforcement of the mandatory use of the coding technology.

He noted that it was in the bid to checkmate the antics of counterfeiters and producers of fake Postinor 2 that NAFDAC, in collaboration with the Society for Family Health, SFH, Nigeria, have embedded the product with the MAS coding.

“The health system is compromised by fake drugs with low active ingredients. With this MAS we have put power of detection into the hand of more than 80 million Nigerians who use cell phones. It has been tested and there is proof it works,” said Orhii, with a warning there would be no further extension of the deadline in order to effectively

counter activities of fakers of regulated drug products in the country.

“From this September, we are requiring that every antimalarial and antibiotic drugs that are being used in Nigeria must carry the MAS coding technology.

Nigerians must go ahead and reject every antimalarial and antibioltic that does not have this technology on it right now.

“We have given enough time.

Initially we said the deadline was January 1, 2013, but moved the date because the companies pleaded for more time, but now we cannot move any longer.

From now on we will start enforcement activities and wipe out every antimalarial and antibiotic that is not MAS-

enabled off the shelves,” he asserted.

It will be recalled that NAFDAC first introduced the MAS in 2011.

It is a technology that enables consumers in Nigeria to confirm the authenticity of a drug through a mobile phone by typing a unique 10-digit number hidden under a scratch off panel that comes with the pack of every MAS-enabled drug product and sending as SMS to 38353.

In a few seconds the consumer receives an SMS confirming whether the drug has been approved by NAFDAC. It also confirms the NAFDAC registration number on the product, the manufacturing company and its address, the Continues on page 47

IXED reactions have continued to trail the recent Federal Government agreement with the medical and health workers, particularly on the issue of the Chairman of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, NMCN, a parastatal of the Federal Government of Nigeria established by Act Cap. No143 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The Council, which is the sole regulatory body for all cadres of nurses and midwives in Nigeria, has the objective of ensuring high quality of nursing and midwifery education in the country by maintaining high standard of professional practice.

Findings by Good Health Weekly reveal that under the NMCN Act , the Minister of Health has discretionary power to appoint the Chairman of the Council. W Although the Act is specific on qualifications of other members constituting the Council, it does not, however, state that the appointee must be from the nursing profession.

It was gathered that government had earlier appointed a medical doctor, Mrs. Abisola Clark, as Chairperson of the Council.

However during the recent negotiation between Federal Government and striking Continues on page 47

V g a ,T U T EM 7 TUESDA Y, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013—47 Vanguard,

Doctors in private practice tasked on PPP

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

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HE need for medical doctors in private practice in Lagos to tap into the Public Private Partnership, PPP, in the state took centrestage during a two – day Multi-Purpose Public Private Partnership Capacity Building Workshop organised by the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, AGPMPN in Lagos.

Stakeholders who gathered at the event unanimously believed that the win – win situation provided by PPP would catapult private medical practice to the next level.

They also agreed that there is need for private medical practitioners to start concentrating on creating necessary synergy to develop private care through PPP which will in return elevate and move private practices to the acceptable level in Lagos and Nigeria at large.

Former Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan who declared the conference open, urged practitioners to rise from their old ways of practice that ‘healing can only do so much’ which he said has only hindered the necessary win – win situation that ought to have been created in the past.

According to him, PPP has gathered momentum in the health sector and Lagos state has created a PPP office which has also came up with a medical village that would allow practitioners to come together, work with foreign investors to establish there.

“There is need for private practitioners to maximise opportunity of the available facilities. PPP will not only enhance practice but will improve quality of healthcare, reduce unacceptable health indices among others.”

Earlier, the Lagos State Chairman of AGPMPN, Dr Adeyeye Arigbabuwo, said PPP will ensure quality healthcare delivery and value for healthcare expenditure as the issue of availability, affordability; accessibility and acceptability form the fulcrum of good health system in the 21st century.

Arigbabuwo explained that the workshop was to reposition the private health sector in all ramifications in a bid to create a turn-around attitude in skills

Jonathan Continued from Page 46 informed by the need to drive the culture of quality and efficient health laboratory care to the public as well as stem medical tourism for quality healthcare abroad with attendant capital flight.

He said from empirical data, 60-70 percent of indices required for effective medical diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, surveillance and forecasting are based on accurate and reproducible health laboratory results.

He said over 50 percent of public health IVDs in the open market is substandard, fake, expired or poorly stored and distributed as compared to less than 17 percent for fake or sub-standard drugs and food products.

“Under such prevailing conditions, it becomes difficult to obtain accurate, reliable and reproducible results and reports from medical laboratories, which are on the receiving end of the supply chain. No reputable regulatory agency can stand aloof, while such a chaotic state of affairs remains,” he asserted.

• Dr. Adeyeye Arigbabuwo, Chairman ,Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, AGPMPN Lagos State branch, with Former Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Dr. Leke Pitan during the multipurpose Public Private Partnership capacity building workshop held by AGPMPN last week. acquisition, managerial restructuring, service chatter, human resource reorientation, facility expansion, financial resource management, meeting regulatory requirement and evolution of a pragmatic and properly defined PPP models with State government and invariably by extension to the Federal level.

“The dividend of PPP can only be realised when there is mutual understanding on the side of the two parties – Public and Private,” he stated.

The workshop, first of its kind in Lagos, was also aimed at harmonizing the various professional groups and groupings in the healthcare industry in the state to objectively and professionally appraise the issues of common interest

to the industry and operate within the ambient of the law to deliver healthcare service to the end users with quality touch, in the true sense of universal coverage, using appropriate technology and human resources, going with best practices.

Lagos State Health Services Commission, Dr. Wunmi Salako, urged the doctors to help in making primary care facilities solid to be able to cater for the teeming population of Lagos.

Salako admitted that the state can no longer cope alone in the business of healthcare alone due to the growing population of the state adding that even the newly introduced Maternal and Child centres, MCCs, has been widely over-populated.

Mixed reactions Continued from Page 46 health workers, the issue was brought up with the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu who promised to look into the issue, saying "those are some of the errors that can sometimes happen along the line. I believe that Government will amend where necessary."

The general position in some circles is that government erred by appointing a medical doctor Chairman of the Council and calls are being made for a reversal for the sake of peace.

However, other stakeholders argue that having somebody outside the field of nursing such as a medical doctor at the head, would give room for unbaised assessment.

A source from the Ministry told Good Health Weekly that past appointees who were not medical personnel had held key positions in the health ministry without complaint from any source, noting that raising the issue during the negotiation was just a way of taking advantage of government determination to ensure quick return of peace and harmony in the health sector.

It is feared that a reversal of the appointment, might be set off a chain reaction of demands for more of such reversals in the nearest future.

An Abuja based lawyer, Mr. Kayode Ajulo, however noted that the appointment of a medical practitioner as the head of the Council, is in line with global practice. He noted that the issue should be the level of competence of the appointee and not the professional background.

Further, Ajulo said in the United Kingdom which boasts one of the best healthcare services in the world, the nursing and midwifery council is headed by a civil servant. “The Council is purely a regulatory board out to monitor, control and regulate activities of nurses to ensure that the nurses abide with the regulation of services," he said.

Reject antimalarials, antibiotics without MAS Continued from Page 46 batch number, date of expiry and a number to call to report any problem.

Orhii, who lamented that in recent times, Postinor 2 had fallen victim to the malicious pranks of counterfeiters of pharmaceutical products causing adverse effects, putting lives at risk and discrediting the product, said the UN identifies Emergency Contraceptives as one of the 13 affordable and effective life-saving commodities under reproductive health. They assist women who may have had unprotected sex to prevent unplanned pregnancy.

“Soon after the launch of the ‘Saving One Million Lives’ initiative by President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja in 2012, there was a surge in the faking of this product, Postinor2. We arrested many of the perpetrators who were trying to manufacture it locally, but they switched to bringing in the packaging materials, knowing that NAFDAC does not regulate packaging materials. This is the new trend.”

The DG, however, said NAFDAC came up with the MAS as a way of stopping the ugly trend. “If a user scratches and is inable to authenticate the product, immediately we would know something is wrong. Now anyone can report and we would know exactly where the problem is.

Lamenting the challenge of tackling the

new trend of drug faking and counterfeiting in the country, Orhii said NAFDAC has been continuously looking for ways of stopping the trend.

Describing counterfeiting as a global problem, he said globally there are no laws and restrictions to punish offenders.

Nigeria is one of the few countries that have secured prosecution.

Speaking on introduction of the MAS coding for Postinor 2, Enterprise Funds

Manager, SFH, Mr. Obinna Nwogu, said the company has gone ahead to ensure that Postinor II has a MAS code so that end users will scratch the product and send a free SMS to the number, whereupon a response is received to verify whether the product is real or fake.

In his view, Managing Director, SFH, Nigeria, Mr Bright Ekweremadu described

Continues on page 48

• L-R: Erelu Abiola Dosunmu, Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu and Group CMD, MART Medical Groug, during the opening of the MARTMedicare, Maternity Suites and Genetics Diagnostic Centre, in Lagos, last week.

— a u r d TUESDA SEP ER 3, 2013 AY, SEPTEMBER 48—Vanguard,

• Cross section of the consignment of four million female condoms presented

by UNFPA to SFH for free distribution nationwide.

UNFPA, SFH increase access to female condoms

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

A

S part of efforts to empower women and girls in Nigeria make informed reproductive health choices, no less than four million female condoms have been received by the Society for Family Health, SFH from the United Nations Population Fund,UNFPA, under the Universal Access to Female Condom, UAFC, Country Programme Phase II initiative.

”In a chat during the handing over of the consignment in Lagos last week at the SFH warehouse in Otta, Ogun State, Resident Representative, UNFPA, Ms. Victoria Akyeampong, observed that the move was essential towards making access to female condoms more feasible in Nigeria.

“Unlike other methods of contraceptive, the female condomis unpopular and often

overlooked by end users.

Findings from Nigeria’s Demographic Health Surveys reveals that 35 percent of unmarried woimen use the male condom in contrast to 0.2 percent who use the female condom.

“Without access to relevant informationand quality services which encompasses a wider range of contraceptive methods, we will fail to achieve our aim to ensure universal access to reproductive health

services,” Akyeampong stated.

Further, she stressed UNFPA’s commitment to making reproductive rights a reality for women and girls through improved access to effective methods of contraception such as the female condom.

Speaking on UNFPA’s partnership with the UAFC Programme, Chioma Ukwuagu, Country Represene healthy reproductive health choices. The Female Condom has been brought to the front burner; and Nigeria is one of the countries that have made a commitment to female condom programming.”

Archibong noted that the provision of these female condoms by UNFPA “is a step in the right direction demonstrating support for national female condom programming”. SFH is also grateful to UAFC partners in Nigeria: Federal Ministry of Health, United Nations Population Fund, Education as a Vaccine, and the Association for Reproductive and Family Health who have shown consistent involvement in making sure that female condoms are available and that men and women are aware and know how to use them.

Universal health coverage possible in 2015 if...

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IGERIANS will soon access good quality and affordable health care services when and where ever they need it regardless of financial and social status, if the National Health bill is passed into law.

This assertion was made at a forum for stakeholders, enrolees, healthcare facilities and Health Maintenance Organizations, HMOs, of the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, in Port-Harcourt recently.

The South-South Zonal Coordinator, NHIS, Mr. Nasiru Ikharo, said the foundation of universal health coverage is access to good quality and affordable healthcare service as at when it is needed.

This, he said, is the vision of NHIS that is mandated to facilitate fair financing and delivery of good quality and affordable healthcare services to Nigerians and residents of Nigeria by 2015.

It could be recalled that the content of the current National health bill has a provision for 1 percent of the consolidated revenue account of the Federal government recommended for NHIS to give health insurance cover for the vulnerable groups that include those who cannot afford to contribute to the national health insurance fund. This 1 percent Federal contribution to the vulnerable groups’ funding could amount N40 billion necessary to boost the contributed funds of the NHIS. Ikharo also revealed that the Scheme is considering several financing options for the vulnerable groups’ fund that will include cross subsidization from other programmes and sources soon to be made public.

Reject drugs without MAS Continued from page 47 MAS coding for Postinor 2 as “a giant step in strengthening trust and a great show of positive consideration to all users of the product.”

Emergency contraceptives assist women who may not have used a contraceptive during sex to prevent unplanned pregnancy. It is also very important in cases of rape and in conflict prone situations where regular contraceptives are unavailable or inaccessible.

COMMON SEXUAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR NOVELTY BASED SOLUTIONS (ADVERTORIAL)

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I Uche, what is the ideal number of children that a couple should have? I have two girls but my husband wants more children. I suspect it is because he wants a boy but he has not been specific in terms of how many children we should have – Margret Dear Margret, two to four children is okay. It is always good for a kid to have a brother or sister so two is an ideal minimum. It is also important for couples to remember that quantity and quality are two different things. If you want to give your children quality care and upbringing, you can only do that with few kids. The more children you have, the more difficult it is to raise them.

Regarding the issue of gender, yes human society has always valued male children more than females.

Morally, it is wrong and no longer makes sense in today’s world. There used to be a time when families needed male children to help with farming, hunting and fighting. Those days are gone. Everybody goes to school now and whether you have boys or girls, they all grow up eventually and leave to settle elsewhere. If you are lucky, they will call you on the phone a few times a year to say hello. So what is the difference? The other concern is that boys carry the family name long after their parents are dead. Unfortunately when you die, you are dead and your surname will be the least of your problems. But the attitude towards women is changing as the world continues to realise that there is really no difference and women are not weaker. Men might be physically stronger and full of bluster, but women quietly boss the world behind the scenes. Power in modern society is no longer about brute force. It is about intelligence and influence.

Women have greater access to corridors of power everywhere and are smarter and more influential than men – Uche I just got notified about the new performance enhancer called Xzen Gold. I know about Xzen 1200.

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013—49

Propertygate unveils N800 million Alexandria Quarters in Lekki

Architects target 1million trees planting in ten years

BY CHRIS OCHAYI

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*Alexandria Quarters at the weekend

BYKINGSLEYADEGBOYE

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LAGOS-based property devel opment firm, Messrs Propertygate Development and Investment Plc, has given a boost to housing provision in the popularLekki peninsular corridor with the completion of a highbrow mini residential housing estate.

Christened Alexandria Quarters, the estate which sits on 9,000 square metres land, is a gated estate comprising 33 finished to taste apartments. They include six semi-detached houses, 10 terraces, 18 apartments and two units of one-bedroom apartment. The houses are all en-suite. The estate also comprises a commercial block that has a grocery, gym and estate office.

Conducting newsmen round the estate last weekend, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Adetokunbo Ajayi said the estate which is covered by a registered title was a direct allocation from Lagos state government within New Town Development Authority, NTDA Skyview Residential Scheme.

He explained that the concept of the estate allowed for space flow during the construction to allow maximum air in the estate.

Describing the housing units as “beautiful functional homes with great finishing”, Mr. Ajayi explained that attention was given to detailed quality finishing during the construction so that landlords in the estate will not change anything while in their houses, unlike in some cases where home owners have to change certain things because they lack quality.

Ajayi who disclosed that about 40 per cent of the houses have already been sold , said his company has introduced what he termed extended payment op-

tion to accommodate subscribers who cannot pay for their houses within the specified period. According to him, 50 per cent down payment must be met before taking possession, while the balance of the remaining 50 per cent will be paid in the duration of two years with interest rate of between 10 and 12 per cent.

The price of a semi-detached house is N37.5 million, a terraced house costs N36.5 million while an apartment costs N31 million. The mini apartments cost N13 million each.

Amenities in the estate include a

dedicated sub station, underground cabling, street lights, paved roads, walkways and drains and a mini water works of 220 metres deep borehole. Others include beautiful landscape, recreation centre, grocery store, security gate house with CCTV cameras and estate managers’ office.

The Propertygate boss added that his company had to embark on underground cabling to check interruption while central backup generators would be installed to minimise noise in the estate.

HE Nigerian Institute of Archi tects, NIA, has embarked on tree planting nationwide. The Institute’s target is to plant a minimum of one million trees in the next ten years.

The Chairman Abuja chapter of the Institute, Mr. Stanley Kolo who disclosed this during the awareness talk on tree planting campaign in Abuja, said it is duty of architects to take charge of the environment.

“As long as we take from the environment there is need to give back to the environment, this is very important for the eco-system. There is need to sensitize people on the need for tree planting, as long as people take timber, roofing, and all forms of wood from the environment, there is bound to be environmental hazard,” he said.

Continuing, the NIA boss said: “Tree planting is not only for desert encroachment or for soil erosion responses. It is also meant to reduce the heating up of the earth’s surface due to the infrared radiation that is emitted by the greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere, as a the temperature of the earth’s surface and tower atmosphere increases.”

Another architect, Umaru Usman said the Federal Capital Territory is the best place from where to start this challenging campaign.

“While making efforts in this professional endeavour we also see the need to consider this mitigation and adaptation responses holistically by involving all stakeholders in the built environment,.” he said.

NIOB renews call for the establishment of Building Industry Development Board BYKINGSLEYADEGBOYE

N

O genuine national transforma tion would be achieved without the well articulated inputs of builders.

This claim was made by participants at the just concluded 43rd annual general meeting, AGM of the Nigerian Institute of Building, NIOB, in Abuja.

The builders who brainstormed on the theme “Transformation of the Building Industry- Possibilities and Realities”, the builders pledged their support to the Federal Government’s transformation agenda. In a 12-point communique issued at the end of the three-day conference, the builders enjoined the federal government and private sector clients to adequately fund housing projects in their respective domains.

They renewed the clamour for the establishment of a Building Industry Development Board, saying it is long overdue. When established, the In-

dustry Development Board will coordinate and promote the development of industry standards, productivity measures and relationship between stakeholders in the industry.

The builders who decried the high turnover, particularly of indigenous firms, called on the federal government to review the system of registration of contractors so as to protect small and medium sized firms and promote national development.

They decried the increasing cost of building projects in Nigeria, occasioned by widespread unethical practices in various stages of project delivery and called for the reform of the public procurement system to address the issue of corruption.

Commending the efforts being made by the Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute, NBRRI to develop indigenous building materials, the participants urged the three tiers of government to champion the revival of the culture of patronizing indigenous building materials and compo-

nents in building projects.

The NIOB reiterated the importance of using building production management documents by its members.

In order to stem the tide of building collapse in the country, the builders stressed the need for all public and private sector clients to ensure that contractors handling building projects, engage the services of resident builders to handle the management of sites as well as supervision of craftsman and artisans as stipulated in the National Building Code.

While commending the federal government and some states for embracing the Public-Private-Partnership, PPP approach in housing delivery, they recommended the setting up of PPP units in states and local governments.

The Institute called for a reform of the National Emergency Management Agency to reposition it to effectively handle disasters arising from building collapse.

50—Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Disputed Land: Shasha residents urges Gov Fashola to prevail on LSBCA

By ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

T

HE Shasha Akowonjo Landlords and Residents Association has sent a Save our Soul, SoS appeal to the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola over what they described as an attempt by an agency of the state government to forcibly seize and demolish their structures in the name of building a market in the area.

The residents who spoke through their lawyer, Mr. L ekan Olaniyan said trouble began in the area when the traditional ruler of Shasha, Oba Nasiru Babatunde Lawal allegedly decided to acquire the large track of land under the guise of converting it into a market place without consulting the landlords in the area.

According to them, the Oba took it upon himself to approach government agencies in the state to come and acquire the over 40 plots of land by destroying the already developed residential and religious properties under the guise that the community would acquire it for market

A property on the disputed land development.

However, Oba Lawal who according to the residents was at the centre of the crisis, denied ever having any personal interest in the take over of the area. He explained that he was only supporting the quest by the community to

have a befitting market for the people.

“The disputed area was given out by the land owners to the government since 2007 for the development of market during the time of the late Oba of Shasha. The people who now occupy it illegally claim to

have purchased it in spite of the fact that they knew that the whole area had been given out for the market project,” Oba Lawal alleged.

The embattled residents represented by Chief Sule Owolabi, Mr. Arogundade Dare, Mr. Stephen Atie and Mr. Toba Oduwaiye claimed that the rightful owner of the land, one Chief A. O. Aina had pleaded with the traditional ruler not to interfere with the said land and offered him an alternative land for the construction of the market but he refused.

However to ensure that the properties are taken over from them, they alleged that the traditional ruler personally led officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, LSBCA, to the area and issued them quit threats to vacate the land, in spite of the fact that the matter is in court.

One of the landlords who identified himself as Mr. Franklin Onuoha explained that they (landlords)approached the leader of the agency with the fact that the case is in court and that the status quo should be

maintained. The LSBCA was reported to have said, “I don’t care if there is a matter in court.

I will do anything I want to do and it is the same court that will resolve the issue”.

Continuing, Mr. Onuoha said: “don’t want anybody to incite the residents against the government. The problem we have presently is the Oba who is instigating the government against the people. We are peace loving people and we have resolved to seek the proper channel to address our plight, ” he said.

In their court action, the landlords joined the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and the Lagos State Building Control Agency, LSBCA as defendants.

They are asking the court to declare that that the land in question which is situated at Boundary Road/Ologunfe Bus Stop, Shasha, Akowonjo and consist of about 30 buildings, originally belonged to Akinlawon Olaife Royal family who settled thereon from time immemorial were theirs, having purchased same from the rightful owners of the land.

Aworo family sues Oba Aromolaran to court over Odogbo land

BY INNOCENT ANABA

M

EMBERS of the Aworo family of Odogbo in Atakunmosa East Local Government Area of Osun State have dragged the Owa Obokun of Ijesa Land, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran before an Osun State High Court in Ilesa, challenging the propriety of his attempt to take over about 4, 000 acres of land which make up Odogbo from them.

The fresh suit, which was instituted by the Oba Aworo of Odogbo, Oba Titus Awoleru on behalf of himself and members of the Aworo family, also has Aromolaran and his administrative representative in Odogbo, Chief Adediran Aromolaran as first and second defendants respectively.

Aromolaran had recently written a letter to the Aworo family claiming that he had revoked the Odogbo land from

them, and that henceforth, the land, which is about 10 kilometers from llesa along Ilesa –Eti-Oni Road, now belongs to him.

But the Aworo family, in a statement of claim before the court, recalled that Odogbo was founded by a brave woman known as Yeyetohunsise during the reign of Owa Atakunmosa about 700 years ago.

The Aworo family is a direct descendant of Yeyetohunsise.

Going down history, the family averred that Owa Atakunmosa had, in a bid to expand the territorial boundary of ljesaland, purchased a very large area of land from Obaluju for 1460 cowries, but he was unable to pay for the land in full for some time.

“Obaluju sent his servants to collect the debt from Owa during one of Ogun festivals.

Owa solicited for financial help from his chiefs. Yeyetohunsise,

Environmentalists harp on benefits of waste characterisation

BY KINGSLEY ADEGBOYE

C

HEMISTRY and waste management are crucial in the development of small and medium enterprises. This view was canvassed by environmentalists who spoke at the just concluded 5th Mandatory Continuing Professional Development, MCPD workshop organised by the Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria, ICCON. The experts submitted that chemistry and waste management will boost the development of SMEs if well managed.

Speaking on “Waste characterisation and management”, Prof. Babajide Alo of the Department of Chemistry, University of Lagos, Akoka, said a

major implication of the impracticable attempt to achieve 100 per cent in industrial production processes and domestic consumption pattern has resulted in the generation of unwanted materials or substances.

The UNILAG Deputy Vice Chancellor who is a renowned environmentalist, pointed out however, that if there are no immediate needs for these materials, they become wastes which need to be disposed.

Explaining waste characterisation as the determination of the percentage of different constituents of a waste, for instance, finding out how much paper, glass, food waste and others is discarded in one’s waste stream, he said the waste characterisation information helps in planning how to reduce waste, set up

recycling programmes and conserve money and resources. “ For industrial wastes, characterisation is carried out to determine if the waste is classified hazardous for disposal purposes.

This characterisation is done using established methods while the characterisation method to be used also depends on the analyte of interest such as potentially toxic metal, chloride, and matrix of the waste such as liquid or sediment or solid,” he said.

The don submitted that waste characterisation is an important tool in current waste control methods and results in efficient and productive waste management strategies.

the wife of Ogboni, and Yeyejemba were the two prominent women who assisted the Owa to pay the debt.

“Yeyetohunsise was a very wealthy woman of honour and respect, an astute and enterprising woman. She was a trader and had as her wares all sorts of articles like tiro, atike, costume and household utensils. She was popularly referred to as ‘Alate Lele Oja’ at ldiose.

“It is averred that Owa Atakunmosa decided to compensate the two women by giving them land. Owa asked them to choose land from the part of the land he had bought from Obaluju,” Aworo family averred adding that Yeyetohunsise eventually chose and was granted the vast land known as Odogbo.

The family insisted that the story of Owa Atakunmosa gave Odogbo land to Yeyetohunsise was a common story among the Ijasas, and cannot bedenied.

Besides, the family added that since the granting of the land to Yeyetohunsise, the Aworo family has exercised exclusive and un-interrupted rights of ownership over the land, and wondered why the present Owa (Aromolaran) was trying to take over the land.

Chief (Mrs.) Mary Omafuakpore Agbonifo (JP) – nee Ogbevire TRIBUTE

BY TONY OKENE

B

ORN on August 12, 1935,a precious little baby girl, who was destined to be a shining star in the family, Chief (Mrs.) Mary Omafuakpore Agbonifo was born into the family of popular cash crop farmer and general business merchant, Chief Ogogo Ogbevire of Urhuokpe Quarters and Madam Iroroevu Ogbevire (Nee Akpojotor) of Ekrudu Quarters; both of Kokori Town in Ethiope East Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta State. With two others, (her sibling Obreto and cousin Ogbodo), young Mary was taken from Ogbevire village, near Samagidi to the Big City of Warri, to undergo her education there.

Her new guardians were a couple, Mr. & Mrs. Idarare, who were close family friends of Chief Ogogo Ogbevire. This couple visited Ogbevire village regularly, especially during annual Church revivals. Mr. Idarare’s wife was fondly called by her first name, Ishaka. Young Mary and the other children were always giving Aunty Ishaka a helping hand in ensuring the safe trip of every consignment of crayfish to Onitsha. At this young age, it would not be out of place to say that Mary was

unconsciously getting tutelage of business environment she would be exposed to in life much later. But before this can materialize, young Mary basically needed to prepare herself academically as well.When Mr. & Mrs. Idarare brought Mary to Warri, she was enrolled at Cavagena Catholic Primary School, Okere.

She was in this school briefly for one year and was moved to a much better school – Girls School, Igbudu-Warri, where she completed her Standard School Education.

Marriage and early •Late Chief (Mrs.) Agbonifo business: After her Standard School Education, Mary relocation of the Okene family to got married in 1952 to her Eku town, in 1958. She was into heartthrob, Chief Johnson buying of fresh river fish from Jebimiye Okene of Eku, in Agbon local fishermen around the Kingdom. At this time, Chief neighbouring villages. This Okene was living in Ijaw Street, initial fish experience was Daudu Quarters-Warri. Within a allowed by God for her, as year after marriage the new preparation to launch her into the spouse, Madam Mary, gave birth Frozen Fish business that gave to her first baby (a boy) on her the fame and exposure in her September 16, 1953. The foray of later life. In 1962, Prince Sunday her husband’s deep involvement Odje introduced Madam Mary in politics and his unalloyed first into the Frozen Fish business. commitment in supporting a For a start, she bought one carton candidate from one of the Ruling of Ibru Sea Foods frozen fish Houses, for the Royal Stool of (through Prince Odje) which she Agbon Kingdom, led to the hawked just along Urusi Street

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013—51 in Eku and sold-off everything. established Magson Filling StaFrom this humble beginning, she tions, to meet the daily needs of grew and developed to the level commuters (petrol and diesel) as of a Sub-Distributor at the Warri well as in the homes (kerosene).

Main Depot of Ibru Sea Foods – Majorly, their Malco Trucks are covering Eku, Kokori, Oha, able to deliver products promptly Abraka, Umutu, Obiaruku and as a result of this segment ? Oil & environs. Through her proven Gas. track record, Ibru Sea Foods gave •In Real Estate, she doggedly her a Wooden Coldroom at Eku, went into this segment purposely to promptly meet the needs of to save enormous costs of renting Retailers and Consumers. Right properties for her Mega from then, her volume and Businesses. Therefore she bought turnover grew in leaps and and also built Vast Estates, Guest bounds.

Houses, Shopping Complexes Business growth to mega and Massive Warehouses along status: Chief (Mrs.) Agbonifo Refinery Road Effurun (where her registered separate and distinct Corporate Head Office is also companies with the Corporate situated), Choice Areas in Warri, Affairs Commission to transact Portharcourt, Lagos, UK and USA. business exclusively with each of Over the decades, her tenacity these esteemed Conglomerates; and undaunted knack for for accountability, dedication and excellence had always made her focus: •In the FMCG segment, to strive to maintain a healthy her Magulf Global Company distant lead ahead of other transacts business exclusively competitors, in the various with Nigerian Breweries Plc. industries. It is worth mentioning •Also in the FMCG segment, that these entire giant strides by another of her company, Omovo Chief (Mrs.) Agbonifo would not Nigeria Limited, deals have been possible without the exclusively with Guinness Plc. immense support of her husband, •Malco Limited is the Transport Chief Godspower Agbonifo and arm, co-founded with her the children. In reciprocal manner husband and was specifically and going by the saying: “behind registered to complement the every successful man there is the FMCG businesses for prompt woman/wife”, indeed motivated haulage of their products, to Chief (Mrs.) Agbonifo to put her Distributors and Retail-Outlets full weight (in all ramifications) across the Country. •Magulf behind her husband, to actualize Fishing Company is involved in his dream of building the first the Importation of Frozen Sea Five-Star Hotel in Delta State – Foods from Overseas, aside from Wellington Hotel, along Effurun huge purchases within Nigeria – DSC Roundabout Road. from Ibru Sea Foods; Mosheshe Fisheries; etc. •In Oil & Gas, she

2 — V anguard ng E S A SSEPTEMBER T 2 52 , T TUESDAY 10, 2013

Argentina, last push Arrgen e tina, Colombia Colombia in la ast pus h A

SINGLE point is all that is required for Colombia to guarantee their place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, while a point may also be enough for Argentina if either Ecuador or Uruguay fail to win their games tonight.

However, it will not be easy for La Albiceleste or Los Cafeteros as they face away trips to Paraguay and Uruguay respectively, two teams in dire need of positive results.

Nor are the other encounters on the 16th of 18 rounds of qualifiers any less pivotal. Ecuador travel to already eliminated Bolivia in La Paz determined to cling onto fourth place, while Venezuela and Peru meet in Puerto La Cruz in a must-win clash for both sides. FIFA.com previews all the action ahead.

Belgium’s golden generation

W

ITH the World Cup drawing ever closer, the usual nations are expected to compete for Spain’s crown; Germany, hosts Brazil, the Netherlands and Argentina are all in the mix.

There’s one country, however, that could very well cause some upsets and shock the world next summer - Belgium.

They have one of the most youthful and talented squads in Europe and look ready to make their mark on International football, after a 12year absence from a major tournament.

The likes of Eden Hazard, Christian Benteke, Romelu Lukaku, Marouane Fellaini and Captain Vincent Kompany make this squad dangerous to play against.

Not many international teams have a more powerful front line than Belgium, as Benteke and Lukaku can bully any defenders that are put in front of them.

•Messi

La mpard jo ins 100 100 club club Lampard joins

BY JACOB AJOM

G

OVERNOR Liyel Imoke of Cross River State will like to see the Super Eagles return to the U J Esuene Stadium and play their final qualifier for the Brazil 2014 World Cup. This was the sentiment expressed by the State commissioner for Youth and Sports, Patrick Ugbe in his office Monday, pointing out that Calabar had provided everything that the team needed to succeed. ”They started from here.

It is à Cross River project and even the players themselves want to qualify for the World Cup from Calabar,” Ugbe said.

Hé insistes that the Stephen Keshi tutored team got the best run of results from Calabar which will make it more attractive than any where else in the country. “The results speak for themselves. Since the Eagles

started their romance with Calabar, they qualified for the Nations Cup and went ahead to win the trophy. In the World Cup qualifiers, the worst résult has been à draw against Kenya and everybody knows the rôle of the Calabar fans in all this.”

Hé said, “we are happy that people who come here commend our efforts. The Malawians, for instance, were impressed with what they saw. Organisationally, we are world class, with condusive environment for teams and guests. So whoever is planning to take Super Eagles matches away from Calabar has à huge mountain to climb.”

Sports Vanguard gathered that there are subtle moves by some states to take Super Eagles matches away from Cross River State, à development that has been resisted by players and the technical crew.

Mexico battle U.S. with no room for error

•Lampard

E

•Hazard

Imoke wants Eagles back in Calabar

NGLAND boss Roy Hodgson has confirmed Frank Lampard will earn his 100th cap against Ukraine tight..

The Chelsea midfielder, 35, will become only the eighth Three Lions player to reach the milestone, joining team-mates Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole.

Hodgson said: “Frank will play tomorrow night so that’s a quite a first. I’ve been very lucky to have three players who have reached [100 caps in the same side] and all things

being equal Frank will start and get his 100th cap.

“Basically, there will only be one change in the team,

that will be the person who replaces Welbeck. I will leave it to you to make your assumptions.”

m y bench b nnch c h Benzema z a Deschamps c a p may

S

TRIKER Karim Ben zema could be dropped for France’s World Cup Group I qualifier in Belarus today as coach Didier Deschamps seeks to end his team’s five-match goal drought.

France, who trail leaders Spain by three points with two games remaining, have not scored in

five consecutive matches for the first time ever while Benzema has failed to find the net in his last 15 appearances.

“You’ll see tomorrow,” he told a news conference in Gomel on Monday. “The players will know the starting team tomorrow.”

•Hernandez

M

EXICO face the United States in Columbus, Ohio today knowing that anything but a victory would seriously compromise their aim of a place in next year’s World Cup finals in Brazil.

While CONCACAF group leaders Costa Rica can secure their place in the finals with a victory in Kingston against bottom-placed Jamaica and the United States, despite their 3-1 loss to Costa

•Donovan Rica on Friday, remain well-placed in second spot, Mexico are becoming increasingly desperate.

With two games remaining after Tuesday’s round of games, Mexico face the real possibility of finishing fourth and being forced into a twolegged playoff with New Zealand for a place in Brazil unless they can start to turn things around with a victory at Crew Stadium.

Vanguard, TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 — 53

Eto’o quits Lions!

C HELSEA striker Samuel Eto’o said he would quit the Cameroon national team for “family reasons” after a row with coach Volker Finke over team selection, despite helping his side to reach the final round of African qualification for the World Cup in Brazil.

The 32-year-old, who also threatened to retire from international football in September 2012 before changing his mind, told teammates in the dressing room after Sunday’s 1-0 home win over Libya that he was ending his 16-year career with the Indomitable Lions, according to French newspaper L’Equipe.

His announcement follows a week of tension in the team camp after Eto’o demanded the selection of goalkeeper Carlos Kameni and striker Achille Webo

• Eto’o against Libya, with German Finke refusing to agree.

Eto’o, four times African Footballer of the Year, initially suggested he was not fit to play because of a groin injury but did take part in the match and even wore the captain’s armband before being replaced on the hour mark.

Cameroon now face a two-legged playoff in October and November to qualify for Brazil.

Emenike Continues from BP money should be $10,000.”

We gathered that tension was about to rise in the camp when one of the coaches who was expected to swiftly intervene was said to have begged officials to leave him out of the matter.

But nerves calmed when the paymaster of the team took money to Emenike and asked him if it was true that the team had rejected the $5,000 bonus for each player.

Emenike was said to have frowned at that and said that they should quickly pay him whatever they had as bonus. He collected the money and said that playing for the national team was a great honour which all reasonable players must appreciate.

Next was Victor Moses who also said that they should quickly pay him what they had. Other players followed. This shamed the player who had first rejected the bonus. At this point, he also collected and the

coach who had earlier asked that he be left out called a top official of the federation to announce that “the players have now agreed to take money.”

The player who first rejected the bonus was also at the centre of the bonus row that brought Nigeria international shame in Namibia. After the World Cup qualifier the Eagles rejected their bonus and said that they would not play in the Confederation Cup in Brazil. The federation had reverted to the $5,000

Eagles Continues from BP ca will be held on Monday, September 16, the seeding will be based on FIFA September rankings, which will be released on Thursday.

Nigeria are within the top five in Africa and they maintain their ranking after Tuesday ’s match, they will be one of five teams to be seeded at Monday’s draw in Cairo, Egypt.

This means they will avoid the likes of Cote d’Ivoire, Algeria and Ghana. Burkina Faso, on the other hand, need to score more points for them to make it into the top five and so be seeded.

Academica de Coimbra of Portugal forward John Ogu saidthat the Eagles know the importance of the game. ”Of course, every game is important to us, so we want to win. We are aware this month’s FIFA ranking will influence the seeding for the draws, even without that it is a serious game to us,” Ogu said “I am always ready to play for Nigeria any day anytime, I am looking forward to the game.”

Nigeria have never lost

to the Stallions of Burkina Faso, having won six out of eight meeting, with just two draws.

At the 2013 AFCON, the two West Africans drew 1-1 in a group game in Nelspruit, South Africa, before they clashed again in the final, where the Eagles won 1-0 to win their third Nations Cup diadem.

The Eagles are equally aware of the physicality of the Stallions.

The players joked during Monday morning training about the strength of their top marksman, Jonathan Petroipa.

“Azubuike, Petroipa will show you pepper and I know you have been thinking of him,”Ogenyi Onazi poked a joke at the Eagles tallest defender Azubuike Egwuekwe.

The defender kept mute and just shook his head, but Emmanuel Emenike, who incidentally did not play the final due to a knock rose to his defence.

“Petroipa was there at the Nations Cup and we know the result. Na for this field we go see who be oga for African football,”said the Fenerbache striker

L-R: Brand Manager, Squadron, Zek Dokpesi, Lagos FA Chairman, Seyi Akinwunmi, Captain of the victorious MFM FC, Atu Irumekhai, Initiator of LIFT, Mutiu Adepoju at the presentation ceremony of the just concluded maiden edition of the Lagos International Football Tournament at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

Ghana Continues from BP heavyweights in the final stage of the qualifiers.

As one of the seeded teams going into the draw for the knockout stage, the Stars will avoid facing seeded teams like Cote d’Ivoire, African champions Nigeria and Algeria, who were winners of groups B, F and H respectively.

However, the draw could pit the Black Stars against surprise group winners like Ethiopia, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Senegal or traditional giants Cameroun and Egypt.

The final seedings will be based on the latest FIFA rankings to be released on Thursday and will create five two-leg ties, with the winners going to the finals in Brazil.

The draw for the playoffs will take place in Cairo on September 16,

with the two-leg ties coming off in October and November.

After reaching the final stage of the qualifiers, Ghana Football Association president, Kwesi Nyantakyi, said he was hopeful the Stars would make it to their third successive World Cup finals but expected the playoff to be very tough.

“At that [final round] stage, you must bear in mind that no team will be cheap. Any team that has made it this far is strong and you cannot underrate any team at all,” Mr Nyantakyi told ghanafa.org.

Similarly, Coach Appiah is bracing for a tough playoff and is leaving nothing to chance to ensure his players are in the best of shapes for the two-leg encounter.

“We are praying that all our players get playing time with their various clubs,” Appiah said .

they paid to each player as winning bonus before the 2010 World Cup. The increase was done by the Presidential Task Force for the World Cup. The federation reverted to their original payment without formally informing the players before the match in Kenya on June 5. The players, therefore, rejected the bonus for their victory in Kenya and the draw in Namibia. It took the intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan for the team to agree to fly to Brazil. The Presidency paid the balance.

Emenike’s patriotic action Saturday night led to the bandwagon effect that saved the federation another bonus row.

“Emenike saved us another bonus row. He is a great patriot. After a key player rejected our bonus and said the whole team had decided not to collect it, Emenike said that such will not happen with him and that playing for Nigeria was an honour greater than money,” a top official of the federation said yesterday even mentioning the name of the player who had plotted another revolt.

“Emenike said that whatever we pay was a token to what the players earn in Europe and that he was surprised bonus would be made an issue by some people.

Serena Continues from BP tournament longer than Serena Williams who, 14 years after she won her first slam title in New York as an ebullient teenager, took delivery of her fifth US Open championship as a seasoned champion by beating the breeze, her nerves and Victoria Azarenka in three sets.

Williams served for the match twice in the second set and once in the third, and gave the loser proper credit for making it a gripping, windracked, error-strewn final.

From a set and 1-4 down in wind that would have knocked Nelson off his poop deck, Azarenka forced a tie-break then a third session. After two hours and 45 minutes, Williams was as relieved as she was elated in cele-

brating a 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 victory.

With the former president Bill Clinton looking on, she said: “I definitely felt the love. It’s an honour to play in New York. Victoria you played an unbelievable match.

What a great person.”

Azarenka said: “It is a tough loss but to play in the final against the best player in the world is unbelievable.”

This was not a good day to wear a dress and the Arthur Ashe Stadium’s uncanny ability to drag down the wind and swirl it around like heavy soup bedevilled the final from the first ball-toss of the match to Azarenka’s concluding over-hit forehand. Bob Seger ’s Against The Wind would have been a suitable changeover soundtrack.

54 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 — 55

C M Y K

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 , 2013

Emenike saves Nigeria another bonus row

E

MMANUEL Emenike, scorer of Nigeria’s first goal against Malawi Saturday night showed the patriot in him when

Eagles go for FIFA ranking points against Etalons Nigeria vs B/Faso Kick-off: 4pm

Serena crowns 14year reign with 5th US Open title

C

RUCIAL FIFA ranking points will be at stake when the Super Eagles host Burkina Faso in a friendly today in Kaduna.

The draw for the final round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers for Afri Continues on Page 53

N

O woman has ruled any tennis Continues on Page 53

Eto’o quits Indomitable Lions after row – P.53

Today’s Fixtures Russia Luxembourg Georgia Belarus Romania Andorra Hungary Kazakhstan Austria Faroe Islands San Marino Ukraine Macedonia Wales Armenia Malta Italy Norway Cyprus Iceland Lithuania Slovakia Greece

Ghana to avoid Eagles in World Cup draw

A

FTER blowing away Zambia to qualify for the final stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Ghana’s Black Stars are bracing for a tough twoleg palyoff for a place in Brazil, but Coach Kwasi Appiah has been spared the headache of facing one of the continent’s Continues on Page 53

he declared that he was ready to play for Nigeria for free, saying winning a shirt to play for the national team was a greater motivation than monetary inducement.

A key player in the Eagles had rejected the $5,000 bonus when the money was taken to him.

He said that “ we will not collect $5,000. Our Continues on Page 53

CHAMPION STUFF. .....Serena Williams returns a shot to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus during the 2013 US Open women’s singles final on September 8. Serena won 7-5 6-7, 6-1 PHOTO: AFP

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YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 1 Hit (6) 5 Pile (4) 8 Leading (5) 9 Border (3) 10 Fete (4) 11 Row (4) 12 Upright (5) 13 Fanatic (6) 16 Fashionable (4) 18 Rim (4) 20 Free (3) 22 Perform (3) 23 Fasten (3) 24 Visage (4) 25 Dregs (4) 28 Knocked (5) 30 Postpone (5) 32 Uproar (4) 33 Niche (4) 34 Regret (3) 35 Shelf (5) 36 Pip (4) 37 Coming (6)

DOWN 1 Plan (6) 2 Amorous (8) 3 Brandy (6) 4 Symbol (9) 5 Axe (7) 6 Revise (4) 7 Divide (4) 8 Beer (3) 14 Dare (9) 15 Era (3) 17 Freeze (3) 19 Scatter (8) 20 Uncooked (3) 21 Erased (7) 26 Dismissed (6) 27 Strangest (6) 29 Flag (4) 30 Distribute (4) 31 Fish-eggs (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 3, Assay 9, Grease 10, Wedged 11, Scorn 12, Nous 15, Mere 17, Tankard 20, Dud 21, Early 23, Sell 25, Moan 26, Lover 28, Hew 30, Duteous 33, Anon 35, List 36, Vesta 38, Detail 39, Exceed 40, Elude.

DOWN: 1, Agent 2, Begun 3, Ass 4, Secure 5, Awry 6, Yen 7, Ogled 8, Added 13, Oarsmen 14, Skill 16, Ruinous 18, Dared 19, Elm 22, Yoked 24, Lot 27, Rusted 28, Hardly 29, Worth 31, Oiled 32, Study 34, Well 36, Vie 37, Axe.

How to Play Sudoku

P

lace a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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