Okonjo-Iweala's mother, 82, kidnapped

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 61771

THANKSGIVING: Senator Oluremi Tinubu (right) and Dr. Stella Stella Okoli, Founder/Group Managing Director, Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries during the company ’s annual thangsgiving dinner at Muson Centre, Lagos, weekend.

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Vanguard reporter wins NMMA investigative award •P 6

Okonjo-Iweala's mother, 82, kidnapped •It's difficult time for Okonjo-Iweala's family

The kidnappers had easy access to the palace as the policeman expected to be on duty was absent. The kidnappers, therefore, held all the workers carrying out renovation work at gunpoint — Sources

— Finance ministry

•Uduaghan asks security agents to rescue her within 24 hours

BY EMMA AMAIZE, KINGSLEY OMONOBI, AUSTIN OGWUDA & FESTUS AHON

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SABA — GUNMEN, yesterday, raised the stake when they abducted the mother of the Minister of Finance, Prof. Okonjo-Iweala,

EKO 2012: Governor Uduaghan of Delta State (middle); Team Delta Captain, Miss Ruth Izenegwu The kidnapped Prof (right) and Mr. Amaju Pinnic, Chairman, Delta State Sports Commission (left) during the closing Kamene Okonjo. ceremony of the 18th National Sports Festival, in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Henry Unini.

Professor Kamene Okonjo, in OgwashiUku, Delta State.

Okonjo-Iweala’s mother, 82, who is the wife of the Obi of

Continues on page 5

Mr & Mrs

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POCKET CARTOON

82-yr-old Okonjo-Iweala's mother kidnapped Continues from page 1 Ogwashi-Uku Kingdom, Professor Chukwuka Aninshi Okonjo Agbogidi, was kidnapped yesterday at about 1:30 pm at the husband’s palace in Ogbe-Ofu quarters by eight gunmen who stormed the palace in two Audi 80 cars.

It was gathered that the kidnappers had easy access to the palace as the policeman expected to be on duty was absent. The kidnappers, therefore, held all the workers carrying out renovation work at gunpoint. One of the suspects was said to have gone upstairs and picked the bag of the Obi’s wife while the woman, who was sitting under a tree after serving the workers some soft drinks, was whisked away.

Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Charles Muka, in his reaction said: “Yes, we (police) have got the information on the kidnap and we have also got information that will lead to the arrest of the hoodlums.”

According to a dependable source, the woman who is a medical doctor and a professor was pushed into one of the Audi cars and driven to unknown destination.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, said security agents had been drafted to the palace.

A senior police officer in

the state, who pleaded anonymity, however, said massive manhunt had commenced to rescue the Queen of Ogwashi-Uku.

Uduaghan asks security agents to smoke out kidnappers Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has urged the police and other security agencies to track the kidnappers and free Okonjo-Iweala’s mother within 24 hours.

A source said: “The governor fumed when the kidnap was reported to him and said the boys must be tracked down wherever they are hiding at all cost.”

Police on trail of kidnappers The state Commissioner for Information, Chike Ogeah, who spoke to Vanguard described the kidnap as “very unfortunate.” He said he had spoken to the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, and it was clear that the police were on top of the situation.

His words: “I had just spoken to the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, and he assured that the police would get the kidnappers.

Former Minister of State for Education, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, told Vanguard: “It is sad and regrettable that we are playing cosmetic politics with the lives of people in Delta state. The incidence of kidnapping is an embarrassment to any government that is worth its onions.

“That Okonjo-Iweala’s mother has been kidnapped is an embarrassing news across the world and I wonder what the government is doing about this situation in the state.

“People are now fleeing from their homes in the state because of the fear of kidnappers. I will ask my brother and governor of the state, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, to pay more attention to the menace of kidnappers in the state and stop treating the matter with kid gloves.

“In Delta State, there are more soldiers and policemen than any other place and sometimes, you begin to wonder what they

are doing with all these brazen crimes.”

Ndudi Elumelu, member representing Aniocha/ Oshimili federal constituency, said: “It is totally condemnable. It is high time the state government signed into law the maximum punishment for kidnappers.”

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, was said to have called Delta State Commissioner of Police immediately he was informed of the incident and said there should be massive deployment of intelligence and antikidnap personnel backed up by anti-terrorist personnel.

The police boss in his reaction said no stone should be left unturned towards ensuring her release unharmed. The IG then assured that everything would be done to rescue her hale and hearty. He also explained that no time frame would be given for her release as

this might jeopardise her safety.

Meanwhile, there was no reaction from either the Presidency or the Minister of Finance at press time.

It's difficult time for Okonjo-Iweala's family — Finance ministry The Federal Ministry of Finance in a statement, yesterday, by the Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Paul

Nwabuikwu said: “At this point, it is difficult to say whether those behind this action are the same people who have made threats against the Coordinating Minister in the recent past or other elements with hostile motives. No possibility can be ruled out at this point.

"This is obviously a very difficult time for the entire Okonjo family. But the family is hopeful of a positive outcome as it fervently prays for the quick and safe return of the matriarch."

Gbagi, Elumelu react

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

Whatever you cannot do boldly in front of other people then you don’t do it all. Do what needs to be done.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

The best way to learn about anything is through stories. The sculptor Richard Serra talks about how, as a young artist, he thought he was a painter.

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ICHARD Serra says that so nonchalantly, you might have missed it. He went and saw this painting by a guy 300 years prior, and realised, “I can’t do that.” So Richard Serra went back to his studio in Florence, picked up all of his works up to that point, and threw them into a river.

Richard Serra let go of painting at that moment, but he didn’t let go of art. He moved to New York City, and he put together a list of verbs— to roll, to crease, to fold — more than a hundred of them, and as he said, he just started playing around.

He did these things to all kinds of material.

He would take a huge sheet of lead and roll it up and unroll it. He would do the same thing to rubber. “To lift” is the title of one of his famous works which is in the Museum of Modern Art. Richard Serra had to let go of painting in order to embark on this playful exploration that led him to the work that he’s known for today. Richard Serra is able to do what he couldn’t do in painting.

He makes us the subject of his art.

So experience and challenge and limitations are all things we need to embrace for creativity to flourish.

From left: Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd); Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) and former IGP, Alhaji Gambo Jimeta at the wedding fatiha of Vice President Namadi Sambo's daughters in Kaduna, weekend. Photo: Olu Ajayi.

Eko 2012: Jonathan urges Nigerians to imbibe spirit of sportsmanship

BY MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

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AGOS — PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, stressed the need for Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship in their daily activities, saying “this is the only way we can build an enduring society that we all aspired to have.”

Jonathan who declared the 18th Sports Festival, tagged Eko 2012, closed at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos said the spirit of s p o r t m a n s h i p

demonstrated by the athletes at the games had shown that sports was vital to the unity and development of the country.

According to the President, who was represented by the Minister of Sports and chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, “I want to urge Nigerians to demonstrate the spirit of sportsmanship in their daily endeavours.”

He, however, urged the state governments to include the festival in their yearly calendar, as this would create room for

adequate preparation before the festival.

Governor of the host state, Babatunde Fashola decried the one-year notice given to the Main Organising Committee, (MOC) for the preparation of the game.

Fashola explained that the previous hosts were given three years while Lagos was given one year to prepare for the festival that involves athletes from all the states.

He said: “Despite the short notice, we have organised one of the best festivals in recent times.

What this has shown is that if we seriously commit

ourselves to anything in this country, we will achieve it.”

The governor noted that the 2012 festival had helped to revive the aim of the event which was to discover talents that would represent the country in global events.

He noted: “The ultimate issue that concerns me as this festival comes to a close is about the new athletes that were discovered through this festival. After today, we must work to ensure that they are nurtured to compete with their peers in the next Olympics representing their fatherland and not other countries.”

6—Vanguard , MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI & CALEB AYANSINA

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BUJA—CHAIRMAN, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta, weekend, admonished Nigerians to see the recent rating of Nigeria as one of the most corrupt nations in the world by Transparency International, TI, report as a wake up call, which should not dampen enthusiasm towards the anti-corruption war.

Nta gave the advice in Kaduna, just as Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, said the country’s poor rating by TI in its 2012 Corruption Perception Index, CPI, has shown as an empty boast the Jonathan presidency’s claim that corruption had gone down under its watch.

Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, on its part identified corruption as the greatest problem facing the country, insisting that Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and ICPC have fallen “short of the standards and requirements of an effective anticorruption regime.”

The ICPC boss gave the admonition at the inauguration of ICPC’s National Anti-Corruption Volunteer Corp, NAVC, Kaduna chapter. He called on Nigerians to develop a new mindset in the anti-corruption war.

Speaking through a member of ICPC, Alhaji Abdullai AdoBayero, the ICPC boss said the commission had embarked on a number of preventive strategies and initiatives, among which was the establishment of NAVC. Nta said the ICPC established NAVC nationwide four years ago to domicile the fight against corruption with the people and enlighten them to see corruption as anathema.

He said: “We should all be involved in the struggle to stamp out corruption. A situation where the battle is seen as government business alone is not good for sustainability of the crusade.”

ACN reacts

In a statement issued in Ilorin, yesterday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, ACN expressed concern at the negative impact corruption was having on the country’s economy and the image of the country.

ACN said if left unchecked, corruption was capable of bringing Nigeria down even ahead of the slow intensity warfare and general insecurity in the country.

ACN said the “harvest of corruption scandals” that have dogged the Jonathan administration was unprecedented in the country’s history, and that this had been attested to by the

RETREAT: From left— Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria; Mr. Efiok Cobham, Deputy Governor of Cross Rivers State, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, GMD, Access Bank, and Chairman, Sub-Committee on Economic Development and Sustainability, at the 4th Annual Bankers’ Committee Retreat in Calabar, yesterday.

Transparency Int'l rating a wake-up call— ICPC global anti-corruption body in its latest CPI. The party said: “Sadly, despite the presidency’s self-delusion, Nigeria remains among the most corrupt nations on earth. According to the latest CPI, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and one of the continent’s biggest economies, was not listed among the top 35 least corrupt nations in Africa, even when it is ranked the 35th most corrupt nations in the world!

“It is also instructive that Liberia and Sierra Leone, which

Nigeria helped to liberate from the throes of war, are now doing much better in fighting corruption than the Nigeria, just like much smaller and less-endowed nations like Niger, Gambia, Burkina Faso and Mali are better rated.”

EFCC, ICPC has failed— NBA

Meanwhile, Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, yesterday, lamented that the issue of corruption had led to loss of confidence in Nigeria by its citizens both at home and abroad

due to the activities of “fraudsters, corrupt public officials and mis-governance by our leaders.”

NBA further expressed regret that “on the international scene, Nigeria has been blacklisted as a state in which integrity and transparency are alien and where no transactions occur without greasing of palms.”

National President of the legal body, Chief Okey Wali, who stated this while briefing newsmen in Abuja, yesterday, to commemorate the International Anti-Corruption Day, implored the Federal Government to rescind its decision to slash the 2013 budget of the EFCC by 50 percent, even as

he urged the National Assembly to promptly pass the “Civil forfeiture Bill” pending before it to ensure all proceeds of corruption are forfeited.

He said: “There is no disputing the fact that corruption is the greatest problem of this country, whether it is lack of employment opportunities, power, health, petroleum product, security or insecurity, water or food.

“In spite of strategies put in place, little or no success has been achieved as these institutions fall short of the standards and requirement of an effective anti-corruption regime, as demanded by the anti-corruption conventions.”

Vanguard journalist wins NMMA investigative reporter award zAmuka honoured as Father of Print Media

BY UDUMA KALU & KEMI BALOGUN

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IGERIA’S most informative newspaper, Vanguard, has won the 2012 Alex Ibru Prize for Investigative Reporter of the Year. It was awarded to Mr. Kemi Ishola Balogun for his story, Police Goes Tough on Mother of Miracle Babies.

The story took the reporter over three months to accomplish.

Vanguard also received other nominations, including the NAFCON Prize for Environment Reporter of the Year for the story Ogoni on the Brink of Extinction and for the Conoil Prize for Energy Correspondent of the Year for The Realities of Facing Headlong Deregulation, all by Clara Nwachukwu.

Vanguard’s Deputy Cartoon Editor, Mr. Laobis Obilonu,

also got a nomination for his work entitled Cry Not...Is this Not the Meaning of Transformation?

Vanguard also sponsored a winning story, Nationalisation of Banks: In Whose Interest? written by Mrs Nkeiruka Nnorom for New Star.

She also got another nomination for the same paper in Intercontinental Bank Prize Capital Market Reporter of the Year, with the story Will Oil and Gas, Telecoms Sectors Ever Last?

Punch won the Newspaper of the Year, Editor of the Year and Editorial of the Year, among others.

Organised by the Nigerian Media Merit Award, NMMA, last Saturday, the competition is regarded as Nigeria’s most important and biggest media prize.

At the event, which was filled with media executives, nominees, government officials,

captains of industries, advert chiefs among others, Publisher of the Vanguard newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka, was honoured with Special Media Industry Achievement Award for Consistent Commitment to High Professional Standards.

He was also recognised as Current Father of Print Media in Nigeria. It was received on his behalf by Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, General Manager Publication/Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard Newspapers.

Amuka got the award in the Distinguished Honoree Category with the diplomat and former minister in the first republic, Alhaji Yusuf Sule. Sule got the NMMA Outstanding National Leadership Service Award.

The former Chairman, Punch Newspaper, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, was honoured with Commendable Management of Media Organisation

Award.

In a citation read on Amuka by the television presenter, Ms Benny Uche, who compered the event with the broadcaster, Mr. Femi Segun, NMMA described the publisher as the oldest practising journalist in Nigeria, who has contributed, most outstandingly, to the development of media practice in Nigeria and in particular, print journalism.

The body said: “Uncle Sam, as he is now affectionately called by the cream of younger media professionals, has contributed greatly to building some if the best journalists and media leaders in Nigeria, many of whom have turned out to be accomplished media owners, publishers and consultants.

“Each one claims to have gained something unique from this passionate, unassuming and resourceful media legend.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012—7

BOT chairmanship: Oyedokun joins race •Anenih, Iwuanyanwu, Nnamani in strong contest •Ekwueme, Nwobodo, not in the race •List of contesters to be released tomorrow

By HENRY UMORU

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BIRTHDAY: General Theophilus Danjuma (2nd right), his wife, Daisy (right), Bishop of Enugu Diocese, The Right Reverend Emmanuel Chukwuma (left) and Archbishop of Lagos, The Most Revered (Dr.) E.A. Ademowo, during the church service to mark General Theophilus Danjuma's 75th birthday, at Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Sunmi Smart-Cole.

BUJA— AHEAD of the January 8, 2013 election where the new Chairman of Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will emerge, former deputy national chairman of the Party, Alhaji Shauibu Oyedokun has joined the race.

Meanwhile, the BoT Secretary, Senator Walid Jubrin, yesterday, told Vanguard that the list of those who have purchased forms, completed and submitted to the Secretariat will be made public tomorrow, Tuesday, where he said the party would address a press conference to

2015: Northern Govs divided as Atiku spreads out zAtiku commissions agents to take over ACN, others

BY EMMANUELAZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR & HENRY UMORU

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BUJA—AN increas ingly bitter competition for consideration in the 2015 presidential contest has broken out among serving second term governors creating opportunity for hitherto outside contenders.

Among those mentioned as seizing opportunity of the rancour among the second term governors is former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. Besides trying to seize the initiative from the northern governors, Atiku weekend, also commissioned his associates to infiltrate into opposition political parties including the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. However, a recurring name mentioned in some quarters for his chances and national acceptance, Senator Ahmed Makarfi from Kaduna State told Vanguard, yesterday, that he was not thinking about 2015.

The thinking of the northern governors nonetheless, the prospects of them mobilising a northern consensus for the electionyesterday dimmed after a senior

official of the Middle Belt Forum, MBF ruled out unconditional full scale support for any of the second term northern governors.

Mr. Jonathan Asake, a former member of the House of Representatives and National Youth Leader of the Middle Belt Forum said the body would throw its support for any of the candidates based on the interests of the body and the zone.

Vanguard gathered at the weekend that associates of the second term governors seeking to project their chances were projecting their advantages and at the same time projecting the negatives of their rivals in a seeming battle to get ahead in the race.

Second term governors

The northern governors presently serving a second term in office include Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, Sule Lamido of Jigawa State, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State, Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State and Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi State.

All but about three of

them are believed to be seriously working towards securing the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Campaign

Ahead of the campaign, associates of governors keen on the contest are spreading negatives concerning rivals of their principals and at the same time spreading the advantages of their principals.

One of the serious contenders is said to have an educational problem, another one is alleged to be a talkative, another one in the core north is said to carry the baggage of having whipped ethnic sentiments through his serious opposition to the creation of another state in the South East.

Apparently worried by the development, a strategic southern governor largely known to be interested in the emergence of a northern presidential candidate on the platform of the PDP visited the North recently seeking to fashion some harmony among the northern governors.

The apparent divide among the northern governors, it was learnt has resulted in the almost full scale reactivation of the

campaign machinery of Atiku Abubakar.

“You cannot believe it, Atiku’s boys are everywhere, he is sending his people everywhere and they are overworking themselves now,” one senior government official on the platform of the PDP from the north told Vanguard at the weekend.

“Atiku is working 210 per cent he is going everywhere, he is working really hard, he has dusted up his machinery and he is working very, very hard, talking to everyone,” he added.

Senator Makarfi, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance who has been largely mentioned as a possible contender was dismissive of the reports about him.

“I am not doing or thinking about 2015. I am equally not aware of any such reports about me,” he told Vanguard despite reports weighing him as one of the candidates from the northwest.

Atiku on his part, it was learnt is also mobilising his contacts in the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, the political machine conceived by the late Gen. Shehu Musa Yar‘adua to help his campaign.

PDM associates were believed to have used the memorial lecture of the late Gen. Yar‘adua last Saturday for another meeting where they vowed to ensure that the PDP wins the entire South East and South West in 2015.

Atiku speaks

In his remarks at the meeting, Atiku stressed the need for PDM members to work within the PDP against the backdrop that PDM members formed the PDP and noted that PDM members must bring the movement’s ideology to bear on the ruling party, adding that the PDM remained the “greatest and largest political movement in Africa.”

He said that the realignment of forces has become very important because PDP has lost ground in the South West and South East, adding, ‘’we must do our best to reclaim these areas by 2015.”

Meanwhile, a former ACN governorship candidate in Rivers State and member of the PDM Steering Committee, Prince Tonye Princewill cautiously explained that the movement was neither working for Atiku Abubakar nor President Goodluck Jonathan.

intimate the world on the journey so far.

Vanguard reliably gathered that Oyedokun who hails from Osun State hurriedly completed his nomination form, weekend, to beat the deadline and submitted to the BoT Secretary, Senator Walid Jubrin.

Though it was rumoured that former Vice President Alex Ekwueme who was eighty years old last October has also showed interest for the position, Vanguard gathered, yesterday, that the elder statesman was not interested in the position.

The source said that being the founding Chairman of the PDP and the first BoT Chairman, it was time for Dr. Ekwueme to rest and play a fatherly role which he has been playing and not necessarily as Chairman of BoT. He added that though Ekwueme was experienced to be and would command respect from the Senate president, members of the National Assembly, governors, BoT members, but at the moment he is said to be old and weak.

A close associate of former governor of Old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo, told Vanguard, yesterday, that his boss was not interested in the position and that he never picked form to contest for it.

It was also gathered that Oyedokun's ‘sin’ may be the fact that he is a friend of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and left with him for the Action Congress, AC, now Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN when the former Vice President left the PDP to pick the ticket for the Presidential election on the platform of AC, but Oyedokun hurriedly came back to the PDP. As it is now, the strong contenders for the BoT chairmanship position are former Chairman of the board, Chief Tony Anenih from Edo State, South South, ex-Senate President, Ken Nnamani from Enugu, South East and the Publisher of Champion Newspapers, Chief Emmanuel Iwauanyanwu from Imo State, South East.

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

NCPP free mass cancer screening targets 10,000

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

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AGOS — No fewer than 10, 000 persons are expected to be screened free of charge for cancer during the next phase of the free general health checks and treatment of the National Cancer Prevention Programme, NCPP, billed to hold this Friday, December 14, 2012 at the Surulere Local Government Council Secretariat, Masha area of Lagos.

The special screening checks including free cervical cancer and breast cancer screening as well as free eye test are targetted at females aged 13 years and above. The first 10,000 persons to arrive will be attended to.

Cervical cancer kills one Nigerian woman every hour, while breast cancer kills over 10, 000 women every year.

S-West/ Lagos CAN, others pray for Nigeria

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AGOS —Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), SouthWest/Lagos State Zones and other Christian organizations are embarking on one-day fasting and prophetic prayer programme for Nigeria, holding on Wednesday December 12.

The theme of the programme that will attract a cream of top Christian leaders, is: “O Lord Save Nigeria in Distress.”

According to Archbishop Magnus Adeyemi Atilade, Chairman of the CAN South-West Zone, it will hold at Presbyterian Church Yaba, Lagos by 12.00 noon.

Prayer-points include: End of violence, kidnapping, killings, shedding of blood, halting the destruction of churches and soliciting for the “peace of God that passeth all understanding to reign supreme in Nigeria.

Among Christian leader expected are Archbishop George Amu, Southern States CAN chairman and Monsignor B.A. Okodua, Chairman, Lagos State CAN.

NAMA instals N280m solar power projects at five airports

BY DANIEL ETEGHE

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AGOS — Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, said that it had installed N280 million worth of solar power panels to check the incessant power

failures on its navigational aids (NAVAIDS) at five major airports across the country.

Speaking during the handing over ceremony at the agency’s head office in Lagos, Chairman,

Stormberg Power Limited, Mr. Otunba Morakinyo, who hander over the project to the Managing Director of NAMA, Engr. Mazi Udoh, said the installation of the solar power panels was done at five airports,

including Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Bida.

He said the first phase of the project had been completed as scheduled, adding that the hybrid power system in the country was the

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State (left) presenting documents of the new Technical University of Oyo State to Prof. Julius Okojie, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, NUC, in Abuja.

first of its kind in the sub-Saharan Africa.

Morakinyo promised that the second phase of the project would commence early next year.

He said “each of the sites has 24 solar panels with 15 KVA hybrid inverter. The system has 18 batteries for all the NAVAIDS except the VOR and this can last for 12 hours. For the VOR, the back up batteries are 36 and it has capacity to run the system for between 15 and 18 hours” Expressing his joy, Morakinyo said that his company was delighted to be associated with the project, assuring that the solar units supplied and installed for NAMA were of high quality.

World Rights Day: We're poised to fight violations—NHRC

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

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AGOS — National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has vowed to invoke its full statutory powers to compel obedience and enforcement

of its decisions in line with the law establishing it.

In a statement to commemorate today’sWorld Human Rights Day, the Zonal Coordinator, SouthWest zone, Mrs. Mausi Segun, said that the Commission “is poised, with

the recent inauguration of its Governing Council members to utilise the full range of its statutory powers to compel obedience and enforce its decisions under its Amendment Act of 2011.”

Segun said, the body had over the years, tried to

NHIS: Healthcare providers seek subsidy

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

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AGOS — Health providers are seeking a constitutional amendment that would compel states and local governments to pay subsidy and bridge existing funding gaps that would ensure and enable more Nigerians access quality healthcare under the National Health insurance Scheme, NHIS. Making this position known in Lagos, the providers posited that if the scheme would be expanded to provide coverage for more Nigerians in the informal sector, particularly at the grassroots, there must be a subsidy that would sustain the scheme.

Speaking during the 2012 National Conference/Annual General Meeting of HCPAN with the theme; 'Evaluation of Health Insurance Implementation in Nigeria: Gains, Challenges and Potentials,' National President, Health Care Providers Association of Nigeria, HCPAN Dr. Adenike Olaniba said enrollees do not pay their premium regularly.

“Enrollees may pay their premium for about six months and thereafter, the premium will not be forthcoming.

He queried how the programme will be maintained if nobody subsidises, if nobody will bridge the gap,” Olaniba asserted.

"If the NHIS is to penetrate the informal sector and go down to the grassroots," Olaniba reasoned,"there must be subsidy."

ensure it works independently to see that the rights of every Nigerian as guaranteed by the law was well protected, observing that there were some challenges militating against full implementation of its mandates, including lack of understanding from majority of the public.

She noted this had served as a source of courage to them in the Commission.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012—9

ICPC summons Ogun Speaker over alleged cars scandal '... No, I was invited for lecture'

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

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BEOKUTA— Speaker of the Ogun House of Assembly, Suraj Adekunbi has been summoned by Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) over alleged car scam.

Vanguard gathered that, the Speaker would be a guest of the Commission following a petition written against him over 28 official

cars proposed to be purchased for the lawmakers.

Confirming the development, the Resident Media Consultant of the antigraft agency, Mr. Folu Olamiti told newsmen in Abeokuta, on Sunday that Adekunbi has been summoned.

Vanguard, however, gathered that the Clerk of the House, Mr. Muyiwa Adenopo, the deputy clerk and some other principal

officers of the Assembly have also been summoned by ICPC. Findings showed that, they were invited over an alleged contract inflation of 28 Toyota Avensis cars bought for the 26 members of the Assembly and two principal officers as official vehicles at N6m each.

The Speaker and others invited are expected to appear before the Head of Investigation Unit of the

ICPC in Abuja.

Meanwhile, the Speaker has denied being summoned, saying he was rather invited for a lecture on ‘Red Card to Corruption in Nigeria’ taking place in Abeokuta.

Adekunbi who spoke through his media aide, Mr. Waheed Akinola, said, “how could ICPC have invited him as a guest lecturer if he has a case bordering on graft to answer. It is just the handiwork of our detractors."

Uncertainty as Ghanaians await polls result .Tension in Accra as police patrol streets

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE, Accra

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CCRA— AN air of tension and uncertainty enveloped Accra polity yesterday as Ghanaians with trepidation awaited the outcome of the 48-hour dicey 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.

In the electoral duel, the Ghanaian electorate faced, in the main, two difficult choices: Aligning with the strength and stability provided by the Elephant as represented by the main opposition New Patriotic Party, NPP or gather under the shade of the umbrella afforded by the ruling National Democratic Congress, NDC. While President John Mahama flew the flag of the NDC, former Vice President Nana AkufoAddo was NPP’s standard bearer.

With extra revenue coming from petrodollars, the voters

also had to choose between the NPP’s promised massive investment in education and healthcare or NDC’s promise of massive infrastructural development.

Only 46.4 per cent of Ghanaians aged 15 and older are literate in both English and a Ghanaian language. Akufo-Addo promised to address this problem through a free senior high school (SHC) education, if elected.

However, many parts of Ghana direly need social amenities and Mahama, who is less than six months on the throne having assumed power following the death of late President John Evans Attah Mills, wants to address the infrastructural challenge squarely, if allowed to continue.

Faced with the difficult

choices, it was not surprising that the two leading candidates ran a very tight race and where heading for a photo-finish with Mahama having a slight edge.

Across many parts of Accra yesterday, a host of NDC supporters were in jubilant mood. They had prepared grounds for a massive celebration in the hope that their party (with over 50 per cent of votes cast from provisional results) would

record a ‘one touch victory’ without having to go for a run-off with the NPP. According to the electoral law, a winner must score at least 50.01 per cent of the total valid votes in the election in which about 81 per cent of the 14.3 million registered voters participated or there would be a run-off between the two leading parties.

Construction of ultra-modern markets begins in Abeokuta

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B E O K U TA — O g u n State Government is set to commence construction of ultra-modern markets for traders affected by the ongoing road expansion projects across the state.

The state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, disclosed this in Abeokuta during his tour of the sites of the modern highways.

The demolition of structures, according to the governor, is to pave way for construction of international standard roads, which will boost economic activities in Ogun and raise the standard of living of residents.

He said the modern shopping complexes, which would have facilities comparable to those of the developed countries, would be constructed in major cities across the state, adding that traders would not be completely uprooted from the areas used to their customers.

He noted that the on-going Sapon ultramodern market, would be replicated in other parts the state.

Speaking to newsmen on the new development, Alhaja Basirat Oyeneye, a trader, said, “We are pleased with Governor Amosun’s urban renewal drive because it is for our good."

Youths tasked on job creation opportunties

BY OLAYINKA LATONA

ABEOKUTA — Vice Chancellor of Crawford University Igbesa, Ogun State, Prof. Samson Ayanlaja has urged Nigerian youths to look beyond the unemployment challenges in the country and seek opportunities for creating values.

Ayanlaja said since job opportunities were diminishing in the country, graduates must develop skills that would give them competitive advantage over others and also improve the economy.

He spoke to newsmen at a briefing on the institution’s 4th convocation, scheduled for Wednesday, December 19, at the school premises.

Women protest against criminals, ritualists in Osun

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

O

SOGBO — Hundreds of women in Osogbo weekend trooped out on major streets in protest against the increase in the activities of suspected criminals including ritualists who have been terrorizing the people of the state in a recent time.

Specifically the women carried their protest to the palace of Ataoja of Osogbo to register their displeasure over what they described as “ignoble activities“ of ritualists and the state of insecurity of lives and property in the state.

It was gathered at the weekend that suspected ritualists allegedly murdered and dumped corpses of two children around Sabo and Kelebe area of the state capital.

According to credible sources vital parts of the corpses, including the right hand of one of the victims were severe, raising suspicion of ritual killing.

10 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

AU lauds Amaechi on regional parliamentary convention

BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI

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ORT HAR COURT—RIVERS State Government has been commended for partnering the Pan African Congress, the Legislative arm of African Union, AU, in realising intra-continental divides and promotion of solidarity in Africa.

The president, Mr Bethel Amadi, commended the state on the successful hosting of the West Africa Regional Parliamentary Meeting on African Governance Platform and Promotion of African Union Legal Instruments in Port Harcourt.

The event was facilitated by Rivers State House of Assembly.

Clarke tasks Nigerians on welfare of less privileged

BY FESTUS AHON

U

GHELLI—NA TIONAL President of Niger Delta Women and Youth Development Forum, NDWYDF, Lady Maureen Clarke, has charged Nigerians to imbibe the culture of making meaningful contributions to the welfare of the less privileged.

Clarke, who gave the charge during the funeral service for the father of Mrs. Patience Uti-Okene, Treasurer of Delta State chapter of the group in OkpareOlomu, Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, weekend, stressed the need for all to identify with widows and orphans, so as to give them a sense of belonging in the society.

Flood wreaks fresh havoc in Delta community ...submerges 100-meters-long seawall, 2 houses, 3 shops

BY EMMA AMAIZE

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ARRI—PEOPLE of Gbekebor community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, were gripped with fear, weekend, that the community, situated on the bank of Forcados River, could be wiped out following a ravaging sea surge that wreaked fresh havoc in the riverine town.

Vanguard gathered that the retreating flood sunk a seawall, measuring over 100 meters, which was the major protection for the community from the direct tide of River Niger. Two houses, three shops and six canoes with their fishing gear were also submerged.

The fresh flooding in Gbekebor community came as the Committee on the Management of the Federal Government Fund and Post Flooding Rehabilitation, headed by Justice Francis Tabai (rtd), distributed seedlings to farmers in flood- ravaged areas of the state.

A villager told Vanguard:

“The receding flood collapsed and sank the seawall of our community, alongside twohouses, three shops and six canoes at 11.30 am on Sarturday.”

Leaders of the community, among them, chairman of Gbekebor community, Mr. Augustine Okiwowo, said the community had been facing delicate environmental problems for

three decades.

Another community leader, Mr. Tonfa Cyprain, said: “It is due to the geographical setting of the town on River Forcados flat, where it is exposed to the direct water current of River Niger. Apparently, if lasting solution is not proffered to this persistent natural disaster, it will lead to complete washing away of the

AKPABIO @ 50: Former Senate President, Ken Nnamani (left); Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State (middle), his wife, Unoma, and children, during the governor’s 50th birthday.

Oshiomhole holds memorial mass for late wife

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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ENIN—GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, weekend, held a memorial mass in remembrance of his late wife, Clara, who passed on two years ago.

In his sermon, Rev. Father Paul Enow, the parish priest of St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Benin City, where the mass was held, called on Nigerians to persist in prayers for the nation to stem the tide of

community. We are living in fear and having sleepless nights.”

The community leaders said that scores of persons were presently homeless because of the disaster.

They appealed to the state government, Burutu local council authorities and other government functionaries to come to their aid.

insecurity.

He said: “Let us pray for security consistently. We have to go on our knees and pray ceaselessly for God to save our nation from insecurity.

“We need to pray to God to show us the step to take to stem the tide of insecurity in our nation,” adding that faith was needed to approach God which entails persistent asking through prayers.

While commending Governor Oshiomhole, the cleric said his work across the state

was visible even to the blind.

The governor ’s eldest daughter, Dr. Winnie Owumi, thanked well wishers for joining them to remember her late mother.

The mass was attended by top dignitaries, including the first civilian governor of the state, Chief John OdigieOyegun; Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere; former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi; Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Uyi Igbe; Chief Judge of the state, Justice Cromwell Idahosa; federal lawmakers; politicians, among others.

Rivers woos investors with CARNIRIV

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IVERS State Gov ernment has restated its commitment to attract foreign investment to the state, with the ongoing Rivers State Carnival, popularly referred to as CARNIRIV, which started on December 8 and ends on the15th, in Port Harcourt, the capital city.

Director-General, Rivers State Tourism Development Agency, RSTDA, Dr. Sam Dede, who spoke, yesterday, in Port Harcourt, during the Kid’s Carnival, the children’s version of CARNIRIV 2012, which set the week-long feast in motion, expressed optimism that the cultural festival, if properly developed, would attract massive direct and indirect investments to the state.

He said: “The main objective of CARNIRIV is to place River State boldly on the investment map of the world. We want to attract not just tourists and culture lovers to the state, but create a platform to promote economic activities.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012—11

Ijaw youths take over Chevron gas pipelines project in Delta

BY DANIEL GUMM

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ARRI—ANGRY Ijaw youths, weekend, took over Chevron Nigeria Limited’s gas pipelines project after chasing away workers from site.

The youths said their action was necessitated by the recently renewed Global Memorandum of Understanding, GMoU, between Chevron, Egbema/Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation and Delta State Government as well as lack of basic amenities which Chevron failed to provide for them. The angry Ijaw youths, numbering over 500 stormed the 16-inch gas pipelines being constructed for Chevron from the Abiteye Flowstation to Escravos, seized it and chased away the workers.

Principal, three others drown in boat mishap

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

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ALABAR—NO fewer than four persons, including the Principal of Eniong Comprehensive Secondary School, Atan, in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State, Prince Anoyom Owen, are feared dead, after two boats travelling in opposite directions collided in Eniong River.

According to an eye witness, who said he was in one of the ill-fated boats, the principal was returning from Calabar, the state capital, after an official trip to the Ministry of Education, when the incident occurred.

Ekpo said: “Prince Onoyom was returning from Calabar, where he went to sort out some issues concerning his school and came back a little late and boarded the boat at Okopedi heading to Eniong at 8 pm.”

He said the principal

boarded the boat along with ten others, who were also going to Eniong and on the way, another boat coming from the opposite direction with about 20 passengers on top speed collided with the principal’s boat and the passengers in the two boats were flung into the river.

“The boats had no light although the moon was shinning brightly. We do not know why the operators of the boats could not see each other coming in the opposite direction and collided.” Ekpo said.

The lucky Ekpo said most of the passengers were rescued by an emergency rescue team but the 50-year-

old principal and three others could not be located that night until the next day.

“The next morning the search party from the community located the bodies some three kilometers down the Eniong River after they had been washed ashore,” he said.

SSS operatives manhandle The Nation correspondent in A-Ibom

BY TONY NYONG

U

YO—AKWA Ibom State correspondent of The Nation Newspaper, Mr. Kazeem Ibrahim, was, yesterday, beaten to coma by gun-trotting security operatives during Governor Godswill Akpabio’s 50th birthday thanksgiving service in Uyo. Kazeem is the third victim in the series of the State Service Services, SSS, operatives

manhandling of journalists at government sponsored events in the state despite complaints by the state Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, to security agencies.

Journalists in the state, mostly members of Correspondents Chapel of NUJ, arrived the venue of the church service, at 10.30 am but were barred by SSS operatives at the gate from entering even when they presented official invitation

cards.

It was only when the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Pastor Anietie Ukpe, arrived that he appealed to the armed security men to allow journalists enter the hall.

After some journalists were cleared, the security details at the gate stopped The Nation correspondent from entering, as his explanation was rebuffed.

All of a sudden, the six- foottall journalist, Mr. Ibrahim, was carried up like a baby, hauled and pummelled by SSS operatives.

12—Vanguard , MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Bellow-Osagie, Ugolor bag award

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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ENIN CITY—THE member representing Oredo Federal constituency of Edo State in the House of Representatives, Mr. Rasaq Bello-Osagie and Executive Director of African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor, who was recently exonerated by the court in Edo State over the murder of Principal Private Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Mr. Olaitan Oyerinde, were among the dignitaries that were honoured at the Merit media award in Benin City.

Bello-Osagie bagged the award of politician of the year due to his achievements in the development of his constituency while Ugolor bagged the activist of the year award. The award ceremony was organised by the Merit Magazine, a local tabloid in Edo State.

Publisher of the magazine, Mr. Odion Ali, noted that Bello-Osagie’s efforts so far in attracting projects to his constituency and his philanthropic gestures both in the practice of journalism in the state and the less privileged, distinguished him among other lawmakers in the state.

2 feared dead as erosion destroys five houses

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

A

WKA—TWO persons were feared dead and no fewer than five houses swallowed by gully erosion ravaging four communities in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State.

Mr. Ignatius Igwemadu from Urumabiam, Egbema Ozubulu in Ekwusigo and his brother allegedly died when their bungalow fell into the gully erosion, which was first noticed in the village about five years ago.

Other houses swallowed by the erosion were at Egbema and Uamuokpanilo in Ozubulu, as well as in Ibollo Oraifite.

The member representing Ekwusigo constituency in Anambra State House of Assembly, Mr. Pauli Onyeka, who conducted newsmen round some of the erosion sites in the constituency, weekend, said the economy of his constituents had adversely been affected as many farmlands had been washed away and roads cut off.

He said each of the four communities of Ozubulu, Oraifite, Ichi and Ihembosi that make up the constituency has at least

10 active erosion sites threatening people’s homes and farmlands.

Some houses currently under threat of the gully erosion, include those belonging to the families of Asuzu, whose six-bedroom bungalow completed recently had been abandoned and Onyejiaka Anazodo, whose family members are now living in fear in their one–storey

building at Ibollo Oraifite.

Mr Onyeka, who lamented the level of devastation in the area, called on the state government to consider Ekwusigo a priority area when issues of erosion were discussed at the state and national levels.

Onyeka said: “Before now, every attention as far as the issue of gully erosion was concerned, was focused on Oko, Agulu and Nanka axis

AWARD: From left: President, Academy for Enttrepreneueurial Studies, Nigeria, AES, Dr. Ausbeth Ajagu; award recipient, AES Minister of the Year Award, Minister of Works, Mr. Michael Onolememen, and Chairman, AES Excellence Club, Mrs. Nike Akande, at the AES 3rd annual chief executive officer' s dinner/award nite in Lagos. Photo: Etop Ukut.

EbonyLife TV begins talent hunt

Police nab 15 MASSOB members in Enugu z101 BZM members to appear in court tomorrow

AGOS—ENTHUSI ASTIC young people from all parts of Nigeria and several African countries, seeking an opportunity to break into the world of fame and fortune, weekend, stormed Tiamiyu Savage street, Victoria Island, venue of auditions

by EbonyLife TV as it commenced a four-day search for Africa’s brightest and newest emerging talents into specific roles for its upcoming bouquet of original,interactive and participatory programming.

Declaring open the auditions, CEO of EbonyLife TV, Mo Abudu, said “We’re looking for Nigeria’s emerging stars as we believe it is time to take the young generation to where they deserve to be.

We’re basically giving young people in Nigeria, between ages 18 and 34 the opportunity for stardom”.

By TONY EDIKE NUGU—NO fewer than 15 persons, including a woman suspected to be members of Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, were arrested by the police in Enugu, weekend.

The police said the suspected MASSOB members were apprehended following security reports that they were plotting to cause mayhem in the state.

Operatives of the state police command arrested the

L

E

suspects in Ezeagu Local Government Area while holding an alleged secret meeting.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the arrest in a statement, said their arrest was as a “result of security report received that they were holding their meeting on how to strategise to perfect their operations.”

He said that investigation into the incident was already in progress, adding that the suspects were helping the police in their investigation and

would soon appear in court.

Meanwhile, the 101 members of the pro-Biafra group, Biafran Zionist Movement, BZM led by Benjamimg Onwuka, remanded in prison custody since November 5, this year for declaring Republic of Biafra would appear in court on December 11.

They were remanded after their arraignment befopre an Enugu Magistrate court.

The Police, confirmed, yesterday, that the matter had been slated for Tuesday at the state High Court, Enugu.

PDP: Kalu’s rejection, best for Abia, Igbo the public for selfwithout apology or remorse —Orji’s aide toishdeceive reasons.. because it suited his interest

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MUAHA—MR Ben Onyechre, Special Adviser on Public Communication to Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State, has said that the rejection of the move to re-admit Kalu into Abia Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, fold was without regret, because it was in the interest of Igbo and Abia in particular to exclude people whose only stock in trade is

when we have more devastating erosion sites in Ekwusigo. We want Ekwusigo to be declared erosion disaster area. Some casualties had been recorded and we don’t know who would be the next victim.

“What is happening in my constituency is worrisome, disheartening and unfortunate because every town in the constituency is affected by the menace.”

He said: “Igbo cannot afford to allow a character like Kalu to continue to misrepresent us and thereby, smear our collective image, with actions that are inimical to our collective fate.

“Remember that he was in the four front of those who allegedly thwarted Ekwueme’s second attempt for the presidency in 2003, which he did

at the time.

“With people like that, Nigerians can not take us serious because his antecedent is contradictory to our collective goal as a people. Leadership is not synonyms with wealth in any sense, but that is the mistake he makes by mixing the two, believing that he can get leadership the same way money is made.”

Flour Mills, Agric Ministry donate relief materials to flood victims

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

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WKA—FLOUR Mills of Nigeria Plc and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have donated relief materials to victims of the flooding that ravaged eight local government areas in Anambra State.

Milling Director of Flour Mills Plc, Mr. Solomon Obichukwu, who led officials of the company to donate the items worth N5.1 million to the Anambra State Government for distribution to the victims, said his company made the donation to all the states affected by the flood, in the spirit of true essence of corporate citizenship.

He said, the truck load of the company ’s products, which include rice, semovita, spaghetti, and noodles, was also to support and complement the efforts of the state government in caring for the victims.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 — 13

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14—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

From left: Gen. Alani Akinrinade (rtd), Chief Niyi Akintola, Mr. Femi Falana, Mr. Patrick Obahiagbon, Chief of Staff to Edo State Gover nor, and Mr. Dino Melayea at wedding between Oluwafolakemi Oluwadamilola, daughter of Mr. Femi Falana, and Oluwajuwalo Oluwademilade, son of Rev. Cannon Olusegun Majekodunmi, at Foursquare Gospel Church, Omole Phase-I, Ikeja, Lagos. PHOTOS: Bunmi Azeez.

From left: Mr. Vincent Maduka, Chairman, NMMA Board of Trustees; Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, General Manager Publication/Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard Newspapers, receiving Special Awardee of the Year Award on behalf of Mr. Sam Amuka, Publisher, Vanguard Newspapers; and Mr. Yemi Akeju, Trustee and Chief Administrator.

AWARD: Mr. Yomi Jones (left) presenting an award to Mr. Ishola Haroon Balogun of Vanguard Newspapers, winner of the Alex Ibru Prize for Investigative Journalism, at the Nigeria Media Merit Award ceremony in Lagos, weekend. PHOTOS: Lamidi Bamidele.

From left: Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Erelu Bisi Fayemi and Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State at the wedding.

VISIT: From left— Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, Delta State Commissioner of Police; Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, General Manager, Publication/Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard Newspapers, and Mr. Taiwo Lakanu, Deputy CP, during a visit to the Commissioner in Asaba. PHOTOS: Nath Onojake.

From left: Chief Oprah Benson, Nkiruka Nnorom of Vanguard Newspaper, receiving Union Bank Banking and Finance Reporter of the Year Award and Mr. Segun Aina.

From left: Mr. Aduba, Mr. Sunday Awevia, Operations Manager, and Mr. Victor Gotevbe, Administration Manager, both of Vanguard Newspapers, during the visit.

From left: Professor Ralph Akinfeleye, Trustee and Acting Chairman, Panel of Assessors, NMMA; Mr. Vincent Maduka, Chairman, NMMA Board of Trustees; Alhaji Maitama Sule, Special Awardee of the Year and Chief Benson.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012—15

‘States, LGs can't account for share of SURE-P funds'

BY CHINEDU IBEABUCHI

D

R. Christopher Koladeled Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, committee said states and local governments were frustrating the dreams of the programme as none of them could give account of the fund they received.

The committee also said the Federal Government had disbursed N135 billion since July, five months after inauguration of the programme, with more than N70 billion apportioned so far for road construction.

Addressing pressmen in Lagos, weekend, Nze Nwankpo, Special Adviser to the President on Technical Matters and Secretary, SURE-P, said the committee gets N15 billion monthly from the Federal Government, representing 42 percent of the total subsidy fund, while the rest goes to states and local governments.

Skeptical on how the states

and local governments are putting their counterpart funds into judicious use, Mr. Chike Okomu, representing persons with disability in the committee said: “The SUREP is operational within the three levels of government: the Federal, state and Local governments.

“I want Nigerians to ask the states and local governments what they are doing with their SURE-P funds.

“If the states and local governments should utilise their SURE-P fund very well, it would go a long way in reducing infrastructural deficit in the country. Local governments are supposed to use SURE-P fund to tar their roads. Many of the states are using the SUPE-P to further their nest of corruption.”

In the area of infrastructure, Nwankpo said SURE-P has two components, roads and railways, adding that six federal roads, one in each region as well as rail constructions, one in South and one in North, are under construc-

tion.

He said: “Some of the roads we took over have been undergoing construction for over 10 years now and the values have increased by over 300 per cent. What we have done is to increase funding for these roads and have a time frame for the

completion of the projects.

“More than N70 billion of the fund has gone into the construction of the roads.

These include the ShagamuBenin Road, East-West Road, O n i t s h a - E n u g u - Po r t Harcourt Road, KanoMaduguri Road and LagosLokoja Road.”

18 graduate from Army logistics school

BY BASHIR ADEFAKA

N

IGERIAN Army College of Logistics, NACOL, in Lagos, last Friday, graduated Logistics Management Course 10/2012 students at a passing out parade, where three of the 18 graduating students got seven awards for excellent performance.

Lt.-Col. W. B. Etuk clinched four of the seven awards, including the Best Overall Student award.

In his welcome address, Commandant of the college, Major-General A. A. Martins said the training commenced about three months ago with

18 participants comprising 15 Army officers, a naval officer, a police officer and a senior civilian staff from the Ministry of Defence.

He said the officers were on the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and its equivalent in other arms and services.

He said: “The continuous training of our officers is an important aspect of our professional lives geared towards better understanding of our roles.

“It is in line with the objective of the college, which is to train middle level officers and supporting staff in the preparation and execution of logistics plan.”

IMI commends FG on road projects

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NFRASTRUCTURE Monitors International, IMI, a non-profit organisation, has commended Federal Government’s road repair and rehabilitation projects.

IMI listed Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos State, and Ovia River Bridge, Edo State, and ongoing work along Benin-Ore-Shagamu Expressway, as laudable projects.

In a statement, yesterday, by Mr. JohnBull Adaghe and Mary Keane, Country Director and Secretary, respectively, IMI said: “With extraordinary focus on infrastructure in Nigeria in the past two years, the organisation commends the road development programmes of the Federal Government through the Ministry of Works.”

16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

W

HEN Nigerian security opera tives talk, Nigeria’s security challenges become more terrifying. We have security agents who do not understand the implications of what they say. The matter is getting out of hand particularly as the highest echelons of the agencies indulge in the practice.

From the army, which easily admits the firing power of terrorists is beyond its arsenals, to the conflicting statements the police make after each bomb blast, Nigerians are befuddled by the utterances of their security agents who continue to spread more fears than the attacks.

Some recent instances illustrate bungling that could be indication of security agencies’ poor appreciation of their roles or outright negation of efforts of Nigeria to escape from conspiracies against it, possibly from those who are meant to protect it.

In July, a combined team of the Department of Security Services, DSS, and the police regaled the public with details of its sting operation, in which it claimed Hon. Farouk Lawan, chairman of a House of Representatives committee that inves-

Newest Security Concerns tigated malfeasance in fuel subsidies, had received $620,000, the first tranche of $3 million bribe. Lawan, and others, the agencies alleged, collected the money to delist companies the report indicted.

More shocks awaited Nigerians who knew it was the death of a report many hoped would stop the brazen theft of national resources under the watch of officials who are paid to catch thieves. The security agencies did not secure evidence required to prosecute Lawan. They had a successful sting operation, where the suspect was not arrested nor the marked notes, the main evidence, found on him.

The police are still asking Lawan to pro-

duce the marked notes they would use in prosecuting him. They are not ashamed of giving sting operation a new meaning.

Only last week, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, stated it was sending its operatives to the ports, in a “covert operation” to stop smuggling.

EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde told the media of the “covert operation.”

Why would EFCC be required to crowd the ports which already have Immigrations, Customs, Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, National Food and Drug Administration Control, NAFDAC, SON, Navy, marine police? If EFCC must be at the ports, was Lamorde scaring smugglers away or gleefully putting EFCC operatives at risk?

Two years ago, a senior police officer in the South East, in a statement, advised criminals to leave the zone, or the police would deal with them. Where should they go? Why should the police be in the business of serving criminals notice instead of arresting them?

A good point to commence the war against crimes could be more training for security agents about their utterances.

OPINION

BY SHUIAB YUSHAU

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HE occasion was auspicious. The personalities were news-creators from diverse critical government ministries, department and agencies, MDAs and the host is the Embassy of the United States of America in Nigeria.

The 24 selected spokespersons of critical MDAs in Nigeria represented security agencies, financial institutions and regulatory bodies who were invited to a Four-Day Spokespersons Training Workshop organised by the Public Affairs Section of the embassy in collaboration with Washington-based Edel Communication.

In his address to the plenary session, US Ambassador to Nigeria, Terence P. McCulley told the participants that as spokespersons of their organisations, they play an important role in the success of democracy. According to him: “Spokespersons help shape public debates and perceptions, and are central to the system of communicating with the people.”

The Ambassador, therefore, encouraged the spokespersons to participate actively in the training because it would help them learn how to enhance their relationship with the media, how to inform citizens in a clear and timely manner, and demonstrate how the government is addressing people’s needs.

The guest speaker and resource person was Christian Edel, a renowned U.S. media consultant and president of Washingtonbased Edel Communications. He is one of C M Y K

Convergence of Spokespersons in govt the best instructors in public communication strategies, and has trained ministers and government spokespersons from more than 60 countries, including government representatives in Mexico, Tanzania, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine, and Lebanon. In the United States, he is credited with the training of thousands of U.S. State Department employees, including assistant secretaries of state, ambassadors, and other diplomats.

The participants went through hands-on practical training consisting of on-camera practice along with critiques in which a group of eight participants each day worked together in pairs of two, all receiving individual attention from the trainer and peers. Participants were overwhelmed and excited by the practical training executed with sophisticated equipment, especially the simulating scenario in a live-broadcast environment.

Despite their long years of experience, most participants admitted that they had learned new skills in using latest technologies to reach mass audience.

The participants were taken through various theoretical and practical techniques of public communication in a competitive and even hostile environment. Writing skills and the use of different form of media- print, electronic and online were also part of the workshop. The sessions and outcomes of the programme were very instructive, timely and beneficial for improvement in

professional competence of officers.

A major revelation of the summit was the realisation that spokespersons in government hardly meet to chart a course through cooperation and collaboration for unified communication strategies to propagate policies and programmes.

Though it was discovered that the Federal Ministry of Information has an online forum for Resident Information Officers for circulation of press releases and features, the platform is restricted to staff of the Ministry on secondment to other agencies.

It was also noted that PRNigeria online, which has been in existence for a while is only an informative portal and resources centre for result development in communication and public relations practice.

I

t was generally agreed that none of the existing platforms provides an avenue for interaction in a convivial environment where spokespersons of public institutions could synergize and cooperate towards unified communication agenda in enhancing public communication for the success of the administration.

It was in view of this that the participants suggested the formation of a Forum for Spokespersons in Government as a common public communications platform. In a deliberate effort to concretise the vision of the forum towards identifying new and creative ways to promote a coherent image

of the institutions of government, the Director of Communication at Central Bank, Mr. Ogochukwu Okorafor hosted the participants to a special lunch where Col. Muhammad Yerima, Director, Defence Information was elected Chairman with Okorafor as deputy, while Kachi Daju of the Federal Ministry of Information would serve as Secretary to steer the activities of the forum.

At the CBN-hosted special lunch, members agreed that the forum should comprise chief press secretaries, heads of press and public relations and directors of corporate communications representing public institutions from ministries, departments, commissions, agencies, among others. The forum they added should serve as a mechanism for inter-agency cooperation and coordination in the field of public information and communications. The forum will also strive to strengthen interagency cooperation for enhanced objective and fair media profile of government institutions.

It is expected that the spokespersons’ knowledge of the media and key mandates of their respective institutions can enhance and promote better understanding of government policies in a well-coordinated and unified communication processes.

*Mr. Yushau, Head, Public Relations, NEMA, wrote from Abuja.

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Prof Achebe/Awo controversy: Fashola blames it on FG’s information data system

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

G

OVERNOR Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, weekend, in the United States, attributed the lack of adequate information and data system by the Federal Government to the raging tension and controversy being generated in the wake of Professor Chinua Achebe’s latest book titled: There was a country - a personal history of B i a f r a .

Fashola made the remarks in his keynote address at this year’s Achebe Colloquium on

Africa, held at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island U S A . .

Speaking on the theme “The Role of Statecraft in the African Renaissance amidst Regime Change and Ethno-Religious Insurgency - A West African Case Study,”Fashola noted that some commentators suggested that the work had contributed to restoring old tensions and brewing new hostilities, prefacing possible inter-ethnic conf l i c t .

Fashola said: "Wherever your (Achebe) personal views may

lie, we cannot but observe, from the tone of the commentary, that our national governments continue to fail us in the crucial duty of being repositories of information, data, records and archives as historical records are indispensable tools for policy development. Certainly the discourse would have been richer, less acrimonious and not predestined for tension if institutional national archiving and information disclosure was responsibly discharged by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Obafemi Awolowo

Chinua Achebe

”I am sure there are other examples across the West African sub-region. States must begin to see the connection between information management and inter-religious, ethnic and sectional tension across Africa. I speak here today not in person but by virtue of my office as governor of Lagos State.”

The governor who said he would have declined to attend the event because of the raging controversy surrounding the book, because some leaders of his ethnic group had very strong views about parts of the book, added: “Professor Achebe is from the Igbo ethnic group. As you can also expect, there were spirited responses from leaders of opinion from his own ethnic group.

”But beyond that, my own generation has moved on. We see our country differently. It also seems to me that many years after the conflict, that some of the principal actors in the conflict such as Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Yoruba leader and Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu had decided to move on.”

Fashola recalled what Ojukwu said when Chief Awolowo passed on in the late 1980s: as “the best President that Nigeria never had.” He said: ”Interestingly, it is only in Yoruba land, and I stand to be corrected, where the problem of abandoned property did not afflict the Igbos. ”They returned after the war to rightfully claim property they had deserted in flight in the aftermath of the crisis. It is instructive to also re-call that, when Lagos State Military Government many decades after the war tried to expropriate Ojukwu’s property in Lagos, it was a Yoruba lawyer who prosecuted the case successfully on his behalf.

Generational disagreement ”My thoughts were to write to Professor Achebe to decline the invitation and proffer some excuse. I wonder if it crossed his mind to find a reason to ask me not to bother to come. But I resolved that a commitment I had made in honour to attend was more important than what anybody might say or feel. Those were the values on which I was raised. ”More importantly, this was a generational disagreement between the principal parties of the events that took place when I was barely four years old. As I said, the management of the National Archives and the publication of what really happened at that time will certainly help to ensure that nobody creates his own facts.

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Lifelong friends ”In my own home, Ojukwu was most welcome. He and my uncle started primary school the same day and remained lifelong friends until he passed. It was, therefore, a duty to honour him as I did at his funeral when I said: “Ikemba, as he was fondly called was an illustrious Nigerian, a dogged fighter and an accomplished individual, whose footprints and legacies on Nigeria’s political landscape have earned him a secure place in its Hall of Fame. ”We salute the men and women who kept our nation together, especially those who paid the supreme price to do so. The only way we can honour their memory is not to re-open the old wounds, but to resolve that never again will our people’s blood be spilled by their own people in order to harness the diversity of our people and make our union more perfect.”

Fashola posited that by making such resolve that Nigerians can gain from that conflict and use the lessons to surmount the challenges that stand in the way of the collective journey to the promise land of the nation.

44—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

A

Decentralise prisons, don’t privatise them will become a new craze like private universities, where every influential or wealthy politician will want to establish one in order to freeload from government coffers without necessarily providing the services.

This will put the Nigeria inmates of private prisons where some of their American peers find themselves today. And that is where I stand when

Interior Minister Abba Moro private medical clinics compared to general (government owned) hospitals, except that government alone pays the bill whether one is incarcerated in private or public prison.

My impression is that Abba Moro and PDP believe that, civil servants in the Nigerian Prisons Service having failed to maintain an acceptable level of prisons services, it is time to invite the private sector, with their perceived better ability to manage manpower and facilities, to come in under the usual Private/Public Partnership arrangement.

Profit against justice

H

owever, the American experience has also shown that the profit motive often works against justice for the inmates, especially disadvantaged groups such as Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and illegal immigrants.

Prison companies have been known to “lobby ” for longer sentences on minor infractions to increase their chances of bigger profit and expansion. This is where the danger really lies. I see a situation where the adoption of the private prison system

I say no to private prisons at this stage of our poor level of law enforcement

,

NOVEL controversy has joined the queue in the public arena: the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) intends to invite the private sector to manage Nigerian prisons. Abba Moro, the Hon Minister for the Interior, disclosed this while receiving a delegation of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa in his office. The same delegation had visited Bamanga Tukur, the National Chairman of Nigeria’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who indicated the readiness of his Party to embrace the idea of turning the management of correctional facilities into a profitmaking venture in Nigeria.

To many Nigerians the very notion of privatising prisons is shocking. It is yet another sign that our government these days is tired of governing. They just want to be in power, award contracts, make big money and keep on being in power without the vision, sweat and sacrifices that true leadership entails.

I would have equally been shocked if I had not stumbled upon a feature in the New York Times during my recent trip to the US. It painted the picture of the private prisons system as a dominant part of American law enforcement and correction. Pro Publica, a public interest media forum, has the numbers that immediately put you in the picture of just how the private sector has become so central in the US – and the abusive problems they are increasingly becoming. Here are samplers: There were 1.6 million people in federal and state prisons as of December 2010 according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Out of these, 128,195 inmates were in privately run, profit-making prison companies. Between 2002 and 2009, the number of prisoners sent to private facilities grew by 37 percent. The Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private prison operator in the US, owns 66 prisons with 91,000-bed capacity. In 2011, CCA earned total revenue of $1.7 billion and it spent $17.4 million in the last ten years lobbying for “customers”!

Private prisons are therefore lucrative businesses both in America and Europe where they are popular.

They make their money not through charging the inmates fees. No. They sign contracts with governments to build and (or) operate prisons, providing food, medicine and regulated welfare/capacity building/ security services to inmates, all within the terms of the law. Government pays them their costs plus their margins of profit. In a way, they are just like

Our justice delivery system already has federal, state, magistrate and customary/Sharia courts. We should also have federal, state and possibly community police; as well as federal, state and community prisons

,

where big crooks get away with frauds such as the fuel subsidy scams.

We do not need private prisons in Nigeria as of now. What we need is

the total restructuring of our correctional justice system through decentralisation. One of the reasons our prisons services are so poor is that only the federal government has the sole constitutional power to operate correctional facilities. We should have state and county jails. I am not a fan of the local government system, so I cannot call for local government prisons.

Our justice delivery system already has federal, state, magistrate and customary/Sharia courts. We should also have federal, state and possibly community police; as well as federal, state and community prisons. We can make our laws to ensure that certain levels of offences are met with commensurate levels of punishment or correction. Why should a chicken or yam thief in a village be remanded in a prison populated by armed robbers, “kidnappers, murderers and ritualists?

Why should a minor traffic offender or “wanderer ” be remanded in a federal prison as “awaiting trial” inmate for any reason?

Decentralisation to enable lower tiers of governmental authority operate correctional facilities will immediately solve the crowded prison conditions and give the prison workers breathing space to practise their professions in an atmosphere of enhanced sanity.

This constitution amendment provides us with the opportunity to change a lot of things, especially decentralisation of powers currently overburdening the federal government.

Focus on weighty issues

W

e must desist from blindly copying anything we see in developed countries. ANC‘s South Africa is a far more developed country, with better infrastructure and greater per capita crime rate than Nigeria. If they are ready to enter the circle of Westernised capitalist culture of privatising correctional services we are not.

PDP should focus more attention on justifying what it has done with the thirteen years it has bestrode the political affairs of Nigeria without being able to conclusively solve any of our national problems it inherited from the military, especially power, poor infrastructure, oil dependency, food insecurity, high crime rate, high unemployment, high corruption, unfocused national goals and poor quality leadership at the highest level.

These are challenges that South Africa has largely overcome and can afford to move a notch higher to other, more fanciful pursuits.

OPINION

BY FRANCISA EBELECHUKWU

T

HOUGH we have metaphysics, ethics, logic and other branches of philosophy, epistemology is one of the most important branches of philosophy because it has to do with knowledge. It asks the question: What is knowledge?

Is knowledge worth getting? How do we acquire knowledge?

The issue of knowledge which the wise one says comes one quarter from travels; one quarter from experience; a quarter from personal efforts; and another quarter from the class room has remained the subject of deep inquiry.

Our society is so concerned about classroom knowledge because that is where the State is expected to make contributions as the guardian of the people. When asked to differentiate between the educated and the uneducated, Aristotle said it was like the difference between the dead and the living. To the same question Aristippus said it was like the difference between the living and the dead. This was why when Diogenes saw an uneducated man

Obi's

epistemic

seated upon a stone said “Behold a stone sitteth upon another stone”.

Throughout the history of civilisation, man’s quest for knowledge has seen him start Plato’s Academy (first University to be established) to improve the lot in education. Today nations, serious countries, do not joke with education of their people, because that it is the only currency for tomorrow’s competition in a globalised world. If you go through the budget of many States and countries you will see that education has a lion’s share.

Education redirects the anarchic impulses of man to order and progress.

The school is regarded as one of the agents of civilisation through training and retraining. Education molds beingsinto humans who otherwise could have become animals. This is not a matter for long debate because it is empirically verifiable. There are certain jobs you cannot entrust to the uneducated no matter the relationship

credentials because he is simply not capable.

The other day, during a ministerial briefing on the state of education in Nigeria, the Minister of Education, Prof.

Ruquayattu Rufai painted a gory picture of the state of education in Nigeria. With figures and pictures, she showed that the sector is dead with evidence that proved that where students are living are not better than piggery. Most students in secondary schools do not even have the capacity to pass WAEC; this is why special centres and related institutions are now in vogue. In the past, those who teach in higher institutions usually emerge through rigorous process in order to get the best.

But even the best of what are churned out of the Universities today are questionable. It is no longer news that some Professors have nothing to profess.

Scholarship and research have simply taken flight from the Ivory towers where students these days are forced to read plagiarised copies called handouts as

substitutes for insightful works. If you measure those who went to secondary schools in the 60s, 70s and of course 80s with today's graduates, you will discover a great difference in favour of the older generation of scholars.

The original idea of University as amply demonstrated by Carl Jaspers is that graduates become cornucopia of knowledge even in eras when knowledge was fragmentary. Today, al that is gone. Going by the report of the Minister of Education, Nigeria ought to declare education a distressed sector and start almost anew to rebuild it. But we do not need to look far; from Anambra we have a Governor who has started rebuilding the sector anew.

Studies he commissioned showed the decline of education started when schools were taken from the missionaries in 1970. From that time on, government as proprietor made a mess of managing these schools.

Continues tomorrow on the Viewpoints pg

*Mrs. Ebelechukwu, wrote from Anambra State University, Uli, Anambra State.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012—45

A

GAIN, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido is at the centre-stage of controversy with his recent volatile suggestion that the civil service work force should be reduced by half.

He had argued that the country was spending too much money on a negligible percentage of the population to the detriment of the overwhelming majority.

Sanusi had, at the Second Annual Capital Market Committee Retreat held recently in Warri, Delta State, stated that the country spent 70 per cent of its earnings on salaries and entitlements of civil servants and should, therefore, be stopped.

“You have to fire half of the civil service because the revenue of the government is supposed to be for 167 million Nigerians. Any society where government spends 70 per cent of its revenue on its civil service has a problem. It is unsustainable,” he said.

It is a known fact that Sanusi is a controversial man in all respects, for he thrives in controversies, going by his actions, comments and policies since he became the CBN Governor in 2009.

His latest comment has incurred the wrath of Nigerians and the organised labour, culminating into the call on the Federal Government to remove him from office.

The Nigeria Labour Congress also reacted. “Since assumption of

office, as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, all Sanusi’s major pronouncements have been either directly antipeople or ruinous to the Nigerian economy.

“While President Jonathan is promising to create more jobs, Lamido Sanusi is calling for mass sack of civil servants in a country with one of the highest numbers of the unemployed, which has indeed led to gross deprivation and the current state of insecurity in Nigeria.

“It is obvious Sanusi was never qualified for the office of CBN governor in the first instance, and he must be asked to leave the office as he has shown more than enough incompetence and contempt for the Nigerian people”, NLC said, in a statement signed by its President, Abdulwahed Omar.

Similarly, the Civil Liberties Organisation described Sanusi’s call as “a backward statement”, the Trade Union Congress said it is “ ridiculous and should be ignored”, RATTAWU described it as “unfortunate and unbelievable”, while the Association of Civil Servants of Nigeria said the CBN governor’s statement is “condemnable” because it will lead to job losses and suffering to the teeming populace.

The Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Victor Ogene, observed that Sanusi enjoyed controversies and never practised what he preached and

It is a Herculean task to situate Sanusi - going by his numerous volatile comments - whether he’s a politician, Muslim cleric, traditional ruler, social critic, or even human rights activist

,

was only heating up the polity with his “frequent controversial utterances”.

According to him, the recommendation for the sacking of 50 per cent of the civil servants and reduction in the number of National Assembly members is in conflict with what Sanusi has done at the CBN when he employed over 1,000 workers, raising the bank’s workers’ strength to 6,015 from 5,023.

“Sanusi should have healed himself first, what he preaches in the public is inconsistent with what he does at CBN. He is an economist with bias in political turbulence,” Ogene stated.

T

he Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, however, feels otherwise and has dismissed the call for the sacking of Sanusi.

The party said NLC’s call was only aimed at winning back peoples’ support after the leadership betrayed the masses

Delta 2015: The Aniomas may bite the dust

BY OKOFU UBAKA

E

QUITABLY, it will just be fair that the governorship position of Delta State is reserved, and served on a platter to the patient waiting Aniomas come 2015.The argument in favour of the Aniomas is as succinct as it is convincing. The people of this region of the state had not produced an Excellency of the state since it was created in 1991. But politics is far beyond a game of agreement, if not, all that the Aniomas need do is go to sleep while 2015 dawns.

Left to the people of Delta South senatorial district, the Aniomas will have nothing to worry about to achieving their goal come 2015. In fact, as far as the former is concerned, it could be such a deep sleep and one with both eyes closed with reckless abandon. But I ask how well are the Urhobos of Delta Central with the present arrangement? I mean the indept, candid and sincere reactions of those that are members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, with the present zoning understanding to zone the governorship candidacy of the party to the Anioma party members.

Again, politics in this part of the globe is not only a serious business but also dirty with the manifestations of all kinds of mischief. All that the Urhobos of Delta Central had cared about was the state capital being enough compensation for the Aniomas’ membership of the state. Against this background, it will be foolhardy for the Aniomas to go to sleep because the leadership of the PDP at the state level has promised a shift of power to Delta North Senatorial district.

One thing the Aniomas must consider is, can other members of the party that are not Aniomas be trusted on the agenda of power

shift? Won’t it turn out to be another constitutional matter where after the deed has been done, hue and cry of how the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria supersedes that of party will rent the air?

True that we have three senatorial districts in Delta State. Having the support of one against the other will amount to coasting home in victory. But alas! Delta Central is bigger than any one of the two other districts.

Just an alliance by trading away the deputy governorship position to any of the two of Delta South and North will make the difference by heralding the desired victory at the polls. Perhaps, this understanding is the reason the people of Delta Central have been repeatedly accused of being politically arrogant.

Besides, the Urhobos cannot be trusted when the issue is based on the leadership of the state. They seemed to have provoked other members of the state by evolving an egregious claim to a continuous leadership of the state. Fences are yet to be mended between the Urhobo Progressive Union and Ibori, who broke the hegemony jinx by passing the baton of leadership of the state to Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, an Itsekiri minority. To the Urhobos who didn’t believe Ibori had enough guts to carry out what the former had referred to as sacrilegious, the shift of power to Delta South and an Itsekiri minority for that matter was calamitous.

Till date, why some rented old women defiled the streets of Warri soon after Dr. Udughan was announced the winner of that gubernatorial election in protest of the emergence of a non-Urhobo as governor, or the “rigging out” of the DPP aspirant, Great Ogboru, remain to be seen. The question on the lips of very many then was whether the Itsekiri nationality, where Dr. Uduaghan

,

BY ADEWALE KUPOLUYI

,

Sanusi again!

when it unceremoniously surrendered at the peak of the popular revolt against the hike in fuel prices, early in the year.

On the other hand, the Minister of Labour, Chukwuemeka Wogu, had allayed the workers’ fear, saying that there will be no sacking in that the Federal Government would rather create more jobs for Nigerians.

For me and perhaps, many Nigerians, it is a Herculean task to situate Sanusi - going by his numerous volatile comments whether he’s a politician, Muslim cleric, traditional ruler, social critic, public servant, political analyst or even human rights activist.

But one thing is certain - Sanusi enjoys media hype as well as all the hues and cries that come with his gale of controversies - making the people to insinuate that he’s merely seeking attention.

Sanusi’s controversial outbursts are legion. He fired the first shot by criticizing the late President Umaru Yar ’Adua - during his screening at the Senate for the CBN job - when he said the President’s seven-point agenda is a wasteful exercise and suggested that it should be compressed into a two–point agenda.

Many people had wondered why a political appointee will have the audacity to challenge the same nominating authority - where many will tremble and worship.

That is Sanusi for you, controversy personified.

We can recall that he once boasted that some of the bank chiefs would go to jail. Not long, the CBN carried out its special examination of the nation’s banks to determine their solvency. After

Against this background, it will be foolhardy for the Aniomas to go to sleep because the leadership of the PDP at the state level has promised a shift of power to Delta North Senatorial district

,

hails from, was not part of Delta State, and as such not qualified to produce a governor of the state?

The Urhobos have not stopped to arrogantly brandish or flaunt the fact that the leadership of Delta State is permanently theirs. Irrespective of party commitment, the Urhobos have never compromised on the election of the governor of the state, a reason many are of the view that it is safe to trust the Urhobo man on other issues but certainly not the governorship of the state. A case in point was the last gubernatorial elections in the state; atleast, we were all witnesses to results from Uwvie and Sapele LGAs. If the Urhobos who have blood ties with the Itsekiris on account of mixed parentage and matrimonies could hold PDP, and their “benefactor”- Dr. Uduaghan by the jugular by pulling masks over party loyalty, how much more can be said of a governorship aspirant of Delta North origin and flag bearer of the party ?

T

here are a lot of reasons the people of Anioma should be wary of this “Greek gift” in the nomenclature of governorship.

Even though Dr. Uduaghan and other chieftains of Delta South senatorial district of the PDP meant well in the shift of power

the audit, it unilaterally dismissed the CEOs of three additional insolvent banks and injected an additional N200 billion into them.

Sanusi then published a list of the names of debtors of nonperforming loans held by Nigerian banks and defended the extensive reforms that he had initiated since taking office, dubbed as the "Sanusi tsunami".

His radical approach at implementing the blueprint has pitched him against some powerful interests. He'll never budge.

At another instance, during the Lagos Town hall meeting organised by the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN, he strongly warned that the country was heading for an economic doom if government continued to subsidise fuel.

Amid protests, criticism and resistance against fuel subsidy removal, Sanusi had argued that the limited resources of government should rather be allocated to supporting production.

Again, in the interview with The Financial Times of London, he had linked activities of the militant Islamic sect, Boko Haram, with the 13 per cent derivation fund being given to oil-producing states.

He said: “I have long held the view that ethnic and religious violence in Nigeria has its roots in poverty and deprivation and perceived marginalisation.

Continues tomorrow on pg 18

*Mr. Kupoluyi wrote from the Federal University of Agric., Abeokuta, Ogun State.

to Delta North, are the Urhobos in PDP in actual support of the plan or merely paying lip service to the intention of the party?

Memories are still fresh with the allegation by the Urhobos of how they were shortchanged when the capital of the state was to be named in 1991. Chiefly harbouring this grudge were the Urhobos of Ugehili who might have vowed to get their pound of flesh for the effrontery of the late Mariam Babangida in wooing over her husband, the then unchallenged military President.

Certainly, 2015 will be another ample opportunity to pay back the Aniomas; it is so obvious that the Urhobos are prepared for this. It was even said that some key members in the cabinet of former Governor Ibori who were Urhobos were not happy with the Governor when the latter had embarked on a rapid development of Asaba, the state capital. But unknown to these cynics, the Governor, being a friend to the military, had embarked on the development of Asaba as a gift to General Ibrahim Babangida, a close associate. Babangida’s action, far from being wishful, was equally a gift on a platter to his spouse.

Curiously, how prepared are the Aniomas?

Will the recent call for unity among the Aniomas lead to fruition, or the anticipated uhuru for the Aniomas? The Aniomas should not be unmindful of some LGAs such as Ukwani, Ndukwa West, the two Isoko LGAs and the two Ikas. The reason a lot works have to be done in these LGAs is, should Okowa failed to win the governorship ticket of the PDP, he may not stick out his neck for an Aniomas cause. It pains that the people of Aniomas are yet to categorically say yes to Hon. Ochie or Senator Okowa. The relationship between the trio of Dr. Uduaghan, Hon. Ochie and Dr. Okowa does not betray any iota of misunderstanding for an on-looker to infer such. It remains to be seen on how Dr. Uduaghan would manage the governorship ambition of both aspirants. *Mr. Ubaka, a social critic, wrote from Koko, headquarters of Warri North LGA, Delta State.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 — 41

C M Y K

46—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

*Obasanjo: My opponents call me general

*Ghana's President, John Dramani Mahama arrives at a polling station to vote

Time running out for sit-tight African leaders — Obasanjo THREE time Nigeria leader, General Olusegun Obasanjo was at the head of an African Union, ECOWAS observation team to last weekend’s presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana. At the end of the polls he gave his assessment of the election and other issues pertaining to the continent

F

ORMER Nigerian i l i t a r y and civilian Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo has hash words for African dictators and sit-tight leaders: “You are now endangered species.“We don’t have to worry ourselves over sit-tight rulers. How many of them are left now? They are becoming endangered species,” Chief Obasanjo said in an answer to a question on why Africa is menaced by a host of powerthirsty rulers who do not want to leave office and often manipulate elections to remain in power.

The question came after Obasanjo, who is the joint head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and African Union (AU) observer missions to Ghana 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections, presented the preliminary observations of the two bodies on Saturday night.

Africa still habours a handful of sit-tight leaders, who are not entertaining any plans of quitting or retiring from the Presidential villas unless death forces them to do so.

They include President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, m

who has been in power since 1980; Paul Biya of Cameroon (since 1982); Dennis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Republic (1979 to 1992 and 1997 till date); Jose Euardo Dos Santos of Angola (1979); Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea (1979); Yoweri Museveni of Uganda (1986); Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso (1987) and Omar Hassan Al-Bashir of Sudan (1989).

A vintage Obasanjo, who easily switched from seriousness to sarcasm and jocular mode, in a reply to another question said Nigeria did not need to copy Ghana’s cheaper parliamentary system of government and drop her expensive presidential system.

Reason: “It is not the system that is expensive, it is the people. For Nigerians,

,

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE, ACCRA

whatever system we adopt they will make it expensive.”

Given that the Biometric verification machines (BVM) used in Ghana last weekend contributed hugely to the hitches which made the exercise to be extended in over 400 polling stations to the following day, a suggestion was made that Africa should side-step the machine-based electoral process and adopt an indigenous fool-proof traditional African method like Option A4, which Nigeria used in the early 1990s. Obasanjo disagreed with the suggestion.

He said: “We in Nigeria are funny people at times. One of my colleagues (head of state) came up with it and we called it Option A4. In the election, you have to queue up behind your leader. Some people have suggested we return to the old

My political opponents in Nigeria call me ‘General’ when they want to paint me as a dictator. But in my party they call me a chief

,

Greek City State of gathering at the City square. We cannot return to all these because the modern state has gone beyond the Greek City State of gathering at the City square.

The fact that Nigeria is not practicing the Option A4 means that your so called African native way of voting is not appropriate in the modern era. ”On the declining rate of women participation in politics, Obasanjo, who ruled Nigeria for 11 years, first as military ruler for three years and later as a civilian, during which he was alleged to have attempted a tenure extension dubbed ‘third term agenda', tasked African leaders to take decisive action on women empowerment.

Noting that there is nothing in the constitutions of the various countries that directly prevents women from participating in politics, the former Nigeria ruler lamented that most African states are male chauvinistic . “The belief is that only women who are prostitutes go into politics. But we need to change this. If Rwanda can achieve 50 per cent affirmative action, others can do it. We (ECOWAS, AU) have all recommended that there should be affirmative action,” he stated.

When the master of ceremony

kept referring to him as “General,” a vintage Obasanjo joked: “My political opponents in Nigeria call me ‘General’ when they want to paint me as a dictator. But in my party (Peoples Democratic Party, PDP) they call me a chief. So, it depends on where you belong.”

Ghana polls were ‘fairly fair’ Earlier, in his review of the polls, Obasanjo said the 250man ECOWAS and AU’s 40man teams arrived on December 3 ahead of the December 7 elections and were deployed to all parts of the country.“We watched the concluding part of the campaigns. As expected, the campaign was feverish.

It was laced with some words that are emotive and some words that were encouraging.

But all in all, it ended peacefully. On the first day of the election, we went out; we saw the coming in of materials, in some cases late. The election was generally peaceful, orderly and smooth. There were hiccups but the hiccups were not such that would grossly undermine the result of the election.“ “So far, we have looked at the election objectively for a week now. We have cross-checked all we need to cross check. What we have issued is a provisional statement that the election has been fairly peaceful, fairly smooth, fairly transparent, fairly credible and fairly fair.“Elections are human operations.

No matter how hard you try, there may be areas where things will not go according to plans. This election is no exception. Late arrival of materials was observed. In one area, materials did not arrive Continued from page 47

42—Vanguard, MONSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Our detention: Case of double standards,

by Charles Okah Charles Okah writes the Catholic Church from Kuje Prison over October 1, 2010 bomb blast Trials GREETINGS in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I hope this letter meets you well. The reasons I choose to direct this letter to you are that I am a Catholic and you are an old boy of my alma mater, St. Gregory’s College, Lagos. I write from Kuje Prison Abuja where two other Catholics and I have been languishing in solitary confinement for two years on trumped-up charges relating to the October 1, 2010 bomb attack claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). My name is Charles Tonbra Okah, aka Billy Bones. On October 16, 2010 operatives of the State Security Services, on a warrant invaded my residence in Apapa GRA claiming that I was the suspected spokesman for MEND using the pseudonym “Jomo Gbomo.” My eldest son, visiting from the United States where he attends the University of Kansas (KU) was also arrested.

Lifeline from captors At the SSS Headquarters Abuja where we were flown blindfolded with our legs and hands bound, my ‘cooperation’ was solicited for something completely different to my surprise.

My captors threw me a lifeline; offering me freedom and a lucrative contract in exchange for false testimony against my younger brother Henry, who is resident in South Africa. I was to write a false statement claiming to have been told by Henry about the bomb plot and naming the following persons as his conspirators: Former head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, Chief Timipre Sylva, and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.

I bluntly refused.

To maintain pressure on me, I was told that my son would be implicated in the bomb matter, my containers of legitimate imports then at the Tin Can Port would be impounded and my business destroyed. I still did not budge, tossing their lifeline back with royal disdain. When they realized I was not going to connive in their scheme, they became formal and reverted to the main reason

for my arrest. I was asked for the MEND password, which I told them I did not know. They bound me in a chair, took off my trousers and clamped a device to my penis.

My legs were then put inside a basin of water. The device when turned on passed a high voltage of electricity to my body and I lost consciousness.

This was on Monday, October

18, at about 6pm. When I regained consciousness, I discovered I was at the National Hospital emergency room. I remember the doctors asking why I had trauma marks on my chest where the SSS doctor performed Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). The SSS operatives were evasive in answering questions at the hospital. That night I was released and taken to rest for the night at the State House Clinic.

That was the last time a torture was carried out on me.

My son was eventually released after Mr. Femi Falana visited in the company of my wife after a month of being denied access to a lawyer. However, my containers have been impounded up to date and my bank account frozen. The SSS stopped asking about the MEND password after Jomo Gbomo made another statement while I was in their custody but refused to still let me go because I did not cooperate earlier with them. Meanwhile in the ongoing trial in South Africa,

the same people who say I am JG also accuse Henry of being the same Jomo Gbomo.

Double standard in Kuje Prison: On December 24, 2010 we were remanded in Kuje prison as a result of our application to be removed from the SSS detention cell. Unknown to us, the SSS passed instructions from “above” to the prison authorities to carry out “special treatment” in order to stampede us into a trial towards conviction. For 2 years we have been locked up in solitary confinement, are not allowed to exercise or get sunlight outside and are forced to sleep on the floor when bunk beds are available.

Even a court order by Justice Continues on page 52

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 — 47

Kaduna LG polls: Namadi's heavy cross THE ruling PDP had reason for cheer from the outcome of the recent LG elections in Kaduna State . But for the party”s most prominent member and the nation”s number two citizen, Vice President Namadi Sambo, it was another humiliating case of a prophet not being honoured at home

I

BY LUKA BINNIYAT

T was perhaps convenient for Vice-President Namadi Sambo to be out of Kaduna , his political base and out of the country during penultimate weekend”s local government elections. The election again went according to pattern when the nation's number two citizen failed to deliver his booth, ward and local government to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP which incidentally rules the state and the country.

What was bad news for Sambo was, however, not totally unpleasant for the PDP which reasserted its dominance of the state with a sweeping victory of all but one of the 23 local government councils in the state.

The exception was Kaduna North where Sambo is registered to vote which was *Sambo: Yet to win backing at home overwhelmingly won by the CPC. According to the results About three thousand CPC Sarki last Monday praised the released by the Kaduna State Independent Electoral supporters from Zaria , Sabon process and outcome of the Commission, KSIEC, the PDP Gari, Soba and Ikara peacefully elections. He was supported by won 22 of the chairmanship demonstrated against the Comrade Ali Abacha of the positions and 255 councillor result at the Emir of Zazzau Northern Patriotic Front (NPF) palace last Monday. They were and Comrade Romanus positions.

The CPC came next with one reassured by the Emir who Azubuike in his assertions.

The CPC party Chairman, chairmanship and 15 asked them to channel their councillors while the Action protests to the appropriate Alhaji Ahmadu Yaro-Cocacola, however, strongly demurred.

Congress of Nigeria (ACN) authorities.

Addressing gloomy CPC The protest by the CPC trailed last with 3 Councillors.

Only 10 parties fielded compelled the National loyalists last Tuesday in candidates for the poll into the Coordinator of the Independent Kaduna , he fumed that the 23 LGCs. 53 contestants vied Election Monitoring Group party would contest the results for the LGC chairmanship (IEMG) Barr. Festus Okoye to declared by KSIEC. "We reject the elections result positions while 578 candidates urge for peace as he asked the vied for councillorship position protesters to bear in mind the in respect of Zaria , Sabo-Gari tenuous security situation in and Ikara Local Governments”” in the 263 wards of the State.

Kaduna and the country as a “There were also irregularities in Kudan, whole.

Announcement The protest of the CPC Makarfi, Lere, Giwa, and Igabi of results nonetheless, the results were Local Government Areas”, he The announcement of the endorsed by the Accredited said. The question in the mind results on Sunday evening was Domestic Election Observes of of some then was that the CPC Kaduna LGC Elections. which reigned almost supreme trailed with drama.

The group at a press throughout Kaduna State just The Kaduna State Independent Electoral conference addressed by its one year ago was now Commission, KSIEC it seemed, Chairman, Comrade Danjuma restraining itself to only seven had been reluctant to announce the result of the election for whatever reason forcing CPC supporters to lay siege to the headquarters of the Continued from page 46 commission located along require two hours to pick up.

Sokoto Road in the heart of until 12 noon. There was also This caused delay and the breakdown of the biometric election was extended to the Kaduna throughout Monday.

By night with the anxious verification machine in many following day so that those who party supporters hesitating to locations. When we saw the were on queue and could not leave, the chairman of KSIEC, Electoral Commission, EC vote on Friday would do so on Mrs. Hannatu Binyat was Chairman, he said many Saturday.” forced to announce the results. people in the field did not know Thus, the ECOWAS team The announcement of the and if they knew did not among other recommendations results was followed with implement it. The batteries for advised that there should be a protests the following day in the machines were to be back-up verification method Zaria where CPC which had recharged every five hours. If like voters’ card and voters’ won past elections in the area you allow the battery to go register instead of relying alleged rigging of the down to zero, even if you solely on the BVM for change it the battery will verification of voters before elections.

*Yakowa: Governor and Sambo loyalist local government areas.

It would be recalled that the CPC after the 2011 general produced 15 members of the 33 seats of the State House of Assembly, 7 of the 15 Kaduna State members of the House of Representatives, and one of the three Kaduna senators.

On his part, Kaduna state chairman of the PDP Ambassador Nuhu Audu Bajoga, while welcoming the results, upbraided the CPC to be sportsmanlike in its conduct.

“In Kaduna North, CPC won, how and why? Simply because their candidates were the best in the eyes of voters, and the people decided. Do we now argue that they rigged the elections? In their enclaves of 2011 elections, we argue that they used all kinds of intimidation, people doubted us.

The Chairman”s assertion inevitably brought focus on the

party”s loss of Kaduna North, the base of the vice-president.

Remarkably, the PDP chairmanship candidate in Kaduna North, Alhaji Bala Gogo is the godson of VicePresident Sambo was trashed by the CPC”s candidate, Samaila Suleiman.

The defeat is seemingly turning into a culture for the vice-president who not only lost in his Gabarau Polling unit and his Kabala Doki ward, his PDP suffered an all round defeat in Kaduna North LGC capturing all the 12 wards in the Local Government Area.

The story was the same during the 2011 general elections when the PDP lost to the CPC in the presidential, gubernatorial, National Assembly and state assembly elections in Sambo”s Gabarau Unit 5 polling unit, his Kabala Doki ward and Kaduna North LGA.

Africa: Time running out for sit-tight leaders — Obasanjo they could vote.

Said Obasanjo: “We are saying that there should be a fall back position. Machine is a machine and can fail. The EC should come up with a fall back position so that no eligible voter will be disenfranchised because a stupid machine has failed.”Tackled on ECOWAS team’s recommendation that the Parliament should come up with a law to regulate the media, which critics argued would hurt media freedom

given that Ghana does not have the Freedom of Information of law yet, Obasanjo responded: “Now, right to libel has been removed from the statute book, and this allows a little bit of recklessness on the part of the media, which must be checked.

Some say freedom of information, which I call right to information, must be taken along with certain bit of responsibility and respect.”

48 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012—49

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CKCC students achieve landmark grades in WASSCE exams

C

KCC Odolewu Ije bu, Ogun State, weekend, released details of its students’ performance in the 2012 May/ June West Africa Senior School Certificate of Education (WASSCE) results.

A statement from the school said the results were impressive. Citing details signed by the publicity secretary of the Parents Teachers Association, PTA, Mr. Tunde Thani, the statement said that all the students that sat for the examination recorded an incredible minimum of seven credits each including in English Language and Mathematics.

Extraordinary result One of the students, Awe Oluwasanya, had an extraordinary result by attaining eight A1 and one B2. Some other students that performed extremely well are: Iyasele Rehoboth A1 (5), B2 (2) B3 (1) and C4 (1). Bazuaye Esosa had A1 (5), B2 (2) B3 (1), C4 (1) while Obi Chidiebere had A1 (4), B2 (1), B3 (3) and C6 (1).

Ezeilo Obinna had A1 (4), B2 (1), B3 (3) and C4 (1).

Nwangwu Ebuka had A1 (4), B2 (2), and B3 (2) while Adeneye Micheal had a1 (3), B2 (3) and B3 (3).

The breakdown further shows that out of 89 students that sat for the exam, 14 students had A1 in Mathematics, while 23 students and 17 had the same result (A1) in Geography and Commerce.

CKCC Odolewu is renowned for academic success. Only recently, the institution’s best student, Awe Oluwasanya, made Nigeria proud for two consecutive years by winning the Bronze Medal out of 100 countries at the just concluded 2012 International Mathematical Olympiad Competition held in Argentina.

The results are further proof of the high quality of teachers in the school coupled with the rigorous academic tutelage that the students are made to experience to prepare them for academic excellence and outstanding contribution to the Nigerian economy upon graduation and furthering of their studies in the university.

50 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Vanguard,

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 — 51

Zuma allays fears on Mandela’s health S

OUTH African President Jacob Zuma visited Nelson Mandela yesterday in hospital and said he “looks well after a restful night”. .

Nelson Mandela is “comfortable”, the South African government has said after the antiapartheid icon spent the night in a Pretoria hospital, and underwent medical tests described as “consistent with his age”.

The 94-year-old was admitted to hospital on Saturday to undergo tests. Zuma visited the country’s year-old first black president who was hospitalised a day earlier and said he “found him comfortable, and in good care”. The iconic leader was admitted on Saturday for what Zuma’s spokesman

and former Mandela prison inmate Mac Maharaj said was for tests and medical attention consistent with the nanogenarian’s age.

It was the second time the increasingly frail Mandela was hospitalised this year and officials have moved to allay fears around his health. The president has been reassured that Mr Mandela is in the hands of a competent medical team at the hospital in Pretoria.

Only last week a military aircraft carrying Mandela’s medical team crashed and killed those on board. Mr Mandela was taken from his home in the rural village of Qunu, in Eastern Cape province, to hospital in the capital on Saturday.

The South African

Russian, US, meet as rebels target Damascus

R

USSIAN and US diplomats have met Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN peace envoy, in the Swiss city of Geneva for more talks on the civil war in Syria, according to Ru s s i a n f o r e i g n minister.

Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday that the US was wrong to see Russia as softening its position, but that Russia had agreed to take part in the talks on condition there would be no demand for Syrian President Bashar alAssad to step down.

“We are not conducting any negotiations on the fate of Assad,” Lavrov said.

This came as rebels across the country are moving toward a unified command, the latest step in a consolidation by the opposition as it seeks to garner stronger international support.They have also intensified their push towards Damascus.

Under a preliminary agreement reached Friday by the disparate Free Syrian Army units, each Syrian province will have a civilian rebel council leader and a military council leader.

The commanders will be under the leadership

of a newly named chief of staff, Gen. Salim Idris, Free Syrian Army spokesman Louay Almokdad said.

In all, the council would have 30 members, including the chief of staff and a deputy chief of staff.

All members of the new leadership team are Syrian and mostly are from inside Syria, he said.

It is premature to call the new group the Supreme Military Council, but the agreement is a step toward forming the higher military council, Almokdad said.

government said he was doing well shortly after he was taken in for “ nor mal” tests “consistent with his age” and insisted there was “ no cause for alarm”. Keith Khoza spokesman of the ruling African National Congress party, which Mandela once led, said “he is in perfect health, everything is well, it’s just that he has to undergo these regular check ups”. Officials have refused to give more details about his condition and the tests he is taking.

•Mandela

Opposition spurns Mursi’s concession on decree

A

concession offered by President Mohamed Mursi failed to placate opponents who accused him on Sunday of plunging Egypt deeper into crisis by refusing to postpone a vote on a constitution shaped by Islamists.

Islamists say they see the referendum as sealing a democratic transition that began when a popular uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak 22 months ago after three decades of military-backed one-man rule. Their liberal, leftist and Christian adversaries

•Mursi say the document being fast-tracked to a vote could threaten freedoms and fails to embrace the diversity of Egypt’s 83 million people.

More protests were planned near Mursi’s palace, despite tanks, barbed wire and other barriers installed last week

opposition National Salvation Front, described the race to a referendum as “shocking” and an “act of war” against Egyptians.

The Front has promised a formal response later yeterday. Egypt is torn between Islamists, who were suppressed for decades, and their rivals, who fear religious conservatives want to squeeze out other voices and restrict social freedoms.

Many Egyptians just crave stability and economic recovery.

Fiscal Cliff: IMF counsels US on cuts, taxes

T

HE United States needs a balanced, comprehensive approach to tackle its fiscal woes that should include a mix of

spending cuts and revenue increases, the head of the International Monetary Fund said

Chavez names heir as cancer rebounds

V

ENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez returned to Cuba yesterday for more surgery after a recurrence of cancer led him to name a successor for the first time in case the disease ends his 14-year dominance of the OPEC nation.

Throngs of shocked supporters gathered in squares across the South American country to pray for and show solidarity with the 58-year-old socialist leader, who was re-elected for a new six-year term in October.

His departure from office, either before or after the

after clashes between Islamists and their rivals killed seven people.

Mursi had given some ground the previous day when he retracted a fiercely contested decree giving himself extra powers and shielding his decisions from judicial review. But the president insisted the constitutional referendum go ahead next Saturday and the Muslim Brotherhood, from which he sprang, urged the opposition to accept the poll’s verdict.

Ahmed Said, a liberal leader of the main

•Hugo Chavez scheduled January 10 start of his new term, would trigger an election within 30 days. It would mark the end of an era for the Latin American left, depriving it of one of its most acerbic voices and Washington’s loudest critic in the region.

In his first public

acknowledgment that his illness could force him to step down, Chavez said his vice president and foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, would take over if he is incapacitated, and urged supporters to vote for him if an election is held.

A former bus driver and and union leader, Maduro – 50,was named successor.

While his humble roots appeal to the president’s working class supporters, Maduro’s six years as Chavez’s foreign minister have boosted his profile with the leaders of China, Russia and other world powers.

yesterday.

“My view, personally, is that the best way to go forward is to have a balanced approach that takes into account both increasing the revenue, which means, you know, either raising taxes or creating new sources of revenue, and cutting spending,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a pre-taped interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” which aired on Sunday.

Lagarde discussed her views about Washington’s impending “fiscal cliff,” a combination of automatic spending cuts and tax increases that will simultaneously take effect in early 2013 if lawmakers cannot arrive at a deal.

President Barack

Obama’s administration and congressional leaders are still trying to negotiate a way to avoid the cliff of $600 billion in tax hikes and federal spending. Failure to do so could likely tip the U.S. economy back into a recession. In her interview on CNN, Lagarde cited the fiscal cliff as the biggest threat to the U.S. economy, saying America is more vulnerable to its own domestic troubles than to anything else happening in the Eurozone or China.

The U.S. economy “is less vulnerable to what happens outside, for instance in Europe,” Lagarde said. “I’m not saying that there will be no consequences out of a crisis that could happen in Europe.

52—Vanguard, MONSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Our detention: Case of double standards, by Charles Okah Continues from page 42

DRAW: From right: Executive Director, IT and Operations, Unity Bank Plc., Mr. Ahmed Yusuf; Abuja Regional Manager, Unity Bank, Mr Aminu Baffa; winner One Million naira Scholarship, Mrs. Rosemary Ijeoma; Acting Division Head, Product and Channel, Mr Felix Eze and General Manager, Operations, Mr. Akinniyi Sunday during the draw of the Save and Win Promo of the bank, in Abuja, weekend. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

Tension mounts as Izala vows to attack Christians during Christmas

BY SAM EYOBOKA

T

HERE is renewed apprehension in the North following a recent secret meeting of the Izalatul Bidi’a Wa ikamatus-Suna in Bauchi where the group resolved to unleash an organised mayhem against Christians in Plateau, Kaduna, Taraba, Bauchi and several cities still harbouring a sizable number of Christians in the North between December 24 and January 2.

Feelers reaching our newsroom indicate that the group founded by late Sheikh Isma’ila Idris Bn Zakariyya on March 12, 1978 in Jos had regrouped to fight for the interest of the North and that battle must be waged against all those short changing the region including the Christians.

An impeccable source who attended the meeting in a mosque in Bauchi, said the group better known as Izala Group which has very close ties with Boko Haram is out to right alleged injustices done to the North over the years by annihilating the Christian community from the region.

Hint of several plots Our informant claimed that this was not a new development because the Christian leaders in the North had given hint of several similar plots and had actually made their investigations known to relevant authorities including the National Assembly, the leadership of SSS and the Police high command.

The despatch said the group plans to attack all Christian areas in the North and that nothing would stop them from killing all Christians in every part of the region. It said they have threatened to continue with their campaign in Plateau, Kaduna, Taraba, Tafawa Balewa in Bauchi and many other places with high concentration of Christians.

A Northern Christian leader

who for obvious reasons would not want his name in print, yesterday, confirmed the threat, saying it will be easy for the uninformed to dismiss the threat as a mere speculation or some people might even go to the ridiculous extent of saying “we are on top of the situation, but the Islamisation programme had actually begun in the North East.”

He listed such areas to include Ummarari, Railway

Quarters, Galadima, Gamboru, Slehuri, Alkalezi and several other places, noting that Christians were still being killed everyday in the suburbs of Maiduguri despite the activities of the JTF. The source urged the Federal Government to devise a means of protecting the Christians from this new wave of terrorism instead playing politics with lives of innocent Christians who have continued to hearken to appeals of their leaders not to fight back.

BoT chairmanship: Oyedokun joins race •Anenih, Iwuanyanwu, Nnamani in strong contest •Ekwueme, Nwobodo, not in the race •List of contesters to be released tomorrow

By HENRY UMORU

A

BUJA— AHEAD of the January 8, 2013 election where the new Chairman of Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will emerge, former deputy national chairman of the Party, Alhaji Shauibu Oyedokun has joined the race.

Meanwhile, the BoT Secretary, Senator Walid Jubrin, yesterday, told Vanguard that the list of those who have purchased forms, completed and submitted to the Secretariat will be made public tomorrow, Tuesday, where he said the party would address a press conference to intimate the world on the journey so far.

Vanguard reliably gathered that the Oyedokun who hails from Osun State hurriedly completed his nomination form, weekend, to beat the deadline and submitted to the BoT Secretary, Senator Walid Jubrin. Though it was rumoured that former Vice President Alex Ekwueme who was eighty years old last October has also showed interest for the position,

Vanguard gathered, yesterday, that the elder statesman was not interested in the position.

The source said that being the founding Chairman of the PDP and the first BoT Chairman, it was time for Dr. Ekwueme to rest and play a fatherly role which he has been playing and not necessarily as Chairman of BoT. He added that though Ekwueme was experienced to be and would command respect from the Senate president, members of the National Assembly, governors, BoT members, but at the moment he is said to be old and weak.

A close associate of former governor of Old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo told Vanguard yesterday that his boss was not interested in the position and that he never picked form to contest for it. It was also gathered that Oyedokun's ‘sin’ may be the fact that he is a friend of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and left with him for the Action Congress, AC, now Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN when the former Vice President left the PDP to pick the ticket for the Presidential election on the platform of AC, but Oyedokun hurriedly came back to the PDP.

Gabriel Kolawole to the prison for a change in our confinement style was ignored after it was superseded by an ‘order from above.”

In late 2011, while locked up inside our cellblock, prison officials clothed in protective apparel, facemasks and gloves carried out fumigation without opening us to wait outside. Our protests fell on deaf ears and by the time they were finished we were in distress. The Youth Corps doctor on call tried her best within her limits to the emergency she was confronted with. The poisonous gas and barbaric action reminiscent of the Nazi concentration camp's infamous gas chambers, eventually led to the death of one Francis Osuwo, aka Gboko, also roped into this case by the SSS and a man I have never met before. Interestingly, the four persons in detention were strangers to each other except for one Obi Nwabueze who is a family friend and close associate of Henry.

The fumigant whose chemical constituents were never relayed to us has affected my neurological system and a neurologist of the National Hospital, Professor Bwala, has put me on a daily prescription of strong neurological medication. While the Boko Haram suspects at Kuje prison are allowed to worship in the prison mosque, we have never set foot in the prison chapel. They are also enjoying privileges such as cable television, radio, liberty to move within the prison walls, bunk beds to sleep on and phone calls to their families. We are denied all of the above. When I asked the current Controller of FCT Command the reason for the disparity, he said “the fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom.” He further said the Moslem community was concerned about their welfare in custody.

Double standard in the court Even in the courts where justice is supposed to be blind, the double standard is glaring. While Senator Ndume, accused of being a financier to Boko Haram was given bail by the same Judge presiding over our case, we have been denied bail. I understand that this Senator was permitted by the same court to travel on his religious obligation to Mecca for the lesser Hajj while we are refused from attending mass in a chapel less than 50 metres from our cell block. The court is willing to permit the senator approval to travel abroad for his medical check if he can provide proof that such check up is not done locally.

Meanwhile, I have been denied my application to go on a compulsory checkup, which in my case is mandatory for a

kidney donor, having donated my left kidney to my mother 30 years ago.

Our cases have been adjourned repeatedly for cruelly long durations. The last time I appeared in court was March 2012 and the next adjourned date is January 31, 2013, that is if that date will not be shifted again under a flimsy excuse. All we ask is for a free and fair trial from an independent Judiciary that should release us instead of holding us as scapegoats over an obvious power show. While this government continues holding us hostage, our families are becoming destitute. Our rights to freely worship as Catholics is being infringed by the state who have more respect for Islam when all religions should be treated equally.

Double standards in the polity: The National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) was quoted as saying that the government of President Goodluck Jonathan has the phone numbers of suspected Boko Haram sponsors. Later the Inspector General of Police said certain individuals had been put on a “watch list” as suspected Boko Haram sponsors. Now the big question is why did the government not simply have our phone numbers and put us also on its ‘watch list” while we move about freely? They did not hesitate to arrest us, clamp us on trumped-up charges and detain us on flimsy excuses. They did not merely talk; they took action even in South Africa where my brother was arrested since 2010.

Is there a better word to describe this other than hypocrisy?

The same government eager to negotiate with Boko Haram, which claimed responsibility for over 100 attacks where Catholics have suffered the brunt, have refused to negotiate with MEND and continue to delude themselves that all is well. Why would this government expect Boko Haram to unmask it leaders and negotiate when they can see that perceived leaders and supporters of MEND are being persecuted and jailed?

I welcome a fact-finding visit from the Church in the company of credible Human Rights groups to verify our allegations. On the two occasions Kuje Prison was visited by the Bishop of Abuja during the Christmas of 2010 and 2011, he was surreptitiously steered away from where we are held hostage and I believe he has no idea of what is going inside Kuje prison. Our prayers is that leaders of our churches will be more sensitive and proactive in politics of the land that touches the lifes of their followers and not leave delicate issues solely in the hands of corrupt and selfish politicians, and majority of the population rid of a “Potiphar” mentality who believe lies when told by SSS. •Culled from Sahara Reporters

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 —53

E

KET 2012?

Yes Eket 2012….will get back to that.

For now, let me join millions of sports followers all over the country in wishing fare well to Eko 2012, the 18th National Sports Festival that was officially brought to an end yesterday.

For the next two years until we gather in Calabar in 2014, Lagos will be the talk in sports circles. There are those who believe this has been the best festival ever and Dr Kweku Tandoh, secretary of the LOC for Lagos is in this category although he will quickly add “…..I am not saying so because I am one of the organizers” Step out those who have constantly rated the festival low from the point of accommodation, feeding and adequacy of infrastructure. You must have read about the excess chlorine that postponed the swimming event, the flood light failure that punctuated the soccer semi final penalty shoot out, the suspect officiating that ruled the boxing bouts……

Permit me to wonder how Lagos got through the transportation challenge that gave me nightmares as the count down to the festival started.

Nowhere did I read that any athlete or official was late to his or her event or assignment.

Suspend Lagos for a while

and continuity in the sports leadership of the state. Delta state is one of the few states that can at the drop of a hat, host a continental competition without batting an eye lid. I hear a world athletics championship is on the cards early next year.

I

Bye bye Eko 2012...

Welcome Eket 2012 and let us talk about the state that imported a foreigner to be able to win three gold medals. The change of names and veiled identity that warranted the fielding of ineligible athletes, the borrowed hockey sticks that could not guarantee victory and the protests marches that forced the hands of officials to pay denied allowances.

Eko 2012 for me will be that games that proved that you can still use sports to forge unity and this came the minute the Lagos Governor proclaimed that Lagos was not hosting to win…….not at all cost

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overnor Fashola has ve hemently refused the floating of a professional football club in Lagos because he believes in the principle of

development that is why I am surprised that Lagos did not cart away all the boxing medals. The Lagos boxing experiment is worthy of emulation, a veritable grass root experiment and very consistent at that, one that has pitched lagos boxers against some international opponents…..

Over a year ago, Lagos appointed Ann Agumana former national female assistant coach to tinker with a female team and she went about the duty with diligence. Was I surprised that they won the soccer gold without conceding a goal.

That is a classical result of planning to succeed.

Eko 2012 is a triumph for team Delta one that has been very consistent thanks to the availability of infrastructure

felicitate with Team Akwa Ibom who despite the absence of commensurate infrastructure has always held her own. It was a shame to hear that Akwa Ibom had to go to Cross River to train for the festival. Happy that Governor Godswill Akpabio has vowed to redeem all that with the opening of the Olympic sized Uyo stadium and other sports infrastructure dotted round the state, next year.

Eko 2012 is that games that brought us hope of a future for our sports. Share with me a personal experience. I had gone to the National Stadium to cheer Team Akwa Ibom at the commencement of the athletics event only to be told that some students who had qualified for the final of the 12th Akwa Ibom State/NNPC/ MPN Schools Athletics Championship were in Lagos to represent Akwa Ibom, but that one of them on getting to Lagos defected to the Bayelsa camp! How this could happen, I do not understand.

On December 15 on the

burning tracks of Eket stadium, Mobil Producing Nigeria proud twelve consecutive years sponsor of the event will once more pull out the trumpets and blow its song of good corporate sponsorship advantage the youths of Nigeria.

Apart from the muscular support of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, ( AFN ) the Akwa Ibom schools Championship prides itself with the physical presence of seven sports ministers and two ministers of education and this year will not be an exception. Minister Bolaji Abdullahi an apostle of grass root discovery of talents has thrown his weight behind the championship and is readjusting his programme accordingly.

Eket 2012 is the future of our sports. Every year, Eket 2012 throws up budding and potential talents who are denied commensurate exposure by officials who will rather import foreigners for the purpose of winning ephemeral glory than develop their own.

Starting from Saturday, graduates of Eket can now look forward to opportunities of displaying their stuff on national stage and from there go on to reap stardom and fame advantage Nigeria.

Thanks Lagos and bye bye.

Welcome Eket.

See you next week.

Marquez stuns Pacquiao M

EXICO’s Juan Man uel Marquez knocked Manny Pacquiao out cold with a vicious right hand at the end of the sixth round on Saturday, putting a sudden end to the fourth fight between the two boxers.

Pacquiao had been down in the third round but knocked Marquez down in the fifth and the two were exchanging heavy blows in the sixth

round before Marquez threw a right hand that flattened Pacquiao face down on the canvas at 2:59 of the sixth round.

The referee waved the fight to an end as Marquez celebrated and the sold-out crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas erupted.

Pacquiao was down for about two minutes before the Filipino’s handlers managed to get

him up.

After being helped to his corner, Pacquiao sat on a stool, blew his nose and stared vacantly ahead as his handlers cut his gloves off. It was a stunning end to a furious fight and it may have signaled the end of Pacquiao’s career. ”I threw a perfect punch,” Marquez said. “I knew Manny could knock me out at any time.”

HARD EARNED VICTORY . . . Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez celebrates after stunning Manny Pacquiao with a 6th round knockout at the weekend, putting a sudden end to the fourth fight between them. Photo: AFP

Pacquiao: I am fine F

ollowing his knockout loss to Juan Manuel Márquez, Fighter of the Decade MANNY ‘Pacman’ PACQUIAO made a precautionary visit to University Medical Center.

“Manny was given a CT scan and the results were negative,” said Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s advisor. “We were in and out in just over an hour and Manny was in excellent spirits.”

Pacquiao returned to his penthouse suite in THEhotel for a family dinner followed by a viewing of his fourth fight against Marquez. As the DVD played, Pacquiao anC M Y K

nounced -” Spoiler alert. I don’t think you are going to like how this ends!”

Pacquiao then issued the following statement to his fans: “First and foremost I would like to thank God for keeping Juan Manuel Márquez and me safe during our fight on Saturday night,” said Pacquiao. “I want to congratulate Juan Manuel. I have no excuses. It was a good fight and he deserved the victory. I think boxing fans who watched us were

winners too.” “To all my fans, I would like to thank you for your prayers and assure you that I am fine. I am looking forward to a nice rest and then I will be back to fight.” “On behalf of Jinkee and our family we would like to wish everyone a joyous Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.” In a consensus Fight of the Year, Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KOs), of the Philippines, ahead on all three scorecards 47-46, was knocked out by Márquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs), of México, via a spectacular right hand, with one second remaining in round No. 6.

54 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

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Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 — 55

Lagos discovers 13-yr-old swimmer

T

ON THE RUN . . . Male athletes burning the tracks in the 200m Men Finals of the Eko 2012 National Sports Festival. Photo: Henry Unini

Why we won Continues from BP gos on Sunday where members of the victorious team and officials went for a thanksgiving service. In attendance was the Executive Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan and his wife, Rolly, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Right Honourable Victor Ochei and other top government functionaries.

At the church, Amaju recalled the role God played in their victory, saying that the team’s performance was a testimony to the fact that “prayer is the most fundamental thing a man needs to achieve whatever he wants.”

In a chat with journalists, Amaju spoke further on the secret behind the victory of Team Delta at the Sports Festival which was concluded last night at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

“When we returned from Port Harcourt (Garden City Games) we called ourselves to a meeting and asked, what went wrong? After serious review of our performance we created what we call a comfort zone for athletes.

That is planning for their lives after their competitive years. We engaged most of them as staff of the Delta State Sports Council He contended that most of the athletes from other states are used during festivals and forgotten thereafter. “In our case, we employ them and offer them the opportunity to go to school.

“Blessing Okagbare, for instance, was on Grade level 04 when she left for the United States, but toC M Y K

day, as a graduate, she is on Grade Level 08 step 2,” Amaju said.

He also said early preparations and regular release of funds enhanced their training schedule.

“We prepared very well and gained a lot from areas we were handicapped in previous festivals. “In Kaduna, we got one gold medal in weight lifting, today; we got 15 of the available 36 gold medals in power lifting.

We also won 10 out of 16 in weightlifting. One happy thing is that our victory spread across all the sports.”

What Calabar 2014 should do — Onyali

BY JACOB AJOM

F

ORMER African Queen of the tracks, Mary Omagbemi-Onyali has said that the Cross River State government should use record the low points of Eko 2012 to make the 2014 National Sports Festival a unique event.

Speaking in a chat with Sports Vanguard at the Teslim Balogun Stadium Sunday, Onyali said, “Eko 2012 would have passed for a near-perfect festival but there were some areas she found the event lagging behind pre-

Robin good Continues from BP champions were thrown a lifeline when inspirational midfielder Yaya Toure halved the lead with an hour gone.

Toure’s goal set up a storming finish as the hosts did all they could to grab a share of the spoils.

And the City faithful lifted the roof on the stadium when Pablo Zabaleta drilled the ball through a crowded area and beyond David de Gea to equalise.

With a point apiece seemingly on the cards, Van Persie stepped up to curl home a free-kick and send the red half of Manchester home happy.

As the tackles flew in during the opening stages, Mario Balotelli tested De Gea with a low freekick after Rio Ferdinand had fouled Sergio Aguero.

Balotelli tried his luck

HE Lagos State Swimming Association (LSSA) said on Sunday that it discovered a 13-year-old female swimmer who won three silver medals for Team Lagos at the just-concluded 18th National Sports Festival (NSF).

Chairman, LSSA, Samuel Ebito-Jesimiel who disclosed this in Lagos gave the name of the youngster who won silver medals for the state in the women’s 50 metres freestyle, 50 metres butterfly and 200m breaststroke events in swimming in 27.18 secs, 33.18 secs

again in the 11th minute, but this time the keeper was able to watch the ball fly over after Gael Clichy’s cutback was sliced by the Italian.

United finally began to get into their stride, only to find to City’s defence in no mood to allow Joe Hart to be called into action.

The home side continued to ping the ball around with confidence and Yaya Toure’s powerful runs kept Alex Ferguson’s men on the back foot.

But against the run of play, United took the lead with 16 minutes on the clock.

Van Persie combined with Ashley Young down the left and the England man raced away before rolling the ball to Rooney, who saw his shot wrong-foot Hart and dribble into the bottom corner.

City were dealt a further blow after 21 minutes

vious festivals.

Onyali frowned at the performances of athletes and said she thought they could have done better.

“The times they returned in most of the events were below par. I thought they could have done better.”

Continuing, Onyali said, “the organizers were also lagging in the aspect of equipment provided for some of the events. In some cases, the equipments were not there at all. If the sports festival is to produce international athletes, then the best must be provided so that when they go when skipper Vincent Kompany was forced off with an injury and replaced by Kolo Toure.

Aguero’s persistence saw him carve out a shooting opportunity just moments later but his tame finish was easily held by De Gea. As Roberto Mancini’s men continued to look for a way back into the game, Rooney made it 2-0 a minute before the halfhour mark with a rightfooted finish from Rafael’s low cross.

Delta Continues from BP bronze placed 6th while Ogun finished 7th with 15 gold, 22 silver and 31 bronze medals. The next hosts, Cross River State put up a sterling performance, finishing 8th with 12 gold, 14 silver and 23 bronze medals.

out they can compete against the best anywhere in the world.

“At this stage of our development, athletes should be exposed to the best equipments available so that when they go out to compete, they won’t find such equipments strange. The National Sports Festival should provide the best for athletes.”

and 3 mins, 21.86 secs, respectively as Ayomide Bello.

Ebito-Jesimiel said that he was impressed with the speed of the teenage swimmer, adding that if properly guided, she could be a world-beater when she turns 18.

He said that Lagos State mostly fielded firsttimers in swimming at the festival.

“We are particularly delighted that we discovered a 13-year-old, who was able to compete with seasoned swimmers and win three silver medals for us at the Games,” Ebito-Jesimiel added.

Team Delta topped the standings in swimming with 47 medals, including 20 gold, 17 silver and nine bronze, while Team Ondo was second with 15 medals, made up of six gold, four silver and five bronze.

Team Edo placed third with six medals: four gold and two silver, while Team Lagos settled for the fourth position with 14 medals, including one gold, six silver and seven bronze medals.

Paradise 2014!

Continues from BP veliver the Festival without suffering a postponement.

Youth and Sports Commissioner, Hon. Patrick Ugbe who received the flag for the next edition said that the passion of Governor Liyel Imoke for sports would not allow him not to deliver on time. ‘’We’ve a Governor who is passionate on sports. If he sets his sights on something, he achieves it. There will be no delay or postponement’’, Ugbe, a reputable Journalist and a Lagos boy who has turned around the fortunes of Cross River State in sports said.

Besides the festival, Cross River State would be hosting the World Mountain Race that will bring many countries to Nigeria. ‘’Our hands are full but we are equal to the task’’, Ugbe still brimming with excitement said.

Reviewing the performance of the Cross River

State contingent to the just ended Eko 2012, Ugbe said that they performed creditably well and surpassed their last outing in Garden City Games in Port Harcourt. ‘’We came with the youngest team to the festival with their ages ranging from 14 to 16 years.

The young lads won medals, even gold in Pole Volt. By 2014, they would have been worked on and will definitely do better.

We didnt come to Lagos with the illusion of winning the festival. No. We believe in discovering them young and we are happy that the festival will be open when we host.

What it means is that only the best can win medals. It is a challenge our youths will look up to.

On our side, we will give them the best in terms of training and exposure and getting expatriate coaches for them. As for hosting, we are known for only the best’’, Ugbe said.

VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Why we won — Delta

BY JACOB AJOM

T

HE victory did not come cheap. “It took months of camping, hard training, discipline and

divine intervention to achieve the victory.”

Those were the words of the executive chairman of the Delta State Sports Commission, Pinnick

Eko 2012: Delta are winners!

BY JACOB AJOM

P

R E D I C TA B LY , Delta State has won the 18th National Sports Festival which ended last night at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

Delta topped the medals table with 114 gold, 99 silver and 75 bronze medals. Team Rivers that posed the biggest threat to Delta throughout the festival was second with 76 gold, 71 silver and 70 bronze medals while hosts, Lagos State finished third with a medal haul of 64 gold, 47 silver and 44 bronze.

Traditional strong contenders, Edo finished a distant fourth with 25 gold, 23 silver and 44 bronze medals. Bayelsa State made a strong presence by finishing fifth with a total of 58 medals.

A breakdown shows 19 gold, 17 silver and 22 bronze medals.

Ondo State with 18 gold, 12 silver and 28

Continues on Page 55 TODAY'S

Medals Table State

G

S

B

Total

Delta Rivers Lagos Edo Bayelsa Ondo Ogun C/River

114 76 64 25 19 18 15 12

99 71 47 23 17 12 22 14

75 70 71 44 22 28 31 23

228 217 182 92 58 58 68 49

•C/Rivers State promises to take festival to cloud 9

BY TONY UBANI

H

OST city for the 2014 19th National Sports Festival tagged Paradise 2014, Cross Rivers State has promised a

festival that would live up to its Paradise nickname but still scratches its head because of monumental fiestas crammed into its calendar in 2014.

The State received the flag for the next Festival from Eko 2012 yesterday and re-assured states that would emulate Lagos de

R

GOLDEN POSE . . . Governor Uduaghan of Delta State (left) and State Team captain, Ruth Izenegwu who won six gold medals in Swimming during a thanksgiving service marking Delta State's victory at the just concluded 18th National Sports Festival “ EKO 2012 “ held at the TREM headquarters, Gbagada, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Henry Unini YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

Continues on Page 55

See you in Paradise 2014!

Continues on Page 55

PUZZLE

Amaju when he was explaining the excellent performance of Team Delta at the 18th National Sports Festival, Eko 2012.

The post victory celebration began at The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) headquarters, Anthony Village, La-

Across: 2 Stadium (5) 7 Goad (4) 8 Snub (6) 9 Path (5) 11 Obese (3) 13 Wand (3) 15 Press (4) 16 Tag (3) 18 Companion (4) 19 Cringed (7) 20 Host (4) 22 Pleasant (4) 23 Weirdest (7) 25 Hypocrisy (4) 27 Feline (3) 28 Secure (4) 30 Newt (3) 31 Youth (3) 33 Pry (5) 36 Purify (6) 37 Declare (4) 38 Tendency (5)

OBIN VAN PER SIE settled a typically passionate Manchester derby with a sensational late winner.

Wayne Rooney’s first-

•Hon. Patrick Ugbe

half double stunned the Etihad and left City facing a mammoth task in the second half.

But the Premier League

Continues on Page 55

Down 1 Javelin (5) 2 Still (3) 3 Epoch (3) 4 Enquire (3) 5 Seed (3) 6 Sprig (5) 10 Talon (4) 11 Funds (7) 12 Tease (7) 13 Fundamental (7) 14 Erased (7) 16 Subject (5) 17 Brute (5) 18 Males (3) 21 Skill (3) 24 Deserve (4) 26 Following (5) 29 Confronted (5) 32 Trangress (3) 33 Fixed (3) 34 Individual (3) 35 Cushion (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Scrap 5, Settee 8, Panic Attire 11, Aped 14, Notice 15, Special Pen 19, Tap 21, Rest 23, Petal 24, Clad Den 29, Gem 31, Rapidly 32, Seemed Done 35, Hoarse 38, Cheat 39, Streak Ready.

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

10, 18, 27, 34, 40,

DOWN: 2, Cut 3, Apiece 4, Par 5, Scan 6, Teeter 7, Expect 9, Negated 12, Pop 13, Dine 16, Pail 17, Later 20, Panache 22, Soil 24, Cosmos 25, Aged 26, Demote 28, Pirate 30, Men 33, Deck 36, Oar 37, Sad

e-mail: rowolove@yahoo.co.uk

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Phone: Newsroom: 018773962. Deputy Editor: 01-8944295. Advert Dept: 01-7924470; Hotline: 01-8737028; Abuja: 09-2341102, 09-2342704. E-mail: editor@vanguardngr.com, news@vanguardngr.com, letters@vanguardngr.com. Advert:advertproduction@yahoo.com Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: MIDENO BAYAGBON. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

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