19 YEARS AFTER: Nigeria rules again!

...towards a better life for the people

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VOL. 25: NO. 61815

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

19 YEARS AFTER:

Nigeria rules again!

•Jonathan hails victory, commends Keshi, others •Keshi dedicates cup to local coaches —See Back Page

S

-AFRICA—NINE TEEN years ago, Nigeria won the African Nations Cup in Tunisia and performed well in the USA ’94 World Cup. But immediately after that, football suffered a plunge that made Nigeria lose its pride in the continent and beyond.

But a team of 23 players led by former captain, Stephen Keshi, yesterday restored it when they, in South Africa, lifted the 28th edition of the cup with a 1-0 vic

Continues on page 5

•P.17 COLUMNISTS:

DELE SOBOWALE •P.35

LES LEBA •P.40

SUPER EAGLES OF AFRICA—Super Eagles of Nigeria, led by team captain Joseph Yobo, hold the

trophy after winning the 2013 African Cup of Nations final against Burkina Faso, yesterday at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.. AFP PHOTO.

N63BN BUDGET INFLATION:

Gunmen kill three Presidency orders probe of Korean health ministers, workers in Yobe MDAs •Pg.8

•Pg.8

C M Y K

OCHEREOME NNANNA •P. 41

Mr & Mrs

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POCKET CARTOON

SUPER EAGLES—Nigerian players celebrate after they won the 2013 African Cup of Nations final against Burkina Faso at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, yesterday. Photo: AFP.

AFCON 19 YRS AFTER: Nigeria

rules again!

Continues from page 1 tory against Burkina Faso, a strong team they drew with at the group stage.

Interestingly, Keshi was captain of the Super Eagles the last time Nigeria won the diadem.

He stepped into the

shoes of Egypt’s Mohammed El Gohary, the only other African to have won the cup as a player and a coach. It was such a glorious outing for the man the authorities were planning to disengage. He is the first indigenous coach to win the Nations Cup for

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

Our destiny is not determined by where we begin in life. Our lives are destiny in motion. We make our destiny as we move along.

TAKE HEART

G

BY ELLA RANDLE

RATITUDE means to recognize the good in your life, be thankful for whatever you have; some people may not even have one of those things you consider precious to you (love, family, friends etc). Each day give thanks for the gift of life. You are blessed – Pablo I read the works of Jay Woodman and his take on practicing the positive virtues of everyday spirituality is very uplifting. “The word God can mean whatever you believe it to mean, for me it is the conscious stream of life from which we all come, and to which we can stay connected throughout our lives as a source of peace, wisdom, love, support, knowing, inspiration, vitality, security, balance, and inner strength.

“I think that awareness is paramount, because in awareness we gain understanding, which then enables us to regain our feeling of empowerment. We need to feel empowered to make our choices consciously, about how to deal with changes in life, rather than reacting in fear (which tends to make us blind and weak).

“If we are aware, we can be realistic yet positive, and we can properly focus our intentions.”

We all have that same stream of life within us, so you are a part of everything. Each one of us has the power to make a difference to everything.

Nigeria. The first man to win it was Otto Gloria, a Brazilian in 1980. The second was Clemens Westerhof in 1994.

From the man on the streets in Nigeria to President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday was a glorious day, a day that would remain green in their memory and a day that potends greater things to come in their football.

They started their campaign with a 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso in January. 21 days after the tournament started, both sides met again in the final at a packed National Stadium in Soweto.

It took just a goal from from Sunday Mba, a home-based player of Warri Wolves, to seal Eagles AFCON glory.

The goals were not in supply. This is not strange to followers of the game as only two goals had been scored in the four finals preceding yesterday’s match.

The goal, a 40th minute strike was a brilliant one. It started as Victor Moses’s shot from inside the area was blocked by the Burkina defence. The ball came out to the Warri Wolves midfeilder, who flicked it past one defender before poking the ball past goalkeeper Daouda Diakite.

It was a great finish

from Mba. Under pressure he took it well. An outstanding finish, with two defenders around him. And psychologically that was a terrible moment for Burkina Faso to concede, five minutes before half-time. Now they had to attack, whereas Nigeria could defend. And how well the Eagles, parading Kenneth Omeruo, Godfrey Oboabona, Elderson Echiejile and Efe Ambrose held their own to keep Jonathan Pitroiba and Aristide Bance at bay.

Until this year, Les Etalons (The Stallions) as the Burkina Faso national side are called, had not made much of an impact at the Cup of Nations ever since they first attempted to qualify in 1968.

They did, as hosts, reach the semi-finals in 1998 only to go out to eventual champions Egypt.

Before the match started, had predicted Nigeria as clear favourites to win the final.

Burkina Faso named the same starting XI that played in the semifinal victory over Ghana.

With Diakite in goal, coach Paul Put fielded the likes of , Koffi, Kone, K o u l i b a l y , Panandetiguiri, Kone, Captain Kabore, Rouamba, Nakoulma,

Pitroipa and Bance.

Save for Ikechukwu Uche, who replaced injured Emmanuel Emenike, the likes of Enyeama, Echiejile, Omeruo, Oboabona, Ambrose, Onanzi, Mikel, Mba, Moses and Ideye all retained their shirts on the night.

Nigeria settled into this final a lot quicker and deservedly got the first chance of the night, which came in the 9th minute when a great chance went begging for the Eagles. A corner was played to the far side of the area before it was headed back into the danger zone. Burkina keeper Daouda Diakite failed to claim cleanly, allowing Brown Ideye a shot on goal. His effort flew over the bar from eight yards.

More action in the Burkinabe area. Chelsea’s flying winger Victor Moses motored down the left and fired in a low square ball that Daouda Diakite just about gathered.

Burkina Faso had their chances later. 25 minutes into the game, Burkina Faso. Forward Aristide Bance, a star performer in the semi-final against Ghana, turned and thundered in a strike from 20 yards that flew a few feet over the bar.

On 28m, Burkina Faso got a free kick, which Bance took.

The Augsburg forward fizzed a 25-yard free-kick about two yards wide Eagles took the initiative from their foes in the 31 st minute as Mba played in Uche, but the Villarreal man’s touch was too heavy.

With less that 15 minutes until half-time and apart from one half and one three-quarters of a chance created by Nigeria, both teams were still trying to settle into a rhythm.

But the goal that changed everything came minutes later. As half time approached, Mba powered home a

stunner, a goal worthy of winning the Nations Cup. Eagles continued mounting the pressure.

Moses continued with more great play. On the 50m, he moved up a gear, lost his marker then played in Brown Ideye, who fired a shot from a very tight angle across goal. It might have got a touch from Burkina keeper Daouda Diakite en route.

Very nice play from Victor Moses, and it was very hard for Ideye to score from there. It would have been a better option to cut the ball back but he tried his luck. The keeper had it covered. Burkina Faso still had not mounted anything resembling an attack. They needed fresh ideas.

Their moment came in the 77m, when Enyeama kept the score at 1-0 by making a superb save to prevent Wilfried Sanou’s angled drive from going in.

Both sides continued looking for goals but Nigeria wasted a couple of chances while Burkina Faso also rattled the defence of the Eagles.

Nigeria held on, defended well and won the cup that sent Nigerians partying all night.

Jonathan hails Eagles President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, joined millions of Nigerians to hail the Super Eagles of Nigeria for emerging the African champions at the just concluded African cup in South Africa. In his statement congratulating the national team and all Nigerians on the country’s inspiring victory, President Jonathan thanked Coach Stephen Keshi and all members of the team “ who have worked very hard and played with great focus, dedication, artistry and patriotism to make Nigeria the proud champions of Africa once again after 19 years of setbacks in the competition”.

6—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Land speculators seize Ogun village, expel village head, others

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

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B E O K U T A — PANDEMONIUM broke out, weekend, when some people believed to be land speculators invaded Adunbu village in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State and chased all the residents, including the village head, away before they seized the village.

An eye witness told Vanguard that the hoodlums, armed with guns, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons, stormed the village during a monthly community meeting and sacked the whole village before they forcefully took over the landed property built on over 4,000 hectares of land.

When Vanguard visited the troubled community, weekend, it was a ghost of itself while most of the displaced villagers, mostly women, were seen loitering at the Ewekoro Local Government secretariat while others were said to have fled to other areas, including Lagos.

Speaking with Vanguard from his hiding place, the village head, Chief Olalekan Ogunjobi, said the hoodlums were aided by some members of the community.

He further said he and his Secretary, Chief Ranti Falola,

had been arrested by police on the order of the mastermind of the act before the village was sacked.

According to the village head, "we are now refugees staying in churches, mosques and houses of well wishers in Itori. The thugs, numbering about 150, came in eight Volkswagen minibuses, hid their guns in a coffin and started shooting everywhere.

“The villagers, men, women and children ran out of the village to take refuge in the bush and

neighbouring communities. After ensuring that the villagers had been sacked, the land surveyor they brought started surveying the villagers’ land.

Villagers appeal to Gov. Amosun "We want Governor Ibikunle Amosun to assist us to get back our village from these hoodlums.

We cannot go back to our village because they are still there with dangerous weapons ready to kill

Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Baale of Adunbu, Oloye Olalekan Ogunjobi Ikemefuna Okoye

Three-year-old baby kidnapped in Ebonyi community zAs kidnappers sell boys for N450,000, girls N150,000

BY PETER OKUTU

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BAKALIKI — UNIDENTIFIED persons, weekend, kidnapped a three-year-old boy, Ejike Emmanuel, at Akaeze in Ivo Local Government Area of the state.

Vanguard gathered that the boy was abducted in front of his parent’s compound at Obulo-Iyioji village in Akaeze by two suspected kidnappers, a man and woman, who disguised as customers to the mother of the victim, Mrs Nnennaya Emmanuel.

Narrating her ordeal, Mrs Emmanuel said: “I was closing my akara (bean cake) business for the day and dropped Ejike with his fouryear-old sister, Nkiruka, and crossed over to the other side of the road to keep the bench I used for the business.

“When I came back, my son was nowhere to be found. I only saw Nkiruka crying and pointing her finger at some people on a motorcycle.”

anybody that they see.

“We are pleading with the authority to please come to our aid because this act of terrorism has brought untold hardship to members of the community who are now refugees in their own country.

“Women and school children have been displaced and can no longer attend schools. The economic activities have been paralyzed in the community as people are now cut off from their means of livelihood,” the petition read in part.

In his account, the father, Mr Anyim Emmanuel, expressed disbelief that his child could ever be kidnapped on such an ever busy road and called on security agencies to help secure the release of his son.

It was, however, learnt that the parents of the victim raised alarm which attracted some villagers who quickly organised a search party to locate the boy’s whereabouts but all efforts proved abortive as the kidnappers had disappeared.

Police rescue two kidnapped children In a related development, two of the eight children kidnapped between December last year and early January at Ishiagu in the same local government have been found.

Police sources noted that the two children were rescued in Owerri, Imo State, with the

aid of members of the Criminal Investigation Department of Imo State Police Command, adding that they were found in the custody of a woman who allegedly bought them from the kidnappers for N600, 000.

According to the source, the woman, whose name could not be immediately ascertained, was said to have paid N450,000 for the male child, while the female child was sold to her for N150,000.

Meanwhile, Ebonyi State Police Public Relations Officers, DSP Sylvester Igbo, who confirmed both incidents, said he was waiting for a formal report from the Divisional Police Officers in charge of the Ivo LGA before briefing journalists.

He, however, said the Police had arrested a suspect (names withheld) in connection with the kidnap of little Ejike Emmanuel, stressing that the Police was determined to rid the state of kidnappers.

...Petition Ogun CP Vanguard further learnt that a petition had been addressed to the state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, where the villagers alleged that the thugs, numbering about 150 were led by one Real Estate agent (name withheld).

The villagers in the petition entitled “Case of Terrorist Attack on Adunbu Village” were said to have claimed that the Real Estate agent brought in land surveyors after the villagers had been successfully made to run to the neighbouring communities.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, could not be reached as at the time of filing this report.

Both calls and text sent to the Police spokesman were not responded to, but a police source who confided in our correspondent hinted that the matter had been handed over to Olu of Itori, Oba Fatai Akamo, for settlement.

The police source informed our correspondent that the monarch has summoned a peace meeting between the two factions and had promised the police to find a lasting solution to the matter within two weeks.

CP warns policemen against arrest by proxy A BA — ABIA State Commissioner of Police, Ambrose Aisabor, has warned policemen under his command against arrest of persons by proxy.

Aisabor, who made the call during a tour of the Mobile Police (MOPOL) 55 Squadron, Osisioma, near Aba, weekend, said that it was unlawful to arrest an innocent person in lieu of a suspect.

He said: “It is against the law of natural justice for a wife, for instance, to be arrested when the husband who committed an offence could not be found. Policemen should stop arresting people by proxy.

“A situation whereby policemen do not see a person that committed an offence and instead go to arrest a relation of the suspect should stop because this is unlawful.”

He advised the police to exercise patience and wait till the actual person that committed an offence would surface and be apprehended than arrest an innocent relation.

Aisabor said the scenario might have been the order in the past, but with the reform in the police initiated by I-G

Mohammed Abubakar, it had become an offence for any policeman to do that.

He warned policemen against misuse of firearms and to guard against accidental discharge.

The CP said that it was an offence for any policeman to take his firearm to his home after work.

Mr Wilson Dankwano, the Commander of the squadron, said the base was established at the peak of the kidnap saga in Aba in 2008 and was able to fight the hoodlums.

He said that recently, his men on routine stop and search recovered sophisticated weapons at Ubakala junction near Umuahia and that the squadron was instrumental to the reduction of crime wave in Aba. He urged the CP to establish a school at the base which was one of the major problems facing the squadron.

Mr Frank Evserin, Vice Chairman, Abia Police community Relations Committee (PCRC), commended the commissioner for his efforts since he was posted to the state.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013—7

Gunmen kill district head in Borno

BY NDAHI MARAMA

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AIDUGURI — THE District Head of Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State, Alhaji Abba Ahmed, was, yesterday evening, shot dead by gunmen on his way back to his palace after performing his Magrib prayers in a mosque.

The district head, our correspondent gathered, had on January 21 received the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Zanna Mustapha, who had a stop over in the troubled council from his home town Biu to Maiduguri when 18 people were shot dead on Monday (a Market day) by unidentified gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members.

Damboa is 88 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the Borno State

capital.

Ahmed’s death is suspected to be connected with his disclosure to Deputy Governor Mustapha that “unknown gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram came to the town market and shot dead 13 local hunters on the spot while five others died from their injuries at the hospital.”

In an interview with newsmen on that deadly encounter after returning to Maiduguri, the Deputy Governor through the late District Head said: “I heard about the attack and I had to stop in the town to pay a visit to the District Head, where he said the gunmen are not residents of Damboa because they came to the market in a Volkswagen Golf car, carried out the operation and left.”

Family of killed citizen Ugochukwu decries Police's long silence

BY EVELYN USMAN

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AGOS — THE family of the late Ugochukwu Ozua, who was allegedly killed by policemen in Gbagada area of Lagos, five days after his wedding, last September, has expressed disappointment over what was described as long silence from the Police on the outcome of their investigation on the matter.

Although, the special investigative team set up by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, to fish out perpetrators of the dastardly act has arrested five policemen on duty at the scene of the incident that fateful day.

But the bereaved family, during a condolence visit by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police incharge of Zone 2, Onikan, Mamman Tsafe and other senior police officers at its Gbgada residence, accused the police of being in the dark about Police findings.

The deceased elder sister, Mrs.

Nkechi Chuba Nnoyelu, said during the visit: “I am disappointed that the condolence visit is coming five months after the incident and it’s like opening up old wounds that is in the process of healing.

"Initially, we thought that this meeting was to keep us abreast with the investigation. Some arrests were made by the police and we would have thought that by now, the result of the investigation would have been made open, rather, we are being kept in the dark. And I am aware that the investigation is over and the report done and submitted.”

But the AIG in his response, assured the family that since the team investigating the murder was instituted by the IG, it would be investigated to its logical conclusion and the perpetrators brought to book.

Aside the investigative team, Tsafe disclosed that he had also been directed by the IG to form another team under his (Tsafe) supervision that would also follow up on the case.

Police nab hunter who allegedly shot wife dead over breakfast A

BY DAYO JOHNSON

KURE — POLICE in Ondo state weekend said that the 45 year old hunter, Ojo Toki, who shot dead his wife, Adesewa, over a disagreement on his breakfast in Ibule Soro area of the state has been arrested and will soon be charged to court for murder.

The suspect, who is in detention in Igbara-Oke police station is a staff of Ministry of Agriculture in Igbara-Oke. He allegedly shot his wife on the neck at close range with a dane gun.

Police image-maker, Wole Ogodo, told Vanguard in Akure that the suspect had been arrested and the case transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department at the state police headquarters, Akure, for further investigation.

Vanguard gathered that the suspect, who in the morning of the ill-fated day had a disagreement with his wife, angrily left for his hunting expedition only to return to vent his anger by shooting the deceased.

The couple it was learnt have been separated for the past one year over another disagreement that led the wife to pack out of their matrimonial home to live in

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BAKALIKI — IT was a show of intimidation, weekend, when members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, some suspected Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, thugs and the police clashed in a market square in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

It was gathered that what led to the clash was mere misunderstanding that erupted between a suspected PDP thug and member of National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Izzi Line, Friday Mbam and a MASSOB member over an issue relating to a

damaged GSM phone belonging to one Ikechukwu Ominyi, a MASSOB member in Izzi LGA. Briefing newsmen in Abakaliki, the Regional Administrator of MASSOB in Izzi Local Government Area of the state, Mr. Vincent Nwamini, who stated that the incident led to a fight between members of MASSOB and some suspected PDP thugs in the area alleged that 15 of his members were attacked as two were arrested by the police while two others were admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, FETHA, because of the nature of the injuries they sustained.

Ojo Toki, the suspect.

The deceased who was a cleaner at the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA, was said to have disagreed with the suspect on what she should prepare for his breakfast.

Narrating the incident to newsmen, the daughter of the deceased, Olamide, described her father as a troublesome man which made her mother to pack out of

his house and settled with her younger brother’s wife over a year ago.

According to Olamide, “part of the settlement process agreed upon by both families was that the deceased should be preparing food for her husband at her brother’s house.

“My father always come to our house to eat in the morning and at night but my father just complained that mummy refused to give him food a day to the incident which was resolved and she later cooked the food for him at night before he later went out for hunting and we also went to sleep.

“That morning, my father came back from hunting, he and my mum sat down in the sitting room discussing. I left them and went to my room but all of a sudden I had a gun shot and when I got to the sitting room it was my mum that I met on the floor in a pool of her own blood. She was died.”

Meanwhile, the police spokesman in the state, Ogodo, said that the corpse of the deceased had been deposited at the state Specialist Hospital, Akure.

Investigation into the matter, according to him, continues.

Plateau govt dismisses fake ‘commissioner'

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OS — THE Plateau Government has dismissed the officer, who posed as a fake commissioner and drew salaries and entitlements for that office for “quite some time.”

Mr Yakubu Jang, Special Adviser to Plateau Governor on Special Duties, confirmed this to News Agency of Nigeria in Jos yesterday.

He said: “We discovered the officer that claimed to be a commissioner and dismissed him from service after a thorough investigation.

MASSOB, suspected thugs, police clash in Ebonyi

BY PETER OKUTU

her younger brother’s house.

That dispute was said to have been settled by families of the couple only for the husband on the fateful day to visit where the deceased was staying to request for a breakfast.

But in a swift reaction, the state Chairman of PDP, Mr. Ogorji Ama-Oti denied the involvement of PDP members in the matter, stressing that thuggery was not part of the PDP activity in the state and warned groups or organisations to stop using the name of the party to perpetrate evil and injustice.

Nwamini alleged that the policemen who came to the scene of the incident to quell the matter decided to arrest two of his members and later went to MASSOB office in the area and carted away valuables including, motorcycles, chairs, tables, registers, documents and Biafran flags belonging to the group.

“We took him through the civil service disciplinary procedure and showed him the way out,” said Jang, who is also the Chairman, Biometric Data Capture Committee.

He said that the Ministry of Justice had been directed to prosecute the dismissed officer.

The special adviser described the situation as “very scary,” and expressed surprise that an officer could engage in that high level of criminality.

Jang said that other officers involved in that incident were still being investigated to ascertain the levels of their complicity and promised that none of them would escape justice if found culpable.

“Government is still doing its work to ensure that all concerned are brought to book to serve as a deterrent to others,” he said.

He said that the committee had attained a high level of success in its efforts at cleansing the system and revealed that some of the discoveries were “simply disgusting”.

He advised civil servants in the state to place the public interest above their selfish desires, pointing out this was the only way to promote growth, stability and progress.

“But apart from seeking out and ridding the system of such bad eggs, we have also embarked on the massive training of civil servants to enhance productivity and restore the pride that should

Gov. Jonah Jang of Plateau State be inherent in public service.”

Jang also spoke on efforts to engage youths into positive ventures and expressed government’s commitment to restoring hope in the psyche of every Plateau youth.

“We have tried to make every youth useful to himself and the society; to do that, we have classified them according to the levels of their knowledge and had steadily engaged them.

“We have the graduates, the skilled youths and the unskilled ones all captured in a data based.

We try to engage them in assignments commensurate with their qualifications.

“When we award contracts, we encourage the handlers to engage youths according to their skill."

8—Vanguard , MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

6 killed, 16 injured in Bauchi auto crash

BY SUZAN EDEH

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AUCHI—NO fewer than six persons died yesterday while 16 others sustained injuries following an auto accident along Bauchi-Maiduguri road, about 15 kilometres from Bauchi Vanguard gathered that the accident which occurred around 8.14 am involved an 18-seater Nissan Urvan bus with number plate AA996TFB and a motorcycle which has no number.

According to an eyewitness, the motorcycle rider was said to have suddenly crossed the road without observing if a vehicle was coming and in the process collided with the bus.

Confirming the incident, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Sunday Henry Olatunji, said that a total of 22 persons were involved in the accident, adding that the bus was heading to Azare from Bauchi.

Nigeria's expatriate oil workers highest paid in Africa

BY MICHAEL EBOH

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XPATRIATE workers in the Nigerian oil and gas sector are the highest paid in Africa and 11 most paid in the world, with an average annual salary of N22.246 million ($140,800), according to a global oil and gas salary survey.

The survey, titled, ‘Oil and Gas Global Salary Guide 2013,’ published by Hays, a global recruitment firm, also revealed that local workers in the Nigeria’s oil and gas sector are the second highest paid in Africa, after South Africa and 26th in the world, with an average salary of N8.706 million ($55,100).

The survey, released weekend, which was based on the responses of 25,000 people working in the oil and gas industry across 53 countries, reported that South Africa’s local workers in the oil and gas sector are the highest paid in Africa, with an annual average salary of $75,300 (N11.897 million).

Gunmen kill 3 Korean health workers in Yobe P

OTISKUM, YOBE— THE police in Yobe yesterday confirmed the killing of three Korean health workers in Potiskum by unknown persons.

The Commissioner for Police in the state, Alhaji Sanusi Rufai, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Damaturu that the health workers were killed in the early hours of yesterday.

Rufai told NAN that the workers were posted to the Potiskum General Hospital.

“Unfortunately, when they were posted and assumed duties as expatriates, the police were not notified to give them adequate security coverage.

“As I am talking to you now, I am in Potiskum. The three male health workers have been confirmed dead while we are still working to uncover the details,” he said.

Sanusi explained that investigations had commenced to unveil those behind the murder of the expatriates.

“For now, we cannot say with

certainty those behind it or what exactly happened,” he said In its reaction, the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, in the

state condemned the killing of the Korean health workers.

The state chairman of NMA, Dr Adamu Umar, in a statement,

stated that “the NMA in Yobe is saddened by the news of the gruesome murder of the three Korean health workers in Potiskum”.

STATE OF THE NATION—From left: Prof. Pat Utomi; Chief Philip Asiodu; Alhaji Maitama Sule; Prof. Ben Nwabueze; Dr Bola Kuforiji Olubi and Ganiyat Fawehinmi at the meeting of Project Nigeria on the state of the nation in Lagos, weekend.

Presidency probes ministers, MDAs over alleged N63bn budget padding

BY SONI DANIEL, REGIONAL EDITOR, NORTH

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BUJA—FEAR has gripped ministers and permanent secretaries following revelations that many of them aided and abetted members of the National Assembly to inflate the final figure of the 2013 budget from the original N4.25 trillion submitted

by President Goodluck Jonathan to N4.98 trillion.

Some ministers, Vanguard learnt, are in trouble because they, in collaboration with permanent secretaries went behind the President to approve some ‘spurious’ projects to be included in the controversial 2013 budget after Jonathan had already sent in the proposal to the National Assembly.

A competent source told Vanguard that the President was very upset with the practice whereby lawmakers connive with top public officers in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, and introduce extraneous items into the yearly budget thereby making it impossible for them to be fully implemented.

The source, who did not want to be quoted because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, noted that the President had already ordered a thorough investigation into how the additional N63 billion was added to the 2013 budget and to identify the

ministers and MDAs involved for necessary sanctions.

The source maintained that although the President does not need to do anything against lawmakers apart from returning the budget to them, the ministers and other public officials, found to have supported the padding of the budget would not go scot-free.

“Some of you are quick to say that the President is not doing anything but you can see that he really means well for this country

by taking necessary steps to ensure early preparation and passage of the 2013 budget only to be unduly delayed by some pecuniary-conscious people.

The President wants to know those behind the action and punish them so that the unpatriotic action would be brought to an end,” the source hinted.

It was learnt that a female minister, who had ignored the advice of her top officials and cooperated with two committees of the

National Assembly, which have oversight over the ministry, to add more projects than what had been approved by the Presidency, is now jittery that she could be dropped by the President, who is said to be planning a reshuffle.

The said minister was reportedly trying desperately to reach out to some influential presidential aides and National Assembly leadership to see how she could be bailed out of the looming crisis.

AMCON takes over Babalakin's property over N13.5bn debt

BY MIKE EBOH

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HE Asset Management Cor poration of Nigeria, AMCON, has taken possession of three property in Lagos and Rivers states, belonging to Chairman of Bi-courtney, Mr Wale Babalakin, over a N13.5 billion debt owed Guaranty Trust Bank, GTBank Plc. According to a statement by AMCON, yesterday, the property were registered in the name of Roygate Properties Ltd and are believed to be owned by Babalakin.

The property are a high rise building on 43A, Afribank Street, Victoria Island, Lagos and two

buildings at Plots 270 and 273 Trans-Amadi Layout, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

AMCON said the action was in execution of interim orders granted by Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke against Roygate Properties Ltd. AMCON also secured an order from the court freezing the accounts of Roygate in 20 banks in the country.

AMCON said, “The orders were sequel to an ex-parte application filed by the AMCON in a suit marked: FHC/L/CS/1501/ 2012. Copies of the orders made on February 5 were conspicuously pasted on the gates of the VI house.

“Justice Aneke granted AM-

CON “interim possession of the property at 43A” Afribank Street, pursuant to a tripartite legal mortgage registered on October 14, 2010 between Roygate (the borrower), Stabilini Visinoni Ltd (surety/mortgagor) and Guaranty Trust Bank (the lender.)

“The court also granted AMCON similar possession over property at Plots 270 and 273 Trans Amadi Layout, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

“The court restrained Roygate, its directors, subsidiaries and sister companies from transferring or dealing with any of its funds in 20 banks listed in the application, or anywhere else up to the N13.5 billion allegedly owed by the company".

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013—9

2 passengers with firearms arrested at Lagos airport

BY DANIEL ETEGHE

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AGOS—FEDERAL Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, security officials, have arrested two passengers with firearms at both wings of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

Disclosing this development to newsmen yesterday, General Manager Corporate Communications of FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said both passengers were arrested at separate intervals upon arrival at the airport.

He said the firearms were found in their luggage, explaining that one of the passengers was arrested with a pistol in his luggage at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos on Wednesday while the other passenger was apprehended on his way from Lagos to Port-Harcourt aboard Aero Contractors flight at the Domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, MMA2, Lagos on Thursday.

According to Dati, the passenger who was arrested at the international wing of the airport, MMIA, Lagos flew in from Maryland en route Atlanta Georgia, USA about 4.00pm on February 6, 2013 on Delta Airlines.

He said: “The passenger claimed that the gun was brought in from the USA for his personal protection while in Nigeria. He claimed to have declared the gun to the airline before checking in his luggage

at the airport of departure.”

Dati, however, explained that the pistol did not pose any threat to the passengers at the airport at the time of its seizure.

On the other hand, Dati explained that the other passenger who was apprehended with a pistol in his check-in luggage on an Aero Contractors flight from Lagos to Port Harcourt on Thursday, also claimed that he brought the pistol from the USA for his personal protection during his stay in Aba, Abia State where he would spend his holiday.

Third Mainland Bridge fresh alert:

NASS sets up investigation c’ttee

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

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AGOS—THE Senate has set up a committee to investigate a fresh alert following a motion on the imminent collapse of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.

The committee made of Senate committee on Works and officials of the Federal Ministry of Works, is expected to submit its report back to the house in two weeks.

Senator Gbenga Ashafa, representing Lagos East

ACN explains APGA’s controversial stance on APC

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

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HE ACTION Congress of Nigeria, ACN, yesterday, explained that All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, was included in the membership of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in good faith based on available information and prevailing circumstances.

ACN insisted that it was a deliberate act to mislead Nigerians or railroad APGA into the merger. APGA had published disclaimer of the APC merger, where it expressed shock at the purported merger of the party with other opposition parties in the country.

ACN’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement said the new party had absolute respect for the rights of individuals or groups on whether or not to associate within a democracy.

Explaining how APGA was included in the list of parties that consummated the merger, it said: ‘’We recognise the person and status of Governor Ro-

From left: Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, CBN Governor; Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, Alaafin of Oyo and Mr. Tunde Lemo, CBN Deputy Governor, during the sympathy visit to Alaafin over his burnt palace. Photo: Dare Fasube

chas Okorocha, who as Imo Governor has been a great player and figure in Nigerian political landscape, as well as Senator Annie Okonkwo, a seasoned politician and respectable lawmaker.

"We believe in their representation that APGA is interested in the merger, hence we worked with them in good faith. They participated effectively and positively in the meeting of all governors of the parties concerned and in the meetings of the merger committees of the parties, leading to the communiqué released by all the governors endorsing the merger.

Senatorial District, had last week, in a motion cosponsored by 55 other Senators sought for an investigation to ascertain the true state of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.

This followed a report by Professor JHT Kim, Head of The Concrete Structural Engineering Laboratory, Yousei University, Seoul Korea, who came on research in December 2012 and conducted an underwater examination of the structures holding the bridge and reported that the damages to the structure was worse than what he had been briefed.

Ashafa, while commenting on the development at briefing in Lagos, yesterday, said the setting up of the committee was for an immediate independent investigation into the report with a view of averting calamity by finding out the true state of the bridge and make recommendations.

According to him: “A report produced by a company experienced in underwater surveys indicated that the underwater metal casing

housing the concrete piles on which the bridge stands have rusted and this accounts for the vibration experienced in some portions of the bridge.

"This led to the closure of the bridge for repairs between 7th July and 30th October 2012 by the Federal Ministry of Works.”

He said Professor Kim’s report indicated that there was progressive steel deterioration in about 1,318 foundation piles and that there was extensive reinforcement bar deterioration in eight piles.

Ashafa lamented that the repair works done during the last quarter of 2012 by the Ministry of Works, were mere window dressing on the expansion joints of which reports had confirmed that some parts had since become disjointed.

The senator said: “The implication is that, the Third Mainland Bridge between Adeniji Adele, Adekunle and Oworonshoki ends could collapse and therefore require comprehensive works to be carried out on the foundation immediately.”

SAGG petitions Jonathan on destination inspection

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OCIETY FOR Advancement of Good Governance, SAGG, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan, to review the recent extension of the contracts of some service providers in charge of destination inspection in Nigeria’s maritime sector.

It also regretted that the companies have not satisfactorily discharged the terms of the contracts.

A statement by Messrs.

Richard Eboh, Inua Abubarkar and Olu Adekoya, National Coordinator, Secretary and Publicity Secretary respectively of SAGG, said the absence of penalty clause in the contract has given rise to abuse in the system.

The statement reads:’’For seven years their contact lasted they have not sincerely worked for a handover to customs as stipulated by the contract.

10 —Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

COEASU decries lack of governing boards COLLEGES of Education Academic Staff Union, COEASU, has condemned the nonconstitution of governing councils for colleges of education across the country over a year since their dissolution.

A communiqué jointly signed by the union’s president Mohammed Awwal Ibrahim and secretary Emmanuel Nkoro Asagha, said the situation did not augur well for the effective administration of the institutions across the country.

Osogbo FCMB Branch gutted by fire

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

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S O G B O — O S O G B O branch of the First City Monument Bank, FCMB, was in the early hours of yesterday gutted by fire and property worth millions of naira were destroyed.

Although, the cause of the fire could not be ascertained, at press time, it was gathered that the fire started very early in the morning.

It, however, took the intervention of men of the state Fire Service before the fire could be put off in the afternoon.

The incident caused panic among residents because the bank at Gbongan/Ibadan Road in Ogo-Oluwa area of Osogbo, is located behind a gas filling station, and they fought to prevent the fire from spreading beyond the bank premises.

Osun chides Omisore over claim of achievement O

SOGBO — THE

road, describing the claims of former senator as "nothing but lies."

The road is currently being reconstructed by the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, A statement by the Director, Bureau of Communications

executed by the Aregbesola administration.

Government of Osun The statement also quoted State, yesterday, dismissed the Special Adviser to the claim by former Senator Governor on Works and representing Osun East Infrastructure, Oladepo district, Iyiola Omisore to have Amuda, alleging that awarded and paid for the Omisore’s claim to have construction of the Osogbopersonally awarded the Ila-Odo-Kwara State boundary contract for the road in question was a simple illustration of the lies which characterise every assessment of the former senator of the current administration.

The Special Adviser to the Governor was quoted as saying, “In the interview, he used ‘I.’ Is he referring to the Federal Government?

We do not know him to be Minister of Works, neither does he work for the Ministry of Works.

"He did not even serve as a member of Works Committee when he was in the Senate. So, who is ‘I’ that he is referring to?

From left: Hon. Salmon Adeleke, member, Ogun State House of Assembly; Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Ogun State Governor; Hon. Ayilara Tajudeen, Chairman, Imeko Afon Local Government and Mr. Daniel Adejobi, Commissioner for Housing, during an inspection of the 100km Ilara-Oja Odan Road, in Ogun West Senatorial District.

Unions direct varsity workers to prepare for strike

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

L

AGOS— THERE are strong indications of a looming industrial unrest in the nation’s university system over government’s failure to fully implement the 2009 agreement signed with the varsity workers and the report of the committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Public Universities, which allegedly concluded on massive retrenchment of non-teaching staff in the university system.

Vanguard gathered that the National Association of Academic Tehnologists, NAAT, the Non-

Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU have directed all their branches to commence mobilisation of all their members for an indefinite strike.

Under the Joint Action Committee of NAAT, NASU and SSANU, Vanguard was informed that the directive was contained in a memo sent to all the branch chairmen in government universities across the country following the meeting of the Joint Action Committee held at NASU national secretariat, at the weekend.

According to the memo, entitled:

Ajimobi irks Ladoja over council boss removal

BY OLA AJAYI

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and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Semiu Okanlawon, expressed dismay at the claim by Omisore in an interview he granted the Nigerian Tribune where he also said after two years, he had not seen a single project

BADAN —THE removal of the Caretaker Chairman of Ona Ara Local Government, Mr. Akanni Ademola for alleged anti-government activities has worsened alleged strained relationship between Governor Abiola Ajimobi and the former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja.

According to a letter of termination of appointment signed by M. O Akano on behalf of the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, the termination of the appointment of Ademola was with immediate effect.

Speaking with newsmen at the State Secretariat of the Accord Party, AP, at

Samonda, Ibadan, weekend, the State Chairman of the party, Bashiru Lawal while complaining about the removal of the council boss, said, “Ajimobi entered into a gentleman agreement with Senator Ladoja to help him stabilise his administration. Now, that the government has been stabilised, he is now biting the fingers that fed him.”

The removed council chairman who was surrounded by some AP members, alleged that wife of the Governor, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi masterminded his removal.

But, Mrs. Ajimobi, through her Special Assistant on Media, Olajumoke Solaja, denied having hands in the ordeal of the council boss.

'Update on the 2009 Agreement and Needs Assessement Report,' by NAAT President, Comrade Sani Suleiman, NASU President Comrade Ladi Iliya and the SSANU President, Comrade Samson Ugwoke, “Based on the above development, all branches are hereby directed to commence mobilisation of members towards possible indefinite strike, while you await further directives.” ”The uninterrupted academic calendar that had existed in Nigerian

public universities in the last three years is being threatened.

"This is as a result of the failure of the government to fully implement the 2009 Agreement and our Joint Action Committee’s (JAC) rejection of the report of the committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian public universities with the conclusive purport of massively retrenching and marginalising the non- teaching staff.”

Omatseye's case: Speedy trial promised

LAGOS — JUSTICE Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, has promised a speedy hearing on the case involving former Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Raymond Omatseye.

The trial, which began in early 2011, had suffered some delays.

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the prosecutor, had amended the charge, three times.

Vanguard, MONDAY MONDAY,, FEBRUARY 11, 2013—11

Opposition parties move to boycott Edo LG polls

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

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ENIN—AHEAD of the April 20, local government elections in Edo State, there are indications that opposition political parties in the state may boycott the polls.

State Chairman of Labour Party, Mr. Sam Omede, who gave the indication in a chat with newsmen shortly after he monitored his party’s primaries in Oredo Local Government Area of the state, alleged that there were plans by Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in the state to rig the election.

He said: “I spoke to some of our aspirants from Edo Central, and they quoted sources as alleging that the results of the elections would be written at Government House. They are therefore scared to contest the elections. We challenge Governor Adams Oshiomhole to come out and assure the people that the elections would be free and fair based on one man one vote that he has

Uduaghan commends Delta House for passage of 2013 budget

been preaching.

“If we find that the elections are not going to be free and fair, we will pull out.”

He said that the demand by the state Internal Revenue Board of tax clearance fee of N466,000 from councillorship aspirants and N750,000 from

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Secretary, Mr. Mathew Urhoghide, confirmed the high tax clearance fee, explaining that the state government had threatened to collect more fees from businessmen-turned politicians, who failed to show proof of payment of their taxes.

INVESTITURE: From left: Professor Julius Okojie, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Universities Commission; Professor Ruqayyatu Rufai, Minister of Education; Professor Yetunde Olumide, Professor Emeritus; Deacon Gamaliel Onasode, Pro-Chancellor, University of Lagos and Professor Abdul Rahaman Bello, Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, during the investiture of Professor Yetunde Olumide as the first female Professor Emeritus of the University at its 50th Convocation, weekend. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele.

LG polls: Why we adopted consensus in our primaries —Edo ACN

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA SABA—CHIEF Adviser to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan on Legislative Matters, Mr. Emmanuel Okoro, has commended the state House of Assembly for the successful passage of the 2013 Appropriation Bill without undue persuasion, saying that it was a demonstration of good understanding and collaborative effort to move the state to greater height.

In a commendation letter to the Speaker of the House, Okoro said: “The House had demonstrated the importance attached to the 2013 Appropriation Bill, which it successfully passed without undue coercion or persuasion.

“The three-point agenda of Governor Uduaghan and the developmental strides of the state are all anchored on the Appropriation Bill sometimes referred to as the Money Bill.

“I commend the House for the quick passage of the bill. I urge all Deltans, especially the ministries and extra-ministerial departments to ensure that the bill as passed was translated into visible signs of development.”

chairmanship aspirants was a ploy by the ACN-controlled government to scare away contestants from other parties from participating in the elections.

Corroborating the allegation, Edo State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Publicity

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ENIN—LEADERS of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Edo State, weekend, explained why they opted for consensus candidates in last Saturday ’s chairmanship and councillorship primaries of the party ahead of the April 20, local government elections in the state.

The party argued that a more democratic primary would disenfranchise members, who joined the party from Peoples Democratic Par-

ty, PDP, few months to the governorship election. They said the consensus approach was decided by the leaders of the party in the 18 local government areas of the state, including former PDP leaders in their various councils.

The member representing Owan Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr. Pally Iriase and Special Adviser to Governor Adams Oshiomhole on Political Matters, Mr. Charles Idahosa, told Vanguard that it was also a perfect strategy to avoid crisis in the party.

Iriase said: “It is not the best because parties must work very seriously towards internal democracy but that is the best we can get for now due to the situation of things in the party in the state.

“The peculiar case in which we found ourselves in Edo State is that shortly before the last election, there was an influx of people into the state and they did not have party cards but they worked tirelessly and made us win the election. So, if you say it must be popular primaries, chances are that many of them will be disfranchise because you need that party card as a means of identification.”

Shell, Bayelsa community at loggerheads

BY EMMA AMAIZE

T

ROUBLE is brewing be tween Shell Petroleum Development Company and Kou clan Cluster Development Board, in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, headed by Mr. Osteen Igbapike, over a purported plan by the company to dissolve the board against the provisions of the Global Memorandum of Understanding, GMoU, entered

into by both parties.

Counsel to Igbapike-led board, Mr. Larry Ovwromoh, in a letter to the Commissioner for Energy, Bayelsa State, Mr. Francis Ikio, urged him to resist the subtle move by Shell officials, as the matter was already in court.

He said, “As you well know, there is a pending case at a Bayselsa State High Court sitting in Yanegoa, in which your office and Mr. Evans Krukrubo are parties in the matter of dissolution of Kou

Cluster Development Board.

“Note that there is also a pending motion for interlocutory injunction to restrain the dissolution of the said board for which a hearing notice had not been issued as the case was adjourned till February 27, 2013. In the circumstances, the attempt by Mr. Krukrubo, who is the 3rd defendant in the said case, to seek to dissolve the board through your humble self amounts to interfering with the judicial process and an attempt to prejudge the outcome of the case.”

Delta SSG assures on projects in Isoko North

BY FESTUS AHON

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GHELLI-PEOPLES Democratic Party, PDP, in Isoko North Local Government Area, Delta State, weekend, embarked on a tour of the area with an assurance that it would consolidate on its developmental strides in the council.

Speaking with newsmen shortly after a tour of the 13 wards that make up the council, leader of the team and Secretary to Delta State Government, Mr. Ovuzorien Macaulay, said many roads and other infrastructural projects were going on in the area.

He said: “In terms of projects, this is the second budget. In all of these budgets, there is no community that we have not sited projects.

The projects that are taking place in Ozoro are not part of the budget that is yet to be announced. You can see that the roads in Ozoro are tarred. There is no community in the state where one form of project is not taking place.”

Akpabio urges Navy to curb oil theft

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OVERNOR Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, has charged the Nigerian Navy to find lasting solution to incessant crude oil theft and illegal oil bunkering in the country’s waterways, resulting in the loss of huge revenue to the federation account.

Akpabio, who gave the charge when the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral Joe Aikhomu, paid him a courtesy visit at Governor ’s Office, Uyo said: ”The Nigerian Navy must see to it that they do all they can to curb oil theft and illegal bunkering in the country, because the wealth of the nation is in the sea and we must regard the sea as the major asset to this nation. God has given us the sea and we must protect it.”

12—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

2009 bombardment: Delta community gives contractors 30-day ultimatum

Jonathan commends Wa r i p a m o Owei

BY EMMA AMAIZE

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, weekend, congratulated his Senior Special Assistant on Domestic and Social Events, Mr. Dudafa Waripamo-Owei, who bagged a Doctor of Philosophy in Accounting at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Jonathan, who congratulated Waripamo-Owei, said: “It is my hope that your acquisition of a doctoral degree will not only inspire you to loftier aspirations, but also enhance your capacity to continue to render worthy service to our dear nation, especially at this point in time when the country is in need of committed men and women of good will to our national transformation efforts.”

Also, the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, congratulated WaripamoOwei, describing the PhD as an “important landmark achievement."

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KERENKOKO community in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, bombarded in 2009 by Joint Task Force on Niger Delta, JTF, during the manhunt for ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, has given a 30-day ultimatum to contractors handling projects in the community to return to site or face their wrath.

Chairman of Okerenkoko Federated Communities, Chief James Bebenimibo, in a petition to the state Commissioner for Works, Mr. Solomon Funkekeme, said: “We are deeply constrained to alert your ministry about the desire of our peace-loving people to take our destiny in our hands by confronting your ministry, should you fail to direct the underlisted contractors to report back to their project sites in Okerenkoko within 30 days.

“Six years after the Chief James Ibori administration

awarded the Okerenkoko-Peppeama-Kokodiagbene Road to Workson Nigeria Limited, we are pained to report that the projects had been abandoned as the contractor had demobilised

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ARRI—IFIEKPORO community in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, yesterday, absolved the state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, the Olu of Warri and Chief Otimeyin Adams, of any blame in the troubled community politics.

They said the accusation of interference levelled against them by the former chairman of the community, Mr. Charles Omadeli, was baseless and did not enjoy the support of the community.

The community, in a statement by Mr. Austing Agbeyegbe and Joseph Nani, said Omadeli's four-year tenure ended on June 18, 2012, having been elected on the same date in 2008 and by community's convention, the position rotates to another quarters in Ifiekporo.

Warning the erstwhile chairman to desist from accusing highly placed

Itsekiri sons of meddling in the internal affairs of the community, they noted that the Warri Royal Institution was being unnecessarily dragged into the matter to perpetuate injustice and lawlessness capable of causing a breach of the peace in the state.

Noting that the community now has a new executive led by Mr.

Monday Agbeyi as chairman, they charged Omadeli to stop parading himself as chairman and come back home to join hands with the Agbeyi-led executive to move the community forward.

Omadeli on his part alleged that he was being victimised in the leadership struggle of the community.

Ijaw students to hold convention at Bomadi

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JAW students in tertiary institutions, under the aegis of National Izon-ebe Students, NUIS, worldwide, are to hold their convention, February 15, at Bomadi Local Government Area in Delta State.

Chairman, Convention Planning Committee, Mr. Amabiri Azorbo, in a statement, said Justice Francis Tabai (rtd) will be father of the day, while the Transition Committee Chairman of Bomadi council, Mr. Collins Olorongun, will chair the occasion and

JTF air bombardment that reduced the over 300 houses in the community to rubble, nothing tangible is on ground as the contractor had also demobilised from site."

INSPECTION: Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State (left) conducting the national chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, round the new Kelsey Harrison Hospital in Diobu area of Port Harcourt, weekend.

Uduaghan, royal father not involved in communal crisis —Delta community

BY EMMA ARUBI

from site.

“Particularly, the Okerenkoko rebuilding multi-billion naira project awarded to Accelerated Building Technology, ABT, since 2009 after

former deputy governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Peremobowei Ebebi, is special guest of honour.

Bayelsa State Commissioner for Culture and Ijaw National Affairs, Mr. Felix Tuodolor, is also a guest of honour and HRM Pere Stanley, Kalanama VIII of Akugbene Mein Kingdom, is royal father of the day.

As a mark of recognition of their contributions toward the development of Ijawland, the invited guests are expected to receive awards of excellence.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013 —13

APGA disowns Okorocha over APC

BY PETER OKUTU & CHRIS

OCHAYI BUJA—A faction of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, led by Mseilla Massalla, weekend, disowned Imo State governor, Owella Rochas Okorocha, for joining the newly merged party, All Progressives Congress, APC, without consultation with other APGA members.

This came as Ebonyi State chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Mr. Alphonsus Nwali, lambasted Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and other stakeholders of the party over their decision to join the new merger without due consultation with the National

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Executive Committee, NEC, and other leaders of the party.

The party at a media briefing weekend in Abuja by its Board of Trustees, BoT member and former Minister of Health, Dr. Tim Menkaya, declared that for one of APGA governors to participate in a meeting where the merger of opposition parties was endorsed was ridiculous and unfortunate.

Menakaya speaks Dr. Menakaya, who said they were never invited, consulted or informed about any political parties merger, noted that “the issue of merger of political parties is a very serious matter that needs

adequate consultations before a governor participates and makes public statement.”

Besides, the youth arm of the party also denied knowledge of any talks by APGA with other political parties towards merger, saying they read it on the pages of newspapers like other members of the party.

“We wish to make it clear that we have nothing against the state that All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, has never participated in any merger talk with any political party and is therefore not in the merger. We were never consulted by anybody before such statement of our involvement was issued,” Menakaya said.

Representing 13 top members of the party, including Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, Senator Chris Anyanwu, Chief, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, Mr. Chris Azubogu, Mr. Victor Nwogbo, Odi Nwosu, Frank Ogboewu and Prof. Dora Akinyuli, Mr. Chuma Nzeribe, among others, Dr. Menakaya declared that the party was not part of the position aired by 10 opposition governors, including Owelle Rochas Okorocha, after the Lagos meeting.

“The National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting of the party was held in July 2012 and various stakeholders’ meetings have equally been held in the last one year. In all these meetings, the issue of merger with other political parties was never discussed.

For one of our governors to participate in a meeting where the merger of opposition parties was endorsed is ridiculous and unfortunate.

“The merger of political parties, where the parties are expected to lose their identities, cannot be an adhoc arrangement or a decision of one person. According to our constitution, the decision to initiate such discussion is vested in the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the party and shall be verified by the National Convention.

“It is not an executive action, but purely a party matter. Even Section 84(3) of Electoral Act 2010 (as amend) expects that such must come through a special resolution passed by the National Convention of each of the political parties proposing the merger and

the written resolutions of each of these parties, communicated to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, through a letter jointly signed by the National Chairman, National Secretary and National Treasurer of each of the merging parties.”

Ebonyi party chairman slams Okorocha Meanwhile, Ebonyi State chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Mr. Alphonsus Nwali, has lambasted Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and other stakeholders of the party over their decision to join the new merger without due consultation with the National Executive Committee, NEC and other leaders of the party.

Nwali, who stated this in a chat with Vanguard, reiterated that the party at the state level was not in consonance with the merger, adding that the issue was never discussed at both NEC and state levels of the party to warrant Governor Rochas Okorocha and others keying into the merger arrangement.

He said: “The only person who made this pronouncement is the Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha, who was part of the meeting of nine other governors some days ago. I think he is on his own over this issue of merger and whoever is identifying with that is equally on his own.

“Assuming there was any discussion in that regard, there is no how we will not be aware at the state level of the party. The move by Rochas Okorocha is a selfish move because if he is not selfish, he would have involved other key stakeholders of the party before opting for a merger.

Has he discussed it with Governor Peter?

“Governor Obi of Anambra State who was elected on the platform of APGA? Peter obi has been in the party for many years now and he has not deemed it necessary to join the merger arrangement.”

Why will a governor that just joined the party within one or two years want to join the merger?”

Arik slashes fares for Valentine

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AGOS—ARIK Air has introduced new promotional fares for its passengers for the Valentine season, and this offer covers economy and business class travel across all its domestic, regional and international routes.

A statement issued by the airline weekend, said passengers booking these flights will enjoy savings over previously published fares on the applicable routes as part of its ‘With Love from Arik Air’ special fare campaign to celebrate the Valentine season. Customers can enjoy even greater savings when

booking seven days or more in advance,through the airline’s website. In addition, customers will enjoy a 30 per cent discount on the cost of the return leg fare of their journey when they book return domestic flights.

Dr Michael ArumemiIkhide, Arik Air’s Global Chief Executive Officer, said of the promotion: “We have always been a value based airline, offering good value for money without compromising our safety and quality standards and ensuring a warm and exciting travel experience on board our aircraft.”

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14—Vanguard d,

MOND AY, FEBRU ARY 11 MONDA FEBRUARY 11,, 2013

CBN issues guidelines for agent banking BYPETER EGWUATU

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, weekend, released its guidelines for the regulation of agent banking and agent banking relationship for the country.

The CBN stated that the objectives of the guidelines are to: Provide minimum standards and requirements for agent banking operations; enhance financial inclusion; and provide for agent banking as a delivery channel for offering banking services in a cost effective manner.

Agent banking is the provision of financial services to customers by a third party (agent) on behalf of a licensed deposit taking financial institution and/or

mobile money operator (principal).

According to the guidelines, the minimum requirements of agent banking contract include, that: •every agent banking contract shall contain reference to the Financial Institutions (FIs) full liability with respect to and it shall specify the obligation of both the FI and the agent.

•The principal is allowed to use a third party (e.g. a network manager) to manage its agent network. However, all agents sign ups must be approved by the principal.

• FIs shall itemize all activities that the agent shall be conducting on its behalf or limitations on any such activities.

•These may include (a.)

Appeal court reserves ruling on Folio appeal

BY INNOCENT ANABA

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HE Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, has reserved judgment in the appeal by Folio Communications Limited and four others, challenging the nullification of their acquisition of the majority shares of Daily Times of Nigeria by Justice Okechuwku Okeke of a Federal High Court, Lagos in 2010.

The court adjourned for judgment after listening to parties in the suit, saying that the judgment date would communicate to parties.

It will be recalled that Okeke of the lower court, had held that Folio Communications, owned by Fidelis Anosike, did not pay for the majority shares of Daily Times and that it was unlawful for the company to still parade itself as a shareholder of Daily Times.

The court consequently declared the acquisition was null, void and of no effect whatsoever and reverted the shares acquired by Folio Communications back to Daily Times.

The court gave judgment in a suit by a shareholder of the newspaper house, D.S.V Limited, who complained of gross and illegal sale of Daily Times.

D.S.V Limited in an affidavit in support of the suit, had averred that the Federal Government represented by NICON InC M Y K

surance held 96.05 per cent of Daily Times shares and that pursuant to the privatisation programme of the government, bids were invited from prospective investors.

It averred that Folio Communications later emerged the preferred bidder for the Federal Government shares in Daily Times, but because Folio was in no position to make immediate payment for the shares, it resorted to borrowing N750 million for the purchase of Daily Times.

D.S.V Limited averred that as soon as Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, handed over the business and undertakings of Daily Times to Folio Communications, Fidelis Anisoke and his brothers, Charles and Noel, pounced on the assets of the company to the detriment of other shareholders of the newspaper house.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, Anosike appealed against same at the Court of Appeal, Lagos, praying the court to set aside the judgment of the lower court, contending that the said judgment was delivered without hearing the issue of jurisdiction raised by the appellant.

He also asked the court for an order, remitting the case to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for re-assignment to another judge to hear the issue of locus standi of the petitioner namely, DSV Lim-

Account opening, deposits and withdrawals (b.) Fund transfer services (c.) Bills payments (v) Fees and all charges in respect of the agent banking shall be explicitly stated in the contract. (vi.) Responsibility for payment of expenses (directly or indirectly) relating to the activities of the agency shall also be explicitly stated.

On application and approval requirements, the CBN, stated, “Any financial institution that wishes to engage in agent banking shall submit an application for approval to the CBN. The application shall clearly state the extent of agent banking activities and responsibilities of the relevant parties. The appli-

L-r: Chief Commercial Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Wael Ammar; Winner of Etisalat Prize for Innovation 2012 (Most Innovative Idea), Mr. Oyehmi Begho; with his business partner, Miss Nkemdilim Uwaje and Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Steven Evans, at the 2013 Etisalat Prize for Innovative Press Conference, hin Lagos.

Photo: Bunmi Azeez

cation shall be submitted to the Office of the Director, Banking & Payments System Department, CBN, Abuja. All applicants shall supply information to the CBN as may be required from time to time” On Monitoring of agent

banking relationship, the CBN stated, “The CBN shall, at least on an annual basis, monitor FI/agent relationships; compliance with laid down guidelines and regulations. Where the need arises or in response to specific issues, the CBN

shall conduct monitoring visits to any agent(s).

The approach for monitoring super-agent would differ from other agent types in view of the probable higher risk, liquidity management and consequences of failure.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013—15

1999 constitution inimical to good governance—Tinubu ...honours Beko Ransome-Kuti

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

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EVEN years after late human rights activist, Dr. Bekolari Ransome-Kuti passed on, most of the ideals he fought and died for have not been achieved, National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has said.

Noting that Ransome-Kuti trod on the path of consistent advocacy for the enthronement of democracy and good governance, the former Lagos State Governor said the late activist would have been in the trenches fighting against pervasive corruption, amendment of our flawed constitution through sovereign national conference, fiscal federalism, devolution of power and electoral reforms, if he was alive.

In a speech to mark the seventh anniversary of Ransome-Kuti’s death yesterday, Tinubu said: “When Dr. Bekolari RansomeKuti died on February 10, 2006 at the age of 65, I lost a friend, a brother, a soul mate and a comrade in the struggle for the realization of the Nigerian project. But far and above my loss is the loss that Nigeria suffered. For, on that day, one of the custodians of the conscience of the nation died and, alas, we still feel his absence.

“Several of the issues I have raised here are issues Beko would have mobilized the people for. He would have mobilized the people to rally against the greed of our leaders and the violation of the constitution. The Federal Government manipulates the judiciary and employs unilateralism as a tool of governance without much challenge. What is going on? Beko would have rallied the people to challenge the government and protest these antipeople and anti-democratic actions. But sadly, he is asleep.”

He said it was proper to celebrate the life and times of Beko and deliberate on the state of the Nigerian project – a project to which Beko Ransome-Kuti dedicated his entire life.

Tinubu used the event to call for a reflection on the fundamentals of the Nigerian nation, the 1999 Constitution; “the law that gives validity to all other laws and specifies the basis of our coexistence as a nation. The constitution should be a law that we subscribe to, having fully agreed to its contents. It should be a law that every Nigerian can identify with, that every Nigerian can defend with his life. Sadly, this is not the case.”

The Third Republic Senator said that every Nigerian cannot defend the constitution with his life because “the 1999 constitution is a document that does not meet

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the needs of the people and does not reflect their will” as it was fashioned by a few persons selected by the military junta and not the people.

His words: “Today, the 1999 constitution, as contradictory as it is, is still being applied in a unitary fashion that is inimical to running the country like a proper democracy. That is why we are still having problems about its operationalisation with an inefficient, greedy and over-bloated Federal Government engaged in constant power grab with the states and

local government. Responsibilities meant for the States and Local Government are being contested for by an already cumbersome Federal Government. The 1999 constitution is unworkable and it is not of the people, by the people and for the people.

He added that: “No wonder, due to the cumbersome nature of the constitution and the abuse it constantly suffers, it has become difficult to fight corruption at the centre. The overbearing nature and excessive powers it offers makes effective supervision im-

possible. The rationale behind the creation of the 36 states of the federation was with a view to bringing development closer to the people. However, most of these states have “Unfunded Mandates” because of a central government that gobbles up almost all the resources and in a constant grab for power and more resources. This negates the very essence of democracy and what should be the spirit of the constitution. Matters better left to states to administer are being contested for by a fat belly central government".

From left; Medical Officer, Orimedu Health Centre, Dr Nurain Ayeola; Managing Director, Fouani Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Mohamed Fouani; Onimedu of Orimedu, Oba Amuzat Atiku; General Manager, Air Conditioning and Energy Solutions Division, LG Electronics West Africa Operations, Mr. Junhwa Jeong; and Marketing Director, LG Electronics West Africa Operations, Mr. Charles Asinugo during the presentation of anti-mosquito air conditioners and malaria drugs to Orimedu Health Centre in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.

We've eliminated corruption in distribution of fertilizer, seedlings to farmers—Agric Minister

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BUJA—MINISTER for Ag riculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has revealed that the Growth Enhancement Support ,GES, introduced in 2012 saved the country about N25billion.

Speaking at a workshop on implementation of the 2013 farmers registration and GES delivery scheme, weekend, in Abuja, Adesina said, “indirect targeting of farmers made it easy to divert funds, subsidised fertilisers, seeds and tractors meant for farmers to the open market where they were illegally sold at huge profits. As a result, tens of billions of Naira were spent every year to reach farmers with agricultural inputs but the level of utilisation of improved seeds and fertiliser remained very low".

He said: “I am pleased to let you know that in 2012, fertiliser companies sold a total of N 15billion ($100million) of fertiliser directly to farmers. Seed companies

sold a total of N 1.5billion ($10million) to farmers directly. The GES programme also saved government a lot of funds. Instead of the former blanket subsidy system, the GES involved direct contributions by the farmers, Federal Government and state governments.

"Of the total of N15billion spent on the programme in 2012, farmers contributed N7.5 billion; state governments contributed N3.8billion, while the Federal Government contributed N5billion. GES is therefore a costsharing arrangement between the beneficiaries and the government. The GES scheme saved the Federal Government N25billion in funds it would have needed to give fertiliser and seed contracts, as fertiliser companies and seed companies were also able to raise financing for their products from banks, through a guarantee facility for their loans issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance".

According to the Minister, his ministry ended the corruption of four decades in 90 days: “We took the government out of direct procurement and distribution of fertiliser. Today, seed and fertiliser companies sell their products directly to farmers, instead of to the government. To ensure that only genuine farmers got the subsidised seeds and fertiliser, we put in place the first ever database of farmers in the history of Nigeria.

"In 2012, we started with the registration of 4.2 million farmers. This will be increased in 2013 and 2014 by an additional 10 million farmers, so that within three years Nigeria will have a full database of her estimated 14 million farmers. Because we will have their full biometric information, it is now possible to reach them directly with subsidised agricultural inputs thereby cutting off the exploitation of middlemen and corrupt bureaucrats.”

Kwara speaker canvasses financial autonomy for state assemblies

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI

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LORIN—SPEAKER, Kwara State House of Assembly, Abdulrazaq Atunwa, has said that democracy cannot thrive in Nigeria unless the state assemblies are granted financial autonomy.

Atunwa explained that the present development where the state's assemblies are made appendages of the executive which provide financial lifeline for them to perform their constitutional obligations to the electorate is totally unacceptable.

The Speaker, however, noted that though Kwara State has robust relationship with the executive but that his interactions with his colleagues confirmed that the problem is prevalent across the state assemblies in the country, stressing that this is unfortunate.

He said: ”Democracy cannot progress in Nigeria, unless financial autonomy is granted to state assemblies.

We are all responsible to the people, so the state assemblies must be granted financial autonomy".

MAN calls for reversal of ports reforms

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI

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LORIN—THE Manufac turers Association of Nigeria, MAN, yesterday, called for immediate reversal of the new reforms being implemented at the nation’s ports, saying that it was killing the industrial sector.

The MAN president for Kwara and Kogi states, Princess Omolola Olabayo said in an interactive session with newsmen after the 2013 Customers Forum organised by Doyin Investments.

Olobayo, who is also the executive director, Doyin group of companies pointed out that the reforms if allowed would further worsen the present precarious situation in the sector. She added that the reforms were affecting production among other dire consequences which would compel the sector to send many more Nigerians to the labour market if not immediately reversed.

16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013 AFGHANISTAN, Nigeria and Pakistan are the three countries where polio has not been eradicated. The danger they pose to the rest of the world is the source of concern about eradicating the virus that paralyses people within minutes of infection – children are highly at risk.

Friday’s attack that killed nine health workers – women – who were administering the polio vaccine drives in Kano, is a big blow to the anti-polio campaign. The attack was executed at two locations and may be borrowing from similar attacks in Pakistan.

Two attacks in Pakistan last December and in January killed 16 health workers who were administering polio vaccine. In some parts of Nigeria, as in Pakistan, there are religious beliefs that vaccine could have adverse health effects.

Northern Muslim leaders, in 2003, opposed polio vaccination, saying it could cause infertility and AIDS. Their campaign against the vaccine, which lasted 11 months, time they said they needed to investigate the vaccine, was blamed for a resurgence of the disease in parts of Nigeria and other African countries where polio had been eradicated.

Polio Eradication – A Major Setback Polio, a virus that attacks the nervous system, cripples thousands of people every year. As a result of vaccination, it is now only endemic in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Intervention of traditional rulers saw resumption of vaccinations in the North, but at no time did the resistance take the tragic dimensions just witnessed in Kano.

How would the vaccinations continue in the midst of security threats? If health centres could be attacked, how safe would health workers feel making home visits to administer vaccines?

Global Polio Eradication Initiative, GPEI, rates Nigeria with 121 as having the highest number of new cases, more than double

Pakistan’s 58 in Pakistan and over thrice the 37 cases in Afghanistan.

International concerns about the spread of polio has resulted in a recommendation by the Independent Monitoring Board, IMB, which monitors the GPEI on behalf of the World Health Organisation, WHO, that anyone from Afghanistan, Nigeria or Pakistan should be required to undergo the polio immunisation before they can cross borders.

“We recommend that the International Health Regulations Expert Review Committee urgently issue a standing recommendation by May 2013 that will introduce pre-travel vaccination or vaccination checks in each of these countries until national transmission is stopped, IMB said in a report last November.

“No country should allow a citizen from any endemic polio state to cross its border without a valid vaccination certificate.” The report was referring to Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.

The Kano attacks are threats to the future of millions of children who could be denied a paralysis-free life. Government should nip the threat before it spreads.

OPINION

BY ADEWALE KUPOLUYI Continued from Friday viewpoints

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T asked the court to stop NEC from conducting the election on June 12.

And the court did just that!

The eventual annulment of the election by the military junta, widely acclaimed to be the freest and fairest in the annals of the nation almost led to a civil war.

Wilson Egbo-Egbo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, was also said to have been enmeshed in controversial judicial pronouncements. He had given a ruling on the Anambra political crisis when he ordered Dr. Chris Ngige to vacate office as governor of Anambra State. He said the ruling was sequel to Ngige's purported earlier resignation from office.

Similarly, he had ruled in favour of Chief Adolphus Wabara, former Senate President, who came into office under controversial circumstances. He had agreed to preside over the case, which Wabara brought to the Abuja Federal High Court, instead of the elections tribunal in Abia State.

Egbo-Egbo granted Wabara's prayer that he should compel the Independent National Electoral Commission to declare him winner, in place of Dan Imo, his All Nigeria Peoples Party’s rival for the Abia South senatorial election.

On the pension thief sentence In another case, the same Egbo-Egbo threatened to arrest the leadership of the National Assembly for contempt if it went ahead to pass the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission bill into law: A move stifling the anti-graft war.

Soon after the ruling on Ngige, EgboEgbo was transferred to Ibadan, was later investigated by the National Judicial Commission and placed on suspension before finally being retired.

Again, Stanley Nnaji, a judge of an Enugu High Court had given a ruling removing Ngige as governor of Anambra State following a suit filed by Nelson Achukwu, a suspended member of the Anambra State House of Assembly who had requested the court to enable him enforce his fundamental human rights.

In the suit, Achukwu had complained that he was beaten up by a group of persons he suspected were carrying out Ngige's instruction when he went to attend a Peoples Democratic Party's zonal meeting. The suit culminated in the governor's removal order and a directive to the Inspector General of Police to

withdraw the governor's police security.

Chief Chris Uba, Ngige's political godfather, was said to have personally flown into Abuja on that same day to deliver the court order on the IGP to remove Ngige and withdraw his security operatives.

The then IGP, Tafa Balogun, immediately complied and Ngige's police orderlies were withdrawn that same day, allegedly forcing the governor to go into hiding.

The recent case of the former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, is still fresh in our memory.

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hief Ibori had pleaded not guilty before Judge Marcel Awokulehin of the Federal High Court, Asaba, who subsequently discharged and acquitted Ibori of all the corrupt charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The EFCC had left the court premises disappointed by the verdict of Justice Awokulehin but decided not to appeal

the verdict for unknown reasons.

In a twist, the London Metropolitan Police arraigned the same former Delta State Governor before a competent British Court and incorruptible Judges in the likes of Justice Pitts with less than 10 count charges, including money laundering of which Ibori's accomplices had already been convicted in England.

The case of Yusufu has again brought to the fore, the issue of corruption which has continued to erode the moral fabric of our society, violate the social and economic rights of the poor and the vulnerable.

That is where the promise by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Alooma Mukhtar - that the National Judicial Council, NJC, will look into the controversy surrounding Yusufu’s conviction in a bid "to take appropriate action" to reassure the public that the judiciary remained the last hope of the common man - is welcome.

It should be realised that corruption invariably undermines democracy and subverts the rule of law, the basis for every civilized society, and Nigeria should not be an exception.

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

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013—41

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Sign of seriousness

Can this APC cure headache? others. It was called the United Progressives Grand Alliance (UPGA). In response, the ruling NPC went into a counter-alliance with the Samuel Akintola faction of the AG and other smaller parties and formed the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA).

But by the time the 1964 federal parliamentary elections and the 1965 regional parliamentary polls took place, the UPGA had collapsed. Each of the parties went into the polls with their original identities.

Once upon a merger: The same thing happened in 1982 when the so-called twelve progressive governors of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Nigerian People’s Party (NPP), People’s Redemption Party (PRP) and the Great Nigerian People’s Party (GNPP) met in Lagos and announced their intention to contest the 1983 general elections as People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA). That effort not only failed due to the unwillingness of the leaders of the parties to bury their respective ambitions (not to talk of the predatory antics of the ruling National Party of Nigeria) all the

Though we were promised that a new party would emerge around June 2013, it was a sign of the seriousness of the promoters that a merger and a name for the proposed party were unveiled four months earlier. Ten governors of the constituent parties met in Lagos on Tuesday, February 5th 2013 and took a group photograph that adorned the national dailies’ front pages the following day. This is not the first time the various failed merger talks came this far, and then collapsed. In 1963/64 the first attempt to unseat a dominant party in power, the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), was attempted by the National Council for Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) and the Obafemi Awolowo faction of the Action The Opposition the formed the APC Group (AG) among

parties to the botched merger came out of the 1983 elections shrinking from twelve to six states! If the military had not intervened their worst fear of a one party state would probably have come true in 1987.

With this stigmatising history of failed alliances in mind, supporters of the new platform must realise that they The APC will need someone with the neutral, nondominant ethnic attributes of an Adams Oshiomhole to stand as its presidential candidate. He can speak forcefully and with a telling impact across the nation’s ethno-

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HOSE of us who doubted the seriousness of the merger bid by some opposition political parties may now have a rethink: they have announced a merger.

In fact, they have pronounced a name for their new unified platform: All Progressives Congress (APC). If you are thirty years and above you may be tempted to think the new platform is named after a famous headaches and pains relieving pill which was popular, along with Cafenol, Phensic and Aspro in those days.

Have they formed this party to, figuratively speaking, relieve Nigeria of its chronic aches and pains inflicted upon it by thirteen years of unbroken rule by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP); a party that is growing bigger and bigger in spite of its poor performance reputation? Will it succeed in its avowed mission to stop the emergence of Nigeria as a “one party state”? What can it do towards achieving this? We will address these later. Let us deal with first things first.

APC is obviously the synthesis of names of the four political parties – Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

the ACN, the other three parties did not field credible candidates or make much effort to campaign outside their respective regions in the 2011 general polls. We wait to see what their followers will do if their respective leaders did not “capture” the strategic leadership positions in the new party.

Clear ideology: Secondly, they must come out with a clear ideological direction and programmes of action that made the Second Republic political parties easy to choose from. Their processes of nomination of candidates must do away with the oga so pe (the master said) syndrome, which threatens to ruin the ACN and CPC, and which Okorocha intends to adopt in his avowed ambition to capture all the states of the South East. Their leaders, particularly the CPC and ANPP elements, must begin to adjust to the demands of nationalism, rather than seeing the Muslim north as all there is to Nigeria.

They must be willing to share power equitably, taking all Nigerians along. That is what PDP has had from day one, which has helped sustain it as a strong national political party.

Finally, the new party must sit down and begin the search for credible candidates not only to run the party but more importantly to stand for the presidency and

The APC will need someone with the neutral, nondominant ethnic attributes of an Adams Oshiomhole to stand as its presidential candidate. He can speak forcefully and with a telling impact across the nation’s ethno-religious fault lines

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religious fault lines.e Rubicon. Crossing it is the onerous challenge. The only way we will know that they have crossed it into the Promised Land of a unified “mega party” is if they stay together and contest the 2015 elections as APC, and not ACN, ANPP, APGA and CPC. They have three major hurdles to scale in order to get there.

The first one is overcoming their provincial attributes. ACN is dominant in the West. ANPP has never won any state outside the core Muslim North. APGA was specifically formed as an Igbo Party, and Governor Okorocha is only leading the Imo faction into this merger. The CPC is not only a northern Muslim Party favoured by the downtrodden, especially the al majiri, it is a party tied specifically to retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari. Apart from

vice presidency. This is where they face their greatest challenge. Muhammadu Buhari and Ahmed Tinubu may ruin the party irretrievably if they insist on running for president or as a presidential pair. The APC will need someone with the neutral, non-dominant ethnic attributes of an Adams Oshiomhole to stand as its presidential candidate. He can speak forcefully and with a telling impact across the nation’s ethno-religious fault lines.

The task ahead is enormous, and it takes true pioneers and nationalists to reach the destination the APC is eyeing. Many have failed before. But if this experiment succeeds and we have two dominant, clearly different national parties to choose from, then our democracy will succeed.

OPINION

BY GABRIEL ZOWAM Continued from Fridayviewpoints

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S if this was not enough, in 2000, the revenue rocketed to N1,592 billion. This was equivalent to the jumbo N724 billion of the previous year (1999), plus an extra N868 billion.

What an unprecedented windfall! We can do a similar thing for many other consecutive years in the table; but that will just return us to the nagging question: Where on earth did all the money go?

It is true that our democracy came with a higher level of governance costs - large number of legislators, ministers, special assistants, and so on.

But this equally cannot explain away the windfall.

For example, by 1999 all the democratic structures were already on ground; and their needs were adequately met by the jumbo revenue of that year.

Now, did the democratic structure subsequently expand each new year to be able to consume that year ’s new windfall? .

Many patriotic Nigerians did raise alarms, including Gov. Bafarawa of Sokoto State: “When he [Obasanjo] came to power, crude oil was selling at $9 per barrel. Three months later, the price shot up to $30 per barrel, and remained so for two good

Democracy and its porous economy (2) years. If a state like Sokoto could receive N20 billion from the federation account over the period, imagine the quantum of resources at the disposal of the Federal Government!” (ThisDay, 28th April 2002).

Poor governor! He did not know that the real windfall was still on the way. The revenue that excited him in 2002, as “quantum of resources”, was to double, triple, and (more than) quadruple in the next four years!

Remember also that even the oil price of $9/barrel, which our democracy met in 1999, was already a windfall, for which the Abacha administration had set up the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF! We all witnessed what the PTF accomplished! So, where on earth did the real windfall go? What really went wrong?

Note that the windfall was not for the Federal Government alone. In fact, Sokoto cannot selfrighteously blame Abuja because the yearly statutory collections of every state in the country (from Sokoto

to Bayelsa) also doubled, tripled, and jumped many folds, in a space of seven years, from 1999 to 2006 enough to turn every part of this country into a new paradise! For a state such as Lagos, which exploited its potentials to additionally harvest huge internally generated revenues, the windfall touched the skies!

So, where on earth did the money go?

Note also that the wealth from Nigeria’s exhaustible natural resources belongs to both our present and future generations. This democracy has absolutely no right to squander it today as “recurrent expenditure”! What structures are we using this wealth to set up for the upcoming generations? Even the systems for their education and health are in shambles at a time that knowledge has become the driver of the global economy.

That’s why our National Assembly and Governors must, as a duty to Nigerians, not miss the opportunity of the ongoing constitutional amendment provides, for decisively fixing the flaws of this dysfunctional democracy.

Concluded

*Mr. Zowam, a social critic,wrote from Abuja.

42—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

•Obi: Wants Anambra North next

•Emodi: Will she sit it out?

ANAMBRA 2014: Twinkle

•Uba: Showing presence on ground

twinkle little stars

THE Anambra gubernatorial election that is expected to be the first major political fixture in 2014 surprisingly does not seem to be generating enthusiasm. Or really?

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WO years before the 2010 governorship election in Anambra State, the tension had practically overwhelmed all concerned political stakeholders.

Where the aspirants did not go, their foot soldiers ably represented them putting the state inevitably, in a state of political war.

But with just about a year to the 2014 gubernatorial election, the kind of tension that gripped the state is clearly absent putting political gladiators in the state on edge.

Indeed, the gates of many political party offices in the state remain under lock for most of the day indicative of the lack of political activity.

However, beneath the veneer of inactivity, a few men and women in the politically volatile state are preparing for the contest to find a successor to the incumbent, Peter Obi who is constitutionally barred from running for a third term.

Even if Obi has not openly endorsed a successor, he has, however, not left anyone guessing on where he wants his successor to come from.

Ahead of his own re-election in 2010 Obi had promised the

Contenders

Others being speculated to be interested in the contest include Senator Emma Anosike, the incumbent Secretary to the Anambra State Government, SSG, Mr. Oseloka Obaze from Ogbaru, Chief Paul Odenigbo from Ayamelum, who was the immediate past SSG, the member representing Anambra State at the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Ezennia Nnamdi Ekweogwu from Onitsha, Dr. Alex Obiogbolu also from Onitsha and former chairman of the local

,

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR AND VINCENT UJUMADU

people of Anambra North that he would ensure that his successor would come from that zone. Anambra North is the only zone in the state that is yet to produce a governor of the state. The zone’s nearest opportunity was when the then very young and agile Mrs. Joy Emodi led a sensational campaign for governorship only being stopped by the truncation of the transition programme arising from the death of Gen. Sanni Abacha.

Emodi, now the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters and who before now served as a senator representing Anambra North zone has been mute on a gubernatorial run despite a large amount of goodwill from across the state.

Whatever the temptation or push, it would be difficult for her to leave her present duties where she has proved useful in facilitating cordiality between the presidency and the National Assembly as evidenced in the historic passage of the 2013 budget before the commencement of the financial year.

In her absence, a number of other eligible contenders from within the Anambra North Senatorial zone are positioning themselves or being penciled down for the contest.

Anene, Prince Chinedu Idigo and former commissioner for local government and chieftaincy matters, Mr. Dubem Obaze. The aspirants belong to various political parties.

From outside Anambra North some other notable political heavyweights are also being speculated to be readying themselves for what could turn out to be a memorable contest.

Senator Andy Uba who had the opportunity of governing the state for 14 days between May and June 2007 before he was sacked by the courts has continued to increase the frequency of his visits home

APGA which ordinarily should by now have had several aspirants angling to succeed Obi is in a lethargic position

government service commission during the regime of former Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju, former chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Godwin Ibekwe, and an industrialist, Dr. Chike Obidigbo.

Others are Mr. Patrick Obianwu from Onitsha, Dr. Emmanuel Okafor, Mr. Chima

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apparently preparing for another run. In 2010 he ran on the platform of Labour Party, a party he had groomed in the state since his days as President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Man Friday.

Others also being speculated to have an eye in the emerging contest include Senator Annie Okonkwo, Hon. Nicholas Ukachukwu, Hon. Uche

Ekwunife, Prof. Charles Soludo among several others.

Senator Chris Ngige, who governed the state and made a positive impression for three years is also being speculated to be preparing for the race.

Ngige’s aspiration could be boosted if the plans by the opposition parties in the country to merge succeeds as it would unite the major opposition political parties against the PDP which as ever, remains disunited with leading stakeholders perpetually at war with one another.

APGA's crisis

Remarkably, APGA which ordinarily should by now have had several aspirants angling to succeed Obi is in a lethargic position. The party is in dire straits as a result of the battle of intrigues between the governor and the party ’s national chairman, Chief Victor Umeh.

Umeh is alleged by some to be supportive of business mogul, Ifeanyi Ubah to succeed Obi an issue the incumbent doesn’t seem to be interested in. With the party now deeply factionalised, the APGA story is one of the first becoming the last in the consideration of political stakeholders on the issue of the succession.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013 — 43

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46—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

atmosphere.

Public safety and security: My administration’s response: No serious discussion of insecurity or challenges of public safety and security problems is complete without referring to the sociopolitical and economic environment because security challenges do not occur in a vacuum. Thus, the state of infrastructure, education, employment, social sector, healthcare and the overall economic well-being of the citizenry have a direct and indirect correlation with the level of public safety and security.

NIGERIA’S DELTA AND SECURITY CHALLENGES:

Using the Delta Beyond Oil strategy, a governor’s approach rica’s most populous country, was created in 1991 out of the defunct Bendel State in the former MidNTRODUCTION: I am Western Nigeria. It is one of the greatly honoured to be here nine Niger Delta States. A multitoday, in the midst of profession- ethnic State, Delta has a geoals who have committed their graphic spread of approximatetime and resources to steering a ly 60 per cent land and 40 per formidable think-tank that fosters cent water with a population of important global issues. In a very over four million people.

At the investiture of my special way, I will like to express my profound gratitude to Profes- administration, in 2007 we sor Peter Lewis and, through him, articulated a three-point agenda: to the entire leadership of the Peace and Security, Human School of Advanced Internation- Capital Development and al Studies, SAIS, Johns Hopkins, Infrastructure Development. At Washington, DC for inviting me the core of this agenda is the attainment of economic growth to speak at this august event.

Your invitation was a most wel- that will guarantee a peaceful, come one. Besides the fact that it stable and safe atmosphere in provided me the opportunity of Delta State.

Delta State as at 2007: Broad reflecting once again on a subject that is most dear to my heart, challenges on ground: Fourteen your invitation also helps to keep years ago, Nigeria as a country the dialogue going. Today, I will returned to constitutional and be sharing my perspectives on the democratic civilian rule after Security Challenges within Ni- prolonged years of military geria’s Delta State and the con- dictatorship and authoritarianism which destroyed most vital public institutions in the country. The e n t r e n c h e d , institutional and endemic abuse of basic rights and freedom under the Military culminated in bottled up agitations, tension and pent-up emotions, especially in the Niger Delta where agitations for control of natural DR. EMMANUEL UDUAGHAN resources graduated into criminal activities. scious steps my administration This expectedly escalated under has taken to substantially ad- civilian, democratic rule. dress the challenges of public Like all Governors in the Niger safety and security in Delta State, Delta, this was one complex one of the oil-producing States challenge I met upon assumption in Nigeria. In doing so, I shall of office in 2007, which my approach the subject with some administration had to address preliminary and background frontally during my first term comments.

(2007-2011). Thus the challenge Delta State, located in the Ni- of public safety and security was ger Delta region of Nigeria, Af- quite evident as at the time I

By EMMANUEL UDUAGHAN

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Map of Delta State assumed office in 2007. There were other problems confronting the young administration ranging from political conflicts following my victory at the 2007 Governorship elections, to violent youth conflicts, armed insurgents, to ferocious ethnic rivalry amongst the various ethnic groups in Delta State. This was aptly captured by Professor Michael J. Watts who coauthored The Curse of the Black Gold when he noted that “the Delta is awash not only in oil but in ferocious intra and intercommunity struggles...”

Magnitude of the challenges Perhaps, to appreciate the magnitude of the challenges of public safety and security at that time, it might interest you to know that within 48 hours of my inauguration in 2007, I had to embark on an unsolicited visit to the “creeks” in the Niger Delta region at the time, to free some foreign nationals working with a multi-national oil company, who were kidnapped as hostages.

This was necessary because attacks on vital oil installations and armed insurgencies in the Niger Delta region were already threatening to cut national oil output by significant percent.

There were other challenges which were not totally peculiar to Delta State but cuts across the constituent States of the Niger Delta but their scope and seriousness, however, vary at that time. These include challenges of public healthcare system, lack of requisite infrastructure necessary for stimulating growth and development, absence of a functional and effective educational system, social problems and broad issues relating to the proper functioning of government in a democratic

setting. Though the administration before mine tried to tackle some of these problems, there was still a long way to go when I came in. We shall come back to this later.

The past few years was fraught with various security challenges including kidnap of foreign nationals, key government and political office holders, armed robbery attacks and assault on strategic government infrastructure such as oil pipelines by suspected militants.

The Federal Government of Nigeria on its part, through its Amnesty programme, helped ameliorate and substantially quelled the effects of militancy in the Niger-Delta region.

The Delta State Government

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Being a paper presented by Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan,CON, at the School of Advanced International Studies, John Hopkins University, Washington, USA last week

Public safety and security The social, political and economic environment often times, can explain the proliferation of crimes. According to the United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network, “no matter what part of the world, over a five year period, two out of three inhabitants of big cities are victimized by crime at least once.”

The UNCJI network further stated that, “the risks of being victimized are highest in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.” This begs the question of what commonalities exist between the two regions. The crime rates in these regions have been reported to be inversely proportional to their development indices. Social, political and economic development can, therefore, be said to be inextricably linked to security. Approaching the subject of insecurity from a different

The challenge of public safety and security was quite evident as at the time I assumed office in 2007

adopted a holistic approach to addressing the challenge of public safety and security. At the outset of my administration, we designed a strategy that set out to (1) identify and eliminate the root causes of such crimes and their criminal agenda, and (2) determine our policy responses to help prevent future occurrences.

The success criterion of this strategy was to improve our overall effectiveness in consolidating peace and development within the State. To effectively tackle and address the Challenges I met on assumption of office in 2007, my administration articulated a threePoint Agenda; Peace and Security, Human Capital Development and Infrastructure Development.

At the core of this agenda, is the attainment of economic growth that will guarantee a peaceful

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perspective, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), in its 2009 report, pointed that “looking back over the past 60years, at least 40 per cent of all intrastate conflicts can be associated with natural resources”. This again implicates the Delta region of Nigeria. And the situation in the region has global economic and political implications as well as dimensions.

Also, in one of the revealing studies carried out by the United States Institute for Peace entitled “Bringing Peace to the Niger Delta”, the author, Kelly Campbell argues that there are three perspectives in looking at the challenges of insecurity in the Delta region. The author listed them as lack of good governance, absence of social and economic development and Continues on Page 47

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013 ---- 47

Nigeria’s Delta and security challenges Continues from Page 46 unnecessary militarization of the area.

With these postulations as well as other practical experiences in mind, my administration set out to vigorously pursue Human Capital and Infrastructure Development, two planks of its three-point agenda, as a springboard to attaining the third plank - Peace and Security. This might appear to be a misnomer to a divergent school of thought which holds the view that human capital and infrastructure development can only take place within a secure environment. This other perspective was supported by the World Bank Report (1997) which noted that “sustainable economic development cannot occur without the basic guarantees of security provided by the rule of law.”

This school of thought implies that one action (security) has to occur before the reaction (development) but neglects to factor in the distinct peculiarities of different societies. We have reasons to believe that the situation in Delta State tends to favour the deployment of investments as panacea to insecurity and not vice versa.

left the oil mineral-producing communities of the region poor and underdeveloped has produced an unintended consequence: It has created a large class of young men who have no hope of legitimate work that would fulfil their ambitions, and are easily recruited into violence.”

To address this, we adopted a strategic approach. First, within the first few weeks of my administration, I quickly empowered the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), an interventionist agency set up to address the challenges of underdevelopment in the Oil Producing Communities of Delta State, to go down to the rural, Oil-producing communities to create jobs, stem the growing army of unemployed youths and provide the much-needed infrastructure in designated host Communities. 50 per cent of the 13 per cent derivation accruing to the State or about approximately $222.5million annually is passed on to the Commission. Having ensured that this Commission effectively took-off, remained focused and committed to its mandate, we

Our star scholarship scheme, however, is the automatic scholarship for any Delta child that makes a first class to study anywhere in the world

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After many years of military rule, marked by series of unfulfilled promises to the Nigerian people and in particular, the people of its oil producing states, the stage was set for distrust between the Government and its citizens.

As living standards declined, the struggle for survival exacerbated and the breeding ground for the crimes we experience today was set.

Citizens sought economic ways of providing for themselves, and this further led to the increase in quick-money crimes such as oil theft, robbery and kidnapping.

Robbery and kidnapping Having identified the root causes, my administration concluded that massive government investment in infrastructure, eliminating corruption at all levels and a sustainable improvement in the general standard of living of the electorate would significantly help to arrest and ultimately eliminate the spate of insecurity.

Earlier in 2003, the Human Rights Watch 2003:2, had reached a similar finding when it published, “the corruption of Nigerian political process that has

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thereafter constituted the Delta State Waterways Security Committee, to help gather intelligence and information that would assist in crime prevention and detection.

In addition, we believe that a functional educational system could serve as great armour against crime. Consequently, my administration quickly reopened, equipped and rehabilitated 42 high schools that were closed down in Warri and its surrounding towns and villages during an inter-ethnic conflict in Delta State; a move which accordingly helped to engage some of our young boys and girls in productive endeavour. This ensured that they were no longer available to be recruited for criminal activities. To consolidate the gains of this initiative, we introduced Free Education Policy State-wide. The implication is that the Delta State Government is fully responsible for the payment of all fees associated with what is called the West Africa Examination Council, WAEC, and NECO. The WAEC and NECO certificates are among the requisites for admission into higher institutions of learning,

An oil producing community in the Niger Delta

Map of Nigeria including Universities. We are also awarding scholarships to thousands of University students for graduate and post graduate studies. Our star scholarship scheme, however, is the automatic scholarship for any Delta child that makes a first class to study anywhere in the world.

By so doing, we are assured of a pool of highly trained human resources. We have also aggressively improved on the infrastructure in our schools by renovating dilapidated schools and building and equipping new ones. We also improving the quality of teachers by training and retraining.

Strategic approach Again, as part of our strategic approach, we began implementing our holistic strategy by conceptualizing the brand identity, “Delta Beyond Oil”; a concept we believed would appeal to every Deltan. In its simplest terms, this perspective attempts to bring to the attention of the people of Delta State, government officials and private sector operators, the need to understand that Oil and Gas are finite assets and exhaustible resources that cannot be permanently relied on to continually sustain the states that are dependent on it.

Correspondingly, we conceived and designed a new comprehensive economic development framework with investment strategies and approaches that ensured that other sectors of the economy in the state are brought on stream.

The idea was to expand and

complement oil receipts as alternative income sources and focus on Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) to fund the operations of government, the provision of social services and provide for development investments in Delta State.

This new comprehensive economic development strategy recognizes that the state is endowed with other vast reserves of agricultural, solid mineral and human resources. Therefore, it focuses on diverse sectors including commerce and industry, manufacturing, infrastructure development, Information and Communication Technology, education, Healthcare, culture, tourism and hospitality as potential sectors for private sector participation.

In the Health sector, we embarked on free maternal Healthcare Programme. Our objective was to build a healthy, sound and resourceful women population as well as reduce the rate of infant mortality. During my first term, we had an average of 1,641 deliveries monthly while about 12,240 pregnant women attended our ante-natal hospitals monthly. On the whole, an average of 4,612 women booked monthly for the free maternal Healthcare scheme in our hospitals across Delta State.

Within this comprehensive economic development framework, and in furtherance of our related development strategy, we embarked upon a broad range of programmes to pursue our economic diversification and empowerment programmes.

They include the development of physical/transport infrastructure, industrial infrastructure, power

infrastructure, human capital, SME development and micro or cottage enterprises development programme through a nationally acknowledged and acclaimed micro-credit scheme.

Some of our direct government investments aimed at catalyzing state-wide development include the completion of an International Airport in Asaba, the State capital and the ongoing expansion of an existing airport at Osubi, near Warri, the commercial hub of Delta State.

The Asaba airport is the most modern airport in Nigeria today.

Taking advantage of the huge economic activities in Onitsha market, which is about 15 minutes away, it has the potential of being the busiest airport in Nigeria.

Transport infrastructure In addition, the state government invested in the construction of new roads/ bridges, the renovation and expansion of existing roads and the d ualization of a network of strategic roads that link rural to urban areas; urban to urban areas as well as roads that link Delta state with other states of the Niger Delta.

The transport infrastructure is intended to facilitate easy movement of goods and services within and outside the state and boost economic activities in the state through their multiplier effects in the transport service sub-sector.

Recognizing the need to partner with international development agencies and citizens of Delta State in the diaspora, my administration launched an outreach programme in 2009 in New York under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Walter Carrington, a former United States (US) Envoy to Nigeria. We believe that there are eminent Deltans in the diaspora who have both the technical expertise and the web of contacts to bring to the table for the overall development of Delta State.

In fact, Deltans in the US have been most supportive. The success story of India, China and many Asian countries is a clear testimony to the fact that when properly harnessed, the diasporans are a great asset.

To be continued

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11 , 2013 — 48

Malian troops, Islamists fight in Gao J

A fish market in Konna, Mali, that had been occupied by Islamist rebels

UST as Al Qaeda once sought refuge in the mountains of Tora Bora, Malian troops and suspected Islamist militants are exchanging heavy gunfire on the streets of Gao in northern Mali.

A BBC correspondent in the town has said that the clashes began near the central police station but have since spread.

It comes a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a

Netanyahu, Obama discuss Middle East

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RAN’s nuclear ambitions, the civil war in Syria and stalled I s r a e l i - Pa l e s t i n i a n peace efforts will top the agenda of U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday.

“It is a very important visit that will emphasize the strong alliance between Israel and the United States,” Netanyahu, who has had a testy relationship with Obama, told his cabinet.

The White House announced on Tuesday that Obama plans to visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan this spring, raising prospects of a new U.S.

push to restart IsraeliPalestinian peace efforts frozen for the past two years.

The White House gave no exact dates for the trip, Obama’s first to Israel since taking office. Israel’s Channel 10 television station cited unnamed sources in Washington last week saying the visit to Israel would start on March 20.

In public remarks at the cabinet session, Netanyahu put Iran at the top of his list of

talking points with Obama and referred only in general terms to peace efforts with the

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel with President Obama, who is planning a trip to the Middle East next month.

NATO gets new boss in Afghanistan

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.S. Marine General Joseph Dunford, expected to oversee the withdrawal of most foreign troops from Afghanistan by the end of next year,

ORDAN’s king yesterday called for electoral changes to make parliament more representative, after Islamists boycotted last month’s national poll saying rules were skewed against urban areas where they have most support.

Independents and candidates allied to Jordan’s powerful tribal establishment, which is strongest in the countryside, won most seats in the national elections January 23, after the Islamic Action Front, the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing in Jordan and the country’s largest

opposition party, shunned the vote.

King Abdullah, who has close relations with the United States, told the opening session of the 150-member assembly, the first to be elected since the Arab Spring, that electoral rules must change to nurture multiparty democracy.

“The elections were held under a law that was not ideal ... Therefore I call for revisiting this law and reviewing the electoral system in a way that wins consensus, promotes fair representation,” the monarch told the

stay far away from military zones and avoid explosions,” spokesman Abou Walid Sahraoui said.

The BBC’s Tomas Fessy, in Gao, says Sunday’s gun battle appears to have started around the main police station in the town centre, but there is now heavy gunfire coming from different areas.

A Malian soldier holding one army position told him that some gunmen were driving around on motorbikes.

BCC correspondent has said that people were barricaded inside their houses and the situation remains unclear.

However, worries that Islamist militants had infiltrated Gao seems to have become reality, as they are waging a guerrilla war in the town, he adds.

Indian Hindu festival: 18 people killed in stampede

ok control of the NATOled mission yesterday , in an elaborate ceremony which emphasised the country’s sovereignty.

Jordanians demand more representation in parliament

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Palestinians, stopping short of setting a revival of bilateral negotiations as a specific goal of the visit.

checkpoint at a northern entrance to the town - the second such attack in two days.

Gao was retaken just over two weeks ago by French and Malian forces, who supposedly drove out the Islamists.

Security had reportedly been tightened in the wake of the suicide bombings, with military patrols stepped up and checkpoints put in place.

It is not yet known which group was involved in Sunday ’s clashes.

However, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) has said it was behind the suicide attack on Friday, which injured a soldier, and threatened more.

“We are dedicating ourselves to carrying out more attacks against France and its allies. We ask the local population to

assembly. The elections were the first since the king enacted constitutional changes last year devolving some of his powers to parliament, which critics said had become sidelined as powers shifted to the palace and security forces.

But Jordan’s tribal political establishment resisted the king’s efforts to grant a higher proportion of parliamentary seats to cities dominated by Jordanians of Palestinian origin, who make up a majority of the population of seven million.

Dunford takes over from U.S. Marine General John Allen, who ended a 19-month tour which was arguably one of the most difficult periods in the war, now in its eleventh year.

“Today is not about change, it’s about continuity. What has not changed is the will of this coalition,” Dunford told a crowd of foreign and Afghan officials in the barricaded headquarters of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Afghan President

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T least 18 people were killed in a stampede in the Indian city of Allahabad yesterday as Hindus returned from a river dip Hamid Karzai was absent from the change of command ceremony despite receiving an invitation from ISAF. A spokesman for Karzai declined to comment.

Allen, who directed ISAF’s transfer of most security across the country to the Afghan army and police, delivered an emotional speech stressing the nation’s sovereignty, an issue that has been a thorn in Karzai’s r elationship with his Western backers.

at the world’s largest religious festival.

An overcrowded railway station footbridge buckled and a railing collapsed, sending some people slipping down the stairs and triggering the stampede, a top state government official told Reuters, not wishing to be quoted by name.

“I can confirm that 18 people have died and 13 have been injured,” said the official.

Once every 12 years, tens of millions of pilgrims stream across India to the small northern city of Allahabad for the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Grand Pitcher Festival, at the point where the Ganges and Yamuna rivers meet a third, mythical river.

Five crew killed in criuse ship safety drill

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IVE crew members have died after a lifeboat they were in fell from a cruise ship docked in the port of Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands.

The accident happened on the Majesty, operated by

UK-based Thomson Cruises, during a routine safety drill.

Those killed included three Indonesians, a Filipino and a Ghanaian. Three people were also hurt as the boat reportedly fell more than 20m into the sea.

The MS Thomson Majesty is believed to sail under a Maltese flag.

About 2,000 people were on board the cruise ship when the accident occurred around 12:00 GMT yesterday local media said.

Vanguard d,

MOND AY, FEBRU ARY 11 MONDA FEBRUARY 11,, 2013

House discusses grey areas in PIB this week

BY OKEY NDIRIBE & EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

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BUJA—PEOPLES Democratic Party, PDP, members in the House of Representatives, weekend, warned their colleagues in opposition against partaking in the disagreement between the executive and legislative arms of government in grey areas in the 2013 Approprtiation Act. .

The PDP legislators who spoke under the aegis of PDP Renaissance Group stated that passing cynical remarks now that the legislative and the executive arms were meeting to iron out their differences in the budget bill could coud further destroy the economy of the country.

The Group led by Kaka Kyari Gujbawu, PDP, Borno State, warned the two chambers of the National Assembly to strike a favourable balance among the various interests currently delaying the

passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill ,PIB, and come up with an Act that best protects the over all economic interest of Nigeria. They accused the opposition legislators of trying to distort the economic policy of the PDP-led federal government by seeking to negatively restructure the 2013 Appropriation Act. Gujbawu said: “The only problem is that fundamentally, what the opposition want us to do, is to fundamentally alter the very foundation of the budget. That is going to lead to a very big structural problem; and that will not be acceptable. I do not think the 200 PDP members of that House will be hoodwinked by the antics of the opposition.

We stand by our leadership because it is in the interest of Nigerians and we have the mandate to lead Nigeria to join the committee of developed nations.”

This development which stemmed from the

refusal of the President to assent to the N4.987 trillion 2013 budget bill as passed by the National Assembly, series of meetings and negotiations have been going on between the two to resolve the grey areas. Last week at a press conference, opposition Reps in the House led by House Minority leader, Femi Gbajabiamilla, rose from a meeting threatening to mobilise members to override the President’s veto on the Budget Bill.

Attempt to frustrate economic policies Gujbawu’s PDP Renaissance Group described the threat as not only empty but an attempt to frustrate the economic policies of the Federal Government pointing out that such moves would be totally destructive to the interests of members of the 360 federal constituencies that the House represents.

He said: “The advice I want to give

stakeholders in this budget issue, I mean both my colleagues in the National Assembly and the executive, is to let us put the country first. Let us take our selfish interests out of this. And by the time each and everyone of us, both from the executive and legislature decides that Nigeria comes first, I am sure we are going to fix this thing easier and earlier than we thought without rancour.”

“But I think we should not politicise this process which is the normal and healthy process in budget formulation anywhere in the World in any kind of democracy. My quarrel is that some members of the opposition are trying to politicise an otherwise healthy process in any budget process all over the World. We should stand against that; we should condemn that without being equivocal about it.”

On PIB, Gujbawu disclosed that a crucial meeting would hold this week between selected members of the Senate

and House of Representatives with a view to sorting out grey areas in the Bill where the two chambers differ.

The Borno law maker said that the provision of 10 per cent of the profits for Oil Producing Areas was an issue that had attracted so much criticisms to the Bill particularly in the Senate. He said that the House had been able to merge the PIB with the

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Oil Frontier Exploration Service Agency Establishment Bill, to protect the interest of areas that were yet to produce oil.

“I think there are machinery in place between interested members in the Senate and in the House to come together and find ways and means of making sure that this PIB which has been in the making for almost a decade becomes an Act during the life of this seventh National Assembly. “

Church holds annual convention

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HE Christ Healing Evangelical Church, with its headquarters at Orishigun Area of Ketu, Lagos holds its 2013 annual national convention at the Camp Ground, Km 45, Lagos / Ibadan Express way, Loburo, Mowe, Ogun State, Nigeria, from Wednesday, February 13, 2013 to Sunday, February 17, 2013, with the Ordination of Ministers and Special Thanksgiving Service as hall marks of the occasion.

A statement from the church said the five-day events which will be pre-

sided over by the General Overseer, Pastor Samuel Babatunde Ogunfowokan, alongside the Mother InIsrael, Lady Evangelist Beatrice Bamidele, will be assisted by anointed men of God, as well as other top executives and officials of the church.

It said that the events begin with the registration of delegates at the Camp Ground, will kick off at 12noon and will be concluded at 5.00p.m, will be subsequently followed by other notable itinerary for the day.

50 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FUBRUARY 11 , 2013

Vanguard CLASSIFIED

Pension fraud row: Why NASS can’t win battle against Maina zAs Presidency backs him

BY SONI DANIEL, REGIONAL EDITOR, NORTH

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BUJA—THE insist ence of the Senate that the Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, should appear before them and answer questions on the way he has been managing pension funds, may soon spark a row between them and the Presidency.

Vanguard gathered from reliable sources that the Presidency was unhappy with the manner the PRTT was being treated by the lawmakers and was considering appropriate response to the treatment being meted to the pension officer.

One source said that the Presidency had been made to believe that Maina was the saviour to rescue the pension system from fraudsters, having been presented to him by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as one he could rely upon to salvage the decay in pension administration scheme.

Jonathan’s interest in Maina The source said that Jonathan took a special interest in Maina from the day the finance minister presented him to the President and presented a cheque of N74 billion, which Maina reportedly recovered from pension thieves.

It was gathered that arising from the way the man was presented to the President, Jonathan has virtually adopted Maina as one of his trusted aides and given whatever he has requested for to enable him to ‘’shut out” pension thieves from the system.

“I can tell that the kind of security built around Maina by the Presidency is so formidable that not many topranking officials of this administration can boast of.

Even the number of sophisticated gun-wielding officers and men detailed to protect Maina alone, is intimidating enough to scare his opponents,” the source noted.

It was learnt that when the lawmakers started to ‘’harass” Maina again this year, an influential minister and close confidant of President Jonathan took him to the President to offer necessary support to be able to ward

off the bluff of the politicians.

Maina’s entourage Maina’s entourage is largely made up of heavily armed Department of State Security Service, DSS, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, and Nigerian Prison Service, NPS, snipers, who do not hide their lethal weapons as they move around with him.

Although Maina has won the heart of the President and that of the finance minister, the Senate is yet to be convinced that the man has any value to add to the pension system in Nigeria, going by the report submitted to it by its Pension and Establishment Committee, which investigated the operations of the PRTT’s handling of various pension accounts.

The Senator Alloysious Etok-led committee, had reported that Maina did not recover any pension funds as claimed but merely mopped up pension funds from banks and fraudulently transferred same to his preferred banks for pecuniary reasons.

Maina accused of misappropriating N6 billion

The committee accused Maina and his team of misappropriating over N6 billion mopped up from banks without any approval and ordered him to appear before them and answer questions on the amount expended.

However, Maina has consistently been running away from the Senate, accusing the Senators of bias and attempt to harass and intimidate him.

In a bid to escape the ‘harassment’of the lawmakers, Maina on Wednesday filed a suit at the High Court in Abuja, asking to be paid N1.5 billion compensation for being declared wanted by the Senate and Inspector General of Police.

It was learnt that the decision by the embattled pension task force boss to resort to legal challenge against the Senate and Inspector General of Police was spearheaded by senior government officials who have also assembled a formidable team of legal luminaries to confront the

lawmakers and stall their bid to bring him to accounts for his operations at the pension office.

The aim of the unprecedented legal affront by a director in the federal civil service against the federal legislature, it was gathered, is to secure a long-lasting injunction similar to what Justice Buba Ibrahim of the then Federal High Court, Port Harcourt granted former Rivers State governor, Peter Odili, against the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, from investigating the activities Of the governor while in office. EFCC has not been able to vacate the historic injunction till date.

Maina’s backers worries Senate But the Senate is worried that those backing Maina to ridicule the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would live to regret their actions.

The lawmakers are worried that the undue power and attention given to the PRTT had made him to see himself as being too powerful and above the laws of the land.

Co-chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on Public Service and Establishment and State and Local Government Administration investigating the alleged pension fraud, Senator Kabiru Gaya, said: “We are really worried that an individual can be proving to be above the law of the land. We asked the police to arrest Maina for refusing to appear before us on several occasions. ” The Senate president, who is the number three citizen in this country, issued a warrant of arrest and we learnt that the police declared him wanted.

“But the following day, Maina addressed a press conference that he was around and that the police could arrest him if they wanted to do so. ”But up till now, we have not heard of his arrest. How can an ordinary assistant director be so powerful that when we asked the permanent secretary to re-assign him to another position, he (the permanent secretary) said he could not reassign him to another position unless he was cleared from the above. Where is the above?”

MENEWE—I, formerly known and addressed as Menewe Uche Benjamin, now wish to be known and addressed as Samuel Uche Benjamin. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IDEMUDIA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Idemudia Mercy Okhen, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ighalo Mercy Okhen. All former documents remain valid. Ambrose Ali University Ekpoma, N.Y.S.C and general public please take note.

AMELOKO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ojonugwa Philomina Ameloko, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ojonugwa Philomina Okala. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AMEH—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Victoria Iyene Ameh, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Victoria Ameh Olla.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

YUSUF DALYOP—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Deborah Yusuf Dalyop, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Deborah Luka Wakari. All former documents remain valid. Ambrose Ali University Ekpoma, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital and general public please take note.

M O M O H — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Juliet Nefi Momoh, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Juliet Okeyia.

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

OKWUOKOLO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss O k w u o k o l o Ndidiamaka Stella, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Igwilo Ndidiamaka Stella.

All former documents remain valid. Caritas University, WAEC, NYSC and general public please take note.

CHUKWUKEREZE —I, formerly known and addressed as Miss (W/CPL) C h i d i e b e r e Chukwukereze, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. (W/CPL) Chidiebere Ugorji. All former documents remain valid. The Nigeria Police Force and general public please take note.

TA N G A LU — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Sarah Farnuwa Tangalu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Sarah Tangalu Dauda. All former documents remain valid. World Bank, Abuja – Nigeria Office and general public please take note.

O K A F O R — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Okafor Chioma Olivia, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Okeke Chioma Olivia. All former documents remain valid. University of Jos and general public please take note.

OGBU—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogbu Chinyere Loveth, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Mbah Chinyere Loveth. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OJEJE —I, formerly known and addressed as Ojeje Bassey, now wish to be known and addressed as Ojeje Okoi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

SULE—I, formerly known and addressed as Steven Samuel Joe Sule, now wish to be known and addressed as Jibril Sulieman. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

EGEREONU—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Egereonu Chizoma Maltida, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ehiem Chizoma Maltida. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that Alaribe Ikenna D. Innocent, Alaribe Ikenna, Alaribe Innocent Ikenna and Alaribe David Ikenna is one and the same person, now wish to be known and addressed as Alaribe David Ikenna. All former documents remain valid. NABTEB, Imo State School System, Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri and general public please take note.

IKEM —I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ikem Ifeoma Christiana, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ebo Ifeoma Christiana.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CHIEMEKE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Chiemeke Martha Agiliga, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ogbugo Augustine Martha Agiliga. All former documents remain valid. Ecobank Plc and general public please take note.

UBOH —I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Uboh Nkemdilim, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. C h u k w u k a Nkemdilim. All former documents remain valid.

Laga International Limited and general public please take note.

UDEMGBA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss U d e m g b a O g e c h u k w u Augustina, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Dinyelu Ogechukwu Augustina.

All former documents remain valid.

Federal College of E d u c a t i o n (Technical), Asaba and general public please take note.

N WA D U G B O — I , formerly known and addressed as Nwadugbo Victor Animam and Nwadugbo Victor respectively, now wish to be known and addressed as Nwaokocha Victor Animam. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

NNODI —I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ifeoma Stellamaris Nnodi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ifeoma Stellamaris Ogwo. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11 , 2013—51

s

By EMMA NNADOZIE, Crime Editor

B

ARELY a month after, another tragic incident took place. This time around, it happened at Agbani village inside Nsukka main town. A frontline human rights crusader and politician, Christopher Onah popularly called. Papa Nsukka was hacked to death in front of his residence. He was attacked around 9.30pm on a Sunday night by assailants numbering over 20. Crime Alert learnt that the assassins had accosted their victim at the gate of his residence even as his neighbours shouted for help by beating wooden security gongs to scare away the hoodlums. Onah had reportedly gone to bed but was woken up by his wife who informed him that people were shouting outside. Dressed in boxers, a T-shirt and wrapper, he went outside to ascertain what was wrong only to be attacked at his gate by young men armed with cutlasses and axes, leaving deep cuts on his head, neck and body.

His attackers fled when they thought he was dead. He was, however, rushed to a private hospital in Nsukka where he died around 8.30pm Monday night after efforts by a team of

doctors to save his life failed.

When Crime Alert visited him at the hospital around 4.30pm on Monday before he gave up the ghost, the victim narrated how the incident took place. According to him: “I was sleeping when my wife called my attention to shouts of ’Thief! thief!’ outside my compound. I quickly dashed out to ascertain what was going on only to be confronted by young men numbering over 20.

Cutlasses and axes “Before I knew what was happening, they started hitting me with both cutlasses and axes. Their cuts were landing on my neck region. I quickly fought back and succeeded in dislodging five of them after snatching a big stick one of them wanted to use in hitting me. When they saw that I was gaining upper hand with the stick, and my neighbours who were alerted were rushing towards us, they fled into the darkness. I made frantic efforts to go after them but I was becoming very weak because of the blood I was losing “That was all I knew until I

•The his wovictim show unds ing

woke up in the hospital. I have been in the hospital since midnight but no policeman had come to either safeguard me from being attacked again or get a first hand information from me over the incident. I was able to recognize some of the boys that attacked me and I will give their names to the police anytime they come.

Even one of them came to see me here and was pretending as if he was innocent but I will address the issue when I leave the hospital. All I know is that I did not do anything that will make people attack me like that, what I have been fighting all my life is for the benefit of the downtrodden”.

(At this stage, he insisted that everybody around should be given drinks to celebrate his survival little knowing that he will give up the ghost within the next two hours.)

One of his relations who spoke with Crime Alert immediately his death was announced said doctors confirmed that he was hit on the medulla oblangata and he fought hard to survive but he could not make it. According to him, “After we rushed him to this place, the doctors battled to save his life. We sent some people to go to the po-

lice and make statement.

Could you believe that no policeman came here officially to get first hand information from him until he died.

“What the police did was to go round our village and after that, they started saying that it was a reprisal attack as a result of land dispute. They

,

•Late Christopher Onah a.k.a Papa Nsukka — Just an hour before his death.

ants were seen walking around the village freely but nobody could do anything because of the absence of the police whom we learnt had concluded that he was a victim of mob action. As I speak with you, not even one suspect has been either questioned or arrested. Our greatest worry now is that one of his assailants called his wife with an unknown number and warned her against taking the case up threatening that they will not only burn our house but kill her and her children if they go ahead further with the case”.

Meanwhile, Crime Alert learnt that police authorities at the Command headquarters in Enugu had to quickly wade into the case after members of the slain activist’s family went to Enugu to seriously complain against the attitude of the police in the division.

The Command Police boss who was said to be very unhappy with the development reportedly directed that crack detectives from the homicide section at the headquarters

Our greatest worry now is that one of his assailants called his wife with an unknown number and warned her against taking the case up threatening that they will not only burn our house but kill her and her children if they go ahead further with the case

could not even come to the hospital to safeguard him against further attacks by his assailants because they did not know he will survive the attack. It was the hospital authorities that quickly alerted soldiers attached to the urban patrol and they swiftly came to patrol around the area. Our friends in the police informed us that the Area Commander, on hearing the attack, quickly directed the Divisional Officer to take control but nothing was done until he died.

“Even his suspected assail-

,

should take over the case and report directly to him within two weeks.

A police source in Enugu said the State police boss reprimanded his men at the division and threatened to take drastic action against them if such lackadaisical attitude should rear it’s ugly head again. The police source further hinted that so far, no arrests have been made even after reliable information about the identity of killers of the activist was freely obtained from members of his family.

52 —

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Eagles celebrate

Uduaghan celebrates Eagles *Dubs Mba a hero T

HE Executive Gov ernor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan has been celebrating the exploits of Warri Wolves star, Sunday Mba at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations tournament that ended last night with Nigeria emerging as the new African kings.

Mba’s 40th minute solitary strike gave Nigeria the edge over hard-fighting Burkina Faso in a keenly contested final match played at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Reacting to the victory, Uduaghan said, “Mba is our hero. He made all the difference and his contributions to the success of the team is instructive.

“It is a call to all of us to continue investing in our local league. It also shows that we must respect our local players.”

Uduaghan who was speaking from outside the country said, “Mba has done Warri Wolves and the entire Nigeria proud and I am proud of

Toro tasks Keshi on W/Cup qualifiers F

ORMER Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Association, Sani Toro has congratulated the Super Eagles and their coach, Stephen Keshi.

“I’m happy for Keshi and I want to congratu-

Jones thumbs up for Keshi Y OMI Jones, a one time Managing Director of Nigeria Airways who is a strong promoter of local content, yesterday sang praises to God for the sake of Stephen Keshi. ‘’I thank God for Stephen Keshi. I have been saying this – don’t destroy Nigerians because Nigerians can repair this country. I’m happy that Nigeria won

him.

“It is good to be a Nigerian. The victory of the Super Eagles at the Nations Cup and Mba’s contributions in particular, has reinforced our belief in the local league and a motivation for us to continue to invest in our local football.”

the Nations Cup under a Nigerian coach. Our authorities don’t believe in our coaches. I hope that with this, they will change. Look at the way they played. They attacked well and defended well. We could have scored more but luck wasn’t on our side. It also means that we deserved our victory. I send my congratulations to the team. It’s time to celebrate our own Keshi.”

late Nigerians and everybody that made this victory possible," Toro, said.

He tasked the head coach not to rest on his oars and forge ahead with the World Cup qualifiers which will begin soon.

“What remains now is the World Cup and I am sure the Eagles will qualify. He should ensure everything is put in place for us to qualify.”

Toro pleaded with Keshi not to resign.

“Keshi should take it easy and ignore side talks. He has to keep his job and win more laurels for self and country because he has a young side that can go places.”

The former Bauchi State Sports Commissioner also expressed happiness over the role played by home-based players.

Keshi dedicates cup to local coaches Continues from Back Page

local coaches a chance”, said Keshi, who was not done with his indictment of football administrators, who he said were not patient enough with local coaches.

“To succeed, we need time and I thank God that all the years of waiting have finally ended. Our people do not know how to give you time to get your programme through. These things take time but people seem not to care about it. But I thank God for seeing us through”, said the former

Togo and Mali coach, who hailed his players for their great play and uncommon discipline.

“There is a lot of potentials in this team. I needed to push them and they responded. They were great as a team”, said Keshi.

On what was going on in his mind with five minutes left to play, Keshi said that “many things were going on in my mind. I wanted us to score another goal but knew that if we did not score that they were not going to score because of the way my boys were

playing. I knew it was possible because of what were playing”.

Keshi said that before the team arrived South Africa that he told skipper Joseph Yobo that the Eagles were going to win the Cup but the former Everton defender did not believe.

“I am an optimistic person. Even if the world is falling apart, I still believe. I told my players that we were coming here to win because I had faith. The hard work was also there and that made it very easy for us to go for the Cup”

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013 — 53

C M Y K

54 —

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

F-l-i-c-k-s

F-l-i-c-k-s

F-l-i-c-k-s goals and superlative performance in their war against the Malian ‘rebels’. They therefore have avoided Port Elizabeth, leaving it for the likes of Mali and Black Stars of Ghana.

Rape! Rape!! and drugs

C

HILLING stories about rape have left me wondering if we are getting close to Armageddon. There is hardly a day that you read South African Newspapers that you don’t have annoying stories of sexual violence against children, teenagers and even old women who are nearing their graves.

I know that murder, rape and HIV infection rates are high here but definitely not to this alarming proportion that is making me sick. Imagine stories of 80-year-old great grand mother being raped?

Don’t curse!

Imagine an 11-year-old girl who gave birth to her rapist’s baby? Imagine, yet again, in a separate, lower profile case, a man was jailed for life for raping an AIDS activist, and beating her to death after she told him she was HIV positive.

A girl is only 11…. While still a child herself, last week she gave birth to a baby of her own. The young mother was raped by a man at least three times her age. Her 32 year-old mother suffered a stroke in 2010 and has been bedridden since then. According to a South African paper, the mother didn’t know her daughter was pregnant. Today the child mother who needs parental attention is cuddling her tiny tot not knowing where to go or what to do. Details of how she was raped are left to imagination. Hardly, do you see a 15-year-old girl here who does not have a baby. And they are proud to tell you that they are not virgins. “I’ve a baby at home”, they usually say. Imagine a man who kidnapped and repeatedly raped his girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter. Some of these heinous crimes are committed under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

Alcohol is treated as a national pastime with youths soaking themselves in it before going on rampage.

Yvonne Chaka Chaka is so troubled about the menace that she is creating awareness about the dangers of drugs, especially whoonga and nyaope, with her new single album.

The well known and respected South African songbird agrees that drugs have become a serious societal problem in South Africa. “Drug abuse is prevalent among the youth and is currently one of the major social ills”, she said in an interview on the Sowetan Newspaper.

Regrettably, some Nigerian youths who ran away to South Africa have also embraced the short way to wealth that destroys them faster than their money.

Before and after the Super Eagles superlative performance against the Eagles of Mali, I ran into

Mitchel and Ejiro

M

ALL 4 NAIJA... Super Eagles supporters cheering the team to victory some Nigerian youths who are nearing hell-fire begging for money at Cool Penny Restaurant, a popular Nigerian restaurant at Point road in Durban.

With torn dress and dirty hairs, he touched me and started his gospel on how he came to this town and was duped. “Nna a, nyelu nwanne gi aka”, he preached in Ibo meaning that I should help my brother. Immediately, the owner of the restaurant pushed him out and warned us to be careful before we are dispossessed of our money. “These are the ones who have soiled the image of Nigeria that once you mention you are a Nigerian, people re-coil from helping out. There are still very genuine ones but one bad apple has spoilt the whole bunch. Imagine Ghanaians getting better ratings here than Nigerians. The flamboyant way of driving the best cars and buying houses after six months of setting up a shop has made them a target for the South African police.”

Emenike’s flavour!

E

MMANUEL Emenike has shot himself into reckoning here in the African Cup of Nations for which he guns for the Adidas boot for highest goalscorers. He has hit the back of the net on four occasions and could improve on his tally when the Eagles feast on Burkina Faso on Sunday for the finals of the African Cup. Emenike popular among South Africans after playing for FC Cape Town, is a lover of Flavour(Na-Abania’s music). On his way to training, he is always seen with his strapped ear-phone and moving to the sound of the music. It was in Rustenberg that he came down unplugged the music from his ear to reveal Flavour’s voice. As he laced his boots, I showed off my skill in dancing and he laughed. Want to know the track he was listening to?

Aisha Falode’s vow

W

BALL JOGGLER... A Nigerian fan joggles for Eagles C M Y K

HILE many Nigerians still cry over the absence of Nigerians in the corridors of African football power, Etubom Paul Bassey, General Dominic Obukadata Oneya, Aisha Falodo, Linus Mba among others are making their marks in the continental football-controlling body. The Super Eagles played their preliminary matches in Nelspruit, Mbombela where they gave many Nigerians more jitters than cheers before moving over to Rustenberg where Chadian Emmanuel Maradas was in charge. The Eagles re-discovered their form and shot the big Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire with Nigerian-made dane-gun to zoom into the semi finals in Durban. Paul Bassey was the coordinator in Durban and he swore that he had done everything possible for the Eagles to excel. Aisha Falode is in charge in Port Elizabeth where the third place match was played. She said that she did not want the Eagles to go to her zone for any reason.

Going to play in her zone meant that the Eagles would be playing in the third place match. “God forbid. I’ve told them I don’t want to host them in Port Elizabeth”. And the Eagles answered her with

ITCHEL Obi and Ejiro Omonode are here in full force for the Super Eagles. They came in after the wobbly first round and are enjoying the glory of being Nigerians, courtesy of the champagne football of the Eagles. The two showed off that they are indeed big boys when they hosted Nigerian media men to sumptuous free dinner in Durban.

Ejiro was at his best but hid the fact that he was paying for the food and drinks. When guys learnt that it was F.O.C, Ejiro closed the account. It was a good re-union of the pen pushers who have been pushed aside by Nigerian administrators who dread them like leprosy people.

Goodnight Joe!

I

T’S difficult to put this down. My mind is troubled. I am devastated. I woke up early morning Saturday to write. It’s been a tradition since covering the Nations Cup because I move from one place to another in the day to gather information. A check on my email and behold this message: “My great producer and friend, Joe Ighile slumped on set while presenting Sports Tonight on Friday and passed on!

Joe Ighile is dead”. The message came from his closest friend and colleague, Toyin Ibitoye. Ibitoye is not given to making expensive jokes. Tears welled up in my eyes. How could he die. We left Nigeria on the same Arik aircraft to South Africa and he sat beside me.

At the Oliver Thambo airport while dogs sniffed my luggage and questions asked on why I brought bitter kola to SA, Joe discovered that his luggage was gone. We searched and searched and reported to the relevant authorities to no avail. All the CCTVs could not get the bloody thief.

Our contacts were taken while we set out for the 7hour journey to Mbombela, Nelspruit where the Eagles played their preliminary matches. He wore my clothes as he had nothing to wear.

We joked and at times, I told him not to sweat too much on my cloth since I had not worn it before.

He laughed and we shared a room and shared everything.

A very gentle, humble, honest and hardworking man, Joe loved his family and treated them with respect. He left South Africa to allow Toyin Ibitoye to take over the second leg coverage.

Ibitoye himself had undergone immigration procedures at the Murtala Muhammed Airport when they called to tell him that Ighile slumped on set. The next call was to confirm that he had died.

Ibitoye turned back and cancelled his trip.

May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Joe, how I wish I never saw and tasted your goodness.

Anyway, we shall meet to part no more.

Goodnight!

•Late Ighile

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013 — 55

Afcon 2013 came to a befitting close in Johannesburg last night. Here were some of the exciting moments in pictures. PHOTOS: AFP

•Dancers performing during the 2013 African Cup of Nations closing ceremony yesterday in Johannesburg. PHOTO: AFP

Nigerian soccer fans singing and dancing prior to the final match.

•Nigerian fans blow vuvuzela prior to the 2013 African Cup of Nations final football match between Nigeria and Burkina Faso, yesterday in Johannesburg.

PHOTO: AFP

An excited Nigerian fan pose with a 200 rand note fixed on his Nigerian branded beret cap.

C M Y K

Nigerian fans inside Soccer City Stadium during the final match in Johannesburg.

VANGUARD, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Toro tasks Keshi on W/ Cup qualifiers — Pg 52 Uduaghan, Yomi Jones celebrate Eagles — Pg 52

Keshi dedicates Cup to local coaches •Indicts football administrators

H

ISTORIC Super Eagles Coach Stephen Keshi has dedicated Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations triumph to all indigenous Nigerian coaches, who were treated with lack of respect by sports administrators and fans.

Speaking after the Eagles defeated Burkina Faso 1-0 in the final of the tournament last night, Keshi said that he was fulfilled that his dream of putting smiles on the faces of Nigerians had come true with the team’s success in South Africa.

“It is mainly for my nation. My dream was to make Nigerians happy.

We are not there yet. This is a work in progress but I want to dedicate this to all Nigerian coaches, who have been praying for this. In Africa, they give you a job today and want you to win the World Cup the next day. This cannot work. You have to give

Continues on Page 52

CHAMPION ..... Eagles lift their Coach Stephen Keshi after the team won the Cup yesterday. Photo: AFP

QUICK CROSSWORD

Sudoku TODAY'S

PUZZLE

YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

Across 2 Plunder (5) 7 Only (4) 8 Use (6) 9 Grand (5) 11 Mournful (3) 13 Vehicle (3) 15 Journey (4) 16 Vegetable (3) 18 Curse (4) 19 Adore (7) 20 Shoot (4) 22 Beak (4) 23 Token (7) 25 Rush (4) 27 Fowl (3) 28 Float (4) 30 Stray (3) 31 Ballad (3) 33 Coarse (5) 36 Shrewd (6) 37 Rod (4) 38 Virile (5)

Down 1 Tooth (5) 2 Plead (3) 3 Poem (3) 4 Still (3) 5 Choose (3) 6 Female (5) 10 Confess (4) 11 Height (7) 12 Convey (7) 13 Finance (7) 14 Truth (7) 13 Pocket (5) 17 Pale (5) 18 Chin-cloth (3) 21 Deity (3) 24 Inheritor (4) 26 Delete (5) 29 Defect (5) 32 Strange (3) 33 Jewel (3) 34 Possess (3) 35 Agent (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS Across: 1, Gusto 5, Beheld 8, Adage 10, Inured 11, Alto 14, Target 15, Nomadic 18, Gel 19, Sad 21, Deer 23, Rebel 24, Melt 27, Dim 29, Orb 31, Notable 32, Street 34, Data 35, Earned 38, Ledge 39, Groyne 40, Enter

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

Down: 2, Urn 3, Tartan 4, Ode 5, Beat 6, Hatred 7, Doctor 9, Advised 12, Lag 13, Ogle 16, Ogre 17, Cabin 20, Demoted 22, Evil 24, Musing 25, Lord 26, Treaty 28, Barren 30, Bet 33, Tale 36, Age 37, Ewe

e-mail: rowolove@yahoo.co.uk

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

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

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

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