ANAMBRA GUBER POLL: Police ground traffic to S-East, S-South

...towards a better life for the people

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VOL. 25: NO. 62015

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

My kidnappers wanted me to Iyayi's kinsmen demand join in bank robbery — GUO N50bn compensation Motors boss from Kogi governor 12 P.6

ANAMBRA GUBER POLL:

Police ground traffic to S-East, S-South •Order 3-day closure of all roads •Anambra guber candidates in last-minute campaign

NIGER BRIDGE: TO ‘REST' FOR 3 DAYS?

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR, VINCENT UJUMADU, CHARLES KUMOLU & OKONKWO EZE

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AGOS—Travellers to the South-East and parts of the SouthSouth were, yesterday, put on the alert as the Police High command ordered an unprecedented three-day restriction of movement across Anambra State ahead of tomorrow’s gubernatorial election in the state.

The extraordinary lockdown starting from dusk today is to be lifted by 6 p.m on Sunday, expectedly after the winContinues on page 5

COLUMNIST:

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Mr & Mrs

zFile photo of River Niger Bridge, major gateway to the South-East and South-South will ‘rest ’for three days, starting dusk today.

Revenue: Banks seek new investments 9

17,000 Nigerians seek asylum in Chad, Niger, Cameroon —UNHCR

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POCKET CARTOON

From left: Chairman, Commomwealth Business Council, Mr Mohan Kowl; Vice President Namadi Sambo; Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr Samuel Ortom and Senior Special Adviser to the Vice President on Special Duties, Mr Isaiah Balat, at the Commonwealth Business Forum, during 2013 CHOGM In Colombo,Sri Lanka, yesterday.

ANAMBRA:Police ground traffic to S-East, S-South Continues from page 1 ner of the election would have been announced.

The restriction, according to the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar is part of efforts to ensure free and fair polling under which security details of political office holders would be barred from escorting their principals to election centres.

A statement signed by

the Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters Abuja, CSP Frank Mba said the restrictions were in furtherance of strategies designed to prevent electoral fraud and violence during and after the polls.

The statement, however, noted that “those on essential duties are not affected by this order.”

Abubakar promised

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

How people treat you is their limitation; how you react is yours —Wayne Dyer

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HE capacity of the human heart to forgive is simply amazing, and forgiving constantly is a rejuvenating experience, there is no room for harbouring negativity, and keeping the heart beautiful is uplifting for body and spirit. When you are a “frontage person” by this I mean, someone likable, naturally predisposed to being successful with an amiable personality, no matter how nice you are, you would encounter a lot of loving people and also those in this category the “Haters”. And with this comes a lot of pre-judging about your person. For instance, when I meet anyone, there is an inner communication honed from within as do migrating birds. Most often, I can sense literally, if you like me or are pretending, no matter how well it is masked in a friendly facade.

When you have been unfairly gossiped about for being a carrier of light in all you try to do, you will find a way to protect yourself from these “Haters”.

Always focus your attention on what makes you happy and more creative, don’t let this border you at all. I understand that this is never about me, if a person hate or dislike themselves what room will they have to like or love another, if people are insecure about themselves, they will always find someone to lash out their frustrations upon. In time, they will realize the light is a much better choice to embrace, often they want to be like you with love from the inside, but alas, hate is a cankerworm, it holds firm roots so deep, and they don’t even know where to begin or start anew, but no one can take responsibility for another’s limitation. We always have a choice to live rightly from within.

Everyday, be grateful for life’s blessings and its gifts and do whatever you can to make your life beautiful and meaningful, and be there for others.

that the state would be heavily policed to ensure a smooth and orderly conduct of the election.

The statement reiterated that only Police personnel specifically assigned for election duties must be seen within and around election designated places.

It further said: “The Force High Command notes that the restriction order is informed by the exigencies of overriding security considerations.

“The Force is not ignorant of the citizen’s right to freedom of movement, as enshrined in the constitution; it however insists that this is a preemptive measure aimed at forestalling elaborate plans by faceless groups to undermine the electoral process as gathered through intelligence reports.

While regretting the difficulties the restrictions would cause travellers going through Anambra State to other parts of the country, the police said the restriction was fashioned towards ensuring “a seamless, credible and successful gubernatorial election.

“The Force also suggests that travellers should take advantage of alternate routes to their destinations where necessary within the days this order is in Force.”

Anambra guber: The frontliners

Meanwhile, the Anambra gubernatorial

contest with 23 contestants was itself running into a dead heat with three of the major candidates, Willie Obiano of the All Progressive Grand Alliance; Senator Chris Ngige of the All Progressives Congress and Tony Nwoye of the Peoples Democratic Party, emerging in the frontline. Chief Ifeanyi Ubah, was, however, raving his campaign as he made a last minute push, yesterday, for votes in Anambra North where Nwoye’s emergence as a contender radically altered permutations in favour of Obiano.

The political trajectory for the Obiano campaign was, yesterday, spiked with more legal troubles arising from allegations of the candidate’s multiple voter’s registration.

Following complaints from court bailiffs on difficulties in serving Obiano and APGA court summons on a suit seeking to disqualify him based on the allegations of multiple registration, an Onitsha High Court ordered that Obiano and APGA be served with substituted service. The judge, however, deferred hearing on a motion seeking INEC to make public Obiano’s registration particulars public till January 16, 2014.

The APC meanwhile, yesterday accused both the ruling APGA and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC of working separately to stop the party’s candidate, Chris Ngige from winning the election.

Also, the candidates were, yesterday, rounding up campaigns on the last available day for campaigning. Besides holding strategic meetings with major stakeholders, all four major candidates crisscrossed the state in a last day of campaigning.

Nnewi, in Anambra South, the home base of Chief Ubah was a strong attraction for the PDP and APGA candidates who separately visited the town yesterday. Expectations of a clash between the supporters of the candidates converging on the industrial town did not materialize as the campaigns were conducted smoothly.

The belated emergence of Nwoye as the official candidate of the PDP, it was learnt, has also radically altered the electoral permutations with the candidate of the ruling party, Obiano now battling for votes at home with Nwoye. Both are from the same Anambra East local government area.

Obiano's prospects

was, nevertheless, being boosted by the strong endorsement of the outgoing governor, Mr. Peter Obi who is campaigning strenuously for him across the state and battling the candidate of the APC, Senator Ngige in his home region in Anambra Central.

Ubah, the candidate of the Labour Party was also putting himself in reckoning with deep incursions into the territory of his major rivals in Anambra North. Yesterday, Ubah made a last minute swing through Onitsha with the hope of drawing support from Nwoye and Obiano's strongholds.

Nwoye and other stakeholders held a meeting at the Geo Gold Hotel, Awka to review the campaign.

Ngige addressed rallies at various markets in Nkpor, Onitsha, Obosi, Nnewi and Awka.

Ubah held a rally in his home town, Nnewi.

Obiano, the APGA candidate also visited markets in Onitsha, Okpoko, Ogbaru, Obosi, Nnewi.

In Nnewi, what could have resulted in a clash between APGA and LP was averted as Governor Obi was said to have directed APGA supporters to leave the venue for LP. It was after LP left the venue at Nkwo Nnewi triangle that APGA returned to the venue and held its rally.

Nwoye’s campaign meanwhile was being boosted by last minute endorsements and inflow of money with reports that N2 million had been earmarked for voter mobilization in each of the 327 wards of the state.

Among those who endorsed the former student unionist yesterday was Princess Blessing Ulasi, a former contender for the governorship on the platform of the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA who directed her supporters to vote for the PDP candidate, Nwoye.

APC in a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its Interim Na-

tional Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said everything on ground in Anambra suggested that the election would be rigged. ‘’Rightly or wrongly in our country, institutions of state take a cue from the President’s body language. They know that members of the ruling PDP who engaged in electoral malfeasance and brigandage during last month’s Delta Central Senatorial election were not punished. They know that security agencies that turned themselves to the armed wing of the PDP were not sanctioned. In this context, therefore, the President’s promise of a free and fair election will not mean much to those bent on repeating same in Anambra,’’ it said.

APC also said the fact that one of the candidates in Saturday’s election, Willie Obiano of APGA, has continued to evade justice despite a glaring electoral offence committed by him, through his proven multiple registration, does not give anyone much confidence that INEC can indeed be trusted to ensure a level-playing field for all the parties. ‘’President Jonathan should be careful in staking the credibility of his high office on these elections. His promise of free and fair elections in Ondo did not materialize, as the world knows, and the unprecedented electoral heist in Delta does not back up his administration’s claim that the country’s electoral architecture has improved under his watch. ‘’That is why we say the President must walk the talk. He should know that talk is cheap. If the institutions of state that have any role to play in the election fail to live up to that role, and the ruling party continues to engage in a flagrant abuse of office by stealing votes in the most blatant of manners, then the President’s promise of a free and fair election would have been rubbished,’’ the party said.

6—Vanguard , FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Suspected pirates kill headmaster, snatch teachers' salary in Bayelsa

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

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ENAGOA — ARMED men suspected to be sea pirates have reportedly attacked a passenger boat along the Aleibiri-Tuomo waterway bordering Bayelsa and Delta, killing a headmaster and carted away salaries of teachers in Foutogbene community in Ekeremor council area of Bayelsa State.

The deceased was identified as Weky Akparakazi. He was the head teacher of Community Primary School, Foutorugbene, Ekeremor Council Area.

A top management staff of the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, who confirmed the report, yesterday, said the attack occurred on November 9 at about 9.45pm.

Among those who reportedly sustained machete cut during the attack was Mr. Daula Garuwa of Isampou community and a former Education Secretary of the Ekeremor Council Area.

The pirates were said to have attacked the boat and unleash mayhem on the passengers and dispossessed them of their cash and valuables including the teachers’ salary.

The injured passengers, it was learnt, were pushed into the water by the bandits and the speedboat upturned after dismantling the outboard engine.

Some close associates of the deceased headmaster expressed shock at the news of his untimely death.

“He was with us and visited some of his friends along the Imgbi road area. He came for the teachers' salaries. He left and was in a good mood,” one of his friends lamented.

Contacted, spokesman of the state police command, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, said he was not aware of it as he was away on vacation.

My kidnappers nearly forced me to join in bank robbery —GUO Motors boss zSays he used CBN directive to propose N30m ransom started taking shots one after the other and I asked them to give me and they asked whether I knew what the substance was all about and I replied yes and they gave me and I also drank.

“While they were taking the substance, they were discussing how to carry out a bank robbery operation at Awka that same afternoon. They told me that with the Odieshi, I could join them for the operation but I told them that if the police and soldiers happened to confront them, I would join the police and army in disarming them and their leader now directed that I should be left out of it."

BY OKONKWO EZE

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NITSHA — THE Chair man of G. U. O. Motors Limited, Chief Godwin Ubaka Okeke, yesterday, told an Onitsha High Court in Anambra State, presided over by Justice Chudi Nwankwo, that his kidnappers nearly forced him to join them in a bloody bank robbery operation which they carried out while he was still their hostage.

This came a day after they kidnapped him for ransom in Onitsha on Sunday, August 23, 2009.

At a resumed hearing of his evidence-in-chief, yesterday, Okeke who said he was later released on Monday evening between 7 and 8 p.m, a day after his abduction, gave a blow-byblow account of his encounter with them in their various camps.

Okeke told the court: “Few hours after my breadfruit meal with them on that fateful Sunday afternoon at a bungalow between Adazi-Enu and Neni, when I offered them N1 billion, as against N100 million they demanded, which made them to have a special joy and went into a relaxed mood, I now settled down for serious negotiation with them.

The CBN directive “I reminded them of the newly introduced CBN policy which stated that all those who were heavily indebted to various commercial banks in the country would have their names published in the national dailies and at the same time, have their accounts in the banks frozen.

“I told them that it was left for them to accept whatever amount my wife could mop up before the bank could freeze all my accounts in the bank since I was actually heavily indebted to many banks in the country.

"I specifically told them that my wife could mobilise at least something in the neighbourhood of N30 million for now.

“On hearing me mention some-

Ransom payment and release

Chief Godwin Okeke, GUO Motors boss thing like N30 million only, the second defendant, Anthony Ifeanyi Okafor, became furious at once and hammered an enlarged photograph on my head. Not satisfied with that, Okafor picked up a machete and pierced my left hand and blood started gushing out and I used his handkerchief to tie the wounded hand, just like I used my shirt to tie my bullet wounded leg.

“At that point, a woman carrying a child on her back entered the compound to visit the owners, but her entry rattled them so much so that they wanted to grip her but she managed to wriggle herself out of the compound and in an attempt to track her down, Okafor’s gun dropped on the ground and started firing by itself.

“Following the bangs from the firing gun, the gang leader blamed Okafor for his carelessness and at once, all of them hurriedly packed their weapons into their vehicles and left the compound for another, somewhere in Adazi-Nnukwu.

“They remained there for few

hours and left again for Ozubulu in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of the state, driving through Nnobi/Nnewi road where they snatched at least three vehicles.

On getting to Ozubulu at about 10 p.m, I requested them to allow me time to sleep and they did and I dozed off.

“About 1 a.m, on Monday, they woke me up, drove off again and landed at a very big farmland at Amenyi, Awka around 4 a.m. At about noon, I requested them to give me lunch and my blood pressure, BP, drugs to take.

“They asked me what I would like to eat for lunch and what type of drug and I told them fried rice and chicken and Venox drug for my BP. They quickly arranged for the food and drug which I took.

They nearly involved me in bank robbery “After that, the kidnappers, numbering up to 16, gathered, brought out a liquid substance mixed up with roots, herbs and native hot drink which I suspected to be protective charm (Odieshi) and

Woman, 28, jailed 2 months for hemp dealing

BY BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

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AGOS — A Federal High Court, Lagos, yesterday sentenced a 28-year-old woman, Idowu Oguntimirin, to prison for dealing on 800 kilogramme of illicit drugs (cannabis sativa).

Presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, sentenced Oguntimiri to two months im-

prisonment after she pleaded guilty to the charge.

The convict was convicted and sentenced for dealing on illicit drug and the sentence will run with effect from September 9, 2013.

According the prosecutor, Orji Kalu, the convict who lives in Ikorodu was slammed with a count charge of dealing on prohibited drugs ille-

gally.

“She was imprisoned for dealing on the said narcotic drug which is similar to cocaine, heroin and LSD without lawful authority. The offence is contrary to and punishable under section 11(c) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap N30 laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004,” Kalu said.

On how ransom was paid and his eventual release, Okeke said: “They squeezed me inside one of the vehicles with four of them, while the rest took off for the bank robbery. The four of them with me were patrolling around Agulu/ Nibo/Nise road inside the vehicle.

“While on patrol, they were establishing contact with my family members over the ransom and at the same time establishing contact with those on bank robbery, until they now told my family where to drop the ransom. They even gave me phone to listen to the blasts at the bank premises during the operation and I actually heard the heavy sound of weapons.

“Before my family members arrived the designated venue which was close to Neni police station to drop the ransom, some of their members who went for the bank robbery operation had returned. When eventually my family members arrived with the ransom at about 7 p.m., they shoved off my driver from the wheel and collected the money, my Toyota SUV with which the ransom was brought and zoomed off, telling me and my driver to go home with one of the vehicles they snatched from someone else.

“As they left with my SUV and the ransom, they forgot one of their rocket launchers inside the snatched vehicle and I decided to drive straight to Neni police station to make an entry. Policemen actually admitted hearing the sounds of the guns but pleaded that they don't have enough manpower and matching sophisticated weapons to confront the kidnappers.

“I now pleaded with the policemen to escort me home which they did by driving me and my driver to my residence at Onitsha with the snatched vehicle while they took the vehicle and the rocket launcher back to the police station.”

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013—7

Judge bars journalists from Osun commissioner's case

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

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Flooded Alagba Street in Orile Iganmu community in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Eight patients slump on free medicare queue in Yola

BY UMAR YUSUF

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OLA — AT least eight patients, most of them in critical condition, collapsed while awaiting medical attention at the official flag off of a week-long free medical attention sponsored by the member representing Yola North, Yola South and Girei Federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hajiya Aishatu Ahmad.

The free medical mission which attracted thousands of people with different ailments was flagged off at the state specialist hospital, Yola.

The patients, who were on queue for over six hours awaiting the commencement of the ceremony, allegedly collapsed due to tiredness.

Two of the collapsed patients, who were hurriedly moved to the Out Patient Department of the hospital were victims of snake bite.

The others, among them two women, were vomiting uncontrollably.

Thousands of other patients who were on queue expressed disgust at the way the organisers of the free medical services attached more importance to the opening ceremony than saving lives of the patients.

Declaring the ceremony open, Hajiya Aishatu Dahiru

Ahmed announced that the week-long free medical mission would treat 450 cataract cases, give 1,100 reading glasses, 2,000 hepatitis B and 4,000 HIV/AIDS cases.

Former Minister of State for Health, Dr. Ali Pate, who was the chairman of the occasion,

Cholera claims 12 lives in Otukpo, 80 others hospitalised

BY PETER DURU

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AKURDI — THE death toll in the recent cholera outbreak in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State has continued to rise with the epidemic claiming 12 more lives, including women and children.

Also, at least 80 victims of the epidemic are now receiving treatment at the Otukpo General Hospital and few private hospitals in the town.

Vanguard gathered that the disease which earlier broke out in Otukpo Wards 1 and 2 had as at yesterday spread to four council wards which include Allan Akpa,

Otobi Akpa and Ewulo A nurse at the Otukpo General Hospital, who preferred anonymity, told Vanguard that the disease had reached an epidemic level in the town.

She said: “Since we noticed the first outbreak of the disease in Otukpo main town, some few weeks ago, the ailment has continued to spread to other parts of the council and the fear is that it is becoming excessively prevalent.

“There is hardly a day that we do not record new cases of the disease in the hospital and most of the patients are usually from the main town.

My hubby has excessive urge — Divorce-seeking housewife

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A R A R A B A (NASARAWA) — A HOUSEWIFE, Lami Shaibu, yesterday, urged a Grade 1 Area Court, Aso Pada, Mararaba, Nasarawa State, to dissolve her marriage to her blind husband, Ibrahim, for alleged excessive sexual urge.

Lami, 38, of Aso Pada told the court that she was no longer interested in the 15-month-old marriage.

She said: “I urge the court to dissolve this marriage because

expressed regret that malnutrition was taking its toll on the society due to the increasing poverty rate and urged political office holders to provide the needed three square means to Nigerians, especially children.

I can’t stand his excessive sexual urge. He likes sex too much, I can’t bear it.

“Since I got married to him, there is no peace in the house, he always beats me, he doesn’t forgive and does not provide food for the house.

“Most times, he would have sex with me from midnight till early hours of the morning, even when I am crying, he will not stop.”

Lami said: “It is because of his too much sexual demands that made me to move away from him.

I now stay at my marriage guardian’s house at Aso Pada, Mararaba.”

Ibrahim, 56, who resides at the same address with Lami, denied the allegation, saying: “I still love her with the whole of my heart.

“I, therefore, urge the court to give me time to reconcile with my wife. I believe she and I can settle the matter amicably.”

The judge, Malam Danladi Musa, adjourned the case to November 18, for settlement or continuation of hearing.

“The situation at the hinterlands and neighbouring villages is even worst because we hear daily of new cases and deaths in these communities. And the figure keeps rising due mainly to lack of proper medicare for victims.

“Our fear is that in the last few days we have recorded about 12 deaths while over 80 persons are receiving treatment in the hospital and if the government does not act fast we might be faced with a pandemic with its attendant consequences on the health of the people of the town."

Contacted, the Otukpo local government council chairman, Dr. Innocent Onuh, who is also a medical doctor, said his council had commenced free distribution of necessary drugs to hospitals and patients within the council.

He said: “Apart from that, we have also intensified publicity around the town, informing the people on the need for them to boil their water before drinking.

“As for the number of deaths, I cannot specifically tell you now because most of the cases are being recorded at the hinterlands.

But we are also collaborating with the state government and the state ministry of health to stem the diseases. I can assure you that we are on top of the situation right.”

AGOS — JUSTICE O. A. Adefope-Okojie of an Ikeja High Court, yesterday, ordered newsmen covering a civil case involving Osun State Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Special Needs, Stephen Kola-Balogun out of the court.

Mr. Kola-Balogun and his wife, Taiwo, were dragged before the court by Justice Adeniyi Francis AdetokunboAdemola who claimed the couple had refused to pay the rent due on his property located at 51C, Oduduwa Crescent, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos as well as give up possession of the property.

At the resumed hearing of the case, however, the commissioner tendered documents to show he had fulfilled his tenancy obligations by paying the rent.

However, he complained to the court that he had suffered some media attack over the case, asking for the protection of the court by not allowing newsmen to observe the proceedings.

After a few questions, the trial judge requested journalists to leave. Subsequently, the matter was thereafter adjourned till December 6, 2013.

Landlord docked for assault on tenant

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AGOS — A 53-year-old landlord, Olumide Tomisin, was yesterday charged before an Isheri Magistrates’ Court in Lagos for assaulting his tenant.

Tomisin, who lives at 35, Kola Amodu St, Magodo in Shangisha, Lagos, is facing a three-count charge of assault, breach of peace and damages.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty.

The Prosecutor, Inspector Nurudeen Thomas, told the court that the accused committed the offences on November 8 at 35, Kola Amodu St., Magodo in Shangisha, Lagos, at about 1:55 a.m.

Thomas explained that “the accused assaulted one of his tenants, Akinyemi Owolabi, who was mediating between him and his wife during a quarrel.

“The accused gave the tenant a blow in the right eye that led to a swollen eye and also threatened to kill the tenant with a knife."

8—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Inflation drops by 0.2%

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HE National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, says inflation rate in October dropped by 0.2 per cent to 7.8 per cent from the 8.0 per cent recorded in September.

This was contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the StatisticianGeneral of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale.

He said: “In October, the Consumer Price Index, CPI, which measures inflation, rose by 7.8 per cent year-onyear, a 0.2 per cent point lower than the 8.0 per cent recorded in September.

“Rates recorded in October indicate a continually downward trend for the 10th consecutive month. This is also the lowest rate recorded in the index since March 2008.

“Food prices continued to trend lower for the third consecutive month as a result of the harvest season that traditionally begins in July of the year.”

According to NBS, the harvest has weighed on prices in the bread and cereals, meat, fish and dairy classes.

It said that while prices in the potatoes, yam and other tubers classes remained unchanged, prices strengthened in the oils and fats, fruits and vegetables classes.

INTER-FAITH CONFERENCE: Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III (left) and His Eminence, John Cardinal Onayekan, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Abuja, at the inter-faith mini conference in Abuja. PHOTO: Gbemiga Olamikan.

IG: DPO who invaded G-7 govs' meeting “was doing his job”

BY EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

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BUJA— THE InspectorGeneral of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday, denied asking a Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Mr. Nnanna Ama, to disrupt the meeting of the G-7 governors at Kano Lodge, Abuja.

He told the House Committee on Police Affairs investigating the matter that he never directed anybody to barge into the meeting of the

governors, even as he denied the allegation that he was biased in the crisis rocking Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Vanguard recalls that the House had, last week, ordered the IGP to appear before the committee over alleged partiality of the police in the PDP crisis.

The chamber, in a resolution, said the IG had some explanation to give over the role played by Ama, the DPO in charge of Asokoro, Abuja, during the meeting of the G-7

governors. The motion was raised by Idris Kutigi (Niger PDP).

Kutigi’s motion, entitled Impunity and Disregard for the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended) by the Nigerian Police, was co-sponsored by 60 other PDP members. All sponsors of the motion belong to the Alhaji Kawu Baraje-led PDP faction.

The motion was triggered by the alarm raised by governors that their meeting

Senate probes N135bn Police reform funds

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU & JOSEPH ERUNKE

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BUJA— THE Senate has begun full-scale investigation into alleged N135 billion said to have been injected into the Nigeria Police in the last three years as part of measures to reform the force.

Specifically, the controversial amount was said to have been pumped into the force between 2011 and 2013 by the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration with a view to repositioning the Police following public outcry over its poor funding in the past.

The Senate directed its committee on Police Affairs to immediately commence probe of the management of the

funds and report back in the shortest possible time.

The Senate action came after heated debate on a motion tagged Reforming the Nigeria Police, brought before it by Senator Abubakar Tutare (PDP, Taraba Central), on the level of funding and implementation of the Nigeria Police Force Reform Programme.

Senator Tutare, who is the Vice Chairman of Senate Committee on Police Affairs, noted that over the years, the Nigeria Police was neglected in terms of offices, residential accommodation, kits, vehicles, arms and communication equipment.

The funds

He observed that arising from this development, the Federal Government initiated

a Police Reform Programme to provide “all it takes to overhaul the Police and make it more professional, effective and efficient in the discharge of their duties with a take-off grant of N75 billion.”

He said the government followed up with appropriation of N25 billion, N15 billion and N22 billion in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 budgets, respectively.

The Senator regretted that despite the take-off grant and the provision of a total of N57 billion appropriated between 2011 and 2013, “there is still nothing to show that the reform agenda is ongoing in the Nigeria Police Force.”

Contributing earlier to the debate, Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross River Central), said beyond poor funding, the Nigeria

Police was facing a problem which he referred to as “structural defect,” noting that the situation called for the creation of state Police to ensure effective policing of the country.

He said: “The mentality of the Police is still rooted in our colonial history. No matter how much you bring you are not going to change the Police.

“The idea of a single Police for all the country is inconsistent with a federal system. This motion affords us the opportunity to restructure the Police in line to what is obtainable in federalism.”

Senator Smart Adeyemi (PDP, Kogi West), said there was the need to review the way the Police funds were being managed to ensure adequate welfare for police personnel.

was disrupted by police authorities.

At yesterday ’s session, Mohammed said he could not have asked any of his officers to go after the G-7 governors because his primary assignment is to maintain law and order in the country.

‘Nobody sent him’

“The DPO was not sent by anybody,” Mohammed said, explaining that what transpired between the G-7 governors and the DPO could not be described as disruption of meeting.

According to him, the DPO, as the officer in charge of the area, had the right to know what was going on in his domain.

The IGP said: “He is the DPO of the area. If anything happens he would be held responsible. He was doing his job.”

He stressed that the governors’ meeting continued after their short interaction with the DPO and wondered why the public was misled into believing that the meeting was disrupted.

Chairman of the Committee, Usman Kumho, said the IGP was invited for a clear understanding of what transpired at the meeting.

He said the Police cannot afford to be biased in the PDP crisis or any issue in the country, and urged Mohammed to always think about the implication of any action before taking it.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013—9

Suspension of Oyinlola, Baraje, Jaja in line with PDP's constitution— METUH zSays party yet to receive Appeal Court judgment

BY HENRY UMORU

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BUJA— THE national leadership of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday, defended the suspension of former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was last week Wednesday reinstated as National Secretary of the party through a judgment by an Appeal Court sitting in Abuja, saying that the action was carried out in strict compliance with the party’s constitution.

Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, who insisted that the party was yet to receive the Appeal Court judgment, hinged the suspension of Oyinlola and others by the Bamanga Tukur-led National Working Committee, NWC, on Article 57 (3) of the party’s constitution.

He said the article “expressly empowers the national working committee, NWC, to suspend anybody at the national level and to refer the matter to the disciplinary committee.”

Metuh noted that it will be out of place for anyone to expect the party to go to the court to beg to be given or served the court judgment as it was not a charitable organisation.

He also accused Oyinlola of wasting time and not serving the party the judgment, adding that he slept over his right.

He said: “There is no selfhelp. PDP is not a charitable organisation to help people settle down. He was negligent enough not to serve us the court judgment.

“He slept over his right. If someone sleeps over his right, we cannot help. We have not been served the court judgment. PDP cannot act on what it has not seen.”

PDP’s law

According to him, Article 57 (3)section 57 (3) of the party constitution, 2012, as amended says, “the Working Committee, at any level of the party, and the executive committee (at the Ward Level) may, after preliminary hearings, suspend a member from the party for a period not exceeding one month, during which period the member so suspended shall lose his right to contest any election, and shall be referred to the appropriate disciplinary committee.”

It will be recalled that the crisis rocking the party got

messier on Monday as the national leadership of the party suspended Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

Also suspended alongside Oyinlola were chairman of the splinter group of the party and former Acting National Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje; the group’s Deputy Chairman, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja; and the National Vice-Chairman, North-West, Ambassador Ibrahim Kazaure.

Disclosing the decision of the Bamanga Tukur-led NWC, Metuh who cited Section 58(I) had said, “subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the party shall have power to discipline any member, who says or does anything likely to

bring the party into disrespect, hatred or contempt; engages in disorderly conduct at meetings or rallies or at any party functions; “Engages in any conduct likely to cause disaffection among members of the party or is likely to disrupt the peaceful, lawful and efficient conduct of the business of the party; engages in unauthorised publicity of disputes within the party or creates a parallel party organ at any level.

‘NWC can act for NEC’

“Also, PDP NWC can act on behalf of NEC and take decisions on behalf of NEC as stated in Article 29 (2b) that

‘in case of emergency, the NWC act on behalf of the National Executive Committee subject to ratification by the National Executive Committee, NEC.” Speaking further, yesterday, Metuh, described claims by Oyinlola and members of the Abubakar Baraje splinter group that their suspension was mischievous as “a selective reading of our constitution.”

The PDP spokesperson also accused Oyinlola, Baraje and Jaja of adopting selective amnesia in handling the issue of suspension slammed on them by the party, saying that the party has only one constitution that was applicable to everyone.

PRAYER FOR SARAKI: From left— Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State; Senator Adamu Abdullahi (Nassarawa); Senator Abubakar Saraki (Kwara State) and Senator Danjuma Goje (Gombe State), at the one year remembrance prayer for late Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki at Ilorin Central Mosque, Ilorin, yesterday.

Senate refers Oduah to c'ttee on aviation

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU & JOSEPH ERUNKE

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BUJA— THE Senate, yesterday, changed its initial resolution on the Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah, to appear before the plenary and explain how the aviation industry was run, as it now directed that the minister should appear before the Committee on Aviation.

The senate had in a resolution summoned the minister to appear on the floor of the senate to give her stewardship on how the ministry is run with special concern on the air crashes that had taken place since she started overseeing the activities of the ministry.

However, in a resolution after the motion sponsored by the Senate Leader, Chief Victor Ndoma-Egba, and supported by the Minority Whip, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, the senate rescinded its earlier position that the minister and the chief executives of aviation parastatals should appear at the upper legislative chamber during plenary.

In the resolution, the senate said: “That the Minister of Aviation and chief executives of aviation parastatals brief the Senate Committee on Aviation on the state of the aviation sector on the high number of incidents in the country.”

REVENUE: Banks seek new investments

BY OMOH GABRIEL, Business Editor

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ANKS are facing a dip in profit as a result of new measures introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to help the country’s real sector and partly designed to get banks to lend more to domestic businesses and consumers.

The banking sector, which was bailed out in a 2009 financial crisis, had just started to make the pre-crisis profits by mopping up government deposits and

using the cash to buy highyielding treasury bonds.

As a result, the banks have had little incentive to lend to Nigeria’s real economy.

It will be recalled that HSBC had earlier in the year reported that four Nigerian banks may lose N88 billion in revenue to the proposed phase out of Commission on Turnover, COT, charges.

This may give rise to a minimum rate on savings accounts that could raise interest expense by the banks to N22 billion in 2013, HSBC

report on four out of the 24 Nigerian banks had revealed.

The report, which has been circulated among foreign portfolio investors, said that banks operating in the country will struggle to fully offset negative pressure on revenues as cost of risk starts to increase as loan growth recovers due to tighter regulation of fees and cost of savings account since the beginning of the year.

The report focused its search light on FirstBank, GtBank, UBA and Zenith Bank.

The HSBC report said that

Nigerian banks will be under stronger pressure to improve operating costs in order to preserve returns.

The report singled out Zenith Bank as the bank that is most sensitive to rising cost of savings account and can hold its cost better than its competitors, as well as having better cost control and asset quality.

It said that better cost control is the only way for Nigerian banks to mitigate reduction in the sector profitability, but high fixed cost base would limit efficiency gains.

10—Vanguard, RIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Lagos to relocate computer village to Kantogowa Internet City soon

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

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AGOS — THE Lagos State Government, yesterday, said arrangements had been concluded to relocate all computer dealers in soft and hard wares to Kantogowa Internet City, in Oke Odo area of the state, in the first quarter of 2014.

It also said the Close Circuit TV cameras installed across the state by the Federal Government, had since been activated for effective surveillance and crime monitoring.

Lagos Assembly goes tough on MDAs budget defence

BY EBUN SESSOU

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AGOS — LAGOS State House of Assembly has called on all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, in the state to appear before it to defend allocations earmarked for them in the 2014 budget.

The House during the second reading of the budget estimates committed it to the Committee on Economic Planning and Budget for further legislative procedures which included inviting Ministries, Departments and Agencies to defend their proposed allocations.

From left, Engr. Nebolise Emodi, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transport; Senator Umar Idris, Minister of Transport, host; Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, chief host, and Mr. Kayode Opeifa, Commissioner for Transport, Lagos State, during the 13th National Council on Transport: 'Transformation of Transport Infrastructure, Catalyst for Socioeconomic Growth, at Civic Centre, Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez

Fashola dares FG over link bridge, ferry service

BY GODFREY BIVBERE & IFEYINWA OBI

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AGOS — LAGOS State governor, Babatunde Fashola has said his administration will go ahead with the construction of the Lekki link bridge without waiting for Federal Government approval.

Also, he said he will not seek for any approval before embarking on the state ferry service.

Governor Fashola spoke in Lagos, yesterday, during the 13th National Council on Transportation, with the theme 'Transformation of Transport Infrastructure as a Catalyst for Socio economic Growth.'

According to Fashola, it was absurd for an agency like the National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, to require his

A

CLERIC in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Goke Aniyeloye has expressed hope that President Goodluck Jonathan’s proposed National Conference will be a success, despite all odds.

Aniyeloye, who is the Assistant Pastor in charge of the Province 40 said this while addressing reporters ahead of RCCG, Province 40 monthly programme with the theme: 'Wipe Away Tears,' scheduled for Wednesday, November 27, 2013 at RCCG

organs for implementing government policy but parastatals can also be the cog in the wheel of progress."

The management of NIWA had earlier threatened to drag the Lagos State government to court over its perceived usage of the waterfront in Lekki without its approval.

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AGOS STATE Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, yesterday, flagged off the Lagos Liveable City Conference 2013, declaring that in grappling with challenges of managing the Mega City that Lagos had become the well-being of the people including the man on the

…warns customers on refurbished phones

BY EMEKAAGINAM

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AGOS — TELECOMS regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, yesterday, warned that equipment vendors, network

Testimony Chapel, Anwo Akute, Ogun State.

He said Nigerians should not discredit the conference because of the failure of previous ones, arguing that if the conference was properly handled it would bring about justice, development and fairness to the citizenry.

Urging Nigerians to support the conference and elevate it beyond a talkshop, the cleric advised the advisory committee to see every Nigerian as one and not to treat any tribe or ethnic group as minority.

operators, original equipment manufacturers, and any legitimate entity with legal business in the nation’s telecoms market must comply with both local and international standards in relations to equipment type approval.

Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah stated this in his remarks during a oneday sensitisation workshop on equipment type approval in Lagos.

He told telecoms stakeholders at the forum that the workshop was important as it addressed issues of health and safety as well as quality of service challenges as a result of non-approved or sub-standard phones and other devices in the industry.

At the workshop with the theme, ‘Equipment Type Approval: A mandatory Regulation Tool for Safe Telecom Industry,' the EVC, who was

Speaking, Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, supported Fashola's arguments on the economic benefits of developing a multi-modal transport sector, and noted ongoing efforts at strengthening the legislative framework for reforming the transport sector. transport sector and allow for

...assures of liveable Lagos

Telecoms equipment must comply with local, global standards, says NCC

'National Confab ‘ll be successful'

BY OLAYINKA LATONA

administration to apply for a permit to build the Lekki link bridge over the Lagos lagoon or to develop municipal water transportation facilities, which would be beneficial to Lagosians.

He said: “I believe that each state has the capacity to operate and manage its municipal water transport, inside the territory of the state.

"I find it difficult a situation, where NIWA asks me to come and take up a permit before I set up a jetty on my own lagoon; we will not stand for it. I also find it objectionable, where NIWA suggests to me that before we can build the Lekki link bridge, over a lagoon inside Lagos, I should come and take a permit to build a bridge for the citizens of Lagos; we will not apply for it.

"Parastatals are important

represented by B.M. Sani, Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity warned that OEMs or anybody importing telecoms equipment who failed to comply with type approval requirements would face penalties.

“The Commission was aware of the proliferation of substandard phones and other equipment by unpatriotic elements in the society which are not only detrimental to human health but also contribute to the poor quality of service in the industry,” the EVC said.

Juwah disclosed that his commission, more determined to improve compliance with industry standards by all players in the industry, had strengthened Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement activities of the commission by creating a fullfledged department headed by a director.

street, who remained the central focus of government.

The Governor, who spoke at the opening of the conference with the theme, 'Preparing for the Mental and Social Health Needs of the Lagos Megacity,' explained that the project of governance in a mega city “is first and lastly for the people and about the people including the man on the street who must be able to live in it.

"He must be able to breathe in it. He must be able to dream in it – dream for himself, for his family, for his succeeding generations.

He must be safe in it.”

According to the Governor, doing so, however, required that, “he must know the rules of engagement in the defining transactions of his city – including his interactions with the law enforcement agents, his financial institutions, his moral and religious institutions."

Governor Fashola challenged the participants to come up with ideas and implementable suggestions on the listed matters, noting that he was already thinking about the structures that could be put in place to carry the inter-ministerial, cross-territorial project forward, beyond the deliberations of the conference.

He recalled the experience of a particular person who migrated to Lagos some years ago with no possessions, but just a beautiful voice and who had succeeded in living a respectable life, describing his experience as a symptom of the liveability in Lagos.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013—11

Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko with Mrs. Ese Falae (2nd left), widow of the late Ondo State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mr. Deji Falae, during the wake-keep service for the late Commissioner, at Adegbemile Cultural Centre, Akure.

Mrs. Ese Falae, and her children.

Deji Falae buried amid tears

BY DAYO JOHNSON

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KURE — TEARS flowed freely from the high and the low in Akure, the Ondo State capital as the remains of the former Culture and Tourism Commissioner, Ayodeji Olaniran Falae was buried yesterday.

The deceased former Commissioner was the second son of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae.

Deji, as he was fondly called, died alongside 14 others who accompanied the corpse of the former Governor Olusegun Agagu from Lagos to Akure for burial on October 3.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko, his wife

Olukemi both in dark glasses, members of the State Executive Council, clergymen, party members, friends, journalists and family members could not control their emotions as they wept profusely during the church service at St David’s Cathedral Church, Ijomu Akure.

Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi was represented at the burial by his Commissioner for Integration and Inter-governmental Affairs, Mr. Funminiyi Afuye Deji’s wife of 14 years, Ese and their three children, Ayomide, Omowonuola and Oreoluwa looked intermittently at the golden casket in which the deceased laid and shook their heads in disbelief.

FUNERAL: Cross-section of late Olatunji Okusanya's families, during the Order of Funeral Service for late Mr. Olatunji Abimbola Okusanya (Jnr.), at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos. Photo: Diran Oshe

Why we failed to reconcile Fayemi, Oni — Ekiti elders

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

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DO EKITI — MEMBERS of the socio- political group, E 11 have explained how the group made a futile bid to reconcile Governor Kayode Fayemi and his predecessor in office, Engr.

Segun Oni. The Chairman of the association, Mr. Femi Ajiniran, who spoke in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, during the activities marking the 10th anniversary of the group, said both Fayemi and Oni were members of the group Ajiniran noted that E11 was

not formed because of politics, saying, however, that it encouraged its members to go for politics.

“We tried to intervene, yes, the two men are our members.

But at a point we were helpless, we allowed them to

seek justice in the court “It is all about politics, two friends may disagree politically after the election they come together, even, husband and wife do disagree,” he said.

The group, however, detested in a strong terms, the killing

of Mr. Foluso Ogundare by yet to be identified gun men in Emure Ekiti, calling on the Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar to go the extra mile to bring the culprits to book.

....You are shielding criminals, Adeyeye tells Fayemi

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FENIFERE CHIEFTAIN and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Prince Dayo Adeyeye has described as face saving, comment by Governor Fayemi that he won’t shield the

murderer of 34 year old Foluso Ogundare, killed in Emure Ekiti 11 days ago.

Adeyeye said the governor should rather demonstrate his respect for the sanctity of human

lives by stopping alleged frustration of the trial of the State Interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Jide Awe and others being tried for alleged involvement in the murder of Ayo Murphy Jeje and Mrs. Juliana Adewumi.

Fayemi had said Governor’s Office, Ibadan. while speaking to The former cabinet was newsmen in Ado dissolved on September 23 Ekiti, Tuesday night that he would not for alleged disloyalty.

According to him, the shield any of his pressure was borne out of aides or supporters the willingness of several found connected indigenes to serve his with the murder of 34 year old Foluso administration.

He advised the new Ogundare in Emure appointees to be mindful of Ekiti recently.

He also appealed the fact that they were selected out of the several to members of his other people who were party, APC, to allow equally qualified, able and peace to reign in the willing, and then put in State in the face of their best to justify their provocation. appointment.

New exco: I was under pressure — Ajimobi

BY OLA AJAYI

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BADAN — GOVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State confirmed, yesterday, he was under serious pressure from all sections of the public to field their nominees, before the appointment of the new Commissioners and Special Advisers.

He said this at the swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed Special Advisers at the Executive Council Chamber of the

Egba economic seminar holds

F

ORMER MINISTER of Health, Dr. Onaolapo Soleye will today, chair Egba Economic Summit holding at the main hall of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Kuto Abeokuta by 10a.m.

The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Tunde Lemo will give the keynote address of the summit: ‘Exploring the Benefits of Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Egbaland.’

Burial

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ATE CHIEF Allen Lapa will be buried today at his residence, on Oke-Oloro Street, OdeIrele, Ondo State.

He is survived by brothers, sisters, children and grand-children, among whom is Mrs. Olayinka Allen Ogunbamerun.

late Chief Allen Lapa

12—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

BY EMMA AMAIZE VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG, GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE, LAIDE AKINBOADE, JOSEPH ERUNKE & ESTHER ONYEGBULA

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ENIN—THE Onojie of Ugbegunland, hometown of former President of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor. Festus Iyayi, in Edo State, HRM, Samuel Obade I, and his people, are demanding a compensation of N50 billion to be paid to the immediate family of the late professor by the Kogi State governor, Captain Idris Wada.

The community in a letter dated November 13, to the Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, Abuja, on the death of its son in an automobile accident with the governor’s security details, called for a thorough investigation for Nigerians to know the actual cause of Iyayi’s death.

This came as eminent Nigerians, including the supervising Minister of Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, continued to lament the untimely and tragic death of Professor Festus Iyayi Also, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, described late Professor Iyayi as “a man who gave his all in the struggle and led by example.”

Tragic death was avoidable Yesterday, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM among others said the tragic death was avoidable.’

While NMA, asked the Federal Government to probe the circumstances which led to Iyayi’s death in the crash along the Lokoja – Abuja road on Tuesday, NUPENG claimed the recklessness by the convoy of Governor Wada brought to the fore the need for the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, the police and other relevant traffic agencies to enforce speed limits on our highways by those carrying dignitaries.

Wike, in a statement, said: “The late former ASUU President was an erudite scholar whose academic and professional contributions to national development will be missed. I pray God to grant the ASUU, the family of Professor Iyayi and the entire nation, the strength to bear this loss. We are very sad about the death of Professor Festus Iyayi who had been a strong voice in the advancement of quality university education in our country. His death is a huge loss to Nigeria.”

NMA calls for probe Commenting on the death, NMA’s President, Osahon Enabulele, said: “While we mourn the extremely sad and tragic

VISIT: From left: Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State; Mrs. Grace Iyayi, (widow) and Mr Oriabure Iyayi, (son), during a condolence visit, yesterday, by the governor to the Iyayis over the death Prof. Festus Iyayi, former ASUU President.

Iyayi’s kinsmen demand N50bn compensation from Kogi gov ...as eminent Nigerians lament death death of this dogged and courageous fighter for socio-economic and political justice in Nigeria, and an unrepentant crusader for restoration of standards and excellence in university education, we are pained that his death followed another despicable act of recklessness and impunity by executive convoys.

“The NMA, calls on the Federal Government to institute an urgent official inquiry into the circumstances that led to Prof.

Iyayi’s death while machinery is urgently put in motion by the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, to put an end to the recklessness of executive convoys whose intolerable impunity has sent many innocent and productive Nigerians to their early graves. ‘’Surely, we shall miss the inspirational literary works and great personality of Prof. Festus Iyayi, especially at this crucial period of our country’s history when his usually frank contributions to the resolution of the several questions bordering on the existence of the Nigerian state, are most needed. ‘’While we await the outcome of the official inquiry into the auto crash, we deeply condole with the entire Iyayi family, the President and members of ASUU and the Vice-Chancellor, University of Benin.’’

NUPENG wants reckless drivers punished NUPENG, in a statement by its General Secretary, Isaac Aberare, while commiserating with the immediate family of Prof. Iyayi and leadership of

ASUU, insisted that Iyayi’s death “is just one death too many caused by convoys of this nature and the National Assembly must pass a law to stop such reckless driving and penalise offenders.

“NUPENG also calls on the federal and state governments to rehabilitate our roads to make them motorable, instead of the bad incidences of pot holes dotting our roads causing accidents. The nation cannot continue to lose innocent lives due to negligence and recklessness on the part of government and uncaring government drivers. NUPENG condoles with the family of Professor Iyayi, who was a dogged activist, and known for his noncompromising position when he held sway at ASUU and pray that God will grant him eternal rest. Professor Iyayi will be remembered as an astute academic and labour leader who brought the activities of ASUU to limelight and a force to be reckoned with in the fight for better education in our tertiary institutions today.”

Iyayi led by example — Oshiomhole Condoling members of the immediate family at their residence in Benin City, Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who noted that Iyayi’s death was a rude shock to him, said: “I am here on behalf of the good people of Edo State to condole with you and members of your family on the death of Professor Festus Iyayi. The Iyayi family cannot be defined in terms of the wife, the immedi-

ate children, as well as family members.

“Iyayi was a member of a much larger family that cuts across the length and breadth of Nigeria. For me, and I believe for all those who knew him, it was a rude shock. In fact, I was extremely shocked. It was extremely shocking when somebody showed me a text message and suggested in that message that Iyayi might not have survived that accident. I told the man not to spread false rumour.

“A week before then, I saw him on television along with his colleagues providing intellectual backing as to why the Federal Government should deliver on its commitment to ASUU as per the agreement signed in 2009. I played a part in the signing of that agreement after both parties shifted ground.

“When I learnt that our comrade died in such gruesome manner, only a stone hearted person would not be moved. I do not know how to convey, not just my feeling, but the feelings of those who have known him.

“I had known him when I was in the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and ASUU at that time was not part of the NLC. Iyayi along with his colleagues provided intellectual backing to support and encourage the NLC to articulate its position on a variety of socio-economic and political issues. So he was always there”, he said.

Oshiomhole noted that “in line with the ASUU tradition of selfless service and sacrifice in the true sense of that word, he would always travel by road

covering long distances where even junior officers and lower people would rather take flights. ASUU leaders would always go by road to any part of the country, leading by example.

“When people talk of selfless service, commitment to nation, leadership by example giving your all to what you believe in, constituting yourself to a one man liberation army driven by national passion to reposition our great country to lead the continent to the way God had intended, Iyayi represented the best of that tradition”, he noted.

Oshiomhole insisted “even those who disagreed with his logic could not fault his position. Even those who faulted his logic could not fault his patriotism that informed those positions. Those are the kind of leadership every community needs if Nigeria would be different from what it has been.

“When I came here, I was troubled by the position of Ambrose Alli University and I wanted people who have dedicated their lives to the cause of education, Professor Iyayi and Dr Peter Ozo-Eson are people I knew all their lives they have worked persuading government to accord the appropriate recognition and sufficient allocation to the university system in order to build the much needed competent human capital.

“I approached them to be members of the governing council which they readily accepted and offered their time generously along with others to provide leadership for the AAU. When I say that we feel the pains, it is not a matter of rhetoric”, he said.

Responding on behalf of the family, Professor Austine Ebewele thanked the governor for the visit and said the death was a big loss not only to the family but also to the university community.

PDM blames executive r e c k l e s s n e s s On its part, PDM, blamed Iyayi’s death on executive recklessness and tasked “highly placed Nigerians to lead by example instead of engaging in acts which continue to make our roads unsafe.”

PDM in a statement by its National Chairman, Mallam Yusuf Ibrahim, lamented that Iyayi’s death came at a time “when his academic services are needed the most.” The party said it “deplores the incessant loss of valuable Nigerian lives due to avoidable road accidents caused by poor road construction and, often, by reckless and dangerous driving by highly placed Nigerians.

“Nigeria has endured too much loss of its priceless human assets through untimely deaths resulting from unnecessary road accidents.”

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013—13

Three suspected oil thieves nabbed in Delta

Police dismiss report on ritual killings

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

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ENAGOA—THE Bayelsa State Police Command, yesterday, described as untrue, report of the alleged killing of three primary school pupils by suspected ritualists in Yenagoa.

Fear had Wednesday gripped residents of Yenagoa, following the reported kidnap and strangling to death of three pupils of a community primary school in the state.

According to the report, the kidnappers were suspected ritualists, who stuffed the lifeless bodies of the pupils in a sack and escaped in an unmarked car.

But the state Police Command, through its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, said that the reported story of the kidnap and strangulation of three pupils was false and a mere rumour, fabricated to cause panic in the state capital.

He said: “The command wishes to inform members of the public that the alarm raised on November 13, 2013 about the kidnap of three children of Community Primary School, Kpasia, by five unknown men, was false and unfounded.”

Election: INC leadership to appear in court

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

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ENAGOA—A Bayelsa State High Court sitting in Yenagia, has ordered the leadership of Ijaw National Congress, INC, to appear before it on November 22, to show cause why it should not be restrained from cancelling the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, election.

The IYC election was conducted between October 28 and 29, 2013 in Yenagoa and Udengs Eradiri was declared as elected president of the council by the electoral committee. But the outcome of the poll is being disputed by other aspirants, who are also calling for its cancellation.

BY EMMA ARUBI

T

VISIT: Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom State (2nd right); Mr. Chuma Ezirim, immediate past Chairman of Committee of e-Banking Industry Heads (CeBIH),(left); Mr. Chuks Iku, Chairman, CeBIH (2nd left) and Dele Adeyinka, Treasurer, CeBIH, during a courtesy visit to the governor during the 3rd annual conference of the Committee in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, yesterday.

Naval Chief vows to sustain crusade against oil theft

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

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ORT HARCOURT— CHIEF of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba, has assured that the Navy would sustain its vigorous fight against oil theft on the country’s waterways.

Speaking, yesterday, at the Navy Basic Training School, Onne, Rivers State, during the passing out parade of Batch 22 trainees, the Navy boss also scored the Navy a pass mark in the crusade.

He said that the Nigerian Navy would continue to secure the country’s maritime

environment, adding that they had always enjoyed tremendous support from the Federal Government.

“We have recorded a lot of milestones in the areas of operation capability, human resource development and welfare. We have done extremely well, particularly in the areas of curbing crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism to meet the President’s mandate.

“At the end of it all, we will be issuing a statement that will catalogue all we have done in the short, medium and long terms. I can say that

the Navy under my watch has reduced to a large extent, crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in collaboration with other service agencies, and of course, the Joint Task Force, JTF, which is the component of all the armed agencies.

“Mr. President has been giving strategic support; also the Minister of Petroleum, Minister of Finance, and, of course, the Supervising Minister of Defence. We will go all the way to do what is important to secure the maritime environment that will ensure good economic activities for the development of this country.”

APC woos Ogbemudia, begs for support

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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ENIN—FOLLOWING the on- going effort by the leadership of All Progressives Congress, APC, to woo Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leaders into its fold, the leadership of the party has met with the former governor of old Bendel State, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, to seek his support for the new party.

Vanguard learnt that APC leaders, led by its Interim Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and others, met with Ogbemudia in Abuja last Tuesday, after they attended the 5th anniversary of Governor Adams Oshiomhole in Benin City, Edo State.

The meeting was said to have lasted for about three hours. It was learnt that the APC leaders informed Ogbemudia of their efforts to ensure that APC takes over Aso Rock, adding that they came

to consult with him on how to move the country forward.

Vanguard learnt that APC leaders acknowledged the importance of Ogbemudia in the politics of the country, recalling his leadership quali-

ties and the development, which he brought then to the old Bendel State as governor.

They pleaded for his support and assured that they were concerned about the growth of the country.

HREE suspected oil thieves, have been handed over to the military authorities at Effurun Barracks, Delta State by an Ugborodo youth leader under the Delta State Waterways Security Committee.

The youth leader, Mr. Besidone Eyengho, working with Chief Ayiri Emami, said that the suspects were first apprehended at Ajudaibo in a very suspicious move, but were left of the hook after explaining their mission to the community only for them to return in the night for alleged illegal oil bunkering business.

Eyengho told Vanguard that the three suspect were held till dawn at Ajudaibo, Escravos, in Warri SouthWest before they were brought to Warri and taken to the Army Barracks.

Confirming the arrest, officers of the Joint Task Force, JTF, who declined to give the names of the suspects, said that they are currently investigating the matter and that they would be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for prosecution after the investigation.

Ignore G7 govs, group tells Jonathan

BY FESTUS AHON

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GHELLI—COALITION of Urhobo Youth Organisations, CUYO, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to ignore what it described as the ranting of the G7 governors and focus on implementing of his transformational agenda.

Spokesperson of the group, Mr. Stephen Ohwokirerhuo, who fielded questions from newsmen in Ughelli, Delta

State, said that the country was bigger than the G7 governors, noting that it was the people that would re-elect the president in 2015.

“The G7 governors should leave Jonathan alone. Jonathan has performed exceedingly well, if the number of years the North had governed this country is anything to go by.

“Of the 53 years of Nigeria’s independence, the North has ruled for over 39 years with nothing to show for it. Ever since they have been ruling,

the South has never fought them as they are doing now.

They should join hands with President Jonathan to take the country to the next level in the overall interest of the people of this country.

“They should desist from their mischievous attempts to distract the President from the good governance he is giving to the country. The President is doing well, so the North should queue behind him and ensure that he is re-elected in 2015,” he said.

14—Vanguard , FRISDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Catholic Church never endorsed any candidate —Okeke

BY OKONKWO EZE N I T S H A — THE Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha, His Grace, Valeria Okeke has denied the news making the rounds in some quarters that the church has endorsed a certain candidate for tomorrow’s governorship election in Anambra State.

In a statement, yesterday, by the director for communications, Onitsha Catholic Archdiocese, Rev. Fr. Pius Ukor, the church said it is apolitical and does not support any particular candidate.

His words: “It is one of our duties as the church not to meddle into the affairs of the political class, because the church is for all and does not discriminate against any person or groups.”

He further stated that Reverend Fathers in the entire clergy in the Onitsha Archdiocese are not partisan and if anybody is saying or supporting a particular candidate, he is doing that in his own personal capacity and not in the name of the entire priests.

“The Archbishop has warned all the priests to remain focused and distance themselves from partisan politics but if anybody is doing it, I don’t know of it and the Archbishop is not aware,” he said.

The Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in the South East, Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma had at the wake of Uke Adoration tragedy, which led to the death of 28 people banned political campaigns in all churches in the zone.

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Igbo leaders meet on common position for confab in Enugu

BY TONY EDIKE

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NUGU—IGBO leaders met in Enugu, yesterday, to articulate common position for the South-East geo-political zone for the proposed National Dialogue.

The meeting held at Zodiac Hotels Enugu for over four hours was attended by Professor Ben Nwabueze, Mrs. Uche Azikiwe, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, Senator Anyim Ude, Chief Dozie Ikedife, Prof. Elochukwu Amucheazi, Chief Nduka Eya, Archbishop Anthony Obinna, Archbishop Maxwell Anikwenwa, Senator Offia Nwali, and Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (rtd).

Others were Chief Mbazulike Amechi, His Majesty Nnaemeka Achebe, Senator Ben Obi and Dr. Aja Wachukwu, among others.

Prof. Nwabueze, who spoke with newsmen after the closed-door meeting, said that the essence of the parley was to articulate a common position for Ndigbo during the conference.

“We are the Igbo Leaders of Thought, we are here in Enugu to articulate our position, Igbo position that we are going to adopt at the National Conference; we cant reveal our

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W K A — T H E governorship candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in tomorrow’s election, Chief Willie Obiano has pleaded with his fellow contestants and their supporters to avoid spilling blood in the name of election, saying that only a peaceful poll was good for Anambra State.

Addressing reporters in Awka, yesterday, Obiano reminded his opponents that they were in the race because they all want to move Anambra State forward, adding that it would therefore be unfair to the people if they were made to suffer for trying to elect the person that will govern them.

Ohanaeze, part of what we are here to do, we haven’t done it yet, we want to resolve the problem in Ohanaeze.

“I’ve not seen the report of Ohanaeze and cant comment on it,” he said.

On his part, Olisa Agbakoba stated that what the Igbo leaders were doing was part of the on-going meetings by other groups in the country, and urged Nigerians to utilise the historic opportunity to further discuss a way forward for Nigeria.

AGM: From left: Mrs. Sheila Ezeuko, representing the trustees of REAN Plc., Mr. Bolaji Balogun, Group CEO, Chapel Hill Denham and Mrs. Ononuju Irukwu, MD, Chapel Hill Denham Management, addressing the subscribers of the Paramount Equity Fund, at the Annual General Meeting of the firm in Lagos.

Anambra: Late campaign flag off won’t affect our chances —PDP

BY EMMA UJAH, ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF & DOTUN IBIWOYE BUJA—THE late take off of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, campaigns will not negatively affect the chances of the party ’s candidate in tomorrow’s gubernatorial election, the Director of Media of

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....Obiano appeals against blood letting According to him, every

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

decisions yet; but I’ve told you the purpose of the meeting.

We’ve set up the planning committee which will plan the whole thing; its going to be a process that will not end at this one meeting. We also have a fund raising committee, the other committee is the outreach committee that will take our position and go and discuss with other groups, ethnic groups,” he said.

Prof. Nwabueze is the chairman of planning committee, Prof. Mike Echerue is the Deputy, while Elochukwu Amucheazi is the secretary Fund raising is under the chairmanship of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Achebe.

On why Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo sociocultural body did not feature in the meetingn Nwabueze said; “ leave that matter, the body remains the umbrella organisation for the Igbo but there is problem, division in

gubernatorial candidate in the race has a responsibility to preserve the heritage of peace and brotherhood which the fore bearers of the state had bequeathed to the present generation.

He said: “Elections and leaders will come and go, but the will and resilience of Ndi Anambra will never fade away.

He said that as a state that prides itself as the light of the nation, the eyes of the rest of the world are on the state to see how it would manage its affairs, adding that a successful election in Anambra would serve as the barometer by which the world would determine the readiness of Nigeria for the general elections in 2015.

the PDP campaign Organisation, Hon. Chike Anyaonu, has said.

In an interview with newsmen in Abuja, Mr. Anyaonu exuded confidence that his candidate, Comrade Tony Nwoye would come tops in the poll despite the lengthy litigations that affected the take off of the campaign.

His assurance came as the Tony Nwoye Strategy Group led by Mr. Emeka Odikpo assured voters in Anambra that success for the PDP candidate would lead to improved collaborations between the state and the Federal Government in the

delivery of democracy dividends.

Mr. Anyaonu who rebuffed insinuations that the lengthy legal litigations had mortally damaged the PDP campaign said: “PDP as a party has been preparing for the election. Don’t forget that up till as I speak with you, Anambra is still a PDP state. Don’t mind that another party has been in governance in the state for about eight years. A greater majority of Anambra people are members and supporters of the PDP.” “You can also see from the jubilation that followed the Supreme Court’s declaration of Tony Nwoye as the authentic candidate that the people have

been waiting for him. The purpose of the official flag off by the national leadership is primarily to reassure the people that we are still strongly in the race and with the massive turn-out of people today, you can agree with me that the game has changed,” he said.

On how the delay to the start of the campaign affected the candidate’s chances, he said: “It depends on how you look at it. If you are talking in terms of the official flag-off of our campaigns by the national leadership of PDP which is coming up today, well I may agree with you that the official flag-off is coming behind some others. The main reason for this is that PDP is a law- abiding political party.

Keep to your promise, APC tells Jonathan

BY PROVIDENCE OBUH AGOS—THE All Progressives Congress, APC, has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to live up to his promise of ensuring a free and fair election in Anambra State tomorrow, saying the President must be believable at all times.

This was contained in a statement signed in Lagos yesterday by the party’s Interim

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National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

APC said there was nothing on the ground in Anambra so far that points to the fact that Saturday’s election would be free, fair and transparent, despite Jonathan’s promise. ‘’Rightly or wrongly in our country, institutions of state take a cue from the President’s body language. They know that members of the ruling PDP who

engaged in electoral malfeasance and brigandage during last month’s Delta Central Senatorial election were not punished. They know that security agencies that turned themselves to the armed wing of the PDP were not sanctioned. In this context, therefore, the President’s promise of a free and fair election will not mean much to those bent on repeating same in Anambra,’’ Mohammed said.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15 2013—15

HEALTH INSURANCE: How Nigeria can benefit from Ghana,

by Dr. Johnson

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AGOS—A social health reform activist, Dr. Yemi Johnson has stated that Nigeria has a lot to learn from its neighbouring country Ghana in the area of National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS. He also said Ghana is not 100 per cent perfect in the health scheme but they made progress in many areas while Nigeria is still lagging behind.

According to him, Nigeria needs to eradicate the issue of cash and carry on health schemes because millions of Nigerians are denied medical treatment because they do not have the cash or too poor to pay.

His words, ‘’Since 1992 when former President Jerry Rawlings transmitted from military to civilian president, Ghana has been able to alternate political power between political parties without bloodshed. That is a feat Nigeria has not been able to achieve and it is not a matter of pride, Nigeria has a lot to learn from our neighbours. I am not suggesting in any way that the Ghanaian example is near perfect, but they are making progress in so many areas that Nigeria is still lagging behind and one of such is the health insurance coverage for Ghanaian citizens’’. ‘’In 2005, our own President Olusegun Obasanjo launched the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS. To me, that is one of the best things the Nigerian government has conceived in decades. While there might be imperfections here and there, the concept is unassailable. It is meant to make healthcare delivery available to every Nigerian no matter his or her status.’’

He stated further: ‘’I think there is so much we can learn from Ghana if we can swallow our pride and borrow a clue from an obviously smaller nation.

“The health insurance scheme in Ghana was conceived by Mr. John Kufuor when he was campaigning for the presidency in 2003. He personally felt there was no point continuing with the regime of cash-andcarry healthcare system being practised in the country at the time.’’

VISIT: From left: Mr. Paul Onomi, Orgainsing Secretery, Mr. Kes Agbosa, Chairman, Mr. Francis Obeh, Mr. Bayo Okorodudu, Mr. Emiko Okome, all of Warri Rebirth Initiative, and Mr. Eze Anaba, Deputy Editor, Vanguard Newspapers, during the courtesy visit by the association to Vanguard Newspapers’s Head Office, Kirikiri, Canal, Apapa, Lagos, yesterday.

Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

Why US moved against Boko Haram, Ansaru

BY HUGO ODIOGOR &, SAM

EYOBOKA AGOS—MORE facts emerged yesterday on the reasons behind Wednesday’s designation of Boko Haram and Ansaru Islamic sects as Foreign Terrorist Organisations by the United States invoking section 219 of the National Immigration Act and section 1(b) of the Executive Order 13224, despite pressure from the Federal Government to do otherwise. .

According to diplomatic sources, the US made the move because of Boko Haram’s threat to attack America, its recruitment of foreigners to plan its operation as well as funding from foreign partners.

Vanguard learnt that Washington wants to prepare itself to deal with potential and existential threats posed by the Nigerian based Islamic insurgent groups that recently threatened to attack America on its own soil as Boko Haram has effectively outsmarted the Nigerian security agencies and the offensive unleashed on it in the North Eastern states.

Diplomatic sources told Vanguard yesterday, that Boko Haram and Ansaru are no longer seen as local insurgent groups whose activities are confined to North Eastern and North central parts of Nigeria, “but well internationalised terror groups that are affiliated to Al-Qaeda terror network where they draw funding, radicalise their members and plan their attacks with the help of foreigners, including citizens of Western nations that

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share their world views”.

The involvement of foreigners in the Westgate Mall attack in September has alarmed the United States and has compelled it to take seriously the threat of Boko Haram, whose late leader, Abubakar Shekau was among the prominent terrorists that America placed a prize tag of N1.1 billion earlier this year. The terrorist group said it wants to hit the US for precipitating the attack on Shekau, whom they released a video trying to assert that he is still alive.

Reacting to the designation of Boko Haram and Ansaru as terrorist organisations, President of Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor said: “I am elated. I am excited.

Honestly, I feel fulfilled. It shows that if you believe in something, stay focused on it, eventually it will come to pass.

My joy is not about me. It’s about, first of all the families of those who lost dear ones in their thousands. This is good for them. It is about orphans. It is about widows. It is about businesses and churches destroyed. It is about people left hanging, who do not know what to do with their lives any more. So, when I say I feel excited, happy and fulfilled, it is not about me. It goes beyond me; it is this nation called Nigeria. This is good for us.

Anybody who says it is not good needs his head examined. It is good for us.”

He added that the US action

“sends positive message to the world and to Boko Haram itself because, the UK already did a similar thing, but when the United States declares an organization a foreign terrorist organization, FTO, it is a statement that the whole world receives and acts upon. The message itself is very positive and very good. Number two; what it also does is that the FBI, CIA and all relevant security agencies in the US and beyond will now legitimately be able to go after the money; who is financing Boko Haram? They will be able to, by law go after the sponsors of the sect. They will be able to find out those behind the activities of Boko Haram. They would be able to unearth where their financiers are coming from.”

FG, states, LGs share N568.41bn

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BUJA—THE Federal, States and Local Governments have shared N568.41 billion from the Federation Account for October, the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama, said in Abuja yesterday.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the amount shared in September was N45.92 billion higher than the October figures.

Ngama made this known at a news briefing at the end of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FACC, meeting for October.

A breakdown of the amount shows that the Federal Government received N213.82 billion, state governments

N108.45 billion while local governments got N83.61 billion.

He said the oil-producing states would receive their 13 per cent derivation funds of N47.11 billion compared to the N53.65 in September, representing a decline of N6.54 billion.

Ngama said the country received N443.05 billion revenue from mineral resources in October, compared to N431. 07 billion received in September, representing an increase of N11.98 billion.

Similarly, non-mineral revenue generated in October amounted to N96.5 billion compared to N94.54 billion

generated in September, representing an increase of N1.96 billion.

The minister said no fund was proposed as augmentation during the months under review, but added that N80.65 billion was transferred to excess crude account for distribution.

“The funds available for distribution had been adjusted with transfer to excess crude and this month, we have transferred N80.65 billion to excess crude account,” he said.

The Chairman, Forum of Commissioners, FAAC, Mr. Timothy Odah, said the meeting was a huge success, but expressed concern about the decline in revenue for the month.

16—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013 •

BUSINESSDAY GOOD GOVERNANCE AWARD

R-l: Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; his Rivers State counterpart, Rotimi Amaechi; Deputy Governor, Osun State, Mrs. Titi LaoyeTomori, and Lagos State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, during the presentation of Best Governor in Urban and Rural Development and Best Governor in Youth and Sports Development Award on L-r: Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi with Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi and Mr. Frank Governor Aregbesola at the Businessday States Competitiveness and Good

Aigbogun, Publisher/CEO BusinessDay, at the Businessday States Competitiveness Governance Awards 2013. and Good Governance Awards 2013, at Federal Palace Hotel Victoria Island, Lagos State, yesterday. Photos: Akeem Salau

L-r: Gombe State Governor, Dr Ibraheem Dankwambo and Yemi Ogunbiyi at the award

Representative of Ogun State Governor and state's Commissioner for Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, receiving an award of Faster Growing State Economy from Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi

Representative of Kwara State Governor and senior special adviser on media, Dr. Femi Akorede (r), receiving award from Mr Roberts U. Orya, Managing Director/CEO, NEXIM

Jigawa gov cautions Jibril Aminu •Asks him to stop attacks on G7 govs

By SONI DANIEL, Regional Editor, North

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IGAWA State Governor, Dr. Sule Lamido, yesterday, took former Petroleum and Education Minister, Prof. Jibril Aminu to task, warning him to stop attacking the G7 governors or risk being exposed over his political misdeeds.

Lamido, who was reacting to claims by the former minister that

Landslide kills 4 in Katsina

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OUR persons, including three children were killed, yesterday, by a landslide at an excavation site in Funtawa village, Rimi Local Government Area of Katsina State.

Eyewitnesses told newsmen that the incident occurred at 10.30 a.m. The victims include Malam Maharazu, 20, Ma’aruf Mohammed, 12, Kabiru Abdullahi, 8, and Haliru Mohammed, 7.

They said after the incident, people besieged the site to rescue the victims, who were brought out dead.

The Secretary of the council, Alhaji Garba Lawal, confirmed the incident and said that it took the rescuers three hours to recover the bodies of the victims. Lawal said the deceased were taken to their families for burial in accordance with Islamic injunction.

he (Lamido and the G7 governors) were seeking undue political relevance in the country by ridiculing the Peoples Democratic Party, said that Aminu was not qualified to attack them, having been a beneficiary of his political magnanimity.

Lamido, in a statement signed by his Director of Press, Kyari Umar, said it was Aminu, who was seeking underserved attention by using every opportunity to castigate the G7 governors and

himself in particular, not minding the many interventions he had been making for him to remain politically relevant in Adamawa and Nigeria.

The governor, who expressed surprise over Aminu’s attack on the G7 governors and himself, said they had never at any time claimed to be fighting the PDP in order to prove their political relevance but strictly on the basis of principles and against the impunity of Bamanga Tukur.

Lamido said, “Now coming to

my person as Sule Lamido, Prof.

Aminu knows more than anybody my role in making and sustaining his political relevance in Adamawa and Nigeria. He knew he was politically dead and out in the General Election of 2003. His personal testimony to this was his interview over the BBC accepting defeat of his senatorial election to the rival AC/ANPP. “It was the then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who called Prof.

Aminu and told him that he (Atiku) would not accept the embarrassment or humiliation of his

Boko Haram kills 26 in fresh Borno attacks

BY UDUMA KALU and NDAHI MARAMA, with agency report

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USPECTED members of Boko Haram terrorists have carried out a series of night attacks in Borno State causing havoc and killing 26 people in the process.

This was even as reports emerged that the insurgents abducted a French Roman Catholic, Georges Vandenbeusch in northern Cameroon.

Vandenbeusch, who moved to the area two years ago, was reported to have repeatedly ignored warnings by the French authorities that the region was dangerous. The Boko Haram insurgents in Bdagu, Izge, Hartsa and Yazza villages in Gwoza, Damboa and Askira-Uba Local Government Areas of Borno State, ransacked houses and killed their victims just as several

hundreds were displaced from their houses. About 40 houses were said to have been set ablaze.

An unconfirmed report said that three of the attackers were also killed when some neighbouring villages of Dille, Lassa among others mobilized and pursued the fleeing suspected terrorists to a nearby bush in the area.

A source said in Bdagu Community that the attackers had between Monday and Wednesday, this week stormed the affected villages in two Hilux vehicles, three buses and about 30 motorcycles armed with AK47 rifles, and going from house to house to kill, loot and burning some selected homes.

It was said that during the Bdagu night attack, about 40 residential houses and farmlands were burnt down by the sect members.

losing his senatorial constituency as a sitting Vice President.

Instantly, the vice president ordered INEC to reverse the result thereby ‘dashing’ Prof.

Aminu the senatorial seat. That was how Prof. Aminu occupied the Nigerian Senate from 20032007 on gratis.

“As fate would have it, when the vice president fell out with President Obasanjo prior to the 2007 elections, it was Prof Aminu, who was called in to do the hatchet job when he was made the Adamawa linkman for the single reason of deregistering VP Atiku Abubakar from the PDP.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013 — 17

18 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan was supposed to present and lay before the combined session of the National Assembly the 2014 Appropriation Bill on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. As preparations towards the event peaked, the event was suddenly postponed to Tuesday, November 19, 2013, and the President wrote the leadership of the Assembly to that effect.

Media reports later disclosed that the event was postponed because some members of the opposition, particularly the All People’s Congress (APC) and the aggrieved members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) now known as the G7, had allegedly perfected plans to boo the President as he presented the report. This, it is assumed, was supposed to be a retaliation of the booing that the Abubakar Baraje faction of the PDP received from the President’s loyalists when they came to complain to the Assembly about their grievances in the party.

If true, this situation is not only unhealthy, it is also totally unacceptable. It does the nation no credit for people elected to the federal

Don’t politicise budget 2014 legislature to represent the interests of the ordinary Nigerian people to go there and turn the hallowed chambers of the Assembly to a theatre of unholy partisan politics.

We are calling on leaders of both chambers of the Assembly to call their members to order and prevail on them to leave politics and power struggle outside when they enter the chambers. Their job is to go there and canvass issues that will advance the well being of the people and solve the many problems facing the nation.

The Federal Appropriation Bill is an instrument for achieving this purpose through financial appropriation. It is a bill that is above partisan politics, as Nigerians from all walks of life depend on its passage and implemen-

tation for things to move forward. The attempt to present the budget early enough is aimed at giving the legislators an opportunity to pass it on time for it to be properly implemented.

Ordinarily, budget implementation has proved to be a Herculean task since the dawn of our renascent democracy in 1999. None of the budgets presented since that time was successfully implemented. In most cases, undue delays and wrangling between the Legislature and the Executive were partly responsible for the lapses in implementation. The introduction of politics of intra- and inter-party power play will only foredoom the 2014 Appropriation, and that is why we must do everything to forestall it.

Putting politics aside, members of the Assembly must accord the President the respect he deserves as he reads the budget and lays it on the table for their attention. Booing him or embarrassing him in any way will not be accepted by Nigerians. Political parties must immediately step in and ensure the President does his job without let or hindrance.

We must do away with bitter politics.

OPINION

BY OKOFU UBAKA

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T a time when hardship was taking a toll on the people of Warri-North LGA, perhaps as a result of the general economic depression, communal conflict and the pollution of the environment resulting from unchecked activities of oil exploration companies and crude oil theft, a proper and committed representation is what the people need. This is the reason why whoever that must represent the people should in the first place be able to identify with the people no matter what. Suffice it to say here that Irene

Anirejuoritse Imilar has been above board in this regard in demonstrating what true representation is. Besides her numerous intimidating achievements, she has proven to be a listening and caring representative; one who understands every bit of the purpose for which she was elected by the people of her constituency.

Apparently, the Itsekiris, whether in Warri-North or in Ikpoba-Okha of Edo State or in Warri-South or SouthWest are endangered. Obvious as it seems, the tribe cannot afford a lack luster representation, not at any level!

Be it the federal or the state level.

Although, Irene Imilar is soft spoken, yet she is provokingly stubborn when it comes to fighting for what is due to not just the Itsekiris, but all in the C M Y K

IMILAR: Always a step ahead for her people Warri-North Constituency, on whose auspices she is an honourable member of the Delta State House of Assembly. She has a calculative and definite needs of the people she represents.

Committed as she has been, severally Imilar had roared and fought on the floor of the Delta State House of Assembly to have demands for the wellbeings of the people of Warri-North LGA to be met.

True, as it has proven, Irene love the Itsekiris with great passion. She could least be accused of tribalism, even though the Ijaws of the same council area are at loggerheads with their Itsekiri brothers. It is an open secret that the Ijaws had had no cause to grumble over being shortchanged in terms of representation and allocation of projects from the state government.

Also, her foundation, Hon. Irene Imilar’s Education Foundation, severally has received a pat on the back for being transparent. Scholarship offers to youths of Warri-North interested in obtaining the N.C.E certificate were evenly and equally distributed along political ward delineation. She was

also reported to have ensured that all MDG projects were executed to specification.

Above all, Irene Imilar has defied age and fatigue in network among government departments to ensure that Warri-North LGA was not shortchanged in any way. Her commitment to the well-being of the people of her constituency is unrivalled. She picks her calls irrespective of whether the caller is a familiar one or not. She has an edge over other past representatives of the council for operating a functional constituency office in Koko, headquarters of Warri-North LGA .

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hat more can one say of

Imiler ’s near perfect representation of Warri-North constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly?

There is no disputing the fact that she had her palm kernels cracked for her by a benevolent spirit (apology to Chinua Achebe). She was born with a silver spoon by virtue of her royalty.

Yet, she is humble. Never has she been

found arrogant nor braggadocio.

Frankly speaking, Imilar’s score sheet has remained a steady boost to her profile as her responsibility as a representative of her people increases. It will be recalled that her brief but impactive stint at the state Post-Primary School Board turned out very rewarding and beneficiary to all Deltans and the Itsekiris of Warri-North, South and South-West in particular. As the chairman of the board, teaching jobs meant for Deltans were given to Deltans only. The administration of her board was a far cry from what took place in other ministries, parastatals and boards where jobs meant for Deltans were given out either to mistresses and protégées that who non-Deltans or sold to people from the East of the Niger.

It was for this reason that Imilar was dubbed the mother of employment even though she was not the State’s chief executive at that time. Surely, she deserves support in Warri-North and beyond for a third term.

*Mr Ubaka, a social critic, wrote from Koko, Delta State.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013— —19

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BIA State Governor, Theodore Orji, explained recently, that his desire for a united Nigeria informed his decision to recall the non-indigenes disengaged from the state’s civil service.

He made the explanation at the Enugu Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, press week held at Top Rank Hotel, Enugu, emphasizing the unity of the Igbos of the South East whose indigenes were mostly affected by the disengagement.

“It is only in Abia State among others in the South East today that non-indigenes contest elections and win. Nonindigenes are being appointed into political positions in Abia.

And so non-indigenes should also take their rightful place in the civil service.” The Governor, who was represented by his Special Assistant, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, assured that such obnoxious policy would never occur again in Abia State. He enjoined other states in the South East to emulate Abia State in recalling those they d i s e n g a g e d .

Orji urged all Nigerians, particularly Ndigbo residing in Abia State, to see themselves as indigenes with full rights

and privileges.

Many have viewed this statement with suspicion, especially as it is coming towards the eve of another election in 2015, when the eight-year tenure of the Governor will end. They see it as a ploy to win the hearts of Ndigbo pragmatists in order to secure support for perhaps his ambition to move up to the Senate come 2015.It is all empty politics they argue, because Orji neither gave details of the number of nonindigenes sacked, re-instated, etc. He should have thought of peace in the first place before sacking the people; he must either be talking from both sides of his mouth or he is a man who acts before he thinks. He is, therefore, either a liar or a confused man.

These people may well be justified in their suspicion because since after the return to full democracy in 1999, the South East has been blessed with leaders who plainly deceived their people, built housing estates on bill boards, left the civil service without salaries at one stage or the other, found it very difficult to implement most, if not all, of their electoral promises.

So, Abia State is not alone in this. My beloved Imo State once had a Governor who refused to pay the salary of civil

servants, especially the teachers for several months, saying that there was no money. Until just recently, under Okorocha, Imo teachers had almost forgotten that salaries could be paid correctly and promptly. Our township roads in Owerri were simply demarcated with cement forms, and that was titled road dualization. If you visited Cross River State in those days, under then Governor Donald Duke, with clean and wide streets in Calabar you will be left to wonder if Owerri was under a curse with heaps of refuse along major streets.

Today, Ndigbo still find ourselves praying that good roads that link every local government council areas like they have in Akwa Ibom State may be our portion in the South East. When you look at the strength of the South West in the area of peace and brotherly atmosphere among the

BASA: Nigeria, Israel forge closer economic ties

BY YAKUBU DATI

T

HE recent signing of a Bilateral Air Services Agreement, BASA, between our country, Nigeria and the Republic of Israel, on October 28, 2013 is indeed a historic milestone in the country’s aviation history. Although the BASA is coming several decades after the two countries have established diplomatic relations and enjoyed strong economic and other ties, a new era of closer economic and other ties is anticipated, as direct flights begin between the two countries.

At their meeting in Tel Aviv, Friday, October 25, 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan and Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, spoke about the relationship between both countries and their areas of common interest which include trade, agriculture and security.

The journey to the signing of the BASA agreement has been a long one.

Several months before the President’s visit, aviation officials of both countries had been working behind the scenes to ensure that a solid BASA that would benefit both countries had been drafted and agreed upon. And unsurprisingly, Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah and some senior executives of her ministry and aviation parastatals were in the President’s entourage to ensure that the BASA agreement signing went smoothly.

Also in the President’s high powered team were the country’s Minister of C M Y K

,

Agriculture, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Viola Onwuliri, among others.

According to diplomatic protocol, due to the fact that it was the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Zeer Elkin that signed the BASA agreement on the Isreali side, Mrs Onwuliri, the Nigerian junior minister of Foreign Affairs was mandated to sign the BASA on behalf of the country. The Aviation Minister Stella Oduah who was very pleased with her achievement, said at the signing ceremony that she was optimistic that direct flights would soon start between the two countries.

She noted that the BASA would open a new business opportunity for Nigerian airlines that can now fly direct from Nigeria to Israel. Already, Arik Air has said that it has passed Israeli security audit which would clear the way for it to start flights between Lagos and Tel Aviv, when given approval by the Nigerian Aviation authorities.

After the signing, Onwuliri said that BASA would “augur well for movement of persons, our pilgrims, our businessmen, academics, the civil society and students.”

Israeli expertise in agricultural technology, IT and security is well known.There are several Israeliowned businesses in Nigeria that have been providing services mostly in the areas of agriculture, agro-allied machinery, consumer goods and IT services, for several decades. Thus,

Yorubas, you ask what has hit the Igbo man, why could he not sustain just one political party to unify Ndigbo front in national issues?

It is therefore for the very important singular reason of peace among Ndigbo in particular and Nigerians in general that Governor Orji’s decision to recall sacked nonindigene civil servants should deserve a deeper consideration. Abia State is not alone in the sack of non-indigene workers in the South East.

After the creation of Imo State out of the then East Central State, some non-indigene civil servants opted to go to Owerri from Enugu, but they were later asked to go to their states.

Anambra, Enugu and even Ebonyi found cause to do the same thing at one stage or the other in the past. It was one the errors of the euphoria of a getting a new state in those days. Top positions in the civil service was the reward to indigenes for a successful demand for their own state, but unknown to us, that was the beginning of the destruction of the spirit of unity and harmony which the Igbos developed during the harrowing years of the civil war. Rather than galvanize our resolve for survival as one group with a common destiny in Nigeria, we created division among ourselves, fighting for top posts in the civil service, pulling each other down, and thereby estranging ourselves to the extent that today, the biggest

,

BY CLEMENT UDEGBE

,

Questions on Gov Orji's recall of non-indigines

Gov Orji should be encouraged; other governors of the South-East should emulate his action to engender the brotherly love that is much needed among Ndigbo

The historic signing of the BASA between Nigeria and Israel is expected to, once again, open a new area of business opportunity for Nigerian airlines, aside from the benefits accruable to other areas of the economy

,

having direct air flight between the two countries would go a long way to further ease logistics and would help grow business and other activities between them.

A

nother key element of the rela tions between the two countries is the fact that Israel is the birth place of Jesus Christ, and is home to major Christian historical places and artifacts which usually draws Christians worldwide on pilgrimages to locations such as Jerusalem, Christ’s birth place which is in Isreal. This includes the more than a thousand Nigerian Christians who visit Israel every year on pilgrimage. About half of that number visit the country (Israel) on business trips every year and vice versa. Perhaps, noteworthy is the fact that President Jonathan who is a devout Christian took time out during this state visit to Israel to visit several Christian holy sites and offered prayers at the sacred

enemy of the Ndigbo in national matters is the Igbo man!

We may call it the survival spirit of the Igbo man, but that is our undoing in almost all facets of life in Nigeria today.

When we realise that what hurts Abia hurts Imo, and by extension Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, and vice versa, because we all have a common destiny in this great country, we will stop to aggravate each other. Such an understanding will bring us to the place where we think first of our state, the South East, and Nigeria in all we do and say. If I may liken Nigeria to a very big tree, we all are birds living in nests called states on this big tree, and we must protect the stability of the big tree, so as to draw our common livelihood and safety therefrom.

Governor Orji has come to the realisation of the awesome impact of this recall on the peace and joy of the Ndigbo as a people and the Nigerians affected in general. It may well be one of the results of his spiritual rebirth recently in Isreal. For whatever reasons, he should be encouraged and supported. Other governors of the South East should emulate his action; let total restitution begin on all fronts to engender the brotherly love that is much needed among Ndigbo at this point in our national development.

*Mr. Udegbe, a legal practitioner, wrote from Lagos

Jewish Wailing Wall.

In recent times too, the Nigerian aviation authorities have approved direct flights between another Middle Eastern country, Jordan and Nigeria.

Such that in August, the Royal Jordanian Airline began direct flights between Lagos and Amman, which is the first time since our independence that such flights would occur between the two countries.

Undoubtedly,opening up and expanding the frontiers of the Nigerian aviation industry has been a key objective of the Aviation Masterplan and the Jonathan administration’s Transformation Agenda for the aviation sector, which is being spearheaded by current Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah. Therefore, the historic signing of the BASA between Nigeria and Israel is expected to, once again, open a new area of business opportunity for Nigerian airlines, aside from the benefits accruable to other areas of the economy, especially agriculture.

With the Nigerian-Isreali BASA in place, certified Nigerian airlines can now land directly at Tel Aviv airport and other approved locations in Isreal.

A leading Nigerian airline, Arik Air is believed to have passed a security audit done by the Israeli authorities and may soon begin flights to Israel, upon approval by the Nigerian aviation authorities. Its definitely, another landmark for the Nigerian aviation industry.

*Mr. Dati, General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, wrote from Lagos

20—Vanguard, FRIDAY,

NOVEMBER 15 , 2013

East-West Road of Death: How 9 met untimely end

By Samuel OYADONGHA, YENAGOA

W

HEN security opera tives attached to the Bayelsa State crime-busting outfit, ‘Doo Akpo’ and other sympathisers rushed to the treacherous Okoso river bank last Saturday night to assist the victims of an ill-fated passenger bus, they discovered an unusual but touching spectacle amidst the horrific crash scene.

In the wreckage, was a middle aged woman, clutching her baby apparently trying to protect the child from slamming her fragile frame against the metal. Both were cold dead from injuries they sustained in the badly mangled bus The victims and others, mostly women and kids whose identity could not be ascertained, Vanguard Metro, VM, learnt were returning from a wedding ceremony at Ughelli in Delta State when they met their tragic end at the infamous Okoso Bridge on the Kaiama-Zarama stretch of the Bayelsa flank of the troubled East-West road which straddled the oil-rich states of the South-South zone.

Sadly, the less than 20-km stretch of the ailing road between Patani Bridge in Delta State and Okoso Bridge in Bayelsa State is riddled with several potholes some of

which are very deep and wide, making the route a real death trap for road users.

Though the current effort by the Federal Government to dualise the road is highly commendable given the strategic importance of the road to the nation oil industry, the mainstay of the country ’s economy, the slow pace of work is nonetheless a pain to many road users and indigenes of the oil rich Niger Delta.

The heart-rending last Saturday road carnage which occurred at about 8.30pm came few days after the Bayelsa State Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, organised its 2013 ember months public education campaign with a rally through the Yenagoa-Mbiama road with an appeal to motorists to observe all safety rules, especially as the festive season approaches.

At the road show, which terminated at the Ekeki Motor park in the heart of Yenagoa, the State Sector Commander, Mr. Tonye Vincent Jack, had rhetorically admonished motorists thus: “Before Christmas reach, make we take am jeje, make we drive in such a manner wey be se all of us go fit see 2014 without wahala. Only the person wey dey alive na im fit do party now, no be so?”

Many residents of Yenagoa

*Treacherous plunge...An accident scene on the East-West Road were therefore horrified when news of the crash filtered into Yenagoa, especially coming few days after the aggressive campaign of the FRSC warning drivers to be extra-cautious during the ember months.

The accident, it was learnt, might have been caused partly by over-speeding, poor visibility and fatigue on the part of the driver, coupled with the bad state of the potholes-riddled road, especially as the bus was not involved in any collision with another vehicle.

VM reliably learnt that the

Road infrastructure in Lagos pedestrian-friendly —Opeifa

BY BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

L

agos Commissioner for Public Trans portation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, has said that proper consideration was given to pedestrians the provision of road infrastructure in the state and that by 2014 additional 200 zebra crossings would be added to the existing 400.

Opeifa, who was guest at the National Road Safety Walk in Lagos organised by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company SNEPCO, pointed out that there are safety advocacy programmes in over 700 schools, both primary and secondary, teaching them road safety.

He said: “We all should be road safety conscious. People should use their seat belts always. When you have a child, use the car seat. Don’t put the young child at the front seat. And when you drive, obey all the road signs. More importantly, we need to respect our traffic laws, respect our road traffic officers.

“Road infrastructure in the state is mindful of the pedestrian. In the last six or seven years, we have focused more on providing for the pedestrian. We have started constructing roads. All new roads constructed C M Y K

in Lagos now come with pedestrian walkway. We have now started including bicycle lane.The coming year 2014, we will be collaborating with some of our partners, like you see them today, to add additional 200 zebra crossings.”

The National Road Safety Walk took off from Muri Okunola to Ocean View Restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos, with participants drawn from staff and management of SNEPCO, leaders in government and private sector, celebrities and NGOs. Managing Director of SNEPCO, Mr. Chike Onyejekwe, noted that it is good to create awareness and to obey traffic rules because it will save lives, adding that some of the crises on our roads can be avoided if the pedestrians and motorists obey traffic rules.

“A driver should know that when he gets to zebra crossing, he should wait because pedestrians too have right to way. People should be better informed, including those that cannot read, that there is something called pedestrian safety. This event is purely on safety and for us working in a place like SHELL, safety is our number one priority,” he said.

ill-fated vehicle, an 18-seater Toyota Hiace bus, with registration number XR 855 LSD was on high speed on the dark ailing road when the driver identified as Student lost control of the vehicle on approaching the Okoso bridge and plunged into the river.

It was further learnt that the driver, who operates from the Opolo Motor Park in the Yenagoa, an indigene of Delta, was among those that died on the spot in the fatal crash.

According to the state Sector Commander of the FRSC, 14 persons, mostly women and kids, were in the ill-fated bus.

The list includes one adult male who, incidentally, was the driver, nine females and four kids.

While the driver, five women and three kids lost their lives in the crash, four other lucky women and a child survived the carnage.

It was reliably learnt that but for the quick intervention of men of the state security outfit, Doo Akpo from the Kaiama Police Division on night patrol who drove to the scene and some other sympathisers in the fishing camps around the area, some of the survivors could have died of fatigue and excessive bleeding as they were trapped in the badly mangled bus which reportedly landed in the shallow part of the river.

According to a source, who was part of the rescue team, a nursing mother was found clutching her baby ostensibly trying to shield her from sustaining injuries.

“Sadly the mother and child could not make it, we found them dead alongside others,” he said trying to control his emotion.

According to him, the injured persons were taken to Kaiama Cottage Hospital, while the nine bodies that

were retrieved were deposited at Okolobiri morgue of the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital.

He pleaded with the Federal Government to expedite work on the road project which is going at snail-speed so as to help avert avoidable accidents on the route and the attendant loss of lives.

Also, a commercial bus driver, Mr. Emmanuel Eziya, told VM that the occupants of the bus were coming from a traditional marriage ceremony at Oginigbo in Ughelli South local government of Delta State.

He said the bus which was on high speed somersaulted and plunged into the river while attempting to over take another vehicle on the narrow bad road.

Several lives have been lost along the Okoso river axis of the East-West road in the past due to the terrible state of the road in the course of motorists trying to avoid running into the deep craters some of which are very wide and deep and could easily cause vehicles on high speed to lose control and plunge into the river or valley.

Sometime last year, a middle aged man, identified as Steven Kemepadou, a staff of an indigenous oil servicing firm in Port Harcourt lost his life at the same spot when his car plunged into the river after colliding with another vehicle on the treacherous road.

Also some five years, a Warribound passenger bus from Port Harcourt lost control while approaching the Okoso bridge and plunged into the river killing all its 16 occupants. This was at the height of the flood season when the water level was at its peak.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013 — 21

103.3

0.25

2,648.00

+1.00

17.75

-0.05

108.30

+1.18

93.12 -0.76 CURRENCY BUYING

SELLING

DOLLAR 154.7 155.2 155.7 STERLING 247.0095 247.8078 248.6062 EURO 207.6229 208.2939 208.965 FRANC 168.5002 169.0448 169.5894 YEN 1.5546 1.5596 1.5647 CFA 0.2978 0.3078 0.3178 WAUA 234.9853 235.7448 236.5043 RENMINBI 25.3885 25.471 25.5535 RIYAL 41.2478 41.3811 41.5145 KRONA 27.8287 27.9187 28.0086 SDR 236.1341 236.8973 237.6605

CBN Exchange rate as at 14/11/2013

AWARD: From left: Chairman, Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival, LAIF, Management Board, Mr. Charles

Abraham; Director, Brands and Marketing, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Enitan Denloye; Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN, Mrs. Bunmi Oke; Acting Managing Director, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Matthew Willsher and Advertising Association of Nigeria, ADVAN, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi at the just ended LAIF Award organised by AAAN, in Lagos.

African mobile subscription to hit 930m in 2019 — Ericsson

By EMMANUEL ELEBEKE, from South Africa

I

ndications have emerged that mobile subscription in the Sub-Sahara Africa will hit an all-time high of 930 million by 2019, says Ericsson.

Out of this number,732 million will come from mobile broadband subscription, mostly in 3G, with about 100 million in LTE services.

The Head of the SubSaharan Africa region at Ericsson, Fredrik Jejdling announced this on Wednesday at the on-going African conference holding in Cape Town, South Africa.

During the period under review, he said that there will be 476 million smartphones and mobile data traffic will grow 17 times by the date stated above.

According to him, mobile banking and social networking will drive demand under the period in review.

He stated that Ericsson had studied about 180 operators across the globe and had identified service enablers, network developers, and service creators as major strategic approaches for data growth.

He said that service provid-

ers can team up with the enablers to achieve better results. Service creators, he said should develop their own applications to ease service delivery.

He observed that several operators are going to scramble for subscribers over the next few years as the market gets more competitive.

For operators to benefit from the imminent explosion from data demand, Jejdlig said, regulators must provide the

enabling environment for this to happen.

He noted that Africa’s biggest challenge in data coverage lies in the door coverage. To boost indoor coverage, he however, announced that Ericsson recently introduced a new device that can aid service operators provide uninterrupted indoor services in buildings, when attached to in-building CAT 5 cabling, as an online solution.

NRC increases wagon fleet to boost petroleum products distribution

By JONAH NWOKPOKU

T

he Nigeria Railway Corporation has increased its wagon fleet for carrying petroleum products to forty.

Before now the corporation only had 20 Pressurized Tank Wagons in use across the country for lifting petroleum products, and they are now adding 20 more wagons to bring the number to forty.

In a statement made available to Vanguard, the corporation said the wagons which will be commissioned by the Honorable Minister of Transport, Senator Idris A. Umar in Lagos today, will complement and enhance the movement and distribution of petroleum products across the country by rail.

The tank wagons which have carrying capacities of 45, 000 litres of petroleum

products and a maximum speed of 100 km/hr, are also fitted with type C13 nuckle coupler and air brake system.

According to the suppliers, China Shanhaiguan Bridge Group Company Limited and Westgate Project Limited, “The wagons are specifically developed for Nigeria and have advanced technologies and serviceable parts and materials.”

They said, “The tank wagons come with healthy and safe protection measures and systems, non-spillage of contents in case of accidents, fire and other hazards prevention system and controls as well as pressure gauge to determine condition of oil contents at all times. It also has a man-hole at the top for loading, a ladder of easy steps for climbing the barrels and made of non-corrosive materials.”

N30bn Ama brewery boosts Enugu economy — NB

By FRANKLIN ALLI

N

igerian Breweries (NB) Plc says its N30 billion Greenfield Brewery plant at Ama village in Enugu state has been impacting well on host communities and the state’s economy as a whole.

“In addition to having opened up the communities to commerce and modernisation, the state government has also benefited from increased revenue and the building of international confidence for investment,” said Mr. Kufre Ekanem, Corporate Affairs Adviser of the company.

Fielding questions from journalists on the impacts of the brewery since it started operation ten years ago, Ekanem said that the plant has so far generated employment for over 1,000 workers, both full time employees, contractors and outsourced.

“This multi-billion naira investment has translated into enhanced employment, as well as opening a floodgate of business activities and opportunities in the economy.

“In the area of corporate social responsibility, the company donated patrol vans to Enugu State government and Enugu State Police Command to enhance the operation of security agencies,” he said.

“It has also provided scholarship, elearning centre, fish pond, broken pallets for firewood and a civic centre to Umuezeani host community.

“Since education is one core area of its CSR portfolio, the company donated a fully equipped laboratory complex to University of Nigeria, Nsukka. It has also supported Udi Local Government by constructing a block of six classrooms each, libraries, tables and chairs for pupils and teachers, complete with conveniences for all classes to Awhum Community School, Awhum, Community Primary School, Ngwo Uno and Nsude Community School,” he stated.

22 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

NSE lists CWG’s N13.7bn shares today

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

C

omputer Warehouse Group’s N13.7 billion ordinary shares will finally be admitted in the Official List of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, today, thereby bringing to an end the long wait by anxious investors, who want to part owners of the leading pan-African Information Communications Technology (ICT) company.

2.5 billion Ordinary shares of 50 kobo each of the company will be listed at a unit price of N5.48 per share.

This translates to market capitalisation of N13.7 billion.

The listing of the shares is expected to boost the market capitalisation of the NSE by about N14 billion, while CWG will be the highest capitalised security in the ICT sector.

The company, which has Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited and Cordros Capital Limited as financial advisers, has secured the approval of regulators to list the shares in November.

Applauding the track record of the company ’s achievements, a market source said, “CWG has had a very successful history operating privately as a panAfrican ICT company. Now, it is moving to a new level and it is a good opportunity for members of the investing public to acquire the shares and enjoy significant return on their investment.”

With regional operations in Ghana, Cameroon and Uganda, Computer Warehouse Group incorporated in February 2005 as a holding company for CWL Systems Limited, DCC Networks Limited and ExpertEdge Software Limited benefits from a diversified revenue base generated across the ICT industry value chain comprising communications, hardware and software. The company has long standing partnerships with leading global ICT players such as Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, EMC, Infosys, WincorNixdorf and Symantec amongst others.

In terms of return on equity CWG is said to have posted an average return in excess of 20 percent between 2008 and 2012 and with strategies already put in place, the impressive performance is expected to be sustained in the coming years.

CWG, which has Mr. Austin Okere as Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, has prominent individuals C M Y K

and corporate shareholders, including Aureos Africa Fund LLC, a leading private equity firm.

The company has a diversified customer base, including customers in telecom, Oil & Gas, government, education, manufacturing, and financial services sectors with

operations in 18 of 36 Nigerian states and regional operations in Ghana, Cameroon and Uganda. Some of its customers include: Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, First Bank of Nigeria, United Bank for Africa, Unilever, Cadbury, Nestlé, Etisalat and MTN Group amongst others.

CWG currently provides ICT infrastructural support to 14 of the 22 banks in Nigeria, and the largest data centre in Africa outside of South Africa.

It has also deployed and supports over 3,500 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in Nigeria out of the installed base of about 11,000 ATMs.

From left, Mr. Atila Best Ifaka receiving the Vocational Service Award from past President of Rotary Club of Warri, Rotarian Nelson Utieyione.

CBO Capital becomes core investor in Union Dicon Salt

By PETER EGWUATU

U

NION Dicon Salt (UDS) Plc has disclosed to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) that a new core investor, CBO Capital Partners has become a significant minority shareholder in the company, and has been given a management contract to turnaround the company.

According to information made available to Vanguard, in a deal valuing the company at N8.40 billion naira, CBO Capital Partners acquired 41,000,000 (Forty One Million) Ordinary Shares of UDS, and has also acquired an option to purchase a further 240,000,000 (Two hundred and forty million) ordinary shares for a consideration of N3,360,000,000 (Three billion three hundred & sixty million naira).

“We are glad to have CBO on board, to rejuvenate this

great company, and we shall soon announce a strategy that will involve investment of billions of Naira, over the next 24months” said the Managing Director of Union Dicon Salt, Rtd Colonel Henry Mgbemena. “CBO Capital is very conscious of the exceptional history of Union Dicon Salt, and we fully intend to take it to greater heights. This is a part of our investment philosophy of “Dedicated to Developing Nigeria”. We are grateful to the board and management of Union Dicon Salt Plc, for their outstanding professionalism during negotiations, and we are proud to become shareholders of this illustrious company ” said the Bex Nwawudu, a founding partner of CBO Capital, and new Executive Director designate of Union Dicon Salt.

Union Dicon Salt (UDS), currently chaired by General T.Y. Danjuma, was established in 1984, and for a considerable

period, was the largest producer of salt in Nigeria. It has two factories: one in Lagos and the other in Port Harcourt with a total installed production capacity of 700,000 Metric tons per year.

The statement further stated that the turnaround programme for the company is being finalized with the current management of the company, and implementation will commence in the first Quarter of 2014. The company is currently concluding on a variety of strategic options, for a 2014 Capex requirement of ?4billion that will be imminently announced.

Union Dicon Salt Plc operates in the Nigerian Consumer Goods Section, and was established in 1984.

Union Dicon Salt Plc was until a few years ago, the largest producer of salt in Nigeria.

CBO Capital is one of the leading investment, and project development firms based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Bits Dangote Sugar commends FG on sugar master plan

D

angote Sugar Refinery Plc, a quoted company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, has commended the Federal Government on the new sugar master plan, saying it has the capacity to put Nigeria on the global sugar map.

Managing Director, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Mr. Graham Clark, made the commendation while on a courtesy visit to the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, and the Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council, NSDC, Dr. Lateef Busari.

In his address, Clark explained that he has a mandate to establish a world class sugar business in the Dangote Group, and develop a fully integrated world class sugar supply chain that will put Nigeria on the world sugar map. According to him, the target is achievable given the strength of Dangote Group and government’s legislative support.

He expressed his delight in being part of the New Nigerian Sugar sector redevelopment project, which will be successful given the current legislations and support government has put in place.

FirstBank creates point-based reward scheme for customers

By PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU & WILLIAM JIMOH

F

irst Bank Nigeria, FBN, Plc, has launched an enterprise point-based loyalty and reward scheme christened ‘FirstClub’ a level platform reward, as part of efforts by the bank to appreciate customer for transactions, including saving, withdrawing, use of POS and ATM outlets of the bank.

The platform which was envisaged to redefine the dynamics of the relationships between customers and the bank, ties individual customers’ reward to the volume and value of transactions thus eliminating the game of chance that retail promotion entails.

Speaking at the official launch of the scheme in Lagos, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, Group Managing Director/ CEO of FirstBank represented by Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, Chief Finanacial Officer said:

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013—23

G

HANAIAN Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye, has underscored the need for ECOWAS members to work together as a sub-region to promote regional trade and integration.

ECOWAS, Nii Vanderpuiye said, was so important to all member states that they should do all they could to keep it open, growing and developing.

He said there still remained some roadblocks and unauthorised tariff road toll collection points on certain trunk roads which consistently impeded the movement of persons and goods across their borders and onto the markets where they traded.

He said the case was most profound for those who traded in perishable foodstuffs and other agricultural commodities, which got rotten or destroyed, creating considerable losses for the traders as well as environmental hazards along the trunk roads.

The Deputy Minister was speaking at the closing ceremony of the 7th ECOWAS Trade Fair in Accra, Ghana.

Nii Vanderpuiye underscored the importance of corporate governance and quality service monitoring systems for the Customs and Immigration Officers which, he said, should be continuously reviewed to ensure that delays occurring at the border posts where these officers engaged with travellers and goods in transit were reduced to the barest minimum.

"For our collective benefit, it

SON commences audit of steel sector

I

PROMO: From left: Regional Head, South South Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Chinedu Ibe; National Lottery Regulatory Commission representative, Ibekwe Chidiebere; Area Manager, Port Harcout South, Ecobank Nigeria, Mrs Nwogo Robert-Oragbon and Consumer Protection Council representative, Mr Emeka Anyawu, at the Ecobank giant give away promo second draw, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

7th ECOWAS Trade Fair ends in Accra is more crucial now than even before to actually construct and commission the long-held dream of a seamless railway line connecting Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Cote D'Ivoire", he stressed.

This, he noted, would naturally resolve most of the problems associated with the overland haulage of agro-produce and other raw or unprocessed commodities across the borders.

He called on various Chambers of Commerce and Industry as well as business associations to consistently pres-

Africa's agribusiness worth US$1trn by 2030 A

FRICAN farmers and the agribusiness sector could create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030 if they could access more capital and electricity, better technology and irrigated land, according to a World Bank report released in March 2013.

For this goal to be achieved, governments and business leaders in sub-Saharan Africa must place agriculture and agribusiness at the top of the development and business agenda, the report states.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN agency dedicated to poverty eradication in developing countries, called in 2011 for policy innovations and more investments in agriculture and agribusinesses.

Makhtar Diop, the World Bank's vice-president for the Africa region, says, "The time has come for making African agriculture and agribusiness a catalyst for ending poverty."

In addition to untapped water resources, Africa has more than half of the world's fertile and unused land, notes the World Bank, but warns that land allocations for agribusiness have to be carefully

carried out.

In 2011 the Oakland Institute, a US-based think tank, reported unfair land deals in South Sudan, under which foreign companies bought up fertile and mostly uncultivated land. Such deals did not clarify land tenure and usage, and worse, even threatened the land rights of rural communities.

The World Bank notes that Africa spends $3.5 billion per year on rice importation. With the right incentives many countries could produce enough rice for domestic consumption.

Senegalese farmers, for example, experience difficulties in accessing land, capital, finance for irrigation expansion and appropriate crop varieties.

They could produce more rice if not held back by these difficulties.

Ten years ago the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) launched the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) "to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty through agriculture" by encouraging African countries to invest at least 10% of their national budgets in agriculture.

sure their political leaders to make this project a major priority and see it delivered as soon as possible.

Custom Specialist of ECOWAS Commission, Mr Felix Kwakye, said as a region, they needed to vigorously pursue these interactions and transform them into real business linkages to boost the economic development of West Africa.

He said in addition to the exhibition of Made-inECOWAS goods and services, the fair also created room for business to business interactions and brought together various actors in the value chain development of three key products in the region such as cashew, shea butter

and fertilizer.

He assured members that the Commission would continue to work with member states and other stakeholders to improve knowledge of the various ECOWAS protocols on the free movement of goods and persons, with a view to ensuring that the people were able to move freely in West Africa, in accordance with the tenets of the ECOWAS revised treaty.

ECOWAS Trade Fair is a biennial event organised by member states on a rotational basis to exhibit products manufactured in member states and to provide a platform for businesses in the ECOWAS region to position themselves into new markets.

Stanchart pledges more support for trade financing will ultimately become ours,"

S

TANDARD Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited has promised to focus on trade financing in the country.

The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria, Mrs. Bola Adesola, said this during a recent business forum tagged: "Building a Conducive Environment for Trade and Investment," organised by the bank.

"At Standard Chartered Bank, we pride ourselves as being the bank with a simple strategy to remain a "commercial" and not just a "financial" institution" where we don't go after speculative lending, but rather we focus on Trade and forex by leveraging on our strong balance sheet.

"We strongly believe that as a bank, what will differentiate us in the long run is not only 'what' we do, but 'how' we do it. We are committed to building bridges of partnership that will support our clients and the communities in which we work, being mindful that their success

a statement quoted Adesola to have said.

The event was organised to foster partnership between the organised private sector and the government, wherein both parties could work out sustainable solution to challenges impeding the achievement of a conducive environment for business in Nigeria.

The guest speaker at the event was the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga.

Standard Chartered Bank was the lead bank in the recent $9 billion loan syndication for the Dangote Group for the construction of the biggest petrochemical and fertiliser plant in Nigeria. The project is expected to create about 9,500 jobs in the economy.

In his address, Aganga noted the role of governments globally was changing. According to Aganga, governments was meant to provide the enabling environment in terms of polices, regulation, the facilitation of competitive and investment-friendly business climate, creating favourable conditions for growth.

N order to ensure that only standard products are sold in the markets, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), has started a verification exercise of the steel sector.

This, according to the agency was geared towards ensuring that only iron and steel products that meet the minimum acceptable standards in terms of tensile strength and chemical composition are allowed to circulate in the nation’s market.

The first phase of the exercise saw the agency paying unscheduled visits to firms and carrying out on-the-spot assessment of steel products in Lagos and Ogun states.

The verification, according to SON, is to be extended to other states in the federation with the hope of bringing sanity the industry nationwide. The exercise, according to stakeholders, would help in establishing reliable data of the state of the steel sector in Nigeria, especially their installed capacity; the current production capacity; employment generation and contribution to the overall growth of the economy.

In the first phase, the SON team visited and assessed companies including Universal Steel Company, Sankyo Steel Mills Company Limited, Phoenix Steel Mills, African Foundries Limited, Monarch Steel Mills, Metal Africa Steel Production Limited and Real Infrastructure Nigeria Limited.

Head of SON’s Special Task force, Bede Obayi, who led the verification team, said the exercise was necessitated by a number of reasons, including the revelation that some companies were making steel products without putting their identification marks on them, as well as mixing of imported steel with locally produced ones.

“Why we are doing the verification is because government wants to know the exact situation of the companies in the steel sector in Nigeria.

This is in terms of installed capacity, production capacity, level of patronage and even jobs created. For example, we cannot be producing the same quality of steel as the imported ones and then, the imported ones would take over the market.”

This, he said, was an anomaly which should not be allowed, adding that steel companies creating jobs for Nigerians are supporting the policies and programmes of the Federal Government.

24—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

The story of Port Harcourt city Being a paper delivered by Rivers State governor rt, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, at the symposium on the Port Harcourt centenary celebrations

Primal purpose and modus operandi

BY PROF. BEN NWABUEZE

D

ISTINGUISHING the proposed national conference from the abortive 2005 national political reform conference: In February 2005, President Olusegun Obasanjo suddenly convened what he called the National Political Reform Conference, NPRC, comprising a motley of persons handpicked by himself and the State Governors as well some members of certain ethnic groups and other associations - a completely undemocratic body with no mandate from the people or from the ethnic nationalities and civil society organisations. There was no enabling law establishing it and backing up its work..

Its role, as announced by the then AttorneyGeneral of the Federation, Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi, SAN, in an interview in The Guardian newspaper of February 9, 2005 was only to make “recommendations which the National Assembly and the Presidency will look into and see how to integrate these views into our Constitution.” In other words, the conference was simply part of a process of consultations to aid the Presidency and the National Assembly in the discharge of their functions with respect to the amendment of

•Nigeria

proposed National Conference, or be used as a basis for saying that the latter will also come to nothing. As conceived, the proposed National Conference has a specific purpose, namely, to discuss and agree on the terms and conditions to be embodied in a new Constitution as the basis on which the diverse nationalities and peoples comprised in Nigeria can live together in peace, security, progress and unity as one country under a common central government. This is the primal purpose of the proposed national conference, the crux or pivot of its agenda, and to which everything else is ancillary.

Given the above primal purpose for it, the initial problem facing the conference is to fashion out a legal framework for convening and holding it, and for holding a referendum to approve a Constitution adopted at the conference. Without such a Legal Framework, the conference cannot effectively take off as conceived, and will be doomed to fail as did the 2005 NPRC for the reason, among others, that, as The task of fashioning out appropriate earlier explained, there was no law establishing it and backing up its Legal Framework for the proposed work. The task of fashioning out National Conference has, happily, been appropriate Legal Framework for the proposed National entrusted to a Presidential Advisory Conference has, happily, been Committee entrusted to a Presidential the Constitution. The NPRC thus differed Advisory Committee. No Committee of this type, totally in nature and character from the with wide-ranging terms of reference, was set proposed National Conference. up in 2005 as a prelude to the convening of the The NPRC was dogged by crisis and, after NPRC, and to lay the foundation for its successful some months of deliberations, ended abruptly outcome. In any case, as earlier stated, fashioning in confusion. Its failure is, to some extent, a a new Constitution for Nigeria was never part of product of defects in its character and structure the agenda or purpose of the NPRC. as noted above. It was, in the apt characterisation of it by the print media, a mere Legal talk-shop lacking power to take legally binding framework decisions, which made the entire exercise a farce, a charade. The charade did not end with Some years ago, in October 2001 to be precise, the abrupt The Patriots prepared such a Legal Framework disbandment in the form of a Bill, titled the National of the NPRC, Conference and Referendum Bill, which it but was submitted to the Presidency and the National continued by Assembly. The Bill, after some revision, was rethe National submitted to the two bodies in 2013. It was also Assembly Joint submitted to the Presidential Committee on Constitutional National Conference by letter dated 31 October, R e f o r m 2013, to help it in making recommendations to Committee, the President in terms of its Terms of Reference.

J C R C , + The long title of the Bill describes it as “A Bill under the for an Act to make provisions for convening a chairmanship National Conference of the peoples of Nigeria of the Deputy for the purpose of discussing and adopting a PROF. BEN NWABUEZE S e n a t e new Constitution to be submitted for P r e s i d e n t , consideration and approval by the people of Senator Ibraham Mantu, whose main object Nigeria at a Referendum and matters ancillary was to obtain, by fraudulent manipulation, a thereto.” The long title thus provides a clear semblance of public approval for the elongation enough description of the character of the of the President’s and State Governors’ tenure Conference proposed. of office – an even greater farce. The JCRC This is reaffirmed by a declaration in a Preamble conducted so-called public hearings for two that the Conference is “a Conference of the days in one centre in each of the six geo- nationalities and ethnic groups comprised in this political Zones. nation so as to give them the opportunity to Purpose of the proposed national exercise their inherent right to determine conference and a legal framework for its democratically for themselves the Constitution operation: Being thus a palpable fraud, a farce, by which they wish to be governed in one united and programmed to come to nothing, the 2005 Nigeria” (emphasis supplied).

To be continued NPRC cannot in any way be equated with the

,

visionary first military governor of old Rivers State, HRM King Alfred Diete-Spiff, the Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, and his team of able men and women who served in that pioneer government of our state, for setting the pace and pathway for development in Port Harcourt. Posterity has judged them fairly and today their works continue to speak for them.

May I also pay my resects to the late Melford Okilo, who amongst other things established the Rivers State University of Science and Technology in Port Harcourt, as Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi well as AIG Fidelis Oyakhilome who signed the HE celebrations today are edict to establish the Rivers an announcement that State School of Basic Studies. our city has come of age in a It was also Oyakhilome who, different way. One hundred noting the importance of years of growth albeit in fits and agriculture, also introduce the starts is a testament of the school to land programme enduring nature of our city and which not only increased the burst of life it continually agricultural input in Port gives to those who live here. Harcourt, but also afforded Port Harcourt has remained the young school leavers the city that everyone who visits opportunity to learn and farm.

Former Governors Anthony makes home.

Like the theme of the Ukpo and Ernest Adeleye symposium “Port Harcourt City, deserve our respect and Past, Present and Future” appreciation for inaugurating suggests, this is a time to the provisional council of Rivers celebrate our history and State Polytechnic and signing culture. It is also a time of the edict establishing same remembrance, reflection and school respectively, while we most importantly a time to acknowledge today the roles project in terms of development played by my predecessors Chief Rufus George and I am quite nostalgic about Ada Sir (Dr.) Peter what the city of Port Harcourt Odili in elevating the used to be face of Port Harcourt and of how Port Harcourt should expanding the City. The city of look in another fifty to a Port Harcourt means different hundred years. things to each one of us as we As we celebrate this historic have had different moment we must with much experiences. But one thing thankfulness pay tribute to the that is clear is that our city is men and women who have very dear to all of us. served and worked I grew up in Port Harcourt as assiduously to frame the canvas a young boy, had my primary, on which we now paint. secondary and tertiary May I use the opportunity of education in Port Harcourt and this special occasion to on so I can speak first hand about behalf of Rivers State this city. I was not from a rich Government congratulate the home. I used to pick food from hardworking men and women Olu Obasanjo road - Man must who cut the forests and paved wack as we called it then. I the way for our city a hundred hawked at different times for years ago. my parents in this city. After Chief of these is our own God, I owe my growth to Port respected Chief Jonas Happy Harcourt.

Elemuwa Nwuke, the first black I am quite nostalgic about provincial commissioner for what the city of Port Harcourt Port Harcourt whose significant used to be. It was popularly contributions to the called the garden city because development of the city include of the order that characterized the development of the Trans our houses built in beautiful Amadi Industrial layout. well-planned layouts and the He it was who lowered the greens and open spaces all Union Jack when the British over the city. Port Harcourt was left in 1960. Along with Chief also serene and had a peaceful Nwuke, we remember the mien which explained why various mayors and many people preferred to administrators who handed holiday in Port Harcourt. over the baton to our most To be concluded

T

,

PROPOSED NATIONAL CONFERENCE:

,

,

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013 — 25

I’ll buy whatever a girl has to sell — Kach

BY AYO ONIKOYI Soft-spoken Uche Kach, a.k.a Kach is a lady’s man any day, any time. From his brand of music, to his looks- he seems to have the world in the palm of his hand.

Born in Nigeria, Kach decide to pursue a degree outside the country before settling down for music. And guess what? Within the short time he arrived the country, Kach immediately got the attention of Signature Records who saw a unique trait of a star born to succeed and thus set to unleashed him on the music world. Meet Kach and here’s his story.

How was life back in England?

It was okay. It was basically school but even while in school, I was always in the studio and going for shows.

You decided to finish school before doing music?

Yes. Education for me is also very important.

You live your life for yourself so you have to decide what’s more important at a time.

So how was music in England?

I grew up here and later went to England for my degree. Right from secondary school, I used to do music with my friends. We were just playing around then. I didn’t know I would be taking it seriously. We actually did recordings too at that time. So when I went for my degree, I Continues on page 26

I N S I DE:

Between Juliet Ibrahim and Queeneth Hilbert Pg 27 C M Y K

X Factor’s

Pheel releases

new single ‘Ibiri’ Pg 28

Continues on page 29

Is social media becoming ttoo oo ‘Selfie-centred?’

Pg 29

26— Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Synopsis

I’ll buy whatever a girl has to sell I sing hip-hop

I’m sure by the time you came into the country, you’d have noticed Nigerian music is now very competitive. How do you intend to cope?

Yeah. That’s why I came back to Nigeria because I noticed our artistes are now being internationally celebrated. I’m all prepared for the market because I’ve been out there and I know what kind of song is being appreciated. I believe I’m up to the task.

So do you have a girlfriend?

No I don’t. I want to face my music for now.

Maybe you dumped her in England?

No I didn’t. I just want to be focused on my music for now. Girls will always come as time goes.

Continues on page 25 decided to continue in school but still didn’t know I would want to do it real big. By the time I got back from England, it got really serious and I had released so much music in England that I just decided to hit the studio. Getting to Nigeria, I got signed by a label and since then, I’ve been working so hard.

For how long have you been around now?

I’ve been around for like six months.

So which label signed you?

It’s called Signature Records.

How did you manage to get signed within the space of six months?

Like I said, when I was still in England, I did some recording which were posted online. So they already listened to my songs and liked them even without meeting me. So when I got back into the country, they heard I was around and that’s how we signed the contract.

How many songs have you recorded?

I’ve recorded a lot of songs already but the promotion company will be releasing just two from now till December. The first one is ‘Red Light’, the other is ‘Kach Tension’.

Both will be out before the end of the year alongside their videos.

Tell me more about those singles.

‘Red Light’ is a love based song about what we all go through in our relationships with people and our love lives. It’s basically a love song.

While ‘Kach Tension’ is a party song.

If asked to describe your kind of song, what will you say?

C M Y K

But you are a fine guy. How do you cope with all the female attention that comes with your job?

I’ve always been coping. Yes, girls are every artiste’s biggest fans and we can’t put them aside but I’m still focused.

So what attracts you to a girl?

I like brilliant and smart girls.

No physical attraction?

No. I don’t want to restrict myself. I could fall in love with any girl who has the qualities I want- she could be tall, short, fair or dark skinned.

So you don’t have any catching point?

I’ll buy whatever a girl has to sell.

She has to know her selling point. As long as she has all the quality I want in a woman then, I’ll go for her.

Since you got back, which artiste have you come to like?

I like M.I, Tuface, Sound Sultan and loads of them. There are many great artistes in Nigeria and I’ll like to work with some, especially Sound Sultan in the nearest future.

What kind of upbringing did you have that shaped your life?

I grew up in a family that provided for our needs. My father was comfortable and I have a brother and a sister. We had everything we wanted and they support me in everything I do.

What did your parents say when you told them you wanted to do music?

Of course, no parents would be happy to see that their children wanted to put aside what he read in school for music but as time went on, they understood. As a matter of fact, they didn’t know I was into music until I almost graduated. But my mum has always supported me in whatever I do. Along the line, my father had to understand because I’m my own man now and can decide where my heart is.

T

he haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world.

Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey FINDING MERCY is a life drama about two hasty young men Jato and Rogers, whose paths in life are changed forever by a ‘spur-of- themoment decision that tests their humaneness. More than a decade later, they are now responsible men in the society but they are taxed with safeguarding their old choices.

This contemporary feature film showcases the burden of youthful exuberance combined with recklessness and how providence steps in at the least expected moment. Starring Desmond Elliot,Rita Dominic, Uti Nwachukwu

TOP MOVIES OF THE WEEK CAPTAIN PHILLIPS BUTTLER BATTLE OF THE YEAR KRRISH 3 THANKS FOR SHARING Exhibition Schedule from NOV, 15 — NOV, 21 2013 SILVERBIRD CINEMAS, IKEJA About Time : 11:30am,6:30pmm Insidious:Chapter 2 : 8:55pm Finding Mercy : 2:15pm The Butler : 4:00pm,8:55pm Captain Philips : 6:25pm Thanks for Sharing : 12:00pm Battle of the year : 3:50pm SILVERBIRD CINEMAS, SEC About Time : 12:40pm,3:10pm,5:40pm,8:20pm Insidious:Chapter 2 : 2:30pm 6:50pm,9:00pm Finding Mercy : 3:40pm,7:10pm,8:50pm Captain Philips : 12:50pm,3:50pm,6:30pm9:10pm Thanks For Sharing :2:50pm,8:45pm Battle of the year : 12:30pm,3:00pm,5:10pm,7:20pm,9:30pm R.i.p.d. : 6:00pm,8:00pm SILVERBIRD CINEMAS CEDDI PLAZA , ABUJA Finding Mercy : 2:00pm,8:30pm Captain Philips : 12:55pm,3:30pm,6:10pm,8:50pm Battle of the year : 11:30am,3:50pm,6:20pm SILVERBIRD CINEMAS, UYO Insidious:Chapter 2 : 12:00pm,2:15pm,4:30pm,6:40pm Finding Mercy : 11:45pm,1:30pm,5:15pm,7:00pm Thanks for Sharing : 12:30pm,4:45pm, Battle of the year : 12:15pm,2:30pm,4:40pm,6:50pm Keeping My Man : 2:50pm,7:10pm Dark Skies : 3:15pm The Big Wedding : 12:45pm, 5:00pm 2 Guns : 11:50am,2:05pm,4:25pm,6:45pm OZONE CINEMAS LAGOS Insidious:Chapter 2 : 4:25pm,6:45pm,9:10pm About Time : 2:05pm,4:25pm Finding Mercy : 11:50am,12:30pm The Butler : 12:15pm Captain Philips : 10:45am FILM HOUSE CINEMAS, SURULERE Finding Mercy : 10:00am,5:00pm The Butler : 11:20am,4:05pm,8:50pm Captain Philips : 4:10pm FILM HOUSE CINEMAS, IBADAN Insidious:Chapter 2 : 1:50pm,4:00pm,6:10pm,8:15pm Finding Mercy : 2:40pm,6:30pm Captain Philips : 12:10pm Battle of the year : 11:50am FILM HOUSE CINEMAS,CALABAR Insidious:Chapter 2 : 1:15pm,4:50pm,6:50pm,8:50pm Finding Mercy : 10:05am,11:40am,3:15pm The Butler : 1:00pm,6:20pm Captain Philips : 12:30pm,3:00pm,5:30pm,8:00pm

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013 — 27 Stories by Ayo Onikoyi

Between Juliet Ibrahim and Queeneth Hilbert

By AYO ONIKOYI

M

•Queeneth Hilbert

aybe Ghanaian actress, Juliet Ibrahim and her Nigerian counterpart, Queeneth Hilbert have never crossed each other’s paths before but it seems there is a certain fate that would bring them together, either as friends or foes.

When Queeneth caught the eyes of the movie lovers in movies like “Hearts on Fire”, “Wife on Fire”, “Brave Mind” and others, she also stole some hearts along with it too. With couple of years into the industry, some movie buffs and overzealous writers jumped to conclusion that she must be the most beautiful girl in

the Nigerian movie industry.

Same tale seemed to work for Juliet too, that with her debut in ‘Crime to Christ’, in 2007 co-starring Majid Michel, she had so many hearts bleeding for her with grandiose eulogies not so dissimilar from that of Queeneth’s.

Now Juliet Ibrahim has been named ‘The most beautiful actress in West Africa’ by an African magazine known as A-Listers, throwing an open challenge to all and sundry and better still, making light of Queeneth’s toga of ‘most beautiful actress in Nollywood’.

Yet the triumph seems to belong in a trait these two damsels share in common.

While Queeneth is a Nigerian-Lebanese woman, Juliet has Liberian-Lebanese blood running in her genes.

•Juliet Ibrahim

R

Glo adds colour tto o night lif e in life PH with Glo Laf es Lafffta FFes estt

ivers State capital, Port Harcourt, on Sunday took its turn to host Africa’s biggest comedy show as Globacom staged the Glo …..as Laffta Fest in the city.

On parade were some of the best comedians and musicians who .From the start to the end of the show held at the Aztech Arcum event centre, it was fun, dance and laughter all the way as the artistes gave the audience value for their time. There was never a dull moment from the time ace comedian, Basketmouth opened the show till the time the sensational music act, Flavour, said “bye, bye,” with his popular track, Ada .Welcoming the huge crowd to the show, Basketmouth fired the first Salvo as those in attendance laughed almost endlessly to his opening jokes on the proliferation of churches in Nigeria. He assed that soon, some would attempt to establish the “Church of God Mosque”.While Klint D Drunk was at the peak of his “drunkeness” for the night, the likes of 2CanTalk, I Go Save, Senator, Funny Bones, Buchi, Okey Bakassi, Dan D Humorous, Julius Agwu, Ak-

3 musicians, 13 comedians thrill audience

•Wizkid and girlfriend,Omotayo

Wizkid in another sizzling romance?

By AYO ONIKOYI

•Klint D Drunk, Senator and I Go Save pororo and Bovi, brought to the fore the exceptionality of the Nigerian comedy as they made jest out of the day-today activities that have heightened tension in the country.

I Go Save, for instance, concentrated on the distinctive tendencies of the Warri residents, just the same way

Buchi dramatized the ingenuity of music producers in the country. But Dan D Humorous tilted his performance a bit and praised Globacom for the uncommon support it has given to the Nigerian football. Next on, were Salvador, the Ugandan comedian followed by the trio of Naeto C., Wande Coal and Flavour.

P

akurumo crooner, Wizkid, at 24 has got just about everything going for him. When the rumours ran wild that he was involved in an affair with a fashion consultant, Lillian Unachukwu, there were many who felt it was about time the little guy moved up the ladder of the elders even when some were ready to crucify him for dating a lady many years his senior.

That story soon panned out without much of anything coming out of it. Then there were series of stories about a girl here and there until Tania Omotayo came into Wizkid’s life and nobody dared doubt that the ‘Love my Baby’ guy is as good as hooked.

Now with the latest Twitter rants by an Ethiopian girl who claimed that Wizkid has been sending SMS and ‘bothering’ her room-mate, another Ethiopian, one begins to wonder if Wizkid is playing wild card in him.

28— Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

By AYO ONIKOYI

P

HEEL is no doubt a hugely talented artiste as he proved by tantalizing the viewers at the recently concluded singing reality TV show “Glo X Factor ” as one of the finalists and Last man standing. So good was his voice and stage performance that many had tipped him to win the show which was held in Africa for the first t i m e .

Even though he did not eventually win the contest, the talented

X Factor’s Pheel releases new single ‘Ibiri Ibiri’ singer has shown he is determined to make a career in music and has kick-started his journey to stardom in earnest as he releases his new single, “IBIRI” , a song inspired by the Late Highlife King Oliver De Coque’s track “Ibiri Kam Biri” (live and let Live).

Pheel’s music creativity is evident in the track as

he brilliantly fuses Highlife and contemporary pop sounds to create a catchy club banging tune. Ibiri has the potential to rule the air waves and is sure to get the listener dancing.

Pheel whose full name is Philip Otuya is 26 years old and hails from Kwale, Delta state. He

studied industrial relations a n d personnel management at the University of Lagos and lives in Isolo, Lagos.

Tuface, Davido, Wizkid, Banky W, Tiwa Savage, others billed for showdown at Lagos 2013 countdown

•Oba of Lagos at the event

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

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lans have been concluded for the hosting of 2013 Lagos Countdown, a worldclass celebration of the end of the year and the beginning of another.

Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency, LASAA, has said.

Over top 40 Nigerian artists are expected to perform at the event which include: TuFace Idibia, Davido, Omawunmi, Bracket, J Martins, Morell, Duncan Mighty, Timaya, Wizkid, Banky W, Tiwa Savage, Wande Coal, D’Prince, MI, Ice

Prince, Burna Boy and Iyanya amongst others.

The event was conceived

by Governor Babatunde Fashola, of Lagos state, in order to put Lagos on the global map in the league of cities such as New York, Dubai, London, Sydney, and other major destinations that commemorate the cross over into the New Year.

Just like last year, this year ’s Countdown festival is scheduled to hold at the Bar Beach stretch, Victoria Island and will commence on 7th of December 2013 and culminate on the 1st of January 2014.

Speaking on the event,

Managing Director of L ASAA, Mr George Noah, stressed that the Lagos countdown is about instituting an enduring crossover tradition, commerce, employment generation, leisure, entertainment and tourism. ‘’Last year about the Bar Beach stretch attracted over 200,000 people in 10 days. What LASAA is doing on behalf of the state government is leveraging the proposition of Lagos as a premium destination for business and leisure,” Noah said.

The Bar Beach venue of the event during the month of December usually becomes a beehive of major commercial and leisure activities thronged by thousands of domestic and foreign visitors who are entertained every evening by different artists being sponsored

by Nigerian Breweries Plc. “This event is arguably the biggest New Year ’s Eve celebration in Africa.” Noah boasted.

‘Jesus My Con set for launch fidence’ ew album by N for launch on gospel sensation Cosmas Saturday, Nov Ikechi Ogirii Season

s set of Lif emb The event wh e Hall, Isheri, Lagos. er 17h at the prestigious ic h is organised by will have oth Triple Akanchawa er gospel artistes like Pri V Entertainment Group fa nce Goz m e, Evang James S o m e b o d y, Arum, Michie Okeke of the E v a n g R C. Phillip, M o se m a ry C performing w r h Boy, Chinco, hile comedians billed tou k w u a m o n g o th e rs , Melody for C feature inclu omedy and a d couple of othe Boy O ers.

C M Y K

Mavin Record’s reject, Wande Coal bags Glo Ambassadorship •Wande Coal

By Ayo Onikoyi

T

he story of the breakup between Marvin Record’s big boss, Don Jazzy and his boy, Wande Coal started like another wild gist that would never have a salt of substance in them until Marvin Record itself came out to make

an official statement that they were truly done with ‘Bumpa-toBumpa’ crooner.

But it seems the reject would not have any ample time to lick his wound as telecoms giant, Globacom has slammed a mouthwatering deal on him

Wande Coal confirmed this news on twitter when he wrote, “Glo with Pride. Thank you to God the almighty and big thank you to my faithful fans for all your support through the years. I’m the newest Glo ambassador in town” He has now joined other colleagues who are the network’s brand ambassadors.

Bisquit Cognac finally launched in Lagos

By Iyabo Aina

Bisquit Cognac, widely renowned arou nd the world for its history and quality , has finally been launched in Lagos . The laun which took place on November, 8, 2013 ch Muri Okunola Park, Victoria island Lagoat

by The Hou se of Bisq uit Cog nac , s, in partnership with Celebrity Master Chef, Mr. Pete Goffe-Wood of South Africa, is tapp into the booming global trend of pop-ing up restaurants to create a one-of-kind, fine dining event, never before experienced in Nigeria. Also , Bisquit Cognac is hosting the event as an innovative way to reconnec with its target market by offering a lifestylet event of the calibre only Bisquit Cognac can provide.

Speaking on the rationale for the even Stan isla s Ron teix , Glo bal Mar keti t, ng

Director of Bisquit Cognac, said that the focus of the event is on delivering a fine dini ng exp erie nce to con nois seu rs.

According to him, “We are increasing our presence in Nigeria so as to avail our customers with the opportunity to savo the unique and exclusive experience ur of Bisquit Cognac.

Goffe-Wood, the chef of the event who perh aps best kno wn as a tele visi is on personality and celebrity judge on the MNet reality competition cooking seri MasterChef, South Africa, expressed joy es coming to Nigeria to cater for this spec at ial even t. “I’m deli ghte d to part ner with Bisquit Cognac in this unique event in bringing a fine-dining experience directly to Lag os. Too ofte n we find ours elve leaving the continent in search of fines dining experiences in Europe and America.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013 — 29 With PRINCE OSUAGWU princeosuagwu@gmail.com 08050498513

oid From Andr Android to eye-phone?

Is Social Media becoming too ‘Selfie-centred?’

I

phones are no longer an enigma to us, but have you ever heard you ever heard of eye-phones? A team of eyecare professionals has developed technology that turns an Android smartphone into a portable, low-cost eye examination kit for use in remote areas of the developing world. Its designers say the device will help diagnose eye problems for thousands of people throughout rural Africa and India who are unable or unwilling to travel to urban centres to be tested.

A video that went viral online earlier this week shows a Kenyan villager undergoing an eye test by smartphone. In the video, the phone’s camera flash light illuminates her retina allowing the tester to check for cataracts, glaucoma and other diseases. Highdefinition photographs of her eye are then e-mailed to an eye hospital in London for further analysis.

BY LAJU ARENYEKA

T

he average person is loves himself. The average person uses social media. So it suffices to say that lots of social media apps feed on the vanity on the average person. Well, that might be too extreme, but do the ‘selfie-centred’ apps flooding the app market now give cause for concern?

But before we jump the gun here, what on earth is a selfie? A selfie is a type of self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone. Selfie apps refer to social media applications that help people share such pictures. One of such apps is instagram, an online photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr.

Although not as popular in Nigeria, over 1 billion pictures have been uploaded all over the world on instagram.

Impressive as that might seem, instagram is just the beginning of the selfie movement. Teen pop star Justin Bieber now partly owns a new social network, called ‘Shots of Me’. Unlike instagram which promotes selfies among other kinds of shots and videos, Shots of me is exclusively for selfies. It gets even better. Another app has been developed to help women find their bra sizes by simply taking a selfie of their breasts.

The app, ThirdLove uses image recognition and human voice commands to take users through the process of snapping two pictures of your breasts, one from the front and the other from the side. In just a few moments, the app processes the photos and gives the user a size number. The company has raised a $5.6 million.

DataCard syst em gives new speed to card issuance

•DataCard system

he world is going cashless and T Nigeria can not afford to play catch up. Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, knows

so, and decided to introduce the system in Nigeria where it would make a lot of difference. Besides the sensitization needed by both government and private ornisations, there is also the problem of right equipment. However, being at the infancy in cashless project, Nigeria also pays the price of using technologies other developed economies have left behind, At the banks for instance, it is difficult to issue cards instantly when it does not take more than a few seconds in many developed economies for a card user to get his card and begin to use it instantly But with the introduction of MX8100 central issuance machine last week, ChamsAccess, seems to have solved part of the problem. The system offers peerless card quality and system integrity, as well as multi-layered security features and production efficiency all in one system. It is a product that can support virtually any configuration for card and secure ID programmes in both financial and government markets leading directly to C M Y K

a more efficient p r o d u c t i o n environment. It has a toprated speed of up to 3,000 cards per hour, and offers true field modularity, automated inline quality assurance, streamlined smart card handling and a variety of sophisticated physical and logical security features.

Introducing the system,Group Managing Director of Chams Plc, Mr. Demola Aladekomo, represented by his deputy, Mr. Femi Williams, said that with the 21st century knowledge based economy, there was no room for catch up and so the need to constantly innovate Managing Director of ChamsAccess, Mrs. Funke AlomoOluwa said that the company needed to demonstrate to bankers that a customer can actually walk into a branch and leave with his card because there is no reason an applicant should leave and come back for his card if the organization is using one of several DataCard machines. AlomoOluwa said that the MX8100 is built to meet the secure and multifunctional high volume card issuance needs of corporations and governments because “it is a machine that brings unrivalled speed, reliability and cost-per-issuance efficiency to card issuance operations. ”

•Justin Bieber

•Glamtech motor g

Can Motorolla make a comeback with low cost smart phone?

H ello Moto. Almost everyone remembers this slogan from when the GSM revolution first began in Nigeria. Goodbye moto.

Motorolla phones began to lose their number one spot, and their popularity dwindle. Until the one-time tech giant had to be bought over by Google in 2012.

In an effort to return to its former glory, the company’s new Moto G phone, unveiled recently will be available for $179 without a wireless service contract, about one third of the price of Apple Inc’s new iPhone 5C. The new Motorola phone, which is being aimed at consumers in developing Western countries, is the second major new product that Motorola has developed since its acquisition by Google. There are about 500 million people looking to purchase a smartphone with the Moto G’s price tag, said Motorola Chief Executive Dennis Woodside in an interview with international media last week.

“You don’t have to get a lot to have some substantial change in trajectory for the top line and for

the unit sales,” Woodside said that because the phone featured Google search, Gmail email and other Google Web services, the device could not be sold in China given the “current regulatory situation.”

Google relocated its search engine from mainland China to Hong Kong in 2010, in order to offer uncensored search results.

The Moto G lacks some of the high-end components found in the iPhone 5C or the Samsung Galaxy S4. But the Moto G’s 4.5 inch touchscreen and 1.2 Gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor are leagues above what’s available in other low-cost smartphones, which are often based on older technology, said Woodside.

Motorola is not the only company looking for success by making an affordable smartphone. Mozilla, the maker of the popular Firefox Web browser, has partnered with handset makers to offer Firefox phones in places like Mexico, Greece and Brazil. Nokia’s Lumia 521 phone, which is based on Microsoft Windows software, is available for $99 without a wireless service contract.

30 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013—31

•Ngige: APC standard bearer

•Nwoye: PDP flagbearer

•Obiano: Ruling APGA candidate

•Ubah: LP candidate

ANAMBRA SHOWDOWN:

How they may fare tomorrow

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

T

HE battle line is drawn among the five major contestants in the very keen contest to replace the outgoing governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi. These are Chief Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Senator Chris Ngige of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Tony Nwoye of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr Ifeanyi Ubah of Labour Party, LP, and Mr. Godwin Ezeemo of Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA. Obiano and Nwoye are from Anambra North

senatorial zone, the only area that has not produced the governor since Anambra State was created in 1991, while Ubah and Ezeemo are from Anambra South.

Ngige is the only candidate from Anambra Central and the reason politicians from the zone did not seek the highest political office in the state this time around is because by the time Governor Peter Obi completes his tenure next year, Anambra Central would have occupied the seat for 11 years (eight years by Obi and three years by Ngige).

So, it is equity consideration on their part, one may say.

The sight and sighs of the candidates TONY Nwoye (PDP) – The candidate is likely to secure 25% in Anambra East, Anambra West, Ayamelum, Oyi, Dunukofia, Ogbaru, Ontisha North, Onitsha South, Ihiala, Aguata, Orumba North, Orumba South, Nnewi South, Awka South and Awka North.

Willie Obiano – The APGA candidate is likely to secure 25% in Anambra East, Anambra West, Ogbaru, Ayamelum, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Awka North, Awka South, Aguata, Orumba South, Ihiala, Nnewi South, Ekwusigo, Nnewi North, Anaocha, Njikoka.

Chris Ngige – The APC candidate is likely to secure 25% in Idemili North, Idemili South, Awka North, Awka C M Y K

South, Anambra West, Ogbaru, Ekwusigo, Njikoka, Orumba North, Orumba South Ifeanyi Ubah – The LP candidates will secure 25% in Nnewi North, Nnewi South, Ekwusigo, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Ayamelum, Ihiala.

It is likely that more than one person will secure 25% votes in 14 local government areas which is two thirds of the 21 LGAs and whoever scores the highest number of votes will emerge the winner.

Even as the campaign was being rounded up, so much horse trading was going on in parts of the state and there is the likelihood that some of the candidates may make inroads in areas where they are presently weak, depending on the stakeholders on ground.

For the South senatorial zone, the four governors they had produced namely, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, Dr. Andy Uba and Mrs. Virgy Etiaba, have jointly occupied the Government House for about six years.

Therefore, for Saturday’s election, issues that will be on the front burner include the zone of the candidates, the political godfathers behind them, their closeness with the churches, programmes in their manifestoes and their antecedents, among other considerations.

Anambra North (Obiano and Nwoye) The emergence of the two candidates from a zone noted for delivering bloc votes during elections is a source of concern to stakeholders from the area. When Nwoye and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu from Anambra South were engaged in a legal battle for the ticket of the PDP, many people from Anambra North somehow prayed that the area should not be made to face the problem of splitting their votes between him (Nwoye) and Obiano. So, when Nwoye eventually won at the Supreme Court, the reality starred them in the face.

Tomorrow, the two, who are in fact from the same local government (Anambra East, may have to decide whether to go for one person or vote according to their political leanings in which case there will be the inevitable splitting of votes in the area. It was gathered as of press time that prominent people from the area are still putting heads together to resolve the issue before the election.

But if the two candidates split the votes in the four local government areas of Anambra East, Anambra West, Ayamelum and Oyi which is the area popularly known as Omambala, whoever gets the upper hand in the other three local government areas that complete the zone namely, Onitsha North, Onitsha South and Ogbaru, will carry the day in the zone.

For the two candidates, their performance in Anambra Central will be determined by the personality of Governor Peter Obi, who is totally in charge of Anaocha and Njikoka, two local governments that can be described as no go areas for other politicians, in which case, they have become Obiano territory.

In Dunukofia, where Prince Arthur Eze, the billionaire sponsor of Nwoye comes from, other parties may try, but it is PDP that will likely carry the day.

Awka North and Awka South will likely be shared among Obiano, Ngige, Nwoye and Ubah in that order.

Continues on page 34

32—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Anambra’s difficult political story Anambra's political course since the advent of the Fourth Republic has been laced with deep intrigues. Tomorrow’s election of a new governor may finally turn the tide

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR

A

C M Y K

•Mbadinuju: Outsmarted by Obasanjo and his cronnies

•Ngige: Outsmarted Obasanjo's cronies

•Obi: Prevailed by the rule of law

•Andy Uba: The power behind the Uba dynasty

upon his higher authority had commandeered all the policemen on duty to surrender their weapons and ordered a few policemen to take Ngige to Alor, his hometown where he was to be kept incommunicado in a government Peugeot 406.

However, along the way Ngige pleaded with the policemen to pick some clothes from Choice Hotel,

story unraveled.

A billionaire businessman and a major shareholder in one of the country ’s leading construction companies, an Igwe who was dressed in Igbo traditional regalia happened to visit the hotel at that time. Shocked to see Ngige sitting on the ground he expressed shock and following a brief discussion with the governor, the Igwe (names withheld) called former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme. The Igwe had addressed Ekwueme, Your Excellency, Mr. VicePresident.

As a witness to the drama of that time disclosed: “Ekwueme was the person he called VicePresident, but people thought it was Atiku. Igwe asked him (Ngige), who is aware of what is happening, and Ngige said nobody, that they ceased all his phones and so Igwe now called Ekwueme and told him that there is confusion here (Awka) and that Ngige is here and Igwe now handed the phone to Ngige and Ngige was telling Ekwueme, yes sir, yes sir, and once the policemen realized that Ngige was talking on the phone contrary to the instruction that he was to be kept incommunicado, they ran and snatched the phone from him, but the Igwe screamed back at the policemen telling them “the vice-president is on the phone with Ngige and you are disrupting their conversation and the

,

NAMBRA State was the first state in the country to hold an off season gubernatorial election in 2010 when the incumbent, Mr. Peter Obi was elected for a second term in office.

Obi had first emerged as governor in March 2006 when the Court of Appeal in Enugu ruled that he, and not Dr. Chris Ngige, was the winner of the April 2003 gubernatorial election.

The first off season gubernatorial election in January, 2010 only helped to further symbolize the state’s awkward reckoning as the state of many political oddities. Before then, the state had drawn attraction for its spate of politically induced violence which climaxed with the kidnapping of Obi’s predecessor, Ngige on July, 10 2003.

Obi had contested the 2003 election on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, but Ngige had been sworn in on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP following the declaration of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC that the PDP candidate won the election.

That declaration was to be upturned by the Court of Appeal in 2006. But Obi’s stay in office after his inauguration in March 2006 up till President Olusegun Obasanjo left office in May 2007 was exceptionally chaotic. A presidential aide, Andy Uba, a trusted confidant of the then president had eyes on the governorship of the state in 2007, and given the mood of the time, seemed to be a roller coaster to achieve his aim.

Uba’s quest, sources in the state say, was perhaps the reason Ngige was in the first place pushed forward for the governorship in 2003.

Dr. Chinwoke Mbadiniju who served as governor between 1999 and 2003 was denied the PDP’s return ticket for 2003 allegedly because of poor performance. However, beyond the reason of poor performance was the fact that those who wanted Uba in as governor in 2007 had to overcome the geopolitical balancing in the state on the fact that Mbadiniju and Uba come from the same Anambra South senatorial zone.

It was thus in the permutation of those backing Uba that somebody willing to serve for one term from outside Anambra South senatorial zone should be made to fill in the gap between 2003 and 2007 when Dr. Uba would have finished his service to President Obasanjo in the presidential villa.

Stakeholders in Anambra claim that that was really the reason Mbadiniju was dropped in 2003.

“It would have been very inconvenient for those working on the 2007 Uba project for Mbadiniju from the same senatorial zone as Uba to continue in office till 2007 as that would have made Uba’s effort very, very difficult in 2007,” one of the stakeholders revealed.

So, Ngige who had earlier desired to go to the Senate to represent Anambra Central Senatorial district was now lured into the gubernatorial contest under the patronage of Chief Chris Uba, junior brother to the then powerful domestic aide of the president, Andy.

Ngige, however, very early in the day proved to be an unwilling man in keeping to agreements supposedly reached with his backers, and hence the troubles that shadowed him in the weeks that followed his inauguration in 2003.

On July 10, a detachment of policemen led by AIG Raphael Ige arrived Government House, Awka and took Ige away in a scheme that was allegedly scripted to give the impression that the governor resigned from office. A resignation letter was available and the State House of Assembly had sat to accept it and approve the inauguration of the then deputy governor, Dr. Okey Udeh as Ngige’s replacement.

Ige on arrival at Government House that morning

While the stand-off lasted, Ngige sat on the ground in the courtyard of the hotel and it was at that point that the abduction story unraveled.

,

Awka where he was at that time keeping for his accommodation, having not taken residence at the Governor’s Lodge.

Having arrived Choice Hotel, Ngige, however, played a fast one on the policemen as he refused to cooperate further with the policemen and dared them to shoot him in public. While the stand-off lasted, Ngige sat on the ground in the courtyard of the hotel and it was at that point that the abduction

Continues on page 33

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013—33 SINCE the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Provinces in 1914 of a ‘geographical expression‘ called Nigeria, various ways have been devised by imperialist Britain and later,

by Nigerians to forge unity out of diversity. The desired political unity has become elusive and far, as Kaura Namoda (North) is to Arindiziogu (East) of Nigeria. It is, however interesting to note that the search for natural unity continues unabated.

In the consideration of the old and the new, there is no relevance to the nPDP and the old PDP- the sorry state of a party well-endowed but has chosen the path of self- immolation. The ‘old‘ in this article would refer to past efforts of patriotic thinkers to reshape the fortunes of the country while the ‘new‘ would represent the candid views of true Nigerians on the condition of the “National Question”. The three political leaders of the old order, Sir Ahmadu Bello (North), Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (East) and Chief Obafemi Awolowo (West) lived their political lives in a strictly regional political settings.

Of all the three political regional giants, Chief Awolowo was the most consistent in advocating regionalism or federalism as a basic necessity for unity in a plural and secular society. For that clarification, he was daubed a ‘tribalist‘. In his political life, he fought for the rights of the minorities to control their resources and their destiny. His reward was hatred among the leaders of the majority tribes who saw him (Awolowo) as a peculiar “trouble maker ”. At present, the country is divided into 36 states (unequal in size and economic inability) and 774 local councils (enough to cater for more than 300 tribal groupings).

It should be recognized without any sentiments that the first assault on the 1914 Amalgamation saga came from the North under Sir Ahmadu Bello. It is not in the lamentation of the leaders that “the mistake of 1914 has come to light”, but actually in a concrete suggestion embedded in the “North`s Eight Point Programmers of 1953”.

It may be necessary here to reproduce

The old and the new: Which way forward? this Programme for some Nigerians with shallow memories and many Nigerians whose reading habit seems a bit impaired. (1) That each region shall have complete Legislative and Executive Autonomy with respect to all matters except the following: External Affairs, Defence, Customs and West African Research Institutions (2) That there should be no Central Legislative body and no Central Executive or Policy making body for the whole of Nigeria (3) That there shall be Central Agency for all regions which will be responsible for matters mentioned in Paragraph (1) and other matters delegated to it by a Region. (4) That the Central Agency shall be a neutral place preferably Lagos (5) That the Composition and responsibility of the Central Agency shall be defined by the Order-in-Council establishing the Constitutional arrangements. The agency shall be a non-political body. (6) That the services Railway, Air, Posts and Telegraphs, Electricity and coal mining, shall be organized on an inter-regional basis and shall be administered by public corporations. These corporations shall be independent covered by the statutes under which they are created by the board of experts with a minority representation of the regional Governments. (7) All the revenues shall be levied and collected by the Regional Government except customs

revenue at the port of discharge by the Central Agency and paid to its treasury.

(8) The administration of the customs shall be so organized so as to assure that goods consigned to the Region are separately cleared and charged to duty.

Each region shall have a separate public service.

Many analysts believed that if consideration had been given to this programme, there would not have been any need for the civil war. It will be unfair to note that since Independence in 1960 and especially before the Civil War (1967-70), other ideas on national unity had not been made. Apart from ‘ON ABURI WE STAND‘ (a loose confederation) from the East, other voices became loud and clear. The ‘YORUBA PARAPO‘ of Bishop Gbonigi has the sole aim of restoring the lost glory of the Yoruba – in the field of culture, education, agriculture, politics, administration and economic development. The Yoruba agenda is ‘to work, encourage and canvass for a constitutional arrangement in which the Yoruba, after consultation with other groups in Nigeria has an unfettered autonomy that will quicken the development of Yoruba civilization‘.

It could be seen from the above quotations the difference on emphasis but unity in purpose. The North‘s Eight Points Programme of 1953 referred to the North before state creation

exercise. Also, the Aburi Declaration of 1967 referred to the old Eastern Region with the existing south-south states. Bishop Gbonigi‘s Yoruba Agenda is the Yoruba modern thinking, having found themselves in the SouthWest zone of the country. It is that of a Yoruba nation in a comity of nations (United States of Nigeria).

As noted above, fast thinking Nigerians have not given up on the desirability of national unity. Before the civil war, the leader of the 1966 military coup, Major Nzeogwu was reported to have said, ‘And it is obvious we shall get a confederation or something near it. Nothing will stop it‘. Gen Gowon, the Nigerian war leader was reported in 1967 to have asked the people to ‘consider an entirely new arrangement which will be peculiar to Nigeria and which has not yet found its way into any political dictionary‘.

To me and other progress loving Nigerians, the views expressed recently by that great administrator (Chief Emeka Anyaoku) should serve as the new thinking on national unity. He said, “In my view, the most appropriate structure of government for Nigeria should be a return to a true Federation of six federating units with each developing at its own pace and the proceeds from `God-given` natural resources i.e. minerals both liquid and solid, shared equally among the federating units after the deductions to be agreed for the mineral producing communities and the Federal Government whose exclusive powers will be limited to such national institutions as Defense, Foreign Affairs, Monetary Policy, Immigration, National Security, Customs etc.

In the current debate on the quest for national unity and economic prosperity, great credit must be given to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for his political astuteness in trying to set up the machinery for Nigerians to meet and discuss on how they will live together in peace and prosperity. This is far greater than the preparation for 2015 elections in spite of its forebodings.

Anambra’s difficult political story policemen now out of fear handed the phone back and when he finished speaking with Ekwueme, Igwe asked him to call anyone in Abuja.

So, Ngige who had worked at the national secretariat of the PDP and is said to be good in memorising phone numbers called the PDP land line and incidentally the PDP National Working Committee, NWC was meeting.”

So once Ngige’s call came through Prince Vincent Ogbulafor (then national chairman) and the journalists who were milling round his office at the Wadata Plaza to get the party ’s reaction to Ngige’s alleged resignation ran to the phone. The phone was put on speakerphone mode and the journalists milling around heard Ngige speak. So Ngige with the aid of Igwe’s phone spoke to the journalists at the PDP secretariat and said that he had been abducted and that he had not resigned contrary

to the reports coming out from Awka. That was how the abduction story changed for Ngige.

Following his restoration as governor, the political trajectory of Anambra State changed and Ngige

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Continues from page 32

March, 2006 it was an opportunity for Anambra State to turn a new leaf in the era of political gangsterism.

But the political drama would not fade away. Obi was impeached from office on November 3, 2006 by the

Prof. Chukwuma Soludo who was the PDP flag bearer was not helped by the rancour that characterized his emergence as the PDP flag bearer, especially with his sister-in-law, Prof.

Dora Akunyili

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proceeded to make a name for himself as a performer through road constructions.

His performance nonetheless, Ngige had been rejected by the PDP hierarchy under President Obasanjo’s influence and performance was not a matter.

When Ngige lost at the Court of Appeal to Obi in

Anambra State House of Assembly sat as early as 5 a.m. in a process that was ostensibly teleguided. The impeachment sitting was not done in public and the announcement of the governor’s removal from office was announced by the speaker, Mr. Mike Balonwu who announced it.

Obi challenged the impeachment and refused to partake in the April 2007 election that was won by the PDP’s Dr. Andy Uba. Obi’s patience was to prevail as the Supreme Court annulled his impeachment and ruled that he should be returned to power, and by that, puncturing Uba’s 17 day governorship.

Following his restoration, Governor Obi’s performance in office has been hailed for its remarkable touch on the state’s infrastructure and development strategy using the Anambra Integrated Development Strategy, ANIDS. Obi’s re-election in 2010 was a hard fought victory that was partially helped by the division in the PDP’s divided house. Prof. Chukwuma Soludo who was the PDP flag bearer was not helped by the rancour that characterized his emergence as the PDP flag bearer, especially with his sister-in-law, Prof. Dora Akunyili, the likeable former

minister of Information who won laurels in her earlier position as Director General of the National Agency for Foods, Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC. While Obi has won endearment from near and wide, given his portrayal of being apolitical, his recent actions in fighting for the soul of APGA with the national chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, his inability to conduct local government elections for the eight years of his tenure and his alleged efforts in getting his protégée and banker as his replacement have changed opinions that Obi is entirely apolitical.

Tomorrow’s election would show how successful he has been in his endeavour. He is challenged by Ngige who is flying the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC and the PDP which is now reinvented and near united behind the former students’ union leader, Comrade Tony Nwoye.

34—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

The four titans

•Obiano

•Ngige

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Council of Nigeria, Anambra East Chapter.

Chris Ngige DESPITE governing Anambra State illegally, Dr. Chris Ngige continues to be a household name in Anambra

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He has been President AMP ( A d v a n c e Management Programme) of Lagos Business School for ten years running.

He is also a 2006 BNV (Building New Ventures) CLASS member of Harvard Business School, Boston USA

•Nwoye

Onwa as he is popularly known drew attention to himself when he fought the political kingmakers

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State.

Onwa as he is popularly known drew attention to himself when he fought the political kingmakers who earlier drafted him in as governor of the state in 2003.

Ngige who presently represents the Anambra

•Ubah

The first and so far, only Igbo man to serve as President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS

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Willie Obiano Before now he was rarely known in the political circles, a reason why he was considered a greenhorn when he emerged as the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance,APGA, at the primaries.

Obiano hails from Aguleri in Anambra North Senatorial District. He holds a B.sc degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos, where he graduated with second class Upper.

Obiano started his banking career in First Bank in 1981 from where he moved to Texaco Nigeria Plc as an accountant.

He later rose to become Chief Internal Auditor of the company. He is a specialist in Bunkering, Lube-blending and Refinery Audits. He was part of the team that audited Texaco Refinery in Rotadam, Netherlands in 1989.

He has chaired and is still chairing many cultural and professional groups. He has been President AMP (Advance Management Programme) of Lagos Business School for ten years running. He is also a 2006 BNV (Building New Ventures) CLASS member of Harvard Business School, Boston USA. He is also the patron of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (Lagos Mainland District) and National Youth

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Central Senatorial district in the Senate was born on August 8, 1952 in Alor.

He graduated as a medical student from University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) in 1979 and subsequently went into the civil service and retired in 1998 as a Deputy Director in the

How the candidates are likely to fare Continued from page 31 In Idemili North and Idemili South, Ngige will get the majority any day, although the influence of Senator Annie Okonkwo, who abandoned Ngige after he was initially named his campaign director general, should not be underrated. Okonkwo has already pitched tent with Nwoye and another advantage Nwoye has is the massive support from the youths, who have already stormed Anambra State ahead of the election.

In the South senatorial zone, with the position of the Uba family still unclear and with the loss of the PDP ticket by Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, the area will be for grabs for the candidates, although Nnewi North and Ekwusigo are very likely to go to Ifeanyi Ubah, Also, Obiano, Ubah and Nwoye are also going to make impact in Ihiala local government.

Ihiala, it should be recalled, used to be the traditional PDP area, but it changed during the second tenure election of Governor Obi in 2010, when the people decided to vote for APGA because of what the

governor did in the area. This time, many prominent people in the area are said to be supporting Obiano. For Orumba North and Orumba South, what will determine the candidates’ performance is their effort to sell their programmes. Ezeemo is from Aguata local government, but whether he would be able to stamp his authority there and in other local government areas in the zone will be seen on Election Day. The Running Mates Another factor that will also influence the election will be the running mates and their ability to pull out the votes from their areas.

For instance, Obiano’s running mate is from Enugwu Ukwu, a densely populated area of Njikoka local government in Anambra Central, while his wife is from Ogbunike in Oyi local government. Ngige’s deputy is from Anambra West local government area in Anambra North and he is a known grass root politician.

Also, Nwoye’s deputy is from Orumba and he too is a known

politician in the state and particularly Nnewi, where he is practices medicine.

Ubah’s deputy is a Prince from Ukpo in Dunukofia, although his uncle, Prince Arthur Eze is the person funding PDP in the election Powers behind the candidates APGA – Unarguably, Governor Obi is the power behind the candidate of APGA. His performance in the state in the past seven and half years in all parts of the state is the selling point for the APGA campaign.

Obi has mixed the campaigns with the commissioning of projects and the flagging off of new ones, including the equipment of educational and health institutions. With the statement by Obiano that he will continue with the projects started by Obi, there is no doubt in anybody’s mind that it is the same government and if Obiano can govern the way Obi is doing if he wins, then the state is on the part of rapid development because Obi has laid a solid foundation for taking the state to the next level.

With government machinery at his disposal, Obiano is

having an easy campaign and with his academic excellence which has been sold to the electorate, he is the candidate to beat.

APC - Senator Ngige, on his own, is popular among Anambra people, having been in government at a time the state was in dire need for good leadership. For this election, his backers are the governors of the APC states who want to use the Anambra election prove that the party is prepared to take over the country after the 2015 election.

PDP- Comrade Nwoye’s campaign is being backed by the oil magnet, Prince Arthur Eze. Eze has said that it is his desire to ensure that Nwoye becomes the next governor of Anambra State. The prince has consistently said that his interest is not what he would benefit from government because God has already blessed him, adding that his main concern is to ensure that a humble person like Nwoye is in charge of Anambra State.

LP- Ifeanyi Ubah is a very wealth person who said he

,

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN & CHARLES KUMOLU

A study of the trajectory of the Nnewi born businessman through the West African sub region ....and back to Nigeria would confound skeptics

,

Federal Ministry of Health.

His interest in politics and power may have been inspired by his time in the federal civil service as he variously served as a doctor in the National Assembly and State House

Continues on page 35

does not need to enrich himself any longer through public office. His reason for seeking to govern the state, he said, is to help the less privileged persons and thousands of youths roaming the streets in search of jobs.

PPA- Ezeemo too has not godfather and he is enjoying the wealth he acquired abroad.

He was even said to be the person funding the APC before he fell apart with the leaders of the party over the ticket of the party for the governorship election in Anambra State.

Role of church The church is playing a major role in this election.

Remarkably, the four most popular candidates, Nwoye, Obiano, Ngige and Ubah belong to the Catholic Church and they have been wooing the church for support.

The clergy also appear to be divided over who to support, but there are indications that the bishops may direct the priests on who to support among the four persons vying for the exalted office. As expected, the candidates have been making mouth watering donations to the various churches to solicit their support.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013 — 35

I

T has been six years of Governor Amaechi’s administration in Rivers.

How is the administration’s determination to build a new Rivers going?

It had been an incredible journey. And I say that journey is still on course.

Over the last six years enormous work has been done by this administration.

The building blocks for a new Rivers State have been in diverse sectors, from education to health, to backbone infrastructure such as roads, electricity, transportation and so on.

Even in the development of a new well planned modern city that we call Greater Port Harcourt, there has been enormous work. More recently efforts have been also directed at building a new agro based economy with massive investment in commercial agriculture and SME development. But the efforts have not been limited only to bricks and mortars.

Serious attention has also been given to human and social renewal in the state with resuscitation of major cultural events like CARNIRIV, the Port Harcourt Book Festival, and so on. All these efforts are geared toards restoring the old glory of Port Harcourt and to chart a new exciting and sustainable future for Rivers State. Yes, the dream is on course.

Let’s dovetail into your agency. What exactly is the mandate of RSSDA ?

It is to focus development efforts in the area of poverty alleviation, youth unemployment and rural

How Amaechi is reducing poverty in Rivers — Pepple SET up by the Governor Amaechi’s administration in 2010, the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency has a mandate to reduce poverty, improve human capital and raise social renewal in Rivers with 5% of the state capital vote at its disposal yearly. Executive Director of the agency, Noble Pepple in this interview highlights how RSSDA is meeting that mandate.

,

BY JACKSON OTUSESO

I will just tell you that RSSDA is one of the agencies contributing to the social and human c a p i t a l development in the state

,

growth. That mandate was borne out of the situation in the state at the time the agency was established where there was a very high incidence of poverty and it was felt that institutions like ours were needed to be established to be able to really focus attention on tackling poverty and underdevelopment. That is our mandate.

If you look at the law that set up the agency, that mandate is fairly broad on what we can do and the areas we can intervene. We are not really restricted to a few specific areas. We have that leverage to cover quite a number of areas.

•Pepple On our own because we recognise the limit of our capacity and the resources available, we tend to limit focus to three core areas which include agriculture, human capital development and job creation.

Governor Amaechi who you serve under is seen differently by different people. As one who has worked closely with him, what manner of man is he in your estimation?

I will describe Governor Amaechi as an enigma.

Sometimes it is difficult to define him effectively and justifiably because he has many parts On my own I would say

The four titans Continued from page 34 clinics before his retirement.

He joined the PDP once he left the government and served variously as the Assistant National Secretary and Southeast Zonal Secretary of the party.

In 2002 he bought the PDP form to contest the Senate Anambra Central Senate seat but before the primaries he was drafted in as the party ’s gubernatorial candidate. His election and his term in office was characterized by intrigues that peaked with his abduction on July 10, 2003.

His election was annulled by the Court of Appeal on March 15, 2006 which affirmed that the APGA candidate, Mr. Peter Obi was the genuine winner of the election.

His attempt at winning back the governorship was botched when he lost to the incumbent.

He, however, defeated Prof.

Dora Akunyili in the senatorial race for Anambra Central Senatorial District.

Tony Nwoye Comrade Nwoye who was born as a twin on 13th September 1974 is the youngest of the major candidates in this Saturday’s election. He is from Offianta Nsugbe in Anambra East Local Government Area and made a name for himself as a dogged student and youth activist who eventually broke the ceiling to become the first and so far, only Igbo man to serve as President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS. Tony by his strides became a household name in youth leadership and movement in the country and was eventually elected the Assistant Secretary of the state chapter of the PDP in 2005.

By 2006, he rose from that

office to become the substantive Chairman of the State Executive Committee of the Anambra State PDP at the young age of 31, making him the youngest State Chairman of a political party in the entire nation.

His famed prowess in grassroots mobilization was a factor in the PDP’s sweep of the 2007 elections in Anambra State.

In 2011, Nwoye contested and won a seat in the House of Representatives to represent Anambra East/West constituency, but his inauguration has until date been frustrated by the divisive politics in the state chapter of the PDP. Tony has served the nation in various capacities some of which include: 2004: Member, Presidential Committee against illegal arms and violent crimes.

Governor Amaechi is a tough, forthright and very focused person. He is a real leader of men who speaks his mind. You always know, right or wrong you know where you stand with him.

Another quality in hear dear to me is that what he says to you in private, he would say exactly in public. It is very rare to find leaders with that quality in our today Nigeria.

He is a very principled person and one of the few uncorrupt politicians around.

And I say that with every sense of responsibility.

Amaechi is a very compassionate man. People often don’t see that part always in him and he has a

2005: Member, National Political Reform Conference (Constitutional Conference) 2006: None Executive Director, Hadejiya Jamaare River Basin Kano, Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

He is the owner and non executive Director of Vintage Consolidated Ltd, a construction, building and Engineering company.

He is also a trustee of many NGO’s.

He is a devout Catholic and is married with children.

Ifeanyi Ubah Chief Ifeanyi Ubah in an interview had described himself as a money magician. Many who read him may have been amazed, but a study of the trajectory of the Nnewi born businessman through the West African sub region in Ghana, Liberia through Central Africa and back to Nigeria would confound skeptics.

Born on September 3, 1971 to

large heart for the poor and the downtrodden. He is a man in a hurry. He loves the state and he wants to see change happen. I would sum up Governor Amaechi by saying he is a man well ahead of his time.

Where are the improvement insights, achievements by RSSDA in all the efforts by the state government?

We always say we are a small agency with massive ambition. We tend to do a lot of things, but also we try to them, in an educated way. In my view there have been quite a lot of achievements.

I actually tend to shy away from being the one to tell what these achievements are. I prefer that to come from our stakeholders, those who will serve. But I will just tell you that RSSDA is one of the agencies contributing to the social and human capital development in the state.

RSSDA has contributed its own quota through innovative programmes including the Governor ’s special interest that is the Overseas Scholarship Programme, our agricultural programme including the Songhai Rivers Initiative which includes the signature Songhai Farm. We have the Rivers State Cassava Initiative Programme which we have in collaboration with a number of private sector partners.

school teachers, Ifeanyi early in life set his orientation towards business and by 18 had launched himself as a major exporter of tyres from Nigeria to Ghana and subsequently branching towards other Anglophone countries in the region, notably, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

His blossoming business in Liberia was, however, cut short by the civil war forcing a temporary relocation to Lagos, Nigeria.

After a short while in Nigeria, Ubah relocated to the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC from where he built a multi-million dollar business with interests in minerals and other investments.

He was also the President of the Nigerian Community in that country. As in Liberia, the war in DRC forced him to relocate to Lagos, Nigeria where he now permanently settled and built his multibillion naira business around oil and gas with the flags-ship company Capital Oil and Gas.

36 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

S'South CAN suspends bishops over PDP crisis

Face of N'Delta preaches girl-child education

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HAIRMAN of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, South-South zone, Archbishop God-Dowell Avwomakpa, who also doubles as the head of bishops in the Niger Delta region, has suspended some bishops in the region, who he claimed initiated dialogue and mediation between the Presidency and the aggrieved seven governors of People Democratic Party, PDP. Avwomakpa disclosed this yesterday through his media adviser, Ovie Edomi after a meeting with Bishops from the zone.

Avwomakpa said: “There is nothing wrong with clergymen initiating or brokering peace between factions, but for some bishops to do so in the name of a body that I head and other executive members were not consulted gives a wrong signal and suggests a dangerous trend in the body of Christ.

“It means that there are people with political interest or ambition in our fold. It also means that we have clergymen that join different Christian

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HE Most Beautiful Girl in the Niger Delta, otherwise known as Face of Niger Delta, Miss Gwendolyn Okutele, has appealed to parents to educate the girl-child so as to give them equal opportunity as males in their chosen career.

The beauty queen spoke during a visit to Madam Buwa Memorial Orphanage Home, a remand home and the aged peoples home in Sapele, Delta State, as part of activities to flag off of her campaign as the Ambassador of Peace to the Niger Delta region.

The high point of her visits was the presentation of food items ranging from bags of rice, bread, tubers of yam, noodles and toiletries among others, to the inmates.

groups or fora with selfish interest.”

Avwomakpa noted that as the Chairman of CAN in the

BY GBENGA OKE

T

HE Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Mr. Dakuku Peterside, has said that Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State will continue disappoint his detractors because of his courage and focus.

Peterside, who spoke after Governor Amaechi received an award for States Competitiveness and Good Governance presented to him

by Business Day Newspapers in Lagos, said he was not surprised by the award given to the governor.

He said: “We are not

M

RS. Regina Osemene of Ogbe-Obi village, Onicha-Ugbo, Delta State, aged 90, is dead.

November 21 is service of songs and social wake at her residence, IdumuUgbe quarters, OnichaUgbo, to be followed the next day by interment and other burial rites at the same venue.

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

B

ENIN— POLITICAL tension has heightened in Orhiomnwon Local Government Area of Edo State as youths of the area, yesterday, disrupted traffic on the Benin-Onitsha Expressway, while protesting alleged mismanagement of council resources by the chairman, Chief Roland Ibierutowhen.

The youths alleged that the council went to Italy on a jamboree with some councillors with the council’s fund, while no meaningful development had been achieved since he came on board as chairman.

They called on Governor Adams Oshiomhole and the

surprised that he was selected for this award because he is a man who has dedicated his entire life to the service of his people. The award is not only fitting, but encouraging.

“Governor Amaechi will continue to disappoint his detractors because of his strength, character, courage and focus and we are optimistic and confident that he will end well because he is already leaving lasting legacies in Rivers State.” ‘’We commend Business Day for selecting Governor Amaechi and for showing rare bravery in their choice especially in this season, when any act of courage is easily misunderstood.”

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate the chairman.

However, the Chief Press Secretary to the chairman, Mr. Osagie, described the allegation as untrue.

He said: “After the chairman was sworn in, some Italians visited him and promised to partner the council.

“So the chairman and some councillors visited Italy to

discuss business and no kobo was spent from the coffers of the council for that trip.

“There is nothing like embezzlement. The action of the youths was politically motivated.”

The protesting youths carried placards, some of which read, Stop looting Orhionmwon treasury, Develop Abudu now, Probe Ibierutowhen.

Youths want Orubebe sacked

BY FESTUS AHON

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GHELLI— NIGER Delta youths under the aegis of Concerned Citizenship Niger Delta Forum, CCNDF, have called on President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, over alleged slow pace of work on the East-West Road.

Calling for the appointment of a more credible person to head the ministry, the group vowed to mobilise for a protest should the President fail to heed to their call.

Speaking to newsmen after a meeting of the group in Bomadi, Delta State, its National Chairman, Mr. Matthew Daniel, said: “No significant progress had been made on the construction of the East-West Road under his supervision.

“Apart from the East-West Road that is moving at a snail speed, the Niger Delta Ministry has not executed any meaningful project in the

Niger Delta region since he was appointed as a minister.”

They alleged that the youths were not being carried along by way of trainings in skills acquisition by the ministry, adding that some of the youths that indulge in vices do so as a result of unemployment.

Holy Cross Redemption parish holds anniversary

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HE Cherubim & Seraphim Unification Church Nigeria, Holy Cross of C & S, Mount of Redemption, will hold its thanksgiving and 20th anniversary celebration Sunday, November 17.

According to minister in charge, Sup. Snr. Ap. Joseph Opetunsin, the double celebration, on the theme There Shall Be Showers of Blessings, holds at the church auditorium at Oladun Street, Idimu, Lagos, at 10a.m.

By Bartholomew Madukwe

PEOPLE SPEAK

08102479985

zone must have his blessing, just like any move at the national level must have the consent of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

Youths protest alleged misappropriation of funds by council boss

Peterside lauds Amaechi's award

Burial

South-South, he remains the leader of Christians in the zone and that any peace move by church leaders from the

(nwamad@yahoo.com)

On Professor Festus Iyayi

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OU need to see Fashola on the road.

You will not believe that it is the Governor of a state such as Lagos that is passing through. The man was decent. The current President of Namibia stops and parks for their old President Sam Nujoma.— Miss Rafiatu Raji, Worker.

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T is a pity that this reputable intellectual has become one of the many victims of the recklessness of our political leaders on our roads. May his soul rest in peace. I pray that God gives the family he left behind the heart to bear the loss.— Mr. John Oteri, Businessman.

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HE man died because leaders don’t do the right thing.

What does it take to fix some of the problems facing Nigeria? Nigeria needs leaders of integrity that can be trusted. It is time anyone that wants to serve started putting the people first. — Mr. Nelson Azubuike, Cleric.

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IGERIANS are all canvassing for restructuring of the country, while the politicians are all talking about 2015. Now Professor Iyayi has been caught up in the many road accidents, which can be traced to bad leadership. — Miss Sandy Faith, Student.

S

EE what stupidity can do? Once those dropouts are in a government vehicle, they see no other road user. The dumb fellows in that convoy should have died to ensure they do not live to breed stupid children like themselves.— Mr. Emeka Onuigbo, Engineer.

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OVERNMENT drivers are the most reckless, but the Kogi State governor’s have set a new record. The governor himself was involved in an accident, now a university don is dead. FRSC must rescue road users from drivers of public officials.—Miss Anne Kelechi, Fashion Designer.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013—37

IYAYI: Hater of official impunity

Delta builds N1bn waste recycling plant ...to employ 1,680 persons

— AKARUESE

BY FESTUS AHON

BY DANIEL GUMM

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GHELLI—AS part of efforts to keep all parts of the state clean, Delta State Government has commenced the building of an Integrated Waste Management Facility worth about N1 billion in Ibusa.

Speaking to newsmen, yesterday, after an inspection tour of the project, the state Commissioner for Environment, Chief Frank Omare, said that the illegal dump site close to Asaba International Airport would be shut soon, expressing the hope that the waste recycling plant would commence operation in two weeks time.

Omare said that about 1,680 persons would soon be employed by the state government to keep the major cities in the state clean, adding that the state monthly environmental sanitation exercise would be stopped soon.

He said: “The contractor has assured us that we will begin to receive waste here by next weekend. Over eighty percent of the machines the contractor showed us in Port Harcourt are here and what is left is the coupling. Today, the technical people will be arriving from Port Harcourt, according to the contractor, so I am optimistic that the place will be functional by next weekend.”

Rotary honors traffic controller

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HE Rotary Club of Warri, in Rotary International District 9140, has honoured a volunteer traffic controller, Mr. Atila Ifaka, with its 2013 Vocational Service Award.

He was presented with the award at the club's fellowship meeting in Warri. According to the Rotary Club President, Mr. Blackwell Idiahi, the club’s committee on vocational service made no mistake in the choice of the awardee, as Mr. Ifaka’s selfless service could be attested to by members of the club and the public.

Presenting the award, a past president of the Rotary Club of Warri, Mr. Nelson Utieyione, noted that Ifaka was selected for rendering selfless service and commitment to reduce traffic-induced stress among members of the public in Warri and its environs.

Ifaka was presented with a certificate and a cheque of N10,000.

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VISIT: From left: Wife of Cross River State governor, Mrs. Obioma Imoke; Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal and Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, during Mrs. Imoke’s visit to the National Assembly, in Abuja. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

Jonathan’s proposed confab can’t be like Obasanjo’s — NWABUEZE

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

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EGAL luminary and Chair man of The Patriots, Professor Ben Nwabueze (SAN), has thrown his weight behind President Gooduck Jonathan’s proposed national conference, saying that it could not be like the National Political Reforms Conference, NPRC, organised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005.

The elder statesman, who enumerated measures that can make the proposed conference yield desired results, picked holes in calls for a Sovereign National Conference, which he described as a contradiction as a sovereign government is sitting.

In a 10-page article titled: Nature and Character of the Proposed National Conference: Its Primal Purpose and Modus Operandi, Nwabueze said that Jonathan’s proposed conference was different from Obasanjo’s abortive NPRC. Disclosing that his committee of 15 lawyers and political scientists that is preparing a draft constitution will begin sitting next Tues-

day in Lagos, he said: “In February 2005, President Obasanjo suddenly convened what he called the National Political Reform Conference comprising a motley of persons handpicked by himself and the state governors as well as some members of certain ethnic groups and other associations —a completely undemocratic body with no mandate from the people or from the ethnic nationalities and civil society organisations. There was no enabling law establishing it and backing up its work.

Its role, as announced by the then Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi (SAN), was only to make recommendations which the National Assembly and the Presidency would look into and see how to integrate these views into our Constitution. In other words, the conference was simply part of a process of consultations to aid the Presidency and the National Assembly in the discharge of their functions with respect to the amendment of

the Constitution. The NPRC thus differed totally in nature and character from the proposed National Conference.

The NPRC was dogged by crisis and, after some months of deliberations, ended abruptly in confusion. Its failure is, to some extent, a product of defects in its character and structure as noted above.

“Being thus a palpable fraud, a farce, and programmed to come to nothing, the 2005 NPRC cannot in any way be equated with the proposed national conference, or be used as a basis for saying that the latter will also come to nothing. As conceived, the proposed National Conference has a specific purpose, namely, to discuss and agree on the terms and conditions to be embodied in a new Constitution as the basis on which the diverse nationalities and peoples comprised in Nigeria can live together in peace, security, progress and unity as one country under a common central government."

We're interested in Niger Delta—US DIPLOMAT

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

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ENAGOA—AS the 2015 general elections approach, the United States of America, yesterday, said it has rekindled its interest in the oilrich Niger Delta region.

Describing the region as the economic nerve centre of the country, the US Consular General in Nigeria, Mr. Jeffrey Hawkins, during his official visit to Bayelsa State, said that his country would focus more on the region.

The Consular General, who is

visiting the state for the second time, solicited the assistance of the Bayelsa State governor, Mr Seriake Dickson, to achieve this objective.

He said: “As we move closer to the big show in 2015, which is the general elections, we definitely want to be in touch with you. The United States is going to focus on the Niger Delta again in a lot of ways that will be very positive.

“I want to get your advice on our engagements in the

Niger Delta on our efforts to support what government is doing. We are interested in supporting a dialogue between the people of this region, who are very important to the future of this country and the leadership of the region.”

Responding, Governor Dickson expressed his administration’s preparedness to partner the United States in the areas of security, environment and other issues militating against the development of the state.

ORT HARCOURT — THE death of Professor Festus Iyayi in a motor accident on Lokoja-Abuja Road, Tuesday, has been described as a tragedy of monumental proportion through the recklessness and impunity of a member of the ruling class.

Speaking to Vanguard, yesterday, Mr. Lucky Akaruese of the Department of Philosophy, University of Port Harcourt, lamented the death of Iyayi, whom he described as a comrade, colleague and a brother, who hated impunity with vigour.

“It is an irony of fate that Iyayi, who was one of the champions of the struggles that finally pushed the military from political power was painfully killed by one of the inheritors of the fruits of Iyayi’s struggle,” Akaruese said.

He condemned what he described as the tissues of lies and deriding statements emanating from the Government of Kogi State, which according to him, manifestly demonstrated the degree of callousness and impunity.

He called on relevant agencies, particularly the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Nigeria Police, to make available to the public, the number of casualties, particularly deaths, so far recorded as a result of reckless driving by vehicular convoys of public officers.

“If this is honestly done, it will be seen that within this short space of democratic experience, the number of deaths so far recorded would have far exceeded the number in similar circumstances throughout the military era.”

Madam Ekpenyong for burial

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EACONESS L u c y James Ekpenyong, of Omum Unyam in Etim Ekpo LGA of Akwa Ibom State, is dead, aged 93 years.

She will be buried today.

A statement by the chief mourner, Mr. Aniefiok James Ekpenyong, said her remains will leave Obon Ebot mortuary for her husband’s compound at Omum Unyam for lying in state and burial.

38—Vanguard , FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Group lauds Enugu SIEC on LG poll

BY IKENNAASOMBA

E

NUGU—THE Legal Aid and Self Development Initiative, LASEDI, has commended the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission, ENSIEC, for organising a credible, free and fair local government elections in the state on November 2, this year.

LASEDI which was one of the observer groups that witnessed the local government poll in the state stated in its report that ‘’there was shortage of adhoc workers in few local governments, as most of those who applied did not turn up for the job on the day of election.’’

It however, asked the national and state assemblies to enact laws creating Electoral Offences Commissions, EOC, at both state and federal level to try electoral offenders beginning from the 2015 general elections.

According to the report which was signed by the Executive Director of LASEDI, Ifeanyi Mamah, ‘’the management and distribution of electoral materials were properly handled and these received above average marks.’’

....As state empowers 900

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NUGU—ABOUT 900 trained adults from 100 communities in 10 selected pilot local government areas in Enugu State have been presented with equipment and tools in line with the state MDG 2011Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT progamme to reduce poverty.

A cheque of N50,000 was also give to each trained adult as working capital and other logistics while each of the poorest benefiting household would collect N6,000 monthly for 12 months.

The 10 pilot local governments where the 900 beneficiaries were selected are Aninri, Ezeagu, Oji River, Udi and Nkanu East. Others are Nkanu West, Isiuzo, Igboeze South, Igbo Etiti and Nsukka.

C M Y K

Push for Anambra guber seat narrows to 4 parties

BY ENYIM ENYIM NITSHA—WITH less than 24 hours to the governorship election in Anambra State, it has now become clear that of the 23 governorship candidates jostling for the plum position, the fight is directly between four political parties.

The political parties include the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, with Mr. Tony Nwoye as the candidate, All Progressive Congress, APC, with Senator Chris Ngige as candidate; All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA with Dr. Willie Obiano as candidate and the Labour Party, LP with Chief Ifeanyi Ubah as its flag bearer.

Vanguard investigations, however, revealed that the political calculation among the APGA and APC supporters on the possibilities of their victory at the poll had been altered by the unexpected clearance of Tony Nwonye to fly the flag of the PDP by the Supreme Court.

The outgoing governor, Mr. Peter Governor Obi had been campaigning for Anambra North Senatorial Zone to produce the next governor and consequently forced it on his , the APGA,

O

to zone the position to the area.

Since the emergence of Obiano, Mr. Obi and his party, had been feeling that his political godson, would clear the votes from Anambra North where he hails from, as he had calculated that the PDP would not be able to put its act together until after the election until the sudden entry of Nwoye, who is a grassroots

politician also from Anambra North Senatorial District.

Some political leaders in Anambra North who had been grumbling that Obi singlehandedly picked Obiano instead of Dr. Chike Obidigbo who was the choice of the people from the zone are likely to vote for Nwonye while Ngige and Obiano would pick the crumbs from the zone.

Top APGA politicians who spoke with Vanguard expressed worry over the new turn of events, apparently because Obi did not allow internal democracy to play out in the party by picking a candidate for the party and people of the zone against the winner of the APGA governorship primaries, Dr. Obidigbo.

MEETING: Senator Chris Ngige, All Progressioves Congress, APC, gubernatorial candidate for the Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra State (2nd right) and others at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, organised stakeholders’ meeting in Awka.

Alleged N45.05m debt: Court orders freezing of LG’s account

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BY ANAYO OKOLI

MUAHIA—AN Abia State High Court sitting in Osisioma, has ordered that the account of Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Council in Diamond Bank Plc be frozen for refusal of the council authorities to pay N45.05 million debt to a company, Mgborukwe Enterprises.

Justice Chibuzo

Ahuchaogu gave the ‘’Order Nisi’’ compelling the ‘’Garnishee’’ while ruling on a motion ex -parte brought by the claimant following the failure of the council to obey an earlier court order to settle the debt along with 10 per cent interest.

Vanguard lear nt that traditional rulers from the area had been agitating for the ruling to be set aside as they

claimed that money for their monthly stipends was lodged in the account.

The company had approached the court in 2009 praying it to order the defendant to honour a contract agreement they entered into on May 26, 2005.

The claimant in the suit No: HOS/34/2008, sought the court’s declaration that the contract agreement entered into between the plaintiffs and

Killing of Nigerian: NGO threatens to drag Indian So, what our NGO is trying to govt to World Court do now is to use India as an

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AGOS—A group, Africans in Diaspora and Non-indigenes Cultural Association, has condemned what it termed “the unprovoked, racist and murderous attacks against Nigerians in India.”

The group in a release in Lagos, yesterday, by its Chairman, Comrade Peter Anigbogu, described as a shame the alleged role of the Indian police and government officials in the saga and demanded for the immediate release of 51 Nigerians arrested while protesting against the brutal murder of their fellow country man.

His words: “I want to call on the Nigerian Embassy

concerning the young Nigerian who was killed recently, as we cannot just fold our hands like that. I want the Nigerian embassy in India to furnish the good people of Nigeria with the latest development on the issue in order to know the next line of action that our organisation will take.

“We intend to drag the Indian government to the World Court for killing an African, an innocent Nigerian. A similar thing happened in Germany, China and Italy not too long ago.

“We are still conducting our investigations to know the next line of action. We also want to sue the governments of these countries for killing innocent people.

example.

While commiserating with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, on the death of its ex-president, Professor Festus Iyayi, in an auto crash involving the convoy of Kogi State governor, Capt. Wada Nas, Comrade Anigbogu, urged the striking lecturers to call off the strike to respect the spirit of the departed, saying the Federal Government won’t just fold its hands and just let this man die in vian.

According to him, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubarkar can be coounted upon to do a thorough investigation on the death of Iyayi which he believed would bring to the fore the circumstances leading to his death.

the defendants, dated 26-52005 was binding and enforceable against the defendants, irrespective of any change in the administration of the defendant (council).

Chief Ofuokwu for burial

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HE BURIAL rites of Eze Ebo of Ibusa, Chief Dominic Nwanze Ofuokwu, aged 84, began, yesterday, with a service of songs in his Umu Ozoma residence, Ogbeowele, Ibusa, Delta State at 5.00 pm to be followed later with an all night social wake.

Interment will follow a funeral service today, at his residence while a thanksgiving service will come hold on Sunday.

He a stalwart of PDP in the area and a philanthropist.

Late Dominic Ofuokwu

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013—39

,

COMMISSIONING: From left, Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Olagundoye, representing the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN); Founder, La Roche Leadership Foundation, Mr. Akin Ambode, and Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mrs. Omolara Erogbogbo, during the Flags Project commissioning, at Eko Akete Grammar School, Lagos. The flags project aims to erect national and state flags in all primary and secondary schools in the state to promote a culture of unity and responsibility.

WORKSHOP: From left, Mr. Azoma Chikwe, President, Health Writers Association of Nigeria, HEWAN; Otunba Kunle Ogunade, board member, Sunny Kuku Foundation, and Dr. Kunle Adeyemi-Doro, guest lecturer, at Sunny Kuku Foundation in conjunction with Healthway Communications' one day 'Media Workshop on Diabetes,' to mark the 2013 World Diabetes Day, in Lagos.

VISIT: Face of Niger Delta, Miss Gwendolyn Okutele (left, back row), and motherless children and workers, at Madam Buwa Memorial Orphanage Home, Sapele, Delta State, during the visit of the queen.

DONATION: From left, Business Development Manager, Anglophone West Africa MoneyGram, Kemi Okusanya; Moneygram officer in Skye Bank Plc, Jones Amaechi; students of Mosafejo Nursery and Primary School, Udeh Esther and Dare Adebanjo, and Headmistress of the school, Mrs. Olakitan Titilayo, during the donation of books

by MoneyGram to the school, in Oworo, Lagos.

FORUM: Isaac Ehiozuwa, Accountant-General, Edo State; Sir Gabirel Onyendilefu, AccountantGeneral, Abia State; Sunmoni David, Accountant-General, Lagos State; Udo Isobara, AccountantGeneral, Akwa Ibom State/Chairman, Forum of Accountants- General in Nigeria; Umaru Hassan, Assistant Director, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation; Jonah Otunla, Accountant General of the Federation; Akin Ambode, MD, Brandsmith Consulting Ltd, and former AccountantGeneral Lagos State; Sir P. I. P Okolie, Accountant-General, Enugu State, during a forum/retreat for the 36 states' accountants-general, in Lagos.

CONFERENCE: From left, Mr. Emeka Ebeniro, Accounts Manager, Etu Odi Communications; Mr. Banji Adesanmi, Managing Director/CEO, Peace Tidings Ventures, PTV Phones Ltd, and Mr. Wunmi Raji, Logistics Manager, PTV Phones, during a news conference to announce PTV Corporate Re-birth, in Ikeja, Lagos.

Photo: Bunmi Azeez

EVENT: From left, Mr. Emil Moskofian, MD; Debola Williams, Brand Manager, Tang; Mr. Nasir Malik, Director, ISC West Africa, and Mr. Bala Yesufu, Head, Corporate & Govt Affairs, all of Cadbury Plc, during the 'Run for Cure Africa 2013' event, sponsored by Bournvita, in Lagos. Photo: Joe Akintola (Photo editor)

CAMPAIGN: From left, District 404B Governor, Lions International, Lion Yinka Bolarinwa; chairman, Council of Governors, Lions International Multiple District 404 Nigeria, Lion Ayoade Adesokan, and immediate past 404B governor, Lion Chief Stella Agbogun, at the 2013 Lions International integrated measles campaign, in Lagos.

AWARD: From left, President, Nigeria Real Estate Practitioners Awards 2013, Mr. Kola Anunlope, presenting an award to the principal partner of Ismail & Partners, estate surveyors and valuers, Mr. Gbenga Ismail, in memory of his late founding partner, Otunba Tade Ismail, and Mr. Olumide Ojelade of the First Eminent Associates, in Lagos.

40—Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Bauchi meat products firm could generate N182 bn annually — Ibrahim

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AUCHI—THE General Manager, Bauchi Meat Products Company Ltd., Dr Alqassim Ibrahim said yesterday that the company could generate N182 billion annually as revenue, if it was properly funded.

Ibrahim told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Bauchi that the company had the capacity to process 13.8 million tonnes of meat per annum.

He said that if properly positioned, the company could process meat from 250 cows and 2,000 sheep and goats daily, with cows alone generating N5 million revenue daily.

Ibrahim said that the company, owned by the Bauchi State Government, was established in 1964 through the initiative of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the then Premier of Northern Region, but commenced operation in 1968.

“It was operating at full capacity until the coming of the military government when it was neglected and since then, its operation has been epileptic."

Glo among Africa’s top 5 Most Valuable Brands

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AGOS—NIGERIAN telecommunication outfit, Globacom, has been picked among the top five most valuable brands, MVB, in Africa.

In the latest survey conducted by Brand Africa and published in African Business magazine, Globacom made the list because it has “ won the hearts of the communities where it has its footprint.”

The report, which listed other leading African conglomerates, stated that Globacom got an impressive brand value of 655 to rank among the Top 5 brands in the continent in a list of the Top 10 Most Valuable Brands in Africa.

17, 000 Nigerians seek asylum in Chad, Cameroon, Niger — UNHCR A

BUJA— THE United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, yesterday in Abuja said Nigeria had more than 17,000 asylum-seekers in Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

Ms Angele DikongueAtangana, the UNHCR Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, told newsmen that

the situation was due to the crisis in the country’s NorthEastern region.

She said about 36,000 persons had fled the north-eastern region of Nigeria in search of refuge in the neighbouring countries.

Dikongue-Atangana, quoting a research carried out by UNHCR and the Niger Au-

thority, said 19,000 persons out of these were from Chad and Niger, and they have returned home.

“The UNHCR is working in collaboration with these countries to ensure that the refugee situation of the asylumseekers is determined so as to guarantee their safety,”

AWARD—From left: Mr Dextre Adeola,Brand Building Mgr, Close-Up; Mr David Okeme, Brand Building Director, Oiza Gyang ,Category Mgr , Oral Care; Grace Onwubuemeli, Asst Category Mgr, Oral Care; all of Unilever Nigeia and Mr Sheyi Law, a Comedian during the celebration of Close Up as Brand of the Year 2013 in Lagos, yesterday.

Kukah restates need for rule of law SOKOTO—THE Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rt. Rev. Matthew Kukah, on Wednesday, said that respect for the rule of law remained the greatest way to achieving peace in Nigeria.

He made the disclosure in a keynote address at the second annual “U.S Alumni Leadership” conference in Abuja.

Kukah said “peace is not something that God merely offers to us, but a possibility, a dream, a vision and a hope.

“It is not a final destination or some state of novena where we can sleep because the world’s problems are all gone.

“It is a permanent state of work where one generation hopes it can create conditions that enable the next generation to manage its problems effectively without recourse to violence and lawlessness.”

According to him, the greatest peace is when everyone lives under the law and breakers of the law get punished accordingly.

On the challenge of leadership in the country, the catholic bishop urged Nigerians to stop blaming politicians alone for the ineffectiveness of the law in Nigeria.

He urged Nigerians not to elect leaders based on their religious backgrounds, saying effective leadership had nothing to do with a leader ’s religious background but his or her ability to respect the rule of law.

“I do not care whether a president is God-fearing or not because God does not have a ballot and it is not God that will vote.

“We are the ones who will vote for our new leaders and for now, a leader is accountable to us, and the leader will settle with God,” he said.

He decried the falling standard of education in the country and condemned the action of some parents who encouraged their children to engage in examination malpractice.

He said: “It is impossible to hope that our nation will change if education, the bedrock of any society, fall victim to manipulation, neglect and derision.”

she said.

The UNHCR official added that insecurity continued to top the list of the challenges facing the commission as thousands of people were continuously rendered homeless.

“The world is facing its most serious refugee crisis for almost 20 years, as conflicts continue to force tens and hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.

“War remains the dominant cause for displacement as over half the world’s refugees come from war-affected countries.

“The humanitarian situation in West-Africa has worsened notably due to insecurity and high unemployment rate, as well as drought,” she said.

Dikongue-Atangana said Nigeria was host to 1,865 refugees at the end of October 2013, with 1,465 pending asylum requests.

She said the largest refugee populations residing in the country were from Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d’Ivoire .

“Among the 1,865 refugees in Nigeria, Cameroon has 865 persons, Congo 558 persons, Cote d’Ivoire 92, Chad 66 and Sudan 45, while others are 239 persons,” the UNHCR official said.

She also said 244 Malians had sought refuge in Nigeria since the beginning of the Malian crisis, making it the third largest asylum-seeking group in Nigeria.

Dikongue-Atangana explained that refugee population declined to less than half last year with “the invocation of the ceased circumstances cessation clause” for the Liberian refugees as at June 30, 2012.

She said the UNHCR had completed the durable solutions strategy for Liberians, adding that 1,284 of them had been locally integrated in Nigeria and 1,719 had returned to Liberia.

The Commissioner called for improved collaboration with the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and InternallyDisplaced Persons and other related bodies.

“The others are the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and the Human Rights Commission for a continued upgrade of the wellbeing of refugees,” she said.

ABC boss lauds NUJ's insurance scheme

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OLA—ALHAJI Umar Sambo, the General Manager, Adamawa Broadcasting Corporation, ABC, Yola, has commended the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, for introducing the Group Life Insurance Scheme

for its members nationwide.

Sambo made the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, yesterday in Yola.

“The scheme is a timely policy that should be embraced by all members of the

union,” he said.

The ABC general manager said the scheme had come at a right time when journalists, especially those working in crisisprone areas, were in need of a life insurance.

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Ashur a: Ano ther rare oppor tunity Ashura Another opportunity •St or •Stor oryy of Prophe Prophett Nuh th Qatadah: “Fasting on the 10 day of Muharram atones for the sins of the preceding year. How did you sped the day? May Allah give us longetivity of life to witness more of the day.

Story of Prophet Nuh Among the several historical occurences mentioned above, I will attempt to relate the story of Prophet Nuh who spent almost a millenium preaching the message of God to a recalcitrant people.

It was about a thousand years after Adam era; a community again was at the threshold of a catastrophe as a result of disobedience to call to the right path. They abandoned worshiping one God; they had become a community of pagans.

Adultery spread, the powerful were oppressing the weak, justice was reduced to nonsense and humanity was no better than hyenas in the wildness.

God sent Prophet Nuh to guide them to the right path and turn them away from their evil ways.

The Holy Qur’an in Chapters 57 (Nuh), 11 (Hud), and 23

How Hijrah calendar evolved

BY HARUN RAZAQ

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IJRAH as a word ordinarily means emigration (to move out of a place to another). Technically it is the movement of Prophet Muhammad and his followers from Makkah to Madinah in the year (622 C.E). Historically during the period of Khalifa Umar (r.a.) around 638 C.E. Abu Musa Ash’ari, the governor of Basra wrote thus: “Amirul Muhmin we receive instructions from you every now and then, but as the letter are undated, and sometimes the contents of the letters differ, it becomes difficult to ascertain as to which instructions are to be followed” that set Umar thinking. In the meantime, he received from Yemen draft for some money, which was cashable in Sha’ban, Umar thought that the practice of merely mentioning the month in such cases was defective for one could not be sure weather the month referred to was the current or the following years.

Umar convened an assembly to consider the question of calendar reform people converge and meeting started. Some are of the opinion that the Islamic Calendar should begin with the birthday of the Prophet; while others are of the opinion that the count should start from his death. However, Alli (r.a.) suggested the great event of Hijrah to mark the beginning of Islamic Calendar.

Everyone supported and Umar (r.a.) gave the order. This was how the Islamic calendar started with the great event of Hijrah.

That is why it is called Hijrah Calendar.

Muslims measure the passage of time using the Islamic (Hijrah) calendar. The Islamic calendar is the official calendar in many Muslim countries, especially Saudi Arabia. This calendar has twelve lunar months, the beginnings and endings of which are determined by the sighting of the crescent moon. Allah says in the Qur’an: “The number of months in the sight of Allah is twelve (in a year) - so ordained by Him the day He created the heavens and the earth....” (9:36). And in his final sermon before his death, the Prophet Muhammad said, among other things, “With Allah the months are 12; four of them are holy; three of these are successive and one occurs singly between the months of Jumaada and Sha’ban.”

(Mu’minun), and many other verses amply relate the story of Prophet Nuh (a.s) God sent Prophet Nuh to these people to warn them against the punishment that would befall them if they do not return to monotheism. Prophet Nuh who began his evangelism at the age of 50 spent another 900 years

,

AST Wednesday was Ashura day, although there were views that it fell on last Tuesday going by the different calculations of when the new moon actually appeared.

But Wednessday seemed to be th widely accepted as the 10 day of Muharram. The Ashura day has important historical significance and some spiritual connotations. The Prophet advised that Muslims should fast on that day.

This is no other reason than seeking the pleasure of Allah and cleansing ourselves from several sins we have committed.

It was on this day that Allah accepted the repentance of Adam after his exile from al-janah; Allah saved Nuh and those who accepted his message as the ark berth in Mount Judiyy in Iraq on 10th of Muharram; Ayub (Job) was healed of his affliction on that day; Yunusa was taken out from the belly of the whale; Allah spoke directly to Moses and gave him the commandments we also learnt that the red sea was divided as the nation of Israel was delivered from captivity of Pharaoh (Firaun) who was destroyed with his army in the sea.

Further research revealed that Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) was thrown into a furnance and Allah turned the fire into a cool soothing phenomenon coming out unhurt, Yusuf (Joseph) was rescued from a well; and Prophets Idris (Enoch) and Issa (Jesus) were raised to Heavens.

God actually blessed the Umah of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) a lot by providing this and many other opportunities in order to decipher the truth and align ourselves to Allah. The Prophet said in an hadiths related by Abu

God ordered Prophet Nuh to build an ark. While building the ark, the people mocked him for building an ark on a desert where there was no trace of water.

Following God’s instruction and specification, Nuh built an ark.

The Ark has the same proportions as a modern cargo ship. “And construct the ship

O earth, swallow your water, and O sky, withhold [your rain].” And the water subsided, and the matter was accomplished, and the ship came to rest on the mountain of Judiyy. And it was said, “Away with the wrongdoing people

calling them to monotheism.

The people were so rebellious that they did not only shun the message but also they hauled vituperations on him. Each century showed more enmity to Prophet Noah and his followers than the previous one.

Prophet Nuh said to his people, “O my people worship God for He is the only One Who deserves to be worshipped.” He said, “if you do not repent and leave out blasphemy, then await for a day in which a severe torture will come upon you.”

He did not despair even though only a few people responded to his call. But when God revealed to Prophet Nuh that no one else of his people would believe, he supplicated to God to destroy all those who did not believe, a supplication which was fulfilled by Allah.

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under Our Eyes and with Our Inspiration”(Suratul-Hud:3748), Rather than heeding the call to salvation, they chose to denigrate the message, defecating all over the ark. As usual, God gave them enough period to change but they refused. God afflicted them with a skin disease as punishment for denigrating the word and messenger of God. They turned every where for cure without success, yet defecating inside the ark. Their feces almost filled the 80 feet wide and 50 feet high ark. One important episode occurred during this period, as one of them was defecating, he was disturbed by a fly and on attempting to smash the fly, he fell inside the feces. His kinsmen came to lift him out of the feces, but to their utter consternation,

he became cured of the skin disease. In fact, they took turn to dip themselves into the feces and they were cured until the ark was cleaned again. The episode, notwithstanding did not make any difference in their beliefs. They were more impugned than ever. Allah was angered, and at a point, Nuh was barred not to speak for them again. “...and address Me not in respect of those who are unjust; for verily they shall be drowned (in the flood).” — Holy Qur’an, 23:27 Allah asked Nuh to start loading the ark and for 40 days and 40 nights, it rained.

Again, he called them into the ark but only a few obliged. His wife Umzrah bint Barakil and his son Kan’an were among the unbelievers. Prophet Nuh took a pair of everything reacheable (male and female) including animals.

Dangerous animals At this point all the wild and dangerous animals were subdued by the power of God with “Bisimillah Rahmani Raheem, as-salama ala Nuhi.”

(This can be used to subdue any wild and dangerous animal.)

The believers numbering about 80 (according to some books while others stated 60, and 40) went into the ark.

Water sprang out of the earth in large quantities causing the ark to rise. The rain fell continually and mountains were shattered, houses were destroyed. Nuh and the believers sailed away saying: We qala arkabu fiha bismillahi Mujiraha, wamur saha, ina robi la Gafurun Raheem. After six months the rain stopped by the commandment of Allah after which the ark rested on mount Judiyy in Iraq from where another phase of life began.

And it was said, “O earth, swallow your water, and O sky, withhold [your rain].” And the water subsided, and the matter was accomplished, and the ship came to rest on the mountain of Judiyy. And it was said, “Away with the wrongdoing people.”

•L-R: Arc Babatunde Yakub; Imam Tirmizhi Hammed, Branch Missioner, Igbogbo NASFAT; Imam Bawalah a guest lecturer; Alhaji Abdul-Rasheed Alabi, Chairman and Alhaji Ayo Oseni during a special lecture organised by the branch to mark Hijrah 1435 A.H in Igbogbo, Ikorodu area of Lagos State recently.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013—47

Hajj: Final batch of Katsina, Kano, Jigawa pilgrims return

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Managing crisis at home T

HE basic and essential attribute of a Muslim marriage is faith which nurtures love and breeds persevearance.

Since Islam is a way of life and not just a religion confined to daily worship, faith about the omniscient God, about how He direct our affairs becomes an integral part of a Muslim’s life.

The frame of reference shared by the couple eases communication and sharing of values which is not possible in an interfaith marriage. There must be an interconnection of beliefs in both husband and wife. That is why it is recommended by the prophet that above all other consideration for choosing a partner, person of the same faith and belief must be considered first. It is that faith that will build all other necessary ingredients for sustainable relationship.

Love is highly recommended for it plays an important role in the developing a good relationship. For example, as the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, that when a husband feeds his wife, he gets a reward for this act and Allah increases the bond of love between them. So when we love each other for the sake of Allah we actually increase our faith.

Forgiveness: When the Prophet asked his Companions ‘do you wish that Allah should forgive you’ they responded in the affirmative and he responded, ‘then forgive each other’.

Happy marriage One of the main components of a happy marriage is that the spouses are able to forgive, that they do not hold grudges or judgmental acts towards each other. It is expected that when we live with someone, situations may arise when we end up saying or doing things that hurt our spouses. The challenge is not to dwell on it or lay blame but to move past it. This can only happen if we are not too proud to ask for forgiveness and we are not mean to forgive. If we expect Allah to forgive us, then we must learn to forgive.

Forget: When we constantly remind our spouses of all the times they let us down or hurt us we have not truly forgiven.

Things that happened in the past must be left there and not be used as fresh alibi in new situations.

Couples who use this technique usually become victims of their own pettiness.

Forbearance: Sabr (patience) is the most useful tool in managing a healthy lifestyle. Being patient and forbearing puts us in a proactive frame of mind; it brings us closer to Allah. We develop an inner mechanism that empowers us to handle life’s difficult moments. As Allah states in Surah al Asr: “Surely by time humans are at loss, except those who believe and do righteous deeds and counsel each other

This requires a certain decorum, which cannot be maintained unless the spouses consider themselves as pals.

The husband is never a dictator but a shepherd who is responsible for and to his flock. This is a position of grave responsibility and places an enormous burden on the husband. Further more the children need to see their parents as friends but not as pals as this encourages disrespect.

Friendliness: Second aspect of friendship is to have friendly relations with in-laws. When couples compete as to whose parents are more important it becomes

to the truth and counsel each other to Sabr’ (Quran, chapter 103).

Flexible: Many couples unnecessarily make themselves miserable because they are unwilling to bend a little. We should not expect our spouses to be our extensions. They are their own selves with personalities, likes and dislikes. We must respect their right to be them selves as long as it does not compromise their religion. Being inflexible and not accommodating for individual differences leads to a very stressful and tense home atmosphere.

Friendship: This aspect of marriage has three components.

First is to develop a friendship with our spouses. A relationship based on friendship is more able to withstand outside pressures.

We honor, trust, respect, accept and care for our friends, in spite of our differences. These are the aspects of friendship we should bring to our marriages.

Unfortunately the only aspect that people think of bringing to their marriage which is highly inappropriate is the buddy scenario. Shariah (Islamic law) has placed the husband in a leadership role within a family.

a constant source of grief. Much valuable time is wasted trying to convince, one another of whose parents are most desirable. It is better if we accept, that our spouses will not overnight fall in love with our parents just because we want them to. As long as they maintain friendly relations that are cordial and based on mutual respect we should not force the issue.

The third aspect of friendship is our circle of friends. It is okay to have individual friends of the same gender but couples must also make effort to have family friends so that they can socialize together.

If there is friction being caused by a certain friendship, it must not be pursued at the expense of the marriage. Prophet Muhammad advised us to choose God fearing people as friends since we tend to follow their way. Friends should be a source of joy and not mischief.

Fun: Couples that do not laugh together have to work on sharing some funny moments. The Prophet was known to play with his wives. A simple walk in the park can add much spark to the relationship. Taking up a sport together or watching clean funny movies is another way of sharing fun.

HE remaining 211 Katsina State pilgrims on Tuesday arrived U m a r u Ya r ’ A d u a International Airport, Katsina, after completing the 2013 hajj.

Facing the Kaaba also gathered that the last batch of over 400 Kano pilgrims returned same day aboard Meridian Airline with all the state and NAHCON officials from the zone.

According to source, out of the 8,232 pilgrims that performed the Hajj through Kano zone, 5,648 are from Kano State while the remaining 2,584 are from Jigawa state.

The Katsina pilgrims that arrived Tuesday were mostly from Daura zone, were those who encountered some problems at the initial stages of the exercise, and officials of the state Pilgrims Welfare Board.

Some of the officials on board

the plane included the Chairman of the board, Alhaji Danyaya Mashi and the Executive Director, Alhaji Aminu Danbaba.

Mashi expressed appreciation over the good behaviour exhibited by the pilgrims throughout the period of the Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

The board chairman also commended the various committees set up during the period, for their efforts in making the exercise a success.

We gathered that apart from the 300 Saudi Riyals given to each of the pilgrims by the state government, the governor Shema led administration had on Arafat day provided food for the pilgrims.

No fewer than 4,436 pilgrims performed this year ’s hajj from the state, out of which four died during the exercise in the Holy Land.

L-R: Sheikh Mustapha Zuglool Sanusi, Proprietor, Daarud- Dawat Wal-Irshaad Arabic Centre, Isolo, Lagos and Sheikh Shamy Nushy, Director Wamy Nigeria during the 40th annual graduation ceremony of Daarud-Dawat Wal-Irshaad held in Isolo, Lagos, recently. PHOTO BY AKEEM SALAU.

Quotes One Day you shall see the believing men and the believing women, how their Light runs forward before them and by their right hands. (Their greeting will be): “Good News for you this Day! Gardens beneath which flow rivers! To dwell therein forever! This is indeed the highest Achievement!”

—(Quran 57:12)

Ask Y our Imam Your As a result of the feedback we got on this issue, pointing out unclear position of Islam on the question, we hereby represent it and it goes thus: What is wrong Islamically to eat with left hand especially at gatherings when you have to keep with table manners?

Answer: As-salam alaikum Eating with the right hand is a sunnah because of the honoured value of the right hand in Islam.

Also, it is recommended because it is a concerted act different from the ways of Satan. Everything about satan is usually from the left hand side, so, it is advised and recommended for every Muslim to always use his or her right hand not only in eating but virtually everything he or she does. It is noteworthy to point out that it is a sunnah and not an obligation. But the person who doesn't follow it is committing an act which is discouraged and run contrary to the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w). Thank you for asking and God knows best.

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BRIEFS Saudi Arabia arrrest 23,000 Ethiopians

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Russia moves to upstage US in Egypt E

GYPT’S foreign minister sought to downplay speculation of a major shift in his country’s foreign policy, saying during a top-level Russian visit yesterday that Moscow was too important to be a substitute for the United States as Cairo’s key ally and backer.

The remarks by Nabil Fahmy came after talks with his visiting counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who is leading the Russian delegation to Cairo.

“We look forward to cooperation with Russia in multiple fields and that is because of Russia’s significance in the international arena,” Fahmy said at a news conference. “We look forward to strong, continuous and stable relations with Russia. We seek to energize a relation that is already in existence.”

When asked whether Russia would replace the U.S. as his country’s chief ally, Fahmy said Egypt was not looking for a “substitute for anyone.”

“Russia’s weight is too heavy to be a substitute for anyone,” he said.

The Russian visit comes as Egypt’s relationship with the United States —

Cairo’s main foreign backer and benefactor since the 1970s — has become increasingly strained in the wake of the popularly-backed coup that deposed an elected president, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt was Moscow’s closest Arab ally for two decades, starting in the 1950s, with the Soviet Union throwing its weights behind the late nationalist leader Gamal Abdel-Nasser in his ambitious drive to modernize the Arab nation and create a well-armed military at the height of the Cold War and the ArabIsraeli conflict.

But in 1972, then-President Anwar Sadat threw out thousands of Soviet military advisers and realigned the country’s foreign policy, taking his nation closer to the United

*Egypt's Foreign Minister, Nabil Fahmy States soon after the 1973 Mideast war.

Also, Egypt’s relations with the Soviet Union took a marked turn for the worse after Moscow’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, but relations have steadily improved in recent years, with hundreds of thousands of

Mass burial for Philippines Typhoon victims

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HE air was thick with the stench of decay as sweating workers lowered the plastic coffins one by one into a grave the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

Scores of unidentified

bodies were interred together yesterday in a hillside cemetery without any ritual — the first mass burial in this city shattered by last week’s Typhoon Haiyan.

Six days after the disas-

Hezbollah vows to continue fighting in Syria Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed yesterday to keep his forces in Syria fighting alongside President Bashar alAssad’s regime, in a rare public speech delivered in Beirut.Nasrallah, who normally appears via video link for fear of assassination by Israel, spoke in Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold as tens of thousands of followers of his Shiite militant group marked Ashura, one of the holiest days of their faith.

This came as the government dismissed the demand of the opposition that President Bashir Assad must leave office befofre attending the peace talks in Geneva.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said yesterday that the opposition was dreaming if it believed President Bashar al-Assad would agree to quit in order to get it to join proposed peace talks.

He said the basis for the peace conference in Geneva the United Nations is trying to organise with Russian and US support was the final statement of a meeting in the Swiss city last year that made no explicit demand for Assad to step

Russians vacationing in Egypt every year.

The Russian delegation in Cairo is Moscow’s highest-level visit in years and also includes Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, whose presence has set off rumors of an arms deal in the making.

*Hezbollah boss, Hassan Nasrallah down. weight who understand “Those who dream nothing about politics they’re going to Geneva and live in cloud cuckoo to be given the keys to land,” Zohbi told the ofDamascus are stupid peo- ficial SANA news agenple without any political cy.

ter, some progress was being made in providing food, water and medical aid to the half-million people displaced in the Philippines. Massive bottlenecks blocking the distribution of international assistance have begun to clear.

Soldiers on trucks gave out rice and water, and chainsaw-wielding teams cut debris from blocked roads to clear the way for relief trucks in Tacloban, the capital of the hardesthit Leyte province.

Thousands of people continued to swarm Tacloban’s damaged airport, desperate to leave or to get treatment at a makeshift medical center.

“We know the gravity of our countrymen’s suffering, and we know that, now more than ever, all of us are called on to do whatever we can to help alleviate our countrymen’s suffering,” President Benigno S. Aquino III said in a statement.

Kenyatta returns criticised media bill to parliament

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ENYAN President Uhuru Kenyatta plans to send back to parliament a media bill critics say would stunt democracy in an African nation with unusually broad press freedoms.

Critics said Kenyatta may have acted out of concern to avoid a confrontation with Kenya’s popular and vibrant media and any backlash from the country ’s aid donors abroad.

Kenyatta, who was elected in March, had earlier this month urged journal-

*Kenyatta ists not to panic after the initial outcry over the bill, saying he would ensure it was constitutional.

“Even if the bill makes its way to the president, through the formal laid-

out channels, I can confirm that the president will return the bill to parliament,” presidential spokesman Manoah Esipisu said on Wednesday.

He said Kenyatta would demand that members of parliament which is dominated by his Jubilee coalition ensure the legislation complies with Article 34 of the constitution stating that the “freedom and independence of electronic, print and all other types of media is guaranteed”.

ROUND 23,000 il legal Ethiopian workers have surrendered to the Riyadh police, with the Saudi authorities now arranging for their repatriation, the Ethiopian ambassador told Arab News on Tuesday.

Muhammed Hassan Kabiera said the Ethiopian mission had intervened because many illegal workers were unsure about how to proceed when the amnesty ended.

“So our mission had discussions with the Saudi authorities and made arrangements to enable such citizens to hand themselves in,” the am-

bassador said.

Under the agreement, Kabiera said the workers would be kept at various holding centers until they could get exit visas. “We have been informed that so far about 23,000 Ethiopians have handed themselves in.”

The Ethiopian Embassy assisted 38,199 workers to correct their employment status during the amnesty period, which ended on Nov. 4, he said.

The envoy said the embassy’s officials and volunteers, with various Saudi government agencies, were working to get the workers travel documents.

French priest kidnapped in north Cameroon

A

French priest was kidnapped from his northern Cameroon parish home by heavily armed men in a region where the radical Islamic sect Boko Haram operates, eyewitnesses and French officials said yesterday. The gunmen fired into the air as they fled on motorbikes with their captive, one witness said.

Georges Vandenbeusch was kidnapped in the region of Koza, in the extreme north of the country, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the bor-

*Vandenbeusch der with Nigeria. The zone has been flagged as a risk for terrorism and kidnapping, but the priest chose to stay on to “exercise his mission,” the French Foreign Ministry said.

Trial of Brotherhood leaders resume next month testers who stormed the

T

HE trial of the Mus lim Brotherhood chief and his deputies on charges related to protest deaths will resume on December 11, judicial sources said Thursday, after the previous judges withdrew.The three judges who had presided over the trial of Mohamed Badie and 34 co-defendants, including his two deputies, recused themselves on October 29 for what they said were “reasons of conscience”.

Badie and his two deputies, Khairat al-Shater and Rashad al-Bayoumi, face charges of inciting the murders of nine pro-

Brotherhood’s Cairo headquarters on June 30.

If found guilty, they could face the death penalty.

Three other accused Islamists also face murder charges while 29 are charged with participating in acts of violence.

Millions of protesters on June 30 called for the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, accusing him of working for the sole benefit of the Brotherhood, ruining an already dilapidated economy and monopolising power following the 2011 overthrow of long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Syria, Russia in peace parley

T

HE presidents of Syria and Russia discussed a proposed peace conference to end Syria’s nearly threeyear civil war and Damascus’ efforts to put its chemical weapons under international supervision, the Kremlin said yesterday.

Norway, meanwhile, said it will send military servicemen to Syria to help the U.N. eliminate President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal, becoming the first country to commit to sending troops to Syria.

The United States and Russia have been trying

to convene a peace conference in Geneva since May to broker a political solution to the Syrian conflict that activists say has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced millions more.

Speaking to Assad by telephone, Russian leader Vladimir Putin “emphasized efforts taken

by Russia together with its partners to prepare a Geneva-2 international conference and gave a positive assessment of Bashar Assad’s readiness to send a Syrian government delegation there,” the Kremlin said.

50 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013 — 51

My philanthropy not tied to a political ambition—Mbisiogu Festus Mbisiogu is the Chief Executive Officer of Blue Diamond Logistics, Shanghai Construction Works as well as President of Good Governance Initiative (GGI), a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Nigeria which advocates stable power supply. An entrepreneur and industrialist of repute, in this interview, he talks about his motive for engaging in philanthropy, concluding that he has no intention to seek for political office now or in 2015.

OU have been into philanthropy for some years now, and some people are alleging that these efforts are geared towards realizing a political ambition, particularly in 2015?

Let me just say from the outset that I have no political ambition whatsoever. It is normal for people to always speculate when they see people doing good, helping their communities and other individuals.

It is always easy to say such persons have political ambition. But for me, I want to make it clear that I do not harbour any political ambition now or in 2015. I am not •Festus Mbisiogu...no poliical undertones a politician. I have not attended political meetings before. I am a private businessman whose businesses are spread at through our home based manufacturing home and abroad. That is what I do for a living. companies to reduce growing unemployment in I have never dreamt of seeking any elective Nigeria - We have established factories that have position. And I am not going to seek for any employed over 300 young Nigerians and it is our desire to do more. It will also interest you to one now.

So why are you spending enormous know that I am the President of Good Governance monetary and material resources in Initiative (GGI), a non-governmental philanthropy if it is not tied to any political organization (NGO) advocating sustainable electricity in the country. Government is not ambition?

It will interest you to know the genesis of giving us any money; nobody is giving us any Uzotex Foundation, the parent body through money, it is the extension of the social corporate which I have been rendering humanitarian responsibility we owe Nigerians. It is my belief services to my community, my people and that Nigeria with the abundant resources in this Nigerians at large. One of the fundamental country should at least be able to provide regular principles of true Christianity is charity. If you electricity to all. That is what the NGO has been look up the meaning of charity in the dictionary, advocating and we have received its synonyms include, love, philanthropy, commendations from even the federal benevolence, kindness. So as a true Christian, government on this venture. All these are without when you have been blessed by God, you any political undertone.

Does that mean if you are given a political should realize that the purpose of that blessing is for you to spread the blessing round in appointment into government you are going whatever form you could. So that is the first to reject it?

There are two things here: One, seeking an principle that lured me into philanthropy.

Second, during the burial of my mother, we elective position which is somebody, nursing a ran short of the bottled water we ordered. And political ambition. In this instance, you must belong to a political party; you must in their meetings, in their It is my belief that Nigeria with the participate activities. You must be a card-carrying abundant resources in this country member of a political party. Then you can seek an election based on your should at least be able to provide membership of that party. The other one regular electricity to all you are talking about is being appointed into government. Now, you appoint there was no place in the community we could people into government not necessarily because get immediate water before we replenish the of their party affiliations, but because those in supplies. People normally trek long distances government may have found such a person with bowls and buckets on their heads to the worthy of contributing to governance. You are streams to fetch water and you know these days not putting out yourself for election; you are not stream or river water is not hygienic for contesting with anybody, somebody is just asking consumption. So there and then, I decided I you to come along and contribute to his was going to alleviate the sufferings of my government. It could be in form of advice; it could people through providing pipe-borne water by be in form of rendering support services. If that drilling boreholes for them. And I have been kind of opportunity presents itself, then I will doing this without attaching any motive to it, think about it. Today Alhaji Aliko Dangote is not even beyond my immediate community. in government, but this present administration Are there other forms of humanitarian is always consulting him in matters of urgent activities you are engaged in beyond drilling national development. If it is the kind of boreholes? appointment you are talking about then nobody All the efforts we are doing are who is called upon to offer an advice will reject complimentary to what government supposed it. to do for its citizens. Yes. We have other If tomorrow your people calls you to come humanitarian services we are rendering. We and run for an election won’t you go? are touching the lives of widows and orphans Severally, people have called on me to come through the Uzotex Foundation. We have out and vie for a political and each time they do provided salary schemes for widows in our so, my answer has always been the same: I have community who are without regular means of no political ambition today and tomorrow, but I subsistence to take care of the children left by may not know what will happen in the future. the deceased head of the family.

So the call my community or people will call me We are providing educational assistance by is to support me in using the resources God has means of scholarship grants to Children of high blessed me in serving them and alleviating some school age within our community. We have of their problems. created means of providing employment

Y

,

L-r: Mr Dairaj Punj, Technical Mahindra Company, Mr Erabor Okogun, Signal Alliance and the Director, Planning,Research and Statistics of the Ministry of Power, Nuhu Sulieman at the seminar on shaping the future of the power sector entitled Signal Alliance Solution for Electricity Distribution Companies, in Abuja. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan

L-r: Past District Governor, Ogunmoyero Charle Abayomi, Past Assistant Governor, Onikepo Oshodi, Chairman We care committee, Gbemiga Olowu, District governor, Adeniji Raji, past district governor and guest speaker, Dele Balogun, District Governor Elect, during the Rotary International District 9110 Nigeria, We care Seminar 2013, held in Ikeja, Lagos. yesterday. Photo: Joe Akintola, photo editor

L-r: Dr. Fowoke Akinleye, Director, TFC, Mr. ‘Tsola Barrow, S&D Executive, MTN, Dr. Ayo Adeniji, Director, TFC and Mr. Adekunle Adebiyi, GM, S&D, MTN, at the launch of a partnership between Tastee Fried Chicken and MTN to provide MTN products and services to its customers at TFC outlets nationwide, in Lagos

Race for Borno State ministerial slot hots up

By EMMA OVUAKPORIE

B

ORNO, the most populous State in the north-east zone will, no doubt, play a vital role in influencing the outcome of the forthcoming 2015 general elections.

Despite the fact that the control of the state Government House has remained in the hands of the ANPP, there are indications that PDP will continue to enjoy a very a strong grassroots support over the years.

There is, however, a paradox easily explained away by the State PDP stalwarts and electorate that there is an obvious lack of attention and support that ought to come from the centre due to what is popularly termed as the “Winner’s Curse” bedevilling the party.

Recent events in the political arena is that there is an observable fracture with the merger of opposition parties on one hand, and the brewing disunity in its ranks.

Most of the State’s PDP members painted an emerging scenario which calls for imperativeness for the careful selection of the right nominee for the ministerial post representing the Borno State and

other states of the same ilk.

Leading nominees from various stakeholder groups for appointment as minister from Borno State include Hon Kyari Gujbawu, Abba Gana, Muhammed Kumalia, Nichola Mshelizia and Ibrahim Birma.

Rep Kyari is unarguably the arrowhead of Reps from Borno in the House of Representatives.

He represents Maiduguri Federal Constituency that has more than two million registered voters. He is mostly known by members as an unrepentant supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Alhaji Umar Abba Gana, former MD of African Petroleum and currently commissioner representing Borno State in the Revenue and Fiscal commission is another strong contender.

Hon Mohammed Umar Kumalia is also in the race. He was a former Minority Leader in the House of Reps from 1999-2003.

Alhaji Ibrahim Birma’s name which is also being dangled was an aspirant for PDP national chairmanship, as well as Mr. Nicholas Msheliza, a former aspirant for the House of Representatives in 2011general elections.

,

52 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

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as

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VANGUARD'S LAGOS OFFICE YOU CAN B O O K Y O U R A D V E R T S AT OU R L A G O S I S L A N D O F FI C E — VA N G U A R D MEDIA LIMITED (LAGOS OFFICE) K I O S K 4 8 E A S T P AV I L I O N T B S , L A G O S .

Rude shock awaits Nigerians tomorrow E THIOPIA coach Sewnet Bishaw has vowed his men will give whatever it takes to overturn a first-leg defeat when they take on Nigeria in their World Cup playoff on Saturday.

Ethiopia hope to continue their surprising World Cup journey when they face Nigeria in the return leg, despite a 2-1 loss at home in midOctober.

Bishaw said: “This is the biggest match of my life. I want to win it. I’ll fight to the maximum.

“There’s no problem in my squad. All of my players are fit and the

mood in the camp is very high. Everybody is waiting for the kick-off whistle.”, the coach told BBC. Nigeria won the first leg in Addis Ababa courtesy of a brace from Emanuel Emenike and the Super Eagles are clear favourites to book a place at next year ’s tournament in Brazil, which would be their fifth appearance at a finals.

However, Bishaw is confident his side can come back.

“I’m 100% confident of overturning the result. I’ll only play for a win. Football involves a defeat and a win.

We’re defeated in the first

Mikel keeps mute

C

HELSEA midfielder and Super Eagles talisman, John Mikel Obi, has declared that he has refused to make too many comments ahead of the game against Ethiopia on Saturday because of the importance of the match and the need for maximum concentration by all and sundry.

Mikel who spoke on Thursday also declared that he will be open to talk and comments at the end of the 90minutes encounter at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar, Cross River State.

“We have a very important game on our hands and it won’t be nice to talk too much, but after the game we can talk and have fun but for now it’s total concentration for business and the coaching crew and my teammates agree with my position.

Head Coach Stephen Keshi also towed the path of Mikel as he inisted that there was need for total concentration of the team ahead of the encounter against the Ethiopians even as he weighed his options in Thursday ’s

Continues from BP opinion that it will be a wild goose chase for the East Africans to upset the reigning African champions in Calabar.

“In view of its success in Ethiopia, the second leg will be a mere formality for Nigeria, also one of the greatest football nations on the continent,” he told cafonline.

“This is a team that has always been a danger to opponents. Ethiopia has

closed door training between the probables and the possibles.

At the end of the training session it was difficult to say whether Vincent Enyeama or Austin Ejide will start in goal, there was also confusion over who will be the preferred central defenders between Azubuike Egwuekwe, Godfrey Oboabona, Kenneth Omeruo and James Okwuosa.

Bright Dike was running the whole length of the pitch with power and precision but he too is not assured of a starters’ shirt not with Nnamdi Oduamadi, Victor Moses, Brown Ideye, Ahmed Musa, Sunday Mba and Emmanuel Emenike all in fine form at the session.

As it stands, only Keshi and his technical crew have a sneak idea of the team that will start on Saturday because it seems every player, including Newcastle star Shola Ameobi, has a stake in the team that will either start play on the day. A case of a deluge of stars for the Super Eagles.

leg doesn’t mean we’ll be defeated in the second leg,” he said.

“I’ve not finished the match. I’ve 90 minutes left to play. I’ll fight for a 2-0 win or for a 2-1 to take it in to extra-time. So, I want to remind them that it’s not over yet.”

Bishaw revealed he will leave it until the last moment possible to select his side in the quest to take the east Africans to their first finals.

The big boost for Bishaw is the return of his joint top scorer, Getaneh Kebede.

The striker missed the first leg of the play-offs because of an ankle injury.

“The return of Getaneh is really great news. I’ve seen him in training. He’s fit and will definitely have a role in the battle” Bishaw said.

U-17 trophy Continues from BP World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia.

The victorious Eaglets squad will also be at the stadium to cheer their seniors to victory, according to NFF spokesman Ademola Olajire.

“The glittering Fifa Under-17 World Cup that the Eaglets won in Abu Dhabi on Friday would be on display at the State Box on Saturday,” Olajire said.

“Already, Governor Liyel Imoke has invited the world-conquering Golden Eaglets, who spent the better part of their camping programme in Calabar, to be part of the occasion.”

Saturday ’s match between the Super Eagles and the Walya Antelopes will be the 214th match of the Aminu Maigari administration at the Nigeria Football Federation.

Ethiopia made tremendous progress in recent years, but in my opinion it is not enough.

“Nigerian players are superior and Stephen Keshi has done a great job to bring his team to the top.”

When asked to pick his choice of five African teams that will eventually make it to Brazil, the former Algerian national team handler predicted three

West African nations to fly Africa’s flag.

“I hope Algeria will ge there and it has the potential to do so. Though it is my wish to also see Tunisia go through, I believe Cameroon will eventually snatch the ticket to Brazil.

“In principle Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire should have no problem confirming their tickets,” Madjah added.

54 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

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08053068728

Eaglets, Keshi and Yobo! ripe for the Super Eagles. Keshi believes that a gradual transformation, passing through these stages, will help the players mature and acquire experience.

While I admit that Keshi has some points, I also

Keshi must not be rigid about the conditions he has spelt out for any of the Eaglets to be in the Super Eagles

,

E have had players who were sensational in the junior teams especially the Under 17 team but who never progressed to the senior team.

Sometimes, the so called youth players are actually at their peak at the time they are ravaging other teams with their power and goals. You expect that in few years time they would be great Super Eagles players.

But in many cases, their exploits end with the junior teams.

Some factors could be responsible. Age could be a problem. If the players are older than the allowed age limit chances are that they will fizzle out when people are expecting wonders from them. Another factor could be a possible stunted growth. Some of the players never develop further in size and other physical attributes, making their small nature a problem for coaches of senior teams to select them. They always prefer players endowed with sizable features. There are times old players are selected for youth teams because their small sizes which conceal their true ages.

Even with special diet they don’t develop further and some have had to lose opportunities to play at a higher level that way. However, there are exceptional talents whose small features don’t hinder their progress. The likes of Messi should come to mind. Then there are those whose careers are jeopardized by behavioural problems and those who fail to strike their chime because of bad transition management.

A player could develop better in a club or league where the culture of football suits his character and style. Same player may fall by the way side if he goes to another place. Where is Macaulay Chrisantus today? Chrisantus was the MVP of the 2007 Under 17 World Cup in Korea that the Eaglets under Yomi Tela of blessed memory won. If you watched Chrisantus, he was not physically endowed. But he was always at the right place and at the right time. He had instincts like the famous Brazilian Romario. I had fears when I heard that he was going to Germany, a league where power and resilience appear to be their weapons. I told Ben Iroha my fears and he expressed same but said that the football agent that linked him with Hamburg was undaunted about the move. I told Ben who was one of the assistants of Yomi Tela that France or Holland could have favoured Chrisantus. He agreed. Can somebody tell me what Chrisantus is doing in Spanish lower division today? Hamburg loaned him out to Las Palmas, a lower division club in Spain and that’s all from a once budding talent the world looked up to shine in future. His transition was poorly managed. At Japan ’93, Wilson Oruma was the MVP of the tournament and was a better player than Kanu Nwankwo. But Kanu went to Ajax, with world acclaimed youth development programme where his good transition made him soar than Oruma did.

It is probably against all these backgrounds that Stephen Keshi, the Super Eagles coach, has announced conditions under which the 2013 Fifa U17 World Cup champions could make it to the senior team.

He wants to see them graduate to the Under 20 team and then to the Olympic team before they could be

,

want to point out that it must not be so for all of them.

If any of them is good enough to play in the senior team now it will be good to allow such a player the opportunity to try his skills out. It will therefore be wrong for Keshi to be rigid on his conditions. There could be exceptional ones. It is his job to find them and develop them. There are players who develop very fast that you do not cage in junior teams at the time they need challenges to blossom into stardom.

At 17 Michael Owen was already an established star who featured in the World Cup.

I

saw him play in France ’98 World Cup where he scored a television goal against Argentina. The famous Pele became a world star at 17. How old was Wayne Rooney when he became a star at Everton? He was riding bicycle to training from the youth team up till when he played his first Premiership match. He was barely 17. Nigerian officials begged England to include Owen in their team to Nigeria ’99 fFIFA Under 20 World Cup just to boost the competition.

England said it was not necessary since he was already a star, reminding us that youth competitions are development programmes, largely meant to discover talents. To them it would be unwise to feature Owen in a junior team just because he was still under the age limit allowed. He would have blocked the chance of a budding talent waiting to be discovered.

Can Nigerian officials begin to reason like that?

Back to Keshi. The Eaglets we saw in UAE were about the youngest we have had for years. I give credit

Omeruo, Ideye may start for Ethiopia K ENNETH Omeruo looked sharp in his first training session with the Super Eagles on Wednesday and could return to the starting lineup.

Brown Ideye, who started on the bench against Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, also looked in line to return to the starting line up, especially with Nnamdi Oduamadi doubtful with illness.

Omeruo has been out since suffering a shoulder injury at the Confederations Cup in Brazil and only played his first match with the Chelsea Under-21 team last week.

But the defender kept pace with the rest of the squad, and while he had one or two moments of being a little off the pace against Bright Dike, posted an overall satisfactory performance.

C M Y K

Ideye has also shaken off the groin problem that kept him side-lined for 10 days at Dinamo Kyiv and looked equally dangerous as he renewed his partnership with Emmanuel Emenike.

The rest of the team is not expected to change much on Saturday.

LIKELY LINE-UP: Enyeama - Efe, Echiejile, Oboabona, Omeruo, Onazi, Mikel, Moses, Musa, Ideye, Emenike

*Ideye

Ethiopia touch down in Calabar

T

HE Walya Antelopes of Ethiopia have arrived Calabar, the capital City of Cross River State for Saturday’s 2014 World Cup second leg play-off clash against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

The Ethiopians touched down at the

Margaret Ekpo International Airport on Thursday afternoon on board a chartered flight with some of their fans, who are expected to cheer them to victory against the Eagles before proceeding to their camp at the Channel View hotels.

Ethiopia needs an outright 2-0 victory in Nigeria to seal a place in the Brazil 2014 World Cup after losing at home 2-1 in the first leg match played on October 13 in Addis Ababa, thanks to two superb strikes from Fenerbahce forward Emmanuel Emenike.

to the football federation and the coaches who picked them and trained them. They were a WELL COACHED team. I have not seen any Nigerian side play football the way they did. Their passing, their runs, their marking and their shooting. I saw their strikers mark and fall deep when they lost the ball.

They exploded when in possession. They were all workers. The only thing they lacked was the vision to utilise the wings when the middle was tight and a player was making a wide run. Repeatedly, they made that mistake and I wondered why until somebody told me it was typical of Spanish football and I should not forget that Emmanuel Amuneke is among the coaching crew. In Spain especially in Barcelona, they believe in short passes and with many players around the ball. I agreed that Barcelona players do that but there are times they open up the game and Alves makes those brilliant runs on the flank.

M

anu Garba, Amuneke, Nduka Ugbade and Emeka Amadi did a brilliant job on those boys.

Special credit to Emeka Amadi, the goal keeper’s trainer. Alampasu, the keeper won my heart. Those boys were singing songs with the ball and Keshi should see if some of them have the heart to be in the Eagles even if it is for the sake of them gathering experience. Theo Walcott was in the England team to the 2006 World Cup. He did not play a match but he gained a lot. I’m not saying that we must do the same thing. It may not be wise to adopt, in total, what the great football countries are doing but we can learn from them. Keshi must not be rigid about the conditions he has spelt out for any of the Eaglets to be in the Super Eagles. If there are exceptional ones, he should give them a chance. The African Nations Championship, CHAN is around the corner. Two or three of them could be there.

And as he leads out the Super Eagles against Ethiopia tomorrow, I wish him the best. I wish the Eagles well.

The football Federation has done a lot to get Nigeria this far. I wish them well. My final words on the match is that they should not allow Ethiopia settle into their passing game. Early goal will help.

And when we qualify, Keshi should have the heart to recall Yobo even if it is for some friendlies for him to achieve the feat of a 100 cap appearance that no Nigerian has done. It will be a record for the player, for Nigeria and for Keshi under whose era it would have happened. This is a message from an ardent Eagles follower, Lydia who has called from Benin on several occasions on this. Interestingly, she has never met Yobo or Keshi but speaks so passionately about them. She has a point I would want Keshi to consider.

Happy Birthday Chisom.

He drums, plays the keyboard and now he is learning how to play guitar while his siblings are more interested in soccer and tennis aside their school work.

Chisom, the youngest of my children, will be 12 today.

Happy Birthday Chisom Anibeze, my dear son. I love you.

Ticket prices soar

F

ANS in Calabar will have to dig deep into their pockets if they hope to watch Nigeria’s Super Eagles take on the Walya Antelopes of Ethiopia at the U. J. Esuene Stadium.

The tickets for the game which were made available for purchase on Wednesday cost between N1,000 to as much as N6,000.

While the uncovered popular side goes for N1,000, tickets to the VIP

*Nigerian soccer fans

area costs N4,000, while fans who intend to watch the game from the state box extension will have to pay N6,000.

Chijioke Ifenkwe, a fan who is looking forward to making a trip to watch the game from Port Harcourt complained about the price of the tickets to KickOffNigeria.com.

“It doesn’t really make sense when the price of the VIP seats for the evening costs more than my fuel money.”

Vanguard, FRIDAY NOVEMBER 15, 2013 — 55

I’ve four juicy offers — Keshi S

UPER Eagles man ager Stephen Keshi will not be easily prized away from his current job, despite a troubled relationship with his current boss.

Until recently, the former Super Eagles captain worked for over seven months without pay, after guiding his side to the Africa Cup Nations (AFCON) title in February.

As expected, potential suitors jumped at the opportunity to make offers with substantial financial rewards, but Keshi remains insistent on staying put due to his love for his homeland.

“It is the love that I have for my country that has kept me in this place ever since,” Keshi said to SuperSport when asked why he is putting up with ill-treatment from the Nigerian FA. “I go outside into the shops and markets and ordinary Nigerians in the streets are thanking me and asking God to continue to bless me. It humbles me. It makes me realise the responsibilities I have to

*Vows to stick with Eagles

these people and I keep at the job.

“I also have a fantastic group of young footballers, who I sincerely do not want to abandon at this moment.”

He added: “I have four offers on the table for me that will triple my wages but because of the reasons I have given I have told

those offers to please go elsewhere.

“Where else in this world do you hear or read of a successful team having their bonuses slashed?

When one thinks about it like that it shows how incongruous the whole thing looks really."

Lagos agog for GLO-CAF Awards

P

LANS are afoot to host a memorable Glo-Caf Awards for the second time in Lagos since Globacom became the title sponsor of the Awards in 2005. The city of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial nerve-centre, is graduallyactivatingtheexcitement mode as it gears up to receive top stakeholders in the African football community at the event slated for January 9th.

The setting will be the ultra-modern Eko Convention Centre. It will be another opportunity for Lagos State which is used to hosting big continental and global shows, to rise up to the oc-

casion and showcase its vastly improving mega city infrastructure, the traditional hospitable nature of the people and the razzmatazz for which Lagos is renowned.

*Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, GMD/CEO, Skye Bank Plc holding aloft the soccer trophy with Skye FC Team Captain, Gboyega Falayi sandwitched on the left

by Femi

Nwuche hails Golden Eaglets P

RESIDENT of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation, Hon. Prince Chibudom Nwuche has commended the players and handlers of the victorious Under17 national football team – the Golden Eaglets for their very impressive and outstanding performance

at the just concluded FIFA U-17 World Cup held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Hon. Nwuche, who was answering questions from newsmen in Abuja recently, described the strength of character, proficiency and skills exhibited by the Nigerian team

at the world football tournament as not only exceptional, but worthy of emulation by every Nigerian, especially the youth.

He further observed that the team’s composition which was based on merit and performance should serve as a veritable road map for every

facet of life and endeavor in Nigeria where the only relevant factor in determining who represents the country anywhere is merit and the ability to deliver, and not pandering to unedifying components of the so called federal character syndrome or other primordial interests such as ethnicity, religion and regionalism.

C M Y K

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Job offers flood in for Keshi Turn to page 55

Rude shock awaits Nigerians tomorrow •Ethiopian coach predicts 2-0 win in Calabar • Page 53

Ethiopia should forget Brazil – Madjer A

LGERIA football legend Rabah Madjer holds a strong view that the Super

Nigeria to display U-17 trophy in Calabar

N

PUZZLE

for the Desert Foxes and played a key role in FC Porto’s European Cup triumph in 1987 is of the Continues on Page 53

Today’s World Cup Ties Iceland Greece Portugal Ukraine

v v v v

Croatia Romania Sweden France

IGERIA will display the Under17 World Cup trophy won by the Golden Eaglets in the UAE during Saturday’s 2014

Super Eagles Senegal

v v

Continues on Page 53

Cameroon

v

7pm 7:45pm 7:45pm 7:45pm

Tomorrow Ethiopia Ivory Coast

4pm 8pm

Sunday Tunisia

3pm

QUICK CROSSWORD

Sudoku TODAY'S

Eagles have already qualified for the Brazil 2014 Fifa World Cup. The 54 year old who made 87 appearances

YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 3 Apart (5) 9 Rumour (6) 10 Kedge (6) 11 Mob (5) 12 Exclude (4) 15 Linen (4) 17 Break (7) 20 Cover (3) 21 Upright (5) 23 Arm-bone (4) 25 Slender (4) 26 Tap (5) 28 Vigour (3) 30 Serious (7) 33 Revise (4) 35 Cut (4) 36 Last (5) 38 Recruit (6) 39 Clerk (6) 40 Rear (5)

DOWN 1 Mediate (5) 2 Blackfly (5) 3 Curve (3) 4 Streak (6) 5 Daybreak (4) 6 Finish (3) 7 Bottle (5) 8 Mark (5) 13 Mistreated (7) 14 Torse (5) 16 Spectator (7) 18 Instant (5) 19 Deed (3) 22 Strap (5) 24 Insect (3) 27 Martial art (6) 28 Gem (5) 29 Fulcrum (5) 31 Premature (5) 32 Heat unit (5) 34 Row (4) 36 Untruth (3) 37 Guided (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS: 1, Warmth 5, Shared 9, Waste 10, Repair 11, Easter 12, Greed 14, Edam 17, Yap 18, Tide 20, Ratio 22, Valid 23, Nuptial 24, Ingot 26, Normal 29, Star 30, Art 32, None 33, Annual 35, Awning 36, Nausea 37, Tepid 38, Darker 39, Cycled.

DOWN: 1, Warder 2, Repeat 3, Twig 4, Harry 5, Steep 6, Head 7, Retail 8, Darted 13, Eastern 15, Daunt 16, Minor 18, Talon 19, Divan 21, Out 22, Van 24, Island 25, Garner 27, Morsel 28, Demand 30, Anger 31, Tunic 33, Ante 34, Lady.

How to Play Sudoku

P

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

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

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

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