CALL FOR IMPEACHMENT: You're toying with treason, Jonathan warns APC

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...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 62036

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

Mandela buried in Nigeria gets new national blaze of glory 9 carrier by end of year CALL FOR IMPEACHMENT: 15

You're toying with treason, Jonathan warns APC ‘Those who are threatening fire and brimstone should be ready for consequences of treasonable action’

•Says APC ganging up with Obasanjo against him

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR, CLIFFORD NDUJIHE, BEN AGANDE, DAPO AKINREFON, CHARLES KUMOLU, LEVINUS NWABUGHIOGU & GABRIEL EWEPU

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AGOS —PRESI DENT Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, warned those opposed Continues on Page 6

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COLUMNIST:

LES LEBA Senate's ill-advised $76.5 crude oil benchmark —P.40

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Mr & Mrs

A row of candles are seen as South Africa President Jacob Zuma speaks during the funeral ceremony of South African former president Nelson Mandela in Qunu, yesterday. Below left: South African Minister of Public Service, Lindiwe Sisulu being comforted as widow of Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel, and his ex-wife Winnie Mandela Madikizela, arrive for the funeral yesterday.

Photos: AFP.

propaganda Doctors begin nationwide Oshiomhole's failing — Orbih 46-47 8 •Orbih now a comedian — Idah strike Wednesday

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POCKET CARTOON

Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno, signing condolence register at the Abuja residence of former Military Administrator of Borno, Retired Col. Augustine Aniebo in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

You're toying with treason, Jonathan warns APC Continues from page 1 to his administration, including former political allies trading allegations of his sponsorship of a terror squad that they were treading the path of treason.

The strong word of caution from the President followed the call for his impeachment by the All Progressives Congress, APC, in which he also debunked the allegation of training a sniper squad raised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. President

Jonathan rebuked the APC for allegedly ganging up with Obasanjo against him.

The demand for the president’s impeachment also drew mixed reactions.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in a sharp reaction flayed the APC, saying the opposition party’s real intention was to derail the country ’s democracy, having failed in its original aim of decimating the PDP as a way of winning the 2015 elections.

Reactions to the call

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

Never stop doing little things for others, you will be surprised that those little things occupy the biggest parts of their hearts.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. Murphy’s Law is much less sanguine about it: If you never try anything new, you’ll miss out on many of life’s great disappointments — Thomas Edison

T

HE beautiful outcome of Thomas Edison’s ex periments is the electricity we all enjoy today.

“Our lives are not so different. Of course we need to accept ourselves as we are, but we can’t stop there.

We also need to value ourselves enough to make needed changes. It’s a simple formula: If we want to live fully we have to keep growing. If we want to keep growing we have to adapt. And if we want to adapt we have to try on new ways of thinking and new ways of doing. For me it’s about making my life an active science.”

I recall the story of Vincent Van Gogh, one the most successful impressionist artist of all times, he was not recognized for his gifts and talents during his era. He says, “what am I in the eyes of most people — an unknown, an eccentric, someone to like or not, even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric has in his heart. That my creativity, based more on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion. Though I feel life’s pain sometimes, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my heart is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum.” Ironically this artist was way ahead of his times and his work is most renowned today. Hold on to your dreams and do everything you can to realise them; they do come true.

also came from geopolitical organizations including Ohaneze, Afenifere, Arewa Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, New Northern Political Frontiers, NNPF, and some members of the National Assembly.

Alhaji Balarabe Musa, the first governor to be impeached since the advent of the presidential system of government on his part said there were stronger reasons to impeach the President than those raised by the APC as he cited multiple allegations of corruption raised against the administration’s top officials.

The APC’s call for impeachment of the president was contained in a statement issued by the party’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who said the request was the only way to sustain the unity of the country.

"Our country is drifting dangerously and our people are divided now perhaps more than at any other point in our history, with the exception of the civil war period. There is a total failure of leadership, even as insecurity, unprecedented corruption, palpable impunity, massive unemployment and hunger stalk the land.”

“Since the raison d’etre of any government is the security and welfare of the citizenry, and the present administration has failed to live up to the justification of its existence, there can be no other definition of gross misconduct than that,” the APC deposed.

“Therefore, the time has come for the head of that government, on whose desk the buck stops, to be removed through the provisions stipulated in the 1999 Constitution of the Fed-

eral Republic of Nigeria.

This is the patriotic thing to do,” the APC said as it warned the National Assembly that failure to impeach the president would make it also culpable in whatever fate befalls the nation.

The APC alluded to the recent court action instituted by the PDP to remove five of the governors that recently left the office as one of the possible triggers that could precipitate the doomsday for the nation.

"One such scenario is the present challenge in court by the PDP of the defection to the APC of five state governors. The PDP has gone to court fully aware of the ruling of the Supreme Court after the party (PDP) attempted to make then Vice President Atiku Abubakar lose his seat and to also strip him of his privileges following his defection to the ACN. "What then can be the sole motive behind the PDP’s action: To plunge Nigeria into chaos! This is why we issued a strong warning in our statement of Dec. 5th thus: ‘We wish to state unequivocally that should the PDP go ahead with this plan, there will be widespread repercussions as the APC has resolved that henceforth, every act of impunity of the PDP and the Presidency will be met with stiff resistance in the form of a vociferous telegraphing of people power, the likes of which have not been witnessed in these parts’.

"We reiterate those words today, and make bold to say that not even the revelation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, that snipers are being trained secretly and that 1,000 people have been placed on political watch, will deter us from saving this democracy, which was watered by the sweat and blood of many patriots, long before this generation of opportunists stormed the political scene,’’ it said.

“The talk out there now is that Nigeria has never had it so bad. But the government may not know because it has distanced itself from the people. Therefore, for embracing corruption so much and providing succour to corrupt public officials; for threatening the country ’s fragile unity through divisive policies and politics, for frittering away the nation’s resources through unprecedented cronyism and clannishness, and for a total failure of leadership, this President deserves to be slammed with the cudgel of im-

peachment,’’ it said.

In his reaction to the allegation, President Jonathan in a statement issued on his behalf by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Rueben Abati warned the APC spokesman that he was playing with treason.

Noting the allegation that President Jonathan was training a terror squad to harass his political opponents which was first raised by former president Obasanjo, Abati said it was evident that the two were now in cahoots against the Jonathan administration.

The statement read: “We have noted with utter disdain, the reckless and irresponsible call by the APC on Sunday for the National Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Ordinarily, we would not have dignified Alhaji Lai Mohammed’s latest vituperations in the service of his paymasters with a response, but we thought it necessary to warn that the Federal Government will not standby idly and let the nation be plunged into unnecessary crises and political instability because of the desperation and apparent readiness of the APC spokesman and his gang of powerseeking desperadoes to sacrifice the well-being of the country on the altar of their selfish personal ambitions.

"The Presidency totally condemns the decision

by Alhaji Mohammed and his party to move further beyond the bounds of honourable and acceptable political conduct with the senseless call for the impeachment of a President who continues to sincerely devote himself to the discharge of the sacred mandate freely given to him by Nigerians.

"The APC, which remains a minority party with doubtful credentials in the National Assembly, knows fully well that its attempts to hector and blackmail a Parliament dominated by loyal

members of the President’s party, the PDP, into an impeachment process, will come to nothing.

But it has cavalierly embarked on this outrageous gambit, with scant regard for peace, order, security and political stability in the country, in furtherance of its dastardly and heinous strategy of over-heating the polity and working to cause public disaffection against the Jonathan Presidency with lies, false accusations and unjustifiable indictments ahead of the 2015 general elections.

The emptiness and hollowness of the APC’s call for President Jonathan’s impeachment will be obvious to all objective and discerning Nigerians who read through the statement issued by Alhaji Mohammed today. It was long on self-serving rhetoric and falsehoods, but lacked a single clearly defined charge on the basis of which any plausible impeachment proceedings against the President can be initiated.

"All that the APC could offer in justification of its absurd and hare-brained impeachment call was a rehash of its well-worn litany of baseless accusations against the President, including some for which culpability should be laid squarely at the doorsteps of its own leaders and some of their new friends.

"The Presidency also considers it utterly deplorable that the APC has, in its Machiavellian desperation to seize control of the Federal Government, recklessly assailed the integrity and honour of the Nigerian Judiciary in a callous attempt to pre-empt the outcome of the case legitimately brought against it and some of its new friends by the PDP. "Alhaji Mohammed’s unscrupulous effort to drag the nation’s judiciary into its murky political warfare and his Continues on page 42

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Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013 — 7

Tenant in court for issuing N1m dud cheque

BY INNOCENT ANABA

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BUJA — AN Abujabased contractor, Akin Olusina, has been arraigned before an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court over allegations of breach of trust and cheating by issuing a dud cheque to his landlord, Chineme UmeEzeoke.

The accused person is facing a one-count charge of cheating and breach of trust under Sections 310 and 320 of the criminal code.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was admitted to bail, while further hearing in the matter was adjourned to December 17.

NHRC intervenes in alleged fraud case against Pastor

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

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WKA — THE Na tional Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has stepped into a case of alleged duping of a house wife, Mrs. Maryrose Okeke Ozude,

by Pastor Samson Otis of Rhema Deliverance Ministry, Abagana in Anambra State.

The pastor allegedly tricked the woman into bringing her car to him as bait for his prayers that would facilitate the release of her husband serving a jail term abroad.

The intervention of the commission followed a petition by Mrs. Ozude alleging that her life in danger as a result of threats by the pastor and one Chinyere Nwama because she had demanded her car back since her husband did not return as promised by the pastor.

Chieftaincy title: Village heads beat up Ogun monarch

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

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BEOKUTA — PANDEMO NIUM broke out in Ayetoro, the political headquarters of Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, when at least 10 village heads allegedly beat the Alaye of Ayetoro, Oba Azeez Adelakun and destroyed his traditional beads.

The fracas which occurred,weekend, shortly before the embattled monarch installed a village head of AgoImala, Olayiwola Ajibola, prompted the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Ikemefuna Okoye, to personally supervise his men who stormed the place in four Hilux vans to restore normalcy.

The installation was billed to take place at Isale-Agboro multipurpose hall before the crisis escalated.

When our correspondent visited the place, there were eight bonfires in various places which were reportedly made by the youths in the area in protest against the assault on their monarch.

It was gathered that, there had been bad blood between the monarch and the aggrieved village heads following the refusal of the monarch to merge two village heads in Saala village.

An eyewitness told our correspondent that some village heads had demanded to hold a meeting with the monarch on the need to jettison the installation of the new village head, and when the monarch entered the palace, the aggrieved village heads refused to pay homage to him, saying they did not recognise him.

Speaking on behalf of the monarch, Baale Ayobo-Ayetoro, Ezekiel Ogundele said: "Those Baales have vowed to dethrone the Kabiyesi and they have been planning against him for long.

Oba Azeez Adelakun

DO-EKITI — THE Ekiti State Police Command has arrested eight persons, including a serving Permanent Secretary in Ondo State over the raid of a commercial bank in Ikere Ekiti last Thursday.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Victor Babayemi, who gave the hint in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital on Saturday, said the Permanent Secretary and others were arrested in a bush at Ijare, a border town between Ekiti and Ondo states.

The Branch Manager of the

cember 16.

“But, Kabiyesi wanted to install Baale Ago-Imala and when they got to the palace they did not pay homage to him and when the monarch asked them why they failed to pay the homage, they said the Kabiyesi had been removed as the Oba, “They vowed that they will not remove their caps and shoes as the culture demanded and they carried out the threat. They were about 10."

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi, said 19 Baales were involved, adding that one of the Baales assaulted the oba by removing his traditional beads.

Pastor stabs wife over refusal to attend church activities

By DAUD OLATUNJI

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BEOKUTA — MEN of Ogun State Police Command have arrested a 45-yearold man, Pastor Daniel Samuel, for stabbing his wife over the later’s refusal to attend church activities.

Daniel, an Apostolic Church pastor, was reported to have used a cutlass to inflict a deep cut on his wife, Patience's, neck in Owode-Egba in Ibafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Vanguard gathered that the offence of the 42-year-old Pastor's wife was because she gave preference to her work over the church programmes.

It was further gathered that shortly after the man attacked his wife with cutlass, he alerted the neighbours that his wife was matcheted by some unknown men, urging the people to help

him take her to the hospital.

But when the victim was taken to Federal Medical Centre, IdiAba in Abeokuta, because of the level of the injury, the doctor, insisted that the case should be reported to the Police as she commenced the treatment.

The pastor was said to have quickly rushed to Owode-Egba Divisional Police headquarters to report the case but, reportedly lied to the police that the woman was wounded by some unknown men.

The Police after investigations discovered that the man was responsible and subsequently detained him.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the pastor would soon be charged to court.

Adejobi further explained that the pastor had confessed to the

crime after an interrogation, adding that he would be charged for false information and wounding.

“The Pastor is with us, he initially lied to the Police that the wife was attacked by some men but later confessed after interrogation.

As such he will soon be charged to court for false information and wounding,” the PPRO said.

When newsmen visited the hospital, Mrs Samuel was still in a very critical condition as her bed sheet was soaked with blood but managed to utter some few words which were incoherent.

The Consultant of Orthopaedics and Trauma who was in charge of the patient, Doctor Ojeblenu told our correspondent that the woman would still be under close observation because of the depth of the injury and the psychological trauma she might be going through.

Mother of 4 kills husband over N100 in Ilorin

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI

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LORIN — TRAGEDY struck, yesterday, at Oloje area of Ilorin when a housewife simply identified as Mariam allegedly

struck her bricklayer husband to death with a stick following altercations between them over N100.

Vanguard reliably gathered that the woman, a mother of four

Police nab Perm Sec, 7 others while performing rituals

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They said until they dethrone him they will not rest.

"They alleged that the Kabiyesi disgraced them in Abeokuta and they would retaliate by removing him as the oba of the town. They said the two village heads in Saala should be merged, but Kabiyesi told the government not to allow them merge the two offices. This did not go down well with the aggrieved Baales who vowed to deal with the Kabiyesi by removing him as Oba. “This development led to the confusion to the extent that, these aggrieved village heads wrote the Kabiyesi to meet them at his palace, De-

bank, Ikere was also reportedly arrested following the incident.

According to the police, the Permanent Secretary and three others were arrested while performing rituals at night in the bush through which the robbery bandits escaped.

The armed gang had stormed a first generation bank at about 5.30 p.m killing two persons and injuring two others during a gun battle with the men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

The PPRO said the Permanent Secretary and the three others

were arrested at about 3 a.m by the police.

Babayemi said the men were arrested with a live goat and other fetish materials, adding that they would have been mistaken for robbers.

“During the operation, we saw the Permanent Secretary and seven others in white apparel performing rituals, so we had to arrest them to explain their mission at the place at that unholy hour”.

The PPRO said those arrested are being interrogated with vital information being obtained.

all late, had recently returned into her matrimonial home after she parted ways with her husband following irreconcilable differences.

The incident which occurred yesterday, had since thrown the community into mourning as sympathisers thronged the deceased’s compound.

An eye-witness told Vanguard that their relationship went sour again yesterday morning, leading to a hot argument between them over N100 which the woman was said to have demanded from the husband.

The deceased,the source added, was said to have told the wife that he had no money which did not go down well with the wife thereby degenerating into a hot argument between them.

During the process, the wife was said to have picked a stick and hit the husband on his head and he fainted.

He was immediately rushed to a nearby private hospital where he was pronounced dead.

As the news of the man’s death filtered in,the woman on realising the gravity of the incident was said to have locked herself up in a room and inflicted wounds on her body using a razor blade.

To avert another tragedy, residents of the area, according to sources, forced the door open and dragged the culprit out naked before the police were invited to effect her arrest.

When Vanguard visited the decease ‘s family compound,family members and resident of the area maintained sealed leaps.

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

LAGOS AWARD

Vanguard reporter emerges Best Health Correspondent

BY ESTHER ONYEGBULA

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OR the third consecutive time, Vanguard health correspondent, Chioma Obinna, has emerged winner of Lagos State Government Family Health Merit Award as the Best Health Correspondent of the Year 2013.

Obinna had earlier emerged winner of the last two editions of the keenly contested award held in 2008 and 2009.

This year ’s edition of the award, 10th in the series, with the theme Patient-Centred Care, was held in Lagos to recognise and celebrate workers in the health sector for excellent service delivery to citizens of the state.

While presenting the award, Governor Babatunde Fashola said the award was presented only to deserving individuals and corporate organisations for their involvement, activities, and achievements in health service delivery and development.

Fashola emphasised commitment to provisions of quality health care to citizens of Lagos State, adding that “patient-centred care does not replace good diagnosis or excellent medication, but rather compliments clinical excellence and contributes to thorough and effective health service delivery.”

Fashola noted that the government was aware of numerous complaints from Lagosians about the poor attitude and uncomplimentary service being provided in the state hospitals.

He said: “It has been attributed to patient load, an excuse that is totally unacceptable.

“As much as government appreciates the efforts of each individual in the health sector, it is important that there be a change in all we do, in line with the service charter initiative of this government.”

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Obasanjo's letter to Jonathan splits Reps

BY SONI DANIEL, Regional Editor, North

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BUJA— THE controversial letter by former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, to President Goodluck Jonathan is causing a sharp division in the House of Representatives.

Vanguard learnt that while lawmakers sympathetic to Jonathan wanted the letter to be formally tabled and discussed in plenary and to caution Obasanjo for disparaging the President, legislators opposed to Jonathan do not want the matter brought up.

Findings showed that the letter by Obasanjo had rekindled the bitter feud between loyalists of Jonathan and those opposed to him in the House.

A source told Vanguard that when the anti-Jonathan lawmakers heard that the letter

might be discussed at plenary, they quickly mobilised to forestall the move, arguing that since the missive was from a former president to an incumbent, there was no need to dissipate energy on it since it was not officially addressed to them.

The anti-Jonathan lawmakers, however, drew the attention of the leadership to what they termed ‘germane issues’ raised by Obasanjo in his communication to Jonathan and the need for him to address them in the interest of the nation.

A lawmaker's words

One of the lawmakers said: “What Obasanjo wrote to Jonathan clearly vindicates the position of the House of Representatives that Jonathan needs to wake up and tackle the myriad of challenges facing the nation, particularly

corruption and insecurity.

“We must tell the President the bitter truth and enable him to take steps to move the nation forward instead of playing to the gallery.”

Pro-Jonathan meet

It was, however, learnt that pro-Jonathan lawmakers, who had been strategising on how to humiliate the former president for writing what they considered ‘an offensive and uncouth letter ’ to an incumbent President, met on Sunday and decided on how to effectively tackle him for his ‘indiscretion’.

A crucial meeting of some pro-Jonathan lawmakers took place, yesterday, in Asokoro, Abuja, during which they discussed the Obasanjo letter in detail and decided on what step to take.

A lawmaker, who is close to Jonathan, however described

Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan as an insult and an attempt by him to distract the President from focusing on his mandate to Nigerians.

“We will insist that the matter be tabled and action taken, at least to caution the former president against his wanton vituperations against the President of Nigeria,” one lawmaker threatened, last night.

House Media C'ttee

However, Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, said that the members were not considering discussing the controversial letter, since it was not addressed to the House.

Mohammed said that the matter could not be listed for consideration since Obasanjo did not direct the missive to the lawmakers in the first place.

ARMY SPORTS: Chief of Army Staff, Lt-.Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika (left) and Maj.-Gen. Garba Wahab at the GOC 1 Division, Nigerian Army open sports tournament in Kaduna, Saturday. NAN PHOTO.

Doctors begin nationwide strike December 18

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

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OLLOWING expirationof the December 14 ultimatum to the Federal Government by the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, doctors in public health institutions across the country are withdrawing their services with effect from 8a.m. on Wednesday, December 18.

Making the development known in a communique issued after its National Executive Council, NEC, in Minna, Niger State, NMA President, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, and SecretaryGeneral, Dr. Akpofuoma

Pemu, said the decision was based on the extremely poor progress in the resolution of NMA's demands.

Noting that the association was constrained to declare industrial action with effect from Wednesday, they explained that in recognition of the Yuletide and appeals of well-meaning Nigerians, the withdrawal of services in the first instance would be for a period of five days but would recommence after the Yuletide.

They said: “We call on members of the public and the media to bear with the association during this period

of withdrawal of services.

“For over five months, NMA has engaged the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on issues bordering on some health sector challenges, workplace conditions and the conditions of service of doctors.”

Stating that the association had extended her ultimatum twice, they noted that their efforts to further engage the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Health (following

the invitation of the Minister of Health to a meeting) even at the 11th hour, ultimately collapsed.

NMA accused the government of reneging on their agreement as they had failed to implement the report of the Presidential Committee.

The statement said: “Since the report of the Presidential Committee was submitted to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, only the reconstitution and inauguration of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, has been realised.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013 — 9

19 die in Sokoto road accident

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SEMINAR: From left— Deputy President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr. Steve Ayorinde; Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, at the third annual seminar for trade and investment correspondents and editors in Abuja, Saturday.NAN PHOTO.

Mandela goes home in blaze of glory

BY HUGO ODIOGOR & HENRY UMORU, with agency reports

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ONGS, speeches, military parade and the booms of 21 gun salute rented the air, yesterday, as anti-apartheid hero, Nelson Mandela, took his resting place in Qunu, to mark an end to 95 years of struggle for freedom and dignity of black man in South Africa.

It was the end of a journey that began on December 5, when he drew his final breath after a protracted lung infection.

With his family and South African leaders coming to terms that Madiba is gone forever, tears, frustration and dancing, accompanied the eulogies that came from international dignitaries, world leaders and statesmen that came to say final goodbye to the man that reconciled the country in its most vulnerable period.

The burial brought an end to 10 days of ceremonies that included a massive stadium memorial in Johannesburg and three days during which Mandela’s body lay in state in the capital, Pretoria.

The funeral service began with an emotional rendition of the country’s national anthem, while the body was placed in a huge tent at the family compound of the anti-apartheid leader.

Mandela’s portrait looked over the assembly in the white marquee from behind a bank of 95 candles, representing each year of his remarkable life. His casket, transported to the tent on a gun carriage and draped in the national flag, rested on a carpet of cow skins below a lectern where speakers delivered eulogies.

The traditional ruler of Qunu, Mandela's tribal family, Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima, draped in animal skin declared:

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“A great tree has fallen. He is now going home to rest with his forefathers.”

Mandela’s widow, Grace Machel, and his second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, were dressed in black and sat on either side of South African President Jacob Zuma.

After the funeral ceremony, a smaller group of guests was allowed to attend Mandela’s burial at a family grave site on the estate in Qunu, a rural village in Eastern Cape Province.

‘He had no shoes’

Nandi Mandela said her grandfather went barefoot to school in Qunu when he was boy and eventually became President and a figure of global import.

“It is to each of us to achieve anything you want in life,” she said, recalling kind gestures by Mandela “that made all those around him also want to do good.”

In Xhosa language, she referred to her grandfather by his clan name: “Go well, Madiba. Go well to the land of our ancestors, you have run your race.”

‘67 years ago’

Mandela’s friend who was with him in prison at Robben Island, Ahmed Kathrada, brought the audience to tears when he recounted his last moments with Mandela. He said it was painful when he saw Mandela for the last time, months ago in his hospital bed.

He said: “He tightly held my hand. It was profoundly heartbreaking. How I wish I never had to confront what I saw.

“I first met him 67 years ago and I recall the tall, healthy strong man, the boxer, the prisoner who easily wielded

the pick and shovel when we couldn’t do so.”

Mourners wiped away tears as emotional Kathrada spoke.

Roll call

Guests included Britain’s Prince Charles, Monaco’s Prince Albert II, U.S. television personality Oprah Winfrey, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Richard Branson and former Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai.

There were also veterans of the military wing of the African National Congress, the liberation movement that became the dominant political force after the end of apartheid.

South African television, which showed Mandela’s casket at the family gravesite, was stopped from broadcasting the interment at the request of Mandela's family.

Atiku

A statement from former Vice

President, Atiku Abubakar’s office, yesterday, read: “Former Vice President Abubakar was on Sunday honored by the South African leadership with front row seat at both the state funeral and private burial ceremonies of global icon, Nelson Mandela.

“Atiku was selected to be among the few lucky personalities to see Mr. Mandela’s final burial ceremonies in the land of his ancestors in accordance with the Xhosa culture by the South African leadership, with which he has maintained an excellent type of relationship since the days when he, as Vice President and the then Deputy President Zuma co-chaired the Nigeria-South Africa Binational Commission.

“That was a period marked by important trade and investment relations between the two countries.”

O K O T O — NINETEEN persons died, yesterday, in an accident at GidanSandaga village, along Sokoto-Illela village, Sokoto State.

The Chairman of Illela Local Government, Alhaji Garba Sabon-Gari, disclosed this to newsmen in Sokoto in a telephone interview.

Thirteen people were earlier reported to have died in the Sunday midday accident, which involved two articulated vehicles from Fura-Girke and Inwala villages.

The two vehicles, with plate numbers LLA 22 XA and ABJ 801 XE, respectively, were going to Illela market when the accident occurred.

“Six more persons died some hours ago at the Illela General Hospital,” Sabon-Gari said.

Twelve had died on the spot, while one victim died at the hospital. 32 others, who were injured in the accident, were rushed to the same hospital for treatment.

Sabon-Gari said the state government and the Illela Local Government had mobilised additional medical personnel that were assisting the hospital staff.

He said the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Sahabi Gada, had moblised more medical doctors from Sokoto and Gada local governments in the same direction.

“Gada is here, overseeing the emergency operations to save the lives of the remaining injured victims.”

OBJ'S LETTER: SERAP petitions UN over alleged training of snipers

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

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EQUEL to a letter from former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan, alleging that the Federal Government is habouring snippers, a nongovernmental organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has petitioned the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions to pressurise the Nigerian government to halt any alleged training for political purposes.

In the letter written to Professor Christ of Heyns and

signed by SERAP Executive Director, Mr. Tokunbo Mumuni, the group called for the investigation of the allegtion and for whoever is involved to be brought to justice.

SERAP’s petition followed allegation last week by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who accused the government of President Goodluck Jonathan of “training snipers and other armed personnel secretly and clandestinely acquiring weapons to match for political purposes like Abacha, and training them where Abacha trained his own killers.”

The petition read: “We are seriously concerned that the

allegation, if true, amounts to a grave breach of international law, and directly undermines the government’s responsibility to safeguard the safely and security of the citizens.

“It also constitutes an assault on the rule of law, and is entirely inconsistent with the practice of a democratic society, which Nigeria strives to become.

“The legal right to life and protection against extrajudicial execution is recognised by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party.

“Article 6 of the Covenant states that ‘No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life'.”

10—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

Body of Nigerian killed in India arrives home A

BUJA — THE body of Mr. Simeon Obodo, the 35-year-old Nigerian killed in Goa, India, on October 31, arrived Nigeria, Saturday and has been deposited in a mortuary in Port Harcourt.

A representative of the family, Mr. Ejike Esinkonye, confirmed the arrival of the corpse in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, yesterday, in Abuja.

He said the corpse ar-

Congestion looms as new policy takes off

BY GODWIN ORITSE

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AGOS —PORTS in the Lagos area may become congested soon following hiccups currently being experienced in the implementation the of Pre-arrival Assessment Report, PAAR, a new cargo policy initiated by the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS. The scheme, according to authoritative sources, ran into troubled waters when the Customs discovered that over 99,000 Risk Assessment Reports were issued by the scanning service providers few hours after Customs took over the process.

The Customs management in a bid to manage the situation sent a circular to its commands to immediately commence examination, scanning and releasing processes of cargoes that came in before the handing-over.

Besides, the Customs management has also deployed some Assistant Comptrollers-General to the Commands to ensure compliance with the directive.

Even though stakeholders have described the development as a deliberate attempt by the three service providers: Cotecna, SGS and Global Scan System to truncate the efforts of the Customs in running destination inspection effectively, the Comptroller General of Customs, Dikko Inde Abdullahi, weekend, issued a circular directing provisional release of the 99, 300 containers.

Addressing maritime stakeholders at the Apapa Custom Command yesterday, a high powered delegation of custom top brass led by ACG Tahir Musa took turns to update operators on the challenges facing the customs in implementing the PAAR.

Islam is not against western education —Femi Okunnu

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AGOS—A Senior Advo cate of Nigeria, Alhaji Olufemi Okunnu, yesterday came hard on groups or individuals killing their fellow Nigerians because of Western education, stating that they are only deceivers as Islam is not against Western education.

Okunnu who is the National

Why we established Law Enforcement Training Institute — LASG

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

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AGOS — LAGOS State Government has commenced operation of the states law enforcement training institute for officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA and Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI, as part of the on-going reforms in the sectors.

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, formally unveiled the training institute along with Senior Special Assistant on Transport Education, Dr. Mariam

rived Port Harcourt International Airport at 7p.m., Saturday, via an Air France commercial flight.

Esinkoye said that some family members travelled to India to accompany the corpse home.

The family representative said that about N6.5 million was spent to fly the body to Nigeria, including funeral and mortuary costs in India.

He said the family and the community members felt abandoned by the Indian and Nigerian governments, claiming they had received no financial assistance till date.

Esinkoye was part of a delegation of the Ohaji Egbema community in Imo that met with the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Viola Onwuliri after Obodo was killed.

He appealed to the Federal Government to impress on the Indian government to respond to the family's demands.

“Our brother is survived by an aged mother, wife and children; who will take care of these responsibilities?" he queried.

He said the burial of Obodo had tentatively been fixed for December 28, in his community in Imo.

Masha, weekend.

Speaking at the launch, which was also attended by the state's first civilian Governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande and the state's first military Gove r n o r , Brigadier-General, Mobolaji Johnson, the governor explained that the institute which had been on-going in the last two years, was part of measures aimed at improving traffic management and environmental sanitation in the state.

He added that the reform was alsofashioned to re-develop and furnish all the 30 LASTMA and KAI offices.

President of the Ansar-UdDeen Society of Nigeria said this at the 90th anniversary of the Islamic organization and football competition final between Ansar-Ud-Deen High School, Liberty, Ibadan (Kola Daisi Babes) and AUD Secondary School, Ikere Ekiti(Wale Babalakin Babes) held at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan.

He said, “Islam is never against Western education.

Though we did not have Western education in the past, when you go into history, you will discover that we have vast experts in engineering, medicine, to mention but few, and were giving advice.

“Those killing people because of Western education are only deceivers and are not meant to be humans. I will say it anywhere in the world that Islam is not against Western education; it tells us to ‘seek for knowledge’”.

Okunnu maintained that one of the primary aims of the organisation is to encourage people to get education; both Western and Islamic, adding that this is because Islam says ‘seeking for knowledge is compulsory for all men and women.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013—11

Tinubu, Daniel clash over Amosun’s performance

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

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BEOKUTA — FORMER governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the immediate past governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, weekend, disagreed over the level of performance by the Ibikunle Amosun-led administration in Ogun State.

Tinubu, who fired the first salvo at the installation of the interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Bisi Akande as Baba-Oba of Imoru-Ijebu by Oba Munirudeen Adeposi Bashorun claimed that Ogun State in the past was on the wrong side of politics.

Tinubu said: "Once upon a time, Ogun

State was on the wrongful corner of politics, in the opposition, but as we continue to develop and demolish various illegal structures across the country, so is the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, destroying democratic structures.

"Ijebu-Ode is already a giant construction site with the dualisation of roads going on and the overhead bridge. Thank you, Governor Amosun for your dedication and commitment to duty which made the transformation possible."

Reacting to Tinubu's claims, Daniel said whatever achievement Tinubu was laying claim to for his eight years in office in Lagos with huge resources available could not be compared to his achievement with small resources available to Ogun State.

Daniel, who spoke through his media aide, Steve Oliyide, said: “Asiwaju Bola Tinubu does not have the moral standing to give a fair assessment on the political and economic administration under Otunba Gbenga Daniel, especially if you look at his own achievement in Lagos and succeeding Amosun in Ogun State which Tinubu is the sole progenitor.

“Tinubu's achievements in eight years in terms of cost and values and huge money in Lagos cannot be compared to OGD’s achievements. Tinubu served himself rather than the people of Lagos State.”

Meanwhile, Tinubu has said that the party would not relent in its struggle to rescue Nigeria from "the cruel and rudderless" administration of the PDP-controlled Federal

Government.

He said the struggle to rescue Nigeria had been on for a long time since he was alone in the struggle, expressing delight that no fewer than 16 progressive

I

BADAN — THOUSANDS of elderly people at the Geriatric Centre in the University College Hospital, Ibadan, weekend, were full of gratitude to Chief Tony Anenih for keeping their hope alive with a donation of N100 million.

The Geriatric centre was initiated by the Chief Medical Director of the

Ogun LP leaders go into hiding, shun Mimiko's meeting

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

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BEOKUTA — THE crisis rocking the Labour Party, LP, in Ogun State has taken a new dimension as the executive members of LP in the state have gone into hiding, claiming that their lives are in danger.

hospital, Professor Temitope Alonge for the treatment of elderly people at subsidised charges.

Anenih, represented by Mr. Matthew Urhoghide, Chairman, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Board of Management said, “I cannot think of a nobler service to mankind than a proper attention to the health needs of the elderly.”

Ajasin varsity's lecture theatre named after Mandela

BY DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE — THE Adekunle Ajasin U n i v e r s i t y , Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State has named its newly completed 500-capacity lecture theatre, 'Nelson Mandela Lecture Theatre.'

The Vice Chancellor, Professor Femi Mimiko, unveiled the name, weekend.

expressed delight at what he described as massive infrastructural development in Ogun State which he described as second to none in the history of the state.

UNVEILING: Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (3rd left); his Special Adviser on Federal Matters, Mr. Idiat Babalola; Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Research, Planning and Policy Implementation, Prince Olusegun Bada (left); Personal Assistant to the Governor on Political Matters, Alhaji Bisi Oyoosun (right); Engr. Abdulkareem Ojutikun (2nd left), and Mr. S.J. Samuel, during the unveiling of late Chief Awolowo statue, at Osun Lodge, Abuja, weekend.

UCH's elderly patients laud Anenih for N100m donation

BY OLA AJAYI

governors had joined hands with him in the crusade for a better Nigeria.

Commending APC government in the Southwest and other party of the country, Tinubu

Professor Mimiko said: "Our duty here this afternoon is to simply unveil a name that the University Council had graciously approved, several months ago, to give to this edifice that has just been delivered.

“This is our little way of demonstrating how much belief we have in the life and times of a very great man, Nelson Mandela."

The embattled members of the executive also shunned the reconciliation meeting called by the governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko to reconcile them with the former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and his loyalists who have just joined the party.

The party state executive led by Olabode Simeon had expelled Gbenga Daniel for allegedly engaging in anti-party activities.

To worsen the situation, the party also announced a serving member of the House of Representatives, Abiodun Akinlade as its governorship candidate for the forthcoming 2015 general elections.

But in his reaction, Daniel described his purported suspension as inapplicable, saying, he was still being persuaded and lobbied to join Labour Party in Ogun State and provide effective organisation/ leadership accordingly.

Daniel said this in a statement by former Steel miniter, Tunji Ishola, ex-governorship candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria, Gboyega Isiaka and former I n f o r m a t i o n Commissioner, Sina Kawonise.

Vanguard gathered that, Mimiko conveyed the meeting scheduled to hold in Ondo State, to resolve the logjam in the

party in the state, but was boycotted by the Chairman, Olabode Simeon, the Secretary, Sunday Ogini, the financial Secretary, Bayo Arabanbi, among others.

Speaking from their hide-out, the state secretary of the party, Ogini told Vanguard that they decided to go into hiding after they announced the party gubernatorial candidate in the state because of the security report which he said, did not favour them.

Ondo promotes 6,000 teachers

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KURE — ONDO State government said, weekend, that over 6,000 primary schools teachers across the state had been promoted to higher grade levels.

State Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade in a statement in Akure, said beneficiaries of the exercise hd been issued their letters of promotion.

Akinmade said the letters had been distributed to the teachers on behalf of the state Government by the Chairman, State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Otunba Ade Adeniyi.

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12—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

Monarch urged to revoke legislator's chieftaincy title

Edo APC to PDP: Show proof of SURE-P employments

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HE Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom, HRH Erhiekevwe I, in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State, has been urged to revoke the chieftaincy title conferred on the member representing Ethiope West Constituency in Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. John Nani, in the interest of general peace of the kingdom.

Chief John Ogude, the Unugbrogodo of Idjerhe Kingdom, who made the assertion while speaking to newsmen, said there was an agreement on April 30, 2013 by the Eguedion (Council of Chiefs) that honorary chieftaincy titles should no longer be conferred on any indegene.

According to him, the issue was also discussed with the Ovie in his palace during a crucial meeting he held with the chiefs some months ago, during which the Ovie endorsed the decision.

Flood victims, widows, get succour

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

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SABA—AN outreach partnership programme anchored by Reverend Samuel Akpan-Isong of Champions for Christ Chapel Asaba and Architect Oputa Ajie, has brought succor to bear to widows, lessprivileged and victims of last year’s flood in Aboh, Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State.

Bags of rice and other food items and writing materials were donated to the widows and school children including victims of last year’s flood.

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

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CONDOLENCE: From left: Chief Ighoyota Amori, Senior Political Adviser to Delta State Governor and Dr. Ngozi Olejeme, Chairman, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, during a condolence visit to Amori in Mosogar, Delta State.

CORRUPTION: Nigerians may revolt, Oshiomhole warns

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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ENIN—GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, weekend, warned that Nigerians might revolt against leaders sooner than later, if government continued to pay lip service to the issue of corruption.

While expressing shock that nobody had been jailed as a result of corruption despite the persistent alarm from the Federal Government about oil theft and several other corrupt practices, he warned that Nigerians were tired of excuses and might decide to take their destinies in their hands.

The governor, who was the guest lecturer at the 2013 convocation of Benson Idahosa University, Benin City, spoke in a lecture entitled: Education and National Development.

Represented by Secretary to the State Government, Professor Julius Ihonvbere, Oshiomhole noted that Nigerians spent over N80 billion annually on medical tours and treatment overseas “just as we put our kids in foreign and other

African universities and this is with over N2 trillion lost to the fuel subsidy cartel, not to mention how much is lost annually to oil thieves.

“The list of imperfections, failures, problems and contradictions can go on and on. The important issue today is how we can relate these issues to the importance of education and therefore national development. Fleetingly, about people, it is, in the first instance, about cars, skyscrapers, money in the bank, huge bureaucracies and those things that may be symptoms of growth rather than development.

“Our idea of development revolves round interest and exchange rates, import-export ratios, GNP per capita, even GDP and foreign reserves.

These may show that growth and maybe accumulation are occurring; they do not show that development that is people-focused, people-based and people-driven is occur-

ring.

“Major companies like Unilever and Dunlop are closing down, setting up shop in Ghana and throwing thousands of families into unemployment, hunger and social pressures.

I believe we should just leave the issue of power for another day after we fully understand what the GENCOS, DISCOS,and TRANCOS are doing.

“Until leadership in Nigeria changes from the arrogance of power, perpetual infighting, accommodating corruption and impunity and finding excuses for failure to meet popular expectations, I am afraid, most of our educational institutions, private and public, would never meet world standards.

“With an unstable and unreliable state, frequent policy changes, an economy in crisis, and leaders that use power and public funds for personal aggrandizement; the university must prepare to engage the negative forces in a changing global order and a reforming Nigeria."

ENIN—ALL Progressives Congress, APC, Edo State chapter, has challenge Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to publish the names of the 3,500 persons purportedly employed so far in Edo State under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P. In a statement in Benin yesterday, by the party’s State Publicity Secretary, Mr. Godwin Erhahon, the party alleged that each of the 3,500 persons who were to be drawn from the thousands of unemployed graduates was to earn a monthly allowance of N18,000.

“SURE-P is funded from the money saved from the removed petroleum subsidy and purportedly channeled to provide short-term apprenticeship employment for unemployed graduates during which they would learn skills to enhance their employability and reduce their vulnerability.

“It is supposedly targeted at alleviating the poverty and hardship of youth and poor women,” he said.

Comrade Erhahon alleged that over N30 billion of SURE-P fund had been diverted by PDP leaders in Edo State alone through fictitious names.

Olejeme condoles with Amori

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HAIRMAN, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, and Chairman U & I Development Foundation, Dr. Ngozi Olejeme, has describe the late mother of Chief Ighoyota Amori, Senior Political Adviser to Delta State Governor, as a great woman who immensely contributed to the political activities of the nation, saying that Amori's achievements in the state would not have been possable without a great woman of substance who gave her C M Y K

children the condusive environment to thrive.

Dr. Olejeme said her foundation had always been part of the Urhobo nation through various empowerment packages to uplift the status of the less privileged in the society as well as the vulnerable and disabled.

She thanked Chief Amori for his efforts in ensuring that the mission of the foundation is achieved. She also admonished widows in Mosogar to be steadfast and dedicated to the service of God and put their trust in Him who is the husband of widows.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013—13

Dickson suspends 9 teachers for dereliction of duty Y

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

ENAGOA—NINE teaching staff of Community Secondary School, Aleibiri, in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state, were, weekend, suspended by the state governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, for dereliction of duty.

The affected teachers were not at their duty posts during the governor unscheduled visit to the school, in the course of his thank you tour to local government areas of the state.

The suspended teachers are Tenkiri Pere, Cornet Akpoaresine, Folorunso Funso, Berepigi Tiko, Ebenibo Richard, Zuokumor Erica and Lobia Clara.

Dickson, who expressed dismay over some teachers’ attitude to duty, ordered their immediate suspension.

He said the affected teachers would appear before a disciplinary panel for negligence and leaving the school before closing hour.

The present administration, the governor, said would not condone any

act of indiscipline, due to the premium it placed on the education sector.

According to him, “anybody found wanting in the discharge of his or her official function will be shown the exit door.

The suspension of the affected teachers will put their likes on their toes regarding this administration’s seriousness and resolve to address the rot in our educational system. Too often, teachers in our var-

ious schools, especially those in the communities, have a record of not showing up in classrooms to carry out work for which they are being paid. ”The same is true for nurses and doctors who are employed to provide medical services in our communities. We will no longer condone this wanton negligence of duty in the state’s civil service.”

2015: Group proposes Obi as Delta gov

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S the search for Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan’s successor, in 2015, intensifies, a group, Delta Vision, has declared that the former governor of the state, Prince Sam Obi, will be the best candidate for the job.

A statement by the president-general of the group, Mr. Monday Edemivweye, noted that Obi is a good choice because of his performance during his short stay in office.

The declaration was

made at Sapele,during a parley attended by people of Delta Central and Delta South.

According to the statement, “Obi is a blessing to Delta State. During his three months stay as governor of the state, he demonstrated his capability by paying all contractors and making sure that the Asaba international airport was completed.”

Those present at the crucial meeting, included Mr. Richard Senibe from Delta South, and Mr. Glory Christopher from Delta Central.

Call for Kuku’s resignation uncalled for —AKPOCHA

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IRECTOR-GENERAL of Center for Democratic Governance in Africa, CDGA, Dr. Dafe Akpocha, has condemned calls for the immediate resignation or removal of the Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Committee and Special Adviser to the president on Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, saying the call was malicious and undemocratic.

He described people making the call as enemies of good governance, saying the calls lacked merit and should be discountenanced.

In a statement, Akpocha affirmed that Niger Delta had witnessed more positive transformation since Kuku’s assumption of office.

He contended that the allegation of unequal spread in the handling of militants was nothing but the fabrication and evil thoughts of those against President Good-

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luck Jonathan’s giant strides and efforts to take the country to a greater height.

Akpocha said: “Today, many of our militants who wouldn’t have had the opportunity of good education and skills are

fortunate because of the excellent leadership of Kuku and his team at the helm of affairs. Many of our militants are undergoing training in various institutions and training centres across the globe.”

Okobah dumps Delta APC, returns to PDP

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KA Federal Constituency standard bearer of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, into the Federal House of Representatives in the 2011 general elections, Dr. Isioma Okobah, has dumped All Peoples Congress APC, along with over 7,000 of her supporters and returned to the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP. Okobah told newsmen at a forum at Agbor that her decision to return to PDP followed wide consultations among politi-

cal leaders, a wide spectrum of the political class, various shades of opinion, supporters and major stakeholders in Ika Federal Constituency.

The US-based medical practitioner who is well known for her yearly free medical programme for the rural populace, disclosed that she could not but succumb to the yearnings and aspirations of her constituents who have consistently mounted pressure on her to return to her original party, PDP.

14—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

Jonathan should ignore Obasanjo —UMEH

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

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W K A — REACTIONS have continued to trail the controversial letter written to President Goodluck Jonathan by his predecessor, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, with the national chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, urging former to ignore the latter.

Speaking weekend in Awka, Umeh said Obasanjo should not misinterpret the President’s humility as weakness, arguing that he, Obasanjo, ought to be in jail for sundry crimes against humanity, citing Odi and Zakibiam massacres as examples.

Umeh said Obasanjo’s letter was a confirmation of the heavy blow his administration dealt on democracy when election rigging and manipulations were used to muscle out opposition parties.

He recalled that APGA suffered the same terrible fate in 2003 when its victory was given to PDP, adding that it took three years of legal battle to reclaim the mandate.

Orji charges landlords over insecurity

BY ANAYO OKOLI

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MUAHIA—AS a way of strengthening security in the state, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State has called on landlords to screen and monitor the people they give their houses as tenants, saying criminals do not come from the moon but live in their midst.

According to him, though incidences of armed robbery and kidnapping have reduced drastically in the state, they have not gone completely.

Addressing Umuahia landlords at Okpara Auditorium, weekend, Orji told them that they could help in eliminating crime completely.

He said: “What I want you to do for me is to know the characters of those who live in your houses. You should monitor the characters of your tenant.

Those people who perpetrate these crimes live somewhere.”

CLOSURE OVER TAX: Tension in Imo as banks begin sympathy strike zCP Katsina reads riot act to banks

BY CHIDINKWOPARA WERRI—COMMERCIAL banks operating in Imo State have shut their doors against their customers in what Vanguard gathered to be “sympathy protest.”

At least eight banks were shut by the state government last week over alleged tax evasion.

The current development has now forced hapless citizens to move to either Rivers, Abia or Anambra states to transact their banking businesses.

Some concerned citizens who spoke to Vanguard on the issue weekend, decried government’s action, pointing out that the administration should be held responsible for whatever resulted from the closure of banks.

Former chairman of Aboh Mbaise local government area, Dr. Ikay Njoku, described the timing of the closure as “very bad.”

He said: “The problem we are all facing now is a classical example of government’s insensitivity towards the plight of the governed. The timing of the action is extremely very bad.”

A widow, who simply identified herself as Nkechi, lamented that she was a widow and only went to the bank to withdraw part of the little money in her savings account to feed her children but was disappointed on arrival at one of the first generation banks.

“Where do I go now for help?

How will I feed my children?

Whosoever caused this suffering on the poor masses should have a rethink,” she said.

A soldier, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, lashed out at government for causing what

O

he called “untold hardship on the people.”

CP Katsina warns

Meanwhile, the state police command has said it would not tolerate unlawful solidarity by other banks not affected by government’s sledgehammer.

BRIEFING: From left: Mr. Paul Asemota, Marketing Manager, Larger, Mr. Sesan Sobowale, Corporate Communication Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Austin Ufomba, Marketing and Innovation Director, Guinnees Nigeria Plc, and Mr. Afeez Ajibowu, Regional Sales Director, during the briefing on the relaunch of new Harp Premium Cool Lager in Lagos. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

Igbo leaders back referendum on confab

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The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Musa Katsina, read the riot act while addressing journalists in Owerri.

Katsina said: “The sympathy strike commenced by the banks that were not originally affected by government’s action is not

only unlawful but has also brought untold hardship on the people of the state.”

According to the Imo police boss, all efforts made by his command to meet with officials of the banks proved abortive.

He said it was disheartening and strange that some banks not affected by the court order could deny law abiding and credible customers access to their accounts without considering the obvious consequences.

BY TONY EDIKE

NUGU—CONCERNED Igbo leaders of Thought, led by Professor Ben Nwabueze have thrown their support behind the call to subject the outcome of the proposed national conference to a referendum before it could form the new constitution of Nigeria.

The Igbo leaders said their position was hinged on the premise that many nations of the world that evolved new constitutions toed the referendum process before implementing their new constitutions.

Another reason canvassed by the Igbo group in favour of the referendum was that, it was only logical and a way of democratising the new constitution, adding that over 85 per cent of countries of the world adopted referendum in bringing into being their constitutions.

“So the position of Ndigbo is that the constitution must be approved through a new referendum,” said the secretary of the group, Prof. Elochukwu Amucheazi, who addressed newsmen shortly after their meeting in Enugu, weekend.

Vanguard, M0NDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013—15

THE MANDELA BURIAL

Celebration of life: Men in tribal Zulu warrior dress perform ritual dances on the area overlooking the burial ceremony.

Mourners: US talk show host Oprah Winfrey, centre, her husband Stedman Graham, left, and English businessman Richard Branson, left, watching the state funeral service

Members of Mandela's family attending the burial in Qunu. PHOTOS: AFP

US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson (l) with Zambia's President Kenneth David Kaunda (R) during the state funeral.

Jonathan has right to contest in 2015 —OGBEH zSays there ‘ll be no bloodshed

BY LEVINUS NWABUGHIOGU

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BUJA—A chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said weekend that President

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Goodluck Jonathan, had the rights to contest elections in 2015.

Ogbeh, who was former chairman of ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, also appealed to Nigerians to desist from making inflammatory statements, follow-

ing threats of bloodshed by some eminent persons over President Jonathan’s 2015 ambition.

He said: “There are those who said that if President Jonathan contests in 2015, there will be bloodshed. I don’t think we should talk that way.

“If the court says he is free to contest and the constitution allows him, no one of us has the right to stop him.

“On the other hand, the opposition can prepare and contest against him, provided there is a free and fair election. That’s all we need to work on.”

On threat of bloodshed, Ogbeh said Nigeria had witnessed so much of bloodshed

already, stressing that such comments were not in the best interest of the people.

He spoke exclusively to Vanguard against the backdrop of a statement credited to a Northern leader and Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, who recently declared that blood would flow in the country should President Jonathan seek re-election in 2015.

Ogbe urged Nigerians to cultivate the virtues of patience and perseverance, irrespective of any frustrations.

Ogbeh said: “I will like to appeal to all politicians and leaders in this country to watch their language. When you hear somebody saying there will be bloodshed or that blow will flow in 2015, it is not the way to speak in a country that is seeking peace and progress.

“No matter what the frustrations are, we must not wish our country doom and damnation.”

New national carrier ‘ll debut before 2014 —ODUAH

BY OKEY NDIRIBE

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BUJA—THE muchexpected national carrier would be unveiled before the end of the year, Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah, declared at the weekend.

Oduah, who spoke at the Aviation Workers Awards Night organised by Joint Consultative and Negotiating Council, JCNC as part of activities to mark aviation workers’ week, also said that when the newly designed aerotropolis project was completed, it would provide jobs for at least 150,000 Nigerians.

Oduah explained that the project was designed to offer businesses located near or having good access to the airport with speedy connectivity to their suppliers, customers and enterprise partners nationally and worldwide.

She stated that the aerotropolis would contain a full set of commercial facilities with support for airlines and aviation-linked businesses as well as millions of business and leisure travellers passing through the airport annually.

16 Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013 THE inconclusive journey of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, began in 2000 when concerns about more transparent management of the oil and gas sector resulted in the bill. It has remained controversial since then.

Among the aims of the bill are to · the exploitation of oil and gas in Nigeria · Commercialise the government’s interests in the industry · Deregulate and liberalise the downstream petroleum sector · Optimise gas supplies to the domestic gas market (especially for power generation and industries) · Reform the fiscal regime · Promote openness and transparency in the industry · Encourage the development of Nigerian content Noble as the objectives are, key issues for the oil majors are government’s control of the industry with the role the bill created for the Minister of Petroleum Resources and possibilities of new tax regimes. The most strident oppositions however appear to be local.

The bill has polarised the National

PIB: W e Need TTo oP ass It We Pass Assembly along sectional lines, hence its long neglect. There appears to be more concern with how provisions for a fund for the host community would affect the resources that would remain in the common purse.

It would have been expected that with all the devastation of oil and gas explorations in their host communities, the proposed host community fund that would be utilised in provision of economic and social infrastructure in the areas, would have enjoyed the support of the rest of the country.

The National Assembly is more fixated on the uses of special funds for the oil producing areas. Instead of dealing with the issue on its own imperatives, mismanagement of the

funds is considered a reason for opposing the bill.

Economic benefits of the bill that includes government’s divestments, more transparency in the industry’s operations, and the protection of the environment should be bigger considerations than the immediate economic benefits of more money to operate the economy.

Oil and gas is so central to the operations of the economy that the over-dependence on it should not be the main issue in deciding the future of the industry. We expect managers of the economy would diversify, using resources from oil and gas.

Governments have fallen into the easier option of waiting for shares of oil revenues for their activities.

Those opposed to the passage of the PIB are neglecting the impacts of delay in its passage on the oil and gas industry.

Investors have remained tentative in the 13 years of the bill’s journey, keeping new investments in the industry on hold.

We ask the contending parties to place the interests of the country in context and pass the bill. Delays in its passage are hurting the economy and endangering its prospects.

OPINION

BY KELECHI NWAGWU

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READ with much pain in my bones, heartache and running stomach the interview granted by a second Republic member of House of Representatives and a Russian trained medical doctor Junaid Mohammed, captioned 2015: there’ll be bloodshed, if Jonathan runs, warns Junaid Mohammed.

I have watched and listened with keen interest to see or hear reactions from Nigerians or security operatives condemning this interview but to no avail.

It is imperative and instructive for discerning Nigerians to rise up against this treasonable and unwarranted incitation. For a man like Junaid Mohammed to openly and on the pages of Sunday Sun Newspaper of December 1st, 2013 on page 61 incite our Northern brothers and sisters to declare war against the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Southerners if Jonathan runs in 2015. It is very unfortunate and irresponsible of a man of his standing as, this act amounts to a crime against the State and a call for a civil war.

He also opined that the President and the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria is irresponsible, incompetent, a nincompoop and also lacks integrity and accountability. This is the height of madness and irresponsibility for a citizen of a country to describe the President of his country in that manner not even in the comfort of his house but on a national daily. I have travelled round the world and have not read on any newspaper where a citizen of a country disparages

Re:2015

presidency-Blood

their president in a very crude manner. I am not holding brief for Mr. President but as a Nigerian, I roundly condemn in greatest terms this irresponsible, wicked, callous, hallucination and desperation of a senile man.

What this man poured out is sacrilegious.

What did General Buhari and Asari Dokubo say that everyone was calling for their heads? In fact, the causation of attack on Odi was a child’s play to what Junaid Mohammed has vomited. I have no doubt in my mind that responsible patriots and discerning Nigerians after reading his nauseating and heart wrecking interview will assume that he is a suicide bomber and if not a sponsor of dreaded Boko Haram sect.

The President of a country is the image and mirror of its citizens and should be treated as sacred. When you demean and demonize the occupant of that office, you have directly demeaned, demonized, dehumanized yourself, and other innocent citizens before the outside world. I am constrained because of my training to rain abuses on Junaid but permit me to say that all he said about the President of my country is what he no doubt represents in million folds. People like him do not belong to a decent society and should be consigned to Rwandan zoo for habitation/ rehabilitation.

What is he talking about President Jonathan running in 2015? Is he of the view that the president is not a Nigerian or not qualified to run, on what ground or platform does his jaundiced posturing

will

come from. We should always reflect on our history. It is people like Junaid that truncated the second Republic when he was a member of the House of Representatives, shouting wolves while there was none. On his assertion that there is more agitation in the South-west is a figment of his false imaginal amnesia.

I understand his mindset, calculation and deceptive permutation. What happened in 1993 cannot repeat itself, the North wanted to form government of Nigeria with the South-west, without carrying the cash cow of the nation along. It is obvious; Junaid Mohammed is ignorant of the reason behind General Babaginda’s reason to annul that election characterised by the Moslem – Moslem ticket.

J

unaid has not realised that demography has changed where other citizens of other zones criss cross and settle more in different parts of Nigerian and command if not more in number than the indigenous population. Has he not also realized that the north is no longer homogeneous and cannot speak with one voice again. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

It is pertinent to warn Junaid Mohammed to refrain from unstatesmanly, unpatriotic divisiveness, fanning the ambers of discord, selfishness, tribalism, fanatism and political suicide bombing.

With altruism, people like him who are fastidious should laud Mr. President’s giant strides as encapsulated in his

flow...

Transformation Agenda, such as Agricultural revolution, the economy growing at 6.5%, unbundling the power sector , you win programme, success in sports, confab, road constructions, railway line reinvigoration, airports infrastructural development, fight against terrorism and many other resounding successes.

I am convinced beyond doubt that this war drum by Junaid Mohammed is for our innocent youths as it is evident that he cannot walk up to 100metres without collapsing. Our youths are wiser now and will not listen to a dying warhorse.

Even if Mr. President decides not to run, it will not be because of Junaid Mohammed threats or individuals like him. Mr. President is a bonafide citizen of Nigeria and deserves to be treated as one. We urge him in unequivocal terms to run in 2015.

Most importantly, any insult on him or his office is a complete insult on every Nigerian. I do not accept in any logical term that my President is a nincompoop, incompetent, lacks accountability and integrity. To all Nigerians, Mr. President is a man of honour, very credible, decent, a PHD holder and loving president.

Every Nigerian should rise up and caution Junaid Mohammed and his likes as this is a slap on our faces and insult meted to all Nigerians.

*Hon. Nwagwu, wrote from Owerri, Imo State.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013—41

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42—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

kinds of comments that tend to generate more heat than the needed light, which is not helpful. That is why I would plead with the presidency, the media, spirited individuals, groups including political parties to concentrate on issues raised, with utmost caution for public good. And in doing so, they must avoid generalisations and stick to what they know.’’

Due process should be followed—Arewa Youths WEDDING—Firstlady Dame Patience Jonathan (4th left; Malawian President, Mrs Joyce Banda (3rd left); with the newly wedded Dr. Kambe, daughter of President Banda and her husband David, during the Malawian President's daughter's wedding in Malawi.

You're toying with treason, Jonathan warns APC Continues from page 6 readiness to intimidate and blackmail members of the bench so as to secure a favourable outcome for his party in the pending case clearly shows that nothing is beyond the pale for him and the APC in pursuit of their quest for power.

"The Jonathan Administration does not need Lai Mohammed or the APC to remind it of its constitutional responsibility for the security and well-being of Nigerians.

The President will continue to do his utmost best to achieve positive national transformation in all areas in spite of efforts by the opposition to thwart or disparage the work of his administration.

"In this regard, we have noted the undisguised threat by the APC to foster public insurrection against the Federal Government if pending legal cases go against it. We urge Nigerians to take special note of this boastful indication of an intention to resort to lawlessness.

"The Presidency warns that the APC and any persons who make themselves its willing tools for the breach of public order and safety will be made to face the full sanctions of the law.

Those who are threatening fire and brimstone should be ready for consequences of treasonable action.

"The APC’s false copycat allegation that 1, 000 snipers are being trained by the Jonathan Administration clearly shows that they are now in cahoots with some other elements who are bent on discrediting this

administration and inciting the public against it.

President Jonathan is running a people’s government. He does not need any snipers. His legitimacy comes from the people. Those who are alleging the existence of snipers should step forward and provide the evidence or shut up forever and go down in history as spineless cowards, driven by sheer greed and indecency.

"We dismiss the APC’s call for the President’s impeachment as opportunistic, partisan and illmotivated.

"We call on patriots to make the necessary distinction between such reckless violations of civic duty and the urgent need to protect the integrity of the Nigerian nation against those who for selfish reasons have declared their readiness to stop at nothing."

PDP reacts

The PDP in a sharp reaction described the call as irresponsible, immature, self-seeking and part of their larger agenda to truncate democracy in Nigeria.

“Upon their realization that they will not win in the 2015 general elections following the failure of their plans to break the ranks and strength of the PDP, they now seek to use all means to cause confusion in the land. The APC knows the implication of the call which is to cause massive turmoil and destroy the unity of our dear nation,” the PDP said in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh.

Metuh concluded that “the PDP is ready, willing and able to stop them in

their track.”

There’s a sinister move for regime change —Odumakin

Reacting to the development, Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural organization described the APC’s call as part of an orchestrated and sinister plan against the administration’s plan for a national conference.

Afenifere’s spokesperson, Mr Yinka Odumakin in a telephone interview said: “Well, they are letting the cat out of the bag.

There is a co-ordinated assault to have a regime change in order to abort the national conference.

Look at this point: Last week Monday, Tambuwal made his own comment,

by Tuesday, they released Lamido’s letter, by Wednesday, they released Obasanjo’s letter and by Sunday, APC is calling for Jonathan’s resignation.

They have not heard the President out to hear his own side.”

“The lawyers said hear both parties, why don’t they wait for his (Jonathan’s) response before they begin to call for action? How can you hold Obasanjo’s word without hearing his (Jonathan’s) own word and then ask for his resignation? I think they are jumping the gun and they are showing that there is a sinister agenda that is being coordinated by forces that want to abort the national conference by calling for a regime change.”

They're talking trash — Ohaneze Ohaneze, the Igbo socio-cultural group on its

part said impeaching Jonathan would lead to the end of Nigeria.

Speaking through its Secretary General, Dr Joe Nwaorgu, he said that the call arose from inequity in the structure of the National Assembly.

Warning, he said: “Impeach Jonathan, impeach Nigeria,” he said: “That is arrant rubbish. How do you impeach the man when he has not been found guilty of anything?

Have you investigated him? That is why we want this country restructure.

They are talking trash because of the structure of the National Assembly. If there was justice in the structure of the National Assembly will they say so?”

Caution should be applied on the issue —ACF spokesperson

In his own reaction, the ACF through its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani, called for caution saying that he was not in possession with the facts that instigated the call.

“I do not know the facts which APC has in its possession that informed its call on the National Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings Against President Jonathan. I cannot comment from uninformed position. But if it is based on the letter President Obasanjo wrote to President Goodluck Jonathan, I would advise in favour of caution because the issues raised in the letter are still at the level of allegations.’’

He further said, ‘’Some of the issues raised border on security which may require thorough investigations. Regrettably the letter by the former President has attracted different

National President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shetima on his part called for due process in whatever action is taken against the president even as he flayed recent agitations against the Jonathan administration by former President Obasanjo.

In a chat with Vanguard, Shetima said “well, they are entitled to call for Jonathan’s impeachment.

But there is due process to this, the National Assembly will carry out its own investigations and if he is found guilty, then he can be impeached.”

He nevertheless, objected to linking the call to the allegations made against the president by Obasanjo.

“Obasanjo was president for eight years and he was also the Minister in the Power sector, has anybody probed him? On the issue of insecurity, does he want Jonathan to do what he did in Zaki Biam or Odi? Or what exactly does he want him to do?

On corruption, is there any government that is more corrupt than Obasanjo’s government?

No one has asked him to give account of his stewardship.”

“APC can call for his impeachment, but then, let there be due process and if found wanting, let him face the law because nobody is above the law, but Obasanjo’s allegations are baseless, there is nothing about his allegations.”

‘Senate not heeding APC's call’

In his reaction Senator Ita Enang, PDP, Akwa Ibom North East said the Senate would neither heed the call of the APC nor pay attention to the letter from President Obasanjo.

“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter was not addressed to the National Assembly.

The issue of impeachment has not arisen. The issue of impeachment of the president has not at all arisen.

“APC should know that they are part of the gov-

ernment of this country and by being part of the government by heading some states, they should not think that by inventing some lies and using cronies, they will be able to overheat the polity and create an unnecessary change in the government of this country.

“They should know that there are some national leaders of APC who were formerly heads of government of this country and nobody did what they are doing now to the government of President Goodluck Jonathan.”

‘APC lacks credibility to make the call’

Reacting to the call yesterday, Rep. Samson Okwu, Oji/Odu Federal Constituency, Benue State flayed the APC saying the party lacked the credibility to make the call.

“APC as a party lacks the credibility and the constitutional power to ask for the impeachment of Mr. President because from what they have lined up there, it is only the National Assembly that is empowered; they cannot urge the National Assembly to start off impeachment process because it’s only the membership of the National Assembly, that is the Senate and the House of Representatives, that will come up with issues of any misconduct on Mr. President.”

Rep. Nkoyo Toyo, Calabar Municipal/ Oduakpani Federal Constituency, Cross River State on her part said the APC’s call was within the scope of freedom of speech “All forms of views remain essential for a democracy and such a call is at best a call for a debate and engagement of the issues by the ruling party not necessarily Mr. president. I have no doubt that at the appropriate time reactions will follow.”

NNPF condemns call

The New Northern Political Frontiers, NNPF, on its part condemned the call saying the call could not be linked with what it described as mere allegations raised against President Jonathan by Obasanjo.

The NNPF in statement signed by its Chairman, Dr. Abdul Isiaq, described the call by the APC as capable of unnecessarily heating up the polity.

“We condemn the recent statement by the All Progressives Congress, APC, calling on the National Assembly to immediately kick-starting the process of impeaching President Goodluck Jonathan for gross misconduct.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013—43

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44—Vanguard , MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State (2nd right); his wife, Mercy (1st right); Lady Victoria Aguiyi Ironsi, President General, Ibeku Egwu ASAA Development Association (IEADA); Chief Onwularuwa Onuoha and Professor Joshua Ogbonnaya, when the governor's kinsmen honoured their son as the Grand Patriot of Ibeku at Ibeku High School, Umuahia, yesterday.

From left: Mrs Felicia Essang-Oludare, President, Oron Union, Lagos Branch; Prof. Atim Antai, Commissioner for Education, Akwa Ibom State and and Mrs Eka Ebiefie, Eke-Oro during the 13th Oron Annual Cultural Festival and special civic reception in honour of Prof Atim Antai, in Lagos, weekend.

EFCC regrets court clearance of George, El-Rufai ...to appeal el-Rufai’s acquittance

BY SONI DANIEL, REGIONAL EDITOR, NORTH

A

BUJA — THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, bemoaned the clearance of two former key players in Obasanjo administration over graft-related charges.

The Supreme Court, last Friday, cleared former Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Chief Bode George and the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir el-Rufai of allegations bordering on graft.

While George was cleared of contract-splitting charge, el-Rufai was discharged and acquitted of land grab charges instituted against them by the EFCC. George was cleared along with five other accused, who had already served prison terms but later approached the apex court to quash their imprisonment.

The EFCC, through its acting Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said it was concerned over the aquittance of the seven men by the courts.

The commission noted that while it would not dabble into the merit or otherwise of the jurists’ decisions, it was unfortunate that the apex court disagreed with the lower courts’ verdicts on the matters.

Wilson said: “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission notes with concern two separate decisions by court on December 13, 2013 in cases investigated by the commission.

“The first was the acquittal of former Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Chief Olabode Goerge and five others by the Supreme Court. The other was the acquittal of former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and two others by a Federal Capital Territory High Court."

While disagreeing with the trial judge in the case of the el-Rufai matter, the commission indicated its resolve to appeal against the judgment, saying that it adduced enough evidence to show that the former minister had a case to answer over land grab in Abuja.

“On el- Rufai and others, the trial judge, Justice Sadiq Umar, believes the commission failed to establish a prima facie case against the accused persons.

“This is against the weight of the evidence presented by the Commission in court. Consequently, the EFCC has resolved to pursue an appeal against the ruling at the Court of Appeal.”

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N my years of watching current affairs in Nigeria, particularly the role that former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has been playing in it, I have developed a profile of him that never fails to click each he makes his public outings. He has perfected the chicken approach to foraging. As I noted in an earlier write-up, there is an Igbo adage that says: “ihe okuko na-erigh, ya abosaa”.

Whatever the chicken cannot eat she scatters with her feet. I have also long identified his propensity to engage in what the English people call “the kettle calling the pot black”, or as put more graphically by musician, Sound Sultan in local parlance: “ole de shout ole” (a thief is always first to shout: “thief”!)

I agree totally with a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Umar Ghali Na’Abba, who once told Obasanjo to his face: “Your Excellency, if you are looking for the trouble with Nigeria, just look into the mirror. You will find it there”. After his over-trumpeted role in the civil war emerging as the only Nigerian who has ruled the nation twice, with the longest years in power, Obasanjo seems to believe he owns Nigeria. He, in fact, seems to believe in his heart that he has become a “god” of Nigeria.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013 — 45

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OBJ’s hypocritical outburst to the South West, the home base he desperately needed to make certain his second term in power. Chief Marshall Harry, Chief Aminasori Dikibo and many others were murdered, and the killers were never found. Obasanjo ordered the abduction of Governor Chris Ngige and the burning of the Government House and public offices in Awka, the Anambra State capital. The kettle calls the flask black!

Obasanjo accuses Jonathan of supporting

People often say we should take the message and forget the messenger. As far as I am concerned, there is little in the letter Obasanjo wrote to Jonathan that is worth taking. It is a windy, convoluted, hypocritical hogwash!

His recent 18-page letter to President Goodluck Jonathan is riddled with essential Obasanjoism. He accuses Jonathan of living in denial over the so-called one-term pact and whether he will run in 2015.

Obasanjo did exactly the same things when he was plotting his defeated third term agenda. Till date, he continues to deny he ever wanted a third term, though it is now a known fact of Nigeria’s history.

Based on unsubstantiated “allegations”, rumours and “loose talk”, he accuses Jonathan of “training snipers” and other armed personnel, “for political purposes like Abacha...!”. Jonathan may be everything else, but what I have never heard anybody accusing him of menacing the lives of political opponents. On the one hand, he is perceived as a “weak” president partly because all comers call him all sorts of names and get away with it.

On the other, it is a fact of history that during Obasanjo’s presidency, his Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, was assassinated by operatives just before he resigned from the cabinet to go and revive his Alliance for Democracy (AD) to deny Obasanjo access

,

non-PDP candidates for governorship elections in Ondo, Edo and Anambra for his personal political purposes. I ask, what about Obasanjo, who pulled PDP out of the race in the 2007 Imo governorship election because the winner of the primaries in the PDP, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, was not his anointed candidate. He went ahead to support Chief Ikedi Ohakim of the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) to clinch the seat. Ohakim continues to pay pilgrimages to Obasanjo’s house hoping he will swing another magic wand to enable him return to power. Has he forgotten so soon? Well, we have not!

Obasanjo also wails that Jonathan is plotting a “third term”! Well, the courts have said he still has the constitutional right to run for a second, not third term in 2015. The kettle is calling the flask black because Obasanjo suffered the most humiliating defeat when his third term agenda was nixed on the floor of the Senate on May 16th 2006.

Where was the “morality” then which Obasanjo now preaches? What about his refusal to abide by the rumoured pact he

BY MOSHOOD ISAH

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HE media, especially newspapers, online and social media are feasting on what is now referred to as famous letter sent to President Goodluck Jonathan by erstwhile former president now elder statesman, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. The ex-president wrote an 18-page letter to President Goodluck Jonathan accusing him of failing Nigerians in his position as the President of the country. The thought provoking and insightful letter, amongst other things accused the president of nepotism, lying about his second term ambition and condoning corruption. The former president also spoke bitterly about the issue of insecurity and how it’s gradually ravaging the entire system.

As expected the letter has generated a lot of comments, and criticisms. Of note is the response from Mr. President’s Spokesperson, Dr. Reuben Abati who rose in defense of his boss.

According to Abati, President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed as most reckless and unjustifiable a fiercely scathing letter he received from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in which Mr. Obasanjo accused him of lying, condoning corruption, and leading Nigeria to the brink of collapse. The statement further said the allegations by the former president were baseless and indecorous. Abati claimed that, many patriotic, objective and well-meaning Nigerians have already condemned the leaked letter as self-serving, hypocritical, malicious, indecent, and very disrespectful of the highest office in

*Obasanjo had with the North to run for only one term as a precondition for his being selected to stand in place of the murdered Chief Moshood Abiola, to whom Nigerians gave their mandate on June 12th 1993?

Obasanjo, at that time, was expected to copy the good example of Dr. Nelson Mandela, who voluntarily stepped down from the presidency after only one term to give his country a chance to move forward under a younger blood. Obasanjo had blatantly rejected the call for him to “do a Mandela”, saying: “I am no Mandela”!

That was the cause of his fights with Atiku Abubakar, his Vice.

H

e accuses Jonathan of deploying Ijaws to abuse Nigerians. But he has forgotten how he employed a troubled Femi Fani-Kayode as his spokesman specifically to abuse anyone who criticised him or his government. He went ahead to elevate FaniKayode to the post of Minister of Aviation, the disastrous outcome of which is still reverberating in the aviation industry and the courts when he is facing graft charges.

What is Jonathan’s presidency, if not for Obasanjo? In his usual self-serving manner of regarding Nigeria as his personal estate, Obasanjo carefully selected a terminally sick northerner, Governor Umaru Yar ’ Adua, to succed him. He went to the creeks to fish out Governor Goodluck Jonathan who, at that time, was a great benefactor of members of the Obasanjo family.

OPINION Social media and OBJ’s letter the land.

Many wonder if this same Chief Obasanjo is the very president who tried unsuccessfully to perpetuate himself in power through the unpopular third- term project.

Nigerians are now wiser and the events between 1999 and 2007 when Obasanjo was President are still fresh.

If the truth be told, given the unenviable manner he conducted the affairs of this country while in office, former President Obasanjo has lost the moral right to offer advice to others on how the ship of State should be steered.

Some writers also argued that the much touted war against corruption during his administration was a grand plot to crush those who dared to challenge his stlye of governance. Others also pointed out that anti-graft agency were sent after state governors who chose to defer in views or go against President Obasanjo’s ‘order. Other arguments against Obasanjo’s administration were that State House of Assembly members, not minding their numbers, convened sessions even in hotels and impeach their governors. The case of state-sponsored thugs that invaded the Anambra state Government House and captured a sitting duly elected governor where no one was arrested or prosecuted, also capture the argument.

Basically, from other reactions of the people especially on twitter, most didn’t doubt the objectivity of the letter.

As a matter of fact many lauded the genuineness and

here were brilliant, healthy and credible Nigerians serving in Obasanjo’s cabinet. There were sound governors fit for the job. The rotational principle favoured the North with either an Igbo or South-South Vice President.

Obasanjo side-stepped all the credible, healthy options in the North for president.

He avoided the Igbos like the plague for Vice President. In fact, he abandoned Governor Peter Odili when his “Igbo” factor was being played up by Chief Edwin Clark and gave it to an Ijaw man perceived as gentle and easy to manipulate. Obasanjo’s calculations were obvious. Yar’ Adua would soon die, and Jonathan would become president. When his calculations came to pass, Obasanjo was the first to urge Jonathan to run for president in 2011.

He needs to come out and apology to Nigerians if indeed, he believes Jonathan is a failure. He should ask God for forgiveness for playing “god” in ensuring the emergence of Jonathan. But he will not do so, being the Obasanjo we all know so well. Instead he will write a disingenuous letter to the president and leak it to the media to create the maximum sensation, which is part of his well known plot to bring down the man he made because he has lost out (as usual).

What the chicken cannot eat, it will scatter.

People often say we should take the message and forget the messenger. As far as I am concerned, there is little in the letter Obasanjo wrote to Jonathan that is worth taking. It is a windy, convoluted, hypocritical hogwash! In any case, as a professional communicator, I am a believer in the reasoning of Canadian communication philosopher, Marshall McLuhan, who wrote a book and titled it: “The Medium Is The Message”. If you send a well known armed robber to go and preach against the vices of robbery, you will not be able to pass the message successfully for people to learn the required lesson. The message is lost.

Obasanjo wrote and leaked this letter to the media to raise a mob action against Jonathan; a crafty follow-up to the rebellion he used the governors he planted in the states to stir in their party, all in efforts to stop Jonathan in 2015.

It is up to Jonathan to react to the threat as he deems fit. He does need to clean up his act, especially in arresting the Boko Haram terrorism, tackling corruption and find solution to oil theft in the Niger Delta. These issues may mar his chances in 2015 if he does not wake up. It won’t be the comical antics of an expired president that will undo him. Jonathan will be the one to take the steps that will allow Nigerians to re-elect him or transfer power to another hand come 2015.

HI, FOLKS! I REST IT HERE FOR THE YEAR! AM OFF ON VACATION. SEE YOU AGAIN IN THE SECOND WEEK OF 2014, GOD WILLING!

credence of the letter. More so, well-meaning Nigerians were even happy that all the criticism is coming from the same man singlehandedly enthrone Jonathan as the president of the country. But the main issue critics raised against the former president is that, whether he (Obasanjo) has the moral right to send such letter to the president.

This is in the sense that the administration of the expresident is not far better than this current administration.

But be that as it may, many will say Obasanjo’s administration wasn’t as factional and sectional as Jonathan’s. Furthermore, even though there was corruption in both administrations, it is gradually rising to the level of impunity in this current administration.

But come to think of it, who amongst the ex-leaders of this country shares the same ideology with Chief Obasanjo. I mean who amongst them is in good terms with the ex-president.

If you remember at the end of the letter, Obasanjo craved indulgence of the president to share the content with former heads of state such as Ibrahim Babangida, and Abdulsalam Abubakar. I still cannot comprehend the rationale behind this. Perhaps the former president is trying to bring Babangida, whom everyone knows is not in good terms with him, into the scenario for reasons best known to him. In this vein, the sincerity of the letter can also be questioned. *Mr Isah, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Garki, Abuja

V anguard , MOND AY , DECEMBER 16, 2013 Vanguard MONDA

ASSESSING OSHIOMHOLE

Oshiomhole’s propaganda is now failing him — Orbih CHIEF DAN ORBIH is the chairman of the Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. In this interview, he reviews the actions of the Edo State government and affirms that the government is deceitful and thrives on propaganda.

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE, BENIN

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hy did you politicise the issue of the widow, Mrs. Joy Ifijeh who was reprimanded by the governor for trading along the walkway?

I believe the governor was the one who politicised the issue. When the incident took place, we waited for close to two weeks for the governor to act before we decided to release the clips, and it may interest you to know that even when we released it, the governor did not see anything wrong with it.

In fact, he was trying to explain it away at a ceremony where he received a Moslem Women group and he offered an apology that was not even directed at the woman in question and he thought that that was going to bring the issue to a rest.

It was the public outcry of this action that brought about the governor’s apology and offer of N2 million and a job to Mrs. Joy Ifijeh. I must confess that political participation is not all about being in government; all people have a role to play to ensure that we protect the interest of the people we work to serve. For me, I feel highly accomplished on the issue of Mrs. Joy Ifijeh, starting from the long period of time we gave the governor to respond to that issue until we made it public and posted the video clip on the social media to the first feeble attempt at offering an apology not directly to the woman concerned but to a Moslem group who came to his office on a pre-arranged visit to the last episode of the drama that culminated in a “Tea Summit”.

I feel highly accomplished that God has used me as an instrument to impact on the life of the victim of this ugly incident. I must also come out very clearly to say that offering her N2 million and a job that she did not solicit for, and probably not well equipped for and ill-equipped to carry out is not the solution to the enormous problem that his administration has brought to bear on the people of Edo State. Make no

•Orbih: Even workers are now dissapointed

mistakes about it; there are several Mrs. Ifijehs who have suffered hardship brought upon them by the government. Two million Naira cannot wipe away the tears of widows who were traumatized watching the video clips of what the governor did to Mrs. Ifijieh. It is my prayer and hope that through this incident, God will touch the heart of the governor and make him a better person Are you worried that the lady in question rejected the money you offered and asked you to give it to another widow?

I want to plead with members of the public especially, fellow women and different organizations who have shown support and sympathy over the incident that what Mrs. Joy Ifijeh requires at this point in time is our prayers and understanding. She has suddenly found herself in a situation that she has no control over.

She has suddenly found herself in the hands of the governor and his lieutenants who are desperate to do damage control for the

governor’s blunders which the entire world have come out to condemn and reject.

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hat is the situation as far as the Esan North-East local government election petition is concerned?

The party has gone to the election petition tribunal, we have filed our petition in the tribunal and we are hopeful that very soon the tribunal will commence sitting and it is our

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It has been five years of unprecedented propaganda, deceit, hypocrisy and above all, gross misappropriation of resources. From records, he has received well over N200 billion from the federation account and internally generated revenue.

What he has received so far placed side by side with the projects that he had embarked upon; you will agree with me that his propaganda has failed woefully.

It has been five years of unprecedented propaganda, deceit, hypocrisy and above all, gross misappropriation of resources

prayer that at the end of the day justice will be done.

Last November, the administration of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was five years in office. What is your assessment of the government?

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And more recently even the workers who for no just reason except their past sentimental relationship with him, who organized and mobilised workers in his support prior to the last general elections have now come out forcefully to tell

the world that his administration has failed woefully in the area of enhancing the welfare of the workers and meeting up with agreed conditions of service between the government and the workers. Little wonder that the workers have since rolled out their drums for a general strike to express their total disappointment.

The leader of the Edo State House of Assembly said you were confused when you claimed that the state government was indebted up to N200 billion. What is your comment?

My statement was not directed at the Majority Leader; I made those revelations with every sense of responsibility.

And what I expect from their camp is for the governor and government to react to what I said, not the Majority Leader.

I did not direct the issues at the Majority leader or the State House of Assembly. Those issues were situated at the Oga of the executive arm of government.

ASSESSING OSHIOMHOLE

Orbih has turned a comedian – Idah, Edo APC Chairman CHIEF Osaro Idah is the Interim state chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State. In this interview, he reviews recent developments in the state and concludes that the PDP in the state is living in dreamland.

Excerpts

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

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he issue of Mrs. Joy If ijieh has been politicized by both the PDP and your party, the APC. Why? Well, it is very unfortunate that the PDP had to politicise a very simple matter. Definitely, the Comrade Governor was pushed to the wall. For a governor that has spent billions of naira of the peoples’ money and only gets insults and harassment simply for asking that people should perform their civic duties, that is, pay their taxes and once the taxes are paid, he deploys the money positively for the will of the people only for him to see people blocking the walkways, trading on the walkways, and whatever is left of their wares they pour into the gutters, blocking the drains and thus making the entire city so dirty!

I think that what the governor is trying to do, is to make people see reasons. It has been so difficult making these traders to see reasons; if you drive them from one spot, immediately you turn your back, they are back to the same spot again. That is not the best for our society.

They have cried out that they have no market stalls but that is not true. For instance, if you go to the Oba Market, there are so many stalls unoccupied but they will tell you that they prefer to trade along the streets because that is where they can easily attract customers. And at the end of the day, the whole city looks crazy, dirty and it is this frustration that made the Comrade Governor to react the way he did. I don’t know what he said, but what he said is not enough for us to begin to politicize the issue.

If we must look at the truth, this woman’s husband, Mr. Ifijieh was a policeman, he died in active service. It is on record that the police has not paid the woman her husband’s benefit; if they had paid her she would have rented a store somewhere instead of trading by the roadside. So, the PDP should have asked their people why that woman’s husband benefits has not

been paid? Why the woman became a destitute until the Comrade Governor came to her rescue by providence because God ordained that to be and that is why that incident happened.

How would you assess the character of the Comrade Governor after his public apology to the widow?

That is the unique humanity in him because it is not every leader that will do what he did. Some will just walk away when they discovered that they made mistakes and say, go to hell. But Comrade Oshiomhole is such a humble person and he has confessed that he knows his background, from a humble background too, and he knows where the shoe the woman is wearing pinches her. So, because of his singular act of apologizing to the woman, I see him as a great man, otherwise, some leaders will keep quiet until the matter fizzles out. He has shown the man he is by coming out publicly to apologize to the woman and I think we should commend him.

Still on the issue of people not obeying government’s di-

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Vanguard, MOND AY , DECEMBER 16, 2013 — 47 MONDA

•Idah: Oshiomhole has performed well Oshiomhole Police has come again. Everybody will criticize them. So, if you want to implement rules and laws here, everybody comes out to criticize them and in our type of democracy here, every body has become a social crusader.

There is a mobile court attached to the committee but once someone is arrested, the

I think this government has done very well, extremely well and our people appreciate this. But our brothers in the PDP and especially their state chairman

rective to stop trading along the street s and walkways, don’t you think that a mobile court should be set up to try offenders?

My brother, our people’s disobedience to obeying simple instructions is what is causing this. There is a War Against Indiscipline Committee and a mobile court attached to the committee. It will surprise you to know that if Traffic Wardens arrest a driver who violates traffic law, you will hear them saying that

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social crusaders will come out to start crucifying them, saying, Oshiomhole has come again.

It is very unfortunate that these social critics travel out of this country and even in Lagos State; they obey simple traffic rules and regulations.

They cannot try even in Lagos what they are doing in Benin.

They cannot spit or even throw pieces of papers on the streets of Lagos, but here, they will say Oshiomhole has done this or that. But because

of his background as a labour man, he takes all sorts of insults from people and if the Committee sends one person to the prison, you will be surprised at the criticism that would follow. And most of these people are not doing it genuinely and most of the critics are particularly coming from one Senatorial district; because of their quest for the governorship of the state in the future, they don’t see the social benefit of the provision of the social infrastructures.

The PDP has gone to the Election Petition Tribunal on the outcome of the Esan North local government election. How prepared is your party?

Oh, lovely. We are very, very ready and ready to defend our case. We are a party that came into government through the judiciary, canvassed our positions very well and we are not averse to their going to the court.

If they have the facts they should present it and we will also present our facts and the judiciary will take a position as to who is right. I cannot comment further on this, but I can assure you that we are ready to defend our case and the judiciary as an unbiased umpire will come out with its decision.

How would you describe the journey so far in the last

five years of the administration of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole?

It could not be better. My brother, you are here and you know better how the state was before the coming of the Comrade Governor into office and today you know how the state is. Is it in the area of education, is it in area of human capital management and development, and is it in the area of road construction or electricity? In all facets of infrastructural development, I think this government has done very well, extremely well and our people appreciate this. But our brothers in the PDP and especially their state chairman cut in the garb of a comedian comes everyday on the television and wants to be seen. Why I say that he is a comic is that when people look at what he is commenting on, they simply shake their heads and wonder if he is living in Utopia and not Edo State.

The same PDP State chairman has accused the government of indebtedness up to the tune of N200billion and borrowing money for nonexisting projects?

You see in politics, there is one item which they call propaganda but propaganda must be defined to what we call responsible propaganda and irresponsible propaganda. What my friend is doing is what they call irresponsible propaganda; without getting his facts right, without doing investigations, he just comes out to make allegations that the state is owing N200billion. For God’s sake, can the state go the capital market to borrow such fund without the federal government’s approval? They should have gone to the federal government to find out if the state owes such an amount of money. They are just involving themselves in blackmail and unnecessary propaganda and we are not ready for that. To tell you the truth, the state has not and will not borrow anything near that figure; but again, the state has the right to borrow and I am saying the state has not borrowed N200 billion and this is another way of expressing their propaganda. Let me say this. I don’t know my friend, the chairman to be a smoker or drunkard, but anybody that says this must be under influence. It is totally exaggerated and untrue.

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50 — V anguard Vanguard anguard,, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

BRIEFS Mussa urges reconciliation before Egypt’s referendum

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I'm not a Marxist, says Pope Francis P OPE Francis said he knew a lot of “good” Marxists but was no communist himself, following criticism of his diatribes against unfettered capitalism from c o n s e r v a t i v e commentators in the United States.

“Marxist ideology is wrong. But in my life I have met a lot of Marxists who are good people, so I do not feel offended,” Francis said in an interview with the Italian daily La Stampa published on Sunday.

He said his condemnations of the inequality caused by the current global economic system were not intended to be an expert analysis and were only a reiteration of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church.

“That does not mean being a Marxist,” he said.

Pope Francis who was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, but he has come under scathing criticism from a growing number of traditionalist Catholics for cracking down on a religious order that celebrates the old Latin Mass. The case has become a flashpoint in the ideological tug-of-war going on in the Catholic Church over Francis’ revolutionary agenda,

•Pope Francis which has thrilled progressives and alarmed some conservatives.

The matter concerns the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, a small but

Two women battle for Chile's presidency

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HILEANS went to the polls Sunday for a runoff vote between Socialist former president Michelle Bachelet and conservative Evelyn Matthei, an unprecedented race for the top office between two female candidates.

Pre-election surveys give Bachelet, who was president from 2006-2010, an overwhelming margin of support over Matthei, an economist and former labour minister.

Voter turnout, however, is a big unknown. While more than 13 million Chileans are eligible to vote, this year’s race marks the first time that voting in a

presidential election was voluntary.

In the first round on November 17, which resulted with Bachelet winning 47 percent of the vote to 25 percent for Matthei, more than half of all voters did not cast ballots.

Bachelet, the former head of UN Women, expressed confidence as she cast her ballot under the hot summer sun. “I am convinced today will be a very important day,” she said, echoing remarks from her closing rally Thursday that she could be on the brink of making history

Ex-PM wants CAR conflict seen as war

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RENCH and African forces intervening in Central African Republic must wage war against the Seleka rebels and not just aim to restore security, a former prime minister said.

Anicet Dologuele, who plans to run for president in the next election, said interim authorities needed to do more to prevent the escalation in religious violence to help restore the people’s faith in the country’s politicians.

“This is a war. This is not just a mission to disarm a few who are willing. This is a war of French forces and the MISCA against the Seleka forces,” he said on Saturday on the sidelines of the World Policy Conference in Monaco.

“We can’t content ourselves with just removing their weapons

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growing order of several hundred priests, seminarians and nuns that was founded in Italy in 1990 as an offshoot of the larger Franciscan order of the pope’s namesake, St. Francis of Assisi.

Then-Pope Benedict XVI launched an investigation into the congregation after five of its priests complained that the order was taking on an overly traditionalist bent, with the old Latin Mass being celebrated more and more at the expense of the liturgy in the vernacular.

and saying ‘ciao’, because they will come back with new weapons.

Everything that is a nuisance needs to be destroyed,” he said.

Central African

Republic (CAR) has been paralyzed by cycles of violence since mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize in March.

•Michelle Bachelet shows her ballot during the run-off election again.

“I had the honour to be Chile’s first woman president, and it will be a great honour once again to be the president of every Chilean man and woman,” Bachelet told cheering supporters.

Bachelet could draw up to 66 percent of the vote against 34 percent for Matthei, according to a recent Universidad de Santiago-Ipsos poll.

UN troops find more arms in Congo DR

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.N. peacekeepers found an arsenal of weapons, including heavy caliber arms and enough ammunition to last a year, at the site of the last stand

by M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said at the weekend.

Congolese troops and the U.N. peacekeeping mission - which includes a unique Intervention Brigade mandated to eliminate armed groups last month defeated M23, which signed a peace deal with the Congo government on Thursday.

The Tutsi-led M23 rebel

group ended its 20-month rebellion, the most serious in Congo in the last decade, after Congolese soldiers and U.N.

peacekeepers, known as MONUSCO, captured its last hilltop strongholds in Chanzu, near the Rwandan border.

Bombing overshadows Malian vote

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ALIANS began voting yesterday in the second round of parliamentary elections intended to cap the nation’s return to democracy, but overshadowed by the deaths of two UN peacekeepers in an Islamist attack.

The polls mark the troubled west African nation’s first steps to recovery after it was upended by a military

coup in March last year, finalising a process begun with the election of its first post-conflict president in August.

Turnout looked low as polling stations opened in the capital Bamako, sparking fears that voters would be scared away by an upsurge in violence by Al Qaedalinked rebels against African troops tasked with election security alongside the Malian army.

HE head of a panel which has drafted a new Egyptian constitution urged the government and its Islamist opponents yesterday to reconcile ahead of January ’s referendum on the charter.

Amr Mussa and Mohamed Monsur

The two-day referendum starting on January 14 is expected to ratify the new constitution and usher in elections for a parliament and president to replace president Mohamed Morsi, ousted by the military in July.

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, which has led persistent protests despite a bloody crackdown, has yet to decide on whether to boycott the referendum or campaign for a no vote.

Tunisian parties agree on compromise PM

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UNISIA’s ruling Islamists and opposition parties agreed at the weekend to name the country ’s current industry minister as prime minister of a caretaker technocrat cabinet to govern until elections next year.

The appointment is the first step in an agreement that will see moderate Islamist party Ennahda hand over power in the

next few weeks to end a crisis that threatened Tunisia’s transition to democracy after its 2011 uprising.

Three years after its protests against autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali inspired Arab uprisings elsewhere, Tunisia has been struggling to overcome disputes over the role of Islam in one of the Arab world’s most secular countries.

Saudi Prince accuses UK of not assisting Syrian opposition

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PPONENTS of Syrian president Bashar alAssad have been at an impossible disadvantage since the start of the Syrian conflict because the United States and Britain refused to help them, an influential Saudi Arabian prince said at the weekend..

The United States and

Britain suspended nonlethal aid to northern Syria on Thursday after reports that Islamic Front - a union of six major rebel groups had taken buildings belonging to the Free Syrian Army ’s (FSA) Syrian Military Council on the border with Turkey.

Iran to keep nuclear talks on-going

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EHRAN said yesterday it will keep talking with world powers on its disputed nuclear programme despite a US move to blacklist Iranian companies for evading sanctions. “We are pursuing the negotiations seriously and of course we will give a well-considered, purposeful, smart and proper reaction to any inappropriate and unconstructive move,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Ja-

vad Zarif wrote on his Facebook page.

This was despite the Americans having made “inappropriate moves to which we gave the appropriate response by considering all aspects of the issue”. “The negotiations and achieving a result are a difficult task and will definitely have a lot of ups and downs. We have predicted that from the very beginning.”

Thai military sees role in poll

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HAILAND’s military offered yesterday to help the politically polarized country hold a “fair and clean” election next year, suggesting the armed forces may play a role in a vote aimed at ending protests seeking to topple the government.

The idea was raised at a forum organized by the caretaker government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who last week called an election

for February 2 to try to defuse protests targeting her brother, ousted exprime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and his influence on Thailand’s political system.

The protesters, backed

by Bangkok’s elite, have rejected the proposed election and want to set up a “people’s council” that would eradicate the influence of the “Thaksin regime” and introduce reforms.

—51 Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013—

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ATCHING the reports and tributes pouring out from CNN and other global media, I was overwhelmed by the huge impact, a simple philosophy of ' humility and forgiveness' can have on the human race. It was so touching, to capture the noble traits of a man, who did not allow the circumstances of his birth and background, diminish his greatness.

He worked his way to the top, through a determined struggle for justice and equity; was prepared to pay the supreme price for his belief and indeed, suffered greatly in the hands of his apartheid oppressors. A man that was brutalised for 27 years in prison, came out and forgave all of his traducers; such display could only be found in the realm of the spiritual, especially as it concerns the activities of Jesus Christ.

At the height of his reign as president, Mandela wore his garb with simplicity and nobility; he never failed to acknowledge the fact that the success of the struggle was a collective one, praising the impact of his fellow freedom fighters. He will also claim, with humility, that he was human like every one of us and subject to the

usual human frailties.

The icing on the cake was his decision to run for only a term as president when no pressure was being put on him to relinquish power.

For every view Mandela expressed, he did according to his conscience and not what the super powers want - the Palestinian/ Israel conflict, Gadaffi and Castro - were cases of note.

His carriage highlighted the fact that it is in humility that greatness is achieved. At his death bed, Mandela was arguably the greatest, single individual alive, enjoying the status reserved only for cult heroes and spiritual leaders. The turn-out of world leaders to honour him in death is a testament to this fact.

The world has taken note. Many leaders - Obama taking the lead have promised to let Mandela's legacy guide them but have we taken note in Nigeria?

Those of us, like Mandela, who came from poor backgrounds and now in positions of leadership, with all the perks of power, have we taken note? That it is not the arrogance or brutish display of power that brews greatness but simplicity and humility?

Those of us who have, through short cuts and the aid of

Mandela's South Africa is not only multi-ethnic but also multi-racial; Mandela was able to unite all of these diverse groupings without diminishing himself

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government agents and machinery, found themselves in position of wealth and captains of industries, have we learnt anything from Mandela? That it is not the amount of money you accumulate or properties you pile up, that will bring you greatness but the sincerity of purpose?

Those of us, who have been privileged to enjoy government/ community support scholarships, throughout their educational pursuit and are now in positions to impart knowledge to up-coming generations, have we learnt that with the right message, you can achieve greatness and not by intellectual intimidation?

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hose of us who have been fortunate to be pioneers in our various professional bodies, through the opportunities provided by our society, have we learnt the lessons of sacrifice as

Five days that changed a life

BY OKECHUKWU NWOBU

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IVE days in the life of mortals is a very trivial amount of time but so much could happen within that seemingly miniscule speck of time to change the direction of our lives for good. Coming up against her state governor, Mrs Ifijeh’s world had considerably buckled on November 28 but by the end of that day, it must have been clear to her that she was not alone. She may never have heard of YouTube or social media network or what it means but at the end of that first or second day, she would have realised that with the Edo State PDP announcing a donation of N250, 000 and people she does not know and will never meet asking to know how to donate money to her, that her encounter with Governor Oshiomhole would have a positive ending for her. Her cries and pleading tugged at hearts, including that of God and it worked miracles. It reminds me of the Word of God that‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning,’ as it did for Mrs Joy Ifijeh.

We tend to believe that miracles happen only when the blind see and the deaf hear but I now know that when we all rise up as the people did for this widow, we cause miracles to happen, move physical, mental and emotional mountains. Governor Oshiomhole’s act of restitution is sufficient proof that we can and it changed the life of Mrs Ifijeh and those of her children for good.

We all know that when God wants to bless us, we will not wake up in the morning and find millions of Naira on our beds; instead, God engineers the right circumstances and persons to come into our lives. I recall one church service in House on the Rock church, Lagos, when they were still at MUSON Center. That Sunday morning, about four, five years ago, the first service uncharacteristically ended quite early and Pastor Paul Adefarasin found himself with about 15 to 20 minutes to deal with. He looked around casually and focused on a C M Y K

drummer in the Church choir and told the congregation that the drummer was preparing for his wedding. Pastor Paul then walked down memory lane, recounting how faithful that drummer had been and announced he would support the wedding with,if I remember correctly N200, 000 or N250, 000. Then Pastor Paul asked the congregation to join him in supporting the drummer’s wedding because he wanted everything taken care of and for him and his bride to just show up at the wedding, seal and begin their marital union. And many in the congregation lined up to financially support this drummer’s wedding. Had church service run down the clock as is usually the case, that drummer’s wedding would not have become an issue that morning. That day, I could not help thinking that God had engineered everything that Sunday morning just to favour that drummer.

This is why when I recall the analysis of Maupe Ogun on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme of what happened that day between Governor Oshionmole and Mrs Ifijeh with the video footage to support it, I believe the Hosts of Heaven orchestrated events and conspired to change her life and Governor Oshiomhole was an instrument in God’s hands because God wanted to bless MrsIfijeh. The video clip we have all watched endlessly showed clearly that as Maupe Ogun pointed out,Mrs Ifijehcould not have been hawking goods on the street as widely speculated because her wares were in cartons and bags, neatly arranged like she was waiting for a commercial vehicle to take her to her destination. Social media connected all of us and people wanted to know how to donate money to her as a result of that encounter with Governor Oshiomhole because we shared her pain and cried with her. The Bible tells us that:“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” True to these Words of God, I believe Mrs.Ifijeh

exemplified by Mandela's legacy?

It goes on and on.

The legacy of Mandela, when placed and put in perspective with his Nigerian counterpart, dwarfs all of our own combined. It is like comparing an elephant to an ant.

Why do our leaders perform so badly? We have always attributed ethnic factors as the reason for poor performance, especially leadership at the national level. But Mandela's South Africa is not only multi-ethnic but also multi-racial.

Mandela was able to unite all of these diverse groupings without diminishing himself. He was able to accomplish this through leadership of example and selflessness.

The house that Mandela built in his village is a modest one, he refused the temptation to use government resources, even when he was prompted to do so.

Everything about him was modest, both in his dress sense and taste.

How many of our present leadership, especially our political class can come up today and say: "I was offered government money to do so and so thing, and I know it is not ethical, therefore, I am turning down the offer".

How many of our members of the National Assembly can come out today and say: "All these allowances we are getting are not in tune with realities on ground, our people are suffering, let us instead, channel these funds to more beneficial projects like university education projects".

How many can come out to say: "This foreign tour we are embarking on will not add any value to our legislative abilities

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BY SUNNY IKHIOYA

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Mandela's nobility and the ‘dwarfishness' of the Nigerian counterpart

Governor Oshiomhole gave Mrs Ifijeh N2 million, instant employment and scholarship for her son but most importantly his apology added much more to the moral wealth of the nation

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never saw, heard or imagined any of the positive dramatic things that happened to her life after her encounter with Governor Oshiomhole.

L

ike in the case of the Biblical Joseph who was sold into slavery and went to prison for a crime he did not commit, the circumstances engineered by God may sometimes be very inconvenient.

While Mrs Ifijeh wept, knelt and pleaded with Governor Oshiomhole, she was oblivious of the cameras recording her moment of utmost anguish but it was all part of God’s plan for her. Think about it, how come a woman who was not hawking on the street was ‘apprehended’ by no other than her state governor and her life changed dramatically from a very troubling experience from which at the time it happened, she saw no possibility of restitution? It is even possible that as she headed to Government House five days later to meet with Governor Oshiomhole, she thought her situation would take a turn for the worse with arrest and the prison keys thrown away.

Governor Oshiomole is a man given to making mistakes like all men but with the courage to say, “I am sorry,” and I think it has made it easier for some of us to use those three powerful words to ask for forgiveness from those we have offended. I suspect too that it is not only the life of Mrs Ifijeh that has changed but also those of

and so the money should be channelled to-say-youth empowerment"?

How many of our present ministers, can come out and say: "Look, the cars in my garage are too many, I do not need more than two, send the remaining ones to the pool"? How many of them can do this?

Can our President come out and say: "look, I do not need more than one or two aircraft for official business, the rest should be sent to the fleet of our soon-to-be established national carrier". Can he?

Why can't they do it like Mandela? It lies in the nature of man - selfish, wicked and brutish.

Man's character is only tempered by culture and culture is the aggregate of what a society wants or live by.

If a society is the lazy kind, with no desire for struggle and only waiting for miracles to happen, it will continue to produce such leadership like the ones we have now at all levels of government.

On the other hand, if a society is conscious of the dignity of fellow citizens and what is sacred to the over all interest, it will resist the imposition of deviant leaders.

We have been a spoon-fed society.

It is time for us to come to the realisation of what is expected of us, when we do that, our leaders will sit up. For now, they will be placed in the categories of dwarfs, when discussions are centred on the likes of Nelson Mandela and their contributions to mankind. *Mr. Ikhioya, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.

Governor Oshiomhole. Many parents and children who heard Governor Oshiomhole say publicly that his children had also pitched in to tell him he got it wrong, to do the right thing and he did. Governor Oshiomhole gave MrsIfijeh N2 million, instant employment and scholarship for her son but most importantly his apology added much more to the moral wealth of the nation.

Governor Oshiomhole’s words of apology spoken face-to-face with Mrs Ifijeh and widespread acceptance shows in graphic ways the kind of redemption that comes with asking for forgiveness, because a huge chunk of aggrieved people accepted him back as one of their own, a prodigal son coming back home.

I want to add that it is easier for so many to forgive Governor Oshiomhole because he is known to be working very hard and effectively to transform Edo State and his verbal bomb does not and should not define who he is. It is not the size of a man or the size of his political party, it is the size of his heart and humanity in him that matters the most. Governor Oshiomhole stumbled very, very badly but landed firmly on his feet because of his acts of contrition, a sure sign of the size of his heart. He has left Mrs Ifijeh better than he met her and it is reflective of the size of the humanity in him.

I am sure God is not done yet with Mrs Ifijeh and I will not be surprised if she and her children spend Christmas with Governor Oshiomhole and his children in Government House, Benin City as friends of the Oshiomole family. I will equally not be surprised if Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote rightly makes Mrs Ifijeh a distributor of his many products like flour, noodles and tetra packed drinks.

The danger is that from this time, anytime Governor Oshiomole goes out on inspection, market women will rush out with their wares to the road, hoping that the Governor will stop, seize their goods, unchain the cutting edge of his tongue and hope that it will become a fast-track ticket to breakfast with the Governor and millions of Naira.

*Mr. Nwobu, a pubic affairs commentator, wrote from Lagos.

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Vanguard, MONDAY DECEMBER 16, 2013

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know an addressed as Christiana Okeke, now which to be known an addressed

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C M Y K

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Rampant Reds smash Spurs L IVERPOOL surged back up to second in the Premier League table after producing a pulsating performance to thrash Tottenham Hotspur 5-0 at White Hart Lane.

Brendan Rodgers’ side made light of the absence of injured captain Steven Gerrard as the irrepressible Luis Suarez scored a goal in each half and the impressive Jordan Henderson also weighed in with a goal. The Reds had already had a couple of shouts for a penalty when Suarez gave his team the lead on 18 minutes with his 16th league goal of the season.

Philippe Coutinho hit the

•Suarez in ecstatic mood. bar in between Hugo Lloris twice denying Suarez as Liverpool were rampant and the second goal arrived five minutes before halftime when Henderson scored at the second attempt.

Spurs midfielder Paulinho was sent off on 63 minutes for catching Suarez in the ribs and Liverpool capped a humiliating afternoon for their hosts with three goals in the last 15 minutes.

Lewandowski: Ribery deserves Ballon d’Or more than Ronaldo

T

HE Borussia Dortmund striker feels that the Frenchman should be recognised for his superior work-rate and the role he played in Bayern Munich’s treble triumph.

Robert Lewandowski believes that Franck Ribery would be a more deserving recipient of this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or than Cristiano Ronaldo.

The pair have been shortlisted for the prestigious prize along with Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi, who is bidding for his fifth title in a row.

However, many pundits suspect that it will be a straight fight between Ribery and Ronaldo, and Lewandowski feels that the France winger has the edge on account of his superior work-rate and treble success with Bayern Munich last season. “I’d vote for Ribery,” the Borussia Dortmund striker told Przegladem Sportowym.

“Cristiano Ronaldo’s statistics are impressive - individually, he’s doing great things and setting new records. “However, Ribery offers more in defensive areas and helps the team a lot all over the pitch. And last season he won everything there was to win.”

•Ronaldo

•Ribery

Ronaldo unsure of attending Ballon Dior

C

RISTIANO Ronal do might be favoured to win world soccer’s prestigious Ballon D’Or, but the Portuguese forward says he is not sure if he will attend the awards ceremony.

The Real Madrid star has told Europa Press agency “there are still some days to go. I am still talking about it with the club and I will see if I go”.

Ronaldo was speaking at the opening of a museum in his honour on his home island of Ma-

deira.

He is having an outstanding year and is tipped to end Lionel Messi’s four-year run of claiming the award and beat out fellow finalist Franck Ribery when the winner is announced on January 13.

He says “it is only a trophy - we’ll see what happens”.

In October, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said he preferred Messi, while making fun of Ronaldo’s attitude and haircut.

Fernandinho: City can beat anyone!

F

OLLOWING Satur day ’s 6-3 victory over Premier League leaders Arsenal, Fernandinho has insisted City should fear nobody.

Fernandinho feels City have now proved they can beat anyone after their 63 thrashing of Premier League leaders Arsenal.

City moved within three points of the Gunners at the top of the standings as they tore into Arsene Wenger’s men at the Etihad Stadium, maintaining their free-scoring form and 100 per home record in some style.

Coming just four days after a victory over Euro-

•Fernandinho pean champions Bayern Munich, it was another performance which sent out a strong statement

about City’s ambitions.

Midfielder Fernandinho was at the heart of most of City’s good play, capping a man-of-thematch display with his first two goals since his £30million move from Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Brazilian said: “I am really happy to score twice but it is not just about the goals, (it’s about) the performance of the team.

“We showed we are a great team, a very good team. We showed we can beat any team. We showed very good football. The performance was incredible.

Vanguard, MONDAY DECEMBER 16, 2013 — 55

NYG 2013: 370 new talents discovered — Minister T

HE National Youth Games which debuted last week in Abuja have ended with Cross Rivers State as the overall winner, Akwa Ibom as the first runner up, and Delta as the second runner up.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, the Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi, urged Nigerians not to see the event, consisting of fourteen games, as

a medal event but an event for talent discovery.

“The game is not about medals but to provide the platform for athletes to demonstrate their potentials. We have witnessed the spirit of sports amongst people at the length and breadth of this country. We have seen young people compete in 14 sports ,” the minister said.

Abdullahi also said that

400 wrestlers for Gov Seriake Classic

BY SOLOMON NWOKE

T

HE main auditori um of the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yanegoa is wearing a new look as it hosts this year’s Governor Dickson Seriake Wrestling Classic which began yesterday and runs through December 21st.

About 400 wrestlers from across the nation are vying for honours in this year’s classic which doubles as the end of the year championship and competition for the selection of the country’s representatives in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. The

•Dr Igali

Rolake Olagbegi’s mum passes on as Ikpechuikwu loses wife

O

NE time tennis queen Rolake Olagbegi Kassim has lost her mum, Mrs Eunice Olagbegi, one of the wives of the late Oba Of Owo Olateru Olagbegi.

Eunice Passed on just as Rolake joined her husband in the burial rites of her mother inlaw last Tuesday. Same day, former ace sports writer Dan Ikpecukwu lost his darling wife, Chinwe in far away Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Eunice was 85 and Chinwe just over 40.

“It’s devastating,” Dan sobbed over the death of his wife who will be buried in Nigeria before end of February, 2014 C M Y K

classic Speaking with Sports Vanguard, the President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Dr Daniel Igali, said all hands are on deck to make this year’s event a colourful one because of its importance in the federation’s calendar.

Dr Igali said the Seriake Classic would attract high profile sports dignitaries like Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Hon. Bolaji Abdullahi, the president of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Engr Sani Ndanusa, Chairman of the Commonwealth Wrestling Association, Josip Mrcosl as well as the Governor of the state, Dickson Seriake and his entire cabinet An elated President of NWF enthused that the Classic promises to be a memorable one the wrestlers as there would be cash prizes for the first, second and their place winners apart from the overall all winners trophy.

Emenike •Continued from BP Akhisar Belediyespor on Friday.

And Emenike believes if he is to prove he is one of the best strikers in Africa he has to show it at the World Cup in Brazil.

“Next year will be a big one for the Super Eagles because the World Cup is football’s biggest stage,” Emenike told BBC Sport.

“Brazil is that place where I hope to make my mark and prove myself as a striker that can perform at major tournaments.

“I will be doing everything for the team as usual. I am confident as a team Nigeria will be stronger in Brazil.

Emenike is also determined to shine at club

over 300 fresh talents were discovered.

“I have been told that more than 370 talents were discovered, a demonstration of why it is good to work together with a common objective.

We are excited about the determination and the true spirit of sportsmanship that all athletes displayed throughout the event. Important lessons have been learnt and we believe that the next one would be a lot better.”

The minister assured Nigerians that all the federations were ready to work with the new talents that were discovered.

“Already the federations are ready to invite the talents discovered into their games to prepare for the next Olympics. You may not see them competing immediately at the next commonwealth games but some of them will surely rise later.”

CHAN •Continued from BP Solomon Kwambe, Gambo Mohammed, Benjamin Francis and Azubuike Egwuekwe are sure of shirts as Keshi made it clear that only the fittest and the best as shown in training and practice matches will be picked for the tournament.

The team will from today train twice daily as battle for the final squad to the 2014 CHAN gathers momentum.

The home-based Eagles trained once a day last week, but coach Stephen level in Turkey.

“With Fenerbahce there’s confidence in the squad. We think we can do something good this season by winning the Turkish League title.

“We are top of the league, we lead the team in second by eleven points but we are in December and can’t relax.”

Nigeria have been drawn in Group F at the 2014 World Cup alongside Argentina, just as they were in 2010.

The Super Eagles will face Iran before taking on Bosnia-Herzegovina and will finish against Argentina in a bid to reach the last 16, which they achieved in both 1994 and 1998.

“Every player is looking to the World Cup. I think we’ve got every chance of doing better

•Semi-final male volleyball event of the first National Youth Games between teams FCT (White) and Abia in Abuja.

Keshi said there was little time left to prune down the present squad from 30 players to 23, hence the need to intensify training and get the best out of the players in camp.

It’s expected that by the end of the week the team would have been pruned down in preparation for departure to South Africa in the first week of January.

The team have also shifted their training site from the FIFA Goal Project arena to the training pitch of the Abuja National Stadium, to get used to natural turf which organisers of CHAN 2014 will use for the tournament. than our previous outings,” said Emenike.

“We’ve gone unbeaten in Africa in two years and the players know we can use that as a big motivation to do well in Brazil.

The three-time African champions have not won a match at the World Cup since beating Bulgaria in 1998, which is the last time the Super Eagles made it to the knock-out stages.

But the Fenerbahce striker is confident they will travel to the South American country with the hope of changing that trend.

“This is a big chance for us. Our fans are hopeful and everyone is solidly behind us, so we can do it first by getting out of the group. After that we can then take it step by step.”

Odemwingie •Continued from BP Cardiff City, Peter Whittingham headed home the winner in the 65th minute to condemn West Brom to a fourth consecutive defeat and end Steve Clarke’s tenure as manager at the Hawthorns.

Odemwingie came close to scoring as his free-kick forced a fine save from Boaz Myhill inside the opening 10 minutes.

The 32-year-old was lively on the night and

Falconets •Continued from BP first half.

On 50 minutes, Okaeme broke deadlock before Sunday strengthened the lead 60 seconds later. Uchechi completed her hat-trick with strikes in the 76th and 86th

Supersand •Continued from BP second period the Nigerian team showed their class as they scored 3 goals in 5 minutes to send their teeming supporters into a wild frenzy.

Senegal pulled one back to make the score 4-2. But the Nigerians restored their two-goal advantage through the most valuable player, Abu.

also had a valid penalty appeal turned down by Howard Webb, after a West Brom player appeared to pull his shirt when he was about to take a decisive final touch inside the box.

The Nigeria international was taken off for Bo-Kyung Kim in the 90th minute, with the game already won.

The win lifted Cardiff City up to 14th place on the English Premier League table with 17 points from 16 games, while West Brom slumped to 16th place with 14 points from the same number of games. minutes to seal victory in grand style.

However, Nigeria coach Peter Dedevbo was the least convinced about the striking abilities of his team despite the huge scoreline.

“I am very disappointed in my team; they could have played better. The Tunisians are not a bad side and we have to work on our loopholes before the second leg,” he told the media in a post-match interview.

The return leg will take place in a fortnight in Tunis with the winner advancing to the final round of the continental qualifiers.

Two teams will represent Africa at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup scheduled for 5-24 August in Canada.

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VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013

Supersand Eagles retain Copa Lagos

BY JOHN EGBOKHAN

S

UPERSAND Eagles yesterday defeated Senegal 5-2 to win the 2013 Copa Lagos Beach Soccer Championships in Eko Atlantic.

The final which was watched by a packed

2014 World Cup: I’ll prove my worth in Brazil — Emenike N

Odemwingie laughs last

IGERIA striker E m m a n u e l Emenike has outlined his ambition to achieve success at club and international level in 2014.

Emenike was joint-top scorer when Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa in February and scored three goals as they sealed a place at next year’s World Cup in Brazil.

At club level, he scored his sixth goal of the season in Fenerbahce’s 4-0 thrashing of Continues on Page 55

O

SAZE Odemwing ie had the last laugh after being booed by the travelling West Brom supporters in Cardiff City ’s 1-0 win over his former employers.

After a winless streak of five matches for Continues on Page 55

•Odemwingie

Falconets pound Tunisia 4-0

N

IN FLIGHT: Emenike eyes Brazil 2014 glory.

CHAN: Keshi leaves Eagles guessing

S

UPER Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi has left his players guessing on who can make the final cut in the

•Keshi

crowd including former FIFA Executive Committee who was also the DG of the National Sports Commission, Dr Amos Adamu saw the Nigerian who won last year ’s tournament scoring the first goal through Captain Isiaka Olawale in the opening minute of the first period. But the Senegalese responded in a quickfire manner through their captain Ndiaye Diame to silence the partisan home crowd.

On resumption of the Continues on Page 55

23-man squad for the African Nations Championships holding in South Africa.

At the moment not

even the established players like Chigozie Agbim, Sunday Mba,

Continues on Page 55

IGERIA thrashed Tunisia 4-0 on Saturday in the first leg of the second round of the 2014 FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup qualifier in Abuja.

Striker Uchechi Sunday netted a hat-trick whilst Patience Helen Okaeme was also on tar-

get to give the Falconets a resounding victory ahead of the second leg in a fortnight.

A spectacular second half performance from the Nigerians saw them unlock the Tunisian defence which remained impregnable during the Continues on Page 55

QUICK CROSSWORD

Sudoku TODAY'S

PUZZLE

YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

Across 1 Cease (4) 4 Weep (3) 6 Irritation (4) 8 Uproar (6) 9 Excursion (6) 10 Novel (3) 12 Pulsate (5) 14 Stream (5) 15 Canoe (5) 18 Respect (6) 20 Introduce (6) 24 Giant (5) 26 Utter (5) 28 Showy (5) 30 Encountered (3) 32 Courteous (6) 33 Beg (6) 34 Present (4) 35 Fixed (3) 36 Sketched (4)

Down 2 Veracity (5) 3 Incite (7) 4 Observed (4) 5 Gust (4) 6 Bury (5) 7 Frankness (7) 11 Epoch (3) 12 Hill (3) 16 Lever (3) 16 Still (3) 17 Equipment (3) 19 Burst (7) 21 Horse (3) 22 Broke (7) 23 Attempt (3) 25 Wrath (3) 27 Living (5) 29 Hang (5) 30 Muddle (4) 31 Acid (4)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS Across: 2, Civil 7, Shear 8, Voter 10, Boxer 12, Led 13, Basin 15, Massage 17, Opened 19, Vat 20, Delayed 23, Seem 25, Rise 26, Dappled 30, Sea 31, Detest 34, Robotic 37, Array 38, Don 39, Rifle 40, Heart 41, Enter 42, Beard.

Down: 1, Cheap, 2 Cabin 3, Ironed 4, Item 5, Bolster 6, Wedge 9, Tea 11, Ravaged 13, Boast 14, Sewed 16, Say 18, Despair 21, Diver 22, Hefty 24, Masonry 27, Pet 28, Dealer 29, Rodeo 32, Trend 33, Saver 35, Boa 36, Cite

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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