100 Massacred in fresh Borno attacks

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 62081

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ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

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2015: Jonathan intensifies Shale Oil: Nigeria's economy at risk 8 consultations in S-West 7 — KPMG

100 massacred in fresh Borno attacks

Bianca Ojukwu becomes APGA

BY EMEKA leader MAMAH, SONI

•Soldiers playing safe in N-East — Military sources DANIEL, BEN AGANDE & NDAHI •Prayers, saving grace for Nigeria — Jonathan MARAMA fewer •FG under pressure to re-open negotiation with B-Haram — P.13 LAGOS—NO than 100 people were, weekend, killed in separate attacks in Baga and Izge villages of Kukawa and Gwoza loContinues on page 5

•P.17

COLUMNIST:

LES LEBA•P.40 OCHEREOME NNANNA•P.48

Mr & Mrs

REDEEMED— From left: Wife of the General Overseer Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Folu Adeboye; the General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye and President Goodluck Jonathan at the Olive Tree Parish of the church in Ikoyi, Lagos where the President worshipped, yesterday. Photo: State House.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014—5

POCKET CARTOON

RUN FOR DEAR LIFE—Children take cover as gunshots erupt during an operation in the Boy-rabe neighbourhood of Bangui, Central African Republic, Saturday. French and African peacekeepers on Saturday seized weapons from militia in the capital of the strife-torn country. Photo: AFP.

100 massacred in Borno fresh attacks Continues from page 1 cal government areas of Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents, who also reportedly wounded several others and destroyed property worth millions of Naira.

This came as President Goodluck Jonathan said in Lagos, yesterday, that the security challenges facing the country would have been worse without prayers from religious groups across the country.

It has also emerged that the Federal Government may be under pressure to open fresh negotiations with the terrorist group.

President Jonathan, who spoke at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Olive Tree Parish, in Banana Island, Lagos thanked Christians and other religious groups for their prayerful intercessions for the country. He said, but for their prayers, Nigeria would have been worse than it is in terms of the security challenges.

However, the Military High Command has now suspended further rotation of troops deployed to the North East region to fight the Boko Haram terrorists over alleged discovery that troops now play hide and seek to avoid being

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

Never test the depth of a river with both feet.

Take life one step at a time.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

S

UCCESS is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome —Booker T. Washington And from Alain Botton from his TED presentation about a kinder gentler philosophy of success, he says that one of the interesting things about success is that we think we know what it means. A lot of the time our ideas about what it would mean to live successfully are not our own. They’re sucked in from other people. And we also suck in messages from everything from the television to advertising to marketing, etcetera. These are hugely powerful forces that define what we want and how we view ourselves. What I want to argue for is not that we should give up on our ideas of success, but that we should make sure that they are our own.

We should focus on our ideas and make sure that we own them, that we’re truly the authors of our own ambitions. Because it’s bad enough not getting what you want, but it’s even worse to have an idea of what it is you want and find out at the end of the journey that it isn’t, in fact, what you wanted all along. And remember that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.

killed by the terrorists.

The order banning further rotation of troops every six months came into effect on February 3.

Aside the weekend attacks, investigations by Vanguard showed that the Boko Haram terrorists had killed over 200 people within the last few weeks as well as inflicting severe wounds on residents who lost property worth billions of naira in Konduga, Gwoza and Kukawa council areas of Borno State.

Vanguard gathered from reliable sources that the attack in Baga village bordering the Chad Republic Friday evening, claimed 10 lives, while the Izge massacre at the Cameroon border with Borno State yesterday morning also left 90 people dead.

The Baga Ízge attacks

On the Baga incident, sources said that the gunmen numbering over 100 invaded the village at about 7pm with sophisticated weapons, including Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, and wreaked havoc on innocent citizens before fleeing without being arrested.

A resident, Mallam Ali Yakubu said the gunmen succeeded in killing several people after dislodging some security operatives in the area.

He added that the gunmen arrived in Toyota Hilux and several other vehicles and motorcycles while dressed in military camouflage, chanting Allahu Akbar (God is great) and shot at anyone on sight before setting houses ablaze.

“As I am talking to you

now, all the dead bodies are still lying on the streets as we can't get the opportunity of burying them because of fear that the terrorists were still around in the nearby bushes of Izge.

“I thank God for sparing my life yesterday, because I thought my days in this world were over when we started hearing sounds of gunshots and explosions all over Izge in the night. God really had mercy on me. We ran into the bush without being hurt by the insurgents, although, I lost all my belongings,’’ he added.

The Police Commissioner, Mr. Lawal Tanko confirmed the incidents in a telephone interview with Vanguard, when contacted yesterday.

He said: “Yes there were separate attacks in Baga Village located on an island of Lake Chad where about eight or nine people were killed on Friday, while the terrorists attack on Izge villages of Gwoza Local Government Area on Sunday (yesterday), led to the death of innocent civilians.

“I have already directed the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, incharge of the area to feed me back with details, I will let you know, but as at now, I do not have details on the number of casualties,’’ Tanko said.

Prayers helping Nigeria — Jonathan

Meanwhile, President Jonathan said in Lagos, yesterday: “I thank Christians and other religious groups that pray for this country especially at the period the whole world is facing a lot of challenges.

“You will agree with me that whenever you tune your television especially the international news centres like CNN, Aljazeera or Sky news you always see breaking news.

“All the breaking news are always negative, you hardly see any positive breaking news all over the world.

“In Nigeria too, we have been having our own fair share of these negative news brought about by the Boko Haram killing people at will. But we believe that God knows it all.

“Without your prayers, probably it would have been worse than this.

God has always been faithful to Nigerians.

God will continue to hear our prayers so that our country will get out of these challenges of terror and other related crimes” he said.

The President thanked members of the Redeemed church for 100

days of fasting and prayers they have embarked upon saying “even to keep faith with the orthodox 40 days fasting during the lent period which I also participate in is not easy. To fast for 100 day is not an easy task.

“You are fasting not because of your personal interest, but for the country. I have to thank the General Overseer and all of you who have been fasting. God will hear our prayers” he said.

The first Lady of Lagos State, Mrs Abimbola Fashola; the Deputy Governor of the state, Mrs Adejoke Adefulire and the Minister of State for FCT and the Supervisory Minister of Police Affairs, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide were also at the service.

However, the Military High Command suspended further rotation of troops deployed to the North East region to fight the Boko Haram terrorists every six months following alleged discovery that troops now play hide and seek to avoid being killed.

Soldiers playing safe in N-East areas — Military

The authorities believe that, the ‘’mentality of troops deployed to the North East is to play safe pending when they will be rotated. In view of that, there would be no further rotation till the war is brought to a favourable conclusion."

According to military sources, the only way the new rule would be relaxed and ‘’troops deployed to the North East, unit are rotated will be when they suffer heavy casualty."

Sources told Vanguard that the Nigerian troops who were circumspect that the Boko Haram insurgents were better equipped than they had resorted to playing safe to avoid being killed in the war against terror.

The sources who confided in Vanguard gave example with last

week’s killing of nine soldiers in a border village of Izge in Adamawa State.

The source said that the Boko Haram insurgents travelled from the Sambisa Forest which was over 50 kilometres away from where the troops were stationed to launch the attack on them. ‘’They arrived Izge in two Armoured Personnel Carriers, APCs, among other heavy military hardware without hindrance. Although the Nigerian troops fought gallantly and killed some of the Boko Haram terrorists, including the ‘gunner ’ in one of the armoured vehicles but the attackers re-grouped and came back the second time and killed the troops as well as wounding one of the officers due to lack of reinforcement.

"Apart from the two APCs, the terrorists came with several other vehicles which enabled them to escape after inflicting such casualties on us. They were even able to carry away their dead or wounded colleagues. ‘’It is a known fact that the Boko Haram terrorists have their cells at Sambisa Forest, where they get logistics supply from helicopters that fly to the forest from time to time."

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State was apparently lamenting over the situation when he said at Konduga, in the state last week that members of the Boko Haram sect were better motivated to carry out attacks on innocent people than the Nigerian security agents. Shettima spoke in an interview with newsmen shortly after inspecting the magnitude of the destruction carried out by Boko Haram insurgents at Konduga, Tuesday evening.

BY IF

6—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Fire destroys 5 houses in Lagos

BY BOSE ADELAJA

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AGOS — PROPERTY worth millions of Naira were destroyed when fire razed five buildings in two different parts of Lagos State, weekend.

While the first incident, which involved three buidlings, occured at Alhaja Owoade Street, Ketu, Alapere, the second was recorded at Arewa Street, Gaskiya, Ijora.

While the Alapere incident got prompt response from emergency responders, that of Ijora did not, as the officials were not alerted on time, as a result, the fire escalated.

Although no life was lost in both incidents but fire fighters and other emergency responders were attacked by street urchins popularlly called ‘area boys.’

Meanwhile, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has said officials were not alerted on time, which led to their late arrival to the scene.

Police woman in court for assault

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AGOS — A 30-year-old police woman, Tutu Willoughby, has been arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate's court for assaulting her colleague, Cpl Raymond Ogweh by slapping him.

The accused person is facing a two-count charge of assault and obstruction.

She was said to have committed the offence on February 11, 2014 along Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja, Lagos.

Investigative Police Officer, Seargent Oladimeji Kazeem, said Tutu did unlawfully assault Ogweh by slapping him while on duty and obstructed him from performing his lawful duty.

The accused person, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges She was granted bail in the sum of N50,000 and one surety in like sum.

The matter was adjourned till February 21, 2014 for hearing.

3kg drug found hidden in hair attachments at MMIA ... Freight forwarder arrested

BY IFEANYI OKOLIE

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AGOS — THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has discovered three kilogrammes of substances that tested positive for methamphetamine inside female hair attachments.

Anti-narcotic officials detected the drugs at the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company, NAHCO, cargo section of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos. The drug was meant for export to South Africa.

NDLEA Airport Commander, Mr. Hamza Umar, said that the agency apprehended a 37-year-old freight forwarder in connection with the illicit shipment.

His words: "We have arrested a 37-year-old forwarding agent by name Mark Udegbulun who brought a consignment of female artificial hair for shipment to South Africa.

"During examination of the bag, nine of them were found to contain parcels of substance that tested positive for methamphetamine hidden inside the artificial hair. He is currently being investigated."

The airport commander added that the discovery

Mark Udegbulun, the suspect was made barely few days after a suspected drug trafficking syndicate abandoned five kilogrammes of heroin which was hidden inside a shipment of praying rugs from Pakistan.

During interrogation, the suspect, Mark Udegbulun, told narcotic investigators that he collected the bag containing the drug at Yaba area of Lagos from his friend, who is also his good customer.

According to Mark, "I personally received the shipment from my friend and customer at Yaba, Lagos. He paid me to send the bag to South Africa as unaccompanied cargo. Unfortunately, while the officers were searching the bag, the drug was found inside nine of the packs of hair attachment."

The artificial hair attachments

The methamphetamine Mark hails from Nnewi in Anambra State. He is married with two children.

Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu

Giade, assured members of the public that the agency would continue to discover hidden drugs and prosecute offenders under the Agency's Act.

2 injured Ogun robbers arrested in Lagos hospital

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

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BEOKUTA — THERE was a mild drama when men of Ogun State Police Command stormed a private hospital in Lagos and arrested two patients.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a statement, yesterday, said the two patients were suspected robbers who sustained injury during a gun battle with Police two days before their arrest.

According to Adejobi, the anti-crime patrol team attached to Ogijo Divisional Headquarters led by the Divisional Police Officer, Superintendent of Police Toyin Afolaogun, arrested the two fleeing injured robbers in a Lagos hospital.

He said: “The aggressive investigation instituted by the Commissioner of Police, CP, Ikemefuna Okoye, into the incident that occurred

at Ogijo in Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State led to the discovery and arrest of these suspects, who were on danger list, on Saturday around 7am while receiving treatment in a Lagos hospital.

“The robbers had engaged the police in a gun battle on Thursday in Ogijo and this left one of the robbers dead.

The hoodlums took away a

police rifle from an injured police corporal but was immediately recovered with additional three locally made pistols and other offensive weapons.

“The arrested suspects, Oladeji Sherif and Akinbami Owode, both in their 20s, are still receiving treatment in the hospital and will be taken to the state

CID Eleweran, Abeokuta for further investigation. They will soon appear in court.

“The Commissioner of Police has once again appreciated the support the police command enjoys from the good and ever conscious people of Ogun State and vowed to maintain the good tempo of modern and effective policing of the Gateway state."

Mother of 3 docked over brother-in-law's murder

BY CHINYERE ABIAZIEM

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AGOS — A mother of three, Obiageri Oriuwa, has been arraigned in Ebute Metta court before Ms B. Okunsanya over alleged killing of her brother-in-law at 54, Ladega Street, Olodi-Apapa, Lagos.

The 37-year-old deceased, Ikechukwu Oriuwa, was said to have had an argument with the defendant over a generating set that she left on overnight.

According to reports, the house would have been razed

but for the timely intervention of some neighbours.

Counsel to the accused, C. J. Okoro, said the incident happened while Obiageri was struggling to free herself from the grip of her brotherin-law who was beating her, held her by the throat not allowing her to breathe.

He said: "In self defence, she ended up stabbing him by the hand so that she could escape his grip."

While the deceased family's counsel, Ken Konze, said Obiageri killed the deceased,

who was a medical doctor purposely and not in self defence.

He stated: "After the oral exchange between the two of them, Obiageri waited for him behind a vehicle, from where she attacked him by thrusting a knife into him."

After listerning to both the counsel and prosecutor, Okunsanya ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody.

She adjourned the case till March 19, 2014.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 7

The best is yet to come — Tinubu

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ORMER governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has said that the All Progressives Congress, APC was formed so that Nigerians from all walks of life and social station might gather under one tent to develop the nation on the basis of equity and shared prosperity. He said “What we seek is a fair social compact that we may avoid social calamity”.

Tinubu spoke weekend in Sierra Leone, as he was honored with honorary doctorate degree of Civil Laws, (Honoris Causa) by the 50year-old Njala University.

In his acceptance speech titled: “The Best is yet to come”, Tinubu said “We realized that if Nigeria continues as it is, it would soon collide into the barrier of its internal contradictions. A land of vast wealth yet vast penury. A people of great talent and energy but also of despair and unproductivity born of their jobless poverty. A land that exports the raw material that helps fuel, electrify and lubricates the global economy but one that lives more in darkness than in light.

“We formed the APC so Nigerians from all walks of life and social station might gather under one tent to develop the nation on the basis of equity and shared prosperity. What we seek is a fair social compact that we may avoid social calamity.

“I have worked too hard and long for the progress of our people to countenance such a broken outcome. We must reform ourselves so that we can fully occupy the destiny our people deserve”.

Tinubu excited the University faculty, students, their parents and the community when he announced a 5-year rolling scholarship for 50 indigent students of the Njala University and also donated a building to the rebuilding efforts of the University. He said he had no other choice than to be part of rebuilding Sierra Leone, particularly a campus that was destroyed and abandoned for 15 years. He thanked the University for the honor awarded.

Tinubu saluted the comeback spirit of the people of Sierra Leone, a country that has risen from the ashes of war to a new vista of rebuilding their lives and their country. “From the ash and dust of war, you have stepped forward. A small nation engulfed by such a big war. You persevered, defying the odds and resurrecting and steering yourselves toward hope and peace.

Shale: Nigeria's economy at risk, KPMG warns FG zCalls for stable power, new refineries

BY MICHAEL EBOH

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AGOS—KPMG Professional Services has warned that the discovery and exploration of Shale oil and gas across the globe will put Nigeria’s economy at serious risk, unless the country is able to churn out policies that will bring about increased investment in the oil and gas sector and ensure stable power supply.

Speaking at a forum in Lagos, weekend, Mr. Michiel Soeting, Global Head, Energy and Natural Resources Practices, KPMG, also disclosed that Nigeria’s ability to finance its budget will be greatly threatened, unless it puts in place measures that will grow its crude production capacity, diversify the economy, as well as build additional crude oil refineries, saying that these will significantly reduce the effect of Shale oil discovery on the country’s revenue.

According to him, Shale oil discovery has created a lot of opportunities for international oil companies, IOCs, and has brought about stiff competition among crude oil producing countries, noting also that oil producing countries will soon be in fierce competition with themselves to attract investments and market their crude.

He said Nigeria’s chances of attracting IOCs and investments in the petroleum sector will be limited, as the IOCs will increase their scrutiny of projects around capital expenditure levels,

adding that Shale oil discovery and exploration will bring about a reduction in the capital expenditure levels of companies while giving them a wider variety of choices.

He further stated that the discovery will bring about an increase in crude supply in the international market, leading to a decrease in the price of both gas and crude oil.

He noted that since shale oil is almost the same specification with Nigeria’s Bonny Light, it will bring about stiff competition and reduce the demand for Nigeria’s crude.

Also speaking, Mr. Dimeji Salaudeen, Partner, Risk Consulting/Head, Africa Oil and Gas Sector, said with the advent of Shale, Nigeria will cease to be the major supplier

of crude to the six largest economy of the world, adding that Nigeria’s ability to finance its expenditure as well as accumulate its foreign reserves will be greatly hampered.

He commended the Federal Government for its short term cushioning measure of finding new markets for the country ’s crude, but he questioned the sustainability of this measure, saying that it has been recently proven that the new buyers also have huge quantity of shale oil and gas at their disposal and will soon begin exploration and production.

In his own view, Mr. Victor Onyenkpa, Partner and Head, Tax, Regulatory and People Services, KPMG, said with

Shale discovery, Nigeria will have to look elsewhere to sell its crude, as many of its current customers will become energy producers.

He said if Nigeria’s policies are seen to be unfavorable, the IOCs will divest and move elsewhere, adding that with the Federal Government’s policy of handing the divested assets to indigenous oil companies and granting the companies a pioneer status and five year tax exemption, the country will be forfeiting a huge amount of revenue that is supposed to come from those taxes.

Onyenkpa maintained that for Nigeria to survive the threat and sustain its revenue, the country will have to shore up its crude oil and gas production capacity, so as to make up for the expected fall in the prices of the commodities in the international market.

VISIT: President Goodluck Jonathan (Left) and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, during the President's visit to the monarch in his palace, Ile-Ife, yesterday.

FG to partner Katzec in creating 2,000 jobs

BY MICHAEL EBOH

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AGOS —THE Federal Government, yesterday, said it will partner with Kaztec Engineering Limited to create about 20,000 new jobs for the teeming unemployed population in Nigeria in the next couple of months.

Speaking during a tour of Kaztec facility in the Snake Island Integrated Free Zone in Lagos, Mr. Idris Umar, Minister for Transportation, said the Federal Government is always open to assisting indigenous players in all sectors of the economy, promising to provide all the necessary support needed by the company in ensuring the speedy completion of the fabrication yard among other facilities at the complex.

According to him, the benefits

of this facility to the oil and gas sector and other sectors of the economy are quite enormous; it is going to be of immense benefit in the area of wealth and job creation.

“Clearly, jobs would be created directly and indirectly. In addition to the wealth that will be accrued to the investor directly, there is the ripple effect to the economy generally, because we are going to save a lot. A lot of capital flight is going to be curtailed.

“One of the problems we have in Nigeria is our inability to create jobs for our teeming youths. Having a private sector project of this nature, which has all these propensities, I think the benefits to the economy are quite enormous,” he noted.

He expressed satisfaction about the level of work going

on at the facility, saying that the Federal Government will give all the maximum support needed to ensure that the project is completed within the specified time.

He said, “There is serious determination in carrying out this project. I can see the level of investment that has so far gone in and then the enormity of the potentials that are here.

“Particularly, the work and the business plan for this particular project. It is quite impressive. I can see from the explanations the project manager has offered and the rate at which the land reclamation is moving. More importantly is the programme of the project in such a way that is going to be run in phases. As you complete a segment, you put it into use, offering and creating job opportunities for

Nigerians, in addition to making some earnings for the company itself and then to grow the project.

“I think the aspect of job creations is quite commendable and clearly here, we can see the development of local content that we have been talking about.

Some years back, if you have told anybody that a Nigerian will wake up with such a vision, one will doubt it, but today you can see that a Nigerian has this vision and is clearly executing it, and I am sure he is going to make it.”

Mr. Edwin Ndukwe, Business Development and Head, Communications, Chrome Group, parent company of Kaztec Engineering, said the project will help reduce unemployment in the country, as it is expected to create about 20,000 indirect jobs.

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Jonathan intensifies consultations in South West ...As Mu‘azu woos Goje, Gundiri, Gusau

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, Political Editor & DAPO AKINREFON

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday continued consultations on his political direction in Lagos in meetings with stakeholders and solicitations for prayers for the country from religious leaders.

In a surprising development, the president, however, left regional leaders of his party out of the consultations as many of them expressed surprise on the president’s business in the nation’s commercial capital city.

The president’s efforts to woo support for his political future in the south was also being helped in the north by efforts by the new national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Alhaji Adamu Mu‘azu to break the ranks of the opposition in the north as represented by All Progressives Congress, APC. Mu‘azu, it was learnt, is wooing former Governor Mohammed Danjuma Goje of Gombe State back to the party with the offer of sharing the party structure between him and his former political godson, Governor Dankwambo. Mu‘azu, it was learnt, has also made entreaties to the 2011 gubernatorial candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Mr. Marcus Gundiri.

The efforts of the president and Mu‘azu, are, however, being challenged in Anambra State, where stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP are said to have vowed to oppose his candidacy in 2015.

Anambra PDP chieftains Vanguard learnt, are peeved by what they alleged to be the betrayal of the party and its candidate, Mr. Tony Nwoye in last November’s gubernatorial election in the state.

The president’s consultations in Lagos yesterday commenced after the morning church service in a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, where the general overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye presided. Following the church service, the president retired to State House, Marina where he met with different stakeholders.

Details of the meetings and persons were, however, shielded from newsmen.

PDP officials in the region were left out of the consultations senior party officials disclosed on the condition of anonymity.

The national chairman of the party, however, is believed to be wooing former members of the party who left to the APC

president in his 2015 bid based on what they claimed was his lack of support for Nwoye and the party in the 2013 gubernatorial election.

“The president backed APGA’s candidate and asked us at the rally to vote according to our conscience, so we are going to vote for our conscience in 2015 election,” a party stakeholder present at the meeting told Vanguard.

“The president has shown that he is not a good party man and we will pay him back in his own coins. And see the man he said we should back, that is Peter Obi, Obi conducted local government elections and did not allow PDP one local government area in all the contest.”

back to the party. One of the showing he made in the 2011 alleged hostility of the APC targets of Mu‘azu’s peace gubernatorial election, believing authorities in the state. Gusau has shooting missions Vanguard that backing him in 2015 would been in a running battle with the learnt yesterday, is Senator help defeat whoever Nyako APC state leader, Senator Sanni Goje, the immediate former backs in 2015.

Yerima and Governor Abdulaziz Mu‘azu, it was learnt is also Yari since word leaked of governor of Gombe State who recently declared for the APC. making similar efforts of Gusau’s alleged plans to contest Goje it was learnt has been support to back Rep. Ibrahim the 2015 gubernatorial election. offered 50% of the party Gusau, a member of the House The efforts of the president and executives in Gombe State of Representatives, who last week Mu‘azu nonetheless could be while the remaining structure defected to the PDP following the eroded by misgivings by PDP is to be left in the hands of alleged failure of APC members and stakeholders in authorities in Zamfara State to Anambra State.

Governor Dankwambo.

Efforts to get Goje’s reaction allow his supporters to register Party stakeholders including to the entreaty were unsuccessful in the APC membership appointed and elected office yesterday. Calls to his mobile registration exercise. holders at a recent meeting in Gusau told Vanguard that he Awka, the state capital took a phone did not go through, and a text message was yet to be left the APC because of the resolution not to back the replied as at press time yesterday.

Mu‘azu’s peace shooting efforts it was learnt, has also spread to Adamawa State, where he is alleged to have wooed Gundiri, the ACN’s gubernatorial candidate in 2011 to the party.

Sources told Vanguard that Mu‘azu is promising to back Gundiri for the PDP gubernatorial ticket in 2015.

Gundiri and the gubernatorial candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC in the 2011 election, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa were initially peeved by the movement of Governor Murtala Nyako into the APC, which before his coming was built MEETING: From left—Peoples Democratic Party, PDP National Woman Leader, Dr. (Mrs.) around the two former Kema Chikwe; Deputy Speaker, House of Reps, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha; Chief Ambrose Ejiogu gubernatorial gladiators. and Hon. Jones Onyeliri during the Deputy Speaker's meeting with PDP Executives in Owerri Mu‘azu is said to have gone North, Imo State, last weekend. for Gundiri based on the strong

Electricity: Power plants in 1bn SCF gas shortfall

BY SEBASTINE OBASI

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HERE are indications that about 1 billion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas shortfall may stall the early realisation of constant power in Nigeria, as stakeholders in the energy industry have said that it will take at least five years before uninterrupted power supply could be achieved.

Speaking on the issue of gas supply in the power industry, Austin Avuru, Chief Executive Officer, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited, said that gas demand in the last four years has gone up from under 500 million SCF, to over 1 billion SCF, per day and by the end of 2016, it will be approaching 2.5 billion SCF, to 3 billion SCF, per day.

According to him, “As we speak today, there is a shortfall of 400 million scf supply of gas a day to the power sector. The demand is 400 million SCF, higher

than what we can supply. By the end of this year, when the last batch of the NIPPs would have been sold, the short fall will be 1 billion SCF. “There are probably one or two companies that are investing in gas development. If you start investing today in gas development, you are targeting that production for 2016 to 2017. By 2017, we are talking about over 1 billion SCF shortfall in a very critical sector as the power sector. It is already a national emergency. Everybody in Abuja knows there is no immediate solution,” he said.

On his own part, the Chief Executive Officer of Sahara Group, Tonye Cole, said it will take at least five years from now before Nigerians begin to experience uninterrupted power. Cole explained that there were certain areas needed to be improved upon before stable power would become reality.

According to him, one of such would be improvement

in the way information is shared among key players in the sector for the next couple of years. He also said that pipeline vandalism in Nigeria had contributed hugely to the poor power supply.

“Anybody that vandalises a pipeline may vandalise the pipeline to go and sell crude somewhere thinking that he is making money, but each time he vandalises a pipeline, whether it is a gas pipeline or an oil pipeline, it affects everyone.

“But before we can get to a point where we don’t have to think about power because it is just there, it requires a lot of investment, a lot of capital has to go into that,” he stated.

Cole further explained that the power sector had taken a new shape with the taking over of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria by private owners, saying that the private companies still have to work with the government and the regulators to achieve realistic

results.

“It is a new area and it is expected that laws and relationship between the regulators, investors and customers will be shaped along the way.

According to him, people need to understand the difference between generation and transmission and then the difference between transmission and distribution.

“Most people don’t know what these things are and as far as the customer is concerned, he wants just one thing, power. That is all. We will begin to see improvement within six months, but improvement in communication is the first thing that we need,” he explained.

Due to inadequate supply of gas operations of the new power stations built under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), which are currently undergoing privatisation, have been stalled, Vanguard learnt.

Vanguard , MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 —9

Lagos intensifies fight against maternal mortality

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

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AGOS—DR. Jide Idris, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, yesterday said that Maternal and Child Mortality Reduction, MCMR, strategies employed by the state government were yielding dividends.

According to a statement by the state’s Ministry of Health, Idris said that MCMR strategies were fashioned toward addressing specific causes of maternal and child mortality.

He said since the commencement of the MCMR programme in October 2012, key indicators showed that the strategies were yielding results.

His words: “We have been collecting data to see how far we have gone and if there is a need for us to amend or change our strategies.

“There has been increase in ante-natal attendance, increase in deliveries and increase in patronage of child survival interventions like immunisation against childhood killer diseases.

“Also, we discovered an increase in women accessing family planning services.”

Idris also admitted that there were some delays in seeking assistance and accessing

qualitative care for pregnant women and children.

He identified public enlightenment and infrastructure as areas that needed to be addressed in the MCMR design.

“Delay in seeking appropriate medical help for obstetric emergencies for reasons of cost.

“Lack of recognition of an emergency and lack of access

to information and gender inequity, delay in reaching an appropriate health facility for reasons of distance, infrastructure and transport.

“Delay in receiving adequate care because of suboptimal complement of human resources, inadequate utilities such as electricity, water and unavailability of medical supplies are critical factors, “ he said.

Idris said that there were plans for a renewed health advocacy and sensitisation campaigns, especially in communities where maternal and child health indices were not encouraging.

According to him, town hall meetings had been scheduled for the 20 local government areas with Ajeromi Local Government Area serving as take-off point.

TOURNAMENT: From left: Mrs. Abosede Ramsome-Kuti, Lady Captain, Ikeja Golf Club, Sir Molade Okoya-Thomas, Chairman of the occasion, and Dame Abimbola Fashola,First Lady of Lagos State, at the second edition of Lagos State First Lady's Golf Tournament, at Ikeja Golf Club in Ikeja, Lagos. Photo: Akeem Salau.

Fashola's wife urges NASS to pass Social Security Bill

BY MONSURU OLOWOOPEJO AGOS—WIFE of Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola weekend urged the National Assembly to expedite the passage of the bill to establish the National Social Security Agency, which has been on the floor of the house since 2011.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu in 2011, sponsored the bill to establish the agency which would provide financial assistance to the elderly persons and other matters.

Speaking at the Valentine season at the Retirement Villa, Lekki, tagged ‘Senior Valentine’, to celebrate the aged, Fashola lamented that the country was not doing enough for the elderly.

She said: “The bill is an avenue for the lawmakers to pay their dues to the aged in the country.

And if they think that they don’t want to pass the bill and make life more meaningful for the aged people, it is left for them.

"But they should remember that one day; they will all get to the stage where they will not be able to run around as they use to.

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There isn’t anyone that would not get to this stage. And because of this, we should always be careful and do the right thing at the right

time.

“My own belief is that we must always take good care of the elderly. It doesn’t mean it must

be your parent or relatives but everybody. We should love our elders and make life meaningful for them.

Family's suit over Larner's estate suffers set back contested in court. for the reading of the will.

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BY ONOZURE DANIA

AGOS—A suit by the family of late Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Mr. Harry Lardner, over the deceased’s estate has suffered a setback following a none entry caveat placed on his Will.

The suit was filed by Elizabeth Oladuni Lawrence and Oladipo Harry Lardner the son of the late SAN, against the Probate Registry of the Lagos State High Court alongside three others, before Justice I. Harrison of the state High Court in Ikeja.

Joined as defendants are Harriet Ann Omobolanle Adesola, Rosamond Vera Cruz and Tokunbo Anyaniyi.

At the last sitting, a witness Oladuni Lawrence said she was the mother of Oladipo that she gave birth to him, for the late SAN, which is now being

The claimants said that the will was read, without a notification to Oladipo, who according to them was a beneficiary to Lardner’s estate, adding that he was not notified of the date fixed

The claimants are asking the court for a declaration that the second claimant who is the child and only son of the late Lardner is a beneficiary of the estate of the late SAN.

Pollution: Lagos to construct wastewater plants in estates

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

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AGOS—LAGOS State Government has concluded plans to construct wastewater plants in housing estates across the state as part of effort at reducing the rate of pollution through channeling of wastewater in the lagoon.

Governor Babatunde Fashola disclosed this after inspecting the Abesan Wastewater Treatment Plant, which currently serves the Abesan Housing Estate in Mosan Okunola Local Council

Development Area of the state.

He said plans were already ongoing to construct a new wastewater plant in Odo-Iyalaro in Ojota area and some other housing estates aimed at addressing the issue of channeling wastewater into lagoons.

The governor who expressed satisfaction with the capacity of the plant said it was only possible due to the commitment of the state’s Ministry of Environment which maintains the facility.

Lagos PDP intact, says party stalwart

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AGOS—A stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos State and former aspirant to the Lagos State House of Assembly in the 2011 general elections, Adedayo Ogunjebe, has dismissed claims that the Party has lost majority of its members in Lagos to the ruling All Peoples Congress APC. Ogunjebe in a statement maintained that the party had not gone to sleep, but reconciling aggrieved members in addition to mobilising for new members.

He said: “The issue here is that we do not have the resources to spend frivolously on unnecessary propaganda aimed at giving the populace a wrong impression of what is on ground as the APC is doing.

"As an opposition party in the state, we know the needs of the people and we are doing well to meet some of them, at least within the limits of our resources. This is why we have restricted ourselves to supporting children’s education apart from youth and woman empowerment.”

Rotary celebrates World Understanding Day

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AGOS—THE Rotary Club of Lagos, District 9110, will celebrate the Rotary International’s World Understanding Day this February.

The theme of the celebration is Peace And Conflict Resolution, organised in collaboration with the Chris Ogunbanjo Foundation (Centre For Conflict Resolution ) and the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.

A statement by Kehinde Ayo-Kasumu, said the event would hold at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos on Wednesday, February 19, under the chairmanship of Dr. Michael Omolayole.

The guest speakers are Professor Ibrahim Gambari, a former Under Secretary General of United Nations and Prof. Akin Mabogunje, a renowed scholar and technocrat.

10—Vanguard , MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

N4.7bn fraud: APC taunts Ladoja over A'Court's ruling

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BY OLAAJAYI

BADAN—THE strained relationship between the All Progressives Congress, APC, led government in Oyo State and the former Governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja worsened, weekend, as the ruling party said it had been vindicated by the judgment of the Appeal Court which ruled that Ladoja had a case to answer in the N4.7 billion fraud case.

The suit was instituted against the ex-governor by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFFC. The Appeal Court, through Justice Sidi Bage, had, on Friday, ruled that Ladoja had a case to answer in the charges of money laundering preferred against him.

In a statement by its Interim Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, the APC said the Accord Party boss should ask for forgiveness from the people of the state whose common wealth he allegedly siphonedwhilehewasgovernor.

Hesaid:“Themostpitiablepart of the whole thing is that this samemanstandsonthecampaign podium to hoodwink gullible peoplewhodonotknowdetailsof the fraud allegations preferred against him."

Fayose promises workers good time if elected

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DO EKITI— FORMER Ekiti State governor and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship aspirant, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has promised to elevate status of teachers and other workers in Ekiti State if elected governor of the state.

The former governor also boasted of defeating the incumbent All Progressives Congress, APC, government which he described as descendant of the defunct Alliance for Democracy, AD, which he sent packing in the 2003 election.

According to a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr. Idowu Adelusi in Ado Ekiti, Fayose said he has the capacity to reclaim the power and glory for the PDP in Ekiti andSouth West if given the ticket because he had done it before.

Politics not for the ungodly —OBASANJO

BY DAUDOLATUNJI BEOKUTA—FORMER President, Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, declared that politics was not meant for ungodly people, dismissing argument that Christians should not be in politics and urged Nigerians to fear God and be in politics to correct the ills in the society.

Obasanjo spoke at the special thanksgiving to mark the fifth anniversary of the Chapel of Christ the Glorious King, CCGC, a religious arm of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, OOPL, Abeokuta.

The former President who eulogised Rev. Dr. S.T Ola Akande for joining politics said: “One of the beliefs in some quarters is that true Christians should not be in politics but it is a fallacy.

“If we allow this to be, we shall be having ungodly people and this should not be because if you refuse to participate in politics, bad people will dominate it. We must encourage Christians, those God have accepted, to be in politics, or else, what we will be witnessing will not be good.

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have money. But, they said if I have had money, may be they would not have come to me.

“I soon realised how I will raise money for transportation, so I started visiting people in the morning and evening and that was how we made it.”

Mystery about Obasanjo

In his sermon, Ola Akande noted that he noticed a mystery about Obasanjo, saying; “This is a special man that God has given to contemporary Nigerian

generation.

‘You all know that God has granted him many victories in life. So, the building of such a chapel is indeed an expression of praise and thanksgiving to Christ the Glorious King.

The cleric said: “So to you, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, I say well done. May God continue to grant you more of His grace in Jesus name.”

He took a swipe at the current politics ahead of the 2015 general elections, saying that, “defections

and counter defections from one party to another are rubbing us of our sleep.

“We wish you all success in your search for argurion, the Greek word for money.

“I expect that, from now on, many hungry men and women will be trailing you in hope of being fed with your votes-for-me gift after which you will abandon them and start to be taking care of yourselves alone with your constituency allowances.

Politics and money

“One of the early things I learnt in politics is that it requires money. Not money for bribe but for what is called genuine administration.

“Some of the people who will come will need money for transportation. When they came to me, I told them that I do not

VISIT: Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun (left) and Mama HID Awolowo when the governor visited the matriarch of the Awolowo family, at her Ikenne residence, weekend.

Osun APC, PDP bicker over guber election

BY GBENGAOLARINOYE

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SOGBO—BOTH the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the main opposition party in Osun State, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are bickering over this August governorship election in the state.

While the PDP, weekend, threatened not to participate in any election supervised by the state Resident Electoral Commissioner REC, Dr. Rufus Akeju, APC, said the PDP must be scared of the qualities of the man who perhaps they believe, would not accede to their desperate rigging plans.

PDP in the statement by its state chairman, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa in Osogbo, noted that there was no way the REC would not be bias in his handling of the election, “because Akeju is a card carrying member of APC.” His words: "Apart from not participating in the future elections conducted by Mr. Akeju, PDP will resist any such exercise and reject its outcome, as any election conducted or supervised by Mr. Akeju will lead to chaos and a probable breakdown of law and order."

But the APC in a statement by its Director of Publicity, Research

and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, charged the law enforcement agencies to monitor every statement from the PDP leaders.

The party told the PDP that “it does not have the capacity to threaten peace in the state and get away with it.”

According to the APC, law enforcement agencies in the state would deal decisively with any threat from the PDP to disrupt, through violence, the up-coming gubernatorial election.

Describing the statement as

"arrogant and irresponsible," Oyatomi said Olaoluwa’s remark was a statement of intention by the PDP to cause chaos at all cost during the election in utter disregard of security agencies and the wishes of peace-loving people of Osun.

On the threat of the PDP to boycott the election, if Akeju conducts it, the APC said the PDP must be scared of the qualities of the man who perhaps they believe, would not

accede to their desperate rigging plans.

“Their complaint against Akeju is totally baseless, otherwise, they would have accepted the challenge of Professor Attahiru Jega, the INEC boss, to prove their allegation against Akeju.”

APC called on all the security agencies to take especial notice of this open threat to cause mayhem during the election, and do everything within the law to make it impossible.

Daniel's aide, Ogun govt trade words over N2.8bn loan

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BY DAUD OLATUNJI

BEOKUTA—OGUN State Commissioner for Finance, Kemi Adeosun and a former aide to former Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State, Gboyega Isiaka have engaged each other over alleged N2.8 billion fraud.

Adeosun fired the first salvo when she accused, Isiaka, who was the Group Managing Director of Gateway Holdings of taking a loan worth N2.8 billion for the construction of the

company’s head office saying the money was diverted.

The commissioner while answering questions from the legislators during her appearance at the House over proposed N19 billion loan, said Isiaka took the loan from two banks, yet, there was no foundation anywhere in the state for which the loan was taken in the name of the state government.

In his reaction, Isiaka who is

also a governorship aspirant under Labour Party in the state described the allegation as a calculated attempt to misinform the people.

His words: "Let it be stated emphatically that her submission as usual, is a huge lie and a deliberately crafted falsehood consciously weaved to misinform the Ogun House of Assembly, OGHA, and indeed Ogun people in order to befuddle them from querying their latest loan gambit."

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014—11

Uneasy calm in EGTL as Chevron evacuates workers

BY EMMA AMAIZE

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ARRI—THERE was uneasy calm, weekend, at the Chevron Nigeria Limited operated Escravos Gas-To-Liquid, EGTL, project in Ugborodo, Warri SouthWest Local Government Area, Delta State, after soldiers, Saturday, fired tear gas at aggrieved Nigerian workers and chased them out of the camp.

One of the workers, who spoke to Vanguard from Escravos, yesterday morning, said: “We were forced out of our camp on Saturday morning by soldiers who fired tear gas at us. They beat up and handcuffed workers, all in a bid to intimidate and send us out of the camp, but there was no boat to evacuate us throughout Saturday after they violently threw us out.”

Asked where the workers slept, since he claimed there was no boat to evacuate them, he said: “The boat they said was coming to evacuate us did not come. We were outside till 7pm when the soldiers came back to beg us to go back and sleep in the camp. They appealed that we should not be angry over the treatment they meted out to us, and that they did what government directed them to do.

“As I speak to you, we woke up very early. As at 11.02 am, we are still waiting for them to bring a boat to evacuate us. We have been suffering here since Saturday. There is no boat yet. When we got back to the camp, Saturday evening, soldiers had scattered everywhere; you would have felt bad for us as

Nigerians, if you had seen how shabbily we were treated.”

The workers, who locked down the company for five days, are at loggerheads with Chevron's management, over alleged non-payment of their pay-off after the successful conclusion of the project.

Chevron, however, told a different story from the aggrieved workers. It claimed that some of community workers were the ones that held

other workers hostage in the camp.

General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs of the company, Mr. Deji Hasstrup, in a statement, said “Chevron confirms that more than 1,000 junior contract workers locked down over the past five days in our EGTL camp have been freed.

“The workers had been held against their will by some protesting community workers employed by local community contractors. The

Federal Government’s security apparatus, the Joint Task Force, JTF, successfully set the workers free on February 15, 2014. All the workers are safe and on their way home.

“We are happy that this has been finally brought to a peaceful conclusion. Many of the workers are now either back in Warri, Delta State or en-route to Warri to re-unite with their families. Chevron has notified their employers of the successful rescue of their workers."

ORUBEBE DECLARES GUBER AMBITION: From left: Chief Terry Noah, DirectorGeneral, Delta Peoples Forum; Elder Godsday Orubebe, Mr. Sam Osasa and Eniforo Mallam-Obi, during Orubebe's declaration of interest in Delta State's governorship race.

Photo: Nath Onojake.

Defence: Gusau’s nomination in order —Gbagi

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

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ORMER Minister of State for Education and a chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, has commended President Goodluck Jonathan for nominating

General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau as defence minister, saying that the move would boost security in the country.

In a chat with Vanguard, Gbagi, said: “I have read newspaper comments and

articles from faceless persons with regard to a fine, honest and detribalised security expert, General Gusau. As a criminologist before being a lawyer and in all my stint with security operations in this country, if there is a man

NDDC to resume work on stalled road projects in Delta

BY FESTUS AHON

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GHELLI—WORK on the 11km Otokutu-OwevweOpherin Road project in Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State, awarded by Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, but stalled due to a conflict between the contractor and the benefiting communities, is set to resume, following the resolution of the differences and promise by the contractor to withdraw the suit instituted against the communities in court.

The contractor, S.O.Olotu and Sons Ltd, was weekend, asked to return to site by the commissioner representing the state on the

board of NDDC, Chief Tom Amioku, after a peace meeting involving all parties, where the representatives of the three communities openly apologised to the company and its management over unfounded allegations against the firm.

The contractor had taken the communities to court due to the alleged libelous allegation leveled against the company by the communities’ representatives with regard to the N80 million compensation money on the road project.

The Chief Liaison Officer of the three communities,

Mr. Prosper Ogbaise and the adviser to the three communities, Chief Igbe Abubakar, pleaded for forgiveness from the contractor, stating that it was a misunderstanding.

They also thanked the NDDC Commissioner, Amioku, for his intervention on the matter, adding that the road, when completed will enhance the socio-economic lives of the people.

Amioku, on the way forward, directed the communities to collectively write a letter to the court, appealing to withdraw the case after which the contractor will complete the process of withdrawal.

I have admired from a distance, who has carried out his work with regard to security of Nigeria with such responsibility, it will be General Gusau.

“While I was going in as a minister, General Gusau was leaving. Many questions crossed my mind. I doff my hat for what I consider the most decisive decision of my boss, President Jonathan, to have made the choice. We must all remember that Nigeria is greater than us all and do away with parochial views that are against the greater Nigerian interest.

"Nigerians should look forward with great expectation to the magic touch solutions to the security problems of Nigeria having now saddled one of the finest men the world over with the responsibility of securing his own country. My thanks go to our President for that brave and courageous step. He has demonstrated by this singular action that the issue of securing Nigeria is uppermost in his agenda."

2015: Okunbor joins Edo South senatorial race

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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ENIN—AHEAD of the 2015 general elections in Edo State, the race for Senator Ehigie Uzamere’s successor in Edo South senatorial district of the state intensifies, following indications that the Benin born billionaire, Captain Hosa Okunbor, may soon join the senatorial race on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Uzamere, who recently dumped All Progressives Congress, APC, for PDP, will be ending his second term as a senator representing the Binis. It is still unclear if part of the deals, which led to his movement back to PDP, include a third term ticket. His counterpart in Edo Central senatorial district, Senator Odion Ugbesia, has indicated interest to run for a third term.

Meanwhile, the Minority Whip of the House of Representatives, Mr Samson Osagie, former House of Representatives member, West Ehioge-Idahosa, have indicated interest to run for the Edo South senatorial seat after Uzamere, though others are expected to join the race as Vanguard learnt.

Urhobo group condemns alleged assault on ex-Delta lawmaker

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HE Urhobo People Integrity Organisation, has condemned the alleged assault and attempted murder of former Delta State House of Assembly member, Mr. Efe Afe, by some naval personnel, at his Kayriott Hotel in Effurun, Delta State, recently.

The group in the statement by its Chairman, Dr. Ebenezer Okorodudu, described the alleged attack on Afe and some staff of the hotel as barbaric and unbecoming of naval personnel, noting that the action of Navy officers concerned was a gross violation of the fundamental human rights of the former lawmaker and a member of the group.

It called on the naval authority to, as a matter of urgency, carry out a public inquiry/ investigation into the alleged dastardly acts of its officers.

12—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

God'll choose my successor—Amaechi

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

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IVERS State governor and Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said that he was not in any position to know who becomes his successor, as only God knows.

He said he will personally pray for God to make His choice on who becomes the next governor of the state.

He spoke at St. Barth’s Anglican Church, Bera Deanery, during Senator Magnus Abe’s thanksgiving service in Gokana Local Government Area of the state, weekend.

Senator Abe had organised the thanksgiving service to thank God for his survival in the attack on him by the police at a Save Rivers Movement rally in Rumuola, Port Harcourt.

Amaechi said the next governor would be somebody of reliable character, who would continue after him in transformation of the state.

He said: “You must prepare for the next election, so that you will teach them a lesson and the only way to teach them a lesson is first to pray to God, after praying, go and register, if you don’t have a voter’s card. If you have a voter’s card, wait for the election and vote against Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. “I have not started praying for who will take over from me. When I start, you will know. The prayer for now is God, we want you to deliver All Progressives Congress, APC. God, we want you to lead us to build a party called

APC. “The moment we are convinced that we are finished with that, I will put my knees again on the ground, and I will tell my wife and I will tell my pastors. Usually, when we go to God, we don’t go with a name. If you go with a name, you are not asking God to make a decision, you are telling God I have made my decision.

God, please make this decision for me, so that we don’t meet failure in the course of the struggle and once God chooses whoever will be gov-

ernor, I believe that all of us will work together to support the person because all these things we have done so far, if we don’t get the right person in, they would collapse.

They will spend four years stealing money before they remember that you exist because we know them. We have documents, they have served under us.”

On Abe’s condition before he was flown abroad for treatment, Governor Amaechi said: “I was the first to tell him to travel because of his condition.”

Governor Amaechi described senators and members of the House of Representatives, who came for Senator Abe’s thanksgiving service as loyal friends of the senator.

“I thank the senators and members of the House of Representatives and I thank those of you who have come.

It shows friendship, it shows loyalty to friendship and I believe that being loyal to friendship means that that person will pay you back when it is your turn."

INSTALLATION: Chief Newton Agbafodoh (left), during his installation as the Unuevworo of Ekpan by HRM Emmanuel Sideso, Abe I, Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom. Photo: Akpokona Omafuaire.

Maternal, child health, my most valued project—Uduaghan

BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI

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A R R I— GOV E RNOR Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has said that his administration’s increased investment in maternal and child health was because it was the most valuable project of

his government.

The governor while commissioning a 100bed Maternal and Child Care Complex and other projects at the Central Hospital, Warri, said he has special attachment to ensuring that every woman in the state deliv-

I’m driving devt revolution in Bayelsa —Dickson

BY SONI DANIEL

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AYELSA State governor, Chief Henr y Dickson, said, yesterday, that he was laying a solid foundation for a development revolution in the state.

Dickson, in an interview with journalists, said he was moved by the reality of underdevelopment in the state to do more for the state and its people.

The governor, who marked his second anniversary in office on Friday, pointed out that he decid-

ed to make the financial position of the state public, so as to encourage accountability and checkmate misappropriation of public funds.

Dickson pointed out that the Transparency and Accountability Act, which he signed into law makes it an offence if he fails to render the state’s financial position for up to three months, adding that he passed the law in the overall interest of the state.

ers safely.

He said: “I value this project (Maternal and Child Care) more than any other project. I value it more than bridges, buildings, roads, vehicles and any other project we have delivered. It is not right for any women or her child to die during delivery.

“There are two major reasons women have been dying in the past.

One is poverty, which we have dealt with through the free ante-natal and child care. The other is ignorance, which we are already dealing with by improving facilities and creating awareness, so that our women can get the right advice and best services for safe delivery.”

Shortly before unveiling the new health facility, the governor advised

expectant women present to observe child spacing and birth control, urging mothers who have had up to four children to visit the facility for proper birth control guidance.

Group supports FG’s move to end Ugborodo crisis

BY EMMA AMAIZE

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ARRI—ITSEKIRI Communities Youth Development Initiative, ICYDI, weekend, expressed satisfaction with the efforts of the Federal Government to resolve the crisis rocking Ugborodo community in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State over the inauguration of the Export Processing Zone, EPZ, committee.

The group, in a statement by its national president, Mr. Ojogor Anderson, said it was in support of the Federal Government’s February 10, extension of the resolution process by one week to accommodate one of the factional groups led by Mr. David Tonwe.

He said: “We wish to express our satisfaction with the Federal Government for being fair and merciful towards the factional group involved in the Ugborodo community crisis, led by Tonwe in the resolution process of the EPZ project committee on February 10, by extending it by another week due to the failure of the Tonweled group to submit its list of 10 names for the setting up of the committee in Abuja.

“We are calling on the Tonwe faction to accept the one week extension as a pardon from the Federal Government and to submit its 10 names to make up the list by February 17, so as not to undermine government’s peace move.

“We wish both factions an amicable resolution of the dispute in the interest of total development of Ugborodo community and Itsekiri nation at large.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014—13

Court orders IMSG to pay N1bn to contractor

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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WERRI — Imo State High Court sitting in Owerri has ordered the state government to pay Mr. Gideon Egbuchulam and his firm, EF Network, the sum of N1 billion over a failed contract.

Apart from the governor, other defendants in the suit are the state Attorney General, Imo State Environmental Transformation Committee and the state Ministry of Petroleum.

The presiding judge, Hon. Justice Ijeoma Agugua, had in suit HOW/ 538/2011, ordered government to pay N800 million for the failed contract and another N200 million as special and general damages to the claimant.

Justice Agugua was particularly irked that “the defendants failed, refused and/or neglected to file a defence, despite the opportunities given by this court.”

The judge also said he arrived at the verdict after going through the papers filed by the claimants and

his evidence, which was unchallenged and after reading the written ad-

dress of S. O. Ejiogu, counsel for the claimant, as well as hearing the oral address

LAUNCHING: Governor Peter Obi (right), CEO of Bank of Industry, Evelyn Oputu (middle); Innocent Chukwuma (left), CEO of INNOSON Vehicles Manufacturing Company, Nnewi, inspecting some of the vehicles manufactured by the company, at the launching of Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP, and the National Enterprise Development Programme, NEDEP, at the Banquet Hall of Aso Rock Villa.

Burning of APC register: Enugu PDP chieftain on the run

BY TONY EDIKE

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NUGU — A factional chairman of Peoples Democratic Party,

PDP, in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, who allegedly led armed thugs to hijack and burn the membership register of

Ogbuewu's returns to Ebonyi PDP with APGA supporters

BY PETER OKUTU

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BAKALIKI — FORMER ambassador to Greece and Minister of Culture and Tourism, Chief Frank

Ogbuewu, and 250,000 supporters of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, weekend, returned to Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ebonyi State.

FG under pressure to re-open negotiations with Boko Haram

BY SONI DANIEL, Regional Editor, North

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S THE Boko Haram sect continues its bombing campaign in parts of the north, indication has emerged that the Federal Government may be under pressure to open fresh negotiations with the group.

Vanguard learnt last night that the pressure was being mounted on the Presidency by diplomats from the European Union and America, who felt that it was too early for the Nigerian government to discontinue with dialogue with the sect, which the U.S has labelled a terrorist organisation.

A top source in the Presidency confirmed the mounting pressure from the international commu-

of J. C. Ibe (Mrs.), Assistant Director, Civil Litigation.

nity on the Federal Government to open fresh talks with the sect in a bid to end the cycle of violence that had claimed many lives and property in country.

The source said: “It is true that there is renewed pressure on the Federal Government for it to reopen negotiations with the sect.

“The international community is keen on fresh negotiation because they do not believe the government should back out at his time.

The source, who did not want to be quoted, said however, that the government was feeling reluctant to go back to the negotiation table when its initial offer of amnesty was largely rebuffed by the terrorists.

Afterwards, the sect, however, stepped up its killing and maiming campaigns in the north.

Ogbuewu, who was APGA’s governorship candidate in 2011, made the declaration at an extended Exco meeting of APGA in Abakaliki, which also unanimously adopted a resolution that all APGA members in the 13 local government areas of the state move into the PDP.

All Progressives Congress, APC, in the area, is now on the run.

The PDP chieftain was said to have fled when he got a hint that policemen were on his trail over the alleged crime.

The PDP chieftain had led the thugs to hijack the register while collation of materials from the just concluded APC membership registration was ongoing at Udi collation centre at IFEPET Garden, Ninth Mile Corner.

The thugs reportedly dumped the register in a nearby bush, soaked it with petrol and set it on fire.

Group asks Enugu PDP chairman to resign

BY TONY EDIKE

E

NUGU — A political pressure group, Enugu West People’s Forum, has asked the Peoples Democratic Party,

FG adopts national policy on mental health

A

WKA — THE Federal Government has adopted a national policy for mental health service delivery in the country.

The policy, which was a revision of that of 1991, was adopted by the National Council of Health to ensure people with mental health situations, irrespective of age, gender and socio-economic status, had access to the medical service.

PDP, chairman in the state, Engr. Vita Abba to resign and face his gubernatorial aspiration.

The group also decried alleged attempts by some state government functionaries and the Enugu PDP Chairman, Engr. Abba to compel and rail-road various government functionaries and party executives into hasty endorsement of the Governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime and his preferred candidates for elective political positions in the forthcoming 2015 general elections.

However, the state PDP chairman, Engr.

Abba dismissed the allegations by the group as baseless and laughable.

14—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

No vaccine shortage in Nigeria — FG

Visa saga: ICPC seizes 372 int'l passports

BY VICTORIA OJEME

A

BY CALEB AYANSINA

A

BUJA — THE Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, weekend, said it had in its custody no fewer than 372 international passports recovered from several persons and agents.

The recovery, according to the agency, is part of an ongoing clamp-down on corruption-prone processes in the acquisition of visas.

The commission disclosed that it had initiated several arrests after receiving an ever increasing number of petitions from prospective students seeking educational placement and patients seeking medical attention abroad, who were duped by some agents.

The effort, ICPC said in a statement by its Resident Consultant, Media and Events, Mr. Folu Olamiti, in Abuja, had led to significant changes in visa administration by respective government departments, travel agencies, embassies and travellers.

Consequently, the statement directed owners of the recovered passports to appear at its headquarters in Abuja, between February 19 and 28, 2014, with proof of ownership and the travel documents supporting their visa applications to respective embassies, to collect their passports.

The agency said: “ICPC operatives, had in October 2013, arrested 18 suspects in Abuja and Lagos. Three of them were allegedly involved in the production of fake documents to satisfy visa requirements, while one was in possession of suspicious travel documents. ”The rest were either arrested for forged documents or for allegedly procure a fake invitation letters from Indian hospitals.

RAFFLE: From left, Ipad winner, Andrew Esihemomoh, Chief Marketing Officer, MTN, Larry Annetts; On Air Personality, OAP, Oliseh Adibua, during the raffle draw prize presentation, at the MTN Valentine Rave Party, in Lagos.

BUJA — THE Federal Government has assured Nigerians and the international community of adequate vaccines’ supply and injection materials at all health facilities in the country.

Executive Director and Chief Executive, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Ado Muhammad, gave the assurance while speaking with newsmen in Abuja.

He disclosed that the Federal Government in 2014, provided N6 billion for vaccine procurement through UNICEF. He said: “All needed vaccines for first quarter of 2014 have already been distributed to all health facilities nationwide since November last year."

Okogie warns corrupt leaders

BY SAM EYOBOKA

A

RCHBISHOP EMERITUS of Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie has issued a strong warning to Nigerian politicians who are in the habit of looting the nation’s treasury to desist from such unruly behaviour or incur the wrath of the people.

In a recent release made available to newsmen, the prelate, while joining the human rights community in eulogising the legacies of the late human rights activist, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, regretted that most of the moral principles for which the nation’s past heroes lived and struggled to entrench in our polity, seemed to have been buried with them.

Okogie, who commended the human rights groups for the peaceful manner they comported themselves during the programmes organised to mark the eighth year remembrance of Dr. RansomeKuti, challenged the nation’s leaders to live up to their electoral promises by providing the masses with the necessary social amenities needed to make life worth living.

Minister urges states to establish SPHCDB

BY VICTORIA OJEME

A

BUJA — MINISTER of Health, Prof. Onye buchi Chukwu, has advised states yet to established Primary Health Care Development Board, SPHCDB, to do so without delay.

This, according to him, is to enable them access the Primary Health Care, PHC, funds as provided for in the National Health Bill when finally passed into law.

Chukwu gave this advice at the official launch of the Nigeria State Health Investment Project, NSHIP, in partnership with World Bank, yesterday, in Abuja.

“How quickly we forget our heroes. It is sad that their legacies seem to be buried with them. This period is another opportunity for our leaders to have a re-think and consider the plights of the oppressed masses.

"We live in a country where over 90 per cent of the citizens are oppressed and homeless. This is why I am calling on our leaders, especially the corrupt ones, who are in the habit of looting the nation’s treasury and manipulating the system for their selfish ends to desist from doing such,” Okogie

stated.

He regretted that some of the nation’s political and religious leaders have sold their conscience for the sake of money, noting with dismay that the race for the occupation of political offices in 2015, had given rise to unethical oppressive practices by politicians against the poor masses.

“I want to call on all those who have sold their conscience for money to read the handwriting on the wall and repent before it is too late.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014—15

2015: Prelate advocates life sentence for violent politicians

BY LUKA BINNIYAT

K

ADUNA — HEAD of the Methodist Church in Nigeria, His Eminence, Dr. Samuel Kanu Uche, yesterday, advocated life jail for any politician who engages in violence in the next general elections.

He also condemned same-sex marriage as well as judges who were in habit of freeing corrupt public officers who steal billions of Naira from public coffers, using plea bargain as cover.

The Methodist Prelate spoke in Kaduna during the enthronement of Rev. Sunday Oga Idoko as the Archbishop of Kaduna Diocese of the church, in charge of the Methodist Dioceses of the North-West and North-East zones.

He said it was particularly immoral for judges to free those who he said stole billions of Naira in a plea-bargain arrangement, while jailing petty thieves.

Speaking to newsmen at the event attended by the Senate President, Senator David Mark; Governor Ramalan Yero of Kaduna state and the Emir of Zaria, Alhaji Shehu Idris, among others, Uche said: “I want President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to quickly enact a law that will give life sentence to any politician engaged in violent activities ahead, during or after the 2015 general elections.

"Any politician who stores or imports arms for the purpose of election should be incarcerated for life. Government must take the bull by the horn and stop this violence.

“There are two men who said that there would be violence in 2015 if this or that does not happen. I expected them to be arrested and charged. If I were Jonathan, I will get them arrested.

But he (Jonathan) is afraid. Who is he afraid of? The two people are still moving freely. It is sad that in this country, there seem to be two set of laws. The law here is a respecter of big men."

On same sex marriage On same sex marriage, he said: “It is unethical, it's unbiblical, it is anti-Islamic, it is against African tradition, its un-Nigerian, its absurd. No one should back gay marriage under any disguise.

Even a male dog does not climb another male dog. They respect themselves, talk less of us humans. Here I am in agreement with the President and the National Assembly on the issue.”

The Senate President, Senator David Mark, whose address was read by Senator Pwajock Gyang, said Idoko had been a faithful servant of God who had committed his entire life to the service of the church. Mark congratulated him and asked that God blessed

his mission.

Governor Yero of Kaduna State, who was represented by his deputy, Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga, spoke on the need for

unity between the two major religions (Christianity and Islam) in the state.

Yero said he was not pleased with the situation whereby Chris-

tians in Kaduna metropolis were moving southwards while Muslims were relocating northwards to avoid one another and called for better understanding and trust.

Governor Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State (2nd right); Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Kaduna State Council, Comrade Yusuf Idris (right); Director General (Media) to the state governor, Malam Ahmed Maiyaki (left) and the state Commissioner for Commerce, Mr Joshua Shekarau, at the commissioning of the NUJ shopping complex, in Kaduna, weekend. Photo: Olu Ajayi.

Ban on rallies at airports: APC accuses police of selective enforcement

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

L

AGOS — THE All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused the police of selective enforcement of its ban on political, socio-cultural and religious rallies at the nation’s airports.

In a statement in Lagos, yesterday, by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the police were wrong to have allowed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to flout the ban with impunity on February 1, when hundreds of the party’s members thronged the Bauchi airport to welcome the new PDP chairman, Adamu Muazu.

Mohammed said a video footage of the reception showed PDP supporters, cultural troupes and praise singers besieging the airport and even surrounding the plane just like passengers would have surrounded a ‘Molue’ in a bus stop, pointing out that this was even as armed policemen looked the other way.

According to him, the police ban on airport rallies was signed by the agency’s spokesman, Frank Mbah, on November 6, last year.

Mohammed then alerted Nigerians that the alleged selective enforcement of the order "does not augur well for the 2015 general elections when the police are expected to be neutral and professional in carrying out their duties.

"The questions to ask are: Is the ban not applicable to the PDP? If it is applicable to it, what has the police done to sanction the party since it breached the order over two weeks ago? If the police will allow the PDP to get away with such lawlessness, can the same police sanction any other party or individual who breaches its order banning rallies at airports?"

He further alleged that the double standard being exhibited by the police was the reason many Nigerians were accusing it of having turned itself to the enforcement arm of the PDP.

Wada urges LG bosses to make sacrifices

BY BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO

L

OKOJA — Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State has appealed to council chairmen across the state to make sacrifices to stabilise the council in view of the dwindling allocation from the Federal Government.

Wada spoke at the Mopamuro Local Government Area of the state while commissioning some tricycles purchased at 25 per cent discount by the council for some youths in the area.

Wada who was represented on the occasion by the deputy governor, Mr. Yomi Awoniyi, noted that the dwindling monthly financial allocation from the Federal Government had affected all tiers of government and called for sacrifice on the part of the council bosses.

16 Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 HE descent to anarchy, no matter the form it takes, should not be tolerated in any society that law and order guide.

Some of the biggest challenges our law face are from the authorities, who stretch the limits of immunity, and constitute themselves into law. They chose which law to obey and the ones that they treat with disdain.

A trend in this direction is the growing interests of States in disobeying federal laws, or enacting their versions of the law, are brought to court are waiting to hurl which usually contradicts the federal law. stones at the suspects. A guilty verdict Examples are the sharia law in the North would award them the right to stone the and the refusal of States to obey the 11offenders to death. The law says stone the year-old Child’s Rights Act, and the 2011 offenders to death!

Freedom of Information Act. As critics condemn the 14 years’ imprisThe dangers of this conduct are obvious. onment the federal law prescribes, they What is illegal in some parts of the counignore the finality of the sentence in Bautry, are legal in other parts. The case of chi, if the suspects are found guilty. The the sharia law is worse. While the federal Bauchi setting is only one of the dangers law prescribes 14 years’ imprisonment for of state laws that contradict federal laws. same sex relationships, the sharia law The other is the bleak future absolute disstates death by stoning as the penalty. interest in the Child’s Rights Act entails. The In Bauchi, some in a motley crowd that Act provides for education of the child, gathers when some alleged homosexuals among other welfares, and prescribes pun-

T

ficial Sttopping Of Official Lawlessness

ishments for child labour and early marriages. Why would governments that are interested in the future of Nigeria, neglect children, the building blocks for the future?

States excuse their illegality by claiming they have concurrent jurisdiction on these issues. The excuse is not tenable. Our Constitution is clear about the precedence of federal laws over state laws.

According to Section 4 (5) of the Constitution, “If any law enacted by the House of Assembly of a State is inconsistent with any law validly made by the National Assembly, the law made by the National Assembly shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void”.

No State had a Child’s Right Act by 2003 or the Freedom of Information Act in 2011.

Even with the sharia law that preceded the 2014 same sex law, the Constitution states that the contradictions in the sharia law are void.

It is time the Attorney-General of the Federation legally compelled States to obey the Constitution.

OPINION

BY UCHE NWOSU

I

T was Clement Richard Attlee (18831967), the British statesman who posited that “democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking”. I will not hesitate to add here that democracy is not all about talking but also about popular participation. For people to feel the impact of governance both the influential and the deprived, the young and old, the educated and the uneducated etc must be part of what is happening in their own affairs.

In big democracies such as United States and Europe, it is taken for granted that the people will not only have a say on who leads them, how he does it and the way he provides governance to all and sundry, but hold him accountable for his deeds and misdeeds in office. In other words, “government”, like Edmund Burke (1729-1797) puts it; “is contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants”, adding “Men have a right that these wants should be provided for by this wisdom”.

Recently, a delegation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Abia State visited the new National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu in his office at the Wadata plaza headquarters of the PDP in Abuja to pay solidarity and congratulate him for emerging as the party’s national boss. The delegation was led by Governor T.A .Orji; a man who has variously being described as the icon of democracy and a unifier of all interests, shades of opinions and political leanings, in a state where these virtues took flight before he assumed office in 2007.

Certainly, during the visit, the issue of

C M Y K

Abia: Splendour of one accord maintaining the peace and tranquility that now pervades the state and also ensuring the sustenance of the party’s winning streak in the state came up. The Abia stakeholders who graced the event, requested among others that for the current peace and unity to be sustained, the national body should avoid the temptation of virus finding its way into the Abia political space so that the system does not crash.

However, since the visit, many critics particularly those from a familiar territory have gone to town shouting themselves hoarse and making inflammatory statements . To them, the visit was targeted at Orji Kalu, former governor of the state.

Writing in various columns particularly in the Sun newspapers, these hack writers situate that the delegation had no business going to Abuja to pay courtesies to the new national chairman.

How wrong they are! The delegation was there on behalf of Abia people. It was a delegation well represented by virtually all sections of Abia people. Those who call the shot in Abia politics, in the economy and in the social circles were there. the National Vice Chairman South East zone of PDP, all the three Senators, the eight Representatives from the House of Representatives from the state, principal officers of the Abia House of Assembly, Chairman of the party in the state and some of his exco members as well as key stakeholders of PDP in Abia state were there.

This is the quality of distinguished personalities that a columinst humorously

and hilariously disparaged; calling them “small-minded fellows intent on dominating the political space, intimidated by others bigger than they ”. That personalities like Ike Nwachukwu, a former military governor of old Imo state, a General in the Nigerian Army, Senator of the Federal Republic et al who also spoke at the event could be so demeaned in a write up scripted only in defence of a pay master, is to say the least disrespectful and lacking in all journalistic ethics and ethos.

Who was missing in that delegation that it should be lampooned. The Igbo say that in a forest where you behold ebi and ada (two diminutive species of ants) the census of animals in the minuscule clan is 100 percent. That Onyema Ugochukwu, Vincent Ogbulafor, Ojo Maduekwe, Adolph Wabara, Mao Ohuabunwa, Ihechukwu Madubuike, and all other personalities who had at one time or the other played significant roles in the politics and economy of this country to be there, under one voice, understanding and comradeship and Orji Kalu was not there goes a long way to show how he ran the state from 1999 to 2007.

Politics is about inclusion and not exclusion; that is why it is imperative for a chief executive to make sure that majority of the people operate on one page in the governance of their collective destiny. If a former leader did not do so but mystified governance and kept people who could offer sound intellectual and ingenious advice to the state were on continuous flight out of their homesteads, do you expect a hero’s

acceptance for him? If the critics of the Abia delegation to Wadata house are not happy with the continuous plea to any national chairman not to re-absorb Kalu and his group into the PDP fold, they should seek to know why it is so.

Undue criticisms or going to the gutters to scoop the debris to smear people who are merely asking for the sustenance of peace in Abia will not solve the problem. Good leadership is the key. That governor T.A Orji is the darling of the people in Abia and beyond is because of his selflessness and live-and-let-live attitude. That is why Abia stakeholders rally round him, accompanying him to vital state assignments with glee.

Besides that, he has impressed all who cross his path. His ability to put in place certain structures hitherto lacking in all parts of the state is enthralling. Abia today has become a huge construction site with each month recording one project commissioned.

There is the multi-million naira state secretariat; the international conference centre, new Government house Umuahia, internationally acclaimed diagnostic medical centre and over 1000 roads built by the administration, construction of three major markets in Umuahia and now building of an airport The state boasts of an ultra modern radio station, some housing estates scattered in the three senatorial zone of the state. Then you have the water and electricity initiative which the Stategovernment is pursuing to ensure that its citizens enjoy the dividends of democracy uninterrupted. *Mr. Nwosu, a public affairs commentator, wrote from Umuahia, Abia State.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 41

C M Y K

42 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 43

44—Vanguard, MONDAY , FEBUARY 17, 2014

How a healthy mouth keeps diabetes in check

BY CHIOMA OBINNA O you know that diabe tes can affect any part of your body? Do you know that out of the estimated 20 million people that have diabetes, only two-third of these individuals are diagnosed? Studies have shown that oral infections tend to be more severe in diabetic patients than nondiabetic patients? And, do you know that this is because diabetics who do not have good control over their blood sugar levels tend to have more oral health problems.

But the good news, according to medical experts is that you can prevent most of these problems by keeping your blood sugar under control, eating healthy, being physically active, working with your health care provider to keep your blood pressure and cholesterol under control, and getting necessary screening tests. Most times, the question has been, how can diabetes affect my mouth? Too much glucose also called sugar, in your blood from diabetes can cause pain, infection, and other problems in your mouth. Your mouth includes; your teeth, your gums, your jaw and tissues such as your tongue, the roof and bottom of your mouth, and the inside of your cheeks.

When diabetes is not controlled, high glucose levels in your saliva help harmful

D

germs, called plaque, grow.

Plaque also comes from eating foods that contain sugars or starches. Some types of plaque cause tooth decay or cavities.

Other types of plaque cause gum disease.

People with diabetes can have tooth and gum problems more often if their blood glucose stays high. Also, smoking makes it more likely for you to get a bad case of gum disease, especially if you have diabetes and are age 45 or older.

People with diabetes are also prone to other mouth problems, like fungal infections, poor post-surgery healing, and dry mouth. Since infections can also make your blood sugar rise, your diabetes may become even harder to control. Experts say, keeping your mouth healthy can help you manage your blood sugar.

You can help maintain your mouth by keeping your blood glucose as close to normal as possible, brushing your teeth at least twice a day, and flossing once a day. Keep any dentures clean. Get a dental cleaning and examination regularly. Call your dentist if your gums are red, sore, bleeding, or pulling away from the teeth, or if you have any possible tooth infection; or soreness from dentures. If your blood sugar is not under control, talk with both your dentist and physician and keep your mouth in good health.

•For a healthy mouth, brush morning and night.

To make progress, Nigeria needs a healthy society, says Dangote

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

N

IGERIAN Business mogul and Africa's richest man, Mr. Aliko Dangote, has called for the realisation of a healthy Nigerian society to enable the country advance forward as a developed sovereign nation.

Dangote, who spoke weekend at the Summit of the Private Sector Health Alliance while inaugurating the Nigeria Health Innovation Market, NHIM, Steering Committee, called for viable partnerships between the Nigerian private sector and Federal government to enable the country attain targets of the Millennium Development Goals,

Implement 2013 World Cancer Declaration, FG told

W

ITH Cancer now ranking as the number one killer in the world, the Nigerian Government has been urged to implement the 9 targets of the 2013 World Cancer Declaration as part of the strategies to prevent and reduce the scourge of the disease among Nigerians.

The World Cancer Declaration called upon government leaders and health policy makers to significantly reduce the global cancer burden to promote greater equity and integrate cancer control into world health and development.

Speaking in Lagos on World Cancer Day 2014 with the theme-‘”Debunk the Myths” the President and Founder, Breast Without Spot, BWS, Professor Ifeoma Okoye, also said the implementation of the nine targets would reduce premature deaths from cancer

and improve quality of life and cancer survival rates.

Okoye who lamented the burden of cancer disclosed that the recent statistics by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) said cancer now ranks number 1 killer in the world, (7.8 Million deaths) taking over heart disease (7.02 Million deaths).

She posited that the alarming statistics should provoke urgent action for cancer control advocacy on the part of individual, community and at the policy level.

Introducing the nine targets as contained in the revised World Cancer Declaration 2013, Okoye who spoke extensively on each of them, emphasised mostly, the target 3-Reducing exposure to risk factors of cancer.

She disclosed that ensuring evidence-based facts and truths as well as increase in awareness among the

Nigerian populace, BWS has instituted an award initiative called “Journalist Cancer Control Advocate of the Year”, an initiative intended to encourage increased cancer control advocacy on the part of Nigerian journalists and media organisations

MDGs. "There is no way we can progress without a healthy society even when you look at it from the business point of view. Having a very healthy society is very important and key for us to be able to move the country forward.

"I can see no reason why we cannot meet the targets of the MDGs, so the private sector must team up and partner with government so that we can deliver on our MDGs," he remarked.

Admonishing the private sector, Dangote noted: "It is really very important for the private sector to continue collaborating with the Federal government. I see no reason why we sit down comfortably in our air-conditioned offices and aesthetic homes while we are losing lives annually. It is unacceptable. "The rule of justice will catch up with us if we fail to act. Let's stop too much talking and begin to deliver. No matter what is the innovation, unless there is commitment, we will not be able to deliver.

Dangote called for seriousness on the part of government. He

From left: Mrs. Nkechi Onyeukwu, representative, Thrive Signature; Lagos State Chairman, NMA, Dr Francis Faduyile; Founder Breast Without Spot, Prof. Ifeoma Okoye, and National Programme Coordinator, BWS, Ms. Funmilola James at a seminar to mark this year’s World Cancer Day, in Lagos.

said government has to be ready and willing to get support so that the deliveries can be obtained.

In her keynote address on Leveraging Innovation and Technology to Improve Health Outcomes, Minister for Communication Technology, Mrs.Omobola Johnson said what Nigeria requires to meet her health related MDGs is significant.

"Under-five child mortality rate must decline by at least 9 percent year-on-year, and our maternal mortality ratio, which decreased at a rate of 4 percent from 1990 to 2006, must further reduce by at least 9 percent year-on-year to attain the MDG goal."

Johnson cited Ethiopia and Malawi as examples of African countries where governments have utilised ICTs to improve access to primary health care services as well as reduce infant and maternal mortality rates.

"The Ministry of Communication Technology sees itself as facilitating the objectives of health initiatives and the delivery of beneficial health outcomes in two principal ways - Connectivity and Content. We have learnt a lot of lessons about how to support and catalyse our fledgling innovation ecosystem and it is these lessons and this valuable experience that we will bring into our partnership with the PHN," she remarked.

The 14-member Steering Committee, comprising high profile stakeholders who are experts in the areas of health, business, innovation and technology, is headed the Group Managing Director, Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, while the CEO, Private Sector Health Alliance, Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, acts as Secretary.

Vanguard Vanguard,, YOUR LUCK TODAY SCORPIO: Some of you will wake up from slumber and realise mistakes about your finances early enough and make amendment but those who are reckless will commit more blunder. Beware of joint venture.

SAGITTARIUS: Although erratic people from unexpected quarters may oppose you openly, your being self assertive will earn you both victory and financial success. Then tomorrow will prove more successful.

CAPRICORN: Yes! It’s your day again. The more ambitious you are the better for you. Then you will need to ignore those with queer characteristics within your working arena..

AQUARIUS: Mixed trends are indicated. If you take good advice from your cool headed friends, you will benefit more than you imagine, but if you take to unpredictable attitude, you will today start fire that will burn with great intensity tomorrow.

PISCES: If you take the veterans within your base for granted, they will fail you painfully. Yet here is a lucky day for you when your being secretive and self reliant will earn you success. Be more ambitious.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 —

45

LEISURE THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

I

F you wouldn’t mind, could you please answer this question for me; who is riding whom in today? Are you riding your crisis?

Or your crisis is riding you? To think

Riding on your crisis of solution to your problem rather than cave in is to ride your crisis.

Right from time, crisis has been part of the world. Was it not in this world

TERROR MUDA

that Adam and Even disobeyed God? So, crisis did not start with your own case. Others overcome their crisis, you will also overcome yours. Go

in “Never say goodbye”

back to history; you will discover that every achievement is an answer to a problem or crisis.

Crisis is an opportunity for you to stand out and shine. So, ride on your crisis now.

By Lanre Kehinde

ARIES: Some of the people around you may get on your nerve via careless remarks, you must not allow them to disorganise your plans. The closer you are to the influential people the better for you.

TAURUS: “Money is the root of all evils” says an adage.

And if care is not taken, money may set you and some other people fiercely against each other to the detriment of your cause. Be cautious.

GEMINI: Opposition between the Moon and Venus may induce personality clashes you don’t need at lest for now.

What can help you now is love and your being persuasive.

Think of the future.

CANCER: Positive events that started yesterday will continue today. Rely more on your ability to be as bold as necessary so that you can get things done your own way at work.

LEO: Romantic interlude that started late yesterday may become excitingly louder and melodious to the satisfaction of your soul.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Pretty Lunatic’

By Andy Akman

VIRGO: If you allow domestic pressure to affect your working pattern, your senior colleagues may not understand and make things a bit more difficult. IF you’re stable, you will have more to gain financially.

LIBRA: After snappy aggressive approach exhibited by you yesterday ,you are back at your being pleasant self to the admiration of others. This is the wrong time to take law and it’s agents for granted. Young-at-heart are favoured so also commercial activities.

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING Send yyour our dat th ttoo the As tr ological datee and place of bir birth Astr trological Counselling, PP.M.B .M.B 1100 00 7, Apapa, Lagos 007,

Basic Characteristics of Libra TIME SCOPE= FEB 17 – FEB 20 RULER = LOVE/PARTNERSHIP AND MONEY RELATED VENUS QUALITY =CARDINAL .

ELEMENT = AIR. SYMBOL =THE SCALE OF JUSTICE. GROUP = MASCULINE. ZODIACAL POSITION = 2ND. Libra is the related to public spiritedness partnership, marriage, rival, close associates, open opponents, justice harmony and/or care for peace and concord.

Through Venus, Librans are artistic inclined and as Venus rules money, money and comfort are truly important to all Librans and you are not an exception. Libra is a cardinal star sign which induces it’s natives to desire action and importance.

Things ruled by Libra as stated above must be taken seriously by you.

You see, if a Libran makes mistakes while trying to make a partnership choice either of business or emotional type, it will profoundly affect many other areas of his/her life. Equally, business rival and/or open opponents must not be treated with levity.

Element of Libra is air. Natives of air signs are naturally intelligent and must think twice of their ideas before trying to discard them. Because their ideas are truly brilliant and most of them can lead to success both for themselves and others.

Libra is the social butterfly of the Zodiac and the issues of justice, fair-play and equity are very important to the natives of Venus ruled Libra. Some people who need to know better erroneously believe that Librans’ love of peace makes them a weak set of people but Librans can revolt, if and when injustice is done to them.

Some other times however, the desire for peace in your innerself at times get the better of you to the point that you seek others’ approval before you do anything. And this your weak point can be taken advantage of by some dubious people who will not hesitate to do so.

But as peace loving as Librans are if a Libran discovers real or imaginary injustice against self he/she will feel cheated especially, if the matter at hand concerns relationship, few of them will then react violently but many will sulk.

Yet, influence of Libra makes you a socially developed person and if you care, you can commercialise your sparkling personality. Social activities management courses and/or workshop on such w ill help bring out your ability along this line.

VIRGINIA

HOME & ABROAD

dadadekola@yahoo.com

By Lawrence Akapa

46—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Oghiadomhe, Oduah, Orubebe and 2015:

Is the change of engine oil enough?

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR

W

HEN former President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced the office of Chief of Staff into the Nigerian presidency in 1999, very few people here knew the significance of the office that was first introduced by President John F. Kennedy into the United States government in 1961.

One exception was Governor Chimaroke Nnamani who had just returned from the United States after years of medical practise as a foetal surgeon.

Governor Nnamani of Enugu State became the first governor to establish the office of Chief of Staff in 1999, and following him, many other governors followed suit as democracy gained ground. But the establishment of the office was simply accidental.

As he formed his first cabinet after the inauguration in May, 1999, Nnamani proposed to appoint Barrister Ike Ekweremadu, then, the

High profile personality

SCEPTICS who doubted President Goodluck Jonathan’s readiness to contest the 2015 presidential election on issues had the scales removed from their eyes last week after the president removed two male and one female ministers known to have oiled the engine of his 2011 political campaign. The removal has been interpreted as the president’s determination to freshen the oil of his political machine. Following that, the president embarked on a round of consultations with select traditional rulers last weekend. Does the president need to change engine oil, the engine or his political vehicle? immediate past local government chairman of Aninri Local Government Area as a commissioner in his cabinet, having seen Ekweremadu’s contributions to his gubernatorial campaign.

Local political rivals of Ekweremadu in the local government, however, persuaded Chief Jim Nwobodo, at that time the undisputed godfather to Nnamani not to allow the appointment.

Nnamani, it was learnt then, sought to make Ekweremadu the Secretary to the State Government, yet the local enemies cried foul saying that

that would even be worse given their determination not to give Ekweremadu a place of prominence in the new Nnamani administration that was just taking off in 1999.

It was then as a last resort to compensate Ekweremadu that Nnamani then created the office of Chief of Staff in the Government House for Ekweremadu, and it was after that, that his local enemies from Aniniri relented.

But Ekweremadu made good use of that office and from there climbed the political hierarchy to become the Deputy President of the Senate and the number six

It was perhaps for the reason of simplicity that President Umaru Yar‘Adua decided to scrap the office after the first and only occupant of the office, Gen. Abdullahi Mohammed left office in 2008. Mohammed served Obasanjo for eight years and served Yar‘Adua for one year following which the office was abolished and replaced by the office of the Principal Secretary to the President, who essentially did almost the same duties.

However, President Goodluck Jonathan re-created the office of Chief of Staff when he came to office with the appointment of Chief Michael Oghiadomhe.

Whereas the only other Chiefs of Staff that had been appointed since the advent of the Fourth Republic, Mohammed and David Edevbie (who held office as Principal Secretary) were quite younger men to Obasanjo and Yar‘Adua respectively, Oghiadomhe came to the office as a friend of the president.

Appointing Oghiadomhe as chief of staff in the office of the vice president (actually deputy Chief of Staff to the president) was like a natural thing for Jonathan given the relationship that had developed between the two men. The duo had worked as deputy governors to two showy governors, Lucky Igbinendion in Edo and Dipereye Alamieyeseigha in Bayelsa State.

man in the national order of precedence, a position his local adversaries would never have contemplated.

Ekweremadu’s climb reflected the leverage the office of Chief of Staff could project any shrewd individual in a political setting.

The office of Chief of Staff in the presidency in particular, is the clearing house for everything concerning the president. The office arranges the president’s schedule and clears everything before the president takes action.

It is no wonder that in the United States, it is often called the alternative president or the gatekeeper.

However, for many stakeholders, stepping up Oghiadomhe to Chief of Staff after the death of Yar‘Adua was an issue. Indeed, after the death of Yar‘Adua, the presidency commissioned a high profile personality in government to make a proposal on how the team that came with Jonathan from the office of Vice-President could be maximised. One of the prominent recommendations was that Dr. Jonathan should get a new Chief of Staff.

“It was felt that a new person with deep insight and capacity be sought for the office of Chief of Staff because we felt that yes, Mike was good as Chief of Staff to the vice-president, but for the president it was an entirely new game,” the source privy to the recommendation told Vanguard.

The president, however, jettisoned the recommendation.

But after the 2011 presidential election and as the president set about constituting a new team, the issue again came to the fore and this time, even more turbulently, for Oghiadomhe who was determined to keep his

Continues on page 47

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014—47

There's no where parliament makes a constitution — Mudiaga-Odje DR Akpor Mudiaga-Odje is a lawyer and human rights activist with a special devotion to issues concerning the Niger Delta region. Mudiaga-Odje, in this interview spoke on the proposed National Conference and other national issues of interests. Excerpts:

BY FESTUS AHON

W

HAT is your take on the National confab?

Great, that is another aspect of the government that has shown that this is a listening and responsible government, because when several people say something to the government it is either government accepts or rejects it. Talk we must talk.

Definitely Nigeria is overdue for talking, we can talk on why we don’t want to stay together. We can talk on how we can stay together on conditions. The outcome should be given to the public or the masses to affirm or reject it.

Indeed President Abraham Lincoln once told us that constitutions are made by the people, they have a right to amend it, they have a right to reamend it, they have a right to tinker with it, and they even have a right to overthrow it because power flows from the people. The Ghanaian constitution of 1993 passed this process of affirmation by referendum. They first did a

consultation within the assembly on constitutional changes, brought a draft, put it to the public with the petitions and the referendum was 92 per cent yes, and that was what put the Ghanaian constitution of 1993 in place. I believe we can follow that kind of process. We can tell the government to send an amendment bill to the National Assembly to incorporate it (referendum) because the provision of our constitution does not have provision for referendum and because the members of the National Assembly want to protect their electoral mandate they would not yield to a situation where they would be bypassed for the people to now affirm the decisions of the National confab.

But if that is not done, then it would be a wasted effort.

People make a constitution not the National Assembly. National Assembly can never make a constitution, National Assembly is a body set to amend a constitution, yes, to make laws, yes, but not to make a constitution.

thing is even known as grassroots constitution. I have not seen anywhere in a flourishing democracy where the National Assembly makes a constitution for the people.

What is your take on the

missing $49billon?

This has been a running commentary since September 24th 2004, when the erstwhile President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo opened the Excess Crude Oil Account.

Since then money above the bench mark of the budget have been paid into that account and 13 per cent derivation does not accrue to that account.

Now there are many things that are not remitted into the federation account.

Apart from the excess crude oil, the petroleum profit taxes are not paid, •Mudiaga-Odje: NASS can't make constitution royalties are not paid There is no where that a into the 13% derivation account.

National Assembly makes These funds are held by the constitution, the constitution is institutions and establishment of made by the people from their government which collect these accredited representatives and taxes. So we as Niger Deltans thereafter reaffirmed, to be first of all have been deprived of double sure, by the votes and the payment of even the meager referendum by those people who 13% derivation that the sent their delegates to go and constitution has approved for us, then Nigerians who are to share debate for them.

That is how real constitution the balance are not seeing emanates and that is why the anything because these funds are

not remitted into the federation account. Section 162 (1) says all revenues, and if you look at the definition at section 162(3) it says revenue is defined as any return to government no matter how it is described must be paid into the federation account but government doesn’t do so.

So when this controversy erupted, the Petroleum Minister debunked it, the GMD, NNPC debunked it and they came to a reconciliation table, the Minister of Finance, the CBN Governor and the Minister of Petroleum where they now agreed tentatively.

But the CBN said $12billion and government said $10.8 billion was unaccounted for.

Whatever, however and wherever the calculations, even if we admit without grievance, if we try to look into the $10.8 billion without admitting that, that is the amount, we are talking about N1.6 trillion not paid or remitted into the federation account.

Imagine 13 per cent of N1.6 trillion. So these are the questions we are asking; why does government not remit these resources into the federation account?

It is no longer $10.8billion but where it has been sitting, the money has been paid, interest has been accruing, together with the interest should be paid as a first step to show government transparency before going to see whether it is $12 billion, whether it is $49 billion or it is $10 billion.

Is the change of engine oil enough?

Continues from page 46 job.

Oghiadomhe had proved himself as a key motivator in achieving victory for the president. He was active alongside Godsday Orubebe and Princess Stella Odua in promoting the Neighbour to Neighbour campaign organisation that provided the necessary wherewithal for the campaign.

Ahead of the 2011 presidential inauguration, Ambassador Godknows Igali, who served Jonathan as a commissioner in Bayelsa State and was widely respected for his organisational capacity was recalled from his diplomatic posting in Sweden to take the position of Chief of Staff.

However, pressures from concerned associates of Oghiadomhe within the administration fought back on behalf of Oghiadomhe. One key argument used at that time was that the president could not appoint an Ijaw man as Chief of Staff with the late General Andrew Azazi at that time being the National Security Adviser.

In the end, Oghiadomhe bounced back.

But those desperate to see his back for one reason or the other

did not give up. Assertions were made repeatedly of how Oghiadomhe took over the job of some principal officers of the government. Several legislative initiatives of the government that ordinarily should be handled by legislative liaisons were carried out by the Chief of Staff and often times not successfully.

A year into his job it became the most open secret in political circles that the broadcaster, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi had been offered the job of Chief of Staff, but Oghiadomhe it seemed, never, lost his cool given the solid support he had within the president’s inner circle comprising at least two female ministers whom it seemed were backing him.

However, the pressures from the international community and pressures arising from the alleged foibles of the former minister of aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, reportedly one of the supporters of Oghiadomhe, and the reported organisational shortcomings of Oghiadomhe, the president it seemed had to choose between his legacy and his friendship with Oghiadomhe.

It has also been alleged that some of the northern interest groups supportive of the

president’s re-election had given the sack of his Chief of Staff as a condition for working for him.

A day after Oghiadomhe’s removal last Tuesday, the president also shocked many with the sack of Ms Oduah as the minister of aviation. Oduah had lately been seen as the face of corruption in the government following her indictment by the House of Representatives over the purchase of two bullet proof vehicles outside the budget. Her case was worsened by allegations of forgery of her credentials.

Forgery of credentials With such a woman occupying such a high and very visible place in government, it seemed as if the administration’s messages on anti-corruption had turned humdrum. The week before her sack, Ms Oduah had organised high profile inspection of airports the last being the Jos airport rehabilitation project raising stir among the populace.

Also fired were Godsday Orubebe, Caleb Olubolade and Yerima Nagama, respectively ministers of Niger Delta, Police Affairs and Minister of State,

Finance. All three are aspiring to contest the gubernatorial elections in their home states.

Orubebe, particularly, was known to be in the inner circle of the president with ties stretching from home. He was one of the two ministers, the other being Diezani Allison-Madueke, nominated into the Yar‘Adua cabinet by the then vicepresident.

He was also part of the engine room of the government and was a key facilitator of Neighbour to Neighbour. However, over time, his stock fell as he antagonised his one time godfather, Chief Edwin Clark who it is believed, brought him to Jonathan.

Orubebe has also been attacked by some anti-corruption groups for alleged deeds, but nothing conclusive has been proved against him by any judicial or quasi judicial body. He is leaving the government to aspire to be governor of Delta State, an ambition, Clark has already raised himself against.

Olubolade is also leaving the government to seek PDP gubernatorial ticket in the forthcoming Ekiti State. His exit came about one month to when the PDP is expected to choose its candidate in a primary fixed for

March 15.

Olubolade served as military administrator of Bayelsa State in the late nineties, and his return to government at the federal level was at the behest of Alamieyeseigha who he knew then as an administrator of Bayelsa State.

Nagama, who also exited the government, is also seeking the governorship ticket of the PDP in Yobe State. He had in his time become a deep operative of the government in the Northeast and was believed to have played a key role in the political alignment between the former Chief Security Officer to Sani Abacha, Major Hamza al-Mustapha and friends of the administration.

The exit of the five from government is undoubtedly a reflection of the determination of Dr. Jonathan to stimulate his government ahead of his declaration for a new term in office.

Oghiadomhe, Oduah and Orubebe were undoubtedly key players in the inner circle who determined and directed many policy actions of the Jonathan administration. They have played their roles, now eyes are on Dr. Jonathan to see the kind of stuff the next engine men and women are made of.

48 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

N

IGERIA is saddled with a number of problematic elders.

These are people raised in the system by the system. They grew up and occupied so many enviable positions as youth. Now, they are in their late seventies and eighties. They are supposed to have vacated the stage for the generation of today to tackle today’s challenges with the vision and vigour of today’s people. But they do not have much chance because the people who stole their tomorrow are still on the stage, causing trouble and haunting the system like diabolical ghosts. Yet they are called: “elder statesmen”. The “elder” part is obvious. But the “statesmen aspect” is a dubious misnomer.

Of the lot, two-time Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo is foremost. Others include Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, self-acclaimed Ijaw leader and professional agent provocateur. Others include Professor Ango Abdullahi and former Governor of

EK Clar k, PHD Clark obsession as well as a well perfected personal strategy for achieving his political goals and maintaining his political vineyard, which has been recording bumper harvests since his Ijaw kinsman, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, became the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The last time Chief Clark won any election was 31 years ago, when he was

When Clark successfully persuaded Obasanjo to shunt aside Odili and settle for Jonathan, the SSPA led by Mbu and Dokpesi was mortally wounded. Clark declared victory, and has since appropriated the spoils of “war” to himself, his Ijaw kinsmen (as evident in their near-total sweep of South-South shares in the Jonathan government) and his hangers-on

,

,

Kaduna State, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, both fire-eating evangelists for the return of power to Northern Nigeria by all means.

The sound and fury of their rabblerousing fills the Nigerian landscape with venom.

Before I continue, let me explain that we have PhD and PHD. PhD (Philosophiae Doctor, or Doctor of Philosophy) is the highest academic laurel obtained after completing education at the quaternary level. It is also awarded to persons for their original contributions to knowledge. Apart from Chief Clark being a lawyer, I am unable to confirm if he is a PhD holder, and even if he is, that is irrelevant in the issue at hand today. The PHD I am ascribing to this 87 year-old recently married elder is a street term you are all familiar with: Pull Him Down. It is more than a syndrome with EK. It is an

elected into the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Since then, he has not managed to get any of his cronies elected. But he has perfected a method of shooting down (or at least taking potshots) at people destined for election or appointment into high office if he does not like them. He has brought his propaganda tactics garnered as a former Federal Commissioner for Information to oil his ethnic-based political machine.

There is hardly a stakeholder in the system that has not gotten their share of Clark’s PHD vitriol. Samplers: when former Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili seemed on the verge of a successful run for president in 2006, Clark started calling him an “Igbo man” who was usurping the South-South’s campaign for president. He split the South-South People’s Assembly (SSPA) into two and succeeded in persuading

President Olusegun Obasanjo to avoid giving the Vice Presidential slot to Odili, an “Igbo man"; a campaign that resonated well with Obasanjo. He and the late Dr. Matthew Mbu, the then Chairman of the SSPA fought dirty until the latter passed on.

Clark fought the emergence of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan as Governor of Delta on ethnic grounds and continued to heckle Uduaghan’s mentor, former Governor James Ibori as a corrupt man until nemesis caught up with Ibori. In 2010, Clark attacked the Igbo nation when a section of the Igbo elite was considering supporting the North president against Jonathan. Clark said the Igbo “had no electoral value”. But when the Igbos finally decided not to run for president or vice, but rather to close ranks and vote en masse for Jonathan, giving him more than nine million out of the twenty million votes he scored to win the 2011 presidency, Clark made a volte-face and became a “friend” of the Igbos. He started recalling how Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe used to be the political hero of his people in the Warri area those days.

Clark has frequently tackled the North and their leaders since they started their effort to snatch their power back from Jonathan. He accuses them of financing Boko Haram. He has often taken on Obasanjo, calling him the “corrupt Nigerian” after Obasanjo’s recent open letter to President Jonathan. He turned on the Yorubas, reminding them that they have no leaders. Then, he took on Chief Bola Tinubu, taunting him to prove he is a blood son of the Tinubu family.

He stopped short of saying Tinubu was not a Yoruba man. The objective was

obviously to drive a wedge between him and people of the South West and their current political leader.

Clark’s most recent target is Chief Raymond Dokpesi, the Chairman of Daar Communications and proprietor of Africa Independent Television (AIT) and Ray Power FM. Dokpesi is being considered for appointment as the chief of Staff to President Jonathan after the recent forced resignation of Chief Mike Oghiadomhe. For Clark to hit out at Dokpesi means the latter’s chances of nicking the job are very good. He is accusing Dokpesi of doubtful loyalty, since in 2010 he was backing former President Ibrahim Babangida against Jonathan.

However, Clark’s indisposition to Dokpesi’s appointment goes beyond looking out for Jonathan’s interests. It is squarely self-serving, as usual.

Dokpesi was the Secretary of the SSPA when the late Mbu was its Chairman.

Dokpesi was the engine room of that movement, which was created to build bridges between the South-South and South East, and from there to other parts of Nigeria to create a new Nigeria where the Southern Minorities would no longer be exploited and marginalised.

SSPA was, in all truth, building up to back Odili for president, which the South East was very favourably disposed to due to Odili’s contiguous and consanguine identity to the two zones.

When Clark successfully persuaded Obasanjo to shunt aside Odili and settle for Jonathan, the SSPA led by Mbu and Dokpesi was mortally wounded. Clark declared victory, and has since appropriated the spoils of “ war” to himself, his Ijaw kinsmen (as evident in their near-total sweep of South-South shares in the Jonathan government) and his hangers-on. Dopkesi as Jonathan’s Chief of Staff will stand in Clark’s “lineof-view” into Aso Villa. Clark would have none of that! It is true that Dokpesi has once worked for those who wanted to unseat Jonathan. I don’t think that, in considering him as his COS, Jonathan or his eagle-eyed First Lady has forgotten that fact. In politics, there are no permanent enemies or friends.

Jonathan is set for the 2015 re-election.

He is looking for people who will help him get it. Perhaps, Dokpesi can pull in.

OPINION

BY WU HAILONG

M

Y two years as China’s ambassador to the EU have deepened my understanding, and respect, of the European integration process. In the aftermath of World War II, the war ravaged countries of Europe and their people had such a strong desire to heal the trauma of war and build a just and lasting peace that they determined to advance European integration. Germany’s repentance and unequivocal denouncement of Nazism were an essential part of this process, which led to genuine reconciliation, stability and peace in Europe.

On December 7, 1970, Mr. Willy Brandt, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, knelt down in profound apology at the Monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a scenario that deeply impressed the Europe and the whole world. Successive German governments have not only admitted Germany’s war crimes and apologised sincerely to Nazi victims, but have also gone out of their way to fully inform young Germans of Nazi atrocities so that they will never forget this dark chapter of history. Two years ago when I visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, I was overwhelmed to see the 2,711 concrete slabs that remind us that the Nazi history must never be repeated.

Japan, by contrast, has failed to take action over the past 70 years to heel the deep wounds that its aggressive and ferocious wars have inflicted on the people of Asia. In Tokyo, there is also a place reminiscent of WWII-the Yasukuni Shrine, which still enshrines 14 Class-A war criminals convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. All of them are culprits or commanders in

Germany and Japan's place in history Japan’s war of aggression and their hands were stained with blood of Asian people. While German leaders have knelt down in penitence, some Japanese leaders have all too often paid homage to these chief war criminals by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine. In doing so, they trample on our painful history and deeply offend people in China and other countries that were victims of Japanese aggression.

The issue of Yasukuni Shrine is, in essence, about whether the Japanese government is ready to fully repent the dark episodes of its history. In Japan, some are still unwilling to accept the post-World War II international order and attempt to whitewash its aggressive past. This denial lies at the root of Japan’s long-standing tensions with its neighbours. I once asked my European friends how the people of Europe would deal with Germany if it approached its history as Japan does? Could Europe have maintained 70 years of peace and prosperity? Would the European Union have been possible?

On December 26, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a calculated move, paid homage to the Yasukuni Shrine, arousing serious concerns across the international community, especially among Asian countries. It is widely noted that since Abe took office one year ago, he has strengthened Japan’s national security regime, overhauled its national defence policy, increased military spending and loosened self-imposed bans on exporting weapons. He has even gone so far as to claim that his lifelong goal is to reinterpret and ultimately revise Japan’s 1947 pacifist Constitution. Proposed changes include allowing the

country to officially maintain a standing army. These dangerous moves challenge the post war order, setting off alarm bells and raising strong concerns among Japan’s neighbours and the international community. The Abe government has put Japan on a dangerous path making it the biggest trouble-maker in Asia. As observed in the New York Times regarding his visit to the Shrine, Abe is asserting Japan’s track away from its postwar pacifism and his deeply revisionist views of history cannot inspire confidence that Tokyo can play a bigger security role in Asia.

When visiting the site of the Potsdam Conference in Brandenburg, Germany last May, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said history is a mirror and only by facing it squarely, can we embrace the future. World War II was concluded at the price of millions of lives. These lives underpin an international post-war order that must be upheld and should not be subject to sabotage or denial.

Any attempt to gloss over or glorify a history of fascist aggression is unacceptable to people in China, other Asian countries and beyond and should not be tolerated by peaceloving people across the world.

Forty-three years ago, Chancellor Brandt knelt down in Warsaw to enable Germany to stand up as a normal and responsible player in Europe and the wider world. If Abe persists in denying the war-waging history, Japan will continue to kneel down under the weight of history.

*Mr Hailong, is China's an ex-envoy to the European Union.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014—49

I

T was the late Dele Giwa, who in those days of yore, wrote that Nigerians have become immune to shocks.

They are capable of the impossible - with the dire challenges facing us as a nation - we were once rated as the happiest people on earth.

The conspiracy of silence or if you like, apathy, that has followed the inability of the NNPC to reconcile the 10billion - some say it is now 20billion - unaccounted for income, into the federation account is therefore understandable.

But, should we continue like this and expect to grow as a nation? Why is the account so difficult to reconcile? Is it not an issue of simple debiting and crediting? Income and Expenditure? With an array of over a hundred accountants, in the NNPC, ministry of finance and the Accountant General's office - most of them chartered and with heavy

remuneration packages - Why is the account so difficult to reconcile?

We criticised Sanusi Lamido for challenging a government that he is part of, accusing him of " bad belle" politics. It is over two months since the allegation was made, and they have not come up with a detailed submission on what happened to the money. We can fault Sanusi's style, arrogance and beliefs but we cannot ignore his message.

We must know what happened to the 10billion dollars. A lot can be done with that money to alleviate the sufferings of the people. Even the elusive power sector can improve significantly, if availed with a percentage of such fund. The people must know what happened to this money? We have celebrated impunity and official looting, in this country for too long.

People steal our money and flaunt it at us, collecting chieftaincy and other types of award. Our leaders and so called successful men have become bad role models. If you do not conform to the "in

,

thing" culture, you are regarded as a failure. Should we continue to allow a few people inflict 'rape' on the majority of Nigerians, by their despicable quest for blood money?

O

ur foreign reserve has gone down considerably and the naira is on a free fall as I write this, it is =N=170 to $1 - The oil money, through the NNPC is what the collective depend upon. How can we survive as a country, if this kind of looting is allowed to go unchecked?

If the other sectors of the economy are active, the

Appraising Uduaghan's ‘Delta beyond oil' development paradigm

BY SUFUYAN OJEIFO

T

HE effort being made all over the world by governments and multinational corporations to end the dominance of oil as the main source of energy is a wake-up call to states whose economies largely depend on oil. While countries, like Nigeria, have done little to prepare for the end of the oil era, one of its states, Delta, has given full expression to what a proactive response should be. Since the inception of his administration in May 2007, the state governor, Dr Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, has made it a policy to develop and sustain the state’s economy beyond oil.

As the global search for shale gas and other forms of energy intensifies, global demand for crude, as we know it, keeps dropping. The effects on our economies–at macro and micro levels—are expected to be negative. It is on this premise that Uduaghan’s drive to grow Delta state’s economy, in a way that there will be minimal disruption to its revenue sources when oil finishes or loses its global relevance, can be fully appreciated.

Bearing these in mind, the transformation agenda he articulated focuses on getting the most from oil now as the state transforms to a post-oil era which must come. The second leg of the agenda is to develop other sources of revenue and diversify the state’s economy either by creating favourable options or by optimising available ones.

Critics who saw the policy as mere sloganeering, had a field day when it was unfolded. To them it was inconceivable turning the state, one of the highest oil producers in Nigeria, away from relying on one natural resource they had in abundance.

The mere talk that the natural resource was finite, with the period approaching when the wells would dry up, was like idle talk. Today, thanks to Uduaghan’s clear vision and the

tenacity that propelled it, the idea is increasingly catching on across the Niger Delta and at the national level.

As a policy, ‘Delta beyond Oil’ was conceived out of the need to save the state from over dependence on oil money, with the main objective of ensuring that the state’s economy was resuscitated and a conducive environment put in place for investments to thrive. This will naturally provide employment for the state’s teeming population, mainly in the areas of agriculture, cultural tourism and solid minerals. Nearly seven years down the road, the question must be asked: how has the transformation fared, so far?

Since the vision ‘Delta beyond Oil’ is conceived as a 50-year policy, it will be unrealistic to expect much impact from it now, but it will suffice to say that the indices on the ground are already pointing upwards.

Many, who have visited or evaluated the economic components that will drive the emerging economy of Delta state, will attest to the fact that the scenario holds much promise. The governor, who has pursued the agenda with great zeal, has not only been receiving accolades for the vision, the policy has, also, in itself started yielding expected outcomes.

In building a Delta that will prosper beyond oil, Uduaghan reckoned with the need for certain critical infrastructure-both human and physical-that will support diversification of the economy. Among the physical infrastructure he embarked upon that are in different stages of realisation are the Oghareki power plant, the Asaba International Airport, upgrade of Osubi Airport to international standards and the establishment of industrial clusters like the Koko Industrial Park, the Warri Industrial and Business Park as well as the Asaba ICT Park. His administration has also substantially harnessed the people’s

,

BY SUNNY IKHIOYA

,

NNPC 10bn: Why is reconciliation so difficult?

Why is the NNPC dillydallying with the reconciliation?

Is there a deliberate cover up? What action has the ministry of finance taken to bring the reconciliation to a true conclusion?

situation would have been different - let us say, the agric is operating at full potential, not the lies we are being told, you are encouraging agriculture and the price of poultry feed is growing at an alarming rate, a bag of feeds, that sold for N700 now sells for N2,500, and you say you are encouraging agriculture. If only we can put our tourism potential to good use and explore the opportunities therein.

Unfortunately, all of our potentials are yet to be tapped, the only one available to the people -oil - is being mismanaged by a few people, should we continue like this?

NNPC is our cash cow, if we handle it irresponsibly, the country will collapse. So, we must collectively demand for the missing money. In doing so, we are asking such simple questions as: What is the reporting format/structure in the NNPC accounting system?

Do they raise papers/vouchers for business transactions?

Where are these vouchers? It is claimed that, we cannot ascertain the true state of our oil production figures, if this is so, the one being quoted by Sanusi is not being disputed by the NNPC, why is the NNPC dilly-dallying with the reconciliation? Is there a deliberate cover up? What action has the ministry of finance taken to bring the reconciliation to a true

The vision to build a Delta beyond oil is a daunting one, but it has become imperative considering the imminent decline in relevance of crude oil due to exhaustion

,

entrepreneurial skills through the highly successful Micro Credit Scheme. Not only has this scheme nurtured small and medium enterprises with over 100,000 beneficiaries, it has also won for Uduaghan’s government, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) awards, three times consecutively.

D

elta’s difficult terrain has not deterred the administration in its pursuit of building physical infrastructure. With a land area of 18,050 square kilometres, substantial portions of which are riverine, marshy and underdeveloped, the Delta landscape is, indeed, challenging, but not impossible with enormous investment in money, energy and time.

The administration’s determination to change the landscape of the riverine and oil producing areas is, perhaps, the singular reason the State has kept faith in heavily funding the development agency for that purpose-the Delta State Oil Mineral Development Commission (DESOPADEC) with a whopping 50 per cent of the 13 per cent derivation it receives from the federal government. It may yet be the only state with this level of commitment.

Its investment in massive infrastructure renewal has resulted in the dualisation of major roads that include the 148 km AsabaUghelli road, the 33 km Ugbenu-Koko road, the Effurun-Osubi-Eku road, the 7.2 km Ughelli Artery, the PTI/Jakpa road and the Old Lagos/Asaba road, among others.

These have helped to aid movement of

conclusion? If there are no cover ups, why are people not being queried for this national embarrassment and disgrace?

NNPC is so significant to the survival of this country, it is in fact the jugular arm, therefore, people running the parastatal or establishment, must be those who have a good measure of integrity.

There must be openness and sincerity of purpose, something that affects the whole nation, should not be treated by a cabal in a cultish fashion.

That is why we must join Femi Falana, to demand for the true position of the money.

It is time for well meaning Nigerians and civil society groups to come out with one voice, to demand for what belongs to the collective.

Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), where are you? This is the time for you to come out and lead. It is not only when it concerns your personal well being, that you take to the streets. The opportunity to lead the people is now, let everyone of us with one voice, come and demand for our money.

Let us put an end to recklessness and impunity, nobody is above the collective, nobody is above the law

*Mr. Ikhioya, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.

personnel and goods as well as create major network grids to link all the nooks and crannies of the State. New public schools and health-care facilities are being constructed or upgraded, but equally significantly is the progress of Oghara Teaching Hospital as a centre of excellence.

So far, about eighteen thousand classrooms, according to credible reports, have been built, renovated or upgraded while the Oghara Teaching Hospital recently accomplished the feat of a first kidney transplant.

To fully harness the economic potentials of the state, agriculture and agro-allied industries have received more than a passing attention, while the state has enhanced rural industrialisation and revived manufacturing. It has, as learnt, also partnered big private investors in co-funding projects such as the multi-billion Naira OFN/Delta Farms and the N40 billion Delta Leisure Park, which on completion will make Delta state the tourist destination of choice.

However, easily the most profound outcome from the policy is the redirection of the youth who are growing up in expectation of an easy life from oil. Though oil has brought so much wealth to the multinational oil companies and the Nigerian State whose economy functions on 85% earnings from crude sales, it has over time become like nemesis for many Niger Deltans who are fixated on the low-hanging fruits: oil money. This attitude is gradually changing as the policy has succeeded in orientating them towards hard work.

Surely, the vision to build a Delta beyond oil is a daunting one, but it has become imperative considering the imminent decline in relevance of crude oil due to exhaustion. From all these, the picture of Delta State that is emerging is one that gives hope for the future and belief in the drive towards a new economy. Among Deltans, there is a near unanimity of opinions on what the priorities should be. Hopefully, by the time Uduaghan completes his present tour of duty, his vision and abiding concern for the future would have firmly taken root in reshaping Delta’s economy.

*Mr. Ojeifo, a journalist, wrote from Abuja.

50 — V anguard Vanguard anguard,, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

NEWS BRIEF

Nepalese plane with 18 people missing

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US mounts fresh pressure on Assad

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S Syrian peace talks in Geneva appeared to flounder, US President Barack Obama at the weekend vowed to step up pressure on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Obama’s remarks came as he hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the Sunnylands retreat in Palm Springs, California, to address issues including the flood of Syrian refugees into Jordan.

The US leader said both he and the Jordanian king “ recognize that we can’t just treat the symptoms” of the Syrian crisis.

“We’re also going to have to solve the underlying problem — a regime led by Bashar alAssad that has shown very little regard for the well-being of his people.

We are going to need a political transition in that region.

“We don’t expect to solve this any time in the short term so there are going to be some immediate steps that we have to take to help the humanitarian situation there,” Obama said.

“There will be some intermediate steps that we can take to apply more pressure to the Assad regime, and we’re going to be continuing to work with all the parties concerned to try to move forward on a diplomatic solution,” he said, without specifying what those steps may be.

At the meeting Obama pledged $1 billion in loan guarantees to Jordan, as well as a renewal of a five-year memorandum of understanding.

The current five-year package, worth $660 million a year, expires in September.

S/African rescuers try to reach over 200 illegal miners

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OUTH African rescuers yesterday were try ing to reach more than 200 illegal miners reported trapped underground in an abandoned gold shaft in a suburb just east of Johannesburg on Sunday, an emergency services spokesman said.

Werner Vermaak of ER24 emergency services told Reuters rescuers were communicating with a group of about 30 miners trapped below the surface by fallen boulders at the old mine site in Benoni.

•From left: King Abdullah II of Jordan and US President, Barack Obama meet at The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands, in Rancho Mirage, California, on February 14, 2014 (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Lawyers oppose 'caging' Morsi

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AWYERS for Egypt’s ousted president and his co-defendants walked out of court yesterday to protest the soundproof glass cage in which defendants were held during proceedings, state TV reported.

It said judge Shaaban el-Shamy ordered a recess after the lawyers left the hearing, the first in a case in which Morsi and 35 others are facing charges of conspiring with foreign groups

and undermining national security.

El-Shamy, who later ordered the trial adjourned until Feb. 23, was quoted by the private CBC TV network as telling the lawyers that the trial would proceed without them. It also reported that Morsi shouted at the start of the trial that he could not hear the proceedings.

El-Shamy sent technicians to inspect the cage to verify Morsi’s claim, CBC said. The judge

ROOPS from sev eral EU countries will begin deploying in the strife-torn Central African Republic next month, a French official said yesterday.

“In March, in a few weeks, there will be in the Central African Republic several hundred troops coming from several countries of the European Union,” the junior minister for European affairs, Thierry Repentin, told French

then ordered the volume raised to allow Morsi to better hear. The defense lawyers remained unsatisfied and walked out.

The cage was introduced after Morsi and his co-defendants interrupted the proceedings of other court cases by talking over the judge and chanting slogans.

•French troops patrol during an operation in the Boy-rabe neighborhood of Bangui, CAR.

media.”It’s a major step forward,” he added.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton announced Friday that the bloc planned to send 1,000 troops to the former French colony, which has been engulfed in chaos for nearly a year. She did not give a timeline.

Repentin said he could not give a more precise deployment date “because there are still negotiations in each of the countries”.

The commitment to the joint EUFOR force underscores the EU’s “awareness that what happens in Africa concerns Europe”, he said.

Besides France, five other European Union countries have proposed a “substantial” contribution to the EUFOR mission.

Georgia — anxious to cement good ties with the EU — could also supply up to 100 troops, diplomats said in Brussels.

Italy's president to meet Renzi for new government

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TALIAN President Giorgio Napolitano will meet center-left leader Matteo Renzi today in Rome , according to a statement, and is expected to ask him to try to form the country’s 65th government since World War Two. The 39-year-old Renzi would be the youngest prime minister in Italian history if, as expected, he takes over from party colleague Enrico Letta, who stepped down on Friday.

Before being seated with full powers, Renzi will have to reach an agreement with the small New Center Right party, who he will depend on for a parliamentary majority, swear in his Cabinet and win confidence votes in both houses of parliament.

Ukraine protesters pull back Merkel to meet coalition leaders as crisis looms

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CAR crisis: EU to deploy troops next month

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Nepal Airlines plane flying in bad weath er with 18 people on board was missing yesterday and feared to have crashed in Nepal’s mountainous west, officials said.

Contact was lost with the plane a few minutes after it made an unscheduled fuel stop in the city of Pokhara on its flight from the capital, Katmandu, to the town of Jumla, said Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal official Ram Hari Sharma.

HANCELLOR Angela Merkel will meet leaders of her coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD) and Christian Social Union (CSU), today to try to resolve a crisis over the forced exit of a conservative minister.

The ouster of HansPeter Friedrich on Friday over his handling of confidential information about a looming inquiry into a SPD lawmaker suspected of possessing child pornography has split Merkel’s twomonth-old coalition just as it was trying to enact urgently needed pension and energy reforms.

Sources in Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the SPD said on Sunday party chiefs would convene after CSU chairman Horst Seehofer rebuked the SPD for actions that forced Friedrich to resign as agriculture minister.

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KRAINIAN opposition protesters ended a two-month occupation of city hall in Kiev yesterday and opened a road to limited traffic to meet an amnesty offer aimed at easing a standoff over President Viktor Yanukovich’s rule.

The authorities, for their part, withdrew riot police from a flashpoint district of the capital, near the Dynamo Kiev football stadium, where at least three protesters died in January in violence between ultra-radical activists and police.

UN seeks foreign probe over Sri Lanka war crimes

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HE United Nations’ human rights chief has recommended an international investigation into war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during the final stages of its Tamil separatist conflict, a report said yesterday.

The local Sunday Times newspaper in Sri Lanka said Navi Pillay has asked the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to set up an independent probe, saying that Colombo “consistently failed to establish the truth” and ensure accountability for the atrocities, despite repeated calls.

2 Koreans, Egyptian driver killed in Sinai tourist bus blast

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bomb on a tourist bus in Egypt’s Sinai Pen insula killed at least two Koreans and the Egyptian driver yesterday , army and security sources said, an apparent turning point in an Islamist insurgency that has gained pace since an army takeover in July.

The Interior Ministry said the bus was travelling from St. Catherine’s Monastery, a popular tourist destination in the south Sinai, to nearby Israel when it was attacked.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 51

Yobo yearns for World Cup action S

•Messi

Barça ready for City test

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ARCELONA boss Gerardo Martino believes the first leg of his side’s UEFA Champions League last 16 tie against Manchester City on Tuesday comes at the right time as he has a fully-fit squad to choose from.

“We come into the match in very good form,” said Martino. “It is probably the best moment we could have hoped for to face the challenge of the last 16 of the Champions League, independent of the opponent we face.

Especially physically, it is a bonus to have everyone available and in very good shape.

“Both teams defend themselves with the ball, so whoever manages the ball better will have more chances to win. In this sense both teams are quite similar, they always try be proactive. If we can keep the ball for more time then we will reduce the chances they have and give ourselves a better opportunity.”

UPER Eagles cap tain Joseph Yobo has said that he was keen to play at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Speaking in the upcoming issue of The Canary ’ magazine, Yobo outlined his World Cup ambitions, saying that the World Cup represents the pinnacle football greatness.

The central defender, a January loan signing from Fenerbahce, is determined not to let the prospect of playing in the planet’s biggest football tournament detract from his work at the Club, however.

“The World Cup is special. It’s the pinnacle of world football. It’s breathtaking. If you have the opportunity to go you have to do everything to be in that squad,” he said when speaking in-depth about his career.

“The most important thing for me right now is what I’m doing at the moment and the situation of this club. I want to be able to give my best to them and make sure that we stay up, and hopefully that will then take care of the national team.”

Yobo is in line to play in the friendly match against Mexico on March 5 in Atlanta. He last played for the African champions at the last Nations Cup in south Africa.

Cavani to join Chelsea

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CCORDING to reports, Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani is to complete a £50million move from Paris Saint-Germain to Chelsea in the summer.

Chelsea have been keen to sign the striker for a while now and finally look set to sort out a move just a year after PSG bought him from Napoli for a French transfer fee record.

The Metro reports that Chelsea will complete the signing after his agent came to London in order to begin negotiations ahead of the end of the season.

•Cavani

Eagles officials depart for Brazil 2014 seminar

•Keshi

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CONTEST ... West Ham United's striker Carlton Cole (R) vies with Norwich City's Joseph Yobo during a match on February 11. PHOTO: AFP.

Pillars blame refs for exit

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ANO Pillars’ Kabi ru Umar has blamed harsh refereeing in both legs of Champions League preliminary round tie for his team’s shock elimination at the hands of AS Vita.

Masu Gida managed only to scrape a 2-1 win against Congolese outfit AS Vita in Kano yesterday, which meant early ouster from Champions League as they lost 3-1 in Kinshasa last week.

“It was the combination of hard luck and referee’s biased officiating that saw us being eliminated from the competition despite our spirited fight to stay alive”, Umar told Supersport. “We least expected that we’ll be booted out at the primary stage of the competition by no less opposition than AS Vita Club even going in front here in Kano was a rude shock. We had clear three penalty appeals

but the referee waived it aside coupled with several missed chances at goal. “That’s football for you, you either win or lose and suffer the humiliation of elimination.

I think we lost the battle in Kinshasa, DR Congo

when we went down 13 courtesy of referee’s unfair treatment. We wanted to win, we wanted to offer Nigerians the best representation if not clinch the title but that didn’t happen.”

UPER Eagles offi cials led by Head Coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi will literally return to school this week as they take part in a FIFA organized World Cup seminar strictly for the Brazil 2014 World Cup, holding in June this year.

Apart from Keshi, other officials who departed Nigeria for Brazil on Sunday night are team Administrator, Dayo Enebi Achor, team doctor; Ibrahim Gyaran, Media Officer of the team; Ben Alaiya, Chief Security Officer, ACP Abubakar Baba, Scribe of the NFF Security Committee, Christian Emeruwa and Chuks Alizor of the NFF Marketing Department.

FIFA is organizing the course to prepare officials of the qualified nations for Mundial 2014 for high level of professionalism and service delivery during the summer World Cup. Coaches of all 32 qualified nations and other relevant officials will be in the Brazilian city of Florianopolis for the week-long seminar.

Serena aims to dispel anxieties in Dubai

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•Shehu

ERENA Williams’ bid to extend her phenomenal career into her 33rd year will take a tentative but crucial step forward when she unexpectedly lines up at the head of the field for the Dubai Open which starts on Monday. ”Hit today with @pmouratoglou not sure if he will want to hit with me again cauz I’m Crazy intense on practice court,” it read, making a jokey reference to her French coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.

•Serena

52 — V anguard Vanguard anguard,, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Vanguard CLASSIFIED EKIKERE—I, formerly known and addressed as Mr. Ekikere Etopobong Akpan, now wish to be known and addressed as Mr. Abasiodiong Etopobong Udoh. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

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Federal College of Education, Pankshin and general public, please take note.

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

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All former documents remain valid.

UNIBEN, National Open University and general public please take note.

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Confirmation of name AKPAN – This is to certify that the name Emmanuel Ebong Akpan and Emmanuel Akpan is one and the same person, but now wish to be known and addressed as Emmanuel Ebong Gabriel. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

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

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Lagos Int’l Polo: Fasinro, Oyinlola promise higher standard

BY JACOB AJOM

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CTION starved Polo enthusiasts in Lagos will from Wednesday, 19th Febr uar y, have a lot to cheer as the 2014 Lagos International Polo tournament kicks off .

Players from Ibadan and Kano will join their counterparts from Lagos to contest for honours in Nigeria’s premier Polo tournament, majorly sponsored by MTN Nigeria, GTBank and numerous other cosponsors. Players will also be coming from Argentina and South Africa for the two week event which ends 2nd March, 2014.

In a pre-tournament press conference held inside the lounge of the Lagos Polo Club, President of the club, Honourable Habeeb Fasinro, promised polo enthusiasts a refreshing time as the tournament lasts. “This tournament will be different from

the others as we have improved on the health, safety and aesthetics of the club. We wish to thank our sponsors, MTN, GTBank and others who have been behind us

for so long.”

The Deputy Tournament Manager, Seyi Oyinlola said “ we will be introducing something called VVIP and a hospitality suite for our guests and sponsors.

200 golfers sign up for DOAMF

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O fewer than 200 amateur golfers have confirmed their interest to feature in the Daniel Ogechi Akujobi Memorial Foundation Charity Golf Championship, teeing off March 8 at the Ikoyi Club 1938 .

The players will contest for nett, gross and other attractive prizes at the one-day tournament.

Event Coordinator, Pat Bassey, said that other than the prizes, the major attraction for participants at the tourney was the to contribute to a worthy cause.

Funds realised from previous events were

committed to a number of intervention projects including the refurbishment of public school libraries, scholarship award to less privileged children, free medical programs for underserved communities, and the procurement of equipment and a fullyfitted ambulance to support the accident and emergency centre built by the Foundation in Obafemi-Owode LGA, Mowe, Ogun State.

Furthermore, the golfing community considers participating at the tournament as a way of contributing to making society a better place” he said.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 53

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Much ado about “foreign technical assistant”

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HERE was no way I was going to write my column this week without commenting on an issue that descended from the blues and spread like wild bush fire.

Two weeks ago, when I first got wind of it, I decided to use Sportsplash programme on LTV 7 to dispel the rumour and call on all concerned to please avoid distractions and allow peace to reign given the onerous task ahead of us.

The rumour was that the Nigeria Football Federation through the Technical Committee had perfected plans to hire a “ Foreign Technical Assistant” for Stephen Keshi and that Keshi had rejected the move, yet the NFF was hell bent on forcing the “man” on him.

I was forced to go to Godwin Enakhena’s programme to say that the Technical Committee met about ten days before CHAN to review Coach Keshi’s plans for the competition, and look ahead to the World Cup. During that meeting, which was very cordial and far reaching, we asked Stephen Keshi what we could do to help him deliver the world cup without hitches.

We asked him whether he needed some assistants to help him tactically and even in the area of players’ fitness. He asked “from where”, and we said he could source them from anywhere. He then said he did not need any, but that he will appreciate Sylvanus Okpalla and Ogugua the video analyst.

There and then The Chairman told him why he may not get Sylvanus and that he was free to pick any other coach from anywhere. Note here that at no time did anyone talk of “foreign assistant”.

By the way, why should Keshi insist on Sylvanus when he knows better? I quote Lagos SWAN “.. it is also crucial that the institutional authority and discipline within the organization of the NFF be respected and maintained…”

Keshi has never been to the World Cup. I have been a member of the FIFA Delegation to two World Cups and I shared with him the benefit of my experience. I told him how on a pre-tournament visit to the Brazilian Camp in Marseille, France, I was amazed at the quality and quantity of the backroom and technical staff and that I do not think he can go to the World Cup with only two coaches.

He said he had heard and would get back to us.

When the rumour broke, over six weeks after the issue had been discussed and trashed, I came out to say repeatedly that there was no way the NFF was going to force a coach on Keshi. If they did, he can turn such a man to a glorified ball boy. It will not just work.

First it was the issue of the NFF employing a technical director to boss Keshi, now it is a “foreign technical assistant” when he needed none.

I do not want to discard the story that the so called Friends Of Keshi (FOK) capitalized on insinuations that because we did not do well at CHAN, the NFF was disposed to revisiting the assistants issue, and have gone to the press to “preempt the move” with twisted tales to curry public sympathy to the detriment of the NFF. I did say that at the meeting in question,

I believe and strongly too that Stephen Keshi needs all the help he can muster to do well at the World Cup

deliberations were very cordial and the Super Eagles coach appreciated the efforts and support he has gotten from the Aminu Maigari led board in the discharge of his duties.

I symphatise with all those who jump at any opportunity to snap at the NFF when Stephen Keshi is the topic. The same people have not cared to wonder why Keshi has the penchant of travelling abroad without the consent or permission of his employers. The same people who have not cared to wonder why Keshi did not go to CHAN with the best legs in the league and has so far not submitted the technical report of CHAN. Has the NFF the power to query Keshi? ‘NO’ if they do, Nigerians will pick up arms and crucify them.

“What has Sylvanus Okpalla done? He should be recalled….” In the same vein can the Technical Committee in the interest of Nigeria ask Keshi to reconsider his stand on I.K Uche, Osaze, Anichebe and all those players who are not worse than Balotelli and are capable of making the difference in Brazil come June? “NO”, “Leave Keshi alone”, “He knows best”…. these are the drum beats of destruction and I do not want to belong to the “I told you so” group.

I have never served any NFA regime in my life.

When Alhaji Maigari and Barrister Green persuaded me to come on board, I vowed to give it my all, thanks to their belief that I could add value to their tenure. So far, no regrets. While waiting to one day tell the story of our contributions to date, like Alhaji Maigari I also want to be able to say that I was a member of the Technical Committee when Nigeria for the first time qualified for the quarter final….the semi final….of the world cup.

Keshi’s success will therefore be to my glory, so I am condemned to support him.

Champions League: Sterling Bank delights Arsenal fans free tickets to experi- tivities aimed at bringing

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HEAD of the crunch UEFA Champions League tie between Arsenal Football Club of London and Bayen Munich Football Club of Germany on Wednesday, February 19, 2014, Sterling Bank is set to delight football lovers especially Arsenal fans in the country by offering them 700 C M Y K

ence Cinema-style thrilling soccer to watch the game at Silverbird Cinemas in Lagos & Port Harcourt under the bank’s “Fanatic Experience” initiative.

Sports journalists, entrepreneurs, professionals, administrators, academicians and students will be part of this experience organized by the Bank as part of ac-

,

the benefit of its partnership with Arsenal FC to life.

The choice of this match may have been influenced by the history of both teams at the competition. It would be recalled that both teams also met at the quarter final stage of the competition last season and they both won their away games.

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HE Africa Football Confederation (CAF) announced on Sunday that the 2014 Orange CAF Super Cup will take place at the Cairo International Stadium on Thursday.

A CAF statement said that the match would hold at 7 p.m. local time.

It said the decision to move the match from the former venue was informed by organisational reasons.

Now that the NFF has come out to lay to rest the issue of the employment of a “foreign technical assistant”, I hope we can be allowed to express our personal view points. That even the best of teams and the best of coaches do not win World Cups, hence the need for all hands to be on deck for us to achieve success.

I believe and strongly too that Stephen Keshi needs all the help he can muster to do well at the World Cup. Westerhof knew this much and went for Johanes Bonfrere. Siasia had a Kalika whom he paid from his pocket. Keshi will be greatly short staffed IF he goes to the World Cup with ONLY Amokachi and Ike Shorunmu. I am begging him in the names of all those he holds dear to reconsider his stand and shop for one or two coaches that will add value to his fledgling team, a team which according to him is still “ work in progress”.Coach Stephen Keshi has done much for this country and we love and appreciate him for it.

But who says he cannot do more?

…Messed up by Arik, Aero Contractors I was in Abuja Monday, February 10 for the inauguration of sub committees of the 19th National Sports Festival. Tuesday, Feb 11 by 9.30 am I had a visa appointment at the Egyptian Embassy ( CAF in their wisdom have appointed me the General Co-ordinatior for the CAF Super Cup holding this Thursday in Cairo )while I was to see the NFF President by 11 am, before travelling to Calabar on an Arik air flight W3503 by 2.05 pm for the inspection of festival facilities.

Monday night, I got this STRANGE TEXT that Arik had moved the 2.05pm flight to 10am. YES 10am. This was unbelievable but true! I have heard of flights delay and so on, moving a flight from 2pm to10 am? Incredible. And this was the only flight to Calabar. Needless to tell you how they completely ruined my programmes and destabilized my movements.

As if that was not all, I had been invited by Chrisland School, VGC as one of their special guests for their Inter House Sports holding in the school on Friday, February 14 by 11 am. The earliest flight out of Calabar to Lagos was 3pm, so I decided to drive all the way to Uyo where there was a 9.30 am flight to Lagos, believing that it was good enough time to hit Lagos and drive straight to VGC. That night, another strange text, that Aero had moved their 9.30am flight to 12.25pm! What a country! I quickly sent the unfortunate text to Mrs. Georgie Azike, Chrisland Head Teacher, and still promised to try and catch up.

To cut a long story short, the Aero flight arrived Uyo by 1.00pm, and did not take off till about 1.50pm to arrive Lagos about 3pm!.....too late to drive to VGC. I plead with readers to react to this… especially the lawyers.

See you next week.

Super Cup 2014 moved to Cairo Int’l Stadium The one-off match pits 2013 Orange CAF Champions League winners, Al Ahly of Egypt against 2013 Orange CAF Confederation Cup winners, CS Sfaxien of Tunisia.

The game was initially scheduled for the Air Defence Stadium in Cairo.

It will be the second

meeting between the two clubs after the 2009 edition, which Ahly won 21 in Cairo.

Ahly is the most successful club in the history of the CAF Super Cup with five titles — 2002, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013 — whilst Sfaxien were runners-up in 2008 and 2009.

54 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Why I’m sponsoring Wheelchair Basketball — Ochei

BY TONY UBANI

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the second edition of Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei Wheelchair Basketball dunks off tomorrow at the Indoor Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, the sponsor has vowed that the competition would not go into extinction even after he leaves office.

The competition which started in Asaba in the first edition is spreading like wild fire across the nation and also gaining international flavour with Republic of Benin, Ghana and Togo ready to do battle in Lagos. The competition runs from February 18 to February 23.

Sponsor of the event and Speaker of the Delta State Legislature, RT Hon (Engr) Victor Ochei spoke at the weekend on why he is sponsoring the Wheelchair event instead of joining the bandwagon by sponsoring football. ‘’I’ve compassion for the less privileged in our society. Beyond seeing them from the ambit of pity, they have hidden talents that people need S

*Ochei

N

IGERIA Football Officials have labeled Sports Minister and Chairman National Sports Commission, Hon Bolaji Abdulahi, a bad influence in sports nay football administration, as he is used to using and dumping officials of the sports that have brought him glory and favour from Nigerians and President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

Reacting to the Minister’s latest gaffe that saw NFF President Aminu Maigari and his executive committee members neither getting a mention or speaking at the Presidential reception last Thursday in Abuja for the bronze winning CHAN Eagles, the members said the humiliation from the Minister has reached a point where they have to speak

up.

“We respect the office of the Minister and we have always worked hand in hand with him but it seems we are always undermined each time we have worked hard to bring honour to the Ministry and the Commission. It happened when we won the Nations Cup last year and it’s happening again now with the CHAN Eagles. The coincidence is becoming an embarrassment to us and we think the Minister is deliberately undermining the NFF Executive Committee”, an embittered member said.

The latest development has not come only as a shock to the NFF leadership but is becoming a recurring decimal that members think must be checked.

PLAYTIME: Wheelchair basketballers doing their thing to see and appreciate. I admire strength in their character. Like they say, there is ability in disability. These are special people who by no reason of theirs are physically challenged.

We need to lend a helping hand and bring out the best in them. If you remember the last Olympics in London, if not for the spectacular performance of these Paralympians(Physically challenged), Nigeria would not have gotten any medal. What the able-bodied men and women could not achieve, our heroes and heroines who are challenged did. They beat their opponents from most advanced countries. Its amazing”.

The humility of Ochei in rubbing minds and inter-acting with the physically challenged is

Keshi

Continued from BP MTNFootball.com The striker has already said he will not be shocked if he does not make the final squad to Brazil 2014 despite his goals in the Spanish top f l i g h t .

Uche missed out on the 2010 World Cup on account of injury.

He has been one of Nigeria’s most consistent goal scorers before

NFF attacks Minister

Emmanuel Emenike emerged on the scene.

He was the country ’s leading scorer for the qualifying tournament for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

But at the competition proper in South Africa, he struggled to shine as Emenike used the tournament to establish himself on the international scene.

emotional. From his exalted position, he stoops to listen to them and empowering young men and women on wheelchair who would have been begging for alms or idling their time away.

Rt Hon. Ochei has also provided standard world class wheelchairs that would see the Nigerian athletes at par with their colleagues in Europe and America. ‘’I’m moved to see the hidden talents in these people. Take the case of one blind reporter of Raypower fm, Ignatius Ajuonuma. He runs commentaries and does everything. Hardly will

you know that he is blind. There is also a young man who lost his arm and could not bear to see himself as a disabled.

He contemplated suicide.

But when he came and watched others even worse than him playing Basketball, he had a change of heart. His life started transforming and today he is player. We can lend a hand and bring out the best from our people who find themselves in such positions. I’m happy that my friends from Corporate organisations have joined me.

Together, we can make Nigeria a better place’’, he said.

Nigeria to play Greece, USA

N

IGERIA will play friendly internationals against Greece and the United States in June as part of their warm-up for this year ’s World Cup. The African Champions will play Greece in Philadelphia on 3 June then face USA in Jacksonville, Florida on 7 June.

The matches will be part of the Super Eagles’ final preparations as they set up camp in the United States before leaving for Brazil.

The fixtures form part of Major League Soccer ’s “Road to Brazil”

event.

Eight teams will play matches across North America between 27 May and 10 June.

Top-ranked African side Ivory Coast, Honduras and Bosnia and Herzegovina are the other World Cup teams involved while Bolivia and El Salvador, who are not going to Brazil, are also included.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is keen to finalise another competitive friendly for the three-time African champions at home in May before they fly out to the United States.

Brazil 2014: Adamu tasks NFF on Eagles’ preparation

T

HE former Direc tor-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Dr. Amos Adamu, has called on

the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to ensure they raise adequate funds for the Super Eagles’ prep-

Olaitan unstoppable in Greece

M

I C H A E L Olaitan continued his fine run for Olympiacos as he scored his eighth goal in Greece on Saturday.

The Nigerian youth international opened scoring for Olympiacos in the 28th minute in a 4-2 victory over Platanias as his Greek club remain on top of the league table with 71 points from 25 games.

The Jos-born midfielder lasted for 73 minutes before he was replaced

by Paulo Machado.

Olaitan has scored eight goals in 15 league games for Olympiacos this season.

Olympiacos host mighty Manchester United in a UEFA Champions League round of 16 match on February 25.

aration for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Adamu, a former CAF and FIFA Executive Committee member said at the weekend in Lagos that, the football federation should go all out to get needed funds to prepare the team well ahead of the challenges of the World Cup, considering the fact that, funds may

not be released on time by the federal government due to bureaucratic bottleneck.

“I know the NFF president, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, is doing very well and that is why the various national soccer teams both male and female have been doing well in all the competitions that competed in.

SERIE A Catania Atalanta Cagliari Genoa Juventus Sassuolo

3 0 1 3 3 0

Lazio Parma Livorno Udinese Verona Napoli

1 4 2 3 1 2

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 — 55

VANGUARD, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Champions League: Enyimba in, Pillars out Enyimba goal in Lome

N

IGERIA’s Enyimba have qualified for the first round of the Champions League despite losing 21 to Anges de Notse of Togo yesterday.

Enyimba advanced to the next round of the annual club competition 4-3 on aggregate having won the first game in Aba 3-1 a week ago.

The will now battle AS Real Bamako of Mali in the next stage of the competition.

Ike Uche may miss World Cup — Keshi I

KECHUKWU Uche is most likely to again miss out on the World Cup after Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi said he lacks discipline.

The Villarreal striker has fired 12 goals thus far in the Spanish La Liga, but Keshi has again overlooked him for next month’s crucial World Cup warm-up against Mexico.

Keshi has defended his decision by telling the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) technical committee the striker is not disciplined.

“Keshi said Ikechukwu (Uche) is not disciplined and that was why he did not call him up for the Mexico game,” a top official told Continues on Page 54

was scored by new signing Abdulrahman Bashir in the 66th minute after the home opened scoring just before the interval.

Nigeria’s other flag bearers in the competition, Kano Pillars, crashed out when they lost 4-3 on aggregate.

They defeated AS Vita of DR Congo 2-1 in Kano, but lost the first leg 3-1 in Kinshasa a week ago.

Arsenal defeat Liverpool in FA Cup thriller A RSENAL have set up an FA Cup quarter-final meeting with Everton after overcoming Liverpool 2-1 in a feisty and gripping fifthround match at the Emirates Stadium.

Liverpool had trounced Arsenal 5-1 at Anfield in the Premier League last weekend, but the London club took revenge through goals in each half by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski.

Steven Gerrard halved Arsenal’s advantage with a 59th-minute penalty after Podolski was adjudged to have

•Ike Uche

tripped Luis Suarez.

The visitors felt they should have been awarded a second spotkick moments later after Oxlade-Chamberlain appeared to foul Suarez, but their appeals were dismissed by referee Howard Webb.

Victory in a game splattered with yellow cards means that Arsenal will host Everton in the last eight, but they

will have bruises to nurse ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Bayern Munich in the Champions League last 16.

•Wenger

RESULTS FA Cup

Eveton Sheffield U Arsenal

3 3 2

Swansea Nottingham Forest Liverpool

1 1 1

QUICK CROSSWORD

Sudoku TODAY'S

PUZZLE

YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 1 Fashionable (4) 4 Weep (3) 6 Gemstone (4) 8 Thoroughfare (6) 9 Clothes (6) 10 Uncooked (3) 12 Smarten (5) 14 Banal (5) 15 Beer (5) 18 Strict (6) 20 Uncertain (6) 24 Handle (5) 26 Allude (5) 28 Coins (5) 30 Fitting (3) 32 Forgive (6) 33 Combined (6) 34 Boss (4) 35 Pale (3) 36 Whirlpool (4)

DOWN 2 Flutter (5) 3 Comfort (7) 4 Prophet (4) 5 Gust (4) 6 Exterior (5) 7 Pilot (7) 11 Hatchet (3) 12 Fuel (3) 13 Spoil (3) 16 Obtain (3) 17 Regret (3) 19 Graceful (7) 21 Sleep (3) 22 Barren (7) 23 Stretch (3) 25 Knock (3) 27 Finished (5) 29 Belief (5) 30 Afresh (4) 31 Rotate (4)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 2, Needy 7, Panel 8, Undid Water 12, Van 13, Sleet 15, Decided Neared 19, Lot 20, Debated 23, Ever Dune 26, Relaxed 30, Say 31, Detest Drooped 37, Petty 38, Awl 39, Demon Sieve 41, Sever 42, Greet.

10, 17, 25, 34, 40,

DOWN: 1, Cable 2, Newer 3, Elated 4, Deed 5, Invited 6, Liner 9, Dad 11, Related 13, Sneer 14, Eager 16, Cot 18, Delayed 21, Duvet 22, Deity 24, Resolve 27, Lap 28, Depose 29, Drain 32, Tenet 33, Steed 35, Owe 36, Dear.

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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