Alams, others deserve pardon —Tukur

...towards a better life for the people

**

VOL. 25: NO. 61840

Dana Air suspends flight operations

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

•P.9

PDP threatens •P.4 Nigeria's democracy— ACN

Alams, others deserve pardon —Tukur

BY HENRY UMORU & DAPO AKINREFON

Calls for understanding It’s pardon for criminality — CPC

A

BUJA —NATIONAL Chairman of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday, threw his weight behind the recent state pardon granted by President Goodluck Jonathan to former governor

Continues on page 5

•P.17 COLUMNISTS:

DELE SOBOWALE •P.34

LES LEBA •P.40

OCHEREOME NNANNA •P. 41

Mr & Mrs

CONDOLENCE VISIT:

Vice President Namadi Sambo (right) during a condolence visit on the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris over the death of his elder brother, Alhaji Umar Idris (Dangaladiman Zazzau and the District Head of Rigasa) at his Palace in Zaria, yesterday.

BOKO HARAM AND ALAMIEYESEIGHA:

How Gov Obi Effect on Nigeria-US betrayed me relations •P. 46 — Umeh —P.42

2— Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 — 3

4—Vanguard , MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

FG to review tariff on raw materials F

VISIT: From right— Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF; Mr. Femi Adesina, President, Nigeria Guild of Editors, NGE, and Hajia Aisha Sule, Deputy President of NGE, during a courtesy visit by the NGE to the governor in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, weekend.

BY KAYODE MATTHEW

A

CTION Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has accused Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of being a threat to Nigeria’s democracy with its desperation to retain power at all cost, judging by the party’s glaring involvement in the ongoing efforts to sabotage the merger of the progressives.

PDP in its response, however, said ACN is the real threat to Nigerian democracy with its inciting and unpatriotic statements designed to heat up the polity and put Nigerians at loggerheads with one another.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, ACN said it is therefore calling on all lovers of democracy within and outside Nigeria to join in the efforts to stop PDP and its cohorts from truncating the nation’s democracy.

It said: “Having misgoverned Nigeria since the country’s return to democratic rule in 1999, the PDP, realising that its time is up, has now resorted to a dangerous game aimed at either keeping the party in power at all costs or crashing the country’s democracy.

“This is a dangerous game that must be stopped, with the good people of Nigeria, not just the progressives, leading the charge.”

ACN described the events of the past few weeks, during which PDP, undoubtedly backed by the presidency, which is providing the financial muscle from its slush funds, is using some of its members who are known for doing the dirty jobs to scuttle the registration of the All Progressives’ Congress, APC. “This is a throwback to 1993, when the then military junta supported the so-called Association for Better Nigeria, ABN, to scuttle that year ’s presidential elections.”

PDP threatens Nigeria's democracy— ACN You 're the threat, says PDP The party said the dirty game snowballed into a series of cataclysmic events that culminated in the annulment of what is still widely regarded as the best elections in the country, and led to the ascension into office of a man regarded as the most brutal dictator in the country’s history.

The statement said: ‘’What started as a mere game of political desperation in 1993 was to set Nigeria back by many decades, and the country is still reeling from the effects of that single act of high treason, sabotage and subterfuge.”

ACN then assured that no amount of underhand tactics will stop the merger of the progressives, who are even stronger now as they have received an overwhelming support and encouragement of Nigerians in the wake of

the PDP- orchestrated ‘registrationgate’. ‘’We call on all our supporters and indeed all Nigerians to remain vigilant in the days ahead, as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,’’ it said.

PDP reacts

In its response however, PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh said: “Our attention has been drawn to inciting and unpatriotic statements by ACN, seeking as usual, to heat up the polity and put Nigerians at loggerheads with one another, all in the desperate lust for power for selfish reasons.

“ACN has shown that it is the real threat to Nigerian democracy and they are unyielding in their plot to truncate the system with propaganda, lies and media deceit

because they have been rejected by Nigerians.

“Nigerians have since realised their evil desires and have continued to answer them with overwhelming support for PDP in elections.

“The recent being the FCT elections where PDP won five out of the six area councils with the ACN getting none.

“ACN spokesman, Lai Mohammed should be bold enough to tell Nigerians the relationship his party has with the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu. We await his kind explanation in this regard.

“Let ACN continue to chase shadows with their incompetent approach to politics, including making mountains of mere name registration, while we continue to win the hearts and minds of the voting public. Nigerians are not fools.”

EDERAL Government is carrying out a comprehensive review of tariffs charged on industrial raw materials across all sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said this at the presentation of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP, to the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, in Lagos.

He said the review would cut across the value chain in all sectors of the nation’s economy.

He said: “We are doing a comprehensive review of the competitiveness of the tariff regime for industrial raw materials across the value chain in all sectors of the economy. “The major problem we had many years ago was that when it was fixed, we were not as developed as we are today in terms of our production.

"So we only focused on imports and didn’t focus on all the issues across the value chain.

“If you look at the Information and Communications Technology for example, the tariff for bringing in some finished accessories is lower than for the raw materials and we have it in so many other sectors, including publishing.

“There is no way that we can encourage more of book publishing locally because most publishers say that it is a lot cheaper for people to import books than producing here in Nigeria."

Down Syndrome Foundation makes case for Disability Bill

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

L

ACK of legal framework has been identified as a major factor for inability to reach out to thousands of children living with Down Syndrome in the rural parts of the country.

President, Down Syndrome

Foundation of Nigeria, DSFN, Mrs. Rose Mordi, who described this as a major set back to needed services such as early medical intervention, education intervention, and vocational training for affected persons, called on President Goodluck Jonathan to ur-

gently sign into law the Disability Bill.

Mrs Mordi spoke during the Sixth Annual Special Inter-House Sports Competition of the DSFN, in Lagos.

She said: “We need support from government and the first step is signing the Disability Bill into Law.” United Nations statistics say globally, in every 800 live births, one will have Down

Syndrome. Nigeria has 300,000 to 400,000 people living with the condition.

Mordi said about five years ago, the Bill was presented to the House of Assembly, deliberated upon and passed by the lower House as well as the Upper House, which harmonised it, sent it to the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo to sign, but it was kept aside until he left office.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013—5

POCKET CARTOON

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State (left) being conducted round the Nigeria Police Hall of Fame by the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar during the condolence visit to the Police Headquarters in Abuja on the death of Kwara Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chinwike Asadu.

Alams, others deserve pardon—Tukur Continues from page 1 of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and former bank executive, Shettima Bulama, among others, saying they deserved the pardon and called for the understanding of Nigerians.

This came as the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, faulted the president’s decision, describing it as pardon for criminality.

In a statement, Alhaji Tukur called for understanding by Nigerians on the matter, stressing that the

beneficiaries of the state pardon deserved the merit based on their conduct over the years as well as the contributions they have continued to make in the task of ensuring peace, progress and prosperity of the country.

The Federal Government had, last week, announced pardon for Alamieyeseigha, Bulama and five others, including late Maj.-Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua; former Chief of General Staff, Lt.Gen. Oladipo Diya; former Minister of Works, late Maj.-Gen. Abdulkareem Adisa; ex-Major Bello Magaji and Alhaji

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them — Maya Angelou.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

T

he best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our beingness — Nicholas Sparks Joel Osteen’s take on harmonious relationship brings to light some virtues that call for beautiful love between people in relationships.

“It is important for a spouse to understand that his words have tremendous power in his wife’s life.

He needs to bless her with words. She’s given her life to love and care for him, to partner with him, to create a family together. If he is always finding fault in something she’s doing, always putting her down, there will be consequences that are very unpleasant. One of the leading causes of emotional breakdowns among married women is the fact that they do not feel valued.

One of the main reasons for that deficiency is because husbands are wilfully or unwittingly withholding the words of approval women need to help them unfold. If you want to see God do wonders in your marriage, or relationship, start praising your spouse. Start appreciating and encouraging her.

Every single day, a husband should tell his wife, “I love you. I appreciate you. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.” A wife should do the same for her husband. Your relationship would improve immensely if you’d simply start speaking kind, positive words, blessing your spouse instead of cursing him or her.”

Mohammed Lima Biyu.

The PDP national chairman, who berated opposition parties for incensing Nigerians on the issue through the media, argued that the idea of granting the pardon falls within the exclusive powers of the President as enshrined in the constitution, adding that Jonathan consulted widely before taking the step.

...Berates opposition He said it was wrong for any political party, group or individual to harass President Jonathan for granting pardon to those who deserved such, stating that the beneficiaries of the pardon had over the years shown by their conduct that they deserved it.

According to him, granting state pardon to these Nigerians was a clear cut means of getting the best attitude out of individuals as instituted in the political programmes of different countries across the world.

Tukur said in granting amnesty, the attitude and behaviour of beneficiaries were taken into consideration, whereas the contribution of each of them to national growth and development in little ways, according to him, made them to earn the pardon from President Jonathan.

Stop harassing Jonathan His words: “I cannot understand why our people are politicising the issue of amnesty so granted

by Mr President. The question is: do you grant pardon to the innocent? No! Amnesty is granted to

those people government felt did some wrongs and after some time, their behaviour and attitude showed that the wrong they did was just a slip. We all call on our God to grant us mercy on the wrongs we do to Him minute by minute.

"The PDP did not see President Jonathan committing any breach of our laws by granting the amnesty. He allowed the constitution to guide his steps. More over, he consulted widely before taking the step and don’t forget that the government announced the amnesty after a council meeting.

“We should stop harassing him because those he had granted the amnesty to are responsible citizens of Nigeria who, in spite of the allegations against them, have continued to assist the Federal Government, the PDP and their respective states to overcome certain challenges. We should learn to respect ourselves as a people and doing so would make us to continue to forge ahead as a country.”

It’s pardon for criminality —CPC In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Rotimi Fashakin, the CPC chided the president over the decision, saying “there is a self-serving agenda by the Jonathan regime ahead of the 2015 election.”

It said: “The power of prerogative of mercy granted to Presidents in various jurisdictions, though discretional, is expected to be exercised with perspicacity and

utmost circumspection.

“Though the ostensible and much-trumpeted reason is for national cohesion, we have on good authority that the main reason is a selfserving agenda by the Jonathan regime ahead of the 2015 election.

"Under the Nigerian extant law, which prescribes a 10-year disqualification for any exconvict, Chief Alamieyeseigha is ineligible for any electoral contest in 2015 since his conviction was done in 2006. As a party, we are aware of the burden of responsibility on us to lend our voice to the vociferous condemnation of this ‘pardon for brazen criminality ’ by the Jonathan administration. ” The party called on the Senate to commence impeachment proceedings against the president if he fails to review the decision of the Council of State.

It said: “Without any scintilla of doubt, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, as President, has ceased from serving the collective interest of the Nigerian people and the nation state. He seems more preoccupied with political maneuvers, that are deleterious to the corporate existence of the Nation state, than ensuring good governance through enunciation of policies that do not offend the ethnoreligious balance of the polity.

"It is, therefore, our considered view, in the CPC, that the Senate should mitigate this national embarrassment from the President’s action by suing for rescission of this amnesty order on Mr Alamieyeseigha and Mr Shettima Bulama or in the event of refusal, to commence impeachment proceedings for gross abuse of executive authority and total disregard for the feelings of the Nigerian people.”

It is justified —Uranta Also, the NSG scribe, Mr Tony Uranta, argued that Alamieyeseigha deserved the state pardon due to his role in ensuring peace and progress in the Niger Delta region.

Uranta, who reiterated that the pardon was in tandem with practices all over the world, said: “The United States of America during the tenure of Bill Clinton granted state pardon to his brother who was involved in drug trafficking.

This notwithstanding, Alamieyeseigha played great roles in bringing the Niger Delta insurgency to an end.

"He risked his life to ensure that there was peace in the Niger Delta so as not to affect the nation’s economy that depends so much on oil for revenue. The former governor is still playing same roles to ensure that the peace in the region is sustained.”

According to him, the peace initiative of Alamieyeseigha has benefitted the country in immeasurable ways.

He said the fact that Alamieyeseigha was from the minority group in the country and that it happened while someone from the region was at the helm of affairs did not make it immoral.

He said: “President Goodluck Jonathan has the prerogative to reject or embrace advice of the Council of States and since he approved of their recommendations showed it is the right thing to do.”

On amnesty to the Boko Haram, Uranta urged members of the sect to come out publicly and surrender their arms.

According to him, “they should also undertake never to terrorize the nation again and that should be the basis for which they should be considered for the privilege.”

6

— Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

Riyom women, youths shun STF free medical treatment

Police foil attempt to defraud Canadian govt of N89.9m Over N89.9m health insurance scam

...allege that they may be poisoned

J

OS – WOMEN in Riy om Local Government Area of Plateau State, weekend, failed to attend the free medical treatment organised by the Special Task Force, STF, maintaining peace in the state.

The medical outreach was organised by the task force as a strategy for creating mutual co-existence amongst the people of the state.

A representative of the women, Mrs Naomi Dalyop, said they refused to avail themselves of the service for fear of being poisoned by the military personnel.

Dalyop said: “A lot of women refused to show up because we were told that the drugs that will be given to us at this free medical outreach will be poisoned.

“So many of us have this notion that if we show up, we might not return alive to our various homes

Cocoa smugglers arrested in Ekiti

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

A

DO EKITI—PRO DUCE officers manning control post at EporoEkiti near Ekiti and Ondo states boundary have impounded three tons of cocoa from some merchants attempting to smuggle the cash crop out of the state.

The State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Babajide Arowosafe, who made this known, weekend, frowned at the incessant cases of smuggling of farm produce out of the state.

Arowosafe advised produce traders to be mindful of government’s regulations and laws guiding the conduct of their trade, stressing that anyone caught contravening the law would be prosecuted and made to face the full wrath of the law.

He urged farm produce traders to properly register their businesses, pay their taxes and ensure that their produce are duly graded before conveying them out of the state.

BY EVELYN USMAN

L

AGOS—THE Special Fraud Unit, SFU, Milverton Ikoyi, Lagos, has arrested a 50-year-old man following his attempt to defraud the Canadian government of N89.9million.

The suspect, Ibukun Ojo, allegedly connived with one Steve Olusoji, a Nigerian living in Canada, who is currently at large, to forge a medical bill of N89,989,742.46, with a view to enabling him claim health Insurance from the Canadian government.

But the bubble, according to spokesperson for SFU, Ngozi Isintume-Agu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, burst following a petition from the Canadian High Commission in Nigeria.

According to her, when operatives of the SFU stormed Ojo’s hospital located at 2, Mukandasi street, Oja-Oke area of Oshodi, it was discovered that the hospital was being run by him and his wife alone.

She also disclosed that Ojo was discovered not to be a certified medical practitioner.

During interrogation, the Ondo State born Ojo reportedly told the operatives that he dropped out of medical school at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University).

Ojo who was discovered to have been operating the hospital for five years, further told the operatives that after he dropped out of school, he relocated to Lagos from where he got a job as a medical assistant, before he opened his own clinic.

“When his hospital was visited, it was discovered that there was no billboard signifying its location. Also, he did not have any nurse working for him.

“He was said to have confessed to the alleged crime admitting forging medical documents, including the medical summary report on Steve Olusoji Fakolujo with claim number 216316 for a paltry sum of N1,500 with the aid of his unregistered letter headed paper which had ‘Mount Zion Clinic and Hospital’ stamped on it”.

A copy of the document which fleeing Steve reportedly took to Canada, read; “To whom it may concern, the above named person was brought into our hospital in an unconscious state. He presented with severe dehydration and rigidity of the limbs secondary to prolong stooling and vomiting with plasmodiasis.

“He was diagnosed with severe gastroenteritis. Supportive therapy was initiated with intra-

venous procedure employed.

Treatment was corroborated with antibiotics. Patient regained consciousness...”.

A breakdown of the bill showed that N19,969,032.46 was charged for accommodation and feeding; N28,000,000 for medical and consultation charges; drugs and medication was N19,649,032.46.00; ambulance fees N10,180,000 and miscellaneous expenses N5,700,750 When approached, the suspect simply stated, “I dot not know anything about Canada. I do not have anything about insurance or anything of that stuff. That is the only thing I can say. I do not have anything to say now and when I get to the court my lawyer will talk for me”, Ojo stated

Gunmen kidnap 45-yr-old housewife

BY EMMA AMAIZE & AKPOKONA OMAFUAIRE

W

ARRI – FOUR suspected kidnappers, yesterday, abducted a 45-year-old Warri-based businesswoman and housewife, Mrs. Baby Obiokor in OgbeUdu, Udu Local Government Area of Delta State.

Mrs. Obiokor, who hails from Okwagbe in Ughelli South Local Government Area, was reportedly traveling to her country home with her sister, Mrs. Patience Mode, in a Honda SUV when the incident occurred at about 10.00 am.

The gangsters, who operated in a red-coloured Toyota car were apparently trailing the victim and they intercepted her at Ovwodokpokpor Junction, along UduEkakpamre Road, yanked her sister off the vehicle and sped off with her towards Owhorde.

Her husband, Mr. Obiokor, reported the incident at the Ovwian Police station, yesterday, but at the time of filing this report, the kidnappers were yet to make contact for ransom with the family.

The victim’s phone was however switched off, an indication that they were still in transit, looking for a hideout to keep her before demanding for ransom.

Contacted on phone, Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Famous Ajieh, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP, said he was not aware of the incident, promising to get in touch with the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of the area.

Items recovered from the suspect

Hoodlums sack Ondo monarch from palace

BY DAYO JOHNSON

A

KURE—HOODLUMS numbering about 10, weekend, invaded the palace of the Olu of Igbokoda in the oil rich Ilaje council area of Ondo State, Oba Afolabi Odidiomo, sacked his family members and destroyed his abode.

They also allegedly raped some girls in the houses of some of the Chiefs.

The family members of the traditional ruler who were in the palace were reportedly whisked away while the Oba was said to be away to Lagos when the ugly incident happened.

Report had it that the invasion and attack on the palace was a reprisal attack by the hoodlums who had come to revenge the death of one of them.

Vanguard gathered that some of the thugs had earlier invaded and disrupted a sporting and quiz event.

But two of them were unlucky as they were arrested and taken to the palace of the monarch and subsequently handed over to the police.

Speaking on the development, the Oba said; “I want the IGP to order investigation into this. This is a clear case of rape, murder

and arson and as a lawyer, I am aware these are grave offences.”

Oba Odidiomo traced the genesis of the attack to his kicking against the installation of two people within Igbokoda as Baale and Oloja by his fellow Oba without recourse to him.

According to him, he frowned at this development since the two installed chiefs lived within his domain.

Oba Odidiomo added that “I reported the development to Olugbo of Igboland, Oba Obateru Akinruntan, who promised to wade into the matter.

“There is also a parcel of land within Igbokoda terrain which the same fellow connected to the hoodlums sold to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs at about N64 million and when I asked questions, they threatened to deal with me. “ I sent a petition to the Ministry and he has been using the Mahin boys to harass me since then. A group of boys shot into my room through the window last year in an attempt to eliminate me, he said.”

He confirmed that two of the hoodlums apprehended by the people of Igbokoda last week for disturbing the peace of the town were handed over to the police.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 — 7

Kogi polls: PDP chairman, secretary brutalised Commissioner survives ambush; ex-council boss, brother arrested

P

REPARATION for the con duct the local government elections in Kogi State slated for May 4, got underway weekend with the councillorship primaries of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, held across the 21 local councils.

The primaries, however, turned violent in some councils between factions who could not agree on the modalities for the conduct of the elections.

It was a free-for-all in Yagba West Council as aggrieved members opted to settle scores with machetes and other dangerous weapons.

No fewer than 20 persons were injured, with the party chairman in the area, Mr Ayo Alabi allegedly hospitalized as a result of head injury sustained from matchet cut.

No fewer than 22 persons are said to have been arrested in the aftermaths, including the immediate past principal officer for Yagba West Council (names withheld) His arrest alongside his elder brother was reportedly ordered by the Police Commissioner, Mr Frank Opara.

Twenty-one others were reportedly picked from their homes as the search for culprits was said to have continued till yesterday.

Contentions over the PDP guidelines for the primaries and reactions to the outcome of the elections were said to be responsible for the violence.

A PDP chairmanship aspirant in Yagba East Council, Mr FG Ibrahim observed that although the election was generally peaceful in the council, he protested the conduct in one of the wards.

The scenario was different in Yagba West where thugs were said to have unleashed violent attack on the PDP secretariat.

In an alleged attempt to disrupt the primaries having not gone in their favour, thugs said to be loyal to a faction, in their hundreds, invaded the PDP secretariat at Odo Ere, Yagba West Council headquarters, overpowered the police detachment deployed in the party office.

They seized the local government party chairman, Mr Ayo Alabi and secretary, Idowu Afolabi who were given the beatings of their lives. It took efforts by the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Odo Ere, who mobilized more men from neighbouring Egbe Police station to rescue the party officials from the miscreants.

The blood soaked Alabi, the party chairman, narrating his ordeal to newsmen at the Odo Ere Divisional Police Headquarters attributed his “narrow escape from

death” to divine intervention.

His secretary was said to have been placed in the intensive care unit of the cottage hospital, Odo Ere and could not be reached.

Nearby Odo Eri, the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr

Olufemi Bolarin was said to have escaped unhurt, after he was ambushed by factional youths. It took several gun shots fired by his police orderly to gain passage.

While a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Mrs Justina Abanida,

also ambushed, had the screen of her Hilux van smashed.

An officer of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, CIB, office in Odo Ere told newsmen that the arrested persons have been transferred to Lokoja headquarters of the Police Command.

Members of the task force on bunkering and pipeline vandalisation destroy illegal refinery in Escravos, Warri, Delta State.

Man, 46, allegedly shot dead by policemen in error Widow urges IG to bring hubby's killers to book

BY EVELYN USMAN

L

AGOS—WIDOW of a trader who was allegedly shot dead by policemen attached to the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, weekend, in Ijaye-Ojokoro area of Lagos, has called on the Inspector General of Police to bring her husband’s killers to book.

Her late husband identified as Eze Okoro according to report, had just finished having his supper with his wife when he decided to stay outside with a friend, owing to power outage around 11p.m.

However, the quiet atmosphere was said to have been rented with sporadic gun shots later discovered to be from policemen on patrol.

In the process, 46-year-old Okoro was allegedly hit by a stray bullet.

Narrating her experience, the pregnant widow said, “when the gun shot died down, I went outside to see what was happening but could not find my husband and his friend. I called him on the phone, but he did not pick.

At that point, some neighbours told me they saw policemen carrying a lifeless body into their van.

I contacted my relatives and we searched for my husband to no avail. We went to Ijaye-Ojokoro police station but he was not there, as the policemen said they did not go for any raid. It was not until yesterday (Saturday) that some people informed me that the po-

licemen were from Federal Special Anti Robbery squad. And when I got there, I was informed by a police officer that my husband was killed in error.”

Spokesman for the Federal SARS, Lekan Ogundare, when contacted, said he was not unaware of the incident. But Vanguard gathered that the late Okoro’s corpse was deposited at the Yaba Military hospital morgue.

Inquiry into Lagos vessel spillage begins

BY GODWIN ORITSE

T

HE Marine Board of In quiry set up by the Federal Ministry of Transport to look into spillage from a vessel, MT Concep/Redfferm, at Tin Can Island, Lagos, four years ago has commenced sitting in Lagos.

Inaugurated by the Transport Minister, Senator Idris Umar last month in Abuja, the Board has Chief Magistrate Nureni Kuranga as its president.

In his inaugural speech, Kuranga listed its terms of reference to

include; investigating the circumstances that led to the incident; authenticating the veracity of the incident as reported; ascertaining the legal status of the vessel and its tonnage capacity; find out if it was covered by the relevant insurance policy as provided for by the International Oil Pollution Compensation, IOPC, Funds Convention, determining the legal beneficiaries of any compensation arising and make any other recommendation that the committee may deem appropriate.

CP queries DSP over shooting of lawyer

J

BY TAYE OBATERU

OS — THE Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Olakpe, has queried a Deputy Superintendent of Police, name withheld, over alleged shooting of a lawyer at a public function in December last year.

This followed a petition by a group known as Young Lawyers Forum, a body under the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, over what they called the reckless use of firearm by the officer against one Michael Alloy Dawan.

The petition which was addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar and signed by the group’s President, M.K. Habila called for investigation into the conduct of the said officer which it said was a dent on the image of the force.

Said the petition: “We write this petition, in the interest of one of our members, Micheal Alloy Dawan Esq, who was shot on December 21, 2012 by an officer (name withheld) for no just cause without provocation.

Ekiti varsity expels 5 students over alleged rape

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

A

DO EKITI – THE author ities of Ekiti State University, EKSU, have expelled five students from the institution for allegedly raping female students.

According to the statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the university, Mr Ajibade Olubunmi, yesterday, the alleged offenders had been earlier tried and found guilty by the disciplinary committee headed by Professor W. O. Adebayo They were to have been arrested last Thursday through a concerted effort of the university security personnel, the Police and youths from Iworoko Ekiti, a neighbouring town, according to the statement.

Names of the expelled students according to the statement are, Babalola Adedotun Kolawole, a 300 Level Psychology student, Omoteye Olalekan Olamide, a 300 Level Psychology student.

Others include, Bamigboye Biola Moshood, a Pre-degree Social Science student, Adekunle Lateef Omogbemileke, a 300 Level Accounting student.

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

2nd term: God, Oyo people to determine, says Ajimobi

I

BY OLAAJAYI

B A DA N — G OV E R NOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, weekend, advised members of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and other political associates not to lose sleep over his second term ambition, saying only God and people of the state could determine that.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, he said people should not dissipate their energy on his second term in office, as this would be determined

by God and the people of the state.

The governor spoke while declaring open a one-day retreat for political office holders and community leaders in all the 33 local government councils in the state.

The governor also said his coming back into office after his first term would also be a function of his achievements.

He said that his focus at the moment was how to make the best of his first term in office for the benefit of the people.

Why Damilola was decamped,

by Ogun NYSC

A

B E O K U TA – N A TIONAL Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Ogun State, has given reasons why Miss Ekundayo Damilola, a graduate of Zoology from the Lagos State University, was decamped from the ongoing 2013 Batch A orientation programme.

Briefing newsmen at the Ogun State Orientation camp, Sagamu, the State Coordinator, Theresa Anosike, said Miss Damilola was asked to leave the camp for refusing to abide by the rules and regulations of the scheme.

Quoting NYSC Bye Law 2011 and Orientation Programme and Service Guide, Anosike said: “All corps members, irrespective of religious, cultural and social background, must wear prescribed NYSC uniforms for all activitiesoncamp,andallotherNYSC activities through out the service year.

“Anymemberwhorefuses,fails or neglects to comply with this rule shall be tried by the Camp Court and if found guilty, would besentpackingfromtheorientationcamp.”

Industrial unrest looms in federal hospitals As health sector unions issue 15-day ultimatum

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-

YOUNG AGOS—WORKERS in the Federal Hospitals and other health institutions across the country have issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to address five pending industrial disputes including nonimplementation of 2012 collective agreement between government and the health sector unions, raising fears of another industrial unrest in the federal health institutions.

The workers comprising Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, MHWUN, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, NANNM, Nigerian Union of Pharmacists, Medical laboratory Scientists and Professionals Allied to Medicine, NUPMTPAM, Senior Staff Association of Universities’ Teaching Hospitals Research Institutes and Allied Institutions, SSAUTHRIAI, and, Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, said the ultimatum would start counting from today, Monday, March 18.

Operating under the umbrella of the Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, at a meeting in Abuja, reviewed its relationship with the Federal Ministry of Health, FMOH, on Non-implementation of May 10, 2012 Collective Agreement, Acts of victimization and discrimination of members, ap-

L

pointment of Chief Medical Directors and call for the removal of the Health Minister, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu.

They decried the Federal Government’s alleged care free attitudes towards members of the five unions.

In a statement issued at the end of its meeting, the unions said:

“The Joint Health Sector Unions reviewed its relationship with the Federal Ministry of Health, FMOH, with reference to the 10 points demand first presented to the Minister of Health on September 26, 2011 and notes that four of the ten points of demand namely; skipping of Consolidated Health

Sector Salary Structure, CONHESS, 10 salary grade, non- payment of specialist allowance, issues of consultancy status for allied health professionals and call duty allowance renegotiation were referred by the Minister of Labour and Productivity to the National Industrial Court, NIC, for adjudication since September, 2012.”

MEETING: From left: Dispute Resolution Officer, Multi-door Court House, Olubosola Asiwaju, representing the Director, National Coordinator, Standing Conference of Mediation Advocate, SCMA, Nigeria, Mr. Valentino Buoro, and guest speaker/fellow, Nigeria Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Mr. Akin Olawore, at the inaugural meeting of SCMA in Lagos.

Oshodi-Apapa Expressway: Ministry reaches agreement with gas coys L AGOS—FEDERAL Ministry of Works, yesterday, said the Ministry had adopted measures to bypass gas pipelines slowing down reconstruction of Oshodi/ Apapa expressway.

Deputy Director in the Ministry, Mr. Godwin Eke, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Lagos that the Ministry had a meeting with gas companies whose pipelines were on its right of way to solve the problem.

He explained that the contractor; Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, discovered the gas pipelines while trying to lay underground plastic pipes for future use for telecommunication and other utilities.

H e said: “From the Beachland to Sunrise bus stop is covered with gas pipelines, valves and control valves. The whole stretch is covered and we did not anticipate that there will be any gas pipeline on the right of way when we began. It is when excavating for drainage channels and to pass our ducts for servicing across the road that we found the gas pipelines.”

He said the cost of relocating the gas pipelines was enormous for the companies and the contractor handling the project could not bear the cost which was not part of the contract.

Eke, who is the Engineer in charge of the project, said an agreement was reached to bypass the pipelines to continue

work on the road.

He said the contractor also decided to place the manholes for telecommunication and other utilities a little outside the walkways where there were gas valves.

Eke explained that adequate measures had been taken so that there would not

be any problem both for the gas pipelines and utility facilities in future.

Eke said the contractor also ensured that existing valve pit of gas pipelines were adequately protected with concrete covers with manholes created for the companies to access them.

Fasehun urges OPC members to defend Yoruba interests

BY UJU MBANUSI AGOS—PRESIDENT and founder of Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, weekend, urged the group to continue to defend the interests of the Yoruba race as well as those described as “strangers” living in Yorubaland.

He rejected what he called attempts to lump OPC with any group that “turns arms against defenseless citizens,” saying it would continue to protest against such attempts.

Fasheun, who spoke during OPC’s maiden award and

L

chieftaincy-conferring ceremony, at Okota, Lagos, called on members to abide by the ideals which the group represented.

Expressing satisfaction on how OPC had fared since its inception in 1994, he said it had been able to push Yoruba interest both at home and in the Diaspora, an achievement he said, none of the OPC’s four foundation members ever thought would be attained fast.

Fasehun said: “But most importantly, OPC has given the Yoruba race a new image, as a people of courage, a peo-

ple who must be considered in the scheme of things anywhere they live in the world.

“If you call us a socio-political group, yes we are. If you refer to us as a militant group, you will not be far from the truth. But nobody can dismiss us as a band of nonentity or destroyers.

“That is why we will protest any attempt to lump OPC together with any group that for any reason whatsoever turns its arms against defenseless civilians and murders them at will.This has never been OPC’s modus oparndi.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 —9

Dana Air suspends flight operations zAs Aero Contractor workers resume

BY LAWANI MIKAIRU &

DANIELETEGHE AGOS—DANA Airline yes terday, announced the suspension of all its flight operations nationwide.

This came as staff of Aero Contractors, who had been on strike were expected to resume work today following an agreement reached with management.

Disclosing this to newsmen, Head, Corporate Communications, Dana Air, Mr. Tony Usidamen, said the airline had to suspend its operations following a directive from the Ministry of Aviation through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, on Saturday, March 16, 2013.

Mr. Usidamen, however, pointed out that no specific reason was given for the action but stressed that a meeting between the management of Dana Air, the Ministry of Aviation and the NCAA would hold today. ”We thank you for your patience and understanding, and we look forward to having the pleasure of welcoming you on board again shortly.”

It will be recalled that the Federal Government had last Saturday, revoked the Air Operator ’s Certificate, AOC, of Dana Airline following the illfated crash of June 3, 2012 where 163 people were killed.

This is the second time the airline’s licence would be withdrawn as the Federal Government withdrew the Dana Air’s AOC barely 24 hours after the accident occurred in 2012 until January 4 this year when it was returned to it.

Meanwhile, the resumption of Aero Contractor workers followed the agreement reached at a meeting brokered by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu.

It was gathered that the Min-

L

ister through the Lagos State office of Federal Minister of Labour, mediated between the workers and management of the airline in the prolonged labour issues between the two parties.

The workers were locked out by management of the airline following failed negotiations.

The workers had insisted that the Human Resources Manager, should be removed as the manager ’s activities, according to the workers, were anti workers.

L

AGOS—GOVER NOR Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, has said the state recorded a 100 per cent improvement in the 2012 West African Examination Council, WAEC, results, attributing the achievement to the “Support Our Schools Initiative” that promotes better teaching and learning environment in the state.

Fashola spoke at the 2013 CRS Awards/Breakfast meeting with private sector education partners where he said better results could be recorded if more organisations and individuals partnered with government on education.

The governor said: “Thank you for investing in the most enduring legacy. This isn’t just about us but about these children because

Nigeria ATSSSAN, Mr Abdul Kareem Motajo and Olayinka Abioye, the unions advised management of the airline to imbibe the culture of dialogue.

The unions had accused the management of lying against them in a petition it sent to the Police. The workers described the petition to the Airport Police Command as “damaging lies and innuendoes that can not be substantiated.”

COMMISSIONING: Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (2nd left); Princess Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation (right); Senator Hope Uzodinma, Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation (2nd right) and Mr. George Uriesi, Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, at the commissioning of the newly remodelled Kano Airport in Kano.

Violence against women: TUC, FIDA task Lagos Assembly on passage of Bill

L

BY WILLIAM JIMOH

AGOS—TRADE Union Congress, TUC, Women

Lagos records 100% improvement in WAEC

BY AMAKA ABAYOMI

Part of the agreements reached, Vanguard gathered was that unions should continue with their negotiations with the management since a 14-day ultimatum had been renewed.

In a letter dated March 13, 2013, addressed to the acting Managing Director of Aero Contractors by the two secretaries of National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE and Air Transport Services Senior Staff Associations of

if we don’t bring the right professionals, we would still be the ones to suffer for it. We have walked quite a useful distance and the results are there for all to see. The impact is already being felt, especially in the WAEC results.

“In 2007 when we started this initiative, only 7 per cent of candidates that sat for WAEC in Lagos State got credit in mathematics, English and three other subjects. It moved up to 11 per cent in 2008, 18 per cent in 2009, 21 per cent in 2010, dipped to 19 per cent in 2011 and doubled to 39 per cent in 2012. “We are not where we want to be and we hope to double our performance in 2013.

This is a long term investment and we want to provide education that would respond to our needs.”

Commission and the International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, have appealed to the Lagos State House of Assembly, to immediately pass into law, the Domestic Violence against Women Bill.

TUC’s women commission and FIDA weekend said this would check frequent abuses women were exposed to both at home and in their places of work.

Speaking at a rally as part of the programmes marking the commission’s day, in Lagos, the Chairperson, TUC Women Commission, Mrs. Rose Orji Kalu, said the passage of the bill had become crucial to survival of women and the girl child.

Women from all sectors of the economy, who participated at the rally held at the Lagos State House, displayed several placards with inscriptions such as “we shall shine”, “Gender gaining momentum,” “Say no to violence against women and children,” “Eliminate and prevent all forms

of violence against women and the girl child,” among others.

According to Kalu: “The violence against women and the girl child in this country is so much that you even see a husband beating his own wife to death. It has happened times without number and that is why we at TUC in collaboration with FIDA who are also in the fore-front fighting the violence against women are saying that it is high time the law is passed not only here in Lagos but across the country.”

She noted that “because of the importance of this law, United Nations, UN, on March 8, which is the international women day discoursed ways to get the law adopted across the globe with the theme “Violence Against Women and Girl Child in the Working Place” while the International Labour Organization, ILO, picked “Gender Gaining Momentum” and that is why we are pleading that the law be passed in Nigeria.”

IGP inspects rehabilitation work at Police College

L

BY UJU MBANUSI

A G OS—IN SPEC TOR General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, weekend, visited the Police College, Ikeja, to inspect ongoing renovation work on the 22 structures by the Nigerian Army Engineering Corps.

However, the IGP did not grant an interview to journalists, on his assessment of the on-going renovation.

It will be recalled that the deplorable state of the college was brought to public domain following an independent television station documentary, which prompted President Goodluck Jonathan to pay an impromptu visit on January 18, 2013.

Following the public outcry that greeted the expository documentary, President Jonathan directed the Nigerian Army Engineers to renovate structures within the premier Police institution,with the release of about N700 million.

Lagos govt seeks FG’s partnership to tackle climate change

BY OLASUNKNAMI

AKONI AGOS— PARTICI PANTS at the 5th Climate Change Summit held in Lagos, have called on ggovernments at all levels to mainstream climate change into its infrastructural development for resilience and sustainability.

This came as Lagos State Government urged the Federal Government to live up to its responsibility and collaborate with the state on how to reduce the effect of climate change and develop a sustainable national policy frame work for it.

Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello, who spoke at the closing session of the summit, expressed dissatisfaction at the alleged care free approach of the Federal Government in handling the issue of climate change.

He argued that the effect was more than territorial boundaries and that there was the need for Federal Government to create moreawarenessonglobalwarming.

L

10 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 — 11

Transport firm returns abducted passengers' luggage

BY EMMA ARUBI

W

ARRI—FOLLOWING the ambush and abduction of some passengers of Greener Liner fleet by hoodlums on the Benin –Lagos highway, the company's management has expressed its sympathy to the victims of the incident.

The abducted victims whose luggage contained important personal effects and materials, including documents and huge sums of money in both local and foreign currencies, have since got back their property, as they were returned intact by the driver of the ambushed vehicle.

Managing Director of Greener Line, Elder Alex Ohunyon, who briefed newsmen in Warri, Delta State, said that his drivers were very diligent, mature, experienced and honest as could be seen in the safe return of the property of those abducted by the thieves.

Ndokwa demands inclusion in amnesty

BY EMMA UJAH, Abuja Bureau Chief & NOEL ONOJA

N

DOKWA nation has made a case for the inclusion of its youths in the Presidential Amnesty Programme in order to give them opportunities of empowerment like their counterparts from other ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta.

President-General of Ndokwa National Union, Mr. Paul Enebeli, who led a delegation of his organisation to the Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, in Abuja, said Ndokwa people were excluded from the amnesty and other development programmes in spite of their peaceful posture in the region.

His words: “A clear case in point is the way the Nigerian government has handled the serious issue of youth restiveness and unemployment in the Niger Delta region."

Warri South LG boss vows to fish out Prison wardens' attackers W

ARRI—TRANSITION Committee Chairman of Warri South Local Government Area, Dr. Augustine Uroye, has vowed that the gunmen who attacked officials of the Nigerian Prisons Service, Warri, Delta State, last Wednesday, on their way to a Delta State High Court, Warri, would be brought to book.

Uroye, who spoke when he led members of the Warri South Council Peace and Security Committee on a condolence visit to the Nigerian Prisons, Okere, Warri, noted that the prison service was not alone in the recent tragic incident, as the committee, made up of security chiefs, prominent clerics and community leaders, was ready to synergise with the prison authority to forestall a further reoccurrence of the event.

He said that the prison authority would be incorporated into the council’s newly inaugurated peace and security committee with a view to strengthening its scope, adding that he would ade-

quately brief the state government on the request for back-up vehicle to avoid a repeat of last Wednesday’s attack on the prison officials.

Responding, ComptrollerGeneral of Prisons, Mr. Zakari Ibrahim, commended the council chairman for his concern and applauded his decision to incor-

porate members of the Prison Service into the council’s peace and security committee.

Ibrahim, who was represented by Mr. S. A. Bewaji, solicited the local government’s support in the procurement of escort vehicles, noting that only one dilapidated black maria was avail-

MEETING: From left: Alhaji Bamaga Tukor, PDP National Chairman; Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, during the PDP South-South Special Executive Committee meeting, at the Civic Centre, Port Harcourt, Rivers

LG polls: Oba of Benin tells candidates to ensure peaceful campaigns

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

B

ENIN—AHEAD the April 12 local government elections in Edo State, the Benin monarch, Oba Erediauwa, has urged chairmanship and councillorship candidates to go about their campaigns peacefully in order to sustain the prevailing peace in the state.

The Oba’s advice came as Senator Ehigie Uzamere urged members of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, to vote massively for the party in the forthcoming elec-

tions, so as to replicate the developmental success of Governor Adams Oshiomhole at the grassroots.

Meantime, a chieftain of ACN in Edo South, Elder Sunny Uyigue, has also cautioned members of the party to be vigilant, alleging plans by some aggrieved members of the party to vote against the party in favour of Peopled Democratic Party, PDP, candidates, particularly in Ovia North East.

The Oba gave the advice when the chairmanship candidate of ACN in Oredo Local Government Area, Mr. Osaro Obaze, paid him a visit at his palace to

brief him of his ambition, while Uzamere and Uyigue spoke at Okada, Ovia NorthEast, when the former Woman leader of PDP and ACN chairmanship candidate in Ovia North-East, Mrs. Lucy Omagbon, flagged off her campaign, weekend in Benin City.

The Oba, who spoke through the Esogban of Benin Kingdom, Chief David Edebiri, while praying the ancestors to make the campaigns peaceful, urged the candidates to base their campaigns on issues and eschew violence and mudslinging.

Uduaghan tasks stakeholders on polio eradication

BY FESTUS AHON

U

G H E L L I — D E LTA State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, weekend, charged traditional and religious leaders, as well as other stakeholders, to collaborate with government in the task of eradicating polio in the state.

Flagging off the first quarter 2013 polio eradication sensitisation campaign at Oharisi Primary School, Ughelli, Uduaghan, said: “For us in Delta, we are in a polio-free state.

able to men of Nigerian Prisons Service to effectively carry out their assignment in the 58 courts in the area.

He noted that if there were adequate back-up escort vehicles, the recent attack on his men on their way to court would have been repelled.

There is no case of polio in Delta.

We have not had any in the state.

Delta State is one of the polio-free states in Nigeria.

“Nigeria is not yet polio-free and we cannot fold our arms. And for that to happen, we have to show commitment; our presence here is part of our commitment.

We have to take the issue of polio eradication very seriously and from the report of the Commissioner of Health, we need to do more in the area of routine immunisation.

“It is not enough to gather quarterly to give vaccine and go home

and sleep. The number of persons that came for the quarterly programme is very insignificant compared to the population that is potentially vulnerable to polio.

“There must be collaboration between the state, local governments and the various stakeholders at the community level, starting from the state government. I had said it that we have to do more; our Primary Heath Care Development Agency has to be on the driver’s seat in this polio eradication programme."

....As Dickson appeals for issue-based campaigns

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

Y

ENAGOA—BAYELSA State governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, weekend, called on local government chairmen aspirants of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to embark on issue based and peaceful campaigns in the state.

Dickson gave the charge during the PDP local government election campaign flagoff at the Peace Park in Yenagoa, for the elections scheduled for next weekend.

He urged the candidates to carry along stakeholders and the various caucus chairmen of the party to convene a meeting and take charge, not only of the campaigns, but also be in a position to guide and direct the chairmen of the various councils.

He said: “The old era of politics of acrimony and division at the local government level must stop. The era of disrespect for your stakeholders and leaders because you think you are a chairman and you have access to government, must stop.

“Your government will be directed by the stakeholders of our party at all levels.”

12—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

Maku faulted on FG projects in Edo

Guild of Editors to Amaechi: Stand with the people, we'll stand by you N

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

IGERIAN Guild of Editors, NGE, has urged Rivers State governor and Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, not to stop standing up and fighting for the people as the Guild will also stand by him for standing with the masses.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to Governor Amaechi in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, weekend, the newly elected President of the Guild of Editors, Mr. Femi Adesina, who led the delegation of the new Guild executive committee, assured the Rivers State governor that Nigerian editors would continue to support him for fighting the cause of the Nigerian masses.

He said: “We are glad that we are here today to see somebody that has made impact on the lives of the people. We have monitored your progress and we have seen that you have changed the face of the landscape particularly in Rivers State. You

B

ENIN—JUSTICE Research Centre has faulted comments credited to the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, in Benin City during the Good Governance Tour, that the on-going 5junction road project was a Federal Government project.

Maku had hailed the Minister of Works for the on-going road project at 5-junction and Ugbowo Roads, adding that the Federal Government Universal Basic Education, UBE, Projects in Edo State was huge.

But reacting, weekend, in a statement by its President, Donald Inwanlohme, Justice Research Centre accused the Information Minister of misinforming the public, describing it as an attempt to rubbish the laudable efforts of Governor Adams Oshiomhole in the area of road construction and rehabilitation of schools.

He said: “Was Maku not in Nigeria when the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-led government in Edo State could not execute even one project under the ÜBE scheme from 1999-2008?"

have touched the lives of the people and we, as Editors, will gladly partner and support anybody that stands for the people.

“The needs of the people are not really much. They want good health care, a health care system that works; they want secu-

rity, shelter, good roads, power, jobs and if you can provide most of those, then you become their hero. We have seen that your government is doing all that and more for the people, so we are glad to be here and we pledge that as long as you stand for the peo-

ple and with the people, the Nigerian editors will also stand by you and with you."

Responding, Amaechi thanked the members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors for the visit and congratulated the new executive on their election.

ALBUM LAUNCH: From left: Mr. Turner Ogboru; Mr. Zack Orji, Nollywood Actor; Asu Ekiye, renowned gospel singer and Rev Lynns Tokee-Opitoke, at Rev Lynns' album launch in Lagos, weekend. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele.

2012 flood: UN assistance to Delta trapped

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

A

SABA—AN undisclosed sum of money released by the United Nations, UN, to Delta State,

one of the states devastated by flood last year, is trapped and might not get to the beneficiaries, as the six-months set out for the spending of the fund, will

soon expire.

Senior Adviser to Delta State Governor on Foreign Relations, Mr. Oma Djebah, disclosed this in Asaba, weekend, when the governor met with state commissioners, members of the state House of Assembly and other stakeholders, to review last year's flood situation and the plans being put in place to forestall a future occurrence.

He said: “From the report at the UN, which the state government sent on flooding, they commended the state governor. In fact, they said I should convey to the governor, the appreciation of the UN for the extensive and detailed report that was submitted.

“So the team leader for West Africa and North Central, whom I met there, said the office worked on immediate seed funds that should be released to Nigeria and that Delta State

was number one on that list, on account of the detailed report and severity of issues that were raised. He gave me the document from the UN conveying the various sectors that should be dealt with immediately.

They include health, environment, water, agriculture, food and environment/sanitation.

“He said that this fund had already been released to the country and that I

should get to Nigeria and get across to them. On getting to Nigeria, I contacted Nwaka (Commissioner, Bureau for Special Duties) and got to Abuja, met the Country Director.

"I didn’t have to talk, I showed them the document from the UN and they confirmed that actually, that this fund had been released to the country but that there were still tracking it.”

Warri warders’ ambush: Comptroller-Gen absolves officials of blame

BY EMMA AMAIZE & AKPOKONA OMAFUAIRE

C

OMPTROLLERGENERAL of Nigerian Prison Service, NPS, Mr. Zakari Ibrahim, has absolved officials of the service in Warri, Delta State, of cul-

Public Notice This is to notify the public that I am no longer in the employment of both God’s Own Consult and Coloure Lab and D&G Foto Lab Equipment Ltd, of No.88 Bale Street, Ajegunle-Apapa Lagos State and that within the period of my employment with the above companies, I did notuse any of their documents for fraudulent purposes. All documents executed by me with any of the name of the above two companies are hereby with drawn and notified Signed: Mr. Ejimkeonye Meshack.U.

pability in last Wednesday’s ambush of an escort team by a kidnap gang. Three warders were shot dead and two suspected kidnappers reportedly snatched in the daylight attack.

Ibrahim, who visited families of the deceased at their homes and injured officials in the hospital to commiserate with them, said from facts available to him, there was adequate security arrangement but the incident appeared inevitable.

He said: “Can you tell me any organisation that does not experience this type of incident, all over the world?"

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2013—13

APGA insists on holding National Convention April 8

BY PETER OKUTU

A

BAKALIKI — THE leadership of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, weekend, asserted that the planned national convention of the party tentatively scheduled for April 8 in Enugu would hold, irrespective of the ramblings within it.

Interim National Chairman of APGA, Chief Maxi Okwu, who made the assertion during an unscheduled visit to the party’s secretariat in Abakaliki, stressed that it was high time the party made progress to avoid being relegated to the background in the political arena of the country.

He noted that the party was standing firm on the final declarations made by a competent court of jurisdiction, Enugu State High Court, in the resolution of the leadership crisis within APGA. He stressed that until those declarations were set aside by a superior court, be it Court of Appeal or Supreme Court, the declarations remained valid, no matter whose ox was gored.

Okwu added that stakeholders and members of the party had all been invited to attend the convention, which, according to him, will bring about the rebirth and repositioning of the party not only because of the 2015

general elections but also for the take-over of the South East

by APGA in future.

He said: “There are rules of engagements and the rules are clear to me not only as a politician but also as a lawyer.

There is a final judgement of the competent court of jurisdiction, Enugu High

OWERRI — A sociocultural organisation, Oganihu Owerri, has concluded arrangements to hand out appropriate punishment on lawmakers from Owerri senatorial zone found to be playing roles in the current impeachment saga against the Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Agbaso.

The deputy governor had been accused of allegedly collecting N458 million from a contractor, JPROS International Limited, which eventually abandoned road project it was awarded.

This came as Imo State Transparency Network called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and Independent Corrupt Practices Commis-

rules of engagements. APGA cannot hang; the case going on can hang APGA for the next four or five years. You recall that it took Chekwas eight years to surrender and return APGA certificate. APGA can hang on this issue and that will be the death of APGA and this we will not allow.

From right: Gov. Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State, Gov. Sullivan of Enugu State and PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, at the PDP South East Town Hall meeting, in Enugu. Photo: Hill Ezeugwu.

PDP 'll not allow imposition of candidates in future elections — Tukur

BY TONY EDIKE

E

NUGU — NATIONAL Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, weekend, pledged that the party under his watch would not engage in any form of imposition of candidates in the election of candidates to fly its flag in future elections in the country.

Speaking in Enugu at a town-hall sion, ICPC, weekend, to meeting with stakeholders of the immediately prosecute the company and its man- party in the South East, including agement for offering the governors of Enugu State, bribe to the deputy gov- Sullivan Chime; Ebonyi State, ernor and other officials Martin Elechi and Abia State, Theodore of the state government.

Orji, represented by his deputy, Speaking to newsmen Chief Ananaba, members of the in Owerri, one of the national and state assemblies, leaders of Oganihu Owerri, Nze James Chinon- ministers, among others, Tukur yerem, confirmed that insisted that gone were the days the group would move politicians hand-picked candidates against lawmakers from for the party, stressing that time had Owerri zone, if they come for the party to be properly joined their colleagues rebuilt in order to ensure equity and from other senatorial justice.

Identifying what he described as zones to humiliate the deputy governor in an “sharing formula” as the major challenge facing the party, Tukur unjust manner.

Chinonyerem said: urged the stakeholders to embrace “Currently, we are liais- peace and harmony as well as ing with other interest imbibe the spirit of sacrifice as that groups and bodies in was the only way the party could Owerri to oppose this in- retain its status as a truly national justice. It is not just about party that respects the yearnings Jude Agbaso but the in- and aspirations of the people.

“We have come here today to terest of Owerri, fair play appeal to you to forget your and justice, which we differences.

Let PDP win elections stand for ”. through reconciliation and

Impeachment saga: Oganihu Owerri strategises

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

Court, making certain declarations and until set aside by a superior court; be it Court of Appeal, be it Supreme Court those declaration stands.

“Going by the rules of practice, court hardly stays declarative judgments. So, we are quite conversant with the

understanding. We must ensure equity and justice in all our actions.

We must be our brothers’ keepers.

“We must allow people to choose who they want. Party will henceforth give tickets based on the wishes of the party owners who, of course, are the people. It is one man, one vote.

By the time, you aggregate the votes, you see that our party will continue to win and win,” he noted.

Pledging his readiness to make the much needed sacrifice in the interest of the progress of the party, Tukur assured that party supremacy must be respected at all times as the PDP remained the only political platform that would unite the country and take it to Eldorado.

He said Nigeria had been greatly blessed by God with all the natural endowments, adding that what the nation needed most in order to sail through its myriads of challenges were the right attitudes, education and empowerment, among others.

PUBLIC NOTICE This is to inform the General public that Great United Butchers Association Warri, Delta State wish to be known now as Great United CoOperative Association,Warri.

Aims & Objective: To promote unity and progress of every Nigerian To build a solid foundation for existing and up-coming small scale entrepreneurs In Nigeria.

39,880 militants' firearms, ammunition handed over to Nigerian Army

E

NUGU—THE 39,880 assorted firearms and ammunition recovered from former militants in the Niger Delta by the inter-agency taskforce set up by the Federal Government have been handed over to the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army.

A breakdown of the arms handed over on Saturday at the 82 Division’s parade ground included the following: 482 automatic arms, 20,132 ammunition, 295 magazines and 18,971 locally made guns.

The General Officer Commanding the 82 Division Nigerian Army, General Adebayor Olaniyi, who received the large arms from the taskforce, said it was part of the Federal Government’s amnesty programme which started in 2009.

Abia governorship: Ngwa people strategise for 2015

BY ANAYO OKOLI.

A

BA — AHEAD of 2015, a group, Concerned Politicians of Ngwaland, has called on the people of Abia South to support Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State with a view to taking over governance from him.

To this end, the group has been mobilising traditional rulers in the area to also galvanise support for the government and mobilise the people and make them talk with one voice regarding 2015 power shift.

Leader of the group, Prince Christopher Enweremadu, last week, met and addressed the traditional rulers in the zone under the umbrella of Oha Ngwa Traditional Rulers Council.

The issue of power shift to the Abia South zone has been a raging issue.

14—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

FCT Minister commends residents over peaceful election

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU & LAIDE AKINBOADE

A

BUJA — FEDERAL Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed has commended the electorate, the entire residents of FCT, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC over the peaceful and harmonious conduct of the Area Council election held on Saturday, March 16, 2013 throughout the territory.

Reviewing the election yesterday, the Minister hailed the orderly conduct of the voters, security agents, polling officials and the entire residents of the territory.

He thanked the residents for heeding his call for a peaceful election thereby taking our democracy a notch higher.

According to him, the peaceful atmosphere that pervaded the FCT during the election was a product of hard work, commitment and patriotism by all the stakeholders as well as the level playing field provided.

He further thanked the traditional rulers, religious leaders and civil society organisations in FCT that in one way or the other assisted in making the polling exercise hitch-free.

In the election, the peoples Democratic Party, PDP, won five out of the six council areas chairmanship seats, while the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, won one.

According to the results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, PDP won chairmanship positions in Abaji, Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, Bwari, Kuje and Kwali area councils, while the ANPP won in Gwagwalada.

Of 62 electoral wards, PDP won 44 councillor seats; ANPP, nine; Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, four; Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, three, while one ward at Abaji was inconclusive.

Speaking to Vanguard on the voters’ low apathy in Unit 001 A-Ung Pashie/Kofar Gidan Sarki, Ward 10 beside the ancestral home of Senator Philip Aduda, where only 50 out of 791 registered voters participated in the exercise, the paramount ruler of the area, His Royal Highness, Chief Emmanuel Kyauta Yepwi, said that although INEC made all the necessary preparations for the elections as evidenced in the provision of all electoral materials, voters’ outcome was unimpressive.

President Goodluck Jonathan (left), listening to Mr. Laurent Fabius, the Special Envoy of French President, during a brief meeting, at the Presidential Wing, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida

We will take PIB to all Nigerians — Chief Whip

BY EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

ABUJA — CHIEF Whip of the House of Representatives, Ishaka Bawa, has informed that the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, would be taken to the six geopolitical zones of the country for all Nigerians to have their input.

Bawa, who is also the adhoc committee Chairman on PIB, in a chat with journalists,

weekend, said the bill was for all Nigerians, adding that the seventh Assembly would do everything within its power to ensure that Nigerians had a feel of it before it became law.

He said: “Since the setting up of the Committee, a lot of background work has taken place before it was inaugurated last Wednesday. ”We have carefully drawn up a

Number portability begins by March ending —Juwah …. New licences for release in 4th quarter

BY EMMANUEL ELEBEKE

ABUJA — The Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Engr. Eugene Juwah, has said the commission was ready to roll out the much awaited Number Portability by the end of this month.

He also announced that the SIM Card registration project would be completed soon.

Juwah disclosed this, weekend, at a sent-forth dinner organised in honour of the old board of the commission in Abuja.

He noted that total investments in Nigerian

telecommunications sector had risen to $25 billion, with an expectant increase in the number of subscriber base in the network also rising to an all time 113 million active lines.

The NCC boss, who attributed the growth to democratic rule and the legacy projects of his predecessors, used the occasion to announce plans by the commission to begin fourth generation regulation before the end of the year.

According to him, the new regulation will place emphasis on quality before growth and stimulate growth through the release of new licences.

Those honoured at the occasion include former Minister of Communications, Engr.

Olawale Ige; Engr.

Muktai Ibrahim Zani; Engr. Emmanuel Atoyebi and Engr. Stephen Bello.

“Although, the commercialisation of the sector commenced in 1992, Nigeria still could not boast of

450,000 active lines in year 2000, which was powered by a paltry $500 million investment portfolio until the coming of democracy in 1999, but the then President had to pick men and women of sterner character to turn the fortunes around,” Juwah said.

PROPERTY FOR SALE

6 Units of Newly Built Luxury Flats for sale In Warri @ NPA Senior Staff Qtrs. Airport Road, Warri, Delta State.

3 Bedrooms Spacious Living & Dining room, Secure and Serene Environment.

Price- #15 Million Naira Only per unit CONTACT: NCM Property, No- 42, Airport Road, warri.

08033932701, BB pin 28ef91ab. E-mailultimateequals13@gmail.com

comprehensive work plan for the committee which comprises members’ retreat scheduled to take place from the 18th to 20th of this month in Lagos. ”This will be followed by public hearings in the six geo-political zones with the grand finale in Abuja on dates to be announced in due course. ”The essence of the Zonal Public hearings is to bring the process to the door-steps of the people at the grass- roots, especially the oil producing communities, whose views will be a critical factor in packaging the kind of Petroleum Industry Law that will address not only elitist concerns, but also the other crucial issues concerning the environment as well as human development. ”The grand finale in Abuja wiil provide other stakeholders the

opportunity to present their own perspectives on the bill. ”Other citizens and stakeholders not able to attend the public hearings can articulate their positions via memoranda to the Committee.

On the Committee’s modus operandi, Bawa said everything shall be transparent and all views shall be collated and accorded equal value. ”The Committee’s final report and recommendations shall be reflective of the aggregate views of Nigerians. ”The House of Representatives has no fixed or hidden agenda on the Petroleum Industry Bill and accordingly this Committee will be so guided in this assignment," he said.

VACANCY KING TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL LTD HUMAN RESOURCES SUPERVISOR

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013—15

EDWIN CLARK'S TRADITIONAL WEDDING

Gunmen kill 2 in Plateau

BY TAYE OBATERU

J

OS—TWO travelers were gunned down on a motorcycle along Kardarko-Wase Road in Southern Plateau State, yesterday, by yet to be identified gunmen.

While one account said the two men, believed to be local Tarok, were gunned down by suspected Fulani herdsmen in retaliation for the killing of nine Fulani in the area two months ago.

Another source said the killing was done by their fellow Tarok men.

The two men were said to be returning from Langtang when they were ambushed behind the Wase Rock and shot.

The gunmen were said to have escaped after ensuring that they accomplished their mission.

A source had alleged that the victims were attacked by fellow Tarok following a disagreement at the Tarok Day Celebration, which took place at Langtang. But this was debunked by another source, who said the distance between the venue of the celebration and where they were attacked was much.

Media Officer of the Special Task Force in the state, Captain Salisu Mustapha, confirmed the killings, disclosing that two people had been arrested in connection with the incident and are

helping with investigations.

He said the identity of the victims and their attackers were yet to be confirmed.

The killing in January of the nine Fulani herds-

men, while coming from a market had sparked off ethnic animosities in the area but was later doused when officials said the attackers were armed robbers and not ethnic militia.

Striking Plateau workers reject mediation c'ttee

BY TAYE OBATERU

J

OS—AS the strike by workers in Plateau State governmentowned tertiary institutions enters the fourth week today, they have rejected the setting up of another committee by the state government to look into their grievances.

The Joint Union of Plateau State Owned Tertiary Institutions in a statement, weekend, wondered why another committee was necessary when nothing had been done on the recommendations of a similar committee set up in the past on the same issue.

The statement by the Chairman of the union, Mr. Victor Dawurung, viewed the move as a ploy by government to delay action on their

grievances. It also faulted the non-representation of other stakeholders in the ninemember committee.

Dawurung said the workers had gone far with the Collective Bargaining Committee earlier set up by government and faulted the abandonment of the committee to set up another one.

The workers believed that the earlier committee, which facilitated the suspension of the prolonged strike by the workers, should have been allowed to continue with the work.

The state government had, last week, constituted a committee made up of members of the state executive council to look into the grievances of the workers within a month’s time frame.

Chief Edwin Clark and Dr. Bisola Shodipo-Clark, during their final traditional marriage at Okupe Estate, Maryland, Lagos, yesterday. PHOTOS: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

From right— Prof. Ebun Clark, Prof. J. P. Clark and Mrs Koshore Clark.

Sanusi lauds FG over dry terminal for Aminu Kano Airport

BY LAWANI MIKAIRU

K

ANO—GOVERNOR of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has commended Federal Government's plan to build dry and perishable cargo terminal in Kano, adding that viable airports would contribute to the growth of the nation’s economy.

Mallam Sanusi said this, weekend, during the commissioning of the newly-remodelled international terminal at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.

He said such a terminal would give farmers a direct link to both domestic and international market, where they would

maximise earnings for their produce.

He said: “For me, as an economist and as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, dry and perishable cargo terminal is the most important and visionary step that the Aviation Minister has taken.

"Airports are not just to carry human beings from Lagos to Kano. It is not just there to make travel easy and comfortable experience for individuals.

“Kano is an agricultural state. It used to contribute 60 percent of the total revenue of the northern region. The only way agriculture is going to come back is for farmers to be linked to the markets.

"I have had the benefit

of looking through some tomato survey, feasibility study. There was somebody that I consulted and he said to me, 'do you know that tomato actually costs more in Lagos and Port Harcourt than in London?'

"In other words, if a farmer can produce tomato in Kadawa and put it on a plane every morning in Kano to get to Lagos or Port Harcourt, he should earn more than you will get it in the supermarket in the UK.” Sanusi commended the efforts of the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, adding that if other Ministers had been working with the same commitment as Oduah, Nigeria would have been transformed.

From right— Chief Emily Sakpere, Prof Amos Utuama, Delta State Deputy Governor, and Senator Felix Ibru.

Oba Adedapo Tejuoso, Osile of Egbaland (left) and Senator Yinka Omilani.

16— Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 OUR airports are exposed to enough security breaches that last week’s armed robbery at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, and the attendant reaction, should surprise only a few. Past attacks met with similar reactions.

Two policemen and a robber were killed in the Wednesday night attack.

Government’s swift reaction was to order closure of bureaux des changes at the parking lots of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, “with immediate effect”.

General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said “As a remedy the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has banned the activities of bureaux des changes from the car park and other car parks at all the airports across the country.”

What a remedy? Is this the first time “the remedy” is being applied?

“The activities of bureaux des changes attracted armed robbers into the facility. We have given them time to come and pick whatever they have here because they will never enter this car park again. Task force

Armed R obber Robber obberyy A Att MMIA will move in and evacuate them,” Dati swore.

Armed robbers attacked money changers at the same airport two years ago. There was a similar ban, but the money traders argued that they were FAAN’s tenants.

Until the recent robbery, many did not know FAAN had allowed them back to the airport parking lot. FAAN opened the car parks to their current use to manage acute space challenges.

If robbers attack airport banks or ticketing offices would FAAN also shut them down?

Why the pretence at embarrassment?

Beefed up security at the Lagos airport was the same reaction in November 2010, when a

man attacked Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former President, at the presidential wing of the Lagos airport. Elsewhere, the incident would have been considered a major security breach as President Goodluck Jonathan was in Lagos and the attack was in the vicinity of the presidential jet.

Quick tightening of security around the airport after the incident is the usual reaction. There is never a proper review of incidents to understand the complications of manning an airport with multiple access and open to thousands of people with different interests.

Airport security is an awesome task. We have the army, air force, navy, police, DSS, and FAAN security - at it. They concentrate on harassing innocent airport users.

More comprehensive rather than the piecemeal approach of tackling power failure today, water supply tomorrow, and failing radars after, is required to secure the airports and other places.

FAAN’s decision is laughable. The money changers would return soon. The challenge remains security of the airport, for all legitimate users, including money changers who are FAAN’s clients.

OPINION

BY NKEMJIKA Continued from Pg 17

T

HE second dimension of this plot started last year even before the Sunday Punch report of January 6, 2013 revealed Governor Okorocha as one of the eight governors being discreetly investigated by the EFCC over fraud-related activities. Since September 2012, the EFCC has reportedly been on a surreptitious investigation of Governor Okorocha’s management of the public funds of Imo State, especially as it relates to the disbursement of Imo State Local Government funds, the N47 billion loan from the banks and the N13.3 billion Imo Bond fund. The climax of this aspect of the plot was the arrest and detention of the Imo State Commissioner for Finance and the Accountant-General of the State by the EFCC. Of course, the unending trips to Abuja by these two officials, after they were granted administrative bail by the EFCC, are expected, in the long run, to lead to the exposure of Governor Okorocha’s imagined financial misdeeds, as well as paint him in the colours of a corrupt public official that is ripe for impeachment.

The third dimension of the plot started some weeks ago when operatives of the EFCC stormed the Imo State House of Assembly but failed to arrest the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and some other members of the legislative house. The EFCC raid, which was supposed to kick-start the plot to remove Governor Rochas from office, ended up with the arrest of the Clerk of the Imo State House of Assembly, Chris Duru. The failed attempt to arrest members of the Imo State House of

The war against Rochas Okorocha (2) Assembly by the EFCC, on the ground that Governor Okorocha took loans without the approval of the same Imo State lawmakers, appears to be a ruse to get them into EFCC custody. However, once inside the detention cells of the EFCC at Abuja, the arrested Imo State legislators are expected to be persuasively compromised or coercively intimidated into commencing impeachment proceedings against Governor Okorocha.

The use of the EFCC, especially during the Nuhu Ribadu era, to illegally and unconstitutionally impeach some state governors to the sadistic pleasure of General Olusegun Obasanjo, may be in the offing for Okorocha as a veritable means of realising the second term ambition of President Jonathan.

As the Igbo will say, “it is only a tree that will hear of a plan to cut it down and will do nothing to avert the event”. The design to remove Governor Okorocha and Speaker Uwajumogu from office is now stale news.

The news reports, especially in the Sunday Punch of January 6, 2013, and the Daily Sun of Friday, March 8, 2013, have dutifully informed the public about the alleged plans by some forces in the Presidency and the PDP, including some fifth columnists in the Imo State Government, to realise the political destruction of Governor Okorocha and Uwajumogu. The pertinent question remains: What is to be done to undermine the intended plot to remove Okorocha and Uwajumogu from office? Of course, there are some well-

articulated thought processes and strategies (information gathering/analysis, performance profile assessment, media projection/response and court cases, etc) which implementation have the capacity to stem the intended impeachment moves against Governor Okorocha and Hon. Uwajumogu, the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly.

The immediate critical endeavours to stem the purported impeachment moves against Okorocha and Uwajumogu must include the following action plans. The first is that Governor Okorocha must set up an Information Gathering and Analysis Centre, IGAC, whose personnel will deploy the services of cultivated contacts in the Presidency, the PDP, the anti-corruption agencies, the Imo State Government offices and parastatals, to discreetly collate information on the continuously evolving plans and strategies aimed at removing his good-self from office or down-playing his achievements as the governor of Imo State.

The second is the setting up of an Imo State Government Strategy Committee, a kind of think-tank, that will not only appraise issues and challenges of governance as they manifest in Imo State and suggest solutions, but will also be executing periodic assessment actions on the performance profile of commissioners, special advisers and heads of government parastatals to ensure that their activities do not undermine the realisation of government’s developmental goals. Nobody

from the executive arm of government should be a member of this committee, because no useful purpose will be served by allowing commissioners, advisers, etc, to appraise their own performance.

Other issues to be urgently addressed border on judicial actions. The Governor should ensure that the Imo State Government institutes a court case challenging the powers of the EFCC to pry into its books and public accounts in the name of fighting the corruption war in Nigeria. This is against the background that the activities of the EFCC in Imo State undermine the constitutional powers of the Auditor-General of the State and that of the Imo State House of Assembly, guaranteed in sections 125 (2), 128 and 129 (1) of the 1999 constitution (as amended). As a matter of fact, the Imo State Government should sue the EFCC for damages for illegally and unconstitutionally presenting its chief executive (Gov. Rochas Okorocha) to the Nigerian public and the international community, as a corrupt public official when no report from the Auditor-General of Imo State or the Imo State House of Assembly has indicted him for corrupt practices or the mismanagement of public funds. The court judgement restraining the EFCC from arresting and prosecuting Dr. Peter Odili over his mismanagement of the public funds of Rivers State between 1999 and 2007 validates the points canvassed in this discourse.

Concluded.

*Mr. Nkemjika is the Chairman of Mezie Ala-Igbo Foundation.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013—41

P

Speaker of the House of Reps, Salisu Buhari, who was forced to resign after his certificate forgery scandal blew open.

The dust that President Goodluck Jonathan’s pardon for his former boss, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and other raised was understandable. In the first place, Shehu Yar ’ Adua and others implicated in the coup attempts on the Abacha regime, had already been pardoned by the Abdulsalami Abubakar regime. Could it be that Aso Villa does not maintain records to know this? Do we have a Presidency that does not even know its own history?

Much ado about state pardons

S

Both former enemies were granted unconditional state pardon by President Shehu Shagari. With their newfound freedom, both men tried their hands unsuccessfully in contests for the presidency.On the one hand, Gowon’s name was filed in the 1992

,

REROGATIVE of mercy and state pardons are not new in politics and public administration. Since Nigeria gained independence in 1960, state pardon has been a powerful instrument used by the successive regimes and ruling cliques to manage relationships with their former friends who have become foes or their former foes who have either become friends or are no longer threats.

A cursory glance at the pattern of its use in Nigeria confirms the old saying that in politics there are no permanent enemies or friends but only permanent interests. Your worst enemy could suddenly become your best friend and your best friend your worst enemy.

Cases abound to illustrate this.

In 1962, the leader of the Action Group (AG), Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was tried and convicted for treasonable felonies, along with some of his high ranking lieutenants such as Alhaji Lateef Jakande. They were jailed, while some of them, such as Dr. Sam Ikoku, escaped into exile.

When the military struck in January 1966 Awolowo applied for state pardon, which General Aguiyi-Ironsi granted on July 27th, two days before he was assassinated by a group of officers led by his aide, Theophilus Danjuma in Ibadan. Awolowo was soon to become the Finance Minister and Vice Chair man of the Executive Council under General Yakubu Gowon, when the civil war was in high gear.

Such is the power of state pardon, especially when granted unconditionally. It has the effect of cleaning the person of the stigma or socio-political disabilities imposed by conviction for a political or criminal offence.

Much later, series of famous state pardons took place. Two of them concerned the major protagonists of the civil war: General Yakubu Gowon and Col. Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.

Ojukwu was dismissed from the Nigerian Army for leading the secession attempt. Gowon, on the other hand, was stripped of his military rank by the regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1976 for his alleged role in the Lt Col. BS Dimka-led coup attempt whereby General Murtala Mohammed was assassinated. He was treated as an accessory to the offence.

Gowon escaped to London under the protection of the Queen of England.

There he enrolled at the University of Warwick and acquired PhD in Political Science. Meanwhile, Ojukwu had gone into exile in Yamoussoukro, the hometown of President Houphouet Boigny of Ivory Coast.

Shehu Yar’ Adua and others implicated in the coup attempts on the Abacha regime, had already been pardoned by the Abdulsalami Abubakar regime.

Could it be that Aso Villa does not maintain records to know this? Do we have a Presidency that does not even know its own history?

,

Option A4 presidential primaries of the National Republican Convention (NRC) in Zaria. He was defeated by former President Shagari’s personal physician, Dr. Dalhatu Sarki Tafida.

Ojukwu, on the other hand, became the leader and presidential candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the first decade of Nigeria’s return to civil rule. He had

DiepreiyeAlamieyeisegha: Pardoned misadventured shortly after his return from exile by plunging headlong into a senatorial race. His party, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) had joined forces with the opposition Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) to ensure that loud mouthed medical doctor, Edwin Onwudiwe, defeated him to stop him from coming to the senate so soon after being pardoned.

Perhaps, the most dramatic and orchestrated of all was the pardon granted General Olusegun Obasanjo and his former Deputy, the late Major General Shehu Yar ’ Adua on September 30th 1998 but the gazette was backdated to July 14th 1998. With this, Obasanjo was freed from his conviction for coup plotting against the regime of the late General Sani Abacha.

He was later sponsored for the presidency and ruled Nigeria for eight years. Weeks into his office as president, Obasanjo also applied presidential pardon on the dethroned

econdly, the corruption cases of Alamieyeseigha and former Managing Director of the Bank of the North, Shettima Bulama, for which they were jailed, were very widely celebrated. Alamieyeseigha was arrested in London with looted funds but granted bail. He jumped bail, disguised as a woman and returned to Nigeria only for former President Obasanjo to unleash the Nuhu Ribaduled EFCC on him. He was subsequently impeached, tried, found guilty and jailed. He served his jailed term and had many of his property confiscated.

The President’s apologists have held that even former US President Richard Nixon was pardoned and later given a decent presidential burial. They also argue that the President fully complied with Section 175 of the Constitution, which grants him the power to invoke the Prerogative of Mercy on “any person” upon the “advice” the Council of State. Therefore, he violated no law nor did anything that is not regularly done even in the most advanced of democracies.

However, we are talking about a country deeply mired in corruption, and an administration that increasingly gives an impression it is not perturbed by the perception that it is very indulgent of people with flawed character or questionable records in public service. It is certainly not good for the image of the regime and the country.

This brings to mind a statement that former Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, made boldly before television cameras when he was convicted for stealing money and property worth 16 billion naira. As he boarded the “Black Maria” truck to be whisked off to prison, he said confidently: “I shall bounce back”!

Alams has bounced back. Who says it does not matter where a president comes from?

OPINION

BY NKEMJIKA

T

HE impetus for this essay rests on the contents of the front-page news-story in the Daily Sun of Friday, March 8, 2013 entitled, “Imo: APGA unveils plot to sack Okorocha, Speaker”. According to this news report, the Imo State chapter of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has alleged a plot by the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to sack the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha and to distort the activities of the Imo State House of Assembly. The impeachment moves against Okorocha and the Speaker are allegedly geared towards derailing the on-going investigation by the state legislature over allegations of financial gratification leveled against the Deputy Governor, Jude Agbaso, by one of the major contractors handling the state government road projects.

The issue here is not about the efficacy of the news report on the on-going plans to remove Governor Okorocha and the Speaker of the state legislature, Ben Uwajumogu, from office. What is happening now as alleged by the Imo State chapter of APGA is just a new but little addition to a major and unfolding impeachment scheme that started in 2012. The main scheme remains the reported design of using the services of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, by some of the forces rooting for the realisation of the second term ambition of Mr. President to manipulate members of the Imo State House of assembly into removing both

The war against Rochas Okorocha Governor Okorocha and Uwajumogu, the Speaker of the Imo State legislative house, from office. Of course, the thinking is rife that without the arrest, prosecution and possible imprisonment of Uwajumogu, on alleged charges of road contract scams, the removal of Governor Okorocha from office will be a pipe dream.

The general thinking in the political circles that matter at Abuja is that Governor Okorocha remains a major stumbling block that must be removed if Mr. President is to realise his second term ambition in 2015. This thinking is predicated on two grounds. The first is that Governor Okorocha’s presumed presidential ambition or support for any of the opposition presidential candidates in 2015, will dim Jonathan’s chances of realising his second term ambition, especially given the demonstrated strength of the Igbo bloc vote in such an election. The second is that even if Governor Okorocha decides not to contest the next presidential or gubernatorial election, his achievements (sacrifice of security vote, prompt payment of workers’ salaries, free education at all levels, massive road development, etc) will rubbish the performance profile of the PDP at both the state and federal levels to the extent that Mr. President’s so-called achievements will count for nothing in determining the outcome of the 2015 elections. So, head or tail, Okorocha has been

marked for political destruction.

The first dimension of the plot to remove Governor Okorocha from office started many months ago with the use of the media to rubbish the hard-earned and upwardly mobile reputation of the Imo State Government, and also to project the Governor as a person whose style of governance, as well as entrepreneurship and philanthropy as a private citizen, is based on fraud and duplicitous behaviour. The basic aim here has been the use of the media to attire the Governor in the garb of a confused, dictatorial and under-performing public official so as to gradually replace the genuine songs of praise and the goodwill of millions of people who have benefited from the graceful personality of Owelle Rochas Okorocha as a public or private citizen, with questions of, or doubts about, his sincerity, uprightness, visionary goals and capacity to develop Imo State. Some of the moles and fifth columnists in the Imo State Government, including a few commissioners, special advisers and other personal aides, have continued to stall all efforts aimed at redressing the bad media image, for instance, of Governor Okorocha and his programmes.

Continues on pg 18

*Mr. Nkemjika is the Chairman of Mezie Ala-Igbo Foundation.

42—VANGUARD, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

My story of Gov Obi's betrayals, by Victor Umeh •Why Okorocha and Obi quarrelled

•Why I am standing alone

THE embattled national chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh was recently sacked by an Enugu High Court over irregularities in his election. The court pronouncement which is now the subject of judicial appeal is only one of the entanglements that have recently caught up with Umeh who at one time was indomitable in the affairs of the party. In this interview Umeh, a quantity surveyor opens up on the relationship between him and Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, his attitude towards the merger plans of the opposition parties and why many in the party want the feud to persist. Excerpts:

BY ENYIM ENYIM

•Umeh: Obi is angry because I insisted on LG election another trial.

I will say without being immodest, that in my private life, Obi had nothing to do with my successes, even at the tribunal, I contributed N4 million to his legal fees in 2005. It is on record, I wrote my cheques for my contribution. When we were trying to build APGA in 2003, I was giving money to the party, when he came to the NEC meeting we had on the 4th of March 2003 at Abuja, APGA had no money to convene that meeting.

Obi brought N500,000 as part of his nomination fee, while I brought N2 million to help the party hold that NEC meeting. That money was given to Onwuka Ukwa, he took it to the meeting venue for us to pay delegates that attended the meeting.

APGA crisis

So, all the street talk they are making do not go to the root of the problem in APGA.

Specifically, I can tell you, I am not regretting anything. I thank God that I played a major role in Obi’s success story, politically. Nothing will make him to obliterate this fact, using his attack dogs.

So, I do not want to be dragged to gutter talks by people who he has hired. I

,

First meeting with Obi IT was in 2001 that by a referral from Prof. ABC Nwosu that Obi came to look for me in Enugu as I didn’t know him before. I had worked with Prof. Nwosu when he contested for governor and he (Nwosu) had a chance discussion with Obi who said he wanted to run for governor in Anambra state, but Nwosu told him only one thing. ‘If you will run for this election, there is somebody I will recommend for you, he is in Enugu, his name is Victor Umeh. Go and see him, if he says he will support you and stand by you, you will go very far.’

That’s how Obi came to Enugu to look for me, and he met me on the 24th of March 2001. From there we held discussions; I expressed surprise that such a person existed from the good things he told me. And coming from a nearby community to mine I was taken in and I took him on.

I cannot join issues with Mike Udah to state what I have contributed to his rise to fame, politically. There is nobody in Anambra state who does not know that I was the brain box for APGA and Peter Obi himself. All the strategies we used starting from the election, I was the one who took Obi to virtually everybody in Anambra State at that time.

Those things cannot be disputed. Inside the party, I was the pillar behind his successes, you will recall that even in 2009, Odumegwu Ojukwu had rejected him.

Ojukwu came to Awka accompanied by his wife, Bianca, and they raised Emeka Etiaba up that he was going to be the next governor of Anambra State, ‘I will march him to the Government House’, and I was the one who came back and resolved that and calmed Ojukwu’s nerves and convinced him that we should give him

he is suffering in Obi’s government, but let us leave that for another day.

I built this house before Obi was sworn in as governor of Anambra state in 2006.I can’t see how people can continue to misrepresent facts because we are all involved in politics.

Obi had nothing to do with my successes, even at the tribunal, I contributed N4 million to his legal fees in 2005, it is on record, I wrote my cheques for my contribution

pity Mike Udah, if the long relationship he has had with Obi starting from the University of Nigeria, the only thing he can do for him is to engage him to insult people on the pages of newspapers, it means his stay with him has not been worthwhile. I know a number of instances when Mike Udah came to me that

,

On the merger intentions of some opposition parties I am not somebody who can play hide and seek. I don’t have two colours. The issue of merger has become a blackmail issue by Obi and his group. You recall that in June 2012 when he sponsored Masalla and his group to

remove me as the national chairman of APGA, one of the accusations they made against me was that I was hobnobbing with ACN, and CPC for merger.

We had a national working committee meeting on 21st of June 2012, we produced a communiqué from that meeting, and it was advertised in the newspapers.

In that communiqué, paragraph 14 says that attention of National Working Committee was drawn to newspaper publications where our national secretary was misquoted as saying that APGA will merge with CPC and ACN if invited for a merger.

The national secretary of the party severally refuted this statement credited to him.

The NWC made it clear that APGA will not merge with any political party; instead APGA is ready for alliance talk with other political parties for the

Continues on page 43

VANGUARD, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013—43

My story of Gov Obi's betrayals — Umeh

purpose of presidential election in 2015 wherein APGA will file a presidential candidate.

At the appropriate time, the national caucus of the party will be mandated to pursue such discussion as they become necessary.

When President Jonathan visited Anambra State last year, it was reported that he had been endorsed for second term by Obi and some groups.

That prompted my reaction, and I said our party will field a presidential candidate. We want to contest and that APGA will want an alliance when it becomes necessary.

I know the purpose of registering APGA and the vision for that has not been actualized in Nigeria. I know the gap APGA was registered to fill has not been filled.

Therefore I will not be a party to take APGA and cede it to another political party.

APGA will remain an independent political party but APGA will be disposed to an alliance discussion when it becomes necessary.

I stick to my convictions, we can be friends but when we begin to pursue divergent agenda that do not consider the interest of my people, I will stay on my own. Today, if you look properly, you can see that I am standing alone.

On the different tendencies in APGA I have heard there is APGA PDP, there is APGA-APGA and also APGA Umeh. APGA Umeh is the APGA that is non-aligned to any of the groups, and the APGA that is resolutely committed to the original visions of registering APGA. The APGA PDP is announcing to everybody that APGA is not in the merger.

They are not saying it because they want to grow APGA or they want to make APGA a resoundingly successful party. They are doing that because they consider the merger as a coalition against PDP that they are working with.

So they are opposing the merger because they are working with PDP. I am not against the merger of the other parties, APGA is not involved for the singular reason that I am convinced the only thing that is proper is to

make APGA a truly independent party.

And what is forcing the party backwards is the conflict of interest of the gladiators.

If Governor Obi had a common agenda with Governor Rochas Okorocha, APGA will be progressing.

Okorocha initially had a vision of a strong virile independent APGA but Obi was not cooperating in that agenda. Obi was working with the PDP. I have been so terribly blackmailed, they go and tell President Goodluck Jonathan that Victor Umeh does not support him, that Victor Umeh supports Okorocha to run for president. This is what I am facing in Nigeria and there is nobody who can survive such blackmail.

I thank God that I am still alive.

So what Obi and his group will do, once they enter the presidency, they will tell them that they are having problems with me because I want Okorocha to run for president and I am not supporting Jonathan for president.

That is arrant nonsense. It is blackmail. I am not opposing Jonathan, I am not against his presidency. In 2011, at the convention we endorsed him for presidential election in 2011. I was the one that announced it in a public gathering at Alex Ekwueme square in Awka.

That support to his administration had been consistent until Mr. Obi, out of his selfishness, mismanaged the relationship between the party

,

Continues on page 42

•Umeh: I have been so terribly blackmailed the sale of nomination forms to endorse the presidential candidate of PDP, Jonathan.

At the recent rally of APGA, I was told that Obi boasted that APGA will capture the South East states in 2015 general elections. Obi is stepping down as Governor next year, for the past seven years, as the chairman, I can not count the

he sent people to tell me that he wanted to put caretaker committees in the local governments. I said no, that it was a breach of an agreement between me and him and Ojukwu.

and President Goodluck Jonathan. He personalized that support and excluded the party from it. That is where the whole problem started, and if the President believes that Obi was the one that endorsed him at the convention where we endorsed Jonathan, Obi did not put one naira in the convention.

Other political parties that endorsed Jonathan were given money, Labour Party, even smaller parties were given N150 million, N200 million, and nobody gave APGA one naira.

We organized the convention with the money we realized in

,

number of times I have sat with my brother, Governor Obi to help other states in the southeast to help with APGA programmes.

His policy was that he can not finance APGA activities outside Anambra State. Even Anambra State here, he has not financed APGA activities. It is ironical that in March 2013, a year to his exit he is now saying he will make southeast, APGA zone when, in fact in 2011 general elections, it is on record that Obi did not campaign with APGA in any state outside Anambra State. His reason was that as the chairman of South East Governors’ Forum,

he can not be campaigning against his brother governors.

That was the reason he gave me. In Imo state where we went for rally for Rochas Okorocha, Obi did not come there one day, throughout the campaign with Okorocha.

In Ebonyi State, he did not come for one day, in Abia, Enugu and even Rivers States, he didn’t come.Not only did he not come, he did not send money to anybody.

So, some of those governorship candidates, I don’t know what has become of them. He has now bought them over, they were criticizing him before.

He will call them and give them small thing and tell them that Umeh is the problem, and they will believe him. How could Umeh be the problem? Umeh who went on all the campaigns with them, harassing Obi to support them financially and he did not.

Committment to APGA

So, the truth is that Obi has never been committed to the growth of APGA from inception and the major reason why I fell out with him; I fell out with him in March 2010 shortly after he was sworn in and he sent people to tell me that he wanted to put caretaker committees in the local

governments. I said no, that it was a breach of an agreement between me and him and Ojukwu.

That if we campaign for him and he wins the election, that he will conduct local government election immediately so that APGA people will get involved in governance so that the party will settle down at the grassroots.

As soon as he won that election, he wanted to change it, I disagreed with him. We had that problem for two months until Ojukwu resolved it and he agreed there will be local government election.

That was why in July 2010, notice of local government election was published by ANSIEC for 4th of December 2010. We were pursuing that, unfortunately, as we got closer, he said the voters’ register was not good and we got a short postponement to await the new voters register that INEC was putting together then.

Immediately after that election, the voters register came out.

After 2011 election, he went into caretaker, I told him no, this thing is no longer good because we have sold forms to people who would want to contest the elections. There is no reason to give them again. That was when I was brought out to be dismantled.

When we won the election, Obi called Okorocha and formed APGA Governors Forum, two of them. He started poisoning the mind of Okorocha that we have to deal with Umeh. Because I had an issue with him already on local government, that I am very stubborn, if you tell him something he cannot do. But if we team together, we can force him to do the things we want.

The first letter they gave me was on July 15th 2011, nearly two months after Okorocha became governor of Imo state. They directed me to dissolve all the structures of APGA in Nigeria so that there will be fresh election to elect officers.

I said I cannot do it. That is why I am under fire. These people helped the party to this stage; you cannot remove them because it would be unconstitutional. The first war started.

Remember that Okorocha and Obi were pushing for my removal together at a time. After some months, Okorocha saw the insincerity in Obi and pulled out and Obi blackmailed Okorocha that he wants to run for president.

Okorocha ran away from him.

So what I will say today is that APGA is suffering because people who are claiming to be protecting Ojukwu’s legacy are actually destroying Ojukwu’s legacies.

If you can talk to Colonel Achuzia, he will tell you the way Ojukwu regarded me. I never told Ojukwu anything he said no to. Never, because he always saw through my heart.

44—Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

R

ECENTLY, tear-soaked Mrs. Deborah Shetima from Borno State gave a gory account of how her husband was killed, her two children seized and her only remaining child shot dead barely one year after the anniversary of the murder of the leader of Boko Haram, Yusuf Mohammed. The military authorities have recently announced the death of 20 insurgents after a failed attempt to seize a military outpost in Borno State. The 20 people have relations, they probably have children and wives and maybe some of them are innocent.

Nigeria is drifting into a state of blood. The situation may get even worse as the Nigerian neighbours in the Maghreb region grapples with faith-driven armed uprising.

Unfortunately, Nigeria may suddenly become hotbeds of deep ethnic divisions and religious upheavals. For months unending, Nigeria has been characterized by bombings and mass killings, leading to thousands of internally displaced persons, including women and children. In our very eyes, the Afghanistanisation of Nigeria is spreading like a wild fire in the dry season. Predictably, this carnage will spread into the Southern part of the country. The bombings of Kogi State, less than 10 minutes drive from some villages in Ekiti and Edo states, are clear indications that the Islamic

movement may soon hit major cities in Southern Nigeria.

I have had opportunity to travel across the North first as an active member of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, in the 1980s, member of the Technical Committee that organised the first modern ethnic summit in Northern Nigeria in 1999 at the instance of the late Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti and also as a researcher on self-determination in Nigeria. The ethnic summit held in Jos drew close to 1500 people.

The bitter truth, however, is that the Boko Haram crisis will continue for certain reasons: One, the current Nigerian leadership lacks a deep historical understanding of the nature and form of the insurgence that is stealthily engulfing the country and, therefore, cannot provide an enduring solution. Two, contrary to the propaganda of state security operatives and the sometimes deceitful and ignorant categorisation of the crisis as ad hoc, what we see is a well planned campaign of terror woven around primordial values. Unknowingly to many people in authority, the insurgents in the North appear to relish the support of a huge population of adherents who are happy that at last, a group is giving it back to a state that for decades has treated her citizens like cockroaches on the sidewalk.

Millions of poor people in the North are frustrated by a corrupt, inept and almost moribund

political leadership. There is the belief, even if illusory, that the introduction of Sharia, will curb the recklessness and spinelessness of the Northern political leader. It means that with what clearly appears as the support of Boko Haram by a section of the local population, overall defeat of the Islamic movement is farfetched.

Thirdly, President Goodluck Jonathan had admitted that security operatives are involved in the execution of Boko Haram campaigns. This only confirms how difficult it will be to banish the sect. By now, we should fear for the personal safety of Mr President and the violent ethnic backlash any harm on him foretells.

W

e must admit: This country is standing on the edge of a cesspool. It is important to note that the war of attrition being waged by Boko Haram is oiled by the most inflammable ingredients of human existentialism: ethnicity and religion. The most brutal and

The Chavez in Aregbesola

BY AYO BADMUS

T

HE poor kid from the plains, Hugo Chavez transited a week ago. In response, a large swathe of humanity stood still. The most important contribution of the heir to the liberator of Latin America, Simon Bolivar, is that he put the big ‘D’ back into development as the propelling force of government.

The ‘D’ small or large in development had actually hitherto gone out of fashion. It had been succeeded by the age of the racketeers and the speculators. When the 1950s and early 1960s Secretary-General of the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Latin America, Andre Günter Frank, coined the phrase, the ‘Development of Underdevelopment’, little could he have known that he was predicting the future.

When that dismal future came, the very concept of development as a structured and coherent imperative of the governmental process flew out of the window. It was also the age of intellectual dishonesty writ large.

Crass Shibboleth’s such as ‘no alternative to SAP’ (the Structural Adjustment Programme), ‘market- driven reforms’ and all manner of catch-phrases gradually replaced the very idea of reasoned thinking and rigour in analyses and debates.

This is why the Hugo Chavez intervention was so remarkable. In his 14 years in power, Chavez actually believed he had a social contract with the down-trodden in Venezuela. In contradistinction to what was at the time an unfashionable proposition, he did not live in mortal fear of the sensitivities of and the implied threats of the international credit rating agencies.

Chavez decisively shifted the territory of debate. This is crucial as the actions of so many ‘leaders’ tend to give the impression that the credit ratings agencies in spite of their deplorable track record had replaced the electorate as well as the enforcement of

,

the social contract as the leit motif for having a government in place. In this way he was a decisive game changer.

The shift in the territory of debate is important if development is to once again take the centre stage. In Nigeria, for example we still have at least three ministers in charge of strategic economic ministries, who obviously and fervently believe that the opinion of the credit rating agencies is the only leit motif for being in government. This sort of mindset is bothersome. In contradiction, a few weeks ago in London, the credit ratings agency downgrade of the British economy was met with a bored shrug.

The heavens strangely enough did not fall.

This would not have been the reaction to a downgrade a few years ago. Fortunately, this shows that the overblown allure of the credit agencies is mercifully waning. The intervention of Chavez, frankly in an unnerving way, showed up the vacuous duplicity and lack of concern of Nigeria’s political establishment. Blow-by-blow, to use the boxing parlance, it was no contest.

Chavez could account for billions of dollars of petrol-dollars unlike our self-serving establishment.

Personally incorruptible, he created with great determination, a superb healthcare system and a society of very high literacy rate. The social gains in Venezuela, like those of our own Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Premier of Western Region in the 1950s, are irreversible. The terrain of debate had been that decisively altered. This is why Awolowo’s name is still so very handy in winning elections in Western Nigeria.

If Chavez is the self-acclaimed heir to the liberator Simon Bolivar, here too, we have our own heir’s to the Awolowo/ Michael Okpara type social democratic tradition.

Personally, I kept thinking like so many did, of Osun State’s get-up-and-go Rauf Aregbesola when I heard that Chavez had passed on. The wily Ijesha fox has after all

most malicious wars in human history have been fought along either ethnic or religious lines.

Here lay the peril that faces Africa’s biggest and the most homogenous Black country. The most dangerous trend is that though the Federal Government appears to have scored “victories” through its superior armed confrontation with the sect, there are unforeseeable, daring consequences one of which is the fear that security operatives who are natives of communities under state sponsored siege, will naturally be displeased by the often innocent casualties that usually accompany military operations in their dominion. One thing is now certain, these bombings have become one of the major threats to stability in Nigeria and West Africa coupled with the persistent arms uprising which have become a dominant trend across the sub-region. The emerging scenario is not only a peril to Nigeria, but given the country’s huge population, there is a visible threat to global security.

What should be done? There cannot be a solution to the crisis without understanding its history, nature and form. For one thing, it is completely naïve to cite the Islamic insurgence as mainly the product of the temporary loss of power by the Hausa-Fulani North.

This only explains an aspect of the problem. It appears a section in the Presidency thinks this way when it linked the uprising to the assumption that ‘some people just don’t like’ the President’s face’. This is simplistic and will definitely lead to wrong solutions to a persistent problem. In understanding the current trend, we should know the history of the people waging this

,

BY ADEWALE ADEOYE

,

Boko Haram: A people’s alternative to peace

The war of attrition being waged by Boko Haram is oiled by the most inflammable ingredients of human existentialism: ethnicity and religion

The symbol of good governance in the State of Osun links up with Simon Bolivars’ heir in Venezuela because both men have an almost child-like fascination with putting the big ‘D’ back into development by redirecting capital into infrastructure

,

intervened very much in the same gamechanging way.

To go further with our comparison, Venezuela will now historically be divided into pre and post-Chavez. In Osun State too, it will eventually be pre and postAregbesola. Before Chavez, it was not very pleasant to be outside the charmed privileged circle in that country. For those outside it was a life sentence of poverty, disease and illiteracy. The Chavez intervention reversed the trend and history will absolve him.

P

re-Aregbesola Osun State was a cerebral film producer’s delight. The atmosphere was tragic-comedy writ large.

Osun State’s ancient regime simply reinvigorated the concept of maladministration as in ‘abandon hope all ye who enter here’. When the ancient regime was kicked out by the courts, the people simply became delirious.

Luckily for them, Aregbesola, like Chavez has not flunked the Kumbaya Moment.

‘Kumbaya’ is not an exaggeration, since the people pre-Aregbe and pre-Chavez were actually lamenting that,’ this wahala is too

campaign. Let us reflect a bit on where they are coming from: For over 300 centuries, the North East has been home to Islamic reinsurgence, partly due to the region’s unique political and cultural history. We cannot appreciate this without understanding the Borno Empire and its historic fangs and timeless struggle for self-determination which has been continuously stymied. The Borno dynasty had existed for over 1000 years, covering some parts of Ghana, Nguru, Kano and Adamawa states.

Its collapse was only saved by Shaikh Muhammed al-Amin alKanemi who was born in 1772.

Borno had over the years resisted any external culture, influence or the creation of ‘national cultural identity ’ which the modern Nigerian nation continues to fan.

The Hausa, Fulani and the Borno pedigree are not the same and sometimes view each other with suspicion. For instance, the Fulani first entered the Borno capital, Gazargumo, on Saturday March 12, 1804 (the 13th Muharram, 1223 A.H). Old Borno Empire (now Yobe, parts of Adamawa and Borno states-the hotbeds of the insurgency) had always resented intruders and had meted harsh venom on such. As the Fulanis came, the fleeing Mai appealed to al-Kanemi who summoned his Kanumbu tribesmen and the Shuwa Arabs, who rallied because they considered the liberation of the Saefawa Dynasty a noble cause. They considered the Fulani as mere aggressors and usurpers.

After routing the Fulani, alContinues tomorrow on pg 17 * Mr. Adeoye, a journalist, wrote from Abuja.

much, oh my lord come-by-here (kumbaya)’.

The resemblance to Chavez is highlighted because the State of Osun helmsman is carrying out a profound piece of social engineering.

The symbol, as he his often endearingly referred to, has been very hyperactive in a structured sort of way. Like Chavez he has put the big ‘D’ back into development. In Osun State the social engineering has actually focused on jobs-led growth. The government’s action has woven a synergy around the state’s economy. An example is the way the provision of school uniforms to public school students has spurned a garment industry capable of procuring export orders from the United States of America. The Aregbesola revolution is also focused on using the surplus from increased agricultural production as the launch-pad for agro-allied industralisation. The symbol of good governance in the State of Osun links up with Simon Bolivars’ heir in Venezuela because both men have an almost child-like fascination with putting the big ‘D’ back into development by redirecting capital into the social and physical infrastructure.

In the Nigerian context, this involves a move away from consumption in the direction of production. It entails a large dose of fiscal rectitude wrapped around the old social democratic rallying slogan of – macroeconomic stability as the way to achieve social justice’. Here it is not only Aregbesola on the good foot, of course.

Superb efforts in the same direction are coming from Lagos State’s Babatunde Fashola, Ekiti’s intellectual-in-residenceFayemi, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and a few others.

Overall, the light at the end of the tunnel comes from the shift in thinking that human beings should once again become the raison d’etre for anyone being in government in the first place. As in Venezuela, the shoeless and the shirtless ones can heave a sigh of relief and savour that Kumbaya Moment.

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

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 — 45

46 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

FOCUS BOKO HARAM AND ALAMIEYESEIGHA:

Effect on Nigeria-US relations

BY ADE ADEFUYE

I

T is indeed a cruel twist of irony that while on my way to return to base after an exceedingly successful US trade delegation on infrastructure to Nigeria, March 11 15, that my attention was drawn to reports in our media of the possible souring of relations between Nigeria and America because of the above two issues.

Let me first declare my belief in the freedom of our media to report events and analyse issues arising therefrom.

But I will also insist that these reports should be based on facts that have been checked and verified and analysis that have been carefully considered before being presented.

On the Boko Haram matter, I wish to declare without any fear of contradiction that our engagement in the mission with the various stakehold-

,

ers in America has knocked the bottom out of the arguement of those who want Boko Haram to be declared a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) with obvious adverse consequences on Nigeria and even the US itself.

Americans in the three tiers of government now appreciate the quality and importance of cooperation between American and Nigeria security agencies and how much it has helped in containing and curtailing the activities of Boko Haram. An FTO designation will be a job killer for some sections of the American business and industrial establishments. Nigeria and America continue to cooperate through the intelligence fusion centres and other counter-terrorism measures to bring an

arise in the future.

While in Nigeria during the trade mission, I received calls asking for an explanation of the rationale for the inclusion of the ex-governor. The explanation I offered, and the assurance that this does not affect our commitment to the war against corruption seem to have satisfied some of our friends; after all a PDP vice president who has already served his jail sentence was not included. The EFCC continues to prosecute the highly placed personalities involved in the oil subsidy scandal. The fight against corruption is very much on course. We have assured our friends and we shall continue to do so.

The American government, through the Embassy in Nigeria, made its feelings on the issue of the pardon known.

We have taken note of it. What the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took exception to was the manner in which it was conveyed.

Our media should, for the sake of national interest, desist from over emphasizing and sensationalizing the negatives. They should dwell more on what is good in us.

We have made considerable progress on the exchange of visits by the two presidents

end to Boko Haram in no distant future in the same manner as the UK solved the IRA problem and Spain is dealing with ETA. On the pardon granted by Mr. President, it is impossible to question Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s exercise of the prerogative of mercy granted him by the relevant provisions of our constitution. We are prepared to admit the rights of our friends to comment on the issue since it is now a matter of public knowledge. We understand the furore caused by the inclusion of the ex-governor.

The statement recently made by Dr Doyin Okupe explains the government’s rationale. This will form part of the response of the Embassy in Washington to questions that might

,

There are clearly more internationally acceptable practices of conveying impressions rather than through the twitter.

No highly placed official of the American Embassy in Nigeria was summoned to the ministry for questioning or interrogation. I know for a fact that the American Ambassador to Nigeria, and his deputy are currently out of Nigeria.

What the ministry of Foreign Affairs rightly did was to send a note protesting the use of twitter as a means of conveying official reaction to an issue. Our media should, for the sake of national interest, desist from over emphasizing and sensationalizing the negatives. They should dwell more on what is good in us.

We have made considerable progress on the exchange of visits by the two presidents. More

meetings have been planned on my return to base by Monday. My contacts with those who matter did not indicate any intentions to put any of these visits on hold.

The simple fact is that because of very basic and fundamental reasons, Nigeria and the United States are strategic partners on important global issues. Vice President Joe Biden told his Nigerian counterpart,Alhaji Namadi Sambo, that Nigeria is America’s anchor in Africa. The bond between us is much stronger than what the Alamieyeseigha issue can weaken.

Adefuye is Head of Mission, Embassy of Nigeria,Washington DC.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 — 47

48— Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 — 49

50 — Vanguard, MONDAY,

MARCH 18 , 2013

Vanguard CLASSIFIED

Iran close to developing nuclear weapons, says Obama I RAN is more than a year away from developing a nuclear weapon, but that does not mean the United States will wait for it to become a reality, President Barack Obama said in an interview that aired Thursday on an Israeli television station.

“I have been crystal clear about my position on Iran possessing a nuclear weapon. That is a red line for us. It is not only something that would be dangerous for Israel. It would be dangerous for the world,” Obama told CNN affiliate Israeli Channel 2 TV before a scheduled visit next week to the country. “...I’ve also said there is a window — not an infinite period time, but a window of time — where we can resolve this diplomatically.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly called on Obama to establish a clear line that Iran cannot cross with its nuclear program, if it wants to avoid war.

Obama has resisted such a move, and Netanyahu has shown growing impatience with what he has previously called a lack of clarity by

•President Obama the Obama administration on articulating red lines over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

U.S. intelligence officials have said they do

Pope Francis delivers first Angelus, extols poor

T

HOUSANDS of Catholics waving flags from around the world packed St. Peter’s Square yesterday to hear Pope Francis deliver his inaugural Angelus. The new pontiff gave his Angelus, or noon blessing, from his papal apartment window, speaking to the more than 200,000 worshippers in

Odinga files Kenya Presidential polls appeal

K

ENYAN Prime Minister Raila Odinga has filed a Supreme Court appeal against Uhuru Kenyatta’s narrow victory in the presidential election’s first round.

Mr Kenyatta beat Mr Odinga comfortably by 50.07% to 43.28% on 4 March, avoiding a run-off by only 8,100 votes.

But Mr Odinga has accused the electoral authorities of manipulating the result.

Police fired tear gas to disperse about 100 supporters of his Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) who had gathered outside the Supreme Court.

The police had warned them that they would not be allowed to do so.

Some of the crowd were wearing t-shirts bearing slogans including “I support the petition” and “Democracy on trial”.

The presidential, legislative and municipal elections held 12 days ago were the first since the 2007 poll which set off ethnic and political violence in which more than 1,200 people were killed.

not believe Iran has decided to develop a nuclear weapon, even as evidence continues to mount that the country is improving its ability to do so.

Mr Kenyatta and his running mate, William Ruto, are facing trial on charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for allegedly fuelling the unrest. They deny the charges.

the square.

He made the historic address after celebrating Mass at Sant’Anna parish in Vatican City earlier Sunday.

In a rare move for a pope, Francis spontaneously walked out from Vatican territory to greet cheering wellwishers outside Sant’Anna Gate.

“Francesco, Francesco!” the crowd chanted.

In his first week as pontiff, Francis has enjoyed global fanfare as the first Latin American pope and the first Jesuit pope in modern times.

The official Mass to inaugurate Francis as the bishop of Rome — and leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics — will take place Tuesday.

Zimbabweans vote for new constitution

Z

IMBABWEANS voted Saturday for a key referendum on a new constitution that limits presidential terms for the first time in the African nation.

Robert Mugabe, 89, has been in power for decades, first serving as prime minister in 1980 and taking over as president seven years later.

“This is a Zimbabwean document to replace a British one. That is why I voted for it,” said Babra Mheno, 34, a university student, referring to the nation’s former colonial rulers.

If approved, which is highly likely, the constitution will give

more powers to the parliament and limit the president’s. It also introduces a two-term limit of five years each for a president.

The limit will not apply in retrospect, which means Mugabe has 10 more years as head of state if he is re-elected.

“I have voted no for the document,” said Kizito Marwe, at a polling station east of Harare. “It was written by politicians, not Zimbabweans.”

The 27-year-old said he’ll spend the rest of the day taking advantage of the public holiday.

“I was in line for two hours. I am heading home and spending the day watching TV,” he said.

NWORU—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ndidiamaka Godwin Nworu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ndidiamaka Godwin Isaac. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ODUOH—I, formerly known and addressed Miss Oduoh Oghenekevwe, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ichipi Oghenekevwe.

All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public please take note.

OKPAPI—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okpapi Hope, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Igodoifo Hope.

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

NWOKORIE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Nwokorie Chizoba Theresa, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Chizoba Theresa Nwachukwu. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Police Force, Crown Polytechnic and general public please take note.

EZEILO—I, formerly known and addressed Miss Charity Oluebube Ezeilo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Charity Oluebube Megwas. All former documents remain valid. German Embassy, SSCE and general public please take note.

SAMUEL—I, formerly known and addressed Miss Christiana Samuel, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Christiana Ayoh. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Police Force and general public please take note.

KOROYE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Judith Asene Koroye, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Judith Asene Ateboh. All former documents remain valid. Ministry of Agriculture, Bayelsa State, National Fadama III Development Project, Bayelsa State Civil Service Commission and general public please take note.

KAIGAHMADT —I, formerly known and addressed as Allbright Ahmadu Kaigahmadt, now wish to be known and addressed as Allbright Allbright Karlgermaz.

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

DABAK—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Nanbam Sendi Dabak, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Nanbam Sendi Akale.

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

ISODJE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Isodje Ejiro Comfort, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ejiro O. Sunday. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AGBELUSI—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Folashade Sherifat Agbelusi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Folashade Adesola Adeyemo. All former documents remain valid. General public and United Bank of Africa (UBA) please take note.

ELUSODE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Elusode Ifeoluwa Dorcas, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ajayi Ifeoluwa Dorcas. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AKANJI—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Akanji Obedat Oluwatoyin, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Abdulmojeed Obedat Oluwatoyin.

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

UKPO—I, formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Aderonke Idoro Ukpo, now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Aderonke Idoro Moses. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AKINNIFESI—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Olayinka Folasade Akinnifesi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olayinka Folasade Oduleye. All former documents remain valid. MTN Communications Ltd, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and general public please take note.

BARDI —I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Bardi Ifeoma Rosemary, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Osowa Onome Ifeoma Rosemary. All former documents remain valid. UBA Plc and general public please take note.

SAAD —I, formerly known and addressed as Saad Ibrahim Saad, now wish to be known and addressed as Shadow Abraham .All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

Confirmation of name I, Raphael Oshoma Odalume wish to notify the public that I am the same person known as Raphael Odalume or Ralph Odalume. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

VANGUARD'S LAGOS OFFICE YOU CAN B O O K Y O U R A D V E R T S AT OU R L A G O S I S L A N D O F FI C E — VA N G U A R D MEDIA LIMITED (LAGOS OFFICE) KIOSK 4 8 E A S T PAV I L I O N T B S , L A G O S .

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 — 51 YOUR LUCK TODAY

LEISURE

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 LIBRA; If you back your financial plans with concrete and positive actions things’ll go according to your desire.

If you fail to realise importance of your spouse you would work your way into avoidable trouble; aren’t you tired of crisis?

SCORPIO; Your intelligence, competence and level of concentration may today bring you envy, which you don’t deserve within your working arena in a negative form but.

SAGITTARIUS; The Moon highlights your Solar second house of money which is good but, if you try to buy true love with money, you’ll be disappointed CAPRICORN; The. Moon in your Star sign’ll gives you new confidence and with new supports from the powersthat-be, it’s like you are now un-stop-able. But be cautious, especially with the veterans within your base of operation

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

Beware of false prophets (2)

T

HIS appears to be the era of false prophets. With the economic downturn, everyone is looking for something to eat. Unfortunately, some of us have deployed our

intellligence negatively. And many people have fallen victims.

My friend, where

are you looking for solution to your problem? what do you believe concerning you life, is

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye”

it the word of God you believe or the word of man? I guess you understand the point I am trying to make here? However, if you are still in doubt, let me narrate my experience to you...

By Lanre Kehinde

AQUARIUS; Better days are ahead of you but, you will today need to do away with non-productive argument and/or agreement. Try to be more diplomatic now.

PISCES; If what you’re doing today’ll depend on tomorrow’s event it’s better you’re more careful now. Even things may not go according to your personal plans today. Yet it’s important you plan both your immediate and far future carefully now ARIES; If you take to aggression, your ego would be deflated by your superior colleagues, but your being cooperative in a civilised way’ll prevent trouble TAURUS; Those willing to put you to shame one way or the other’ll be disappointed with the turn of things today.

It’s good to secure support of your spouse.

GEMINI; You’ve had enough of fun in the recent times and it’s now time you settle down for hard work in order to prevent avoidable trouble. Be patient please.

CANCER; Your concentration level and determination are the pillars of your success today. Yet you’ll need to respect your senior colleagues and protect your image

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Princess Shii’

By Andy Akman

LEO; It’s true you’re willing to work harder but you just have to drop both aggression and mental arrogance to allow things to roll accordingly. Then, you’re accident prone within your working arena. Respect the law and its agents today.

VIRGO; Serious thought may be giving to matters of the heart but it’s better you tarry a while. Joint ventures of short duration today may be an invitation to avoidable trouble

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

Success for me?

Dear Joshua, I am interested in your Astrological counselling. Kindly tell me everything about myself, especially my finance and career; would I be rich eventually, if yes what should I do to make it happen quickly.

Ogundayo Ogun.

Dear Ogundayo, There are indications of financial success for you but you can not change what Almighty God Has designed for you talking about the timing (the quickness you talked in your letter) Certainly however no failure for you Mercury –the planet of education and Accountancy, together with mighty Sun at positive angle to planets in Virgo (another Accounting Star sign) attracted you to both Accountancy profession and the academic world. Truly you did not make wrong choice of career.

Money will eventually come along this line but it’ll not be as faster as if you take to OIL RELATED BUSINESS. Because Neptune (the planet of OIL) was very comfortable when you were born. It will not be out of place if you have filling stations as time goes by, because you are basically a GAS PERSON. Another money spinning vocation for you include writing either along your line or for film making industry; it is important you exhibit the higher quotient of creativity in your inner-self. Yes your dream of becoming A Professor will come to reality. Politics is another area you are not looking at now but will surely come. Do you say why? Because Aquarius is equally political Venus that was powerfully placed when you were born is all about MONEY. Thus you have special ability to make money. And as it was at positive angle to disciplined Saturn, you are not giving to serious frivolity. One major challenge here is envy by others but you will eventually overcome. Another source of challenges is your love life which looks not totally balanced.

Basically you are a family minded person. You are equally loving and caring. But sometimes your love of freedom get better off you to the resentment of your closer partner(s).Then some other times it is other party’s fault making love-business very interesting. And unless you are more careful and determined you may marry more than once.

VIRGINIA

Commen3

dadadekola@yahoo.com

by Lawrence Akapa

52— Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 — 53

C M Y K

54 —

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

I

Nigeria and the CAF executive seat

,

F I had my way, I would have banished this topic to the recesses of my personal history. In the words of the NFF President Alhaji Aminu Maigari, I would have taken this as one of those experiences needed to guide one through the slimy maze of one’s sojourn on earth.

Unfortunately for me, since I came back from Marakech, Morocco I have been inundated with calls from my colleagues, wanting to know “ what really happened “. As an eye witness I owe my culture medium an explanation.

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that the world is a dangerous place to live in, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it!

When the Nigeria Football Federation nominated Alhaji Maigari to contest the CAF elections there were some dissenting voices. Some of us in the FIFA and CAF fraternity believed there were not enough consultations and demanded explanations, which were duly given and accepted.

I remember an opinion I granted the Sun Newspaper before the elections, that “Nigeria does not need the Nations Cup to buoy up its desire to be on the Executive Committee of CAF, that given our contribution to the development of African football through the unparalleled support given to CAF, and the credible representation of the continent on the world stage at all levels, the CAF executive position should be our birth right.

I followed it up with the fact that over time, the battle to get on the CAF Executive has been won and lost not on the continent but within and called on all involved to close ranks and support NOT Alhaji Maigari, BUT Nigeria. I know, because by God’s grace I am the oldest Nigerian member of CAF alive.

I was there in 1988 in Morocco when Late Etubom Oyo Orok Oyo was abandoned by his country as he sought to retain his FIFA Executive Committee seat and predictably, he lost to Omar Sey of Senegal.

Again in Burkina Faso in 1998, the country plotted behind his back to remove him from the CAF Executive Committee after they had promised him support. Late Oyo’s widow is alive to tell the story.

The story of Dr Amos Adamu we all know. To be able to succeed, he had to short circuit the system, go solo and bull doze his way to the top. But how can I forget his encounter with the late Sports Minister Mark Aku who in Mali in 2002 challenged Dr Adamu and told him point blank that he was not in support of him as a person. That he believed Patrick Okpomo was better qualified, but that since Dr. Adamu had already filed the papers and was representing Nigeria, he as minister was condemned to back and support him!

Fast forward to Sudan 2011 and the country’s attempt to replace Dr Adamu on the CAF Executive

by Alhaji Galadima. When contacted the CAF Pres-

If we could not beat a Moucharaf, a Francophone, is it an Aglophone, an incumbent member of the Executive that we will beat? Forget it.

,

ident told then Sports Minister Professor Ladoja to go and consult with Dr Adamu because as far as he was concerned Dr Adamu had filed an appeal and his position could only be declared vacant if he relinquished it.

Professor Taoheed Ladoja incidentally, Dr Adamu’s friend spent fruitless hours in Sudan on the phone trying to convince Dr Adamu to let go, pending when his suspension by FIFA will be lifted. Perhaps rightly, Dr Adamu refused to yield. He said he was disappointed that his country was already declaring him guilty even when he had taken his case to the Court Of Arbitration for Sports ( CAS ).

The rest is history, as Dr Adamu lost the appeal and Nigeria was blocked out of CAF for another two years. This year, the NFF put forward Alhaji Maigari. When I was consulted, I told the NFF President again and again to consult widely with Nigerians in CAF and FIFA especially Dr. Adamu who it was rumoured was supporting Moucharaf because he was expecting to come back after the lifting of his suspension this year.

Maigari did, got in touch and asked for support .

One of those who felt aggrieved , General Oneya gave him his support while Dr Bolaji Ojo Oba was reconciled by the intervention of the Sports Minister.

On getting to South Africa, I was shocked to hear that a Nigerian had gone to CAF to say that Maigari did not enjoy the support of his country and that

Golden Eaglets dazzle Aspire chief

C

OL. Sam Amedu (retd), Director Aspire Football Dreams Nigeria, is excited about the quality of players jostling to be part of the Morocco-bound Golden Eaglets.

Amedu, the foremost basketball buff and the brain behind the famous Dodan Warriors , who has taken time out of his busy schedule to watch all the team’s training sessions since on arrival at the Aspire Centre in Doha, said the Golden Eagles have what it take to face

the rest of the continent. ”I have followed teams as well as the Golden Eaglets for some time and I saw how good they are when they played Mali in Calabar,”he said.”I’m really impressed with their discipline both on the field and outside; and II believe this will carry them far.”

The Golden Eaglets have been enjoying the ambiance of the Aspire Centre with quality nutritional diet and fantastic training facility.

MASTER PLANNERS ••• Golden Eaglets coaching crew led by Manu Garba (R), Nduka Ugbade (L) and Emmanuel Amunike (m) putting heads together for the team

his candidature was not valid. The NFF President then rallied the Sports Minister who met the CAF president and confirmed that The NFF President was indeed the country’s candidate.

When we got to Morocco, the rumour of Alhaji Maigari not standing a chance and Moucharaf Anjorin being the anointed candidate of the CAF President ruled the waves, so in company of Linus Mba and Aisha Falode we sought audience with the CAF President. He graciously granted us audience and emphasized that he would have loved a situation where Nigeria, Benin and Niger would have sat down to sort out their differences and present a common candidate who for him would have been Nigeria. “ I wish I had been approached on this. I wish someone had sought my opinion and I would have gladly asked for a Nigerian representation. Unfortunately it is too late in the day, so I wish all of them luck in the elections tomorrow” Hayatou said.

We left feeling quite satisfied and continued with the campaign.

By midnight on Saturday, less than eight hours before the elections an emergency meeting was called by the NFF President to present to us a disturbing news to the effect that while we were busy campaigning, back home, all manners of buttons were being pressed to discredit the Nigerian delegate.

I am not garrulous. I have a strong journalism background one that does not rush to the press with rumours. One that wants to verify all sources of news before publishing, so I asked a lot of questions and the answers I got were enough to “ lead my paper” as we are wont to say in print journalism.

At this stage I would have passed the pen to Mike Itemuagbor, Managing Director of topmost Marketing firm Pamodzi Sports Marketing who was perhaps more devastated than myself and reacted accordingly.

While answering a question by Toyin Ibitoye of Channels TV, I said the election was not about Maigari, it was not about self, it was about Nigeria.

I also believe it would have been better to tell the NFF President not to run than to goad him on to failure. Its all about honour and sincerity.

Now we have to wait another four years. In two years, Ghana’s Kwesi Nyantakyi will be up for reelection. If we could not beat a Moucharaf, a Francophone, is it an Aglophone, an incumbent member of the Executive that we will beat? Forget it.

If you believe I have still left a lot of questions unanswered, you are right. You needed to be at that meeting in Maraakech that took till 4am Sunday morning March 10 to get all the answers. Unfortunately, you were not there and my space has run out.

See you next week.

I

Brila FM partners NBBF

N addition to an existing list of partnerships and broadcast rights earned for the Nigerian sporting public; Sports Radio, 88.9 Brila FM has entered into yet another partnership arrangement, this time with the Nigerian Basketball Federation, NBBF. This partnership is geared to satisfy the thirst of basket ball-loving Nigerians as well as immensely contribute to the development of the game in the country.

At the agreement-

signing ceremony in Abuja, the NBBF, represented by its President, Tijani Umar and Secretary Francis Gbiri expressed the body’s happiness over the collaboration bound to positively impact the growth of the sport in the country.

An elated Umar told the gathering, which had in attendance, the CEO of Sports Radio, 88.9 Brila FM, Dr. Larry Izamoje, that the partnership will help promote and project Basketball league in Nigeria and beyond.

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013 — 55

Osaze attacks West Brom on Twitter Players jailed for P

E T E R Odemwingie has launched a fresh Twitter attack on West Brom after being consigned to the substitutes’ bench since his failed bid to leave The Hawthorns in January.

Odemwingie delivered a series of Twitter rants against the club after having a transfer request rejected at the start of the year, and he has once again vented his frustration after being omitted from the Baggies’ starting lineup for the last four games.

He tweeted on Sunday: “Keeping me on the bench now is worst than what they did on the 31st. New advisers told me to take saying its all my fault cos its better for me. If they like they shouldn’t even give me 10 mins to play. Threatening to ruin my career?

Career I closed already last summer? No harm to me. Want to treat me like an average player. The

abuse and praise I get is it average ? So get some extra from me too.”

The 31-year-old striker had been a target of QPR throughout January and had repeatedly voiced his displeasure at not being allowed to leave. Odemwingie then memorably turned up at Loftus Road without permission on transfer deadline day only to be left in the cold as his planned move to QPR collapsed, an act described by Baggies head coach Steve Clarke as “total lunacy”.

The Nigeria international last month apologised for his actions during that period and also accepted the disciplinary action taken by West Brom for his conduct. The Baggies would have been hoping that was the end of the issue but, after only featuring as a second-half substitute in the club’s recent fixtures, Odemwingie has once again hit out.

rape T

WO Ohio high school football players who were found guilty of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl have been sentenced to at least one year in juvenile jail.

Steubenville High School students Trent Mays and Ma’Lik Richmond were found guilty Sunday of attacking the girl after an alcoholfueled party last August.

The case roiled the small city and stirred reaction from activists online.

The judge sentenced them both to at least one year in juvenile jail and said both can be held until they’re 21. Mays, who’s 17, was sentenced to an additional year in

•Osaze

jail on a charge of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, to be served after his rape sentence is completed.

Both Mays and the 16year-old Richmond have been ordered to avoid contact with the victim until they’re 21.

Trent Mays, (r) Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond

AYAC 2013: AFN relocates to Warri

Keshi Continues from BP preparation for some friendlies and the u p c o m i n g Confederations’ Cup in Brazil.

However, usual suspects like Chigozie Agbim, Sunday Mba, Azubuike Egwueke, Godfrey Oboabona and Gabriel Reuben are expected to be in the squad.

In a related development, the Super Eagles and the technical

crew will depart for Calabar on Monday morning at about 10am.

Only NPL stars are expected to make the trip to Calabar on Monday according to Team Scribe, Dayo Enebi Achor. “By the evening of Monday, we expect that some of the players invited will start linking up with us in Calabar, for the final leg of preparation for the World Cup qualifier against Kenya”, team spokesman, Ben Alaiya added.

Kano Pillars Continues from BP to the instructions given to them. We will not relent, as we will go to their home to win the return leg,” Babaganaru said.

Nigeria champions Pillars, playing inside a packed stadium, took the lead through defensive midfielder Mustapha Musa in the ninth minute, before he completed his brace in the 45th minute to end the first half 2-0.

Eagles invitee Manir Ubale made it 3-0 in the 52nd minute for the home team only for Leopard to pull a goal back when Drane Den scored in the 72nd m i n u t e .

Kabiru Umar, who was an 80th minute substitute for Ubale, scored the fourth goal after five minute on the pitch to ensure Pillars take a healthy lead into the return leg match in a fortnight.

Action recorded during the All Nigeria Athletics Championships 2012

T

HE Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has moved their office to the city of Warri for the last laps of organisation for the maiden edition of Africa Youth Athletics Championships scheduled for March 27 to 31.

“We are ready for the event. We have already moved office to Warri,” Maria Worphil, secretary of

the AFN said at the weekend. She also doubles as scribe of the Local Organising Committee for the Championships.

Warri Township Stadium, hitherto a largely soccer stadium, has been reconfigured to host athletics events. And to assess the reconfiguration the federation has moved the second leg of the 2013 AFN Relays, holding on March 23 at the refurbished

Warri City Stadium. The relays will serve as a preparatory exercise for the African Youth Athletics Championship starting March 27.

“It is part of the dress rehearsal for the African Youth Athletics Championships billed to kick off on March 27 at the same venue”, said the Coordinator of the All Nigeria Relays, AFN’s Yusuf Ali.

The relay events include; 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m and the 4x800m relays. ”As part of our build up for the World Championships in Russia, our relay teams are going to compete in all the legs of the All Nigeria Relays. “ stressed Ali. Ogho-Oghene Egwero, Obinna Metu, Peter Emelieze and Benjamin Adukwu are all expected to enliven the Ijebu Ode race.

VANGUARD, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013

AYC: Flying Eagles fall to Mali

D

EFENDING champion Nigeria U20 team began their title defence on a faltering note as the Coach John Obuh boys fell 1-0 to the Young Eagles of Mali on the

second day of matches.

It was the opening match of Group B of the 2013 Africa Youth Championships taking place in Algeria.

The competition also serves as qualifiers to

the FIFA World Cup which will hold later this year.

Nigeria dominated play for most of the match but poor finishing robbed the champions of goals.

Keshi picks 9 NPL stars for Harambee Stars •Team off to Calabar

•Coach Obuh

S

UPER Eagles Head Coach Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, has picked nine out of the 24 invited players from the Nigerian Premier League for next Saturday’s World Cup cracker against the Harambee Stars of Kenya in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

Keshi said at lunch time on Sunday that there will be no need to start listing the players who did not make the team or those that made it, as all the players will soon return to camp in

Continues on Page 55

Pillars demolish AC Leopard

K

ON THE MARCH AGAIN: Super Eagles players with coach Keshi (insert) getting ready for the 2014 W/Cup qualifier against Kenya in Calabar this weekend.

AYAC 2013: AFN relocates to Warri — Page 55

PUZZLE

Continues on Page 55

QUICK CROSSWORD

Sudoku TODAY'S

ANO Pillars demolished AC Leopard of Congo 4-1 in a CAF Champions League first round, first leg tie at the Sani Abacha Stadium on Saturday.

Victorious coach Mohamed Babaganaru said Pillars will not relent until they qualify for the second round of the money-spinning club competition. ”My boys played to my satisfaction and played

FRI DAY'S FRIDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 1 Lash (4) 4 Vessel (3) 6 Lichen (4) 9 Skill (3) 10 Ratified (8) 11 Yank (4) 14 Taxi (3) 16 Moan (5) 19 Praiseworthy (8) 21 Board (5) 23 Wrapper (8) 24 Dreary (5) 27 Relations (3) 31 Bay (4) 33 Tested (8) 34 Title (3) 35 Warmth (4) 36 Pasty (3) 37 Gloomy (4)

DOWN 2 Suspend (4) 3 Indigent (4) 4 Unsteady (8) 5 Naked (4) 6 Principal (5) 7 Mineral (3) 8 Belt (5) 12 Mount (5) 13 Lead (5) 14 Headgear (3) 15 Void (5) 17 Fool (5) 18 Senior (5) 20 Contemplate (8) 22 Knowledge (3) 25 Free (5) 26 Avoid (5) 28 Pile (4) Due to technical problems, we are re29 Peel (4) peating last Friday's edition of cross30 Strip (4) word 32 Through (3)

THURSDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Accord 5, Oppose 8, Ornament 9, Roam 10, Cos 12, Blind 15, Spa 17, Tor 18, Rot 19, Axe 20, Endue 21, Ado 22, Era 23, Arm 24, Par 26, Maxim 29, Pry 33, Stab 34, Argument 35, Screen 36, Esteem.

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

DOWN: 2, Cargo 3, Oval 4, Dwell 5, Often 6, Port 7, Scamp 10, Clasp 11, Steer 12, Bream 13, Index 14, Dream 15, Stamp 16, Agony 25, Attic 27, Again 28, Ingle 30, Range 31, Able 32, Emit. e-mail: rowolove@yahoo.co.uk

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

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

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

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