Jonathan under intense pressure

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S-West NBA in crisis, holds parallel meetings in Lagos, Ibadan

BY INNOCENT ANABA office.

Sunday Vanguard learnt & OLA AJAYI

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•The meeting of Egbe Amofin Yoruba, Yoruba Lawyers from the South West Pix shows left Mrs Toyin Adegoke; Treasurer, Mr O B Okuboyejo (SAN), Mr Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) and Prof. G A Olawoyin (SAN). Pix by Dare Fasube

Stop harassing CBN Gov Lamido — Kwankwaso

BY ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD

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ANO State Gover nor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, yesterday, asked President Goodluck Jonathan to stop harassing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Kwankwaso, who spoke against the backdrop of a frosty relationship between the President and the apex bank governor, stated that Sanusi is not an ordinary Nigerian.

The CBN chief helmsman, a Kano prince, is Dan’Majen Kano, a position of influence in the traditional emirate structure.

Kwankwaso, who rose in defense of his kinsman, declared: “Let me use this opportunity to call on the Federal Government to desist from harassing our citizens. Here I am referring to our son, the CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi”.

The state governor, who spoke during the inauguration of Tomato Technical

Working Group at the Government House, Kano, went on: “Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is somebody who is apt and dares to speak his mind at any time not minding whose ox is gored.

“There is nothing wrong when the CBN Governor says, ‘Please, check these figures to ensure probity’.

Such a person should be seen as a friend not an enemy. ” The former PDP governor who defected to the opposition All Progressive

Congress (APC), later hosted the CBN Governor, vowing, “We will continue to give you all the necessary support anywhere, anytime.”

Reports had, last week, alleged that the frosty relationship between the President and the Governor of the apex bank culminated in the demand by the former requesting the latter to resign.

Sanusi was reported to have rejected Jonathan’s demand and reiterated his plan to proceed on retirement in June.

Taraba: ‘Dep. Gov. plans to put Gov. Suntai under house arrest’

BY LUKA BINNIYAT

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group, the Taraba Peoples Vanguard, yesterday, in Kaduna, alleged that the Deputy G o v e rnor of Taraba State, Alhaji Umar Garba, has issued instructions curtailing the movements of Governor Danbaba Sun-

tai and his aides, including restriction of visitors to the recuperating Suntai.

The group, in a statement

by Chief Lidua Bako and Shawalu Garba, National Coordinator and Secretary of the group respectively, also dismissed media reports that Suntai had visited Abuja to confer with President Goodluck Jonathan on his bid to return to power, saying he actually went to see his medical consultants and to meet with Gen. Theopheluos Danjuma (rtd) and other important indigenes of Taraba State.

The statement, in part, read: “We, the Taraba People’s Vanguard across the 35 states of the federation, have followed with very keen interest political developments in our state from the time governor, Danbaba Danfulani Suntai, was involved in that unfortunate air crash which the Almighty God, in His infinite mercies, rescued him from death. Unfolding political developments in the state since that time has been very shameful and especially the recent moves to hijack the free mandate given Governor Danbaba Suntai by the overwhelming majority of Tarabans.

“It is quite disturbing that on 14th January while Muslims were busy celebrating the Ed – Maulud holiday, Deputy Governor Garba Umar of Taraba State convened a State Security Council meeting where he read out the following riot acts: That all the security aides of Governor Danbaba Suntai be transferred out of Government House, Jalingo.

“That henceforth all visitors to Governor Danbaba Suntai must be approved by the Deputy Governor, the Commissioner of Police or the governor ’s younger brother, Babangida.

“That henceforth, apart from Sunday Church services, he must approve the governor ’s movement within and outside the state.

“That, henceforth, all flights that would land at the Jalingo airport must first seek and obtain landing clearance from him. “ Already a letter to implement this directive has been written and forwarded to the Airport Controller

by Garvey Yawe, the SSG to the Deputy Governor.

“That the SSG and Chief of Staff appointed by Governor Suntai on his return from America have been banned from entering the Government House Jalingo.

“Our informant who is also a member of the State Security Council disclosed that the Deputy Governor severely warned everybody in the State Security Council meeting not to be caught amongst those who would attempt to contravene any of the above acts as he emphatically threat-

ened that such a person would be summarily dealt with because, according to him, he has the blessing of Mr. President to read out the riot act.

“Despite numerous media propaganda sponsored by Umar that the governor went to Aso Rock and was rebuffed, unknown to the Deputy Governor, Governor Suntai never went to the Aso Rock or even sought to meet the presi-

dent but went on a private medical visit to his consultants and to consult with prominent Taraba indigenes on the current developments in the state.

“This Vanguard was reliably informed that the frustration of Alhaji Garba Umar with Lieutenant General TY Danjuma is over the General’s refusal to recognize him as the Acting Governor but as Deputy Governor of Taraba State”.

Book on Zik, Ndi-Igbo and Southern Neighbours

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new book, ZIK, NDI-IGBO AND T H E I R S O U T H E R N NEIGHBOURS, written by Uchenna Nwankwo has just been published and put in the public domain.

The370-page book is about the thrust of political development in Nigeria through the final phase of British colonial rule to present day. Its theme is the political convergence of three social forces, namely; the thrust of Nigerian nationalism, the persistence of ethnic or cultural particularism, and the crystallisation of emergent class interests. It exposes the shenanigans that compromised Nigeria’s political wellbeing and advancement, while pointing the way forward.

The age-old bitter struggle between Azikiwe and Awolowo and its impact are given in-depth

analysis.

The author highlights the impact of the January 15, 1966 coup d'état and how its acclaimed leader, Major Nzeogwu, was subsequently murdered in the Nsukka war-front through a brotherly conspiracy of the meanest order.

Could Harold Wilson, the then Prime Minister of Britain and suspected Soviet mole, have influenced Moscow ’s support for Nigeria in the Nigeria-Biafra war?

The roles played by Azikiwe and Awolowo in the Nigeria-Biafra war are examined from new perspectives. The supposed motives in using hunger as an instrument of war; and the de-populating of Igboland and committing genocide against the Igbo are succinctly re-assessed.

It is a book that will change attitudes.

HE crisis rocking the South-west caucus of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Egbe Amofin, worsened, at the weekend, with parallel meetings held by the group in Lagos and Ibadan, Oyo State, respectively.

The Interim Publicity Secretary of the group had denied that any gathering of the lawyers was called for Ibadan. The meetings were in furtherance of the group’s effort to produce the next president of the NBA, to take over from the incumbent, Mr. Okey Wali, SAN, who will complete his two years tenure on August 31, 2014.

Major contestants for the position are Mrs Funke Adekoya, SAN; Deacon Dele Adesina, SAN; Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN, and Osas Erhabor.

Another candidate who is not from the core Southwest, but in the race is Chief Austine Alegeh, SAN, of the Mid West bar.

It was alleged that the Ibadan meeting was held by an executive of the group that had been removed from

that while the Ibadan meeting had in attendance five sitting chairmen, the Lagos meeting, which, it was gathered, is sympathetic to the candidacy of Adesina, had in attendance 10 sitting branch chairmen, while four others were represented by their secretaries. Five other chairmen, who could not attend the Lagos meeting, sent their apologies.

It was also learnt that the Ibadan meeting ended without adopting any candidate, which was the major aim of the meeting, but rather set up a reconciliation committee, which was interpreted to mean that it failed to live up to the bidding of the conveners. The Lagos meeting, christened the Central Working Committee of Egbe Amo Ofin, backed Adesina for the NBA presidency.

Chairman of the Egbe Amo Ofin, Mr Adebayo Ayodele, who addressed newsmen after the Lagos meeting, insisted that 17 branches out of the 23 that make up the South-west Bar, in attendance, were in support of the candidacy of Adesina.

APC faults Jonathan on achievements

BY AKOMA CHINWEOKE

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NTERIM National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said President Goodluck Jonathan should understand that rather than comparing himself with past administrations, he should be focusing on how well he has delivered on his electioneering campaign promises, while also managing the unintended or contrived issues that now endanger his presidency.

He noted that the President’s claim of superior performance over his predecessors has enlarged his enemies’ camp beyond that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has engaged Jonathan in recent times.

“All other former leaders and their loyalists are now aware that Dr. Jonathan is a ‘superior ’ performer! His inclusion of governments outside Nigeria further exposes him to ridicule as development indices indicate that many African countries, many of them less endowed, rank much higher than Nigeria in the development continuum,” the APC spokesman said.

“Whether it is in per capital income, life expectancy, maternal mortality, access to education, potable water, housing, employment, security, agriculture, power, etc, which are all used to measure a country’s Human Development Index, countries like Gabon, Angola, Algeria, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Malawi, Egypt, Libya, Mauritius, and South Africa are heads and shoulders above Nigeria. “ Mohammed frowned at the deplorable state of the

country as, according to him, at no time in the history of this country did we have so many Nigerians languishing in foreign jail houses, most of them innocently fleeing from poverty at home.

“To think that this is the same government that spent over two billion Naira on the 2012 Olympic Games that did not yield a medal of any colour.

Also, despite the hyped agricultural transformation by the Federal Government, Nigeria is still far from being in a position to feed its citizenry. Billions of dollars are spent annually on importation of just one food item, rice. Road infrastructure is still in a parlous state,” he stated.

“Our tertiary educational institutions are a shadow of their old self. Nigerian degrees are now worth slightly more than the papers on which they are printed, leading to parents sending their wards to South Africa, Europe and America (and even Ghana) for quality education. Nigeria’s influence on the global stage has also nose-dived in recent times, climaxing in a noticeable snub at the burial of Nelson Mandela in South Afric a .

Weighed against these setbacks, those fawning aides who are deifying President Jonathan and exaggerating his performance are doing him a disservice. This is because now that they have put him in the stratosphere in terms of his performance, what then is there for him to aspire to in terms of achievement? He can as well relax and wait for Nigerians to show appreciation for his ‘impressive performance’, come 2015.”

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014 — PAGE 5

Boko Haram kills three grand children, five others NO fewer than eight Christians have been killed including three grand children in Gworza Local Government of Borno State by persons suspected to be operatives of Boko Haram.

The victims were identified as Haruna Hurgwa, Ali Nigha Mbiya, Zakariya Ghirita, Tanko Zuwara, Yohanna Bulus and three grand children of one Andrew Felaku, all of

Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.

A report said the Islamist group also burnt four churches in Juba village.

The source told our reporter that the sect members, which entered the village at about 8;30 p.m., also burnt down the house of a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Peter Biye, and one Catholic Church, Juba.

Oba Erediauwa loses wife

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the queen had been ill since December 2013. It was learnt that she died at about 8pm in Benin-City.

Palace chiefs and family members gathered yesterday at the Sakpoba Road royal family house to mourn the queen of the kingdom.

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ENIN Kingdom was thrown into m o u r n i n g , yesterday evening, when news filtered in that the senior wife of the Oba of Benin, Queen Esther Erediauwa (nee Osunbor), passed on after a brief illness.

President Goodluck Jonathan (right) shaking hands with some envoys, during a cocktail organised for members of the Diplomatic community at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Photo: State House

Jonathan under pressure to dump Patience’s candidate Continued from page 1

chairmanship is zoned, had settled for Mahdi as their candidate.

According to the source, the governors discussed the name, presented it to the PDP Governors Forum and subsequently to Jonathan.

that following the plan by governors elected on the platform of the PDP to protest against the President if he succumbs to submitting Umar’s name to the NEC as the new party leader, Jonathan has begun to beam his searchlight on Senator Abubakar Mahdi; a former Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Abba Aji; and former National Chairman, Grassroots Democratic Movement, GDM, Gambo Lawan, all from Borno State.

Before yesterday ’s pressure on the President, he was said to have favoured the Transport Minister for the position against the backdrop that he is an absolutely loyal personality and his name was coming from his wife, Patience.

A source told Sunday Vanguard that Governors Isa Yuguda of Bauchi and Ibrahim Dankwanbo of Gombe and acting governor of Taraba State, Umar Garba, all from the North-east to which the PDP national D

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source said several blocs have also emerged to be part of the selection of Tukur ’s replacement, just as the Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, Chief Tony Anenih, was said to be rooting for Mahdi as a leader of his group, Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, while the former federal commissioner and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, and his group were, reportedly, backing Aji for the position of the PDP National Chairman.

But when contacted yesterday by one of our correspondents on the matter and whether he was supporting Aji, Clark said he was not part of the process as he had chosen to be neutral.

According to a source, the pendulum is shifting to Borno, a non-PDP state, to avoid having a party

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National Chairman from a state with a PDP governor to guard against what happened in Enugu State where Governor Sullivan Chime and former PDP National Chairman, Dr. Okwesilize Nwodo, engaged in a cat and mouse relationship throughout Nwodo’s tenure, as well as the fight between Tukur and his governor, Murtala Nyako.

Aji is seen as a stabilising factor in the PDP, a good party man, but a source disclosed that issues that revolved round the alleged letter by the late President Umaru Yar ’Adua to the National Assembly when he sought medical vacation, even as it caused disquiet then in Aso Rock, may work against him, just as the Presidency is of the view that having Lawan is like having former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori.

The position of the PDP National Chairman was, in 2012, zoned to Northeast where Tukur, from Adamawa State, emerged from while the zone, as part of continuity, retains the position.

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he underlining factor now is that the fight is between the PDP and non-PDP controlled states in North- east. The PDP states are Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba while Adamawa, Yobe and Borno are the non-PDP states.

Still as top contenders are the former Acting National Secretary, Dr. Musa Babayo, from Bauchi State, who was the choice of the zone in 2012 before politics played out and Tukur got it. Also from Bauchi is former Governor Adamu Mauzu.

Babayo and Muazu are said to be good party men, humble, loyal, and loved by the people.

The list of aspirants include Barrister Ibrahim Birma, Shettima Mustapha, Abba Gana, all from Borno State.

Speaking with Sunday

Vanguard on the development, a member of the PDP BoT said, “We have discovered that the problem of PDP is orchestrated by associates of party leadership and not members themselves. ”In the present circumstance, we want to elect a National Chairman who will help the President to unify the party and ensure his victory in 2015". ” We don’t want any candidate who is being sponsored by any individual or group within the party. “ Forces against minister t is against the backdrop that some forces do not want a sponsored candidate that the state chairmen of the PDP were said to be strategising to field a candidate for the post of National Chairman at tomorrow’s NEC meeting in the event the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, continued to canvass for Transport Minister, Idris Umar.

The chairmen, still basking in their decisive role in the ousting of Tukur, are particular to stop any candidate they believe to be pushed by the First Lady, on account of what they claimed was her role in stretching Tukur ’s stay in office far longer than he should have left.

The state chairmen, who met in Abuja, on Friday, and were set for another meeting, last night, it was learnt, have found coherence with the state governors from the Northeast, and are threatening to cause a vote at the NEC meeting if a candidate they deem to be unacceptable is presented.

A decision on the course of action is, however, to be taken this night at an enlarged meeting, one of the state chairmen from the South-west told Sunday Vanguard.

Meanwhile, another state chairman of the PDP from the North-central, pleaded that the leadership of the

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party, meaning the Presidency and the National Assembly, be given full powers to nominate an acceptable candidate who he said should be a team player.

Already some of the candidates angling for the PDP top office had made contacts with the chairmen and one of the leading aspirants, a former presidential adviser, it was learnt, was scheduled to meet the chairmen last night. Irrespective of that encounter, the chairmen are also mulling throwing up one of the state chairmen from the Northeast zone acceptable to the governors for consideration as a candidate in the event of an unacceptable candidate from the first family.

The state chairmen by themselves form the single largest voting bloc within the PDP NEC and with the governors almost form half of the voting bloc in the body.

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he decision of the chairmen to pass a vote of no confidence on Tukur, last Tuesday, was one of the decisive factors that finally brought about the forced resignation of the immediate past PDP National Chairman of the party the following day.

“This idea of the First Lady bringing somebody will be seriously resisted by the chairmen who feel that Tukur stayed that long because of the overt support he was enjoying from the First Lady,” one of the state chairmen told Sunday Vanguard. “The decision that was finally taken on Thursday (resignation of Tukur), if it had been taken about four, five months ago, the state chairmen feel that only one governor would have gone and that would have been Amaechi. Other governors who left were complaining about Tukur and his style of administration as characterised by the unwarranted dissolution of state excos and planting his

own structures in those states and that, if this decision was taken about five months ago, the party would have been saved the embarrassment of the five governors leaving at the same time.

“This time around, we are set to resist any attempt where somebody would be imposed without us being properly consulted and convinced that that person will serve first and foremost, the interest of the party rather than the interest of an individual.”

It was understood that the chairmen have scheduled to meet for today to put fi nal touches to their

strategies of ensuring that only somebody who will be able to discharge responsibilities to the promotion and growth of the party will emerge at tomorrow ’s NEC meeting.

“We feel that what we started would not be seen

as complete unless the right person emerges as the Chairman. Anything short of that may lead to a call for a vote on the floor of NEC on Monday.”

Among the criteria the state chairmen are insisting the candidate who will emerge the new PDP National Chairman should have, according to the source, are that “the person must be a politician who is accessible, ready to promote the interest of the party and not that of an individual, who is prepared to go round the 36 states of the federation to see for himself the state of the party and to ensure that the party is galvanised in preparation for elections.”

The source added: “We don’t want a chairman who will only visit states where there is a presidential campaign. We want a chairman who will run an open door policy to all party faithful, a Chairman who will be committed to bringing back the five governors who left as a result of Tukur ’s high handed policies.”

PAGE 6 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014

AS NEW SERVICE CHIEFS TAKE OVER...

Over 50 Generals to go!

BY KINGSLEY OMONOBI

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OLLOWING the retirement of Service Chiefs and the appointment of new ones by President Goodluck Jonathan, Generals in the Army and their equivalent in the Navy and Airforce may have signified their intention to quit the armed forces to escape compulsory retirement.

The President had, on Thursday, appointed Major General Kenneth Tobiah Jacob Minimah as the new Chief of the Army Staff, COAS, Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin as the new Chief of the Naval Staff, CNS, and Air Vice Marshal Adesola Amosun as the new Chief of Air Staff while Air Marshal Alex Badeh was elevated to the position of Chief of the Defence Staff.

Until the new appointments, Badeh was the Chief of the Air Staff.

Jibrin, a member of course 24 of the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA), and Minimah and Amosun, members of course 25, are, by military tradition junior, to those of Courses 23, 22 and 21 intakes of the NDA many of whom are still serving in different capacities, but no longer fit into the unfolding dispensation as they should ordinarily not take orders from the junior.

Sources put the number of

affected Generals at about 50.

Among them are General Officers Commanding, Air Officers Commanding and Flag Officers Commanding, Corps Commanders, Principal Staff Officers at Defence and Services Headquarters as well as Commandants of tri-service and military training institutions.

It was gathered that of the lot, many of the generals, who requested for extension of stay in service and were awaiting approval from the Army, Navy or Airforce Councils citing certain reasons, have now realized the futility of such request getting favourable response from the new service chiefs hence they have resorted to not only withdrawing the letters of extension but replacing them with request for voluntary retirement.

While most of the Course 21 and 22 regulars are at the Defence Headquarters, there are lots of Course 23 and 24 intake officers at tri-service institutions, services headquarters and Corps Commands that fall into this category.

“Many of the officers are putting in their resignation letters because they can’t see themselves stooping low to salute their juniors (new service chiefs) whom they have been ditching out orders to over the years

hence the honourable thing is to resign”, the source said.

Moreover, with the amount of reactivation of equipment in the services under the watch of the former service chiefs vis a vis the Army, Navy and Airforce, which has seen more planes flying, more Armoured Personnel Carriers and Artillery equipment criss-crossing the length and breadth of the nation as well as the revamping of the Nigerian Navy fleets, the new service chiefs will want to work with younger Generals who would key into their new way of thinking.

Minimah, from Opobo Kingdom in Opobo/Nkoro local government area of Rivers State, was commissioned on 18 December 1981 into the Infantry Corps and was at several times Commandant Depot, Nigerian Army, Commanding Officer, Nigerian Battalion 2, United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, Brigade Commander, 1 Brigade Sokoto, Director of Standards and Combat Readiness and GOC 81 Division before his appointment as Commander, Infantry Corps.

Jibrin, from Okura Lafia in Dekina local government area of Kogi State, is a specialist navi-

gation and direction officer. He was, at different times, Defence Adviser, Yaoundé, Flag Officer, Sea Training Command, Chief Staff Officer, Naval training Command, naval

Secretary, Chief of Logistics, FOC East and Director of Training at Defence headquarters before his appointment as CNS. Amosun, who hails from Lagos, is a seasoned pilot

with over 6, 200 flying hours of several airforce aircraft including the Alpha jet, Falcon 900, Gulfstream 5, Donier 1286 and Donier 228 airplanes.

(L-R): Hon. Bush Alebiosu of th House of Representatives, Mrs. Adeola Yesufu, chairperson, Planning Committee, Capt. Dele Ore, President, Aviation Round Table and Engr. R.b. Balogun Obadofin during the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI) Oon aviation activities review in Nigeria held at Protea Leadway Hotel, Maryland, Ikeja at the weekend.

I’ve shamed my critics – Stella Oduah

BY SONI DANIEL, Regional Editor, North

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VIATION Minister, Princess Stella Oduah, has explained why a handful of detractors remains unrelenting in the criticisms of her and the aviation industry.

The minister lamented in Abuja yesterday that apart from the political side to her travails, “entrenched interests in the aviation sector which have been rip-

ping off the sector in the past 38 years and held the sector and stifling its development” were behind orchestrated attempts to disparage her.

Oduah, who sounded defiant, made it clear that she would not abandon the transformation agenda she was vigorously pursuing in the aviation sector because of the antics of her traducers so that Nigerians could derive maximum benefits from her struggle.

The minister ’s words:”For the over 38 years that our airports were a damning commentary on our status as part of the civilised world; or when our airspace existed without the requisite navigational facilities to make the airspace safe; these category of persons saw no evil and heard no evil while they happily clapped their ways to the banks!

“This group has carried on with bitter venom, throwing decency and honour overboard, lying and misleading the Nigerian populace even when they know the truth because my team and I changed the game in favour of Nigeria attaining her pride of place in the comity of nations.

“For this category, that is the entrenched, corrupt and profligate individuals and entities who have caused the serious rot in the aviation sector, I owe no apologies.

“All I owe them is to further inform them that the current generation has seen through them and are no longer willing to tolerate their antics.”

Preferring not to comment on the controversial armoured cars saga, Oduah said the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan had changed the ways of doing things significantly in the country as the president recognised the infrastructural deficit in the nation and taken very bold steps to address them in order to bequeath to the next generation a nation that can compete favourably in the comity of nations and imbue our next generation with pride and patriotism.

She said, “The massive investment and the aggressive prosecution of this agenda in this regard have seen the aviation sector being transformed. Today, 22 airports owned by the Federal Government are at various stages of becoming decent and world class terminals. ”Nigeria’s airspace has become one of the safest in the world with the deployment of modern navigational equipments and infrastructures. The oversight capacity of the whole sector has been strengthened with the relevant regulations in place and the training and retraining of personnel.”

DTHA: Group backs Oharisi

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social political pres sure group under the aegis of Liberation Movement for Quality Representative (LMQR) has thrown its weight behind Comrade Prince Eric Oharisi’s aspiration to run for the Delta State House of Assembly in Ughelli North Constituency 11seat in the forthcoming 2015 general elections. yesterday The group in a meeting held in Ughelli, said the choice of Comrade Oharisi came from the fact that his antecedent and track records towards human empowerment and his phil-

anthropic nature has proven as the best for the position.

The Chairman of the group Mr. Daniel Awusa alias federal, Secretary, Mr. Kevwe Edoja and PRO, Mr. Samson Agbemre who said apart from that of Comrade Eric Oharisi, that the group is yet to take a stand on other elective offices and who to support, explained that the measure the group uses in adopting whom they support is the track record of such person and how he or she has affected lives positively in his public or private business.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 7

work of its economic team led by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in releasing what was later proved to be wrong information? There are quite a lot of Nigerians who think today that the CBN governor has been in cahoots with opponents of the administration to smear it and create dangerous problems of perception against it. For what it is

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OT too long ago, in an interview granted to a newspaper, Dr. Jun aid Mohammed, second republic member of the Federal House of Representatives, described the president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as a “nincompoop.” This utter lack of measure in his address of the President of the Republic did not elicit even a public reaction, least of all by the national press who ought to have reprimanded him. You may disagree and oppose the president of Nigeria, but to call the president a nincompoop is madness and an insult to the nation. Two weeks ago the Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso called Jonathan a “weak president,” and almost as though in lock step, the Central Bank governor, Mallam Sanusi, allegedly refused to resign in spite of the President’s request, whose trust he no longer enjoys. Mallam Sanusi had misled the nation in his leaked letter to the president alleging at first that the administration is unable to account for $49.8 billion from the oil revenues, and later modifying it to $10 billion, lost in the dark hole of the administration’s oil account.

The NNPC and the Federal Ministry of Finance, the government’s Treasurers, later provided accounts that debunked the Central Bank Governor’s allegations. Was Mallam Sanusi doing his patriotic and statutory duties to the nation? I did feel in the release of the letters that the Governor of the CBN was doing his work to inform the president and the nation about a horrendous leakage in the nation’s revenue accounts. But did something else govern the action of the CBN governor, like a calculated attempt to subvert the integrity and operations of the Jonathan administration, and the

The president of Nigeria is not an absolute monarch, and does not always have his way, and it is important that occupants of that office be reminded of this fact frequently

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worth, Mallam Sanusi’s conduct fell below the minimum professional expectations for a man whose office positions him as the trustee of the nation’s key economic intelligence. His letter would therefore be, particularly given that it was proved to be false, either the product

The North Star A

Biblical account is told of three wise men who followed a star and found Jesus. They become an integral part of salvation's history and this event records their existence for posterity. They stood for something, an event that was integral to divine order and that meeting was their purpose; their destiny. The compass of their life was guided by the brightest star in the constellation and it led them to destiny. In real life, the North Star, is a prominent one, visible and lies approximately directly overhead when viewed from the earth. The North star in contrast to other stars maintains a position that is virtually fixed making it invaluable for celestial navigation.

Its the guiding star and for the sake of this column;the integral compass to arriving at destiny's door.

I am not advocating stargazing or astrology to discover life's purpose and while the North Star really does exist, I speak metaphorically. I write about life and its purpose; what will our life stand for? Would we discover our purpose, would we identify that purpose and more importantly would we fulfil it? Many people pray to fulfil destiny but very few can confidently say what that destiny is. The reality for most of us is survival; reality doesn't afford us the luxury of philosophy and investigation of destiny or purpose. The truth

is that most of us will disappear as though we never even existed after we die; survival would have been our destiny. I turn 45 this year and that is as middle aged as one gets. I will possibly not discover the cure for cancer (not being a scientist or herbalist), I will definitely not go to the moon, neither will I climb Mount Everest. I am pretty sure I am not destined to do these things just as I am sure not all of us will be celebrated or even noted in our lives.

My personal quest is not for riches or fame it is more for satisfaction, fulfilment; it would make no difference if the world applauded or jeered. The greatest of men missed the applause and were only celebrated long after they were gone.

Every journey has a destination, we are all going somewhere; the conundrum is where we are going and how to get there. The North Star has become a symbol of direction for me; a guide that points me in the direction of my destiny; just like the wise men.

The great thing maturity brings is single mindedness; the ability to realise that life is a solo sport and no matter how much we love and are loved, we are inevitably the architects of our own success or failure. There are actually two issues at stake here, the first being how to identify the guide (north star) and then how to trust it enough

“strong” president, and it seems that Jonathan’s critics suffer from the Stockholm syndrome. No other president in Nigeria’s history has been so virulently attacked and publicly insulted as President Jonathan without consequence. That is why he has been called a “ weak” president.

The election of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2011 touched off a series of virulent counter-action that began with a defiance movement funded by a very disgruntled section of the Northern political oligarchy or what was left of it. Jonathan’s election was against the traditional political calculations that had shaped the structure of power in Nigeria from the end of colonialism, but particularly since the end of the Nigerian civil war in 1970s. Some of the president’s critics would certainly have preferred that he adopts scorched earth tactics in smoking out the Boko Haram insurgency, but this president has adopted a more tactical and conciliatory measure. Perhaps that is why they call him weak.

Under Jonathan, nonetheless, Nigerians have enjoyed relative peace and security.

All we need to do is go back to the haunted years of political assassinations and kidnappings under Obasanjo for instance, and compare it with Jonathan’s, and it’d be clear that Jonathan has created a more tolerant ambience than his recent predecessors. There are many grounds to critique this president: for instance, I think his wholesale adoption of the Obasanjo economic policy and the principle of radical capitalism and privatization is one ground upon which I may consider not voting for this president. I also think that this president needs a far more coherent and ambitious national development plan that does not simply plod along. There has to be a bold vision, which this administration currently lacks, that can put Nigeria on the global stage.

But in sheer comparative terms, Goodluck Jonathan has achieved more than his critics give him credit. He is certainly a better president than Obasanjo who wrote him a churlish letter. That Dr. Jonathan does not huff and kill, does not make him a weak president. Could he do better? Oh yes, in fact. But for a man who came to power without plans or anchor, this president is no pushover, truth be told.

to follow it to destiny. If I had the opportunity to interview the wise men, I would pose the following questions.

Firstly, did they leave their homes hoping and looking for a star? Secondly, were they all agreed to follow this mysterious star to wherever it led? Lastly how did discovering and following the star change their lives?

The more I ponder the issue of purpose the more convinced I am that we all have a North Star; what may surprise you is the location. I fully expect people to agree or disagree with me

thing that benefits mankind; a by product could be fame or riches. An ambition on the other hand is a drive to achieve fame or riches by whatever means are possible; it needn't be beneficial to anyone but ourselves. The major difference between both is that we would do the calling for free and be happy with even trying, while the latter demands compensation before we would even bother to take a step.

The mind is man's greatest asset; it is the temple of God and from it come the issues of life. It is our North Star and when uncorrupted it is capable of greatness, of purpose. Whether we want to accept it or not it affects everything else. Scientists have discovered that a troubled mind can breed disease and cause death; while a happy one can bring healing from diseases and promote peace and longevity. While recovering from ill health late last year; I concluded that my mind had been corrupted. My exact words to my better half were "My mind is poisoned by negativity and anxiety" and while that may be nonsensical to some it was very real to me. I had taken on so much work that I had given up the things that gave me joy for the ones that brought me stress. After weeks of meditation and prayer, I totally recovered, I purposed to follow my internal navigation to the place of purpose. Can I tell you what my destiny or purpose is? Not for a fact, No. What I can tell you is that helping others bring me fulfilment that my work never has. I am particular passionate about prisoners and will go to great lengths to make their lives better; I don't get paid for it, neither do I expect fame for it. My North Star points me in the direction of the hopeless and the abandoned. We would all do well to follow our inner compass to a destination that benefits the greater good; we would find fulfilment and joy rather than the transient happiness that ambition breeds.

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Is the President weak?

of a massive level of incompetence or calculated mischief; an attempt to blackmail and subvert the administration with cooked financial figures aimed at embarrassing it. I’ll not speak for this administration, but as a Nigerian who demands the highest kind of probity from any officer of the public service: I think the Central Bank governor should have resigned without prompting in the light of the mistakes contained in his letter to the president. It would have been the honorable thing to do, and he should not have waited for the president to demand his resignation. But he not only waited, but when the president allegedly placed that call requesting him to offer his resignation as CBN governor and proceed on terminal leave before the official expiration of his term as the Governor of the CBN, Mallam Sanusi refused to resign. He would, he is reported to have said, resign only when his tenure expires in June. It is of course true that the office of the Governor of the CBN is tenured by the Act of parliament establishing it. The president, unless he is backed by the appropriate number of members of the National Assembly, cannot sack the Governor of the Central Bank. In some ways, Mallam Sanusi’s refusal to heed the president’s request to resign is an important landmark in our democracy which highlights the limits of presidential power.

The president of Nigeria is not an absolute monarch, and does not always have his way, and it is important that occupants of that office be reminded of this fact frequently. That, to me, is the singular significance of Sanusi’s defiance of the president, even though sheer professional decency and courtesy requires him to resign on the president’s request. This president clearly no longer trusts the Central Bank Governor, nor does the Governor have the President’s backing, and what we have is a toxic gridlock. But the law protects Sanusi’s position and the President is unwilling to adopt extraordinary measures to remove him. Perhaps this is why some of the president’s critics like Kwankwaso call him a “weak” president. He seems irresolute.

They recall the era of military strongmen who would simply order it, and it’d be carried out. Olusegun Obasanjo would not have tolerated this. Once, during his administration, a national party chairman was forced to resign.

Such cowboy tactics are the marks of the

The mind is man's greatest asset; it is the temple of God and from it come the issues of life. It is our North Star and when uncorrupted it is capable of greatness, of purpose

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and will even publish a point of view that is completely opposite to mine if its print-worthy ( grammatically and intellectually). I have concluded that we all have a built in North Star and if we release ourselves from the shackles of insecurity, anxiety, doubts and fear, it is capable of taking us through our life's journey to the destiny and purpose that we all should fulfil. At this point, I must gently distinguish between the greater purpose and ambition. A life purpose is a call to do some-

PAGE 8 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 9

All letters bearing writers' names and full addresses should be typed and forwarded to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, Kirikiri Canal, P. M. B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E-mail: sunvanguardmail@yahoo.com

Nigerians must stop suffering in silence Dear Sir, “The man dies in all who keeps silent in the face of tyranny. The man lives, who in the harrowing of anguish, in the claws of confinement, speaks out”(George Mangakis)

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N investigation into the synergis tic correlatively between statisti cally verifiable data, empirical observation, scientific objectification and social entropy, shows that Nigeria and Nigerians are making an untrammeled advancement into the abyss of existential quandary, eschatological political labyrinth, horrendous prebendalistic graft and purgatorial paucity.

But the phlegmatic indifference and Laodicean apathy, which Nigerians put up in the face of this agonizing situation, remains the mother of all laissez faire attitudes. Are Nigerians sybaritic and hedonistic Lotos-eaters cocooned in the cauldron of cowardice and slothfulness? Why do Nigerians keep silent and remain taciturn in the midst of hideous poverty and corruption? Is it that they do not feel the pains?

My educated guess is that Nigerians are salamanders. The salamander is a tailed amphibian, which resembles a lizard. In Greek mythology it is described as an animal belonging to the saurian family. It is believed to be the mystical reptile that has the mystical power of living in fire without getting burnt or consumed. This aptly describes the Nigerian, I believe.

If not, how can one explain a situation where successive leaders (military / civilian) from pre-independence till date have not thought it wise to put in place and execute viable and strategic political, socioeconomic policies that will all-embracingly improve the lot of Nigerians. We are living against all odds.

Nigeria has never being a poor country.

But the psychotic corruption and mismanagement that has bemused and bedraggled the totality of our leadership brought us into this state of entropical quagmire.

Nothing works. We have no light, no water, no shelter, no roads, no hospitals, dilapidated schools, universities everywhere, but no education in them. The dynamics and dialectics of cultism and criminality has become the cardinal ‘course content’ in our tertiary institutions.

The tenebrous and teratoid politico-socio-economic brigandage unleashed and still being unleashed on the Nigerian nation and people remains and will continue to remain an unforgettable cicatrix in our lives. The unthinkable magnitude of corruption, the catalogue of human rights violations including politically motivated assassinations, extra judicial killings and excessive use of force, arrest and detention of people for political reasons, restriction of freedom of the press, speech and assembly, prolonged pre-trial detention and aiding and abetting electoral malpractices remain some of the albatrosses which the leadership luxuriates in and continues to strangulate us with. With all these terrible sufferings, Nigerians still remain silent. Indeed, Nigerians are bull-

headed salamanders.

The Nigerian political situation is an oddity vis-à-vis what operates in civilized urbanity-inclined environment. Right from independence till date, it has been Ruritanian politics and style of government. The politicians exchange the baton of leadership with the military politicians and amongst themselves through political subterfuge and intrigues. They reshuffle, sack, disband and dissolve their political-bureau to give a pretentious signal of change and movement.

The leadership of Nigeria vide the NCNC, NPN, SDP, NRC and now the PDP have all taken turns to destroy the core essence of Nigeria. We can no more afford our cheapest staple food, “Garri”, we cannot afford exorbitant rents, we cannot afford our children’s school fees, there is massive unemployment and grotesque diseases have overtaken the vast majority of Nigerians. Yet, Nigerians continue to keep silent. Nigerians are terrible salamanders.

But it must be mentioned that in recent times we have seen and noticed a coura-

geous volte face in the wave lengths of actions taken against corruption in Nigeria. We have seen the initiation of a lot of multidimensional programmes like SEEDS, NEEDS, NEPAD, PRIVATIZATION, etc. But they have not made any palpable impact on the lives of the citizenry because of psychotic corruption.

Our politicians and political leadership are busy acquiring jets, landed properties and foreign currencies. They have desecrated the Mandate. They are sunken in the race of total economic dehumanization of Nigerians. Yet Nigerians continue to live as drones. Nigerians are indeed synthetic salamanders.

Finally, Nigerians cannot continue to be senseless salamanders. They have to learn to react to government’s good or bad policies as it affects them. . The politicians are sending us down the apocalyptical dungeon. NIGERIANS SPEAK OUT!

Chief Bobson Gbinije, Mandate Against Poverty (MAP), WARRI.Delta State

APC and its thirst for political power Dear Sir,

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HE All Progressive Congress, APC, in their quest and plea for support in all spheres of political circles have gathered the good, the bad and the worst kind of political personnels in their camp. Their thirst for power shift at all cost have made them not to practice what they preach. They condemned Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for encouraging corruption, meanwhile all the politicians involved that are now their beautiful brides. What a disappointment!

With the presence of political gladiators

like Buhari, Tinubu, Bisi Akande, Lai Mohammed, the defected Governors, underground support of IBB and OBJ, Atiku Abubakar etc. I foresee an effective segregation among the purported progressives before 2015, because their political equation might not work for some major heads of the acclaimed progressives. With what they have done, they have quashed the South easterners in their midst like Rochas, Ngige, Annie Okonkwo, Ogbonnaya Onu, etc. From information and consultations, it means they neither allotted the Presidential ticket nor Vice Presidential ticket to an Igbo person.

Their formation is to create fear for the incumbent President not to contest for 2015, but if they have nothing to prove to Nigerians their reasons for forming the alliance, they should also trust that the electorates will reject them at the poll.

With their rush in the progressive, before 2015, they will be flushing themselves out of the progressives, because the share and quota might not work for them and some defectors will still go back to their roots and APC will fail woefully like they used to at the National level.

Tonie Osegbo is resident in Lagos.

PAGE 10 —SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 12, 2014

Thoughts on the National Conference – 6

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ities if they are lumped with Igbo. From Pa Ugboma I was referred to a few people who will provide more information on this discovery. I intend to follow up as soon as possible. But, already I can see that when people casually talk about ethnic nationalities they have not thought deeply enough about the complexities involved.

The President apparently had fixed a date in February 2014 for the National Conference to start. I don’t know if anybody in government had read the 4000page report submitted by Senator Okurounmu. But, even somebody reading 40 pages a day will need 100 days to complete the job.

So, it is quite possible nobody read it. The date was fixed even before the complexity of the problem was fully understood. As those following this series from the beginning would by now have realized, defining and locating ethnic groups in Nigeria would not be easy. More difficult still would be selection of the representatives of the various ethnic nationalities. Let us hope the Federal government is not being too hasty by choosing February 2014 as start off date. On this one, I want, and pray, for Jonathan to succeed.

Last week we saw how several ethnic groups in the South South, SS, might constitute an impediment to

A plane too many (2) "The ash always follows the person who throws it" -A Yoruba proverb

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OR our president, one plane was nev er going to be enough. Our ten-plane president, if it is to be believed, is to add to the fleet for a procurement of a brand new private jet, which will become the Presidential Air Fleet's (PAF) 11th aircraft.

The PAF already boasts of two Falcon 7X jets, two Falcon 900 jets, Gulfstream 550, one Boeing 737 BBJ (Nigerian Air Force 001 or Eagle One), and Gulfstream IVSP. Others are one Gulfstream V, Cessna Citation 2 aircraft and Hawker Siddley 125-800 jet. The combined estimated value of the PAF is about $390.5m (N60.53bn).

Imagine how many hospitals and schools that can build, talk less of the amount it takes to maintain the oil guzzlers and stand-by crew and administration. To put this in context, the US president does

not personally own a single plane but has access to two, yes, I said, TWO customised 747s. The UK Prime minister, David Cameron does not have a single plane; he often has to charter BA or Virgin Atlantic planes. So why can't they emulate the US and UK? While the masses are struggling and GEJ would, like many of us believe that he knows how the average Nigerian feels. I think not.

He has not got a clue and in fact he is not in touch with the average Nigerian.

As Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati said, in the defence of president ten-plane: "A presidential jet is not difficult to identify. It bears a clear mark." Yes, of course, one of complete incompetence and utter arrogance. It shows their overblown level of self-importance and self-aggrandisement that, they can boast without flinching of such opulence in the face of grinding pov-

the success of the conference. But, just as I thought we were through with ethnic groups from the zone, I received more as shown above. I have a feeling that the last might not have been heard from that zone.

However, if there is a zone

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0812-874-5902..My ethnic group is Ekwureku in Abi LGA in CRS; we speak Legbo language…0703808-3669 In Ndokwa East,…we have Abuator. We speak Aboh dialect. 0803422-7448 You omitted Mbubes in Ogoja CRS..0803-439-7658 I believe that our meeting yesterday was a divine opportunity by God for Ogbaru people and Olu people for their voice to be heard. Pa Michael Ogboma. learnt years ago that few things are as cer tain as conventional wisdom suggests. My personal crusade to discover all the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria is yielding a greater dividend than expected. I had operated on the belief that the people from Anioma in Delta State as well as all those in the five South East states are Igbos until a call came from Pa Michael Ugboma, a retired diplomat, an Ogbaru indigene. He invited me for a chat; which turned out to be a history lesson on the ethnic groups along the Niger Delta starting from Onitsha. Apparently, there are at least three ethnic groups in the area. They include, but might not be limited to the Ogbaru, the Olu, and the Onitsha. Implied in this discussion is the fact that the Ogbaru and Onitsha indigenes will not feel represented in the Conference of Ethnic National-

the files of every staff of each Water Station and sometimes the ethnic groups were included in the forms supplied to the staff when engaged. The problem with ethnic nationalities, in the zone, can be summarized by pointing to the stretch of road from Keffi to Toto – near Abaji in the Federal Capital Territory. Not more than seventy kilometers long, the road nevertheless included three water stations – Keffi, Nassarawa and Toto itself – but an astonishing collection of about eleven to fifteen ethnic nationalities. If that short stretch of road is home to so many, the reader can just begin to imagine what I discovered on the Barkin Ladi-Mangu-Lang-

Every politician has a bit of Hitler in him. They would rather lie to win the election than tell the truth and lose

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that really terrifies me, it is the North Central. And, indeed, it was this zone which first kindled my interest in finding out how many ethnic nationalities there are in Nigeria. Back in 1992, I was a World Bank Consultant, working on the National Water Rehabilitation Project. I was in charge of Human Resources Assessment for Bauchi (then Bauchi and Gombe) and Plateau (then Plateau and Nassarawa) States; later Kogi State was added to my list of states. It was my responsibility to visit all the states' Water Corporation stations in order to determine the adequacy or otherwise of the manpower in each station. I had access to

tang-Pankshin-Wuse road; or the Akwanga-Lafia—Ibi-Shendam route. Before I was redeployed from the area, it was clear to me that any talk of breaking up Nigeria, without sorting out the problems of ethnic nationalities, is just wishful thinking. More than fifty ethnic groups are located in the NC zone alone and very few live in harmony with their neighbours. The Hausa/Fulani, who ignorant Southerners have assumed are the only northerners, in actual fact, are in the minority compared to the total population of the north.

Being widely dispersed, they are actually minorities in all the North Central States; but a significant

erty.

Sleight of hand, the conjurer's trick It is becoming so harrowing watching the news and in particular when it concerns the lives of thousands of innocent Nigerians. It saddens me to see yet another atrocities committed

by Boko Haram. On Tuesday, the Moulood festival was marred by the car bomb that exploded in Maiduguri. These so-called rebels without a cause do not need any excuse to kill and maim their way

clutching straws and we all know he has not got a handle on things despite the intensified onslaught by the army, that saw many people arrested in the north. I mean GEJ continues to leave the door open for dialogue and reconciliation but BK does not seem to want to smoke the peace pipe with the FG. What is Jonah waiting for before he acts? It is understood that President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered the release of 167 people who were arrested during a mil-

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This is 2014 and it is about time GEJ stops napping and get to work after all, he is the president and need we remind him that 2015 is round the corner. If he cannot resolve this what use is he to the country, now or next year?

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through the city. The number of lives lost continues to swell without the end in sight. People seem to be like sitting ducks, so helplessly anxious and vulnerable not knowing where the next hit will be. Surely, our chief of staff should have the authority and might to quell the insurgence. GEJ is

itary campaign according to the Ministry of Defense.

So where does it leave the ordinary people? It seems that that the group has nothing to live for but to spread their brand of hatred and chaos with impunity. I am at loss that the President had promised

minority. How will the Hausa and Fulani (two distinct ethnic groups) be accommodated in the NC states where they constitute a minority, e.g Benue, for the proposed National Conference and in the event of a break-up? Both the Federalists and the Separatists must start to address this monster problem before we sit down to talk.

The Juguns probably serve best to illustrate the problems of small ethnic groups strung across several states. To the best of my knowledge, they can be found in Benue, Nassarawa, Taraba and parts of Cross River States – in the Katsina Ala area. And like the Fulani/Hausa, they have been involved in ethnic conflicts in every state.

How will their representative(s) be chosen?

And, in the event of a breakup of Nigeria, where will they go?

JONATHAN AND FASHOLA: SPOT THE DIFFERENCE – 2 “I love cars”, First Republic Chairman of the Nigerian Railways to a panel of inquiry.

The fellow had one old jalopy before becoming Chairman of the NRC. Within two years he had a fleet of over ten cars while the Nigerian Railways started its decline into the abyss; taking our economic development prospects down with it. Asked what he was doing with so many cars, he gave the reply quoted above; never mind that his lawful entitlements could not account for all the cars. Mrs. Imelda Marcos, wife of late President of the Philippines, had 6,000 pairs of shoes when her husband was toppled.

Her reason: “I love shoes”.

President Jonathan has presented four budgets; in two, he had requested for jets. He too must love planes. Fashola also loves

cars; but for traditional rulers. The latest set of gifts would be the third since he came to office at Alausa.

One APC governor recently selected almost his entire cabinet from among the kids of traditional rulers in the state; then gave the Baba Alaiyes cars on top.

Up APC!!

But there is a vital difference. GEJ’s error of judgment can be rectified by the National Assembly deleting the plane from the budget.

The NASS might be late, but they have finally put on their thinking caps.

Fashola’s blunder will not be remedied. The Lagos State House of Assembly has been stocked with rubber stamps who will never question the governor. Why have intelligent people in the House when all the crucial decisions are made at Ikoyi in any case? It’s a waste of brains!!!

WELCOME TO 2014: THE YEAR OF POLITICS “If you wish the sympathy of the broad masse; then you must tell them the crudest and most stupid things.”

Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945.

Every politician has a bit of Hitler in him. They would rather lie to win the election than tell the truth and lose. It is not everybody who can be like William Sherman, 1820-1891, the American civil war heroic General who told Americans: “I will not accept, if nominated and will not serve if elected”. Later Sherman reportedly told a friend that he was appalled by the lies people in office tell. Politicians will tell you a lot of lies in 2014. But, I will be here to debunk as many as I can. I am not running for office. If elected, I will not serve either. I am already Presido! Unelected.

V i s i t : www.delesobowale.com or Visit: www.facebook.com/biolasobowale

that this terror group will be eradicated and still people are dying and livelihood depleted, don't talk about schools and churches that are abandoned; they are holding people to ransom and the government remains slow and indecisive. I understand that the army have made a sizeable inroads in some areas but more needs to be done for people to begin to rebuild their neighbourhoods, begin trusting one another and living their lives without looking across their shoulders in fear and horror.

All this bombardment has a psychological impact on the lives of the people left behind and surviving does not mean that they can start their lives again. The trauma is indelibly imprinted in their psyche and they would need help and the lack of support will have long term repercussions. It would be interesting to see what the government and the affected state have in place to help regenerate the areas once the bane of the north is annihilated.

This is 2014 and it is about time GEJ stops napping and get to work after all, he is the president and need we remind him that 2015 is round the corner. If he cannot resolve this what use is he to the country, now or next year?

United Nations figures shows that more than 1,200

people have been killed in Islamist-related violence since the state of emergency started. There are ten times that amount just existing in this nightmarish siege.

Home and abroad Olajide Onikoyi,a 29year-old Nigerian has been jailed for scamming hundreds of UK students out of millions of pounds. He and his gang stole up to £1.5 million by sending targeted students an invitation to update their details of their student loan accounts.

So he and cyber bandit mates access unsuspecting students and relieve them of their money and some had more that £19,000 taken from their account.

Over 238 students were stung Detective Chief Inspector Jason Tunn, of the MPS Cyber Crime Unit, said: "My officers worked doggedly to secure Onikoyi's conviction. He said that "He played a significant role in the scam by systematically targeting British students and UK financial institutions in order to steal large amounts of money that were then dispersed across numerous bank accounts."

For those Nigerians that are convinced crime pays, they will get their eventual just dessert. Onikoyi and his mates will be serving time at her majesty's prison and after he serves his time, he will be deported .

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 11

Election rigging as a national hobby at one time or the other as officials of the ruling political party or their relations or fronts. Having so arranged the situation, it becomes easy to conduct an election in which the ruling party “sweeps” the polls;

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ECTION 7 of the Ni gerian Constitution 1999, provides for the system of democratically elected local government councils making it mandatory for every state to ensure their existence under a law which provides for their establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions.Thus, the conduct of local government elections in Nigeria is the responsibility of the state government hence each state handles hers. However, the pattern of the conduct everywhere is the same. Each governor begins by employing delay tactics to institute the frame work for the exercise. To start with, he appoints a caretaker committee to hold the forte until some funny characters are assembled to make-up an electoral commissionthat is to serve as umpire in the elections. Although the electoral commissioners are expected to be neutral referees who have never been involved in partisan politics, many of them are well known to have functioned

peared interested in was the caretakers and not the actual representatives of the people. Could it be that he did not comprehend what others did and were doing?

On January 12 2014, he clarified the situation when he organized local government elections in his state.

According to the State Electoral Commission, otherwise described as independent, the ruling party in the

Our elections have never been free and are not likely to be soon. The main reason is that although we all seem to desire free and fair elections, no one plays his role in ensuring that.

The average citizen uses poverty to justify selling his voter’s card

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winning every chairmanship position and smartlyallocating a few councillorship seats to the opposition parties.

For quite a while, it was not clear if Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State was planning to lose the opportunity of doing what most governors do. All he ap-

state, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), swept all the chairmanship seats in the council polls.

Theopposition parties were shocked that despite protests and complaints by many voters in the state that election did not hold in their areas, fake results were announced. They cited the

PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

08116759758

Yuletide experiences and acknowledgments (1) Diaspora who travelled to their various villages. In my own case, last Christmas was a mixed bag of sadness and enjoyment. My father, Ebere E. Anele, died peacefully in his sleep, about three years after his wife, my mother, Gladys E. Anele, departed the earth in her sleep. Therefore, I am an orphan now, but lucky to have lost both parents as a full-grown man with a family of my own.

One of the lessons I learnt from my father's death is that, no matter how old one's parents might be, there is a sense of loss which age cannot obliterate when any of them dies. For example, when I got to the village on December 26 and entered my father's house, instinctively I looked at the bed where my father used to relax.

Of course, it was empty, because Alagbo, as close relatives, friends and admirers fondly called him, was not there anymore. I was downcast: the emptiness and existential vacuum created by his death was very real. It dawned on me that Alagbo has gone forever, and that the only connection I will ever have with him until I die is reminiscence, that is, recollection of his behaviour and activities through memory.

Alagbo was a remarkable human being: he was so generous and kind-hearted that he did something extraordinary, something I am sure less than one percent of human beings have ever done. I still remember vividly that my father, for much of his working life,

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HE year 2014 is about three weeks old. All over the world, both Christians and non-Christians are recovering from the excesses of Christmas and Near Year celebrations - excessive spending, eating, drinking and other ostentatious debaucheries that take a heavy toll on the health and finances of people.

As I stated in an essay published last month, extreme commercialisation of Christmas detracts seriously from the purported spiritual essence of the festivities. At any rate, despite the negative effects of contemporary Christmas celebration, the event has some positive components that make it worthwhile. For those of us from South-eastern Nigeria, Christmas period provides a wonderful opportunity for reunion with family members and relatives one has not seen for years.

In addition, it allows for recreational activities in which communities display their distinctive cultural achievements like masquerades, cultural dances, and other community-based events that promote cultural awareness among the people, particularly those living in cities and in the

case of Aguata Local Government Area where fraudulent results were declared although the electoral officers affirmed in writingthat no election held in their area.

Some analysts imagine that the opposition parties in Anambra were merely acting the bad loser role - a view that is hard to canvass considering that some election monitors and the media confirmed the late arrival of materials in many of the polling units especially in the central senatorial zone. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) for instance, reported that the materials were still being loaded into vehicles at about noon in some council headquarters for onward distribution to polling units. This was not refuted by the electoral body; instead the Njikoka Local Government electoral office only ascribed the gimmick to the late arrival of the police. In Awka South Local Government Area, the problem was not just late arrival of materials, some supervising presiding officers and the results sheets allegedly got missing. In any case, which voters’ register was used for the local election - could it be the same as the one which deleted the name of a candidate duly cleared to contest the last governorship election in the state?

The trend of election chicanery is however not an Anambra phenomenon. It is a nation-wide political culture. In May 2013, opposition parties in Kogi in-

stead of waiting to be rubbished in any fake elections decided to boycott the elections 24 hours to the scheduled poll. They probably took note of the situation in Akwa Ibom in June the previous year where even before the electoral body concluded the collation of votes; one state official had posted the results on the internet.Interestingly, what was displayed turned out to be the same as the official results later released by the umpire in which the ruling party won the Chairmanship in the 31 Local Government Councils and 325 Councillorship positions out of 329. In other states, the situation has not been different. It is not unlikely that Akwa Ibom took its cue from Lagos State, where in 2011; the ruling party swept all the chairmanship and councillorship positions in the elections into the 37 Local Council Development Areas. In Edo, because the opposition was stubborn about the Uromi council its chairmanship election was repeatedly done until the required result was configured Election riggers are not only in the states, there are many of them at the federal level too. For Yobe State, it is suicidal to allow anyone to lay a foundation for outwitting the ruling party in the state. Consequently, when the federal electoral body sought to use security as an excuse for why federal elections may not hold in the state in 2015, Yobe rose to the occasion. It

quickly organized a local election in the state in which the ruling party as usual swept the seats. With such a feat, does it appear rational for any federal entity to refuse to hold the 2015 elections in Yobe State or to use the new term-inconclusive election? So, elections should holdeverywhere in Nigeria. What Nigerians should stop sermonizing about is the so called desire for free, fair and credible elections.

Our elections have never been free and are not likely to be soon. The main reason is that although we all seem to desire free and fair elections, no one plays his role to ensuring that. The average citizen uses poverty to justify selling his voter’s card. Election personnel buy new cars after each election. Election tribunals give contrived verdicts for sale now and again. Those in opposition want to win the next set of elections at all cost just to be in power just as the ruling parties desperately designs new strategies for remaining there. State Governors are in the lead on the need to ensure that federal elections are fair, yet they are also in the lead in makingsure that people are selected or imposed rather than elected in local elections.

Whereas many people in power got there through election rigging, those who lost elections have no problems if they are settled.

How then can rigging end in Nigeria when it is a national hobby?

could see without glasses and swept the compound by himself until few days before his death at the age of ninety-four.

Clearly, if my father were a multi-millionaire, I am sure he would have gladly distributed his wealth to the less privileged. Alagbo did not believe in being frugal with money: on many occasions, he was too generous to a fault, a situation that some of his siblings and friends exploited to the fullest. All the same, my father lived a fulfilled life. In his youth, he was a very handsome man who enjoyed the good things of life.

I dislike three things about my late father. One, he did not believe in saving for the rainy day. As a child, I was afraid sometimes, wonder-

with me, as father and son should, the complexities of life. Yet, despite his shortcomings, Alagbo worked hard to provide for his family, and was always willing to help other members of the extended family. As he aged gracefully, my father did not neglect his personal hygiene.

Even while in his nineties, he shaved his beard, brushed his teeth, and took his bath daily. As we commit his remains to Mother Earth on 24th January, I know that those of us he loved and who loved him in return will miss his kindness, his graciousness and his unrelenting desire for peace and harmony in the family, kindred and community. Besides making preliminary preparations for my father's burial, my travel to the village enabled me to assess firsthand the quality of governance in Imo State. Without equivocation, I completely agree with my friend, Obi Nwakanma's conclusions about the performance of Rochas Okorocha, Governor of the state. I saw some of the road projects Okorocha's administration is executing or has completed in Orlu, Owerri, Ideato and its environs.

The quality of work in all the roads I visited was very disappointing. To be candid, the obvious lack of standard quality monitoring was embarrassing, and I wonder what engineers working in the state ministry of works were doing.

In Owerri, the capital city, there are cosmetic touches in different places, but expectedly none of them gives the impression of solidity and substantiality that should be the selling point of a serious government.

Douglas road, one of the

most important roads in the town, was filled with refuse.

I know that because of the agbata ekee philosophy of governance prevalent among the ruling cabals in Nigeria today, Governor Okorocha might be impervious to the yearnings and aspirations of ordinary people in Imo State.

Still, the vuvuzela effect of his sycophants cannot obliterate the truth aptly captured by Nwakanma in the following proposition: "It is shocking...that [Imo] state with its wide array of intellectual and professional talent, would continue to allow a political bantamweight to preside over its affairs, and stymie its potential, and much less, try to bamboozle the people with what are largely paperweight claims to public service. " Of course, Okorocha's supporters would claim road construction and rehabilitation, regular payment of teachers' salaries, meal subsidies for schoolchildren, free education and supply of free school uniforms as achievements by the Governor. But I suggest that such claims must be critically assessed bearing in mind that Nigerians have become so accustomed to poor performance from their political leaders that any little achievement is exaggerated and described in superlative terms by praise singers benefiting from the flawed system.

Some of the pertinent questions to ask, in this connection, are what is the quality of teaching and learning in public schools in Imo state? Are the school uniforms supplied by the state government of good quality or are they made with Aba na anya materials?

TO BE CONTINUED.

All over the world, both Christians and non-Christians are recovering from the excesses of Christmas and Near Year celebrations - excessive spending, eating, drinking and other ostentatious debaucheries that take a heavy toll on the health and finances of people

from Monday to Friday, bought assorted snacks, fruits and delicacies and distributed to children in the neighbourhood. He did this for nearly two decades.

As a young boy then, I marvelled at his display of charity and pure love for children, knowing full well there is no way I can emulate such unique behaviour.

Interestingly, some relatives claim that God compensated Alagbo for his loving attachment to children by keeping him healthy and strong, to the extent that he

,

ing what would happen to us if something happened to him since my mother was a complete housewife and the little money she earned from petty trading was grossly insufficient for a family of seven to live on.

Two, although he never beat his wife, Alagbo did not display before his children the kind of affection and playfulness towards her, which I consider a necessary though not sufficient ingredient of a happy marriage.

Finally, as an adult, my father hardly discussed

PAGE 12—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014

INFORMATION MINISTER RAISES THE ALARM

‘Why they are after the President’ I

By Jide Ajani

o Haram: W e belie kau is dead •On Bok Boko We believve She Shek •PDP defections: APC will soon explode in crisis •Lists Jonathan’s achievements

Information Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku

t is not every day that you meet the Information Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku, who also oversees the Defence Ministry. So when Maku met a team of editors in Abuja, last week, on the state of the nation, it was an opportunity to field questions on issues ranging from the economy to defence, power, agriculture, defence, politics, etc. Excerpts of interview: When you were made the Supervising Minister of Defense, did it come with any new challenges; if that was the case, how have you been able to tackle those challenges?

Taking responsibility for Defense at this time is a major challenge for anyone because of the lingering problems of insecurity in our country, particularly in the last two to three years. So when I was asked to supervise Defense, pending the reorganization of the Federal Executive Council by the President, I took up the challenge with all the seriousness it deserves, knowing fully well the times we are in, and, so far, I must tell you I have been able to settle down in both places (Information and Defense Ministries), to do all the things that I need to do to keep the two ministries running. you know that information is also defense, you will eventually see that they are related in a sense. One is about defending with knowledge, enlightening citizens and getting them to know what is happening around them.

That is about giving them knowledge that will equip them to participate in governance, and to participate in the daily activities of society, and also to contribute their own quota to national security. In all of these, you need to have a lot to do with information. Defense is a different kettle of fish altogether because there, you are dealing with matters of physical enforcement of security across the country, and managing the security architecture, as well as the problems that have occurred in our society recently.

So since I have been there, we have done a great deal of work in the last four months to deal with insurgency, manage it and fight, while preparing and equipping the armed forces for better successes in the months, hopefully, to come. So far, we have been able to contain this insurgency to about two states, generally speaking. You would recollect that at about two years ago, the insurgency was almost spreading across the North-west as well as the North-east of Nigeria. We had strikes occurring all the way in Abuja here, where the police headquarters, the United Nations building, and the Thisday corporate head office were hit. In Kaduna, there were fairly regular explosions; we had incidents in Zaria, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Kano, it was almost a running battle a year and a half ago with insurgents striking in different places.

‘Hit and run’ Today, with consistent law enforcement, as well as intelligence gathering, we have been able to largely contain the insurgency to Borno and Yobe States.

People may not really see the significance

Continues on page 13

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 13

Continued from page 12 of this. If you take a look at a country like Pakistan, that has been under this kind of environment for almost eight years, you take a look at Iraq and even Afghanistan that have been under this kind of situation…even to a certain extent, we can look at Russia, which is more highly sophisticated than we are in terms of capacity, you will find that they are still having lingering problems. Only last week, there was a strike in Russia. But in the case of Nigeria, our armed forces have risen very rapidly to the occasion. We have increased intelligence capacity, as well as the deployment of forces across the North, and, today, I can confidently say that by the cooperation of citizens and the hard work of our security agencies, insurgency today has been confined largely to Borno and Yobe States. Before the state of emergency, there were regular strikes in Adamawa, particularly in Mubi, which is at the boundary between Adamawa and Borno.

In the specific case of the insurgency we are facing, unfortunately, we also have elements crossing international boundaries into Nigeria, particularly from Cameroun, Chad and Niger Republic. We also believe that some of those elements may be coming from some of those far flung territories beyond these nations. So because of the transnational nature of the insurgency, it makes things a bit more difficult in the sense that you could deal with a group, which is then replaced rapidly by another that would filter through the boundaries. So far, I must say that we are proud of what our armed forces have done, and would continue to work with them to give them leadership, direction and support to fight this insurgency.

For a very long time, when the nation was at peace, security was only provided for that zone from Jos, which is the Third Division of the Nigerian army. That was the headquarters that was looking after both the North-central and the north east.

Today, with these challenges, we felt a need to establish a new division of the Nigerian Army in the North-east of Nigeria, which is the Seventh Division that has now been established. It is now unfolding its network across the states of the North-east; the idea is to ensure that we create the security infrastructure and architecture around the entire region, to be able to put in place a permanent security structure that would be able to deal with any situation that would occur there, even beyond the present emergency.

Boko Haram: ‘We believe Shekau is dead’

• Maku

,,

Is it over?

No, in every guerilla warfare, you would have surprises, where you may think it is over, and then an element hides somewhere and strikes at you. So we are not underrating the danger posed, or the capacity of the insurgency because this insurgency is well supplied with sophisticated weapons, and also with what I consider to be fairly well trained fighters, who we believe don’t necessarily come from within the Nigerian territory alone.

There are elements that are Nigerians, there are those who we believe are foreign.

And so given the sophistication in terms of their supplies, it is clear that they have an international network, so we are not taking it lightly and we are increasing our capacity.

The issue of the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, would have to come up here; do you now have concrete information on Shekau and the Boko Haram leadership? I ask because it is said that if you want to kill a snake, you must go for the head…How much does the government now know about the Boko Haram leadership?

When I see some newspaper headlines, it gives me the impression that they think that the insurgency should have been over.

C M Y K

Today, with consistent law enforcement, as well as intelligence gathering, we have been able to largely contain the insurgency to Borno and Yobe States

The mere fact that we have been able to clear much of Maiduguri does not mean that you cannot have a surprise attack because it takes just one person tying a bomb to his chest, and coming to the street to explode it. You will find cases of suicide bombing in this insurgency, although it has largely been curtailed, you cannot rule out any surprise in a terror network of this nature. So it is not correct for the media to think that when we are making successes and progress, and something then happens, you now say “ah, maybe government or the armed forces is not doing enough.” That is not the issue; compare what we are doing with every other country with similar countries. It is not an exclusively Nigerian development.

It is a global phenomenon and I am saying that the armed forces of Nigeria have done much more better than those of other countries in dealing with this insurgency, in terms of how we have been able to largely contain the situation. This is tremendous work, but the way we report these things discourages the armed forces at times.

I honestly think that our attitude must change. All over the world, when you have this kind of situation, the media must align with the armed forces. I know that negative news is a good story any day for

any media around the world, and that was how Osama bin Laden was advertised to us, and he became a role model for criminals around the world.

I think we should report them from the point of view of arousing national consciousness to confront them, not to make them look like some iconoclasts or great role models or fighters or impossible people that others need to look at with awe. These are criminals in networks that are determined to kill and maim. If you see some of the videos we have had of these people killing and sucking the blood of people, you will know that we are dealing with serious monsters. They are not the kind of people that the media will want to treat lightly.

Do we have challenges, yes we do. The recent strikes at the air force base in Maiduguri and Bama remind you of the kind of surprises that could occur in war of this nature, so we need to be permanently alert, and not take anything for granted, even when we are succeeding.

They nearly came back again to strike in another base around Maiduguri, and this time, they received a bloody nose. The people that came were virtually destroyed.

It is a battle that the media needs to understand.

Theory on Shekau Now on Shekau, we have always said it…Is Shekau dead? We believe so, but it is not confirmed. Until we see the grave of Shekau, and verify that here lies the remains of Shekau, we cannot make a declaration that he is dead. We have quite a great deal of information to the effect that he may have died. But at the same time the armed forces, the Defense Headquarters has not been able to confirm, and confirmation in this case must be definite…When Osama bin Laden was killed, the Americans were in a position to confirm it. So long that we don’t have that confirmation, we will work with the theory that he may have been killed. However, the issue is not about Shekau; Osama is dead, but the Al Qaeda is not dead. So the mere fact that Shekau is alive or not is not the issue. Well, maybe if you kill the leader of a criminal gang, you will have a psychological victory to the effect somebody has been taken away.

The issue however is that you are dealing with a network, not an individual because the organisation can also produce a next

set of leaders to replace Shekau. So I am not looking at the death of Shekau as the death of Boko Haram. Shekau could die, and Boko Haram would not necessarily die because it must have a network of leaders that can replace him. So we are dealing with it as a network, and as a group, not just the leadership. We are studying the network, how it operates, and how do we then eliminate it. By the time we take this larger war in that direction, we will be able to focus our strategy to deal with it as a network of members and leaders.

The amnesty option If we go on thinking of removing the leadership alone, then we will have something like what the Americans have done by using drones to remove a lot of leaders of terror groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but it has not necessarily eliminated the threat. So we are going beyond that. At any rate, our objective is not to kill people; our objective is to stop the insurgency. Our major objective is not that we want to kill the members and their leaders. We are fighting them because they are killing, and threatening the lives of other people. They have taken up arms against the nation, and we have to defend the country and its innocent citizens. And that is why we have proclaimed the amnesty offer for those who want to lay down their arms, and be rehabilitated. We will be ready to take them out of the bush and rehabilitate them. We will not kill anyone who is not killing Nigerian citizens; we are compelled to act against them because they are physically involved in the elimination of citizens, and taking up arms against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and its people. If, today, the insurgents lay down their arms, and take up the amnesty offer of the government, we will not go about killing them. We may try those who have committed heinous crimes, and the law will take its course, but the objective is not about killing Shekau or anybody, it is about ending the insurgency, and that is our focus.

Before the attack on the Maiduguri air force base and Bama, we heard that there were intelligence reports that these would happen, but not much was done to prepare, and these guys came and made that impact. So I don’t know how the intelligence works to the point that you hear that things are going to happen and nothing is done? Also, why is it that Cameroun cannot help because we keep hearing that Shekau was there receiving treatment and the insurgents also come in from Cameroun, and we are supposed to have a deal with them? The other side is the morale of the soldiers; there are several complaints by personnel that in spite of what they are facing, nothing is done for them, some talk of being given N1,000 per day, and that if the state governors were not helping, they won’t be able to survive.

The governors of the states are also saying that they carry the burden of the fight more than the Federal Government, yet there is a one trillion naira budget.

These are very disturbing assertions…

First of all, there are so many rumours going round; there will be lots of rumours in any venture of this nature. People will tell you stories, and say this and that is what they have heard. They will even make telephone calls to people. If you are in your newsroom, and somebody calls to say he is SSS, fine. The point I am making is that intelligence is the core of every fight against terror. If you don’t get your intelligence right, it will be very difficult to deal with the situation, since you are not fighting a standing army. It is a game of hide and seek that goes on out there. If you look at the number of arrests, and the planned attacks that have been foiled in the last two years, even in the last one year, you will not but appreciate the high level

Continues on page 14

PAGE 14—SUNDAY VANGUARD,JANUARY 19, 2014

PDP defections: ‘APC will soon explode in crisis’ Continued from page 13 performance of our intelligence. I am just telling you this, not because I am in government or in the Ministry of Defense.

I think that, fairly speaking, our intelligence has been very successful. That is why when they came to Apo, here, some elements were arrested. And this is the problem, there is too much politics coming into this because your last question is about the politics now, whether it is the state or Federal Government that is funding the effort. That politics, we must keep out because if we don’t keep it out, it will haunt all of us. It is not about political parties and all of that; if you notice, in this insurgency, we have decided and ensured that it is the (Defense) headquarters talking about it, so that we take politics out of it.

In the area of intelligence gathering, I believe that we have done a great job; I don’t know what your source has or his sources. But I want you to be careful with some of the information you have; I can tell you that there were some theories that Americans had intelligence before September 11. Have you read those theories? They are theories, that Americans had intelligence before 911 and that it could have been stopped. So intelligence follows different channels.

First you have a source, you get the information, and then you distill it. There is also intelligence with which someone wants you to go in one direction so that he can strike in another. All these things happen, so I think we should limit ourselves to the area of expertise that we have. And I want to assure you that there is no way the army would have intelligence that there is going to be an attack, and they will just sit there, and are attacked and killed. Does that make any sense to you? It doesn’t make any sense to me that I am told I am going to be killed, and I then sit down in the place and wait to be killed?

No, I don’t think so, I doubt this source very seriously, and also, I am hoping that we become careful with every little information we get.

The other thing is about Cameroun; we have a cordial relationship with Cameroun. This insurgency is a threat both to Cameroun and Nigeria, and we have different capacities of handling it. I have a feeling that the insurgents tend to have more space across the Cameroun border. We don’t have the same capacities, so we are working together with Cameroun to ensure that we are able to push from both ends, and eliminate the

threats across the border. Cameroun is not immune; the mere fact that you have criminals in your territory is a great threat. We are working to ensure that we have increased cooperation to deal with the insurgency, across the Cameroun border, across Chad and Niger.

A section of Nigerians find it difficult understanding the image management challenge of the President and why it is the way it is; as Information Minister, what is the cause, and what would you be willing to admit as failings on the part of government?

I cannot say that any government or leader is perfect; we are all human beings with our foibles and our weaknesses. But you would want to assess a government based on what it has done, and the environment in which it is doing it.

Sometimes, we have a good government that is doing a good and great job in a very bad environment, and that environment continues to impact negatively on the leadership, which is exactly what has happened in the case of the President. I continue to tell people, not because I am in government, I am also a journalist in this government. If I take a look at what the President has done so far, in terms of his mission and his development programme, and the actual deployment of policies, I can just say ‘look at the indices internationally’. When he came to power, it was in controversial circumstances because of the long drawn ill health of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. He also came to power in a period of a polarized polity over the issue.

The moment he came in and settled down, he unfolded a transformation programme.

I have continued to say it that I am ready to debate with anybody. Within the last three years, if you look at what the President has done with the Economic Management Team, the Transformation Agenda and his policies, you will find that in terms of the macro-economic management of the economy, we have never had it better than what we are having now in the last 20 years. And we are seeing the results coming; the deep reforms that he has unfolded, which are about converting deficits into opportunities for investments through creative policies that would attract investment to generate more goods and services in those areas. Consistently for the last six to seven years, the economy has grown between six and seven percent.

That is GDP growth, which is higher than

,,

• Maku

South Africa, Egypt that are not suffering the insurgency you are having in parts of the country. And this is in spite of the violence that greeted the elections, and the continuous explosion of bombs that give us negative attention around the world.

Despite all these, the President has continued to achieve that high level of economic growth of about seven percent in Nigeria.

Again, if you look at the stability of exchange rate, it has been the same, stable most of these three years. If you look at foreign reserves, it was about $33 billion when Yar’Adua/Jonathan Presidency came to office in 2007. Today, we are between 45 and $48 billion…

But that went down recently…

The truth is that foreign exchange is not constant; when you place orders for services such as construction and deployment, of course, it will come down, but somehow even if it goes up and down, we have moved from $33billion to between $45 and $48 billion. It is not that it must remain constant; no country’s foreign reserve is constant. What I am saying is that we have grown it, in spite of all of the activities in the economy; we have grown the foreign reserve of this nation. That is a landmark; then when you look at the capital market, those of us who are buying shares, we all know that about 2008, it was a complete crash, a total crash. Nigerians should ask themselves what has happened in the last two years that the stock market, which was so down has today, grown by more than 80 percent between 2012 and now. Today, the capital market has recovered and capitalization has come to over N13 trillion from about N8 trillion in 2010 to 2012. That growth is significant; the same thing with the money market. Also, you have since that in this period, the highest influx of Foreign Direct Investment has come to Nigeria, rather than countries that don’t have insurgencies or the other problems we are having... It is because the economic policies of the President have attracted those investments and made people develop confidence in the economy

need only 20 million metric tons, so the rest is exported. We are now exporting cement for the first time. If you look at telecoms, cement and petrochemicals, what Dangote alone has been able to achieve is phenomenal. He has deployed a lot to build the largest refinery here in Ondo State, that is $3.5 billion and the investment will go up to $9billion with other networks of fertilizer companies.

Then you look at what Indorama is doing in Port Harcourt, that is almost over $2billion in investment. Then you consider Ogedengbe, the Petrochemical Complex, which is being funded by a network of international investors. The construction has started and they are employing more than 100,000 people in the construction of that place. We can also talk of the Nigeria Liquidified Natural Gas, which has increasingly become one of the best on the continent, with exports to Asia and other parts of the world.

In agriculture, suddenly there is now in place an agricultural policy, which is now attracting investors, both foreign and domestic. Dangote is developing a network of factories in Kano to process tomatoes and other vegetables for the domestic market. Go to Ebonyi rice mill and Labana rice mill in Kebbi State. Go to the rice mills in Lagos and Kano, all of these have grown. If you look at the steel sector, go to Ogun State, and you will see that the steel plants have come up there.

So why are we having the negatives, the negatives come largely from the politics of our country.

Somehow, Nigeria unfortunately has a very fractured political class, that continue to look at the country, only from their own side of the geography. Then there is the other faction of the political class, which thinks it is its right to be in power now, so no matter what the President does, he would be denied and attacked, and a lot of it is largely partisan.

Initially, they said the President had done nothing, so I was compelled to go on the national good governance tour to physically demonstrate and verify that these are things that the President had

I know that negative news is a good story any day for any media around the world, and that was how Osama bin Laden was advertised to us, and he became a role model for criminals around the world

because they look at the ratings from Standard and Poor’s. The rating agencies consistently found that the macroeconomic management of the Nigerian economy under the President has been such that it gives the global players and the international community the confidence to invest. So we have been receiving the highest Foreign Direct Investment in spite of Boko Haram.

People keep saying what is GDP growth, if there is still poverty? That is politics that people talk about. I remember that during the last Ministerial Platform, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala had to come to demonstrate with a cake. If you ask that what is the big deal about GDP growth is, it will be about how to deal with your problem which would be easier with a bigger size of your cake. For the first time, we are seeing that the Nigerian economy is growing faster than the population growth. Over time, the resources available for us to solve some of the problems in the country would increase…

‘Negatives from politics’ Look at cement production, we are producing 28 million tons now, and we

done. Kano alone for example, go and look at the work going on the MaiduguriKano Expressway. We are dualising KanoKatsina, and have reconstructed the Aminu Kano International Airport. We have rehabilitated the entire expressway from Abuja, through Kaduna to Kano. I am not talking about other projects like what we are doing in the university in Kano and other places.

The President has established 10 universities in the North in the last three years including the Police University in Wude, a new university in Zamfara, Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa, and then there are others in I think Gombe, Taraba, Nasarawa, and Kogi. I am just talking about the North only. There are 10 universities already established in the north, and somebody will ask you what has the President been doing in the north? That is ethnic, religious and sectional politics.

When you finish here, come let me take you to the huge railway project that we are constructing between here and Kaduna, standard gauge, not narrow gauge. We are building it between Abuja and Kaduna, not between Yenegoa and Port Harcourt.

Continues on page 15 C M Y K

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 15

up the media by signing the Freedom of Information Bill. But what does he get in return, people saying the President is weak, he is not courageous, he is clueless.

What do we want? Do we want dictatorship or democratic governance?

There are many who still believe that for a President to look strong, he should go about with a horse whip.

What is this weakness that they talk about? Is it because he does not shout at people or because he is tolerant of those who criticize him? Then we all condemn him, including the media; I see columns written, and if somebody does not abuse Jonathan, it is like he is not yet a journalist. If we really want the country to run properly, we should judge a leader on the basis of what he is doing, and what we think is good enough for our country.

But when I look at the elections conducted in all the states now, I am worried that if any of these people become the President of Nigeria, would we have free and fair elections? I say so because how do you have elections and results are announced even before the voting materials are yet to arrive at the polling centers. They just stay at the state capital and announce, and all of the winners would be from the same party, and nobody questions it. In one of the incidents recently, and because of the rowdy protests, there were issues. But in all other ones, it is like so long as it is not the

Nigerians must appreciate a democratic leader — Maku Continued from page 14 The dredging of the Niger was in the works since the 1950s, nobody did it.

Under the Yar’Adua Jonathan Presidency, we have finished dredging the Niger. The North is having access for the first to Warri by sea, to take goods up North.

Now, if you look at the power projects, there are 10 power plants in three years, this is a land mark. I have not seen it happen in this country in the last 20 or more years that the government in three years would build 10 power plants.

Let’s note that when the President came to power, no train was moving between North and South. The whole railway system was broken down. Today, we have rehabilitated Lagos-Kano route, and we are completing the Port HarcourtMaiduguri this year. Trains will move this year from Maiduguri to Port Harcourt, in addition to completing the standard gauge from Warri to Ajaokuta, which is moving now inland from Warri to Itakpe hills. I challenge you, in spite of all the noise of ASUU strike, go to any university in Nigeria today or polytechnic, if you see less than five, six, or ten federal projects, huge projects, come back and ask me. In University of Benin for example, we inspected 37 new projects; Senate building, lecture theatres, and whole complex for bone marrow transplant. So the quantum of work this President has done in three years is awesome. And then we are changing the entire transmission infrastructure. Look at the Zungeru power plant that had been planned since Tafawa Balewa, we are the ones building it now; nobody thought of it. So if we look at the work this President is doing for Nigeria, I challenge anyone among the journalists, civil society or politicians to a debate.

On threats and inflammatory comments by politicians Part of the problem we have is our politicians; if a politician can say if the President contests election, there will be C M Y K

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• Maku

violence.... True, this is a power game in which people are supposed to struggle with one another, but it should be about the country first? In the current debate, I have increasingly seen bitterness and hatred, based on section and geography, and the whole mantra of ‘it is our time to rule.’ The debate in this country needs to improve. I don’t know how the media would help us to improve the debate, but this problem comes from the political class, which is too fractious, divisive and sentimental. This political class is not grounded in the realities about what the future of the nation should be.

The President’s attitude is that this democracy must grow; it is the only period in this dispensation where candidates from the opposition win election, and the President is the first to pick the phone and congratulate the winner that defeated his own party. The President appointed someone that he didn’t know personally as INEC chairman, and this is someone that all of us acclaim is an independent person. And because of the President’s attitude that this democracy must grow, the opposition today has grown under his leadership, more than it was in the previous dispensation.

Who remembers that in no state in this country is any election properly held?

They stage elections in states that are supposedly now claiming to offer an alternative because they are saying they have a new way of running Nigeria. That is good; but they hold elections and everybody that wins from councilor to local government chairman are from the party of the governor, whether he is progressive or not, that is the trend. Only president Jonathan could have allowed free and fair election in this dispensation because he believes there is a need to clean up the electoral atmosphere to give Nigerians confidence in the democratic process. In addition to what is in the Constitution, the President further opened

Since the President came to power, look at the way he has run the foreign policy of Nigeria.

Today, Nigeria has exercised more influence on this continent than it did previously

President and his party, that have done it, then it is right.

I made a statement recently that it appears to me that there are no elections in any states in Nigeria. It is only the federal elections organized by the President; yet look at the way they attack INEC: These same people who rig elections in their states, and make sure there is no due process. Go to any state today and observe if any major opposition politician can go to a radio station and run a programme against the state governor, I am telling you, they will fire the head of that station the same day.

We know about these things you are talking about, but why is the opposition on top in terms of telling Nigerians what the situation is in this country?

There is nothing we have not done here to push what we are doing. We toured most of the newspapers, grant interviews, run programmes, and we have decided that we should have participatory activities, which is why we did the National Good Governance Tour, which was live on TV, radio, we got all the journalists with us to show them programmes for reporting. We did Ministerial Platform, where we render account on a regular basis to everybody.

However, you can only penetrate some of the media houses with money that is by advertising and buying space. That is what we are resorting to do now.

It seems there is a disconnect between the perceptions of the Presidency and what you as the Ministry of Information is doing…

Talking about the perceptions of the Presidency, we Nigerians must really ask

ourselves an important question; what do we want from the Presidency? It seems to me that we are so used to dictatorship so much so that we are unfortunately unable to recognize a democratic leader. It was the same problem we had in the second republic when people were always attacking Shagari; as a young school teacher back then, we almost believed that Shagari was the worst leader ever produced in this country. But as I grew up, and I saw the progress the second republic was making when it was being condemned, I came to the conclusion that if that coup didn’t take place, this country would have gone far ahead and perhaps we would be on the same spot as some of the Asian Tigers. But we celebrated the coup in the press, with some even saying that God was a Nigerian when Shagari was overthrown. But I never knew what Shagari was fully doing until I went to Ajaokuta. He laid the foundation stone for Ajaokuta in 1980. By the time he was overthrown that project was 87 percent completed. He built the main steel mill, the workshop, and the rolling mills. The only remaining thing was to develop the mines and connect with the railways and power, so that when you start the plant, it would work for ten years none stop. And that plant is sub-Saharan Africa’s first and largest steel plant. Today, if Shagari was not overthrown, we will be making cars and sorts of machines in Nigeria. This economy would have been a highly industrialized one. But what happened, the man was run down by the media and overthrown. He was run down because of the negative politics of geography, and those who took over said their priority was not Ajaokuta. Look at what Jakande was doing in Lagos; I stayed in Jakande Estate, Isolo when I was a journalist, and virtually in every part of the city, shelter was being provided for the people in the city.

You can go to Imo and see what Sam Mbakwe was doing; in Kano, Abubakar Rimi had already won United Nations global award for adult literacy…a lot of good work was going on. So democracy works on different parameters, it does not work with one man carrying a whip. Truth of the matter is that we are in a democracy, but we don’t want a democrat as leader, who will do it like in states where the House of Assembly is in the pockets of the governors. If the President was to do that at the national level, I don’t know what to expect. If you look at what has happened in this Presidency, because of the fact that the President said let us help the growth of democratic institutions and the National Assembly has been largely free in doing its work, sometimes you go and every issue that is raised at the National Assembly becomes a huge (uproar). Don’t forget that an investigation in the National Assembly does not mean that people are already guilty of it, no. It is only a process. But sometimes, it is reported as if somebody has done something wrong already. It is not so; if somebody says Maku has committed murder, it does not automatically make me a murderer until you have investigated and found out that the person is saying the truth.

‘Pollution of the atmosphere’

But in the National Assembly, it is presented as if that thing has taken place.

So because of this constant pollution of the atmosphere with partisan allegations, it, today, has become the greatest immunity against prosecution. The best way to be safe in this country today, no matter the crime you commit in government, is that immediately you leave, join the opposition and start abusing the government. And if anybody tries to touch you, it will be said that the President is fighting the opposition. So anybody in the opposition today is clean; he is a saint, no matter what he did

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PAGE 16—SUNDAY VANGUARD,JANUARY 19, 2014

yesterday, and media quickly forgets this completely, as if this country has no records of everybody, and what he has done in the past.

I think we have an attitudinal problem as a nation in transition, from long drawn dictatorship, into a democratic dispensation, and we don’t know what yet to expect of a democratic leader. I think the President has demystified power because there is a need to do that, and he has tried to make us understand that the leader is one of us, and not a masquerade that people should see and run. That becomes a problem and he is described as weak. Even illiterates will write in newspaper columns saying the President is clueless. This is a man that is a PhD holder and has worked across different levels with concrete achievements as President of Nigeria.

Since the President came to power, look at the way he has run the foreign policy of Nigeria. Today, Nigeria has exercised more influence on this continent than it did previously. In Cote d’ Ivoire, the President said the election results must be announced, and that there would be no annulment. Gbagbo left and we were able to restore democracy in Cote d’ Ivoire.

There was a coup in Niger and the President made it clear that no coup would survive in West Africa, the people left. There was a coup in Mali, the people left because of the posture of the Nigerian leadership. Even in Central African Republic, Nigerians are already being airlifted. This is the first time when we are talking about citizens’ diplomacy, where government is deploying its resources to rescue its people from trouble spots. We did that in Libya, and now in Central African Republic. Three times in this dispensation, this country has been in the UN Security Council.

Let’s take sports because when people say government is not performing, I say it is purely sectional religious partisanship.

We came back from the London 2012 Olympics with no medal; it was only in Paralympics that we won eight or so medals. The President said that was not acceptable, and he called for a Presidential Retreat on sports and sat with all the stakeholders in sports, the private sector, state governments and agreed on articles and politics that must be implemented. Immediately after the retreat, what has happened? In 2013, which will go down in history as Nigeria’s most successful period in sports, we won the Africa Cup of Nations, the Catalonia Cup, the Mandela Challenge, and we won the Under 17 World Cup with four world records. Before then, we won the senior Africa Athletics Championship and the Junior Africa Athletics Championship, and then we qualified for the World Cup. How do you want to access a leader and his successes; if these things do not constitute success and indices of a good and competent leader? All these have happened in our various eyes, yet nobody talks about it.

What kind of country do we want to run? There is no state anywhere that can generate money to pay its own salaries. I am not talking of social services, I am talking of salaries. There was a survey done recently by Trust Newspapers, and it showed that Ogun, and even Kano cannot pay. It is only Lagos that can pay, yet all the monies are coming from the Niger Delta. Everybody comes to Abuja to pick their own money to go and pay salaries and do what they are doing, and they turn back…

So some of the negatives that have accumulated also come from lower levels of government. I give you an example, in Nigeria today; there are 9 to 10 million children out of school in northern Nigeria.

If you look at Nigeria’s education policy, primary education is the preserve of local and state governments, with federal support, which comes directly through the

‘Jonathan has demystified power’

• Maku Universal Basic Education, and money is shared to states. Since 2001, this has been the policy. How would the President today be the one to go to every local government and ask the Chairman and hamlets to carry their own children to school? But it now becomes the problem of the President, and what has he done, today he has built 100 integrated almajiri schools, and handed them over to state governments, and he is asking them to pick the children off the streets and take them to the schools. But we cannot physically enforce that without the motivation and interest of people at different levels to play their own roles.

Why will a Nigerian child as of today be out of school with all the money we distribute from here. There are states that still have less than 20 percent school enrolment, when we were review the MDGs. And you know that level also determines the quality of secondary education, which is also controlled by the states. Yet, because of our attitude to this democracy, we are not holding different levels of authority responsible for national problems. We just see it as the President’s fault because we are used to one military dictator who was always sitting in Abuja or Dodan Barracks and giving orders.

This democracy is different; power is dispersed. What we are doing now is that we just lump everything together, and we think everything happening in this country is about the President, no. Presently, everybody is hiding, and it is the President everyone is concerned about, so any other layer of responsibility is overlooked. So looking at Goodluck Jonathan, is he a perfect President, no, but he has been a very good President…

beginning to see tendencies in the party.

These tendencies also have to do with the nature of the party; sometimes, ideological issues don’t disappear overnight. What we are beginning to see today is that there are elements in the party that have placed regional politics above national politics, and they think it is time for them to have power, and they have decided to attack the party, no matter the good it is doing for the country. This is again part of the problem with negative politics because usually a party would celebrate its successes. But what you hear today is somebody in PDP attacking the party. Like the one who led it until the last convention, he now says PDP is a failure.

He discovered PDP is a failure only in the last few weeks that he left, and nobody challenges him to further explain.

My attitude to it is this, yes, some have left and gone into the opposition party.

When you lose a member of your party, it is not something to celebrate and be happy about, we would wish that everyone is in one place because that gives us numerical capacity. But like I keep explaining to people, sometimes, over time, you lose weight to gain strength. As you grow older, you will find that putting on weight can also weigh you down. I think what has happened in the PDP in this period is that after 14 years, the party is losing some weight to gain strength. It may not look so to you now, but you wait and see. By the time the party resolves its internal crisis over the leadership, it will be less over weight than it used to be. But once it unites behind the leadership and a mission, it will do well. If you look at some of the elements that have left, they are the most rancorous, petulant people in the party, who created the problems that made the PDP look so bad. Some of the tissues we have donated to the opposition will start causing problems in those places before long. I am sure you are beginning to see already the tempers in the places they have gone to and the kinds of problems they are causing in the places they have gone to. Some of them cannot stay in one room with other people until day break, without the roof blowing up.

Watch it, when a man shamelessly

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Continued from page 15

What is your take on the crisis in the PDP as well as the one in Rivers, where tension is growing by the day?

On PDP, it has been a largely very successful party, the only one that has been able to run a central government for 14 years; the first republic lasted six years and the second lasted four. But the PDP has mustered the muscle to sustain our democracy for this period, which is a record for the party. It has been so because PDP is a multi- national party in a highly diverse environment. PDP is the only party that was able, in 1999, to put together all the various factions of the ruling elite including the former UPN, Action Group, NPP, NEPU and PRP. All of them collapsed into the PDP in 1999. It is really an experiment of how political factions can coalese into one group to run the country. It stabilized the system and allowed us to overcome the kind of early challenges that the second republic faced. Now, after 14 years, we are

PDP reign, but it has returned back to base now. I think the media has not studied the link between political philosophy, human liberty and peace. There are people who have very violent disposition, and we have seen that across from the first republic. In several of the instances, when you look at what has happened in this dispensation, most of the violence, with all the intensity, is outside PDP states. So if people are saying they want to offer an alternative, we must ask, what do they have now?

What are they bringing to the table because an alternative party must show from they way it is running its state and affairs that it really has alternative for Nigeria. So the PDP is multi- ethnic, multi-religious and largely peaceful. It has had its problems because it was an allcomers affair; now, it is sorting itself out, and I believe with time, the people that remain in PDP will run this party more peacefully, and in a more democratic way, such that we will have more commitment and unity of purpose. And what is important is that it is not just about numbers, but the health of the party. By the time we resolve our problems, the PDP will be stronger. We may even win more in the next elections because Nigerians are wiser. All this plenty noise in the atmosphere does not translate to electoral victory. Nigerians are watching and they are seeing that everybody that left the PDP has become a progressive. Everybody that was abused by the opposition in the PDP before has become a saint now in the new opposition.

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o it is not about values or principles, it all about a power game. For example, the PDP is left of centre, a social democratic party. What is the new party that has emerged? It is also saying it is left of centre. So what are we saying? There is no ideological counterpoise for citizens to choose from.

In fact, INEC says the PDP is the only party with a coherent programme for development. The other parties were simply factions where if you lost election in PDP you move there. Now that they have assembled every person they used to abuse in the PDP together and they are

If you look at what the President has done with the Economic Management Team, the Transformation Agenda and his policies, you will find that in terms of the macro-economic management of the economy, we have never had it better than what we are having now in the last 20 years

leaves his party and condemns it the following day, you will know that it is not an easy thing and you must look at his philosophy of life and what he is looking for. In this country, we don’t even care to give account of peoples attitudes and temperament. Today, they have migrated and we are already beginning to see the kinds of problems they have migrated with into their new party. For the rest of us who believe in the PDP, which remains the only party in Nigeria today that is multireligious, multi-ethnic and national (we are looking forward). If you look at the crisis in the country, the religious violence and so on, none of them is in a PDP state, and it cannot be an accident. Check it out, I don’t want to mentions names, you will see that none of the places where we are spending money to fight insurgency and extreme violence resulting from politics is a PDP controlled state.

How about Adamawa and Kano?

Kano was ANPP, but it blew up during

now moving, watch what will happen.

Let’s take two states as example of what the sense of justice is like. I take Kano, the issue in Kano in the last eight years has been the opposition between Shekarau and Kwankwaso. Shekarau, out of that anger as a civil servant because of an alleged persecution, the people of Kano said to him, ‘come out and we will make you the governor’. Shekarau came out, joined the opposition ANPP and won the election against Kwankwaso. By a twist of fate, at the end of his second term, Kwankwaso won back Kano. The division between them is what has shaped the politics of Kano. In the urge to defeat PDP in Kano, Shekarau went forward to dissolve into a larger opposition party to get strength. But what has happened? The new party has now handed over the structure that Shekarau took all his life and resources to build to his enemy. Where is justice and democracy? You can say the same thing in Sokoto between Bafarawa and Wamakko.

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Legally, politically, Jonathan cannot contest in 2015 — Prof. Yadudu •Says FG’s plan on National Conference will boomerang

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rofessor Awwal Yadudu was legal adviser to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha. In this interview, he forecloses President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election in 2015 on political and legal grounds. Yadudu believes the proposed National Conference is a ploy by the Federal Government to divert attention from the problems besetting it, saying the plan will fail. Excerpts of interview: •Professor Awwal Yadudu

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government to account and, if government does not account by living up to expectation, I do not see us not falling into this kind of prolonged strike. Of course why it was prolonged was partly due to government’s total unconcerned attitude.

They completely ignored what was happening but ASUU is not a union you can ignore because they have their facts and education is not an issue you can ignore and pay attention to politics and think intimidation would work. My view on the ASUU issue is that it is a perennial problem but one that can be handled if we act as gentlemen. Of course there might be public concern that ASUU does not tend to be creative and it often results to this drastic way of calling attention to its problems and as a result we all suffer, the educational systems suffers, it is devalued.

There is a point in that. The other point most people don’t realise is that ASUU doesn’t just wake up one morning to start a strike action and it will last forever, there is always a reason and it is always the last resort.

And seemingly the only language government tends to understand and public opinion listens to is when ASUU goes on strike. I would hope that this last strike has taught ASUU some lessons. And part of the lessons is that the leadership and members must be more creative in holding government to account but not resort to this very drastic and costly way.

So I expect that the leadership of ASUU and its followership should be more creative in the light of what has happened but that does not mean they will just abandon their duty. One thing also I hope government should have learnt is that if you commit yourself to an undertaking, live up to it. And if other associations or

The other point most people don’t realise is that ASUU doesn’t just wake up one morning to start a strike action and it will last forever, there is always a reason and it is always the last resort

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You are a member of ASUU. What is your perspective on the strike action which just ended?

Indeed I am a member of ASUU who is no longer active. It is an association that tries to mobilise and keep everybody informed about what is happening. The problem we had that prolonged the strike for close to six months was because a union entered into an agreement with accredited agents of government, an agreement that has many expectations, but which from the point of view of government are unattainable in view of the competing demands of government, but an agreement nevertheless. The tendency has been not only with this government but also with previous governments. They would enter into an agreement with ASUU, they would treat the agreement with disdain; when ASUU orders its members to return to class, they completely forget such that nobody goes back to the agreement. And therefore it has a landmine because ASUU would not forget those terms.

I am not now talking on the terms of the agreement but there is an agreement in principle which you signed and which you must show good faith in implementing.

These problems, in my view, would persist so long as government would behave like previous governments. That part of the agreement which you must have read is that in the next six years, among other things, government has committed itself to making available certain amount of money for the improvement of infrastructure in campuses. I can assure you if government reneges on the agreement, there may not be any problem this year but, down the line, ASUU leadership would be pressed to call

trade unions don’t stand up to government, they can now see that ASUU can stand up to government, not necessarily because government has been clever. If you went to university in the good days of Nigeria, I went to University of Nigeria, we knew the kind of facilities we had, we knew the quality of education we received including the kind of services rendered.

The quality of education these days is very low which explains why we have graduates that can barely write simple sentences.

Looking at the generational composition profile of the academic staff on Nigerian campuses, I would say that 40% to 60% will be those who have received the kind of relatively better quality education that

we received in the 60s, 70s, 80s in Nigeria or abroad.

So I don’t think you can argue persuasively blaming the fall in the standard of education on the academic profile. Yes, there is a chunk of the academic staff that may have graduated in the last 10 years who are therefore victims of deteriorating education. But you must blame the quality of education from the start. If you do not have quality primary school pupils going to good secondary schools and earning good grades in school leaving certificate at primary and secondary levels, automatically what goes in will definitely go out. Therefore the quality will tell on the students profile itself. It is not only the lecturers but also the quality that has deteriorated. Why we don’t hear about the deterioration at the lower tiers of education is because there is a great proliferation of private schools which relatively offer better education than government schools. You and I would not seek to wedge the future of our children by taking them to the very kind of schools we went to in the 60s. I went to a public primary school.

It was the best that was available but you can’t speak of the same today. Or of the secondary school or even the Unity Schools people used to compete for. They are all the shadow of their past now. The fall in quality of education can be attributable to a lot of factors. There has been explosion of the population of students. When I went to the law faculty, there were just 70 of us in the class, and there were only four faculties of such in Nigeria. There was ABU where I went to, there were OAU, University of Lagos and

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YADUDU: Govt has hidden agenda on National Conference Continued from page 17

•Professor Awwal Yadudu...There are others ways to address Nigeria’s problems

This government is beset by many problems and it has no idea on how to deal with them, suddenly it thinks that by springing a surprise on us with this so-called National Conference, it can get people to be busy, fighting each other

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University of Nigeria; Benin had even not started offering law at that time.

But now there are as many as 40 law faculties, each churning out about 200 in a class, some are even more than that. But when you go to the libraries, you will see that they have not improved commensurably with the increased number of students. When you go the lecture theatres, they have not improved. The law school itself, there has been expansion of the campuses but the combined population of its intake is not one that would receive quality attention. There is another factor to this. Government politicises tertiary education; there is no point when the existing 24 federal universities are not taken care of properly, you are creating 20 more over a period of two years. There may be political sense but it impacts negatively on the quality of education on the long run.

National Conference holds soon even as many people are opposed to it. What is your take?

My take is that it is never futile to engage in discussions over problems that afflict the society with a view to coming to terms with them. In principle this is my stand.

But the particular undefined National Dialogue, National Conference, whatever the present government wants to embark upon is one that I think is a waste of time.

It is not the kind of conversation that in principle I support. The idea is that government thinks it can get the people preoccupied discussing other things and forget about their problems. That is the view I have. This government is beset by many problems and it has no idea on how to deal with them, suddenly it thinks that by springing a surprise on this so-called National Conference, it can get people to be busy, fighting each other.

If the administration is honest and it is not this crass motive which has impelled them to suddenly wake up and come up with this idea of conference, if they truly want to address the structural problems in the polity, there are many other ways they themselves have attempted and have not come up with any idea. When President Jonathan came into office, he was totally opposed to any idea of conference.

His answer then was that we have had conferences, constitutional amendment and they are going to put together all the reports of all past constitutional conferences, make sense out of them and move forward; which was why they established the Belgore Commission and the Belgore Commission itself has reported to them. What is it that they have reported that they don’t find implementable that they suddenly want to bring everybody together again? That is the sincerity of purpose that I question.

Even if they have made such recommendations, the president himself has suddenly realised that what he wants done at this venue is not different from what the National Assembly is doing and whatever recommendations the conference makes would go to the National Assembly. How different is that from the Obasanjo National Political Conference?

How different is it from the constitutional amendment exercise the present National Assembly conducted.

How different is it from the Uwais Commission on electoral reform? You have so many other committees, commissions that you have established that nobody knows what has happened to their reports.

And suddenly you now come up with a jamboree to waste resources. They will be surprised that the problem they think they have will go away with the preoccupation

of the public in the National Conference will not happen the way they think. In my view it is ill -conceived, ill- advised and not thought through. A consultant may have told them this is how you divert attention from your problems. But you are not diverting attention from your problems but creating more. It is a wasteful exercise.

Can you imagine the kind of embarrassment he would find himself if governors refuse to send delegates to the conference?

You can imagine if he convene the conference and the people call its bluff?

You are only compounding your problems.

In principle you cannot fault an argument which says discuss your problems, come to terms with them, take action. I think our problem is that we have been conversing too much, we have been dialoguing too much and we have done nothing about the outcome of the dialogues we have had.

Agitation on the return of power to the North I will like to make some corrections. First of all, there isn’t a northern position as such.

It is not the North as a collective entity; it is that component of the North represented in the PDP that is agitating. If you look at this problem, you will see that it is

essentially a PDP problem in the North and I guess across the country. In a democratic setting, it is not election mandate to determine who becomes the president or the governor. I have no problem holding that position should be for the most suitable, eligible candidate that the democratic process throws up. He could be a southerner, a northerner, Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa, he could come from anywhere.

But I have some sympathy on the position some of these governors have taken. The reasons are simple. They say that by logic of the PDP, this is the agreement they have reached, and it is not only an agreement they have reached with the present government; it is an agreement they have reached from the formation of their party in 1998 and that they, as gentlemen, when agreements are reached, when understandings are reached, it augurs well for their electoral fortunes to live to implement that. You can’t fault that. Till date we have not had any incontrovertible denial or dismissal of the claim of those who say there is such an u n d e r t a k i n g .

But President Jonathan denied there was any such agreement.

Of course it can be self-serving now to say ‘I didn’t sign such an undertaking’ but the statement he has made, not once, not twice and even now with the Obasanjo letter, it Is not something you can deny because it serves your interest; it is crass politics you are engaging in. That is why I said I am sympathetic to those who take that stand.

The problems of leaders not living up to their agreement is not a local one, it has international dimension. I can assure that all these diplomats that are watching, that is the view they will have of your president that he can be slippery, that he can make an undertaking and renege on it with a straight face. The agreement was not something that was made secret. So that argument that he didn’t sign any agreement will not fly. The other argument borders on principle. Arguably I am a lawyer and a constitutional one for that matter. This is the second tenure of Jonathan not his first tenure.

Really?

Oh yes. If you read the 1999 Constitution

carefully, it speaks about disqualification.

It says a person shall be disqualified to hold office of governor of president if the person is elected twice to that office. A lot of people don’t quite know that that section says you cannot be eligible for the office of the president if you have contested twice.

The same provision applies to the vice president meaning that a candidate is ineligible to contest if he has contested twice. The same qualification applies to the vice president. That means that Jonathan was elected with Yar’ Adua in 2007.

But Jonathan was just a running mate Yes he was, but it was joint ticket. You never elect the vice president. You elect the president. The vice president is part of the office of the president. By my understanding of that provision, President Jonathan is disqualified because when he stepped into the shoes of Yar’ Adua upon his death, he was not only completing a term, he was also part of the office of the president. The second aspect of the argument is the Constitution which says if you have taken oath of office twice. Jonathan has taken oath of office twice. He took it when President Yar’ Adua died as a successor and took it when he was elected as president. There is no argument about the fact that he has taken oath of office twice, he can’t take it thrice. By the way, a lower court has ruled in the president’s favour and it has gone to the Court of Appeal and I can assure you the matter will end up at the Supreme Court and it will not be helpful to his situation. I am not talking about the agreement which is a political matter. I am concerned about the legal aspect of the case which is about the oath of office and been elected twice. Why it looks strange or probably a bit far-fetched is that all novel legal issues appear so, they appear far-fetched. I don’t mind if President Jonathan had not made that undertaking and he insists he wants to contest, I would still have argued on this principle because he has been president elected twice and who has taken oath of office twice. This issue affects governors too.

Agitation for power and poverty in the North I think that is totally misunderstanding the principle involved. The principle involved regarding those who say there should be power shift is not based on when it comes to your turn you should ignore everybody else and therefore you should concentrate only on your people. It will be misunderstanding the principle. And to argue that those who agitate for power shift have no case because when they were in power they did nothing for the North, all that is contrary to the principle. When you are elected president, you are elected for everybody and your decision should not be inequitable as to empower or encourage you to develop a section of the country. It will be wrong to say because Babangida was in power for nine years, mind you, he was not an elected president, Abacha was in power for four years, all these leaders were not elected. If we are talking about electoral matter, you cannot use that argument. The fairness in it worries me more.

When you are president, you are president not for the Ijaw or Yoruba or Hausa, you are president for everybody in the country because you have sworn to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. So that argument does not fly. *NEXT WEEK, YADUDU SPEAKS ON THE DIFFICULT SITUATION IN WHICH HIS PRINCIPAL, THE LATE GEN. SANI ABACHA, FOUND HIMSELF OVER THE LATE CHIEF MKO ABIOLA AND THE ANNULED JUNE 12, 1993 ELECTION.

SUNDAY

Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 19

THE STATE POLICE QUESTION

We are carrying govs along to reform the force — Olubolade, Police Affairs Minister *Says Jonathan not the cause of PDP crisis *’The governor Ekiti needs’ Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade is the Minister of Police Affairs. In this interview, he speaks on the effort to transform the police, the reason President Goodluck Jonathan should not be blamed for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) crisis and the type of governor Ekiti people want to emerge in this year’s gubernatorial election in the state. payment for procured helicopters, Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), utility vehicles, arms and ammunition, training of helicopter pilots and special forces, was made.

What is the state of the police educational institutions?

Mr. President most significantly approved the upgrading of the Police Academy, WUDIL, Kano to a degree-awarding institution.

The academy will now function like the Nigerian Defence Academy of the military where professional officers will graduate to take charge of the rank and file of the police.

Similarly, the Police Staff College, Jos was given a face lift which saw the renovation of some buildings and infrastructures, including roads. Police Colleges and Training Schools are now receiving attention.

What is government doing about the reorganisation of the force?

A few months ago, the Commander-In-Chief constituted a Presidential Committee to reorganise the Nigeria Police as part of the transformation agenda of this administration.

Another committee was set up for the establishment of a forensic and DNA facility for the police. I chaired the committee. The reports of these committees have been submitted for consideration. One important project that I must not fail to mention is the National Security Public Communication System (NSPCS) which comprises of video conferencing and surveillance equipment and the GOTA system used for communication.

The NSPCS has cameras that are fitted in Lagos and Abuja at the moment and will also cover other states of the federation later. The project, which has been on-going, is now operational.

These achievements made, as a result of the support of Mr. President, have gone a long way in transforming the Nigeria Police.

Judging from the various supports, as highlighted by you, that the police have enjoyed under the present administration, would you say that these have motivated officers and men of the Nigeria Police to be on top of their game in the areas of fighting kidnapping, criminalities and terrorism?

Certainly, if you don’t invest, you get nothing. If you do, there is the likelihood of a tangible result.

Mr. President has invested in the police, we have gotten results in

terms of faster response and alertness. Things are changing for the better from available records.

How do you mean?

It is common knowledge that population is high and yet we cannot continue to increase the number of police officers and men for policing because the wage will be too high. But by giving quality training and provision of intelligence apparatus to the police, manpower reduction is achievable. We have realised that it is only through continuous training that we can build confidence in the police to fight crime but the police need to partner with the community to assist in intelli-

,,

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ould you say you have been getting adequate support from the president to run the Police Affairs Ministry?

As far as the Ministry of Police Affairs is concerned, I have been at the helm of affairs for about two years now. We have the regular budget and the reform budget targeted at making provisions for the Nigeria Police.

The reform budget is used to boost professionalism in the police, while the regular budget is managed by the Inspector General and the Police Management Team. In the last two years, a lot has been accomplished within the resources provided, particularly on the reform budget.

How? The reform programme is used to enhance professionalism of the police by providing logistics and equipment, training, capacity building, community policing and welfare. I want to categorically state that Mr. President’s support has brought a lot of improvement to the Nigeria Police. At the moment, the zonal Assistant Inspectors-General (AIGs) and Police Commissioners of various state commands are giving accounts of their achievements within the year, regarding curbing crimes and criminalities in the society in line with the accountability posture of Mr. President. We thank the citizenry for giving information to the police to achieve this and I urge Nigerians to do more in the new year so that the police can serve the society better in 2014 and beyond.

Could you please explain the necessity of the reform budget?

In the case of the reform budget, when it became clear that the releases to the ministry were dwindling as a result of illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalisation, Mr. President gave a clear directive to the Vice President, who is the Chairman of the Interim Implementation Committee on Police Reform Programme, to find an alternative way of funding the programme. This singular initiative has brought about the needed solution to fund the reform programme. Governors keyed into the contribution of 1% of federal allocation monthly to the programme. This is a major breakthrough for the police. Also last year, Mr. President gave various approvals to fund vital projects and programmes of the police. It is through such approvals that the

Governors will now embrace the reform programme properly as the Chief Security Officers of their states. This will hopefully limit the clamour for state police gence gathering.

When is the setting aside of one per cent of federal allocation to the Nigeria Police taking off?

It is going to take off this January because all arrangements have been put in place to address inadequate funding of the NPF. Governors will now embrace the reform programme properly as the Chief Security Officers of their states. This will hopefully limit the clamour for state police.

The introduction of the 1% of revenue allocation will assist to fund the reform programme by providing more logistics, equipment, welfare and training, among others.

Nigerians will like to know the problem with the police carrying out its function effectively. Could it be said that the

budgetary allocations for the force are inadequate or that they are being misappropriated?

At the beginning of this interview, I talked about the need to fund the Police. I am not sure whether funding can be adequate because of the compelling needs in other sectors of government. However, Mr. President has shown the way to improve funding when he noticed the insufficiency. From my experience as a former Military Administrator of Bayelsa State, I realised that the key to our progress as a nation is to prudently utilise available resources that are meant for the people or organisation, before asking for more funds. Secondly, every effort must be made to show leadership by driving the implementation of projects and programmes to a logical conclusion.

What is the relationship between the force and the ministry?

In the Ministry of Police Affairs, we are guided by the need of the police because they are the end users. The interest of the police is, therefore, is paramount in all our considerations and misappropriation is avoided.

As a politician and a member of the PDP, what do you make of the lingering crisis in your party and the birth of a supposedly strong political opposition, the APC? I must let you know that President Jonathan is not the cause of the crisis in the PDP. The birth of a baby, the APC, should not be a problem because they will still have to manage different interests of various characters in their party before facing the PDP. The unity of the PDP is our focus.

The crisis in the PDP will be managed and solved. The crisis will become history very soon. I can only appeal to all political

leaders, religious leaders and traditional leaders to respect our elected president in the interest of our country. We must think of the implication of our actions at all times to guarantee peace, unity and progress. The international community will accord us more respect.

The governorship election in Ekiti State is holding this year.

As a stakeholder in the state, what qualities or attributes would you expect the man that would be emerging as the next governor to have?

Firstly, the man that would govern Ekiti State this time around should be a grassroots person who understands the workings of the state, its people and what their needs are. He must be the listening type who appreciates the peculiarities of the state.

He must know the people well and must avoid deceiving his people with unfulfilled promises.

He must be a realistic person.

The incoming governor of Ekiti State must make sure that he does not plunge the state into debts, by taking loans that he would not be able to repay during his tenure. The next governor of Ekiti State should be a decent, enlightened, experienced and hardworking personality that can work under pressure to achieve tangible results for all to see. He must have a track record of transparency from previous engagements, and office held. He should not be a newcomer who will be learning from first principle, but an experienced, amiable and firm personality. The next governor must not only win the election, he must be an achiever, an intellect, a performer, a respecter of tradition and culture and a man of vision with a mind set to quickly transform the state.

—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014 PAGE 20 —

Email: vanguardwoman@gmail.com

Conquering infertility in marriage through IVF People who go through IVF to achieve pregnancy don’t talk about it because of our cultural beliefs.

They are afraid of being stigmatized...

BY ESTHER ONYEGBULA

R

ESEARCH has shown that one in four Nigerian couples suffer infertility. Unfortunately, due to the importance attached to having a child in Nigeria and Africa at large, most couples who are unable to achieve pregnancy over a period of time are left with no other choice than to explore other options, irrespective of their consequences.

Factors responsible for infertility Apart from a woman having blocked or damaged fallopian tubes or any other problem, according to Professor Herbert Zech of the IVF Clinics, the low quality of the sperm

of most Nigerian men, when compared to their European counterparts, is one common factor responsible for infertility in marriage. This poor sperm quality is attributed to toxins from the environment and unhealthy lifestyles. Unfortunately, in a quest to seek for solutions, some couples resort to the use of traditional herbs, others employ the use of modern medicine while the elites go for the In Vitro Fertilisation, IVF, option.

IVF option From records, IVF seems to be the most preferred option for those who have the means, in spite of the cost. Unlike most mothers who are ashamed of telling their IVF experience, Mrs Ifeoma is proud to be a mother, courte-

sy the IVF option. Ifeoma shared her IVF experience which started 14 years ago with Feminista.

Ifeoma’s IVF experience

Ogechukwu and Kosisochukwu Emekwue(middle) were conceived via IVF 14 years ago. Flanked by them are their parents, Mr. & Mrs.Emekwue

‘Circumcision dangerous to women’s health’

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N a bid to put an end to harmful practices like circumcisions and violence against women and girls, Young Women Christian Association-YWCA recently took to the streets of Ajegunle in Lagos to create awareness on the negative side effects of female circumcisions.

Speaking at the advocacy program, Sussie Metu, Cocoordinator, YWCA Lagos, noted that the event was to “to sensitize women and girls, and the general

community on their rights, especially on the fact female circumcision is an unhealthy an infringement on the sexual rights of women.”

“The act is also unhealthy because perpetuators make use of unhygienic and shared traditional tools.

Most times, they even overcut the genital, leading to excessive bleeding and eventual death”, she added.

Similarly, health expert, Dr Tope Oyedeji of Osogbobased Trinity Mater nity Home and Health Centre,

“Six years after I got married,I was finding it difficult to conceive and was therefore going from one hospital and prayer house to another without result. Already,

People who go through IVF to achieve pregnancy don’t talk about it because of our cultural beliefs. They are afraid of being stigmatized but the truth of the matter is that I feel that if I am childless, that is when I will be stigmatised. From the time I got pregnant and had my babies

also warned parents to stop female circumcision to avoid the health danger associated with the practice.

Oyedeji particularly noted that the practice could “lead to infertility, urinary and vaginal infections, chronic pain, fatal hemorrhaging, epidemic cysts and complications during childbirth”.

Sussie earlier explained to Feminista that the Ajegunle community was chosen on the basis of its vast ethnic diversity.

I had being diagnosed with blocked tubes and had been told I could not conceiving naturally. I decided to seek alternatives. It was at that time that a friend introduced me to Bridge Clinic and I went to see Dr. Ajayi.

Light at the end of the tunnel In 1999, my husband and I began the IVF procedure and I got pregnant and then delivered a set of twin in January 2000- Ogechukwu and Kosisochukwu Emekwue. These are the first ever set of twins from the IVF carried out by the Bridge Clinic.

Shattering the culture of silence

and till date, I have been granting interviews and sharing my experience. I’m shattering the silence so that other women who are in similar situation can take informed decision.

Why other available options should be considered Through IVF, a lot of couples in Nigeria have not only been able to achieve pregnancy but have become proud parents, courtesy the wonders of modern science.

According to fertility expert, Dr. Richardson Ajayi, “despite the fact that it is the desire of every couple to achieve pregnancy within the comfort of their bedrooms, when doing this becomes impossibility, other available options like IVF should be considered”.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE

21

Email: vanguardwoman@gmail.com

We fight for the defenceless, not only the poor

—Omotola, OPD Lagos Director

BY DOTUN IBIWOYE

O

MOTOLA Rotimi is the Director, Lagos State Office of the Public Defender, OPD. The organisation was established in the year 2000 to render free legal services to indigent persons, especially women, children and the physically challenged. An astute lawyer who does not mince words in her fight against injustice in the society, Omotola, in this interview, bares her mind on OPD’s activities among sundry issues.

Excerpts What’s exactly is the essence of the OPD?

O

PD was established to alleviate the difficulties that indigents in Lagos State face while trying to access justice.

Hence, our mission statement says that everybody, irrespective of religion, sex and tribe, must have equal access to justice, whether rich or poor. Actually, a lot of people in Lagos State could not access justice because of the cost and for that, some of them resulted to selfpunishment one way or the other. Injustice was

perpetrated steadily with impunity and this was a source of worry to the government. The former state governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, therefore, established this office in the year 2000 to cater for the poor, downtrodden, especially the vulnerable groups which are women, children, physicallychallenged, retirees and the aged.

To properly safeguard these people, do you conduct research on the intensity of the abuse or number of persons in need of legal assistance?

Yes, we have a research team. We do research in determining who gets our services. What we do is, when people come with their petitions, we interview them through our application forms. Even without asking too many questions, from their experiences, job types, and living conditions noted down, we discern their social Omotola..........OPD cannot be politically manipulated standing and ascertain whether they are eligible for our services or not.

OPD got its autonomy in Meanwhile, there are still 2003. That is why we can sue some who, though might be and be sued. We are a earning about N100,000 a statutory body and we have month, would still need our our own law regulating us, though the Attorney General still plays a supervisory role.

We try to put professionalism into what we do. OPD Lagos State is the first and still the first of its kind in the whole of West Africa. Some others have been in existence in some states and nations but (Seventy-six thousand have been quite epileptic.

Naira) by the doctors who That’s why Lawyers and have said she must be students from South Africa operated upon in one week, come here to understudy us and who have also refused on a regular basis. I was any fee waiver. sometime ago in one of the She has no parental South West states, to help support; her only surviving them revive theirs and I told parent, her mother, sells them the Lagos State help because of the high groundnut and does not experience. OPD is %100 per financial requirement of their have any hope of raising the cent funded by the Lagos litigation. Maybe they need to said amount. state government because we spend N150,000 each month We are calling on Lagos must offer quality services, and cannot afford it because it state government to but still, we cannot be is above their income.

Of intervene because the influenced. If we can take course they would still have Committee on the government agencies to responsibilities at home to Elimination of Discrimination court, whether state, federal fulfil. That's why we say we against Women at its 41st or local, definitely, it shows are not only fighting for the Session confirmed that states that we cannot be politically poor but also for the have an international human influenced. NGOs also come defenceless. rights obligation to to us for assistance because, immediately take action to sometimes when they go to Is the organisation not reduce preventable maternal the police on cases of under political influence mortality and morbidity", the defilement like rape, they and manipulation, open-letter signed by considering the fact that it meet a brick wall. We Dr.Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, collaborate strongly with was established by Executive Director, WARDC, them to get justice in such government? read. cases.

Raped teenager seeks N76,000 for caesarean T

BY JOSEPHINE IGBINOVIA

HE life of a 14-year-old eight-month pregant girl is presently on the line over her inability to raise the sum of N76,000 required for a caesarean section at Igando General Hospital in Lagos State.

The teen, simply identified here as Miss Duke, immediately sought the intervention of a nonprofit organization, Advocates Research & Documentation CentreWARDC, who, in turn, did an open-letter to the state governor, Mr.Babatunde Raji Fashola, to allow the teenager free access to quality maternal care in any of the state-owned hospitals.

“WARDC is writing to seek your urgent

intervention to save the life of Miss Duke and allow her access to quality maternal care. Miss Duke is being denied access to antenatal facilities due to the high user fees and cost related to child delivery in state-owned hospitals. Doctors say her life is in serious danger unless she receives urgent necessary medical attention.

Miss Duke who lives in Isheri (at Ikotun area) in Lagos State was raped eight months ago, and became pregnant for a man named Tobi, who had since absconded after he was inappropriately released on bail by the Police, at Isheri Police Station sometime in August 2013.

This teenager was referred by us to the Igando General Hospital and was asked to pay the sum of N76,000

If we can take government agencies to court, whether state, federal or local, definitely, it shows that we cannot be politically influenced.

PAGE 22— SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 23

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Why female players often end up alone and frustrated!

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T never fails to amaze me some of the reasons people give for behaving inappropriately. When Feyi’s marriage hit the skid some years back, we all agreed she had genuine reasons to move out of her matrimonial home. Her husband was a cheat and violent with it. “With the experience, I had with him I vowed never to be a door mat to any man,” fumed Feyi.

“My dad loved the bottle more than he loved his family, and when he was drunk, he was violent mostly towards our mum.

The sad thing is that she always forgave him over and over. By the time I got married, I had no respect for both my parents and that was why I vowed that no man would ever hurt me.

I had a good education and when my ex started showing his fangs after six years of marriage, I left with my two kids.

That should give him plenty of time for his bitson-the-side and give him new punching bags.” She was a lucky girl indeed.

Within a year, she’d landed a much older man who pampered her and took her in with her two kids. Feyi was in seventh heaven and bragged that though Anslem was pos-

phone. He had no business reading my messages and much as I regretted hurting him, after what he saw and after reading a few scorching messages from Ken, I knew it was about time I left. I have a good job and it wasn’t as if I was his kept woman. Since then, Ken and I have had many spontaneous sex sessions that I don’t regret leaving Anslem.”

sessive, she liked it, thinking it was because he was so crazy about her. After her ex’s indifference, she was happy having someone who didn’t want her out of his sight. :

W

hen Anslem called at my office months later, I was curious. He’d never set foot in my flat or the office. Was Feyi ill? “She’s moved out of my house,” he told me after he’d calmed down a bit. “She had a text message on her mobile last week and quickly snapped shut her phone as soon as she saw the message. Without giving her the opportunity to delete the message, I grabbed the phone only to see a picture message of a young man - he was stark naked and the arrogant smirk on his face made me feel physically sick.

Feyi looked defiant as I quietly passed the phone back to her. I was more puzzled when I came home later in the day to find her gone with the kids.” I told him I hadn’t heard from Feyi for quite a while but promised to have a word with her as soon as I could. Having an affair is one thing but having a full-scale nude picture

I

of your lover whilst you live with a partner looked a bit reckless to me. According to Anslem, the man looked considerably younger than Feyi and she confirmed this. When f finaly tracked her down she defended her action, saying: ‘Anslem is a lousy lover. His fore-play sickened me he was so set in his routine that I was sexually frustrated.

So when I met Ken at a friend’s party, I was flattered that he made a play for me in spite of all the sexy younger girls dancing around him. He confessed he’d always found older women attractive. I

couldn’t believe it myself when I agreed to go to his house knowing fully what would happen. My body, simply took over my brain, blowing away my self-control as we made love, semidressed-half-on and half-off his fancy bed.

A

fter a couple more romps with him, I was hooked. I mean: why should I fake happiness when I could have the real thing? Ken was the most adventurous man I’d ever seen, and I was wondering how to let Anslem down lightly when he picked up my

had promised to get back to Anslem after I’d spoken with Feyi but didn’t know what to tell him. He might have understood my silence to mean there was no point flogging a dead horse.

He showed a lot of maturity by not bothering to find out what Feyi had to say for her behaviour. I’d never met Ken and when next I met Feyi, she was with this tall handsome man, who looked extremely younger. If it was all sex with him maybe it was okay, but she looked a bit pathetic hanging on to his arm at a formal function.

I’d scarcely said hello when she said, this is Supo.” Did I hear her right? I arched my brow to ask if he was the same person she’d abandoned Anslem for when she discreetly shook her head.

Where’s Ken?” I hissed as soon as we were out of earshot. "Gone with the wind,” she answered flippantly, I just found him boring after a while.

It was easy to get rid of him as I’d moved back to my flat. We had a few words and I asked him to leave and never bother to come back. He looked so hurt and confused that I felt a bit elated. I’d used him just as men use women. I’d taken what I wanted then showed him the door.

T

he realization gave me a buzz, I tell you. I wanted to do it again. And why not? If the men in my life could hurt me, who said I couldn’t pay them back in their own coin? Supo is even much younger but I haven’t let that bother me. What I need him for has nothing to do with age. As a matter of fact, the younger ones are more eager to show you they’re more experienced than you. And, it’s only the sex you’re both after, which is fine by me. With a younger man, you’re not into any relationship. You fancy him and if you both click, you have a couple of amazing nights then kiss him goodbye!

08052201867(Text Only)

Excess fat: Trimming it down!

F

AT is a necessary component of the human organism.

You need it to maintain proper body heat when the surrounding atmosphere takes a dip in temperature; it serves as a carrier for Vitamins A,D,E and K and it is also a source of energy.

It is the excess of fat that is dangerous. With too much of fat, there obtains the situation where there is not enough skin area for the body to regain its optimum temperatures when there has been some vigorous activity.

The fatter the person, the quicker it takes for the body’s temperature to rise and the longer it takes it to cool off.

While the lean individual can race up a flight of stairs with very little effort, the same activity at the same pace will almost kill the fat person.

The fat person pants too

C M Y K

quickly in the body’s attempt to maintain the correct body heat.

The action of the lungs is tied to that of the heart.

When you have to breathe faster, the heart naturally beats faster. Too fast a heart rate and the heart itself is denied of enough oxygenated blood for its own upkeep.

The picture is clearer now as to why the fatter the person, the worse a state his heart will be in.

Now you think you need to cut down on the amount of fat you’re carrying around. Good.

But,the problem must be approached with caution.

You must have a weight loss programme that your body can tolerate. Too great a pace and the attendant exhaustion might discourage you from trying anymore.

The sensible thing to do is to modify the diet and introduce the kind of regi-

men that the body can take and not leave you feeling totally wiped out, as it were.

As far as diet goes, I favour a breakfast of fruit and a lunch and dinner that has a lot of vegetables.

Fruit being predigested leaves very little residue in the system. When you eat fruit, you save enough energy, that way your body has enough power of its own to start dealing with all the toxins that have come about on account of an improper eating pattern.

The practice of deep breathing will enable you cut down on a runaway appetite.

When the appetite is unbridled, you can almost eat or feast to death. Come to think of it. The human being is about the only animal on earth that does not wait to be hungry before eating. Little wonder we seem to be the only creatures with weight problem.

Animals fare much better as regards food. They only seem to have problems when we domesticate them, turn them into pets. That way we spoil them and soon they become affected with all kinds of conditions.

We should heed Hippocrates device that our food should be our medicine.

So, you have resolved to deal with your excess fat.

In that case, here are some exercises that will really help you achieve your goal of a sleek and efficient machinery of a body. * Parsvakonasana: Technique: Standing with feet about three feet apart bend the left knee to the same level with your hip. Keep the right leg straight with the foot placed horizontally to the left foot which is facing left ward. Leave the left hand open and placed next to the left foot. Straighten the right hand and bring it

down so that your bicep touches lightly your right ear.

Stay in the posture for some 15 seconds and repeat on the other side.

Benefit: The Parsvakonasana posture firms the thighs. It reduces fat on the sides and upper arms. * The Single leg raise: Lying flat on your belly place the hands by your side.

With your chin on the floor, raise up the left leg to an angle of about 90 degrees from the floor. Hold the posture for about 10-15 seconds. Change legs and repeat.

Benefits: This posture tones up the muscles of the legs. It firms the buttocks by reducing excess fat. It is also very helpful for people with backpain.

Single Leg Raise

Yoga classes STARTED at 32 Adetokunbo Ademola, Victoria Island, Lagos, 9.10am on Saturdays

P AGE 24— SUND AY Vanguard , JANU ARY 19 , 2014 SUNDA JANUARY

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

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Dare you clamour for a drastic change in your middle-age?

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NCREASING number of women in their middle age confess they feel they deserve better than to live out the rest of their lives in humdrum marriages. Clair, a medical doctor with a successful private practice stared at her husband tucking into a bowl of pounded yam with steamy vegetable soup with one eye on the telly and a bottle of cold beer on the dinning table. “It was a common sight and what he’d done so many times before in our long marriage,” she said.

“But instead of feeling a quiet affection for my husband, and the rituals of married life, I felt an overwhelming sadness about the future that was staring both of us in the face.”

Clair is just one of a growing number of middle-aged women across the country who are turning their backs on longstanding marriages in their post-menopausal years. With their children grown up and gone, many of these women are keen to experience life beyond the familiar parameters adhered to by their own parents. Their decisions are more or less made for them when their husbands flaunt the joy of a second family in their face.

Another reason for wanting to be their own person is that they can.

Economically, they have more independence. “Be that as it may,” Clair said, “the decision to quit is not always an easy one. However flawed a marriage might be, it provides companionship and structure for many women who have never known the myriad challenges of life as a single woman.

“Walking away from the familiar can represent a terrifying step into the unknown. A separation which seemed to offer the sweet promises of new beginnings can herald disappointment and loneliness.

M

y marriage was not the dream I’d hoped it would be. Despite the fact that misgivings about my marriage started when Sanni, my husband, took a second wife years after we got married, I went on to have two more children witn him. His other ‘wife’ was also building up her family. The uncertainty of not knowing where I’d go with four children under 16, and how I’d cope financially stopped me from taking any rash decision. But gradually, I began building a Iife outside my marriage. I updated the nursery school I was running toa full primary school and made new friends.

“In the meantime, life was far less harmonious at home. Sanni and I argued more and more, but I stuck it out because of the children and because I always hoped things would get better. In those days - only a decade or two ago - there was a lot of stigma to being divorced. The tippingpoint for me came eight years ago, when I found e-mails and text messages in Sanni’s laptop which suggested he was growing very close to yet another ‘ wife.’ Far from being devastated, I was relieved at what I saw as my ticket out of a humdrum existence.

“By this time, the school was doing great. I had a small bungalow on the premises that I used from time to time when I worked late. I simply

moved in on a permanent basis. By this time, separation held none of the financial fears it once had for me. I explained to my husband why I wanted some breathing space and he just shrugged.”

Ayisha, a top divorce lawyer agreed there is a sharp rise in older women looking to leave marriages. According to her: “Women are walking away from marriages at a later stage in their lives, not least because their greater economic independence means they are no longer trapped. Of course the grass isn’t always greener outside marriage, and women leaving their husbands can learn that swapping companionship for independence comes at a high price. A new social life may not compensate for the security of a longterm relationship. When you have so much shared history, you can’t just switch off your emotions.

You may not be in love anymore, but there are still feelings.

S

ometimes when you’ve had a hard day at work, you just want someone to be there and make you a relaxing drink. Making it

yourself just isn’t the same’ Menopausal Symptoms No One Warns You About! 1continued from last week),

Y

our Mouth Feels Like It’s Burn ing: One of the most bizarre side-effects of the menopause is the scalding feeling some women get on their lips, gums, tongue or other parts of their mouths. Although it can affect people of all ages, by far the majority of people suffering ‘burning mouth syndrome” are those going through menopause. According to research, between 10 to 40 per cent of women seeking help for menopausal symptoms also suffer some type of mouth discomfort including experiencing metallic taste. The cause of burning mouth syndrome, which can last for several years, is not completely understood.But most scientists believe that the problem is caused by oestrogen’s effect on the nerves that control taste.

How To Fight Back: Burning mouth syndrome gets worse when sufferers talk a lot, eat hot or spicy foods or are

any mortal can acquire. It has indeed created a marvellous definition of happiness in my life that is beyond imagination. No wonder am crazy about you.

Akachukwu Ferdinand.

08063819314

Y

OUR column to express your loving thoughts in words to your sweetheart. Don’t be shy. Let it flow and let him or her know how dearly you feel.

Write now in not more than 75 words to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, P.M.B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E.mail: sunlovenotes@yahoo.com Please mark your envelope: “LOVE NOTES"

Everything about you

Everything about you always add up to a perfect illustration of the word LOVE. The best love asset

My Dearest Blessing

Being in a relationship, is not about the labels or becoming official. It's about getting to know someone well enough to develop genuine feelings for him/her. It's about being understanding & forgiving when situations are at their worst. It's about loving someone, not for what they can to offer but who they are. It's never about blaming your significant to oth-

stressed - so relaxation and bland meals are recommended. The discomfort is often accompanied by dryness - and experts at Oxford’s John Radcliff Hospital advise women to drink more water and chew sugar-free gum to keep the mouth moist.

Your Orgasms Are Less Intense: When oestrogen levels start to fall during the menopause, the blood supply to the genital area can also diminish - making for less powerful orgasms. The tissues and muscles around the clitoris become weaker. As a result, orgasms may take longer to achieve and may be shorter in length.

In one study published in the Journal of Sex Research, 15 per cent of women going through menopause said they were less interested in sex and could not reach orgasm, compared to six per cent of young women.

H

ow To Fight Back: When it comes to orgasms, experts recommend that you keep practising. Sex researchers have found that women who continue to have frequent sex during the menopause have fewer

problems than those whose sex lives dwindle or stop. Regular intercourse also keep up the flow of blood to the pelvic region, keeping the tissues stronger and healthier. Women who make love often have also been found to have better lubricatron and stronger pelvic muscles.

Exercises can also help with sexual satisfaction post-meropause. To do a basic exercise, tighten the muscles of your pelvic floor as if you are trying to stop urinating.

Count to three, then release. Gradually build up the number to around 50 to 100 a day. ‘

Y

our Skin Itches: Hot flushes are probably the most infamous side effect of menopause. But to make things worse for some women, these embarrassing episodes - in which the temperature of the body dramatically soars are preceded by attacks of itchy skin, known as ‘formication’. Some women compare the feeling to the sensation of having ants crawling all over them, while others say it feels as if they have been plugged in to an electric socket, researchers believe this tingling is caused by zig-zagging oestrogen levels affecting receptors in the skin’s nerve endings.

How To Fight Back: Breathing exercises can relieve the discomfort before and during a hot flush. About a year ago, researchers at King’s College London found that teaching women breathing exercises to slow their heart rate and using cognitive behaviour therapy to replace negative thoughts with positive ones cuts the incidence of severe hot flushes.

ers for not treating you like how you want to be treated, it's about how hard they try to keep you around! I love you.

Emma Mine 07051037749 Delta State

My Angel

When I say "I love you" I mean you are the most precious property I have. My cars, my clothing, my cribs, my investment, my life, they are not as precious as you. For with you I can conquer the world.

With you I can achieve anything. I love you very much.

Omorville Omorville@gmail.com, 08062486549

SUNDAY Vanguard,

JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 25

Will the new automotive policy give us affordable made-in-Nigeria car? *Experts speak on fears, expectations

BY UDEME CLEMENT

T

HE move by the Federal Government to restrict the importation of fairly used vehicles (Tokunbo) into the country with a new automotive policy through a higher tariff regime is unsettling for many Nigerians, especially low income earners who depend on the vehicles for their daily transportation need as they cannot afford new cars because of high prices. While big car dealers see the policy as a good initiative to resuscitate the local automobile industry, private individuals expressed the fear that prices of imported vehicles may soar once the implementation of the new tariff regime from 35 per cent to 70 per cent begins.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, while giving the run-down on the framework of the policy, tagged, ‘New Automotive Industry Policy Development’, said the initiative is to promote massive investments in affordable made-in-Nigeria cars to limit excessive imports.

He explained that his visit to South Africa resulted in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to secure more inputs into the new policy as well as technical-know-how, even as he discussed with global car manufacturers on the need for them to set up plants in Nigeria.

He said, “The policy will not result in banning of the importation of vehicles in Nigeria but to focus on promoting investments in affordable made-in-Nigeria vehicles. What government will do is to raise the tariff on importation of such vehicles to discourage influx of used cars into the country and encourage local manufacturers to enhance capacity utilisation in the local industry. Importation of Tokunbo vehicles will not pose a threat to the new plan.”

In the same vein, the director general, National Automotive Council (NAC) Aminu Jalal, said, “Nigeria spent N550billion on importation of cars, buses and trucks, which does not include tractors and military vehicles.

•Nigerians deserve new cars, not Tokunbo (fairly used) We also spent about N500 billion on spare parts and N150billion on tyres. Now with the new policy, we will support local car plants to make standard cars at globally competitive prices, which will boost the local content policy of government. To assemble a car locally, we need about 2,500 different parts. If many cars are made locally and sold in the country, that will encourage local manufacturing of these parts, thereby creating more jobs and wealth for our economy”.

According to government, increase in tariff will reduce the huge amount expended annually on importation of cars, as report shows that Nigeria spent over an estimated N550billion importing cars in 2010 economic year and about $3.4billion in 2012.

Some car dealers who spoke with Sunday Vanguard, expressed their views: Government must be careful about policy inconsistency – Mr. Adel Charles, the manager of Adel Motors, Ikorodu: This is not the first time government is talking about automobile policy in Nigeria. The problem with this government is policy inconsistency and lack of adequate implementation framework, even on important issue that affects national development. This is not affecting the automobile

industry alone but other sectors of the economy, because government can just come up and make a policy pronouncement today and tomorrow the same government will say something else or even act

following lack of a condusive operating environment for the business to thrive.

Government must give a realistic time line – Mr. Paul Nwosu, with Pauline Motors, Apapa: Government should give sufficient time line for the

Government should give sufficient time line for the local automobile industry to be adequately restructured before increasing the tariff on imported Tokunbo vehicles, if not, this will greatly affect many car dealers in the country, especially those operating on a very small scale differently.

Can the government come out to tell us what exactly happened to the automobile policy initiated over three decades ago in this country? For example, in the 1970s Nigerian government came up with a new policy to build the automobile industry locally. The initiative made waves at the initial stage as government quickly went into partnership with notable auto companies like Volkswagen, Peugeot, Fiat and DaimlerBenz. Before we knew it, some of those firms starting winding up due to low capacity utilisation, lack of infrastructure and other challenges, which confronted the industry at that time

local automobile industry to be adequately restructured before increasing the tariff on imported Tokunbo vehicles, if not, this will greatly affect many car dealers in the country, especially those operating on a very small scale. This is because aside from the effect this policy may have on micro auto dealers, a lot of people now depend so much on these tokunbo vehicles for transportation across the country. So, government must take everything into account before implementing the new policy.

I am not against the policy and programmes of government in trying to put things right in the country

because the minister said in the media recently that the local automobile industry is capable of creating about 700,000 jobs over a period if well restructured. This is quite good for the country but my concern is for government to also protect the citizens by ensuring that those small scale auto dealers are not just thrown out for business for the giants to monopolise the industry.

G o v e rnment policies should not always be about throwing the masses out of jobs, businesses and making things difficult for them, but protecting and giving them a sense of belonging in their own country. For example, government claimed that the recommendations were adopted after consultations with major stakeholders in the sector including some Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), while the Federal Executive Council (FEC) further approved that every vehicle bought by government must be from local vehicles assembly plants, unless it is specialised. How many small scale dealers made inputs in those recommendations?

Today, the big car manufacturers are in partnership with only few local companies to distribute their brands in Nigeria while numerous dealers operates on a small scale just trying to survive in the business. For example, Honda brand is distributed by Stallion motors, BMW is solely distributed by Coscharis motors, the most sought after Toyota brand is distributed by Toyota Nigeria limited and Elizade motors, KIA motors handles the distribution of KIA and CFAO motors is in charge of Mitsubishi brand. These companies are all leading distributors in the country while the small scale dealers are just trying to survive. I want the media to investigate what I am saying here to know how the industry operates before making conclusions.

Also, apart from top government officials, big business tycoons who are also working indirectly with government, few corporate entities and viable commercial banks buying new cars, most Nigerians patronise fairly used vehicles.

PAGE 26 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014

INTRIGUING EXPERIENCES

By BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO Mrs. Yemisi Smart Adeyemi was a newscaster with the Nigerian Television Authority, Ilorin where she met her husband, Senator Smart Adeyemi, who was equally working at the NTA. She left after 10 years of service and now pre - occupies herself with her NGO - Mannah Dew Charity Foundation. In this interview, after donating home equipment to some women in Iyara, Kogi State, she revealed how she copes as a senator’s’ wife and her passion for giving.

H

ow do you cope as the wife of a politician, a senator with his crowded schedule?.

I have learnt to cope with his activities and, along the line, even adjusted my own programmes to be in tune with his own in order to avoid friction. I feel happy seeing people around him even in the house because I am a very accommodating person. Personally l love cooking; so in entertaining the people, I am never tired. Most of the time because of his tight schedule, attending meetings, campaign during elections, among other things, I ensure that I prepare his food on time so that he can eat before leaving the house because there might not be chance for him to eat again. I believe it is better for the wife of a politician to blend and adjust for the good of both of them.

When you got married to your husband, did you ever thought that he would be in public glare like this?

Honestly I never thought so. But both of us were working with Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Ilorin, Kwara State and we were then popular. I was a newscaster, he was reporting sports.

Then we were in public glare by virtue of our profession, even our wedding, to the glory of God, was grand. But I never knew we would go this far, we were very good Christians, praying and fasting.

We were living based on the teaching of Jesus Christ. Even our children, we taught them in the way of the Lord.

Therefore, it is not surprising to see us where we are today because I know that God is a faithful God and if you do God’s bidding and please Him, you would surely receives His blessings.

Your husband is a man of the people, especially ladies. Are you not afraid that he might get involved with some of the ladies some day?

People call my husband ‘the senator of the masses’. l think that is why he’s always in their midst but I am not the jealous type that would say no girls should come around him or that he is getting too close to the people. I know that he is a very disciplined person with the fear of God. My husband knows the boundary and the limit where he should interact with people; both male and female. I have the confidence and belief that anywhere he goes, he knows what he is doing and knows the point to stop.

Besides, with his bold and fearless attitude and how he makes his own contributions, l have equally put that in the hands of God. However, once in a while, I check him, his mother does so also. I know he does not look at the eyes of anybody or has fear of anything when he is talking or making contributions as he expresses his mind with passion .

SENATOR SMART ADEYEMI’S WIFE’S CONFESSION

I played hard to get on my husband!

The most important thing I do for him is regular prayer because this is what I don’t have control over. His mother is his greatest critic; though not very learned but anytime she sees him talking on television she would call me and ask, “What is your husband saying again?”.

I am always on my knees praying for him because it is only God that can protect and direct and once you put anything in care of God and such is established, nothing would happen again because he is protected.

Your husband is a cheerful giver, and when it comes to that there is no boundary. Are you not afraid that he is giving out too much?

I am also like that as there is nothing l cannot give out. I am not always fulfilled if l don’t give to people part of what I have. In that area we are birds of a feather, sometimes we vet the lists of people we are giving succor to. Most of the time we abandon what we should do at home to give to others. We have learnt that the more you give the more God blesses you because the Bible says givers never lack.

To the glory of God we give a lot but God is returning in multiple fold. Honestly I did not see that aspect in him when we married; even then we had nothing but l give glory to God. How was the marriage in the b e g i n n i n g ?

It was rough and tough but with perseverance, prayers and faith in God things became better. We were both working at NTA Ilorin but imagine two reporters getting married, but it was fun. However some people would say they can’t work with their husband’s in the same place, but we did it successfully. Most of the time I would be the newscaster; my husband would be the news director. When we were at work we forget that we were husband and wife, anytime we were under pressure, we would shout at each other, but when we get home, we become husband and wife. My husband from the beginning was very hard working doing one or two things. We never really relied on salary as after work he would drive round looking for jingles

among other things to support the family.

People were talking about his condition before I married him to the extent that some went to my mother to say ‘this the man you are giving your daughters. But my mother did not listen to them, she would tell them that we

should be left alone, that we were in love. Honestly we were in love before I agreed to marry him. Even at the place of work people were gossiping to my face but we did not allow that to affect us because we were focused.

How did you meet Smart Adeyemi?

We met in NTA llorin. NTA then would not employ you directly but employ you as an artist, like a casual hand on weekly pay. I was employed as a reporter untrained but later went to Television College, Jos, Plateau State for training.

I was an artist for like one year before I was absorbed. I was however on this level when he was transferred from NTA Minna in Niger State to Ilorin, that was when we met. We actually met in the newsroom.

Were you very difficult to bend to his proposal?

Yes, because I wanted to face my job.

Before I got the NTA job, I had heard that their men like women. So when he came and was toasting me, I told him I was not there for that; I was adamant, I never thought we could become husband and wife but for his perseverance.

The resistance against his toasting was for like four years before I agreed but we did not court for long as we knew each other very well. We were very close in the newsroom but not as boyfriend and girlfriend. The toasting was so long, sometimes he would come back again after being silent for six months and say, ‘Are you ready to marry me now?’. But we had known each other very well. We started courting in October 1991 and did introduction in December of same year and got married in April, 1992. The long toasting period gave me the opportunity to understudy him.

What was the attraction?

I knew him as a very strong and prayerful person. From the beginning, I had made up my mind not to marry somebody who is not strong physically, emotionally and asserting himself as a man. I think some women like some men they can control but me I don’t like it. I could never get attracted to a man who could not control me, so l saw him as a man who would say this is what he wants and it could be done. That was the strong reason that made me to fall in love with him after a long time.

How do you resolve your differences?

We decided from day one that nobody would settle quarrels for us. In the Bible, it was said that when you are angry don’t allow sun to set on it before you settle.

So when we offend each other we call ourselves to order because I don’t like trouble; if I offend him I quickly apologize. Now our marriage is close to twenty two years, we have come a very long way, we have understood each other, I know what he likes and equally knows what he doesn’t and we are blending to the glory of God.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 27

INTRIGUING EXPERIENCES

By SOLA OGUNDIPE

CHIEF SHONIBARE:

A

respected Ijebu indigene, astute business man and renowned political stalwart of the defunct Action Group, Chief Samuel Olatubosun Shonibare was one of the major players in Western Nigeria during the transition from British rule to self rule. As Chairman, Shonny Investments and Properties Limited, he built the famous Shonibare Estate in Lagos –widely acclaimed to be the first mixed race settlement in Nigeria. Although he died in 1964 at the age of 44, Chief Shonibare achieved so much and is today recognised as a colossus of his time.

On the 50th anniversary of his death today, January 19, 2014, his fifth daughter, Mrs. Idowu Ashiru, Managing Director, MARTLife Detox Clinic, Lagos, speaks on the presentation of the book entitled “Memories of My Father” she wrote to eulogise him.

She also speaks about the Samuel Olatubosun Shonibare Charity Foundation the children are launching in his memory.

Excerpts of interview:

O

ur father, Chief Samuel Olatubosun Shonibare, died when the youngest of us was only three years old and the oldest was about 18. We were too young to honour him at that time. Now we are all adults, the youngest of us is over 50, and,

by Yoruba custom, it is our duty to honour him. We believe father achieved a lot and we want to remember all the charity works he did in terms of politics, business, and others.

For this reason, we do not believe in just calling people to eat and drink. The man was great enough for us to do more for him in remembrance and, in this regard, we want to launch the Samuel Olatubosun Shonibare Charity Foundation.

This is the first year of the remembrance and we want to get it off the ground. This year we are doing a lot with the Ijebu people. In this wise, we are working closely with the Ijebu Development Initiative on Poverty Reduction, IDIPR, under the Awujale’s Palace in Ijebu Ode. The initiative is to give interest-free loans to people. We are going to give a grant to this initiative to give a kind of seed fund for the initiative to enable them fund the wonderful poverty reduction initiative. Some of the ideas they have told us they want to do include buying a keke for small transportation businesses. We are giving them a grant, but they will obtain loans. All we are asking is that anybody that will help the initiative with my father ’s name will be recognized.

Every year we will look for other organisations or projects we can fund in this way in memory of my father. The second project is to have university scholarship for

brilliant but financially challenged students. This first year, we have organised an essay competition among 11 Ijebu schools, male and female, writing an essay titled “What is my career choice?” and “how is my career going to make me a better person and also help Nigeria to develop.” Two students who will be selected after being interviewed shall obtain full scholarship pending their acceptance by any of the pioneer universities in Nigeria.

These are the University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Ibadan, University of Nigeria and Ahmadu Bello University.

Every year, we want to give one new student a chance for the scholarship. The students must also compete annually and preference will be given to those already in the scholarship.

I

have written a book entitled “Memories of My Father”.

I was 10 years old when he died, but writing a book on my father was something I knew I was going to do from a very young age that was why I had a degree in Mass Communication. So when the 50th anniversary of his death came along, I knew this was the time to do it. I gathered lots of memories about him. It is essentially personal talks about his personal life, family, business and the politics of the time. People should have an idea of the type of person my father truly was.

Some are personal encounters I remember about my father, others are accounts I gathered from his personal Secretary about his business. I also went to older members of the family who told me about the family history. So the book is a mixture of accounts of people I acknowledged. The book will

Helping the poor in memory of the dead •Memories of my father are indellible – Mrs Ashiru, daughter

•Mrs Ashiru be presented at the reception for him on January 19, 2014 after a thanksgiving service at the Church of Ascension, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.

I was very close to my father and was his favorite. I was the 5th daughter out of eight children. It was after me that he got a son, so you can imagine why I am his favourite.

Apparently I looked like his mother. She was supposed to be this tall, fair lady. Obviously my parents were upset at the trauma of not having a son, and when I was born, they said, well

House, Cocoa House and Bristol Hotel at that time. They got the construction and put them together. My father was instrumental in putting a lot of finances for the Action Group.

He was also a newspaper man and was initially working for the UAC, but the Action Group pulled him out to work for the Amalgamated Press where he became the head.

M

y father was the boss.

He was in charge of publicity for the Action Group.

He extended newspaper

Anytime somebody was naughty and was to be punished, all I had to do was smile, and the punishment would be forgotten. I have many memories like that about my father and I feel a lot of bonding towards him look at this beautiful girl.

Anytime somebody was naughty and was to be punished, all I had to do was smile, and the punishment would be forgotten. I have many memories like that about my father and I feel a lot of bonding towards him.

My father was one of the founding members of the Action Group. He was a close political ally of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and one of the financiers of the party along with Chief Gbadamosi and Chief Rewane.

Between them, they developed a company called the National Investments Company Corporation and this was the company that developed Investment House, Western

publication to all the geopolitical zones of the country. People like Chief Lateef Jakande, Chief Bola Ige and Chief Olabisi Onabanjo worked for my father. Most of the political heavyweights of the South West were his protégés, and they worked under him. He had a company called the Mobile Films. The company would go to all the rural areas, show Indian films and when they had gathered all the people around, they would show their political adverts. It gave him opportunity to speak about the policies of the Action Group.

By that means they were able to publicise what plans the Action Group had for the people

and they were able to win over the whole of the Western and Mid-western states and so on.

He was involved in spreading the gospel of the Action Group.

During the 1959 election, the Action Group had so many innovative ideas such as drawing pamphlets with their logo which was the palm tree and dropping these pamphlets into remote villages from a helicopter. He was involved in developing the Agora Bank, so the development of the produce farms, cocoa, rubber, used to finance the Action Group projects. My father was instrumental in bringing the present day Awujale to the throne. When the previous Awujale died, the kingmakers looked around in the family to see whose turn it was to rule and found the present day one.

At that time, he was studying Accountancy in London. My father was visited him in London and sponsored him back and made sure a literate Awujale won the heart of the kingmakers.

My father was sick, unfortunately, there was a disagreement between Awolowo and Akintola who alleged the Action Group was trying to take over the government and many of them were arrested. My father was one of those arrested and taken to Ondo. He was very upset about it and during his house arrest, his health failed and he was not able to travel abroad on time to seek medical help. By the time he was found innocent of all charges by the Coker Inquiry and was allowed to go abroad to get medical help, it was too late. He died a few months later. He was not diabetic. He died of high blood pressure and personal pressure.

PAGE 28—SUNDAY, Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014

No w and ffore ore or Jo w Now orevver ffor Joyy and Matthe Matthew

F

ormer Miss Joy Obiageli Nzekea, daughter of Mr and Mrs Anthony and Isioma Nzekea, from Umuodogwu, Ogboli in Ibusa, Delta and Mr. Matthew Amuka-Pemu, son of Mr and Mrs Godfrey Amuka-Pemu, from Jakpa in Warri North Local Government, also in Delta State opened a new chapter in their lives when they were joined together as man wife. th atand The tradition wedding took place on Thursday, January 9 the bride’s residence in Lagos followed by the ‘White’ wedding on Saturday, 11th of January at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Gowon Estate, also in

Lagos. The climax of the day was the reception which took place at the Estate Festival Hall.

L-R: Mr Godfrey Amuka-Pemu, father of the groom; Mrs K. A. Komasota and Chief A.B. Oseragbaje Apollo, Chairman of the occasion.

L-R:Mrs Helen Okotie; Ms Yeye Rewane and Mrs Rita Amuka at the reception.

The couple: Mr and Mrs Matthew Amuka-Pemu flanked by the bridesmaids and groom’s men.

L-R:Mrs Bawo Amuka-Pemu, groom’s mum, Mrs Joy Amuka-Pemu, bride, Mr Godfrey Amuka-Pemu, groom’s dad and Matthew Amuka-Pemu, groom, at the traditional wedding.

L-R: Mrs Julie Amuka-Pemu; Mrs Tobi Odunnaiya and Mrs Chuko Aminaghan.

L-R: Mr and Mrs C.J.Okonji and Rtd. Justice and Mrs Obi Okotie at the reception

L-R: Mr and Mrs Bill Amuka-Pemu; Mr and Mrs Richard Okotie and Mr Jackson The couple: Mr and Mrs Matthew Amuka- A m a t o t s e r o .

Pemu flanked by Mr and Mrs Anthony Isioma Nzekea, bride's parents.

Mr and Mrs Godfrey Amuka-Pemu, parents of the groom, at the church.

L-R: Mrs Esther Odih; Mr Samuel Iroegbulam and Mrs Helen Arowolo at the reception.

L-R: Mr Sunny Aminagham and Mr Fred Dudu

L-R:Mr Olusola Ojo; Mr Lucky Pemu and Mr Israel Amuka-Pemu

SUNDAY, Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 29

Ayanf isa degba anfisa isayyo A Adegba degbayye goes home in glor gloryy

I

th t was a memorable day in Ikija Ifetedo on Saturday, January 11 when the people of the town trooped out to pay their final respect to Madam Alice Ayanfisayo Adegbaye, who was committed to mother earth on the day. Funeral service for peaceful repose of the soul of the deceased held at St John’s Anglican Church in the town. Photos by Dare Fasube

L-R:Mrs Oluwaloni Adefioye, Mrs Ajibade Owoyemi, MrsTemilade Adegbaye and Prince Oye Adegbaye, all children of the deceased.

Damilola Akinsete opens showroom City businesswoman and theCEO of Home Inspirations, Damilola Akinsete, celebrated her 20 years in the interior decoration world in grand style as she moved to her highbrow flagship showroom in Victoria Island. In attendance were Dapo Abiodun, CEO, Heyden Petroleum; popular clothier, Benny Obaze and Mohammed Fawehinmi,Lanre Ogunlesi of Sofisticat to mention but a few.

L-R:Mrs Bose Adefaye, Mr Joseph Omidiora, Mr Gbenga Adefaye, GM, Publications and Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard with Rafiu Olatubosun.

Gov Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, opening the Fendi Furniture showroom.

L-R:Chief Joseph Akinyemi, Chief Ojo Abifarin, Chief Agbaakin and Chief Owode.

L-R:Deacon Akin Aderemi, Cheif L.A. Odeniran, Mrs J.O. Odeniran and Chief Dele Abdul (JP).

Vanguard’s Simon P eter es cchild hild Pe erss dedicat dedicates

P

astor Simon Peters of Vanguard recently hosted friends, family and colleagues when he and his wife, Tessy, took their newly born baby before the Lord for dedication. The event took place at Iba, Lagos and it was a delightful day of fun and refreshment for guests who guests who had enough to eat and drink. Photos by Bunmi Azeez

L-R:CEO of Home Inspirations, Damilola Akinsete with Bevista boss, Benny Obaze

L-R:Ekiti State PDP gubernatorial aspirant, Chief Omoseni and crew with CEO, Home Inspirations, Lady Damilola Akinsete.

From left: Pastor Simon Peters, his wife, Pastor (Mrs)Tessy Obeya Peters receving their baby from Rev.[Dr] Mike Jolayemi.

Pastor (Mrs)Tessy Obeya Peters, baby’s mum (m), Mrs Mike Jolayemi (right) and a church member.

From left: Mr. Victor Odoemene, Admin.

Manager, Queens Meal Bread, Mr. Ben Onuh, Audit supervisor, Vanguard and Mr. Solomon Emori, Acting Transport Manager, Vanguard

Pastor Simon Peters (middle), his wife Pastor (Mrs) Tessy Obeya Peters (left) and Mr. Emeka Nkwocha, Advert Manager, Vanguard

Blissful Union

F

ormer Miss Amarachi Ibe wedded Mr. Chuma E. Eze recently at All Saints Anglican Cathedral, Onitsha, Anambra State.

Happy couple: Mr. and Mrs Chuma E. Eze

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Badagry and the remaining marks of slave market M

BY FREDRICK OKOPIE

arina Road in the historical town of Badagry on January 1, 2014 was a beehive to tourists and fun seekers who thronged slave cells to feed their eyes with slave relics and hear stories of how trans-Atlantic slave trade occurred in the 17th century.

The illicit trade was abolished in a treaty signed by England and Badagry chiefs in March 1852, but Brazilians remained in the trade till 1888, three years after the Berlin Conference in Germany. The final transaction took place that year as the Brazillians left with their last ship, while Badagry and other West African countries bade farewell to slavery and slave trade.

The slave market Slaves from hinterlands, as far as Umuahia, in present day Abia State, were brought to the popular Vlekete slave market, Badagry. Close by were the cells. The market was established in 1502. According to a narrator, the slave market was the biggest and the most known, and served as a meeting flyspeck for Europeans merchants and African agents to transact business every two days, that is, to auction about 1,000 slaves in exchange for umbrellas, cannons, dry gin, mirror, gunpowder, ceramic dishes, and whiskey among others.

As the narrator told the tourists how the exchange was carried out, tempers rose. He said, “A big cannon exchanged for 1 00 slaves; while for a small cannon, it was 40 slaves. But for dry gin and whiskey, there was no specific number of slaves, it depends on trader ’s bargaining power, the least you could get for spirit was two slaves.

“At the end of the auction, slaves were

chained both hands and legs, transported to the various cells owned by the slaves owners, with heavy security to protect them from escaping or mixing up with other slaves they were related to but belonged to other owners”.

BRAZILLIAN BARACOON (CELL) Mr. Taiwo Abass, the great grandson of the late Seriki Faremi Williams Abass, took tourists into the vast compound that housed 40 cells, a well built in 1847, the late Abass and his last son’s graves, a collapsed storey building which he ‘claimed was. the second in Nigeria and his great grandfather’s court now used as family mosque. The family members of Seriki Faremi Williams Abass still live in the compound. .

However, Seriki Faremi Willaims Abass, was slave boy took captive by slave master, at the age of 9. He was trained by the Brazilians and was given the franchise before the abolished trade was full signed.

At the left corner of the compound were two rooms separated by a door each measuring 8ft by 9ft and poorly ventilated with a pigeon hole type of opening to allow “fresh air” to come in.

In these small rooms, 40 slaves bought from the Viekete market were kept for a maximum of 90 days before they would be ferried to a ship waiting on the high seas. The slaves would eat, urinate and defecate inside the cells before the time of their shipment, Young Abass said.

Most of the hand ch ins for adults and kids, nfanacles, drilling irons and heavy metal load used to punish tubborn slaves were sti intact. The clothes, umbrella, pots, breakable dishes of the late Williams Abass were all on display in one of the cells.

Emotion flowed among the tourists

when Mr. Abass explained that male and female slaves were hung on a tree. He said, If any slave was caught having sexual intercourse, the punishment was death penalty by hanging. And to identify their slaves, names of the owners were written on the back of these slaves with a drilling iron rod made hot by fire.”

*The slaves manacles

POINT OF NO RETURN Abass narrated how slaves were taken to various parts of the world, especially Brazil. “These slaves would be chained in their hands and manacled on their legs and another circle metal around their necks linked with chains to hook up with another slave behind. They formed a single file into a boat which took them to a shore. From there, their journey to the unknown destination began,” he sai,d.

It took tourists 28 to 30 minutes to walk on foot to the Atlantic which today is known as the POINT OF NO RETURN,. *The slave port Any slave that got there would never return u to Badagry.

An old well made of bricks was along the foot path leading to the Point Of No Return, It is called the ATTENUATION WELL. Slaves were forced to drink water from the well, after which they became less aggressive and lost their memory before boarding the ship that would take them to their masters destinations. Three categories of fees are paid to access the Br ilian Baracoon. The first is to the Abass family for the sustenance of the museum (#500 per person), the second to the boatman who carries tourist there (#1,000 per person) and the third to the tourist guide.

There was no presence of government A toutist guide explaining how (federal or state) or the tourism board at slaves were taken to different parts of the world the site.

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Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 33

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RIVERS SHOOTING Abe rrekindles ekindles memories of Ken Sar o-wiwa’s Saro-wiwa’s ‘judicial mur der’ in Ogoniland murder’

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HE alleged shooting of Senator Magnus Abe by the police last Sunday at the Arts and Science College, Rumuola Road, in Obio Akpor local government area of Rivers State is the cause of division in Ogoniland with one group saying the senator lied over the incident while another group said the alleged attack was a clear case of a move to kill another Ogoni son after the judicial murder of Ken Saro-wiwa, a foremost environmentalist and former leader of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), by the Abacha administration.

Rivers State Police Command was at the centre of it all as there were allegations that policemen shot Abe on the chest with rubber bullets. The senator, who represents Rivers South East senatorial district, was at the Arts and Science College that Sunday morning to assess preparations for a rally slated for the venue by the Save Rivers Movement, a pro-Governor Chibuike Amaechi group.

The division the alleged shooting of Abe has caused among his Ogoni kinsmen manifested when two different youth groups embarked on rival protests. The first one, held on Tuesday, condemned the alleged attack by the police on the senator.

The protesters, who blocked the Akpajo end of the East West Road as early as 6am, described the incident as an attempt by the security body to assassinate Abe. They said they would resist acts of impunity on the part of the police even as they called for the immediate transfer of the state Police Commissioner, Mr Joseph Mbu. About seven vehicles were smashed on the Akpajo end of the East West Road during the protest.

The protesting youths said they were not ready to lose Abe the way they lost Sarowiwa several years ago. One of the youth leaders, Mr Isaac Obe, told Sunday Vanguard that women, elders and several others in Ogoniland were so pained when they heard the news of the Abe attack.

“Our people came out to protest to the world against

what happened to Senator Abe. We lost Ken Saro-wiwa, we do not want to lose another son”, he said.

The protest later became violent when the police mobilised to disperse the protesters who had taken over the East West Road thus making it impossible for vehicles to pass. Some of the youths, who resisted the action of the police, hurled stones and other objects at the policemen as they fled.

Windscreens of vehicles caught in between the police and the youths were smashed.

A leader of the youths, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said some miscreants tried to hijack the protest, blaming the destructions recorded during the exercise on the miscreants.

When contacted for comment, Rivers State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmad Muhammad, said he was at the airport on his way to Abuja that day when he got a call that some miscreants were smashing vehicles on the road in the name of protesting. He blamed miscreants among the protesters for the damage done to vehicles.

According to him, the police only moved in to clear the road for road users RIVAL RALLY The following dayWednesday- some protesters under the aegis of Ogoni Youths Movement and Federation of Ogoni Youth Leaders, in their thousands, stormed Bori, headquarters of Gokana local government area, to denounce the allegation by Senator Abe that he was shot with rubber bullets by the police. The protesters, who marched through the major road in Bori, said the senator lied.

Comrade Sunny Bekanwa, National President, Ogoni Youth Movement challenged Abe to show the world the injuries he sustained from the alleged action of the police.

Some of the placards they carried read, “Ogoni for Goodluck Jonathan,” “Ogoni youths are in support of the police,” “APC has no place in Ogoni,” “Magnus, show evidence of gun shots,” “Ogoni youths, Elders say Mbu must stay,” “Amaechi and Abe are collaborators in crime and lies,” “Ogonis are for Wike,

*Injured Senator Abe before he was flown abroad PDP,” While hailing the state police commissioner for aborting the rally of the Save Rivers Movement SRM that Sunday, they called on the Federal Government to leave Mbu as commissioner of police in the

,,

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

in Rivers South East senatorial district, Mr Emma Osaro, said the protest against the senator showed that the PDP was behind the alleged assassination attempt on Abe. “I am not surprised that the police protected the Bori

It was not too long after I met Senator Magnus Abe that the police started the shooting of teargas and rubber bullets. One of the rubber bullets hit me on the left arm of my leg and also touched Senator Abe

state.

The protesters later stopped at the Area Command office of the police in Bori where some of their leaders took turns to address the crowd. They pledged support of Ogoni for President Goodluck Jonathan and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led by Felix Obuah in the state. Unlike the first day when the police fired teargas to disperse the protesters who had blocked the East West Road, the police provided escort for the Bori protesters.

In a related development, a group, Rivers Voice, has asked that those who protested against Abe be ignored, saying they were sponsored by the PDP. Coordinator of the group

demonstrators as against those who protested the shooting of Senator Abe; we lost Ken Saro-Wiwa to the Federal Government, now they want to kill our dependable senator and son. We will resist it,” he said ‘OUR SHOOTING STORY’ Meantime, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Mr Tony Okocha, who allegedly witnessed the incident, said he was at the Arts and Science College venue of the rally, with the senator to assess preparation for the Obio Akpor local government arm of a rally of the Save Rivers Movement.

According to him, he got a call earlier in the day that the police had been told to ensure

the rally did not hold.

So like Abe, he rushed to the venue of the event to see things for himself.

He said they were talking with the police while the senator was trying to call the Inspector General of Police when suddenly the police started firing teargas.

Continuing, he said as they kept on firing tear smoke to disperse the crowd, some of the policemen fired rubber bullets which hit Abe on the chest. The Chief of Staff said one of the rubber bullets also hit his left leg.

“On Saturday evening, being 11th January, 2014, I was at the premises of Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Rumuola where the stage for the rally was set up and we expected that the following morning, being Sunday, the rally will hold as planned by the Save Rivers Movement”, Okocha narrated.

“On Sunday morning, as early as 6am, my phone rang and the caller said the police, about five troopers, had besieged the premises and dismantled the canopies, chairs and table arranged for the event, while teargas was shot to disperse the crowd.

When I got to the venue, I saw a crowd of policemen, including three armoured personnel carriers (APC), and also saw how the venue was upturned by the police. It was not too long after I met Senator Magnus Abe that the police •Continues on page 34

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Abe rekindles memories of Ken...

•Continued fron page 33 started the shooting of teargas and rubber bullets. One of the rubber bullets hit me on the left arm of my leg and also touched Senator Abe, right now, I can’t walk properly.

Despite the police invasion, we were armless. When we saw that Magnus Abe had been injured, we managed to put him into a vehicle that took him to hospital for treatment before he was flown abroad”.

He said Abe was taken to a hospital in D Line area of Port Harcourt. At the hospital, one Dr Mackay Anyanwu, who administered first aid on him, said the senator was treated for traumatic shock. “The patient was brought in a state of a shock, as evidenced by low blood pressure. He was restless and he couldn’t communicate or reason coherently”, he stated. ‘’ As a first aid, we treated him for traumatic shock, because the implication of his state was that there was severe blood trauma and the amount of layers affected could not be detected immediately. This can only be done through the

haemorrhoid tests. ‘’We have administered oxygen treatment on him for resuscitation and primary medication, but we also detected severe internal bleeding and high level haemorrhaging in him. Another bad news is that we also detected that the affected side is showing severe swelling, which led me to the conclusion that he must has been hit by a high calibre weapon and my fears were confirmed when I was told that he was shot with a rubber bullet”.

WE DON’T HAVE RUBBER BULLETS-POLICE The police however denied the allegation that it fired rubber bullets at Abe. The state Police Public Relations Officer, Muhammad, said those behind the allegation that the senator was shot with rubber bullets were merely blackmailing the police.

According to Muhammad, Abe and the Chief of Staff, Government House “peacefully walked to” their vehicles while the police were dispersing the gathering with teargas.

“I want to state categorically that the police did not fire any

shot, no single ammunition was used. We don’t shoot rubber bullets. We used minimum force to disperse the gathering at College of Arts and Science, Rumuola. When I say minimum force, I mean smoke, teargas.

The police image maker also said they had to disperse the gathering because the organisers, Save Rivers Movement, SRM, did not obtain police permit for the rally. According to him, the state police commissioner had made it clear to all that organisers of such programmes must get permit for events.

‘WE WROTE TO POLICE’ When confronted with the police claim, the state Chairman of the SRM, Mr Wolu Charles, said the police was being economical with the truth. According to him, they notified the police about the rally on January 7, stressing that their job was to only inform the police to provide security and not to seek permit for such gathering. He said the police acknowledged receipt of their letter.

Wolu, who said SRM is known

to law, noted that it does not need police permit for its programms. He said Section 1 of the Public Order Act which the police relied on to disperse its gathering that Sunday had long been quashed by the court, noting that the section is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution.

“I want to debunk the statement by the commissioner of police that there was no communication between the police and the Save Rivers Movement. The police stamped our letter written on the 7th for our rally in Obio Akpor and Khana local government areas “, he said.

Wolu described the action of the police as barbaric and an attempt to replace democracy with autocracy, saying his group would continue to champion the good of the state.

Also counsel to the group, Bar Ken Atswuete, condemned the action of the police that Sunday, saying it violated the rights to free movement of residents of the Rumuola Road area where the incident occurred.

It would be recalled that the police that day also closed the ever busy Rumuola Road venue of the rally to traffic. Vehicles

were diverted to adjourning roads.

recommended that government should relinquish control of the operations and management of the four refineries by divesting a majority of its 100% of its equity to competent,

cost efficiency of the private firms which will result in the better performance of the needed service at lesser costs owing to competition . Apart from creating jobs, it will also create multiplier effect in the economy and leverage so many Nigerians. Besides, privatization has become part and parcel of the recent global trends which places emphasis on market forces and less dependence on government control of resources.

In his recent article –Felix Ayanruoh opined that it is evident that corruption, inefficiencies and heavily regulated downstream sector in Nigeria has been a significant barrier to private investment in the country and to overall development and economic growth . A close examination of the failures of our refineries suggest that aging equipment, poor maintenance, inefficiencies and corruption remain the major factor coupled with the fact that substantial annual budget is being allocated for subsidies and Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) that is producing below capacity.

INVESTIGATION The Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, has ordered a full scale investigation into the alleged Abe shooting.

In a similar vein, the Senate Committee on Police Affairs was in Port Harcourt last Tuesday on a fact- finding mission on the issue. It met with the state Police Commissioner, Mbu, and was also at the Government House, Port Harcourt where it listened to the account of the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Okocha, of the incident.

‘NEAR ASSASINATION’ Ogoni Leaders of Thought, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, called for immediate investigation of the incident, saying it was a near assassination of Abe. In a statement by Justice Peter Akere (rtd), Messrs Eddie Wikina, Peter Medee and Hon Marcus Nle Eji, the leaders said Ogoni would not hesitate to ask the police to leave the area if its alleged acts of impunity were not stopped.

Let the Sale of Refineries Be

I

F there is any issue that has attracted both national and international discourse these past years in this country, it is the petroleum sector and it has to be because succeeding government in the country has used it as a benchmark for our national development and a means of primitive accumulation of wealth. Since over 80% of corruption in the country occur in that that sector, oil production and management has and will continue to keep the train of corruption going.

In November last year the Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani AllisonMadueke hinted government resolve to privatize it’s four refineries. This according to the Minister is part of President Goodluck Jonathan’s efforts to transform the sector and end years of underperformance and ease the financial burden on the government. The purpose of reform suggest that the current state of the industry is inefficient in service delivery and ineffective in promoting societal welfare objectives.

In her words

“government does not want to be in the business of running major infrastructure entities and we haven’t done a very good job all these years”.

Presently the government has four refineries comprising Port Harcourt I and 2, Warri and Kaduna with a combined capacity of 445,000 to 450,000 barrels per-day translating to 70.75 million liters per-day.

These refineries have continued to operate below capacity owing to decades of mismanagement, corruption and the lack of political will by succeeding leaders to take the gauntlet since most of them are neck deep in the practices. .It is very regrettable that Nigeria remains the only OPEC country which relies mainly on importation of refined petroleum products to meet its domestic demands.

The department of petroleum resources has so far licensed about six private refineries of which only two has been completed and are in operation, while others are delayed for what they say is government high regulation.

It will be recalled that a bold attempt was carried out by the then government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo only to be jettisoned and reversed by his successor late Shehu Yaradua

. Nigeria still relies on massive oil importation for about 80% of its petrol product needs even as importation for meeting internal consumption has led to round tripping and massive fraud. Nigerians were

,,

BY IFEANYI NWABUGU

It is very regrettable that Nigeria remains the only OPEC country which relies mainly on importation of refined petroleum products to meet its domestic demands

shocked by the revelation of massive fraud arising from the management of oil subsidies which would have been practically impossible if private operators were licensed to refine this product locally.

I sincerely believe that it was in an attempt to address these issues of inadequacy in the supply and the associated infractions that the government constituted special task force otherwise known as National Refinery Task Force (NRSTF) headed by Idika Kalu which

resourceful and experienced private partner refiners in accordance with the Public Enterprise Act 1991 . I do believe and rightly too that the recent pronouncement by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani AllisonMadueke of Federal government plans to privatize the four refineries is a direct response to the recommendations of Idika Kalu NRSTF recommendations.

The benefits of privatization is that it will take advantage of the perceived

Ifeanyi Nwabuogu is a Lagos based media consultant

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 35

Writing the Advertising Brief: How and Why

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effective brand communication commonly undermined today is writing the advertising brief. The importance of a good advertising brief is simply enormous and cannot be narrated simply. To start, let us appreciate the importance of THE BRIEF from the standpoint of the fact that advertising is all about telling a brand’s story. Simple! Now, this story could be towards persuasion, enlightenment, reward, developing or consolidating friendship (relationship), forming an opinion or simply planting an idea - in someone’s mind.

Again, that is why advertising is about the human mind.

Decision taken on account of an advert message is resultant and in fact consequent upon the impact the given advert message had on the mind of the target recipient of the advert message. If we closely follow with another fact that there is no good story without pieces of information and a plot, we can then begin to appreciate the importance of background information, properly gathered and arranged, set in a plot for a good and impactful brand story.

That sets the tone for appreciating the importance of an advertising brief.

The advertising brief helps in determining the scope and extent of strategic and creative work, creates and shapes the plot, guides the creative process and helps in profiling the target audience. In addition, the brief helps in revealing the brand’s competitors, guides the

agency towards properly investigating the possible threat areas including the competing brands, investigate own-brand for proper and appropriate protection from harm, and channels the use of scarce resources.

In effect, therefore, a brand’s communication or advertising campaign is only as good, effective and impactful as the brief that originated the entire process. That explains why professionally managed brands pay utmost attention to advertising brief development. I still find the

,

HIS piece is in keeping with our commitment to helping compliance to the standard professional practice of brands management and advertising, by bringing to notice, those basic and functional elements more commonly undermined in the face of present day quick-fix approach and system compromise due to impatience and inadequate training. We must also quickly add here, that more and more, professional training and proper and induction are lacking in the advertising industry. Consequently, quality of service delivery is dropping with time. It has become alarming.

On the one side of the divide in this case, are the practitioners on the client’s side, and on the other are the professionals on the agency side. We must also state here that practitioners on both sides are equally tasked on the provision of world standard professional service delivery.

It is to that extent of expectation and responsibility that we have always made the case forappropriate human resource consideration through an unbiased selection process, when there is the need to engage people for brands management and advertising functions. It also applies in the process of engaging advertising agency for a brand.

The consequence of compromising this process of human resource engagement is simply too costly to be undermined. But because the consequence of mediocrity in brands management and advertising build up rather slowly, most systems wish it away. But unfortunately, it tells on the brand, its competitiveness, market performance and the value of its equity in the long run. May we also state here, that in most cases, the benefits of professional brand management are not measured in sales figures?

Suffice, therefore, that a brand may still be enjoying good level of consumer engagement and shelf off-take but losing out on consumer perception in so many ways. The danger in a case like this is that owners of such brand will assume all is well since the sales figures remain good, not knowing that potential competitors are waiting to take advantage of the negative market perception of that brand to attack. It is that simple.

One of those critical points in the process of developing

agency with the global practice standard and method of handling the P&G brand.

Their system is so thorough the intellectual and mental ability of all those put forward by the agency were rated during this process. At the end of the interaction process participants are scored on the bases of alertness, appreciation and internalization of the P&G process. It is when they are satisfied at this point that on the job interaction begins.

Then, it is assumed that everybody on the brand know

A brand’s communication or advertising campaign is only as good, effective and impactful as the brief that originated the entire process. That explains why professionally managed brands pay utmost attention to advertising brief development

Procter & Gamble outstanding (if they still do so now). Way back when I worked in the team that introduced Vicks Lemon Plus and Euro-Pampers brand into this market, P&G system required that all those chosen to work on their brands from the Agency side go through a period of orientation within their system. The aim was to adequately intimate the

,

what to do for the brand.

Not to mention the advertising brief from then on; a brief from P&G clearly spells out the given brand’s personality, value-essence, its target market, a history of its market performance up till the time of briefing, its challenges, strength and weaknesses in the face of market expectation versus

competition, the marketing objective in volume and value terms, the immediate and long term projection for the brand, in terms of market performance, perception/ image and market position.

Of course, and that is what makes it all the more interesting, the brief from this team is extensively supported by current figures. The figures they supply are open to independent verification. In fact the agency is expected to consider information contained in the brief as hypothetical until verified through independent market study. It was quite engaging and exciting because by the tradition of the practice environment then (which is the tradition with my team now), the next step after reading a client’s brief, is conducting a research.

Agencies’ research helps in either confirming or substituting client’s information or claim based on empirical studies. Such extra work on the agency ’s part helps the strategic planning and creative process which in turn ensures a effective endproduct in form of advertising campaign.

A good advertising brief assures all of the above.

The challenge, however, is that a good brief can only come from a properly trained person/professionally matured personality. Writing a good advertising brief requires intelligence, commitment, dedication, professionalism, attention to details, knowledge and hard work. All of these are considered too problematic by over 75% of brand managers on the client’s side in today ’s environment – not to mention “corporate affairs managers” and “corporate communications” managers of today (mostly journalists and PR people by training).

Improper job description and personnel engagement, therefore, have added to the confusion. By and large, we must put the importance of writing an advertising brief in its true perspective. There cannot be a good and effective advertising or campaign with potentials to optimize returns on advertising spends without a good brief. So, it is important that clients engage professional brand managers in their system and these persons are constantly trained and retrained for optimal efficiency – starting with ability to write a good advertising brief. …as captured above!

PAGE 36— SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014

BY SAM EYOBOKA

Government was compelled to impose a state of emergency in the states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa on May 14, 2013.

Despite the emergency rule, the Islamic terrorists did not relent in their attacks.”.

Atilade maintained that the 2013 World Watch List report showed that 66% of Christians killed, globally, were Nigerian Christians.

Wondering why there is a conspiracy of silence over the emerging religious war in Nigeria, the archbishop attempted to give reasons why the situation persists, noting that what is more distressing is the valid information that the incessant bloodshed is a culmination of a carefully planned agenda to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state and Africa as an Islamic continent.

T

HE leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in the South-west has accepted a challenge of mobilizing the Church to put an end to Islamic intolerance in the nation.

Chairman of CAN South-west also declared a 31-day fasting and prayers programme for the persecuted Church in Nigeria with effect from January 14.

President of Christian Welfare Initiative (CWI), who doubles as the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Southwest Zone, Archbishop Magnus Atilade, urged Christians to join in the prayer programme, noting that denominations/ministries which had begun fasting and prayers programme in this season should add the prayers for the persecuted Church to their prayer schedules in addition to praying against any Islamic agenda.

He maintained that Christians should use the period to draw attention of the entire country, as well as other nations of the world, to the growing security threats to Christians in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. ”We affirm that Nigeria is a secular society in which all the citizens have free right to live, work, and express their faith according to their individual convictions. If the secularity of Nigeria has in any way been reviewed or modified, we are not aware,” he stated, adding that the Nigerian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of movement, and the right to worship God according to individual conviction,” Atilade stated.. ”We are however disturbed, and very alarmed, at the rate and consistency with which Christians are being slaughtered in northern Nigeria, in a manner similar to the genocide in Rwanda. The brutality, cruelty and inhuman manner in which Nigerian Christians are being systematically and consistently slaughtered by individuals claiming to be adherents of the Islamic faith has reached an alarming proportion that we are compelled to speak out. THIS IS INHUMAN! ”In the northern parts of the country, these individuals and groups of individuals have been operating for years with impunity and without regard for law and order, or respect for ”While attacks have been the right of other Nigerians to live and express their faith in reported against moderate God according to their choice.” Muslims that do not support He outlined several instances these insurgents, it is clear to since March 2010 when the the whole world that the main militant Islamic sect, Boko target of these terrorist attacks Haram, had caused mayhem by both Boko Haram and the herdsmen are all over the North killing Fulani Christians and destroying Christians in Nigeria. ”While some mischievous properties, while Fulani herdsmen are on the rampage elements in the media have all over the nation killing attempted portraying these people at will, with a high killings as ethnic or socioconcentration of their atrocities economic related clashes, the pattern of the attacks confirm in the Middle Belt.

According to Atilade, the that it is a religious war, Fulani herdsmen are fast patterned after the Islamic becoming notorious as a Jihad. According to the World harbinger of destruction Watch List, The majority of the wherever they lead their cattle incidents of conflicts that have to, in the Middle Belt, South- been reported in the west and in the South-east. international media as ‘clashes’ ”It is quite amazing that these between Muslims and Fulani herdsmen are yet to be Christians in actual fact have convicted of mass murder. It is been one-sided violence equally disheartening that against Christians.” even moderate Muslims that do Orphans, widows not seem to support these agents of death and destruction Continuing, he said as a are also targeted and killed by result of these crises, thousands members of the Boko Haram of Christian men, women and terrorist group. It is very children have been murdered, unfortunate that innocent thousands of children have students are also massacred by become orphans, thousands of these terrorists,” the CAN women are widowed, while leader stated.. innumerable Christian men

’Islamising Africa’

Our concerns over Islamisation agenda, by CAN *Says South-west may be next battle ground We cannot understand why the political party that is currently ruling in the South-west fielded mostly Muslims as its governorship candidates and women have been maimed and mutilated. ”It is unbelievable that in this age and period, human beings could descend to such level of inhuman barbarity and cruelty while claiming divine mandate.

Nigerian citizens have been hacked to death with machete, their throats have been slit with knives like rams, their heads have been severed from their necks with the saw carpenters use on wood, the barrel of AK 47 has been placed on their nose before being fired, the stomach of pregnant women were ripped open with knives, they have been burnt alive, and all manners of unprintable atrocities have been committed

by some Nigerian citizens against other Nigerian citizens all in the name of expanding a religion,” he stated.. ”In Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Plateau, Benue, Bauchi, Kogi, Niger, Nassarawa, Taraba, Kano, Kaduna, Gombe states as well as the Federal Capital Territory, individuals and groups of individuals, claiming Islamic injunction, have been routinely killing, bombing, maiming and mutilating Christians. Properties of Christians are being destroyed and their places of worship as well as business locations are routinely burnt and destroyed. ”The situation reached a crescendo that the Federal

Members of the Boko Haram, he argued, have clearly announced that their objective is to Islamize Nigeria. “We are aware that a meeting was held many years ago to strategize on Islamizing Africa in general and Nigeria in particular. We are also aware that eradication of Christian groups resistant to Islamic conversion was advocated in a conference held in Abuja in 1989.. That Islamic agenda is unfolding before our eyes today,” the archbishop said.. ”We wish to use this medium to alert Christians in Nigeria, particularly in the South-west, that there is an Islamic agenda that has been launched against Nigeria, and the trend of events seems to point in the direction of the South-west as the next battle ground. There seems to be a gradual plot to make Islam the dominant religion in the region. ”We cannot understand why the political party that is currently ruling in the Southwest fielded mostly Muslims as its governorship candidates. 80 per cent of the governors of this political party in the South-west are Muslims. It is a gross imbalance that must be redressed without delay.

“To add to our apprehension, Osun State Gov. Rauf Aregbesola has commenced taking decisions and introducing policies that are clearly anti-Christian. ”Osun State under Gov. Aregbesola is not hiding its intolerance and disdain for the Christian faith. Recently, as a direct result of his policies, a Christian secondary school in Osun was invaded by Muslims and the principal was nearly beaten into a state of coma. It is by a stroke of divine intervention that he did not die.

To date, we are yet to witness the prosecution of the Muslims who perpetrated that dastardly act. ”Christians in Nigeria should be warned not to underestimate Continues on page 37

SUNDAY

Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 37

‘Our concerns over Islamisation agenda’ Continued from page 36

the unfolding Islamic agenda

in the country. Historically, nations like Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, and so on, were Christian nations before they were overran by Islam. Not only were they overrun by Islam, their culture and governance were taken over by Arabs. If a nation like Turkey could be Islamized, Christians in Nigeria should not assume that the Islamization agenda is an idle threat.”

He advised Christians in the South-west, who have concluded that the region is immune to such attacks, to study carefully what is unfolding in Osun, noting that “developments in Osun State clearly confirm that there is cause for concern.” ”We wish to state clearly that those of us who are Christians in Nigeria shall not renounce Christianity, and neither shall we convert to Islam. We are Christians by choice, and we choose to remain Christians. We are persuaded that no human being needs to be forced or coerced to accept a gift. A gift that comes with a sword as an alternative is a questionable gift. It is a suspicious gift. Every gift speaks for itself and forceful persuasion becomes unnecessary,” the CAN leader

stated.

On politics of religion, Atilade observed that it is worrisome that religion is gradually becoming the defining factor in politics in the country. ”We are also disturbed by the consistent intensity with which Muslim politicians seek to destabilize the government of President Goodluck Jonathan.

We clearly remember that before his election, certain Muslim politicians threatened to make Nigeria ungovernable for him should he exercise his constitutional right of seeking election as the president of Nigeria. Events that have unfolded after his election, starting with the post-election violence in 2011, proved that it was not an idle threat,” he stressed. ”We appeal to our fellow Muslim citizens that are determined to cause problem in the nation, that Nigeria belongs to both Christians and Muslims. Every Nigerian has the constitutional right to seek elective office and no one should be harassed or intimidated for doing so. In addition, we are observing the emergence of political gatherings with conflicting signals about its religious intent. ”As Christians, we welcome

an all-inclusive political party that will protect the interests of all Nigerian citizens, irrespective of tribe, religion, or social status. The unfortunate religious persecution in the northern parts of Nigeria is an eye-opener and calls for caution in establishing political associations. The current imbalance in the religious structure in the North of Nigeria that is gradually being replicated in the South West demands serious attention by all leaders of the church in Nigeria.”

Undoubtedly, he continued, the unbalanced control of the political machinery by a religion in the northern parts of Nigeria is at the bedrock of the current religious intolerance that is plaguing the region. To have such structure replicated at any other zone in the country should be of grave concern to every Nigerian. ”Therefore, at the Christian Welfare Initiative (CWI) and the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), South-west, we recommend as follows: Christians all over Nigeria and in the South West in particular, should embark on prayer and fasting from January 14 – February 14, 2014 for the Church in Nigeria and for the nation. Prayers should be mobilized that every conspiracy

that has been conceived against Christians in Nigeria shall fail.

Mass murder “We call on Nigeria’s president, the Inspector General of Police and the governors of the states where mass murder is being committed to come up with effective and proactive policing strategies to ensure that no Nigerian citizen or village becomes a soft target for the harbingers of terror. ”The use of technology (drones and CCTV) for surveillance and rapid response purposes by security agents should be employed. We wish to inform our Muslim relatives in the South-west that any Islamic violence in Yoruba land portends grave danger, not only to Christians, but also to Muslims.

Sometime in 2013, when the terrorists from the North attempted to blow up the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, they did not make plans to evacuate Muslims from the impending disaster. If they had succeeded, they would have killed both Christians and Muslims. As we see in the North, Boko Haram is killing both Christians and M u s l i m s . ”Therefore, Muslims in the South-west should join the clarion call that the secularity of the region must be

maintained. No Yoruba man or woman will profit from any Islamization agenda in the South-west. For our sake and for the sake of our descendants, we must maintain the delicate balance of our society so that Yorubaland does not become the next Syria, Iraq, or Somalia. ”It is a common saying with our people that ‘we shall not adopt insanity with religion’.

What is going on in the North of Nigeria must be prevented from taking place in the Southwest. ”Christians in the South West must raise their voices and demand that the next governor of Lagos State in 2015 must be a genuine Christian. After 16 years of Muslim governors, it is only fair that the next governor should be a Christian.

This is in keeping with the secular nature of the nation and maintains the delicate balance in our society.

We are equally concerned about the gradual Islamization of the civil service structure in states where the governor is a Muslim. There is a visible lopsided appointment of directors, permanent secretaries, and heads of parastatals in favor of Muslims. ”This is the scenario in the 12 Sharia states in northern Nigeria and it is disturbing that it is being replicated in the South-west. It must be reversed immediately, in the best interest of our people.”

PAGE 38—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014

APC’S MOVE TO TOPPLE PDP

The shape of the battle to come in House of Reps

speaker that they now have the majority number and he cross-checks with the clerk, the change will be immediate.

“Resignation, death or impeachment are the only ways that a vacancy can occur in the office of the speaker or deputy or indeed, any other principal officer ’s position,” Ogene said.

Also, the chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Albert SamTsokwa (PDP, Taraba), said, last week, that the defection to APC would not affect the chambre leadership composition, saying “the leadership of the House of Representatives remains intact, having enjoyed and is still enjoying the confidence of the members.” ut lending credence to the defection of more PDP B members to APC, Hon

By Emman Ovuakporie

F

OLLOWING the defection of 37 members of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the House of Representatives, last December, to All Progressives Congress, APC, fear of leadership change has gripped members of the ruling party in the House.

As members of the House get set to resume after nearly three weeks’ Christmas break, Nigerians should expect drama over the likely change in the leadership of the House.

Since the defection of 37 PDP members to the opposition APC which left the former with 171 legislators as against latter ’s 172, there have been reports of imminent change in the House leadership. The defection has constituted a threat to the majority advantage the PDP has enjoyed in the House since 1999. The defection followed the crisis that has rocked the party since August 31, 2013 when seven of its governors staged a walk-out from its mini-convention in Abuja.

JOKE This development resulted in the formation of the ‘New PDP’. Consequently, the party leaders made efforts to make peace with the warring party stalwarts.The crisis took a twist when five out of the seven aggrieved governors alongside their ‘New PDP’ leader Abubakar Kawu Baraje announced their ‘merger’ with the opposition APC.

Ihedioha

The 37 ex-PDP lawmakers from Kano, Sokoto, Kwara, Rivers, Bauchi and Katsina States followed their governors in the ‘New PDP’ to APC. The PDP leadership moved to declare the seats of the defected lawmakers vacant through a court action.

This was after the party had failed to get Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to declare the lawmakers’ seats vacant on the strength of an Abuja High court restraining order. ne of the defected O members, Hon Yakubu Dogara (APC, Bauchi),

described the PDP’s move to declare their seats vacant as a joke. “That’s the depth of decay we have sunk to. The rule of law means nothing in the strange democracy we practise here. Take a look at Section 68(1) (g) of the Constitution which the party is referring to. The power to declare defecting members’ seats vacant is solely vested in the presiding officer, the Senate President or Speaker of the House, as the case may be.

“It’s in black and white.

Section 68 (1) (g) of the Constitution does not mention INEC, the courts or any party for that matter. It’s a demonstration of crass ignorance for PDP to have written to INEC or even go to court to have defecting members’ seats declared vacant. Thank God INEC swiftly replied that it lacks the constitutional powers to do so,” he said. Dogara added, “Even in these days of black market judgments, it will be near impossible for any judge to interpret section 68(1)(g) of

Akande

,

Tambuwal

If Speaker Tambuwal defects to the APC and the party is able to garner the required 181 members to topple PDP in the House, PDP will be left with no option than to settle for positions such as minority leader, deputy minority leader, minority whip and deputy minority whip

the Constitution which does not mention the court as conferring the powers to declare defecting members’ seats vacant. That will amount to judicial rascality of the highest order.”

Despite the fact that APC now enjoys simple majority in the House, it requires about nine more lawmakers to take over the leadership.

MORE DEFECTORS ut ahead of the House’s return to legislative business on Tuesday, there are strong indications that more PDP members may join APC. A source told Sunday Vanguard that the APC was expecting about 20 more defectors in the House from Benue, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Niger,Kano, Taraba, Plateau and Adamawa states among others.

If Speaker Tambuwal defects to the APC and the party is able to garner the required 181 members to topple PDP in the House, PDP will be left with no option than to settle

B

Ogor

for positions such as minority leader, deputy minority leader, minority whip and deputy minority whip.

Some APC members are said to be adamant that Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha is removed as soon as the party attains majority status in the House.

But deputy spokesman of the House, Rep Victor Afam Ogene (APGA, Anambra), assured that the lawmakers had no plan to remove Ihedioha.

“The report that the deputy speaker will be removed when we resume is the handiwork of fifth columnists trying to cause crisis among members before resumption. People should not forget that besides political affiliations, we all belong to a group called House Project which saw to the emergence of the current House leadership.

“What will happen is a seamless transfer. As soon as the party with the majority members notify the speaker that they have majority- that is if the APC notifies the

Dogara said, in an interview with Sunday Vanguard, that more members would join them as APC was the party to beat.

Meanwhile, the deputy majority leader in the House, Hon. Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta), doused the fear of leadership change, describing it as a “mere storm in a tea cup.”

Ogor, who insisted that PDP was the majority party in the House, said, “We are not jittery and we are ready to combat whatever situation we meet on the floor of the House, because we are still in majority.

“We are not scared of any plan or whatever grand design to change the leadership because they can’t do anything. We are still in control of the House leadership as far as I’m concerned, and there is no shaking.

“We have all the necessary technical know how to handle the situation, legally and otherwise. For instance, the decampees went to a competent court of jurisdiction to seek an injunction that the status quo should remain without necessarily declaring their seats vacant.

“They do not own any seat.

The seat belongs to PDP not to individuals; that is what they do not know. Those who defected are technically still members of the PDP until a court of competent jurisdiction declares otherwise. We do not need a rocket scientist to interpret the Constitution to us on this issue. “ CREDENCE To give credence to the threat to unseat them by the emerging scenario in the House, Deputy Speaker Ihedioha, Majority Leader Mulikat Akande-Adeola, Ogor and other principal officers of the House in the PDP went to court on Monday to stop any attempt by the APC lawmakers to remove them.

This is a pointer to the fact that all may not be well as the House resumes in another 48 hours.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 39

T

O what extent do you agree with the governor on the state of development and insecurity in Adamawa State, where he is the Chief Security Officer?

With due respect to the governor’s age and office, I won’t want to call him a liar even though he actually lied in the interview we read in your paper. He made many false claims in the interview. Allow me to start with the fundamental one where he claimed that he had achieved the set goal of unity, peace and progress of the state.

This is farther from the truth because Nyako has championed an apartheid policy of advancing the Fulani interest over that of the other tribes and religions in the state. For instance, Nyako has sent more than 200 Fulani on overseas scholarship. It is a deliberate policy of marginalising the other tribes. I am saying this because on the 6th of September, 2010, the govern o r followed up by employing into the judiciary more than 40 lawyers of which only five are Christians ; this is in one sector alone. We have many such cases in the other sectors. The governor ’s action has generated crisis in the state.

Nyako is clannish and for him it is not only about your religion, it is also about your “Fulaniness”. You must come from the right stock and, in this case, Wittijo.

So you may be a Muslim, but if you are not Fulani from Wiitijo, too bad. In this scenario, I leave you to imagine the plight of Christians. Many of his Fulani brothers like Professor Jibril Aminu are up in arms against him on his style of leadership. So the governor, rather than unite the state, has created a division that will need a real bridge-builder to come and correct. We can now understand why Nyako was dropped as a military governor and Chief of Naval Staff by the Babangida administration.

It is laughable that Nyako also described politics as “the art and science of judicious use of resources for the attainment of public good” and that this is what he has been doing. This is another falsehood.

The governor has been everything but judicious with the resources of the state.

He has also not been concerned about the general good of the people. If he was, he wouldn’t have stopped the payment of WAEC fees that every family was benefiting from. Boni Haruna faithfully implemented this programme as governor.

In Adamawa State, governance is about Nyako and his family and not about any other citizen. I therefore take exception to his sweeping generalization. In Adamawa State projects are inflated at scandalous rates that would make the convicted former governor of Delta State James Ibori a saint. For example, the Maiha-Pella Road project has been ongoing since the inception of his administration. It has gulped billions of naira. Periodic upward review of contracts is the order of the day. At the rate we are going the Maiha-Pella or the Gombi-Ga’anda Road project will not be completed in his time as governor.

Take the Gombi-Ga’anda Road project, it was awarded at the cost of N 5.6 billion in 2008 and lately it was reviewed upwards; do you know that only two out of the three bridges have been constructed and this is just a 36-km laterite road which is nowhere close to being tarred.

But if you check some publications, you will find a write up by Gombe State Patriotic Front that former Governor Danjuma Goje for N5.7 billion constructed an international airport and 52 roads fully tarred. So, how

IN DEFENCE OF MR. PRESIDENT

Nyako has lost relevance in Adamawa — Eng. Albert

*Says emergency rule has saved lives and property of citizens to move with them but who has moved with Nyako? Not even his deputy. Ask Nyako why nobody moved with him? He is very unpopular in the state and worse even in his local government where his candidate was defeated in the last byeelection to the state assembly seat for Nasarawo- Binweri Constituency.

But the governor has done well in agriculture, health and education sectors of the state from what is on the ground?

Eng. Stephen Albert can Nyako claim that he has judiciously used the resources of the state? This is the reason we took him to court to stop him from accessing the more than N20billion loan from the Islamic Development Bank and indeed many other sources. We know that the money, like all the previous ones, will be misused and our children and grand- children will be saddled with the debt. We will fight this issue if need be, up to the Supreme Court.

But who appointed you to act as the court or even the House of Assembly, which is saddled with powers to act as a check and balance on governor? Are you tackling the governor just because he recently crossed over to the APC or is it because you just want to bring him down?

The Save Adamawa State Movement came about because of the poor leadership style of the governor. Our group can be rightly described as a mass movement.

Three of us- Panny Boga, Dr.Francis and I - are just the public face of this campaign against bad governance. It might interest you to know that some members of the state House of Assembly and commissioners are funding our activities.

We are most grateful to all the good people of Adamawa for their support.

Before now they had suffered in silence while Nyako dragged the state backwards due to his incompetence. We say thank you to them for giving us the opportunity of leading this campaign. Our focus is to challenge the lack of governance. And we believe in waging the campaign in a peaceful manner. That is why we went to court on the loan issue and we are getting ready to challenge him on his failure to appoint a substantive chief judge. On the other part of your question, it has nothing to do with his movement from the Peoples Democratic Party. We started this while

,

Eng. Stephen Albert, a former Chairman of Mayo Belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa State and leader of Save Adamawa State Movement, a political pressure group, disagrees with Governor Murtala Nyako that the state of emergency slammed on the state by the Presidency is hurting the state and its people. Stephen, who is from the same LGA with Nyako, maintains that without the emergency rule, insecurity would have overwhelmed the state and its people.

Excerpts:

The governor has been everything but judicious with the resources of the state. He has also not been concerned about the general good of the people.

If he was, he wouldn’t have stopped the payment of WAEC fees that every family was benefiting from. Boni Haruna faithfully implemented this programme as governor

he was still in the PDP. Nyako cannot take the APC to anywhere in Adamawa because he is not the leader there. Already the Markus Gundiri and Marwa Buba group in the APC have rejected him because he is going to kill whatever chance the party has. Ordinarily the APC would have welcomed him, but they can’t because he is not a performing governor.

The other governors that moved were able to convince their members and senators

At the inception of his administration, Nyako said his government would provide functional and qualitative education at all levels. He also promised to create opportunities for acquisition of knowledge, productive skills and positive attitudes. I challenge you as a journalist to investigate why there has been mass failure in WAEC conducted examinations in the state in recent years.

It is on record that out of the 31,000 students who sat for the SSCE, only 1,000 or so passed and this is because the teachers are not there and when they are there, they are not motivated, salaries are not paid. What is the reaction of Nyako?

He said parents should fetch fire wood to educate their children and of course he has stopped paying WAEC fees. So far, there has been no reaction to the crisis in the education sector. As for the health sector, please kindly take a trip to Mayo Belwa; my local government and Nyako’s local government. There is a so- called German Referral Hospital that has gulped over N8 billion. I am an engineer, I can do that hospital for N3billion.The contractor did a substandard work, so Nyako had no choice but to pull it down. I understand there is a N4billion provision to change the roofing. The German Hospital is nothing but a glorified mortuary. What we are talking about is about a disaster that was foretold.

But he has done well in the area of agricultural development going by the number of farm training centres spread across the state.

The governor is entitled to his views but the fact remains that facts are facts. After seven years as governor, the gains of his agricultural policies should have become visible. He should not be talking about intentions. The truth is that the governor established these centres but the first problem is the cost. I am an engineer and I know that these centres should never cost as much as they are claiming to have built them. The fencing of one of the centres alone was put at N250 million.

I can do that job for N20million. I challenge Nyako to invite independent quantity surveyors to cost them. His claim that the graduates have become hot cakes only exists in the governor ’s imagination and it is contradictory because in one breath he described Adamawa State as backward and where are the multi-national companies that are chasing after Nyako’s hot cakes?

But the governor boasted that the Special Assistants Programme has checked unemployment in the state. Are you disputing that he has been paying these people?

Which special assistants, who are they, what do they do and what is their function

Continues on page 40

PAGE 40—SUNDAY

Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014

‘Emergency rule has saved lives and property of citizens’ Continued from page 39 and contributions in terms of governance and development of the state?

We see it as unacceptable when a governor deliberately underpays workers and then claims to be paying faceless persons by whatever name. We know for a fact that Nyako pays his Wittijo Fulani brothers hundreds of thousands and the other tribes that are lucky to be engaged less than N10,000 for political mobilization .Let the governor tell us by what statistics unemployment has been reduced? I am indeed ashamed that in the 21st century a

governor will be celebrating the payment of hand- outs to his hangers on and describe it as empowerment? Empowerment of who?

Does your movement support the imposition of emergency rule in Adamawa, which the governor says has seriously hurt the state and its people? l read his interview and for once I am happy that Nyako has finally revealed that he wrote to the Presidency about the security situation, a charge he had vehemently denied in the past. Now back to the question, the truth is that the governor might be complaining because he has lost the lucrative security vote and maybe because the

security structure is not directly controlled by him anymore. But what we know for sure is that the deployment of the Joint Task Force has helped check the activities of those using others for their dirty job. We want to thank President Goodluck Jonathan for doing the right thing. The imposition and extension of the state of emergency in Adamawa is justified. The governor himself justified it and I want to quote him... “The Bank (World Bank) also described (the North-East) as a dangerous zone because of the problems of poor infrastructure, poor educational facilities, unemployment, and frustrated elements.” This is the

governor talking. Why is he opposing state of emergency? It is all politics.

Anybody opposing the declaration either benefits directly or indirectly from the previous wanton killings in the state and because none of their relatives has fallen victim, they continue to speak against it; it is hypocritical to oppose what you agree with.

Governor Nyako said he left the PDP for APC because of impunity, that he didn’t get a fair deal in PDP. Do you agree with him?

Nyako in the first place has never been a democrat, he has no respect for democratic process or its principles. Maybe his military background is still affecting him.

This is a man who came to power through the worst form of democratic

subversion .The case between him and Ardo over the conduct of the PDP primary election is still in court. So Nyako is a product of everything undemocratic .He was imposed on the state by Obasanjo. And this is the same man that some journalists are celebrating as a democrat. Before you call Nyako a democrat, please try and find out the relationship between him and his deputy, his commissioners and the chairmen of local governments. Nyako’s problem with President Goodluck has to do with the refusal of the president to allow him control the state structure that was not properly constituted. He was scared that with the emergence of Bamanga Tukur as National Chairman, there was no way he would be able to control the party. His fight with everybody stems from this. It was all about control. Why is Nyako having problem in his new party? Is it not because he wants to become the landlord in a party that he has just joined?

With the exit of Nyako from the PDP, do you think President Goodluck Jonathan can still win in the state like he did in 2011 when the governor was in control of the PDP structure in the state?

I want to say this and without any doubt that President Goodluck Jonathan will win the presidential election in 2015.We understand what the election is all about. I laugh when the media talks about the North being against Jonathan. Which North? Is it the North of Ango Abdullahi that does not recognise Christians?

The North that is Hausa/ Fulani and Muslim? We know a good number of Muslims who support the president, who stand for the truth. They may not be talking but at the right time they will show by their actions that they are with the vast majority of Nigerians. The myth of one North is dead and buried until when everyone is accepted and treated with respect that they deserve .Kaduna State today is calm because Governor Yakowa, the only Christian governor that ever governed the state, died.

Doesn’t this tell you something? I have heard people say that Jonathan has not performed .I want to ask, in what sense ?Is it when some people have created security problems that ensured that the government has diverted trillions that should have been spent on education or health into fighting terrorism ?And even at that, the president has given a good account of himself. Mark my word, if for any reason the president refuses to run, the security issues that we have been experiencing would be a thing of the past.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 41

Prologue

SOLOMON LAR, left before Obasanjo could cause havoc

BARNABAS GEMADE, placed a curse on the fate of his successors

OKWESILIEZE NWODO, forced to vacate office

HALIRU BELLO, appointed Defence Minister

AUDU OGBEH, allegedly forced to resign at gun-point inside Aso Rock

KAWU BARAJE, left office for Tukur but led the walkout on Jonathan at last August's convention

AHMADU ALI, sacked all members of his party with his re-registration policy

BAMANGA TUKUR, a shambolic forced exit: "He did no wrong"

VINCENT OGBULAFOR, forced to resign on warehoused allegations of corruption

?

Who's Next

ON BAMANGA TUKUR

Mr. President, you’re wrong, very wrong

By Jide Ajani

D

isclaimer: If it is wrong

to say Mr. President goofed gratuitously, then we apologise.

However, Mr. President goofed on grounds of facts and morality.

Therefore, he needs to recant; or, better still, somebody should explain what he was trying to say to Nigerians regarding Bamanga Tukur, the ousted National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the NOT GUILTY verdict he passed on the former ruling party leader.

But those who know President Goodluck Jonathan say of him that he is a nice man by nature; that he is moulded in the image of a gentleman.

He has serially demonstrated that attribute in his long suffering disposition to issues concerning himself, his political party and his handling of affairs in Nigeria since May 2010 – mind you, as vice president, he tolerated and took in all the delinquent conduct of members of the cabal who trampled on his person and his office while the Office of the President suffered a lacuna.

That his modus operandi is not the same as that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a man who operates like a locomotive engine with a failed break system, is not in doubt.

Spanning the ASUU strike, the walkout on him at the PDP convention last

August, PHCN workers’ retirement benefits, the charge by the CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, regarding the missing $49billion and some other issues too numerous to mention here, Jonathan has demonstrated that he is a Gentleman President.

However, being a Gentleman President does not in any way justify his penchant for pushing his luck too far.

At the National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting of the PDP, last Thursday, President Jonathan told Nigerians that Tukur had resigned and his resignation had been accepted. That was good because Tukur’s excess baggage was already dragging the selfsame Jonathan down the bottom of the river.

But for Mr. President to add that Tukur did no wrong sends the wrong signal.

On issues of morality, why was Tukur forced to resign if he did no wrong?

Flowing from that, and, worse still, those in attendance at the PDP NEC meeting stood up to applaud the President’s statement, thereby, confirming that Tukur did no wrong. The downside to this is that an innocent man is being forced out of office for doing no wrong.

In truth and in protection of the integrity of the Office of the President of Nigeria, Jonathan shouldn’t have been the one to pronounce a NOT GUILTY verdict on Tukur.

The ever garrulous National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, should have been saddled with that responsibility since most of the statements he issues are either lacking in depth of logic, flippant or highly

combustible in content, context and interpretation. If Metuh had pronounced Tukur NOT GUILTY, may be as vote of thanks, it would have followed the pattern of his sometimes inane statements.

That the PDP could open President Jonathan’s flanks in public is not right.

Now, on the issue of fact, Tukur did many wrongs.

Upon assumption of office, he appointed special advisers to take over every key job of the NWC members.

Those ones kicked. He was forced to dump his advisers.

The unilateral actions he took regarding the state chapter of Adamawa State, which opened him to attacks from state governors set the stage for every other thing that has gone wrong since his assumption of office, getting to a head with the walkout on Mr. President at the party’s August national convention. President Jonathan himself had, reportedly, been serially embarrassed by some of the actions of Tukur (like suspending a state governor from the party without the President’s knowledge). Even while the topsy-turvy created by Tukur ’s style of administration lasted, just last Monday, the Kwara and Sokoto State chapters were again tinkered with in a unilateral manner. The President was misled into believing that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum was in the pocket of some individuals whose loyalty today remains in doubt. Yet, when they failed to

deliver, they, inexplicably, persuaded Mr. President to align with their warped reasoning that numeral 16 is greater than numeral 19 and, therefore, Jonah Jang with 16 votes won against Rotimi Amaechi’s 19. What morals are we passing to the younger generation?

President Jonathan landed the killer blow when he promised to give Tukur a more important job than that of PDP Chairman.

In which part of the world is an individual acknowledged as not doing any wrong but he is ridiculed and deprived of his office, only to be promised a higher calling? The answer is Nigeria.

If Tukur is said to have sacrificed his office for peace in the party, that is meet and proper. If Tukur is said to have been sacrificed for peace to reign in PDP, it is understandable because some others do have people like Tukur who make huge sacrifices. If President Jonathan wanted to be charitable to an elder, it is his right to so do. If the same fat cats in PDP who caused five state governors to dump the party wanted a soft landing for their ousted Chairman, it is permissible.

But to say Tukur did no wrong and he has been disgraced out of office is not fit to come from the President and Commander-in-Chief who also doubles as the leader of the PDP. But PDP always has its way. Just look at the history of past chairmen (above) and how they ended

PAGE 42—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014

THE OUSTING OF THE PDP NATIONAL CHAIRMAN

Tukur’s many sins and a President’s dilemma

By HENRY UMORU

T

his is the story of the fall of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the former National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. It is also the story of how Nigeria wastes its best; the story of serial miscalculations by President Goodluck Jonathan leading to the loss of five governors and dozens of legislators.

Tukur...ousted

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BEFORE last Thursday when President Goodluck Jonathan, at the 63rd National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, announced that the embattled National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, had agreed to step aside to save the party from imminent collapse, confusion had reigned in the polity as to whether the Adamawa born elder statesman would weather the storm.

Twenty four hours earlier, facts had been established that Tukur was gone having lost the confidence of key party players like the governors, members of the National Working Committee, NWC, the thirty-six state chairmen plus the chairman of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, elders, and leaders, but, like a typical politician, he gave himself hope and declared that he will not resign.

When confronted by journalists at the Presidential Villa on his way to attend the Board of Trustees, BoT, meeting, on Wednesday, the ousted party boss continued to fight, saying he was not that kind of person who would resign in secret even when he knew his case had already been discussed and concluded hours earlier with agreement that President Jonathan should be the one to unfold the decision taken before the very eyes of NEC members.

His calculations may have been that the tide could still change and he would retain his position as National Chairman of the self-acclaimed largest party in Africa.

Tukur’s fall on Thursday did not deviate from pattern as he quit in a manner similar to the way some former PDP National Chairmen left office. Tukur resigned in January 2014, same month as former party leader Audu Ogbeh who resigned in January 2005 and Okwesileze Nwodo who resigned in January 2011.

Since the formation of the PDP in 1998, Tukur was the 10th National Chairman, Former Vice President Alex Ekwueme was protem National Chairman at the PDP inception. He stepped down to contest for the party’s presidential ticket, but lost to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The late Chief Solomon Lar, a former governor of old Plateau State, stepped in as PDP National Chairman till 1999.

Senator Barnabas Gemade, from the Tiv axis, came in after the first ever competitive convention. He defeated the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi intrigues.

After Gemade, it was Ogbeh, from Idoma axis of Benue State amid who resigned in 2005 following a disagreement with former President Obasanjo. Dr. Ahmadu Ali, from Igala, Kogi State, succeeded

His calculations may have been that the tide could still change and he would retain his position as National Chairman of the selfacclaimed largest party in Africa Ogbeh. Prince Vincent Ogbulafor from Abia State assumed office in 2008.

When Ogbulafor resigned in May, 2010, Dr. Okwesilize Nwodo, from Enugu State, came in. He resigned in January, 2011 to pave the way for his deputy, Dr. Haliru Bello Mohammed, from Kebbi State.

Following Bello’s appointment as Minister of Defence, the then National Secretary, Abubakar Kawu Baraje, from Kwara, stepped in until the March 2012 National Convention which brought in

Tukur from Adamawa State.

The exit of Tukur as National Chairman could be seen as a case of waste of one of the best in the country having served as governor, old Gongola State, now Adamawa and Taraba, from October 1983 to December 1983; Minister of Industry; General Manager, Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA; President, Africa Business Roundtable, among others.

Announcing Tukur’s resignation at the 63rd NEC meeting of the PDP, Jonathan noted that the former party leader was stepping aside having paid his dues and agreed to resign for peace to return to the ‘family’.

Jonathan declared that the “stepping aside” was a personal sacrifice for the party to reinvent itself in the face of emerging challenges, saying his successor will come from the North-east zone and will be someone acceptable to all stakeholders in the party and the new leader will emerge on Monday (tomorrow) when the party would hold another NEC meeting.

Jonathan, however, stated that Tukur was not guilty of breach of the party’s Constitution, adding that steps were being taken to reposition the party in view of the increasing tempo in political activities of the country ahead of the 2015 general elections. ”We have some internal problems that have been agitating the minds of people and let us really thank the Working Committee led by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

They have done very well; the Chairman

of our party, we have all known, he didn’t just wake up to be Chairman of our party, he has paid his dues.He had held several offices and worked for this country and he has done very well.

For us to make sure that we rest these issues, the party Chairman agreed to step aside,” he said.

The President said the National Caucus and BoT meetings must henceforth be held quarterly while NEC meeting should hold every two months, NWC meeting weekly against the backdrop that people want to see a vibrant party, adding that the party had resolved to assist states without PDP governors.

Jonathan said, “We now want to ensure that the National Caucus, the Board of Trustees and NEC meetings should be held more regularly. We want NEC to meet possibly every other month. I will be meeting with PDP governors every month and we want to work out how we can assist states where we don’t have PDP governors.”

Then the President told members of the NEC that Tukur had agreed to step aside and that he tendered a letter of resignation which he, Jonathan, presented to the National Secretary, Professor Wale Oladipo. The hall erupted as everybody rose for a standing ovation for a man (Tukur) everyone appeared wanted out.

Jonathan, who announced that he would leave the hall with Tukur for the Presidential Villa to have further discussions with him, however, called on Cross River State governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, to move a motion for Tukur’s stepping aside; the motion was seconded by the Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi, Bauchi Central.

Imoke, who spoke about Tukur in glowing terms, describing him as sacrificing for the unity and growth of the party, said, “Today, PDP is reinventing itself and sacrifices have to be made.

Tukur said whatever sacrifice is necessary to reinvent PDP, he is ready to make the sacrifice.”

Before seconding the motion, Ningi, who likened the sacrifice made by Tukur to what Jesus Christ did for the redemption of mankind, however, reminded, NEC members that since the inauguration of the PDP in 1998, Tukur was the first National Chairman to preside over the NEC meeting where his resignation was announced because he was leaving office with dignity.

After that, the President put the question if NEC should accept Tukur’s resignation and it was unanimously carried.

The Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, presided over the second phase of the meeting.

As the former PDP National Chairman vacated office, what many analysts did not understand was the contradiction in Jonathan’s statement that Tukur was not guilty. If that was so, why then did he have to resign? Anyway, the President, who gave Tukur a soft landing, however, promised to assign him a tougher job that will saddle him with,

Continues on page 43

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 43

Continued from page 42 among others, the responsibility of marketing Nigeria to the international community, possibly as an ambassador to China since he has a long standing relationship with the Asian country.

IN THE BEGINNING Tukur’s period as National Chairman of the PDP witnessed many problems from the beginning just as his aides compounded his situation as they saw everyone, including members of the NWC, as enemies of their principal.

Even prior to the March 2012 Convention which brought him in the North-east where the position of the National Chairman was zoned to, he had started having problems as he was rejected through a shadow election which favoured the then acting National Secretary, Dr. Musa Babayo, from Bauchi State.

Notwithstanding that he was touted as Jonathan’s candidate, he was defeated by Babayo who polled 14 votes to two in the zonal election. This was an indication that right from day one, the governors from his zone, particularly Governor Murtala Nyako from his home state of Adamawa, were against him.

T

HIS MANY SINS is turbulent tenure started soon after he assumed office at Wadata H Plaza and it was with his former Principal

Tukur...guilty or not guilty

Tukur’s many sins and a President’s dilemma

,,

Secretary, Habu Fari, who began a fight with the then National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, with exchange of letters. The National Chairman sacrificed Fari to save his job and for peace to reign, but the scar was already there and Oyinlola did not take it likely.

From Fari, Tukur’s relationship with other members of the NWC became sour.

Two of his aides, Senator Ibrahim Ida and Alhaji Ahmed Gusau, also repeatedly clashed with NWC members. Tukur sacked them. Other assistants, Senator Umar Gada and Alhaji Mohammed Shittu, then escalated the problem, blocked Tukur from seeing the NWC members and stopped their principal from holding meetings at Wadata Plaza and made his Wuse 2 private residence the venue for meetings. Infact, the aides were said to have seen themselves as more powerful than members of the NWC. It was at this point, in June 2013, that Tukur was reportedly ill-advised and took one of the decisions that nailed him by suspending the Sokoto State governor, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, for, among other offences, not picking his phone calls. Tukur humiliated the governor following the kind of aides he had. One of the aides was said to have had an axe to grind with the governor and simply used the opportunity of his relationship with Tukur to humiliate Wammako with the suspension from the PDP. Soon after Tukur assumed office, sources said NWC meetings were no longer taking place. It was alleged that since September last year, meetings were held five times. After the defection of the five PDP governors to All Progressive Congress, APC, meetings were only held twice and never exceeded 45 minutes, even as Tukur was alleged to have travelled severally outside the country without informing his deputy, Secondus, for him to hold the forth while he was away.

Members of the NWC, who moved a vote of no confidence on Tukur when they reported him to the President, also identified one of his sins as running a one man business and administering the PDP without carrying them along. At the meeting, Tukur was said to have been asked by other members of the NWC to point at any major achievement recorded by the body since it came on board in March, 2012.

And rather than settling down to face his assignment of leading a national party with national problems, one other sin

This bred the insinuation that the party leader may be taking directives from the Presidency. Amaechi was eventually suspended from the party.

Tukur’s non-recognition of Amaechi as the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), apparently at the behest of the Presidency with which the Rivers governor had a long drawn battle, was another costly mistake. The former National Chairman encouraged the formation of the Governor Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom)-led PDP-Governors Forum as a counterpoise to the NGF notwithstanding that Amaechi won the NGF election and later Tukur backed a faction of the body led by Governor Jonah Jang (Plateau). he logjam in the PDP continued with the sack of the National Secretary, Oyinlola, following the January 11, 2013 judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja which declared that Oyinlola’s nomination and subsequent election into the NWC was invalid, null and void.

Three days after, Tukur replaced Oyinlola with his only loyalist in the NWC, the Deputy National Secretary, Onwe Solomon Onwe. Prior to Onwe’s emergence, it was a big battle in the NWC where Tukur appeared to be alone, but had the support of Onwe.

But when the decision was reversed by the Court of Appeal that Oyinlola should return to Wadata Plaza as National Secretary, Tukur and his NWC members played politics, denying the receipt of the judgment.

Pundits expected that the Tukur-led NWC would have given itself a soft landing by using the Court of Appeal judgment to reinstate Oyinlola who had become the National Secretary of the splinter group led by Baraje and the seven

Following the exit of Tukur from the PDP leadership, the contest for his successor has begun from the Northeast with the aspirants for the National Chairman Tukur committed was to dabble into the politics of his home state by dissolving the Adamawa PDP Executive Committee led by Alhaji Umaru Kugama that was loyal to Governor Nyako and replaced it with the Amb. Umar Damagun- led ninemember Caretaker Committee, thus setting the stage for a big problem and for the party.

The decision created a gulf among members of the NWC as 10 members disowned the Adamawa Exco dissolution.

This was in fact, the beginning of his problems as other PDP governors also opposed him on that score.

Tukur also got the PDP national secretariat involved in Rivers State chapter crisis when it immediately rushed to swear in Chief Felix Obuah following the sack of the Godspower Ake-led executive loyal to Governor Chibuike Amaechi after a court order.

aggrieved governors namely: Amaechi, Nyako, Wammako, Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Rabiu Kwankwanso (Kano), Abdufatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Sule Lamido (Jigawa).

Following the irreconcilable nature of the problems that led to the seven governors walking out of the August 31, 2013 Special National Convention at the Eagle Square, Abuja, Amaechi, Wammako, Ahmed, Kwankwaso and Nyako defected to the opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, leaving Lamido and Aliyu behind in the PDP.

LAST STRAW

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he last straw that broke the former National’s Chairman’s back and a clash in the NWC was the dissolution of Kwara and Sokoto PDP executives and subsequent appointment of Caretaker Committees to run the affairs of the states without recourse to the members of the NWC.

NEW CHAIRMAN

F

ollowing the exit of Tukur from the PDP leadership, the contest for his successor has begun from the North-east with the aspirants for the National Chairman, who came out in 2012, still in the race. The battle is between the PDP and non-PDP controlled states in the region. The PDP states are Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba while Adamawa, Yobe and Borno are the non-PDP states.

Top among the contenders are the former Acting National Secretary, Babayo, from Bauchi State, who was the choice of the zone before politics played out and Tukur got it. Also from Bauchi is former Governor Adamu Mauzu. Both are good party men, humble, loyal, and

loved by the people. Babayo, having worked at Wadata Plaza, understands the politics of the PDP while Mauzu, as a former governor, also understands the party politics. Babayo is presently the Chairman of TertFund Governing Board, while Mauzu, the immediate Chairman of NIMASA, is Chairman, National Pension Commission, PENCOM. Also in the race is former Special Adviser, National Assembly Matters to the President, Senator Abba Aji, from Borno, who is seen as a stabilising factor in the PDP, a good party man, just as Senator Abubakar Mahdi, from Borno, and a leader of Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, is in the race. Barrister Ibrahim Birma, Shettima Mustapha, Abba Gana, all from Borno State, are also in the race.

Minister of Transport, Senator Umar Abubakar, from Gombe, is also a contender and he is said to be the candidate of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, even as a former National Publicity Secretary and Chairman, Governing Board of Federal University of Minna, Prof. Ahmed Alkali, from Gombe, as well as former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Dr. Umar Modibbo, from Gombe, are jostling for the PDP national chairmanship. From Yobe is a former Minister of Police Affairs, Adamu Waziri, another aspirant.

CONSTITUTION

A

s the politics of who replaces Tukur continues with series of meetings on-going and a vow to get his successor tomorrow, Article 45(1, 2)of the 2012 Amended Constitution of the PDP empowers the Deputy National Chairman, Secondus, to oversee the affairs of the party, but he has just few days to act until tomorrow (Monday) when a new Chairman emerges.

Article 45(1) of the constitution reads, “ If a National Officer of the Party I removed or resigns from office, he shall immediately hand over to the National Secretary all records, files and other properties of the party in his or her possession”.

Subsection 2 reads, “ In the case of the National Chairman, he shall hand over to the Deputy National Chairman who shall, without prejudice to Section. 45(6) of this Constitution, act as the National Chairman pending the election of a replacement.”

With the move to inaugurate a new Chairman without an election as the Constitution stipulates, it was not clear if Tukur’s successor will emerge from his home state of Adamawa although the position is zoned to North-east. This may follow precedent as when Audu Ogbe from Benue State resigned in 2005, Ahmadu Ali, from Kogi, the same North Central, where the PDP national chairmanship was zoned, provided his successor; when the former National Secretary, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, from Abia State, became a minister, the late Bernard Eze, from Enugu, South-east, which had the national secretaryship, took over; when John Odey, as National Publicity Secretary, from Cross River, South-south, to which the national publicity secretaryship was zoned, was made the Minister of Information, Lady Umeh, from Akwa Ibom, took over.

Also when Ogbulafor, the former PDP National Chairman, from Abia State (South-east), resigned Dr. Okwesileze Nwodo, from Enugu, stepped in because the position was zoned to South-east, but when Nwodo resigned, the unusual happened as Dr. Haliru Bello Mohammed, the then Deputy National Chairman, from Kebbi State (Northwest), took over in acting capacity until he was made the Minster of Defence and the then National Secretary, Baraje, acted until March 2012 when Tukur came.

After months of intrigues, manoeuvring, backstabbing and political intrigues, embattled Tukur left. The choice of his replacement would determine the future of the party, as PDP prepares for 2015.

PAGE 44—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014 sameyoboka@yahoo.com

08023145567 (sms only)

The Mgbidi Testimonies M

GBIDI—MAJOR and small time oil mar keters in the Mgbidi and the Owerri axis of Imo State made frantic efforts to replenish their stock in readiness for this year’s Lord Chosen Charismatic Ministry annual crusade just as commercial tricycle and motor cycle operators took advantage of the influx of persons into the sleepy town of Mgbidi for the 6th yearly spiritual fiesta.

Commercial activities took a giant lip in the fast developing community in Oru West Local Government area of Imo as an estimated crowd running into thousands from far and near, make brisk business selling all manner of wares including food items, wearing apparels, evangelistic materials, drinks for hundreds of thousands who daily defied the hot weather conditions to participate in the programme.

Quite expectedly, some traders used the opportunity of the crowd to recoup their expenses during the Yuletide season, inflating prices of popular items, such as MTN recharge cards that should normally sell for N1,500 was sold for N1,700 while pure water that sells for N5 sold for N10 or more in some cases just as residents freely sublet parts of their apartments to visitors for as much as N2,000 per day.

An estimated crowd of over one million converged in the small community from different parts of the country, South Africa, Cameroun, Ghana and other parts of globe to join several natives who were still enjoying the Yuletide holidays in their country homes.

The traffic on the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway and the MgbidiOguta Road, as a result of the influx was described by the natives as unprecedented as vehicles daily snaked their way to the grassy arena where men, women with some strapping children on their defied the scorching January sun, seating on the bare grassy ground throughouþ the duration of the three-day event.

They defied the scorching sun to seat on every available space in the Chosen Secondary School premises in Mgbidi for the 3-day crusade titled, “What God has determined, shall be done,” with the General Overseer, Pastor Lazarus Muoka the sole preacher.

The typical Chosen service focuses on testimonies which is a service can begin at 8.00 a.m. and ends at 8.00 p.m. without anybody bathing an eye. Testimonies and the veneration of the God of Chosen in songs, prayers and whatever can really be a put-off for the uninitiated who is attending such a crusade for the first time.

When Muoka eventually mounts the pulpit, he proceeds straight for a healing/deliverance session with many people testifying of having received instant healing they have been waiting for in the Sun. Asked to assess the impact of the crusade on the community in the

last five years and how he feels seeing fellow Nigerians on the bare floor under a scorching Sun, this is how the General Overseer, Pastor Muoka responded. “I want to let you know that in these five years we have held this programme in this part of Nigeria, Mgbidi, you can assess the impact by what you see yourself. ”If you have seen this multitude under the Sun, that means there is something that has happened to them that made them to be under the scorching sun without minding it. And I want to let you know that the heat from the scorching sun they are experiencing today is not the first time. Even in the time of Christ, they worshipped in the scorching sun. Christ did not build houses for them and they went on with Christ day and night, some times without food. ”So the fact is that the Sun is not peculiar to the Mgbidi Lord’s Chosen crusade but a sign that a great revival is taking place in Nigeria. You heard an Australian man who wished that such a revival should take place in his country even in the hot sun. ”So the point is that from the days of Christ, this kind of revival is what was experienced; people following Christ every where He went whatever condition they found themselves. And so what you are seeing today at Mgbidi is the impact of revival.

Revival is not for a structure, and I must let you know that no matter the amount of structure we erect here, as long as there is great revival like the one in Mgbidi, the crowd would continue to overflow the boundaries.

,,

BY SAM EYOBOKA

mined shall surely come to pass.

If they live a life that pleases God He will surely bless them. Whatever is happening in the country today is not peculiar to Nigerians alone. It is a sign of the coming of Jesus Christ,” he maintained.

As the nation moves towards another election year, Muoka cautioned politicians to genuinely embrace God and ensure they are born again. “Our political office holders should seek God genuinely and make sure they are born again then what God has determined for our nation shall be done,” he stated.

Asked what he thinks of corruption in the Church, he said; “the only person qualified to judge the Church is a spiritual person because the Bible says that, ‘A spiritual man judgeth all things and yet he is not judged’. So those people who are assessing the Church today are not in the right position to do so and again, that depends on the kind of church they are talking about. ”There are many churches established for selfish interests but if it is a church established by God to save souls, maintains righteousness and with such church, what the nation needs to do is to join such a church and let their lives be revived and then begin to live right,” he urged.

Continuing, he said: “So I want to urge all Nigerians to seek the face of God and make sure that they live the lives that please God and as many of them that have not yet given their lives to Christ, they should endeavour to do so because there is no more time.

Christ is coming soon.”

According to Muoka who re-

There are many churches established for selfish interests but if it is a church established by God to save souls, maintain righteousness and with such church, what the nation needs to do is to join such a church and let their lives be revived and then begin to live right

”For example, when we were at Ilasa in Lagos we started with a building but before we knew it, the street was overtaken. And then we moved to Odofin Park and before you knew it the place was overwhelmed even with the numerous structures on ground, and now we are here at Mgbidi, and even with the structure here in Mgbidi crusade ground, it is like nothing is here. ”So, I want to tell you that this is a sign of great revival taking place in Nigeria,” Muoka emphasised.

Asked what his new year message was to the nation, he urged Nigerians to depend on God, noting that such was the only panacea to overcome the multidimensional challenges currently plaguing the nation. ”My message to Nigerians is that they should seek God and return to Him. As they do this God can never disappoint them.

As a matter of fact God has said it shall be well with the righteous and whatever God has deter-

fused to dabble into politics, “all that you see happening in Nigeria today and the world over, signify the imminent coming of the Lord Jesus. As a result of that, while we are seeking for the good of our present lives, we should also think of our eternal lives and what happens after death. ”So let’s make that while we are waiting for the coming of Jesus, if any one leaves this world before the coming of the Lord the person should ensure that he/she makes Heaven. ”So my message for Nigerians is that they should seek God and return to Him, and they should depend on Him and as they do so, I am assuring that God can never disappoint them. In fact, God has put it to us this year, to tell the righteous that it is well with them and whatever God determines will surely come to pass, if only they go on and live the lives that please God, God will surely bless Nigeria.

He emphasised that whatever that is going on today, is not pe-

People that received their healing with Pastor Chukwunoso

Bro Kenneth Uzoigwe 1year on Wheel Chair Healed at the crusade culiar to Nigeria but they are signs of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, stressing that the Bible says in the last days and in the time when Christ shall come, there shall be perilous and dangerous times; a lot of things would be happening, which when you see them coming, you would know that these are the signs of His coming and those things are happening to and they are not just happening in Nigeria or Africa but elsewhere in Europe and the world over. ”But sometimes, Nigerians see it as peculiar to them alone but it is not so; because evils are taking place in every other part of the world. You would even realize that what is happening in Nigeria is even less than what is happening in other parts of the world. But as we seek the face of the Lord, I am assuring you that this year, it shall be well with the people of God,” he added.

The cleric also used the occasion to speak on the church’s truck that had an accident in Oshodi, Lagos, December 2012, saying: “It may be wrong for the press and Nigerians to judge us on the basis of that singular accident. A tipper that was carrying sand skipped off the road and accident occurred, it was unfortunate that was the only good thing the press saw and published. We felt disappointed.

We are not going to say much on the issue because God had taken control. We sympathise with the families and of course, we are here to preach righteousness and to preserve lives and millions of lives are being saved. So what happened was accident, it was never an intentional act. We felt so bad that something like that happened, but I want to let you know that accident happens everyday,” he said. ”And if they have known God, they would know that what God has determined would be done.

Whoever God has determined to

be there would be and it cannot be otherwise. So let us seek God who determines who is who, even in the political terrain, so that whatever God has determined in the political terrain, in our families and the nation at large shall be done,” he maintained.

Two persons who claimed to have tested positive to the dreaded Acquired Deficiency Syndrome, HIV/AIDs, Mr. Sunday Igwebuike and Mrs. Ikwunze Nma were among those who gave testimony before thousands of worshipers that they have been healed of the deadly diseases after prayer sessions at the crusade.

With tears rolling down his cheeks, Igwebuike said he had lived with the deadly virus for almost a decade but he was shocked when his doctor gave him a clean bill of sound health that he is now negative: “it was a huge shock for me when the doctor gave me a report indicating that I’m now negative. I remembered that it was during the prayers session supervised by Pastor Muoka that I felt that something evil left me. The pastor specifically rebuked the HIV/ AIDs disease and asked any of us who was positive to go for check up again. This is the Lord’s doing and I give glory to him.”

He said.

Flaunting her doctor’s latest report that confirmed that she is no longer HiV/AIDs positive, Ikwunze said: “This is beyond human understanding. And it is only God that can do this. I’m no longer positive of the killer disease after prayers by pastor Muoka. Glory to the name of God.” The crusade tagged : “What God has determined, shall be done” was also characterized by testimonies of miracles of healing of deafness, loss of memory, blindness, bed wetting, barrenness and deliverance from demonic possession among others.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 45

S

ome months ago, Jimi Sonuga in troduced me to two of his female neighbours. “Do you write a column in a newspaper?” enquired one of them. “Yes,” I replied. “Oh,” she smiled, “ you are the man who hates Paul.” “I would not put it that way,” I protested, “I don’t hate anybody.” Then the lady did something interesting. She came nearer and whispered to me in mocking confidentiality: “Don’t worry about that.

We can’t stand Paul too.”

Why should a Christian lady’s aversion for Paul be confidential? I would never presume to speak for Christian women. Nevertheless, I have discovered that most of them cannot stand Paul. However, their distaste for him is not expressed publicly in Christian circles because the bible is used to browbeat women, and the official Christian doctrine, even against overwhelming evidence to the contrary, is that everything in the bible, including the epistles of Paul, is the word of God. Never mind that Paul’s “ word of God” about women is often ignored in churches.

Misogynistic Paul Nowhere did Paul do as much havoc to Christianity as he did on the issue of women. Paul belonged to the mainstream male Jewish cultural tradition that despised women. The apocryphal book of Sirach says: “Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good; it is woman who brings shame and dis-

WOMEN IN THE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST grace.” The Talmud says: “a hundred women are no better than two men.” Josephus echoes this: “The woman is inferior to the man in every way.”

Without a doubt, Paul is a misogynist who contributes in the bible to this contempt for women.

Speaking with characteristic double-mindedness, Paul says: “there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28).

Then he contradicts himself by saying: “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” (1 Timothy 2:11-14).

Can this be the word of God? Certainly not! Only the words of Jesus are the words of God. Indeed, Paul does not even pretend here, as he sometimes does, that he received this bizarre injunction from Jesus. He is simply laying down his own law to be enforced by the authority he confers on himself. Note his words: “I do no permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man.”

Who does not permit this?

It is male-chauvinistic Paul.

The word of Paul about women being silent in the churches has passed away precisely because it is not the word of God God-given authority What about God? Does he permit a woman to be in authority over a man?

Yes he does. God appointed a woman, Deborah, as judge in Israel. (Judges 4:4-5). In that capacity, she exercised God-given authority over all Israel; male and female. That authority was not given to Lapidoth, her husband. It was given to Deborah, his wife.

Today, some women exercise authority over men in all walks of life. There is absolutely nothing ungodly or unrighteous about this.

God says: “I am the LORD, I do not change.”

(Malachi 3:6). Therefore, we know the same God who gave Deborah authority over men in the Old Testament gives it to women in the New Testament. If the case of Deborah had been a mistake, Jesus would have corrected it. He did not.

Paul’s was expressing his personal prejudices.

This might be of importance to men like Timothy, after all, he claims to be their father. But Paul is not our father, so we don’t have to listen to him.

Jesus says: “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.” (Matthew 23:9).

Neither is Paul our teacher. Jesus says furthermore: “One is your teacher, the Christ.”

(Matthew 23:10).

Paul’s chauvinism Paul continues his diatribe against women in another scripture, using new arguments to buttress his position. He says: “Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says.” (1 Corinthians 14:34-38).

You know this is balderdash almost immediately because the same Paul who insists Christians are no longer under the law, now finds it necessary to seek refuge in the law as the authority for this invective. But here, Paul is hoping his Gentile audience is not well-versed in the law, because his statement is an outright lie. Nowhere in the law are women required to keep silent in the synagogue. Paul just

fabricates this out of thin air.

This kind of male chauvinism should not be confused with the word of God. Why would God give women voices and then insist they cannot speak? Paul’s maliciously-phrased injunction means women cannot even sing aloud in church, or read scripture aloud, or pray aloud, for that would violate the commandment of “Emperor Paul” who insists they must be silent.

Paul’s witchcraft When you read between the lines, you realise that Paul anticipates that some would take great exception to his outrageous injunction that women must not speak in church.

Therefore, he found it necessary to fabricate additional justifications, the better to ram his jaundiced point of view down the throat of Christians.

He declares: “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant. (1 Corinthians 14:37-38).

This is nothing short of manipulative witchcraft. Jesus says we should beware of false prophets. (Matthew 7:15). But nowhere did

he say the yardstick by which we would determine a true prophet is by his conformity to the capricious words of Paul.

Paul is not Jesus, and Jesus does not speak like Paul. When a woman interrupted Jesus while he was preaching by shouting: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you,” Jesus did not tell her to keep silent. He merely replied: “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

(Luke 11:27-28).

But Paul adds insult to injury. He says furthermore: “If (women) want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church. (1 Corinthians 14:35). This is preposterous. Can Paul speak for women?

Who tells him it is shameful for a woman to speak in church? Is it shameful for Paul or is it shameful for women?

This position is even asinine. What about widows and single women who don’t have husbands? Who should they ask at home?

Many Christians insist Paul’s word is the word of God. If so, why is it that no church abides by this word of Paul today? The word of God is timeless. It is so in the beginning and ever more shall be.

Jesus says: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.”

(Matthew 24:35). But the word of Paul about women being silent in the churches has passed away precisely because it is not the word of God. (To Be Continued).

Oritsejaf or urges more pra or the nation Oritsejafor prayyer erss ffor

BY SAM EYOBOKA

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S part of celebra tions of Nigeria’s centenary anniversary, the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor has called on all Christians to pray for peace, unity and progress of the nation. Oritsejafor said this year marks the 100th anniversary of the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Protectorates to form what is today known as Nigeria, which makes this year a very crucial one for the survival of the country.

He therefore stressed the need for every citizen of the country irrespective of religious or ethnic differences to pray for the survival and

progress of the country which has been under intense satanic attacks across the length and breath of nation. Oritsejafor said Nigeria is a nation ordained by God for greatness but whose growth had been stunted by a catalogue of

challenges which he referred to as “satanic attacks and manipulation” that must be dealt with spiritually.

In a Press statement made available by his secretary, Pastor Sam Dottie, the CAN helmsman said his church has

perfected plans to host a National Prayer Conference to offer fervent prayers for the peace and unity of the country.

According to the statement, the prayer conference would hold between January 20 and 26 at the International Gos-

pel Centre of Word of Life Bible Church in Warri. Theme: “Grace Powered, and Mercy Saturated Life” National Director of Nigeria Prays, Dr. Moses Aransiola is expected to join hosts, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and his wife, Pas-

tor (Mrs.) Helen Oritsejafor as guest speakers at the week long spiritual fiesta. The statement added that there will be two sessions everyday in the morning and in the afternoon; but on Sunday only one service at 8:00 a.m.

Catholic Chur ts ffir irirsst pries Churcch of the Eas Eastt ge gets priestt

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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ISTORY was made December 29, last year in Imo State as the first African priest of the Catholic Church of the East, Rev. Father Modestus Chilaka and Rev. Eustace Ugwu were ordained priest and deacon respectively.

The ordination ceremony was performed at St. Francis of Assisi parish, Obiohuru, Isiala Mbano Local Government area of Imo State, by the Archbishop of the Metropolitan Church of the East, Most Rev. Ramzi Musallam. Preaching the homily,

Archbishop Musallam expressed regret that “political leaders all over the world, have failed to lead their people the right way,” even as he lashed out at priests of the church for failing to preach the word as revealed to preach the word as revealed by Jesus Christ. He, therefore, reminded the priests to be mindful of the fact that Jesus is with us. The cleric also disclosed that the Catholic Church of the East was a congregation of the Catholic Church, with headquarters in the United States and Jerusalem, pointing out that the church was not anti-Catholicism.

Stating that the Catholic Church of the East has Pope Francis I as its leader and believes in the infallibility of the Pope, Archbishop Musallam said he had come to Africa to perform the right during Christmas period when people are celebrating, just to show that the church and its priests are not fake. Rev. Father Chilaka expressed gratitude to God for making his dreams come true. He recalled the bitter experiences he had passed in his desire to come to this realisation. He was also of the belief that “ with God all things are possible.”

PAGE 46—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014

Obi Nwakanma's misinformed verdict on Okorocha

BY SAM ONWUEMENDO IN BRIEF Pitfalls in claims against the Imo governor

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BI Nwakanma could be said to have paid his dues in the pen job. He could also be adjudged one of the best in the country. Writing his column, THE ORBIT, headline, “Rochas Okorocha and his vuvuzela administration in Imo,” Nwakanma descended heavily on the Imo governor and his administration by reproducing what the opposition in the state has “placed on sale” for some time now without willing buyers.

Obi Nwakanma is from Mbaise, Imo State. Like he wrote, he visited home from his U.S base last summer. However, as a friend and colleague, he visited my private office in Owerri and that was months before my appointment. He asked me about Rochas and his administration. I took time to tell him that the man was on the fast lane in transforming the state. From all indications, I knew he had also been briefed by some of those who felt that Rochas had removed the silver spoons in their mouths in 2011.

Obi Nwakanma is from a highly educated family and some of them in politics.

They were there when I was telling him most of the things Rochas’ government had done to earn my sympathy, and the sympathy of most Imo people.

It is safe to allude that what Nwakanma wrote last Sunday

was exactly what the opposition in the state has been canvassing. For instance, he wrote that “Imo State is plodding along, listlessly under misgovernance”.. One had expected the ORBIT man to mention some of the areas the misgovernance has been. He failed to do that. And that has been the view of the tiny opposition voice in the state, since 2011. The opposition would say Rochas’ administration has failed. You ask them how, they wouldn’t have an answer. Governance is multifaceted.

You have education, security, infrastructure, commerce, administration, labour, tourism, sports, agriculture, etal. Anybody who had selflessly and genuinely visited Imo or who has been following events in the state cannot say Imo is plodding along, listlessly under misgovernance.

Again, Rochas’ achievements in less than three years have dwarfed those before him, Hence, those whose only interest is to be in power in the state have resorted to marketing lies against the administration.

They have a factory called “Rumour Mill”. The products of the “mill” have been fictitious and frivolous propaganda and lies that have also become obsolete in the state. And what Nwakanma succeeded in doing was to assist them to market some of the lies or rumours.

For instance, one of the recent rumours was that the state government was planning to relocate the state library. The library has been there, and nobody has touched it even when there is nothing wrong if the government decides to take it to another location. But Nwakanma

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Rochas’ achievements in less than three years have dwarfed those before him, Hence, those whose only interest is to be in power in the state have resorted to marketing lies against the administration

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wrote, talking about “the destruction of the Owerri city library and its replacement with some other structure” by Rochas’ government. The fact on ground is that the library is still where it has been and nobody has touched it, talk more, its replacement with some other structure. This is the crux of our concern. When intelligent writers like Nwakanma expected to insist on the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth decide to encourage those who trade on falsehood. The achievements of Rochas have somewhat become mystery or “nightmare” to the opposition in the state especially when the projects could be verified.

Hence they began to talk about the poor quality of the projects. A faulty claim Nwakanma had tried to help them to market in his work under scrutiny. He wrote that Rochas’ “projects were of poor quality work”. He didn’t give reasons why he thought as such, or gave instances. Rochas’ administration has constructed more than 500 rural roads in the 305 wards of the state, and more than 300 city roads. They are

there to be seen. Incidentally, Nwakanma is not a civil engineer and is not therefore qualified to evaluate the quality of the roads. Even at that, when the opposition in the state mainly in the PDP came up with this gimmick of the poor quality of the roads, people began to ask them how many they had constructed for the 12 years they held sway. When they also tried in vain to talk about the poor quality of Rochas’ free education at all levels, Imo people also asked them why they didn’t give them the one with quality when they were in charge. That is why, for what Nwakanma wrote on Rochas, let him come home and go to the market square close to his house called “Afo Umuhu” and tell them what he wrote last Sunday on Rochas and see whether they will not decorate him with sighs of disappointment. Nwakanma also wrote that Rochas “try to bamboozle the people with what are largely paperweight claims to public service” How? He did not explain.

It was also shocking even to the marrow that Obi Nwakanma of all people could be talking about the EFCC clearing the former deputy governor of the state, Sir Jude Agbaso of malfeasance, in a matter that is pending in Court. I should queue behind Obi Nwakanma in the journalism profession, but it is difficult for one to believe that he does not know that EFCC lacks the right to clear anybody on a matter in court.

That would be prejudice. He also wrote about the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, Anthony Obinna, distancing himself from Rochas’ administration after being an early supporter of

the administration. This is also a product of the Rumour Mill in Owerri with the opposition elements as the owners. Did Nwakanma have any chat with Obinna to ascertain whether he has distanced himself from the administration or not. The answer is no. Then how did he arrive at his conclusion?

Nwakanma also made reference to the media parley by Prof. Viola Onwuliri, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and her call that Rochas should account for all the money his administration has received from the Federation Account. The government reacted immediately. So, Nwakanma was wrong to have said that as at the time he was writing his piece the governor or his office had not responded.

The government accepted the minister ’s call, and said, it would be more attractive if the governor does that with the former governors produced by the PDP who ruled the state for 12 years, in attendance so that they would tell Imo people what they did with the state’s allocations while Rochas would do same for less than three years.

The comprehensive list of Rochas’ achievements will be emailed to Nwakanma so that he will know who to believe when next he comes home, whether me or one of those who want Rochas out of power only for the sake of their “coming” back in 2015.

Incidentally, 2015 election in Imo is going to be a class “war” between the few rich politicians, and millions of Imo people who cannot afford flight tickets, to Lagos or Abuja. *Onwuemeodo is Senior Special Assistant on Media to Governor Okorocha.

2015 & 2016: What Oshiomhole must do!

BY JOY AKPEDI IN BRIEF The calibre of people that should emerge for Edo forthcoming polls

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HERE is no doubt that po litical gladiators in Edo State have commenced activities ahead of the 2015 and 2016 national/state assembly and governorship elections in the state. Luckily for the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state, its ranks are swelling each day with the imminent entry of a former Minister of State for Works, Engr Chris Ogienwonyi, and a former three-time House of Representatives member, Hon. Barr.West Ehiogie-Idahosa.

Last Tuesday, there was a political tsunami in Ogbona, home town of the chairman of the PDP in the state, Chief Dan Orbih, where the only PDP councillor in not only Etsako Central but Edo North senatorial district, Mr Peter Akhughe, dumped the party for the APC. The councillor is from Ward 4 like Orbih.

Looking at the political situation

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VIEWPOINT

in the state, there is no doubt that the Governor Adams Oshiomhole-led APC is waxing stronger.

However, the Comrade Governor still has a lot of work to do in terms of ensuring that the party presents qualified candidates ahead of the 2015 and 2016 elections in the state. Currently, the Edo deputy governor, Dr Pius Odubu, and the former South-south Vice Chairman of the then ACN, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, are in contention to succeed Oshiomhole.

It was also learnt that Ogienwonyi, who is billed to join the APC soon, is also in the race. Though the names of the Commissioner for Works, Osarodion Ogie, is also being mentioned, it seems the former Chief of Staff will only indicate his interest if he gets the nod of his boss. There is no doubt that Oshiomhole has transformed Edo since his entrance at Osadebey Avenue and that is the more reason he must ensure that capable hands are saddled with the responsibility of taking over from him. And he must start from the national and state assembly elections which hold in 2015. In Edo North senatorial district, it was learnt that

There is no doubt that Osagie is one of the best lawmakers in the APC in Edo due to his representation so far and it will not come as a surprise to many if he joins the governorship race in 2016

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Senator Domingo Obende wants to return to the Senate, but the seat will be hotly contested by the current Secretary to the State Government, Professor Julius Ihonvbere, and Chief Alimekhena who is from Etsako like Oshiomhole. In Edo Central, the only PDP senator in the state, Odion Ugbesia, wants to go for a third term but it is expected that the APC political machinery may kick him out due to his alleged poor representation. The APC is expected to line up people like Chief Francis Inegbeneki, Prince Okojie and Theophilus Okoh; any of them can beat Ugbesia, especially Inegbeneki

who can match the seeming PDP madness in that area. In Edo South, the Minority Whip in the House of Representatives, Hon.Samson Osagie, is gunning for the Senate to replace Senator Ehigie Uzamere who is fast becoming a political outcast in the state due to his alleged betrayal of Oshiomhole. There are also strong indications that Osagie’s target is the governorship which race he is expected to join even when he gets to the Senate. There is no doubt that Osagie is one of the best lawmakers in the APC in Edo due to his representation so far and it will not come as a surprise to many if he joins the governorship race in 2016 whether as a senator or not. But the snag is that Uhumwode where he comes from has produced Senator Rowland Owie, Senator Daisy Danjuma and as it seems other local government councils in Edo South will demand for the seat this time. Apart from that, the four governorship aspirants, Odubu,Ize-Iyamu, Solomon Edebiri and Ogienwonyi, are from the Uhumwonde/Orhiomnwon axis. They will be asked to either to pick the governorship or senatorial slot; that question

must be asked soon. West Idahosa is also expected to join the senatorial race in Edo South. But as a new entrant in the party, it might be difficult to convince the party leadership to give him the ticket following the complaints about Uzamere.

Another person who might also join the race is Henry Idahagbon who is the current Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state.

But the leadership of the APC must ensure that the current House of Reps member from Egor/Ikpoba Okhai, Jim Adun, and his counterpart from Ovia federal constituency, Engr Isaac Osahon, are not returned due to their poor representation.

It is even funny to hear that Adun intends to run for the Senate. Oshiomhole must know that he is on his way out; the governor must not leave Edo in the hands of those who will send the state back to the PDP days.

He must ensure that those aspiring to represent Edo are scrutinized so that the state will continue to enjoy not only development but good representation in Abuja. If this is done, 2016 will not be a problem for the APC and Oshiomhole. *Akpedi, a public commentator works at UNIJOS

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 47

Aviation as a platform for rural transformation

BY DAN UDOH IN BRIEF

Highlighting the achievements of Stella Oduah in reviving the Aviation industry

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HEN she assumed duty at the country ’s aviation ministry years ago, Stella Oduah did not mince words in letting Nigerians in on her agenda for the sector. Put together, she articulated her programmes to rescue the fast deteriorating state of affairs in that sector in tandem with the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

In doing that, Oduah told Nigerians that having a good transportation service (air, road and sea) is essential to the growth of any economy because it boosts trade in both goods and services.

At an event in Abuja last year, the minister underscored the foregoing by identifying a nexus between the sector’s core business and other sectors of the country’s economy.

“Sustainable agricultural growth is crucial for poverty alleviation and the promotion of rural transformation in Africa.

This vital role can be achieved by making agriculture a core part of Nigeria’s development policy at regional, national and international level.

Small holder farmers particularly women and youth are key actors in the African agricultural sector. Africa relies heavily on food aid and food import,” she said at the event.

But therein laid the challenges which Oduah set out to confront for the Nigerian Aviation industry in recent years had traditionally been a passenger-focused sector operating and focusing its business model on proceeds from passenger air travel.

“We would need to let go of this ortho-

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Given the dire need of the nation for efficacious catalysts to stimulate the economy, the promise of the aerotropolis concept should be explored, even on face value

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dox business doctrine and imbibe new business models that have the ability to meet the demands of travellers as well as that of the global supply chain and economic development. With the world fast becoming a global marketplace; and with different industries such as the banking and telecommunications sector reshaping their business models to include more energized and profitable business expansions. There is the need for all economic sectors to revise their business models in order to accommodate more profitable channels,” she said.

According to her, the lack of infrastructure in the aviation sector would be tackled as a business opportunity rather than looking at it only as a hindrance to development. The end-result was to create an enabling environment that would not only cater for agricultural exports, but would also drive economic empowerment and rural development through various economic sectors.

The establishment of cargo terminals would create an enabling environment for agricultural export, this in turn creates room for wide scale agricultural Produc-

tion and this brings technology and large scale infrastructure to rural areas.

Any success?

The minister’s averred plan in this direction has continued to attract public comments most of which thumb-up the modest results her transformation agenda in the sector. These, according to observers are anchored on what she aptly describes as the aerotropolis concept.

The aerotropolis initiative According to Ariyo Akinfenwa Principal Strategist at Media Age Communications, not too long ago, Daily Trust newspaper reported in its editorial that the ministry of aviation has vigorously been pushing its concept of enhancing the contributions of Nigeria’s 22 airports to the nation’s economy. Some 16 or 73 per cent of these airports are officially classified as “perishable” (non-viable).

“And the ministry’s preferred vehicle for this enterprise is the aerotropolis concept, a relatively new urban and social development initiative in which the adjoining area to an airport, extending to as much as 25-kilometre radius, is transformed from the traditional isolated location to serve as a hub around which aviation-related businesses and commercial ventures, can operate profitably,” he said.

Advocating the idea during a recent visit to the corporate offices of media trust limited, publishers of daily trust and sister publications, the minister of aviation, ms stella oduah, eulogized the concept as offering gilded prospects for changing the story of nigeria’s aviation industry. In her submission, she was effusive about how application of the concept would avail the nation’s airports of sparkling five-star hotels, glittering housing estates, auto and other technical repair shops, new worldclass medical facilities and services as well as recreation facilities, among many other benefits.

In specific terms, the Nigerian aerotropolis project is expected to earn for the country the admittedly impressive annual revenue of 100 billion naira, and provide jobs

The imperative of integrity in governance

BY DR. JOEL ORUCHE IN BRIEF The need for our leaders to apply integrity in governing the people GOVERNANCE is the way and means public officials and agencies acquire and exercise power and authority in the provision of goods and services to the public.

Governance equally is the process through which the society is managed by the representative of the people through policy decisions and implementation for the overall good of the people.

Put simply, governance is the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels. The exercise of this power is usually through economic, social and political institutions in which institution represent the organizational rules and routines, formal laws and informal laws, as well as informal norms that together shape the incentives of public policy makers, overseers and providers of public services.

These governance institutions and processes are operated by qualified, trusted and tested men and women of expected integrity. For these men and women of integrity to drive the institutions and process of governance implies that they should ensure that the processes and institutions afford citizens and groups the opportunity to articulate their interest, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences.

This brings to fore the need to fully understand the meaning of integrity in order to determine those men and women

who actually posses integrity before they are saddled with the governance responsibility.

Integrity according to free online dictionary is steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code, the state of being unimpaired.

Integrity is soundness of moral principle, uprightness, character and honesty.

Integrity is a personal quality of fairness that all aspire to. It is indeed a level of living in wholeness and truth in all aspects of our lives.

Integrity is the building block of trust.

Integrity has a very specific meaning in the governance context. In this regard, integrity means consistency between what a director says, writes and does. It means authenticity, candor, reliability, confidentiality, solidarity and a willingness to accept personal accountability and be bound by board decisions and directors own role within them.

Most importantly, integrity means putting the interest of the organization above your own and even putting your own reputation or that of the organization at risk in doing so. It means having the courage to take significant principled action when necessary, for the ultimate good of an organization. Integrity also means using power appropriately and always acting in a way that withstands the harshest scrutiny.

Integrity is one of the highest bars in the governance game because the opportunities for self interest and enrichment are so plentiful.

Integrity is an important attribute in directors and officers and contributes to trustworthiness and “doing the right thing” in the interests of an organization.

Integrity is so important that it should be recruited for, developed and assessed. If a director or manager does not possess integrity, they need to go. In this regard, an

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For a leader to be effective in governance he must have influence; and to have influence, he must have integrity. The absence of integrity in governance leads to loss of trust in institutions, industries, management and individuals

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expert like Warren Buffet says in looking for someone to hire, you look for three qualities, intelligence, and Energy. But the most important is integrity because if they don’t have that, the other two qualities, intelligence and energy, are going to kill you. Recruit directors and officers with the utmost integrity and replace those who do not have it. Your board will be better for it.

A man or woman of integrity therefore must have strength of character, be steadfast, resolute, authentic, straight-forward, open and direct in his dealings with others.

He or she must also have clear and uncompromised values, shows clarity about what is right and wrong, must be committed, principled, honourable , fair, accountable and responsible. Above all, he or she must be mature and wise.

A person of integrity therefore will not have divided loyalties; he or she does not suffer from duplicity or hypocrisy. He / she is simple minded in his pursuits; open

for at least 10 million Nigerians.

In countries where the aerotropolis has been operational, the dividends have been tremendous, Oduah noted. For instance, Amsterdam’s Schipol airport in the Netherlands, which is an active aerotropolis, has over 2,000 companies and more than 58,000 people at work on its grounds.

Seen from the success stories of the aerotropolis movement the world over, the concept qualifies for attention and actualization in Nigeria. However, given that numerous projects of similar appeal as the aerotropolis concept have been launched in the past, only to end up as white elephant misadventures, this project should be considered with caution, so that it does not end up as another drainpipe on the economy. Immediate examples include the export processing zones (EPZs) which were launched with considerable expectations, but which in operation are yet to justify their huge price tags. The point has often been made that many of such projects are usually conceived with commendable, even patriotic convictions, but suffer poor implementation due to factors that include the neglect of the socio-economic attributes of their locations.

Against the experience of the nation with such projects, the aerotropolis scheme can do with due attention to the factors that made similar ones fail in the past, in order to assure its success.

Given the dire need of the nation for efficacious catalysts to stimulate the economy, the promise of the aerotropolis concept should be explored, even on face value. It must be a huge leap forward where some if not all of Nigeria’s airports are transformed from their present non-viable status into vibrant hubs of economic activity.

This is where the ministry needs to get its act together to ensure that the nation is not hoodwinked and short-changed through one more wasteful gamble with public funds, this time in the name of aerotropolis.

and has nothing to hide.

In governance, integrity is the leaders’ navigation system used to navigate when making daily decisions that affect the public. It lays the groundwork for making decisions. Integrity pulls the leader together and unites the personality into whole; thus, providing for consistency in the personality which leads to consistency in decision making.

For a leader to be effective in governance he must have influence; and to have influence, he must have integrity. The absence of integrity in governance leads to loss of trust in institutions, industries, management and individuals. This again results in suspicion and cynicism especially about the ability of those in authority to give priority to peoples’ welfare and wellbeing.

Again, lack of integrity in governance creates leadership vacuum, divided loyalties, hypocrisy and ambiguity.

In the search for man or woman of integrity in Nigeria for instance, government often fail to make distinction between those individuals of genuine integrity and those whose perceived integrity were made by the media.

Those individuals with media-made integrity can be said to have deceptive or false integrity. This simply means that under the guise of integrity, such individuals perpetrate atrocities when given position of authority. They are involved in high level corruption, tribalism, nepotism and other unpatriotic acts. Simply put, the problem with this category of individuals is that under the veil of integrity, they superintend on corruption; they allow their decision making process to be distorted by potential for personal gain. Often, these individuals use their subordinates and cronies to defraud government. They indeed look the other way when corruption thrives under their nose.

Government should therefore look closely at individuals who claim to have integrity before appointing them to public office.

PAGE 48—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014 japhdave@yahoo.com 08056402376

Arty Absolut Open Canvas transforms Lagos City

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VISUAL

he Worlds Swedish lead ing Vodka brand, Absolut has proven that the creative and transformative power of art can change the world.

This they did through an open art event held across four centres in Lagos; Shoprite Ikeja, Victory Park-Festac,TBS-Tinubu Square and Herbert Macaulay Pedestrian bridge, Yaba .

The 5-day artistic campaign across Lagos no doubt featured twenty young artists, who took the Swedish vodka maker ’s famed legacy of supporting the arts from their commissioned artwork competition brief and infused same with a new energy and tagline, “Transform today.” The result across the four centres is an unequivocal stylish blend of hope that will inspire restive Lagosians and transform their own lives, make them more creative and help them drown their sorrows.

For the talents who featured, they range from artists to digital-media artists. The agency looked at a sizeable entry from artists in different parts of Lagos before selecting the twenty. ”We’re looking for cutting-edge artists, emerging artists, not necessarily the most well-known ones but the ones that really are shaping the future and are truly transformative in what they’re doing,” said Ibe Ananaba, a notable mixed media artist.

When Sunday Vanguard Art visited the four activation centres

across Lagos, the spots showed all artists furiously engaged in the creative process of conception, creation, completion and celebration in the spirit of Absolut.

The “Transform today” line was hiding in plain sight. “We were trying to get to the nexus of what makes this brand singular,we found it was the idea of transformation—of the raw ingredients into this fantastic vodka, but also in the world of art. Absolut is a brand that allows you to become who you want to become”.

For the young creative artists people who are daring to live by their own creative code,they brought the creative spirit to life in a modern way, especially dur-

Some of the participating artists painting during the Open Canvas in Lagos

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STORIES BY JAPHET ALAKAM

We are looking for cutting edge artists, emerging artists, not necessarily the most well known ones but the ones that are really shaping the future

ing the artwork painting exerc i s e .

According to the Brand Manager Absolut Vodka, Akintayo Akinseloyin, “We had a strong need for this brand to start speaking with one voice again … and talk about what Absolut believes in. We want to celebrate and inspire people to go out and create

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their own future, where all it takes is a passion and a dream.”

The launch of ABSOLUT Vodka’s new global brand platform, Transform Today in Nigeria, marks the first output of the collaboration between the brand and arts in Nigeria.

The open canvas campaign rolled out with an extensive body

of work spanning and documenting twenty artist’s passion and drive, an array of brand and product print executions and a refreshed ABSOLUT brand initiat i v e . ”The creatively interactive event has offered us as participants the opportunity to explore our own creative potential through a variety of media, enabling us to realize our own ability to create the future,” artists say.

According to Absolut, Transform Today continues the brand’s history of “pushing the boundaries of contemporary culture to connect with the passions of a new generation.”

The brand has been working with artists for 30 years, starting with Andy Warhol.

For the team at Tinubu Square,They took an iconic brand and blended it into the wallpaper. Nothing about this stands out except for the fifth shot which is an absolute bottle actually on a wall.

Absolut says it aims to connect with the creative spirit in everyone and to inspire artistic transformation around the world. ”From a consumer perspective, it starts from a shared belief we have with consumers that the future is actually not set in stone, not a given, but we have the power as individuals to transform not only ourselves into more creative persons, but to transform society at large,” Akinseloyin said.

Africans, home and the Diaspora converge for future city project

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HE 2014 edition of Afri can Renaissance Confer ence of Africans from the continent and the Diaspora holds at Akpokoutu, Republic of Benin on January 15, and 30, 2014.

In the last four years, prominent African leaders such as South African cleric, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, AfricanAmerican civil right activist, Rev Jesse Jackson, among others have joined the convener, Vizir Olfindji Akande to strategise for the development of African culture and value.

The first part of the event holds on January 30, at the cite of the proposed city, Akpokoutu, a border town between Ogun State and Ilara, Benin Republic. The event, among other focuses, marks the widely celebrated Martin Luther King day.

The second part, which holds same day features a conference on the proposed African City project.

African Renaissance City of Humanism, also known as Igbale Aiye by the natives of the host community is designed as a common home for the black race across the world to converge, regularly, towards a greater collective advancement.

African Renaissance City is the initiative of Africa Cultures International Institutes, under the leadership of Vizir Olofin II Olofindji Akande, and is proposed as a free territory across the border space of Republic of Benin and Nigeria.

faiths.

Some of the yearly events include Solidarity, ending of January; Tolerance and Consciousness, February 6 and 11; Farewell Slavery, March 25; Unity, May 25: Childhood and Freedom, 16 and 19 June; Brotherhood, 16 August; Tradition, September 17; Dialogue, October 2.

One of the several natural features of the Africa Renaissance is

a cave said to have been traced by archaeologists to the Biblical Solomon. Inside the cave is a spot described as ‘the seat of King Solomon’.

African Renaissance City of Humanism welcomes partners to establish holiday resorts, hotels and various cultural structures across the vast land.

In 2012, the government of Republic of Benin and Africa Cul-

tures International Institutes signed a Convention, which contains 31 Articles.

One of the areas of interests, according to Article 4 states that the city shall intervene in the following: Understanding between human beings and the fight against intolerance; inter religious dialogue;, cultural industries and other services.

Gloria Bamiloye’s The Strategies Martin Luther King Jnr The African Renaissance City is currently under gradual evolvement on the Republic of Benin side of the project with several yearly activities, including induction of prominent Africans. Inductees in the past events included Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, American civil right activist, Rev Jesse Jackson, South African cleric, Bishop Desmond Tutu among others.

Of significance, every year is a section of the January event when pilgrims to Igbale Aiye perform spiritual tribute for the repose of departed slaves’ souls.

The tribute is done in a collective and neutral way that is not identified to any known faith or religion, hence stressing the freedom goal of the Renaissance City of Humanism. The city, however, welcomes people of all

By HAMZAT OLUWASAYO MOVIE REVIEW

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his lesson-teaching movie comes from the stables of Mount Zion Film Productions, Nigeria. I was a bit skeptical about this movie as the title kept me wondering ‘what strategies are they talking about?’

I won’t let the cat out of the bag regarding who played what except for a few, I will leave that to you to find out.

Written and produced by Gloria Bamiloye; who has written several inspirational movies for Christian homes, comes another movie which follows the life of Pastor Lanre (Tunde Oladoyin), who was going through hard times including the need to pay his house rent prior to embarrassments from his landlord.

The plot was well constructed.

Trials and temptations were the games of the day. The devil used

his friend and a fellow pastor called Pastor John Lambert (Femi Adedeji) (who sort the devil to gain wealth and deceived his church members in several ways), to try convince Lanre into walking into the devil’s arms.

Prior to this, John Lambert also bought the same idea from another ‘man of God’ to meet the so called ‘right one’ who took charge of his life by the instrumentality of a handkerchief.

The time came for John to sacrifice two of his church members in order to renew his prosperity.

Did he go ahead with this despite denying that he did not know it would result to killings?

Or he refused?

I found it cynical for John to have denied not knowing all the ‘rituals’ that he was asked to go through were devilish. In this dangerous and ‘eye-opened’ world that we are, who would not know that being told to wash

your face three times with water put in a calabash and thereafter asked to clean your face with a particular handkerchief not suspicious enough to understand that all these are forms of ritual.

On the other hand, did Lanre later flourish by accepting Lambert’s idea or he discovered a better means to succeed? Find out as you get your copy of this new and sizzling movie.

Almost all the actions took place at John and Lanre’s homes.

Though they kept referring to their ministries a lot, neither was Lambert nor John’s ministry (church) shown for once. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the soundtrack which perfectly matched moods, tones and the movie in totality.

The strategies is a tale whose theme focuses on faith and patience. As they say, “the patient dog eats the fattest bone”. But is this always the case? Get your copy and discover.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 49 japhdave@yahoo.com 08056402376

Major regrets in the art scene in 2013

By PRISCA SAM DURU REVIEW

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HE demise of the great African writer known as the Eagle on Iroko Tree, late Professor Chinualumogu Achebe, whose transition occurred on 21st March 2013, was one death that shook the foundation of the global art community.

The Ogidi, Anambra State born literary icon and acclaimed father of African literature, most renowned for his best seller, “Things Fall Apart” passed on at 82 in the United States where he was until his death, a University Professor.

Prof. Achebe’s classic novel “Things Fall Apart”, published in 1958, is considered the most widely read book in modern African Literature, with over 12 million copies sold and has been translated to over 50 languages worldwide.

Many of his other novels, including Arrow of God, No

of Biafra” “There Was a Country”, is an autobiography on his experiences and views of the civil war.

The book turned out the most criticised of his writings especially by Nigerians, with many condemning him for what they termed writing an unbalanced account of the war since according to the critics, he wrote more as a Biafran, than as a Nigerian.

Prof. Achebe was a consistent critic of various military dictators that ruled Nigeria and lent an angry voice against bad governance in the country.

Twice, he rejected national honour, citing the deplorable political situations in the country, particularly in his home state Anambra, as reason.

Few months after the death of Achebe, precisely September 21st, Ghanaian poet and a one time diplomat, Professor Kofi Awoonor died in the Kenyan Westgate mall terrorist attack, at the age of 78 . He died while attending the Storymoja Hay literary festival, a celebration of Pan-African writing and storytelling.

Awoonor, reputed as Ghana’s

,

Few months after the death of Achebe,Ghanaian poet and one time diplomat, Professor Kofi Awonoor died in the Kenyan Westgate Mall terrorist attack

Longer at Ease, Anthills of the Savannah, and A man of the People, were equally influential.

He also played a major role during the Nigeria Civil War where he joined the Biafran Government as an ambassador, an experience which largely influenced his last work, entitled “There was a Country: A personal History

,

greatest contemporary poet, was a member of the literary generation that came of age in the fifties and sixties. Like Achebe, Awonoor also gave “voice to a culture under rapid and destructive change from colonial influences”. His novel This Earth, My Brother and Poetry titled Songs Of Sorrow, remain evergreen.

Former Vanguard’s Arts Edi-

tor, Mcphillips Nwachukwu’s death at Golden Cross hospital, Festac Town, Lagos, occurred while people still mourned Prof. Awonoor.

His passage on Sunday, September 29, 2013 at age 47 after he returned from South Africa two days earlier, where he had gone for medical check up, fed the art community, with a most shocking news.

Until his death, Nwachukwu was a poet, writer and frontline journalist and was the Arts Editor of Vanguard Newspapers.

He was the author of the collection of poetry entitled, “So Long A Night” and was pursuing his doctorate degree in the area of Oral Literature, at the University of Lagos, Akoka, before death called.

Fatai Olayiwola Olagunju, popularly known as Fatai Rolling Dollars, a highlife musician also died in Lagos at 85. Rolling Dollars was reportedly on a musical tour of the United States when he took ill and was flown back home where he passed on.

Renowned as one of

An evening with Eugenia Abu

BY ESTHER ONYEGBULA READING

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T was indeed an evening of inspiring poetry, beautiful music and alluring fashion, as friends, colleagues, and well wishers of ace Nigerian broadcaster Eugenia Abu gathered at the Eko Hotels and Suites to celebrate the prize winning author and Vlisco Ambassador at her recent poetry reading session organised for her.

Starting the poetry reading session on a sober disposition, Eugenia Abu read poems dedicated to her late mother who passed on two years ago, titled a thousand graves. She read from her unpublished and published collections of poems the

rhythm of the reading session transited into a celebratory one as she read poems like, rock solid, I miss you when it rains, Eugenia, whose fluency in literary works especially poetry, is earning her an appeal which cut across tribal lines gave insights to the thoughts that inspired some of these poems before reading each. For example Eugenia notes that the poem ‘don’t look at me like that’ is from a collection she entered for an HIV/AIDS poetry competition. “It is a poem of rejection and pain, but it also has many layers. Don’t look at me like that is for the down trodden, the unjustly accused and the unlucky in love and those who are looked at like that for no reason other than envy and spite”.

The highlight of the event was the official presentations of her book, titled don’t look at me like that; a collection of poems that celebrate freedom, life and re-

Fatai Rolling Dollar

Chinua Achebe

demption. The 114 pagination book contains a total of forty-eight poems in different flavors. For instance, the visitor visits, the year 1994, I go forward and the day after are poems of despair and rejection, while my mouth is sealed is a poem of freedom.

It also contains some love poems for the young at heart.

During the poetry reading session, Vlisco also held a fashion show in her honour, displaying uniquely tied turbans; as she was well known for her signature turban during her news casting days.

Extolling the virtues and personality of Eugenia Abu, Ruth Benemesia Opia, said that “Eugenia represents the woman and Nigerian brand, within and outside the nation; she typifies all the beautiful things that can come out of the African woman”.

Kofi Awonoor Nigeria’s godfathers of Juju music, Rolling Dollars, died as the oldest music artiste in the country. With a musical career that spanned decades, the great artiste began his musical career in 1953 and trained many professional musicians, such as Evangelist Ebenezer Obey, late Dr. Orlando Owoh, Bob Aladeniyi and many others.

Until his transition to im mortality, Rolling Dollars was endeared to many for his dexterity on the guitar while his carriage of life and energy, even in old age, marveled all who watched him perform.

As the year was rounding up, news of the death of Iyetade Soyinka, daughter of one of the

world’s foremost dramatists and winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in literature, Wole Soyinka was announced. Ms. Soyinka, who was born June 6, 1965, died at the University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital where she was being treated for an undisclosed ailment.

The death which was disclosed in a statement signed by Jahman Anikulapo, an aide to Mr. Soyinka, noted that the late Iyetade Soyinka was a student at the Staff School and Queens School, Ibadan before she studied Medicine at the University of Ibadan.

SONGS OF AFRICA

Egone hails Amioku’s appointment

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chieftain of the ruling Peo ple’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Ughelli North local government area of Delta State, Chief Patrick A. Egone, has congratulated Sir Tom Amioku on his appointment as Commissioner, representing Delta State on the board of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. Egone, who spoke to newsmen at his Ughelli residence, on the reconstitution of the new board of the commission, also commended President Goodluck Jonathan and Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, for the nomination and subsequent ap-

pointment of Amioku.

He expressed confidence that the appointment of Amioku would fast-track development in the state, adding that Amikou’s vast experience would make remarkable impact in the operations of the commission.

He appealed to Deltans, particularly the various communities where the commission’s projects were being executed to continue to support the commission to achieve positive results.

PAGE 50— SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014

BY IKENNA ASOMBA

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ARELY four weeks after university lecturers under the auspices of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) called-off their five months strike, lecturers of the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, have threatened a showdown with the university Management over issues bordering on welfare, facilities and tuition fees.

The union alleged that several letters written and meetings with the Management, Governing Council and the Lagos State Executive Council Ad-hoc Committee have failed to address the issues, noting that danger lies ahead for the long-term prosperity of the university, if nothing is done.

In a reaction, the Management expressed dismay over the union’s threat, saying it is a ploy to impede the progress made by the two years old administration of Professor John Obafunwa, the Vice Chancellor.

The university spokesman, Dr. Sola Fosudo, said most of the issues raised by ASUU-LASU had been discussed and resolved. Fosudo wondered why the union is coming up again with the issues at a point it should be the concern of stakeholders to contribute meaningfully towards the growth of the university.

10 issues

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SUU-LASU Chairman, Dr. Idris Adekunle, told Sunday Vanguard that before the ASUU national strike, there were a number of unacceptable developments in the institution.

The issues, according to him, were, “One, the implementation of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2012 as amended, which stipulate that academic staff on professorial cadre shall retire at age 70 and non-academic staff at age 65 and that principal officers of universities shall serve for a single term of five years.

Two, downward review of the institution’s tuition fees regime, where new students pay as high as between N193, 750 and N248, 750. Three, abolition of the ‘no vacancy, no promotion’ adopted by Management.

Four, immediate commencement of the regularization of appointment exercise for academic staff members on temporary appointment. Five, full payment of the balance of the 17-month arrears in salary owed our members (30 per cent by the university management) and (12.5 per cent by government).

Six, restructuring of courses.

“Others are the immediate payment of Accrued Earned Allowances (teaching practice/ student Industrial Experience Scheme/Responsibility Allowances among others) and implementation of FGN/ASUU agreement 2009 on Earned Allowances.

Eight, the immediate restoration of internet facilities and beautification of the institution’s environment. Nine, stoppage of the purported outstanding PAYE tax liabilities planned to be deducted from staff members’ arrears of salaries and, lastly, the review of deadline

LASU is the most expensive public university – ASUU •’10 issues govt must address to avert fresh trouble’

for the acquisition of Ph.D degree.”

Decrying the increment in tuition fees since the 2011/2012 academic session, the ASUU boss said: “Our union demands the downward review of the LASU school fees regime to enable LASU compete favourably with other public universities and make tertiary education affordable to the down-trodden.

LASU is now the most expensive public university in Nigeria and this has made us unattractive to applicants. With fees between N350, 000 (Medicine), N250, 000 (Management Sciences/ Law) and N197, 000 (Education), it has placed education beyond the reach of the average Lagosian and Nigerians in general. This contradicts the founding father ’s vision and purpose for establishing the university. Even, the Lagos State University Law, 2004 states that one of the objectives of the university shall be to provide access for citizens of Lagos State to higher education regardless of social status or income.”

Asked why the union is crying foul over the fees regime two years after it took effect, the lecturer at the Faculty of Management Sciences apologized that ASUU-LASU failed to speak up when the issue came up in 2011, however, stated: “It would be a disservice on the part of ASUU-LASU to Lagosians and Nigerians in general if we still sit back and watch until LASU is made a business school. It is necessary to also mention that no public university in the world can be funded or sustained through school fees alone.”

‘On government’s table’

F

osudo, LASU spokesman, who said tuition fees alone can not keep the institution running, however, pointed out that it’s beyond the

Management’s statutory powers to reduce the fees. “It is okay that they (ASUU) are agitating for the fees to be reduced, but it is on government’s table to do so.

ASUU is not unaware that at various meetings, the Governing Council has promised to do something. Even this tuition fees currently paid can never run LASU. The total money being paid by students, in a year, can only run LASU for three months, staff salaries inclusive. To train a medical student in a year, government spends over N800, 000 but the students pay N348,

“Of government’s share of N1.2 billion, it has paid 75 per cent and promised to pay the balance.

If not for the 5 months ASUU national strike, government had promised to pay the 25 per cent in December 2013. But we are optimistic that government will pay this January.

On Management’s part, of its share of N1.2 billion, in July 2013, it paid 20 per cent with the July salary. In November, it also paid another 20 per cent. So, left with a balance of 60 per cent, which is actually 30 per cent, management has decided to pay

It would be a disservice on the part of ASUU-LASU to Lagosians and Nigerians in general if we still sit back and watch until LASU is made a business school 750. The state government is spending heavily to subsidy and train these students and also to fund LASU.” Reacting to what ASUU-LASU described as the refusal of the university Management and government to respectively pay a 30 per cent and 12.5 per cent balance of the 17-month salary arrears owed its members, he said: “I want to clarify that what the Management is owing is not arrears of salary but increase in salary arrears. The arrears amounting to over N2.2 billion were inherited by the present administration. The arrears, backdated to 2009, were initially 18 months, but the last administration paid for one month. So, when it became a problem for Prof. Obafunwa’s administration, it ran back to government for help.

Government agreed to pay 50 per cent while the Management is to pay the balance.

it in two tranches between January and April 2014”.

On the implementation of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Act 2012 in LASU, Adekunle averred that a law passed by the Federal Government for effective running of universities states that academic staff on professorial cadre shall retire at age 70 and non-academic staff at age 65 and that principal officers of universities shall serve for a single term of five years.

The don pointed that this issue is part of the ASUU/Federal Government agreement of 2009, which the Lagos State Government has agreed to implement.

The law

R

eacting, Fosudo said: “On this implementation of the Universities Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2012 as amended, the university Management has taken some necessary steps,

because this provision has to do with law. There is a law setting up the university, and if that law is going to be amended, it’s not going to be amended on the Vice Chancellor’s table. It has to come from the state’s legislative arm.

In the Management’s resolve to address this agitation, it has sent several letters to government and Lagos State Assembly, for this provision to be considered and passed into law. So, what ASUU should do is to find out from government the latest development on this issue instead of thinking that Management is not doing anything. So, when the Assembly legislates on that and it becomes law, it’s natural that LASU will also implement the FGN/ASUU agreement.

On the issue of retirement age, the spokesman said: “ASUU is not unfamiliar with this development because the Management has had over four meetings with them, even before the university ’s Chancellor, Sir Molade Okoya-Thomas. This matter has been discussed exhaustively, and I must say that it’s beyond LASU Management to change the law. LASU can’t change the law, it’s in the purview of the State’s legislative arm to do so. The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council, Mr. Femi Augusto, told them at a point to go and sponsor a bill towards that, and that they can even lobby the legislators to pass the bill into law.

“Despite the FGN/ASUU 2009 agreement, I begin to wonder if ASUU has so soon forgotten the White Paper Report sent to the university in September 2011 by its proprietor, the Lagos State Government? While adopting the recommendations of the Justice Silva Olaseinde committee’s report, which was set-up by government to look at possible ways of mapping out a 10-year plan for LASU, the proprietor among other things, decided that this university’s principal officers must serve for two terms of four years. The proprietor, in the report said, it believes the law would provide for effective democracy in the university. So, I insist that it behoves on ASUU to sponsor a bill to the Lagos State Assembly if it wants a review of this law.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 51

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PAGE 52 – SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2013

Mourinho dreams centenary premier league win, battles Moye’s today

•Jose Mourinho

V

ICTORY over Manches ter United today would notch 100 Premier League wins for Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho but he refuses to be fooled into thinking the ailing champions will give him an easy ride to another milestone.

United’s teething problems under new manager David Moyes have left them way off the pace, 11 points behind leaders Arsenal and nine behind third-placed Chelsea, and defeat at Stamford Bridge would effectively end their hopes of staying in touch with the main title protagonists.

With strikers Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney likely to be missing for United, Chelsea will start strong favourites, although Mourinho warned his players against complacency.

“Read the match programme, my notes,” Mourinho told reporters on Friday.

“I start by saying we don’t play against a team that are 11 points behind the leader, we play against the champions, we play against Manchester United.

“That’s the way I start my notes in the programme and that’s exactly the way I feel.

I’ve been in the game a long time, I’ve played dozens and dozens of derbies and classic matches, games between the big teams and that’s what

experience says. On many occasions, the team that looks to be in the most difficult situation appears stronger in the match, that’s why I consider this game especially dangerous.”

Mourinho is well-schooled in sporting psychology but his take on the 100-win landmark was simple.

“My 100th victory in the Premier League with Chelsea is going to happen; is it against United, West Ham or later? I don’t know, what I know is that the number will arrive. It’s the next match and if I can do it

in the next match it’s better than doing it in three, four or five matches away.”

“We are going to try to do it against Man United because now we play two matches at home, after playing two matches away, and we have to try to go for the six points.”

This season’s Premier League title race is shaping up to be one of the tightest ever, according to Mourinho, and he says the immediate priority is to guarantee a topfour finish.

“If you look at the table, Ar-

senal and Manchester City are the top two teams. Man City have different ammunition but we are not far,” he said.

“Liverpool have a fantastic chance to do it, it’s almost unique the fact they are not playing in European competition.

“United are United, 11 points to the leader is quite a lot but I believe they will push all the way. The way this league is at the moment, I think for all the big teams the first objective is to secure a place in the top four because it will be difficult to get it. We are not desperate to win the title. We are building for the future, but we want to keep our DNA of winning.”

Mourinho said he would rather Van Persie and Rooney both be playing for United on Sunday.

“I’d prefer them to play,” he said. “The best thing is to play against the best players at the maximum of their potential.

“For us, the focus, concentration and motivation is bigger when they are there so I hope they are.”

Frank Lampard could be available on Sunday after returning to training following his calf injury but Branislav Ivanovic is a major doubt. New signing Nemanja Matic will also miss out.

“Matic will not start the game, I have to show respect to my other players who are doing well,” Mourinho said.

“I don’t think it’s the right message for them that a new player comes immediately and plays, so I’m not playing him from the beginning.”

Williams smashes 39 year old record

W

ORLD No 1, Serena Williams, Friday, smashed the 39-year-old record for wins at the Australian Open as a sweltering heatwave finally eased.

Williams opened the day’s events on a baking hot Rod Laver Arena but she appeared untroubled as she beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-3 to reach the fourth round for the loss of 12 games.

Shielded from the sun by a pink cap, the 32-year-old wielded a killer serve as she overpowered the Slovak in 80 minutes, setting up a meeting with Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic.

It was Williams’ 61st victory at the tournament, breaking the record set by 11-time champion Margaret Court up to 1975. Williams’ first Australian Open match win was on her debut aged 16 in 1998.

Asked which had been her favourite victories, she deadpanned: “All the finals I was able to win.”

•Serena

Murray cruises into 4th Rd, Nadal, Federer, Sharapova too

A

•Murray

NDY Murray gave evidence that he could yet be a contender for the title with an impressive third-round win over 26th seed Feliciano Lopez at the Australian Open.

The Briton, playing only his second tournament since having a back operation, won 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-2 on Hisense Arena to reach the last 16.

There he will face France’s Stephane Robert, the first man ever to make the fourth round after losing in qualifying only to get a “lucky loser ” place when another player withdrew.

Meanwhile Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Victoria Azarenka all won in straight sets but Maria Sharapova had

to work much harder to reach the fourth round.

Federer beat Teymuraz Gabashvili while top seed Nadal saw off Gael Monfils on a cooler day in Melbourne.

Defending champion Victoria Azarenka brushed aside Yvonne Meusburger but Sharapova survived a scrappy second set to beat France’s Alize Cornet 6-1 7-6.

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza knocked out 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Meanwhile, Dom Inglot is the only remaining Briton in the men’s doubles after Colin Fleming, Ross Hutchins and Jamie Murray all went out in round two.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014 — PAGE 53

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PAGE 54 – SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2013

Bazuaye tips Eagles to win CHAN trophy

BY OJIEVA EHIOSUN

F

ORMER Nigerian International, Baldwin Bazuaye has expressed confidence in the ability of the Super Eagles to win the 2014 CHAN tournament currently on in South Africa.

In a chat with Sunday Vanguard sports, the exLobi star assistant manager advised Nigerians not to write off the Eagles, adding that the host country has no football pedigree to stop the team from advancing to the next round of the competition.

“Super Eagles are capable of becoming African champions again. I do not want fans to judge them with the outcome of their first game against the Eagles of Mali. In the game of football, it can happen either way. Keshi has done very well since

he took over the national team, in fact nobody gave him any chance until he went to the Nations Cup and conquered.

In this competition, Eagles can still do same. South Africa cannot stop the Eagles from moving to the next stage of the championship, we have always had an upper hand against the Mandela boys, so this time round, I have the believe we would do same,” he said.

On the 2014 World Cup, he said: “Keshi must shop for more experienced players for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil if we hope to achieve good result. You will agree with me that the World Cup is not a place to test players. You must have a strong squad that will be able to weather the storm.

We should be able to reach the semi- finals, and I know we have players that can do it if they are well selected,”said Bazuaye.

HE President of the Nigeria Baseball and Softball Association (NBSA), retired MajorGeneral Ishola Williams has appealed to state associations to develop the sports at the grassroots.

Speaking yesterday at a summit organised by the association at the University of Lagos to restructure the sports, Williams said the state associations should be involved in discovering talents by initiating grassroots programmes in their respective states.

He said the state associations needed to come up with programmes to reposition the sports at

Gen Williams charges states’ associations on Baseball, Softball the grassroots.

“State associations must have good structures for NBSA to be strong. The associations should go to the schools and popularise the sports.

“If players are not identified and nurtured at the grassroots, the NBSA will not be able to organise regular national competitions where states can compete.

“So, a lot still needs to

A

•Keshi

BIA State Commissioner of Youths and Sports David Chigbu have commended Youths Sports Federation of Nigeria for being in the vanguard of grassroots sports development in the country.

Chigbu stated this shortly after watching his team lose 1-0 to their Kaduna State counterparts in the 2014 President Jonathan U-18

Chief Patrick Ekeji, when he was director of sports development, backed by the former president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, Mr. Dan Ngerem and former Secretary General of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, Mr. Banji Oladapo, came out with the idea of Team Nigeria.

Team Nigeria was to source for funds independent of government to enable teams begin preparation early.

Corporate organisations were approached and the response was beginning to yield results, especially after the Nigeria Stock Exchange threw its weight behind the project.

The project, like every other in Nigeria, died a natural death after its originator, Chief Ekeji was removed from office. The man who succeeded him and his team dipped hands into the till and squandered the fund he met in the

treasury on other things not related to preparation of athletes.

When Chief Ekeji returned to the NSC, he sought other avenues to raise funds to prepare athletes for competitions pending when government funds would finally come.

His detractors would however, not allow him, with some of them actually petitioning the National Assembly that he borrowed money from banks to run NSC programmes without approval. He was never deterred but his efforts did not yield the kind of results he expected because of distractions placed on his path by pure government bureaucracy.

Here we are again, with about six months (exactly 185 days) to a major Games and yet preparation of athletes is haphazard.

My friend, Dr. Daniel Igali, who is president of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation and Chairman, Technical Commission of the NOC recently posited

•Gen Williams

Peace Cup in Katsina State.

According to him, his coming to Katsina to watch his team gave him an opportunity to assess YSFONcompetitionsevenas he stated that the experience will challenge him to invest more in grassroots football in the state.

The Commissioner, while blaming his team’s defeat in the semi- finals to bad

weather, noted that the defeat will ginger the state to prepare well ahead of other YSFON organized competitions just as he charged other states to take YSFON competitions serious.

“I want to tell you that I am satisfied with what YSFON is doing in the development of grassroots football in the country.”

be done by the states to strengthen and restructure the sports in the country,” he said.

He commended Rivers and Lagos states for introducing baseball and softball leagues in 2013, saying that it will go a long way to increase the popularity of the game.

Williams, who is also the President of the Africa Baseball and Softball Association, urged all stakeholders to be more committed to the development of the sports.

that preparation for the Glasgow Games is on course with the various sports participating in competitions around the world. Igali has been there and knows that our athletes are not being prepared the right way. Participation in competitions is not all it takes to put an athlete on the podium. Athletes should be in a camp environment where they are monitored closely. They must be placed on proper diet and medication. They equally need a physiotherapist and psychologist to work on them regularly. Not a situation where our athletes come from their various homes on foot or ride in public transportation to the stadium to train after which they stroll into the next bukateria to eat bread and

beans and trek back home or struggle with other commuters for spaces in the few buses on our roads.

This has been the plight of our athletes year in, year out until government releases funds belatedly to the NSC to begin the usual fire brigade preparation.

Again the NSC is waiting for the release of funds from a federal budget that is yet to be passed by our ever sluggish National Assembly.

If preparation is on course as Igali would want us to believe, how many of the sports that are Glasgow bound have named their team for the event. By now the various teams should have been named for them to go into close camping for a more intensive training and proper monitoring. Not a time when athletes are

still at home and strolling to the stadium to train on their own with little or no supervision.

The sports minister and chairman of the NSC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi with the Director-General of the NSC, Tunde Elegbeleye should as a matter of urgency source for fund, if none has come from the federal government, to begin serious preparation of the athletes of the chosen sports for the Glasgow Games if Nigeria hopes to improve on her medals haul. One wonders too, why the NOC is not helping out here but waiting to get already prepared athletes handed over to it by the NSC to bundle to Glasgow, whether they are prepared or not.

Abia Commissioner commends YSFON

Commonwealth Games: How prepared is Team Nigeria?

S

PORTS experts say that the best time to start preparing for a major Championship or Games is immediately after one is just ending. In essence, preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games holding in Glasgow, Scotland in July this year should have been immediately after the end of the last edition held in Delhi, India in 2010.

In other words, an athlete needs four clear years to get him or herself prepared for a shot at a medal of whatever hue. If this is a truism, then it could be said that Team Nigeria is way behind in getting ready and its athletes may not get hold of any medal.

This practice of late preparation has been going on for God knows when and it is attributable to the non release of funds on time by the government. To beat this, the immediate past Director General of the National Sports Commission, NSC,

T

Congrats Gen Minimah, goodluck CHAN Eagles

T

HE sports fraternity was thrown into jubilation at the weekend when one of its own, MajorGeneral Kenneth Minimah was appointed the new Chief of Army Staff.

General Minimah, who until Thursday, was the Commander, Infantry Corps, is the president of the Nigeria Boxing Federation.

The Rivers-born Army General is seen as a very resourceful person, out to return Nigeria’s boxing to its glory days, when

another former military officer, Group Captain Brai Ayonote, now late, was at the helm of its affairs.

To show that he matches his words with action, few day weeks after he came on board, he personally sponsored a boxing tournament through which the country’s representatives for a an international championship were selected.

Here’s to congratulate General Minimah and wishing that God grants him the wisdom to steer

Nigeria’s boxing rightly and leads the Army to greater height.

And today, Stephen Keshi and his wards will battle South Africa for one of the quarter-final tickets at the on-going African Nations Championships, CHAN. Nothing short of victory could guarantee the Eagles that ticket and Keshi should realise that another gaffe from captain and goalkeeper, Chigozie Agbim could spell doom for his side. Here’s wishing them goodluck.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 19, 2014, PAGE 55

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SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 19, 2014

South Africa, home for Eagles —Commissioner

BY OJIEVA EHIOSUN

A

S the Super Eagles battle South Africa today in a must win game at the on-going African Nations Championship in South Africa, to

CHAN 2014: Under pressure Bafana Bafana seek Eagles fall •As Tico Tico says S/Africans are overrated F

qualify for the next stage of the competition, commissioner for Youth and Sports in Anambra state, Dr.Edozie Aroh, has described the host country as a victory home for the Eagles.

The Anambra state football ambassador, stated this while addressing a team of footballers at the Government House Awka. He said the Anambra governement was totally committed to ensuring that the state has a well founded football team in the Nigeria premier league,adding that Anambra state will produce more players in the national team in the nearest future.

“We are all talking about the national team doing well in South Africa or not doing well, but I want to assure us that the coach Stephen Keshi–led squad have all it takes to be champions again at the ongoing CHAN tournament in South Africa.

As far as I’m concerned, South Africa is home of victory for the Super Eagles, so I have no doubt that our boys will do it again like they did in 2013. South Africa is the host country but that does not qualify them for the trophy. The Eagles have a record of beating South Africa, so let us not panic about Sunday’s game. With the performance of our team in the game against Mozambique, there is hope for us,” he said.

He charged Anambra state youth team to be committed to their various discipline, as he assured that the government will continue to support sports development in the state. He added that Anambra state citizens would be happy to see their sons wear the national colour.

OR South African football fans, today’s group A encounter between the Bafana Bafana and the Super Eagles of Nigeria is the ‘final before the final’ at the CAF African Nations Championship in Cape Town.

The Eagles need a win to cement their place in the tournament after a troubled start to their campaign. While the South Africans need a draw, as they failed to wrap it up against Mali, the same team that made the Eagles to walk on a tight rope.

The pressure is on South Africa to win. This is because they have found Nigeria to be a stumbling block to their campaign in continental football.

South Africa have only beaten Nigeria once in eight matches. The last meeting between the two teams was at the 2013 GETTING IT RIGHT …. Super Eagles goalkeepers trainer, Ike Shorounmu, second left, Nations Cup in South Africa, which the Eagles won 2-0 in putting the CHAN Eagles goalkeepers led by Chigozie Agbim, left, through at a training Durban. This is giving the session. Agbim has become a major worry for the team as they battle South Africa in a mustBafana Bafana goose pimples win game in Cape Town today. Photo: Courtesy NAN and they see tonight’s match as PREMIERSHIP RESULTS a first step to putting a stop to Nigeria’s dominance.

Arsenal 2 S’hampton 0 Ahead of today’s game both Crystal 1 Stoke City 0 sides have injury worries, but Man City 4 Cardiff 2 according to Eagles coach, Norwich 1 Hull City 0 Stephen Keshi the pressure is West Ham 1 Newcastle 3 more on South Africa who will Liverpool 2 Aston Villa 2 be without their captain and first-choice goalkeeper ItumeThey didn’t want to go into a leng Khune.

TODAY’S MATCHES Keshi said in a post-match be offensive against them, game for them. They are under third game without having Nigeria v S/Africa conference after guiding his that’s the plan, we want to go pressure. They are playing at sealed their place in the next 6 pm home and everybody expects round yet so the game against men to a 4-2 over Mozambique forward.

Mozambique v Mali “I want to attack them down them to qualify (for the quarter Nigeria is a decisive match,” he that: “South Africa have mas6 pm concluded. sive advantage in terms of ex- the sides, have overlapping finals). perience, the fact that their fullbacks and let’s ask the quesCROSS WORD PUZZLE league only stopped in Decem- tions, we need to ask a lot of DOWN ACROSS ber and their players are still questions defensively and we’ll 1 2 3 4 5 6 1.Nobel-winning Archbishop 1. Sleeping vision (5) in condition. They have what it try and do that,” said Igesund 2. Possessor (5) (7-4) Meanwhile, former Mozamtakes. We’ll need a high level 3. Tax (4) 5. Sailor (3) 7 8 of concentration to overcome bican striker Manuel José Luís 4. Depressing (9) 7. Consumed (5) Bucuane, aka Tico Tico, is conSouth Africa.”

9 5. Argentinian dance (5) 8.Domesticates (5) 6. Wash lightly (5) 9. Ovum (3) On his path South African fident that the Eagles will beat 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 11.Greek letter (3) 10.Electricity counting coach Gordon Igesund de- the South African side even as 12.

Distress call (1-1-1) gadgets (6) clared that his wards have noth- he claimed Bafana Bafana are 14. English boy’s name 13. Highlander (4) 17 18 19 20 21 ing but victory on their minds overvalued and will face a (5) 15. Poem (3) and there was no fear of the tough test when they square up 16. Obstacle (3) 17. One that contests (9) Super Eagles even as they are against Stephen Keshi’s men.

17. Bovine animal (3) 20. Nigerian tribe (5) 22 23 24 25 26 18. Mindfulness (9) “South Africa is not doing so 22. Cereal (5) under pressure.

19. Alarm (5) 24. Demoted (9) “My philosophy has always well at the Chan and are strug21. Help (3) 27. Pig’s pen (3) been play to win. When you gling as well. Yes, they beat 27 28 29 30 31 32 23. Village house (3) 29.

No one (4) start thinking about trying to Mozambique 3-1 but we still 25. Gnome (3) 33 34 30. Sulks (6) play for a draw, you start doing don’t know how they managed 26. Vast age (3) 33. Away (3) 3 5 36 to achieve that against us,” he the wrong things.

27. Condescend (5) 35. Presses (5) 28. Youthful (5) 36. Till (5) “We know that Nigeria are told reporters in Cape Town.

31. Circular (5) 37. Swine (3) South Africa couldn’t cope going into this game with only 37 38 32. Trades (5) 38. “The Man Who Saw one thing on their mind, and with Mali and against Nigeria 34. Old Russian King (4) Tomorrow” (11) that’s to win the game. We will it’s going to be a really difficult SOLUTION on page 5

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